Although Samsung’s most recent quarter has investors concerned as to their growth prospects in smartphones, the recent launch of the Galaxy S5 portends a brighter future for Samsung and their suppliers, including Qualcomm and Synaptics. The S5 is the best launch Samsung has seen in over a year. Unlike the launch of the S4, which boosted demand for the S3 and iPhone 5, the S5 launch seems to have honestly grabbed consumer attention. Our traditional delight and buzz metrics show the S5 doing well across multiple US and Canadian Retailers, with an oddly rocky start at Best Buy. The new HTC One M8 is perceived as a better handset but the adoption has not been as high as Samsung for HTC’s new flagship. Both are impacting demand for Apple’s iPhone 5S as these new flagships prove to be competitive alternatives. Later this week we’ll look at why this is as we dive deep in to what consumers are loving (and hating) about these new handsets.
Compared to the Galaxy S4 launch, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is doing much better, even beating out the iPhone 5S!
Last quarter, Apple guided the Street that Q1 would be softer than investors expected. Our analysis of consumer demand around the world indicates the rumors of Apple’s demise may be vastly exaggerated. We track consumer demand around the world and saw Q1 CY 2014 have a significant boost for Apple at retailers around the world. Whether this translates to increased revenue for Apple remains to be see when they announce earnings on 23 Apr. During Q1 many retailers had significant promotions on iPhones, notably Verizon’s efforts to defend against aggression by T-Mobile and AT&T let to significant demand for iPhones, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 and S4, and surprisingly Motorola made DROID smartphones. This could be Verizon seeking to cleanout excess inventory of smartphones whose hype did not translate into record sales as anticipated.
Consumer iPhone buzz in Q1 was higher than Q4, an indication of increased sell through in Q1 for retailers.
Consumer discussions of the Price/Value trade-off for iPhones also increased during Q1, supporting the notion that lower prices for these still relatively newly launched handsets is part of what drove increased demand. Best Buy’s promotions on the iPhone 5C over the holidays led to not only increased market adoption of the 5C but also a clearing of unwanted inventory by the large retailer in the face of much lower than expected sales for this entry level iPhone. Demand in China supports the assessment of increased Sell Through as well, with overall iPhone consumer buzz at an all time high. Keeping in line with the lopsided performance at launch, the iPhone 5S received five times the buzz of the iPhone 5C. What was most surprising though was the huge increase in iPhone 4S buzz, more than doubling the demand for the iPhone 5C. Whether this created increased revenues for Apple remains to be seen.
Consumer discussions of Price/Value of recent iPhone purchases increased in Q1.Analysis of Chinese Consumer demand shows continued slow adoption of iPhone 5C but a big boost overall for Apple in Q1.
Around the world, we see increased demand for iPhones, prompting our assessment of increased sell through for Apple during Q1 2014. Whether this translates to increased revenue for Apple in the next quarter remains to be seen but so far competitive moves by Samsung and HTC have not impacted consumer demand globally for what Apple has to offer.
If you missed the series finale of How I Met Your Mother, be glad. By most counts, it was terrible ending to a delightful show. If you were one of the millions of fans that shifted your calendar to actually watch it in real-time, not on your DVR or one the web the next day, chances are you are trying to drown your frustrations with a bit of media therapy. While retail therapy is quite well known, initially developed on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, media therapy is now coming into it’s own. Typically media therapy involves binge watching of some known good series in an attempt to erase the residual trauma caused by a story gone wrong. While retail therapy fills your closet while emptying your bank account in an effort to assuage trauma, media therapy requires, traditionally, an uninterrupted block of hours dedicated to quality time between you and your television. In the past Binge Watching was limited to Star Trek Marathons on SyFy channel or Leave It To Beaver reruns on TV Land. The rapid availability of content online through Netflix, Hulu and the like, means that effective media therapy prescriptions are available en masse and at your fingertips, literally. In our attempt to deconstruct the neural connections burned into our cerebral cortex by Mother’s finale, we began to ponder how to receive our media therapy on the go, through our smartphones. Argus Insights took a look as which handsets are best for grabbing a few idle minutes into a few soothing minutes of Downtown Abby or Breaking Bad.
The graph shows that, for example, the LG G Flex has more than 10% of its consumers expressing satisfaction with less than 1% expressing negative opinions when it comes to the media related usage on their smartphone. It is worth noting that Apple’s 5S and 5C are not on the top ten but they did crack the top twenty. It’s surprising that even though they don’t feature large screens compared to the increasing average size of smartphones year by year, consumers still expressed enough positivity for them to rank in at 19th and 20th respectively. Also, Apple smartphone users are also likely to have Apple iPads which are much more enjoyable to watch movies and videos on.
