Digitimes Research Shows Growing Android Market; New Players in Chinese Market

by Holly Shoemaker

Digitimes Research reported on Friday that Android smartphone shipments will continue to dominate the market.

Overview of Findings
By the end of the year, the research indicates that the Android Market should garner 70 percent of the market share. For Q 2 2012, the research compared to IDC findings. IDC reported that the Android Market held 68 percent of the global smartphone market share in Q 2012, compared to Digitimes figure of approximately 60 percent. The IDC report attributed the growth to Samsung. Despite the current U.S. ruling against Samsung, it is likely that Samsung will continue to gain consumers as the ruling does not affect the popular Galaxy S
III.

Nokia should finally garner some attention with its Lumia phones.  The research shows that shipments of Windows Phones should double from last year to 21 million units.

Digitimes expects Apple shipments to surpass 125 million units. However, the growth is expected to be lower than the previous two years.

The Continuing China Factor

China continues to factor into the growing Android Market. Another Digitimes Research study estimated that China handset shipments will make up 430 million units in 2012. Smartphones should account for approximately 32 percent of the Chinese market, which is equivalent to 143 million handsets. There is also a growing number of entry-level handsets expected to debut in the China market.

Is Apple Returning to iWorld to Launch High-Resolution Screens for New iPads?

by Holly Shoemaker

The industry trade publication Digitimes has reported that Apple will launch two new iPads in January at the Macworld|iWorld expo event being held from January 26-28, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif. The new iPads claim to have high-resolution screen displays similar to the 9.7-inch screens on the iPad and iPad2.

This seems like an interesting humor as Apple is not set to show products at this expo, formerly known as Macworld. Apple has not participated in this event since 2009. Sources within Apple have also said the company will not have an iPad launch at iWorld.

Concluding Thoughts

At this time, there are conflicting stories circulating. It does appear Apple has geared up to make some changes, but the company will not comment on specifics. I am not surprised that Apple will not comment. However, I am surprised that a trade publication that typically reports accurate information would make a claim without having verification. To me, it seems unlikely that Apple’s secrecy would extend to denying taking part in a trade show. New leadership will certainly want to offer some new features to its iPads in 2012, but Apple would not need to debut these new screens at a trade show event it abandoned. The world will know soon enough how Apple will announce this latest feature.