Tantra's Mantra with Prakash Sangam

Samsung announced its latest Galaxy Z Fold8 series phones during its Unpacked event on July 22, 2026. This announcement was even more crucial as Samsung seeks to maintain its lead in the form factor it pioneered, with Apple expected to introduce its own foldable device soon.In this episode, fellow analyst Mark Vena of SmartTech Research and I review the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, exchange experiences and views about the device, how it further enhances the foldable experience compared to Z Fold7, in terms of battery life, brightness, less noticeable crease, and other features, market potential for the new, wider form factor Z Fold8, overall opportunity for the foldable market. We also delve into how the Apple foldable iPhone will affect the market.

In Apple's high-profile case against OpenAI, the latter went on a public offensive. It aggressively projected its version of the story, countering Apple’s allegations through many public channels, including news media and its own blog, even before filing its official legal reply to the court.In this episode, I continue the discussion with Christie Thoene, former VP of Legal and Policy Comms at Qualcomm, on OpenAI’s strategy, how it exploited Apple’s initial misstep to set its own narrative in the public, the delicate balance Apple has to maintain between pushing its case without creating the perception that it is impeding innovation, how important the PR offensive is in high-visibility cases like this, what are the next step and more. We also delve into what Apple’s motion for injunction and OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the case mean.Index:00:00 - Intro02:40 - Guest intro (Christie Thoene) 03:15 - OpenAI's strategy to publicly respond to Apple's allegations before court filing, and Apple's initial misstep (company's #blog and MSNBC)07:11 - Apple's request for "preliminary #injunction" against OpenAI to stop working on the disputed products/services and OpenAI's request for "motion to dismiss" the case because of lack of merit09:20 - What OpenAI's comms team might be thinking now, and what would be their short-term goals; Quickly set the narrative in their favor, and make the case a public spectacle11:31 - What Apple's comms team might be thinking now, and what would be their short-term goals; Not fight it in the public square, don't be perceived as a "large company" trying to quell innovation; making sure the #brand is not affected16:33 - Does the public posturing affect the case? Time is on Apple's side, whereas OpenAI would like to quickly close this case so that it doesn't affect their product & IPO plans19:47 - How the public discourse affects the judge, potential jury, and Apple's current and potential new partners22:00 - Will public opinion affect the legal positioning of both companies?25:26 - Next steps: 1) OpenAI's legal reply to court (Aug 2026); 2) Judge's decision on the injunction and #motiontodismiss requests (Oct 2026)27:22 - Closing

Samsung launched its latest flagship Galaxy S25 Series smartphones during its Unpacked event in Jan 2025. This Gen AI powerhouse phone is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform, customized for Galaxy. In this episode, I talk to Chris Patrick, SVP and GM of Qualcomm's Handsets and Wearables business. We discuss the company's long-standing collaboration with Samsung, enabling Galaxy AI on S25 phones, collaboration with Google for optimizing Gemini AI models for the Snapdragon platform, and more. We dig deeper into specific customizations Qualcomm has done for Galaxy, the evolution of AI and NPU capabilities, and what the future holds. Also, don't forget to check out my review of Galaxy S25 Ultra here: Buy it for performance, and Keep it for Galaxy AI. (https://bit.ly/40SXYr3)

Ericsson held its Analyst Conference on Nov. 7, 2024, at its D-15 Labs Innovation Center in Santa Clara, CA. It was a packed event with many interesting sessions with speakers from Ericsson and scores of its partners, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Meta, AWS, Google Cloud, Dell, Intel, and others. The theme of the event was "Programable High Performance Networks." As expected, the emphasis was on programmability, to scale the network up and down to make it fit the use cases, network scenarios, apps, and service needs. In this episode, Leonard Lee of Next Curve and I discuss Network APIs, monetization, mechanisms that distribute the "value" across the value chain, and how Ericsson is accelerating it through its JV with operators. We also delve into the role of AI, Edge AI, rApps, and Ericsson's pilot of making cellular primary connectivity for enterprises, eliminating wire and wired connectivity.

After the successful launch of eMBB, everybody is eagerly looking at the next phase of 5G. Industry observers are wondering where the subsequent growth will come from, how the mobile network operators will recoup the enormous investments they have made in deploying 5G, when the exciting applications and use cases we have discussed for years will come to fruition, and what the key enablers will be. In this long-ranging discussion with John Smee, SVP and Head of Wireless Research at Qualcomm, I explore 5G Advanced, drivers of wide deployments of 5G Stand Alone, and the role of AI in the evolution of 5G, 6G, and beyond.

This episode was recorded at Verizon's 5G Innovation Lab in San Francisco, during its inauguration event. I spoke to Brian Mecum, VP of Device Technology and Sports Innovation at Verizon, regarding the lab, partners, applications/services developed there that have become commercial, next phase of 5G for Verizon and more.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been a growing trend recently and became a norm during the pandemic. The biggest driver for this trend has been the upfront cost savings for the enterprises. A recent Oxford Economics report commissioned by Samsung analyzes the phenomenon with Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach and casts doubt on the perceived cost savings. In this episode, I discuss the study's findings with Chris Balcik, VP of B2B Sales at Samsung USA. Here is the link to download the full report: Maximizing mobile value - BYOD or not to BYOD (sign-up required)