Tag: Samsung

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Global mobile phone market up 6% in Q2

IDCDemand for mobile phones continue to grow. In Q2, the worldwide mobile phone market grew six percent year over year, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Vendors shipped a total of 432.1 million mobile phones in Q2 compared to 407.7 million units in the corresponding quarter of 2012. The Q2 total was also slightly higher than the 428.8 million units shipped in Q1.

The growth in the mobile phone market was partly driven by vendors from outside the Top 5 who experienced torrid shipment growth that outpaced the overall market. Several vendors, including Alcatel and Huawei, had high double- and triple-digit growth rates in Q2 for their Android-based offerings shipped to high-growth countries such as China and India. These vendors from outside the Top 5 accounted for 44.8 percent of the overall shipment volume, up from 42.2 percent in the same quarter one year ago.

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Sensors and gesture recognition are major smartphone differentiators

abi researchAccelerometers, vision-based gesture recognition, gyroscopes, and NFC are predicted to be the feature set big winners in smartphones in 2013, according to ABI Research.

“Gesture recognition is soon going to become a key differentiator in high-end flagship smartphones. Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4 has already incorporated the technology within its handset and has received significant plaudits for its new innovative user experience. Today’s consumers are becoming much savvier with their smartphones and they’re looking for new interesting ways to communicate with each other and their devices,” said Joshua Flood, Senior Analyst of ABI Research.

In 2013, almost 12 percent of smartphones shipped will have vision-based gesture recognition capabilities. It is unsure if Apple will include the technology in its next generation iPhone but the company is expected to include a full array of MEMS sensors and NFC.

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Smart watches poised to take off in 2014

CanalysFancy a new accessory? How about a smart watch? It looks like smart watches are going to be the next “must have” item. According to Canalys, the worldwide smart watch market will exceed five million units in 2014.

Canalys estimates that over 330,000 smart watches were shipped in 2012, led by Sony and Motorola. Kickstarter-backed Pebble Technology has joined Sony as a market leader in 2013. More than half a million units will be shipped this year. Smart watches are then set to explode by the end of 2014, growing tenfold as a new generation of devices from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and others are launched.

Unlike earlier products, these smart watches will provide more sophisticated software and more elegant hardware. Glanceable information, integration across sensors and hooks into web services will be key features. These companion devices will not replace smart phones, but rather complement them as ‘appcessories’.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Active with LTE available for S$898 from July 13

samsung galaxy s4 active with lteYet another iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be making its debut in Singapore on Saturday. The Galaxy S4 Active with LTE is designed for active users who want to stay connected while exploring environments from the most rugged mountain trails to the roughest rivers.

Priced at S$898 without contract, the phone has qualified protection from dust and water (IP67),  keeping dust particles out and protecting against water damage for up to 30 minutes of submergence at a depth of one metre. Equipped with a water-resistant earphone jack, the GALAXY S4 ACTIVE With LTE frees you to use earphones above water when the phone is wet or in water. 

“The Galaxy S4 Active with LTE is a new addition to the Galaxy series and is purposefully designed for active users who love the outdoors,” said Irene Ng, Vice President, Marketing, Samsung Asia Pte Ltd. “Samsung has taken the innovative features of the Galaxy S4 and added breakthrough protective design elements to create a device that thrives in an active environment and is built for a lifestyle of travel and exploration.”

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Samsung launches Galaxy S4 mini with LTE in Singapore

Galaxy S4 miniLike the Samsung Galaxy S4 but prefer a smaller form factor? The good news is that Samsung has launched the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini with LTE, a compact version of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Priced at S$698 without contract, the phone will be available in two colours — white frost and black mist — from July 6.

With a 4.3-inch qHD SUPER AMOLED display, 107g lightweight and compact design, it is easy to carry and operate with one hand. Though compact, the Galaxy S4 mini with LTE boasts a 1.7GHz dual core processor that allows users to quickly and easily perform data intensive tasks.

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Thailand’s PC market declines 20% in Q1

IDCSluggish demand in Thailand’s consumer market helped drive PC shipment down 20 percent in Q1, compared to the same period last year.

According to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker, PC shipment reached only 800,000 units in Q1.

