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Category: Electronics

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Electronics news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 Platform for headsets and smart glasses

    Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 Platform for headsets and smart glasses

    Yesterday Qualcomm kicked off the 2022 Snapdragon Summit by introducing the next generation of its top-of-the-line Application Processor (AP), the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This chip will be inside devices available to consumers by the end of this year. Today, the San Diego-based chip designer unveiled the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 Platform designed to deliver augmented reality (AR) for smart glasses and other head-worn gear.

    The new chip is part of Qualcomm’s Extended Reality (XR) offerings. Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 “delivers groundbreaking AR technology to unlock a new generation of sleek, highly capable glasses. The Company built Snapdragon AR2 from the ground up to revolutionize the head-worn glass form factor and usher in a new era of spatial computing experiences for the real-world/metaverse mix.

    Augmented reality is a technology that places computer-generated images (CGI) on top of the user’s real-world view of the world. A good example is the Live View AR feature available for Google Maps for those walking to a destination. The phone’s rear camera provides the user with a real-time image of what is in front of him while CGI images of arrows will appear over the real-time image to help guide and navigate the user to his destination.
    The main processor on the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 takes up less space on the printed circuit board while still improving AR performance by 2.5 times. The chip also uses 50% less power. As Qualcomm puts it, “This enables rich AR experiences on glasses that can be comfortably worn for extended periods of time and meet the demands of both consumers and enterprise use cases.”
    With the platform, latency-sensitive data such as video streaming, surgery, multi-player video games, and computerized stock trading, will be sent directly to the headset. Other, more complex data requirements will be off-loaded to a Snapdragon-powered smartphone, PC, or another kind of compatible host device.
    The AR processor is designed for headsets with multiple cameras and will, in fact, support up to nine concurrent cameras. The platform comprises a multi-chip architecture, which is important when dealing with the limited space available with smart glasses. There is an AR processor, an AR co-processor, and a connectivity platform.
    Hugo Swart, vice president of XR product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. says, “We built Snapdragon AR2 to address the unique challenges of head-worn AR and provide industry-leading processing, AI, and connectivity that can fit inside a stylish form factor. With the technical and physical requirements for VR/MR and AR diverging, Snapdragon AR2 represents another metaverse-defining platform in our XR portfolio to help our OEM partners revolutionize AR glasses.”
    The AR co-processor will handle important tasks such as eye-tracking and can also use iris authentication not only to verify identity but also to render certain images only when the user is looking at a certain part of the display. This could save on power consumption.

    The system also uses the FastConnect 7800 connectivity platform allowing it to utilize Wi-Fi 7. This will allow latency between AR glasses and the host device (including a smartphone, if that is the case) to be less than 2 milliseconds (ms).

    The Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 will be built on a 4nm process node (Qualcomm will not reveal which foundry is producing the chip) and Qualcomm is in “various stages of development” with manufacturers interested in the platform “including Lenovo, LG, Nreal, OPPO, Pico, QONOQ, Rokid, Sharp, TCL,Vuzix and Xiaomi.
    Rubén Caballero, Corporate Vice President of Mixed Reality, Devices & Technology at Microsoft stated that “Microsoft worked closely with Qualcomm on the platform requirements for Snapdragon AR2 to help define the purpose-built, foundational technologies to unlock new possibilities in AR experiences. Snapdragon AR2 platform innovations will revolutionize head-worn AR devices that will transform immersive productivity and collaboration and we look forward to seeing the innovation that Qualcomm and its partners will bring to market.”
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  • Tencent to hand $20 billion Meituan stake to shareholders as sales slip

    Tencent to hand $20 billion Meituan stake to shareholders as sales slip

    The internet giant said Wednesday that Tencent Holdings Ltd. will distribute 90% of its holdings in meal delivery giant Meituan to shareholders as a special dividend.

