New in our buyer’s guide: The iPhone 6s, Surface Book and much more
Sorry we haven’t updated the buyers’s guide in a couple months — we’ve been too busy pumping out reviews of all the new devices. Now that things have finally started to slow down (fingers crossed), let’s take a step back and look at all the awesome stuff we’ve had a chance to test this fall. For starters, there’s a bunch of excellent smartphones that we absolutely need to add to our guide. Namely: the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the Nexus 6P and 5X, and the Moto X Pure. On the tablet side, we’re inducting both the iPad mini 4 and the Surface Pro 4. Microsoft makes another appearance in the laptop section, where we’ve added the Surface Book, along with Dell’s Chromebook 13. Rounding out the list, we threw in a few miscellaneous items, including the new Xbox One Elite Wireless controller, the redesigned Sonos Play:5 wireless speaker and Google’s $35 Chromecast Audio.
Source: Engadget Buyer’s Guide
Mini review video: Our verdict on the Droid Turbo 2 in about a minute
On paper, Motorola’s Droid Turbo 2 looks like an upgraded version of the Moto X Pure Edition, which was already one of our favorite Android phones. In particular, the Turbo 2 brings more powerful components, a big battery and a shatterproof screen. In reality, though, the Turbo 2 suffers from a slightly dim screen, mediocre camera and loads of Verizon bloatware. The battery life, while pretty decent, is not quite as long as advertised. Also, at $624, it’s expensive for what it is, and it’s not likely to receive software updates as quickly as the Moto X. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a decent phone, but given the choice, you’d still be better off with the bog-standard Pure Edition. That’s the gist, as you’ll see in our mini review video, and if you have time for a longer read, check out our full review here.
Lenovo committed to manufacturing phones in India, Moto X Force on the way
The race to come out ahead in the Indian smartphone market is still hotly contested and the consumer appeal of manufacturing devices locally has become a major differentiating factor, with the Make-in-India campaign gaining some major momentum. Lenovo seems very aware of this trend and has announced that it is committed to making long term investments into manufacturing and R&D in the country as well.
The announcement came while Lenovo was busy unveiling its logo and new tag-line in the country: “Innovation never stands still”. As well as new hardware research, Lenovo also stated that is sees software development heading to the country in the future as well. Upcoming products were also announced at the event. The Moto X Force and Yoga Tab 3 are scheduled to arrive “soon”, although we don’t have an exact date or prices for either device just yet.
“In three years, we have reached a revenue of $2.5 billion (roughly Rs. 16,540 crores) in India compared to a target of $800 million (roughly Rs. 5,292 crores) when we came to this country which is fast evolving in the area of technology,” – Lenovo Chief Executive, Yang Yuanqing
Lenovo currently sits in third position in the Indian smartphone market, partly due to its range of very cost effective, super-midrange smartphones. However, the company has had a tougher year in the global market, where is slowing share and shipments, coupled with some very large expenses, has seen the company recently post its first quarterly loss in six years.
See also: Lenovo posts first loss in six years, looks to bounce back after Motorola purchase
Lenovo is looking to become one of the fifty largest companies in India, and a strong position in the country’s booming smartphone market is certainly a good place to start.
Apple’s share of smartphone operating profit share rose to 94% this year
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We’ve previously heard of the dire state of Android manufacturers slowly losing all their profit margin in an increasingly competitive smartphone industry, but we had no idea it was this bad – or how badly Apple is beating everyone. According to Canaccord Genuity, Apple’s share of global smartphone operating profit share has risen to 94% in Q3 2015, a jump from 85% the same time last year. Perhaps the more depressing news from this analysis is that Samsung, the last remaining Android manufacturer to be making any kind of profit margin, has now decreased its share to 11%, a far cry from its 42% just two years ago.
As you can see, plenty of manufacturer’s profit margin have dipped to 0%, with some even incurring losses for every device made a la Microsoft and Lenovo/Motorola. Going forward, it’s not clear how some manufacturers will be able to increase their profit margin with how things are progressing, but presumably the hope is that devices start to get cheaper with more focus on usability and user experience over sheer performance.
What do you think about the smartphone operating profit share across all manufacturers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Canaccord Genuity via Phone Arena, Apple Insider
The post Apple’s share of smartphone operating profit share rose to 94% this year appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Droid Turbo 2 review: What it lacks in style, it makes up for in power
Verizon’s line of Droid phones just celebrated its sixth birthday, and what better way to celebrate than by releasing the best device to ever bear the Droid title? I jokingly called Motorola’s Droid Turbo 2 “a Moto X Pure on steroids,” but there’s no denying it packs even more power than its predecessor into a body that’s built to take a beating. Throw in a battery rated for 48 hours and we should be left with a phone that will make Moto X owners rue the day they whipped out their credit cards, right? Turns out, the answer’s a little more complicated.Slideshow-341298
Amid royalty dispute with Qualcomm, Xiaomi Mi5 may pack MediaTek SoC
A new leak has claimed that Xiaomi’s new flagship phone – the Mi5 – will feature a MediaTek processor instead of the Snapdragon one, which was earlier rumored to power the device. A few weeks ago, we even saw the Mi5 benchmarked on the GeekBench database with the Snapdragon 820 SoC onboard.
But a new report has claimed that Xiaomi may have changed its mind about using Qualcomm’s latest chipset over royalty dispute with the company. Apparently, Qualcomm is not too happy with the royalty fees that Xiaomi is offering. And Xiaomi is known to keep the production costs to the minimum in order to keep the final price of the device as low as possible.
Rumors suggest that the royalty dispute with Qualcomm has forced Xiaomi to bring MediaTek on board. So far, we have only come across Mi5 prototypes featuring Snapdragon 820 but that may change soon if the budget mobile manufacturer fails to reach a truce with Qualcomm.
