iPhone sales are on the up. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Android
Apple is close to becoming the world’s top smartphone maker for the first time since it conceded the title to Samsung more than three years ago. The Cupertino company is selling more iPhones than ever before, while Samsung’s smartphone sales are slowing.
Apple’s bid to recover $16 million in attorney fees from Samsung following the massive patent dispute between the two companies has been blocked by the U.S. District Court. Judge Lucy Koh has also returned a $2.6 million bond posted by Apple to block sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.
With iOS 8, Apple is bringing a multitude of exciting new features to iPhone and iPad. In some cases, Cupertino is playing catch-up as it tries to match what’s currently available in KitKat; in others, Apple’s next-generation mobile operating system is about to blast past the latest version of Android.
Android and iOS will secure a staggering 95 percent of smartphone market share between them in 2014, according to the latest research from IDC. While it’s strictly a two-horse race, Google’s platform is currently far out in front when it comes to number of users, with Android’s market share expected to reach 80.2 percent by the end of the year.
Google has a new Android update up its sleeve that will be announced this summer, but while Apple posts impressive upgrade percentages, Android fragmentation typically slows deployment of Google’s latest, greatest mobile OS.
Apple wants Samsung to pay a $40 license fee for every smartphone and tablet it sells after the South Korean company infringed five patents with a number of Galaxy-branded devices.
That’s right… just five patents, $40 for every device. It’s a pretty surprising demand — especially after Apple recently stated that monetary damages were “not an adequate remedy” for Samsung’s patent infringing ways.
Apple has today had its request for a permanent injunction on Samsung’s patent-infringing products denied. The Cupertino company was awarded $929 million in damages, but it argued that the monetary sum was insufficient, and that a number of Samsung products should be banned.
