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Tag: smartphone

  • Qualcomm unveils Quick Charge 5: batteries go from 0 to 50% in just five minutes

    Qualcomm unveils Quick Charge 5: batteries go from 0 to 50% in just five minutes

    Waiting too long for the battery powering your phone to charge? Qualcomm introduced Quick Charge 5. The technology will allow users to charge the batteries that power their phones from 0% to 50% in only five minutes. So let’s imagine that you need your phone for work. But you spent all night on Peacock streaming Law and Order episodes and now your battery is as alive as the clientele inside the nursing home down the street. In just five minutes you can have your battery at 50% which should keep you up and running while discussing a new contract with your biggest client. Wait an extra ten minutes (for a total of 15 minutes) and your handset will be fully charged. Quick Charge 5 supports charging at 100W and faster.

    Qualcomm says that its new fast-charging system “delivers unprecedented mobile phone charging speed and efficiency improvements compared to previous versions while enabling new battery technology, accessories, and safety features. The world’s first commercially viable fast charging platform to support more than 100W charging power in a smartphone, Quick Charge 5 is engineered to allow users to charge devices from 0 to 50 percent battery power in just five minutes – representing the fastest mobile phone charging capabilities available.” You might recall that last year Xiaomi introduced its 100W “Mi Charge Turbo” that will fully charge a 4000mAh battery in 17 minutes. Xiaomi’s quick charging technology is compatible with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge as are systems offered by Motorola (TurboPower), Samsung (Adaptive Fast Charging), ASUS (BoostMaster) and Vivo (Dual-Engine Fast Charging).

    Quick Charge 5 will also feature Qualcomm Battery Saver and the new Qualcomm Smart Identification of Adapter Capabilities technology. Both will increase the life cycle of a battery and make it more efficient. Qualcomm has come a long way since Quick Charge 1. Early in 2013, we pointed out that the technology was improving charging speeds by up to 40% on phones like the Droid DNA, the Lumia 920, and the Nexus 4. These phones would normally have taken over four hours to fully charge and Quick Charge 1 reduced that to under three hours. The new version of Quick Charge charges up to four times faster than the previous generation of the technology.

    Of course, charging times have been greatly reduced since then and Quick Charge 5 carries 10 times the power delivery carried in Quick Charge 1. It also is 70% more efficient than Quick Charge 4. Helping to drive the latest iteration of Quick Charge are the latest and next-generation management power management integrated circuits (PMIC), the Qualcomm SMB1396 and the Qualcomm SMB1398. Quick Charge, says Qualcomm, is available on more than 1,200 mobile devices, accessories, and controllers.

    Right now, Quick Charge 5 is being tested by Qualcomm customers and should start to appear on devices running the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865+ Mobile Platforms during the current quarter which runs through September. It also will work on future premium and high-end Snapdragon chipsets. Ev Roach, VP Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. states,”Quick Charge 5, our fastest and most versatile charging solution, will enable consumers to enjoy their devices for longer periods of time, without worrying about the time required to recharge. We are proud to expand our technology portfolio and make accessible 100W+ charging a commercial reality. We work closely with manufacturers to create industry-leading devices that meet consumers’ demand for more immersive and accessible mobile experiences.”

    Battery life is improving as smartphone batteries get larger and larger. But that is only half of the story. Large capacity batteries are great and certain phones can go as long as three days on a single charge. But without a fast-charging system, they can take a long time to replenish the power inside the component. And that is where Qualcomm’s Quick Charge comes in, helping to improve a phone user’s overall experience.

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  • Vingroup produces first 5G smartphones

    Vingroup produces first 5G smartphones

    VinSmart, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s largest listed company Vingroup, has produced its first 5G smartphones in cooperation with the U.S.’s Qualcomm.

    The Vsmart Aris 5G model is equipped with a Snapdragon 765G 5G module platform and a quantum security chip, the company stated, adding it also features a Super Amoled 6.39″ display, 8GB RAM and a 4,000 mAh battery.

    Nguyen Phi Tuyen, director of the measurement center of the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said the unit has repeatedly tested Vsmart’s Aris 5G, showing the network speed was eight times higher than 4G.

    VinSmart has not yet announced the official price of the Aris 5G, nor when it would hit the market, or how many units it intended to produce.

