Latest news with #FranciscoJeronimo
CNET
3 days ago
- Business
- CNET
What Tariffs? Smartphone Market Grows 1% as More Devices Incorporate AI
Looks like our curiosity about AI may be boosting smartphone sales. Shipments of smartphones increased 1% year over year in the second quarter of 2025, despite tariff volatility and worldwide economic instability, according to new data released from the International Data Corporation. Much of the increase in sales is attributed to midrange devices like Samsung's Galaxy A36 and other smartphones that have started incorporating AI. The report blamed a drop in demand for lower-end devices, including those built around the Android OS, for weighing down the smartphone market. However, devices that incorporate AI-enabled features have sparked a curiosity that's lured customers back -- for the right price. "Samsung was able to consolidate its market leadership and outperform the overall market achieving strong growth in the quarter driven by the sales of its new Galaxy A36 and A56 products," said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for client devices at IDC. "These new products introduce AI-enabled features to mid-range devices, which has been effectively used in retail stores to drive sales." Starting at $400, the Galaxy A36 potentially offers a more affordable entry into AI for many of us, including AI-powered photo editing tools and Google's Circle to Search. A recent CNET survey found that just 11% of people upgrade their phone for AI features. But the survey also found that price is the biggest driver (62%), meaning a midrange phone with new features could prove to be alluring enough to make the leap.
CNBC
02-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
China's Honor launches new challenge to Samsung with thin foldable smartphone and a big battery
Honor on Wednesday touted the slimness and battery capacity of its newly launched thin foldable phone, as it lays down a fresh challenge to market leader Samsung. The Honor Magic V5 goes will initially go on sale in China, but the Chinese tech firm will likely bring the device to international markets later this year. The company, which spun off from Chinese tech giant Huawei in 2020, is looking to stand out from rivals with key features of the Magic V5, like artificial intelligence, battery and size. Honor said the Magic V5 is 8.8 mm to 9mm when folded, depending on the color choice. The phone's predecessor, the Magic V3 — Honor skipped the Magic V4 name — was 9.2 mm when folded. Honor said the Magic V5 weighs 217 grams to 222 grams, again, depending on the color model. The previous version was 226 grams. In China, Honor will launch a special 1 terabyte storage size version of the Magic V5, which it says will have a battery capacity of more than 6000 milliampere-hour — among the highest for foldable phones. Honor has tried hard to tout these features, as competition in foldables ramps up, even as these types of devices have a very small share of the overall smartphone market. Foldables represented less than 2% of the overall smartphone market in 2024, according to International Data Corporation. Samsung was the biggest player with 34% market share followed by Huawei with just under 24%, IDC added. Honor took the fourth spot with a nearly 11% share. Honor is looking to get a head start on Samsung, which has its own foldable launch next week on July 9. Francisco Jeronimo, a vice president at the International Data Corporation, said the Magic V5 is a strong offering from Honor. "This is the dream foldable smartphone that any user who is interested in this category will think of," Jeronimo told CNBC, pointing to features such as the battery. "This phone continues to push the bar forward, and it will challenge Samsung as they are about to launch their seventh generation of foldable phones," he added. The thinness of a foldable phone has become a battleground for smartphone makers to appeal to consumers who want the large screen size the device has to offer without extra weight. At its event next week, Samsung is expected to release a foldable that is thinner than its predecessor and could come close to challenging Honor's offering by way of size, analysts said. If that happens, then Honor will be facing more competition, especially against Samsung, which has a bigger global footprint. "The biggest challenge for Honor is the brand equity and distribution reach vs Samsung, where the Korean vendor has the edge," Neil Shah, co-founder of Counterpoint Research, told CNBC. Honor's push into international markets beyond China is still fairly young, with the company looking to build up its brand. "Further, if Samsung catches up with a thinner form-factor in upcoming iterations, as it has been the real pioneer in foldables with its vertical integration expertise from displays to batteries, the differentiating factor might narrow for Honor," Shah added. Vertical integration refers to when a company owns several parts of a product's supply chain. Samsung has a display and battery business which provides the components for its foldables. Smartphone players, including Honor, have also looked to stand out via the AI features available on their device. In March, Honor pledged a $10 billion investment in AI over the next five years, with part of that going toward the development of next-generation agents that are seen as more advanced personal assistants. Honor said its AI assistant Yoyo can interact with other AI models, such as those created by DeepSeek and Alibaba in China, to create presentation decks. The company also flagged its AI agent can hail a taxi ride across multiple apps in China, automatically accepting the quickest ride to arrive? and cancelling the rest.
