SmartPhones Tablets

Microsoft Building a Smaller Surface Tablet on Windows 8 – Will Users BUY ?

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Microsoft Windows Surface Tablet 8 InchesThe lack of compelling form factors at attractive price points has been a major weakness of the Windows 8 ecosystem. However, with the upcoming release of Haswell, Intel’s next generation chip, and Windows 8.1 there is some hope that cheaper and more innovative form factors are on the way. Microsoft highlighted some of these devices earlier this month at Computex, but there was still only one “small screen” tablet announced (Acer’s Iconia W3), which shows to us that there is still a long way to go.

Nick Parker, the head of Microsoft’s OEM Confirmed at Computex that Microsoft is considering to reduce the cost of Windows 8/RT licenses for OEMs building devices smaller than 10.1 inches. The magnitude of

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SmartPhones and Era of Application Processor Chips

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ARM Processors for SmartPhonesThe advent of product cycle chips is in practice a function of the market share dominance of Apple and Samsung. As share of these 2 customers has risen (coincident with the explosive growth of smartphones and tablets), it has created an investment category based on their suppliers. This is not to suggest that the dominance of these 2 OEM’s will persist in perpetuity but demonstrates the change in Semiconductor sinking into Products.

Early on, Apple took a vertically integrated approach, recognizing the value of integrating chip design, with hardware, software, and firmware. While this strategy has failed historically, Apple has achieved critical mass, and they have not needed to take on the high-fixed cost of chip fabrication facilities. At its most basic, this has robbed the chip market of

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HTC – SmartPhones & Headwinds in Sales

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HTC Mobile to Face HeadwindsHTC, Manufacturer of the World’s Best SmartPhne HTC One is seeing some headwinds as the momentum for HTC One has slowed and expect its June sales to decline by double digit MoM. We believe the market is overly optimistic about HTC One, ignoring the mature high-end market and Samsung’s aggressive marketing. Although HTC plans to launch several new models, such as the Butterfly, the HTC One mini and another mid-end phone, we believe none of them offer much attraction (price or product differentiation) to carriers.

From 2009-2012, consumers[US & Europe] were chasing smartphone

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LG Android SmartPhone Shipment Strong in Europe / South America

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LG MobileLG Electronics indicated that its smartphone volume growth (+20% QoQ to 10.3 mn units) was largely supported by its share gains in Europe and South America but its US presence is still not as strong. This tells us that LGE actually has built the needed scale per platform first through relatively less costly regions, which is one of the reasons why LGE’s 1Q13 margin was better than expected as reported. Also, this could imply that its further efforts to expand its presence in the US going forward (even with added and usually costlier promotions and marketing support) may not result in margin’s sharp ups and downs we saw in recent terms due to this improved scale per platform now.

That said, however, we still think that at least in the next couple of quarters there could be a headwind for its handset margins

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SmartPhones & Tablets – Gamechanger for Redington

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Redington derives about 16% of its revenues from its non-IT business with mobile handsets contributing a major share in the segment. Units of smartphones shipped have grown at a CAGR of 135% in India from 2010 to 2012 and 76% in the Middle East and Africa from 2008 to 2012. The company’s non-IT business has grown at a CAGR of about 31% from FY07 to FY12 and this growth is driven by the steep growth in the smartphones segment. Redington is undertaking new initiatives in this segment by adding reputed vendors in its portfolio, e.g. Apple, Samsung.

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Will Google Launch High End Android SmartPhone using Motorola Mobility ?

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Motorola Android Mobile Holiday 2013Purchasing Motorola in May 2012 for $9.5bn ex-cash was confusing to many of us. Since then, Google has rationalized the business (sale of Motorola Home, divestiture of manufacturing operations and layoffs) and the net cost after asset sales and tax benefits has declined to an estimated $6-7bn.

Given Google’s timeframe for Motorola’s hardware product cycle revamp (12-18 months), it is reasonable to expect Google to launch its own high end Smartphones and tablets in Q4-2013, in time for the holidays. If Google can generate the same interest in its Motorola hardware products as it has for recent Nexus products, the product launches could be a catalyst.

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LG Nexus 4 – Best Android SmartPhone to Buy in India

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LG Google Nexus 4 IndiaLG and Google, together worked on Developing Nexus 4 smartphone in the Nexus line-up from Google, will be available in India from today. Why is LG Google Nexus 4 Android SmartPhone the Best you can Buy in India ? From my first hand experience of using Android based Samsung and Google Nexus Tablet [Collaboration with ASUS], I have always felt Google backed Hardware in collaboration is the best for user experience. You also gets the Latest Android Update as and when released and thus all the new and exciting features without you having to wait for a particular vendor like Samsung to will push the update separately. [Samsung normally uses forked version of Android]

LG Nexus 4 is bound to transform and elevate a consumer’s smartphone experience. LG’s Nexus 4 is priced at Rs 25, 999 and will be available at selected LG exclusive brand shops, Multi brand outlets and speciality stores

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Mediatek Expanding in low-priced tablet market

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The global tablet market is accelerating as low cost tablets are rapidly improving in functionality in the $40-200 price range, below tier 1 tablets. Initial demand is led by Chinese makers exporting to emerging markets with low PC penetration, with usage
mainly for entertainment (games, movies and music) but starting to offer productivity as keyboard attachments and Android apps proliferate.

Tablet chipset, component suppliers, and design houses believe published shipment estimates last year at 50 mn units may have been understatements and also believe this year builds may approach 120 mn units. The overall tablet market would have 120 mn
Apple/Samsung + 120 mn China tier 2/whitebox + 70 mn other foreign brands, about 310 mn units versus PC industry volumes in the 300-350 mn range.

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Samsung Mobile / SmartPhones Performance Rocks in Q1-2013

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Samsung’s OPM of handsets, which rose from 21% to 22%, were probably better than indicated taking into account the negative impact from the provision booked related to AAPL vs. Samsung case. We think this is impressive given such performance occurred during the weakest seasonal quarter, without a major product launch. Therefore, we think the next several quarters should continuously be strong given the upcoming Galaxy S4 launch and Galaxy Note 3 launch in 4Q13.

Smartphone shipment of 70 mn (12% QoQ growth) is strong given the seasonality and lack of new product launches. Blended handset ASP rose 8% QoQ and OPM expanded to 22% from 20% despite the one time provision took related to the AAPL. However, 1Q total handset volume did not increase, but the smartphone products rose 12% in volume sequentially.

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