Samsung has been focused on promoting is Gear VR headset, bringing it to Sundance Film Festival and climbing on-board commercial flights. Aside from limited content, the widespread use of the Gear VR is hampered by the simple fact that it can only function with a Galaxy Note 4 smartphone.

Well, what better way to address the latter issue, than to make the upcoming Galaxy S6 and rumored Galaxy S Edge compatible as well? Unnamed sources claim that's exactly the case, but here's where the information ends and speculation begins.

At present the Gear VR works with the Galaxy Note 4 only, which packs a large 5.7-inch display. So far the rumors on the Galaxy S6 have settled around a 5.2-in screen, making it too small to be implemented as is.

There are at least two ways around this issue, the source suggests, one being a brand new headset to support multiple screen sizes. Such a solution can accommodate the future flagship while maintaining compatibility with the Galaxy Note 4.

Another workaround would be to make the Galaxy S6 larger, but it seems illogical to design a mainstream device around a niche one.

A more cumbersome third option, keeping the current Gear VR and freeing the Galaxy S6 from such compatibility considerations, would be to employ some sort of lens adapter within the existing headset.

Bear in mind that all of the above is speculation, based on rumors, so it may be far detached from reality. Until we see a working Galaxy S6 inside a VR headset, all is subject to…

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This quarter Apple reached an important milestone – it sold its billionth iOS device (that's since the first one). Meanwhile, 1 billion Androids shipped over the last year alone, as reported by Strategy Analytics. The analyst firm estimates 1.3 billion smartphones were shipped in 2014, of that over 1 billion ran Android (this works out to 81% market share).

Global Smartphone OS Shipments (Millions of Units)

Q4 '13

2013

Q4 '14

2014

Android

227.3

780.8

291.7

1042.7

Apple iOS

51.0

153.4

74.5

192.7

Microsoft

9.6

35.8

11.3

38.8

Others

2.3

20.0

2.6

9.3

Total

290.2

990.0

380.1

1283.5

Smartphone shipments grew 30% compared to 2013 (from 1B to 1.3B). Androids alone went from 0.8B to 1B in that period, while iOS lost some ground in terms of market share. It still shipped around 193 million devices, up from 153 million units in 2013.

The third horse in the race, Windows Phone, kept pace with the growth of the market and stayed at 3% share (shipping just under 39 million units).

Strategy Analytics did not release a breakdown by manufacturer, but we know from quarterly reports that Apple is rolling in the dough with record sales. Earlier the analysts reported that Samsung and iOS sales for Q4 2014 were even in terms of devices sold. Despite this, Samsung has been seen its earnings slip, but other companies have been bouncing back.

Global Smartphone OS Marketshare (%)

Q4 '13

2013

Q4 '14

2014

Android

78.3%

78.9%

76.7%

81.2%

Apple iOS

17.6%

15.5%

19.6%

15.0%

Microsoft

3.3%

3.6%

3.0%

3.0%

Others

0.8%

2.0%

0.7%

0.7%

Total

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

Total Growth: Year-over-Year (%)

33.7%

41.4%

31.0%

29.6%

BlackBerry did not make it into the report, it falls into the Others category, which has a total share of 0.7% (down from 2% in 2013).

Source |…

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In another episode of the Snapdragon 810 saga we now witness LG's acknowledgement of issues faced with the chipset's "initial sample". The Korean company restates, however, that all problems have been resolved and the G Flex2 will get its timely release.

The information comes from a press conference held at LG headquarters on Q4 2014 financial matters. Unsurprisingly, questions were raised, regarding the chipset's problems with heat, and in light of recent developments, the company determined it best to come clean.

A legal battle between LG and Qualcomm over a reported dedicated Samsung version of the chipset was deemed out of the question. After the apparent loss of the Samsung Galaxy S6 as a vehicle for its top-of-the-line SoC, Qualcomm will be delighted to know that LG is still on board.

The future LG G4 model has also popped up in conversations at the press conference. Its launch schedule should remain unaffected by the Snapdragon affair, the company insists. On the matter of a possible metal body, a vague answer has been given, stating that it will be decided by market demand.

