Samsung

Is Samsung copying Apple’s paranoid secrecy?

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 15, 2013

First, South Korean smartphone maker Samsung tries to steal Apple's coolness, now the company is trying to mimic the California firm's penchant for secrecy. Samsung reportedly is now asking suppliers to sign non-disclosure agreements with penalties of up to $1 billion (you read that right).

The push for an NDA comes as Samsung Electronics is reportedly developing a next-generation Galaxy smartphone. At the heart of the secrecy agreements is preventing disclosure of product information, which has become an industry all of its own as Apple and its rivals alternately build hype while suppliers leak product details...

Samsung to preempt the iPhone 5S with the Galaxy S IV rocking a full HD display

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

South Korea-based Samsung through its subsidiary Samsung Electronics is expected to update the flagship Galaxy S III smartphone in the first quarter of this year. The Galaxy S IV successor is expected to make much noise ahead of Apple's next iPhone release, especially with its full HD 1080p five-inch display and powerful innards thought to run Samsung's new quad-core system-on-a-chip.

And if you consult Samsung's latest AMOLED release schedule, the first device incorporating the firm's full HD mobile display is coming in the first quarter of 2013...

Microsoft (barely) sells a million Surface units

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 14, 2013

If you're Microsoft, January can't end too soon. The company's Surface RT is taking a battering from the iPad, selling one million of the tablets during the holidays. According to one Wall Street observer, the consumer-oriented tablet has two strikes against it: being compared to Apple's product and too little retail exposure.

The one million figure is less than half of the two million units previously forecast by UBS analyst Brent Thill. In December, IHS iSuppli projected Microsoft would sell just 1.3 million units of the Surface RT...

Samsung Galaxy S device sales surpass 100M mark

Cody Lee ∙ January 14, 2013

Hot on the heels of reports that Apple has had to cut iPhone 5 part orders due to weaker-than-expected demand, Samsung has announced that its handset sales are still flourishing.

It appears that the Korean company's popular line of Galaxy S smartphones has recently reached a major milestone, crossing the 100 million unit mark in less than three years...

Judge green-lights Kodak patent sale to Apple-Google consortium

Cody Lee ∙ January 11, 2013

Last year, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and came up with a plan to sell off its collection of imaging patents to pay off its debts. It wanted more than $2 billion for the IP, but ended up settling on a $525 million offer from a consortium of companies led by Apple and Google. And today, Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper has green-lighted the deal...

Samsung launching new gizmos on February 21

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 10, 2013

Samsung, the South Korea-based conglomerate and the world's top cell phone and smartphone maker by volume, has new consumer electronics products in the wings that it will show off to the masses at a launch event on February 21, 2013. President of Samsung Electronics’ consumer electronics division Yoon Bu-geun made the announcement during Samsung's presser yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

A variety of new products will be discussed at the presser. According to Zoon, Samsung is focused on strengthening its premium product line, which probably means one thing: new Galaxy smartphones and tablets to take on its chief rival Apple...

Samsung looks to China as Apple cuts chip orders

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Samsung is preparing for the day Apple - its rival and largest customer - stops placing orders with the South Korean corporation. Ahead of a CES keynote speech, a Samsung executive said it is looking to court Chinese smartphone makers which use the company's own Exynos-branded chips.

After a string of contentious court battles, Apple is planning to untangle itself from Samsung, finding new suppliers. Although Apple is expected to spend $80 billion with Samsung for everything from CPUs, flash memory and flat screens, the paycheck could shrink 80 percent by 2017, according to a Wall Street analysis...

iPad Inc: Apple tablet earns more than McDonalds on Fortune 500

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Has all the gloom-and-doom talk about the iPhone and iPad gotten you down? Are you worried Apple's three-year-old tablet is a bit long in the tooth - especially against Samsung and other Android devices? Well, turn that frown upside down. The iPad isn't going away. Indeed, one analyst says iPad sales are bigger than McDonald's, Nike and many other Fortune 500 companies. In 2012, iPad sales reaped $32 billion, amounting to 60 percent of tablets sold. If the iPad was a company, it would be eleventh largest tech firm in the United States, says Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi.

We won't see a repeat of that in 2013, however. No, the iPad is expected to rake in an astounding $46 billion and grow 75 percent...

Samsung delays Galaxy tablet suits with iPad invalidation claims in Spain

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 8, 2013

In an effort to minimize the impact of last year's ruling by a Dusseldorf court which issued an EU-wide ban on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet over Apple's design patents pertaining to the iPad, Samsung thinks it's found a nice way to weasel its way out of this mess. And

Samsung's answer to this is simple, really: instead of fighting Apple's re-asserted claim that its Galaxy tablets "slavishly" copy the iPad, Samsung figured it could delay the lawsuits in Germany by filing an invalidity bid in in another country, Spain. As a result, the German suits over the design of the products are scheduled to be put on hold until the process in Spain is completed. If all venues are used, the process can take as long as four years...

Consumer Reports places iPhone 5 among the worst of top smartphones

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Consumer reports is an American Magazine (and web resource) that has been bringing its readers reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services for nearly 80 years now. So needless to say, their opinions are highly regarded but many.

But I know a few iPhone 5 owners that aren't going to agree with its latest report regarding flagship smartphones. In its February 2013 issue, the magazine ranks Apple's handset as one of the worst high-end devices available on the larger US carriers...

Can mini iPhone boost Apple past Samsung?

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 4, 2013

It's a new year, but talk of Apple's need to produce an inexpensive smartphone is back. This time there is a name for the device: the iPhone mini. Friday, an analyst forecast the company could unveil a cheap iPhone in 2014 to combat Samsung's handset lead in the face of the high-end smartphone market "nearing saturation". To break out of its #2 position, Apple must follow Samsung's success of marketing to many different groups of consumers.

That's at least the main line of reasoning by analyst Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. To date, Apple has only subsidized iPhones that sell with a contract, in addition to the expensive contract-free offering and the somewhat discounted previous versions of the smartphone. Sooner than later, the company will need to recognize the untapped segment of inexpensive prepaid handsets, an area that could boost it beyond its chief rival...

Apple passes LG for second U.S. spot as iOS-Android duopoly tops 90%

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 3, 2013

Lots of interesting data points to chew on in the latest comScore survey pertaining to cell phone sales in the United States during a three-month period ending November 2012. According to data, having knocked LG out of the position it held, Apple rose to become the second cell phone maker in the United States, despite only making smartphones.

Furthermore, nearly one out of each five mobile phone owners in the country is now using an iPhone. Looking just at smartphones, more than one in three U.S. subscribers now own a 'boring' iPhone. And as Apple and Samsung remain the only two smartphone vendors seeing growth in the U.S., no wonder iOS and Android now hold 90 percent of the country's market for smartphones. Talk about duopoly!