The smartphone market in November
Bad for everyone except Apple and “Chinese”
Still, “Think Different” guarantees a good survivability in the Apple difficult for other manufacturers of the time — until the producers of androidofony sales are falling because of Chinese brands are willing to “pour out” cool features cheaper, the iOS ecosystem thrives. Independent app store, branded hardware, exclusive operating system, and the control over the sale of accessories do their thing — Apple with its market share of about 14% (versus 24% for Samsung) “rakes” 94% of the profits in the smartphone market all over the world!
That is, all other producers earn a token amount in comparison with the yield from the sale of Apple gadgets. So modest (in comparison with Android flagships) characteristics and overvalued, in the opinion of many geeks, the price is no bar for Cupertino from year to year to increase the profitability of “Apple devices”.
Apple has no reason for concern — the company receives 94% of all profits in the smartphone market
Other players in the market are less fortunate: major problems in the mobile divisions of Sony, BlackBerry and HTC we mentioned in the previous digest, but today let’s talk about the omissions that are trying to straighten out other manufacturers.
Take, for LG, whose mobile division last quarter turned negative (although in the U.S., LG is the third manufacturer market share after Apple and Samsung, with twice as much shares than the “domestic” Motorola). The Koreans, of course, stabilized the performance of the company due to the huge production of displays and televisions, but not too happy about the prospects of further domestic “subsidies”, so from November 2015 CEO Koo Bon-Joon clears his post and became the head of the holding company LG Corp., and management of the company de facto was divided between the heads of the departments of home appliances, mobile technology, and Finance Director.
Recall that in comparison with last year LG sold 11% fewer mobile gadgets, and the profit from their sales fell even more — by 22%. Now “the boss moved closer,” and, hopefully, LG will behave more agile in the market of smartphones and tablets.
In the fight against the damages Samsung has fired 5000 people, and even has dismissed the head of the mobile Department — as a warning
Samsung in a similar situation still “takes a number” and retains the championship in the sales of smartphones, but the company is not the first quarter following the sales of mobile phones of the brand are falling, and Apple at the same time — grow, and therefore already taken action.
Outside the company, of course, all radiate optimism, but judging by the fact that the volume of assets of Samsung in Q3 of 2015 suddenly set a record — it seems that in an unprecedented us $19.2 bn. entered the mobile phones/televisions/computer parts, unsold in warehouses. Not to go into minus, Samsung actively dismiss employees (only for 2015 jobs lost not less than 5000 people, and this number continues to grow), and punishes top management — the head of mobile business, Jay Kay Bus (J. K. Shin), for example, “cut” payments to almost 5 times. (Upd: while preparing the material already removed from his post and appointed a new head).
The President of mobile division of Samsung J. K. Shin has left his post after another bad quarter
Ironically, even Chinese manufacturers today, it does not hurt Hello, Lenovo for the first time in 6 years, the growth has faced a quarterly loss of $714 million Profit, respectively, fell by 50% in comparison with 2014. However, this picture they explain the large-scale restructuring of the subsidiary of Motorola and computer units originating from IBM — “the shake up” losing (under former owners) of the assets to a viable species requires investment. But the decline of smartphone sales in her home China under organizational factors will not be blamed — let’s see whether Lenovo will be able to compete with the increasingly popular “basement” brands from China.
And here is an example of a “proper” (i.e., profitable) Chinese brands such as Meizu, which increased sales for the year by 85% due to the M-series, and Huawei, which in addition to third place in sales of smartphones in the world, and even got a contract to release the new Nexus and became the second most popular brand in Europe after Samsung.
Russians like Lumia more than the iPhone
After the well-known economic woes, it finally became clear that the Russian market “a common yardstick does not measure” — only we smartphones based on Windows managed to overtake the market share of all smartphones Apple combined. This trend is confirmed, “the Messenger” — after our compatriots rushed to buy “iPhones in reserve” in winter 2014, and had learned from their missteps, the popularity of premium technology in Russia began to drop steadily: most buyers “wears” the old model, and the share of iPhone in the past year decreased from 13% to 7%. Android remains the leader with 75% market share.
Or at home, in the USA, nor loyal to vindobona Europe such success even Microsoft never dreamed of.
