Year of the Goat: 11 Chinese smartphone brands to watch

Year of the Goat: 11 Chinese smartphone brands to watch:

2014 has been a wonderful year for the ever-competitive Chinese smartphone market. We saw the birth of new brands, the record of world's thinnest phone broken three times, and a couple of companies entering India with great reception (although not wi...

Ericsson Is Suing to Block Sales of iPhones in the U.S.

Ericsson Is Suing to Block Sales of iPhones in the U.S.:

Ericsson has announced that it's filing seven new lawsuits in a U.S. court against Apple for infringing its patents—and it's asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to block iPhones from sale, too.

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INSANE: Apple makes nearly eight times as much money as all Android vendors combined

INSANE: Apple makes nearly eight times as much money as all Android vendors combined:

A new report from Strategy Analytics sheds further light on the state of the smartphone business in the fourth quarter last year, confirming once again the profound effect the iPhone 6 had on the industry. The analytics company revealed that during Q4 2014, Android only managed to capture 11% of the global smartphone profit share, a record-low for Google’s ecosystem, while Apple took home a record-high 89% of all smartphone profits.

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Did you know: first cell phone went on sale in the United States in 1983

Did you know: first cell phone went on sale in the United States in 1983:

Cell phones! It seems that they have always been around, but a quick look back in time and you’d see that just 30 years or so ago, there were practically no mobile phones in use. How did people even get in touch back then?



Come to think about it, there is a reason why there are still thousands of phone booths across the United States, and back then it cost just a few pennies to make a phone call, so it was not impossible to make a call when you really needed it.

Car phones have also been around since around the mid-1940’s, but those were reserved for the more wealthy ...

Samsung Mobile to freeze the salaries of its employees, blame the plummeting profits

Samsung Mobile to freeze the salaries of its employees, blame the plummeting profits:

With retail profits slipping away for a third consecutive quarter, Samsung is reportedly trying to cut down losses by freezing the salaries of its employees in 2015. This is one of the harsher moves that the South Korean top dog is seemingly about to undertake.

That piece of news is coming from an unnamed Samsung official, which claimed that “the management and employees have reached an agreement on fixing wages”. 

Another Samsung representative later claimed that the exact reason for this unpopular decision is the slow rate at which China's ...

Hydrophobic T-Shirts Are Miraculous—Until You Wash Them

Hydrophobic T-Shirts Are Miraculous—Until You Wash Them:

A few weeks ago, an Australian startup offered to send me a T-shirt. I'm not normally on the T-shirt beat, but this one was special. The 100-percent cotton garment featured "patented hydrophobic nanotechnology" to make it super stain-resistant. "I'll be the judge of that," I thought, and a few days later the Threadsmiths T-shirt arrived in the mail.

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Apple holding March 9th special event for upcoming products

Apple holding March 9th special event for upcoming products:

Apple has scheduled its first major event of the year for March 9th, where we'll definitely get some news on the Apple Watch but may also get some other intriguing new products, including the new 12-inch Retina MacBook Air. The title of the event is simply called "Spring Forward" and Apple predictably gives us no details about what it's going to discuss.

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India handset market contracts in 4Q14, says IDC

India handset market contracts in 4Q14, says IDC: India's mobile phone market stood at 64.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 11% sequentially and 5% on year, according to IDC.

Samsung to unveil Galaxy S6 at MWC; initial shipments to top 50 million units

Samsung to unveil Galaxy S6 at MWC; initial shipments to top 50 million units: Samsung Electronics is expected to unveil its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC), according to suppliers in Taiwan's handset supply chain. The local suppliers expect initial shipments of the Galaxy S6 to reach 50 million units.

