Hasta La Gadget!

On this edition of As The Smartphone World Turns…, we’ve got Samsung violently snatching victory from the jaws of Apple, claiming its spot at the top of global smartphone vendors once more. Dramatics aside, the latest shipment figures tallied up by Strategy Analytics are showing that worldwide smartphone shipments are up 44 percent year-over-year, reaching a staggering 117 million units in Q3 2011. Digging into that a bit, we’re told that Samsung has overtaken Apple from a units-shipped standpoint, with Sammy moving 28 million smartphones and claiming 24 percent of the market share. If you’ll recall, Apple briefly grabbed hold of numero uno last quarter, but has now fallen a rung with 15 percent of the global pie. Of course, things could be dramatically different when we see Q4 2011 figures roll out — remember, Q3 2011 was the last quarter in a long string with the aging iPhone 4 as Apple’s “newest” device. Stranger still, Nokia is slotted third with just 14 percent of the global share, representing a precipitous drop from 33 percent a year ago. Similarly, Nokia’s fortunes are apt to change with both the N9 finally out and its spate of Windows Phone devices heading out in short order. Hop on past the break for the full breakdown.

Continue reading Samsung claims top spot in global smartphone shipments for Q3 2011, Apple slips to number two

Samsung claims top spot in global smartphone shipments for Q3 2011, Apple slips to number two originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for more dollars and cents earnings news? It’s Samsung’s turn, and when it comes to phones the news couldn’t be better, where it notched an operating profit of $2.3 billion on record sales. Unfortunately, other parts of its massive business selling displays, memory chips, appliances, and more weren’t as profitable, leading a quarterly profit of $3.8 billion, down 13% from the same period last year. We’ll wait for a press release in English for more details, for now you can paw through bar graphs and figures in the accompanying slides.

Update: Now with English language press release included after the break.

Continue reading Samsung’s Q3 2011 overall profit falls despite incredible phone sales

Filed under: Cellphones, HDTV

Samsung’s Q3 2011 overall profit falls despite incredible phone sales originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bring it on, LTE-Advanced. In case you’ve been looking for ways to eat up your capped data plan any faster, a researcher from Samsung proclaims that speeds up to 5.5gbps (yes, with a g) might be reachable within the next five years — as long as all the stars align, that is. Jerry Pi demonstrated the idea, which involves the use of millimeter wave spectrum that lies between 3GHz and 300GHz. If — and that’s a big if — the spectrum can be secured, the next hurdle will be the engineering challenge of deploying a wireless broadband network at such high frequencies; even tiny oxygen molecules, let alone walls and trees, would easily break up a signal at that range. Pi mentions that he and his fellow researchers are working on a few ideas to get around these obstacles, and outlines everything in significant detail in his 100+ slide presentation, which can be accessed below. Don’t get us wrong: the idea of broadband data speeds hitting 5.5gbps makes us salivate, but it would definitely need to come with an unlimited plan. Just sayin’.

Multi-gigabit wireless broadband within our grasp, capped data plans laugh in our face originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For all the talk of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in recent days, there’s still quite a few questions surrounding the flagship Ice Cream Sandwich phone. Last week we learned that the phone’s 4.65-inch screen was a standard Super AMOLED display and not a Super AMOLED Plus variation (as seen on the Galaxy S II), and now Corning has confirmed that the device doesn’t use its trademark Gorilla Glass as you may have assumed given its high-end status. According to Samsung, however, it does use a type of “fortified glass,” but the company isn’t getting any more specific than that. We guess we’ll have to wait for some stress tests (or clumsy hands) to see just how well it holds up.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus confirmed to have ‘fortified glass,’ not Gorilla Glass originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The original Samsung Exhibit was a mere blip on T-Mobile’s radar screen when it originally launched, being obscured by titans like the HTC Sensation 4G. The sequel, curiously coming out a whole four months after its predecessor, is ready to see if it can buck the trend and offer a decent option to those seeking an inexpensive Android device. Starting at $30 after mail in rebate and with a two-year commitment, it’s poised to launch tomorrow in Walmart stores nationwide, with stock coming into official T-Mobile channels on November 2nd. If you’re feeling contract-averse, however, you can still procure the device for two Benjamins. Not bad for a phone that comes with Gingerbread, a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 1GHz single-core Snapdragon CPU, 4G access and a 3MP shooter with a front-facing camera. Also up for exhibit is the press release, shown after the break.

Continue reading Samsung Exhibit II 4G to be shown off for T-Mobile at Walmart tomorrow, official channels November 2nd

Samsung Exhibit II 4G to be shown off for T-Mobile at Walmart tomorrow, official channels November 2nd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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