Xiaomi reports 49.1% YoY increase in revenue in Q3 2018, smartphone revenue up 36.1% YoY

Xiaomi this week reported its earning for the second quarter (Q3 2018) that ended September 30, 2018. It reported revenue of 50.846 billion yuan (US$($7.3 billion), an increase of 49.1% year-on-year, among which international revenue grew 112.7% year-on-year to 22.3 billion yuan, accounting for 43.9% of total revenue. Net profit for the third quarter was 2.481 billion yuan ($357 million) for the quarter. Adjusted profit (Non-IFRS Measure) increased was 2.885 billion yuan, up 17.3% YoY and up 36.3% QoQ. International revenue grew 112.7% year-on-year, contributing to a higher percentage of total revenue. Smartphones segment recorded revenue of approximately RMB35.0 billion, representing an increase of 36.1% year-on-year, which was mainly driven by increases in both smartphone sales volume and the average selling price (“ASP”). 33.3 million smartphones shipped in Q3 2018, up 20.4% YoY As of October 9, 2018, flagship Mi 8 series shipped over 6 million units As of October 26, 2018, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments exceeded 100 million units, successfully achieving full-year target more than two months ahead of schedule. Monthly active users (“MAU”) of MIUI increased 43.4% from 156.5 million in September 2017 to 224.4 million in September 2018. The average revenue per MIUI user (“ARPU”) for the quarter under review increased by ...

Samsung said to ship Bixby 3.0 with foldable smartphone in 2019

According to Samsung's key executive, Samsung’s much-awaited foldable smartphone will ship with Bixby 3.0. It is known that Samsung’s Bixby Developer Day is underway in South Korea which has Samsung’s Vice President Eui-Suk Chung scheduled to speak as well. He leads the research and development of software and Bixby at Samsung’s mobile business. He’s the one responsible for Bixby’s development. The Samsung Developer Conference 2018 was where Samsung unveiled much of what it’s showcasing today at the Developer day in South Korea. The Bixby Developer Studio and the Bixby Marketplace are the most noteworthy announcements. Furthermore, Samsung is now allowing third-party developers to create features for its virtual assistant. Eui-Suk Chung also mentioned that Samsung is preparing to ship the next iteration of Bixby with the foldable smartphone. “The new Bixby currently in the pipeline will be featured in the foldable smartphone,” however, the company hasn't revealed if it will be branded as Bixby 3.0. He didn’t provide a lot of details about the next generation of Bixby, only that it will be an upgraded platform with more capabilities. Samsung rolled out Bixby 2.0 with the Galaxy Note 9 earlier this year. To remind you, Samsung has provided the glimpse of its foldable display at the SDC 2018 earlier this month. It ...

Google Neighbourly local information sharing app for Android expands to Bengaluru and Delhi

Google introduced Neighbourly app for local information sharing for Android back in May this year. Today the company has announced that it is expanding to Bengaluru and Delhi, and will soon invite new cities to join every day, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Indore and more. Since June, seven cities have gotten early access to Neighbourly, which includes Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Mysore, Vizag, and Kota. "We’ve seen people integrate Neighbourly into their daily routines asking just about anything, from the source of a strong LPG smell to why there are elephants on the street outside," said Google. The Neighbourly Beta app is now available on the Google Play for all smartphones running Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and higher. Google said that it will expand the app to more neighborhoods across India soon. Join your neighbourhood with a tap. You’ll get automatic suggestions on the nearest neighbourhood so you can jump right in. Switch between multiple neighbourhoods. If you live in one neighbourhood but work in another, you can add both and switch between them one at a time -- hearing from neighbours in each. See better questions just for you. Every time you open Neighbourly, you’ll see the best questions from your neighbourhood. The more you use Neighbourly, ...

