Today, at a market capitalization of about $560 billion, Apple is the highest valued company in the world. But what are the true reasons behind the sudden rise of Apple?

Before we begin, to avoid being overrun by the Apple brigade, let me state this – does Apple make great products? Absolutely. Does Apple make transcendent products that blow everything else out of the water? Absolutely not. Apple’s products are great, but limited in their own ways.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s dive in and have a look at the top eight reasons that drive Apple’s success. Some of these factors have always been Apple strong suite, while the rest are specific to the iPhone & iPad.

What Apple Has Always Done

8) Ecosystem Lock-in & a Captive Market

When I talk about an “ecosystem lock-in”, I’m not talking about the App Store and app purchases, although that is certainly one of the examples. Apple has always been about proprietary technology, as opposed to promoting cross-platform compatibility. Apple’s products have worked best with other Apple products. Traditionally, this has been one biggest advantages and disadvantages of using Apple products, as it has caused Apple to either lock-in or alienate first time buyers, with very few instances in between. There are numerous examples of this strategy for users of the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, or the iPad. So many Apple users keep buying more and more Apple products to make their life easier.

7) The Apple Cult

Ah, the dreaded Apple fanboy cult! Diehard Apple users are notoriously vocal about the superiority of their platform of choice. So vocal, in fact, that research shows Apple triggers a religious reaction in its fans’ brains. Some researchers have even categorized this as a form of the Stockholm Syndrome.  While that may be a bit extreme, many Apple fans do exhibit the “If Apple says I don’t need something, then I don’t need it” behavioral pattern. This cult following of Apple started long before the days of the iPhone, a time during which Apple was seen as the “little guy” being pushed around by the big bully (Microsoft). While Apple is no longer even close to being called the “little guy”, research shows that the fanboy culture has remained. Interestingly, this culture seems to be prevalent within Apple as well, as seen by their numerous lawsuits – this also ties in with point 5. After the launch of the iPod and the iPhone (Apple’s first mainstream “hits”), this fanboy culture had a profound impact on the media’s perception, and hence the average consumers’ as well, of Apple products.

6) Focus on Developed Markets

The US market has traditionally been Apple’s stronghold. In Q2 2012, nearly 34% of Apple’s revenue came from the US market, with another 22% from Europe. Focusing on these markets with the launches of the iPhone and the iPad was a great (and obvious) move as purchasing power and the strength of the Apple brand were stronger. Today, Apple’s market share in these regions is far higher than its global market share, indicating its strength in these regions.

However, the long-term growth in the consumer technology sector is going to be driven by the Asia Pacific region, which was responsible for about 26% of Apple’s revenue in the quarter. Even though Apple’s revenue growth from this geographic area is strong (a sign of how fast this market is growing), Apple has a minimal market share in this region, which poses a long-term risk.

5) Marketing and Apple’s “Reality Distortion Field”

This is where Apple’s true genius lies. Apple is probably the best consumer marketing company in the world right now and it seems like they can make their consumers believe practically anything. How?

(i) Advertising and Launch Videos - Apple has always been the first to pat its own back, but its product launch videos and ads always project a generation-changing product. For example, in the iPhone 4S launch video, you’d frequently come across terms like “ground breaking” and “revolutionary”, when at the heart of it, all they’ve done is upgrade the processor/camera and made a previously available iPhone app (Siri) proprietary to the 4S.

(ii) User Experience - Another huge outcome of Apple’s marketing prowess is the propagation of the idea that Apple offers a “superior user experience”. A user experience is a subjective term that differs for every consumer, and every operating system has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. The fact that 70% of iPhone and Android users retain their platform shows that consumers inherently stick to the “user experience” they are comfortable with, unless another platform offers significantly more advantages (read: Blackberry/Symbian users).

(iii) Reality Distortion Field - This really ties into the above two points, but it’s so pervasive that I felt it deserves its own space. Apple has been so successful with its marketing efforts that most consumers who buy an Apple product automatically believe that it is the best product on the market, without even considering the competition. This experiment by Gizmodo truly highlights just how strong this effect is.

Factors Specific To The iPhone & iPad

4) Distribution Strategy

Apple’s company owned retail stores have been a huge hit, with long lines outside each store at every product launch. However, this itself has been a reason for Apple’s success and not necessarily a product of it. Apple could just as easily move the majority of its sales online. But the long lines outside a store and sell-outs at a store are a huge boost to the desirability of a product. It’s human nature to be curious about something that you can’t get (at least right away).

