| In Depth: Super AMOLED vs Super LCD: top smartphone screens compared Feb 27th 2014, 14:50, by James Rogerson 
The technology explainedSuper AMOLED and Super LCD are two of the best and most popular screen technologies currently in use on phones, and are the display tech of choice for two of the most popular Android phones around. HTC for example, packed its One flagship with a Super LCD screen (in fact, it's one of the biggest customers of the tech by some way) while Samsung not only uses Super AMOLED, the company actually created it. But what's the difference between them? And which is better? Super AMOLEDTo understand Super AMOLED you first need to understand its origins. It started with OLED, which stands for 'organic light-emitting diode' and consists of a thin organic film with electrodes at either side. As soon as an electric current is applied to the film it emits light. 
AMOLED is an 'active-matrix organic light-emitting diode'. It adds a layer of semiconducting film behind the OLED panel which allows it to more quickly activate each pixel. That increased speed makes it ideal for larger, higher definition displays with a lot of pixels. In fact it's as much as 1000 times faster than LCD. AMOLED screens also tend to have great contrast, as the light on the screen comes from each individual pixel rather than a backlight; when it needs to create a black colour it simply dims or turns off the relevant pixels, for a true, deep black. AMOLED screens also use a large colour gamut, so they can display a wide range of colours, but that can also cause images to look very vibrant or over-saturated. 
Other advantages of AMOLED screens are that they have wide viewing angles and can even be made transparent or flexible, which makes them ideal for the curved handsets which are starting to hit the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy Round. An AMOLED touchscreen usually has an extra, touch sensitive layer on top of the screen, but with Super AMOLED Samsung has been able to integrate touch sensitivity into the screen itself. The result of this is that not only is the screen thinner, lighter, more touch sensitive and less power-hungry, but without that extra layer it's also far less reflective than a typical AMOLED screen, making it easier to view in bright sunlight. On the other hand Super AMOLED screens are quite susceptible to image burn in and sometimes use a PenTile matrix with fewer subpixels than their LCD companions, which can potentially lead to less sharp images or give the screen an unnatural colour tint. Samsung obviously has a lot of faith in Super AMOLED, as the company uses it in its latest flagship (the Samsung Galaxy S5) as well as most other phones in the Galaxy S range, but it's also developed variations on the technology. 
For example there's Super AMOLED Plus, which was used in the Samsung Galaxy S2 and has a standard RGB matrix rather than a PenTile matrix, meaning it has 50% more subpixels and therefore delivers clearer images, but it also degrades faster than a Super AMOLED display, which is why Samsung stopped using it in its flagships. Then there's HD Super AMOLED, which is just a 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED display and Full HD Super AMOLED, which, you guessed it, is Full HD 1080 x 1920. Super LCDJust as AMOLED was the predecessor to Super AMOLED, LCD was the predecessor to Super LCD. Unlike an AMOLED display which lights each pixel individually, an LCD (or liquid crystal display) has a backlight, so the whole screen is lit to some extent, even supposedly black areas. It uses liquid crystals which are manipulated via electrical charges to cover or not cover pixels as needed, thereby letting more or less light through, but it can never deliver true blacks as the backlight is always on. 
In standard LCD displays there's an air gap between the outer glass and the display element, but with Super LCD that gap is removed, which has similar benefits to Super AMOLED. Glare is reduced, making it more easily viewable when outside and in bright sunlight, plus the screen is also thinner and uses less power than standard LCD. The power consumption of a Super LCD screen is particularly low when displaying lighter colours, which makes it ideal for web browsing for example as websites tend to have white backgrounds. The opposite is true with Super AMOLED, where blacks consume less power as the pixels don't have to be lit. 
Things get a bit more complicated when you consider that there's also such a thing as Super LCD2 and Super LCD3, but really each numbered version is just an improvement on the last while working in much the same way. Super LCD3 for example is brighter than Super LCD2, as well as having better viewing angles and a faster refresh rate to avoid blurring when watching videos. Super showdown: Galaxy S4 vs HTC OneSuper showdownSo those are the differences on paper, but you can't always equate that to real world performance. With that in mind we've put two of the best examples of each display type head to head to see which comes out on top. In the Super LCD corner we have the HTC One and in the Super AMOLED corner there's the Samsung Galaxy S4. 
