AT&T does have an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II after all, Sprint does not

Posted by Seth Planck

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AT&T does have an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II after all, Sprint does not

Just when the world seemed cold and harsh, the team at Engadget turned our frown upside down by discovering that the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II does have NFC support after all. We had reported sometime ago that Samsung was expected to ship models of the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II with the near field communications chip turned off and it was then up to mobile network operators to decide if and when they wanted it activated and this appears to be the case for AT&T. It was also surprising when there was nary a mention of NFC in the press releases issued yesterday for the release of the United States’ Samsung Galaxy S II. Further compounded by the fact that we saw an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II come through the FCC some time ago and things just weren’t adding up.

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Consumers want sub $399 smartphones with NFC & biometrics

Posted by Seth Planck

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Juniper Research has published its next report in the Smartphone Evolution Strategies series and has found that consumers want sub $399 smartphone and features like NFC and biometrics

It’s no surprise that Samsung has launched two low cost NFC phones this week, or that Nokia launched three budget NFC phones last week, or even that BlackBerry added yet another low cost NFC phone to their portfolio of smartphone products early last week. According to Juniper Research, global shipments of smartphones are highest in the $151- $399 price range globally. These are unsubsidized prices direct from manufacturers and have seen a massive bump in market representation in the last year.

However, Juniper Research predicts that by 2016 the $151 – $399 price range will take the lion’s share of a 1 billion unit per annum smartphone market. That said, Juniper sees that the most intense competition within the smartphone category exists at the top echelons of devices that cost above $400. This leads the research company to state that the biggest opportunity for OEMs lays in the under $150 zone of smartphones from n0w through to 2016. But price isn’t everything as an increasingly savvy consumer asks for features like NFC, biometrics and 3D on smartphones.

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