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Huawei shipped 140 million smartphones in 2016

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Although Huawei didn’t get the green light from Google to make a Nexus 6P successor (the big G instead gave HTC a shot at redemption with the Pixel phones), 2016 has been a good year for the Chinese phone maker. Exceptionally good, actually.

It is currently the third-biggest OEM behind Samsung and Apple, though this may not be the case a year or two from now. It actually aims to sell more handsets than Apple by 2018. Oh, and it made some $200 million from Android devices, becoming the world’s most profitable Android maker, albeit in part due to the Galaxy Note 7 recall and discontinuation.

[irp posts=”2258″ name=”Huawei P9 and P9 Plus gear up for Southeast Asia release”]

And 2016 keeps getting better for Huawei. The company today said it hit its sales target for the year, and has shipped 140 million smartphones globally thus far, including over 10 million P9 and P9 Plus units since April and 7 million Mate 8s. In the third quarter alone, it shipped over 33 million units, a 23 percent improvement over the same period last year.

Not only that, Huawei has set a new sales record after posting its best-ever year in 2015. Notably, Huawei managed to sell 108 million handsets throughout the previous year. What’s even more impressive is that Huawei’s latest premium models, the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, and Porsche Design Mate 9, haven’t made it to stores in the U.S. and Europe yet. And that it has sold more units than ever without Google’s Nexus/Pixel branding, and despite growing competition from other Chinese OEMs.

Huawei has yet to announce its goals for 2017, but there’s clearly a lot of work to be done to make next year even more memorable for the company. It will be interesting to see if it has more upside to offer after back-to-back years of incredible growth.

[irp posts=”8065″ name=”Apple rules smartphone profits, Chinese brands distant second”]

Source: Android Headlines

Apps

Canva teams up with SB19 to turn A’TIN’s passion into creativity

Campaign lets fans access assets, editable templates, more

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Canva Philippines has joined forces with SB19 and Sony Music Entertainment to launch the “Kaya sa Canva” campaign.

This first-of-its-kind initiative is aimed at transforming the popular Filipino boy band’s fanbase into creators by giving them access to official design assets, exclusive templates, and powerful creative tools.

That’s of course as fans have a way of creating artwork, banners, and more outputs to honor their idols.

As such, the partnership enables the A’TIN (SB19’s fanbase) to access the Canva-exclusive SB19’s Creative Hub.

This dedicated space lets fans access assets, including SB19-inspired sticker packs, custom typography, and editable templates inspired by the group.

Fans around the world will initially have access to templates for photo-booth strips, wallpapers, posters, and videos.

The campaign will then expand with Canva-exclusive assets celebrating the group’s New Era, as well as their latest single, “Lawless”.

Meanwhile, the original song “KAYA” is accompanied with an upbeat music video, doubling as a love letter to A’TIN and a masterclass in Canva’s tools.

Every visual and animation is fan-inspired, a celebration of the creativity, passion, and dedication that’s defined in the community from day one.

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The iPhone 18 might sell out for an unexpected reason

The ongoing shortage might play a part in the phone selling out earlier than expected.

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An iPhone selling out is not news. Because of how popular the phones are, it’s within the realm of probability that Apple runs out of stock at some point. According to a new report, this year won’t be any different… but it’s for an entirely different reason.

First reported by analyst Tim Culpan, Apple is reportedly struggling to meet its demand for semiconductors for the iPhone 18 and the foldable iPhone. The ongoing memory shortage is cutting off Apple’s ability to deliver the required supply of smartphones in a timely fashion. The report even claims that TSMC, which helps produce the iPhone, is sitting on a shipment of processors, worth US$ 1 billion, that don’t have memory chips.

Now, Apple is still confident that it can weather the launch. However, if the shortage persists, the iPhone 18 generation will likely sell out much more quickly than expected.

It’s an interesting time for Apple to experience such a shortage. It’s been heavily rumored that the company will launch its very first foldable phone next month, creating a new market for the brand. Apple definitely wants this attempt to succeed after the tepid response to its last new product, the Vision Pro.

SEE ALSO: Did Tim Cook just confirm that iPhone prices are going up?

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These “smart” glasses just sold out in under a week

DuckDuckGo touts that these glasses have zero AI, zero cameras, and an infinite battery life.

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Smart glasses are in a weird place right now. While a chunk of the population views them as cool and innovative, another significant chunk sees them as a privacy nightmare. If you’re in the latter group but want to see what life is like on the former, DuckDuckGo has a new product: a pair of anti-surveillance glasses with no camera or AI, otherwise known as just normal sunglasses.

If it’s not obvious, yes, it’s a troll product. DuckDuckGo is a search engine famously known for pushing privacy as a priority, opposing Google’s penchant for advertising and AI. Now, the search engine is taking on the smart glasses market.

Partnering with Knockaround, DuckDuckGo released the Paso Robles, a pair of sunglasses touted as having zero cameras, an always-offline mode, and a battery life of infinity.

It’s a statement piece. The rims have a logo mark, similar to the Meta’s glasses. The packaging also states that the glasses are “designed to block the sun, not send data to the cloud.”

Now, if you want a pair, they cost only US$ 35, as opposed to Meta’s US$ 299 price tag, but they are already sold out.

Which says quite a bit about today’s sentiment against AI and for privacy. Of course, to be fair, DuckDuckGo’s supply is certainly less than Meta’s stock for their smart glasses. It does, however, prove that the sentiment is there.

As of now, the world is slowly realizing that unimpeded smart glasses aren’t such a good idea, leading to people concerned about their privacy. In fact, some states have already started banning the technology in certain public spaces.

SEE ALSO: New York becomes first state to ban smart glasses

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