Why not the Samsung Galaxy S5? Simply because we haven't had enough time with it to properly compare it to the HTC One, though side by side with the Galaxy S4 it had superior colour reproduction, brightness and movies looked better on it. The first thing to note is that while both screens are bright, the HTC One (and Super LCD screens in general) is much brighter than the Samsung Galaxy S4 with its Super AMOLED screen. In fact the HTC One can manage 500 nits of light output, while the Galaxy S4 can only manage around 300 nits. The upshot of that is that the HTC One fares a little better outdoors and in bright environments, as the screen is clearer and colours are less distorted. 
On the flip side though the Samsung Galaxy S4 has far better contrast as it can produce true blacks. It also has richer colours and the difference is particularly noticeable in dark environments. To keep it simple you could say that the HTC One's screen tends to perform better than the Galaxy S4's when outdoors and the Samsung Galaxy S4's is better when indoors. The Galaxy S4 also has wider viewing angles than the HTC One, though the HTC One has more natural colours than the Samsung Galaxy S4, which tends to over-saturate things a little. The S4's display is also likely to consume less battery power, because it doesn't have a backlight, but OLEDs burn out over time so the HTC One is likely to have more legs before the screen starts to wear out. 
To be clear though none of the differences are earth shattering. Other factors affect a phone's battery life and durability more than the display type. The HTC One might not have as good viewing angles or contrast as the Samsung Galaxy S4 but it's still pretty good for both, while the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is good at avoiding reflections means that it still fares pretty well outside despite not having as bright a screen. Also colours are far more natural on the S4 than on some earlier Super AMOLED handsets, and they seem better still on the Galaxy S5. Ultimately, the incredible contrast and rich colours of the Samsung Galaxy S4 seals the win for it, as the extra brightness of the HTC One isn't likely to be as useful as often. While the HTC One's colours are more natural the difference is minor, especially as the Galaxy S4 has multiple colour profiles to choose from to alter the intensity of the colour saturation, while you're stuck with just the one on HTC's phone. Does that mean that Super AMOLED is better than Super LCD? Not necessarily. On paper we'd argue that Super AMOLED is slightly superior but really it depends on your own preferences. Do you favour brightness or contrast? Vivid colours or natural ones? And even then each handset will have its own display quirks or be calibrated differently, regardless of the technology used. Phone screens are a minefield of different technologies with their own strengths and drawbacks, but at least now you'll be better equipped to navigate it.        |  | Your move Apple: Samsung opens up its fingerprint scanner to all apps Feb 27th 2014, 12:56, by Kate Solomon 
Samsung's going to let developers use the Galaxy S5's fingerprint scanner in their own apps, which means you could be waving goodbye to your passwords for good. The fingerprint-friendly Pass API was released as part of the S5's development kit, which also includes all the information devs need to create apps for the Gear 2 and Gear Fit. The fingerprint scanner was already more useful than most, allowing you to control certain parts of the phone with your biometric data, and more apps being able to access the info will certainly attract consumers. Pass out"With Pass, you can provide reinforced security, since you can identify whether the current user actually is the authentic owner of the device," the document explains. PayPal is the first to make use of the open API; its app lets you use your phone and fingerprint scanner combo to pay for things in participating stores. Unlike Samsung, Apple's TouchID has stayed tightly guarded so you can only use it to unlock your iPhone 5S and authorise payments in Apple's own products like iBooks, iTunes and the App Store.        | | May on 4K: Your 4K smartphone wants to kill off your camera and your Blu-ray player Feb 27th 2014, 11:00, by Steve May 
The 4K revolution is about to get personal. Key phones announced at Mobile World Congress quietly list Ultra HD video recording as part of their ever expanding armoury of features. This provision will not only change the way 4K can be viewed in the home (if users want to see just how sharp their footage is they'll need to run it into an external display), but reveal mobile devices to be a key piece in the 4K content puzzle. The simple fact is that Samsung's Galaxy S5 is poised to become the most popular 4K acquisition device on the planet. Smartphones hold the 4Key...As an adjunct to its 16MP camera, the Galaxy S5 will shoot 3840 x 2160 video at 30fps, using h.265. The incoming Sony Xperia Z2 also offers comparable 4K video shooting. During demonstrations in Barcelona, which saw a Z2 playing directly into a Sony 4K TV, the brand revealed TV engineers had contributed to the R&D when it came to enhancing the Xperia's 4K Triluminos colour fidelity. Ahead of MWC, LG also got into the act with the G Pro 2, another smartphone to proffer 4K. 4K video rendering has been seen as imperative by processor maker Qualcomm for some time now, and looks set to become a standard feature on high-end phones – and I think this advance could be game-changing. Typical usage will see home brewed 4K transmitted wirelessly to compatible displays using Miracast, or over wires using the newly announced MHL 3.0 standard. 
