Smartphone storm may climax with iPhone 5

Samsung, Nokia, Sony and Motorola to debut new devices for fall

By Dan Gallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The next few weeks will feature an array of announcements for new smartphone devices, as manufacturers work to get their latest and best devices in place to compete with the juggernaut expected from Apple Inc.’s next iPhone.

The new devices are expected to boost smartphone sales to a record quarter in the final three months of the year, though analysts wonder if upstarts like Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT +0.07% Windows Phone will be able to make headway against the powerful dual-block of Apple AAPL -0.20% and Google Inc. GOOG +1.59% , the latter of which owns the Android operating system that has become the top-selling smartphone platform in the world.

“At this point, we’re looking at iPhone as the big volume mover,” said Ramon Llamas of IDC, who added “it’s hard to bet against that.”

The December quarter will feature a wide variety of new devices that are being previewed over the next few weeks.

Samsung Electronics Co. KR:005930 +2.93% and Sony Corp. SNE +2.09% JP:6758 -1.84% slipped in their news on Wednesday, with new smartphones unveiled at the IFA electronics show in Berlin.


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