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  • New Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Announced

    New Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Announced

    In addition to the new Galaxy Note 3 and the newly revealed Galaxy Gear smart watch, Samsung today announced a refreshed version of its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.

    The Galaxy Note 10.1 will have the same 10.1-inch screen as its predecessor, but with an improved 2560 x 1600 resolution. The 3G and Wi-Fi version of the tablet will come with a 1.9GHz 8-core processor, while the LTE version will have a 2.3GHz quad-core. The device will come with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal memory and has a microSD card slot for expansion. The rear camera on the Note 10.1 is 8MP and the front-facing one is 2MP. The tablet’s hardware is similar to that of the Galaxy Note 3, though the tablet will have a much larger 8,220mAh battery.

    Like the Galaxy Note 3, the Note 10.1 will come running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The tablet will also come with a full suite of Samsung mobile software, including “Multi Window” support. The device’s “S-Pen” stylus will also feature the button seen on the Galaxy Note 3’s stylus. The button enables quick access to apps such as a search function, screen capture, and “Pen Window,” which allows users to draw boxes of any size and run apps in them.

    “The new GALAXY Note 10.1 is the most progressive 10-inch tablet, delivering the best viewing and multitasking experiences,” said JK Shin, CEO of Samsung mobile. “It is the most recent demonstration of Samsung Mobile’s focus on constant product innovation to stay aligned with shifting consumer interests.”

    The announcement of the new Galaxy 10.1 comes as Samsung is reported to have recently seen lowered demand for its 10-inch tablets. Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab tablets currently make up a majority of the company’s tablet sales this year.

  • Samsung Officially Unveils The Galaxy Gear

    Samsung Officially Unveils The Galaxy Gear

    IFA is taking place in Berlin this week, and everyone is showing off their new consumer electronic devices. The pre-show rumors led us to believe that this year was going to be all about smart watches, and Samsung didn’t disappoint.

    During Samsung’s press conference, the company announced its foray into the smart watch market – the Galaxy Gear. It’s a smart watch with a 1.63-inch display powered by an 800MHz CPU. It sports 4GB of internal memory and 512MB of RAM. It connects to Galaxy devices, including smartphones and tablets, via Bluetooth and uses the BLE standard to ensure that it doesn’t drain your smartphone’s battery.

    “Samsung’s ongoing smart device innovation leadership reflects our commitment to listen to our consumers, who want their daily lives to be easier and more enjoyable. Samsung GALAXY Gear benefits consumers by integrating smart device technology even deeper into their everyday lives, and bridges the gap between the mobile device and fashion worlds to create truly wearable technology,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics.

    So, what can the Galaxy Gear do? Surprisingly, quite a lot. For starters, it will notify you of any incoming calls, texts or emails, and then let you either accept or ignore the message. When you accept, the message will be automatically opened on your smartphone for you to see.

    Besides receiving notifications of incoming calls, the Galaxy Gear can also be used to make phone calls with its built-in voice recognition. You just have to speak the name of the person you want to call and the Galaxy Gear will handle the rest. Just don’t be too surprised when people look at you weirdly for talking into your wrist.

    The above features are what you would expect from a smart watch, but Samsung does have a surprise up its sleeve with its Memographer function. Memographer uses the built-in 1.9 MP camera on the device to record both photos and videos right from your wrist. It can also record sound and save them to Galaxy devices with Voice Memo.

    Samsung says the Galaxy Gear will be available worldwide in a variety of colors on September 25. It won’t be making its way to the U.S., however, until October and it will sport a $300 price tag.

    [Image: Samsung]

  • Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Officially Announced

    Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Officially Announced

    After weeks of speculation and leaks, Samsung today officially announced its Galaxy Note 3 smartphone during its IFA presentation. The device is larger than its Galaxy S line of phones and comes with slightly better hardware.

    The Galaxy Note 3 will have a 5.7-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution screen. For markets needing 4G LTE, the new Note will have a 2.3GHz quad-core processor. For those with just 3G, the Note will come with a 1.9 GHz 8-core processor. The smartphone will come with either 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage, with a microSD slot for expansion. It also carries a 3,200mAh battery and comes with Samsung’s “S-Pen” branded stylus.

