An report from IDC noted that phones are shipping faster than in previous years. About 406 million units shipped in Q2 2012—up from 401.8 million units in Q2 2011. Smartphone shipments also eyed a large year-over-year increase with a 42 percent gain. Samsung hit a new quarterly record after shipping 50 million phones in Q2, where as Apple shipped half as many iPhones during the same time. » Samsung Ships Twice As Many Phones As Apple In Q2
With Apple and Samsung’s jury trial slated to kick off in a federal district court in San Jose, Calif this Monday, AllThingsD points us to trial briefs where Samsung’s lawyers argue Apple’s inspiration for the original iPhone CAD drawings and designs were inspired by a Sony product. After the break you can find an article referenced to a 2006 interview with Sony designers that appeared in Businessweek.
After years of dominating the competitive mobile phone market, Nokia has been ousted as the world’s biggest mobile phone maker by Korean electronics giant, Samsung. In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung shipped around 93 million mobile phones, compared to Nokia’s 83 million. Samsung, which is also now the world’s biggest television and flat screen maker, recently announced its highest quarterly profit since 2008, a jump of 81% from last year. Strong sales growth is forecast in the coming months. Robert Yi, head of investor relations at Samsung, said: “We cautiously expect our earnings momentum to continue going forward, as competitiveness in our major businesses is enhanced.”
So how has Samsung seized the top spot from Nokia, which monopolised the mobile market for 14 years? The key may lie in savvy strategic vision and direction from the management. Both Kwon Oh-hyun, former head of the firm’s component business and now chief executive officer and former chief executive Choi Gee-sung, have been credited with shifting the company’s fortunes. » How Samsung Became The Biggest Name In Mobile Phones
The Galaxy S III brings a lot to the table, but definitely one of its biggest features, and one we were most eager to test out, is S Voice. You’re already familiar with the technology because you’ve probably seen Siri — how could you not? — which is Apple’s attempt at the voice assistant. The Galaxy S III’s tech works like you’d expect: speak to it, and it will do its best to fulfill your request. Stuff like, “What’s the weather like?” We asked both S Voice and Siri the same questions, and got similar results. Check out the Siri vs S Voice video after the break. » Apple Siri vs. Samsung S Voice
Asymco has released data on operating profits among the eight top mobile phone vendors for the first quarter of 2012. And “not surprisingly” you can see that 99% of the mobile phone market profits are made by Apple and Samsung. Infact last quarter 75% was taken by Apple which dropped slightly to 73% now and Samsung is growing fastest from 16% last quarter to 26% now. » Apple & Samsung Claim 99% of Profits Among Top Mobile Phone Vendors
Samsung just announced the Galaxy S III at the Unpacked event today in London, and it will be launched in Europe at the end of this month. Samsung is Apples biggest competitor in the Smartphone space. The Galaxy is upgraded with a 4.8-inch 720P SuperAMOLED display and weights 133 grams. Some interesting features are S Voice (which is like Siri), Scan and Match for Music (which is like iTunes Match) and Airplay-like “AllShare Cast” adapter for streaming your content to your HDTV. Check out the movie above to get an idea of the new Galaxy S III. » Samsung Announced Galaxy S III
Chris Eissens