Even in countries like India, where Apple isn’t exactly a mainstream brand, a similar strategy is at work. Since Apple does not have stores in India, and cannot create huge lines based on its popularity, it delays and limits shipments to force more sell-outs. This is something I have seen first-hand.

3) Pricing Strategy

Apple has always positioned itself at the high-end of the market, and its pricing strategy was one reason it lost the PC battle to Windows. But in order to go mainstream, the price points had to be appealing to the masses. In the case of the iPod, it was a relatively low value product, so pricing wasn’t a major factor to most consumers. But with the launch and growing popularity of the iPhone, Apple was able to extract massive subsidies from carriers on the promise of data usage revenue. This comparatively low price, spurred even more demand from consumers while maintaining Apple’s margins. Considering the fact that the iPhone is currently responsible for 60% of Apple’s revenues, this was one of the primary factors in its success.

2) Timing

Apple masterfully sequenced and timed the initial product launches of the iPhone and the iPad. Granted, iOS was more touch-optimized as compared to its competitors at the time (Windows/Windows Mobile) for those product categories, but the timing of the launch played a larger part in their success.

(i) iPhone - The iPod was a product that went viral primarily due to its form factor. But touchscreen phones (even capacitive ones) were already present in the market before the iPhone, with numerous models available as early as 2002. Apple launched the iPhone at a point where innovation was practically dead in the mobile phone industry. If the iPhone had launched in around 2005, it would have been overcome by the Blackberry revolution, as QWERTY keyboards were in vogue. Additionally, launching the iPhone after it had already hit a home run with the iPod, brought about huge consumer and media interest.

(ii) iPad - Tablets, again, were nothing new to the technology enthusiast. Microsoft entered this market in 2002, with tablets from multiple manufacturers, running Windows, which consumers never found appealing. And again, the iPad was launched at a time when innovation in the PC industry had crawled to a halt and right after the iPhone had reached mass consumer appeal, far greater than anything the iPod could have hoped for. If the iPad had been launched before the iPhone or at the same time as the iPhone, it would not have seen the level of immediate market acceptance that it did.

1) Revenue Concentration in High Growth Industries

All the reasons we’ve seen so far explain why Apple’s products have been successful, but none of them answers the question, “Why is Apple the most highly valued company in the world?”.

(i) Market dominance vs. High growth markets - The answer to that question is simple – Apple derives 80% of its revenues from the iPhone and the iPad, i.e. from two of the fastest growing industries in the world today. While, when you look at Apple’s dominance, it is most dominant in the music player segment, with the iPod owning a 78% market share. But even while its market presence in the smartphone and tablet segment is lower, they are higher growth and higher value markets.

(ii) Comparison with Competitors - When you compare Apple’s situation to other companies in these industries, the situation is different.
(a) Industry Focus - Most of Apple’s competitors are diversified into low growth and low margin industries. For example, Samsung is present in displays, semiconductors, electronics, etc.
(b) Market Segment Focus - Another factor is that Apple only focuses on the high end of the market, while its competitors are present across price points. Purchasing decisions are made first by platform and then by manufacturers (Think about it, you’ve heard about the Mac vs. PC debate and the Dell vs. HP debate, have you ever heard a Mac vs. Dell/HP debate?). Therefore, at the high end, Apple’s competitors need to compete with Apple and among themselves as well. This is the reason why, in order to drive higher volumes and profits, they need to compete at the mid-segment and low end as well, which is similar to the situation in the PC market as well.
(c) The “Profit Share” Fallacy - This is slightly off-topic, but I feel compelled to mention it because most people seem to talk about it without truly understanding what it means. The market segment focus (b), mentioned above, is also one reason why the “profit share” argument makes no sense. Apple’s “profit share” is an outcome of greater competition among its competitors (and partly driven by Google’s business model) and not necessarily an indication of Apple’s dominance. Firms in an industry do not compete for a limited pool of profits, they compete for market share in a finite market.

Conclusion

In contrast to popular opinion, Apple’s success is driven less by the company’s products and more by the company’s marketing and business strategies. Most other oft-quoted reasons for Apple’s success are a by-product of one or a combination of the above factors.

Android’s success has been phenomenal over the past 2 years, and we all know it. It grew from a few percentage points market share to 30% in a year, and now it’s over 50% globally, which means out of 2 new smartphone sales, one of them is an Android device. But at some point this has to stop, right? It’s not like Android can keep growing forever. Or can it?

