Critical Reasoning

Recent market research has indicated that, because Globaltech's current line of cellphones has remained the same over the last few years without adding any cutting-edge features that consumers demand, it has lost considerable market share in the industry. So, in an attempt to regain market share, Globaltech has proposed a new line of cellphones with the capability of synchronizing various household appliances such as computers, light switches, and even toasters.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason to expect that the proposed line of cellphones will be successful in regaining market share?

(A) Engineers have only recently been able to discover a cost-effective way to remotely control household appliances through cellphones.
(B) An increasing number of countries throughout the world now have more cellphones than people.
(C) The number of appliances that can be remotely controlled through a cellphone signal has more than tripled in the last few years.
(D) Globaltech's market share began decreasing at the same time as it stopped adding new features to its cellphones.
(E) In today's economy, the new time-saving ability to remotely control appliances is being demanded by more and more consumers.

Source : Veritas Prep
OA=E

Upon reading the question, we see that this asks us to strengthen an argument. The conclusion, which is contained in the question itself, is "The proposed line of cellphones will be successful in regaining market share."

This is another good reason to always read the question first.

Now that we know the conclusion, we can ask employ the why test. Why do we think that the new proposed line of cell phones will be successful? Because they have "the capability of synchronizing various household appliances such as computers, light switches, and even toasters."

Why is this relevant? I don't know. The argument seems to assume that these features are the ones that consumers want.

Answer choice (E), the credited response, is the one that best supports this assumption. If consumers are demanding these features more and more, this line of cellphones is likely to be popular.