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Tag: Electronics

  • Suning.com to open 200 stores inside Carrefour China hypermarkets

    Suning.com to open 200 stores inside Carrefour China hypermarkets

    Suning.com plans to open more than 200 stores inside Carrefour China hypermarkets later this month.

    The store rollout follows Suning.com’s acquisition of an 80-per-cent controlling interest in the Carrefour China business last June, a deal approved by Chinese regulatory authorities last month.

    Analysts say the store openings represent a strategic push by Suning.com to ramp up the loss-making Carrefour business by giving consumers more reason to visit the store – and hoping they will shop at Carrefour while they are there.

    The move comes just five months after Carrefour China revealed plans to partner with Chinese retail group Gome opening 200 stores-in-stores by July. That deal is now over and the stores that had opened under the Gome banner are being converted to Suning.com.

    The new shops will sell smartphones and consumer appliances. A spokesman for Suning.com told Chinese media that the stores will be tailored to local communities.

    Carrefour China has 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores across the mainland.

  • Noel Leeming launches safety plans

    Noel Leeming launches safety plans

    Technology and appliance retailer Noel Leeming has announced it is now offering enhanced purchase protection for the life cycle of its products.

    The new Noel Leeming Protection service plan offers customers the ability to lock-in accidental damage cover, theft protection, automatic replacement and blockage cover for items under $500, just to name a few.

    “This means that customers can now be covered for most eventualities that can affect the use of their technology and appliances, providing peace of mind that they won’t be without their item for long,” the retailer said.

    Customers can buy the plan as an add-on to their technology or appliance purchase either online or through one of Noel Leeming’s 77 retail stores.

    Tim Edwards, Noel Leeming CEO, said being able to offer customers a full suite of add-ons to their purchase is a great way to enhance customer confidence in their decision-making.

    “We’ve noticed that consumers nowadays are interested in a more holistic solution, looking for protection programs that better support the way they use their technology and appliances,” Edwards said.

    “We’re confident that this product goes over and above any competitor’s offer, is market-leading, and a New Zealand first in consumer purchase protection.”

    Edwards said feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive since the product offering was introduced.

    Hemaka Perera, director for Southeast Asia at Assurant, said the new Noel Leeming Protection offering has been built with the customer in mind and goes over and above the industry standard.

    “We are thrilled to partner with Noel Leeming in offering a new product that sets the standard for product protection,” Perera said.

  • Radio Rentals to pay $25 million for pricing fraud

    Radio Rentals to pay $25 million for pricing fraud

    Radio Rentals-parent Thorn Group has settled a consumer-led class-action lawsuit lodged against it in 2017, which involved customers paying far in excess of the market value for goods rented.

    According to law firm Maurice Blackburn, which represented thousands of people against the business, Radio Rentals’ Rent, Buy, $1 Buy program had seen customers pay up to seven times the retail price.

    The class action settled on Monday for a sum of $25 million, though Thorn Group’s insurer will also make a separate contribution toward the settlement. According to Thorn Group, the settlement is not an admission of liability.

    While the two parties have agreed on the sum, the settlement must still be approved by the Federal Court.

    Maurice Blackburn principal Ben Slade said the program may have affected up to 200,000 people.

    “The class action alleges that one of the more insidious aspects of the business is that Radio Rentals continued to draw money on an ongoing basis from its clients’ Centrepay (Centrelink payment) accounts, well beyond the retail value of the goods,” Maurice Blackburn Lawyers principal Ben Slade said upon launching the case.

    “Rent, Try, $1 Buy is misleading when you delve into what’s involved. What we have found is that people are paying up to seven times the true retail cost for goods in the belief that the goods will always be theirs, yet the contracts do not give them that right.”

    Lead plaintiff Casey Simpson said Radio Rentals had taken advantage of her after she paid more than $3300 for a used mattress and bed worth $430.

    “I have four kids and am on a low income – I thought Rent, Try, $1 Buy would be a sensible alternative to get some basic goods in a way we could afford,” Simpson said.

