Samsung and Apple have fought over market share and patents, and they may soon start fighting over supply chains. Samsung traditionally built its products using internal supply lines, but as its devices became increasingly popular the company has been forced to seek outside help. Reuters reports that Samsung has reached out to some of Apple’s key supply chain partners about helping the company manufacture its products. With the two companies fighting for supply lines, Samsung’s presence could increase Apple’s cost and lead to component shortages that might disrupt Apple’s future products. More →
The Galaxy S4 is Samsung’s fastest-selling smartphone ever with shipments topping 6 million units in two weeks. Samsung co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun revealed on Friday that sales of the Galaxy S4 into channels will likely pass 10 million units next week, The Korea Times reported. The executive noted that it is selling much faster than the Galaxy S III, which took 50 days to reach the 10 million mark. The Galaxy S4 will hit the same milestone in less than a month. More →
Recent reports suggested Ultra HD TV might not flop after all, and their prospects will only be helped by an early round of price cuts. Preliminary analyses from industry watchers didn’t paint a promising picture for Ultra HD, but more recent reports say new higher-resolution 4K panels might account for as much as 20% of all flat TV displays shipped this year. Now, a new report from Digitimes points out that Ultra HD TVs already saw deep price cuts in China for the holidays. Some models apparently saw price drops so huge that they matched the pricing of comparable 1080p TVs. Digitimes’ sources say suppliers are expected to ship between 3.5 million and 4 million 4K TV displays in 2013.
A new report suggests that prepaid smartphones are becoming more popular among consumers. According to research from NPD Group, 32% of all smartphones sold in the first quarter were prepaid devices, up from 21% during the same period in 2012. Samsung was found to be the most popular vendor of prepaid smartphones, accounting for 32% of sales in the first quarter. Handsets from LG made up 22%, Huawei 11%, and Apple and HTC tied at 8%. Prepaid iPhone sales were found to have increased fourfold in Q1 though, while sales of LG smartphones doubled year-over-year. More →
Samsung’s marketing Death Star isn’t just hovering over the United States — it has designs on conquering the entire world. Per Barron’s, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry thinks that Apple may have a tougher time in India than other markets because BlackBerry and especially Samsung have already blanketed the country with ads touting their smartphones as elite products that consumers simply see as less expensive versions of the iPhone. Because of this, he says that the companies have created ”an environment where they tend to mentally enslave the consumer to buy their products.” Chowdhry says this is particularly true of Samsung, which he says airs TV ads once every 15 minutes in India.
One of the more prominent criticisms of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is that its preloaded apps clog up a lot of the device’s internal storage, to the point where only about half of the 16GB model’s storage space is actually available for use. A Samsung spokesperson now tells The Inquirer that the company is “reviewing the possibility to secure more memory space through further software optimisation” and “is committed to listening to our customers and responding to their needs as part of our innovation process.” All the same, it’s hard to imagine Samsung freeing up significant amounts of space on the Galaxy S4 since the company sees its own unique apps and services as a key part of differentiating the device from other high-end smartphones.
Earlier reports suggested Samsung might finally ditch its flimsy-feeling plastic for better build quality on its upcoming Galaxy Note III, but a new report suggests those plans have been scrapped. SamMobile says that while Samsung tested Note III designs that included a metal case and even a flexible plastic display, it ended up choosing a design that takes most of its queues from the new Galaxy S4. As such, we can expect a plastic case and a similar shape, though the report notes that the new phablet will also feature a smaller bezel around the display just like the Galaxy S4. Despite the phone’s rumored 6-inch display, it may still be manageable as a result. Samsung’s Galaxy Note III is expected to launch this fall.
Is the mobile industry headed for a duopoly where Apple and Samsung are the only two companies that matter? Breakdowns of smartphone industry profits sure make it look that way and now Barron’s points us to a new survey conducted by MKM Partners showing that the two companies’ grip on the smartphone market has only strengthened over the past several months. The survey, which measures smartphone buying intentions for just over 1,000 American consumers, found that 30% of likely smartphone buyers planned to buy an iPhone while 28% said they planned to buy a Samsung device for their next smartphone. More →
Google’s action-packed Google I/O keynote now may include one less surprise. As details of Google’s big announcements continue to leak, Geek reports that one device set to debut on stage at I/O is a brand new version of Samsung’s popular Galaxy S4. The “Galaxy S4 Google Edition” will reportedly be a Pure Google version of Samsung’s flagship smartphone. According to the report, it will run stock Android (perhaps version 4.3, which is rumored to be unveiled at the show as well) and it will launch in June with support for T-Mobile’s network. More →
Want to know why Google is nervous about Samsung’s dominance of the Android ecosystem? Look no further than new research from Strategy Analytics showing that the company accounted for 95% of all Android operating profits in the first quarter of 2013. The research firm says that this is a record high for Samsung and shows that rival Android manufacturers are increasingly finding it difficult to make any money off the platform. Although Strategy Analytics’ new research is certainly striking, it isn’t all that surprising given that other data has shown that Apple and Samsung together account for all the smartphone industry’s profits while all other smartphone vendors find themselves lucky to simply escape the red in any given quarter.
It was all but certain even before Samsung launched the Galaxy S4, but now it appears to be official: the Galaxy S4 is Samsung’s fastest-selling smartphone ever. Korea-based paper The Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday quoted an unnamed Samsung executive who shed some light on the blistering pace of Samsung’s S4 channel sales. In just five days following the smartphone’s launch, Samsung apparently sold 4 million units into channels. For comparison, the first Galaxy S line took 85 days for shipments to reach 4 million handsets, the Galaxy S II took 55 days and the Galaxy S III took 21 days. Through May 10th, two weeks after the Galaxy S4 began shipping, the anonymous executive said channel sales reached 6 million units. He also believes Samsung is on track to sell 10 million Galaxy S4 phones into channels by the end of May, which would be on par with analysts’ expectations.
Sharp needs help. The consumer electronics company on Tuesday posted a worse-than-expected $5.4 billion loss for the previous fiscal year, and it released its plan to turn things around over the coming three years. For one thing, the company intends to tap banks for $1.5 billion in funds. Sharp also said it will look to boost smartphone display sales to Samsung as business with its top client Apple begins to slow. More →