    Tencent will hand out 958 million of Meituan’s B shares to shareholders at a rate of one Meituan share for every 10 Tencent shares. Based on Meituan’s Wednesday closing price of HK$162.3 a share ($20.74), the payout will worth roughly $20 billion.

    As of June 30, Tencent owned more than 1 billion of Meituan’s B shares, or 19.75%, making it the biggest shareholder. The distribution will leave Tencent with less than 2% of Meituan. Tencent said it expects to complete the distribution in March.

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  • Apple might be building its own version of the metaverse

    Apple might be building its own version of the metaverse

    At this point, it is somewhat obvious that Apple is done with new hardware releases for 2022. After quietly launching a couple of new iPads and a new Apple TV, the American tech giant has decided to call it a year.

    Many are bound to be disappointed by the lack of a dedicated November/October event, as is the norm and the fact that we will not be getting new MacBooks this fall. Still, it seems Apple could be building momentum for something big – namely, its VR/AR headset.

    The latter is set to make its debut sometime next year, possibly at the company’s first event for 2023 in Spring. It is hardly a secret that Apple has big plans for AR/VR technology – Tim Cook even went as far as saying that that could be the “next big thing”.

    Now we are getting the first taste of just how far the Cupertino company is willing to go. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is now beginning to work on a whole “3D mixed-reality world” and is seeking new talent.

    This information is based on a recent Apple job listing and was first brought forward by Gurman himself in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter. According to the prominent tech pundit, whose track record concerning Apple leaks is impeccable, the Cupertino company could be building a virtual environment similar to Mark Zuckerberg’s “metaverse”.

    Gurman jokingly quips that the controversial term will never be officially used by the company. Regardless of how Apple decides to name this virtual universe, one thing is certain – the rumored VR/AR headset is only the beginning.

    With Google also set to enter the fray with a headset of its own sooner rather than later, no less than three American tech giants will be looking to pave the way for our VR/AR future. It seems Tim Cook was right – that truly is “the next big thing”.

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  • iPhone 14 Pro, Pro Max in short supply

    iPhone 14 Pro, Pro Max in short supply

    Customers have been waiting for a month for delivery of iPhone’s latest models, the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, due to high demand and low supply, retailers said.

    Apple said on its website on November 7 (Vietnam time): “We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models. However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated and customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.”

    According to the U.S. firm, Covid-19 restrictions have temporarily impacted its primary phone assembly facility in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

    Phung Phuong of Mobile Vietnam said Pro and 14 Pro Max supply only met 20% of demand in the country. Nguyen Huu Phuc of Minh Tuan Mobile said there is no plan or schedule for the next batch of deliveries to customers.

    Quoc Thien of the central city of Da Nang ordered a purple 128 GB Pro Max in mid-October and was told it would be delivered in two weeks. The store then rescheduled the delivery to early November, but Thien did not receive it then, and has not heard about the new delivery date either.

    Diem Ai in HCMC’s Go Vap District said she urgently needed to buy 20 Pro Max phones to gift, but no store could supply them though she was willing to pay extra.

    Pham Tuan Anh of ShopDunk said hundreds of customers who have ordered the purple Pro Max with 128 or 256 GB are waiting for delivery, but phones in other colors and with larger capacities are available.

    The Pro and 14 Pro Max cost VND28.9-32.5 million (US$1,165-1,310). The purple version costs an additional VND1 million ($40).

    In contrast, the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, also released in mid-October, are widely available.

    Retailers said sales of the two models account for less than 5% of total iPhone 14 sales.

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  • Apple reportedly working on a way to shorten Siri trigger phrase

    Apple reportedly working on a way to shorten Siri trigger phrase

    Siri has become a signature feature of the Apple ecosystem. While the virtual assistant has become a part of almost every product the Cupertino company manufactures, its allure has somewhat lagged behind in recent years.

    At least a part of that seems to be attributed to the less-than-ideal phrase that users need to utter in order to access Siri – ‘Hey, Siri’. A notorious pet peeve of numerous Apple users is the plethora of phrases that can trigger Siri by mistake.