It wasn’t surprising to see that our data found the Nokia Lumia 1520 to be the best phone for media usage. The Lumia 1520 has one of the largest displays available coming in at 6” with 367 pixels packed in per square inch and powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 processor. These specs help the Lumia 1520 produce stunning and smooth visuals. Having strong specs within these three areas turns your smartphone into the ideal personal portable home theater system. This allows you to turn your breaks or bus rides into YouTube video sessions or catching up on your favorite movies or television shows.
These three key components are not heavily guarded secret and other manufacturers are following suit with large screens, crisp high definition displays, and fast processors to enable satisfying viewing pleasure. The same formula can also be seen in the other 9 smartphones on this list. With the exception of the BlackBerry Z10, which features a 4.2” screen, the rest of the smartphones have screens larger than 5”. Along with a large screen, all the smartphones on this list have superior screen resolution and technology. High quality AMOLED displays, LCD displays and IPS (In-Plane Switching) displays simply delight users with high pixel count and clear images.
For all the movie junkies out there looking for the smartphone that has all the right components for the best possible media experience, these ten deserve a strong consideration. In today’s market, there isn’t a shortage of large screen smartphones to choose. Take advantage of the variety, use the time to discover what you want most out of your smartphone, and see which of these ten fits your checklist most. As always, watch for Argus Insights, we have the tools to find what delights consumers most by simply listening to you, the people.
In the future we will be analyzing other aspects of smartphone usage. Let us know what other features or uses you’d like us to share insights on. Below are details from consumers, sharing their love and hates of smartphone usage in their own words.
1) Nokia Lumia 1520 (6” IPS, 367 ppi, Quad-Core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “Watching full HD movies on this phone is a experience you will enjoy” “I use my phone mostly for checking work/personal emails, surfing, and watching netflix” “I have the entire screen full of live tiles which connects to internet 24×7, I watch videos for aout 45-60 mins a day” Cons: “Basically rendering YouTube useless for videos over a minute long” “Unfortunately Microsoft has written into the coding that you can not download movies you purchased from the Microsoft store onto the SD Card”
2) LG G Flex (6” OLED, 245 ppi, Quad-Core 2.26GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “the curve gve it an outstanding cinematic experience when watching videos” “The phone has great picture quality when watching videos or playing games” “can’t say enough about watching Netflix or playing games on this” Cons: “its not the worst but watching youtube on this phone is not so great”
3) HTC One Max (5.9” Super LCD3, 373 ppi, Quad-Core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “the front facing speakers really makes it much more enjoyable to watch videos on” It’s larger size allows you to watch a movie or youtube videos with ease” “movies on this phone are great, the two forward facing speakers really do an amazing job” Cons: “Most of the unlocked Devices will not work with 4G LTE of AT&T”
4) Samsung Galaxy Mega (6.3” LCD, 233 ppi, Dual-Core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “I love how I can finally hear sond on a phone when I watch movies or the phone rings” “Good battery life, good 2-way camera, lightweight, easy to watch videos” “Crystal clear when watching videos” Cons: “Now that we once again have phones that can be used as a bludgeon, I feel a surge of hope that movies, too, might regain their former weight” “Unlike the s3 surfing the net or checking the Internet is impossible 99 percent of the time so can’t use features of phone”
5) ZTE Max (5.7” IPS, 258 ppi, Dual-Core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “Watching videos is amazing” “HD Movies look Beautiful” Cons: “Resolution not good for videos” “wasn’t good for watching videos, movies, etc”
6) Sony Xperia Z1S (5” LCD, 441 ppi, Quad-Core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “The screen is beautiful for movies” “watching movies in HD on a cell phone like this is really awesome” “Had friends gazing over how sweet the videos were” Cons: “continue to stream information (using 4g or wifi) so internet surfing can become frustrating” “If I am watching a video on YouTube, or listening to music, or on a call on speakerphone, I can barely hear it even with the volume all the way up”
7) Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (5.5” Super AMOLED, 267 ppi, Quad-Core 1.6GHz Exynos Processor) Pros: “”Watching Youtube is fantastic” “Reading emails, watching videos or using different apps is so pleasant because you don’t have to squint or strain your eyes to see” “On heavy use days (phone/Netflix/surfing), I still have about 30% of the battery left” Cons: “I will replace it when the Note III comes out” “The multi-tasking was a let down because it doesn’t work with the one thing I really wanted it to-Netflix (or basically any streaming video outside the sd card)” “This is very disappointing knowing I like to watch youtube”
