Smartphone shipments up 11% YoY in Q1 2018 in India, Xiaomi continues to lead with 30.3% share: IDC

According to IDC, Indian smartphone shipments reached 30 million units in Q1 2018 and has seen a healthy 11% YoY growth, but it remained flat when compared to the previous quarter; Q4 2017. As expected Xiaomi retained the top position for the second quarter in a row.  The company has expanded its offline channel and popularity of its models such as Redmi 5A and Redmi Note 5. The Online smartphone segment has seen a growth from 34.2% in Q4 2017 to 36% in Q1 2018. Xiaomi increased its share of total eTailer shipments from 32% a year ago to 53% in Q1 2018. As for the offline segment, Transsion continued to drive growth through its brands itel and Tecno, thanks to its aggressive expansion to smaller towns & cities by focusing on channel management and after-sales service. The flagship or the high-end segment saw a strong YoY growth of 68% thanks to the Samsung's Galaxy S9 series which arrived a quarter earlier this year and led with a 77% share in this segment. OnePlus top-end models - 5 and 5T continued to keep more than 50% share. OPPO and Vivo grabbed third and forth spot with 7.4% and 6.4% share, respectively. On the other hand, 4G feature phone market ...

US Govt pledges to bring ZTE back into business

After cutting ZTE from U.S. suppliers for violating North Korea and Iran sanctions, American President Donal Trump Tweets reverse course saying that President Xi of China and him are working together to give ZTE a way to get back into the business, fast. [HTML1] [HTML2] He further says that too many jobs were lost in China and has instructed the Commerce Department to get it done. Last month the US Govt banned ZTE from using American technology for 7 years . The company soon after the ban as responded saying that the verdict is unfair and threatens the survival. It also submitted an application to U.S. Commerce Department seeking suspension of the business ban. ZTE was caught illegally shipping US goods to Iran. This news was even confirmed by the White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters saying that the US officials were in contact with Beijing about ZTE. This move underscores the importance of "free, fair, balanced and mutually beneficial relations between the United States and China on issues involving the economy, trade, and investment. Trump wishes that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross exercise his independent judgment to resolve the regulatory action involving ZTE based on its facts. In a Tweet U.S. President Donald Trump said: President Xi of China, and I, are working together ...

Meizu M8c Lite Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone and M8c pass though the FCC

Meizu's upcoming smartphones have passed through the FCC. These models come with model numbers M809L and M810L and they are rumored to be the marketed as the Meizu M8c Lite and the Meizu M8c respectively. While the Meizu M8c Lite will ship as an Android Go smartphone, the M8c will be company's regular budget segment phone. The company's last month confirmed that it is working on Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone, so the Meizu M8c Lite could be it. Based on the FCC listings, the M8c Lite will have an 8-megapixel sensor while the front-facing selfie shooter might be a 5MP sensor. Since it is Go Edition phone, it will have 1GB RAM, 8GB storage and run on Android 8.1 (Oreo) Go Edition. On the other hand, the M8c will feature a 13MP rear camera and an 8-megapixel sensor on the front. These phones will have dual-SIM support, the M8c Lite will have a CPU that is clocked at 1.4GHz. Both the Meizu M8c Lite and the Meizu M8c are compatible with 2G GSM, 3G WCDMA, and 4G LTE networks that run on bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, and 40. Connectivity features include WiFi, Bluetooth. The test documents submitted also includes a design of M8c Lite which reveals a 3.5mm headphone ...

Xiaomi Mi Band 2, Mi Router 3C and Mi Car Charger get a temporary price cut in India

Xiaomi has announced a price cut for some of its products in India. This temporary price cut is available across Mi.com as well as during Flipkart's Big Shopping Days Sale and Amazon Summer Sale that started yesterday. Back in November Xiaomi announced a price cut for some of its accessories.  The Mi Band 2 went on sale in India again in February this year after a price cut, now it has received another price cut. Check out the list and links to get the products. Xiaomi Mi Band 2 - Rs. 1599 (Rs. 200 off) - Mi.com | Amazon.in | Flipkart Xiaomi Mi Router 3C - Rs. 949 (Rs. 50 off) - Mi.com | Amazon.in | Flipkart Xiaomi Mi Car Charger - Rs. 499 (Rs. 200 off) - Mi.com | Amazon.in Since this is a limited-period price cut, these products will be available at discounted rates only till May 16th, Wednesday or till stocks last. This is a good time, if you have been waiting to get these products.

Apple hit with class action suit over MacBook, MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard issues

Apple has been hit with class action suit over MacBook, MacBook Pro butterfly switch keyboard failures. The complaint lodged in the Northern District Court of California claims that owners of MacBook models manufactured from 2015 and MacBook Pro models produced from 2016 feating the company's butterfly keyboard mechanism have experienced some type of failure. This failure in the butterfly keyboard mechanism results in the machines being useless. Furthermore, the report claims that the design of it makes the keystrokes to go unregistered even with small amounts of dust or debris impede normal switch behavior. In extreme cases, the key fails, forcing users to take the machine to the service center or authorized Apple repair facility which would cost a fortune if the laptop is out of warranty. This suit cites numerous complaints from users posted online, including Apple's own Community Support forums. Apple introduced the butterfly mechanism with its 12-inch MacBook in 2015 and was touted to be "much more precise, and accurate." The butterfly mechanism made its way to Pro machines in 2016 and was said to be responsive and comfortable than the previous version. A petition on Change.org called on Apple to recall all MacBooks with butterfly switch keyboards, saying the hardware design is inherently flawed. This petition gained over 17,000 signatures in just over a week. ...