Source (in Korean) |…

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Huawei held a presentation at its Shenzhen headquartes revealing its plans for the imminent future. "Premium" is the buzzword, and understandably so, as the recently published financial results indicate that mid- to high-end devices were key in the company's last-year growth.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, Huawei is set to focus on Android wearables. The venue is selected to mark the company's foray into the smartwatch world. Lessons were learned during the yet brief existence of the niche, and consumers tend to favor a more conventional round shape. Such is Huawei's concept as well, as a prototype black body with a round face is pictured in the presentation. How close that image is to the actual device remains to be seen.

A smartband in a rainbow of fresh colors will also be unveiled, for the tech-savvy outdoor crowd. A dedicated Huawei app is in the works for easy monitoring of the feed of info coming from your wrists.

While no official info was revealed on the upcoming Huawei P8 flagship, the smartphone lineup is to remain unaltered. The Mate and P-series occupy the top with the Honor and G series spanning the midrange. The tablet lineup, on the other hand, will be expanded with the introduction of the M-series of devices, apparently in the larger tablet segment. Targeted at mobile multimedia gobblers, the series will offer "Outstanding Audio/Visual Experience", in Huawei's phrasing.

All in all, ambitious promises from the Chinese company. We're looking forward to the MWC to see whether they will start…

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Lenovo has proudly announced that its recent flash sale of the A6000 budget-minded smartphone was a success, selling out 10,000 pieces in just 2 seconds. The marketing stunt, pioneered by Xiaomi and later adopted by emerging brand Yureka, has proven to work miracles on the Indian market and is now being exploited even by the more established Chinese phone manufacturer Lenovo.

With over 255,000 registrations for the sale on the online store Flipkart, it's no wonder the stock was promptly cleared. The smartphone's attractive price tag of Rs. 6,999 ($113) could be the chief reason for the hype.

That amount of cash lands you a 5-inch screen of 1280x720px resolution in an understated, but reasonably good-looking package. The innards are nothing to write home about, but you still get the popular Snapdragon 410 chipset with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage, expandable via microSD.

If you had your mind set on the Lenovo A6000 but were left out of the last flash sale, fret not, for a new batch is coming soon and registrations are already underway.

Source | Via 1…

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It comes as no surprise that Nokia is still recovering from the fairly recent restructuring, brought about by the acquisition of its devices & services units department by Microsoft. But while a lot of people might think the Finnish tech giant is all but dead the latest fiscal report for 2014 definitely shows otherwise. The fact is that even though Microsoft is, for the time being at least, in charge of the Lumia brand Nokia is still a very reputable player in terms of network equipment and services and still carries out productive research activities.

That being said the Finnish company has still a lot to account for when it comes to its three main divisions – Nokia Networks, Nokia Technologies and HERE. Even since the aforementioned acquisition was completed sales numbers and operation costs have been on the rise and the latest report now confirms that in Q4 2014 Nokia finally achieved higher overall net sales over the same period in 2013 when Microsoft was still out of the picture.

The year over year change is about 9% from 3 476 million net sales in Q4 2013 to 3 802 million in Q4 2014. This represents an even more impressive 14% quarter over quarter rise. Nokia seems to be getting on its feet again and predominantly thanks to Nokia Networks, which reals in more of the income with its operations stretching all around the world, but most notably in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Operational profit increase is even more impressive with 28% overall growth from 2013 and an impressive 25% for Nokia networks in particular.

Even though networking seems to reel in the big money this is not to say that Nokia's other two major divisions are not doing good. On the contrary, Nokia Technologies, the dedicated research department marks a 23% yearly growth in net sales over 2013, but sadly a drop in operating profits. HERE, which concerns itself mostly with navigation and the HERE software, recently made available for Android is in pretty much the same position with 15% yearly net sales increase and 20% drop in operating profits.

Rajeev Suri, current CEO of Nokia had this to say about the report:

The power of the new Nokia could be seen in our fourth quarter results. All of our businesses delivered strong year-on-year net sales growth. Profitability was excellent in Nokia Networks, and we were particularly pleased with our net sales growth in North America and core networks. HERE continued its momentum in the automotive segment, and the early reception to the Nokia N1 tablet has been remarkably favorable, showing the ongoing power of the Nokia brand and the long-term potential of our brand licensing business. Looking ahead, while 2014 was a year of reinvention, we see 2015 as a year of execution.

