Apple retained its position as the world's No.1 tablet vendor for the last quarter, although year-on-year sales saw a 24.8% decline, according to latest data from market research firm IDC. The Cupertino-based company shipped a total of 16.1 million tablets in Q4 2015, down from 21.4 million units shipped in the same quarter of 2014. Samsung came in second with 9 million units shipped, down from 11 million units the company shipped in Q4 2014, which is an 18.1% decline. The South Korean company's market share stood at 13.7%, compared to 24.5% share of the market Apple claimed. Amazon, Lenovo, and Huawei rounded up the top five with 7.9%, 4.8%, and 3.4% market shares, respectively. What's worth noticing here is the Amazon's annual growth of 175.7%, something the report attributed to the company's latest Kindle iteration, which it said was a runaway hit this holiday season. Talking about 2015 as a whole, while Apple and Samsung retained the top two spots with 24% and 16.2% market share, respectively, Lenovo climbed to the third spot with 5.4% share. Asus and Huawei rounded up the top five 3.4% and 3.1% of the market, respectively. Overall, the worldwide tablet market - which includes slate tablets as well as detachable tablets - continued to decline, with a negative year-on-year growth of 13.7%. However, separately, the market for detachable tablets was up, with shipments reaching an all-time high of 8.1 million devices. "This quarter was unique as we had new detachables in the market from all three of the major platform players," said IDC's Senior Research Analyst Jitesh Ubrani. "Despite lukewarm reviews, the iPad Pro was the clear winner this season as it was the top selling detachable, surpassing notable entries from Microsoft and other PC vendors." "It's also important to note that the transition towards detachable tablets has presented positive opportunities for both Apple and Microsoft. However, Google's recent foray into this space has been rather lackluster as the Android platform will require a lot more refinement to achieve any measurable success." "One of the biggest reasons why detachables are growing so fast is because end users are seeing those devices as PC replacements," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. "We believe Apple sold just over two million iPad Pros while Microsoft sold around 1.6 million Surface devices, a majority of which were Surface Pro and not the more affordable Surface 3. With these results, it's clear that price is not the most important feature considered when acquiring a detachable - performance...


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Samsung Galaxy S7 camera to protrude just 0.8mm
Seasoned leakster OnLeaks has outed a couple of schemanics, which show that Samsung has made subtle changes to the back design of the Galaxy S7 compared to the Galaxy Note5. Both phones have slightly curved backs, but whereas the Galaxy Note5 sports curves only on the left and right sides, the Galaxy S7 will sport them from each side on every edge of the back. Additionally, another schematics snapshot shows that the Galaxy S7 will have a camera bump, but not the same as the Galaxy S6. Samsung has tried to reduce the bump on the back and for the Galaxy S7 it's believed to be 0.8mm compared to the 1.7mm of the Galaxy S6's camera. Yesterday, @evleaks leaked an alleged press photo of the Galaxy S7's back. Previous leaks have suggested the phone will have four versions: Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Plus, Galaxy S7 edge, and Galaxy S7 edge Plus. In terms of specifications, expect a choice between the Exynos 8890 and Snapdragon 820 chipsets. Other rumors point a brand new 12MP 1/2.0" sensor. Samsung will reveal the Galaxy S7 on Sunday, February 21 in Barcelona. That's just a day before MWC 2016 officially kicks off. Source • Source (2) |...


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Canon launches flagship EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR
Canon has launched its newest flagship DSLR, the EOS-1D X Mark II, meant for professional photographers. Canon EOS-1D X Mark II The camera uses Canon's newest 20.2 megapixel full frame sensor. Backed by a new dual DIGIC 6+ image processor, the camera is capable of taking shooting in RAW at 14fps up 170 consecutive shots (or as many JPEGs as your memory card can hold). There's also internal 4K 60fps and 1080p 120fps video recording options built-in. ISO range is now 100 to 51200, expandable to 409600. The Mark II also boasts of a new 61-point Dual Pixel CMOS AF system with 41 cross type sensors, with an improved AI Servo III+ predictive algorithm for better accuracy. The camera has built-in GPS but for Wi-Fi you will need to get the WFT-E8 optional accessory that supports 802.11ac for file transfers to computers or smartphones. It is compatible with both CF and CFast memory cards. All of this packed in a weather sealed magnesium alloy body. The EOS-1D X Mark II is priced at $5999 body-only or bundled with a 64GB CFast card and reader for $6299. It will be available in...


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Microsoft Lumia 850 photographed in the wild, looks just like the renders
The Microsoft Lumia 850 starred in a few 3D renders late last year, but now there are photos of the actual device. There was a lot of uncertainty about the screen size, but the latest info points to 5.4" in size. Above it is a front-facing flash and what is probably an iris scanner for Windows Hello. Microsoft Lumia 850 (allegedly) Interestingly, the microUSB 2.0 port (and it does look like 2.0 rather than the new Type-C) is on top, while the 3.5mm audio jack is on the bottom. Things usually go the other way around. Anyway, the Microsoft Lumia 850 is expected to have a Snapdragon 617 chipset, like the HTC One A9 and the Samsung Galaxy A5 (that one actually uses S615, but close enough). Source (in Chinese) |...


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