    Apple seems to have identified this problem and is reportedly working on a solution. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the final authority on all things Apple, the tech giant is developing a simplified way to access Siri. This information was first brought forward in Gurman’s Power On newsletter.

    The main goal is to find a way to drop the ‘Hey’ in the trigger phrase, so as to enable users to directly initiate a command, following the word ‘Siri”. For example, instead of the whole “Hey Siri, play some music”, users could simply say “Siri, play some music”. This is similar to how Amazon’s Alexa currently works.

    As mundane a change as this might seem like, according to Gurman, it is a ‘technical challenge that requires a significant amount of AI training and underlying engineering work’. The change is supposed to roll out sometime in the next couple of years – Gurman gives a rather rough estimate for a launch date in either 2023 or 2024.

    The biggest complexity is making sure that the single word ‘Siri’ can be picked up regardless of the speaker’s accent and/or dialect. By making the trigger phrase shorter, the likelihood of the phrase not being properly detected increases significantly – hence, the programming difficulties.

    Siri has come a long way since it made its debut and Apple is continuously working on ways of improving its virtual assistant. This seems like the logical next step in that direction.

  • Dollar hike spikes iPhone prices

    Dollar hike spikes iPhone prices

    Electronic retailers have hiked iPhone prices by around VND1 million (around $40) as the U.S. dollar strengthens against the Vietnamese dong.

    The prices of iPhone 11 has increased from VND10.7 million last week to VND11.3-11.7 million this week, that of iPhone 13 from VND18.5 million to VND19.1-19.3 million, and iPhone 13 Pro Max from VND27 million to VND28-28.5 million.

    The U.S. dollar has risen 8.55% over the Vietnamese dong since the beginning of this year.

    Most retailers have hiked prices of older models like iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 Series by more than 5%, but kept those of the latest model, iPhone 14, unchanged to attract customers.

    However, many dealers say that the selling prices of iPhone 14 will also increase sooner than later because of the exchange rate.

    A 24hStore manage told Tuoi Tre newspaper that iPhone 14 prices are likely to go up by more than VND1 million, and that of iPhone 14 Pro by more than VND2 million.

    Since the U.S. dollar has risen against the Vietnamese dong to nearly VND25,000, the selling prices of other new products of Apple, including iPad Pro M2, iPad Gen 10, MacBook and Apple Watch, as well as their accessories such as styluses and keyboards, have increased by 5-7%.

    A CellphoneS store manager said most importers and distributors of Apple products and related accessories such as charging cables and speakers have hiked their selling prices by 5-10%.

    Some others, which have yet to increase prices, have cut promotions.

  • Huawei Mate 50 Pro Has the Best Smartphone Camera and the Highest Score in the History of DXOMARK

    The new king of mobile photography has arrived!

    The HUAWEI Mate 50 Pro has the best smartphone camera and the highest score in the history of DXOMARK.

    The Leading Mobile Photography Smartphone Currently Available on the Market

    Top-notch 50 MP camera with ultra-aperture, and the world’s first physically adjustable aperture in 10 levels, starting from f/1.4, top performance, and the highest mobile camera test score in the history of DXOMARK testing… yes, these are all epithets we can announce Huawei Mate 50 Pro. Achieving an outstanding score of 149 points, the Mate 50 Pro has officially taken the position of the best flagship smartphone for mobile photography currently available on the market apart from excelling in numerous other categories and having several stand-out characteristics; e.g. SuperHold – with quick app launches, nimble operations, and smooth web browsing (which is a great ground for engaging with the best online betting sites in Sri Lanka), you can both get going keep going quickly.

    Huawei’s latest flagship passed the DXOMARK test of the world’s leading quality assessment laboratory with flying colors and left all the biggest competitors in the industry far behind with its superior overall performance and mobile photography features.