Well, obviously they can only grow so much out of a 100% market share, but I do think globally it will achieve more than 50%, and maybe even more than 60% in the next couple of years. The rest of the market would be split between iPhones and a bunch of other mobile operating systems, whether it’s Bada, Meego, Symbian, WP7, Tizen, Boot2Gecko, and maybe even a comeback from webOS. And I’m sure others will keep trying to build new mobile operating systems, too.

So if Android is to grow more than say 60%, it has to do it at the expense of those. That’s easier to do against those with few percentage points market share, and a bit harder to do against iOS, but not impossible. iPhones may start getting a little more popular in US and in some rich countries, but this should cancelled out with the emergence of the Android market in poorer countries. After all, Andy Rubin has just announced that there are now 850,000 Android devices being sold every single day, and the rate will keep growing higher. Even the whole of iOS can’t reach this number, and I believe it’s only half of that with all the iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches.

But the growth of Android in poorer countries, important as it may be, is not just about having a high percentage market share at some point in time. What matters even more for Android is that it sustains this ecosystem for decades. And Android has something no other mobile OS really has, and that’s the incredible flexibility and openess of the OS itself, which leads to many innovations not just in software, but also in hardware.

When you have so many manufacturers, whether very known or not, that are trying to compete with each other, and yet still be part of the same Android ecosystem, you get a lot of device options to choose from, but also a lot of price ranges, from the cheapest unlocked phone which costs around $100, which provides most of the functionality of an Android device, but with slower speed and lower resolution, to the most expensive, which should be around $600-$700, with all the latest and greatest technologies in it that us “early adopter” types love.

In a time when countries are getting bankrupt, and the economic crises keeps coming back, this will be a critical advantage for Android over any other platform. What this ultimately means is that no matter how tough things are going to get for people, they would still be able to afford an Android device. Plus, new cheaper and yet more powerful technologies, like the Cortex A7, will still appear, and get Android to an even lower price point.

And this is precisely why the Android ecosystem will be very sustainable over the years, as countries such as India, China, Eastern Europe, and even African countries will embrace Android fully, with no carrier subsidies necessary, and kids will grow up knowing nothing but the open source Android ecosystem. This will ensure Android’s legacy will be very strong and last for a very long time.

NEXT: Android is Taking Over the World – Buyers Search For the Green Robot

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That carriers love Android is not really a surprise. Go to any carrier, anywhere in the world, and you’ll notice that most of their smartphones are now based on Android. They even have their best promotions and marketing campaigns around Android smartphones. Android phones are a great way for carriers to also hook customers that have never used a smartphone before and never needed data, on their data plans, and get them to sign more expensive contracts. The conclusion: carriers make more money with Android.

But is the same true about the iPhone? Do carriers love the iPhone, too, and are they making money from it? Apparently not, and this is why it’s a nightmare for them. The iPhone can bring them some extra customers, but at what costs? Some carriers are even forced to subsidize the most of iPhone’s price, as we’ve seen with the Sprint deal, where they’re paying $650 to Apple for every iPhone. That would be $450 subsidized by the carrier.

Considering other manufacturers charge the carriers from $400 to $500 for their high-end phones, that means the carriers are giving Apple an extra $150-$250 for every single phone. That also means that for every 1 million extra customers, it costs them an extra $200 million. That’s a lot of money, and it really puts a dent in the carrier’s profitability.

This also explains why Apple is able to make so much profit compared to everyone else in the industry. Apple can make several times the profit on their phones compared to other manufacturers because the carriers are still willing to pay Apple a lot of money. If only they would realize that Apple is at a point where losing a big carrier would not be acceptable to them anymore, which means the carriers could  have the power to bring Apple down a notch in their negotiations.

I don’t think anyone should watch out for the “poor” carriers. They can take care of themselves. But these negotiations that are heavily favoring Apple are also hurting all the other manufacturers. If the other manufacturers would be able to charge the carriers more because Apple is doing it, then it would be fine, but I think the opposite is happening. The carriers are giving in to Apple, and then try to recover their losses by squeezing all the profit from all the other manufacturers, which is bad for all of us, because our favorite manufacturers get less money to work with for future devices.

NEXT: Google shares the Android wealth with carriers?

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Here’s a new study we found, and it’s even better than the 87% of Android users using their phones on the toilet: Android users are most likely to have sex on their first date.