    While both Nokia and Sony are packing ever-better cameras into their flagship smartphones, Samsung has opted for an incremental upgrade. The front camera on the Galaxy Note 3 is 13MP, while the rear camera is 2MP.

    As for software, the Note 3 will come running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (no Kit Kat yet). The device will also come with Samsung’s entire suite of proprietary smartphone software, including “Multi Window” viewing, personalized news feeds, and the “Group Play” sharing feature. In addition, the new S-Pen now has a button that, when pressed, activates a special “Air Command” mode offering access to five different apps. The apps include a screen capture mode, a memo writer, a search function, and “Pen Window,” which allows users to open apps in windows of any size they draw.

    “With a simple click of the S Pen button, users can unlock opportunities for self-expression, features that transform everyday activities into extraordinary events and access to new experiences delivered to them on Note 3’s larger screen,” said JK Shin, CEO of Samsung Mobile.

  • Samsung Seeing Reduced Demand for 10-Inch Tablets

    Samsung Seeing Reduced Demand for 10-Inch Tablets

    Though Apple bet big on its larger iPad, it now seems that there is a large consumer segment drawn to smaller, less expensive tablet devices. As Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire tablets and Google’s Nexus 7 tablet began to take off, Apple reacted swiftly with the iPad Mini. The mini-tablet market is expected to grow significantly this year, with the refreshed Nexus 7 expected to sell over 3.5 million units by the end of 2013. The tablets themselves are also expected to grow, with 8-inch tablets predicted for the market this fall.

    A new report this week from DigiTimes also suggests that the popularity of mini-tablets could be cannibalizing part of the full-size tablet market. The report’s unnamed “Taiwan based supply chain makers” stated that Samsung has reduced its orders for components found in its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablets. The larger tablets have reportedly sold under the Korean manufacturer’s expectations.

    The report also states that Samsun’g Galaxy Tab 7-inch tablets have made up around 70% of the company’s 17 million tablets shipped so far this year.

    DigiTimes’ sources stated that Samsung will have to re-tool its tablet strategy, and no other tech company is more prepared to do so. Samsung already offers an 8-inch tablet model, and its flagship Galaxy smartphone lineup now comes in a wide variety of sizes. Whatever the size sweet spot for tablets ends up being, Samsung will likely be one of the first manufacturers to offer a tablet in that size.

    (via DigiTimes)

    (Image courtesy Samsung)

  • Samsung Will Continue to Supply Apple, Says Report

    Samsung Will Continue to Supply Apple, Says Report

    As Samsung grew into Apple‘s main competitor in the high-end smartphone space, Apple used all of its might to hold back the Korean company while at the same time still using Samsung as a supplier. Apple did attempt to weaken its ties with Samsung last year, ordering DRAM chips from a different company, but it seems now that Samsung is one of the only companies in the world capable of supplying Apple with certain iPhone and iPad components.

    DigiTimes Research today reported that Samsung will remain a major Apple supplier throughout the next year. Apple will be ordering panels from Samsung for the foreseeable future.

    Apple had been rumored to be switching more panel orders to companies such as LG and AU Optronics, but it seems that is no longer the case. DigiTimes cites unnamed supply chain sources as stating AU Optronics is running into difficulty manufacturing Retina displays for the upcoming refresh of the iPad Mini. Samsung, LG, and Sharp are expected to land extra orders due to these difficulties.

    Samsung and LG are also reported to be the major suppliers for iMac panels, with LG supplying the majority. As for iPhone panels, LG and JDI are rumored to be expanding capacity to draw orders away from suppliers such as Samsung and Sharp.

    (Image courtesy Apple)

    (via DigiTimes)

  • Samsung Opens Registration For Its Very First Developer Conference

    Samsung Opens Registration For Its Very First Developer Conference

    Samsung is pretty much Apple at this point. It may use Android as the base of its products, but it builds its hardware around its own software and services. As such, the company is doing what every other platform holder does – host a developer conference.

    Samsung announced today that registration is now open for the first annual Samsung Developers Conference. The conference is being held in San Francisco and will last from October 27 to the 29.

