Samsung opens new plant to meet Galaxy S6 edge demand

Apparently there can be too much of a good thing, and in Samsung's case the unanticipated high demand for the Galaxy S6 edge lead to shortages in the smartphone's supply. The limiting factor was quoted to be the dual-edge display, but Samsung was quick to address the issue.

Industry insiders report that a new manufacturing line has already gone operational, which should bring the production volume to 5 million curved displays a month. That's a substantial increase compared to the previous 2 million units monthly output and should help the company reach the latest forecast of 70 million Galaxy S6/S6 edge device sales.

The new plant's planned launch date was set for the month of June, but with the explosion of market demand Samsung managed to pull it off two months ahead of schedule.

Owing in no small part to the special screen, the Galaxy S6 edge was reported to be the company's most expensive smartphone to produce. The 64GB Verizon version cost Samsung a whopping $290 for materials and assembly…

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Sony predicts a $2.5B operating profit for 2015

Sony has updated its operating profit forecast for the 2015 fiscal year, bringing the number up to JPY 300 billion. That translates to $2.52 billion and is four times as much as previous company estimates.

The information comes courtesy of Japanese newspaper Nikkei, but no official statement from Sony has been released. If the forecast turns into reality, it will be the company's highest profit since 2008.

The reason for the improved figures lies in expectations for higher sales of display sensors for mobile phones, as well as better market performance of the Playstation gaming console. The corporation's smartphone business is not the driving factor though, and persistent reports claim the division may soon be put up for sale.

The ongoing restructuring of the company, however, is finally showing results and Sony will attempt to put behind its back several years in the red, brought about by dwindling smartphone and TV…

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Oppo bezelless phone leaked in all its glory

The Oppo bezelless phone has been a regular to the rumor mill and we've seen more than one set of photos, or videos, for that matter. This newest leak however is the most comprehensive one and shows the innovative smartphone from every angle in properly lit photos as well as a hands on video.

We know that Oppo has been developing an ingenious technology to provide a bezelless smartphone experience without the added risks of breakage such a design implies. The company came up with a solution that bends the light emitted from the pixels at the edges of the screen towards the user, thus providing the edge-to-edge display illusion. Meanwhile a rim surrounding the panel ensures that rigidity requirements are met. The front glass panel that's the key to the design is also among the subjects in the photos.

Oppo bezelless phone

As the pictures reveal, the concept appears to work well in practice and the smartphone boast a rather unique look. Or it would have been unique if it wasn't for the ZTE Nubia Z9, which promo material claims to sport a similar design.

We are yet to see which device will make it to market first, and whether the Nubia Z9 will indeed be such a bezelless smartphone, or Oppo will hold that crown on its own. It's also unclear if the Oppo offering will be a successor to the R5 or will launch a line of its own. Either way, you can catch a glimpse of the smartphone in action in the video below.

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Galaxy S4 mini won’t get Android Lollipop update

UK carrier Three has revealed that Samsung's Galaxy S4 mini will not be getting the Android Lollipop update. The revelation was made by the carrier in response to a user's question on Twitter.

@barbs_paul Sorry for the delay in replying Paul. There's no plans for Lollipop for the S4 mini due to memory limitation. >DD— ThreeUKSupport (@ThreeUKSupport) April 24, 2015

The reason, according to the carrier is the memory limitation on the S4 mini. When pressed further, Three also revealed they've received an official confirmation for the same from Samsung.

@YouMobile Hi there. Yes we've received confirmation from Samsung that this is due to a memory limitation with this device…— ThreeUKSupport (@ThreeUKSupport) April 24, 2015

For those who aren't aware, released back in 2013, Galaxy S4 mini is a more compact, but also less capable variant of that year's Samsung flagship – Galaxy S4.

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Microsoft Lumia 840 expected in the coming months

Microsoft has been hard at work in recent months populating the entry-level and lower midrange with a whole bunch of devices. March saw the unveiling of the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640XL, later followed by the modest Lumia 430 and less than a fortnight ago – the Lumia 540 Dual SIM.

This leaves the upper market segment to be updated and we wrote on the possible specs of the expected Lumia 940 and 940XL. A new report now claims that a successor to the Lumia 830 is in the works and we're likely to see it sooner than later.

The source states that the Lumia 840 will arrive in the coming months, but won't ship with Windows 10 and will run Windows Phone 8.1 GDR2 instead. The new OS version will apparently be reserved for the flagship Lumia 940, at least for the time being.

The Lumia 840 is said to come with a display size around the 5-inch mark like its predecessor, but will carry improvements in other areas. Both cameras will see a bump and the new model will pack a 13-14MP PureView-branded main shooter and a 5MP selfie unit. A more powerful chipset is also to be found in the future smartphone, which may come with dual-SIM support.

