AT&T announced June 09, 2013 that it would revise its handset upgrade policy, extending the duration before consumers can upgrade a phone at the lowest subsidized price from 20 to 24 months. The move brings AT&T’s upgrade policy in-line with Verizon Wireless, which made a similar move in April 2013, and aligns upgrades with its standard two-year contracts for postpaid customers.

AT&T’s decision to revise its upgrade practices comes in the face of continued high equipment costs, in particular due to its generous subsidies for Apple’s iPhone, which according to our Country Share Tracker (CST) service accounted for 60% of handsets sold in Q12013 by AT&T. By adjusting its upgrade policy, AT&T gains an additional four months in which to recoup the cost of previous subsidies. The move to revise subsidized upgrade policies by both AT&T and Verizon in the first half of 2013 is in contrast to that of T-Mobile, which has ended handset subsidies in favor of a payment plan which lets consumers pay off the cost of their handset over the course of their contract.

With three of the big-four US operators having made significant changes to their handset subsidy policies over the last few months, all eyes will be on Sprint to see if it changes its own upgrade policy, which still allows customers to upgrade their handsets after 20 months. If Sprint decides to follow the lead of Verizon and AT&T this year, it will likely make the move in early Q3, prior to the next major wave of new handset purchases by consumers that will come in the back-to-school season starting mid-August.

Strategy Analytics provides detailed breakdowns of vendors handset share for each of the big 4 Tier I US operators on a quarterly basis in its USA Handset Vendor Marketshare by Operator report, published in its Handset Country Share Tracker service.  The report provides detailed share and analysis across 16 vendors on a quarterly basis, and is a critical tool for operators, handset vendors, and distributors who follow the US operator and handset market.

Samsung on 30 May 2013 unveiled its long anticipated Galaxy S4 Mini, a smaller sibling to its Galaxy S4. According to our Country Share Tracker (CST) service we estimate that the S4 has shipped over 10 million units globally in the first month of availability following its launch, emphasizing the strong pent-up demand for Samsung’s flagship smartphone. We expect the S4 Mini to receive a strong welcome in its own right following its expected introduction in July 2013.

The S4 Mini is lightweight version of the Galaxy S4 which none-the-less manages to pack many of the same features that that have made the S4 a hit. It comes with a 4.3” qHD Super AMOLED display, 1.7 GHz dual-core processor, and 8-megapixel camera. Despite high demand for 5-inch and larger smartphones such as the S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note II, sub-5” smartphones remain in high demand, with the S4 Mini well positioned to take considerable share in this segment.

We expect that Samsung will position the S4 Mini as a direct challenger to Apple’s iPhone 4S and its upcoming rumored low-cost iPhone Mini variant. We estimate that Samsung will aim to undercut the iPhone 4S by around 5%, making it an attractive option for consumers.

With the S4 Mini, Samsung is clearly taking the fight to Apple, challenging it across additional price tiers.

Global smartphone shipments surged +38% annually in Q4 2012. We estimate the top 10 smartphone families accounted for over two thirds of smartphones shipped worldwide during the quarter. Samsung and Apple top the charts, but Sony's Xperia, LG's Optimus and Huawei 's Ascend series are quietly gaining traction. This report, Global Smartphone Shipments by Family / Model: Q4 2012, available to the clients of our HCST (Handset Country Share Tracker) service, tracks the world's best-selling smartphone families and models by shipment volumes from Q1 2011 to Q4 2012. This report will give you the information on how many units of iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note and other flagship models from smartphone vendors have been shipped on a quarterly basis for two years. In this regards, this report is a valuable tool for component makers, car manufacturers, content suppliers, mobile operators, device vendors and other stakeholders who want to identify and measure the world's most-popular smartphones by individual model.

Our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service tracked Coolpad ranked the 11^th largest smartphone vendor globally in 2012, with 2.6% marketshare. It grew smartphone volume by 108% YoY from 2011, indicating the Shenzhen-based Chinese vendor is ambitious to push into the top 10 club this year.

The company is on the right track to become a 3G smartphone specialist, with an encouraging breakthrough recently also in the North American 4G LTE market. Its first LTE phone at MetroPCS achieved an encouraging start last year.

However, how to further define and implement its overseas strategy, especially in North America and West Europe, remains the key for the rising Chinese brand. We would recommend Coolpad to:

- Launch a decent flagship model with a unified sub-brand (like Samsung Galaxy, Huawei Ascend does) globally;

- Initially target prepaid carriers / customers because prepaid segment is price-sensitive and accessible for Chinese brands;

- Prepare for the potential IPR risks associated with overseas expansion. Coolpad is reportedly have accumulated over 4000 handset related patents at this moment, however, it is still vulnerable to get involved into IPR war. We believe patent swap would be an effective way to ease risks;

- Branding and marketing initiatives are needed to tap into richer customers in developed markets;

- Prepare for the direct competition with Huawei and ZTE in overseas market. Compared with the two rivals, Coolpad exclusively focuses on the smartphone market and lacks synergy among different product lineups. We would recommend Coolpad to further differentiate from rivals with improved hardware designs and more localized services and apps (e.g. social networking);

- Balance volume and profitability. Shifting upwards with more mid- and high-tier models, in order to improve ASP and profit margin, which will ensure the Hong Kong listed-company has sufficient cash on hands for the upcoming overseas expansion.

