News
Huawei is now more popular than Apple in Central and Eastern Europe

The popularity of Chinese smartphones is not only evident in Asia as the latest report from Canalys proves. With a total of 15.6 million shipments, the Central and Eastern Europe smartphone market is dominated by three Chinese brands.
The smartphone market in Central and Eastern Europe in the second quarter of the year was led by no other than Samsung with its 4.9 million shipments and a year-on-year increase of 14 percent. Most of the shipments are for the strong demand of Samsung’s midrange Galaxy A and J series. Of course, the Galaxy S8 is also a strong seller, but the company is reported to have overestimated the demand.
Huawei is back in the number two spot with 1.8 million smartphone shipments or 12 percent market share. Like Samsung, their strength was driven by low and midrange products with the P10 Lite as its best-seller for Central and Eastern Europe.
Slipping back in third place is Apple with 50,000 units less than Huawei. This comes after the slight advantage of the Cupertino company during the first quarter due to increased sales of the iPhone 7 Plus. With a new iPhone coming out soon, Apple’s sale could rise again depending on how Huawei will respond to the competition.
In just over a year, Xiaomi rocketed to fourth place. The company shipped 1.1 million devices to the region, owning seven percent of the market share. Xiaomi has been bringing its bang-for-buck smartphones from Asian markets to Europe, with the Redmi 4A being the best-seller. That model alone accounts for 350,000 shipments in the second quarter.
And lastly, we have Lenovo in the fifth spot. The Chinese company owns five percent of the Central and Eastern Europe market.
SEE ALSO: Huawei is ‘giving up’ on cheap phones
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Xiaomi has officially unveiled the Redmi 12, its latest entry-level smartphone, to the Philippine market.
The sleek budget phone features a 6.79-inch FHD+ 90Hz DotDisplay as part of its 8.17mm thick body which also sports a premium glass back and an infinite camera design.
The screen has Adaptive Sync, and is able to display a 2460 x 1080 resolution — the largest in the Redmi series so far. Moreover, the display is SGS Low Blue Light certified and has a Reading mode 3.0 feature to avoid eye strains.
The device is powered by a MediaTek Helio G88 processor and has up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. It also houses a 5,000mAh battery that supports 18W of fast-charging.
For its camera package, the Redmi 12 has a 50MP main camera, joined by an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro lens. In front is an 8MP selfie camera.
Price and availability
The Redmi 12 can be snagged for the low early bird price of only PhP 6,999 for the 8GB+128GB model, PhP 1,000 off its original SRP, from September 20 to 29 via Xiaomi’s Lazada store.
The 8GB+256GB variant, on the other hand, is priced at PhP 8,999 and is available on both Lazada and Shopee, on and TikTok starting September 30th.
From September 29 onwards, customers may opt for a 0% interest, 6-month installment plan via Home Credit.

For years, the American government hounded Chinese companies for allegedly giving China an easy backdoor into the United States. The allegations don’t normally happen from the other way around, though. Today is different. The Chinese government has accused the United States of hacking into Huawei servers since 2009.
It’s an uncommon turn of events. In a Weibo post (via Nikkei Asia), China’s Ministry of State Security claimed that it discovered evidence of American hackers breaking into Chinese servers.
According to the post, the U.S. government’s Office of Tailored Access Operations used spyware to access Huawei’s servers since 2009. The spyware involved was called Second Date, a piece of spyware that was, according to the Chinese post, “developed by the U.S. National Security Agency.”
The spyware was partially discovered by Qihoo 360, an agency investigating American-led hacking attacks against China. The mere discovery, however, does not include explicit references to Huawei as a target.
China’s retaliation against the United States is slowly ramping up. Recently, the Chinese government started banning its officials from using iPhones for work. A wider ban might even be in the works.
For the United States, the American government is also investigating Huawei once again. After the surprising launch of the Mate 60 series, the government is interested to see how the Chinese company can still make smartphones without American technology.

Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord will launch on October 26 with pre-orders now available on the PlayStation and Meta Quest stores, as revealed during the PlayStation State of Play.
Players may get a first look at the title’s PlayStation VR2 gameplay and features through its newly-released trailer:
The game lets players team up with up to three more allies as they take on a variety of missions, solving puzzles and trapping ghosts to stop the March of the Malevolent.
Under solo mode, players can also take on the Ghost Lord with the help of a ghostly companion.
Thanks to PlayStation VR2’s capabilities, fans can step into the role of a ghostbuster while enjoying 4K HDR graphics, eye tracking for accurate navigation and interaction, both headset and haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers.
Price, availability
Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord is available for pre-order via the PlayStation Store with a limited-time 10% discount at just US$ 31.49 for the base game and US$ 49.49 for the Full Containment Edition.
The Full Containment Edition is also available for pre-order on the Meta Quest Store for a limited time at US$ 49.99.
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