Tag: mobile devices

Google Calls CCI Fine Over Mobile App Distribution ‘Unfair Imposition’

Tech giant Google on Friday submitted before the NCLAT that there was “unfair imposition” by the competition watchdog CCI over its mobile app distribution agreement with device makers as it does not restrict from installing other apps, including that of rivals.

A two-member NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan on Friday said it will start day-to-day hearing of the matter from February 23, the next date of hearing.

Google while arguing its matter before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) said that the placement of its apps on devices through pre-installation under MADA (Mobile Application Distribution Agreement) is not “unfair” as there is no restriction from installing other apps and enough space is available for them.

The appellate tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Google against Rs. 1,337 crore penalty imposed by the fair trade regulator CCI for abusing its dominant position in relation to Android mobile devices.

Under MADA, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are required to have Google Mobile Suite (GMS) while installing the Android OS of Google. This cannot be uninstalled.

Senior Advocate Arun Kathpalia, representing the global IT major said its apps, which are merely pre-installed “does not translate into dominance”.

There is no embargo on pre-installation on other apps and Android users can download apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter from its Play Store as per their choice. In 2021, 26 billion downloads of apps were recorded.

Moreover, contrary to this, OEMs are also happy with GMS as they said these apps make their products more sellable, Kathpalia added.

“Where is the harm to the OEM and users in this?,” he said adding CCI’s order reflects “unfairness”.

It is not charging any royalty and is ensuring a healthy ecosystem, said Kathpalia. He further said Google does not has a closed system like Apple.

“There is huge competition within the Android ecosystem,” he added.

On October 20 last year, CCI slapped a penalty of Rs. 1,337.76 crore on Google for anti-competitive practices in relation to Android mobile devices. In the October ruling, CCI had also ordered the internet major to cease and desist from various unfair business practices.

NCLAT, an appellate authority over the orders passed by CCI, had started its hearing in the Android matter on February 15, following a direction of the Supreme Court. The apex court had directed NCLAT to decide the appeal by March 31.

Earlier, a separate bench of NCLAT had on January 4 issued notice over Google’s plea, directing it to pay 10 percent of the Rs. 1,337 crore penalty imposed by the CCI. It had declined to stay the CCI order and put the matter for a final hearing on April 3, 2023.

This was challenged by Google before the Supreme Court, which also declined to stay the CCI order but directed the NCLAT to decide on Google’s appeal by March 31. 

 

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Samsung unveils newest Galaxy S23 smartphones

Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest premium smartphones on Wednesday, in a test of its brand power as the market for mobiles undergoes unprecedented contraction.

The Galaxy S23 smartphone series has better cameras and faster chips than its predecessor, but analysts said early sales would face weak demand as consumers spent less on discretionary goods amid surging inflation.

The top-line S23 Ultra has Samsung’s first-ever 200-megapixel camera sensor, offering clearer photos after enlargement, and the series has adopted Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile processor, which is faster than chips used in the S22.

The S23 is the first Samsung phone to use Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card for games with heavy processor demands and for live-streaming playability. Many consumers judge a phone’s quality based on those functions.

Galaxy S23 Ultra phone
AP
Galaxy S23 Plus phone
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The S23 is the first Samsung phone to use Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card for games
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The base Galaxy S23 will be priced from $799.
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Samsung is working with companies such as Epic Games to optimize gaming experience on the phone.

In the United States, the base Galaxy S23 will be priced from $799 and two higher-specification versions, the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, from $999 and $1,199, respectively. Samsung kept the prices at the same level as for last year’s model despite rises in component costs.

But global smartphone shipments showed the largest-ever decline in a single quarter in the October-December period, when they were down 18.3% on a year earlier at 300.3 million units, according to data issued by research firm IDC last month. The figures cast doubt on forecasts for modest recovery in the market for mobiles this year.

In that tough environment, analysts said Samsung’s mobile strategy would center on profitability through premium offerings, including the S series and foldables.

