handset

Google's Motorola might have had an upcoming smartphone leaked to the Web.

Vietnam-based tech site TinhTe today posted images and videos of a Motorola prototype device that it says could be ready for store shelves in the coming months. The handset has a noticeably softer design than those currently offered by Motorola, with rounded edges and a smooth backplate. The handset also comes with a Motorola's signature "M" logo on the back and above its display.

In terms of specs, it's somewhat impressive. The handset has a 4.65-inch HD display, according to TinhTe, and … Read more

AT&T has looked at the idea of making consumers pay for their own smartphones in monthly installments, according to CEO Randall Stephenson.

The idea of handset financing runs counter to the current model of subsidizing phones at a lower initial price in exchange for a higher monthly bill. Under handset financing, consumers would pay an upfront fee for the phone, and then steadily pay off the phone's cost over the next few months.

In exchange, the consumer would presumably get a lower rate on their phone bill, and could conceivably leave whenever they want after paying off … Read more

Samsung and Apple are dominating the smartphone market, new data from research firm IDC has revealed.

During the third quarter, Samsung shipped 56.3 million smartphones worldwide, helping it to secure 31.3 percent of that space for the three-month period. In the year-earlier quarter, Samsung shipped 28.1 million handsets for a 22.7 percent share.

Samsung's shipments last quarter were strong enough to double Apple's share, which hit 15 percent on 26.9 million unit shipments. Last year, Apple shipped 17.1 million smartphones, good enough for a 13.8 percent share for the quarter.

After … Read more

Android continues to dominate the U.S. smartphone market, according to data released today by market researcher ComScore.

Google's mobile operating system captured 50.8 percent of the market for the three months ending in April, a 2.2 percent increase over the three months ending in January. Meanwhile, Apple's iOS accounted for 31.4 percent of the market in April, a 1.9 percent increase over January.

The gains by Android and iOS were made on the back of Research In Motion's struggling BlackBerry OS, which lost 3.6 percent of its market share to finish … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Ooma, the company behind the popular free VoIP home phone service, just got a little flashier.

Here at CES, the company introduced the Ooma HD2, a new $59.99 cordless handset that's designed to work with its existing Telo box, which drives the Ooma system. The company says the handset offers improved "HD Voice" call clarity and offers smartphone features "made possible by the Ooma cloud-enabled platform."

The HD2 is the company's second-generation handset and it features a 2-inch color screen and picture caller-ID with the ability to automatically display Facebook profile pictures … Read more

For years, Nokia has led all handset vendors in unit shipments. But this year, Samsung believes it can change that.

The company's chief executive, Choi Gee-sung, yesterday told Reuters in an interview in Las Vegas, where CES 2012 is taking place this week, that he believes his company's total handset shipments this year will be higher than those of Nokia's. He didn't say how many handsets Samsung expects to sell this year, but pointed to his company's strong shipment growth to bolster his point.

And what growth it has been. Just last month, Samsung announced that it had sold over 300 million handsets worldwide at the end of November. … Read more

HTC trudged through a difficult fourth quarter, but all in all, 2011 was a solid year for the handset maker.

The company said today that during the fourth quarter of 2011, it posted a profit of NT$11 billion ($364 million), which, while strong, was down a thumping 26 percent compared to the same period last year when it generated NT$14.8 billion in net income. It was the company's first profit drop in two years.

HTC saw a similar story on the revenue side, as sales dropped from NT$104 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 … Read more

Samsung ended 2011 on a financial high note, the company announced today.

The tech giant released its fourth-quarter earnings guidance today, saying that it expects to have generated revenue of between 46 trillion and 48 trillion Korean won ($39.6 billion to $41.3 billion) and an operating profit of between 5 trillion and 5.4 trillion Korean won. Both figures represent a new high mark for the company's financials and easily outpace the 2010 fourth quarter, which saw Samsung generate 41.9 trillion won in revenue and a 3 trillion won profit.

For all of 2011, Samsung estimates … Read more

Nokia has been the top handset seller for years now. But next year, the company could lose its spot to Samsung.

According to Reuters, citing a report in the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung expects to sell 374 million handsets worldwide next year, rising from the 325 million units the company had forecast earlier in the year. Included in that tally is 150 million smartphone sales, the Korean newspaper reported, according to Reuters.

Samsung earlier this month announced that it sold 300 million handsets as of "late November." Factor in that this year Samsung has sold about 820,000 … Read more