    So, what can you expect from the first ever Samsung Developers Conference? The company’s wide range of Galaxy mobile devices will obviously be represented, but Samsung doesn’t just make the world’s most popular Android device. It also builds smart TVs and other software that it wants developers to create apps for.

    Samsung won’t be exclusively sticking to Android devices at the event either as some of the planned events revolve around the company’s Tizen mobile operating system. Samsung may be using it to target low-end devices for emerging markets, and developers will need to know all about it if they want to cash in on the potential digital gold rush.

    It should be noted that the most interesting aspect of Samsung’s Developer Conference is that it exists. Google already has the Android developer conference locked up with Google I/O. Sure, there are other conferences, but you go to Google I/O to learn straight from the people building the platform. For Samsung, its developer conference looks like another attempt to distance itself from Google, especially with the focus on Tizen.

    With Samsung quickly matching Apple in terms of brand recognition, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Samsung ditch Android in the near future. It’s not like the company needs Android to be successful as long as it can provide the same user experience with its own software. This developer conference may be the first step in convincing developers (i.e. early adopters) to embrace an Android-less Samsung.

    [Image: Samsung]
    [h/t: DroidLife]

  • First Galaxy S5 Rumor Appears: 16MP Camera

    First Galaxy S5 Rumor Appears: 16MP Camera

    It’s a given that Samsung will release the Galaxy S5 (or Galaxy S V, however they want to brand it) within the next year. The company’s Galaxy S III smartphone rocketed Samsung to being a real Apple competitor in the high-end smartphone space. The Galaxy S4 has kept up that momentum, which is edging out other high-end Android smartphone manufacturers, such as the floundering HTC. Next year’s presumed Galaxy S5 will carry on this legacy while Samsung positions its low- and mid-priced offerings in markets (China, Brazil, India) that are actually expected to see large growth in the coming years.

    Korean publication Electronic Times News today kicked off the Galaxy S5 rumor mill with a report on the device’s camera. The S5 will reportedly feature a 16 Megapixel camera when it launches. The image sensors for the camera are rumored to be manufactured by Sony. The S5 camera is also rumored to come with Optical Image Stabilization, which the report states was delayed from inclusion in Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3.

    Samsung already offers a 16 megapixel camera smartphone, the Galaxy S4 Zoom. That device, however, has the camera as a focus of the device, with a larger lens and accompanying shape. Nokia last month also announced a camera-centric smartphone – the Lumia 1020. That device carries a large 41MP camera and comes with a suite of photography apps and features. Unlike these devices, the Galaxy S5’s rumored camera would, presumably, fit in a module designed to compliment the normal form-factor of Samsung’s flagship Android smartphone brand.

    (Image courtesy Samsung)

    (Electronic Times News via BGR)

  • Samsung Expanding its Enterprise Solutions Business

    Samsung Expanding its Enterprise Solutions Business

    As Samsung continues to increase its share of the global mobile phone market (and the Android smartphone market in particular), it is also continuing to expand its business into other areas of the worldwide tech segment. Today, rumors have surfaced stating that Samsung may soon aggressively expand its enterprise soultions.

    DigiTimes today reported that Samsung’s new enterprise security suite, Knox, is the first move in a Samsung strategy to expand its enterprise market share. The report’s unnamed “sources from the PC industry” have stated that new Samsung initiatives will focus on integrated solutions for both hardware and software in the “bring your own device” segment. Knox allows companies to limit employees’ devices, approving only business applications while still allowing them to use their preferred hardware.

    As the DigiTimes report points out, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer have also recently expanded their enterprise solution offerings. As PC shipments decline the PC industry faces the prospect of an industry-wide contraction, PC manufacturers are turning to enterprise solutions as a possibility for future expansion. HP, one of the largest PC manufacturers in the world, last year expanded its enterprise security initiatives. HP has also reorganized to better emphasize data initiatives from Autonomy and other HP companies.

    (via DigiTimes)

  • Samsung Will Release The Massive Galaxy Mega Stateside Later This Month

    Samsung Will Release The Massive Galaxy Mega Stateside Later This Month

    Do you find a 5-inch smartphone to be too big? Apple certainly thinks so, but Android phone manufacturers continue to push for bigger and bigger smartphones. Sony may have the biggest with the 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra, but Samsung isn’t letting Sony have all the phablet fun.