    Huawei Returned to First Place in the DXOMARK Ranking

    The latest DXOMARK ranking clearly shows that the new Mate 50 Pro is equipped with the best mobile camera available on the market. This flagship comes with a 50MP ultra-aperture camera and the world’s first 10-level physically adjustable aperture and includes key improvements in the optical system, mechanical structure, imaging, and image processing technology. Mate’s camera with ultra and physically adjustable aperture, which ranges from f/1.4 up to 4.0, in combination with the XD Fusion Pro image drive can set the quality of photos taken with this smartphone almost to the level of those taken with a DSLR camera.

    The prestigious portal highly praised both the technical and photographic capabilities of the latest Huawei model, giving it a total record score of 149 points. The Mate 50 Pro’s photo score of 149 points is based on outstanding performance overall as well as excellent results in the exposure, focus, and texture/noise categories.

    Pro in Every Way

    In addition to proven powerful camera capabilities, the new Mate 50 Pro comes with the distinctive design signature of the Mate series, which is minimalistic-inspired by axial symmetry. For the first time, the elegant Clous de Paris design of the pyramid pattern, which is characteristic of expensive watches, is also used. In addition to the elegant black and silver shades that are the first to come to the local market, the Mate 50 Pro is also launched in a special version made of orange vegan leather that comes with “Kunlun glass”, which makes this version extremely strong. The official durability of Kunlun glass is also confirmed by the Swiss SGS five-star glass drop resistance certification, making it the first smartphone ever to receive this certification.

    Huawei Mate 50 Pro features cutting-edge technology that significantly improves performance, and is also the first Huawei device to run on EMUI 13, which brings simplified handling of operating systems and daily interactions with simple one-touch navigation.

    Huawei Mate 50 Pro can now be ordered in the black shade in pre-order at a price of HRK 9,999 with an interesting gift. You can find more information about the device and sales locations on the brand’s website, while the full review and DXOMARK test results can be found at the link: https://www.dxomark.com/smartphones/Huawei/Mate-50-Pro.

    The Significance of DXOMARK

    A commercial website called DXOMARK, which is presently stylized as DXOMARK, bills itself as an impartial benchmark that scientifically examines smartphones, lenses, and cameras. For example, let’s portray how DXOMARK composes a camera sensor rating.

    The RAW image captured by the camera’s sensor is measured by the DXOMARK Sensor Score for a number of critical image quality characteristics. The combined score is a secret calculation of the following three sub-scores:

    • A Portrait score is a measurement of color depth in bits;
    • Dynamic range expressed as a Landscape score and expressed in pauses of dynamic range;
    • Sports score for low-light performance, expressed as an ISO equivalent.

    The resolution a camera generates when partnered with a specific lens is measured using another metric called the Perceptual MegaPix (P-MPix), which is specified as the measure of a sharpness measurement. When assessing the sharpness of a camera and a lens, according to DXOMARK, P-MPix is a more precise and pertinent statistic for photographers to take into account.

    Many independent news outlets and specialized media websites use DXOMARK scores, which would include: The Washington Post, The New York Times, China Daily, Forbes, Wired, TechRadar, CNET, The Verge, GSM Arena, Tom’s Guide, Sohu, and Sina.

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  • Vietnam contributes to Apple’s sales boom

    Vietnam contributes to Apple’s sales boom

    Apple’s chief financial officer said iPhone sales was particularly impressive in several large emerging markets, including Vietnam.

    Luca Maestri as saying Saturday: “We set September quarter records in the vast majority of markets we tracked. And our performance was particularly impressive in several large emerging markets, with India setting a new all-time revenue record and Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico more than doubling yearly.”

    Apple’s fourth financial quarter ended when iPhone 14 was just launched. Strong growth in iPhone sales in large emerging markets contributed to the company’s revenues of US$90.1 billion and profit of $20.7 billion during the quarter.