Moreover, the share of Windows-based smartphones on the world market fell from 3% to very very sad to 1.7%. Gartner analysts predict that with such “success” vindobona, one never knows, go into a corporate segment (for some reason all the losers on the market of gadgets aiming to achieve) and will take the place of the now moribund ecosystems BlackBerry.
Lollipop — every fourth androidphone
The ranks of the “green robots” has been steadily infiltrating the new version: praise the progress — 5 Android.x Lollipop is slowly becoming mainstream and are already installed by 25.6% androidofony in the world. However, the army of the Chinese junk on “lifetime” Android 4.1-4.3 (29%) to get around he couldn’t, but the mainstream today is 4.4 KitKat with 37,8% of the market. Smart phones with versions 2.3 and 4.0.4, by the way, linger by inertia, with almost zero support modern applications and symbolic 7% for two.
Running Android Lollipop already has over 25% of androidofony
New month
Samsung
W2016
While Europe and the US polls use “rectangles with rounded corners” as the only possible design of the phones, the Asian market still loves smartphones clamshell. The news is not even the fact that the Android-smartphones in this case are produced, and that among them there was a really cool model in “full stuffing.” Hybrid Galaxy S6 with a typical folding “dialer” got a catchy name W2016 and very, very cool features.
Samsung W2016
Advantages of models:
- OCTA-core Exynos 7420 processor — perhaps the most powerful in 2015
- glass-metal chassis in the style of the Galaxy S6/S6 edge
- two bright and clear with 3.9-inch HD Super AMOLED display
- 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB on the drive
- two slots for SIM-cards
- camera, are similar to those in Galaxy S6
The availability and sale date:
available exclusive operator China Mobile in China
Competitors:
Sharp Aquos K SHF31, Samsung G9198
Price:
$1500 (introductory price)
Detailed information:
Advanced clamshell Samsung officially presented W2016
Samsung W2016
Outrageous price on the new model looks especially cynical against the background of the “donor” is the same Galaxy S6 in Russia now costs $570, and almost 3 times less than asking for it in the new building. On the other hand — the coolest phone in the world clamshell design and the filling is now out of the competition, so from the point of view of exclusivity W2016 to surpass all Vertu (now sold to the Chinese), and will forever be “a monument to the phones-clamshell phone”, if monotonous smartphones all-in-one will continue to gain market share remained at the same pace.
Huawei
Mate 8
If Sony still lacks the courage to release a huge and feature-rich smartphone shift Z Ultra (C5 Ultra, being middle class with a bias in selfies doesn’t count), Huawei is well-versed in “the wishes of the workers”. A year ago the Chinese have released a fine 6-inch Mate 7, then tried to refocus the series Mate to compete with iPhone. Fortunately, the experiments ended and the lights went out in large, thin, metallic and incredibly powerful Mate 8.
Huawei Mate 8
The advantages of the model:
- OCTA-core Kirin 950 — the coolest processor in the smartphones of late 2015 – early 2016
- thin aluminum case with four choices of colors
- 4000 mAh battery and Full HD display on guard of autonomy
- up to 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB inside (+ Micro SD), 16 MP and 8 MP Sony camera for quality pictures
The availability and sale date:
will go on sale in the 1st quarter of 2016
Competitors:
Motorola Nexus 6, Sony Xperia C5 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
Price:
in the Chinese market from 3000 yuan (~31 thousand rubles)
Detailed information:
Powerful Huawei Mate 8 phablet officially unveiled
Huawei was able to follow almost all norms of decency with today’s competition. Especially Chinese engineers are proud of the new processor — if earlier brand chips Kirin could not at full strength to compete with the steep Snapdragon (LG, Sony, HTC) and flagship Exynos (Samsung, Meizu), new Kirin 950 with powerful cores Cortex-A72, it is said, thoroughly outperforms all existing flagship Galaxy.
We’ll see, but for now the main intrigue is the price. It just so happened that magical word “Honor” in the model name Huawei new smartphones at the start of sales were comparable at the price with top-end Samsung, and sometimes Apple. However, on the example of the Mate’s, who in a few months “lost” in price from 48 to 35 thousand, we can hope that the price tags on a giant phablet will remain within reasonable limits.
UMI
Rome
And now for news from the opposite front of the Chinese manufacturers. While Huawei and Lenovo are trying to transfer their products in the grade “premium”, new brands from China still do not have the ability to “harvest” customers so effectively, and so put up reasonable prices for their new products.
