"..... thinnest .... lightest .... slimmest ..... best display .... "

The eagled eyed among you may have already spotted the *s on Sony’s recent high profile Xperia Z advertising campaign which quote Strategy Analytics research to verify product claims.

The analysis we provided can be examined in detail on Sony’s website HERE

Verifying manufacturers' assertions for their products is something that Strategy Analytics is often asked to do, and which we are uniquely qualified to perform.  Our SpecTRAX cellular devices database of 300 item specifications for around 15,000 devices represents an extremely powerful magnifying glass with which to focus on product claims.  Further, where an existing device comes close to the test product we can increase the focus for a more detailed analysis.

Over the years, we have spotted a number of manufacturers' claims which we felt were invalid and while some of these may be seen as innocuous, it takes just one eagle-eyed blogger or journalist to spot the faux-pas and wreck an expensive marketing campaign.

To find out more about our proprietary research methodologies and how we may be able to help you, please feel free to contact me directly or CONTACT THE TEAM to arrange a SpecTRAX demo.

Steve Entwistle

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SpecTRAX, a comparison tool from Strategy Analytics, records the specifications of new cellphone handsets and tablets as they are announced; tracking availability through over 300 carrier and retail channels. 

Click here to try the SpecTRAX for yourself

We use our SpecTRAX online database to indicate popular smartphones. We found that in the first half of 2012 smartphones from Nokia and RIM joined those from Apple and Samsung as most widely available.

The complete top 20 list of global smartphones ranked according to their shelf-share are shown below.

Samsung pipped Apple to the top spot with the Galaxy S II i9100 (16GB), closely followed by Apple’s iPhone 4S 16 GB.  Impressively the Galaxy SII is available from every network operator and retail channel analyzed by the SpecTRAX team.

Our report also summarizes the key specifications of the top 20 smartphones including display size, camera resolution, processor speed and operating systems.

Over 50% of devices profiled were Android; however iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry OS and Symbian all held their ground in the top 20 smartphone list.

The key finds of the report include;

• Samsung’s Galaxy S II i9100 (16 GB) shows universal availability (only absent from the iStore shelves); the Apple iPhone 4S 16 GB comes in a close second.
• Nokia’s Lumia 800 gained traction early in its lifecycle being available through 77% of global channels just months after launch;  beating Samsung’s heavily publicised Galaxy S III i9300 16 GB launched in Q2 2012.
• HTC’s One X quad-core device (launched at MWC in February 2012) came in 12th place showing across 2/3 of shelves; an impressive positioning for this ultra-high-end product.
• The HTC Wildfire S and RIM Blackberry Curve 2 8520 entry level smartphones continue to be available from more than 60% of channels despite their age.

Samsung has the most devices in the ranking with five smartphones in the top 10 by shelf-share.  When the list is expanded to the top 20 widely available smartphones then devices from Sony, HTC and Motorola feature as popular in network operators product portfolios.

The data in the SpecTRAX online database is constantly updated and customers use it to track global and regional markets in terms of the popularity of handset and the associated specifications of those devices. This is particularly powerful information for product managers and development teams.
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SpecTRAX, a comparison tool from Strategy Analytics, records the specifications of new cellphone handsets and tablets as they are announced; tracking availability through over 300 carrier and retail channels. 

Click here to try the SpecTRAX for yourself
http://sa-link.cc/RS8Blog2

Alternatively CONTACT THE TEAM to arrange a SpecTRAX demo.

Steve Entwistle

Clients can access the full details in the report “Results Are In: Samsung’s Galaxy S II was the most widely-available device in 1H 2012” ranking.

When Apple announced the imminent arrival of its new iPhone last week I have to say I was a little bit underwhelmed by some of the specs at first, especially the display which I thought might push up over 367 pixels per inch (ppi). However, having analysed the display specs and device availability of 842 smartphones, I concluded that Apple is still way ahead of its main rivals when you look at average PPI weighted by shelf share... but not in every measure.

Our recent report, Apple in Danger of Falling Behind in Pixel Density Race, details the 40 available smartphones identified as having a display with >300ppi, as well as showing the maximum, minimum and average PPI for every smartphone brand on the database. Try our SpecTRAX service now or existing SpecTRAX clients can access the database here.

What does shelf share mean? First, we take a snapshot of 300 network operators and retailers in 42 countries around the world and look at their smartphone portfolios. Then for each brand, we calculate the average PPI. Using Apple as an example; most carriers and retailers last week had at least one iPhone 4S variant on their portfolios (with a 326ppi spec), many also had one or more iPhone 4 (also 326ppi) device, and some had the older iPhone 3G S 8GB with a 163ppi display. 

We have calculated Apple’s PPI in September 2012 as the average of each model’s PPI weighted by the number of appearances of each model on the shelves. Apple’s weighted average in September was 306ppi, based on much wider availability of its 326ppi iPhone 4/4S models than the 163ppi iPhone 3G/3G S models.

Samsung, meanwhile, has a much wider portfolio of smartphone models, with variations in display size and resolution giving a September 2012 spread from 121ppi to 316ppi, and a weighted average of only 210.5ppi. Of the other top ten smartphone vendors, Sony’s average is the closest to Apple’s, although still a fair way behind at 272ppi. 