    Samsung announced today that it intends to bring the Galaxy Mega to the U.S. market this month. The device brings most of the Galaxy S 4’s features to an impossibly large 6.3-inch phablet.

    “We continue to bring innovation with our Galaxy family of devices, with the Galaxy Mega representing a manifestation of consumer’s enthusiasm for our thin, large screen designs,” said Nick DiCarlo, vice president of product planning and marketing at Samsung Mobile. “The Galaxy Mega combines exceptional features from the Samsung Galaxy smartphone family with a 6.3-inch screen, making it an optimal device for movies, books, music and games.”

    Despite having a larger screen, it’s not as powerful as the Galaxy S 4. Instead, it comes equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 CPU, 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, 8MP rear camera and Android 4.2.2. You will likely not notice any decrease in performance, however, as the device has a 720p display.

    If you want a larger Galaxy S 4 with the same performance and specs, you’ll likely have to wait until the rumored Galaxy Note III is announced. Current rumors peg it as having a 2GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM and a release date of late September.

    If you like the Galaxy Mega, however, you will be able to get one soon via AT&T, Sprint or US Cellular. None of the carriers have announced specific plans regarding the launch of the device, but Sprint confirmed that the Galaxy Mega will support its growing 4G LTE network.

  • That Samsung Smart Watch Will Be Unveiled Next Month [Report]

    That Samsung Smart Watch Will Be Unveiled Next Month [Report]

    It’s no secret that Samsung is investing heavily in wearable computers. The company said just as much at an event in July. Now rumors are starting to escalate regarding what the world now knows as the Galaxy Gear.

    Bloomberg reports Samsung will introduce the world to its smart watch – the Galaxy Gear – on September 4. According to the publication’s two sources, the Galaxy Gear will be able to make phone calls, browse the Web, send e-mails and presumably handle other low power tasks when connected to an Android device.

    The report also says that Samsung will be using an unspecified version of Android on the device. It was a given that Samsung’s smart watch would use Android, but it will be interesting to see which version of the OS it will use. My guess would be Android 4.3, but a previous version of Jelly Bean isn’t out of the question.

    Barring any upsets from Apple or Sony, Samsung may be the first out of the gate with the first real smart watch. Until now, smart watches have just been sophisticated bluetooth devices that piggyback off of a user’s smartphone to perform complementary functions, like replying to text messages or handling the playback of music. The Galaxy Gear would be an actual Android device that’s been pared down to the size of a wrist watch.

    Speaking of which, there had been some rumors that Samsung’s new flexible display would make it into the initial batch of Galaxy Gears. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The report confirms that the initial wave of Galaxy Gears will just have a standard non-bendable display. Samsung is reportedly working on its flexible display technology to ensure that the next iteration of the Galaxy Gear will feature the technology.

    Samsung may be the first out of the gate, but Apple and Sony are both expected to reveal their own take on the smart watch at some point this year. Sony has already been making a smart watch for a few years, but it doesn’t sport the Android operating system. It’s next smart watch may very well fix that. As for Apple, the rumored iWatch will presumably run a version of iOS7.

  • Samsung Catches Up With Apple’s Brand Recognition

    Samsung Catches Up With Apple’s Brand Recognition

    As Apple and Samsung continue to dominate smartphone sales, and smartphone market share, the two companies could now be seen as equal competitors. A new analyst report this week shows that Samsung has even caught up to Apple in the minds of consumers.

    The report, put out by analyst firm TrendForce, shows that Samsung now trails Apple in smartphone brand recognition by only 1%. When asked what brands come to mind when they hear the word “smartphone,” 80.6% of consumers surveyed said Apple, and 79.6% said Samsung. HTC and Nokia are far behind in brand recognition, coming in at 28.4% and 27.2%, respectively.

    The TrendForce report also surveyed customers on which smartphone brands they use most and which they anticipate purchasing. Samsung dominated both questions, with over one-quarter of survey respondents saying they use Samsung most (iPhone was second with 12.5%) and a full 27.7% saying they hope to purchase a Samsung smartphone in the future (Apple was again second, with 20.9%).

