Samsung wows investors with futuristic tech that Apple's iPhone is already delivering

Speaking at Samsung Electronics' 2015 Investors Forum, a series of company executives spent hours saying very little, while talking about "innovations" such as phase detection Focus Pixels and camera sensor Deep Trench Isolation that iPhones already have.

Samsung will "lead by following" Apple Watch

Asked when the new chip would be introduced and when Samsung expected it to become a meaningful revenue generator, Hong stated that it was expected to ship early next year and might be used in some kind of band or other product focusing on activity, not necessarily from Samsung.

And while his presentation discussed "wearable device trend" and the potential of wearables to grow dramatically in shipment volumes, there was no discussion of how Samsung was actually performing in the smartwatch category it largely introduced, before partnering with Google on Android Wear and then going solo with its own Tizen-based Gear watches, all without achieving any success along the way, before being steamrolled by the arrival of Apple Watch.

At the same time, the "trends" Samsung identified for wearable devices included authentication and payment, features Samsung's Galaxy Gear models continue to lack. Apple Watch introduced Apple Pay last fall, but the company's own new "Samsung Pay" is a feature still confined to Samsung's phones.

The primary unique "feature" Samsung added to its watches that Apple didn't was a small, low quality 1.9 MP camera, which gave it a creepy voyeur-vibe reminiscent of Google Glass while failing to capture images of any useful quality.

Samsung's Galaxy Gear lineup hasn't attract many buyers. Instead, the watch ended up with Best Buy seeing more than 30 percent of its sales being returned by unsatisfied customers, according to a report by Ars.

Samsung unveils some existing camera technology

Other "futuristic" ideas the company addressed included using multiple exposures composited to achieve wide dynamic range and "ISOCELL technology" that puts a barrier between pixels to increase light sensitivity and effectively "controls the absorption of electrons."

If that sounds familiar, it's because Apple introduced the concept as "deep trench isolation," in explaining its efforts to increase the pixel count within the iPhone 6s camera sensor without also increasing the noise commonly experienced as pixels get smaller as they are packed more densely to increase overall resolution.

Samsung rushed high resolution camera sensors to market before Apple, but their high megapixel counts didn't result in better photos. Instead, it resulted in low light noise and less accurate color reproduction.

While Apple explained that it was using this new technology to increase iPhone camera resolution without losing quality, Samsung stated that its goal for the same process (under a different name) was to reduce pixel size in order to help reduce the overall thickness of its phones.

Samsung stated it was reducing the pixel size of its 16MP sensor from 1.12um to 1.0um to achieve 1mm of reduced thickness. Apple reduced the pixel size of iPhone 6 from 8MP at 1.5um to 12MP at 1.22um, not primarily to reduce device thickness, but to increase photo and video capture resolution without losing quality, maintaining larger pixels than competing sensors. Pixel size reduction on its own simply makes each pixel less sensitive to light.

It's noteworthy that while Apple uses a custom version of Sony's camera sensor for iPhone 6/6s, Samsung also uses Sony's IMX240 sensor in its Galaxy S6/S6 Edge, at least in the versions it sends to reviewers. Regular users are finding that Samsung might also swap in its own ISOCELL camera sensors to save money, resulting in reduced image quality.

This all happened before

Back in 2013, Samsung focused upon screen resolutions, forecasting that by this year, it would be selling smartphones with 3840x2160 displays. Instead of that happening, the company is still selling "WQHD" screens, and even those are plaguing Samsung's high end devices with excessive screen resolutions that its relatively anemic Application Processors aren't quite capable of driving competitively.

In 2013, Samsung also laid out a plan for delivering 64-bit cores just like Apple had in its A7, but then actually spent two years trying to catch up.

Based on the company's still-vapor promises regarding the performance of its Exynos 8, it will remain slower at real world tasks than the A9 chip Apple has already sold by the millions in its iPhone 6s phones.

Yet, Apple Watch came to market more than a year after Samsung brought theirs to market. In general, Apple trails other tech companies, in most ‘innovations’, even as they might release something to market which seems to not be in other non-Apple devices.

Apple recently ‘innovated’ by coming out with a “Pro” version of their iPad. Nobody had ever thought of a similar ‘pro’ tablet before. :-) Let’s not forget that, Apple was also the first smartphone maker to introduce larger screens t the smartphone space. They were also first with NFC technology for smartphones. They were also first with fingerprint ID, and soon, they’ll also be first with some sort of eye-print for user recognition, and they’ll also be first with a hybrid computer that does PC type work and tablet type work on one device.

