Apple’s rivals plan revamp ahead of iPhone 6 launch
Sony and Microsoft are among the smartphone makers touting devices said to be the best yet
With the launch of Apple’s iPhone 6 only days away, rivals in the US and Asia have revealed their plans of how they intend to revitalise their ranges of smartphones and wearable devices in the hope of standing up to the impending Cupertino- led publicity storm.
At the IFA consumer electronics conference in Berlin this week, Sony and Microsoft are among the smartphone makers touting devices said to be the best yet from two companies whose mobile aspirationswere beingwritten off just two years ago.
Samsung, however, drew the first applause on Wednesday for the latest update of the Galaxy Note supersized mobile device with an improved stylus alongside a new version with a flexible curved second screen, a reworked smartwatch and a mobile virtual reality headset, designed by Facebook- owned Oculus.
September has become the usual month of the year when hostilities in the smartphone market resume. The cycle has come to be dictated by Apple although manufacturers have tried to steal some of its thunder at the Berlin event.
BenWood, analyst at CCS Insight, said that € 4 billion of orderswill be placed at IFA, which he says is “ideally timed just ahead of the important secondhalf sales period and the subsequent run- up to Christmas”.
Huawei, Motorola, LG and Alcatel One Touch are also at the show with new devices to help them carve out a space in an increasingly crowded smartphone market. The pressure to have a hit product is, however, particularly intense for companies such as Samsung. Weaker smartphone sales at the company have caused three consecutive quarters of falling earnings.
Sony’s Z3 range is designed to be premium in its styling and price as the Japanese electronics group brings in technology and content from its television, audio, gaming and entertainment arms.
Whether these new devices will be enough to compete with Apple’s launch event remains to be seen.