Taking a look back at seven days of news across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit includes Samsung’s two Galaxy Note 6 designs, the phablet’s monster battery, an opening for the South Korean company to catch Apple, a review of the OnePlus X, Android apps coming to Chrome, MS Exchange coming to Gmail on Android, Marshmallow finally arriving on the Blackberry Priv, and the final episode of ‘Walking Dead Michonne’ arriving on Android.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android in the last week.
Does Samsung Have Two Note 6 Models?
The expected update to Samsung’s range of phablet devices may be more than many fans are hoping for. Reports are coming in that Samsung is testing out two designs, a regular flat screened Note 6, and a curved screen Galaxy Note 6 Edge. This matches the S7 family make-up, but also matches Samsung’s previous designs (if you ignore the naming structure).Early indications suggest that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have turned around the retail performance and maintained the critical acclaim. Just as last year the Edge version of the handset is proving to be the more popular device. If Samsung was to bias to a single Note 6 the evidence suggests that the more popular edged form factor (which is, happily, the more expensive device) would be the handset to choose.A single device is not how Samsung works. It’s in this game for the volume and turnover. Two Galaxy Note 6 phablets looks to be just what DJ Koh, the head of Samsung Mobile, needs to reverse the decline of the South Korean manufacturer’s mobile revenue and profits.
Samsung’s Opportunity To Smack Down Apple
The excitement around the Note 6, the critical acclaim around the S7 and S7 Edge, and the general uptick in Samsung’s performance is all coming together at a convenient time. While Samsung is in the ascendancy, its chief rival in Apple is suffering a slowdown in sales, a drop in revenue, and while the financials are still healthy the perception is that Apple is weak.
[Apple] has a new handset range that is delivering on critical and commercial fronts; it has exciting and highly anticipated products for the rest of the year; and it can offer new technology that users want today, as opposed to Apple’s plan to strip out vital hardware elements such as the headphone jack.
…Of course Apple will post higher numbers, will have a larger share of the high-end market, and deliver far more profit than the South Korean company during the year. The benefits to Samsung pushing hard against Apple are clear. It has an opportunity to stabilise its mobile division, it can build on the success already achieved in 2016, and it can create a new dawn for the Galaxy platform that will deliver over the next few years.
In the Samsung v Apple war, the South Korean firm (and by proxy Android), has the upper hand for the next few months.
