News

Despite ban, the Huawei P40 still has American parts

Includes Qualcomm in component list

Published

April 2, 2020

Luigi Leonardo

Last year, the Huawei P30 marked the company’s last hurrah with American parts in the foreseeable future. Since then, Huawei’s next flagship series — the Mate 30 series — launched without Google, shifting the brand away from the widely popular suite of apps for the first time since its renaissance. Recently, the company launched the Huawei P40 series, the second flagship series under this era. Of course, it was business as usual for the now America-less smartphone company.

However, after a Financial Times breakdown, the new flagship series still has a few distinctly American parts hiding underneath its surface. Most notably, the phone’s radio-frequency front-end modules (or what the phone uses to call people) come from Qualcomm, Skyworks, and Qorvo. All three companies hail from the US.

Given the current ban, this comes as a surprise. However, if anything, Qualcomm can explain its way out of the mystery. According to an insider source, the American company already has an operating exception against the current ban. Of course, this is still disputable since the US has kept its silence over which companies have successfully received an exception. Currently, only Microsoft has explicitly confirmed its accepted exemption.

Permits aside, Qualcomm also exports its products to third-party subsidiaries outside of the US, which can, in turn, sell the same products to Huawei. At this time, this strategy is still an allowable way for Huawei to use American components.

Unfortunately, neither Skyworks nor Qorvo have spoken about their involvement in the latest Huawei phone. For its part, Huawei has assured consumers that it is still complying with the current regulations set by the government.

Besides the three modules, the Huawei P40 has another blatantly American feature: Android. Despite all the news, the smartphone is still using the world’s most popular operating system. Compared to hardware, Android’s presence is more explainable. The smartphone uses an open-source version of the system. It just doesn’t have Google’s stamp of approval or its suite of apps.

Regardless of the mysteries, Huawei is still doing its best to make up for the loss of its American parts. The Huawei P40 is just its latest attempt to recreate the magic.

Apps

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

Campaign lets fans access assets, editable templates, more

Published

August 8, 2026

GadgetMatch

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.

News

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.

Published

August 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

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.

News

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.

Published

August 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

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.