    For the full fiscal year revenues were $394.3 billion, up 8% from the previous year.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “Across nearly every geographic segment, we reached a new revenue record for the quarter.”

    Recently Vietnamese retailers reported a boom in iPhone sales, with FPT Shop, The Gioi Di Dong, and CellphoneS seeing huge sales of the 13 Pro Max, which costs more than VND30 million ($1,200).

    The manger of a retail chain said the second and third quarters are usually the slowest in the smartphone market, but the discount and other promotions to clear stocks to prepare for the iPhone 14 have helped older models achieve bigger sales.

    Experts predicted strong growth for Apple in the last quarter, with the iPhone 14 continuing to sell well.

    However, the management acknowledged it is difficult to buy the 14 Pro and Pro Max models because production speed has not caught up with demand in many markets.

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  • Huawei, Xiaomi lead Vietnam’s smartwatch market

    Huawei, Xiaomi lead Vietnam’s smartwatch market

    Two Chinese manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi led Vietnam’s smart wearables market in the second quarter with a combined market share of 36.5%.

    Huawei rose to the first place and replaced Samsung with a 18.5% share, followed by Xiaomi, 18%, according to estimates of an industry report which shows the latest data available.

    Samsung came third with its share plunging by half from 37% in the first quarter to 15%.

    Apple ranked fourth with a 6% share.

    Vietnam’s smart wearables market, which comprises mostly of smartwatches, has seen strong changes in recent years.

    Samsung, for example, has been recording market share between 6% and nearly 38% since early 2021.

    Apple claimed 30% market share by the end of last year only to have 6% by the end of June.

    Huawei has seen its share surging from 2% earlier last year to 18.5% thanks to its increased focus on wearable gadgets, with the most best-selling products being Watch GT3 and Band 7.

    It plans to launch a new Watch GT3 SE with a battery of up to two weeks.

    Xiaomi has been drawing attention with its affordable products SmartBand 7 and SmartBand 7 Pro.

    A report by U.S.-based data company IDC shows that 140,000 smart wearables were bought in Vietnam in the second quarter, up 1.5 times from the third quarter last year when Covid-19 was spreading fast.

    Globally smartwatch sales have declined by 6.9% year-on-year to 107.4 million units in the second quarter.

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  • Apple announces new clean energy investments, asks suppliers to decarbonise

    Apple announces new clean energy investments, asks suppliers to decarbonise

    Apple said on Tuesday it would make fresh investments to set up solar and wind projects in Europe and called on its suppliers to decarbonize operations related to the production of iPhones and other products.

    The company in 2020 had pledged to remove carbon emissions from its entire business, including products and its sprawling supply chain – which spans from Vietnam to Brazil – by 2030.

    The iPhone maker will now require its supply partners to report on progress on carbon neutrality goals, specifically, Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reductions, related to the production of Apple products and will audit their progress annually.

    More than 200 suppliers, representing 70 percent of Apple’s direct manufacturing spending, including Corning Inc, Nitto Denko Corp, SK Hynix Inc, STMicroelectronics, TSMC, and Yuto, have committed to using clean power such as wind or solar for all Apple production, Apple said.

    Apple had previously asked suppliers to commit to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple’s production.

    “We’re determined to be a ripple in the pond that creates a bigger change,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said. Apple has been carbon neutral for its global corporate operations since 2020.

    Many multinational companies are increasingly looking into global supply chains to reduce their carbon footprint as climate change becomes a bigger focus for investors and regulators.

    Apple said the European investments are part of a strategy to address about 22 percent of its carbon footprint coming from the electricity customers use to charge their devices.

    With the construction of new European projects, the company aims to power all Apple devices on the continent with low-carbon electricity, it said.

    In total, the planned investments will add 3,000 gigawatt hours per year of new renewable energy on the grid, Apple said.