    No 5G smartphone has been manufactured or officially distributed in Vietnam so far, instead, they are hand-carried on overseas flights.

    VinSmart’s move came as local telecom firms compete in the 5G race. Telecom giant Viettel for the first time broadcast from its network of 5G base transceiver stations in Ho Chi Minh City last September while competitor VNPT has announced similar plans.

    VinSmart, which launched its first products at the end of 2018, is currently focusing on the low-end segment of the market, with 12 Vsmart phones all priced at below VND5 million ($212).

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  • Chinese phone manufacturer caught using a backdoor but it’s not Huawei or ZTE

    Chinese phone manufacturer caught using a backdoor but it’s not Huawei or ZTE

    Last year, Xiaomi was the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world after shipping approximately 125.5 million units. The company has done an amazing job in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market. That’s because Xiaomi produces handsets priced appropriately for the developing country; using a value for money retail strategy, Xiaomi has done very well in India.
    For years now, we have been waiting for Xiaomi to invade America, but year after year such a move has never come. And outside of OnePlus, Chinese phone manufacturers aren’t exactly being greeted in the U.S. with open arms. Even ZTE, which was the fourth-largest smartphone shipper in the states in 2018, dropped out of the top five after being banned from accessing its U.S. supply chain. And no Chinese smartphone manufacturer wants to get the same treatment that the U.S. has given Huawei.
    While Xiaomi has always tried to give the impression that it was “China’s Apple” and above the fray, the company has now found itself accused of using a backdoor to send user information to a server. A cybersecurity expert named Gabi Cirlig discovered some strange behavior on his Xiaomi Redmi Note 8. He found that Xiaomi’s default browser was recording all of the websites he visited. Even searches made with the privacy-first search engine DuckDuck Go and websites he visited while in the incognito mode were being tracked by the browser. Even worse, all of this data was being sent to servers in Singapore and Russia that used web domains registered in Beijing. These servers are being used by Xiaomi according to Cirlig.
    Other researchers discovered that Xiaomi’s browsers on the Google Play Store, the Mi Browser Pro, and the Mint Browser, were guilty of the same behaviors. Together, both browsers have been installed over 15 million times. And Cirlig found the same browser code on other Xiaomi handsets including the Xiaomi Mi 10, Xiaomi Redmi K20, and Xiaomi Mi MIX 3; that leads him to believe that these phones have the same privacy issues as his Redmi Note 8.
    Xiaomi has responded by saying that the data it was sending to the servers was encrypted. But Cirlig said that he was able to crack the code in seconds. The cybersecurity expert also said, “My main concern for privacy is that the data sent to their servers can be very easily correlated with a specific user.” That’s because the data being sent to the servers included metadata associated with a specific device including its unique ID number and the Android version that it runs. Cirlig says that this data can “easily be correlated with an actual human behind the screen.”
    The manufacturer contradicted itself saying that the research claims weren’t true and that the company “strictly follows and is fully compliant with local laws and regulations on user data privacy matters.” But a spokesman for Xiaomi admitted that it was collecting data that was anonymized to prevent it from being tied to specific individuals. When Forbes showed Xiaomi a video that confirmed the behavior of the browser claimed by Cirlig, the company responded by saying, “This video shows the collection of anonymous browsing data, which is one of the most common solutions adopted by internet companies to improve the overall browser product experience through analyzing non-personally identifiable information.”
    Yesterday Xiaomi published a blog post in which it said that it collects the data to check the compatibility between the operating system and apps. Xiaomi claims that the information is harvested by permission and consent from its users and is anonymous and encrypted. “The collection of aggregated usage statistics data is used for internal analysis, and we do not link any personally identifiable information to any of this data.”
    Today, the company wrote that it will send out an update to its browsers that will prevent a user’s internet travels from being sent through Xiaomi’s servers. There also will be an option in incognito mode to toggle on or toggle off data collection. Xiaomi said, “We believe this functionality, in combination with our approach of maintaining aggregated data in a non-identifiable form, goes beyond any legal requirements and demonstrates our company’s commitment to user privacy.”
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  • Here’s how much of an impact 5G has on battery life

    Here’s how much of an impact 5G has on battery life

    Just how much of an impact does 5G have on a phone’s battery life over 4G? Lu Weibing, general manager of Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi, took to Chinese microblogging site Weibo to explain. In his post, he points out that the power consumption of Qualcomm’s 800 series of chips is about 20% greater than that of the 700 series, and a 5G phone consumes 20% more power than a 4G phone.

