Topic: Smartphones
Pixel ‘demand is exceeding supply’ at Verizon stores: Wave7 – FierceWireless (Jan 16, 2017)
I’ve spoken to Jeff Moore, the head of Wave7 Research, multiple times, and he’s very good at what he does, so I trust these numbers in general terms. As usual with supply shortages, there’s the question of whether the crunch is coming on the demand or supply side – in this case, it seems likely that Google was simply very cautious in its planning here and has an unexpected hit on its hands with demand it now can’t quickly fulfill. I like Google’s new hardware – both the Pixel and Home are good devices that do their jobs well, and the Daydream is also a much more user friendly version of the mobile VR concept than the Samsung Gear VR, so I expect these products to do well, though the Pixel in particular will be hamstrung by not just these supply shortages but its lack of carrier distribution beyond Verizon. Look for signs of strong sales in Alphabet’s earnings soon too.
via Pixel ‘demand is exceeding supply’ at Verizon stores: Wave7 | FierceWireless
Andy Rubin Nears His Comeback, Complete With an ‘Essential’ Phone – Bloomberg (Jan 13, 2017)
Andy Rubin, the creator of Android and its leader at Google for many years, is now apparently about to get back into the smartphone business, or more accurately into the ecosystem business, with a smartphone and potentially several other devices fleshing out the portfolio. On the one hand, this makes sense – few people want to buy just a phone anymore – they want to know that it comes with services and potentially other devices which will increase its value. On the other hand, creating such an ecosystem from scratch is incredibly tough and costly, as we’ve seen with LeEco recently too, so the prospects for success when trying to get there in one big leap are slim. The other big question about all of this, of course, is which operating system the Essential phone will run…
via Andy Rubin Nears His Comeback, Complete With an ‘Essential’ Phone – Bloomberg
HTC’s new flagship phone has AI and a second screen, but no headphone jack – The Verge (Jan 12, 2017)
HTC is the Android smartphone manufacturer I keep expecting to be the first to when the shakeout starts, and it’s hard to avoid the sense that this shakeup is imminent. Its financials make grim reading – rapidly declining revenues and regular losses, with only a brief blip following the launch of the HTC Vive. HTC typifies what’s happened to the big-name Android vendors over recent years with the exception of Samsung – LG, Motorola, Sony, and others have experienced similar challenges. Each has its own attempt to turn things around, and with HTC it seems to be the combination of investment in VR and an expansion of its premium smartphone lineup along with some feature experimentation. We’ve already seen the modular approach come and to some extent go, but second screens seem to be a feature that’s sticking around a bit longer. None of what’s here makes me think it’ll help turn HTC’s fortunes around though.
via HTC’s new flagship phone has AI and a second screen, but no headphone jack – The Verge
Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures as CEO admits the company grew too fast – TechCrunch (Jan 12, 2017)
It’s been apparent for some time that Xiaomi’s early stellar rise was not sustainable, and in 2015 it had to revise its guidance for smartphone sales downward and even then missed it by 10 million. Its business is growing though, including hitting $1 billion in sales in India last year, a strengthening retail business, and good growth in “Internet services”, though those still make up a small minority of sales, for all the talk about Xiaomi as a services company. At this point, Xiaomi is far closer in its model to Amazon than to Google or even Apple in its model – a retail and e-commerce company which sells some of its own hardware and also has a growing services business. But it’s been missing its targets and there’s no clarity about profitability yet at this point. Lots more detail in the CEO letter.
via Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures as CEO admits the company grew too fast | TechCrunch
The iPhone is gaining ground on Android in the U.S. – Recode (Jan 11, 2017)
Kantar’s data is solid, so these conclusions are reliable, and they suggest a bifurcation in iPhone market share between the US and China. It’s rising in the former, and falling in the latter, which is actually to be expected. The iPhone’s share of the market has generally fallen over time in most markets as they expand and more new buyers at the lower end of the market buy cheaper phones. But as markets mature and begin to saturate, there’s potential for the iPhone to gain share, because share is driven by switching and not by new low end users coming into the market, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing now in the US. The key for iPhone sales growth (not share growth, which is not itself important to Apple) going forward is to drive switching behavior, hence Tim Cook’s frequent references to record Android switching rates on earnings calls.