    Also of note in the report is that Chinese smartphone brands such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Huawei are enjoying an increase in brand recognition while Nokia and HTC fall. These same companies also show rising trends for the most-used smartphone and the smartphone purchase anticipation categories. TrendForce predicts, as other analysts have, that mid-priced smartphones from Chinese manufacturers will continue to compete as the smartphone market grows in developing markets, such as China, Brazil, and India.

  • Meet the ‘Marriage Saver,’ Samsung’s Fanciest TV

    Meet the ‘Marriage Saver,’ Samsung’s Fanciest TV

    First only offered by LG Electronics, Samsung’s latest and greatest device is an OLED television. For those who may not know just what OLED is in comparison to an LED, LCD or a plasma screen, it stands for Organic Light-Emitting Diode, and it features an amazing MultiView that permits a roomful of people to watch two different shows or movies on the same screen.

    It’s quite simple: you sit down on the side of the screen your show is playing on, put on your 3-D glasses and be sure to plug in your headphones. Samsung Electronics America’s vice president, David Das, has said that people at the company have taken to calling it ‘the marriage saver’ because “my wife and I can be sitting on the couch watching two different programs on the same OLED TV.”

    Wired gives us some juicy details: first off, OLED is brighter, thinner, and more energy-efficient than any other television picture on the market right now. Tim Moynihan goes crazy with adjectives to describe it: “Like plasma sets, OLEDs have deeper blacks, more pronounced contrast, smoother on-screen motion, and wider viewing angles — but even deeper, punchier, smoother, and wider.”

    Here’s the pricetag: an OLED television will set you back $9000, or $7 per square inch of TV. Moynihan notes that number is four times the cost of a 55-inch diagonal Samsung screen, but the technology is so new that the release of an OLED television at less than $10,000 is considered an industry breakthrough. By comparison, an LG Electronics OLED screen is about $15,000.

    USA Today reports Ken Park, a DisplaySearch analyst, as saying that less than 20,000 OLED screens will be shipped in 2013, but that number is expected to grow. And why not? Jim Willcox, a senior electronics editor for Consumer Reports, was quoted as saying that the image quality is higher than any comparable plasma TV, and “you get an unparalleled contrast range that makes images pop off the screen.”

  • Samsung Reportedly Slowing Development on OS Tizen

    Samsung Reportedly Slowing Development on OS Tizen

    Last year, Samsung teamed up with Intel and the Linux Foundation to develop Tizen, and open-source operating system for mobile devices. Tizen is one of a few new operating systems (including Firefox OS) to compete with Android for the non-iOS smartphone market. Now, it appears that Samsung may have softened on ditching Android in favor of Tizen.

    DigiTimes today reported that Samsung has “slowed down” its development of Tizen. The report’s unnamed “industry sources” stated that Samsung is purposely delaying the development of Tizen, possibly due to competition in the Android market. Samsung’s abandonment of Android could, the report’s sources say, open up the Android market for Samsung competitors such as HTC, LG, and Sony. Android is, by far, the most popular mobile OS in the world. Samsung could see the failure of platforms such as WebOS and BlackBerry 10 as warnings against pioneering new operating systems.

    Samsung earlier this month delayed the launch of its first Tizen smartphone. The delay was reportedly due to issues with the OS’s app store.

    Samsung CEO JK Shin last week praised Tizen, saying that the OS will be in more than just mobile devices. Samsung envisions Tizen powering user interfaces for cars, bank machines, and point-of-sale devices.

    (via DigiTimes)

  • Apple, Samsung Creating Mega-Tablets [RUMOR]

    Apple, Samsung Creating Mega-Tablets [RUMOR]

    As Apple tacitly acknowledged with the iPhone 5’s larger screen, consumers are craving the larger screens seen in high-end Android smartphones. At the same time, a large number of consumers seem to be more interested in smaller, less expensive 7-inch tablets, rather than the 9.7-inch iPad. Now Both Apple and Samsung are betting that there is a market for tablets even larger than the iPad.

    DigiTimes is reporting that both Samsung and Apple are preparing mega-tablets with 12-inch or larger screens. The report’s unnamed “sources from the upstream supply chain” believe the companies are looking to compete more directly with notebook computers.