If that doesn’t materializes, Xiaomi may still sell some devices featuring Qualcomm’s chipset (because it won’t be feasible to scrap a whole new batch) and pack new handsets with MediaTek processors.
The report further states that Xiaomi may not be the only company to find itself on a collision coarse with Qualcomm. Lenovo could find itself in a similar situation soon.
Source: My Drivers
Via: G for Games
Come comment on this article: Amid royalty dispute with Qualcomm, Xiaomi Mi5 may pack MediaTek SoC
Lenovo loss less than expected with smartphone business improvements
Lenovo has released their second quarter financial results for the period that ended September 30th and although they experienced a loss, it was not as deep as had been estimated and expected. Lenovo says they were able to narrow the losses thanks to stronger than expected sales growth and improvements in their smartphone business. The net loss ended up being $714 million, beating the average loss of $803 million projected by analysts.
Looking at the Lenovo lines of business, the PC business continues to be profitable, but is slowing. That segment’s positive results are being offset by costs and results from the acquisition of server and smartphone units, including Motorola, last year. CEO Yank Yuanqing says Lenovo is shifting their focus away from China to other emerging markets due to the intense competition in China. With regard to Motorola specifically, Yang says the company is working to boost market share in mature markets like the U.S. and Europe.
According to Lenovo, the shift away from China when combined with additional cost cutting efforts, including job cuts, will help the company return Motorola to profitability within one to two more quarters of operations. Yang says he is confident Lenovo can also turn around the enterprise business purchased from IBM last year, reaching their target of $5 billion in annual sales within one year of the acquisition.
In terms of revenue, Lenovo saw sales in China fall by 12 percent when compared to the prior year. Despite that hit, revenues for the quarter still came in at $12.2 billion, which exceeded the $11.8 billion estimate. The improvements in sales and revenues have been offset by restructuring costs and impairments.
source: Bloomberg
Come comment on this article: Lenovo loss less than expected with smartphone business improvements
Lenovo blames smartphones for its first loss in six years
Lenovo had a nice run of profits thanks to its PC business, but like many others, it’s finding smartphones to be a tougher go. Thanks to charges related to its Motorola acquisition and $300 million worth of unsold phones, the company incurred a hefty $714 million net loss for the first time in six years. PC sales didn’t actually help much, with revenue in that division dropping 17 percent over last year (though still less than its rivals). Despite all that, Lenovo said overall sales were actually up over last year to $12.2 billion, and added that the changes it made will save $650 million this year alone.
Source: Lenovo
Lenovo posts first loss in six years, looks to bounce back after Motorola purchase
The smartphone market has been a tough place to do business this year, with both high and low cost manufacturers feeling the pinch. Lenovo has released its Q2 financial results, revealing some equally mixed fortunes for the company.
Lenovo posted a net loss of $714 million from a revenue of £12.2 billion in Q2, it’s first loss in six years. The main reason is due to a major company restructuring following expensive acquisitions last year in both the server and smartphone markets. Most notable for us was the purchase of Motorola at a cost of $2.91 billion. Following falling profits, Lenovo incurred one-time restructuring costs, including staff lay-offs and clearing of inventory to focus on the Moto brand, setting the company back to the tune of $923 million.
Lenovo stated that the company would have been $166 million in the black for Q2, had it not had these one times costs. However, this would still be 50 percent lower than a year before. The company expects to complete its restructuring by the end of the financial year and estimates that the changes will save around $650 million during the second half of 2015 and approximately $1.3 billion annually.
Lenovo/Moto reviews:
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On the upside, total company revenue was up 16 percent year on year and up 15 percent on the previous quarter, indicating that sales are heading in the right direction. Looking specifically at smartphones, sales grew by 11 percent YoY and 16 percent QoQ, although the division still ended up making a loss of $217 million from a revenue of $1.4 billion.
“We significantly grew our smartphone business in the rest of the emerging markets, that’s our strategy … We know our China competition is too fierce, so we just shift our focus.” – Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing
Part of the problem is China, Lenovo’s largest single market, where company sales have dropped by 12 percent from a year earlier, as the region has quickly grown into one of the most competitive. Lenovo has been making strides to diversify away from this market this year and now sees 70 percent of its revenue come from overseas, up from 19 percent a year earlier.
The company is looking to boost its market share in the U.S. and Europe next year, which might help with its goal is to turn its smartphone business to a profit in the next one or two quarters.
Lenovo details Marshmallow rollout plans
With the launch of every new version of the Android OS comes the inevitable question of when existing handsets will get the latest update. Lenovo has sought to answer this question by detailing when its popular smartphones – the K3 Note, Vibe S1, Vibe P1, A7000 and A7000 Plus – will get the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update.
Lenovo in video:
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According to the company’s upgrade matrix page, the A7000 and A7000 Plus will get the Marshmallow update by September next year, with the Lenovo K3 Note also scheduled to get its OTA update in the same month. For customers of the Vibe P1 and Vibe S1, the update is expected to land in June in next year but like always, the release date is subject to change.
What is interesting is that Lenovo hasn’t detailed any other smartphones or its tablets, which suggests only a handful of devices will get the latest OS. With a release expected beginning the middle of next year, Lenovo looks set to be one of the slowest OEMS to update to Marshmallow.
Sony, Motorola and Huawei have all revealed their rollout plans while Samsung is reportedly working on the update for several of their smartphones. Like every year however, the fragmentation of Android means you’re likely to be waiting a while and interestingly for Lenovo customers, the company has said that this update won’t be coming to carrier branded devices or those purchased under contract.
Are you a user of any of the aforementioned Lenovo smartphones and are you looking forward to the Marshmallow update? Let us know your views in the comments below!
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