Business Articles

Vivo has unveiled its latest device, the Vivo Y83. While mostly unspectacular, it will go down as the first device to be powered by MediaTek's mid-range Helio P22 SoC.

Dell could very well join in the Windows 10 on ARM bandwagon alongside new devices Asus, HP, and Lenovo if word on the street is to be believed. Dell was earlier skeptical of Windows 10 on ARM and adopted a wait and watch approach. That could change now and in fact, Dell could be one of the first to realize Microsoft's 'ultimate mobile device' dream.

A report from analytics firm App Annie has stated that the iOS App Store has made revenue of over US$130 billion from July 2010 to December 2017. The report offers a number of incredible statistics, including the fact that 170 billion downloads were made between the same dates mentioned above, and that there are now over two million live apps available on the App Store.

In an almost offhand post on their Japanese website, camera manufacturer Canon announced that they have "finally decided" to end sales for their last film-only SLR camera, the EOS-1v. The company will still offer repairs on any existing EOS-1v cameras until October 31, 2025, as parts availability allows.

Facebook will be banned in Papua New Guinea for a month, but the starting day has not been unveiled yet. The reason for this is to allow the government's analysts to track down those behind fake accounts, adult uploads, and those who introduce and promote fake news and misleading information.

Alongside the Mi 8 reveal, Xiaomi also showed off a limited edition Mi 8 Explorer Edition. The Mi 8 Explorer Edition features an in-display fingerprint sensor and a transparent back that reveals the innards. The Mi 8 Explorer Edition is limited to China as of now and will be available only in defined quantities.

Xiaomi has taken wraps off its newest flagship model, the Mi 8. The Mi 8 comes with the latest Snapdragon 845 chip, dual cameras, and a dual GPS system. The Mi 8 gets launched in 8 other markets apart from China and packs most features found in other expensive flagships. While the design is reminiscent of the iPhone X, the smartphone looks to be priced quite competitively and should rake in good numbers for the Chinese major.

Qualcomm is working on an exclusive SoC for upcoming Windows 10 on ARM devices. Entries for a new Snapdragon chip were found on Geekbench and all clues point it to be a performance-based variant of the Snapdragon 845 adapted for the extra thermal headroom in notebooks and 2-in-1s.

According to Qualcomm, the VR and AR market is now mature enough for a unified SoC, so the company is almost ready to release the Snapdragon XR1 chip that will bring support for virtual, augmented and mixed reality environments. At its core, the XR1 is a smartphone SoC that does away with most communication-related features.

Samsung has issued a press release to announce its new range of small outline dual in-line memory modules (SoDIMMs). The modules are based on 10 nm-class process technology and offer 32 GB of double data rate 4 (DDR4) memory. Future high-end gaming-oriented laptop releases are the target devices for the new modules.

The pre-order goal for the Atari VCS console on crowdfunding website Indiegogo has already been eclipsed on the first day of the sale. The original flexible goal for the device was US$100,000, but the total amount had already reached US$1.76 million at the time of writing. Full specifications for the box have also been listed on its Indiegogo page.

Valve has removed the controversial game Active Shooter from the Steam software distribution platform. The first-person shooter had been scheduled for release on June 6 but Valve has now taken steps to also ban the game’s developer and publisher, too. Active Shooter offered an option for a player to attack civilians in a school setting.

Although its high-end variant is also available in black — unlike the XPS 15 9570 laptop — and features an 8th generation Intel Core i7-8705G processor, the XPS 15 9575 convertible only comes with 16 GB of soldered memory, so there is no upgrade option available. Fortunately, Frank Azor has just confirmed that a 32 GB variant should arrive in the last part of the year.

HP has released reports for the fiscal 2018 second quarter results, and it seems to have been a good financial quarter overall for the California-based company. Net revenue was US$14 billion and GAAP net earnings stood at US$1.1 billion. HP’s results topped a Wall Street prediction of US$13.57 billion for net revenue.

