, Columnist
Smartphones' Death Knell
Handsets are turning into commodity products as the chips that power them become more specialized.
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Remember when the release of a new mobile handset was exciting? When Siri's jokes were funny, curved screens were sexy, and your pulse quickened if Steve Jobs remembered one more thing?
Forget all that. Mobile phones are becoming as boring as PCs, televisions and washing machines.
Apple on Tuesday forecast its first fall in sales since 2003 amid signs the global smartphone market is approaching saturation. And take a look at Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter and full-year results today: Annual operating income from the company's phone division has dipped below that from its semiconductor business for the first time since 2010, and looks to be headed lower still: