Poor First-Quarter Results Foreshadow Challenging Year for Smartphones

At IDC, we released our preliminary 1Q20 smartphone shipment results this week, and they weren’t pretty, with units down 11.7% from the year-ago quarter, reaching just 275.8 million units. That number represents the most significant year-over-year drop we have measured in the market. Unfortunately, things are likely to get worse before they get better, as … Continue reading Poor First-Quarter Results Foreshadow Challenging Year for Smartphones

Corona Virus Impact Update, Smartphones and Premium vs. The Masses

A few weeks ago, I shared the concerns I was hearing from supply chain vendors over Coronavirus. Then it was only a warning, but now we see the first impact on tech manufacturing. Apple has come out and said it wouldn’t make March’s guidance due to issues in their factories being able to manufacture iPhones. … Continue reading Corona Virus Impact Update, Smartphones and Premium vs. The Masses

A Twist on Foldable Smartphones

Last May, I attended the SID conference in L.A. This is the premier display conference in the world. At this show, I saw the first foldable displays that could be used in a smartphone and unfolded to become a small tablet. I wrote about it and laid out how companies like BOE, Visionex, and Samsung … Continue reading A Twist on Foldable Smartphones

PCs and Smartphones Duke it Out for Gaming Champion

Everyone knows that gaming continues to be a very hot category, drawing more eyeballs, hours, and dollars than virtually any other activity that most people engage in on their digital devices. The growing popularity of this week’s Gaming Developer’s Conference (GDC) and the range of new gaming-related announcements expected from that event further confirms it. … Continue reading PCs and Smartphones Duke it Out for Gaming Champion

Is There a Market for Folding Smartphones?

Last May I attended the Display Conference in Los Angeles where multiple display vendors showed their early versions of foldable and flexible displays. The most impressive prototype I saw came from Chinese display maker BOE and was a foldable smartphone that morphed into a mini-tablet when opened. Early last fall, Samsung used their developers’ conference … Continue reading Is There a Market for Folding Smartphones?

How Smartphones Will Impact the Next Generation of Laptop Designs

We at Creative Strategies recently conducted a study on what consumers want in the way of technology and specifically, how they use technology in their business and personal lives. We are especially interested in the technology workflow of the knowledge workers and what technology they use to do their jobs. An early analysis of the … Continue reading How Smartphones Will Impact the Next Generation of Laptop Designs

The Value of Smartphones

Over the past few weeks, I have been asked a lot whether the prices of smartphones will continue to increase and if such an increase is justified. The success of the iPhone X took those who said people would never pay $1,000 for a phone by surprise. The iPhone X also gave hope to smartphone … Continue reading The Value of Smartphones

The Hidden Technology Behind Modern Smartphones

Sometimes it’s not just the little things, but the invisible things that matter. This is even true in the world of technology, where the focus on the physical characteristics of devices such as smartphones, or the visual aspects of the applications and services that run on them, is so dominant. At the Mobile World Congress … Continue reading The Hidden Technology Behind Modern Smartphones

The PC Era of Smartphones

Last week, I wrote about how the whole of the consumer tech industry has reached maturity. The point of that post was to articulate, at a high level, how the maturity of the industry changes the nature of the way companies will compete. Today, I’d like to talk about the impacts that observation will impact … Continue reading The PC Era of Smartphones

The Dawn of Folding Laptops and Smartphones

In a column I wrote recently on the 25th anniversary of IBM and Lenovo’s ThinkPad, I mentioned that I had a chance to interview Mr. Arimasa Natioh, who is considered the father of the Thinkpad. He created the special Yamato, Japan lab that designed this laptop and has shepherded its design and growth from the … Continue reading The Dawn of Folding Laptops and Smartphones

Rethinking the Role of Smartphones

Each fall, some of the major smartphone companies release their latest and greatest phones in time to take advantage of the holiday season where as much as 40-45% of all smartphones are sold each year are during Oct through Dec. This is especially the case for smartphone behemoths Apple and Samsung. Samsung tends to try … Continue reading Rethinking the Role of Smartphones

Podcast: Samsung Note 8, Smartphones, Apple Auto Plans

This week’s Tech.pinions podcast features Carolina Milanesi, Jan Dawson and Bob O’Donnell discussing Samsung’s Note 8 launch event, analyzing the evolution of smartphones overall, and debating the importance of Apple’s future auto-related plans. If you happen to use a podcast aggregator or want to add it to iTunes manually the feed to our podcast is: … Continue reading Podcast: Samsung Note 8, Smartphones, Apple Auto Plans

Lenovo’s Yogabook could be the Perfect Design for Future Tablets and Smartphones

Over the Christmas holidays, I began testing a new product from Lenovo call the Yoga Book. I tested both the Android and Windows OS version and, while testing these two-sided tablets, I began to realize this design is probably one of the most innovative mobile products I have seen in the past 5 years. Here … Continue reading Lenovo’s Yogabook could be the Perfect Design for Future Tablets and Smartphones

