Samsung is planning to bring forward the launch of the Galaxy Note 5 from September to August, according to the WSJ. It’s believed the change in schedule is designed to get the device on sale ahead of Apple’s anticipated September launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, which is likely to dominate tech media coverage that month.
Samsung has always previously launched its Note models on the eve of the IFA conference, which takes place in Berlin in September. The WSJ cites only a single source for the claim, but it’s not the first time we’ve heard suggestions that the company may bring forward the launch this year.
A Korean report back in May suggested that the Note 5 would be launched in late July, also citing a desire to get ahead of Apple’s launch. A second reason was said to be to align with the anticipated launch of the company’s mobile payment platform, named (yep) Samsung Pay – but this is now expected to be be pushed back to September.
Samsung was hit hard by Apple’s move into larger-screened phones, the iPhone 6 Plus in particular providing the first Cupertino competition for its Galaxy Note phablet. Apple is reportedly expecting big things of its launch of the iPhone 6S this September, aiming to produce 90M units by the end of the year.
Apple may be struggling to meet demand for the iPhone 6 Plus, but the effort will be worthwhile according to some number-crunching by IHS cited by Bloomberg: it makes an extra $84.50 in profit on the larger model.
It costs an additional $15.50 to make the larger iPhones, according to a breakdown by researchers at IHS, but the sticker price is $100 higher than the iPhone 6 […] The main difference in cost between the two phones comes from the supersize screen, which adds $7.50 to Apple’s production cost. The camera and battery subsystems also cost slightly more.
While everyone doing these analyses seems to come up with a different set of numbers (none of them having access to the actual deals negotiated by Apple so having to rely on a whole bunch of assumptions), everyone seems to agree that margins are significantly higher on the iPhone 6 Plus.
Samsung is said to be so worried by record sales of the new iPhones that it has brought forward the planned launch of the Galaxy Note 4 to September 26th, the same day Apple puts the iPhone 6/Plus on sale in 20 more countries.
Samsung is continuing its approach of pushing anti-iPhone ads on its YouTube channel. Today’s ad showcases two friends, an iPhone user and a Galaxy S5 user, speaking to each other about the upcoming iPhone 6’s larger screen. “Dude, iPhone might be getting a bigger screen” excitedly states the iPhone user “That hasn’t happened yet?” slyly responds the Galaxy S5 user. Check out the full advertisement for yourself below:
Strategic Analytics released its latest report today that depicted global smartphone shipments growing to 162 million in Q3 2012, and Apple managed to grab second place with 16.6-percent global share.
“(Apple) shipped 26.9 million smartphones worldwide for 17 percent market share, up from 14 percent recorded a year earlier,” said Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston in a press release. “Apple had a solid quarter in the important United States market and this helped to strengthen its global performance.”
Samsung led the charge, however, with a record 35 percent global share. The report mentioned Samsung successfully delivered “numerous hit models,” such as the Galaxy and Galaxy Note, despite competition in stores and courtrooms. Meanwhile, the remaining handset manufacturers, such as Nokia, fell into the “Others” category at 48 percent.
“Samsung shipped 56.9 million smartphones worldwide and captured a record 35 percent market share in the third quarter of 2012. This was the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single quarter,” Mawston added.
Samsung and Apple essentially shipped over half of all the smartphones worldwide in Q3—up from roughly one-third just a year ago. Strategy Analytic Senior Analyst Neil Shah therefore noted shipping volumes have “polarized” around the two brands.
You can say many things about Samsung, but one you cannot say it is slow (you could also say it leaked the rumored 1GB of RAM on the iPhone 5). However, a reader has taken an “S-pen” to the ad above:
Before I even start typing, I would like to note that this will probably be a little bit biased towards Apple.
So, I’m sure you’ve all seen Samsgun’s latest anti-Apple ad. If you haven’t, you can go and check it out here. Notice how they list a lot of features that the iPhone apparently doesn’t have. Well, here’s what they do.
NFC: Near field communication let’s your phone establish a connection with another phone that is touching it or very close to it. It can accomplish almost everything that Bluetooth can, but in a much closer proximity and without dealing with pairing.
Smart-stay: This feature aims to prevent the display backlight from turning off while you are looking at the phone’s display. Critics have said that this feature works fine in well-lit areas, but not in the dark.
