Apple and Samsung are in the midst of a patent-fueled war with no end in site, but the pair has also inadvertently joined forces to make it increasingly difficult for other vendors to continue making smartphones. New estimates suggest Apple and Samsung combined to take in a staggering 95% of smartphone industry profits in the fourth quarter of 2011. The figures paint an even bleaker picture for the rest of the players in the smartphone business than earlier estimates; UBS analyst Maynard Um said last week th...

A German court affirmed a preliminary ruling on Thursday that determined Samsung’s reworked tablet does not look so much like the iPad that it should be banned. The ruling comes as another blow to Apple, which is in the midst of several other lawsuits with rival smartphone and tablet makers over intellectual property. The court said that there were “clear differences” between the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and the iPad, reports Reuters. Apple and Samsung have been tangled in what seems like an endl...

Mobile Web usage is on the rise, with users who access the Web through mobile devices having nearly doubled every year since 2009 according to analytics firm StatCounter. Web usage on mobile devices grew to 8.5% in January of 2012, up from 4.3% in the same month a year earlier. “While global Internet usage through mobiles is still under 10%, the pace of growth is remarkable,” said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. Apple leads the way in both the United States and United Kingdom, however Nokia is stil...

With Samsung’s high-end TV sales doing well, the company is now looking to launch cheaper television sets according to Reuters. Demand for lower-end TVs has been on the rise in recent months, with major South Korean retailers teaming up with local manufacturers to provide flat-screen models that are as much as 40% cheaper than Samsung sets. “As long as there’s demand, we’re open to get into that segment,” Samsung’s executive VP of visual display, Kim Hyun-suk said. “W...

Samsung has confirmed that the company will not be holding a press event at this month’s Mobile World Congress trade show, reports to PCMag. At last year’s event the company introduced the Galaxy S II smartphone and in 2010 it announced its Bada mobile operating system. Samsung may still have product introductions at the show, however it will not debut them on the big stage. The company previously confirmed that the highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone would not be announced at the event, a...

T-Mobile announced on Tuesday the company’s Valentine’s Day sale on all 4G smartphones and tablets. “T-Mobile has a commitment to make the 4G experience affordable and accessible to everyone, so this sweet deal on smartphones and tablets is our Valentine’s gift to consumers,” said T-Mobile’s senior vice president of marketing, John Clelland. “No matter where loved ones live, T-Mobile wants to bring them closer with unlimited talking, photo sharing, video chatting, texting, and mo...

Apple has edged out IBM to become the top brand of 2011, according to an annual list from marketing strategy firm Davis Brand Capital. The Cupertino-based company ousted IBM, which topped the list in 2009 and 2010. Apple was previously ranked No.12 in 2009 and No.7 in 2010. Davis evaluates the top 25 brands annually using five categories that go beyond traditional marketing functions. “The annual 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking evaluates companies’ abilities to manage and balance the five key ...

Samsung will be holding a press conference in France on March 22nd, however it will not be unveiling the highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone at that event. Since the South Korean company announced the event, numerous outlets reported that the next-generation handset would be the focus. The French event, however, will concentrate on the company’s existing product portfolio, a Samsung representative confirmed to The Next Web. Recent reports suggest the device will instead be unveiled in April and launc...

Samsung has developed a new universal remote control for its televisions and home theater accessories that ditches dozens of buttons in favor of Siri-like voice command support and a touch pad. As Apple reportedly readies an assault on the TV industry, established vendors such as Sony, LG and Samsung looked to cut the Cupertino-based firm off at the pass during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. All the big names at this year’s show added voice controls and gesture support to their flagship HD...

Apple has argued on multiple occasions that Samsung builds mobile products that ”blatantly imitate the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success.” Courts seem to disagree for the most part, with only a pair of injunctions having been issued despite dozens of complaints Apple has filed around the world. There are some areas where Samsung does seem to take pages out of Apple’s playbook, however — Samsung’s new anti-iPhone ad strategy is somewhat reminiscent o...

We already knew the Galaxy Nexus would be available in white, but on Monday Samsung made the device official. The white handset will arrive in the United Kingdom on February 13th featuring the same internals as its black counterpart. “After much speculation, we are pleased to announce the availability of the Galaxy Nexus White which follows the great reception the phone has received since it was launched back in November,” said Simon Stanford, managing director of Samsung Mobile UK & IRE. R...

As the world champion New York Giants fought to hold New England scoreless in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI, another battle was raging off the field — Samsung’s string of anti-Apple commercials culminated with a 90-second TV advertisement that cost the South Korea-based vendor more than $10 million for the airtime alone. Following a series of ads that depict Samsung smartphones as the cool alternative to Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s new commercial showcases the vendor’s new supe...

Apple was the top smartphone vendor in the United States last quarter according to new data released on Monday. A new report from market research firm The NPD Group suggests that the three best-selling smartphones in America last quarter were all iPhones. Apple’s new iPhone 4S was deemed the top-selling smartphone this past holiday quarter, followed by the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS, which is now free on contract from AT&T. Two versions of Samsung’s Galaxy S II smartphone rounded out the top-...

Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S III will reportedly be one of the thinnest smartphones in the world when it is unveiled in the coming months. South Korea’s Electronic Times News on Monday cited unnamed sources in claiming Samsung’s upcoming flagship superphone will pack impressive specs into a case that is just 7 millimeters thick; the thinnest version of Samsung’s current flagship, the Galaxy S II, features a case that is 8.49 millimeters thick. The site also states that the Galaxy...