A recent update from some Thailand’s new website CoconutsBangkok, has reported that a user named Suwicha Auesomsaksakul, while holding an Apple iPhone 5 got exploded while making a call. Again, as per news the user was holding the phone for 30 seconds only when the phone became hot & smoke starts to appear, then the user throw the phone on the ground & after that the phone explodes like a fire cracker atleast times & there was a burning mark left on phone’s home button.

 This incident with the Apple’s iPhone is not for the first time i.e explosion or burn. Already a report came in 2011 when a red smoke & glow was coming out from iPhone when an Austrailian passenger was travelling on an airplane. Similarly in Finland an iPhone was exploded in an user’s pocket. Lastly, in Brazil an emitting sparks was coming out from Brazil.

Samsung Galaxy Note battery got exploded in a  55  year old man pocket, though the man was carrying a spare battery but then also he suffered a second-degree burn, this incident happened in last month.

 Last year a news came Samsung’s flagship phone Galaxy S III was exploded in a user’s car in Ireland, After this incident the company drew a conclusion that fire caused was not due to the defect in smartphone but due to some external energy source.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoC(System on Chip) may be used by Apple to manufacture low-cost iPhone as report released from China times. The manufacturing process will be started on the second quarter of the year.

TSMC’s 28nm process of Taiwan based chip maker to make cheap on board SoC for Apple, in this phone only 3G connectivity features will be available.

28nm process are like Snapdragon 400 and 200 processors for mid-range and entry-level smartphones launched by Qualcomm & it supports all basic connectivity except LTE to cut basic cost of a mobile phone maker.

LCD Drivers of low cost iPhone will be purchased from Renesas Electronics & NAND flash memory will be bought from companies like Toshiba, Elpida, Micron Technology, SK Hynix and SanDisk as per report released from China Times.

Recently Apple is working on two iPhone models one is  successor to the iPhone 5 with a 4.5-inch screen while the other will a cheaper smartphone model sporting a polycarbonate body as per recent report from Apple Insider via Japanese blog Macotakara.

  Dual-core MSM8960 or the Quad-core APQ8064 were the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets may use by Apple to make their new low budget iPhone.

Another rumour has been coming up from Apple’s armory that a smaller & cheaper version of smart phone to be soon launched in summer by the name given from the company iPhone Mini.

After having a formal meeting with Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, Katy Huberty points out some exciting reasons why Apple should introduced a cheaper smart phone.

As per Huberty Apple’s customer base is increasing by 50 percent with the help of iPad Mini sales across Chinal/Brazil which shows a total  new smart phone customer in the ecosystem.

Recently Chinese customers were not willing to purchase older version of smart phones & were much interested in the newer versions of Apple iPhone.

Apple is expanding their partnership with some world leading mobile carriers like NTT Docomo, T-Mobile, and China Mobile in Q2 2014.

Customers were these days interested to buy older versions of iPhone not going for new devices as described by Huberty.

Again more customers were interested to buy iPhone 4/iPhone 4S rather than iPhone 5.

Thats why company may change some features or appearance of iPad & already iPad Mini 2 will be showcase in the market with retina display & iPad 5 will be redesigned before it put its footsteps in to this tech market.

…

Apple iPhone’s wireless carrier partner Verizon has broke the record of units sold in iPhone segment by producing earnings in the last quarter of 2012.

Likewise 6.2 m iPhones were sold in 4^th quarter 2012 & 3.1 m iPhones in 3^rd quarter 2012. But total 9.8 m smart phones were sold in the last quarter 2012 setting a record of 63 percent sales out of total smart phone sales by the company.

Fran Shammo CFO Verizon also revealed that the tablet sales has doubled in the last quarter of 2012 since Apple is offering 4^th generation devices like iPad, iPad mini. But it is also told that half of the unit sold were LTE devices i.e. Verizon has sold almost3.1 m of iPhone 5 in the last quarter.