Apparently, Zoomerang (a polling firm) created a survey for Match.com (a highly successful dating site). On the study, they discovered that 62% of Canadian Android singles have had sex on their first date. They compared this number with the 57% of iPhone and 48% BlackBerry users; studying the number of people who would most likely have sex on a first date. Additionally, 72% of BlackBerry users said they would most likely drink alcohol on a first date.

On the topic of engaging themselves in one-night stands, 55% of respondents were Android users, while only 50% belonged to iPhone users and 47.6% to BlackBerry users.

To add, Android users were the ones who frequented dating websites (72%), followed by iPhone users (58%) and BlackBerry users (50%).

However, on the topic of dating a co-worker, iPhone users were most likely to do so—having almost a quarter of the whole single respondents. They claimed that they have been involved in a workplace romance in the past 5 years.

All in all, the survey discovered that 75% of all single respondents have indicated that texting and emailing have made a significant improvement in their dating life.

“Thanks to social networking and online dating, our love lives and our digital lives have never been more intertwined,” said the dating website.

Given these numbers, it is still best to follow proper etiquette—especially when on a date with someone.

The study conducted involved 1,068 single Canadians from Oct. 13 to 15. No margin of error was provided.

NEXT: Survey Says: 87% Android Owners Use Their Device on the Toilet

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Here’s a funny survey: 87% of Android users admitted to using their device while on the toilet.

11mark surveyed 1000 Americans and discovered neither men nor women are going to the bathroom empty-handed. They found out that 74% of men and 76% of women use their mobile phones in the bathroom. Out of this number, 63% of people take calls and 41% initiated a call. Moreover, 67% read text messages while 38% surf the internet.

Surprisingly, men are the ones who are more attached to their smartphones compared to women. 30% of men said “I don’t go to the bathroom without my mobile phone,” only 20% of women answered yes to this. 20% of men also work from their bathroom cubicle; while only 13% of women do this.

On the subject of which smartphone people use on the toilet, 87% of respondents use their Android device, while 84% and 77% were BlackBerry and iPhone users, respectively. Compared to BlackBerry users (who answered phone calls), Android and iPhone users were most likely using a social network or an app on the toilet.

“The writing is on the stall,” says 11mark’s Nicole Burdette “This study confirms what we all know – that the last private place is no longer private. And, that the ‘mobile-everywhere’ phenomenon is flushing out a host of new opportunities for savvy communicators.”

How about you? What do you do when you use your smartphone in the loo? Let us know in the coments below.

NEXT: Android passes iPhone in U.S. smartphone sales

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Yes, we know. The iPhone is the best selling smartphone in history. Does that make it the best? Does it have the latest and greatest technological innovations inside? Sure, it’s a beautifully crafted device for people that love what technology can do, but perhaps don’t necessarily want it to be too technical. It’s difficult to sum up why it is so popular without being offensive or obtuse, but really, it boils down to marketing, ease of use, and these two things contribute to its overall appeal. That being said, it won’t remain like this forever. Apple has a knack for adding technologies to their portfolio in a way that makes it seem like they are the ones that came up with it. This, however, isn’t the case. For anyone that knows what is inside today’s smartphones, they know that many, many researchers and companies are hard at work coming up with new designs, new technologies, and are working at a furious pace to improve the overall technological landscape. With this in mind, what sort of technological innovations can we look forward to in the months and years ahead? Let’s take a peak, shall we?

Waterproof Devices

Several Japanese manufacturers including Panasonic and Fujitsu are pioneers in this space, and are bringing to market Android devices that are not just water resistant, but actually waterproof. For anyone that has ever lost a $500+ device because of the rain, or because they accidentally dropped it into a toilet, this will come as a huge step forward!

Video 

Self Charging Technologies

Dual cores, quad cores – so what? Aside from the absolutely massive battery (3300mAh) in the RAZR MAXX, most devices can run out of juice pretty quickly when put under ultra heavy loads. That being said, a brilliant team of researchers at the University of Cambridge is hard at work on a variety of technologies designed to curtail excessive energy waste and to extend and contribute to overall battery life.