Further indication of the nearing launch of the Lumia 840 comes from the fact that Microsoft has quietly pulled the current Lumia 830 model off its Indian store. With the stage already half-set, we should expect to see the new smartphone some time…

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Huawei to unveil three new devices on April 28

Just a few days ago, Huawei sent out invites for its event on April 28, clearly indicating that it will announce a mid-range Honor 4C handset. However, if a latest teaser (see image below) posted on Chinese social media is to be believed, the company may announce not one but three new smartphones.

The three devices shown in the image above are said to be the Honor 4C Play, 4C Note, and 4C Max. Although the picture isn’t very clear, it's easy to figure out that the devices will differ in terms of display sizes.

From what is known till now, the Honor 4C Play will be powered by a Kirin 620 chipset with octa-core processor and sport a 5-inch 720p display. It will come with 2GB RAM and 8GB of expandable memory, and will pack in a 2550mAh battery. In terms of camera it will feature a 13MP rear unit and an 5MP front shooter. The device will run Android 5.0 Lollipop and will support 4G LTE networks.

Needless to say, none of this has been confirmed by the company, so take it with a pinch of…

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ARM’s Cortex-A72 CPU core gets fully detailed

The chipmaker ARM spilled all the beans on the recently announced, high-end Cortex-A72 CPU. As expected, the component is faster, more efficient, with a smaller footprint than the Cortex-A57 that precedes it.

ARM Cortex-A72 offers 20% better branch prediction than its predecessor. Instructions-per-clock have increased between 20% and 60% over the Cortex-A57 depending on the workload. In terms of energy efficiency, the newcomer is between 18% and 30% better than the previous model.

It has been primarily designed for next-generation 14nm and 16nm nodes, though Mediatek and Qualcomm will bring 28nm chipsets with the CPU this year. It is worth noting that the Cortex-A72 offers much bigger gains in performance on 14nm and 16nm nodes.

Interestingly, ARM claims that, at the same performance, the Cortex-A72 will use 75% less power than an Inter Broadwell CPU. It is worth noting that Intel’s chip is overall significantly more powerful.

Source…

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Sony Xperia Z3 is surprisingly back in stock at T-Mobile

Earlier this month T-Mobile decided to discontinue the Sony Xperia Z3, after less than six months since its debut at the magenta carrier. At that point, there was no explanation given – the phone simply vanished from TMo's website.

Today, though, the exact opposite has happened. Namely, the Xperia Z3 is once again up for grabs from T-Mobile. Again, there's no explanation for these moves, the handset just showed up in the carrier's online store.

Furthermore, it's now a lot cheaper than it used to be. So that will be good news for prospective buyers. The full price you need to pay for the Xperia Z3 is $499.92, down from the previous level of $630.

If you choose to use T-Mobile's installment plan, then you pay nothing upfront, followed by 24 monthly payments of $20.83. As always, if you cancel wireless service the remaining balance on the phone becomes due.

Sony has already announced the Xperia Z4, but that device may only be launched in the Japanese market. And it's not even a huge upgrade compared to its predecessor, so the Z3 is still a pretty good buy.

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The Asus Nexus 7 (2013) tablet has been discontinued

If you're after a Nexus tablet, from this point on you'll need to be OK with the Nexus 9, because that's the only one that's still up for grabs from Google's official hardware store.

The 2013 model of the Nexus 7 made by Asus is no longer available for purchase, as it's been discontinued after a pretty long run – it was announced in July of 2013.

You can probably still find some Nexus 7 (2013) units in stock at other retailers, but if you want one of these you should act fast, because once they're gone there will be no more.

Otherwise, you can pick the Nexus 9 by HTC, and hope that Google will finally release Android 5.1.x for it…

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HTC Butterfly 3 has its specs leaked by a benchmark

HTC should launch the Butterfly 3 in the second half of this year, according to past rumors. The device may be exclusive to certain Asian markets, but it will be an interesting offering nevertheless – through specs if nothing else. Previously, we have heard that three color options will be offered in Japan.

And now we get a pretty complete list of specs for the Butterfly 3, thanks to a benchmark listing. Someone in possession of a prototype ran CompuBench, and that lists the most important hardware details for all devices that get put through the paces.

So, the HTC Butterfly 3 apparently runs Android 5.0.2 Lollipop at the moment, and it has a 5.1-inch (and not 5.2" as rumored at one point) QHD touchscreen, a 20 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 13 MP front snapper, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of built-in storage.

Running things will be Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 SoC, coming with a CPU with 1.9 GHz maximum clock speed. It will be an octa-core part in a big.LITTLE configuration, with four Cortex-A57 high-performance cores, and four Cortex-A53 power-saving ones.

We still don't know anything about the design of the Butterfly 3, but its predecessors were all made out of plastic, so the same could happen once more.

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