ARPA growth was around 6.5 percent in the 4^th quarter of 2011 & $ 146.80 per month. But now Verizon is ARPA rather than ARPU (average revenue per user) with the introduction of the shared data plans.

…

Apple iPhone 5

The unique design enables to take the performance to such higher level. The battery life is surprisingly good. The screen ratio is also wide for brilliant multimedia experience.

Specifications:

Network Supported: GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – GSM A1428), CDMA (800 / 1900 / 2100 – CDMA A1429), HSDPA (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 – GSM A1428), CDMA(2000 1xEV-DO – CDMA A1429), LTE (700 MHz Class 17 / 1700 / 2100 – GSM A1428) or LTE (850 / 1800 / 2100 – GSM A1429), LTE (700 / 850 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 – CDMA A1429).

Processor: CPU (Dual-core 1.2 GHz) & GPU (PowerVR SGX 543MP3 (triple-core graphics))

Resolution: 640 x 1136 pixels, 4 inches

OS: iOS6

Camera: 8 MP rear camera with autofocus, LED Flash & 1.2 MP front camera 720p@30fps, face detection, FaceTime over Wi-Fi or Cellular.

Data: DC-HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, LTE, 100 Mbps; EV-DO Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth.

Memory: System Memory (1 GB RAM), Internal Memory (16/32/64 GB ROM), External Memory (no card slot).

 Battery capacity: 1440 mAh

Talk Time: Up to 8 h (2G) / Up to 8 h (3G)

Stand By Time: Up to 225 h (2G) / Up to 225 h (3G)

Music Play Time: Up to 40 h.

Available Colours: Black/Slate, White/Silver.

Expected Price: 45,004

Samsung Galaxy S III

Samsung has launched a unique powerful android phone in the market with good battery life, excellent camera, brilliant display.

Specifications:

Network Supported: GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), HSDPA (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100), LTE (regional)

Processor: CPU (Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9) & GPU (Mali-400MP)

Resolution: 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches

OS: Android 4.1

Camera: 8 MP rear cameras with autofocus, LED Flash & 1.9 MP front camera 720p@30fps.

Data: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth.

Memory: System Memory (1 GB RAM), Internal Memory (16/32/64 GB ROM), External Memory (microSD, up to 64 GB).

 Battery capacity: 2100 mAh

Talk Time: Up to 21 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 11 h 40 min (3G)

Stand by Time: Up to 590 h (2G) / Up to 790 h (3G)

Music Play Time: NA.

Available Colours: Pebble blue, Marble white, Amber brown, Garnet red, Sapphire black, Titanium grey, La Fleur

Expected Price: 29,999

HTC Windows Phone 8X

HTC has designed slick & elegant windows enabled phone which offers liquid smooth performance, good call quality.

Specifications:

Network Supported: GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), HSDPA (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100), LTE (700 MHz Class 17 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100).

Processor: CPU (Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait) & GPU (Adreno 225)

Resolution: 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.3 inches

OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 8

Camera: 8 MP rear cameras with autofocus, LED Flash & 2.1 MP front camera 1080p@30fps.

Data: GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL (LTE only for AT&T version), Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Bluetooth.

Memory: System Memory (1 GB RAM), Internal Memory (16/32/64 GB ROM), External Memory (no card slot).

 Battery capacity: 1800 mAh

Talk Time: 8 h.

Stand by Time: 15 days.

Music Play Time: NA.

Available Colours: California Blue, Graphite Black, Flame Red, Limelight Yellow.

Expected Price: 35,023

Nokia 808 PureView

 One of the best camera phone made by Nokia with excellent battery life & good call quality.

Specifications:

Network Supported: GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), HSDPA (850 / 900 /1700/ 1900 / 2100).

Processor: CPU (1.3 GHz ARM 11) & GPU (Broadcom BCM2763)

Resolution: 360 x 640 pixels, 4.0 inches

OS: Nokia Belle OS

Camera: 41 MP rear cameras with autofocus, Xenon Flash & VGA front camera VGA@30fps.

Data: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, UPnP technology, Bluetooth.