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Is the Trump T1 smartphone really ‘Made in the USA'? Here's what we know about its origins, features, and price
The Trump Organization recently unveiled the T1 smartphone — a gold-colored, Android-powered device priced at $499. Promoted as "built in the United States," new reports now suggest that the phone will most likely be manufactured in China. According to an investigation by NBC News, the T1 is expected to be produced by a Chinese Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), despite branding efforts that emphasize American manufacturing. Experts point out that the U.S. lacks the necessary infrastructure to design and mass-produce smartphones, making overseas production the only viable option. Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at research firm IDC, told NBC, 'There is no way the phone was designed from scratch or will be assembled entirely in the U.S. That's completely impossible.' He emphasized that a Chinese ODM will likely handle both design and manufacturing based on Trump's specifications. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Never Put Eggs In The Refrigerator. Here's Why... Novelodge Undo Blake Przesmicki, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, echoed this view, noting that the T1, despite its 'American-made' marketing, will most likely come from a Chinese manufacturer. Jeff Fieldhack, research director at the same firm, added that the U.S. simply doesn't have the local manufacturing capacity to support such production. Trump has long pushed for tech giants like Apple to manufacture more electronics within the U.S., as part of a broader nationalistic manufacturing push. However, experts say shifting full-scale production of smartphones to American soil would not only be time-consuming—taking years to establish facilities—but would also significantly increase consumer prices. Live Events In the case of the T1, nearly all of its major components are expected to come from overseas. The 6.8-inch AMOLED display will likely be sourced from South Korea's Samsung or LG, or possibly Chinese company BOE. Its processor will most likely be from Taiwan's MediaTek, while camera sensors could come from Japanese firm Sony — the dominant player in that market. Even if memory chips come from U.S.-based Micron, those components often rely on global supply chains. At $499, the Trump T1 significantly undercuts Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199 and features a slightly larger 6.9-inch screen.
Mint
12-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
AI-powered strategy helps Samsung retake lead from Apple in Q1 2025 smartphone market: IDC Report
The global smartphone market saw modest year-on-year growth of 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, with total shipments reaching 301.4 million units, according to the latest figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC). Amid a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainty between the United States and China, Samsung reclaimed its position as the world's leading smartphone vendor, edging past Apple thanks to its AI-integrated product portfolio. Samsung shipped 60.6 million units during the quarter, maintaining a 20.1 per cent market share, a slight increase of 0.6 per cent compared to Q1 2024. The South Korean tech giant's renewed dominance was fuelled by the strong performance of its flagship Galaxy S25 and the more affordable Galaxy A36 and A56, which brought advanced AI features to the mid-range segment. 'Samsung's focus on embedding AI capabilities across its product range — not just in premium models but in accessible mid-tier devices - has resonated with consumers, particularly in cost-sensitive markets,' said Francisco Jeronimo, Vice President of Client Devices at IDC. 'This broad AI strategy has given Samsung a crucial competitive edge at a time when market dynamics are shifting rapidly.' Apple, meanwhile, posted its best-ever Q1 in terms of units shipped, delivering 58.7 million iPhones, an 11.6 per cent increase year-on-year. This impressive growth was largely driven by an aggressive stockpiling strategy ahead of anticipated U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, as well as robust demand in several international markets. Despite this, Apple narrowly missed out on the top spot and faced headwinds in China, where its Pro models did not benefit from a government subsidy scheme targeting devices under CNY6,000 (approx. $820). 'The U.S. market grew by 8.3 per cent in Q1, reflecting strong consumer demand and urgency to purchase ahead of potential price increases,' noted Anthony Scarsella, IDC's Research Director for Client Devices. 'Apple capitalised on this moment well, but ongoing volatility in trade policy makes sustained momentum uncertain.' Chinese brands also made notable gains, particularly within their domestic market. Xiaomi and Vivo benefitted significantly from a state-backed subsidy scheme aimed at boosting consumption. Xiaomi shipped 41.8 million units (up 2.4 per cent), while Vivo saw a 6.5 per cent increase, reaching 22.7 million units. OPPO, despite regaining fourth place, experienced a decline of 6.6 per cent due to weaker international performance. The IDC report also revealed a shrinking share for smaller vendors grouped under the 'Others' category, whose collective shipments dropped 6.1 per cent year-on-year, indicating continued consolidation among the top players. 'Looking ahead, vendors will need to balance innovation, affordability, and geopolitical risk in order to sustain growth,' concluded Jeronimo. 'Samsung's current lead highlights how strategic product development, especially around emerging technologies like AI, can shape market leadership even in uncertain times.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Classic Apple': Why Apple is taking the slow road with AI
