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Tag: Smartphones

  • Smartphone exports drop in November

    Smartphone exports drop in November

    Smartphone exports fell nearly 10% in volume and 7.4% in value in November after the country’s largest manufacturer, Samsung Vietnam, lowered production the second time this year.

    According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam produced 20.6 million phones in November, and export of phones and phone components was worth $5 billion. This is the third month the export value of phone and components has dropped.

    Smartphone production in the first 11 months decreased by over 7% year-on-year. Most of the smartphones produced in Vietnam are exported to the western market.

    Typically, phone output increases before Christmas, but it has dropped this year because inflation pressures have prompted companies to limit production.

    Of the total smartphone output in Vietnam, Samsung Vietnam contributes half. The tech giant recorded an export turnover of over $34 billion in the first half of this year, accounting for more than 18% of the country’s total.

    Samsung Vietnam has reduced smartphone production twice this year, the first time in the first half of the year over Covid-19 impacts and the second early November.

    Vietnam recorded a total export turnover of $342.21 billion in the first 11 months, while import turnover was $331.61 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $0.78 billion, according to the General Statistics Office. The surplus in the same period last year was $0.6 billion.

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  • UK carrier Vodafone launches new refurbished phone range

    UK carrier Vodafone launches new refurbished phone range

    As many of us know, premium smartphones are powerful and, at least in theory, last longer. But one huge downside is that they also come with a premium price tag, which not everyone can afford. So, if you want an expensive phone but don’t want to spend a lot of money on a handset, and you live in the UK, you can now buy a phone from Vodafone’s latest refurbished range, which the carrier just recently launched. As the mobile operator stated in its announcement, its new offerings can help “price-conscious customers get the phone they want for less.”

    For example, clients can get a refurbished iPhone SE (2022) 64GB for £261 on a 36-month payment contract. The regular price of the phone is £451, so by buying a refurbished model, you are saving £190.

    As for the other phones that Vodafone is currently offering, you can buy a refurbished model of the iPhone 13, the iPhone 12, the iPhone XR, the iPhone 11, the Samsung Galaxy S21, and the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. Furthermore, the carrier is offering a two-year warranty on every Pay Monthly refurbished phone. According to the announcement, Vodafone is the only major UK mobile operator to offer such a warranty.

    If you hesitate whether to buy a renewed phone or not, Vodafone assures that its refurbished handsets are in “Great” or “Pristine” condition. Also, every phone has passed a visual and diagnostic check, which ensures that all devices work without issue. Vodafone also stated that these phones have been deep cleaned and securely data wiped, and if there is any problem, you can take advantage of Vodafone’s 14-day no-quibble money-back guarantee.

    However, if you want to get a brand new phone with a great discount, you should check out our best Vodafone phone deals. Or, if you are rolling with another carrier, you can visit our top Virgin Media phone deals, best O2 phone deals, three phone deals, and EE phone deals.

  • US becomes biggest buyer of Vietnam smartphones

    US becomes biggest buyer of Vietnam smartphones

    The U.S. has surpassed China to become the biggest buyer of smartphones and parts from Vietnam in the first six months with a purchase value of $6.61 billion, up nearly 54 percent year-on-year.

    It was followed by China at $6.45 billion, up nearly 17 percent, according to Vietnam Customs.

    Exports of smartphones and parts to the EU fell 7.7 percent to $3.3 billion.

    Vietnam’s top import market of smartphones and parts was South Korea at $5.1 billion, up 28 percent year-on-year.

    It was followed by China at $4.2 billion, down 0.1 percent.

    Vietnam’s exports of these items to all markets reached $29.17 billion in the first six months, up 16.4 percent year-on-year.

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  • Apple looking to further diversify chip suppliers, reportedly finding new partner for the iPhone 14 Pro

    Apple looking to further diversify chip suppliers, reportedly finding new partner for the iPhone 14 Pro

    Apple is gearing up for the launch of the iPhone 14 series (which is inching ever so closely as we approach the fall), and it now seems Cupertino is set on not allowing any supply chain shortages to create issues. Reputable industry insider Ming-Chi Kuo now reports that Apple is looking to further expand its suppliers for the iPhone 14 series and has now added a new partner.