    Mr. Weibing’s statement comes only days after the 5G-capable Redmi K30 Pro was announced. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 865 chip, and despite that huge 4700mAh battery inside it, Redmi’s estimates are rather modest, saying that the phone is designed to last one day.

    The Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra are also among the newest Snapdragon 865 phones with 5G support. They have battery capacities of 4000, 4500, and 5000mAh respectively – a significant boost compared to last year’s S10 series, and surely one related to increased power demand by the 5G hardware inside them.

    As 5G is making great global progress compared to 4G LTE in its early days, phone manufacturers will need to start adapting to the overall increase of power consumption required for this new technology. And while 5G matures and Qualcomm strives to optimize the power consumption of their 5G chips, things are bound to get better with time.

  • Smartphone shipments suffer a record breaking decline

    Smartphone shipments suffer a record breaking decline

    Thanks to the coronavirus, February was the worst month in the history of the smartphone industry as global shipments plunged 38% year-over-year. Strategy Analytics says that this was the biggest year-over-year decline in the history of the worldwide smartphone market. The number of smartphones delivered globally last month plunged to 61.8 million units from 99.2 million handsets during the same month last year. On a sequential basis, the 61.8 million phones shipped in February represented a 39% drop from January’s total. The COVID-19 outbreak forced manufacturers in China to shut down assembly lines and retail stores in the world’s largest smartphone market.
    “February 2020 saw the biggest fall ever in the history of the worldwide smartphone market,” according to Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics. He added that “Supply and demand of smartphones plunged in China, slumped across Asia, and slowed in the rest of the world. It is a period the smartphone industry will want to forget.”
    During February, Samsung led the way in global smartphone shipments and sales. During the month, the manufacturer unveiled the new Galaxy S20 line and released the foldable Galaxy Z Flip. Following Samsung in both shipments and sales were Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo. And the research firm expects the numbers for this month to show weakness as well. Yiwen Wu, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, says, “Despite tentative signs of recovery in China, we expect global smartphone shipments overall to remain weak throughout March 2020. The coronavirus scare has spread to Europe, North America and elsewhere, and hundreds of millions of affluent consumers are in lockdown, unable or unwilling to shop for new devices. The smartphone industry will have to work harder than ever to lift sales in the coming weeks, such as online flash sales or generous discounts on bundling with hot products like smartwatches.”
    It’s ironic that just as assembly lines are ramping up in China and Apple has reopened all 42 Apple Stores in the country, it shuts down its stores throughout the rest of the world. It obviously is going to be sometime before we return to some semblance of normalcy. As a result, we can expect further weakness for the industry not only for the current month but perhaps throughout the spring and summer.
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  • SE Asian smartphone sales down

    SE Asian smartphone sales down

    Southeast Asian smartphone sales rose last year, bucking the global trend, according to new data from market research house GFK.

    Sales in the region rose by 1 percent last year to US$23 billion, amidst a 2-per-cent decline internationally, as global consumers tended to hold onto their phones longer. Around 97 million devices were purchased in Southeast Asia.

    Growth was particularly high in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, with Thai consumption showing a significantly higher value over volume growth, at 13 versus 6 percent. The Philippines saw slightly more conservative growth, while Vietnam and Indonesia were the only Southeast Asian smartphone sales markets showing a moderate decline.

    “Over the years, consumers in the region have always been showing keen interest when it comes to mobile handsets, with many owning more than one set or changing their smartphone frequently,” said GFK associate director Alexander Dehmel. “It should be highlighted that the higher value over volume growth recorded in the Southeast Asian smartphone market indicates that consumers are upgrading their devices – a trend that has been observed in recent years.”

    Another recent GFK report showed 64 percent of respondents in Indonesia believe their smartphone/tablet is their most important online shopping tool. More than half (58 percent) said they prefer to use their mobile device to pay for transactions.

    Consumers are also tending to buy phones with better cameras and more on-board storage to accommodate more media.

