The iPhone is being retired after 3 years because its touchscreen has stopped working.
Just three years.
An AT&T customer representative via MacRumors:
Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.
Oh shucks.
Tim Stevens at Engadget:
The buttons may be a bit dim, but there are no issues with brightness on that display, which again is 4.3-inches of Super AMOLED Plus goodness. Resolution is not jaw-dropping at 800 x 480, though the contrast is. Blacks are, naturally, perfectly black and the brights are borderline blinding in a darkened room, while viewing angles are unlimited. Even outdoors in the screen is quite readable. We had no problem composing shots when the sun finally broke through the clouds and lit up our weekend.
However, color reproduction can leave a bit to be desired. On the default, automatic-brightness settings, white sections of the display instead fall toward green. Remove that toggle, dial up the brightness and you get far more pure shades — just make sure you squint a little before popping on the display in a dimly-lit area. The color-tweaking feature found on the Galaxy S II? Sadly not here, though the display is still mighty impressive even without.
Without having had the pleasure of playing around with a smartphone equipped with a Super AMOLED Plus display, I imagine the display would pose some problems in direct sunlight unlike what Stevens experienced. The “color-tweaking feature” is called Background Effect, which allows you to control saturation levels, and found in the Samsung Galaxy S II. The 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display by Samsung looks like it competes quite well against the 3.5-inch IPS-based Retina Display used in the iPhone 4.
The iPhone is being retired after 3 years because its touchscreen has stopped working.
Just three years.
IDC via BusinessWire:
Apple reached a new record shipment volume in a single quarter, and inched closer to market leader Nokia with fewer than six million units separating the two companies. The company posted market-beating year-over-year growth and recorded triple-digit growth in two key markets: the United States, with the release of its CDMA-enabled iPhone, and Greater China. Additionally, the company enlisted South Korean Telecom and Saudi Telecom as carrier providers of the iPhone.
Apple at #2 captured 18.7% market share in smartphone unit shipments for the first quarter 2011. iPhone shipments grew 114% Y/Y.
Samsung posted the largest year-over-year gain of any other vendor on the list. With a multiple operating system strategy in place, Samsung has been able to grow its smartphone portfolio to meet the needs of a diverse market. Accounting for the majority of its smartphones and driving shipment volumes higher was the continued success of its Android-based smartphones, including the high-end Galaxy S devices and mass-market Galaxy Ace and Galaxy mini devices.
Samsung’s market share was 10.8% at #4 behind RIM but the company’s smartphone shipment growth was an impressive 350% Y/Y. If growth continues like this for Samsung by this time 2012 we’ll be looking at Samsung leapfrogging everyone else and dethroning Nokia.
We all know that unit shipment market share isn’t the most important figure, that goes to profits and Apple is way ahead of everyone else in that department according to Canaccord via Business Insider:
According to an analysis by Canaccord Genuity’s T. Michael Walkley, Apple captured “a remarkable 50% value share of estimated Q1/11 handset industry operating profits among the top 8 OEMs with only 4.9% global handset unit market share.”
Checks with U.S. retail sales channels conducted by Canaccord Genuity technology analyst Michael Walkley found that the iPhone 4 is “by far” the top selling device at both carriers AT&T and Verizon. But Apple’s older devices have also found great success.
“Interestingly, our April checks indicated continued strong demand for the iPhone 3GS at AT&T and iPad 1 at Verizon, as these older generation products with reduced prices often outsold new Android products,” Walkley wrote in a note to investors on Monday. “We believe this highlights Apple’s significant competitive advantage, and these older products help Apple offer a tiered pricing strategy at key channels.”
It’s tough to beat a $49 iPhone.
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