ZTE Nubia Z9 possibly pictured ahead of MWC, touting big screen and premium build

ZTE Nubia Z9 possibly pictured ahead of MWC, touting big screen and premium build:

China's ZTE is headed towards MWC 2015 as well, and as far as rumors go, the company might be announcing its next Nubia flagship smartphone, the ZTE Nubia Z9. There's very little, if any intel about the device itself, but we think you'll agree that our first glimpse of it - or another unreleased ZTE smartphone - is quite charming. We can see the device boasts a premium build with a metal frame and (possibly) glass covers, and it looks like it might have a sizable 5.5-inch or more display to go with its flagship properties.

In terms of hardware, ZTE could opt for Qualcomm's ...

S6 Edge might be called Galaxy S Dual Edge, but don't expect extra functions from the side screens

S6 Edge might be called Galaxy S Dual Edge, but don't expect extra functions from the side screens:

The Galaxy Note Edge side screen serves many purposes that may justify its existence - displaying camera and music player controls, information tickers, app shortcuts, pretty pics, and so on. The Galaxy S Dual Edge (yep, that's what it might be called) screen? Not so much, at least according to Korean media.

We've heard before that the side screens of the S6 Edge won't be sloping and extending as much as on the Note Edge, mainly for ergonomics purposes, and this is seemingly confirmed by the purported photos of the device that just leaked out. It seems, however, that ...

Acer expects PC sales growth in mature markets in 2015, says CEO

Acer expects PC sales growth in mature markets in 2015, says CEO: Acer expects its PC sales to significantly grow in mature markets including the US and Western Europe in 2015, with marketing to focus on Chromebooks, 2-in-1 notebooks and gaming notebooks, according to CEO Jason Chen.

Digitimes Research: Global tablet shipments in 2015 forecast at 221.4 million units

Digitimes Research: Global tablet shipments in 2015 forecast at 221.4 million units: There will be 221.4 million tablets shipped globally in 2015, slipping by 11.9% on year, according to a Digitimes Research Special Report.

New On-Cell touch notebooks expected to arrive from major vendors in 1H15

New On-Cell touch notebooks expected to arrive from major vendors in 1H15: Three major notebook vendors are expected to release new notebooks featuring On-Cell touch panel technology in the first half of 2015.

Taiwan display industry looks promising going into 2015, says TDUA

Taiwan display industry looks promising going into 2015, says TDUA: Taiwan's display industry looks promising going into 2015 driven by demand for niche products, Ultra HD TV panels and vehicle displays, according to the Taiwan Display Union Association (TDUA).

Specs of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 9.7 (SM-T815) leak on GFXBench

Specs of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 9.7 (SM-T815) leak on GFXBench:

From the looks of it, information about the second generation of Samsung's high-end Tab S family of tablets has just appeared in the wild - in particular, the specs of what seems to be the larger upcoming member of the line, the Tab S 2 9.7 (SM-T815), popped up on GFXBench.

The device will probably end up having a 9.6" display (most likely a Super AMOLED one) with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, an octa-core Exynos 5 Octa chipset, which consists of four Cortex A53 cores and another four Cortex A57 ones, a hexa-core Mali-T760 GPU chip, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of native ...

Sony reveals its high-res Xperia Z4 Tablet earlier than planned

Sony reveals its high-res Xperia Z4 Tablet earlier than planned:

Whoopsie boopsie! Sony just gave the world a look at its upcoming Xperia Z4 Tablet in Xperia Lounge -- a move we'd assume was in error, since it quickly pulled the listing. It didn't give away the whole farm, however. Along with a sidelong pic (above...

Microsoft might unveil several new Lumia phones at MWC 2015, display sizes and model numbers pop up

Microsoft might unveil several new Lumia phones at MWC 2015, display sizes and model numbers pop up:

Samsung and HTC are mutually trying to overshadow one another and build up more hype around the devices they'll reveal, In case you've forgotten, Microsoft will also attend MWC 2015. Judging by the most recent leaks, Redmond might have several new Lumia devices in the pipeline that will debut at the major expo.