“Samsung can’t afford to focus on expanding volume anymore,” said Liz Lee, associate director at research firm Counterpoint.

“It must boldly simplify low- and mid-range products, the parts of the market where Chinese competitors have caught up a lot.”


Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360
Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360
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Samsung said Tuesday that a decline in low- and mid-range smartphone sales in the fourth quarter had been greater than expected.

With the launch of the S23, the company is also improving interconnectivity of its devices to lock customers into using Samsung products rather than deserting to devices from Apple  and other rivals. Analysts say Samsung has far to go in interconnectivity, however.

The company said that, in an industry first, the mouse cursor of its recent Galaxy Book laptop could move directly into a Samsung phone screen to click on things. Users would have to upgrade their phone’s software to use that feature, it said.

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Samsung India’s Revenue Up 10 Percent in FY22, Highest in Last 5 Years: Tofler

Samsung India Electronics’ profit after tax for FY22 fell 4.86 percent to Rs. 3,844.40 crore, while its revenue from operations went up 8.65 percent to Rs. 82,451.60 crore, said data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. 

The electronic major had reported a PAT (profit after tax) of Rs. 4,040.80 crore and its revenue from operations was at Rs. 75,886.30 crore for the financial year that ended on March 31, 2021.

Samsung India‘s EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) was almost flat at Rs. 7,081.80 crore in the latest FY22 as against Rs. 7,093.40 crore.

Its other income was up 77.89 percent to Rs. 2,873.20 crore for the financial year that ended on March 31, 2022.

Samsung India’s total revenue was up 10.09 percent to Rs. 85,324.80 crore in FY22 as against Rs. 77,501.40 crore a year ago.

This is the highest one in the last five years, according to the Tofler data.

Samsung India’s total revenue in FY18 was at Rs. 61,065.60 crore and Rs. 73,085.90 crore in FY19. It was at Rs. 78,651.20 crore in FY20.

Total expenses of Samsung India were at Rs. 79,758.90 crore for fiscal 2021-22, up 10.93 percent, as against Rs. 71,899 crore.

A reply from Samsung India could not be ascertained till the time of filing of the story.

Samsung India Electronics receives its major revenue from the mobile phone business.

Part of South Korean chaebol Samsung Electronics, it also operates in segments such as audiovisual, home appliances, network and software development in India market. 

 

 

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New Organic Transistors Facilitate Higher Density Circuit Integration for High-Performance Mobile Devices

As we gradually move towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the volume of data is set to skyrocket. With it, the demand for lightweight, high-performance, mobile data processing devices will also increase. To develop such devices, we would first need organic integrated circuits with organic transistors. However, the integration density of these circuits has been low because of incompatibility with existing microfabrication technologies. But researchers may have had a breakthrough. They have developed an organic anti-ambipolar transistor capable of performing any one of the five logic gate operations by adjusting the input voltages to its dual gates.

There are five logic gate operations — AND, OR, NAND, NOR, or XOR. The researchers also explained that an anti-ambipolar transistor (AAT) is a type of heterojunction transistor, which is an essential component in their proposed circuit.

The organic integrated circuits hold promise for cutting-edge computing devices required for the Internet of Things, which will soon be a widely accepted reality. This is because of the unique features of the organic transistors, such as mechanical flexibility, light weight, and low cost production.

The researchers from the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and the Tokyo University of Science say their lightweight transistors may be used to develop electrically reconfigurable logic circuits, the key to developing high-performance smartphone devices.

This transistor has shown the ability to single-handedly form a NAND circuit or an XOR circuit. Existing integrated circuit technology requires four transistors to form a NAND circuit and 12 to form an XOR circuit. Additionally, this transistor can substantially increase the integration density of organic circuits. In future research, the group plans to develop electrically reconfigurable integrated circuits using this new transistor.

“Thus, the device concept is promising for realizing multifunctional logic circuits with a simple transistor configuration. Hence, these findings are expected to surpass the current limitations in complementary metal−oxide−semiconductor devices,” the researchers wrote in their paper published in the journal Advanced Materials.

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