    “I never knew I’d had to pay as much as much as they kept charging me, or that I wouldn’t have a right to buy the goods for $1.”

    Radio Rentals in South Australia is an independent entity, and is not involved in the lawsuit.

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  • Japan okays one shipment of material Samsung needs for its most advanced chips

    Japan okays one shipment of material Samsung needs for its most advanced chips

    The term Free trade has become an oxymoron. Just look at the mess that is taking place with the U.S. and China. As we’ve pointed out countless times, the tariffs that the U.S. is imposing on imports from China are import taxes that are paid by U.S. corporations. The latter can decide to eat some or all of the additional taxes lowering their profit margins or pass along the higher costs to U.S. consumers. China is retaliating by devaluing its currency, the Yuan. This makes Chinese goods cheaper to buy in the states but will force Apple to raise the price of the iPhone in China.

    This isn’t the only trade war going on. Japan and South Korea have been fighting since last October. That’s when a South Korean court ruled that South Koreans forced to work for Nippon Steel during World War II must be compensated for their labor. Calling the decision “unthinkable,” Japanese authorities said that the issue had already been decided when the two countries restored diplomatic ties in 1965.

    To retaliate against the court decision, Japan started restricting the export to South Korea of materials like fluorinated polyimide and resist, and high-purity hydrogen fluoride (HF). These are used in the production of chips used inside smartphones, and for smartphone displays, respectively. Beginning last month, companies looking to ship these materials to South Korean phone manufacturers like Samsung and LG need to apply for permission to do so. Receiving such approval could take as long as 90 days. That’s because Japan has removed South Korea from its “white list” of trade partners that have fast-track trade status. South Korea plans on discussing the removal of Japan from its “white list” but has tabled the matter for a future time. It does plan on tightening regulations on some of Japan’s exports into South Korea for materials used in other industries besides tech.

    For the first time since announcing the restrictions, Japan has approved a shipment of EUV photoresists to South Korea. Samsung uses this material to help it mask or map out designs on the silicon that ends up in chipsets. These show the placement of billions of transistors and EUV, or extreme ultraviolet lithography allows for more precise designs to be made. This leads to the design of more powerful chips that consume less energy. Japan controls as much as 90% of the global market for this material, so Samsung cannot simply move on to another country to source the EUV photoresist it needs.

    “Usually, we don’t announce each time we give export permission. However, the South Korean government has referred to our moves as an embargo on exports, which is unfair criticism.”-Hiroshige Seko, Japanese Industry Minister

    “Even if there are any gains, it will be short-lived. In the end, it is a game without winners, where everyone, including Japan itself, becomes a victim.”-Moon Jae-in, president, South Korea

    However, it doesn’t seem as though this approval changes anything between the two countries. A South Korean senior trade ministry official pointed out that Japan “approved only one out of a number of items,” and a presidential official said that  Japan’s actions “doesn’t mean that uncertainties have been completely removed for the other items.” While these materials can be used to produce smartphones, they also can be used to manufacture weapons.

    Apple iPhone models that sport an OLED display and those expected to be equipped with such a screen (iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Max) could be affected by this trade war. That’s because, as we’ve mentioned, high-purity hydrogen fluoride (HF) is used to produce smartphone displays. As one of the materials that Japan will no longer allow to be shipped to South Korea without permission, both Samsung and LG could face delays in obtaining it. And that could mean that Apple, which purchases its OLED panels for the iPhone from both South Korean firms, could find itself scrambling for this important part as production gears up for the 2019 iPhone models.

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  • Nexstgo to open 50 stores in India

    Nexstgo to open 50 stores in India

    Hong Kong electronics producer Nexstgo is launching 50 stores in India.

    The brand entered the market last year selling Avita and Nexstgo-branded computers online and through retail stores in Delhi, Ambala, Chennai and Jaipur. It is currently targeting laptop sales at one lakh (US$1450) this year.

    “We have seen a tremendous response so far and by the end of the year, we are confident of crossing the one-lakh device mark,” said Nexstgo Company CEO and co-founder Alex Chung.

    “We are also in the process of expanding our retail presence, we are looking at 50 exclusive brand stores.