8) Sony Xperia Z (5” LCD, 441 ppi, Quad-Core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “I listen to music, suft the web, play games, watch videos, listen to music, everything” “The large screen makes it perfect for watching videos or movies” “The 5” display is great for watching videos on YouTube” Cons: “While I was watching a movie, the screen started cracking”
9) Nokia Lumia Icon (5” AMOLED, 441 ppi, Quad-Core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “video capabilities makes this phone just so much fun to use” “videos to my heats content” “RAM makes watching stream movies a pleasure” Cons: “The stream/interface is horrid, it pulls in info from all over the place”
10) BlackBerry Z10 (4.2” IPS, 356 ppi, Dual-Core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Processor) Pros: “Great to download movies for long flights” “my Z10 can automatically share music, movies etc.” Cons: “is rather small compared to todays standard, if you want to watch tv or a movie on the tube forget it completely pointless” “I have to admit, the only thing I am going to miss is Netflix”
For those who may be curious, in Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes is the name of a giant with 100 eyes. He was the all-seeing guardian that was always awake, alert, and attentive to all that surrounds him. Here at Argus Insights, we’ve developed tools that allow us to identify and accumulate data in a way where we can see what’s going on in the world on many different levels and thus using that to provide the clearest possible insights for what people are curious about.
This week’s blog will be focused on the eyes, or eye, of a smartphone. Like many of the other features that can be found on smartphones today, people look to find the best of the best. The most common determinant of camera quality on a smartphone that people pay attention most to is the number of megapixels the camera has. If a few is good then more must be better! This smartphone has 8 megapixels and shoots well, if another smartphone has 16 megapixels then it must be twice as better! Logically this all makes sense, if a car has more horsepower then it’s stronger. So why not choose a smartphone with the highest megapixels? Yes, to a certain extent, the megapixels matter but is only one of many factors that go into producing a quality photo. Below are the top ten smartphone cameras that produce pictures that you, the people, thought were best and most pleasing.
The graph shows that, for example, the Nokia Lumia Icon has more than 30% of its consumers expressing satisfaction with only a small percentage expressing negative opinions when it comes to the camera aspect of the smartphone. The Sony Xperia Z had the fewest complaints among their consumers in regards to their smartphones camera functionality. In terms of net sentiment, our consumer data agrees that the number of megapixels a camera has is only one of many factors that plays into the overall user delight. The amount of megapixels the camera packs shouldn’t be the only determining factor if you’re looking for a smartphone that produces pleasing images.
Sensor size, texture, and contrast are the other factors that come together within a smartphone to produce a picture. Megapixels are like the bigger, stronger, more noticeable older sibling that overshadows their younger siblings whose roles are in fact vital to the overall strength and success of the household. The younger siblings in the camera world are speed, quality of the camera app, HDR and panorama features that come along with the phone. They all work together to provide the user the ability to take fast, beautiful, and clear pictures.
Take the HTC One Max, it only has 4 megapixels but produces a quality picture that people enjoy because they decided that instead of cramming pixels, they would engineer their sensors to house larger pixel sizes allowing more light to be captured. The data shows that people are pleased and HTC’s 4 megapixel shooters (or what HTC calls UltraPixels) are the David and Goliath in the smartphone camera world.
Reversely with Nokia’s Lumia 1020, they decided to jam pack their phone with a mind boggling 41 megapixels. On average that’s 4 to 5 times more megapixels than other smartphones out on the market. Nokia made an effort to stand out from the competition and they’ve seemingly created a beast. But it’s also worth noting that although it pacts impressive specs, it doesn’t dominate the competition. Although being 4 times in strength it isn’t 4 times as delightful, as seen in our consumer data. This beast, with all its might and glory, is actually a gentle giant.
We thought it was peculiar that the Moto X was able to crack the top ten. When the smartphone first hit the market, it was successful in capturing the hearts of people like the way roses do on Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately every rose has its thorns and for consumers, using the camera function on the Moto X felt like touching the thorns on a rose. “If a decent camera is even slightly important, then avoid this phone like the plague.” Since then Motorola has addressed the issue and a recent update made the camera much more user friendly and improved the quality of pictures that were produced. Motorola took the time to repair the crack in their overall impressive armor and the people noticed.
