Samsung may initially produce about 5 million Galaxy S7 phones

The company may be planning to initially produce 3.3 million units of the Galaxy S7, and 1.6 million units of a curved-screen variant called the Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung may be planning to initially produce about 5 million Galaxy S7 smartphones, according to South Korea’s Electronic Times. The publication stated that Samsung will launch two versions of the upcoming smartphone, a 5.2-inch flat-screen version, and a 5.5-inch curved screen version called the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The company may be planning to initially produce about 3.3 million units of the flat-screen variant, and about 1.6 million units of the curved-screen variant, with plans of launching the device in February.

Earlier this month, ‘people familiar with the matter’ had told the Wall Street Journal that the Samsung Galaxy S7 may come with a pressure sensitive display and a USB Type-C port. Additionally, It was reported that certain versions of the phone would come with a retina scanner. The Wall Street Journal’s report had also stated that the Galaxy S7 would be offered with a curved screen called the Galaxy S7 Edge, which corroborates with the Electronic Times’ report. The phone has been tipped to come with Samsung’s new BRITECELL camera which focuses on improving image quality in low light conditions.The company claims that the new camera is 17% thinner than other cameras.

It was also reported that the Galaxy S7 will be the first smartphone to come with Qualcomm’s new flagship processor, the Snapdragon 820. It is rumoured that Samsung will have exclusive rights on the Snapdragon 820 until April 2016. The S7 may be launched in two variants, one powered by the Snapdragon 820 and the other with the Exynos 8890. It is also possible that the upcoming phone may be 10% cheaper as compared to the current generation Galaxy S6 smartphones. This could be because Samsung’s current strategy of pricing its flagship phones along the Apple iPhone doesn’t seem to be working. The Apple’s iPhones still take a majority of the profits in the global smartphone market. However, what did seem to work for Samsung was the early launch of theGalaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus as the company posted a profit growth for the first time in four quarters.

Free WIfi

Free Wi-Fi at public places for 13,800 villages and 200 cities

Soon, 13,800 villages and around 200 major cities of the state will get free wi-fi at all public places and free or cheap internet at homes and work places as the state government has initiated the process of laying one lakh km long fibre optic network in the state for broadband internet services.

Gujarat government, which failed to create fibre optic network under National Fibre Optic Network (NFON) initiated in 2011 by Congress-led UPA government, has now suddenly decided to aggressively go for a complete digitization of all gram panchayats and all governmentsemi government offices including all schools, colleges, hospitals, public utilities with free wifi facilities under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India Drive.

The state government has initiated the formation of a new Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company in a joint venture with the government of India for state fibre optic network which will connect around 13,800 villages and 200 cities with more than one lakh km fibre optic network.

The new SPV will ensure the last mile fibre-optic connectivity to every village to provide one gigabyte data connectivity, while cities and districts will get 10 giga byte or more speed connectivity.

A total of 12 fibre optic cable net works will be developed. Six cable networks will be auctioned to private players. SPV will be a joint venture between states and the Centre. However, the ownership will rest with the state.

Secretary, science and technology department, Dhananjay Dwivedi, said: "We are in the final stage of formation of the SPV for the state-wide fibre optic network. More than one lakh km network will be developed in the next two-three years. The network provides a very high speed broadband internet connectivity to all the government offices and public places in all the villages and cities. The SPV will also auction half of the network capability to private companies which will be asked to develop such a business model that they earn from different services but provide internet free or at very nominal rates. Within a month SPV is likely to be registered."

The private wi-fi service provider will build a business model around advertising revenues (similar to FM radio) while permitting a base level of public internet access to all residents of the gram panchayat and cities irrespective of economic status.