    With the launch of Singapore’s high-speed 5G network expected for this year, the market is likely to be influenced by multiple promotions around new 5G smartphone models.

    “Under normal circumstances, we would expect to see a market performance in the region continuing its upward trend with even bigger and better phones being launched to satisfy consumers’ insatiable appetite for new devices,” said Dehmel.

    However, he said the COVID-19 situation will temporarily affect Southeast Asian smartphone sales and even global sales. “The impact of the coronavirus on global supply chains and production capacities along with weaker demand is likely to slow but not stop the growth of the category in Southeast Asia.”

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  • HTC experienced a terrible start to the year

    HTC experienced a terrible start to the year

    Declining interest in the brand combined with a lack of new smartphones resulted in 2019 being HTC’s worst year on record. But if new revenue figures are anything to go by, 2020 could be even tougher for the Taiwan-based company.

    HTC’s shrinking smartphone business and newer VR headset division generated just $16 million between them in the month of January. The start of 2020 was, therefore, the company’s second-worst month on record behind only July 2019.

    The results equate to a 21.4% decline from December, which was large to be expected now that the holiday season is over, but more worryingly represents a 52.4% decline from January 2019 when it generated a more impressive $33 million.

    The company has been shrinking virtually non-stop since 2020 and, as you can see, shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Despite this, HTC is still feeling pretty positive about its future.

    Back in October the company gained a new CEO who teased an increased focus on VR and a return to the premium smartphone segment in the near future with a 5G-ready device. Whether this can actually turn things around, however, remains to be seen as the company has made similar promises in the past.

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  • European Union wants Apple’s Lightning port gone

    European Union wants Apple’s Lightning port gone

    EU lawmakers might be in favor of diversity, but not when it comes to smartphone chargers. Today, these lawmakers called for the creation of one standard charger for all mobile devices. By an overwhelming vote of 582-40, members of the European Parliament passed a resolution that asks the European Commission (the body that drafts laws for the EU) to make sure that buyers of mobile devices no longer are under the obligation to purchase a new charger every time they buy a new device. The resolution calls for the EC to adopt new rules by this coming July.
    The idea is to reduce the amount of electronic waste that the EU is dealing with. During 2016, the last year that data was made available, such waste generated in the EU added up to 12.3 million tonnes or 36.6 pounds for each person living in the EU. The resolution noted that requiring a standard charger for mobile devices could reduce the amount of electronic waste and it also asked the Commission to pass a rulemaking sure that wireless chargers could be used to power up different mobile devices.

    The EC has actually been fighting for a standard mobile charger for over 10 years. in 2009, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, and Nokia signed a “voluntary memorandum of understanding” calling for these phone manufacturers to use standard chargers for phones that were coming to the marketplace in 2011. But it is obvious to the EC after nearly 10 years that the voluntary approach has not worked and that legislation is going to be needed in order to force the phone manufacturers to take action.

    The company that is on the line with this proposal is Apple. That is because most Android phones have a USB-C port which is the closest thing to a common charging platform that the mobile industry has today. However, Apple has its proprietary Lightning port which has been in use since 2012 when it replaced the 30-pin dock connector. Apple did switch to USB Type-C for the 2018 iPad Pro models and for the last couple of years there have been rumors about the same thing happening to the iPhone. Many iPhone users have been hoping that Apple switches to Type-C; that could make it easier for them to find accessories for their iPhones and at a lower price, too.
    While Apple might end up not having a choice in Europe, it is hard to see the company voluntarily switching to a standard system because of the profits involved. Having a proprietary charging system means that people will have to come to Apple for an original replacement. The company already took a little hit when it introduced the 2019 iPhones by including an 18W fast charger in the box with the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. While the iPhone 8 iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR all support fast charging, owners of those models have to shell out $29 for an 18W charger.
    Last month, reliable TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo looked deeply into his crystal ball and said that the highest-end 2021 iPhone might not have a Lightning port or a USB-C port. Kuo is talking about the iPhone 13 Pro Max featuring a “completely wireless experience.” If indeed Apple is looking at offering a port-free phone, it could decide that it isn’t worth it to make a switch away from the Lightning port for a short period of time.
    However, there is still the EU to consider. Apple said last week that the mobile industry is already moving toward the use of Type-C as a standard, but also said that forcing a standard on the industry would hurt consumers in Europe. And Apple also points out that making a quick move to a standard charging platform would create plenty of electrical waste, exactly what the EU is trying to avoid in the first place.
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  • Google offers three apps to keep you from getting addicted to your phone

