The phone is called the Samsung Z3 because it offers “a significant jump from the earlier Samsung Z1 in terms of specifications,” according to Asim Warsi, a vice president for Samsung’s India mobile business.
Oh, my.
Thursday Assorted Links
1. Samsung Galaxy S7 to have versions with curved and flat displays I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens. Usually, when Samsung sees a fork in the road, they take it.
2. Xiaomi fast expanding ecosystem raises concerns, say sources Concerns about Xiaomi, that is. Jingyue Hsiao, Monica Chen, and Steve Shen, for DigiTimes:
Market watchers have become more conservative about Xiaomi’s development potential because the vendor will constantly need more funds and resources for tapping new markets or product segments, commented the sources.
3. Pebble Is Trying to Run Circles Around Apple
4. The gen-two Moto 360—a beautiful, compact design without much new tech Ron Amadeo, for Ars Technica:
It doesn’t move the needle much, but design is what really matters in wearables.
5. Bosch invents new electric car battery to double mileage Always take claims of battery advances with two grains of salt, but FYI.
Monday Assorted Links
1. Following Apple’s Lead, Samsung Plans Its Own Phone Leasing Program, Cutting Out Carriers
2. Quick Charge 3.0 explained: what you need to know. Nice overview.
3. Sprint confirms report that it will sell the Apple Watch from Sep 25, other carriers likely
4. Volkswagen’s Cheating Scandal Is Costing Them Bourree Lam, for The Atlantic:
The potential fine is quite large, but that’s not the only thing of the ordinary about this recall: Volkswagen deceived not just regulators, but customers too—many of whom bought these vehicles precisely because they wanted clean diesel cars.
5. First driverless pods to travel public roads arrive in the Netherlands
Friday Assorted Links
1. Apple Acquires Mapsense, a Mapping Visualization Startup
2. Samsung to mass produce transparent displays for home electronics products
Samsung is also prepping to display new products at CES 2016 that include devices with transparent displays, the reports noted.
3. MediaTek chipsets power new Amazon devices
4. Vehicles may contain as many as 10 cameras when the age of self-driving cars arrive (Thanks to Vladimir Koifman, who linked to this on Image Sensor World.)
5. Tesla signs another deal with a company developing a lithium mine
Samsung Foldable Smartphone Chatter
As some of you might recall, back in March, a Samsung Display official was quoted saying that “the commercialization of foldable smartphones will be possible in 2016”. A couple of months or so later, the guys over at SamMobile revealed that Samsung is working on a new prototype codenamed “Project Valley” or “Project V”, with a unique design and a foldable dual screen. […]
According to a leakster with in-depth knowledge regarding Samsung’s plans and the industry, in general, Samsung might unveil the fabled Project Valley foldable smartphone next January. The handset is allegedly undergoing testing […].
There’s a saying in the military: “early reports are often wrong”. 10x if you don’t know the source. But, it’s interesting to monitor the chatter on this. If Samsung does unveil a device, it could range from a demo (to show off Samsung Display’s latest capability) to a high-tier product. Generally, as the mobile industry looks to advance smartphones beyond glass rectangles, this looks to be one of the most promising directions. It if works well, at a reasonable price, it helps alleviate the standing tension between display size and pocket-ability. And it makes a broader range of proportions and products possible. Apple has shown some interest, too.
The Secret to Apple’s Success: Steady Improvement
Charles Arthur, for The International Business Times:
Apple’s strategy: parsimoniously dole out useful features to keep people on an upgrade staircase that never quite ends by always having something a little better around the corner. Or quite a lot better […]. […]
A few months ago, I mapped the hardware and software features Samsung has added over the generations to its Galaxy S line, from the original through the S2, S3 and so on. My expectation was of a gradually rising list; instead I found regression. The most obvious is the waterproofing, removable battery and swappable SD card that the S5 offered, and the S6 has forgone. […]
By contrast, I cannot find a single example of a hardware or integrated feature Apple has removed in the iPhone’s history.
I would have said “incrementally”, rather than “parsimoniously”, but I agree with the broader point: Apple keeps moving forward, steadily. Samsung, less so. (See this related post about Samsung, highlighting some of its performance issues.)
Premium Android Hits the Wall: the Q2 2015 Smartphone Scorecard
Charles Arthur, whose column appears in The Guardian, crafts an insightful quarterly smartphone scorecard. Below is the latest installment, published on his site, The Overspill. It’s an eye-opening read, and below I’ve pulled out my favorite sentences.
Premium Android and the piranhas
“Premium” Android is getting torn apart, piranha-style. Cheaper phones from Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, and Oppo are taking away their high-end Chinese business. Slowdowns in developing countries (notably south America) are killing sales there.