Memory: System Memory (1 GB RAM), Internal Memory (1GB ROM), External Memory (micro-sd up to 16/32 GB).

 Battery capacity: 1400 mAh

Talk Time: Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 6 h 50 min (3G).

Stand by Time: Up to 465 h (2G) / Up to 540 h (3G)

Music Play Time: NA.

Available Colours: Black, White, Red

Expected Price: 23,299

BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900

One of fastest & slimmest touch plus qwerty based phone launched by Blackberry.

Specifications:

Network Supported: GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), HSDPA (850 / 900 /1700/ 1900 / 2100).

Processor: CPU (1.2 GHz QC 8655).

Resolution: 640 x 480 pixels, 2.8 inches

OS: BlackBerry OS 7.0

Camera: 5 MP rear cameras with LED Flash .

Data: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 /b/g/n, dual-band, Bluetooth.

Memory: System Memory (768 MB RAM), Internal Memory (8GB ROM), External Memory (micro-sd up to 32 GB).

 Battery capacity: 1230 mAh

Talk Time: Up to 6 h 30 m (2G) / Up to 5 h 30 min (3G).

Stand by Time: Up to 307 h (2G) / Up to 307 h (3G)

Music Play Time: NA.

Available Colours: Black, White.

Expected Price: 32,999

 …

 Best Smart Phones available in India

Smart Phones which is not a normal phone, it contains its own operating system with lot of advanced features like good internet connectivity features such as Wi-Fi, Mobile Broadband, etc, portable media player options, high resolution display, compact version of digital cameras, pocket version of video cameras, GPS navigation facilities , advanced os like Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS, Nokia’s Symbian, RIM’s BlackBerry OS, Samsung’s Bada, Microsoft’s Windows Phone, Hewlett-Packard’s webOS, and embedded Linux distributions such as Maemo and MeeGo.

In this huge market of Smart phones the manufacturers like Apple, Blackberry, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, and HTC.

Some of the leading manufacturers are showcasing their best smart phones in the month of December in the year 2012 in India. The lists are given below:

1. APPLE iPhone 3G S:

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-Primary Camera contains 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus & no secondary camera.

3. Operating System-iPhone OS 3, upgradable to iOS 6.0

4. CPU-600 MHz Cortex-A8 processor & PowerVR SGX535 GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to 300 h & Talk-time Up to 12 h (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G) 7 music playback time Up to 30 h.

6.  Available Colors:Black, White

2. Apple iPhone 4

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 850 / 900/1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-Primary Camera contains 5 MP, 2592 x 1936 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, & secondary VGA camera containing 480p@30fps, videocalling over Wi-Fi only

3. Operating System-iPhone OS 4, upgradable to iOS 6.0

4. CPU-1 GHz Cortex-A8 & PowerVR SGX535 GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to  300 h (2G) / Up to 300 h (3G) & Talk-time Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G) & music playback time Up to 40 h

6.  Available Colors:Black, White

	Rs. 37499/-	Rs. 37989/-		Rs. 37900/-

3. HTC Radar

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network (GSM 850 / 900 ) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-5 MP, 2560х1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, & secondary VGA camera containing 720p@30fps.

3. Operating System-Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

4. CPU-1 GHz Scorpion & Adreno 205 GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to  480 h (2G) /  535 h (3G) & Talk-time Up to 10 h (2G) /  8 h 5 min (3G)

6.  Available Colors:Active White, Metal Silver

Rs. 24400/-	Rs. 19599/-	Rs. 24499/-	Rs. 24421/-	Rs. 24500/-

4. HTC Wildfire S

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-  5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash & secondary VGA camera containing VGA@24fps.

3. Operating System- Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), upgradable to v2.3.5

4. CPU-600 MHz ARM 11 & Adreno 200 GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to   360 h (2G) / Up to 570 h (3G)  & Talk-time Up to 7 h 10 min (2G) / Up to 5 h 50 min (3G)

6.  Available Colors:  Black, Silver, Brown, Lilac.

Rs. 10599/-	Rs. 9642/-	Rs. 9149/-	Rs. 12999/-	Rs. 8975/-

5. Samsung Omnia W

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-  5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash & secondary VGA camera containing 720p@30fps.