    Google offers three apps to keep you from getting addicted to your phone

    The Google Play Store now features three Google apps designed to fight back against phone addiction. One, called Envelope, was developed by the company’s Special Projects – Experiments division and currently supports the Pixel 3a only. This app first requires you to print out a real envelope and put your Pixel 3a into it. There are cutouts only for the fingerprint reader and the main camera in the back. This reduces the functionality of the phone which will be able to make and take calls, give you the time, and take photos and videos. In other words, the app essentially turns your smartphone into a feature phone.
    Keep in mind that the envelope does prevent you from viewing the photos and videos you have just taken. Because the UI uses a black background, the app is battery friendly even if you keep your Pixel 3a inside the envelope all day. The few comments posted on the Play Store mostly gave Envelope a strong review.
    Another app found in the Play Store designed to fight phone addiction is called Activity Bubbles. Each time you unlock your phone, a new bubble is created on the screen. The bubble continues to grow in size until the phone is locked. This gives you a visual look at how often you are using your phone over the course of a day. This app and the Screen Stopwatch were developed by Google Creative Lab. The Screen Stopwatch is somewhat similar to the Activity Bubbles. Every time you unlock your handset, the large stopwatch counts off how long the display has been active over the course of a day. All three of these apps are free.

    Google originally offered the Digital Wellbeing app on the Pixels and it now is available for other Android phones as well. Last year, Google added a new requirement to the licensing agreement that it requires phone manufacturers to sign in order to use the Google Mobile Services version of Android. All phones upgraded to or installed with Android 9 or Android 10 must now come with Digital Wellbeing or feature a similar app developed by a licensed Android manufacturer.

    The topic of screen addiction was addressed in a documentary from 2016 called The Screenagers. In 2018, students from California’s Stanford University made big news by protesting against screen addiction at an Apple Store in Palo Alto. The protestors belonged to a group called Stanford Students Against Addictive Devices or SSAAD. The group was complaining that Apple wasn’t doing anything to stop users from constantly checking their iPhones. Some believe that this protest specifically led Apple to create Screen Time, a feature that tracks the daily usage of an iPhone user. And that led Google to create Digital Wellbeing.
    Screen addiction is a real problem. Last month, a study from London consisting of 42,000 adolescents discovered that 25% of the kids in the study were addicted to their phones and even experienced withdrawal symptoms when they had their handsets taken away from them.
  • Mobile dominates Southeast Asian internet, says Google’s Year in Search report

    Mobile dominates Southeast Asian internet, says Google’s Year in Search report

    Google has released its Year in Search 2019 report for Southeast Asia, showing that 90 percent of the region’s 360 million internet users now connect primarily via mobile phones.

    The report offers five key search insights for brands in the territory seeking to drive business impact in the new year.

    The Year in Search notes that Southeast Asian consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated consumers with higher expectations, seeking high-quality products and services that improve productivity; expect convenience at a relatively low cost; are using search to make comparisons, ultimately guiding their purchase decisions. Indonesian consumers are increasingly searching for “best” products, while Malaysian consumers are more proactively researching what goes into their food and beauty products.

    Southeast Asian consumers are increasingly dependent on the internet as a source of entertainment and trusted advice, turning to search in higher numbers to seek reviews before making purchases and as a platform for entertainment. Thai users have shown a huge surge in “near me” related queries for food.

    Users in the region are increasingly socially conscious and concerned with the social impact of their purchase decisions. From trending search terms, Google’s Year in Search report shows that users are increasingly influenced by environmental news and regulations around them.

    The report also discovered growth opportunities beyond metros, with more people living in rural areas fast catching up with the urban population on the use of the internet. Google expects its potential to grow to be twice as fast in areas outside the big cities, bringing all Southeast Asians on board with online retail.

    Finally, the report identified growth in digital financial adoption as influencing the way consumers make their payments. According to Google, the digital financial services sector is set to grow in Southeast Asia and strongly shape the way consumers pay for their goods and services.