    According to Kuo, SG Micro (headquartered in China) has now passed quality certification for chips for the higher-end iPhone 14 models (meaning the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max). The company is likely to take orders for PMICs (power management integrated circuitry – basically a chip to manage power) in the second half of this year for the upcoming iPhones.

    This is the first time that said company would supply components for higher-end iPhones. According to the industry insider, this partnership will continue in the future, so that Apple can avoid future supply chain risks.
    Recently, Kuo said that some iPhone 14 display panel suppliers, as well as memory suppliers, have had supply issues; however, he doesn’t believe this will make a big impact on mass production. It seems that, at least according to Kuo, Apple is on track with the iPhone 14 production.
    As a quick recap, this year we expect there to be a more significant gap between the non-Pro iPhone models and the Pro versions. The iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max are expected to be the only models to come with Apple’s latest processor (the A16), while the non-Pro variants are said to come with this year’s iPhone 13 chip.

    On top of that, the Pro iPhone 14 models will come with a new design for the Face ID sensors and the selfie camera, getting rid of the notch which will remain for the non-Pro iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max. We also expect the Pros to come equipped with an always-on display.

    The four phones are to be unveiled sometime in the fall, probably September.

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  • Honor sees gains as China smartphone sales fall

    Honor sees gains as China smartphone sales fall

    Former Huawei unit Honor posted the fastest growth in China’s smartphone market in the first quarter, even as overall handset sales fell 14% year-on-year to levels close to those seen in the pandemic-ravaged first quarter of 2020.

    Android handset brands Vivo and Oppo, both under the privately owned BBK Electronics, claimed the largest share of first quarter sales, with 19.7% and 18% of the market respectively, research firm Counterpoint Research said.

    Apple, which was China’s top-selling vendor in the previous quarter for the first time in six years thanks to the release of the iPhone 13, was the third-largest seller in Q1, claiming 17.9% of the market.

    Honor made the biggest gains in Q1, taking the fourth biggest slice of sales with 16.9%, with sales up 15.5% on the previous quarter. Huawei Technologies sold its Honor unit in December 2020 to a consortium of agents and dealers as U.S. sanctions crippled the parent’s smartphone sales.

    Huawei, once China’s best selling brand, held 6.2% of the market in the first quarter.

    Chinese retail sales lagged in the key coastal economic regions of Guangdong and Jiangsu in the first quarter, with areas hit by COVID-19 outbreaks also showing particular weakness, regional data showed.

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  • Smartphone sales down last month

    Smartphone sales down last month

    Smartphone sales in Vietnam plunged 28 percent year-on-year in the third quarter as shops were shut and mobility restrictions blocked deliveries.

    Sales started to fall in August and plunged deeply in September, a report by market research company Counterpoint revealed, without giving specific figures.

    Around 70 percent of smartphone stores in Vietnam were closed in July, which increased online sales at one of the biggest smartphone chains in Vietnam by 5.9 percentage points to 17.5 percent between July and August, the report noted.

    Electronics chain CellphoneS in July stated its sales had dropped by 70 percent at the time, while another chain Di Dong Viet switched to distributing food.

    In the third quarter, Samsung led in sales with 49 percent of the market, the highest ever, up 13 percentage points year-on-year.

    Oppo came second with 19 percent of sales, down 1 percentage point, followed by Xiaomi at 13 percent, down 4 percentage points.

    5G smartphone sales accounted for 20 percent of the total in the third quarter, with the ratio expected to rise this quarter as network operators plan to expand their 5G services.

    A media representative of Counterpoint said that as restrictions are relaxed, workers begin to return to industrial parks, and the vaccination ratio increases, smartphone sales in Vietnam could rebound before the end of the year.

  • China October smartphone shipment grows 30.6% from a year ago

    China October smartphone shipment grows 30.6% from a year ago

    According to the China Academy of Information and Communications (CAICT), China’s shipment of smartphones grew 30.6% year-on-year to 32.7 million handsets in October. This is a significant increase from a year ago, in October 2020, when shipments reached 25 million.

    An increase in shipment, compared to the decline experienced in the first half of the year, is largely driven by the release of the latest Apple iPhone 13 in China in September.

    When iPhone preorders were first released in September, demand was so high that Chinese retail websites reportedly went down. During the initial phase, as many as 5 million preorders were placed, signaling Apple’s continued popularity in the country.