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  • TSMC suspends production of powerful GPU chip for Chinese tech firm

    TSMC suspends production of powerful GPU chip for Chinese tech firm

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. is known throughout the planet as TSMC. The largest foundry in the world produces chips based on the designs presented to it by companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, MediaTek, and more. In fact, Apple is TSMC’s largest customer and accounts for approximately 25% of the company’s revenue.
    TSMC currently produces powerful and energy-efficient chips such as the Apple A16 Bionic found inside the iPhone 14 Pro series, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 found in newer high-end Android phones including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, and the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra. TSMC has suspended production for Chinese start-up Biren Technology.
    The reason for halting production for this company is that TSMC is following U.S. regulations that prevent it from making chips for the Chinese-based firm. Part of the reason for this is that Biren’s products outperform Nvidia’s A100 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) silicon based on what the English language South China Morning Post calls “information in the public domain.” The U.S. is trying to keep cutting-edge chips away from China.
    This past September, the U.S. ordered that Nvidia stop shipping the A100 chip to China to “…address the risk that products may be used in, or diverted to, a ‘military end use’ or ‘military end user’ in China.” The A100, according to Nvidia, is used to “power the world’s highest performing elastic data centers for AI, data analytics, and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.”
    The U.S. Commerce Department last month expressed a goal to “keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands.” China called it a “tech blockade.” At the same time, commerce ministry spokesperson Shu Jieting said that “the U.S. continues to abuse export control measures to restrict exports of semiconductor-related items to China, which China firmly opposes.”
    Biren was trying to raise funds earlier this year at a valuation of $2.7 billion. The company designs its BR100 and BR104 processors to be competitive with GPUs designed by Nvidia and AMD that work with AI and Machine Learning models and algorithms.
    TSMC itself isn’t sure that Biren’s chips are covered by U.S. regulations but has decided to halt their production anyway. Biren, of course, says that its AI chips are not covered by U.S. export restrictions. A TSMC spokesperson made a limited statement noting that the foundry complies with all relevant rules. The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced new semiconductor restrictions on October 7th.
    A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department said, “While BIS cannot comment on company-specific actions, we expect all companies to comply with export controls. Since the rule’s release on October 7, BIS has been undertaking a vigorous outreach effort to educate those impacted by it to aid compliance efforts.”
    One of the Biren GPU chips that TSMC was going to produce for the company was the BR100 GPU which was manufactured using TSMC’s 7nm process node and features 77 billion transistors in each chipset. This particular component was said to be 2.8 times faster than Nvidia’s A100.
    Export rule changes have been used before to restrict the distribution of silicon to China. A restriction announced by the U.S. Commerce Department in 2020 prevents foundries using American technology to manufacture advanced chips from shipping these chips to Huawei. The latter is considered a national security risk by both major political parties and the restriction has forced Huawei to abandon its own Kirin 5G Application Processor (AP) chips. Its current flagship Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro handsets are powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. While this is Qualcomm’s current top-of-the-line mobile AP chipset, the chip sold to Huawei is tweaked to prevent it from working with 5G networks.
  • Apple reportedly cuts iPhone 14 Plus production