Smartphones and the Future of Digital Cameras

For about 20 years, I have been a huge fan of digital cameras, both DSLR and Point-and-Shoot versions. Almost every year, I would buy the newest model to take most of the really important pictures, especially one’s related to my family. I also love to capture things like sunsets and all types of seascapes and … Continue reading Smartphones and the Future of Digital Cameras

Unpacked: The Need for Ruggedized Smartphones

I’ve gotten a question quite a bit lately from tech industry folks about the need for more rugged devices. Smartphones that don’t break when you drop them or don’t stop working when you dump them in the pool or ocean, etc. How big of a feature is a water resistant, or even waterproof, phone in … Continue reading Unpacked: The Need for Ruggedized Smartphones

Podcast: Apple App Store, Lenovo-Motorola Smartphones

In this week’s Tech.pinions podcast Tim Bajarin, Jan Dawson and Bob O’Donnell discuss the changes that Apple made to some of their app store policies and analyze the new smartphone offerings from Lenovo and Motorola, including the Google Tango-based Phab Pro 2 and the modular Moto Z. If you happen to use a podcast aggregator … Continue reading Podcast: Apple App Store, Lenovo-Motorola Smartphones

Apple Security, Smartphones are More Fun Than Driving

I want to share a few more thoughts for subscribers about the briefing I was at on Friday with Apple executives where they gave more depth on their security strategy and philosophy. As I sat through the list of things Apple outlined and diagrammed of the inner workings of iOS security, it hit me that … Continue reading Apple Security, Smartphones are More Fun Than Driving

Huawei’s New Smartphones, Samsung’s Q1 2016 Revenue Beat, What Apple Can Learn

Huawei came out of the gate swinging in 2016 with a new lineup of flagship devices designed specifically to start to move their brand into the premium tier. These new smartphones are loaded on paper and, interestingly, have a price tag to match. Huawei has made a run in many markets by being a player … Continue reading Huawei’s New Smartphones, Samsung’s Q1 2016 Revenue Beat, What Apple Can Learn

The Devices Formerly Known as Smartphones

The Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress trade show has served as the location for major smartphone announcements for a long time, so it’s no surprise to see that happening again this year. Splashy introductions have been made by Samsung, LG, Lenovo and other usual suspects. But there is an important twist for 2016. It stems from … Continue reading The Devices Formerly Known as Smartphones

The Encryption Precedent, $4 Smartphones, and 3D Printer Toys

The legal battle taking place publicly between the FBI and Apple is all about a precedent being set for or against backdoor encryption. Philosophically, we are at a junction that could alter the direction of our digital future. In reading this letter from Tim Cook, many things stood out including this paragraph in particular: Specifically, … Continue reading The Encryption Precedent, $4 Smartphones, and 3D Printer Toys

Podcast: Kantar Smartphones; Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon Earnings; FCC Set Top Box Rules

This week Bob O’Donnell, Ben Bajarin, Jan Dawson and special guest Carolina Milanesi of Kantar WorldPanel discuss Kantar’s latest smartphone data, analyze the earnings reports from Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon, and debate the potential impact of the FCC’s efforts to open up standards around set-top boxes. Click here to subscribe in iTunes. If you … Continue reading Podcast: Kantar Smartphones; Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon Earnings; FCC Set Top Box Rules

Unpacked: Global Ad Blocker Usage on Smartphones

On the heels of some recent news reports that Google has made over $30 billion dollars from Android, I thought it would be fun to share one of my favorite stats. Toward the end of last year, I was having a conversation with Matt Richman, a college student and blogger who helped me do some … Continue reading Unpacked: Global Ad Blocker Usage on Smartphones

Are Smartphones Making Us All Infomaniacs?

I admit it. I am and, for over 30 years, have been an “Infomaniac”. Even when I was a teenager, I would listen to talk or news radio and very seldom turn to a music station. For some bizarre reason, I wanted to, or perhaps needed to, know what was going on in the world. … Continue reading Are Smartphones Making Us All Infomaniacs?

The Hidden Opportunity of Corporate Smartphones

I’ve been doing a great deal of research on corporate purchase, usage, and management of devices recently, and I’ve come across some interesting findings. Most importantly, the corporate smartphone is far from dead. Though it’s easy to assume that BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has taken over the world—especially in the US—and that everyone buys … Continue reading The Hidden Opportunity of Corporate Smartphones

Forum Topics: Microsoft Smartphones, iPhones in China, Slice Apple Watch Data

One of the ways I’m using our new forums is to share some shorter posts and solicit more of a discussion around certain topics. So I’ll frequently post a short post, or top of mind thought to the forum. To let everyone know there is new content there I’ll create a post like this one … Continue reading Forum Topics: Microsoft Smartphones, iPhones in China, Slice Apple Watch Data