Supposedly, there might be four new devices. First of all, the Microsoft/Nokia RM-1031, which appears to be a device with a 4-inch 480x800-pixel display, hinting us at an entry-level handset. Next, we have the Microsoft/Nokia RM-1062, which boasts a 5.7-inch 720p display and ...

New Motorola Moto E announced: Android Lollipop and LTE for just $149

New Motorola Moto E announced: Android Lollipop and LTE for just $149:

The "exciting" announcement that Motorola had prepared for today is all about a second-generation Moto E smartphone. That's right, Motorola just announced a new Moto E - an affordable Android 5.0 Lollipop handset that comes to replace last year's Moto E.



The new Moto E has both LTE, and non-LTE variants. The handset is powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm processor (a Snapdragon 410 on the LTE version, and a Snapdragon 200 on the 3G-only version), and comes with a 4.5-inch, 540 x 960 pixels display - thus being slightly larger than the original model.



Other features include a ...

"Made in Indonesia" smartphone law could put Apple and others at a disadvantage in the country

"Made in Indonesia" smartphone law could put Apple and others at a disadvantage in the country:

According to a law expected to be finalized in Indonesia next month, smartphones and tablets sold to the 250 million people living in the country must have at least 40% of its parts sourced from within the Indonesian borders. This law would take effect on January 1st, 2017. Understandably, global smartphone manufacturers like U.S. based Apple are not happy with this proposed rule. Samsung has already opened a plant in Jakarta that has been turning out locally produced handsets, but many business groups expect that the law will cause prices of handsets to rise in the country, and could prevent Indonesia ...

Sharp develops new touch panel handwriting input system for interactive whiteboards

Sharp develops new touch panel handwriting input system for interactive whiteboards: Sharp has developed a touch panel system that allows multiple handwriting pens to be used simultaneously to input text and lines in varying colors and thicknesses. Sharp aims to quickly commercialize the system, which represents a new method to input handwriting on interactive whiteboards.

Smartphone and automotive display revenues swelled in 2014, says IHS

Smartphone and automotive display revenues swelled in 2014, says IHS: As smartphones continued to cannibalize product sales in other small- to medium-size flat-panel-display (FPD) categories, automotive display revenues rose to become the second-highest growth category in 2014, according to IHS.

Panel makers optimistic about performance in 2015

Panel makers optimistic about performance in 2015: Panel makers are optimistic about their performances in 2015 and expect TV panel applications to be one of the largest drivers of revenues due to increasing demand for larger sizes and a shift away from CRT TVs toward LCD TVs in emerging markets.

Samsung Galaxy S6 gets a possible launch date for India, to be released this April

Samsung Galaxy S6 gets a possible launch date for India, to be released this April:

March 1 is just around the corner and for Samsung fans this day will be nothing short of a celebration - the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge will be unveiled on this date in a pre-MWC event. The official announcement day and hour are no mystery anymore, and neither are the possible specs and unique design features of the smartphone, but what we are not yet aware od is the global release date for the top-tier handsets Samsung has in the pipeline.

A recent report claims that similar to last year Samsung will release its flagship champion(s) will arrive on the Indian market in ...

Samsung’s smartphone sales share nosedives to new lows in Q4, Apple picks up the slack

Samsung’s smartphone sales share nosedives to new lows in Q4, Apple picks up the slack:

Research firm Strategy Analytics is ready with its end smartphone sales report for the last quarter, and things aren't looking pretty for Samsung, on account of the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus crusade, as well as the Chinese smartphones riseup.

It turns out that Samsung's share of the world's smartphone market sales dipped to just 10% in the previous quarter. Yes, you read that right, just one in 10 smartphones sold in Q4 were Samsung ones, according to Strategy Analytics, regardless of the company's numerous lines and models. Apple, on the other hand, accounted for 48.9% of all ...