    Apple reportedly cuts iPhone 14 Plus production

    Last year Apple announced that it was doing away with the iPhone mini. The model with the 5.4-inch display twice (with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini) failed to gain any traction with the phone-buying public. So the crew in Cupertino had an epiphany; if going small doesn’t work, we will go LARGE. Apple decided to replace the iPhone 13 mini this year with a 6.7-inch non-Pro model that Apple named the iPhone 14 Plus.
    The 6.7-inch panel gives the iPhone 14 Plus the same screen size as the iPhone 14 Pro Max although the quality of the display is better on the pricier model. The iPhone 14 Plus also features the boring and static notch instead of the shape-shifting and entertaining Dynamic Island. It also doesn’t have the spectacular camera setup found in the iPhone 14 Pro Max, nor does it offer the 120Hz refresh rate of the ProMotion display.
    You might think that the outstanding battery life of the iPhone 14 Plus (it has a 4325mAh battery which is slightly larger than the 4323mAh battery powering the iPhone 14 Pro Max) and the lower price ($899 and up compared to the starting price of $1,099 for the iPhone 14 Pro Max) would have helped to generate some big time sales of the phone. But Apple had some manufacturing issues with the device which forced a delay in the handset’s release to October 7th. The rest of the line was in stores on September 16th.
    Apple has decided to cut production of the iPhone 14 Plus. The report alleges that Apple has already told one supplier in China to halt production of the components they make for the iPhone 14 Plus. In late September, another report indicated that demand for the entire iPhone 14 series was less than what Apple expected.
    That report also said that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone Pro Max have been outselling the non-Pro phones and that Apple has decided to shift some production to the more expensive models. In late September, those familiar with Apple’s plans said that the company had changed its production target for the second half of the year to 90 million units which would be flat with the number of iPhone 13 models that were produced during the second half of 2021.

    Some of the problems that Apple is seeing has to do with softening demand for smartphones in general. Research firm Canalys says that the smartphone market declined 9% during the third quarter on a year-over-year basis. The firm also says to expect weak smartphone demand over the next six to nine months.

    Some critics will point out that almost every year Apple is rumored to cut iPhone production for one reason or another. Within a few weeks afterward, another story comes out denying that Apple sliced production. The timing of this story is interesting considering that Apple is expected to report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on October 27th. This is a very volatile time for the stock as professional traders are taking positions on Apple’s shares based on what they believe the fiscal fourth quarter results will be.
    The possibility of Apple cutting production along with a weak general market has pushed the company’s shares down slightly this afternoon. Some traders will fade stories like this and buy the stock or call options paying a cheaper price because of the decline in the stock generated by this news.
    Some Apple investors (more like gamblers to be honest with you) consider reports like today’s to be created as a way to manipulate the price of Apple’s shares. However, considering that we have been seeing a slowdown in smartphone demand in general due to economic conditions worldwide.
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  • New M2 iPad Pro expected to launch today

    New M2 iPad Pro expected to launch today

    Apple’s flagship tablet has been due for an update for quite some time. Last year, the iPad Pro received arguably the biggest upgrade in its entire history. The 2021 lineup saw the implementation of the M1 chipset (a full-fledged, desktop-class SoC) and the bigger 12.9” model in particular received a gorgeous mini-LED panel.

    Some one and a half years have passed since then, however, and, given Apple’s consistency with regards to refresh cycles, an update was expected before the end of 2022. It seems that the announcement is just around the corner.

    Mark Gurman, the final authority on all Apple-related leaks, confirmed last Saturday, in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, that the 2022 iPad Pro is only “days away” and asserted that an announcement would take place before the end of this week.

    Now, it seems that Gurman is certain that the new iPad Pro will be revealed today (Tuesday, October 18th). The information was first brought forward in a tweet by Gurman himself.

    It should be noted that the announcement will be taking place via an official press release, as Apple is unlikely to hold another dedicated launch event before the end of 2022. This implies that the 2022 iPad Pro will be an incremental update over its predecessor.

    For reference, the biggest new addition is going to be the M2 chipset. The M2 processor will increase the performance of the new iPads by about 20%, which is unlikely to make much of a difference in day-to-day use, especially in the context of iPadOS.

    There are also rumors that the new models could support new charging capabilities, and possibly reverse wireless charging. Major design tweaks are not expected, barring the possible enlargement of the Apple logo on the back (in order to facilitate MagSafe compatibility).