Apple won’t have everything its own way though, and one of the challenges that Apple will face in the near future is its 12 month cycle between new models. While the iPhone 4/4S/5 gradually push the 3G S out of the way and bring the average Apple display spec close to 326ppi, other smartphone vendors will push ahead with higher resolutions and even greater pixel densities. Sony’s Xperia S and Fujitsu’s Regza T-01D are already at 342ppi and Toshiba is expected to reveal a 367ppi display on a smartphone soon. Sony, Fujitsu, Pantech, Sharp, LG, Huawei and Motorola all have at least one flagship model available with a pixel density greater than Apple’s 326ppi, so where will that leave Apple in 12 months’ time? Probably still at the top in terms of average PPI, but almost certainly lagging behind in terms of maximum PPI.

- Stuart Robinson

Addendum:
We have a long history of verifying manufacturers’ claims and we know from experience that it’s certainly a fun game for marketeers to play.

Firstly, thank you to @NetMage for making a good point about the real thickness of the Motorola RAZR.   While I expect that the Motorola marketeers will claim it’s the part you hold in your hand which they have measured, I agree with @NetMage that any sensible person would use the slot test to determine a device’s thickness all the way down to determine its widest point.  The RAZR would certainly be thicker than the iPhone 5 in such a test.

Secondly, the often-cited example of the Oppo Finder phone is hiding a significant camera bump which probably makes it thicker than 7.6mm.

HOWEVER, the iPhone5 still isn’t the thinnest; we just have to look further afield to Korea and Japan to see the following devices:

•           Huawei Ascend P1 S (6.68mm) – Not yet showing on the 300 channels we track
•           Fujitsu ARROWS ES IS12F  (6.70mm) – Available in Japan on AU
•           Pantech Vega S5 (6.89mm) – Available in Korea from both KT and SK Telecom

Caveat; I have not measured these above devices to verify the manufacturers’ claims, but viewing online images suggests that they do not have significant additional chins, bumps or protrusions.

Conclusion: the iPhone 5 is certainly the thinnest iPhone ever, but NOT the thinnest smartphone.

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Various bloggers reporting from the iPhone launch mentioned the new iPhone 5 as "the thinnest smartphone". A quick Advanced Search of our SpecTRAX database clearly demostrates that various device vendors have launched thinner smartphones to date.

For devices which are thinner than 7.6mm then Motorola has at least 3 devices which are claimed to be 7.1mm thick; Motorola RAZR XT909, Motorola DROID RAZR CDMA, Motorola RAZR XT910

Below is the list of smartphones which are less than 8mm thick.

To try our SpecTRAX database which tracks global specs and availability of mobiles, smartphones, tablets and dongles click HERE

Steve Entwistle

SpecTRAX availability and shelf-share data revealed Nokia's Lumia 710 in poll position for smartphones launched in Europe during Q1 2012. This means that during its launch quarter, the Lumia 710 made its way onto 33% of European carriers. The Sony Xperia S (27%) and LG Prada K2 (22%) came in second and third place, with the Lumia 800 featuring on 17% of operator's shelves; meaning Nokia's new launches were in the top 4 smartphones by shelf-share at launch. Download SpecTRAX's latest complimentary extract: Most Widely Available NEW Smartphones in Europe Q1 2012 for the full story, summary spec details, and the methodology.

The analysis revealed European Carriers Top 20 newly released handsets were from Samsung (with 6 models) and HTC (5 models). Nokia, Sony, LG and RIM all featured 2 new smartphones a piece. The Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy SIII and Nokia Lumia 900 did not feature in this report as they were launched either side of Q1 2012 in Europe.

SpecTRAX is a tactical database which tracks detailed handset specifications for smartphones, mobile phones, tablets and USB dongles. There are now over 14,000 unique models listed in the database. Click here to try the SpecTRAX database for yourself, or CONTACT THE TEAM to arrange a SpecTRAX demo.

SpecTRAX contains detailed spec analysis for over 13,000 handsets including mobile phones, tablets and 2100 smartphones to date. The latest complimentary SpecTRAX insight The Smartphone Shift tracks product annoucements since Q1 2010 to Q1 2012 and demonstrates an interesting trend in product type annoucements and the evolution of individual OEM portfolios. The impact of trades shows such as CES and MWC on Q1 annoucements each year are also discussed.

Smartphone and tablet announcements are on the up, whereas mobile phones (untargeted feature phones and mobile voice) annoucements have fallen significantly since their peak in 2010, and are now the remit of budget manufaturers. Smartphones and tablets share common technologies and have similar developmental pathways which result in two products for the price of one.

Interestingly, larger OEMs such as Samsung now show a clear preference for smartphones and tablets over mobile phones. The mobile phone appears to have settled into a niche for new OEMs gaining traction in developing countries, but for how long?

SpecTRAX is a tactical database which tracks detailed handset specifications for smartphones, mobile phones, tablets and USB dongles. Currently there are over 13,000 unique models listed in the database. If you want to try the SpecTRAX database for yourself, just click HERE or contact the team to arrange a SpecTRAX demo.