3. Operating System-   Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

4. CPU-1.4 GHz Scorpion & Adreno 205 GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to 370 h  & Talk-time Up to 7 h

6.  Available Colors:  Black.

6. Samsung Galaxy S II

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 850/1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-   8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash & secondary VGA camera containing 2 MP, 1080p@30fps.

3. Operating System-   Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread), v4.0.4, upgradable to v4.1

4. CPU-Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 & Mali-400MP GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to 710 h (2G) / 610 h (3G)  & Talk-time Up to 18 h 20 min (2G) /  8 h 40 min (3G)

6.  Available Colors:  Black, White, Pink.

Rs. 25900/-	Rs. 25900/-	Rs. 22999/-	Rs. 24299/-	Rs. 25900/-

7. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-   8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash & no secondary VGA camera.

3. Operating System-     Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), planned upgrade to v4.0

4. CPU-1 GHz Scorpion  & Adreno 205 GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to 430 h (2G) / Up to 400 h (3G)  & Talk-time Up to  7 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G) & music playback time Up to 31 h

6.  Available Colors:  Midnight Blue, Misty Silver.

8. LG Optimus 2X

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 900/1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-   8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash & secondary VGA camera containing 1.3 MP, 1080p@24fps, 720p@30fps

3. Operating System-     Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), v2.3, upgradable to v4.0

4. CPU-  Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9  &  ULP GeForce GPU.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to  400 h  & Talk-time Up to  7 h 50 min

6.  Available Colors:  Black.

Rs. 19990/-	—–	—–	—–	—–

9. BlackBerry Curve 9360

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  (HSDPA 850/1900 / 2100) supported.

2. Camera-     5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, LED flash & secondary VGA camera .

3. Operating System-     BlackBerry OS 7.0

4. CPU-  800MHz.

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to  336 h (2G) /  288 h (3G)  & Talk-time Up to   5 h (2G) /  5 h (3G)

6.  Available Colors:  Black, Purple, Pink.

Rs. 17925/-	Rs. 17299/-	Rs. 17399/-	Rs. 17209/-	Rs. 17904/-

10. BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900

Main Features are like:

1. 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) & 3G Network  HSDPA (850 / 1900 / 2100 / 800) supported.

2. Camera-     5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, LED flash & secondary VGA camera of 720p .

3. Operating System-     BlackBerry OS 7.0

4. CPU-  1.2 GHz QC 8655

5. Battery Life-Stand By time up to   307 h (2G) /  307 h (3G)  & Talk-time Up to  6 h 30 min (2G) /  5 h 50 min (3G)

6.  Available Colors:  Black, White.

Rs. 32999/-	Rs. 30749/-	Rs. 30699/-	Rs. 30799/-	Rs. 32704/-

…

Finally Apple iPhone 5 is set to released in China officially. As we know 90 % of the China market is held by Android OS. Apple has been certified officially by a body named as China’s Telecommunications Equipment and Certification Center (TENAA).

Similarly, Apple was also waiting for network license which was granted by China’s third-largest mobile carrier, China Telecom.

The devices approved for WCDMA network was A1429″ working under China Unicom, which has 233 million mobile users.

Similarly, the other devices for CDMA2000 3G network was A1442 working under China Telecom, which has 155 million mobile users.

Already China Unicom chairman expected to move the sales of 3G devices which would boost the 3G users to 100 million by the year end up from 67 million in the first nine months.

.

