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Only Huawei sees growth as China’s smartphone shipment growth stalls

Everyone else got hit hard

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Canalys, an independent research company based in Singapore, published the list of smartphone brands that dominated the Chinese market during the fourth quarter of 2017.

Huawei, with its sub-brands Nova and Honor, had their best ever quarter in China with more than 24 million smartphones shipped. Huawei grew by 9 percent in a market that declined by more than 14 percent, effectively outperforming the overall market. Honor, especially, continued to establish its importance for Huawei by contributing more than half of the unit volume or 12 million shipped phones. Honor and Nova gained market share from smaller vendors like Gionee and Meizu.

OPPO shipped 19 million smartphones, a decline of 16 percent, and Vivo shipped 13 million smartphones, which also declined by 7 percent. Even though their shipment volume declined, OPPO and Vivo were able to hold on to their respective second and third spots. The flagship stores both vendors opened in China’s biggest cities allowed them to boost their brands and drive home an image of value for money that Chinese consumers bought into.

Apple was capable of delivering more than 7 million iPhone X into the Chinese market during the fourth quarter of 2017. This, together with the more reasonably priced iPhone SE, 6s, 7, and 8 models, was enough for Apple to secure the fourth spot, pushing Xiaomi to number five overall.

For the first time ever, China saw a decline in year-over-year unit volume shipments for smartphones — down to just 459 million. This was mainly due to a steep decline by 4 percent. Therefore, Canalys predicts a major market shake-up in China in 2018.

Things aren’t looking good for Gionee and Meizu should they not be able to pull off a turnaround, especially as other brands like Lenovo and ZTE refocus on the Chinese market. Lenovo, in particular, has had the advantage of owning Motorola’s smartphone technologies. Bringing all this know-how back to their home country could spell trouble for these smaller companies.

Let’s sit back and enjoy the benefits we as consumers will see from the battle of smartphone vendors in the Chinese market, shall we? Popcorn, anyone?

Entertainment

UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony hits Makati in October

Determination arrives in October.

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For so small of a game, UNDERTALE quickly made it into the gaming world’s hall of fame. Despite being only a decade old, the small title has had a major influence for modern-day gamers because of its unique gameplay, its lo-fi art, and, of course, its catchy soundtrack. If you’re a fan of UNDERTALE’s soundtrack, a unique concert experience is headed your way.

On October 17, Film Concerts PH, in partnership with SOHO Live, is hosting UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony at the Proscenium Theater in Rockwell, Makati.

The concert will be performed by the Filharmonika Orchestra and conducted by Thanapol Setabrahmana. Personally curated by creator Toby Fox and developed by Lambert Jackson with Materia Music, the concert experience showcases the game’s most recognizable tunes laid over gameplay footage playing simultaneously. Plus, for the world tour, the experience will have expanded scoring.

In the game, you play as a small child stuck in the mysterious Underground filled with interesting characters and monsters. Unlike traditional RPGs, UNDERTALE asks players to choose between building relationships and chasing after wins. It’s a unique experience that’s defined by whether you chose to make friends or fought your way to the top. It teaches players to value different ways to solve problems, all while showering them with its one-of-a-kind humor.

Pre-sales for the concert, exclusively for members of the Film Concerts PH community, start on August 4. Public sales, however, will start on August 11 via Ticketmelon.

SEE ALSO: The hunt begins: The Witcher in Concert hits Manila with surprises in tow

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Qualcomm is raising its prices this year

Will the price of smartphones follow suit?

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The price of technology isn’t fun these days. Because of the ongoing RAM shortage wrought by AI, companies across the industry are raising the prices of their products. Some, however, are still willing to shoulder the burden for their customers. Unfortunately, Qualcomm is soon leaving that list.

As reported by Bloomberg, Qualcomm will raise the prices of its products starting in September. Though the exact figure is unknown, the company did confirm that it’s in the double digits, percentage-wise. According to them, they can no longer shoulder the costs for its customers.

If you’re just a regular user, Qualcomm’s prices might not mean much for you. After all, the chipmaker doesn’t make phones of its own.

That said, Qualcomm is still one of the biggest suppliers for smartphone chipsets, including those that Samsung uses. Pushing the burden from chipsets to phone manufacturers reduces one more buffer against costs being ultimately pushed to consumers.

All things considered, Samsung managed to keep its prices hikes relatively low with the latest batch of foldables. However, with chips getting more price increases, it’s still within the realm of possibility that Samsung will also increase the price of its smartphones. The same can be said for any Qualcomm-powered smartphone available today.

SEE ALSO: Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, Flip8, Ultra

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Apple is reportedly delaying its smart glasses due to privacy concerns

The brand wants to squash malicious recording.

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Smart glasses are in a weird place right now. While early adopters are celebrating the ability to record everything, a growing group of critics are decrying the loss of privacy. Formerly at full throttle, Apple, in response to these controversies, will reportedly delay its version of smart glasses to next year.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is heading back to the drawing board to further emphasize the unreleased wearable’s privacy protections, which includes “hardware and software-related privacy features not available on current products.” The report, however, doesn’t enumerate what these features are.

If anything, these features will likely prevent malicious recording. Most smart glasses today have a light that tells passersby that the device is actively recording video. However, users have discovered ways to tamper and disable this light, so their devices can start recording without alerting others. Apple will likely introduce better measure to prevent such tampering.

Additionally, it’s also possible that Apple introduces a version of the smart glasses without a camera attached.

Because of these new initiatives, the brand will delay the launch of the wearable to sometime next year. Previously, there was heavy speculation that the smart glasses will launch later this year.

On the bright side, there’s still substantial reason to believe that Apple is launching its first ever foldable device later this year.

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

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