Interest in smartphones is flattening
Both Apple and Samsung this week predicted slow growth for smartphone and mobile phone sales in early 2016, making investors queasy.
Both Apple and Samsung this week predicted slow growth for smartphone and mobile phone sales in early 2016, making investors queasy.
In a revival tent-like speech, Microsoft's chief operations officer, Kevin Turner, urged the company's partners to forget the past - an allusion to the failure of its smartphone business to gain meaningful share - but defended the decision to keep making handsets.
This week the G4 smartphone from LG Electronics starts shipping outside its home country, with arrivals in the U.S. and Europe expected in a couple of weeks. While the smartphone has a great screen and camera, it doesn't get everything right.
Even though the term "phablet" draws a lot of snarky remarks, some workplace executives have lately come to appreciate large-screen smartphones. And at least one who should know even believes that smartphones with a display that's 5.5-in. or larger (like the new iPhone 6 Plus or the Galaxy Note 4) could replace PCs in a few years.
A year is a long time in smartphone technology today, so remember if you can the changes that have taken place over the last decade.
Samsung depends on Google's Android OS, but needs to find a way to differentiate itself from rivals who also use Android if it's to grow and thrive.
In the last year or so, there has been a noticeable slowdown in innovations in new smartphones -- with both hardware and software. The next direction seems to be making the smartphone the hub for connecting technologies int eh Internet of Things scenario.
As tech companies increasingly rely on analyzing and selling user data to boost revenue, trust is emerging as one of the defining issues of the year for the IT sector.
By selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, Google is ending a combination that never really worked out while keeping assets that could prove valuable down the road.
Microsoft will face a rebellion of long-time partners at next month's CES when OEMs introduce Windows PCs that can also run Android mobile apps.
Politics collided with the world of technology this year as stories about U.S. government spying stirred angst both among the country's citizens and foreign governments, and the flawed HeathCare.gov site got American health-care reform off to a rocky start. Meanwhile, the post-PC era put aging tech giants under pressure to reinvent themselves. Here in no particular order are IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 tech stories of the year.
What different advantages can a curved screen bring to a smartphone? Well, not a whole lot. But Samsung's newest smartphone, the Galaxy Round, comes off as a posh device that may be the company's best looking handset yet.
Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia was a defensive move to keep the Finnish phone maker from going under or falling into the hands of an Android-first rival, several analysts argued this week.
Smartphones are everywhere, and smartwatches are poised to follow. Techies are eying Google Glass. And we now wear our technology on our sleeve. Have we finally reached gadget overload?
Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's Devices & Services business is a necessary gamble for the software company's future growth in mobile, and for Nokia an admission that it doesn't have enough resources to successfully compete with Samsung and Apple, according to analysts.