Apple: the biggest ‘innovator’ with bringing old technology to their devices.

BTW, didn’t Apple also invent high-definition screes, 4k screens?

Come to think of it, without Apple, technology would still be in the stone-age, where everybody would be copying Moses with his idea for inscribing the ten commandments.

I hear Apple will also be inventing the driverless cars, and the infotainment systems in cars.

Apple: the god of tech, and the initiator of a ‘new religion’, called the Apple-cult.

Apple is falling behind in several areas. What's funny, in the few areas they have a lead it only lasts a few months. Certainly not enough to command much of a premium price.

Do tell. . . The iPhones have been the fastest according to the benchmarks for the last two years. That's quite a bit more than "only a few months." Also, Android is only now catching up to having 64 bit processors with full 64 bit native apps, which Apple pioneered with the iPhone 5, four years ago on the iPhone 5. . . and the Apple 64 bit processors are on their third generation. Again, that's quite a bit longer than "only a few months." Then no one has anything at all approaching the integrated Apple ecosystem which is what really commands the premium pricing across all devices, sharing data transparently and instantly. That has been working for the last five years, at least, and no one has come up with anything even close to Apple's ecosystem. . . far more than "only a few months."

Apple has had the iTouch fingerprint sensor now for three years. No other competitor has found a system as secure that works consistently. . . and is as secure. Apple also has the built-in-to the processor Secure Element chip which cannot be accessed from outside the processor where the password hash and encryption key hash are securely kept, so that even Apple cannot get at them. Again no one has been able to duplicate anything close to those in over three years. . . far longer than "only a few months."

Every single other mobile device system aside from Apple iOS has professional law enforcement tools available from The Hacker Team to break into them. Only Apple iOS devices do not have such tools available for the authorities to get into them to search for anything they want. Only jailbroken Apple iPhones and iPads can be broken into by anyone. That has been the case since iOS 8.0 came out. . . and that has been two years. More than "only a few months."

Apple iOS devices are pretty much immune to remote attack from malware. . . instead of the mess that Android is with its over 3 million malware known to be in the wild. . . including some that literally cannot be removed once the device has been infected. Apple iOS devices have been lead in that state for FAR more than "only a few months," and that is worth a high premium in peace of mind.

The few instances where there have been some incursions into iOS have occurred in China, where users, of their own volition, download malicious apps from third party app stores and side-load them onto their devices as if they were Enterprise Apps, using either stolen or borrowed Enterprise Security Certificates. . . and have not been found in the US.

One area where Android leads by leaps and bounds is fragmentation. . . and Apple iOS is pleased to let them.

The reality of the open market is that Apple iPhones DO INDEED command the prices they get, because willing buyers PAY those prices and even clamor to do so. They do not clamor to pay the prices for your preferred platform, so much that when Samsung tried to get premium prices for the Samsung Galaxy 6S and Edge in April of 2015, they had to rapidly and drastically drop the original asking price of $849 and $1179, respectively, to even move their inventory just months after introduction. . . and even that was not enough to make them competitive. Samsung has finally turned things around and is making a quarterly profit for the first time in eight quarters. . . because their electronics division is selling large numbers of chips to APPLE for incorporation in iPhones. . . and they are making 11% of the smartphone market's profits, compared to Apple's 94%.

All Apple leads with Smartphones by a few months. That's quite a change from 1 - 1 Â½ years ahead of the curve. Now it is a throw away product. Cook has no real vision, nothing new other than that stupid watch. The only not me-too product they had and that did't last long when sales fell off.