4KompressionAlthough not immediately apparent, the arrival of MHL 3.0 is another vital evolution of the connected 4K eco-system. Until now, early 4K shooters like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 were unable to display their UHD footage directly because limitations of MHL 2.0. This latest iteration offers a simple direct TV connection fat enough for 2160p30. Intriguingly, MHL 3.0 also supports HDCP 2.2 which could imply that a copyright secure 4K capable smartphone could also become a conduit for 4K streaming services, and not just 4K camcordering. Is the mobile phone now on a trajectory that will make it a rival to the set top box of the future? Could the smartphone kill the Blu-ray player? In a related development, ZTE also used MWC to show-off a pucker 4K capable TV box. The ZXV10 B803 employs new Broadcom silicon able to decode 2160p60 content using HEVC h.265. Indeed, something very similar was used by Netflix to demo its nascent 4K streaming service to me at CES 2014. Until now, STB decoding solutions have been locked at 2160p30. This Spanish cameo signals more widespread set top box production is becoming a reality - which in turn will ultimately open the doors to a Sky 4K TV service, but I digress. 
4KamerasOf course, the 4K recording boom isn't going to stop at mobile phones. The contagion will spread to cameras too. The new Panasonic GH4 can also shoot 4K at 2160p30. Footage can be played back into any 4K display using the miniHDMI output or distributed on SD card. Not that all 4K cameras will be created equal. There's far more to UHD than just pixel density, after all. One of the more extraordinary properties of the new wave of 4K cinema cameras is their astonishing sensitivity. Cinematographers can do things on a 4K shoot that simply are not be possible with lesser equipment. One scene in the Tom Cruise sci-fi outing Oblivion, which was shot on a Sony F65, has our hero illuminated by a single candlelight; nothing was fudged for this, there really was only one candle on set. Yet shadow detail is blisteringly sharp. Peter Suschitzky, who lensed M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth, was awestruck at just what could be achieved when shooting 4K in dense jungle. "I was full of wonder at the way the camera captures the image," he enthused. "It's so detailed and beautiful." It's probably fair to say you won't get the same result with a Galaxy S5. But the Samsung Galaxy S6 may be another story… Steve May on 4K        | | Industry voice: Why are so many businesses stuck in an unhappy marriage to BT? Feb 27th 2014, 09:22, by Sandra Hine 
We Brits aren't the best at shopping around or generally showing our dissatisfaction. While complaining is pretty much a national sport, taking action certainly isn't. Recent research showed people are more likely to get divorced than switch from a bank account they're unhappy with, and the same is sadly true of business IT and communications. Being bounced around global call centres might be a running joke among BT customers, but this reputation for poor customer service can creep into BT's business offering too – especially for SMEs. BT own the copper and fibre network in the ground, right? So buying telephony and connectivity from anyone else just means more delays if things go wrong while they deal with BT, right? Well actually, that's not always the case. Faster fault resolutionBusinesses also wrongly believe that BT will manage faults better than independent service providers (ISPs), because they own the network. In fact, ISPs now have equal access into Openreach network systems, with the same visibility as BT itself. What's more, business-only service providers can afford to employ expert UK-based support engineers, who can often use the diagnostic tools available to resolve problems faster than call centre agents in far-off lands. Essentially, organisations stay in this unhappy marriage with BT (despite the poor service and the higher prices) because of inertia. Company bosses and managers worry about the hassle and disruption of change. But the broadband migration processes encouraged by Ofcom now means it is quick, simple and cheap to switch to a better broadband provider. Maintaining the same phone numbers is usually very straightforward too – and the best independent business service providers will have specialist migration teams on hand to make everything hassle-free. Start shopping aroundAs a business owner don't you deserve and expect some white-glove service? Rather than feeling like a small cog in a very large machine, independent providers typically have a much greater emphasis on customer service. A good starting point when beginning to shop around is to look for a service provider that easily lists the boss's name; access to a mobile phone number is an added bonus. If their organisation isn't transparent and accessible, then how can they possibly be in a position to help your business when you need them most? In many respects, business is a bit like a marriage. You need a bit of give and take, a lot of trust and a mutual understanding of what is required to make the relationship work. If you're spending more time ironing out the kinks in your telecoms contract than you are with your real-life significant other, it sounds like it's time to issue that divorce summons sooner rather than later. - Sandra Hine is Timico's Director of Business Services. She focuses on sales and customer service for small and medium sized businesses.
