Sony included a variable telephoto lens paired with a dual pixel diode sensor in its latest flagship series 5G Xperia phones. The Xperia 1 III and Xperia 5 III, due in the U.S. in summer, have 70mm and 105mm focal lengths in the same periscope camera, it said Wednesday. The phones were co-developed with the engineers behind Sony’s Alpha brand cameras and have fast, continuous autofocus and real-time eye autofocus in all lenses, said the company. Sony’s Bionz X processor enables low-light shots in burst mode, it said. The Android phones have AI zoom, a 4K HDR Gorilla Glass display with 120 Hz refresh rate, stereo speakers and game enhancer features including 240Hz motion blur reduction. Sony positioned the phones to creators, citing 5x slow-motion in 4K HDR at 120 frames per second; it also records in 21:9 ratio at 24/25/30/60fps. They are the first phones to support Sony's 360 Reality Audio, and subscribers will get three free months of Tidal Hi-Fi when they buy either phone model, including Sony's 360 Reality Audio experience. Two-channel music sources are upmixed into an "immersive sound experience, in real time," said the company. Prices weren’t given for the phones, which run on the Qualcomm 888 5G platform.

LG’s exit from the smartphone business will expand the market dominance of Apple and Samsung, reported GlobalData. The leading phone makers "already have a stranglehold over the US smartphone market,” said analyst Anisha Bhatia, saying LG’s exit will reduce the influence of carriers over the choice of phones they offer, making them “more dependent on Samsung and Apple.” The smartphone business is getting “increasingly difficult to compete in,” said the analyst: “Stagnation in hardware innovation, consumer saturation with high phone prices, and lengthened upgrade rates have led to slowing growth in shipments and hardware revenues.” The shrinking pool of OEMs and the inability to offer value phones from Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo due to “geopolitical tensions,” will affect U.S. carriers and limit device selections for consumers, she said.

Apple iPhone 12 models had 15% of global smartphone sales in January, said Counterpoint Research Friday. The top four selling models for the month were the 12 (6%), 12 Pro Max (5%), 12 Pro (4%) and 11 (2%) iPhones. Xiaomi’s sub-$150 Redmi 9A (2%) and 9 (1%) models were fifth and sixth, followed by the Samsung Galaxy A21S (1%). The iPhone mini, Galaxy A31 and iPhone SE 2020 all had 1% of sales, it said. Counterpoint cited a “pent-up demand” for 5G upgrades in the iOS base, Nearly a third of iPhone 12 series sales came from the U.S. due to strong carrier promotions and 5G demand. The Redmi phones were 25% of Xiaomi’s total phone sales for the month, said the researcher.

LG, which outlined its July 31 exit from smartphones this week (see 2104050038), said Thursday that consumers still using its premium phones will receive up to three versions of Android operating system upgrades. The upgrade commitment applies to phones released in 2019 and later: the G, V, Velvet and Wing series. Select 2020 models -- Stylo and K series -- will receive two upgrades, said the company. Upgrades will depend on Google’s distribution schedule, carrier requirements, device performance and compatibility, it said. LG will continue to manufacture phones through Q2 to meet contractual obligations to carriers and partners, it said. Customers can still buy LG phones currently in inventory, it said, with service support and security software updates to be provided “for a period of time for certain devices.”

Ericsson executives briefed FCC staff on the complexity of offering real-time text (RTT) instead of traditional text technology (TTY), as required by the regulator. “To transfer information from IP-based networks using RTT to legacy circuit-switched networks using TTY, operators must incorporate multiple gateways (depending on which systems require interconnection),” said Thursday's posting in docket 16-145. Activating RTT requires several steps, starting with the introduction of voice over LTE “and then adding hardware and/or software conversion for enabling RTT to TTY conversations,” the company said.

An estimated 40% of consumers have increased the use of the speakerphone function on their smartphones since the start of the pandemic, Cirrus Logic found. The chipmaker hired SAR Insight & Consulting to canvass 1,722 consumers in China, Germany, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S., finding younger respondents especially rely "more on a variety of smartphone applications that require better audio, indicative of behavior that we expect to continue beyond the pandemic,” said SAR analyst Peter Cooney. Cirrus markets “smart amplifier” chips that it says will boost smartphone audio quality through the handset’s speakers without draining the battery. Respondents globally “agreed that the importance of audio in their purchase-making decision process for mobile devices was on the rise,” said the chipmaker. “Chinese respondents in particular reported a desire for better audio speakers,” with 72% asserting that audio was becoming more important in their decision to buy a smartphone, it said. Consumers cited a variety of reasons for using speaker mode, such as for streaming video content, exercise, e-learning, dance practice and karaoke, it said.

Kyocera launched a ruggedized 5G smartphone on Verizon’s Ultra Wideband 5G network, it said Thursday. It’s pitching the Android smartphone for use by consumers and in public safety, enterprise and small business. The DuraForce Ultra 5G is built on Qualcomm’s 765G mobile platform and AI engine. Scratch-proof Sapphire Shield protects the 5.45-inch Full HD display and rear cameras, said the company. It’s certified to the MIL-STD-810H standard to withstand drops up to 5 feet onto concrete, to IPX5/IPX8 for water immersion and to IP6X for dust resistance. The phone is Kyocera’s first with a lithium polymer battery designed to survive drops and shocks.

The “supply-side push” of 5G devices will help propel global smartphone shipments to 13.9% year-over-year growth in Q1 and 5.5% for 2021, reported IDC Wednesday, forecasting a 3.6% compound annual growth rate for smartphones through 2025. IDC expects 5G-enabled handsets to be more than 40% of volume in 2021, and 69% share in 2025. “Strong performance" in Q4 "led to a huge push from all OEMs to increase production,” said IDC Senior Analyst Sangeetika Srivastava. “Although this may create some temporary challenges in production, we do not foresee any significant gap as the manufacturers successfully cope.”

Samsung’s delay in launching its 2021 foldable smartphones until Q3 will spark an unexpectedly “significant surge” in such shipments August through December, blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young Monday. At least three models are expected from Samsung, including “a more aggressively priced version” of its clamshell foldable, he said. “Samsung should drive a lot of volume.” Q4 2020 foldable shipments were up 54% from Q3 and 242% from the 2019 quarter. A 40% year-on-year decline is expected in Q2 2021, but shipments in Q3 and Q4 “should each be up well over 100%,” he said.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) “intends to sign” a bill to require smartphones and tablets to include pre-installed and automatically activated adult content filters, a spokesperson said Monday. The Senate voted 19-6 for HB-72 Thursday after the House passed it 41-30 last month. It could be some time before it takes effect because the requirement is contingent on five other states enacting similar laws. TechNet and CTA opposed the bill in a Feb. 22 letter to Utah Senate Technology Committee Chair Wayne Harper (R). Many free and paid content filtering services exist, completely reliable filters are not technically feasible, and the bill would inappropriately "place device manufacturers in the role of deciding what content is obscene and whether it should be restricted," said the letter emailed to us by CTA.