Fully Charged: Apple bests Samsung in phone sales, and Pebble Time is now the all-time top Kickstarter

Apple overtakes Samsung in smartphone sales

In the last quarter of 2014, Apple sold more smartphones than Samsung – a feat that hadn’t occurred since 2011 as the latter Korean company surged thanks to its Galaxy S line. Apple sold some 74.83 million smartphones in the quarter, says research firm Gartner, representing a bump of 49% over the prior year.

Conversely, Samsung sold 73.03 million smartphones, which represented a 12% drop over the previous year’s quarter – and it’s the fifth consecutive quarter of lost ground. Apple, of course, launched the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus just before the holiday season, while Samsung’s Galaxy S5 struggled compared to earlier models. But the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are right around the corner…

[Source: Reuters]

Pebble Time becomes top-funded Kickstarter

It’s (sort of) official, folks: the Pebble Time is the most-funded Kickstarter campaign of all time, surpassing the Coolest Cooler (yes, really) thanks to yesterday’s addition of the premium Steel version of the second-gen smartwatch. And it still has some 23 days left to go.

As of this writing, the campaign has pulled in more than US$15 million (almost £10 million) from nearly 61,000 backers, each of whom will bring home at least one colour-screened device. Sure, it’s possible that loads of those backers will all pull out before the campaign ends, leaving Pebble with a much smaller tally – but that seems unlikely. Pebble’s a true crowdfunding juggernaut.

[Source: Kickstarter]

Mad Max game coming in September

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Mad Max, the open-world action game inspired by the classic post-apocalyptic film series, will debut on 4 September on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. That’s a fair bit after the new (and stunning-looking) Mad Max: Fury Road hits cinemas early this summer, but it should be just in time for the film’s home release.

Where are the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, you might ask? Funny that: seems they’ve been cancelled to let Avalanche Studios focus on the new-gen releases. Seems a reasonable solution at this point, especially after a game like Shadow of Mordor was apparently butchered for last-gen consoles.

[Source: Eurogamer]

March’s PlayStation Plus lineup

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You thought March looked good for free games for Xbox Live Gold members? Well, Sony unveiled its own freebies for premium PlayStation Plus members yesterday, and it’s also a damn fine selection.

PlayStation 4 owners get remastered platformer Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, as well as World War I-inspired adventure Valiant Hearts, while PlayStation 3 players can grab emotional platformer Papo and Yo along with adventure game Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment.

Vita owners can snag the brand new skateboarding game OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood and stealth-actioner CounterSpy, and here’s a nice perk: both can also be downloaded on PS4 via cross-buy, while the latter is also on PS3. Which means you get four free games this month on PlayStation 4, and three on PS3. Don’t miss ‘em.

[Source: PlayStation.Blog]