       | | Google's modular phone ambitions just took a giant step forward Feb 26th 2014, 23:01, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
There's life yet in Google's Project Ara as the modular phone endeavor just got its own developer conference. Make that conferences. Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division sang the news on its Google+ page (where else?), revealing the first Ara Developers' Conference will go down April 15 - April 16. It will be an online affair with a live stream and interactive Q&A, though a small number will be able to attend in person at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. This will be followed by two more conferences sometime in 2014. The first will focus on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers' Kit (MDK), which Google plans to release online in April. The MDK will essentially contain everything anyone needs to build an Ara module, or any component that can be used to build a smartphone, be it a keyboard, battery, processor or something else. Why this mattersAll was quiet on the Project Ara front after Google sold Motorola to Lenovo last month. The project was under Motorola's wing, but since Google kept ATAP in the divorce, Ara went along too. Now that Project Ara has its own developer conferences, it appears Google is putting its chips on letting people mix and match their own handset parts. In addition to its ready-made phones like the Nexus 5, Google is working on more experimental fare like Project Ara and Project Tango, an Android phone that creates 3D maps of a user's environment using Kinect-like sensors. The April conference should shed light on whether Ara modules will ever make it into consumer hands or whether this moonshot is doomed to stay grounded. Either way, Google looks prepared to go all in. - Know what else is going down in April? Build 2014.
       | | The first Ubuntu phones will launch as the leaves start to fall Feb 26th 2014, 20:46, by Michael Rougeau 
Chinese manufacturers Meizu and BQ will launch the first Ubuntu phones in the fall of 2014, according to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth. The company is starting with lesser-known manufacturers so it can ensure those companies dedicate enough resources to focus on "placing the right device in the right hands," Shuttleworth told CNET at MWC 2014. He said both manufacturers "are established at getting into difficult, entrenched, or congested markets" by identifying their target markets and "thinking very carefully" about branding and retail strategies. That's key since the first Ubuntu phones "will be astonishingly great in some areas…but will come across as weak in others," Shuttleworth said. Making plansUbuntu's launch will be focused on China and Europe for 2014. The early phones will be available in the US, but China and Europe will be more important initially, Shuttleworth said. He admitted that Ubuntu "won't have 650,000 apps in the app store" but said building that up will be a focus. Part of that has been making sure app developers can use the same tools to develop on Ubuntu that they use for iOS and Android. "We're perfectly aligned with Google and Apple so if you've got an HTML5 app that works with Android or iOS, it will work with Ubuntu, with only a tiny amount of friction that just one person can take care of," he said. It's unclear exactly where Ubuntu will go after that, though Shuttleworth revealed that the company is "at board level with quite a few household names" in terms of manufacturers. But one Ubuntu phone that won't hit the market in the foreseeable future is the ambitious Ubuntu Edge. Despite raising huge amounts of cash, the Edge also fell short of its massive $32 million (about £1.92m, AU$3.57m) goal "by a record," Shuttleworth admitted. And he doesn't consider that a success.        | | First Ubuntu phones will launch as the leaves start to fall Feb 26th 2014, 20:46, by Michael Rougeau