Things seem to be finally looking up for Nokia and with the Nokia N1 tablet already captivating users, perhaps the Finnish company still has a chance to regain some of its former glory on the mobile market, but for now all eyes are on Microsoft to take proper care of the Lumia…

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It's been a hectic several weeks for accountants the world over, and after Apple boasted record numbers, now LG's figures have been published. LG Mobile Communications Company reports a $14.26B annual revenue, a steady 16% increase on a yearly basis.

The rise is fueled in no small part by the North American market, where Q4 2014 marked a substantial 78% increase in units shipped compared to the same period in 2013.

Out of a total of 78.2M handsets sold globally, 59.1M were smartphones, a 24% increase. The smartphone sales are reported to be the reason for the boost in full-year consolidated revenue to $55.91B.

The figures of the mobile subsidiary are only average for the corporation as a whole. LG Home Entertainment Company (the one making HDTVs) is the top dog with a 31% percent increase in revenue to $18.35B.

More importantly, the combined net profit of the conglomerate has skyrocketed to $474.81M, a massive 125% increase over 2013 numbers. Operating profit has seen a notable 46% growth to $1.73B, as…

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Thanks to the record-smashing sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple has tied with Samsung to become the top smartphone vendor in the world in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a Strategy Analytics report.

The Cupertino-based company shipped a total of 74.5 million smartphones in the last quarter, up from 51 million it shipped in the same quarter in 2013. On the other hand, although Samsung too shipped the same number of handsets, there was a decline compared to Q4, 2013, when the company had shipped 86 million smartphones.

For the year as a whole, Samsung remained at the top with total shipments of 317.2 million, which translates into 24.7% share of the market. This compares to 2013, when the company's overall smartphone shipments stood at 319.8 million, giving it a 32.3% market share.

"Samsung continues to face intense competition from Apple at the higher-end of the smartphone market, from Huawei in the middle-tiers, and from Xiaomi and others at the entry-level," the report said, adding that the company "may soon have to consider taking over rivals, such as Blackberry, in order to revitalize growth this year."

Apple came in next with total shipments of 192.7 million units, capturing 15% of the smartphone market. That was up from the 153.4 million shipments the Cupertino-based company reported for 2013. Chinese players Lenovo and Huawei captured the third and the fourth spots with 7.2% and 5.8% market share, respectively.

Overall, 380.1 million smartphone units were shipped in Q4 2014, up 31 percent year-on-year, while a total of around 1.3 billion smartphones shipped for the whole…

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Purported image of the second generation Moto E made the rounds online. The successor of Motorola Moto E XT1021 is expected to make its debut in the near future.

The alleged press render gives us a clear look of the front and the back of the upcoming device. The appearance of the newcomer follows closely that of the model it is bound to replace, save for the lack of a speaker grille below the display.

It is worth noting that the device in the image appears to be wearing a bumper cover, which is more rugged than the out of the box solution. The accessory debuted alongside the first generation Moto G for the first time.

Recently rumored specs of the second generation Moto E include Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC (up from Snapdragon 200), 4.5″ qHD display, and a gig of RAM. In line with what the image above reveals, the device will boot Android 5.0 out of the box.

Source…

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Samsung released its earnings report for Q4 of the fiscal 2014. The Korean giant posted operating profit of 5.29 trillion won ( about $4.87 billion) from revenue of 52.73 trillion won ($48.6 billion.

The results show a decline from the same period a year ago by over a third. Samsung posted operating profit of 8.3 trillion won last year from 59.28 billion won of revenue. The company’s net income has now declined on an annual basis for four straight quarters.

Samsung’s mobile division posted 26.29 trillion won of revenue and 1.96 trillion won of profit for the quarter thanks to strong sales of Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The profit is down by more than 60% from 5.47 trillion won ($5.09 billion) a year ago.

The company expects its mobile business to grow throughout 2015 in emerging markets such as India and China. Expansion of 4G LTE services globally will also help its cause.

Samsung will also focus on “new materials, innovative design and differentiated features” in order to make its future devices stand out from the crowd. The newly launched Galaxy A series of smartphones will drive the company’s performance over the next quarter until the launch of Samsung Galaxy S6.

On the tablet side of the business, Samsung will focus on both premium and affordable devices. The company will continue to push forward in the market for wearables as well.

The manufacturer’s processor and RAM businesses unsurprisingly did well during the quarter. Considering Samsung’s plans to utilize its own silicon in future products, expectations point at a strong year ahead for the units.

Source…

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