  • Samsung to expand northern Vietnam plant

    Samsung to expand northern Vietnam plant

    Samsung is set to expand its plant in the northern province of Bac Ninh this year to increase its production capacity of foldable devices.

    The company would kick off the expansion project within the second half of this year, targeting full operation by the end of 2021 or early next year at the latest.

    This is to increase Samsung’s annual production capacity of foldables by 47 percent from the current 17 million to 25 million.

    Experts say once Samsung completes the expansion, the company would be able to produce 10 million units of Galaxy Z Fold models and 15 million units of Z Flip models a year.

    Samsung’s decision to ramp up capacity is mainly driven by soaring market demand. Its third-generation foldable models recorded 920,000 pre-orders in South Korea, 1.8 times more than its latest smartphone Galaxy S21, the report stated.

    “Samsung’s factories that make foldable devices are already operating at full capacity. Samsung has no option but to expand its facilities,” a source told the newspaper.

    It will likely add three more production lines to its current seven, which would allow the company to manage the production volume more flexibly, the source added.

    Samsung, the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, has six plants and is building a new research and development center in Hanoi, which would open next year. Around 3,000 Vietnamese engineers are set to be employed there.

    The South Korean company has invested over $17.7 billion in Vietnam, has 110,000 employees and exported over $56 billion worth of products last year.

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  • Xiaomi rewards its first ever customers with a refund

    Xiaomi rewards its first ever customers with a refund

    Back in 2011 Xiaomi launched the Mi 1 in China, and thus entered the increasingly competitive smartphone market, eventually overtaking goliaths such as Apple and Samsung, at least according to some research agencies.

    The successful Chinese phone maker is offering a reward to some of its first customers – those who bought the aforementioned Xiaomi Mi 1 ten years ago.

    According to Xiaomi, its first Android phone sold 184,600 units, so if we imagine that all of those who bought a Mi 1 are eligible and request the refund, that equates to about $57 million in refunds, or around $309 for each person.

    Of course, Xiaomi’s first users were all in China and conditions are sure to apply, plus it’s likely that the refunds are in the form of store credit. But in any case, this is a fun way for Xiaomi to acknowledge and thank the people who invested in the then-young company with their trust and hard-earned money.

    And what’s the successful company up to now? From its humble beginning with the Mi 1, running Android 3 on one gigabyte of RAM, the Chinese company’s most recent flagship is the Mi 11 Ultra, which we reviewed earlier this year and found to be solid.

    Also, recent Xiaomi Mi 12 spec rumors hint that Xiaomi’s next premium smartphone will be quite a flagship killer, possibly boasting a 200-megapixel camera and supporting wireless charging of up to 100 watts.

    If you’re a fan of Xiaomi, you may also want to check out our list of the best Xiaomi phones to check out in 2021.

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  • H1 surge in phone, laptop sales

    H1 surge in phone, laptop sales

    Vietnam’s largest electronics retailers, Mobile World and FPT Shop, saw H1 mobile phone and laptop sales in the first half of the year.

    Mobile World posted total revenues of nearly VND62.5 trillion ($2.7 billion) and pre-tax profits of more than VND2.5 trillion in the six-month period.

    Of this the sales of mobile phones, laptops and relevant accessories was over VND15.6 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

    The Mobile World management board said the sales performance was really impressive because hundreds of the company’s stores have had to temporarily shut down or restrict sales amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company, which runs FPT Shop, earned total consolidated revenues of over VND9 trillion and consolidated before-tax profits of VND76 billion in the first half of this year, realizing over half and two-thirds of its annualized plan, respectively.

    Up to 85 percent of the total revenues came from mobile phone, laptop and accessories sales, which grew 13 percent year-on-year.

    While mobile phone sales grew 16 percent on year for Mobile World and laptop sales remained unchanged, FPT Shop saw a 31 percent year-on-year surge in laptop sales to over VND1.3 trillion.

    As of end June, Mobile World had 936 stores, up 23 stores over late 2020, but down from nearly 1,100 stores in late 2017. Meanwhile, FPT Shop had 625 stores, up 30 stores against late last year.

    According to Counterpoint Research, smartphone sales in Vietnam in the second quarter of this year grew 11 percent year-on-year.

    Meanwhile GfK has reported that sales of gaming laptops in the country grew 217 percent in the first five months of the year.