For all the smartphone lovers out there who are looking for a phone that shoots well and produces quality pictures, these ten are the ones that stand out in the sea of smartphones on the market. Companies are constantly engaged in wars with each other, which has no foreseeable end, to produce higher megapixel phones to convince the public that their newer model is better than the competition. That doesn’t fool us and it should not fool you either. We listened to the stories you told, the opinions you had, and concerns that you voiced. Driven by power of the people and Argus tools, the insights are picture perfect.
In the future we will be analyzing other aspects of smartphone usage. Let us know what other features or uses you’d like us to share insights on. Below are details from consumers, sharing their love and hates of smartphone usage in their own words.
1) Nokia Lumia Icon (5″ AMOLED Display with a 20MP Camera) Pros: “Picture quality is fantastic, screen resolution allows you to do more” “Amazing camera, easy to use for Windows people, I love this phone” “The photo quality surpasses all other phones including the Samsung s4” Cons: “First, the camera is not that great, indoor shots are terrible” “Only negative is that the camera is a bit slow to shoot”
2) Nokia Lumia 1020 (4.5″ AMOLED Display with a 41MP Camera) Pros: “The camera is really great, although I am also still figuring out how all that works” “Yes the camera is amazing an engineering marvel that no other product in the market can even come close” “This is an amazing camera phone, I highly recommend it” Cons: “In the commercials they always say it’s the best camera, shame on you NOKIA” “Constantly having to click or that just to keep taking pictures” “The pictures are probably more saturated than a purist photographer would like”
3) Sony Xperia Z1S (5″ LCD Display with a 20.7MP Camera) Pros: “I love the phone, the camera is awesome” “Camera app is a real treat” “Camera is a huge improvement over the Z” Cons: “I am not gonna lie, when you first get this phone, you may be disappointed with the camera” “Front camera horrible” “Camera quality is not all that, the 20 plus megapixel is not as good as iPhone 5s in which I was very disappointed”
4) Sony Xperia Z (5″ LCD Display with a 13.1MP Camera) Pros: “Ever before have I had the honor of taking such a beautiful picture with a smartphone!” “Very light, 13 megapixel camera takes wonderful pictures” “Great picture because of high resolution” Cons: “this phone has no cool features, worst part of all the camera sucks” “Any movement causes a blurry picture” “The Sony Xperia Z’s battery life is short, its camera is slow”
5) HTC One Max (5.9″ Super LCD Display with a 4MP Camera) Pros: “The camera takes wonderful picture” “everything looks almost like a printed picture, VERY SMOOTH” “They’ve gotten so advanced I rarely use my big girl camera any more” Cons: “The camera is a bit of a disappointment” “The phone is great, camera kinda stinks”
6) Nokia Lumia 928 (4.5″ AMOLED Display with a 8MP Camera) Pros: “I have been delighted with the quality of pictures I can get from this phone” “The camera takes great pictures” “The phone is super-fast, takes amazing pictures” Cons: “Although the camera is impressive, the xenon flash gives pictures a very yellowish tint – best to take pics without flash” “the pictures were almost always blurry” “1 star for the camera”
7) LG G2 (5.2″ IPS Display with a 13MP Camera) Pros: “Easy to use, beautiful pictures” “The camera is amazing, display is crystal clear” “The camera & video quality is awesome” Cons: “The only flaw I’d say is with that camera, it’s a bit slow with the software that ships directly in the box from LG” “Poor quality on the camera, very slow, very good battery, overall” “Camera takes forever”
8) Google Nexus 5 (5″ IPS Display with a 8MP Camera) Pros: “There is something that I really enjoy about the Nexus 5’s camera” “The camera is pretty good better than I expected after a few reviews I read” “It shoots very clear shots now, the camera app opens quicker” Cons: “The only downside is that the stock camera app sucks so bad” “the camera is SLOW” “Stock Android’s camera UI is an annoying joke”
9) Samsung Galaxy S4 (5″ Super AMOLED Display with a 13MP Camera) Pros: “It’s fast the camera takes great photos” “Love the flexibility of the cameras” “The S4 does everything better with performance, camera quality, screen size” Cons: “Under night conditions the camera is TERRIBLE” “To my surprise the camera was HORRIBLE” “If you don’t take the time to pick the right option the photo turns out horrible”
10) Motorola Moto X (4.7″ Display with a 10MP Camera) Pros: “It comes in handy when you want to capture a quick picture” “The camera takes clear, crisp images” “If you want high quality then you shouldn’t be using a phone anyway for pictures” Cons: “If I had any complaint, it probably be the camera” “If a decent camera is even slightly important, then avoid this phone like the plague” “Even though the MotoX has a higher resolution camera than my old iPhone – there is NO compari