Apple (AAPL) hosted its annual WWDC event at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters on Monday, showing off a variety of improvements across its software offerings, including completely overhauled versions of the operating systems that power its devices. It was a jam-packed show, but one thing Apple didn't provide was a big, splashy AI announcement like its Big Tech peers Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) showed at their respective developer conferences last month. Wall Street is keen on seeing Apple prove it has what it takes to compete in the AI race, and a showstopping debut, like its highly anticipated generative AI-powered Siri, could have done just that. Instead, Apple said it is opening up its AI software to its army of developers and served up a number of smaller AI features that augment existing apps and platforms with new, helpful capabilities. And though that might not be the huge blowout news some investors were hoping for, the company's slower, more focused approach to AI could prove to be its best weapon in the AI fight. "Apple's AI strategy, as showcased, leans more towards systemic integration and developer empowerment rather than delivering groundbreaking consumer-facing AI functionalities that have captured market attention," IDC vice president Francisco Jeronimo wrote in a statement. "While this carries the risk of competitors moving faster, it also delineates a potential pathway for Apple to offer differentiated value, likely centered on its traditional pillars of privacy and seamless integration. This is a classic Apple modus operandi," Jeronimo added. Perhaps the most important AI announcement at WWDC was the news that Apple is opening up its on-device language models to third-party developers. While this might not sound all that interesting in and of itself, the move could pay significant dividends in the future. Apple's decision to give its roughly 30 million developers access to its language models is "somewhat akin to a modernized App Store moment," Morgan Stanley's Erik Woodring said. When Apple launched its App Store in 2008, it kicked off a massive explosion in app development that upended everything from delivery and transportation services to e-commerce and social media. It also gave Apple a fresh revenue stream via commissions on in-app purchases. Opening its AI models to developers could likewise help spur developers to create new software options that go well beyond what Apple could produce on its own, driving the development of apps and services that could eventually become household names. Providing access to Apple's on-device models has the additional benefit of saving developers money, since they don't have to pay to access cloud-based AI models. It also ensures users' privacy by keeping their data on their iPhones, iPads, and Macs. "This move to empower developers is strategically important, as it allows Apple to leverage its vast developer community to infuse the ecosystem with AI capabilities and more specialized AI applications while driving innovation," IDC's Jeronimo wrote. Apple's AI updates aimed to be more helpful than the broader Apple Intelligence unveiling at last year's WWDC. They also help put Apple on par with some of Google and Samsung's own AI capabilities. For instance, Apple will now offer live real-time translation across its Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps. Apple says translated voices will mimic the sound of a person's natural voice. So, if someone on the other end of the line speaks Spanish, and Apple Intelligence is translating it to English, the English translation will sound similar to how the Spanish speaker would sound if they were speaking English. Apple also upgraded Visual Intelligence, the company's visual search app, with the ability to understand content on your device's screen and search for more information about it online using Google, ChatGPT, or other third-party apps. Apple similarly added AI capabilities to its Reminders app and introduced a generative AI-powered fitness coach to the Apple Watch's Workout app to help keep you hustling. The moves, though not revolutionary, help Apple bolster its AI capabilities, ensuring it doesn't fall further behind its competitors. Such iterative improvements will also add up over time as developers integrate AI deeper into apps and services and make it less of a singular product like ChatGPT or Google's Gemini and more of a holistic feature of Apple's operating systems that fades into the background. And that could be just the approach the company needs to take to win out in the AI race. Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