Facebook ‘Your Time’ dashboard to check usage finally rolling out worldwide

Weeks after announcing the 'Your Time on Facebook,' Facebook has finally started rolling the feature across the world. This is designed to help users manage social networking habits similar to what we have with Instagram's usage insights. The dashboard reveals how many minutes you’ve spent on Facebook’s app on that device each day for the past week and on average. It also lets you set a daily limit and receive a reminder to stop after the limit has reached. Furthermore, now you can access shortcuts to the notification, News Feed and Friend Request settings. These two shortcuts are new, while rest remain the same when it was previewed. You can access it by going to Facebook’s More tab -> Settings & Privacy -> Your Time on Facebook. With Google, Apple embracing similar wellbeing features on their respective operating systems, and Instagram's Your activity, digital well-being features are becoming available to a wide swath of smartphone users. However, the question of whether dumping these features will have any impact on users remains to be seen. Facebook and Instagram features don't have any forceful method to make users quit from using the app. However, Facebook's 'Your Time' doesn't offer a breakdown of how long you spend browsing ...

Google Digital Wellbeing finally exits beta, now available for all Pixel phones

Google's Digital Wellbeing feature which debuted with Android Pie is aimed at being responsible with smartphone usage. The app has finally exited the beta stage and is now available to all Pixel phones running Android 9.0 Pie. Apart from Pixel, Android One phones those who have signed up for beta are also getting the update. Digital Wellbeing displays how long you've been using certain apps, ability to restrict the usage, graphs, and visuals detailing how many times you unlock your phone per day and how many notifications you receive, and much more. The Wind-down feature limits notifications and also gradually makes the display a greyscale, to make it easier on the eyes and to encourage you to unplug. Google introduced these features with the Android 9.0 Preview back in May, and they first became available in August with the launch of Android Pie. You can now download the Digital Wellbeing app from Play Store, but you need an Android phone running 9.0 Pie.

Reliance Jio launches first VoLTE-based international roaming services in India

Reliance Jio has launched the first VoLTE-based international roaming services in India in partnership with KDDI. With this KDDI becomes Japan's first telecommunications service providers to offer VoLTE telephony in India for their international roaming users.  This adds India to the four countries and territories, including the United States and South Korea where au World Service "VoLTE" is already available. "It is part of an ongoing phased expansion of service to countries and territories worldwide," said the company. “With this new arrangement, international travellers will be able to experience Jio’s world-class all-IP network, which has been consistently rated as the fastest network in India by TRAI’s MySpeed application over the last 20 months with an average download speed of 20.6 Mbps during September 2018," said Jio. Mark Yarkosky of Reliance Jio, said: Reliance Jio welcomes KDDI's customers to India on the first VoLTE and HD voice roaming network in India. Using Jio's 4G LTE network, users will have the best data, voice, and messaging experience wherever they travel in the country. Reliance Jio is focused on delivering the best data and voice experience to all of India and those who visit India. KDDI said: At KDDI, we are a company that continues to provide excitement as we move ...

Xiaomi to drop software support for some smartphones

Xiaomi has a good reputation when it comes to providing the software update to devices, the company usually provides MIUI updates to devices for 4 to 5 years.  Even at the MIUI 9 Global launch, Xiaomi highlighted the fact that 5-year-old phones including Mi 2/2S will be supported for MIUI 9 Global Stable update. Last year, it dropped software support for some devices that were launched in 2015 or before, now as per a post on MIUI China Forum Xiaomi has decided to suspend MIUI China ROM updates for some of its smartphones including 2016 flagship Mi 5, and these devices will not receive MIUI 11 update. Devices affected by the decision are: Redmi Note 3 Pro (called Redmi Note 3 in India) Mi 5 Mi 4 Mi 4C Mi 4S Post from MIUI China Forum admin says (translated with Google Translate), MIUI has been updated to 395 weeks so far. At the same time as the weekly update, MIUI is also continuously optimizing the experience of each model, hoping to bring a better system experience to rice noodles. At the same time, due to the consideration of the model release date, model activity, stability, software experience and other comprehensive factors, MIUI released the last one of Xiaomi mobile phone ...