To extend the time between charges, the research group created a prototype device that converts ambient light into electricity using an array of  solar cells made up of super thin film “hydrogenated amorphous” silicon that fits within the phones display. Essentially you can think of it as a solar cell inserted in between the display that collect residual light in between charges. It’s smart because it’s currently an unused venue for harvesting additional power, and because it takes advantage of the smartphone display’s large footprint. The research team went on to say that in a typical organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, most of the light generated actually escapes out of the sides, with only about 36% actually being projected onto the front of the screen. That means that 64% escapes out of the sides. They wanted to take it a step further and harness this wasted light by putting thin-film photo voltaic cells around the display’s edges as well.

 More on this here

Ultra Rapid Charging

Researchers have long aspired to create a battery that is both long lasting, and fast charging. With significant applications for the medical, military, and commercial sectors, battery research is finally yielding some breakthroughs. Findings recently published in the March 20 online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology featured a group that developed a three-dimensional nanostructure for battery cathodes that enables significantly faster charging and discharging without giving up energy storage capacity.

“This system that we have gives you capacitor-like power with battery-like energy,” said Braun, a professor of materials science and engineering. “Most capacitors store very little energy. They can release it very fast, but they can’t hold much. Most batteries store a reasonably large amount of energy, but they can’t provide or receive energy rapidly. This does both.”

The performance of typical nickel metal hydride (NiMH) or lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable batteries typically degrades substantially when they are either charged rapidly or discharged. The research group, led by Professor Braun, wrapped a very thin film into three-dimensional structure, which enable the battery to achieve the holy grail of battery achievement: high active volume (high capacity) and large current. They demonstrated that the battery electrodes can charge or discharge in a few seconds, 10 to 100 times faster than equivalent bulk electrodes, but can can still perform normally in existing consumer devices, like smartphones and tablets, and much more.

Remarkably, this kind of battery technology could soon lead to our smartphones, tablets, and notebooks being able to charge in minutes or even one day, seconds, thus removing the necessity for overnight charging. As our devices get more and more powerful, improvements in the area of battery technology such as this will likely be a very welcome addition, wouldn’t you agree?

More on this here, here, and here

Quad-Core, Octo-Core & More

Over the next few months, there’s going to be a ton of Quad (5 core, actually) Tegra 3 devices hitting the market. We’ve got the Lenovo K2010, with its 2GB of RAM and 1080p display, we’ve got the ASUS Transformer Prime, and the 700T variant with its 1080p display, and the ASUS Memo 370T, which comes in a 7 inch form factor, but is said to launch at the $249 price point. And there’s lots more coming too! In our discussion with NVIDIA and ARM, both are already actively working on octo (8) core SoC’s, which should be arriving in devices sometime in 2013. The thing to remember is that both companies have already demonstrated that they are increasing performance beyond that of Moore’s law, and that the trend is accelerating.

Not too long ago, Samsung disclosed that they were actively working on a dual core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 chip called Exynos 5250.  Despite not being quad or even eight core, this dual core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 chip is reputed to be at least 2.5x as powerful as the current dual core 1.2 Ghz Cortex A9 chip in the Galaxy S2.

Furthermore, Samsung demoed a 10 inch display that featured a resolution of 2560×1600, which blows away current resolution on tablets not even released yet. Our writer Lucian Armasu tracked down some intel on this beast in this post here.

We should all look forward to insanely powerful devices in the years ahead, with this trend unlikely to ever stop. Of course, necessity is the mother of innovation, and in this case, I am confident that display technologies will continually improve, as will the batteries that continue to power the devices we know and love. More on this to come.

Ultra HD Displays – Beyond 1080p

Not too long ago, Toshiba demonstrated what many consider to be the highest resolution display ever created for a mobile device.

Here’s the specs: 

• 6.1-inch LCD (to be further miniaturized to 4.65inch, and increase up to 10.1 inches, too)
• 2560×1600 resolution
• an extremely high density of 498 pixels per inch
• dubbed “photographic quality,” Toshiba said it even adds a sense of depth in 2D.
• 1000:1 contrast ratio and wide 176-degree viewing angles.
• Its color accuracy at 61 percent of the NTSC color range, which is substantially better than any mobile display on the market
• 3D capable

People always ask me, why do we need quad-core? Why do we need that much power? The truth is, with such extremely high resolution displays coming to our mobile devices in the near future, extremely powerful and responsive hardware will be required to maintain the 60 frames per second we demand as consumers, for smooth performance. Imagine how many pixels need to be changed simultaneously, even with a quick flick of the finger, as the screen has to redraw absolutely everything – at 60 frames per second. That’s a lot of calculations folks.  This particular display created by Toshiba has a resolution four times that of the iPad 1 & 2.

