Enterprise

What’s in store for Huawei’s future?

Expect more developments in the future

Published

July 5, 2019

Luigi Leonardo

Huawei can finally breathe some fresh air. After months of unending torment, President Trump released the company’s chains as a bargaining chip for the China-US trade war. In a surprise announcement, the American leader reversed his ban on conducting business between Huawei and local companies. Is Huawei finally in the clear? What’s next for Huawei?

Business as usual

Throughout the entire debacle, Huawei’s supporters showed a lot more anxiety than the company itself. On the surface, Huawei still carried on as normal. In fact, over the past few weeks, the company launched a series of new smartphones — as if nothing terrible was happening. For one, the Nova 5 series has already shipped out in China. Meanwhile, the Philippines will see the Y9 Prime 2019 within the coming weeks. Finally, Huawei unveiled the Mate 20 X 5G — the world’s first commercially available 5G smartphone.

If anything, Huawei has bolstered its confidence amidst the uncertainty. The company will likely continue its usual release schedule for the coming fiscal year. With that in mind, expect the Mate 30 series later this year.

Rebuilding trust

Despite their bravado, Huawei has not fostered the same confidence within its market. Consumers have already offloaded their favored devices for something less risky. Of course, Huawei’s more devout supporters have stuck with the company amid the trying times. However, a damaged reputation is damage, nonetheless.

In Singapore, Huawei is working hard to rebuild their reputation. The company is giving away milk tea for loyal customers who stayed loyal despite the brand’s difficult period. As is standard with every rebuilding company, expect more quirky marketing campaigns in the future. Besides the occasional giveaway, Huawei has resorted to more innovative tactics in the past. Given the damage sustained, we might see Huawei’s goofier side come out again soon.

Building a new phone

Amidst their confidence, Huawei also harbored frantic damage control efforts during the controversy. To combat uncertainty, the company sought more reliable alternatives for its components. These included new partnerships and in-house developments. With a more optimistic future on the horizon, Huawei won’t need as much Plan B’s anymore.

Still, Huawei won’t want its efforts wasted. The company has already worked on beefier Kirin chips and its own Ark operating system. Huawei will likely reveal these in-house products in some form. A more powerful Kirin chipset will propel Huawei up performance charts. Even without the Trump issue, Huawei has already expressed its goals to be number one. Also, an in-house Kirin chip will help position the company as a self-reliant powerhouse for smartphones.

On the other hand, the controversial Ark OS will push the company in unseen directions. How will the Chinese software impact the global marketplace? Despite Huawei’s efforts, Android still reigns supreme in the OS arena. If launched, the operating system will likely be an enforced decision for a good chunk of consumers who prefer Android. As such, will it be exclusive to China — where it might gain more favorable reception? Will Huawei just shelf it? Without much information, Huawei’s operating system is still a big unknown.

Batten down the hatches

Right now, Huawei is riding a wave of optimism. However, Trump’s words always carry a modicum of uncertainty. Is Huawei finally safe? No one knows.

Currently, the company is still bumping around in America’s rough patches. Despite Trump’s promises, American lawmakers have not relinquished Huawei yet. Outside of the commercial sphere, Huawei is still technically banned.

As such, Huawei will likely keep its allocation of resources set for in-house research and development. If anything, Trump’s latest attack on the company is a lesson learned for the Chinese company. Of course, Huawei’s upcoming announcements will populate the airwaves in their time. However, the company will keep more of its developments behind the scenes.

Ultimately, Huawei’s future is still riddled in uncertainty. If past experiences will serve their lessons, Huawei is already fighting against potential controversies in the future.

Enterprise

Cebu Pacific becomes 1st SEA low-cost carrier with Starlink Wi-Fi

Rollout expected to begin in 2027

Published

July 15, 2026

GadgetMatch

Cebu Pacific has introduced Starlink, making it the first low-cost airline in Southeast Asia to bring Wi-Fi in the sky for passengers.

The rollout is expected to begin in 2027. Starlink delivers an unparalleled broadband experience inflight, with high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi capable of HD streaming, online gaming, productivity and more.

Beyond enhancing the passenger experience, Starlink will also support improved operational connectivity for Cebu Pacific’s flight crews and operational teams. This enables better operational efficiency.

The collaboration is a significant milestone for Philippine aviation. The rollout forms part of Cebu Pacific’s continued investment in customer experience and digital innovation.

As part of the partnership, Cebu Pacific and Indigo Partners portfolio airlines, Wizz Air, and JetSMART expect to install Starlink on over 1,000 aircraft.

Enterprise

Google ordered to pay EUR 4.1 billion in fines

The EU alleges that Google uses its apps to establish an unfair dominance.

Published

July 3, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

European fines have unintentionally become a normal part of doing business in the American technology space. For too long have American companies paid paltry fines to prevent harsher regulation in the European Union. Now, for the first time, Google is about to pay a record-breaking fine that goes beyond “paltry.”

Today, via CNBC, Google has been ordered to pay an astonishing EUR 4.1 billion (or approximately US$ 4.67 billion) in fines. The fine is in response to an anti-competition case.

This has been a long time coming for Google. The original case started in 2018. At the time, the European Union accused the brand of using anti-competitive practices to ensure its dominance in the smartphone market. According to the courts, the company’s bundling of first-party apps for every Android smartphone gives them an unfair advantage in the market and lessens the user’s choice in selecting apps.

For years, Google has fought the fine to seemingly no avail. Now, the company has lost its final attempt, which means that the fine still stands. On the bright side, they did get it reduced from the original EUR 4.34 billion fine.

The European Union is the scourge of every American tech company (and a godsend to consumers). Most notably, the continent’s government forced Apple to adopt USB-C, leading to a more universal experience across brands.

Google’s hefty fine aims to do the same. And it is quite hefty. Whereas previous fines were in the millions (and hence, negligible for most companies), a fine in the billions is more tangible.

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

Published

June 19, 2026

MJ Jucutan

In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.