2016年8月23日 星期二

Apple could launch an iPhone with curved screen - CNET

The company may be aiming to play Samsung's game by building a phone with a curved OLED display, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

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2016年8月19日 星期五

China smartphone makers face challenges



The smartphone industry has seen significant shift in market shares, particularly among the Chinese brands.

Globally, Samsung has kept the top spot and Apple is still the runner up. But Xiaomi, which was earlier in the No. 3 position, has slipped, as did some other Chinese brands such as Letv and Coolpad

Meanwhile, three other mainland makers — Huawei, OPPO and Vivo — moved up to occupy the third, fourth and fifth spots

Global handset shipments rose by a meager 0.3 percent to 343 million units in the second quarter of this year, according to IDC data. Developing countries such as India and Africa are still witnessing growth but markets in the West have shown a notable contraction.
Samsung remains the top smartphone vendor worldwide, thanks to its diversified smartphone offerings that cover the entire range of mid to high-end segments.
The company’s smartphone shipments increased by 5.5 percent in the second quarter to 77 million over the same period a year earlier, helping the Korean giant take 22.4 percent of global market share

As for Apple, it recorded a 15 percent decline in second-quarter shipments to 40.40 million units, taking a hit due to the absence of new launches

In the mean time, three Chinese brands posted robust growth

Huawei took over the third spot with 32.1 million units sold, up 8.4 percent from the year before. It was followed closely by fellow Chinese manufacturers OPPO and Vivo, at 22.6 million and 16.4 million units, respectively

OPPO and Vivo registered whopping year-on-year growth of 136.6 percent and 80.2 percent respectively in second-quarter shipments.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi and once-popular brands like LeTV and Coolpad lagged behind.
Singling out the China market, Xiaomi’s shipments slid by 38.4 percent and its market share fell under 10 percent. By contrast, Huawei, OPPO and vivo recorded shipment gains of 15.2 percent, 124.1 percent and 74.7 percent respectively.

Xiaomi had been very successful with its low-price strategy, but that was until other low-end makers from China, India and Russia copied the same cut-throat pricing approach.

The outlook for Xiaomi is worrisome now given that it has been counting on selling smartphones on the cheap to gain a big customer base and monetize it through the cross-selling of other products such as software, games and home appliances, a business model that does not seem to work at all.

On one hand, the company is challenged by numerous makers that won’t hesitate to undercut Xiaomi for market share. On the other, the goal of achieving huge sales of other products appears very difficult

Xiamoi has been burning cash raised over the past few years. Given the current tough market situation, the company may not find it easy to convince investors to put in more money. 

Now, what about the three rising Chinese players? Are they doing a lot better? 

Well, not exactly. 

Huawei, OPPO and Vivo have done a good job in cost control. To expand market share, they even supply smartphones to telecom carriers under the carriers’ own labels. 

But the sharp gains in sales may come at the expense of profit margin. At the end of the day, their businesses may not be that profitable. 


Source: EJ Insight

Nokia could launch new Android phones and tablets by the end of the year

Nokia was once a major name in mobile and it could soon be again. A deal with Microsoft that temporarily prevented Nokia from using its name on phones is nearly up, with the rights returning to Nokia in the last quarter of this year.

And it seems Nokia isn't going to waste any time in releasing new smartphones and tablets under its name, as three or four new devices are apparently going to be announced by the end of the year.

That revelation comes straight from Nokia China's president Mike Wang, who spoke to Chinese site The Paper, as spotted by Android Authority.

The devices are expected to include both phones and tablets, and will be running Android, which is a big change for a company that in recent years has been more associated with Windows Phone.

The new devices won't be manufactured by Nokia itself though, but by a new company dubbed HMD, which we've reported on before.

Unknown quantities

The big question now is what specs they'll have, as the report doesn't shed any light on that, but earlier rumors suggested we could see both 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch phones.

Both will apparently have QHD displays, metal shells, 22.6MP cameras and high-end Snapdragon 820 processors, which would put them on the same sort of level as flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S7.

If Nokia really is revealing the phones this year we'll have a clear idea of the specs soon, but according to the report they might not arrive in shops until early 2017, so don't count on getting one for Christmas.


Source: TechRadar

2016年8月17日 星期三

Tablets with the best screens - CNET

Screen quality is a critical ingredient of a great tablet.

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2016年8月11日 星期四

Samsung plays up Galaxy Note 7's iris scanner - CNET

The company's mobile chief touts iris recognition as the "safest security technology."

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2016年8月9日 星期二

Galaxy Note 7 tops every other phone display ever, testing firm says - CNET

Samsung's soon-to-be-released phone-tablet hybrid scores "very good" to "excellent" in virtually all measures of its display, according to DisplayMate.

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2016年8月8日 星期一

Samsung may release future Galaxy S phones with curved display only - CNET

The company might dump the flat-screen variant of its flagship lineup, hints a Samsung exec.

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iPhone 7 may sport pressure-sensitive home button, Space Black paint job - CNET

And circling back to previous rumors, Bloomberg reports that the new phones will ditch the headphone jack in favor of stereo speakers.

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2016年8月7日 星期日

A dual-lens iPhone 7: 3 reasons you don't want it -- and 2 why you do - CNET

Commentary: The iPhone needs a better camera but this isn't a magic bullet.

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2016年8月5日 星期五

Verizon rumored to carry new 'Nexus' phones - CNET

Tweet from known leaker Evan Blass places quotation marks around Nexus. What could that mean?

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2016年8月4日 星期四

First phone filled with Nougat likely to come from LG - CNET

The South Korean company will take the wraps off its new V20 phone on September 6. For now, it is the first in line with the new Android 7.0 Nougat operating system, beating even Google's Nexus brand.

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iPhone 7 Plus purported mockup reveals blue paint job and more - CNET

A new video imagines a whole host of changes coming with Apple's next big phone launch.

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2016年8月3日 星期三

Samsung Pass to let you access your financial apps via your irises - CNET

The iris scanner on Samsung's new Galaxy Note 7 will retrieve your banking information in the blink of an eye.

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2016年8月2日 星期二

​Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 anoints USB-C as the king of ports - CNET

The biggest phone maker is no longer standing on the sidelines in a technology transition that should make all your devices easier to use.

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Google could renovate the home screen on its 2016 Nexus devices - CNET

Changes might be in store for the app launcher and the search field, according to Android Police.

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Galaxy S7 Edge hottest Android smartphone for first half of 2016 - CNET

The S7 Edge was the top seller thanks to its curved sidebar of apps, which consumers find simple to use, says research firm Strategy Analytics.

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2016年8月1日 星期一

Android 7.0 Nougat could arrive August 5 - CNET

If so, which devices will be first to receive the newest flavor of Google's mobile operating system?

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