Last Week’s 5 Biggest Technology Storylines: Facebook Inc (FB), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

Samsung unveils the Galaxy S4 to an unimpressed crowd
The unveiling of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 smartphone with a 5-inch display didn’t come with any significant surprises this week. The new phone is nothing more than an incremental upgrade and a slightly larger display.

“You say you want a revolution? Too bad, because this Galaxy smartphone update is just that … an update,” said Engadget’s Joseph Volpe. But product launches with nothing more than incremental upgrades are nothing new, of course. Apple pulled it off successfully with the both the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4S. But will Samsung be able to do the same? Apple investors don’t seem to feel threatened. Apple’s stock rallied more than 2.5% in the trading day following Samsung’s highly anticipated launch.

Fellow Fool Evan Niu believes that the reason “Apple investors are feeling confident today is that the Galaxy S4 may not be able to live up to the hype.” Furthermore, he continued, “that’s the downside of an overt attempt to artificially drive anticipation, since it can potentially lead to feelings of disappointment.”

Will Apple increase its dividend this week?
As the one-year anniversary of Apple’s dividend approaches on March 19, speculation continued to heat up last weak regarding the company’s plans for its cash hoard. It was over a month ago when Apple released a statement acknowledging that “Apple’s management team and Board of Directors have been in active discussions about returning additional cash to shareholders.”

Until Apple announces its plans, we can only guess about what Apple might actually do. Warren Buffett thinks Apple should buy back more shares, and I agree. But what do you think Apple should do? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

The article Last Week’s 5 Biggest Technology Storylines originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Daniel Sparks.

Fool contributor Daniel Sparks has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Apple, Facebook, and Netflix.

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