For example, brand UMI, which in Russia is perceived as “ordinary Chinese have decided to release smartphones”, offering a very attractive set of characteristics for 6-8 thousand rubles (depending on the store) at current exchange rate.
UMI Rome
The advantages of the model:
- design “I want to be the flagship Samsung”
- glass-metal housing
- the AMOLED display of 5.5 inches with HD resolution (like the Galaxy Note 3 Neo)
- the MT6753 OCTA-core processor, typical for smartphones at 15-20 thousand rubles
- 3 gigabytes of RAM and IMX164 Sony sensor in the rear camera
The availability and sale date:
available for pre-order in Chinese online shops
Competitors:
M3 Elephone, Ulephone Paris
Price:
from $89 (MSRP)
In General, the revolutionary cool cell phones for cheap still not really learned how to make even the more seasoned producers, not to mention the little-known brands “from under there”. Annoying and the battery capacity (2500 mAh) — is not enough for a 5.5 inch screen.
And not to mention that the Chinese shops very freely interpret the manufacturer price of $89: in many online markets typical was the situation with the original price of $119.99, which is only for “kindness” has been reduced to $99.99.
UMI Rome
However, even 7 thousand features of this phablets don’t look mediocre, so we will try to meet a new person and decide whether to buy a suspiciously lucrative Chinese smartphone.
Xiaomi
Redmi Note 3
Ideology Xiaomi has always been in the most fancy smartphones/tablets for the price. This is partly why little-known before the company became the world’s fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer. The sacrifice of their principles the Chinese have always brought the speed update models (gadgets Xiaomi are replaced by generation significantly less than the iPhone and other competitors) and the body is plastic case is used even in the most expensive devices of the brand.
But tradition is tradition, and the new phablet Redmi Note 3 now sports a metal body, coupled with the now popular fingerprint scanner. Therefore, doubly interesting, could Xiaomi in the new realities to create a profitable to buy a smartphone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
The advantages of the model:
- metal and glass are now available in Redmi
- the fingerprint sensor at a speed of 0.3 seconds
- 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of memory or 3 GB / 32 GB to choose
- Full HD display of 5.5 inches
- fast dosimetery MediaTek Helio X10 (as in the Xperia M5)
- the battery capacity of 4000 mAh
The availability and sale date:
available to order in China from November 27
Competitors:
Meizu Blue Charm Metal
Price:
from $140 (~ 9500 roubles)
Detailed information:
Metal smartphone Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 got the battery at 4000 mAh
These smartphones are one of the reasons that the army of enthusiasts already forgot the way to the local cell to salons for years and do not acquire smartphones-advertised brands at high prices. After all, Xiaomi, frankly, has already reached such proportions, that even the quality of the products released can’t complain about.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Note that differences from currently manufactured plastic Note 2 is gained not so much, but if the price tags in stores do not go off the rails soon after the announcement — the Galaxy Note 3 will be a good “anti-crisis” purchase this winter.
Lenovo
VIBE X3
For a huge number of budget smartphones Lenovo it’s hard to see a truly original model, but they are. For example, the VIBE X series has always boasted a special “chips” that differed from generation to generation: the first VIBE X was the lightest Full HD smartphone, the second was distinguished by the compact, powerful (for those times) by MediaTek processor and the famous “puff” of the corps, and the recently released third generation has evolved into a PC with cool ideas on the musical side.
Lenovo VIBE X3
The advantages of the model:
- high-quality stereo speakers on the front panel
- ESS Sabre ES9018K2M DACS and a Texas Instruments OPA1612 amplifier for sound and cool factor of volume in the headphones
- a few versions: the Snapdragon 808 or OCTA-core MT6753 (without DAC), RAM 2 or 3 GB, camera 13/5 MP or 21/8
- the fingerprint scanner
- 5.5-inch Full HD display
The availability and sale date:
available to order in China from November
Competitors:
HTC One M9+, Meizu MX5
Price:
from $300 (~ 20 thousand rubles)
Detailed information:
Smartphone Lenovo Vibe X3 came out of the shadows
Lenovo VIBE X3
At first glance, the Lenovo came out a good alternative to HTC with its BoomSound speakers, and Meizu that have bother about the quality of the sound in the headphones. A younger version without DAC is unlikely to be so musical, but the Duo speakers on the front panel will definitely brighten the sound of ringtones or watching a video in social networks.
