Business Articles

LG Electronics may abandon its smartphone business, according to a new report. Apparently, negotiations with prospective partners have failed, leaving LG with the option of closing its smartphone business instead.

Samsung has launched its new S8, S7 and S6 monitors for businesses. Depending on the model, you get a 4K/1440p HDR10 screen that covers 99% of the sRGB gamut, up to five USB Type-A ports, a USB Type C port that can charge devices at 90W, an RJ-45 Ethernet jack, and more. They are expected to go on sale sometime in April 2021.

The latest market research indicates that Samsung sold 3 times more Galaxy S21 units in January 2021 compared to S20 phones for the same month of 2020 in the US. This may be due to the lower prices of the newer flagships in this market compared to their predecessors. The series' sales may have dropped off gradually since their launch; however, the release of the S21 FE could jump-start them again.

CTL's latest Chromebook is powered by the Intel Celeron N4020 and has 4GB of RAM, as many of the OEM's devices do. However, the NL71CT-LTE also has standalone mobile data, so it need not be reliant on Wi-Fi for its often educational use-cases. This spec has helped win it one of Tech & Learning's Excellence Awards for Best Remote & Blended Learning Tools.

The display-standard specialist group TÜV Rheinland has announced its new Dynamic Privacy Filter certification, and that 2021's ThinkPads X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga are the first 2 devices to officially match up to it. The 2 business PCs have done so by passing a battery of tests on their ability to protect sensitive data under a variety of lighting conditions.

Huawei's supply chain issues have reportedly led to shortages of its bespoke high-end mobile CPUs for 2021. However, this has not stopped new rumors that it will soon have a new variant of its flagship Kirin 9000 SoC manufactured. Called the 9000L, it is painted as a throttled and cut-down version of the more premium processor.

AMD has reportedly become TSMC’s number one customer in regard to purchasing 7nm wafers. Apple was previously the main customer for this node but has now moved its focus mainly on to 5nm. By securing more of TSMC’s 7nm output, AMD might be able to tackle the shortage of Ryzen 5000 chips and ensure delivery for EPYC Milan orders.

Amazfit has confirmed that it will be launching its next smartwatch on March 23. While Amazfit hopes to keep the T-Rex Pro under wraps until then, a Polish retailer is already selling it for PLN 749 (~US$193), confirming all its specifications in the process.

SoftBank has announced that it has set up a new 5G service in Japan. It is based on mmWave technology as opposed to sub-6GHz, which, according to its owner, brings the potential for higher speeds at reduced costs for carriers. The new system is made using Qualcomm hardware, and will support phones with the same OEM's SoCs.

The well-known wearable brand Amazfit hopes to release fitness trackers and smartwatches with ECG and blood pressure measurement in the US. The company is engaging with the FDA to bring these wearables to market.

A retailer has started selling the CMP 30HX, NVIDIA's least powerful crypto mining card. Inadvertently, the retailer has confirmed that the CMP 30HX is nothing more than a GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER with the display connections removed. However, the CMP 30HX costs US$815.40, about US$300 more than the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER sells for online.

OxygenOS (OOS) is OnePlus' well-received Android-based ROM for the global units of its phones. It has a Chinese-market counterpart called HydrogenOS (H2OS). However, the OEM has reportedly informed its users that it is to be discontinued in favor of OPPO’s ColorOS instead.

Dell's 2-in-1 device hardly warms up, offers good battery life, and comes with a touchscreen display in the 3:2 format. The latter can be operated both with the fingers and with the separately available Dell Premium Active Pen.

Google has announced that it is reducing the cut of revenue made on apps sold via the Play Store from 30% to 15%. The change applies to all developers who make US$1 million or less per year on the platform. According to the Mountain View giant, this move is intended to help Android app-makers grow at critical stages of their enterprises.

An Xperia PRO teardown video has confirmed that the US$2,500 smartphone is more than just an Xperia 1 II with an HDMI port. Not only has Sony included mmWave antennas, but it has included a huge vapour chamber cooling solution to account for its plastic body. In fact, the cooling solution is larger than equivalents found in modern gaming smartphones.

The hotly-anticipated OnePlus 9 series is still days from launch at this point (March 15, 2021). However, an electronics leaker claims that some consumers in Europe may be able to buy it early, albeit in blind box form. It apparently has a set price, although its contents can only be guessed at.

AMD has now made its 2021 line of Ryzen PRO mobile processors official. The OEM claims they build on the considerable leap in productivity-focused performance made by their 4000-series predecessors. This includes gains of up to 65% over the Intel Core i7-1185G7 in certain benchmarks, as well as reduced app-opening latency and improved performance in some MS Office tasks.

The Samsung S34A650 is a 21:9 curved monitor that operates natively at 1440p. The monitor has a 1000R curvature, a 4,000:1 contrast ratio and a 100 Hz peak refresh rate. The Samsung S34A650 supports AMD FreeSync too and has multiple ports.

A US court has averted the threat of Xiaomi being frozen out of future US investment. A final verdict on the case is yet to be delivered, but the judge has already hinted at a complete withdrawal of the US ban. Xiaomi insists that it has no ties to the Chinese military.

Asus advertises the quad-array microphone as one of the main features of the ExpertBook, which costs upwards of 2000 Euros (~$2400). It is supposed to improve the video-conferencing experience. At the same time, Asus uses the same 720p web camera as in almost all other current laptops such as the 3000-Euro (~$3600) MacBook Pro. When most people have to use their web camera everyday to study or work from home, this has to change!

Dying Light 2 developer Techland recent promised to deliver an update on the troubled game's progress on March 17th. This could shed light into the status of the game, what it looks like now, and when it'll actually ship.