via The iPhone is gaining ground on Android in the U.S. – Recode
The Next Big Thing in Smartphones? The Software – WSJ (Jan 11, 2017)
The foundation of the claims made in this piece – the idea that smartphone growth is slowing driven by saturation and longer upgrade cycles – is absolutely accurate, the headline feels off. Software has always been a critical component of smartphones, so there’s nothing new there. And hardware continues to be extremely important too – see the iPhone 7’s dual cameras and the functionality they’ll support today and tomorrow, or conversely the Note7 recall. So the headline and thrust of the article is overblown, but there’s still some truth here, in that the focus of software innovation in smartphones is changing, and hardware is mature enough that the innovation is happening at the edges, not in huge leaps forward in basic hardware performance.
via The Next Big Thing in Smartphones? The Software – WSJ
FAA to Halt Galaxy Note7 Warnings Thanks to 96% Return Rate – Phone Scoop (Jan 11, 2017)
We’re finally coming to the end of this saga, with one of the most visible and painful reminders of the fate of the Note7 going away. Though the 96% return rate likely is a major factor in the decision, the fact that most Note7 devices remaining now won’t charge either thanks to the recent carrier updates is likely another – those who have these phones will find it very hard to do anything dangerous with them. The last remaining chapter in this story is now Samsung’s long-awaited disclosure of the root causes for the fires, and its plan for avoiding similar issues in future.
via FAA to Halt Galaxy Note7 Warnings Thanks to 96% Return Rate (Phone Scoop)
The dream of Ara: Inside the rise and fall of the world’s most revolutionary phone | VentureBeat (Jan 10, 2017)
This piece is probably hundreds of words more than you want to read on Google’s failed Project Ara modular phone, but there’s some interesting history here nonetheless, and it also fits into at least two narratives: Hardware is Hard, and Alphabet Lacks Focus. This is just the kind of project that almost everyone who had any sense outside of Google (and presumably many inside it too) knew would never work – the kind of “great in theory, lousy in practice” thinking that Google often falls into. Smartphones are tough enough without massively handicapping many of the things people care about most with a modular approach. Google did eventually kill this project in the Ruth Porat era of austerity, but it should arguably never have made it past the YouTube video the story starts with.
via The dream of Ara: Inside the rise and fall of the world’s most revolutionary phone | VentureBeat
Huawei’s Mate 9 will be the first phone with Alexa preinstalled – The Verge (Jan 5, 2017)
I’ve been saying for months now that where Alexa really needs to make progress is in phones, because unless an assistant is with you all the time, it’s not truly useful. Well, here’s the first phone with Alexa, and it’s an Android one, as you’d expect, though the announcement here feels a little half baked. The news leaked due to a prematurely unfurled banner at CES, and even now it’s out there some of the details are unclear. But this is a blow to Google and yet another CES win for Amazon.
via Huawei’s Mate 9 will be the first phone with Alexa preinstalled – The Verge
Samsung Electronics forecasts fourth-quarter profit at over three-year high | Reuters (Jan 5, 2017)
These are remarkable results in the quarter after the Note7 fiasco began, and the quarter in which the recall itself really began. Revenues are very close to last year’s, while operating profits are the third highest ever after two quarters back in 2013. We’ll have to wait for the final results to come out later this month to see the breakdown, but the Reuters report makes it sound like both smartphones and semiconductors did well, which would be impressive if it’s true.
via Samsung Electronics forecasts fourth-quarter profit at over three-year high | Reuters
LG Electronics, Moving Away From Modular Model, Plans New Smartphone – WSJ (Jan 4, 2017)
I’ve been skeptical of the modular approach to smartphones taken by both LG and Motorola from the start – a smartphone that becomes what you want in different scenarios sounds great, until you realize it will cost lots more to get all the add-ons/mods. In practice, it’s a gimmick few will go for, and it seems LG now recognizes that its experiment didn’t pan out, and will go back to a more traditional approach. Kudos for trying something new, but being an Android OEM remains really tough.
via LG Electronics, Moving Away From Modular Model, Plans New Smartphone – WSJ
Ford and Toyota Establish SmartDeviceLink Consortium to Accelerate Industry-Driven Standard for In-Vehicle Apps | Ford Media Center (Jan 4, 2017)
This announcement builds on an existing partnership between Ford and Toyota around in-car entertainment systems, and it’s hard to see it as anything but a concerted effort to bypass CarPlay and Android Auto. Ford supports both technologies after being a holdout early on, but Toyota never has. It’s likely that for most of the consortium members those options will be present in addition to their proprietary systems, but it’s clear these carmakers aren’t willing to cede the in-car UI to Apple or Google.
