Apple

Apple remains #1 smartphone maker in U.S.

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

If anyone needed confirmation, the U.S. smartphone market can be summed up in two words: Apple and Samsung. Those are the findings by measurement firm comScore, with Apple increasing its lead as the nation's top smartphone brand. The iPhone maker had 39.2 percent of the domestic market at the end of May, growing its share 0.3 points.

Samsung also improved on its February second-place showing, growing 1.7 percentage points to capture 23 percent of the American market. Meanwhile, Google's Android remains the No. 1 smartphone platform in the U.S., although Apple's iOS inched up during the three-month period which ended in May...

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Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 beats nine-month-old iPhone 5 in speed and battery life tests

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 28, 2013

Samsung's latest smartphone, the Galaxy S4, won top honors in a series of tests conducted by a UK-based consumer research organization called Which?. The organization found that Samsung's Galaxy S4 topped Apple's iPhone 5 and other competitors when it comes to speed, call time and Internet use.

Apple's nine-month-old handset led in just one test: time required to recharge...

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Japan’s top carrier thinks iPhone is no longer king of the hill

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 27, 2013

Remember the days of carriers acting like teenagers at a Justin Bieber concert when it came to the iPhone? That all-out adoration of Apple's flagship device is waning - especially in Japan. The country's largest wireless provider sees no hurry in offering the iPhone as Android alternatives grow in popularity.

In a Wall Street Journal interview today, a senior executive vice-president at NTT DoCoMo says things have changed. The question isn't how many customers the iPhone would attract, but how many customer would leave if the Apple device isn't sold...

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Apple: ITC ban has ‘much broader ramifications’ than iPhone 4 and iPad 2 sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 27, 2013

A limited import ban by the ITC on some Apple devices is under scrutiny and Apple believes the order could have far-reaching consequences, according to papers filed with reviewers. At issue is whether the courtroom win by Samsung may prompt other governments to limit imports of American made electronics and other goods.

In papers filed with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) - which can overturn ITC decisions - Apple argues that the limited ban on iPhone 4 and iPad 2 imports hinges on a Samsung patent the Korean company had declared standard essential...

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Judge denies adding Galaxy S4 to Apple suit

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 27, 2013

Apple's plan to add Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone to its second California suit has just hit a major roadblock as U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal just denied Apple's request on the ground that it would be a “a tax on the court’s resources”. A lawyer for Apple told the judge that excluding the Galaxy S4 “would require Apple to file a new lawsuit” because the Samsung products covered by the case will be out of date by trial next year, Bloomberg reported Thursday...

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In May, iPad recorded utter domination in web usage

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 26, 2013

Apple appears to have stemmed any loss of iPad usage online detected in April, roaring back to continue its utter domination of tablet web traffic in May. The iPad in May accounted for 82.4 percent of tablet web traffic within North America, according to the Chitika ad network. Amazon's Kindle Fire registering the next best at just 6.5 percent of North American tablet web traffic May 15 to May 21...

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India overtakes Japan as third biggest smartphone market

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 26, 2013

For years, the big three smartphone markets have been China, the U.S. and Japan. India now has knocked Japan out of the third spot due in part to better distribution and increased attention from Apple and Samsung, a research firm said Wednesday.

India has recently been in the spotlight as the two smartphone giants battle over the nation's growing interest in adopting the more powerful mobile phones. As a result, consumers are bombarded with an array of buying options, perhaps explaining why Strategy Analytics is reporting 163 percent smartphone growth in India, four times the global average...

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Is the party over for high-end smartphones?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Every company loves maximum profits. For years, Apple and Samsung have sold high-priced smartphones loaded with features that were eagerly snapped up by consumers in mature economies in North America and Europe. Now the two largest smartphone makers face a changing consumer profile where basic is best and inexpensive is in vogue.

Just days ago, research giant Gartner noted low-cost devices comprise the bulk of both firm's device sales, making questions of whether to sell 'cheap' handsets only a distant - and irrelevant - memory. Now comes fear from Wall Street that the salad days of smartphones are over for Apple and Samsung...

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IDC: in Europe, smartphones post lowest gains in nearly a decade

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Things are not looking good for smartphones over in Europe. Although first-quarter smartphone shipments rose twelve percent in Western Europe, the gains were the lowest since 2004, according to research firm IDC Tuesday. The sluggish increase, coupled with a 31 percent decrease in shipments of feature phones, pulled overall mobile phone ships down 4.2 percent annually across Western Europe.

Samsung held on to its overall lead in mobile phone shipments while increasing its lead over Apple in smartphone shipments. Despite a decline in shipments, Apple rose to second place overall in Western Europe, holding on to its No. 2 spot in smartphone shipments, the researcher announced...

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Japanese court confirms dismissal of Apple patent suit against Samsung

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 25, 2013

A Japanese court Tuesday denied an appeal by Apple over the iPhone maker's arguments Samsung infringed a patent. The Tokyo-based Intellectual High Court agreed with an earlier court ruling which found the South Korean firm had not infringed upon Apple's patent on syncing data with smartphones and tablets.

The appeal rejection comes just a week after another Tokyo court handed Apple a patent-infringement victory against Samsung. In that case, Apple used its separate "rubber band" patent to successfully claim earlier models of the Galaxy smartphone were at fault. Japan is one of the few markets where Apple leads its rival in both tablet and smartphone sales...

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