The world’s top smartphone vendor by sales volume is also the top vendor in China, the biggest smartphone market on the planet. Recently published data from market research firm IDC suggests that Samsung accounted for 19% of all smartphones shipped in China during the first quarter this year. Meanwhile, Apple’s smartphone market share of 9% was good for the No.5 spot in the country, though it managed impressive growth as shipments of the company’s iPhone 4 grew 211% year-over-year. The data aligns with an earlier report from rival firm Strategy Analytics. Overall, IDC says Q1 smartphone shipments in China reached 78 million units, up 117% from the same quarter in 2012.
It’s hard to believe, but Samsung doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of HTC and release a Facebook-centric “Galaxy First.” The Korea Herald reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg broached the subject of creating a “Facebook-friendly” smartphone with Samsung during his meeting with the company on Tuesday and was promptly rejected. Given that the Facebook-centric HTC First has been one of the biggest duds of the year so far, it’s not surprising that Samsung has little interest in going along with Zuckerberg’s plans. One of The Korea Herald’s sources also notes that Samsung doesn’t particularly want to help Facebook in its quest to become the next Google since it doesn’t want to contend with any additional rivals in the mobile world.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Samsung president Shin Jong Kyun this week to discuss a potential partnership, Bloomberg reported. Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, is interested in working with Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone vendor, to help boost its mobile advertising sales. The two companies are also said to have spoken about investing in technology startups. Facebook previously partnered with HTC on the HTC First, a smartphone that was skinned with Facebook’s custom Home software. Facebook Home was largely panned by critics and the HTC First flopped on the market. BGR exclusively reported last month that AT&T was preparing to discontinue the HTC First after only a month on the market.
Industry watchers began talking about an imminent slow-down in the high-end smartphone market back in 2011, but 2012 was still a huge year for pricy smartphones with cutting-edge specs. According to market research firm Berg Insight, sales of high-end smartphones from the likes of Apple and Samsung with retail prices above €400 before subsidies grew to 250 million units in 2012, up from 150 million in 2011. Of those, Berg says 40 million smartphones were flagship phones powered by cutting-edge quad-core processors. More →
Smartphone vendors are under increased pressure to implement anti-theft solutions that will help make smartphones a less appealing target for thieves. According to a recent report from Korean-language MK, Samsung may already be working on a smartphone “kill switch” that it plans to roll out as soon as next month. The feature will reportedly allow Samsung or its carrier partners to remotely lock, wipe or completely disable smartphones that have been reported lost or stolen by their owners.Once disabled, stolen phones would be rendered completely useless and would not operate even when new SIM cards are installed.
With news that Samsung plans on releasing yet another version of the Galaxy S4, it’s a good time to take a look at a new chart produced by U.K. consumer electronics research website Which? that shows us just how many different sizes of Galaxy devices the company has released over the past couple of years. The chart, pictured below, shows that Samsung has a total of 26 different sizes for its Galaxy-branded smartphones and tablets, ranging from the 3-inch Galaxy Y to the 10.1-inch Galaxy Note 10.1. More →
It hasn’t taken long for Wall Street’s earlier irrational exuberance over Samsung’s prospects to turn into pessimistic doomsaying. Reuters reports that many formerly bullish analysts are openly admitting that they were caught up in the hype surrounding the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S4, which caused them to overrate the company’s future earnings potential. Now they’re estimating Galaxy S4 sales will miss expectations by as much as 30% and are hitting Samsung with downgrades that have been hammering the company’s share price. More →
Samsung is getting ready to unveil yet another version of the popular Galaxy S4 smartphone. Beyond the original model, Samsung has also announced the Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S4 Active, Galaxy S4 Zoom and Galaxy S4 Google Edition, and now Samsung co-CEO JK Shin has told Reuters that the company is getting ready to release a new model that will include compatibility with LTE-Advanced networks, which will be able to deliver data speeds at least twice as fast as most current LTE networks. “As operators seek to provide more data-centric mobile services, I think this will become mainstream 4G technology globally in the coming years,” Shine said. The new Galaxy S4 variant will be the first smartphone in the world to be compatible with LTE-A, though the technology is not supported by any live LTE networks in the U.S. for the time being.
Although sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 got off to a blisteringly fast start, many reports have suggested that sales of the device have started to noticeably slow in recent weeks. And now Digitimes‘ supply chain sources claim that Samsung has started cutting back component orders for the Galaxy S4 due to “a slowdown in demand” for the device. This doesn’t mean the Galaxy S4 is selling poorly, of course, since Samsung is still ordering enough parts to sell up to 45 million units of its flagship phone over the next two quarters. But as more of the action moves away from high-end devices such as the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 and toward more low-cost devices in emerging markets, Samsung has had to adjust its expectations.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office plans to issue a reexamination certificate confirming four of Apple’s claims regarding its rubber-band patent, according to FOSS Patents. The patent is one of Apple’s most famous technologies and relates to the bouncing effect in iOS when a user reaches the end of a page while scrolling. One of the claims validated by the USPTO, claim 19, was successfully used by Apple in its $1 billion victory over Samsung. The South Korea-based smartphone maker had previously attempted to invalidate the patent, however it failed to convince the patent office to uphold the ruling. The USPTO’s recent decision has been called a “huge win” for Apple.
Apple may want to ditch Samsung, but it’s had a tough time so far finding another component supplier that’s capable of delivering the consistent quality and scale that it needs for its hugely popular mobile devices. Because of this, Korea’s ETNews reports, Apple will likely turn to Samsung to supply LCD displays for its upcoming Retina-equipped iPad mini that’s slated to launch by the end of the year. This is particularly interesting because we heard rumors last year that Apple’s feud with Samsung was one of the major reasons why it faced shortages for its first-generation iPad mini, which manufacturers reportedly had trouble mass producing at first because its thinner side bezels made it trickier to manufacture than traditional iPads.
Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone might feel much cheaper than high-end handsets from Samsung’s rivals, but that doesn’t mean the phone is actually made from cheap materials. In a new stress test video released by Samsung this week, the South Korea-based vendor shows us just how durable its Galaxy S4 really is. Tests include dunking the phone in water, a number of drop tests, tumble tests, dropping a metal weight on the glass face of the phone and even baking it in an oven. Don’t be fooled by the phone’s plasticky feel — the Galaxy S4 takes all of this abuse in stride and keeps on ticking. Samsung’s full video follows below. More →