    The report also predicts that Samsung will be “more aggressive” than Apple in developing larger tablets, as Apple still sells high-end MacBook products with smaller screens. Samsung will be able to expand its offerings to include tablets of all sizes.

    News of Apple and Samsung experimenting with larger tablet forms comes just as smartphones are rising in size to nearly the dimensions of small tablets. Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note III is expected to have a 5.7-inch screen, and Sony’s Xperia Z has a 6.4-inch screen.

    Though tablet shipments slowed during the second quarter of 2013, Android tablet shipments still managed to double from the previous year. Much of the increase in tablet sales comes in the mini-tablet product segment. New versions of Google’s Nexus 7 device and Amazon’s Kindle Fire lineup are expected to increase tablet shipments this fall.

    (via DigiTimes)

  • Android Almost Reaches 80 Percent Global Market Share In Q2

    Android Almost Reaches 80 Percent Global Market Share In Q2

    Android has been rather aggressive as of late in capturing smartphone market share that was previously held by Apple. It was a while ago that Android had surpassed iOS in global market share, but now it looks like it’s an unstoppable juggernaut.

    In its latest report, IDC shared total smartphone shipments from the second quarter of this year. Android came out way ahead of the competition with 187.4 million units shipped last quarter for 79.3 percent of the global market share. Apple’s iOS was in second place with 31.2 million units shipped for 13.2 percent of the global marketshare.

    As for the other guys, Windows Phone came in a respectable third place with 8.7 million units shipped for 3.7 percent of the global market share. BlackBerry OS brought up the rear with 6.8 million units shipped for 2.9 percent of the global market share.

    Android Almost Reaches 80 Percent Global Market Share In Q2

    So, what’s up with Apple? IDC argues that we’ll see iOS device shipments come back in force later this year when Apple launches the iPhone 5S:

    “The iOS decline in the second quarter aligns with the cyclicality of iPhone,” says Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple’s market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition. But with a new iPhone and revamped iOS coming out later this year, Apple is well-positioned to re-capture market share.”

    As for Android device manufacturers, IDC reports that Samsung reigns supreme with 73.3 million units shipped for 39.1 percent of the global Android market share in the second quarter. The closest competitor is LG with 12.1 million units shipped, and it can be assumed that most of those are Nexus 4 devices for Google. Chinese manufacturers like Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE round out the major players.

    IDC also took a look at Windows Phone shipments in the second quarter, and found that Nokia rules that particular roost. The Finnish phone manufacturer shipped 7.1 million Windows Phone devices last quarter for 81.6 percent of the global Windows Phone marketshare. The closest competitor was Samsung with only 1 million devices shipped.

    “Last quarter we witnessed Windows Phone shipments surpassing BlackBerry and the trend has continued into the second quarter,” said Ryan Reith, Program Manager with IDC’s Mobility Tracker Programs. “Nokia has clearly been the driving force behind the Windows Phone platform, and we expect that to continue. However, as more and more vendors enter the smartphone market using the Android platform, we expect Windows Phone to become a more attractive differentiator in this very competitive market segment.”

    In short, Android and iOS are still dominating the smartphone market and that’s not going to change anytime soon. What will change is how Windows Phone 8 fits into the market as it continues to mature into an attractive alternative option for those seeking something different.

  • Apple, Samsung Set to Dominate Smartphone Sales

    Apple, Samsung Set to Dominate Smartphone Sales

    For over one year, industry numbers have been showing that the smartphone market is quickly becoming a two-company race. Apple and Samsung have been taking market share quarter-by-quarter at the expense of companies such as HTC, Motorola, and BlackBerry. Now that the high-end smartphone market is becoming saturated in Western nations, at least one analyst predicts that Apple and Samsung will continue to dominate the industry for a long time to come.

    “The balance of power looks set to remain with Apple and Samsung for the foreseeable future,” said Nick Spencer, senior practice director at analyst firm ABI Research. “The course of the smartphone market is looking increasingly set as it enters a more mature stage on the current innovation curve. This is bad news for the players vying for the third ecosystem position.”

    ABI this week released a stark graph showing just how far ahead Samsung and Apple are. Though the image is not well labeled, it shows the number of mobile devices each manufacturer offers in a variety of price ranges. The pink portions show how many more of the highest-end smartphones Samsung and Apple offer over the competition. The height of Samsung’s offerings shows that it offers over double the number of mobile devices as any other manufacturer. This mirrors the Korean company’s recent shipment numbers, which show it far outpacing other manufacturers.