    “We are looking at adding two new products to our portfolio by Diwali this year across the country… We aim to have an omni-channel presence to maximise our visibility with an equal focus on offline and online sales,” he added.

    Nexstgo also plans to expand into the Middle East and Europe by the end of this year. It currently operates in nearly a dozen countries around the Asia region.

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  • Bose to launch new wireless headphones with voice-activated Alexa

    Bose to launch new wireless headphones with voice-activated Alexa

    Headphones with support for digital assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri have become trivial in the last couple of years. However, most of these headphones will only allow users to wake up the digital assistant by pushing a dedicated button.

    Apple and Samsung are the only companies that have recently introduced the ability to use voice activation to wake up the assistant implemented into a pair of headphones, though support is limited to a certain set of commands.

    The reason headphones manufacturers weren’t able to implement such a feature yet is due to the limited battery life of their products. In order to detect the wake word, headphones must use the battery to keep the microphone enabled all the time, which would drastically reduce the overall battery life. Luckily, a company called Knowles Corp. has managed to design a new chip that enables wireless headphones to reply to Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant by saying its name, Reuters reports. Basically, you will no longer have to press a button to activate Alexa, you will simply have to say its name.

    The new chip is power-efficient and includes a microphone and digital signal processor, as well as a reference design that will allow headphone manufacturers to add support for Alexa into their products.

    Knowles confirmed that Anker and LinkPlay will use its new chip and Alexa design to release headphones with voice-activated Alexa support, which will replace the traditional push-button versions.

    Bose will also launch a pair of headphones with voice-activated Alexa support later this month, although Knowles didn’t explicitly say whether or not they will be based on its chip.

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  • Qualcomm might be able to continue its anticompetitive chip selling policies

    Qualcomm might be able to continue its anticompetitive chip selling policies

    Last month, Judge Lucy Koh finally issued a ruling in a case that could force Qualcomm to change the way it does business. The case, known as the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) v. Qualcomm was originally heard during a ten-day period at the beginning of this year. With no jury seated, the FTC essentially put Qualcomm’s business practices on trial in front of the judge. Qualcomm’s “no license, no chips” policy, the collection of royalties based on the retail price of a phone, and its refusal to license its standard-essential patents were some of the company’s anticompetitive behaviors that were brought up by the FTC.

    Qualcomm has asked for a stay of the ruling so that it can appeal it, although Judge Koh has yet to make a decision on the request. The chip maker points out that if it starts renegotiating contracts as ordered by Judge Koh and then wins on appeal, it might not be able to reverse these deals once again. And Reuters reports that an FTC official thinks that Qualcomm has a good chance at overturning the ruling. FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson, appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week that the ruling against Qualcomm “radically expanded a company’s legal obligation to help its competitors,” and was based on a flawed 1985 Supreme Court decision (more on that later).

    Wilson’s op-ed might give Qualcomm an idea on how to win an appeal of Koh’s decision, according to several antitrust attorneys. Others believe that the appeals courts will find it hard to overturn Koh’s ruling, which some say was based on the judge’s strong fact-finding abilities and her determination about the credibility of those who testified before her.

    The aforementioned 1985 Supreme Court decision ruled that a company that drops a business arrangement that has proven profitable over time could be guilty of violating competition law. How does this relate to Qualcomm? The company once licensed its standard-essential patents to rival chip firms. These are patents that manufacturers need to license to make sure that their products are in compliance with technical standards. As a result, they must be offered to rivals on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) basis. In the early 2000s, Qualcomm stopped offering these patents to other chip makers and only licensed them to smartphone manufacturers.

    During the trial, the company denied that it had ever offered full licenses to other chip makers and says that if forced into doing so by Koh’s decision, it would be a new business arrangement, not the resumption of an old one. And that dovetails with Wilson’s op-ed in the Journal in which she wrote that Koh’s decision means that if a company sells a product to a competitor, it would have to sell every product it makes to every competitor or else be charged with violating antitrust law. The FTC commissioner also said that Judge Koh misapplied the 1985 Supreme Court decision.  University of Southern California law professor Jonathan Barnett agrees with Wilson and says that the Supreme Court ruling was supposed to be “very narrow.” He says that there is a good chance that Qualcomm will be able to reverse Judge Koh’s ruling.