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  • Cheap phones are about to get a lot better with Qualcomm’s new chips

    Cheap phones are about to get a lot better with Qualcomm’s new chips

    5G might be what everyone is talking about but the reality is that 4G will remain the backbone of our wireless communications for at least a few more years. Besides that, many markets haven’t even begun implementing 5G. Keeping that in mind, Qualcomm has released three new chips to suit the needs of manufacturers and users that are still shying away from the new technology.

    The three chips span from the upper mid-range to the low end. They follow Qualcomm’s familiar naming scheme making it easy to recognize which is which: Snapdragon 720G, 660 and 460.

    All three get features we’re used to seeing on high-end phones. When it comes to connectivity, that means Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 with Qualcomm FastConnect for better audio experience and of course, higher 4G max speeds.

    GPS improvements are also present with support for Dual-Frequency. And we can’t forget about our other favorite buzz word: AI. Even Qualcomm’s low-end chips will now have AI capabilities that will help with “user experiences across photography, voice assistants, and virtually always-on scenarios for increased contextual awareness.” Now, the help of AI can often be hard to measure, but let’s trust Qualcomm on this one that there will be noticeable benefits for the users.

    That being said, let’s briefly check what each of the new chips has to offer.

    The Snapdragon 720G is meant to satisfy the needs of mobile gamers that don’t quite have the budget for a Snapdragon-865-powered phone. The chip has 8 Kryo 465 cores that can boost up to 2.3GHz and are paired with the Adreno 618 GPU. With the 720G, consumers will get “HDR gameplay, dynamic color range and contrast, realistic and immersive in-game environments and high-quality, synchronized sound.”

    Not everything is about gaming, however, the new and improved ISP now supports photo capture up to 192MP, in case there’s a manufacturer that wants to go all out with megapixels.

    Naturally, Qualcomm has also crammed a bunch of its own tech goodies we won’t bore you with, but you can check at the chip’s information page.

    What we will mention, however, is that the 720G is manufactured using an 8nm process, which means it will have not only better performance, but lower power consumption as well

    The Snapdragon 662 is perhaps the most boring chip of this lineup. It’s a slightly less powerful octa-core chip (Kryo 260, up to 2GHz) that has all the expected improvements but nothing particularly noteworthy. The 662 a cookie-cutter mid-range chip that will quietly do what it’s supposed to without any thrills or headaches. There’s no 4K video recording, cameras can only go as high as 48MP and it’s made using the 11nm Process Technology. That’s not to say it’s a bad chip, it’s just kind of bland.

    The Snapdragon 460, on the other hand, has the most potential for making an impact. Sure, it’s a chip for budget devices that won’t wow anyone, but the improvements Qualcomm has achieved with this little guy are impressive.

    The 8 Kryo 240 cores perform 70% better and the GPU is only slightly behind with 60% improvement, according to Qualcomm. When all other upgrades are considered, the company says this chip delivers twice the performance compared to the previous generation. That’s a big win for budget smartphones.
    The Qualcomm Spectra 340 ISP that comes with the Snapdragon 460 should not only improve the image quality of photos but also supports triple cameras.
    Better performance and better cameras, what more can you want? This chip seems perfect for Nokia’s budget phones and it will be interesting to see how well it does in the real world.
    Speaking of the real world, when can you expect o see phones with these new chips? Well, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 720G will make an appearance in Q1 of 2020. This means in two months max we should see at least one smartphone powered by it.
    The timeline for the 662 and 460 is a bit foggier, but devices based on them are expected by the end of the year.
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  • Mobile phone retailer Vien Thong A shuts up shop

    Mobile phone retailer Vien Thong A shuts up shop

    Vien Thong A, one of Vietnam’s earliest mobile phone retail chains, has shut all outlets after two decades of operation.

    All its Ho Chi Minh City shops were closed as of Thursday, some featuring “property for lease” signs while others held nothing but empty shelves.

    Vien Thong A, established in November 1997, operated 240 outlets nationwide at its peak, some inside supermarkets like Big C, alongside 100 maintenance stations.

    The chain was listed among Asia Pacific’s top 500 retailers by market researchers Euromonitor and business magazine Retail Asia, with revenues quadrupling from $102 million in 2013 to $416 million in 2017.

    In the same year, CEO Hoang Ngoc Vy announced a plan to restructure the company, seeking investors to expand the business.