Rumors are persisting that Apple is aggressively courting Toshiba, as they’ve essentially burned a lot of bridges with their largest component supplier, Samsung, and many companies are actually actively withholding their latest and greatest from Apple in the hopes that they can bring their own devices to market, with their own technologies on board. That being said, companies love money, and that’s something Apple has a lot of.

Either way, we can all look forward to glorious HD filled futures, whether the displays are in our smartphones or tablets!

More on this here.

Biometric Authentication Technology

Here we have another design win out of Fujitsu, which looks to radically improve the security of our devices. To any of you that have followed the incorporation of Face Unlock in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, first featured in the Galaxy Nexus, this will likely be something that you are interested in.

Fujitsu has worked very hard to develop a “contactless palm vein pattern authentication technology” that uses our highly unique vascular patterns as personal identification data. Vein recognition technology is pretty much as secure as it gets because the authentication data exists inside the body itself, and is therefore almost impossible to forge. In their tests, they also showed that it is also highly accurate — in testing over 140,000 palm profiles of 70,000 individuals, it had a false acceptance rate of less than 0.00008% and a false rejection rate of 0.01%. Not bad eh? Maybe time to bust out the tinfoil hats, people. Either way, it’s way more secure than Face Unlock, which can be duped by a photo. Finger prints can be read and replicated, thus foiling finger print readers like the one in the Motorola Atrix. Do you feel like your device is already secure enough? Would you welcome this additional security feature on your Android device?

More on this here.

 Ultra Fast Wireless File Transfer Between Devices 

Toshiba has come up with a wireless transfer protocol, called Transfer Jet, which looks like it has potential to revolutionize the way we transfer data in between devices. Got a 1GB 720p movie? Good luck Bluetoothing that. How about Wifi then? No thanks, still too long. Transfer Jet is a 360Mbps wireless transfer protocol that is able to send large files lightning quick.

More on Transfer Jet here!

Smudge Proof Displays

We know, we know. You’ve got a beautiful device, but you’ve got greasy hands, right? Well, everyone does. It’s always a nuisance to to have to rub it clean, but it’s looking like this won’t always be the case. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have released some findings on an inexpensive way to coat displays with a “liquid-droplet” repellent. Check out the video below.

They discovered that by collecting soot from a burning candle that they could further heat the soot to enable calcination to occur, thus making the soot transparent. After testing this surface, the researchers found out that it was extremely durable, and could even withstand sandblasting. Most importantly though, they realized it had other unique properties, and when the surface was sprayed with different liquids and water, the droplets “bounced up and down on the surface, became spherical, rolled off and left absolutely nothing behind”. Pretty cool, right? Hopefully, we can all look forward to touchscreen displays that are water resistant, oil resistant, and soon – smudge proof!

What Are You Most Excited About? 

We’ve got a lot to look forward to, folks. Whether it’s faster processing, more intuitive software with Android 5.0 Jelly Bean, brighter and more astonishing displays, more RAM, increased storage, self charging devices, thinner devices, waterproof, dust proof, smudge proof, you name it, it’s coming. It’s a lot to take in, I know. IF we know one thing about the pace of innovation is that it’s not slowing down any time soon. Which Android device manufacturer is best positioned to take advantage of all of these amazing technological developments? Which one are you most excited about?

NEXT: iPhone DevTeam considering porting Android to the iPhone

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Did you ever think about why your phone works at all? Probably not. But, if you think about it, all portable gadgets rely on a battery to keep ticking – and some have better battery life than others. That’s why we’re going to take a peek at what keeps your phone ticking and why some batteries do better than others.

Lithium-Ion Battery

Lithium-Ion Batteries began their development in 1912. However, they did not become popular until they were adopted by Sony in 1991. Lithium Ion Batteries have high energy-densities and cost less than lithium-polymer batteries. In addition, they do not require priming when first used and have a low self-discharge. However, lithium-ion batteries do suffer from aging – even when not in use.

Lithium-Polymer Battery

Lithium-polymer batteries can be dated back to the 1970′s. Their first design included a dry solid polymer electrolyte that resembled a plastic film. Therefore, this type of battery can result in credit card thin designs while still holding relatively good battery life. In addition, lithium-polymer batteries are very lightweight and have improved safety. However, these batteries will cost more to manufacture and have a worse energy density than lithium-ion batteries.