    Many investors are hoping the same thing. On April 15th, the day before Qualcomm and Apple reached a settlement on their legal issues, Qualcomm’s shares closed at $57.18. Following news of the settlement, the stock soared peaking on May 1st at $89.29. The day before Judge Koh released her decision, Qualcomm’s shares had already declined to $77.75. Following the ruling, the stock dropped to $65.37. The company’s shares closed last week at $66.82.

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  • Qualcomm shows how important Apple’s business is

    Qualcomm shows how important Apple’s business is

    Last month, just as Apple and Qualcomm were into the opening statements of their billion-dollar trial in San Diego, surprising news was released. Behind the scenes, Apple and Qualcomm had been negotiating a settlement and both companies finally shook hands on a deal. Apple paid the chip maker an undisclosed amount of money; in return, Apple received a 6-year licensing agreement (with a two-year option) and a multi-year chip supply deal.

    It was no secret that Apple was getting desperate for a company to supply it with 5G modem chips for the iPhone. Apple wasn’t totally convinced that Intel, whose 4G LTE modem chips are exclusively used on the 2018 iPhones, could deliver the 5G component in time. In fact, during the FTC v. Qualcomm non-jury trial in January, Apple supply chain executive Tony Blevins testified that the firm had spoken with Samsung and MediaTek about sourcing their 5G modem chips. And even though Intel said early last month that it would ship its chips starting in the second half of this year, Apple still felt compelled to shake hands with Qualcomm. Hours after the agreement was announced, Intel said that it was leaving the mobile 5G modem chip business.

    According to one analyst, Apple will pay Qualcomm as much as $9 for each iPhone it sells with a 5G Qualcomm modem chip. The terms of the settlement obviously benefit Qualcomm greatly, and the company has decided to reward its executives including CEO Steve Mollenkopf. The executive received a bonus consisting of 40,794 shares of Qualcomm stock. The shares are currently valued at over $3.5 million. Not that Mollenkopf was underpaid; last year he took home $20 million according to data from FactSet.

    Other Qualcomm executives received bonuses too, thanks to the settlement with Apple. Company president Cristiano Amon scored $2.14 million in Qualcomm stock and Chief Technical Officer James Thompson was given $1.65 million in company shares. Other beneficiaries included General Counsel Donald Rosenberg and interim CFO David Wise. The pair received $1.22 million and $254,000, respectively. Wise pointed out that other Qualcomm employees will receive higher bonuses too, thanks to the settlement. Investors also have benefited from the deal with Apple (assuming that they weren’t short the stock). The day before it was announced, Qualcomm’s shares closed at $57.18. Yesterday, the stock closed at $85.84, which means that it has soared 50% over the last three weeks.

    The bonuses and the stock surge are both an indication of how important Apple’s business is for Qualcomm. Apple only used Qualcomm’s modem chips on the iPhone from 2011-2015. As a result, Apple demanded and received a $1 billion incentive payment from the chip maker annually. But Apple CEO Tim Cook was upset that Qualcomm was receiving five times more in royalties than it was paying all of its other suppliers combined. Qualcomm’s royalty payments were based on the retail price of the iPhone, and that didn’t make Cook very happy either.

    Apple ended up testifying against Qualcomm at a hearing held by the South Korea Fair Trade Commission. That angered Qualcomm, as did a statement from Apple that it would have to add a second modem chip supplier due to “Qualcomm’s exclusionary conduct.” At the same time, Qualcomm learned that Apple was planning on using Intel modem chips on the iPhone 7 and it stopped sending Apple those $1 billion checks. In return, Apple told its contract manufacturers like Foxconn and Pegatron to stop paying royalties to Qualcomm. Apple sued Qualcomm in January 2017 leading to a number of suits filed by both companies against each other. All of those suits have been withdrawn by Apple and Qualcomm as part of the settlement.