“Channel partners reacted quickly to the slowdown by reducing PC buy-in to make room for faster-moving devices like tablets” said Jarit Sidhu, Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC Thailand. 
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New Samsung Galaxy S4 model comes with 10x optical zoom

Samsung Galaxy S4 ZoomSamsung Electronics has released yet another model of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom is positioned as a smartphone with the capabilities of a high-end compact camera.

Packed with 10x optical zoom, 16MP CMOS sensor, optical image stabiliser (OIS), and Xenon Flash, the Galaxy S4 zoom aims to enhance the mobile photography experience.

“As communication continues to become increasingly visual in nature, people wish to capture and share their moments in the highest quality possible, but often do not have the space or inclination to carry a dedicated camera for this purpose. The GALAXY S4 zoom changes this forever, combining the industry leading functionality and connectivity of the GALAXY S4 with the high quality photographic experience you’d expect from a compact camera,” said JK Shin, President and CEO, Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. 

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Android and Windows tablets picking up steam in ANZ

IDCThe ANZ tablets market grew a phenomenal 147 percent year-on-year in Q1, bringing the total market size up to 1.14 million units, according to IDC. This tremendous growth was due to increased demand of smaller, cheaper Android tablets, as well as Windows tablets.

“Users now have better access to a wide range of low to high-end tablets as well as different operating systems compared to last year. In 2012, an user would usually choose between an Apple iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab but now, a year later, brands like ASUS, Acer and Microsoft would also appear on the user’s radar,” said Suzanne Tai, Associate Market Analyst of IDC’s ANZ Infrastructure Research Group. “Whitebox tablets have picked up significantly as well, driven with heavy promotions by retailers such as Aldi, Harvey Norman, K-Mart, and Warehouse Stationary.”

“Android is growing its foothold in the marketplace, thanks to Samsung’s aggressiveness with promotions and channel strategies, as well as the influx of whitebox tablets. Additionally, Windows tablets are also gaining traction with entry of new models, pilot rollouts and implementations in commercial sector especially in education.”

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Gartner: APAC led mobile phone growth in Q1

GartnerThe Asia-Pacific region grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in Q1 mobile phone sales, the only region in the world to register growth, according to Gartner.

Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled nearly 426 million units this period, only a slight increase of 0.7 percent from the same period last year. Worldwide smartphone sales hit 210 million units in the first quarter of 2013, up 42.9 percent from the first quarter of 2012.

“More than 226 million mobile phones were sold to end users in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2013, which helped the region increase its share of global mobile phones to 53.1 percent year-on-year,” said Anshul Gupta, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. “In addition, China saw its mobile phone sales increase 7.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and its sales represented 25.7 percent of global mobile phone sales, up nearly 2 percentage points year-on-year.

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IDC: Worldwide tablet market posts strong growth in Q1

IDCWorldwide tablet shipments continue to surge, growing 142.4 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), according to preliminary data from IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Tablet shipments totaled 49.2 million units in 1Q13, surpassing that of the entire first half of 2012. With growth fueled by increased market demand for smaller screen devices, tablets have shown no sign of slowing down.

Apple outperformed IDC’s most recent projections for the quarter, shipping 19.5 million units compared to a forecast of 18.7 million units. The company, which historically has experienced a steep drop off in first quarter shipments (following strong holiday sales in the fourth quarter), saw some smoothing of that seasonality this year. Number two vendor Samsung also performed above expectations and managed to grow its shipments over the fourth quarter as more of the company’s smaller-sized tablets began to gain traction in the market. Samsung has also used its recent Android smartphone growth to help bring its tablet product line into new markets and channels, leveraging the opportunity to package and bundle. The strong performance of the two market leaders helped drive total shipments to an impressive 49.2 million units for the quarter.

“Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than expected first quarter for Apple,” said Tom Mainelli, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. “In addition, by moving the iPad launch to the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple seems to have avoided the typical first-quarter slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March.”

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GSMA launches NFC Experience for Mobile Asia Expo

GSMASo much hope was placed on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology but Apple’s non-adoption of the technology was a major dampener. A few other mobile vendors, such as Samsung, have included NFC is selected models of their devices.

