Smartphone Wars are good!

I love this time of the year for a number of reasons. For the last decade, Apple announced their new iPhone models the first week of September. They usually ship to the carriers two weeks later. In the old days of wireless, manufacturers would unveil new models at the CES, CTIA and Mobile Congress wireless industry shows. Well, Apple changed all that. Several manufacturers still launch at the Barcelona show but not Apple. It's no secret when Apple makes their announcements, so their competition loves to pre-empt their releases with their own new models. With the possible exception of the exploding Galaxy Note 7, this strategy has worked quite well. I was using a Samsung Galaxy S8+ for the last 6 months and felt it blew the doors of my daughter's iPhone 10. I didn't like having to lock it before putting in my pocket. With my iPhone, the worse case scenario was maybe butt dialing the last person I called. With the S8+, it would launch applications on it's own. I was worried it was going to buy something off e-bay without my knowledge. 

That being said, if you lock the device before pocketing, problem solved. Once again, Samsung is going to steal Apple's thunder. I suspect it will be their new Samsung X model. Find out on August 9th, right here. There has been speculation from our main Apple inside analyst that prices will drop "bigly" on the new three X models. On the other hand, since these devices are all made in China and subject to new trade tariffs, this might offset any price cuts. Regardless, my experience has shown that it is a great time to buy a current model as they usually drop $100 overnight in September.

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