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  • Oppo may enter the gaming smartphone market

    Oppo may enter the gaming smartphone market

    Asian handset manufacturers like to be in the front lines when it comes to new technology, so it’s no wonder that many of them have already jumped on the mobile gaming bandwagon. What’s surprising is that there are still brands that haven’t yet entered the gaming smartphone market, even though it’s still considered a niche category.

    In any case, we’ve just learned that at least one of the companies that hasn’t yet launched a gaming smartphone is about to join the fray, Oppo. The Chinese company is working on a gaming smartphone that strongly resembles the Asus ROG Phone 5.

    The phone was spotted on the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), but apart from some renders, there’s really no information about the unannounced gaming smartphone.

    On the bright side, the pictures reveal quite a few things about the phone, such as the quad-camera setup, the bezel-less display, and the 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom. Although these images prove that the phone exists (even if just as a project), it’s not 100% certain that Oppo will go ahead with the launch. Time will tell whether or not Oppo will pick up the pace and join other brands that have already launched at least one gaming smartphone, such as Asus, Lenovo, Razer and Xiaomi.

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  • Global smartphone shipments forecast to fall during the current quarter

    Global smartphone shipments forecast to fall during the current quarter

    Global smartphone shipments will decline during the current quarter (which is the calendar second quarter and runs from April through the end of June). The report said that top brands in the industry including Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, are being impacted by the global chip shortage. As for the first quarter, Digitimes said that the consumer recovery from the start of the pandemic helped smartphone deliveries recover 47% on a year-over-year basis.

    The top three phone shippers during the opening three months of this year were Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi. Sammy shipped 75 million units, an annual gain of 15.9%, and recaptured the top spot from Apple. Shipments of iPhone handsets rose 49.5% during the first quarter to reach 56 million units.

    With Huawei no longer the big factor that it once was, several Chinese firms are battling it out to replace the one-time dominating Chinese phone manufacturer. U.S. restrictions preventing the firm from accessing its U.S. supply chain (including Google Mobile Services), and blocking it from obtaining cutting-edge chips, led Huawei to sell its Honor sub-brand. But as it ran out of parts and components during the first quarter of 2021, Huawei saw the number of handsets it shipped during the period declined nearly in half on an annual basis.

    But even Xiaomi and Oppo have had to drop their shipment estimates for this year because of the chip shortage and shortages of other parts. Shipments from first-tier smartphone brands are expected to decline in the current three-month period before business picks up with the launch of new models during the second half of the year. Digitimes Research expects shipments of 1.35-1.4 billion units for all of 2021 which is the approximate number of phones delivered globally in 2019.

  • Google Play Music’s last update helps users get rid of the Android app

    Google Play Music’s last update helps users get rid of the Android app

    Google’s Play Music service is officially dead, but it seems that the Android app needed one last update that will allow users to completely get rid of it. Even those who have already migrated to YouTube Music are required to download the update since this is the only way to permanently hide the app.

    Most likely the last update for the Play Music app enables users to hide the app and all data associated with it. Many Android smartphones come preinstalled with the Play Music app and Google still hasn’t found a way to let people uninstall it, even though the service has been discontinued.

    If you don’t own a smartphone that doesn’t allow you to uninstall the Play Music, then this update is of no use since you probably already removed the app after switching to YouTube Music. The rest of you who can’t do that though should update the Play Music app and then tap the “Hide app” and/or “Delete all local data” options.

    Once both options are selected, the Play Music app should no longer appear in the app drawer. On top of that, you will no longer be able to run the app on your Android phone.

  • Google unveils a fresh batch of important Android enhancements and features

    Google unveils a fresh batch of important Android enhancements and features

    Android 12 might not be ready for primetime just yet, but while adventurous users try out Google’s next big batch of mobile improvements and cool new features and the vast majority of the world’s smartphone owners continue to wait for a stable Android 11 update, the search giant is today taking the wraps off half a dozen smaller enhancements aimed at making handsets “more secure and convenient for everyone.”

    Small doesn’t equal trivial in this particular case, mind you, and perhaps more importantly, it’s definitely worth highlighting that these six fairly meaningful new features, just like the six unveiled back in December 2020, are not exclusively headed for owners of Android 11-running devices.

