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Huawei and Honor combine to break market share records in China

Smaller vendors can’t keep up

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China experienced a major drop in smartphone sales during the first quarter of 2018, but things are suddenly looking up thanks to strong efforts from the top four brands, spearheaded by Huawei.

Canalys reports that smartphone shipments in China were at 104 million in this year’s second quarter after a significant slump in Q1 2018, which saw only 91 million units shipped. This is mostly thanks to a strong showing by the record-breaking 28.5 million units shipped by Huawei and its sub-brand Honor, accounting for a 27 percent of the total number in Q2 2018.

The tandem efforts between Huawei and Honor resulted in a 22 percent growth compared to the same quarter last year, but a lot of credit has to be given to the latter. Honor contributed to 55 percent of the Q2 2018 shipments — up from only 33 percent in Q2 2017.

Canalys Analyst Mo Jia says that Honor has successfully expanded into the US$ 500 and above segment, while maintaining its dominance in the lower price segments, as well.

OPPO and Vivo took the second and third spots with market shares of 21 and 20 percent in Q2 2018, respectively. OPPO had a year-over-year (YoY) growth of only three percent (enough to maintain the second-place position), but Vivo experienced a staggering 30 percent YoY growth, which is more than any other brand at this point.

Xiaomi is comfortable in the fourth spot with a 14 percent market share in the same quarter and no growth compared to last year. What really went down were all other smartphone brands; a YoY decline of 51 percent led to only 18 percent in market share for 2018’s second quarter — barely enough to compete against the top four.

Canalys claims that the shipments decline will continue on to the following quarters. Even though the plunge improved from 22 percent to eight percent in overall units shipped, only Huawei may be able to face adversity against tensions versus the US and weakening Chinese Yuan value.

Automotive

Tesla involved in recalling over 4 million electric cars

China is banning a feature found on most Teslas.

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Electric vehicles have been simmering in some hot water for a while now, but it’s not because of a reason you might be thinking of. Instead of its performance or even its reliability, the world’s modern vehicle is fretting over its door handles. Over the feature’s potential risks in a life-or-death situations, carmakers in China, including Tesla, are recalling around 4.3 million vehicles in the country.

When it comes to door handles, electric vehicles today are known for creating hidden ones that sit flush on a car door. These handles appear only when needed and automatically retract into the door when not in use.

For a while now, governments have been worried about them, citing concerns that they don’t offer easy exits during threatening scenarios. There have been incidents when the handles don’t pop up while a car is on fire, preventing both the car’s occupants and rescuers from opening the door.

Today, via Reuters, nine carmakers, including Tesla, are recalling 4.3 million vehicles from the country over these same door handles. Moreso than domestic brands, Tesla finds itself leading this pack with almost 3 million units. The other eight brands include Xiaomi and Geely.

This recall is responding to China’s latest regulation to ban hidden door handles starting 2027. Other measures include installing mechanical releases. Some brands are also rolling out software updates which automatically lower the car’s windows in case of an emergency, offering another exit for trapped occupants.

SEE ALSO: BYD Atto 2 launches with EV, plug-in hybrid options

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HUAWEI Pura X View is 2026’s first WIDE slab-type smartphone

2026’s first non-foldable WIDE smartphone makes its surprising debut

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Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

It seems like the WIDE smartphone craze is getting out of hand.

Surprise, surprise! Out of nowhere, HUAWEI reveals the Pura X View — 2026’s first WIDE smartphone that does not fold at all.

Tied to WIDE

With the massive success of HUAWEI’s Pura X Max as well as the newly-released Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, it’s hard to ignore the sudden trend behind WIDE smartphones. Let alone, Apple’s much-awaited iPhone foldable (dubbed the “iPhone Ultra”) will be announced in less than a month.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Opposed to the usual tall and narrow form factor, the Pura X View comes in a wider body with a 16:9.5 aspect ratio. Display bezels are extremely narrow too at just 1.09mm and StB (Screen-to-Body) ratio reaches a whopping 96.1%.

This wider than usual body means better ergonomics with better content consumption — from images, books, documents, all the way to movies and shows, as well as games.

While it has a smaller 6.39-inch display, the Chinese electronics giant says it has greater content area compared to 6.9-inch flagship smartphones.

Other display feats include a 2160Hz PWM Dimming, resolution of 2232 × 1320, and max brightness of up to 6500 nits.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Despite all these, HUAWEI still managed to put a monstrous 7000mAh battery capacity inside its super slender 6.68mm chassis — which also happens to be lightweight at only 201 grams.

Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, HUAWEI did not reveal every bit of spec on their website.

Pricing and Availability

The HUAWEI Pura X View comes in four colorways: Illusion Dark Night, Zero-degree White, Leap Shadow Red, and Linen Ash.

It’s currently open for pre-orders in China alongside three configurations:

  • 12+256GB
  • 12+512GB
  • 12+1TB

Just like its unrevealed specifications, HUAWEI did not reveal the exact pricing of the Pura X View.

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Samsung might launch the Galaxy S26 FE next week

A new event is hinting at the smartphone’s debut.

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It wasn’t too long ago when Samsung launched the new Galaxy Fold and Flip series. Historically, the brand is done for the year after two major Galaxy Unpacked events. However, if you’re still hankering for a few more morsels of Galaxy devices, Samsung is hosting another event next week, which might mean the debut of the Galaxy S26 FE.

This week, Samsung has just released an official invite for a Galaxy Event on August 27. The invite itself looks like a tray with two glasses of matcha and a coaster in between them. It’s visually similar to a modest camera setup, hinting at a new smartphone coming during the event.

Because Samsung has already filled its usual quota of flagships and foldables, it’s highly likely that the event is meant for the Galaxy S26 FE. The Galaxy FE series is Samsung’s way of extending the life cycle of the current generation of Galaxy phones, while also catering to another segment of the market.

As for what the Galaxy S26 FE might hold, it looks like AI might be a prime focus. Samsung confirms that the invite graphic has AI-generated images. The text accompanying the graphic also indicates that AI will be a part of the event.

It’s only a week left before the August 27 event, so we’ll get to know more about everything soon.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Review

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