    Now that Apple and Qualcomm are on speaking terms, a 5G iPhone seems a sure bet for 2020.

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  • Apple may be prepping to make your iPad a “Sidescreen”

    Apple may be prepping to make your iPad a “Sidescreen”

    Apple loves to talk about the displays it has in its devices, be it the color gamut, refresh rate, lamination to minimize the space between the glass and display tech, etc. Apple is very proud of its displays, no doubt about it. Apple has also been working to integrate iOS devices with Macs a bit more with features like Handoff. Now, Apple is rumored to be bringing a new interesting feature for those with iPads and Macs.

    According to new reports, Apple is working on a new feature codenamed “Sidecar” which will allow Mac users to set up their iPad as a second display to extend their desktop. The feature is said to be coming in Mac 10.15, although it may also need iOS 13 on your iPad to work properly. The option will be triggered via the Mac by hovering over the green “maximize” button on a Mac window. The benefit is pretty easy to see: what’s on your Mac screen will be duplicated on your iPad allowing you to use the touchscreen to manipulate and annotate as needed.

    The details will be made more clear at WWDC in June, but there are some questions that need answering in terms of this Sidecar feature. First of all is whether it will be wireless or not. It seems likely that Apple would want it to be wireless and not need to worry about a USB cable, but at the same time Apple is very fond of its dongle business. Also, it doesn’t sound like this will be a way to extend your Mac desktop like a second display could be. It sounds more like a mirroring feature, but being able to extend a desktop onto an iPad would be pretty nice too.

    Lastly, there’s the question about what will happen to the current solutions that offer similar capabilities, like Luna Display. Apple has a history of duplicating features that users got from apps, and the fate of those apps is usually not too good.

  • Samsung forecasts massive Q1 profit decline

    Samsung forecasts massive Q1 profit decline

    Samsung is not only the world’s top smartphone vendor, but also the number one chipmaker and the largest television manufacturer out there. Despite all these incredible accomplishments and supremacy over several branches of the tech industry, the company seems to be going through somewhat of a rough patch.

    While we’re obviously not talking about the kind of trouble LG or Sony’s mobile divisions have been facing for a number of years now, it’s certainly worrying when quarterly profits go down 60 percent over the course of 12 months. Samsung’s full Q1 2019 financial results are not in yet, but if today’s earnings guidance pans out (which usually appears to be the case), consolidated sales for this January – March timeframe will circle 52 trillion Korean won, with operating profit sitting at around 6.2 trillion won.

    Those figures roughly equate to $45.7 billion and $5.5 billion respectively today, comparing rather unfavorably to over 60 trillion won in revenue and nearly 16 trillion won in profits reported this time last year for 2018’s first calendar quarter. The estimated Q1 2019 sales and profit scores are also down 12 and 42 percent respectively from Q4 2018, which was hardly considered a good quarter for Samsung.

    Until the tech giant releases the final, detailed numbers for 2019’s first 90 days later this month, breaking down the results by individual business, we can make several educated guesses as to what went “wrong” this past quarter. For starters, the company’s global smartphone shipments have been declining for a few quarters, and the Galaxy S10 family was probably released a little too late to reverse that trend. Or perhaps the newest flagships are not significantly more popular than their predecessors after all.

    Meanwhile, it’s important to point out that Samsung’s semiconductor business proved by far the most profitable among the company’s different branches lately, losing quite a bit of steam as demand for memory chips continues to drop. Samsung basically sells its chips to every major smartphone vendor today, so the market slowdown has impacted the company in a number of ways. Last but not least, weak iPhone sales probably took a toll on Samsung’s financials from an OLED display supply standpoint as well. Of course, at the end of the day quarter, the Korea-based tech giant still earned $5.5 billion, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

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  • Apple’s new iPod Touch might be announced somewhere this week

    Apple’s new iPod Touch might be announced somewhere this week

    As Apple has done in the past prior to product launches, yesterday the company shut down its online store for a few hours. When it reopened, an updated iPad Mini and an all-new iPad Air were introduced.Earlier today, in a very unexpected move, the Apple Store was updated yet again. But rather than closing and then reopening it, the Cupertino giant simply added its improved iMac computers to the website. Now, according to MacRumors, it seems Apple may have yet another product update planned for tomorrow.

