How They Work:“Apple VS Samsung”

We learn from the take on the Apple-Samsung lawsuit that the battle is actually not over a few coloured icons and a rectangular shape, but a precursor to a much broader struggle on Cupertino’s side. First off, it looks like Samsung is aiming for a 6-8 months’ timeframe between flagship Android handset releases from now on, which will be aided by an even tighter integration with Android hence Google, making the company Apple’s chief threat. It’s plausible, let’s not forget that Samsung vouched to overtake Nokia in units sold by 2014 before the Nokia Windows Phone ordeal came out. Moreover, Samsung has a very strong R&D department, with unique technologies in the works, a lot of which trickle down to its smartphones, like the Super AMOLED displays, and the dual-core Exynos chipset. Sammy also supplies a lot of parts for the iPhone production already. By the autumn we can expect a cosmetic upgrade of this phone - Samsung Galaxy S3. The model will (have) screen 4.5 inches with another matrix and most likely resolution, rejection of hardware keys on the front panel, perhaps, metal body, this moment is not fully defined. In fact, Samsung will position the new solution as a competitor to Apple iPhone 5.” That’s Google Translate from his Galaxy S II impressions. So the touch-less gesture area that is supposed to appear in the 2012 iPhone, is already coming in a Samsung Galaxy S3 this fall, complete with an edge-to-edge display of high resolution. The fact that Samsung will have the technology months before Apple on the market must have annoyed Cupertino to no end, if this is true. Moreover, Apple wanted to use those high-res screens, but Samsung said no. This elusive Samsung Galaxy S3 is also said to run at 1.8GHz, which is certainly within the realm of the next Exynos chipset, and have metal exterior, but no physical buttons, just screen. The only type of display that fits this description is the Super AMOLED Plus, which will be moved from Fine-Metal-Mask (FMM) production technology to laser-induced thermal imaging (LITI). LITI is much cheaper than FMM, and allows for Retina Display pixel densities of more than 300ppi, whereas FMM has printing accuracy up to 15 micrometres, which is enough for the WVGA resolution on the Samsung Galaxy S II, but not much further. We don’t know when Sammy will start producing such high-res Super AMOLED Plus screens in mass quantities, but we’d wager to say when the big plant that is supposed to increase production tenfold opens in June. Even then the capacity might not be there to fulfil both Apple’s and Samsung’s smartphone unit sales, so probably that’s why the Koreans shot down Apple’s advances on the matter in the first place. According to analysts, the lawsuit Apple filed is a multi-pronged tool to keep Samsung and Google at bay. First, it is trying to exert pressure on Samsung regarding the unique technologies Sammy refuses to share, and second, if Samsung is forced to settle, Android will no longer be considered free by other manufacturers, if it is associated with legal costs, and that might be Cupertino’s aim. Again, all of this is pure extrapolation on Murtazin’s side, but hearing that Apple might be using Sharp’s p-Si LCD display for next year’s iPhone, it could be in response to this rumoured Samsung Galaxy S3 edge-to-edge AMOLED display of high resolution. The low temperature poly-silicon LCDs by Sharp have a package that is 1mm thin, with touch circuits and all other elements integrated into it, and thus don’t require any frame, possibly leading to the alleged edge-to-edge display in the 2012 iPhone. Speculation or not, these ideas are certainly interesting, and this year, as well as the next, are shaping to be definitive in the iOS-Android battle. When we put Nokia Windows Phone in the mix, one can only drool at the possibilities for us mortal users. eddie@afrowebs.com