Price List of Apple IPhone as on 12/06/2012
Apple IPhone 4S 64GB				Apple IPhone 4 32GB
	Base Price	Rs 57,500			Base Price	Rs 41,183
	Offer Price	Rs 57,500			Offer Price	Rs 39,615
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now
Apple IPhone 4S 32GB				Apple IPhone 4 16GB
	Base Price	Rs 50,900			Base Price	Rs 34,214
	Offer Price	Rs 50,672			Offer Price	Rs 33,363
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now
Apple IPhone 4S 16GB				Apple IPad 2 64GB WIFI+3G
	Base Price	Rs 44,500			Base Price	Rs 39.990
	Offer Price	Rs 44,255			Offer Price	Rs 39.990
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now
Apple IPad 2 32GB WIFI+3G				Apple IPad 2 64GB WiFi
	Base Price	Rs 36,990			Base Price	Rs 36,500
	Offer Price	Rs 36,990			Offer Price	Rs 35,500
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now
Apple IPhone 4				Apple IPad 2 16GB WiFi+3G
	Base Price	Rs 37,900			Base Price	Rs 32,900
	Offer Price	Rs 35,999			Offer Price	Rs 31,999
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now

Apple IPAD 2 32GB WIFI				Apple IPAD 2 16GB WIFI
	Base Price	Rs 30,500			Base Price	Rs 24,500
	Offer Price	Rs 30,500			Offer Price	Rs 23,999
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now
Apple IPhone 3G 8GB				Apple IPhone 3GS 8GB
	Base Price	Rs 20,900			Base Price	Rs 20,908
	Offer Price	Rs 20,550			Offer Price	Rs 20,756
	View Details/ Buy Now				View Details/ Buy Now

…

Apple has unconstrained its newest software modernize for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, with iOS 5.1.1 fetch a quantity of insignificant bug fixes.

The new edition of the mobile OS can be downloaded above the air, and develop the dependability of the Air Play video quality which was under-performing “in some situation.”

iOS 5.1.1 also bid a secure to progress the “dependability of by means of HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut.”

Prelude to iOS 6?

The modernize also solves problems for customer when switching between 2G and 3G networks, while issue syncing bookmarks and the Reading List by means of the Safari browser have also been address.

Finally, iOS 5.1.1 puts rewarded to a pop-up message inform customer a booming acquires has been disastrous.

The update approachs among reports that the release of iOS 6 is little over a month away.

The company’s annual WWDC developer’s convention has been booked for June 11 in San Francisco and has often provided the location for important software declaration.

via

Samsung Electronics reclaim the guide in smartphones from Apple in the first quarter of this year. One of its weapons: screens of many special sizes. 

How is Samsung throbbing Apple

Samsung sells at least 13 smartphones with screens ranging from 2.8 inches on the Replenish to 5.3 inches on the Galaxy Note. Apple, which has always believed in a limited number of models, offers only a 3.5-inch display on its two iPhones. Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung is testing the tablet market as well with a similar plan.

The different strategies — and the success of Samsung’s — has led analysts including London-based Neil Mawston at Strategy Analytics to speculate that Apple will have to expand its line at some point. Samsung also ended the 14-year reign of Nokia as the world’s biggest maker of all kinds of phones in the last quarter.

“Samsung has long had a buckshot strategy for its mobile and portable hardware,” Mawston said. “Samsung fires out dozens of new models at high speed every year and hopes that one or more will eventually stick.”

The maker of the Galaxy range of phones sold 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, 36 per cent more than a year earlier, Strategy Analytics said April 27. Nokia shipped 82.7 million, down 24 per cent, and Apple sold 35.1 million units, an 89 per cent increase from last year.

Samsung sold 44.5 million smartphones in the three months ended in March, regaining the lead from Apple, according to the researcher’s data. Smartphones let users watch video, send e- mails, play games and surf the Web.

Product breadth
Size is an important reason in choosing mobile devices after Google’s free Android software became the biggest challenger to Apple’s iOS in the $219 billion global smartphone market.

“What we’re seeing here is, really, Samsung gaining share because of product breadth,” said Mark Newman, a Hong Kong- based analyst for Sanford C Bernstein & Co. “They have all different price range for all different people.”

Samsung plans to unveil a successor to the Galaxy S II in London today.