    The iPod Touch could be Apple’s third announcement this week

    Earlier this month, MacRumors received a tip claiming that Apple would announce new products on March 18th, March 19th, and March 20th. The first day would see the debut of new iPads, while the second would see the introduction of new iMacs. This has proven to be accurate thus far and, as a result, means the information about the third day is likely correct too. “What will Apple be announcing tomorrow?” You may be asking.

    Well, according to the tip, it’ll be an all-new iPod Touch. The current-gen iPod Touch dates back to June 2015 and is in dire need of a refresh. The model on sale now sports a tiny 4-inch Retina Display paired with an 8-megapixel rear camera and the aging Apple A8 processor. It’s also one of the few remaining Apple products to sport the company’s iconic home button but no Touch ID.

    Larger display, better processor, perhaps no headphone jack

    Considering Apple’s current focus on larger devices, the new iPod Touch will probably introduce a bigger display. The exact dimensions remain a mystery at the moment, but Apple’s new product might borrow the 4.7-inch display found on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8. After all, this would avoid any unnecessary costs. Another big upgrade will presumably happen on the inside. In order to guarantee Apple’s usual 4-5 years of software updates, the new iPod Touch might adopt either the Apple A10 Fusion or the Apple A11 Bionic chip. The newer A12 Bionic is a possibility too, but this would probably increase the product’s cost too much.

    Like many of Apple’s other devices, there’s a strong possibility the next-gen iPod Touch will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack. However, it should finally gain Touch ID, allowing for secure mobile payments, and receive a new set of updated cameras.

    Could the new iPod Touch focus on gaming?

    Once again, Apple’s next-gen iPod Touch will probably focus on music. But a recent trademark application revealed that Apple might also promote its mobile gaming capabilities. Over the years, iTunes and Apple Music support has become less of a selling point and more of a standard. As a result, the new iPod Touch might be marketed as a low-cost mobile gaming device instead.Interest in such a device will probably be quite limited initially, but the market does have potential for growth.

    Over the past few years, gaming smartphones have become much more popular and the market is gradually being flooded with them. Even Nintendo is said to be considering a gaming smartphone of its own, which means now could be the perfect opportunity for Apple to enter the market with a new iPod Touch.

    iPod Touch (7th-gen) release date and pricing

    If Apple does announce a 7th generation iPod Touch tomorrow, pre-orders will probably commence immediately prior to a release next week. Pricing does remain a bit of a mystery at the moment, but Apple could potentially stick with its current iPod Touch price points – the 32GB version retails for $199 while the 128GB model costs $299. The new iPod Touch should be available in an extensive range of colors, like the current-gen model. Apple could either keep the current iPod Touch finishes or adopt the iPhone XR’s colors.

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  • Samsung Galaxy A20 goes official with solid features

    Samsung Galaxy A20 goes official with solid features

    Samsung is determined to completely overhaul its Galaxy A line, but the amount of device the South Korean company plans to launch in the remaining of the year is a bit overwhelming. We know of at least four Galaxy A phones that should be unveiled in the coming months, and three that have already been launched on the market – Galaxy A10, A30, and A50. Specs-wise, the Galaxy A20 sits between the A10 and A30 and so does in terms of price.

    What’s really amazing about this phone is that it retains some of the features that make its bigger brothers, the Galaxy A30 and A50, so appealing such as the massive, high-quality display and camera setup.

    It retains some of the “premium” features of its bigger A30 and A50 brothers

    The main selling points of the Galaxy A20 are no doubt the Super AMOLED display and the dual-camera on the back side. Of course, there are other important specs that make the Galaxy A20 an interesting budget choice for those who can’t afford a mid-range or flagship device, so let’s take an in-depth look at what the phone has to offer. First off, if you’re one of the many people who absolutely hate notch, the Galaxy A20 is not for you.