And in the west, there isn’t the same appetite for continued upgrades that there was; people are upgraded out. […]
The peculiar thing is that Samsung is throwing everything it has at the premium end. You can now choose (depending on location) from the following:
- Galaxy S6
- Galaxy S6 Edge
- Galaxy S6 Edge Plus
- Galaxy Note 5
and that’s just this year’s models. […]
The iPhone, meanwhile, pulls people in and generally keeps them there too. […]
The point of no return?
I don’t think the crash in premium Android sales is a one-off. The competition from low- and mid-priced devices is fierce now, and yet these companies don’t seem to be putting any clear blue water between them; they’re not offering anything better than they did a year ago. […]
More than ever, the smartphone business is turning into one where only two companies make money from handsets – and increasingly, only one gets the top-end business. For the rest, they need something new to come along that they can get into and make some profit.
Spot on.
Tuesday Assorted Links
1. Samsung Takes Smartwatch Fight to Apple Considering that there’s no release date, price, or launch market specified, I think this headline is 2X the overstatement that it would be anyway. It runs Tizen, by the way. A variant will have a 3G modem. In terms of the modem and call functionality, I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing how that performs and what consumers think.
2. ‘It’s time’: Lenovo sends out invites for a Moto 360 2 unveiling on September 8th
3. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 uses machine learning to fight malware
Instead of relying on a static list of threats to protect you, it’ll actually watch out for suspicious app behavior. […]
“Snapdragon Smart Protect is engineered to look at the actual behavior of device applications in real time and almost instantly detect and classify any application behavior that is considered suspicious or anomalous,” Qualcomm wrote in a blog post. “Suspicious applications are classified into severity levels of malware […].
4. Apple partners with Cisco to boost enterprise business I get uneasy when I read things like this. There’s no meaningful consumer problem to solve here. And for Apple, what’s the worst down-side to *not* doing this? To me, it means X fewer people working on new products or helping existing customers have a meaningfully better experience.
One big problem, Messrs. Cook and Chambers said, is ensuring employees get adequate networking performance in the workplace. Apple and Cisco said they aim to establish a “fast lane” for iOS devices in the corporate world, prioritizing wireless and Web connections so critical business applications aren’t compromised by a streaming cat videos and other nonbusiness fare.
5. Xiaomi said to release notebook in 2016 with help from Inventec and Foxconn Will it use Windows? First Windows device of more to come?
IDC: Apple Sold 3.6M Apple Watches in 2Q 2015; #2 in Wearable Shipments
IDC estimates for wearable shipments in 2Q 2015:
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, August 27, 2015
Note that this is analogous to showing Apple’s share of the overall handset market (i.e., not just smartphones); Apple doesn’t sell the most handsets, either. But what really matters is profit share. If IDC or any analyst firm estimated operating profit from wearables, Apple would be in first place. And it’s just getting started, in terms of distributing Apple Watch and, more importantly, in terms of capitalizing on Apple Watch’s hardware and software platforms (you may need to scroll down a bit).
Wednesday Assorted Links
1. Samsung Pay and Apple Pay Are Only Fighting Over 20 Percent of the Smartphone Market Perhaps… but it’s a 20% that likely has ~80% of the most valuable consumers. And it won’t stay 20% for long. Being there first, with a better solution, matters. And, as @eric_analytics points out on Twitter, Apple Pay vs. Google Wallet would have been a better comparison.
2. Qualcomm still supplies modem chips for next iPhone, sources claim
The sources believe that Intel is unlikely to obtain modem chip orders for the upcoming iPhones. However, Intel could win orders for the 2017 iPhone models as Apple is searching for additional modem chip suppliers apart from Qualcomm, the sources noted.
Sparks the question: would an Intel baseband processor appear on the iPhone, Apple’s current core business, before it appears on any other product (e.g., iPad)?
3. Xiaomi Bakes Opera’s Data Compression Tech Into Newest Version Of MIUI Android
4. Apple Working on Large Glass Something or Other, Says Global Equities
- A device which is 27″ to 50″ Curved Glass somewhat resembling a car windshield or a curved display
- The whole surface area acts like an HUD (Heads Up Display)
- The various sensors are built right into the Glass
Impossible to tell how accurate this is, but it is interesting. Dimensions (if accurate) don’t appear large enough for a car windshield. Unless it’s a small prototype. This sort of glass assembly is probably something Apple can’t build in-house (i.e., for a prototype). So, with a supplier involved, the odds of a leak are higher. “Leak” isn’t quite the right word, though, since it implies a certainty that this information is accurate.