    In September 2018, the company’s legal representative was replaced by Mai Thu Thuy, a senior Vingroup employee.

    Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, confirmed it had acquired the chain in November 2018, managing a total 242 Vien Thong A shops as well as electronics chain VinPro as of September last year.

    However, Vien Thong A outlets started to close down soon after Vingroup announced it would dissolve VinPro to focus on technology and manufacturing in December last year.

    Vietnam’s consumer electronics retail market reached revenues of $609 million last year, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent, and is estimated to expand by 11.7 percent this year, according to German data portal Statista.

  • Samsung smartphones market share dips to annual low in Vietnam

    Samsung smartphones market share dips to annual low in Vietnam

    Samsung smartphones’ market share slipped 2.3 percentage points to 38.45 percent in October, the first time it has dipped below 40 percent this year.

    The South Korean brand sold over 500,000 smartphones in October, an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous month, according to a report by market research firm GfK.

    But total sales of smartphones in Vietnam surged 28 percent month-on-month in October to nearly 1.37 million units, resulting in a drop in Samsung’s market share, the report said.

    A focus on high value products was also a reason Samsung lost market share in October, a representative of cellphoneS, a leading smartphone retailer in Vietnam, told VnExpress.

    In October

    With 38.44 percent market share in October, Samsung still led the Vietnam market, followed by Chinese brands OPPO and Xiaomi with 25.2 percent and 10.2 percent respectively.

    China’s Realme had dislodged Apple from its fourth position in September, gaining 6.2 percent of the market share. Apple slipped a notch to fifth place with 6.1 percent. Industry insiders said Vietnamese consumers waiting for the latest iPhone model, which was released in November, was the main reason for the falling sales in October.

    Strong sales in the first quarter of 2019 allowed Samsung to retain its leading position in terms of market share in the first 10 months this year, accounting for over 43 percent of total sales. Samsung’s market share had peaked at over 50 percent in March, two times higher than second-placed Chinese brand OPPO, according to the GfK report.

    The report said the market could see major shifts in the last two months of 2019, with Apple having released its three new Iphone 11 models, new products from Xiaomi, Realme, and Chinese phone-maker Vivo entering the market and retailers simultaneously launching discounts for year-end promotional events like the Singles Day (November 11), Black Friday, Christmas and the New Year.

  • Seven more Oppo flagship stores planned for SE Asia

    Seven more Oppo flagship stores planned for SE Asia

    Six more Oppo flagship stores are planned across Southeast Asia by next year as the Chinese smartphone brand ramps up its brand profile in the region.

    The company says it will open stores in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines, in addition to its newly opened super flagship store at the Emquartier shopping mall in Bangkok.

    The brand describes its Oppo flagships as spaces where it can interact more with customers and showcase futuristic products with IoT, AR and 5G experiences including smart wearables and cloud gaming.

    The brand says it has been generating sales through more than 52,000 retail points and 44,000 sales representatives for the past decade. But now it is entering a new era in which it aims to upgrade the overall consumer in-store experience, hence the Oppo flagship openings.

    “Oppo is now already one of the top players in the region. It is important that we continue to evolve with consumers and the industry in order to stay competitive,” says Oppo Asia Pacific president Jimmy Yi.

    “The next frontier of our strategy is strengthening the premium experience and continue to innovate consumer experiences both offline and online,” he added.

  • Oppo Thailand opens Bangkok flagship Store

    Oppo Thailand opens Bangkok flagship Store

    Consumer electronics firm Oppo Thailand has opened a flagship at the Emquartier Mall in Bangkok

    The store was launched by Oppo Thailand executive VP Khun Chanon Chirayakul and The Emporium Group senior VP Manathet Annawat, who announced the brand’s intentions to penetrate a more premium market with higher levels of experience and service.

    The store offers a superior retail experience heavy on IoT and 5G innovations and a premium aesthetic interior design, allowing customers to experience interactions ranging from big-screen to smartphone-screen scale technologies. Drones, cameras, Bluetooth speakers, wireless headphones, flash chargers, AR/VR smartwear and robots make up part of the product range on offer.

    The Oppo Thailand Super Flagship offers exclusive services to users with a one-hour repair service, software upgrades and delivery service for customers.

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