Intellivision Entertainment has issued a press release announcing that a new video game console is under development. The planned device is being designed and created by a team that has members who worked on the original console that bore the renowned Intellivision brand name. Details of the new platform are expected to be made available on October 1.

The foreign import bans imposed on ZTE are bound to shake things up in China, at least in a positive way. Tencent - one of the biggest video game company in China - is willing to take constructive actions in order to increase China's chip-making capacity and reduce the reliance on foreign component imports.

The LG V30S was unveiled back in February and went on sale in the US a short while ago. Its MSRP of US$930 was always a tad ridiculous, so it's no surprise that it's price has currently dropped down to US$680—which still isn't a very attractive proposition.

Although Andy Rubin's company is now up for sale and the chances to see a second Essential Phone reaching the market anytime soon have just evaporated, the company recently announced that its only device will get 2 years of updates and 3 years of security patches. Sadly, these timelines could change if Essential gets a new owner.

An article from English-language newspaper The Korea Times has revealed that PUBG Corporation has filed a lawsuit in the Seoul Central District Court against Epic Games, the developer of battle royale rival Fortnite. PUBG Corporation, which is a subsidiary of the South Korean company Bluehole, apparently filed the lawsuit back in January.

A report from a brand equity database shows that technology companies and tech-related brands currently dominate the ranking for top 10 most valuable global brands. At least eight out of the 10 brand names listed are directly involved in technology, with Google, Apple, and Amazon taking up the top three places, respectively. Chinese firm Tencent has also made a strong showing, coming in fifth position.

In just two days after the global release of the State of Decay 2 Standard Edition open world zombie survival game for Windows and Xbox One, over one million players enjoyed it. Other figures revealed by Microsoft for the given period include six million combined hours of gameplay and almost 3.5 million hours streamed via Mixer, YouTube Gaming, and Twitch.

The Zenfone 5 Lite was launched a few months ago and has finally made its way to the US as the Zenfone 5Q. It's the only Zenfone 5 device to not sport a notch, and it features a Snapdragon 630, dual rear cameras, and a 20 MP selfie camera. Not a bad deal for US$300.

HTC has confirmed that its newly released U12+ flagship will not ship with a 3.5mm to Type-C adapter, and that is wrong for all sorts of reasons.

Maze was one of the upcoming smartphone companies in 2017. The company released devices like the Blade and Alpha and while both had their issues, they also offered great value for money. Sadly, it would seem that we won't be getting anything else from Maze, with the company appearing to have kicked the bucket.

Laptops, smartphones, and convertibles are slowly eating into the shrinking tablet market. The biggest bright spot is perhaps the convertible notebook market with the only positive compound annual growth rate of 8.8 percent until 2022. Sales of traditional laptops aren't as steep as previous years due in part to the increasing sales of gaming PCs and inexpensive Chromebooks.

According to reports, Valve Corporation’s new Steam Link app has been denied entry to the world of Apple. A review team at the Cupertino-based company apparently rejected the application on grounds of “business conflicts with app guidelines.” This has led to some speculation that Apple could be working on its own game-streaming service.

A report by The New York Times has stated that the Trump administration has worked out a deal that would prevent ZTE from complete collapse. According to a source familiar with the matter, ZTE would have to comply with a number of demands from the US Department of Commerce but by doing so would be able to remain in business.

A new PlayStation 4 jailbreak exploit is in the works. The exploit is for the console's firmware 5.05 and is highly anticipated due to its compatibility with newer titles like God of War.

After a history of more than 16 years, the popular content discovery and advertisement engine StumbleUpon is drawing its last breath. On June 30, all user accounts and content will move to Mix.com, a similar service that offers better compatibility with today's mobile platforms and web browsers.

He may be known as the "Father of Android," but that does not look to have saved Andy Rubin's Esssential. According to Bloomberg, Rubin is actively shopping around the company he founded less than two year's ago following lackluster sales of its Android-based Essential Phone PH-1.