Chinese manufacturers Meizu and BQ will launch the first Ubuntu phones in the fall of 2014, according to Canonical Founder Mark Shuttleworth. The company is starting with lesser-known manufacturers so it can ensure those companies dedicate enough resources to focus on "placing the right device in the right hands," Shuttleworth told CNET at MWC 2014. He said both manufacturers "are established at getting into difficult, entrenched or congested markets" by identifying their target markets and "thinking very carefully" about branding and retail strategies. That's key since the first Ubuntu phones "will be astonishingly great in some areas … but will come across as weak in others," Shuttleworth admitted. Making plansUbuntu's launch will be focused on China and Europe for 2014. The early phones will be available in the US, but China and Europe will be more important initially, Shuttleworth said. He acknowledged that Ubuntu "won't have 650,000 apps in the app store" but said building that number up will be a focus. Part of that has been making sure app developers can use the same tools to develop on Ubuntu that they use for iOS and Android. "We're perfectly aligned with Google and Apple so if you've got an HTML5 app that works with Android or iOS, it will work with Ubuntu, with only a tiny amount of friction that just one person can take care of," he said. It's unclear exactly where Ubuntu will go after that, though Shuttleworth revealed that the company is "at board level with quite a few household names" in terms of manufacturers. But one Ubuntu phone that won't hit the market in the foreseeable future is the ambitious Ubuntu Edge. Despite raising huge amounts of cash, the Edge fell short of its massive $32 million (AU$35.7m) goal "by a record," Shuttleworth admitted. And he doesn't consider that a success.   | | In Depth: Sapphire screens - the gem of the mobile world? Feb 26th 2014, 18:45, by Thomas Thorn 
There's been a lot of talk surrounding sapphire screens for smartphones recently, and it's one of the heavily rumored features for the upcoming iPhone 6. Apple has even gone and purchased a sapphire product company, fuelling the rumors of an iPhone 6 appearance further and it could be the catalyst the screen tech needs to catapult it into the mobile mainstream. So why is it so important? We're here to set the story straight about what sapphire screens are and why we should all be excited for the mobile future. What exactly is sapphire?We all know what sapphire is, right? It's that beautiful blue gemstone found on the ring given by Prince William to Kate Middleton for their engagement in 2010. So why is this precious gem being constantly bandied about as the future of smartphone screens? In fact sapphire is much more than a gemstone, it is a crystallized form of aluminum oxide which sports a natural blue hue thanks to traces of elements such as iron and titanium. Why is it good for phones?Manufactured sapphire has been around for a while and it's used on all of Tag Heuer's watches, as well as being the transparent armor that is currently found on military vehicles and there is some pretty sound reasoning behind this. It is common knowledge that there is little in the universe that is harder than diamond, a substance that measures 10 on the Mohs mineral hardness scale. The Mohs scale measures how easily different minerals scratch from 1 to 10, 1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest. 
Sapphire measures nine on that scale, only one less than diamond and two to three higher than ordinary glass. Putting this into context, sapphire mobile screens should be far more scratch and crack resistant than a traditional chemically strengthened glass screen. Whilst we highly doubt your next phone will be bullet proof like the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Launcher's windscreen, we could be looking at mobile screens that won't crack if dropped, nor scratch if left in a handbag or pocket with a set of keys. Hasn't sapphire been used before? With all recent the talk of sapphire screens you'd be forgiven for thinking that its use in the mobile world is something that is completely new. Anybody with an iPhone 5 or 5S will know (possibly) that's not the case. 
Apple in particular has been using sapphire for a while, with it covering the Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the 5S and the camera lenses of both devices. What about Gorilla Glass?The use of sapphire in mobile screens places a lot of pressure on the current screen manufacturers, none more so than Corning who produces Gorilla Glass. It's the screen tech that is currently found on a lot of the high end flagships including the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, LG G2 and Nokia Lumia 1520. Figures from Corning's news centre suggest Gorilla Glass is currently found in over 1.5 billion devices, a number that is certainly not to be baulked at. 