  • Apple admits to SIM bug on iPhone 14 line

    Apple admits to SIM bug on iPhone 14 line

    Apple is admitting in an internal memo that there is a problem with the iPhone 14 series that results in a pop-up message that says, “SIM Not Supported” which is often followed by the freezing of the device. While Apple said that it is investigating the issue, it did rule out the possibility that it is a hardware problem. The company is asking its customers to make sure that they keep their software up to date.
    You can always check to see if there is a system update for your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Meanwhile, Apple is also recommending that those who see the “SIM Not Supported” pop-up message wait a few minutes to see if the message disappears. Now here is the important thing to remember. If you do get the message about the SIM card and it doesn’t go away, do not try to restore the device.
    If you’re in this situation and the message persists, you need to head over to the nearest Apple Store or authorized service provider and arrange to have the issue fixed. Apple has already had to deal with several bugs since the release of the iPhone 14 series including one issue that made the iPhone 14 Pro models shake and grind when users recorded video on them over third-party apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
    Late last month Apple released iOS 16.0.2 to exterminate that bug and several others. A week ago, iOS 16.0.3 was disseminated by Apple and among the issues it fixed was one that allowed a bad actor to send an email using two double quotation marks in the “from” field instead of the first part of a valid email address. The recipient, upon opening this email in the Apple Mail app, would see the app crash and the user would also get locked out of his Apple Mail account.
    Apple is currently working on iOS 16.1 and has a beta program underway with the stable version of the build expected to be released at the end of this month. Will it contain a patch to fix the issue of the SIM pop-up screen? After all, Apple has admitted that this is a real thing and not everyone is going to feel like heading to the Apple Store or an authorized repair center to get the issue fixed.
    Additionally, with Apple reminding users to stay up to date with the software on their phones it sure sounds like the company might be working to exterminate this bug via a software update. Stay tuned.
    We should remind everyone that Apple put the kibosh on physical SIM cards with the iPhone 14 series. Instead, the 2022 iPhone models feature eSIM (embedded SIM) which is a chip that gets soldered to the phone’s motherboard. With an eSIM, switching networks is easier requiring just a phone call or a visit to a website. Up to five virtual eSIM cards can be stored on a single eSIM at a time. If your usual network is down for some reason, you can quickly switch to another one.
    You can also have the same advantage that dual-SIM phones offer; the ability to have two numbers on a single handset. One number can be for work and another for play. You’ll be able to receive phone calls and texts on both numbers all of the time while you’ll choose which number to use to make calls, send texts, or use data.

    Using an eSIM also gives the phone manufacturer more internal room to work with because the SIM card tray is no longer needed.

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  • iPhone 14 sales fetch millions of dollars

    iPhone 14 sales fetch millions of dollars

    Vietnamese spent millions of dollars buying iPhone 14 smartphones when it was launched on Oct. 14.

    The manager of an electronic retail store estimated more than 55,000 phones, mostly the most expensive version, Pro Max, were sold. “The total revenues were over VND1.5 trillion (US$63.8 million).”

    Many distributors reported record sales. FPT Shop sold 5,000 iPhone 14s right in the early morning on Oct. 14, and a total of over 14,000 worth VND400 billion ($17 million) during the day. It has yet to deliver to over 5,000 buyers.

    The Gioi Di Dong said it has delivered some 12,000 phones, mainly iPhone 14 Pro Max 128 GB and 256 GB to pre-ordered customers. Many other distributors and e-commerce platforms also reported sales of hundreds of billions of dong. Of the four versions of the phone, Pro Max accounted for some 80% of sales.

    Business insiders said the current shortage of Pro and 14 Pro Max versions would continue at least until the end of October. The Gioi Di Dong has to deliver over 20,000 phones yet, and others also have thousands of unfulfilled pre-orders. People looking to buy the Pro Max have to place pre-orders and wait until November for delivery.

    But the two least expensive variants, iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, are available at most stores.

    Retailers required iPhone 14 buyers to unseal and activate the phone right at the shop to prevent them from reselling at higher prices. However, many iPhone 14 Pros were indeed resold at VND1-2 million higher than the official price, and Pro Maxs at a VND4 million premium.

    According to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam spent over US$1.2 billion importing iPhones last year.

    Overall, imports of phones and comp

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