    Although it includes a minimally invasive waterdrop notch, it’s still there to bother your sense. However, if you don’t mind the compromise, the Galaxy A20 has a great 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display, which features 720 x 1560 pixels resolution. It’s the same display that Samsung included in the Galaxy A30 and A50, but you’ll be getting this one much cheaper.

    As for the other selling point of the Galaxy A20, it’s no longer unusual for mid-tier phones to include dual rear cameras, Samsung’s new handset is no exception. The dual camera consists of 13 + 5 megapixels sensors, but there’s also a secondary 8-megapixel camera in the front for selfies. Since this is a budget offering, Samsung included a less powerful chipset inside, the same packed inside the cheaper Galaxy A10. The Exynos 7884 is a new addition to Samsung’s line of chipsets and should be on par with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 450 processor in terms of performance.

    Android 9 Pie & Samsung One UI on a budget

    Even though it’s the most powerful smartphone out there, the Galaxy A20 ships with the latest Android 9 Pie operating system on board and Samsung’s One UI overlay. It’s too early to talk about Android Q since the new version of the OS hasn’t been released yet, but the Galaxy A20 has the required hardware for a software upgrade if Samsung decides to go for it. Samsung’s proprietary SoC (system-on-chip) is paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 512GB via microSD card. That’s the standard memory configuration for a mid-tier smartphone these days, but we’re surprised Samsung did not launch more than one models based on the amount of memory.

    We’re happy to see that Samsung understood how important is for customers to be able to use their phones for longer times without being forced to recharge them. The Galaxy A20 is powered by a massive 4,000 mAh battery, which should be enough for at least a few days of average use.

    Finally, we noticed a fingerprint sensor on the back side, a nice addition for a budget offering. We’re also told that Samsung Galaxy A20 comes with NFC (Near Field Communication) support, which means you’ll be able to use mobile payments services while on the go.

    Samsung Galaxy A20 price, release date, availability

    As far as the price and availability go, Samsung Galaxy A20 is only available for purchase in Russia for the moment, but we expect the smartphone to arrive in other European countries in the coming weeks.

    Price-wise, this is a cheap device for what it has to offer, as customers can buy one for around $215 outright. It’s also worth mentioning that phone prices in Russia tend to be slightly higher than the rest of Europe, and clearly higher than US prices, so a less than $200 price is definitely possible.

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  • Smartphone brand Realme expanding in Southeast Asia

    Smartphone brand Realme expanding in Southeast Asia

    BBK Electronics’ budget smartphone brand Realme is eyeing expansion into Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe.

    The company’s online distribution strategy has brought it success in the Indian market and makes broader expansion possible, according to Realme global CEO Sky Li Bingzhong.

    “The company’s asset-light operations and focus on online sales allow it to keep costs low. That way, more young consumers can afford its products, which makes the brand more competitive in the market,” said Li.

    Realme launched in India in May last year with handsets priced at INR8,990 (US$129) – becoming the second top-selling smartphone brand during the Diwali festival season from October to November. The brand has joined a number of Chinese phone manufacturers seeking to build strength in the Indian market as they challenge more established international competitors in more saturated markets.

    BBK also owns the Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus brands, selling mid- to high-end models. Independent Realme runs its own R&D operations, but partners with Oppo in smartphone production. Its expansion moves are indicative of Chinese phone manufacturers’ larger strategy to deploy varying brands that each target specific markets globally.

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  • Apple appoints former Microsoft executive

    Apple appoints former Microsoft executive

    Apple has appointed Microsoft’s former Corporate Vice President Sam Jadallah to lead the “Home” products category at Apple. Even though Apple has not officially announced the appointment, Jadallah updated his LinkedIn bio to read – “Working on Home at Apple”, reflecting his new role with the iPhone-maker. However, along with Apple, Jadallah has also been tight-lipped over his hiring by the company.

    After Microsoft, Jadallah ran a smart lock start-up called ‘Otto’ that shut down in January 2018.

    “Hiring Jadallah is the latest signal that Apple plans to get serious about its own efforts in the ‘Home’ category,” the report said.

