Enterprise

Samsung falls to less than one percent market share in China

Might pull out of Chinese market by next year

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Recently, Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 9 to worldwide acclaim. Ironically, despite the positive response, the company is still slogging through one of its most dismal years to date. Previously, the Galaxy S9 opened to tepid, abysmal sales.

Now, with the dawn of more capable competitors, Samsung is falling more drastically than ever before. Formerly a stalwart in China, the company has now fallen to less than one percent market share in one of the world’s biggest markets.

Just a few years ago, Samsung’s phones captured a comfortable market share lead at 20 percent. The huge lead accurately represented Samsung’s grip on the market at the time.

However, with the recent developments (or lack thereof), the balance of power is steadily shifting. This year, gigantic (but more affordable) outings from smaller companies — Huawei, OnePlus, OPPO, Xiaomi — have taken the market by storm.

Besides the downpour of competitive rivals, Samsung has cited the decline of the smartphone market at large as a reason. From the lack of revolutionary features, adoption and upgrade rates have declined, causing an overall plateauing of phone sales.

According to Reuters, Samsung is considering drastic measures to alleviate the slump in sales. Most radically, the company might pull out of the Chinese market entirely.

Specifically, the plan affects Samsung’s Tianjin factory in Northern China. On its own, the facility manufactures 36 million phones per year. Additionally, Samsung has other plants nearby in Huizhou and Vietnam.

Currently, Samsung officials have yet to decide on the Chinese market’s ultimate fate. However, the pull-out is still a tempting move to improve efficiency.

Regardless, Samsung will remain as a global powerhouse even if it withdraws from the Chinese market. If anything, the move will dictate the company’s (and its Chinese competitors’) trajectory for the future.

Besides Samsung, Apple has also fared similarly, bowing out to Chinese brands in multiple markets.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Price and pre-order details in the Philippines

Enterprise

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

Rollout expected to begin in 2027

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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.

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Enterprise

Google ordered to pay EUR 4.1 billion in fines

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

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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.

SEE ALSO: Google might limit free storage to only 5GB

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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.

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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.

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