OnePlus Explorer Backpack with tear, scuff and water-resistant body goes on sale in India via Invite

OnePlus produces one of the best Android smartphones in the market at present by all means. OnePlus 6T being the most recent outing, the company has disrupted the entire mobile market now and in the past with its commitment to flagship-quality specs with mid-range pricing. Taking this into account, other tech-giants has been forced to re-examine their approach. Apart from smartphones, OnePlus also ventured into the backpack business a couple of years ago with OnePlus Travel Backpack. Unlike the traditional ones, OnePlus's backpack is designed in a most minimalist way for the techies-on-the-go. The company already revealed it will be launching the new OnePlus Explorer Backpack through a post on the OnePlus Forum last month. This Explorer Backpack is all about minimalistic design and making your travel much simpler. It comes with multiple compartments which help you in sorting and organising things on-the-go. For example, there is a nifty secret pocket on the back, help keep valuables like your phone and passport safe while the padded laptop partition also serves as a comfortable buffer for your back. Worried about those unexpected showers? Well, the Explorer Backpack features a compartment with breathable vents uniquely designed for wet items like umbrellas and wet clothes. On ...

Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro and Redmi 5 MIUI 10 Stable OTA update starts rolling out [Download link]

Xiaomi launched the Redmi 6 Pro in India back in September running MIUI 9, now it has started receving MIUI 10 Stable update. The update is also available for the Redmi 5 smartphone that was launched earlier this year running MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1.2 (Nougat). This comes after the Xiaomi Redmi 5A got the MIUI 10 update last week. The new update comes as MIUI 10.0.1.0.ODMMIFH for the Redmi 6 Pro and is about 609MB in size, and the update comes as 10.1.2.0.NDAMIFI for the Redmi 5, which is 348MB, but the Redmi 5 update is based on Android 7.1 (Nougat). Xiaomi has not updated the Android security patch on Redmi 5 and it runs on July, 2018 security patch. MIUI 10 brings major changes like Full-screen gestures, Redesigned Notification Panel, Redesigned Volume Sliders, Improved multitasking management, natural sound system, and a lot more, for more details on MIUI 10 refer to this post. You can download the recovery ROM here for Redmi 6 Pro and Redmi 5 and flash it using the recovery method or download the fastboot ROM here for the Redmi 6 Pro and Redmi 5 and flash it using the fastboot method. These phones were kept in the second batch of devices along with Redmi Note 4 to receive MIUI 10 Global Stable update in India, and other devices ...

PUBG Mobile 0.9.5 update with Royale Pass Season 4, M762 automatic rifle, dynamic weather in Sanhok and more released

Tencent games; makers of PUBG is rolling out a new update which brings the new M762 automatic rifle, which can be found on all maps. It is the first 7.62mm automatic rifle that accommodates stocks. The update also brings Scooter to Sanhok that accommodates up to 2 players. It brings new dynamic weather to Sanhok where the weather changes between sunny, rain and foggy at random. There is a new Hardcore Mode, where footstep sounds and audio cues are removed to resemble the PC experience. This mode will be available periodically in the form of "Hardcore Week". Most importantly, the update brings Royale Pass Season 4. https://youtu.be/a3mNldsK2Ug It is also adding more firearm finishes, rare outfit rewards, new character faces, and hairstyles. Fine-tuned the redemption feature so Elite Pass holders can purchase discounted items with BP or RP points.  The company is adding Mission Cards for players to complete harder missions. Furthermore, it brings Black Friday event where discounted backs are even cheaper for 3 days. Added a system where the odds of getting certain crate items are increased dramatically for a limited amount of time. Brand new M762 Assault Rifle is about to dominate our battlegrounds in #pubgmobile090! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zeC6emYfu4 — PUBG MOBILE (@PUBGMOBILE) November 19, 2018 Other ...