Wrap-Up and Winner

After reading all of the pro’s, con’s, and specifications of both battery types, you can see that there isn’t much of a competition here. Although the lithium-polymer battery is sleeker and thinner, lithium-ion batteries have a higher energy density and cost less to manufacture. Therefore, we obviously know which one is chosen by companies like Samsung, Apple, Motorola, and more. Finally, with new chemicals and such being added to these batteries often, who knows which will come out on top in the long run. The only thing we do know is that this phone, will be sporting a very thin and transparent lithium-ion battery.

Source: RadioShack

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Little did we all know that the videos and pictures leaking all over the internet, were of the 4S PCB and Apple’s first A5 based smartphone. These all made possible by eager users all around the World Wide Web. Does it do better compared to Android devices? Let’s find out.

The results

The enhanced features of the new iPhone 4S were done in such a way that they catch up with what Honeycomb and Android devices have to offer. The phone’s Javascript performance was improved and the CPU processor is higher than that of the iPhone4.

Overall Geekbench scores show that Apple is using a lower clocked A5 in their new iPhone 4S than in the iPad 2. This is rather a logical case since iPhone 4S uses a smaller 5.25 Whr battery, compared to iPad 2. Lower clock means that there are higher factory yields and low operating voltage as well. Since the CPU’s core voltage is lowered, there is an equivalent significant decrease in the device’s power consumption as well.

This makes the marginal loss in iPhone 4S clock speed reasonable enough. However, the device’s processor is lower than its Android counterpart therefore, making it necessary for Apple to make the most out of its software to avoid any crash and problems with the iPhone 4S performance. The company has been doing this strategy for the past few years, so there should be no problems for people who cross-shop Android and iOS.

The figure above shows the iPad 2′s 21% performance advantage over other devices, which can be attributed to the device’s clock speed. Compared to the existing iPhone 4, the GPU power of the 4S is still better than the former. This should make it enough for the device to run on current generation and well written title at 30fps on its display.

via ANANDTECH

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With the release of the iPhone 4S, Samsung did their part in promoting their own device, the Galaxy S II. Although many people were pretty disappointed by the release of the 4S, Samsung knows that it still poses as a threat in the market. Therefore, they have created a nice little comparison chart that highlights the Samsung Galaxy S II’s triumph over the iPhone 4S. Take a look for yourself below:

Main Differences

Samsung is quick to point out that the Galaxy S II has the following characteristics in which they believe will help the Galaxy S II beat out the iPhone 4S:

• 4G Capabilities
• Super AMOLED Plus
• 4.3-4.5″ Screen
• Front-Facing 2MP Camera
• 1080p “High Profile”
• Weighs Only 4.3 oz
• Battery = Removable
• HDTV Remote Control Capable
• Gingerbread
• Supports up to 32 GB External Storage
• Cost is Not Dependent Upon Storage (iPhone Price Goes Up With Storage Increase)

Wrap-Up

Now that the Nexus Prime has been “re-packed” for awhile, Samsung is using their free time to promote the Galaxy S II. Frankly, they have noted a few key differences and few pieces of bologna. For example, the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S II is 4G capable and the display is larger are the 2 main differences here. On the other hand, adding “High Profile” to 1080p and “preferred 2 to 1″ to the display is something that Apple could easily argue against.

Although we agree that this is a pretty un-classy move by the Korean giant, they are only trying to promote their own product.

Source: Computerworld

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The two firms have been battling over the claim of being the best provider and manufacturer of tablets and smartphone since April of this year. Unfortunately for Samsung, Apple has proven yet again its superiority by successfully blocking Samsung phones and tablets in other countries such as Netherlands and Germany. Aside from conquering Europe, Apple has also caused an indefinite delay in the launching of new Galaxy tablets in Australia.

Big competitors

Galaxy gadgets powered by the Android operating system, is currently one of the biggest competitions of the iPad in the market. However, the company will certainly lose much of its profits if it continues to take passive steps just to maintain Korea as its biggest market.

Apple and Samsung gadgets are in the race for the top spot in today’s smartphone market. After decades of being the market leader, Nokia is finally being overshadowed by other brands.

Apple is considering Samsung as a threat to its success. Since the company’s smartphone sales has rapidly increased to as much as 500 percent this year, Apple took the desperate move of suing its competitor in a California court last April. Until now, there are more than 20 cases on technology design and patents unsettled between the two rival companies.

Via The Baltimore Sun

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