Google requires OEMs to roll out Android security patches regularly

Consistent updates to the Android ecosystem have been a major setup for Google since a few years now and it looks like Google is making sure it solves the problem to a certain extent at least. The company's Project Treble made sure that updates are easier and for the first time, the beta version of the next major OS update is made available outside of Pixel devices.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54roADX2MI And now Google is setting up requirements to OEMs to roll out Android security patches regularly. At the Google I/O 2018 event, the company in the “What’s new in Android security” segment revealed some new changes coming to the Google's security policy which effectively require OEMs to roll out security patches. While Google is rolling out security patches updates to Pixel devices, OEMs push out updates to some extent, but it always remained optional in long run. It is unclear at this moment what Google specifically requires this change, as it just mentioned that the updates will need to be “regular.” It is also likely that Google might not be expecting these updates on a monthly basis. Hopefully, this change encourages OEMs to be more timely about the security patch updates once the changes are put in place. Like with ...

Motorola Moto C2 Plus with front-mounted fingerprint sensor and Moto C2 press images surface

Motorola might be prepping to launch the affordable Moto C2 and C2 Plus; successors to the Moto C and Moto C Plus  from last year. The phones have now surfaced on the internet for the first time revealing the design, and it is now safe to assume that Motorola-owned Lenovo is following the Plus-sized model accompanying the regular variant strategy in 2018 as well. Going by the leaked renders, the 2nd generation too closely resembles last year’s series including the regular 16:9 display panels with thick bezels on top and bottom. Both the models feature front-camera with LED flash and an in-ear speaker up top. However, the regular C2 utilizes the space for Moto branding, while the Plus variant has a fingerprint sensor- the Moto name is placed above the display. Unlike the last year's Moto C series, this year the company has chosen on-screen navigation ones instead of capacitive buttons. The rear of the phone packs almost close design; a plastic shell is, a large, circular camera module which contains the camera sensor and dual-tone LED flash. The volume rocker and a power button are present on the right side of both devices, while, on top, both smartphones retain the 3.5mm headphone jack. Motorola had introduced the Moto C series back ...

Jio accuses Airtel’s Apple Watch service over violating license norms; Airtel calls it frivolous complaint

Reliance Jio has accused Airtel Apple watch service over breaching security and violating license norms. It has asked telecom ministry to take severe action and levy penalties against rival Bharti Airel. It alleges Airtel for using a network of nodes based abroad to offer its services on the latest Apple watch. In a letter to the department of telecommunications (DoT) submitted on May 11th, Jio alleged Airtel saying that "the company has not set up eSIM provisioning node in India and the node being used to provide Apple Watch Series 3 is currently located outside India in gross violation to the license terms." The maximum penalty for a breach of license conditions is Rs 50 crore per circle and India currently has over 22 telecom circles. Airtel declined to comment on the accusation saying that it is another frivolous complaint by a desperate operator. In a statement, Airtel said: This is yet another frivolous complaint by a desperate operator, whose sole aim appears to have a monopoly over everything that they do. Bharti Airtel is a law abiding and responsible operator. The DoT was duly notified prior to the launch of Apple watch including product features, network architecture and lawful interception and we have also requested them to carry out a demonstration of ...

OnePlus 6 Midnight Black and Mirror Black press images, price surface, could feature OIS and water-resistant body

OnePlus 6 all set to go official in a couple of days. Now the official images of the smartphone has surfaced on Amazon Germany that reveals Midnight Black and Mirror Black versions along with the price. This clearly shows the notch, small bezel below the display, metal frame and a glass back for the Mirror Black version and the Midnight Black is said to come with smooth matte finish. Amazon listing also reveals OIS and water-resistant body, but it is not clear if it will be just nano coating like the Moto phones of it will have IP certification. The company already said that the glass back has five printed layers of Nanotech Coating that gives the back of the device a stronger impression of depth. We have already seen white version of the smartphone in live images so there will likely be three color variants of the phone, in addition to the Avengers Edition that is said to feature Kevlar back. We already know the specifications of the phone from TENAA listing. OnePlus 6 rumored specifications 6.28-inch (2280 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 aspect ratio AMOLED display Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU 6GB RAM with 64GB storage, 8GB RAM with ...

Amazon Summer Sale: Best deals on smartphones, accessories, LED TVs and more

Amazon today started its 4-day Summer Sale, as it had promised. It is offering deals on smartphones, accessories like microSD cards, hard disks, pendrives, Kindle eReaders, LED TVs and lots more. Best deals on smartphones on Amazon.in Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - Rs. 51,990  (Rs. 15,900 off) Samsung Galaxy A8+ - Rs. 29,990  (Rs. 1000 off + Up to Rs. 10,000 off on exchange) LG G6 – Rs. 27,990 (Rs. 27,010 off on MRP) Moto X4 3GB -  Rs. 18,999 (Rs. 2000 off) Apple iPhone SE - Rs. 17,999 (Rs. 80001 off) Honor 7X 64GB  - Rs. 14,999 (Rs. 1000 off + Rs. 1000 bump-up exchange offer with No Cost EMI) Honor 7X 32GB  - Rs. 12,499 (Rs. 500 off + Rs. 2000 bump-up exchange offer with No Cost EMI) OPPO A57 - Rs. 11,990 (Rs. 3000 off + Extra Rs. 3000 off on exchange) Honor 8 Pro – Rs. 21,499 (Rs. 7000 off) Nubia Z17 mini – Rs. 12,999 (Rs. 9000 off) Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime 4GB + 64GB – Rs. 12,990 (Rs. 1000 off) Honor 8 – Rs. 11,999 (Rs. 18,000 off on MRP)  LG Q6 – Rs. 9,999 (Rs. 5000 off) Xiaomi Redmi 5 - Rs. 7,499 (Rs. 500 off) Samsung On7 Pro - Rs. 6,990 (Rs. 1000 off) Samsung On5 ...