Chinese smartphones soar to 51% of India market – Tech in Asia (Jan 4, 2017)
The Indian smartphone market has been characterized by unusually high loyalty to local brands, but that seems to be changing now as Chinese companies start to overcome the resistance to foreign vendors. For now, most of the action is still in the mid tier and below, but this helps erode the idea that one of the reasons Apple hasn’t done well in India is resistance to non-Indian suppliers. Chinese vendors, of course, have already done very well in other emerging markets, but it appears we can now add India to that list too.
via Chinese smartphones soar to 51% of India market – Tech in Asia
Qualcomm’s new chip may finally get you to try VR – CNET (Jan 3, 2017)
Qualcomm’s new high-end mobile chip moves its product forward across a number of different categories, but it seems to be emphasizing the AR and VR aspects at its CES presentation. I’m looking forward to getting some more detail on this chip in a briefing later this week, but it looks like extending Qualcomm’s lead in this space at the high end.
via Qualcomm’s new chip may finally get you to try VR – CNET
Slower-than-expected iPhone 7 sales prompt Apple to cut production by 10%, report claims (Dec 30, 2016)
There are two problems with these reports – firstly, they come out every year in some shape or form, and have a far from perfect correlation with poor sales of iPhones; and secondly, the scale of the cuts is always ambiguous – is the 10% relative to last year at the same time, a cut from Q4 to Q1, or something else? The latter would obviously be expected given the usual cyclical drop from Q4 to Q1, while the former would be entirely unexpected. But as usual this Nikkei report drove lots of “poor iPhone sales” headlines despite all that.
via Slower-than-expected iPhone 7 sales prompt Apple to cut production by 10%, report claims
Apple plans to make iPhones in Bengaluru from April – ETtech (Dec 30, 2016)
One of the barriers to Apple opening a retail presence in India has been that its products are not made there, and although there has been talk about a temporary lifting of that ban, Apple likely still needs to make iPhones in India in order to solve this problem over the long term. I haven’t seen others confirming these reports yet, so let’s take this with a pinch of salt for now, but it certainly seems plausible.
via Apple: apple plans to make iphones in bengaluru from april, Technology News, ETtech
Apple seeks tax benefits, label law waivers to build iPhones in India & boost local sales – AppleInsider (Dec 29, 2016)
India is a market Tim Cook talks about a lot, as if it had the potential of China over the long term, and yet Apple’s presence there is minuscule for a host of reasons, not least much lower disposable incomes and regulatory barriers to a retail presence. However, Apple continues to chip away at these challenges bit by bit in an attempt to grow its business in India. I suspect we’ll still see slow progress there over the short to medium term.
via Apple seeks tax benefits, label law waivers to build iPhones in India & boost local sales
Samsung at CES: Ignore that burning Galaxy Note 7 over there – CNET (Dec 29, 2016)
Shara does a great job here of stating the challenge Samsung faces heading into CES, where it holds the biggest press conference of any exhibitor but tends not to make smartphone announcements. I’m concerned that we still don’t have an official explanation for the Note7 fires, which means the story will keep sticking around, and will keep making people – especially those who’ve never bought one – think twice before buying a Samsung phone.
via Samsung at CES: Ignore that burning Galaxy Note 7 over there – CNET
The Verge 2016 tech report card: Microsoft – The Verge (Dec 29, 2016)
This is a good summary of Microsoft’s 2016, which was the year in which a significant turnaround or even a comeback seemed to become plausible. The company made some big advances in key areas, although there was no real advance in first-party tablets or laptops, and it all but killed off its Lumia smartphone business. There’s lots of potential here, but we’ll see in 2017 both whether Microsoft can really turn around its consumer business, and whether it can make its hardware business grow again.
via The Verge 2016 tech report card: Microsoft – The Verge
T-Mobile rolls out battery shutdown update to remaining Galaxy Note 7s | AndroidAuthority (Dec 27, 2016)
This is the beginning of the end for the Note7 saga, which began all the way back in early September. The four major US carriers, starting with T-Mobile, are rolling out what are effectively kill updates that will shut down the remaining Note7 devices in use. Over 90% of those devices have already been turned in, so this is really about capturing the holdouts. This is also the beginning of the end for the PR nightmare that’s kept this story in the news far longer than Samsung would have liked.
via T-Mobile rolls out battery shutdown update to remaining Galaxy Note 7s | AndroidAuthority