Samsung and Apple are expecting to dominate the Smartphone market with the two superpowers launching their next-gen devices in the coming months.
Samsung takes the first strike with their Galaxy S3 Smartphone launch this week while the iPhone 5 is expected for a later release. Samsung will look to boost its impressive performance by outdoing Apple with 44.5 million Q1 shipments, according to Strategy Analytics.
The Galaxy S3 is rumored to come packed with a quad-core Exynos 4 Quad processor, a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display, 1080p playback, LTE, and running Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The iPhone 5 may finally see a true competitor but with its rumored specs, Apple may not be too concerned with Samsung's early release.
Apple next generation iPhone continues to be the most heated topic among Apple's fans. Discussions on when it will be launched along with assumptions on features that may be included in the next iPhone are swirling.
Now, the latest rumors that has gone viral is that iPhone 5 could come 20 percent thinner than the other iPhones that have been launched so far.
"We have pencilled in 15 million iPhone 5 shipments for [the third quarter], out of their 40 million total estimate, and 50 million total iPhones in the fourth quarter. Beginning in September, Apple will have more than 175 million iPhone subscribers globally. Assuming a two-year replacement implies a base case of about 20 million iPhones a quarter," according to a research undertaken by Jefferies, a global securities and investment group and as reported by InRumor.
There are also speculations going on that the iPhone will also be a liquid metal concept phone. A French designer, Antoine Brieux has also come up with a concept for the next generation iPhone. If his predictions are to be followed, he has portrayed a high-performance Liquid metal alloy casing and the design will come with a virtual 'home' button.
"With the physical 'home' button missing, the design suggests that Apple could increase the display's aspect ratio to 16:9 which can allow for larger screen real estate while maintaining its form factor," writes Ubergizmo.
Other rumored features speculate that Apple's quad-ore A6 chip will debut in the new iPhone with 4G LTE support. Apple is also venturing into the Near Field Communication or "NFC" technology with the US Patent & Trademark Office granting permission for their patent application on "gifting" downloadable media files with iTunes.
"Apple's patent generally relates to digital media content and electronic devices being configured to transfer information from one user's account to another user's account. Apple will also allow users to share iTunes Playlists - though at a cost being that it's in context with 'gifting,' as Apple calls it. It sounds like a great idea and it should be available when NFC based iDevices finally debut," according to Patently Apple.
In addition to the above features, the iPhone 5 could be utilizing a smaller nano-SIM card which would fit nicely into a new slim tapered casing design. Apple's iPhone release date has also been a much rumoured topic with possibilities of its release during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June or maybe even in October.
"I would expect to see the sixth generation of Apple's mobile operating system, otherwise known as iOS 6 unveiled at WWDC 2012. Unveiling iOS 6 in June also hints at a definite fall release of the iPhone 5 which will of course be running iOS 6," as posted by Joey Mullette in BostInno.
Apple will need to keep up with whatever the fans are already expecting to see in the next iPhone if it will have to stay ahead with its competitors.
"If Apple wants to reign supremely above the rest of the smartphone world, the iPhone 5 needs to be innovative in design and unprecedented in speed and function," writes iPhonetouch.blorge.
As for now, Samsung's Galaxy S3 will show what its got while Apple awaits behind the curtains for its time to shine.
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