We've recently completed a 'market insight' entitled:  

In their choice of smartphones, consumers look closely at the specifications of certain key components while bearing in mind their likely pricing.  So what are those particular components, their specifications and their pricing? 

Getting to the bottom of this, we analysed close on 100 smartphones using the massed data from our SpecTRAX and PriceTRAX databases which revealed strong linear trends between handset specification and smartphone tariffs.  If the relationship is linear, there is the basis for reliably predicting smartphone pricing - and with this knowledge, there will be opportunities such as targeting gaps in the market with new products.

Understanding product pricing is therefore powerful knowledge and you can read how we reached our conclusions by clicking here.

If you would like to learn more about SpecTRAX or PriceTRAX, just click their names.

Ref: E62

42 new smartphones were announced at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2012 and their specifications are examined in detail in this complimentary report HERE->

ZTE announced 13 models followed by Samsung and LG with 5 each.  The analysis was carried out using SpecTRAX.

The highlights of smartphones announced at MWC are:

• Android dominated with the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich and the continued presence of Gingerbread. Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS 7 and 7.5 (Tango and Mango) were on 2 handsets, and Symbian Belle was found on Nokia’s 808 Pureview – more on p.7 of the report.
• The average display size of these new smartphones was over 4 inches; larger displays are power hungry so battery power was increased in response.
• Huawei’s powerful and impressive Ascend portfolio is equipped with “retina displays” and quad core processors – full details are on p.3 of the report.  Quad core processors gave calculated effective clock speeds of up to 4.5GHz which surpasses even some newly announced tablets.
• Nokia’s 808 Pureview fitted with a 41MP camera revolutionised smartphone photography – more on p.5.

If you want to try the SpecTRAX databse for yourself, just click HERE.

Stephen Entwistle

So, yesterday we finally got to hear what Apple's latest tablet offering is all about. The "New iPad", which worringly seems to be the actual name for the device, boasts an impressive display resolution, new processor, LTE, 5MP camera, 1GB of RAM and iOS 5, but how does it measure up to some other lower-profile announcements from the competition?

The iPad 3, as I'm going to call it (if Apple doesn't give it a proper name then people are going to come up with names of their own), is powered by an Apple "A5X" processor with a dual-core CPU and a quad-core GPU. This is in contrast to several other tablets that have been announced recently based on NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3. 

The resolution of the iPad 3's display (2048 x 1536 pixels) has doubled along each axis from the iPad 2, resulting in 4 times as many pixels and a pixel density of 264 pixels per inch (ppi). Apple is reffering to the iPad 3 as having a "Retina Display", a term it coined when it announced the 326ppi on the iPhone 4. I agree that the iPhone 4 and 4S can be referred to as Retina Displays because the pixel density is so high that the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels. Research from various institutions has shown that level to be at about 300ppi and above. So, although the display resolution of the iPad 3 is excellent, I have a problem with Apple calling it a Retina Display. It is stretching the definition to meet their marketing needs, in the same way that several US carriers have called their HSPA+ networks 4G. 

As far as the other hardware specs are concerned, 4G network connectivity is the key one for me. The iPad 3 comes in several versions, some with Wi-fi only and some with Wi-fi plus 4G. The 4G speed is reported to be an impressive 73Mbps on AT&T and Verizon networks. While the A5X apps processor is Apple's own technology, the 4G modem chip is likely to be from Qualcomm as it also supports CDMA.

For more analysis from Strategy Analytics on the iPad 3 launch , check Peter King's report and Jia Wu's interview with New England Cable News.

One final thought: our SpecTRAX database reveals that the iPad 3 is the 508th tablet model to have been announced in the last two years. I wonder how many of the 507 other models have been profitable! 

And now the spec comparison...

Stuart Robinson

We all know by now that only two flag ship Windows Phone 7 handsets were launched at CES 2012; the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II.

So how many Windows Phone 7 handsets are there now ?  Well prior to CES at the beginning of December 2011 we counted 33 variations of 28 Windows 7 models worldwide.  How do we know ?....the analysis was carried out using SpecTRAX, with over 13,000 handset models from 130 network operators in 29 countries. 

It's clear that for some time to come the number of different models of Windows Phone 7 handsets is not going to grow quickly.  With seemingly only two active vendors and the other previous vendors now in wait-and-see mode we certainly won't see the Android gold rush we saw in the past few years.   

This analysis is available to download HERE and quantifies and compares Windows 7 phone models and analyses their global and regional shelfshare track record.  This report also introduces the commercial power of PriceTRAX, a new web-based database of retail mobile phone, tablet, USB and dongle pricing information which is updated on a weekly basis.

This month’s report reveals that compared to other smartphone operating systems, in December 2011 Windows 7 phones outperformed their closest shelfshare rivals in terms of display size, camera resolution, processor speed and average battery capacity.  The Nokia 900 and the HTC Titan 2 are certainly continuing that high spec trend with the latter sporting a 4.7-inch display and a 16 megapixel camera.

If you want to try the SpecTRAX databse for yourself, just click HERE.