Best Chinese smartphones you can buy in the US right now (February)

Best Chinese smartphones you can buy in the US right now (February):

Chinese smartphones are increasingly becoming the best value-for-money efforts in the mobile industry, offering great specs and at times even good design for their price tag. Consider that a Xiaomi, Huawei or Lenovo flagships run 20-30% less than a similar offer from Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC and other more popular names, while in the midrange scenario they might start you at half off compared to the competing brand juggernauts, and it's not hard to grasp why the Chinese brands are grabbing more and more market share from Samsung and the rest.

The relatively unknown Xiaomi, for ...

IDC: Samsung loses its dominant position on the Indian tablet market

IDC: Samsung loses its dominant position on the Indian tablet market:

Recently, Samsung refuted the claims that it has lost its top position on the Indian market to local contender Micromax, but from the looks of it, the troubled giant could have just lost another pretty important and profitable dominion. According to IDC, Samsung has been dethroned from the local tablet market, too.

IDC's report claims that in Q4 2014 Samsung has accounted for 12.9% of all sold tablets in India, while the first spot in this chart got occupied by a lesser-known local OEM manufacturer, iBall, which had 15.6% of the market. The runner-ups are Datawind (another ...

MWC 2015: here's what to expect

MWC 2015: here's what to expect:

The Mobile World Congress 2015 kicks off soon (March 1st is when all major announcements should take place), and it promises to live up to its name of the biggest mobile show for the year as it is expected to introduce us to the high-profile flagships from many of the biggest phone companies.



We already know what the big stars of MWC 2015 will be: the Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9, but those are far from the only newcomers. Rumors speculate that Samsung might release a version of the Galaxy S6 with a wrap-around edge display (or that could just be the S6 itself), ...

Sony's search for profits could put an end to its mobile future

Sony's search for profits could put an end to its mobile future:

Focus. Surprise. Kando. Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has thrown these words around like crazy since he set out to revive the company with a three-year plan, and he's been coming up short ever since. Now he's pushing ahead with a new and improved strategy, one ...

Samsung's SM-G930 said to be a new high-end model, possibly a sequel to the Samsung Galaxy Round

Samsung's SM-G930 said to be a new high-end model, possibly a sequel to the Samsung Galaxy Round:

A tweet from tipster @upleaks reveals that Samsung is working on a new high-end device with the model number SM-G930. The Samsung Galaxy S6 is expected to be the SM-G920 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge should be the SM-G925. After ruling out the new Galaxy S6 models that Sammy will introduce at MWC, is there a way that we can look at the past to predict the future? There absolutely is.



The Samsung Galaxy S5 is the SM-G900. Adding 10 to that model number (just like the SM-G930 is 10 points above the Galaxy S6) gives us the SM-G910. Now if we can figure out what that model is, we would have ...

Bloomberg: The Apple Car is real, and Apple wants to launch it by 2020

Bloomberg: The Apple Car is real, and Apple wants to launch it by 2020:

Where there's smoke, there's fire... and this fire could set an entire industry ablaze. The Wall Street Journal reported it, Reuters reported it, Financial Times reported it and now Bloomberg is getting in on the action. The news organization on Thursday night issued a report stating that Apple is indeed working on building its own car and it hopes to release the vehicle by 2020.

Maybe.

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Apple fronting the largest mobile display maker JDI $1.7 billion for a new iPhone panel plant

Apple fronting the largest mobile display maker JDI $1.7 billion for a new iPhone panel plant:

Japan Display Inc. - the Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi joint-venture for mobile displays that is backed by the Japanese government - is allegedly ready to receive a giant financial injection by none other than Apple. Reuters sources are citing the whopping $1.68 billion that JDI is ready to invest in the Ishikawa area for building a brand new plant to make mobile displays.

Apple is supposedly ready to front Japan Display the lion's share of this sim, and for a good reason. The insiders revealed that the new plant will be made almost exclusively to supply ...