Microsoft snapping up Sega is the rumor that will never go away, but it now seems that Konami could also be in the sights of the parent company of the Xbox Game Studios. Microsoft could do with a boost in Japan as recent sales figures reported 10 Xbox One consoles sold compared to 78,134 Nintendo Switch units.

Google's ARCore has added a new device called the ZenFone 8 Flip to its certification database. Therefore, it seems a new generation of Asus' innovative swivel-cam flagship Android phones is on the way. It is thought to be accompanied by a Mini variant, although that one has failed to materialize in this new leak.

Several sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Qualcomm is unable to keep up with the demand for its flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset. Xiaomi CEO Lu Weibing also echoes the sentiment, as does Qualcomm chief Cristiano Amon.

A Spanish electronics website has posted a new listing for the Moto G50, also known as the XT2137-1 - or the rumored Motorola "Ibiza", in other words. It confirms various other details from this device's earlier leaks, RAM and storage specs included. This new preliminary sales page may indicate that the European smartphone market might get a new budget 5G option soon.

The manufacturer says the updated model is "a whole new level" in terms of performance while maintaining the military-grade durability and IP53 certification chassis design that its customers are familiar with.

AAEON has introduced the Boxer-8253AI, a mini-PC that it has based on the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX. The Boxer-8253AI has a rugged design and is aimed at professional users.

Russian PhD student Ildar Rakhmatulin devised a terrifying mosquito-killing solution that pairs a Raspberry Pi, a 1W laser, and an AI neural network capable of identifying and eliminating mosquitos.

Motorola has launched the G10 Power, a 6,000mAh Android 11 smartphone, in India. Its 6.5-inch HD+ Max Vision display is driven by a Snapdragon 460 SoC, paired to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It will be available via Flipkart from March 16, 2021, and will start at INR 9,999 (~US$137) on that date.

Carl Pei asserts that his new Nothing brand can disrupt the consumer tech space with innovative, unique products. The company has just given the world the first hint of their design in its new Concept 1 TWS earbuds. However, they are also what they say on the tin, and apparently won't actually resemble Nothing's actual inaugural buds.

AMD has revealed that its third-gen line of processors for data-centers and similar professional use-cases, also commonly known as EPYC Milan, will launch on March 15, 2021. It is thought to offer multiple variants that go up to 64 cores, some of which have been seen on benchmarks tearing through their Intel competition and closest Threadripper analogs.

Microsoft has purchased ZeniMax Media for US$7.5 billion, bringing popular game development studios like Bethesda and id Software under the Xbox umbrella. This may mark the beginning of Xbox exclusivity for series like The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, and more.

The Xperia PRO may have arrived a year late, but it remains the only smartphone that could actually be used in a professional workflow. Sony's most expensive smartphone can take a beating too, even though it has a plastic body.

The latest analysis of the flexible display market indicates that the sales of smartphones with foldable or rollable displays in 2021 are capable of far exceeding those of 2020. Their shipments are projected to grow to a total of 5.1 million, or 128% year-on-year (YoY), thanks to an influx of new models from new OEMs this year. Then again, most of these predictions may not pan out for at least 3 months.

SK Hynix has just launched its latest LPDDR5 RAM product: a ground-breaking 18GB module for smartphones. The OEM claims that it has a superior data-transfer rate compared to existing memory chips of the same generation. This latest and greatest iteration is now in mass production, although it has already been deployed in the top-end SKUs of 1 upcoming device: the Asus ROG Phone 5.

Industry analyst Ming Chi-Kuo offered up an eyebrow-raising prediction in a recent research note. Kuo believes that Apple will release augmented reality contact lenses by the mid 2030s, potentially transforming the way people engage with technology and the world around them.

Sony may have only just released the PS5, but the company is already making moves for what would appear to be a new console. According to a report, Sony has signed on with TSMC for its 5 nm node for what could be the PS5 Slim.

A new report has found that Samsung sold just under 600,000 units of the Galaxy S21 series in the first 4 weeks since its launch in this OEM's home country. The flagships have not done so well in this respect since the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus debuted in 2017. Furthermore, the Galaxy A31 was found to be the best-selling Android phone in South Korea for 2020.

Despite its designation, the ThinkPad T15g is a full-fledged mobile workstation and shares the chassis construction with the ThinkPad P15. The design was refreshed, but the device still appears pretty outdated due to massive bezels. There is also an issue with the keyboard and coil whine is a problem as well.

In addition to replacing the battery, the usual maintenance tasks of a laptop also includes cleaning the fan - or fans in the case of models with a dual fan design. This was not an easy task in the ThinkPad laptops of the P series until now. But this is changing with the new Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 1.

Apple has abruptly updated its current iMac Pro sales page to reflect the fact that apparently only its base model is in stock. This has led to speculation that a new version of this PC, perhaps even with an in-house chipset instead of the last remaining unit's 10-core Intel Xeon W-series processor, is on the way. However, the OEM might be wrapping its product cycle up for some other reason.

Oppo has taken the top spot in the Chinese smartphone market for the first time. The latest data from Counterpoint Research shows that Oppo claimed a 21 percent share of the market to take the lead with Huawei and Vivo tied for second with a 20 percent share of the market each.

The Apple Watch, Huawei Watch GT and Galaxy Watch lines helped their respective OEMs maintain their leading positions in the smartwatch space in 2020. This was a year in which the market showed relatively little growth, although its premium segment enjoyed a "significant" uptick.

Razer partnered with Conservation International for the Sneki Snek plushie, the sales of which go toward protecting forestry in various locations worldwide. The mascot has now achieved its initial goal of saving 100,000 trees in this manner, which means the OEM has new merch based on the character to launch at its upcoming RazerStore Live event.