What sales fall off of the Apple Watch, Okie? That seems to exist only in your delusional mind. Apple sold over 3.5 million Apple Watches in the first quarter they were available and then they bested that in the next quarter with 4.5 million. Where in hell is your mythical drop in sales???? You want proof? Here it is:

Strategy Analytics: Apple Watch sells 4.5 million units in Q315, takes 74% global smartwatch market share
Strategy Analytics -- Wednesday, October 28, 2015
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartwatch shipments grew an impressive 510 percent annually to hit a record 6.1 million units in the third quarter of 2015. In first place with a commanding 74 percent marketshare, Apple’s revolutionary Apple Watch continues to catalyze demand and set the pace in the smartwatch industry.
Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement, “Global smartwatch shipments grew an impressive 510 percent annually from 1.0 million units in Q3 2014 to hit a record 6.1 million in Q3 2015. Global smartwatch growth is being driven by consumer demand across North America, Western Europe and Asia for the much-hyped Apple Watch model.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “We estimate Apple Watch shipped 4.5 million units and captured a dominant 74 percent smartwatch marketshare worldwide in Q3 2015. Apple Watch’s retail presence is expanding fast and the device is now available in over 30 countries worldwide, including the United States, South Korea and China. However, Apple Watch is still not widely available at most mobile operators, and this is one area of weakness that Apple must improve to maintain its shipment growth in the future.”
Rajeev Nair, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, “We estimate Samsung shipped 0.6 million smartwatches, capturing 10 percent marketshare worldwide for second position. Apple and Samsung together account for 8 in 10 of all smartwatches shipped globally. Samsung remains a distant second to Apple, but its new range of Gear S2 models is being promoted heavily and this will enable Samsung to bounce back with stronger marketshare during the upcoming Q4 2015 holiday season.”
Exhibit 1: Global Smartwatch Vendor Shipments and Marketshare in Q3 2015

Source: Strategy Analytics
Note: Numbers are rounded

Then there is the prediction for the future quarter from IBM's Watson:

IBM Watson Trend pegs Apple Watch as hottest holiday gift
By Neil Hughes -- Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 07:06 am PT (10:06 am ET)
IBM on Wednesday launched a new app and service called Watson Trend, which forecasts what consumer products will be popular this holiday season based on online chatter. Currently dominating the list: the Apple Watch.

IBM Watson Trend is a free download from the iOS App Store, designed for both iPhone and iPad. It uses IBM's supercomputer technology to read and interpret millions of reviews, expert blogs and social media conversations to determine what gifts people are talking about.
By far the most popular device on the list is the Apple Watch, which has maintained a "trend score" above 90 (out of 100) since mid-August. With a perfect score of 100 as of Wednesday, the Apple Watch has a score nearly double that of the next closest product: Samsung TVs.

In fact, Okie, the CEO of Best Buy attributes sales of Apple Watches to Best Buy's turn around in the third quarter of the year and made the decision to rush deployment to all 1500 of their stores in time for the holiday season.

Demand for Apple Watch has been 'so high,' Best Buy will start selling it everywhere
Matt Rosoff -- Aug. 25, 2015, 8:17 PM
The Apple Watch has been such a strong seller for Best Buy that the company is rolling it out to all 1,050 of its stores by the end of September, up from 100 stores this month.
The electronics retail chain is also expanding the Apple "store within a store" program, where it sets up a special area to display Apple products.
On the company's earnings call yesterday, CEO Hubert Joly said:

"The stores-within-a-store will have new Apple fixtures and are larger with more display tables for phones, computers and tablets. We've already implemented approximately 350 of them and expect to upgrade a total of approximately 520 by holiday. The additional display tables are great for the merchandising of Apple Watch, which went on sale on BestBuy.com and in more than 100 of our stores in August.
"Now because demand for Apple Watch has been so strong in these stores and online, we are excited to share that beginning September 4 we will be carrying Apple Watch in more than 900 of our big-box stores. Apple Watch will be available in all 1,050 of our big-box stores and in approximately 30 of our Best Buy Mobile Stores by the end of September.

In July, market data from Slice suggested that Apple Watch sales had plunged after strong initial interest, echoing fears from some Apple analysts. But Apple said that the watch sold better in its first nine weeks on the market than the iPhone and iPad did, and 1010Data recently said that the Apple Watch has nabbed 88% of the smartwatch market.
BestBuy surprised Wall Street with stronger than expected sales in the quarter ended Aug. 1, and the stock went up more than 12% today.

So, the record is that Apple has sold over 8 MILLION Apple Watches since they were put on Pre-Order on April 10, 2015. Your claim the sales didn't last long, or that the "sales fell off" is a total lie.

It's too late to argue with apple trolls and I'm rambling like hell.

No, Okie, you're spewing nonsense like hell. . . and frequently lying through your teeth, like most Apple Hate Brigade trolls.

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