Amazon is still crushing Google and Apple in the smart speaker market - The Verge

Apple and Google are still struggling to come close to Amazon’s enormous share of the home smart speaker market, and that trend will continue through 2021, a new eMarketer report predicts. Some 70 percent of US smart speaker users will use an Amazon Echo in 2020, close to last year’s 72.9 percent. By next year, that number may drop slightly to about 68.2 percent, according to the report. So Amazon’s lead is slowly falling, but it still holds a dominant position.

In contrast, eMarketer says just 31.7 percent of smart speaker owners will use a Google device in 2020, and Apple’s home speaker products got lumped into the mixed “other” category, which is expected to barely crack 18 percent this year.

“We had previously expected Google and Apple to make more inroads in this market, but Amazon has remained aggressive,” says eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock.

Amazon has consistently released features that make its Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices more intuitive, eMarketer says. Opening Alexa devices to outside developers and making them compatible with third-party smart home devices also helped boost Amazon’s smart speaker position. Those things aren’t unique to Amazon, however, as smart speakers from both Google and Apple are also compatible with many smart home gadgets.

One area where eMarketer says Echo devices fall short of the competition is language support. Amazon’s products don’t support as many non-English languages as their competitors, the report finds.

Growth of smart speaker use in the US will slow in the coming years, eMarketer’s report finds, but the number of users will continue to increase as Alexa, Siri, and other voice assistants expand beyond just the home, and into cars and smart home appliances. The report estimates about 83.1 million people will use a smart speaker this year, a 13.7 percent uptick from last year.

“Over time, we’ll see slowing growth in the number of smart speakers as people turn to voice assistants built into other things within homes, vehicles and on-the-go,” Petrock says. “Amazon’s next challenge will be to maintain its dominance in these other environments as well.”

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2020-02-10 21:57:57Z
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Samsung Unpacked 2020 event: all of the latest rumors, news, and more - The Verge

It’s February, and in the tech world that has come to mean that all eyes are on Samsung. The company will take the stage at its Unpacked 2020 event on Tuesday, February 11th at 2PM ET / 11AM PT to show off the Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra.

Rumors and leaks also indicate that Samsung will debut its next foldable phone, this one being called the Galaxy Z Flip. Between this Samsung handset and Motorola’s new Razr, 2020 is becoming the year of the flip phone redux. Each of the four phones have been extensively leaked, and if you want to catch up on the rumors, we’ve put them all in one article.

But why read just one article when you can read them all? If you want to see each and every important update from Unpacked 2020, you’ll find them all collected below.

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2020-02-10 20:31:50Z
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More Companies Cancel MWC Plans Over Coronavirus Concerns - Droid Life

At the end of last week, we learned that NVIDIA had pulled out of MWC. This follows LG’s decision to do the same. Over the weekend, Amazon announced the same thing, followed by Sony. Now, the MWC 2020 field is looking very thin and we’re left wondering why the GSMA, the body that governs the event, is going forward with it.

According to a recent update from the GSMA, they are implementing a few additional checks to ensure the safety of attendees. For starters, all attendees from the Hubei province will not be permitted access. Following that, all attendees will need to check-off the following.

• All travellers who have been in China will need to demonstrate proof they have been outside of China 14 days prior to the event (passport stamp, health certificate)
• Temperature screening will be implemented
• Attendees will need to self-certify they have not been in contact with anyone infected.

While I’m not a fan of “self-certify,” I suppose there really is only so much precaution you can take. We have to hope that no one will willfully put others at risk. Wait, these are humans we’re talking about, they absolutely would do that.

Here are the statements from the three latest companies to pull out of MWC. If you’re still attending, please stay safe and wash your hands!

---

NVIDIA’s Statement

We’ve informed GSMA, the organizers of MWC Barcelona, that we won’t be sending our employees to this year’s event.

Given public health risks around the coronavirus, ensuring the safety of our colleagues, partners and customers is our highest concern.

MWC Barcelona is one of the world’s most important technology conferences. We’ve been looking forward to sharing our work in AI, 5G and vRAN with the industry. We regret not attending, but believe this is the right decision.

We’re grateful for GSMA’s leadership and continued efforts to ensure the safety of all attendees.

Amazon’s Statement to TechCrunch

Due to the outbreak and continued concerns about novel coronavirus, Amazon will withdraw from exhibiting and participating in Mobile World Congress 2020, scheduled for Feb. 24-27 in Barcelona, Spain.

Sony’s Statement

Sony has been closely monitoring the evolving situation following the novel coronavirus outbreak, which was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization on January 30th, 2020.

As we place the utmost importance on the safety and wellbeing of our customers, partners, media and employees, we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain.

The Sony press conference will now instead take place at the scheduled time of 8:30am (CET) on February 24, 2020 as a video via our official Xperia YouTube channel to share our exciting product news.

Sony would like to thank everyone for their understanding and ongoing support during these challenging times.

