Kyocera smartphones are known for their durability. They are often used by people who work in demanding environments, such as construction workers and firefighters. The company used to be a minor but significant player in the smartphone market. However, as competition increased, the company struggled to find success. In response, tech giant changed its strategy. Here are the details…

Kyocera Statement Puts End to Rumors

Recently, there have been rumors that Kyocera is planning to completely overhaul its smartphone strategy. These rumors claimed that the Japanese company would focus only on premium models in the future. However, Kyocera has now clarified that this is not the case. Kyocera has said that it will be making some changes to its smartphone strategy, but these changes will not be as dramatic as the rumors have suggested. Instead, Kyocera will be adapting the strategies that it has used in North America to the global market.

“Kyocera refocused its North American wireless phone market strategy to emphasize business solutions several years ago, and our Japan-based parent company is now doing the same in the Japanese market. The rugged durability of a Kyocera smartphone remains attractive to many consumers, and consumers can continue to purchase our smartphones as they always have – through carriers such as Verizon, both in-store and online, and through the Kyocera website.“

Kyocera’s statement put an end to the rumors that the company was withdrawing from the rugged phone market. The rumors were based on a translation error from a Chinese source. As people who produce English content on the internet, we often use sources from all over the world. This includes sources from China, where English is not the first language. As a result, it is not uncommon for translation errors to occur.

In this case, the translation error led to the misunderstanding that Kyocera was withdrawing from the rugged phone market. However, Kyocera has since issued a statement clarifying that this is not the case. The company is committed to continuing to produce rugged phones, which are popular with users who need a durable device. We are glad that Kyocera has clarified the situation and will continue to produce rugged phones. These phones are an important option for users who need a device that can withstand harsh conditions.

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International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its report on the Japan Mobile Phone and Smartphone Markets respectively for Q4 2020 as well as the year 2020 as a whole. Unsurprisingly, Apple was the most popular brand. The Cupertino-based tech giant along with four domestic brands and Samsung captured most of the market.

According to the report, the Japan Mobile Phone Market shipped 11.432 million units in the fourth quarter of 2020 with a 10.6% YoY growth. This was mostly due to the release of the 5G-capable iPhone 12 series. Apple’s shipments incremented by 13.8% YoY with 6.015 million units. It had a whopping 52.6% market share.

The iPhone-maker was followed by Sharp with 1.414 million units and 12.4% market share in the second place. Kyocera with a 7.0% market share and 801,000 units in shipments came third, while Samsung obtained fourth position with a 6.8% market share by shipping 781,000 million units. Lastly, Sony was the fifth largest mobile phone brand in Japan in Q4 2020 with 732,000 units in shipments and a 6.4% market share.

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Talking about only smartphones, the brands shipped a total of 11.301 million units in the last quarter of 2020 with a 10.3% YoY increase. As far as ranking is concerned, the only difference is that Kyocera came fourth, while Samsung captured the third place.

As for the year 2020, Apple was Japan’s largest mobile phone brand with a 46.5% market share by shipping 15.637 million units with an 8.3% YoY growth. It was followed by Sharp, Fujitsu, Samsung and Kyocera with 13.3%, 8.3%, 8.1%, and 7.5% market shares respectively. These companies shipped 4.474 million, 2.794 million, 2.711, and 2.5 million units of handsets.

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The report also mentions some of the popular product lineup by these top 5 brands. Such as Sharp AQUOS Sense 3 series, Fujitsu Raku-Raku Smartphone series, 5G-enabled Samsung Galaxy S & Galaxy A series, and Kyocera BASIO series for elders.

Last but not least, the ranking remains the same for only smartphones with some minor differences in the market share, like Apple (47.3%), Sharp (12.7%), Fujitsu (8.5%), Samsung (8.2%), and Kyocera (7.2%).

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We have come to a stage where smartphones can essentially replace DSLRs. Be it the Huawei P30 Pro with its incredible 50X zoom or the Pixel 3 XL with its amazing low-light images, smartphones have come a really long way in the camera department. But how long have they come? Who was the first to conceptualize camera phones? We answer these questions in today’s article for Throwback Tech Thursday.

There’s actually quite a bit of confusion as to who released the first ever camera phone. Wikipedia states it was Samsung with its SCH-V200 that marked the entry of camera phones. However, the same article argues that the world’s true camera phone could be from Sharp. The Japanese company had released the camera-equipped J-SH04 a few months after Samsung’s SCH-V200, but with an integrated camera module. However, if you research a bit, you’ll realize that there was actually a camera phone released even before these two models (which Wikipedia had initially missed)!

The first true camera phone was actually announced by a different Japanese manufacturer, Kyocera. It was the VP-210 Visual Phone that’s the world’s first true camera phone. It was released way before the above two models, as early as 1999 in Japan. What’s even more interesting is that it had a front facing camera, similar to what we have to today for selfies. Clearly, it was a phone that was way ahead of its time! The Kyocera VP-210 came with a 2-inch color TFT display with a 110,000-pixel camera. Don’t be confused with the large pixel count, it was actually a tiny sensor with just 0.11MP. Unsurprisingly, it was expensive at $335 for ‘1999’ standards.

Now let’s look at the two models that Wikipedia claims to be the first camera phones. Samsung SCH-V200 was officially released in June 2000. On the other hand, Sharp’s J-SH04 was announced a few months later, in November 2000.

Both had cameras and could capture images, however, there was a fundamental difference between the two models. The Samsung SCH-V200 was basically a phone with a camera module attached at the back. It had a 0.35MP camera and the phone could capture 20 photos. However, in order to share a photo, you had to connect it to your computer.

On the other hand, Wikipedia claims Sharp’s J-SH04 was the first real camera phone because it had an integrated design. Samsung’s model had a half integrated design i.e. the camera module shared the same case and battery but wasn’t connected to the phone functionally. While on the Sharp J-SH04, you could share photos captured on the phone directly through the device because the camera was fully integrated. However, it’s worth noting that Sharp’s 0.11MP camera was weaker than Samsung 0.35MP one.

So, in all regards, it looks like the Kyocera VP-210 and its front-facing 0.11MP camera was the world’s first true camera phone. It all basically started with a 0.11MP sensor. Today, we are at a 48MP sensors and even 64MP camera modules on smartphones. The megapixel count is bound to increase further in the coming years. So don’t be surprised if you see 192MP camera phones in the future, after all, Qualcomm’s high-end chipsets already support such high-resolution camera modules!

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Kyocera is now ready to launch their rugged smartphone, the phone is called as Kyocera Hydro Vibe, the phone will be has IP57 certification it’s mean the phone will has water- and dust-resistant body.

According to the foreign news, the phone will launchs on May 9th, while the latter will start selling  on May 27th.

The phone will packs with 4.5 inch qHD screeen (540 x 960 pixels), powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor that has 1.2Ghz clock-speed, sports with 1.5GB of RAM, coupled by 8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front facing cameras, and has 2,000 mAh battery capacity.

Unfortunately, for a while now, the phone is offers in Sprint Mobile and where you can get the phone for $10 a month for two years. Virgin, on the other hand, will sell it outright for $149.99, this phone is also works with LTE from Sprint connectivty.

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