    Incredibly enough, you don’t even need Android 10 to enjoy Password Checkup functionality, be able to schedule your texts in the popular Messages app, “get more done hands-free” with Google Assistant, darken your Google Maps routes, spice up your Android Auto drives, or further improve the accessibility of the already extremely convenient TalkBack service.

    Arguably the most exciting new tool integrated into global devices powered by Android 9 and above starting today, at least for users perennially concerned about their online and mobile security, is Password Checkup. This has been a thing on the Chrome browser for more than a year now, expanding to support pretty much any app on your phone requiring login credentials.

    Google’s hugely popular Autofill feature will automatically check to see if said credentials are compromised, immediately alerting you when detecting a potentially stolen password and prompting you to choose a new one. Of course, you’re free to ignore Big G’s security warnings, but in the long run, it’s definitely wise not to do that. You never know when a compromised password publicly available for bad actors to use at their discretion will in fact be used against you in one of many and equally scary ways.

    While significantly less… dramatic, the second big new feature unveiled today may well appeal to an even larger number of users worldwide, aiming to make it easier to communicate with your friends and family from far away.

    Whether you live in a different timezone from someone you deeply care about or fear you might forget to wish your better half a happy birthday before everyone else, you can now “schedule send” messages on phones with Android 7 and up as long as you download or update the aptly titled Google Messages app to its latest version.

    253 million is a pretty lofty number, so it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Google is paying very close attention to the extensive global community of blind and low-vision Android users, revamping the TalkBack experience with more intuitive gestures, a unified menu, a new reading control menu, and well, more, with some of these important accessibility changes showcased in the short video embedded below.

    Meanwhile, there’s not a lot to say about the imminent worldwide expansion of the Google Maps dark theme other than “finally!” This has been a very long time coming, and as you can imagine, its activation requires little to no effort… if you know where to look. Namely, in the “Theme” submenu of your navigation app’s “Settings” menu, where you can choose to use Google Maps “Always in Dark Theme”, as well as easily switch back to the light side.

    No Android update would be complete without some sort of a Google Assistant upgrade, and indeed, the AI-powered service is improving its convenience by displaying cards that can be read at a glance and perform more tasks than ever before sans requiring you to unlock or touch your Android phone.

    Last but not necessarily least, Android Auto is gaining the ability to keep you entertained during your long drives with a number of fun little voice-activated games, as well as new custom wallpapers to brighten your day and personalize your car display. These features will be available “in the coming days” on phones running Android 6.0 and up when connected to a compatible vehicle.

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  • Growing 5G demand will drive major 2021 smartphone market recovery

    Growing 5G demand will drive major 2021 smartphone market recovery

    The global smartphone market was only one of the major industries to suffer a big and largely unexpected decline in 2020 as a direct consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, but while the COVID-19 threat is projected to linger this year and potentially even beyond that, 2021 should mark the beginning of a beautiful rebound.

    The first signs of an imminent recovery showed up during last year’s third calendar quarter, when shipments were down around the world by a measly four percent compared to the same period of 2019, becoming evident in the final three months of 2020, as the year-on-year sales decline further contracted to one percent according to Counterpoint Research. In contrast, the same market intelligence firm estimated the mobile industry’s Q1 and Q2 slumps at 13 and a record 26 percent respectively.

    Clearly, there’s no way to go but up now that people are slowly regaining their appetite for both mid-range and high-end handsets pretty much in all key regions, and according to a hot new report published by Gartner, worldwide sales could register a healthy total increase of 11 percent in 2021.

    While that’s unlikely to be enough to boost the market to its pre-pandemic levels, this year’s forecasted 1.53 billion units would come incredibly close to the 1.54 billion smartphones sold in 2019. The aforementioned 11 percent growth is expected to be mainly driven by “mature” markets across Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America on a regional level, as well as rising demand for 5G-enabled devices essentially everywhere.

    Affordable 5G models starting as low as $200 could be particularly successful in 2021, especially in emerging European and Asian countries. Overall, 5G smartphones are likely to exceed 500 million unit sales, accounting for around 35 percent of the entire market. In comparison, 2019 saw less than 20 million 5G-capable handsets reach the hands of their owners, with said number growing to more than 200 million last year.

    Unfortunately, Gartner’s latest report doesn’t go into any detail regarding the prospective evolution of the world’s top mobile device vendors this year, so it’s not entirely clear yet who will drive the 11 percent global hike from that perspective.

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