Let’s see whether it will maintain adequate VIBE X3 the price on the way to Russia, because spectacular selfie-background VIBE S1, for example, at a global price of about $299 on the Russian market is estimated at 26990 rubles or the Chinese are convinced that the dollar is worth 90 rubles, or Lenovo overestimates the power of its brand on the Russian market.
HTC
Desire 828
Fans lamenting the fate of HTC and to wail “where radically new smartphones?!” in the news can assure you that Taiwanese will soon roll out to the market flagship in new design key (the first-born had been One A9) with decategory processor MediaTek or supernova flagship Snapdragon 820 and generally cool features. But all this business of the near future, and now we’re talking about production models worth uncovering wallets and credit cards.
Today in our recommendations will get “middling” — Desire of 828. Geeks can complain about the “shortage” of characteristics at the stated price, but this HTC is quite satisfied with an audience that is skeptical glances on the Chinese model above and prefer less monstrous model from “white” and has long been trusted in the manufacturer.
HTC Desire 828
The advantages of the model:
- 13 MP rear camera with optical stabilization for sharp pictures and smooth videos
- 5.5-inch Full HD display
- stereo speakers BoomSound on the front panel
- MediaTek MT6753 OCTA-core in the hardware-based
The availability and sale date:
available to order in China from November
Competitors:
ASUS ZenFone Laser, Sony Xperia C4
Price:
from $252 (~ 17 thousand rubles)
Image stabilization is very useful and can turn pull the video in a very watchable video. The battery, as usual from HTC, modest and has only a 2,800 mAh battery, but the proprietary interface Sense available, and the display quality and speakers are unlikely to disappoint buyers who will pay a model less than 20 thousand rubles. Word, waiting on the Russian market.
Lexand
Mini LPH7 Smarty
On this November’s new items from the category of “must take”, perhaps exhausted, so instead of digest complement our dull phones at an inflated price, we offer you to evaluate “what technology has come” when it comes to extremes in smartphones.
Rumors that amid the obsession with the phablets will revive the fashion for tiny cell phones that went long ago, and the closest to serial production “spies” called the coming model under Chinese brand Elephone. But some fates superiority in miniaturization “androids” in the domestic market was taken over by Russian company Lexand. Take a look at is really a compact model with 2.45-inch screen!
Lexand Mini LPH7 Smarty
The advantages of the model:
- display with a diagonal of 2.5 inches and a resolution of 240×432 pixels — tiny smartphones are back!
- almost a “toy” gadget weight — 55 grams
- dual-core MT6572 processor with 512 MB of RAM — “pay”, and 3G “dibiasi” complete
The availability and sale date:
available for order in Russia since November
Competitors:
Elephone Q, Melrose S9
Price:
3750 rubles
Detailed information:
Mini smartphone Lexand Mini LPH7 Smarty weighs 55 grams
Lexand Mini LPH7 Smarty
Frankly, without high-precision stylus to use such a miracle would be difficult — just look at how troublesome it turns out banal of the example platform Elephone Q. Camera in a smartphone is frankly “garbage” 2 megapixel rear and 0.3 front, and the battery capacity is 600 mAh, that archaic processor and Android in General — so-so indicator.
But walking with a seven-inch “shovel” the ear is no surprise, but compact and almost weightless the phone, able to work with chats, at the very least to photograph the ad-schedule and play your music — long-forgotten class of devices that would do today to revive, at least for a change.
Macoox
EX1
If your smartphone runs out of power too quickly — the Power Bank will come to the aid of the battery. But the Chinese decided to “pin” and just set the phone inside this portable charger. Turned out to be something horrible, but with extremely capacious removable battery.
Macoox EX1
The advantages of the model:
- 9000 mAh — no commercially released a smartphone-survivor does not contain such a battery in the housing
- A 4.5-inch display — “shovel” the smartphone will not be exact, only with a brick
- Quad-core processor with LTE support — is how to spend a record autonomy
The availability and sale date:
not declared
Competitors:
Oukitel K10000
Price:
not declared
Detailed information:
The Chinese introduced powerbank 9,000 mAh with built-in smartphone
It is unlikely this monster will live to see mass production, but just in case, note that the sources give an approximate thickness in the range of 15-18 mm is not much for those who have seen the heyday of the PDA. Yes and will now what to recommend to those who loves to make songs about how “before smartphones hold a charge longer.”