Boost Mobile began selling Motorola's 4G moto g power online Friday for $99. The 6.6-inch Android smartphone has a 5,000 mAh battery and 48-megapixel triple camera system, said the carrier. Boost prepaid plans start at $10 a month.

Apple led the field of smartphone vendors in Q4 for the first time since 2016, grabbing 20.8% share on strength of the iPhone 12 series, reported Gartner Monday. Apple’s sales grew 14.9% to 79.9 million units. Overall, global sales of smartphones to end users fell 5.4% to 384.6 million in Q4 as consumers largely “remained cautious” in spending and delayed some discretionary purchases, said analyst Anshul Gupta. But 5G smartphones and pro-camera features “encouraged some end users to purchase new smartphones or upgrade their current smartphones.” Samsung quarterly shipments fell 11.8%, for 16.2% share. Samsung held its full-year lead, though it suffered a year-on-year decline of 14.6% in shipments to 253 million as it faced “tough competition” from regional smartphone vendors Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, said Gupta. Apple and Xiaomi were the only two of the top five with growth. The ban on use of Google applications on Huawei smartphones hurt the Chinese smartphone maker, which had a 41% plunge in Q4 shipments. Availability of lower end 5G smartphones and innovative features will fuel upgrades in 2021, said the analyst.

The Motorola one 5G ace smartphone went on sale Friday at Metro by T-Mobile for $89.99, $19.99 for switchers. With a 6.7-inch display and a 48-megapixel main camera, it has a 5,000 mAh battery that can stay connected for over two days on a charge, said T-Mobile, where it will also be sold soon. Pixelworks predicted OEMs will push this year to embed 5G in inexpensive handsets (see 2102120002).

Android users can use their phones to “tap and ride” on Los Angeles Metro buses, said Cubic, which developed the TAP mobile app with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Riders hold their phone near the TAP validator upon boarding a bus or train, and the fare is deducted immediately, it said. Users can also manage other accounts, including Metro Bike Share, from the app. IPhone and Apple Watch versions of TAP were released in September.

Samsung Electronics for 2021 “will continue to strengthen” its Z Fold and Z Flip foldable smartphone lineup “with the aim of popularizing the foldable form factor,” said Yoon-Ho Choi, president-chief financial officer, on a Q4 call Wednesday. Samsung will work to “solidify” the Z Fold’s “positioning in the super premium segment, especially highlighting the usability it offers with a large screen” for viewing entertainment content and as a “productivity” tool for remote work and learning, he said. Samsung’s “aim” with the Z Flip is “to satisfy and target the needs of the millennials, as well as female users, with its differentiated stylish design and also competitive prices,” he said. Samsung also will focus “on expanding the foldable ecosystem by actively reflecting the feedback of users of previous foldable models,” said Choi. He said the company has "several form factor designs" in the works and “will be unveiling them to the market once we have a sufficient level of product completeness.” Four models of high-end laptops were introduced into the market last year using Samsung Display OLED panels, said Choi. That offering is expected to double in 2021, he said. “OLED displays have an advantage in terms of response speed and also the ability to express real black,” he said. “And so compared to other display technologies for computers and laptops, it is especially being found attractive by people who are using, for example, gaming or video applications on their laptops.”

The U.S.-weighted average retail price (US-WARP) of Apple’s latest smartphone series rose by $64 in the December quarter, said Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Thursday. The 12 series model mix resulted in US-WARP of $873 -- the highest in CIRP's iPhone buyer survey of nearly 10 years -- compared with $809 in the December 2019 quarter. The four iPhone 12 models generated 56% of Apple phone sales, despite being available for only part of the quarter, with the 12 and 12 Pro Max each having 17% share, said the research firm. The core iPhone 12, starting at $799, was priced $100 more than last year’s iPhone 11, CIRP noted. For all models, about half of buyers upgraded from base storage, “further boosting average selling price,” said analyst Josh Lowitz. In Apple’s Services segment, paid iCloud storage, Apple TV and Apple Music improved penetration among customers that bought an Apple product in the quarter. Over a third of Apple customers have the streaming music service, and over a quarter have Apple TV+, said analyst Mike Levin. Other services' market penetration was relatively flat with the year-ago quarter, showing the challenges of the segment, said Levin. The company has always had “decent uptake of iCloud storage, with over half of buyers reporting paid usage,” he said, but podcasts and paid news are “relatively steady at earlier levels,” and the company “still struggles to sell AppleCare warranties.” AppleCare, podcasts, iCloud storage and Apple TV+ all face “a range of competitors eager to take on Apple as it works to grow these businesses,” he said. Findings are based on a survey of 500 U.S. Apple customers that bought an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch October-December.

Worldwide shipments of used smartphones rose 9% to 225.4 million last year, reported IDC Thursday. It estimated a 6.4% drop for new phones. IDC predicts used smartphone shipments will reach 351.6 million in 2024 -- market value of $65 billion -- growing about 11% yearly. The used smartphone category is led by mature markets, where trade-ins act as a subsidy to push consumers upgrades, it noted, citing “rapid growth” in trade-in programs and average selling prices over the past year. Flagship phones rely heavily on trade-in programs to make upfront costs more affordable, said the research firm, referencing Apple, Samsung and Huawei’s “aggressive” trade-in offers. Carriers use trade-ins combined with bundled plans to spur upgrades, it noted. "In contrast to the recent declines in the new smartphone market, as well as the forecast for minimal growth in new shipments over the next few years, the used market for smartphones shows no signs of slowing," said analyst Anthony Scarsella.

The iPhone 12 series was 76% of U.S. iPhone sales in the four weeks following the Nov. 13 release date for the series' flagship iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Tuesday. The $699 iPhone 12 mini was the underachiever, having been “lost among the other models,” said CIRP co-founder Josh Lowitz. The mini “likely disappointed Apple with only 6% of sales,” said co-founder Mike Levin, noting the 5.4-inch model has most of the features as the other iPhone 12 models, in a smaller form. Share of the 12 mini was just above that of iPhone XR, which launched in 2018 and is now priced at $499; the one-year-old iPhone 11, now selling for $599; and the second-generation iPhone SE, launched in April at $399. Sales were fairly evenly distributed among the 12, 12 Pro and 12 Max, CIRP said. It surveyed 243 consumers November-December.

Trade-in and resell company Gazelle is ending its trade-in service Feb. 1, it emailed customers Wednesday. Mobile device trade-ins in process will “continue as planned,” it said, providing a link for customers to check on status. Consumers will still be able to buy used electronics from Gazelle’s online store “for a fraction of the price,” the company said, while steering trade-in customers to sister brand ecoATM's kiosks in 4,000 locations across the U.S. Gazelle was acquired in 2015 by Outerwall (see 1510300028), which was bought by Apollo Global Management a year later. After Apollo’s purchase, former components of Outerwall, Redbox, Coinstar and ecoATM became separate businesses. As of July, ecoATM Gazelle had collected over 25 million phones and tablets from consumers, it said. Redbox still operates about 41,000 video rental kiosks in the U.S.

Boost Mobile added the 6.2-inch LG K22 to its smartphone lineup with an online price of $69, it said Tuesday. The 4G phone has a 5-megapixel front camera, 13-megapixel and macro 2-megapixel rear cameras, a 3,000 mAh battery, 2 GB RAM and a quad-core 1.3 GHz processor. Prepaid plans start at $10 per month. Through Jan. 7, Boost Mobile is offering new customers three lines for $90 per month with unlimited talk and text, plus 35 GB LTE data.