Apple

We recently touched on model numbers within Android User-Agent strings for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. This week we look closer at User-Agent strings for the Apple iPhone 7.

Apple fans rejoice, the next iteration of the iPhone is here. After months of speculation a few days ago Apple officially unveiled the iPhone 7 to the eagerly awaiting press. These new devices can already be detected in our world leading device intelligence, today we'll take a quick look at what the public will get with the latest Apple smartphone.

This week introduces Apple 's two new devices: a brand new iPhone SE and 9.7 inch iPad Pro. Both devices were announced at Apple's press release on the 21^st of March 2016.

Device vendors as varied as the mighty Samsung, to brands like Pantech and Micromax all recognise the importance of identifying different device models when accessing web sites. However, Apple do not fully support this approach.

Some device detection solutions have tried to address the problem by artificially stressing the iPhone or iPad to determine how quickly its processor can complete iterative tasks. Understanding how the device performs under stress provides an indication as to the CPU available and therefore the model of the device. The approach can yield more information but ironically at the expense of user experience as the page load time increases and the battery is drained more rapidly.

If every web site were to stress iPhones and iPads to gain model information the web would slow down for Apple users. This isn’t in Apple’s interest. However, if Apple make a simple change the problem can be avoided.

51Degrees data analysis team stress tested a range of real iPhone and iPad devices, both old and new using all the major web browsers in order to determine if CPU stress testing is a viable additional method to identify iPhone and iPad models alongside User-Agent analysis, screen information and WebGL API

The full results are available for download along with the analysis of the differences between each device and browser.

It seems that the major phone makers have decided now is the time for us to all buy smart watches but what do they actually do for the consumer. They are supposed to make our lives easier by placing all the information that we were getting from our pocket and phones on to our wrist. But will this effect the way we browse the Internet?

Looking at the recent report compiled by ABI Research, Apple and Samsung lead the way in tablet sales but the likes of Amazon, Asus, Lenovo, Acer and even Tesco are now battling it out to join them at the top table. We take a slightly different angle on this and investigate where these vendors are in comparison to each other when it comes down to their customers using them to access the internet.

Like Motorola, Apple have also decided to hold their very own press event in California at their Cupertino headquarters, rather than at the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA). As the dust settled and details emerged we finally got a look at the new iPhone 6 lineup, the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone 6 and the first official look at the Apple Watch.

In this Chart Of The Week we have re-visited the data for NFC-enabled web traffic. Almost one fifth of all devices observed accessing the network in August 2014 were NFC-enabled. Find out why this is important and what consequences NFC technology holds for the conventional plastic Credit Cards.

In this chart of the week we will examine claims that local smartphone vendors pose a threat to major international mobile device manufacturers like Apple, HTC, Samsung, Huawei and Nokia. We will look at 4 largest Asian markets: China, India, Japan and South Korea with some surprising results.