S-Beam: This is a feature available in Ice Cream Sandwich, and uses NFC to transfer data between two phones that are held closely together. It does the same thing that the iPhone application Bump does.
Share Shot: This is an easy way to share photos with another S3 owner. It lets you upload pictures you’ve taken to another S3 decide through a WiFi network. The iPhone’s equivalent is Shared Photo-Streams, only Share Shot only works through WiFi.
Group Cast: Group Cast is designed for presentations. It lets users view and interact with PDF, PowerPoint, and image files through their phones.
Direct Call: This feature aims to know when you want to talk vs. when you want to text. For instance, if you’re composing a text message but decide to call the receiver instead, you simply hold your phone to your ear and it will dial their number. (Seems silly to me)
Smart Alert: This feature activates when you’ve been away from your phone. It vibrates to let you know that you have missed calls or text-messages. It seems like a much more annoying version of Notification Center, BUT you don’t have to manually check it– it automatically notifies you as oppose to you manually checking Notification Center.
Tilt-to-Zoom: This feature let’s you simply tilt the phone – as opposed to pinching and zooming – to zoom in on a picture or website.
Palm Swipe Capture: This feature lets you swipe your palm over your phone to take a screenshot. On the iPhone this is accomplished by simultaneously pressing the Home button and the Sleep-Wake button.
Palm touch to mute/pause: You can mute and pause media on the screen by covering the screen with your hand.
Picture-in-picture: This let’s you watch a video and normally use your phone at the same time by placing the video in a popup window.
Turn Over To Mute: Let’s you turn over your phone to mute incoming calls.
Shake To Update: Lets you shake your phone to update the information most apps are displaying. For instance, shaking your phone while in the Twitter app will load new tweets, etc.
Removable Battery: Pretty self explanatory. Lets you take out your battery.
More fun stuff surfaced today from the Apple vs. Samsung trial. Pictured above are Samsung’s sales numbers for its smartphones in the U.S. Perhaps most surprisingly is that Samsung’s best selling phone by unit number is Boost Mobile’s Samsung Prevail, which sold 2.255 million units. Finishing in second and third were the Samsung Epic 4G and the Galaxy S2 Epic Touch both on Sprint. That means Samsung’s top three devices were on Sprint’s network.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s U.S. tablet numbers were below expectations. They totaled just over 1.4 million since the fourth quarter of 2010 (what happened to the Galaxy Tab 8.9? And I do not see the Galaxy Note phablet either above or below).
Then there were Apple’s much bigger numbers, below:
The IDC’s latest numbers mirror yesterday’s figures from Juniper Research.
One of the report’s main headliners is 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.
The other big news bit concerns Samsung and Apple. The tech giants doubled their combined market share in just two years. Samsung, in particular, hit a new quarterly record after shipping 50 million phones in Q2, where as Apple shipped half as many iPhones during the same time. The Cupertino, Calif.-based Company suffered a quarter-over-quarter decline just six months after its latest iPhone unveiling.
Samsung extended its lead over Apple during the second quarter, taking advantage of Apple’s release schedule and launching its flagship Galaxy S III. In addition, Samsung experienced continued success of its smartphone/tablet hybrid device, the Galaxy Note. As a result, Samsung topped the 50 million unit mark and reached a new quarterly smartphone shipment record in a single quarter. What remains to be seen is how the company’s smartphones will fare against Apple’s next-generation iPhone expected later this year.
Apple posted an expected sequential decline last quarter, similar to years past. The quarter-over-quarter shipment decline came six months after it unveiled its latest iPhone. The decline is not unusual as iPhone shipment volume is highest in the first two quarters after its release. The company’s once-a-year release cycle usually results in two quarters of lower volumes leading up to the next-generation model introduction. Nonetheless, Apple made significant inroads into new markets and segments, including smaller regional carriers and prepaid service providers.
Not likely… but it has decided to patent an optical stylus anyway. We will also go ahead and note the fatty nature of that big iPhone thing pictured below:
It would be quite amusing if Apple tried to use this patent to take out Samsung’s Galaxy Note.
Another patent released today details a different type of Stylus—one with haptic feedback. Also, do not expect to see this at any point in the future. (via Unwired View)