// NVIDIA | Sony | TechCrunch | GSMA

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2020-02-10 16:48:00Z
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Leak shows Samsung's fashionable Galaxy Z Flip Thom Browne Edition - Engadget

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Walking Cat, Twitter

At this rate, there will be very little mystery left when Samsung takes the stage at its Unpacked event on February 11th. WalkingCat, normally known for Windows leaks, has posted a leaked promo video for the previously teased Thom Browne Edition of the Galaxy Z Flip. The fashion-oriented foldable is, apparently, all about Thom Browne's signature stripes. The phone, its case, and bundled versions of the Galaxy Buds+ and Galaxy Watch Active 2 all have hard-to-miss red, white and blue bars on top of a silver background.

It's not certain just where the Thom Browne model will sell besides "certain countries," but it could make an already expensive phone (reportedly close to $1,500) that much costlier. Reports have claimed this variant will cost upward of 3 million won in South Korea, or about $2,500 -- you'll have to be very, very committed to stylish tech to pick this up.

This isn't even the only big last-minute leak. WinFuture's Roland Quandt managed to buy the Galaxy Buds+ in advance and posted a lengthy hands-on video for the true wireless earbuds. He found them to be a "decent upgrade" overall, with a clear improvement in battery life -- he had half a charge left after roughly 3.5 hours of "loud punk rock." While the lack of active noise cancellation won't make AirPods Pro or WF-1000XM3 owners envious, Samsung's updated buds appear to address some of the complaints from the originals.

a detour pic.twitter.com/AirJTtIn3h

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 10, 2020

Source: WalkingCat (Twitter)

Coverage: MSPoweruser, Roland Quandt (YouTube), (Twitter)

In this article: android, foldable, foldable phone, galaxy buds+, galaxy watch active 2, galaxy z flip, gear, mobile, samsung, smartphone, thom browne, video, wearables

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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2020-02-10 15:26:53Z
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Leak shows Samsung's fashionable Galaxy Z Flip Thom Browne Edition - Engadget

Sponsored Links

Walking Cat, Twitter

At this rate, there will be very little mystery left when Samsung takes the stage at its Unpacked event on February 11th. WalkingCat, normally known for Windows leaks, has posted a leaked promo video for the previously teased Thom Browne Edition of the Galaxy Z Flip. The fashion-oriented foldable is, apparently, all about Thom Browne's signature stripes. The phone, its case, and bundled versions of the Galaxy Buds+ and Galaxy Watch Active 2 all have hard-to-miss red, white and blue bars on top of a silver background.

It's not certain just where the Thom Browne model will sell besides "certain countries," but it could make an already expensive phone (reportedly close to $1,500) that much costlier. Reports have claimed this variant will cost upward of 3 million won in South Korea, or about $2,500 -- you'll have to be very, very committed to stylish tech to pick this up.

This isn't even the only big last-minute leak. WinFuture's Roland Quandt managed to buy the Galaxy Buds+ in advance and posted a lengthy hands-on video for the true wireless earbuds. He found them to be a "decent upgrade" overall, with a clear improvement in battery life -- he had half a charge left after roughly 3.5 hours of "loud punk rock." While the lack of active noise cancellation won't make AirPods Pro or WF-1000XM3 owners envious, Samsung's updated buds appear to address some of the complaints from the originals.

a detour pic.twitter.com/AirJTtIn3h

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 10, 2020

Source: WalkingCat (Twitter)

Coverage: MSPoweruser, Roland Quandt (YouTube), (Twitter)

In this article: android, foldable, foldable phone, galaxy buds+, galaxy watch active 2, galaxy z flip, gear, mobile, samsung, smartphone, thom browne, video, wearables

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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2020-02-10 14:33:08Z
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Motorola Razr review: The flip phone is back, but we have concerns - CNET

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2020-02-10 11:00:06Z
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Samsung unveils new foldable phone during Oscars commercial - CNBC

Samsung showed off a new concept for a foldable phone at its developer conference on October 29, 2019.

Samsung

Samsung revealed its new foldable phone in a television commercial during the Academy Awards.

The South Korean electronics giant is holding its annual "Unpacked" event on February 11 where it usually debuts new flagship smartphones. More details on the company's second foldable phone, which does not have an official name yet, is likely to be released then.

Various leaks have suggested the device will be called the Galaxy Z Flip.

Samsung was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Last month, Samsung confirmed during its fourth quarter earnings report that a new foldable was on the way and said it would have a different design to its previous model, the Galaxy Fold, which launched last year.

The Galaxy Fold was due to launch in April 2019 but kept breaking for some users. Samsung fixed the problems with the handset and ended up launching it later in the year with a hefty price tag of $1,980.

From the ad, the new folding phone appears to open upwards rather than outwards like the Galaxy Fold.

It also looks like it has a display on the outside of the device which can tell users who is calling and potentially allow them to answer while the phone is closed.

The ad also shows two colors of the device — purple and black.

All eyes will be on Samsung's Feb. 11 event where it is also expected to take the wrap of the latest devices in its flagship Galaxy S range.

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2020-02-10 09:55:00Z
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