The same site also show that sapphire is actually harder to scratch than Gorilla Glass, something that is reiterated by Matthew Hall, Director of the Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology at Alfred University's Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering. "Chemically strengthened glass can be excellent, but sapphire is better in terms of hardness, strength, and toughness" Hall explained, adding "the fracture toughness of sapphire should be around four times greater than Gorilla Glass - about 3 MPa-m0.5 versus 0.7 MPa-m0.5, respectively." This comes with some rather large downsides though. Sapphire is both heavier at 3.98g per cubic cm (compared to the 2.54g of Gorilla Glass) as well as refracting light slightly more. This means that under the same lighting conditions sapphire screens will seem darker. Gorilla Glass has one more massive trick up its sleeve; its manufacturability. Hall admits that he is less "less familiar with the details of sapphire production, but it's my understanding that all methods are batch-based while the relevant glass making process is continuous in nature." This means sapphire screens will be more expensive to produce, with analysts currently claiming that Gorilla Glass is approximately 10% of the price ($3 rather than $30). So my iPhone will get more expensive?The reasonable assumption then is a sapphire screen will make your next iPhone more expensive, unless Apple finds a way to either absorb the cost or manufacture enough to scale down costs. It might have just been able to do that following a deal with GT Advanced, a company that has developed a method for creating a sapphire sheet that is thinner than a human hair and can be mounted to a glass display. This method makes production of sapphire screens significantly cheaper. The deal worth $578 million in prepayments has also allowed GT to purchase nearly 1000 furnaces to help produce the sapphire screens thereby allowing economies of scale to reduce the costs even further. Are there any problems?All the work that Apple is doing with GT Advanced should see it overcome the largest problem that faces any potential sapphire screens, but that doesn't mean other problems won't arise. A big problem that has faced sapphire to date is the purple flare that surrounded areas of bright light on the iPhone 5's camera. This purple fringe was attributed to the sapphire lens, although was likely caused by chromatic aberration (a light distortion that can be tricky to correct on large lenses, let alone those found on smartphones). Another key problem that any potential iPhone with sapphire screen will face is one that we have already touched upon, screen brightness. If you've shelled out for a new iPhone you're going to be pretty miffed if you can't use it outside. This is something that is likely to be significantly reduced with thinner sapphire screens mounted to glass, but can also be remedied with brighter screen technologies such as AMOLED displays. Put everything together and we're left salivating. Can you imagine a 5-inch sapphire AMOLED iPhone 6? We can but dream.        | | All New HTC One will have even better sound than the first, says HTC Feb 26th 2014, 18:19, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
HTC is wasting no time building buzz around the All New HTC One, due to launch at a March 25 event. Over at the HTC Twitter account, the company has posted its "first teaser" video touting the upcoming device's sound enhancements. You can also start using "#HTCOneUp" if the spirit moves you. Sure, the first HTC One had super sonic qualities thanks to BoomSound, but the HTC One 2 will have a redesigned (trumpet noises) along with (more trumpet noises). HTC has increased (did they sample Louis Armstrong?) further, too. In short, with the New HTC One, the sound is even more (that one sounded like a tuba). YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnWSOWSWAhoHTC said this is only Episode 1, so look out for more teases talking up the smartphone's other features to come.        | | IDC predicts smartphone slump in 2014 Feb 26th 2014, 14:40, by Nick Farrell 
A new mobile phone forecast from IDC predicts that the European and US smartphone markets will become so saturated that growth will fall into single digits. According to the IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide smartphone shipments will slow to 8.3 per cent annual growth in 2017 and 6.2 per cent in 2018. Annual smartphone volume in 2013 surpassed 1 billion units for the first time, accounting for 39.2 per cent growth over 2012. Dropped callsHowever, despite the high growth expected in many emerging markets, 2014 will mark the year smartphone growth drops more significantly than ever before. In 2014 volumes are expected to be 1.2 billion, up from 1 billion in 2013, representing 19.3 per cent increase year-on-year. Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile said that prices are too high to see a real boom within emerging markets, and that carriers and OEMs need to work together to bring prices down. North America we see more than 200 million smartphones in active use. Prices to fallReith said that 2014 will be an enormous transition year for the smartphone market. Not only will growth decline more than ever before, but prices will also fall. Worldwide smartphone average selling price was $335 in 2013, and is expected to drop to $260 by 2018, according to Reith. Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team added that last year there were 322.5 million smartphone units ship for under $150 and that number will continue to grow going forward. "We've already seen numerous smartphone announcements targeting this priceband this year, with some as low as $25," he said. Android rulesThe report said that Android will maintain its reign as the leading operating system throughout IDC's forecast. With a strong presence within emerging markets and attainable price points for both vendors and customers, While iOS will remain the clear number 2 platform behind Android, Apple's obsession at shooting for the high end of the market will stand against it. iOS has little chance from earning much cash within emerging markets, but sales in mature markets could offset much of the difference. Microsoft survivesWindows Phone stands to grow the fastest among the leading smartphone operating systems, with continued support from Nokia as well as the addition of nine new Windows Phone partners, IDC said.   | |
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