According to our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) service, the French mobile phone market dipped -6% year-on-year in Q4 2012. This followed flat growth in the prior three quarters of 2012 as the country struggled economically. Free Mobile, a challenger operator with low prices perfectly suited to the tougher economic times, is making a serious dent in the French cellphone market. Its main device partners are Samsung and Apple, who dominate shipments there. This published report, available to clients, tracks mobile phone vendor market share at the four major French operators -- Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile -- from Q1 2009 to Q4 2012. The report is an important tool for measuring the health of individual handset brands at the operator level in Western Europe's third largest cellphone market.

According to our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) service, the German mobile phone market slipped by -8% year-on-year in Q4 2012, as the broader ongoing macroeconomic challenges affecting the whole of the eurozone trumped the relative strength of the German economy. Following the launch of the iPhone 5, Apple reclaimed a significant chunk of volumes in Germany, but there are also initial signs of traction for Nokia's Lumia Windows Phone family.  The Finnish vendor gained 1 point of sequential marketshare in the quarter. This published report, available to clients, tracks quarterly mobile vendor market share at the four major German operators -- T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2 and E-Plus -- from Q1 2009 to Q4 2012. The report is an important tool for measuring the health of individual handset brands at the operator level in Western Europe's second largest cellphone market.

According to our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) service, the UK mobile phone market dipped -4% year-on-year in Q4 2012, mimicking the broader economic challenges of the country. While Samsung and Apple showed healthy growth, this was offset by declines from Nokia, RIM, HTC and the Android long-tail. This published report, available to clients, tracks mobile phone vendor shipments and marketshare at the 4 major UK operators -- O2, Vodafone, Everything Everywhere and Three -- from Q1 2009 to Q4 2012. The report is an important tool for measuring the health of individual device brands at the operator level in Western Europe's largest cellphone market.

Smartphone shipments in the United States grew 25% annually in Q4 2012. Apple captured the number one smartphone spot overall, as well as the top smartphone vendor ranking at the country's two largest operators, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Android partners, such as Samsung, LG, HTC and Huawei, combined to keep the Google platform as the number two OS overall. The full report, USA Smartphone Vendor Marketshare by Operator: Q4 2012, available to the clients of our handset country share tracker (CST) service, tracks mobile smartphone shipments, vendor marketshare, and OS marketshare for 20 major vendors and 5 major platforms in the United States across 4 top operators and total market on a quarterly basis from Q1 2011 to Q4 2012.

Our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) team attended the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone at Radio City in New York, US, on Thursday 14th March, 2013. Several thousand attendees joined the event.

We trialed the S4 earlier this week and were briefed on the strategy behind it. This is a concise summary of our initial analysis:

Key Hardware: As expected, the S4 contains a 5.0-inch, full-HD, super AMOLED display with an impressive 441ppi in a rounded-slate formfactor. There are Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core / Samsung Exynos octo-core chipsets, varying by region. Other specs include 2GB RAM, dual-camera, NFC and MHL. The S4 looks visually similar to the previous S3, but the materials feel better quality and it is slimmer, lighter and nicer to hold in the hand.

Key Software: Samsung has clearly worked hard on its software and the results are impressive. There is finger-hover for the touchscreen, gesture recognition, improved eye-tracking, and better camera-editing.

Key Services: Samsung has layered a rich suite of Samsung proprietary services on top of the Android Jelly Bean OS. There are plenty of “S” services, such as S-Health and S-Translator. Google will be worried by this.

The S4 will launch commercially in the US and worldwide at the end of April 2013. Versions will support 3G, 4G and TD-LTE. There are 325 carriers in 166 countries onboard, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Pricing will be Note-like.

We forecast tens of millions of units to be shipped worldwide this year. Provided there are no major "hidden" bugs that become apparent after launch, the S4 will be another blockbuster product for Samsung.

Which competitors will be impacted by the S4? Apple, LG, Sony, HTC, Blackberry, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE and Motorola will all be getting some sleepless nights in the next few weeks. Models such as iPhone 5 and HTC One could feel some pain.

We will publish a full report to clients on Friday 15th March, 2013.

Our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) team attended the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone at Radio City in New York, US, on Thursday 14th March, 2013. Several thousand attendees joined the event.

We trialed the S4 earlier this week and were briefed on the strategy behind it. This is a concise summary of our initial analysis:

Key Hardware: As expected, the S4 contains a 5.0-inch, full-HD, super AMOLED display with an impressive 441ppi in a rounded-slate formfactor. There are Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core / Samsung Exynos octo-core chipsets, varying by region. Other specs include 2GB RAM, dual-camera, NFC and MHL. The S4 looks visually similar to the previous S3, but the materials feel better quality and it is slimmer, lighter and nicer to hold in the hand.

Key Software: Samsung has clearly worked hard on its software and the results are impressive. There is finger-hover for the touchscreen, gesture recognition, improved eye-tracking, and better camera-editing.

Key Services: Samsung has layered a rich suite of Samsung proprietary services on top of the Android Jelly Bean OS. There are plenty of “S” services, such as S-Health and S-Translator. Google will be worried by this.

The S4 will launch commercially in the US and worldwide at the end of April 2013. Versions will support 3G, 4G and TD-LTE. There are 325 carriers in 166 countries onboard, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Pricing will be Note-like.

We forecast tens of millions of units to be shipped worldwide this year. Provided there are no major "hidden" bugs that become apparent after launch, the S4 will be another blockbuster product for Samsung.

Which competitors will be impacted by the S4? Apple, LG, Sony, HTC, Blackberry, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE and Motorola will all be getting some sleepless nights in the next few weeks. Models such as iPhone 5 and HTC One could feel some pain.

We will publish a full report to clients on Friday 15th March, 2013.