LG

Apple’s camera supplier sees sharp production drop ahead of the next iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Here’s another indication that Apple is on the verge of ramping up iPhone 5S manufacturing. According to a new report by a Korean newspaper, Apple’s camera supplier LG Innotek is said to have put on hold as much as 80 percent of its camera module output.

The paper claims the change is a result of “weak iPhone 5 sales”, but that's an incorrect assumption because the iPhone 5's back and front camera is made by Sony and Omnivision, respectively.

LG Innotek is still listed as the official Apple supplier as it makes the iPhone 4 camera, but its name doesn't come up in teardown analysis of any of Apple's latest mobile products...

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LG teaches Apple how panorama should be done

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 22, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-2_Nt8Wac#!

So LG is advertising the expanded panoramic and camera capabilities of its Optimus G Pro smartphone. At first blush, the commercial looks like a blatant ripoff of Apple's iPhone 5 ad titled "Cheese", down to the kids on the white background and the elongated "Cheeeeese".

On closer inspection, it has a nice twist to it, watch what happens after mark 0:30. Their VR Panorama obviously out-innovates Apple in how amazingly it stitches the photos together to produce a nearly 360-degree image. Apple better come up with some expanded panorama features in iOS 7...

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Poll: my next cell phone will be…

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

These days, it's all but impossible to escape Apple hate speech. You know who to blame: big media. I mean, stock manipulators played even the credulous Wall Street Journal. It's not just WSJ - or NYT or Reuters, for that matter.

Anti-Apple Forbes hit new lows with clickbait headlines like this one or this one. And as crazypants analysts voice their concern regarding "Apple’s lack of a strategy in the lower-end phone”, they at the same time continue to hallucinate about a happiness or time travel machine from Apple.

And all of them get an assistance from traffic-hungry journalists like Dan Lyons whose write-ups sound bitter and idiotic. But in spite of all that FUD talk, Apple is demolishing Android in every metric that matters. None of this frenzy should matter when considering your next cell phone.

But real life can be a bitch and with so much negative publicity mounting ahead of Apple's earnings report, no wonder some of the faint-hearted fans are beginning to question their faith in the California firm. I know where my heart stands, but I want to know one thing: do you know where your heart stands? So, what's your next phone gonna be?

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Optimus G fuels LG’s return to No. 2 in the U.S., bumps Apple to No. 3

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 21, 2013

Competition to see who is the No. 2 cellphone maker in the U.S. has become a horse race. After losing it to Apple in 2011, LG for the first time since the iPhone 4S launch reportedly has retaken the spot behind industry-leader Samsung. But how did Apple, which produces only smartphones, for so long hold off the South Korean maker of both smart and feature phones?

According to Hong Kong's Counterpoint Research, LG in December snared thirteen percent of the overall U.S. cell phone market, beating Apple's twelve percent. However, it took LG's family of smart and dumb phones to regain the No. 2 spot, which it lost in 2011 when the iPhone 4S was released...

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Can mini iPhone boost Apple past Samsung?

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 4, 2013

It's a new year, but talk of Apple's need to produce an inexpensive smartphone is back. This time there is a name for the device: the iPhone mini. Friday, an analyst forecast the company could unveil a cheap iPhone in 2014 to combat Samsung's handset lead in the face of the high-end smartphone market "nearing saturation". To break out of its #2 position, Apple must follow Samsung's success of marketing to many different groups of consumers.

That's at least the main line of reasoning by analyst Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. To date, Apple has only subsidized iPhones that sell with a contract, in addition to the expensive contract-free offering and the somewhat discounted previous versions of the smartphone. Sooner than later, the company will need to recognize the untapped segment of inexpensive prepaid handsets, an area that could boost it beyond its chief rival...

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Apple passes LG for second U.S. spot as iOS-Android duopoly tops 90%

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 3, 2013

Lots of interesting data points to chew on in the latest comScore survey pertaining to cell phone sales in the United States during a three-month period ending November 2012. According to data, having knocked LG out of the position it held, Apple rose to become the second cell phone maker in the United States, despite only making smartphones.

Furthermore, nearly one out of each five mobile phone owners in the country is now using an iPhone. Looking just at smartphones, more than one in three U.S. subscribers now own a 'boring' iPhone. And as Apple and Samsung remain the only two smartphone vendors seeing growth in the U.S., no wonder iOS and Android now hold 90 percent of the country's market for smartphones. Talk about duopoly!

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iPhone 5 helps Apple grab a quarter of the world’s LTE device market

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

In less than three months the iPhone 5 has been available, Apple has laid claim to more than 26 percent of the LTE device market.  While rival Samsung still is the LTE leader, its position fell by nearly 11 percent following the iPhone 5's September 21 launch, researchers say.

Smartphones from by Apple and Samsung are leading an explosion in LTE use. While 2011 ended with nine million 4G subscriptions, 2012 will exit with fifty million LTE users, according to Strategy Analytics. Asia appears to be a hotspot for LTE use, the research firm noted...

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Apple and LG go to trial today in Alcatel-Lucent patent suit

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Ever since it went after HTC back in 2010, Apple has been known to be on the filing end of patent suits. But it's also spent its fair share of time on the defendant side as well, and is currently being sued over a number of patent infringement claims.

And one of those lawsuits is set to go to trial today in southern California. Alcatel-Lucent, a Paris-based telecommunications equipment company, is going after Apple and fellow electronics giant LG for knowingly infringing on three of its patents...

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Teardown of 4th gen iPad reveals LG Retina display and more

Cody Lee ∙ November 2, 2012

With the newly-unveiled fourth generation iPad now on sale in some parts of the globe, the inevitable teardowns have begun. As usual, iFixit was first on scene, and has posted a detailed breakdown of the tablet's innards.

As you might expect, there aren't many internal differences between the new iPad and the one Apple launched 6 months ago. But it does have a new processor, and a few other changes, so it's certainly worth taking a look at...

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Google’s October 29 agenda outed: Nexus 10 aiming squarely at the iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

Google's Android event is scheduled to take place on October 29 in New York, but the company's planned product launches have apparently been outed by The Next Web. In addition to a 32GB version of the seven-inch Nexus 7 tablet (which has already turned up in U.S. stores) and the long-expected cellular version of the device, Google is said to take Apple on the high-end with the introduction of a ten-inch Nexus tablet thought to incorporate a 2,560-by-1,600 pixel screen with a pixel density of 300 pixels per inch versus the iPad 3's Retina display which tops the 264 pixels per inch on its 9.7-inch 2,048-by-1,536 Retina display...

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Apple tops JD Power’s smartphone satisfaction survey again

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 11, 2018

For the eighth time in a row, Apple is ranked with the highest customer satisfaction. The iPhone received 849 points out of 1,000, according to J.D. Powers and Associates. HTC ranked second with 790 points and Samsung earned 782 points, below the 783-point survey average.

The iPhone "performs well in all factors, particularly in physical design and ease of operation," the ratings firm announced Thursday. The company measured smartphones for performance, physical design, features and ease of operation.

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