Top iOS news of the week: iPad Pro, iPhone patent invalid, iPhone and Android rule
This week in iOS evidence appeared supporting the iPad Pro, news that Apple Watch owners like using them to pay, and that the iPhone and Android own the smartphone space.
The US patent office has determined that Apple's design patent for the iPhone is invalid. While not a final ruling, this effectively kills off Apple's claims that Samsung violated this particular patent. The USPTO found not one reason to reject the patent under litigation but four in total.
A published survey found that 80 percent of Apple Watch owners surveyed in the US and UK have used Apple Pay at least once. Respondents also heavily preferred paying for things with the Apple Watch over the iPhone.
Over half the survey respondents found using Apple Pay on the watch to be a "magical" experience.
Apple and Android account for vast majority of smartphones sold
Latest figures from analyst firm Gartner shows that a whopping 96.8 percent of smartphones sold in the latest quarter were due to iPhones and Android phones. Android phones accounted for 82.2 percent while 14.6 percent were iPhones.
Samsung was the leading vendor with 19.9 percent of market share with Apple in second with 10.8 percent.
The rumor of a big iPad, aka iPad Pro, has gotten some legs with evidence appearing in web analytic data. Appsee spotted an iPad in the statistics with a resolution of 2048 x 2732. This would imply a bigger iPad, say one with a 12.9-inch display.
