Apple’s victory in its landmark legal battle may have created a wave of uncertainty for owners of Samsung smartphones — many are dumping them.
A nine person jury on Friday found Samsung guilty of infringement in the patent case over designs and software of Apple’s iPads and iPhones. Apple could seek a a permanent ban on as many as 28 of the Samsung devices that the jury found had infringed on its intellectual property.
Since the verdict, resale site Gazelle.com has seen an over 50% uptick in sales of Samsung phones from customers, a move that comes ahead of Apple’s widely rumored iPhone 5 launch, expected in mid-September. It is also widely expected that Apple will unveil an iPad mini about the same time.
“The spike in Samsung (sellers) was right around the court verdict,” says Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle.com.
Apple on Monday singled out eight phones it would like banned. The company has asked the court for injunctions on Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 (AT&T), Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile), Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail. Apple earlier was granted an injunction banning Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.
The Galaxy S II Epic that’s in Apple’s legal cross hairs saw a 10% drop in prices on the mobile device resale site, says Scarsella.
“I think consumers in general could be shying away from purchasing these devices going forward…
Read more: Scott Martin, USA Today
