Samsung Galaxy Mega 2

Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 to Reportedly Launch Soon at Rs. 21,499

Samsung seems to be gearing up to launch the Galaxy Mega 2 in India, if information from an established retailer from Mumbai is to be believed. So far, no announcement has been made by Samsung.

Announcing the smartphone will be in stock in a few days at Rs. 21,499, and will sport an MRP of Rs. 24,300, retailer Mahesh Telecom posted the details in a Facebook poston Wednesday. The post also mentions the Galaxy Mega 2 model launching in India will be the SM-G750H variant.

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 2, after going on sale via a Malaysian retailer in August, was officially listed by the company in Thailand. Samsung's Thailand site listed the smartphone without any details of pricing and availability.

The successor to the Galaxy Mega 5.8 (Review | Pictures) was available to buy in Malaysia at MYR 1,299 (roughly Rs. 24,700). The Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 (SM-G750F) features a 6-inch TFT HD (720x1280 pixels) display. It is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core (unspecified chipset) processor coupled with 1.5GB of RAM.

The Galaxy Mega 2 runs the recent Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box, and comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage that is further expandable via microSD card (up to 64GB). It sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, while there is a secondary 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera also onboard.

On the connectivity front, the smartphone offers LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Micro-USB, GPS, Glonass, NFC, and Bluetooth options. Notably, the Galaxy Mega 2 is listed as a single SIM device in Malaysia; however, considering Samsung launched the Galaxy Mega 5.8 last year in India with dual-SIM support, we can expect a dual-SIM variant of the smartphone for the Indian market.

The smartphone packs a 2800mAh battery with no word on talk time and standby time. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 is listed in Cosmic Black and Blizzard White colours.

LG now number 3 smartphone maker

LG now number 3 smartphone maker by sales; Apple, Samsung lead, HTC drops to fourth

Reuters, April 11, 2013

LG Electronics Inc has become the world's No.3 smartphone maker behind Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for the first time in the $223 billion market, industry data showed, as solid sales of high-end models helped it win customers.

LG saw its smartphone market share rise to 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter by sales, propelling it to the third spot for the first time, while rival HTC Corp slid to fourth, data from research firm Strategy Analytics showed.

Samsung and Apple took a combined 71.4 percent of the market and the rest is split among firms such as LG, HTC, Sony Corp and BlackBerry, the data showed.

Reflecting growing optimism that LG's smartphone business will recover, LG Electronics shares have gained 54 percent from their 2012 low hit in late July. The shares ended up nearly 2 percent on Thursday at 86,600 won, the highest in more than a year.

LG is betting high-end models that boast powerful hardware and software features and a fast 4G connection will help it rebuild its tarnished handset brand quality and increase its market share of the lower-end segment as well.

The South Korean company announced on Thursday software upgrades for its flagship Optimus G Pro model that will allow consumers access to features that Samsung touted as major selling points of its upcoming Galaxy S4. The move is its latest attempt to boost appeal to upmarket consumers before rival products hit the market.

The features LG is adding include motion detecting technology that stops and starts videos depending on whether someone is looking at the screen and snapping pictures.

The 5-inch Optimus Pro debuted in South Korea in late February and in Japan this month. It is LG's fastest-selling smartphone with sales hitting 500,000 in the first 40 days of the launch, LG said.

In terms of unit shipments, LG remains the seventh-largest with a 4.0 percent share, following Huawei, Lenovo Group Ltd, Sony and ZTE Corp which have market share of between 4 and 5 percent.

Analysts expect LG's smartphone shipments will rise by 16 percent to a record 10 million after 8.6 million phones sold in the fourth quarter, a strong performance as the overall market is seen contracting by 6 percent from the strong year-end holiday quarter.

HTC reported on Monday a record-low quarterly profit that missed analysts' estimates after it delayed the full launch of its 2013 flagship smartphone model, which will now debut against Samsung's newest Galaxy.

LG reports its first-quarter results on April 24.