Keen to drive the technology, GSMA will be showcasing the NFC Experience at Mobile Asia Expo, an interactive experience through which exhibitors, vendors and attendees will be able to use mobile NFC to exchange information and conduct transactions. Mobile Asia Expo will take place from June 26 to 28 at Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC) in Shanghai.

“We’re excited to launch the NFC Experience for Mobile Asia Expo, as it provides attendees the opportunity to experience first-hand the power of NFC technology throughout the Mobile Asia Expo venue, as well as in the Pudong area of Shanghai,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. “We hope that all attendees will take advantage of the many benefits of NFC, from information access and download to retail transactions, among others.”

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IDC: Smartphones top feature phone shipment in Q1

IDCSamsung led the smartphone market as smartphones outshipped feature phones for the first time in Q1. According to IDC (see table below), Samsung not only maintained its pole position but widened its market share lead over Apple in the smartphone market. However, LG showed the most percentage improvement in this category with a 110 percent jump year-on-year.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q1 (Units in Millions) 

Vendor

1Q13 Unit Shipments

1Q13 Market Share

1Q12 Unit Shipments

1Q12 Market Share

Year-over-year Change
Samsung

70.7

32.7%

44.0

28.8%

60.7%
Apple

37.4

17.3%

35.1

23.0%

6.6%
LG

10.3

4.8%

4.9

3.2%

110.2%
Huawei

9.9

4.6%

5.1

3.3%

94.1%
ZTE

9.1

4.2%

6.1

4.0%

49.2%
Others

78.8

36.4%

57.5

37.7%

37.0%
Total

216.2

100.0%

152.7

100.0%

41.6%

 

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 4 percent year over year in the seasonally slow Q1. IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker reports that vendors shipped a total of 418.6 million mobile phones in Q1 compared to 402.4 million units in Q1 of 2012 and 483.2 million units in Q4 of 2012.

 

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New NVIDIA GeForce 700M GPUs extend battery life, enhance performance, enrich experience

GeForce 700MFive new NVIDIA notebook GPUs deliver a trifecta of technologies that seamlessly and automatically maximise a consumer’s notebook performance and experience. With no effort or input from the notebook user, the technologies work in the background to save battery life, enhance performance and enrich the visual experience — providing the best notebook experience the GPU can deliver. They include:

  • New NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 technology, which intelligently adjusts GPU clock speed to maximise graphics performance.
  • NVIDIA Optimus technology, which enables extra-long battery life by switching the GPU on and off so it runs only when needed.
  • GeForce Experience™ software, which adjusts in-game settings for the best performance and visual quality specific to a user’s notebook and keeps GeForce drivers up to date.

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Asian mobile players and operators among Global Mobile award winners

The ASUS-made Google Nexus 7 clinched the Best Tablet Award.
The ASUS-made Google Nexus 7 clinched the Best Tablet Award.

Asia is becoming a leading force in the mobile communications space. Mobile product makers Samsung and Asus and mobile operators NTT Docomo, Bharti Airtel and SK Telecom were among the winners at the 18th Annual Global Mobile awards, held at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Government of New Zealand also nabbed the Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Award.

More than 170 independent analysts, journalists, academics, and subject matter experts and 13 representatives from mobile operators throughout the world participated in the judging of the 2013 awards.

The full list of winners and finalist for the 2013 Global Mobile Awards is available at www.globalmobileawards.com/winners-2013

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Samsung opens first Partner Shop in Macau

Shop frontSamsung opened its first Partner Shop in Macau today. Located at No. 63-65 on Avenida do Infante D. Henrique, the stylish and modern shop aims to provide every visitor with the best quality of customer service with unexpected personalised experience.

“As the world leader in consumer electronics and information technology, Samsung is dedicated to introducing innovative products with diversified features and functions to meet customer needs. Further to the launch of two Samsung Partner Shops in Hong Kong last year, Samsung continues to expand its business by launching the first Samsung Partner Shop in Macau,” said Lawrence Chow, Chief Marketing Officer of Samsung Electronics Hong Kong.

Adjacent to various scenic spots, the shop is a one-minute walk from Senado Square and two-minute walk from Grand Lisboa Hotel. With everything under one roof, it lets visitors experience Samsung’s innovative technology and modern digital living.

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