Last week, Asia’s biggest consumer-electronics maker said first-quarter profit jumped 81 per cent to 5.05 trillion won ($4.5 billion) after earnings at the mobile business almost tripled. Chinese demand for the iPhone helped Apple boost its fiscal second-quarter profit 94 per cent.

Samsung shares have gained 33 per cent this year in Seoul trading, while Apple has surged about 44 per cent in New York.

Hybrid phone-tablet
Critical to the surge in profit at Samsung was the Galaxy Note, a hybrid between a phone and tablet computer equipped with a stylus to manipulate programs, photographs and text on its screen. Since Note’s debut in October, Samsung sold more than 5 million of them.

Samsung said it expects to sell 10 million units by the end of this year and plans to introduce more pen-equipped products with different screen sizes.

“Screen size seems to be far more important than we originally anticipated,” Daniel Kim, a Seoul-based analyst at Macquarie Group, said in a March 28 report. “Once consumers are used to larger screens, few go back to screens smaller than four inches.”

Samsung counts Apple as its biggest client — Apple accounted for 7.64 percent of Samsung’s revenue, buying chips and displays, according to data compiled by Bloomberg – even as the two companies have sued each other across four continents, with Apple accusing Samsung of “slavishly copying” its products.

Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.

‘Market’s needs’
“Our smartphone displays are designed to maximize the strengths of each device and reflect the market’s needs,” Chris Jung, a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung, said in an e-mail.

The multisize screen approach isn’t playing out in the tablet market, where Apple dominated with 62 per cent of the market as of December 31, compared with Samsung’s 9 per cent, according to estimates by IHS.

Unlike its strategy for the iPod music players — where Apple brought out the Nano, the Mini and the Shuffle after the original was introduced in 2001 — the Cupertino, California- based company has followed a one-size display for its phones and tablets.

iPhone, iPad
The iPhone, which debuted in 2007, featured the same 3.5- inch display screen as the latestiPhone 4S model, even as the resolution improved. Similarly, the iPad tablet computer has sported a 9.7-inch screen since then-Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs unveiled it in 2010, while the display quality subsequently sharpened.

In contrast, Samsung’s first Galaxy Tab tablet device was introduced in 2010 with a 7.7-inch screen, while Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion Ltd unveiled its PlayBook with a 7-inch display.

In addition to the 7.7-inch model, Samsung sells the Galaxy in the US with displays of 7 inches, 8.9 inches and 10.1 inches.

Jobs said in October 2010 that RIM would struggle to attract application developers to support itsBlackBerry smartphone and that devices like its PlayBook tablet are “dead on arrival” because they’re too small to compete with the iPad.

Size speculation
Speculation has persisted that Apple will add different screen sizes. The Maeil Business Newspaper reported in March the iPhone 5 will have a 4.6-inch display, while the Chinese online portal Netease reported last month that Apple is planning to introduce a smaller iPad.

Still, “Apple could play the ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ card,” said Ramon Llamas, an analyst atIDC in Framingham, Massachusetts.

While Samsung has taken the market-share lead in unit sales, Apple still garners most of the industry’s operating profits, wrote Michael Walkley, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, in a May 1 note. Apple accounted for 73 per cent of all handset- industry profits in the first quarter, he estimated, and Samsung generated 26 per cent, giving the duo 99 per cent of the total.

One of the foundations of Apple’s success has been its focus on developing a single iconic product with mass appeal, rather than seek market share by having a broad portfolio of products, said Brian Marshall, an equity analyst with International Strategy & Investments, in San Francisco.

Given the fast growth in tablets and phones and Apple’s relatively low market share in the latter, the company doesn’t need to expand its form factors for now, Marshall said. As the markets get more saturated, the pressure will be much stronger to add more screen sizes.

“Today, the answer is no,” he said. “Down the road, the answer is yes,” he said.

Mawston at Strategy Analytics agrees.

“Apple will need different screen sizes if it decides to launch new models for lower-cost segments in the future,” he said.

via