Samsung Launches the Galaxy Note 5 Early
Samsung announced its Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ yesterday. They’ll be available in the US on August 21, about 1.5 months earlier than the Galaxy Note 4 debut in 2014. Why the shift in timing? Samsung’s intent is to attract consumers before Apple announces its next iPhones. I wrote a little piece on that last month, titled Samsung Adjusts its “Pre-Empt and Out-Size” Launch Tempo. It’s not too long, but if you just want a conclusion, here’s mine:
Will it make a meaningful difference? Perhaps, in a small way. I’m sure Samsung’s done the math; looked at when consumers in the US and other markets are most likely to upgrade their handsets. The August timing might align with that. And, as the smartphone market saturates, many of the late adopters aren’t loyal to particular brand, including Apple. So, an earlier Note launch might attract some of these consumers. But, fundamentally, this is a tactic; it doesn’t change the drivers of Apple’s or Samsung’s fortunes. Apple has excellent hardware and software, and an excellent ecosystem. Samsung just has really good hardware. That’s why Apple is number one in profit, and Samsung is number two. This move won’t change the overall situation.
Do We Need New Designs for Mobile Devices?
Several interesting bits today, loosely related to new form factors. Most of them evoke a need, rather than a solution, but they’re still interesting.
[With the Galaxy S6 Edge display] Samsung discovered a latent appetite for new, interesting mobile designs, even ones without a lot of practical value. Samsung Has Two Big New Phones, and Even Bigger Ideas (David Pierce; Wired)
The mobile phone in general and the smartphone in particular are designed to be carried first, and spoken into second. […] They’ve fallen out of favor because using the telephone feels mechanically ungainly as much as socially so. Don’t Hate the Phone Call, Hate the Phone (Ian Bogost; The Atlantic)
Language like “interface-free” and “invisible UI” point up just how stuck we are on the idea of VISUAL interfaces. (Josh Clark, @bigmediumjosh; Twitter)
Beyond the antenna designed for a smartphone, Apple notes that the design could also relate to Apple Watch, a MacBook an iMac, an iPad, iPod, gaming device or health monitoring device, and so on. Apple Designs Advanced Wireless Antenna with Unique Sapphire Structure for Killer iPhone Form Factor & Beyond (Jack Purcher; Patently Apple)
That second snippet sounds a bit obvious, in that everything needs to be carried before it’s used. More broadly, though, it prompts ideas about other form factors, including wearables.
Monday Assorted Links
1. On recent rumors of an Apple MVNO: two thoughts, from John Gruber and Jean-Louis Gassée, sum up the reality perfectly, in my view:
Apple is a partner with all the carriers around the world that support iPhone. They can’t compete against them while partnering with them. (link to Gruber’s post)
“[Apple’s] one and only goal is selling devices. Everything else is in support of that goal. Would [an Apple wireless carrier] sell twice as many iPhones? Probably not.” (link to Gassée’s post)
2. Samsung Invents another Round of Concepts for future Smartphones with Multiple Displays. Exciting. Glad to see someone tackling this problem. This is one of many patents Samsung has filed. The specifics of this one don’t matter as much as the notion that Samsung (and others) are working to make this a reality. Someday.
3. Xiaomi ties up with Taiwan’s Foxconn to assemble smartphones in India. This aligns with Xiaomi’s focus on cost reduction (because it sells at razor thin gross margins) and helps it pursue the hearts and minds of consumers.
4. HTC stored user fingerprints as image file in unencrypted folder. Lovely. Reminds me of one of the six reasons I’ve used an iPhone since the 3GS: industrial design, ease of use, camera, apps, software updates, and … security.
6. Back to the future: Nokia prepares for mobile comeback. Increase in hiring / activity, in preparation for 2016/17 brand-licensing comeback.
6. Graava is a new action camera that does the editing for you. Watch the two minute video. I like the idea of it. I don’t need the actual product, though. Will we ever see something comparable in a smartphone? It reminds me of HTC’s “Zoes”.
Samsung Unveils the First Monitor that can Wirelessly Charge Your Phone
Emil Protalinski, for VentureBeat:
Samsung today unveiled the SE370, claiming it’s the first monitor with an integrated wireless charging function for mobile devices. […]
Here’s Samsung’s pitch: The SE370 “declutters work areas by doing away with unnecessary cables and ports needed to charge mobile devices.” More specifically, the monitor works with all mobile devices that use the Qi wireless charging standard. […]
Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t provide timing or pricing for the SE370. Chances are it will be available before year end though, and hopefully won’t cost more than your actual desktop computer.
I like the idea.
Apple, Samsung in Talks with Telecom Groups to Launch e-SIM Card
Daniel Thomas and Tim Bradshaw, for the Financial Times:
Last year, Apple revealed its own Sim card for its latest iPads. However, it was supported by only a handful of operators such as T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, and just EE in the UK. Those familiar with its UK rollout said that it had not been widely adopted.
The electronic Sim is not expected to replace the Apple Sim, a piece of plastic that fits into a device and could be included in the next generation of iPhones.
e-SIMs in phones? Sure. So that you don’t have to swap SIMs? Okay. So that you can dynamically change between carriers? Maybe. But there’s a more interesting thing to think about.
What device is so space-constrained that, today, carrying a SIM card is prohibitive? Keep a watch out.
And if a device has a SIM card, what else does it need to make use of it? Please radio it in, when you find out. More (but not very much) on all this at a later date.