Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Samsung Lining Up New Family Of 4 For Smartphone War

An artist uses the Samsung's Galaxy Note at a Samsung booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 10, 2012 (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Samsung is in the final stages of developing its Note 3 smartphone, with a possible unveil on September 6th for launch in October. The Note would compete against the Sony Xperia and the HTC One and of course whatever new iPhone Apple has planned. It looks as though, once again, Samsung could be offering a family of devices rather than just one.


Meanwhile Samsung is also driving down the cost of its summer flagship the S4 (I'll write about it later) to take on Apple on price.


Samsung launched the Galaxy S4 in April and followed up with three S4 variants in June. They are just coming to market now. It's a novel strategy that allows Samsung to incorporate a variety of phone specifications under one flagship banner and gives diverse and less highly specified phones better brand equity in the battle with the iPhone.


Rumors around the Note 3 have been circulating for weeks but recently Samsung posted information relating to a possible launch. According to Phonesreview.co.uk


Samsung has posted UA Prof Files for models SM-N900T and SM-N900A that are believed to be for the Galaxy Note 3, and these User Agent Profile files are actually specification files that can often describe the model, screen size, and other specs ahead of the device going official.


Further research by Android Beat suggested there would be at least three variants of the Note 3 based on the discovery of 4 SM-N900 numbers.


Rumors about Samsung and Apple vary by geography. In the US, the expectation is that the iPhone 5s will not include a significant form factor change, nor an improved display, though there have been rumors of a Retina +. Many of the improvements are thought likely to come from the iOS 7 upgrade, providing, for example, slow motion video (already available on the S4), which also suggests an improved camera.


Rumors on the Indian sub-continent have the Note marked down as a full HD 6″ AMOLED display with an Octa processor and an aluminum casing. The next iPhone is rumored, there, to be a 4.8″ HD Retina with IGZO back panel.


The 6″ AMOLED would make the Note 3 very expensive to produce. The iPhone on the other hand would be at the mercy of Sharp's production lines and precarious finances. IGZO though has significant benefits. The Wall St Journal reports that IGZO 'promises twice as much battery life, sharper images and a more than fivefold increase in the sensitivity of touch screens for smartphones and tablets.'


Sharp initially had overheating problems when ramping up IGZO production but has bigger issues with its own finances. Motley Fool reports: 'the company's cash reserves still continue to shrink down to just $1.70 billion by December, dropping by 16% since March 2012. During this period, Sharp's current liabilities increased by 18.1% to $17 billion - nearly ten times as much as its cash reserves. Moreover, there is a $2.1 billion convertible bond due in September.'


Sharp took a $111 million investment from Samsung earlier in the year, and Samsung now has investments in both IGZO and Quantum Dot technology, the two ways Apple could produce an immediate, significant improvement in the Retina's display quality.


It would be a surprise if Samsung opts for an HD AMOLED screen, especially if it intends to have a 6″ display on the Note 3 (it might be slightly smaller at 5.7″) because of the cost. Why not use LCD and IGZO? Or LCD and Quantum Dot? Both of these would be cheaper alternatives.That is, more or less, what Samsung did with the S4.


It launched with a highly impressive HD AMOLED display and then relaunched variants with LCD displays. It might similarly hedge its bets with the Note, though the IGZO display is said to be more sensitive to a Stylus, a big selling feature of the Note.


Whatever option it chooses though it is clear that Samsung is positioning the Note 3 at the very high end in order to further diversify choice for consumers as the iPhone 5s hits the market.


Samsung Debuts The New Galaxy S IV

No comments:

Post a Comment