    ABI Graph

    “ABI Research’s Device Portal analysis showed that Samsung is dominating the sales channel at nearly every price point, with only Apple challenging Samsung at the high end of the market,” said Spencer. “This leaves little room for the other vendors to compete, especially the other Android vendors and those using uncompetitive operating system ecosystems. Despite some carrier’s efforts to create a more balanced smartphone device vendor industry with their use of subsidy, ultimately they are obliged to fulfill consumer demand and at the moment that means Samsung/Android and Apple.”

  • Samsung Prepares to Launch Android Flip-Phone

    Samsung Prepares to Launch Android Flip-Phone

    As the high-end smartphone market quickly becomes saturated in the U.S. and Europe, tech manufacturers are now looking to the mid-range and low-end smartphone markets for growth. Though most mid-priced smartphones have been scaled-back versions of high-end devices, Samsung is now looking years into the past for a new form-factor.

    A user manual for an clamshell-type Android flip-phone has been uncovered on Samsung’s website. The device would feature two 3.7-inch touch screens – one on the inside and one on the outside. It is also rumored to have a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 400 CPU.

    Samsung has already released a similar device in China. Its SCH-W2013 flip-phone was released in partnership with China Telecom and reportedly sold well.

    This week purported images of Samsung’s new flip-phone have leaked onto the web courtesy Clien.net. The device appears to have a physical keyboard similar to those seen in pre-iphone devices, such as the Motorola Razr.

    Samsung flip-phone

    (Images courtesy Clien.net)

    (via Engadget)

  • Galaxy Owners Now More Satisfied Than iPhone Owners, Shows Survey

    Galaxy Owners Now More Satisfied Than iPhone Owners, Shows Survey

    For years, iPhone owners have been the most satisfied smartphone owners. Apple‘s “it just works” design philosophy and brilliant marketing consistently put the company at the top of satisfaction surveys. Now, however, it seems that Apple’s monopoly on smartphone satisfaction is cracking.

    The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) today released the results of a new study on smartphone satisfaction. The study ranks the top-selling smartphones of the past year using a proprietary scoring system for customer satisfaction. Apple does not top the list.

    Samsung‘s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II smartphones have toppled the iPhone. Both received a ACSI score of 84. That’s two points higher than the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, which got scores of 82. The iPhone 4 follows just behind with an 81. Samsung smartphone owners were not as satisfied with the Galaxy S II, which scored only a 78 to put it at 7th place in the list.

    “Not only does Samsung edge ahead of all iPhones, Apple customers themselves don’t see much difference between the iPhone 4, 4S or 5,” said David VanAmburg, director of ACSI. “The latest earnings report from Apple was better than expected, but the name of the game for Apple has always been innovation. Samsung, on the other hand, shows a strong upward ACSI trend from the Galaxy S II to the Galaxy S III. If the S4 performs as well—or even better—in the eyes of customers, Samsung could threaten Apple’s dominance in overall customer satisfaction.”

    Motorola’s Droid Razr Maxx HD took 6th place with a score of 80, and the company’s Droid Razr came in 8th with a 77. Rounding out the top ten is BlackBerry, with its Curve and Bold devices scoring a 67 and 64, respectively.

  • Samsung Announces Dual Duplex-Mode Galaxy S4s

    Samsung Announces Dual Duplex-Mode Galaxy S4s

    As smartphone manufacturers look to China as the next large market for smartphone sales, Samsung this week announced what it claims is the first dual duplex-mode smartphone. The Korean Manufacturer will be releasing versions of the its Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 that are compatible with both TDD-LTE (Time Division Duplex) and FDD-LTE (Frequency Division Duplex) wireless modes. Samsung claims the devices will seamlessly switch between the LTE technologies.

    Most current LTE networks are based on the FDD-LTE channel access method, which uses different carrier frequencies for transmitters and receivers. TDD-LTE is a competing LTE channel access method that separates outbound and inbound signals, making it more ideal for crowded LTE networks. TDD-LTE is expected to gain adoption in the near future, particularly in the U.S. and China. In addition to consumers being able to switch between the LTE methods, Samsung envisions mobile providers using both TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE to manage data traffic on their networks.