A monthly worldwide digital games market report has been released by SuperData, and it appears to have been yet another spectacular month for Fortnite. Apparently, the battle royale title from Epic Games earned revenue of US$296 million in April, smashing March’s estimate of US$223 million. Other big winners for the month were God of War and Honour of Kings.

Samsung wanted to prove that it is in no way behind TSMC when it comes to manufacturing process milestones. Even though TSMC is already rolling out a good chunk of 7 nm chips for various companies, it still does not use the EUV tech. Samsung will make full use of the EUV lithography by mid-2018, and then it plans to release 5 nm, 4 nm and 3 nm chips by 2022.

Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor, has issued a press release to announce that the Honor 10 flagship smartphone has already managed one million sales. This is an impressive feat, considering the device was only released in China on April 27 and received a limited global launch on May 16. The Honor 10 has been praised for offering high-end features for a mid-range price.

There has been a report published stating at least 500,000 networking devices around the world have been infected by malware known as VPNFilter. It has been speculated that Russian state-sponsored hackers are behind the attack due to the activity specifically aimed at devices based in the Ukraine. Apparently, VPNFilter offers both intelligence-gathering and destructive capabilities.

HTC has finally unveiled its new device, the U12+. The flagship sports a 6-inch QHD+ Super LCD display, a Snapdragon 845, IP68 certification, a quad camera setup, and a host of other features that make it one of the most impressive devices so far this year—on paper at least.

Meizu is set to unveil its next device, the M6T, at an event in China, on May 29. The device will sport a dual rear camera setup and 18:9 device, and will go against Xiaomi's recently released Redmi S2.

CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, has announced that the company's Mi Max 3 will be unveiled in July. Details of the device remain unconfirmed but it's expected to be powered by a Snapdragon 660.

Present in Google's corporate code of conduct since 2000, the "Don't be evil" motto was changed to "Do the right thing" in 2015 for use in Alphabet's code of conduct. However, Google did not drop this slogan until late April/early May, when all references to it have been apparently removed.

US customers not happy with the three color choices locally available for the Samsung Galaxy S9 lineup might want to wait for a little longer, because it looks like the Sunrise Gold option might reach them in the coming weeks. Even better, it is rumored that the Burgundy Red Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will land stateside as well.

A 2016 study has high hopes for gamers even though consoles and physical discs are not anywhere near where they used to be a decade ago. Mobile gaming could rise to 68.4 billion USD in market value by the end of this year compared to 59.8 billion in 2017 with Fortnite, PUBG, Candy Crush Saga, and Pokemon Go leading the pack in terms of popularity.

A new variant of the GeForce GTX 1050 GPU has been spotted on the Nvidia website. The latest addition to the GTX 1050 series is the GeForce GTX 1050 (3 GB). The GeForce 10 series was released in 2016, and the GTX 1050 GPU originally came in the forms of a 2 GB base model and a 4 GB Ti model.

Epic Games has published a news post announcing the company’s intention to offer US$100 million in prizes for Fortnite tournaments taking place over the 2018-2019 season. This is a massive boost to the burgeoning eSports sector, which has thoroughly embraced mobile gaming. Fortnite is expected to be released on Android in summer.

Chief Product Officer at HMD, Juho Sarvikas, has confirmed that the Nokia X6 will be launched for the global market soon. The device was released in China last week, and is likely to be sold as an Android One device when it makes its way outside the country—whenever that is.

The $300 USD gift card will apply to new purchases of the MateBook X Pro made through Amazon and NewEgg in an attempt to create buzz. The promotion will end after June 10. Huawei's latest 13.9-inch laptop is thicker than its last but also significantly more powerful to justify the larger dimensions.

According to data by Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi's Redmi 5A clinched top spot as the best-selling Android device in the world. The device, by its lonesome self, accounts for 1.8% of all smartphones sold in the world in March. This dominance extends all through Q1.

LG is apparently now selling its older devices like the G6 and V30 with a ThinQ branding. Quite amusingly, the ThinQ-branded devices are exactly the same as they were at launch—there is nothing to differentiate them from the regular model.