    Apple has a range of “Home’ products including HomeKit — its software service that connects with a variety of third-party products; and HomePod — a smart speaker for the home with voice recognition and music.

    Currently, Apple’s HomePod constitutes a small share of the home products market as compared to Amazon’s Echo and Google Home.

    Recently, Apple acquired a voicetech start-up called Pullstring to strengthen Siri against Amazon’s Alexa.

    “That purchase could help the smartphone-maker become the centre of a connected living room,” the report added.

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  • Asia-Pacific the key market for global smartphone sales

    Asia-Pacific the key market for global smartphone sales

    Global smartphone sales grew 5 per cent to hit US$522 billion last year, with Asia-Pacific accounting for nearly half of those. According to a recent Consumer Life Study by GfK, smartphones, feature phones and wearables accounted for a 44 per cent share of the global $1.2 trillion technical consumer goods (TCG) market. But it warned smartphone sales are expected to grow by just 1 per cent this year.

    Apac the key driver

    More than 732 million smartphone devices were sold last year. Despite a slight decline in demand, overall consumer spend increased by 5 per cent.

    China accounted for 60 per cent of the Apac region’s market value and 54 per cent market volume, making it the largest contributing country to the global smartphone market.

    “The Chinese market consumes the majority of the global smartphone production, as well as being the home of local brands that are becoming increasingly global,” observed Alexander Dehmel, GfK regional senior market insights manager.

    “Some 40 per cent of the Chinese brands’ smartphone production in 2018 was purchased outside of China, up from 31 per cent in 2016.”

    In second position, India bucked the global demand downtrend, reporting growth in both sales volume and value in 2018, by 19 and 21 per cent respectively. More than 161 million smartphones worth more than $28.5 billion were sold last year.

    “In Asia’s emerging markets such as India, a country where feature-phone sales still exceeds half of the total handset market, smartphone market rapid growth is fuelled by the high adoption rate of first-time smartphone users, in addition to the fast replacement cycle and upgrading of existing smartphone users,” said Dehmel.

    Premium models and Chinese brands fuel growth

    Globally, 12 per cent (up from 9 per cent in 2017) of smartphones sold were priced at more than $800 last year. The $150-400 segment continues to be an important competitive battleground accounting for 46 per cent of smartphones sold globally (up 2 per cent from 44 per cent in 2017).

    Within Asia, developed markets drove the take up of high-end smartphones. Last year, every other device (53 per cent) sold in these countries cost more than $800. On the other hand, the most affordable phones priced below $150 accounted for half the total market.

    “Chinese brands have been significantly increasing their presence worldwide, and specifically in emerging Asian markets, their popularity have been largely driven by their affordability and faster model refresh cycles with improved specs,” commented Dehmel.

    “Take the region’s third largest smartphone market of Indonesia for instance; Chinese brands accounted for more than two in every five (42 per cent) smartphones sold in the country in 2018.”

    Looking ahead

    The study shows that consumer trends are changing when it comes to possessions. Not only do consumers “prefer to own fewer but higher quality items” that they will pay premium prices for, but they also “value experiences more than possessions”. If larger memory or screen size and multiple high-megapixel cameras can enhance their overall usage experience, such innovations will likely help ignite consumers’ imagination and stimulate greater demand.

    With rapidly evolving technology, the later part of last year saw new launches in the market which offered consumers features such as larger screen sizes, higher resolutions for both the front and back cameras, along with increased number of camera lens, and more-advanced AI functionalities.

    One of the key observations for last year was the continued popularity of larger screen sized smartphones – a trend consistently reflected across every single Apac market. China and Korea were the top two markets where almost nine in 10 smartphones sold had 5.5 inch or larger screen sizes.

    “From the trends that emerged in the second half of last year, we anticipate the growth of larger display smartphones with high screen-to-body ratios (i.e. slim bezels) to continue developing this year, as well as rising demand for models with stronger camera offerings in both resolutions (megapixels) and the number of lenses, powered by more advanced AI capable chipsets,” concluded Dehmel.

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