    “Samsung continues to accelerate global LTE market deployment, addressing technical challenges faster than anyone else,” said JK Shin, co-CEO of Samsung. “With today’s TDD/FDD LTE seamless handover devices announcement, Samsung again demonstrates the company’s commitment to driving better, more convenient customer experiences. The first commercially available TDD/FDD seamless handover devices will allow customers to fully enjoy the benefits of fast mobile data communications no matter where they are.”

  • Hong Kong Man Claims Galaxy S4 Burnt His Apartment Down

    Hong Kong Man Claims Galaxy S4 Burnt His Apartment Down

    China has the worst luck with smartphones. One person is dead, and another seriously injured, after an iPhone delivered a deadly shock to both victims. Now a man’s apartment has burnt down thanks to his Galaxy S4.

    Xianguo reports that a Hong Kong man with the surname Du was playing a game on his Galaxy S4 when it allegedly exploded and caught fire in his hand. He immediately threw the phone onto his couch. Unfortunately, his couch proved highly flammable and the fire spread throughout his entire apartment. It even reportedly spread to his Mercedes parked outside.

    Now, the logical explanation for all of this is that Du was using a shoddy battery or charger on his Galaxy S4. He says that is not the case, and is adamant that he was using official Samsung parts at the time of the explosion. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prove this immediately as the phone and its parts were destroyed in the fire.

    As expected, Samsung isn’t going to let this go without an investigation though. The company announced that it will look into the matter to find if its parts were truly at fault. The Register notes that Samsung has dealt with allegations of exploding phones in the past, and usually finds that the person reporting the defective device was using third-party knock off components. Of course, that’s not always the case.

    The moral of this story is that you should always use official parts direct from Samsung or a certified dealer. The prevalence of cheap knock-offs isn’t as much of a problem in the U.S. as it is in countries like China, but it’s still something to watch out for. A good way to avoid cheap parts is realizing that they’re cheap for a reason.

    [h/t: The Register]

  • Mobile Shipments Are Still Growing, Says Analyst

    Mobile Shipments Are Still Growing, Says Analyst

    Earlier this week, analyst firm TrendForce estimated that smartphone shipments for the second quarter of 2013 were up 6.6% year-over-year. Today another analyst firm has chimed in with similar numbers and a stark look at how Samsung is beginning to dominate the market.

    IDC’s numbers show that 432.1 million total mobile phones were shipped during the second quarter of 2013, a 6% increase over the 407.7 million units shipped during the second quarter of 2012. Much of the markets growth was shown to come from smaller manufacturers, who are making inroads into emerging smartphone markets such as China, India, and Brazil.

    “The smartphone market is still a rising tide that’s lifting many ships,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst at IDC. “Though Samsung and Apple are the dominant players, the market is as fragmented as ever. There is ample opportunity for smartphone vendors with differentiated offerings.”

    Samsung, which released its new flagship Android smartphone the Galaxy S4 this quarter, now accounts for over 26%of the total mobile phone market and over 30% of the smartphone market. The Korean manufacturer shipped 72.4 million smartphone units during the quarter, a 43.9% increase over the second quarter of 2012.

    Apple, which had no new product launches during the past quarter, saw only a 20% increase in its shipments over the second quarter of 2012. The company’s share of the smartphone market dropped to 13.1% from 16.6% one year ago.

    LG was one of the big winners during the past quarter, shipping 11.3 million smartphones – a 108% increase from the 5.8 million it shipped during the second quarter 2012.

    Chinese manufacturers Lenovo and ZTE also saw huge shipment increases and market share gains. Lenovo in particular shipped 11.3 million smartphone units, a 130% increase from the second quarter of 2012.

    “Market opportunities exist at all levels, including the high end,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC. “While Samsung and Apple accounted for significant share of the overall market, they were not the only vendors active in the high end of the market, and recent device introductions and upcoming launches signal more vendors targeting this space. Comparisons will certainly be made to the flagship Galaxy and iPhone models, but clearly the competition refuses to be shut out altogether.”