White House appoints first ever chief data scientist

White House appoints first ever chief data scientist:

The White House has a new employee: Chief Data Scientist and Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy, DJ Patil. His high-level job description, according to the White House blog, is that he'll help "shape the practices and policies to help the Unite...

Do you own a tablet?

Do you own a tablet?:

It was just leaked that Samsung is about to unleash the world's thinnest tablets on us, the 5.4" Galaxy Tab S 2, with 8"and 9.7" models, respectively, taking the crown from the aluminum iPad Air 2. Tablets are getting ever thinner, faster and more premium, but their market share is actually shrinking.

After a few years of uninterrupted expansion, due mainly to Apple's iPad line, the unprecedented growth stalled, the iPad share started to equate with the Android and Windows tablet rise, and on the whole the initial excitement subsided quite a bit. 

Of ...

LG says that new form factors for smartphones not yet commercially viable

LG says that new form factors for smartphones not yet commercially viable:

What does the near future hold for new and different form factors for smartphones? Not much, if you listen to LG's Director of Corporate Communication, Ken Hong. "I don’t think we can do much with form factor beyond this at this moment," the LG executive said. This comes less than three weeks after the curvy LG G Flex 2 was launched in South Korea.



Hong does have a valid point when he says that any smartphone manufacturer is limited by the parts available from its component suppliers. "The design of phones is restricted by the technology of our component suppliers, so now we can only do ...

Sony considers spinning off or selling its smartphone operations

Sony considers spinning off or selling its smartphone operations:

It's all about the bottom line, and at Sony it appears that smartphones aren't exactly bringing in massive profits. In fact, the company expects to lose money in 2015 on a net basis for the sixth time out of the last seven years. Company CEO Kazuo Hirai says that his focus for the next three years will be on PlayStation and camera sensors. Doing this will increase operating profit by 2500% over that period, claims the executive. And that means that smartphones and televisions could be the odd-men out at the Japanese manufacturer.



Tough competition from low cost smartphone manufacturers ...

MWC 2015: what to expect from Samsung

MWC 2015: what to expect from Samsung:

The Mobile World Congress is the biggest consumer show for mobile technology this year, and with all the gadget festivities starting in just around two weeks, all eyes are on Samsung as the company is expected to lift the cover off its 2015 flagship: the Samsung Galaxy S6.

The stage for MWC is set at Fira Barcelona, and the date when all the big announcements will happen is March 1st. With hopes to launch a brand new phone design and modernized TouchWiz, Samsung is surely preparing a grandiose 'Unpacked' event where the world will first see its 'next ...

MWC 2015: what to expect from LG

MWC 2015: what to expect from LG:

So, we are just a couple of weeks away from Mobile World Congress – the annual super-event, at which major players in the mobile business unveil what they've been up to. Naturally, speculations are at their peak, while information on new products leaks, or is hinted at, bit by bit, and anyone remotely interested in mobile technologies makes a mental note of when each manufacturer will be holding their event.



LG, being one of the tech giants of the world, will also be present at MWC 2015, but has been quite reserved about what it's going to be presenting. What can we expect from the South ...

Xiaomi trounced Samsung in China last year

Xiaomi trounced Samsung in China last year:

We've been charting Xiaomi's steady rise in China over the past few years, but the latest stats from IDC make it clear just how far the tiny phone company has come (as well as how far Samsung has fallen). Xiaomi ended up leading China's smartphone ma...

MWC 2015: here's what to expect from HTC

MWC 2015: here's what to expect from HTC:

With MWC 2015 just around the corner, we turn our heads towards the larger names in the industry and summarize what they are expected to officially announce at one of the bigger and more important exhibitions for the whole year. The Taiwan-based HTC is, undoubtedly, one of the usual suspects that normally has our full attention when it comes to new products or something of this ilk. Naturally, we are quite excited for HTC's presence at MWC 2015, and we have all the right reasons to be - we already know what the maker has in store for us (wink, wink, One M9, wink!), but who knows, ...