Xiaomi Mi 5C with Surge S1 SoC & Redmi 4X Smartphones Launched in China

Though Xiaomi announced to unveil its in-house Pinecone processors today in China, the company also launched the Mi 5C and Redmi 4X smartphones. The Mi 5C is the successor to last year's Mi 4C which is exclusive to the Chinese market. Now, the new Mi 5C is also expected to be limited just to China. Another interesting to know is that the Mi 5C is the first ever smartphone to feature the newly announced PineCone's Surge S1 SoC. On the other hand, the Redmi 4X comes with almost similar specifications as Redmi 4, but with a different design. Both the devices feature metal built unibody design and run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow based MIUI 8 out of the box.

Xiaomi Mi 5C

The device sports a 5.15-inch Full HD (1920 x 10809 pixels) display, same as on the last year's Xiaomi Mi 5. Unlike the Mi 5 that came with a 3D curved glass on the rear, the Mi 5C sports metal built unibody. The 64-bit PineCone Surge S1 octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz comes with 2.2GHz and 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It also packs 64GB of onboard storage that can't be further expanded. The wide physical home button on the front comes embedded with a fingerprint sensor. The power button and volume rocker on the right edge whereas the SIM card slot in on the left edge.

In the camera department, there is a 12MP rear camera with 6P lens, f/2.2 aperture, and PDAF. For selfies, Xiaomi is offering an 8MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture. Connectivity options include 4G, VoLTE, Wi-Fi, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, GLONASS, 3.5mm Audio port, and a USB Type-C port. It comes backed by a 2,860mAh non-removable battery with 9V/2A fast charging support. There is also IR blaster on the top edge for controlling the TV and AC just like the remote controller. The device is priced at 1499 Yuan (approx $220 / Rs. 14,500) and comes in Rose Gold, Gold, and Black color options.

Xiaomi Redmi 4X

Unlike the Redmi Note 4X, the Redmi 4X has no Hatsune Miku limited edition variant. The device comes with the new revamped design, where the rear is moved from center on the Redmi 4 to the top left on the new Redmi 4X. It comes with a the same 5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) display as on the its predecessor. Under the hood is the latest Snapdragon 435 octa-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz and coupled with Adreno 505 GPU. It comes in 2GB and 3GB RAM variants with 16GB and 32GB of internal storage respectively.

There is a 13MP rear camera with PDAF and f/2.0 aperture and a 5MP selfie camera on the front with f/2.2 aperture. The device is backed by a 4,100mAh battery that is rated to deliver 36 hour sof talk time and lastst upyo 18 days on stadby mode. There are dual SIM card slots and an additional slot for MicroSD card. It comes in Cherry powder, Champagne Gold, and Matte Black color options. On the rear, we can also fimd the fingerprint sensor. Coming to the pricing, the Redmi 4X is prcied at 699 Yuan (approx $100 / Rs. 6,800) for the 2GB RAM variant and 899 Yuan (approx $130 / Rs. 8,800) for the 3GB RAM variant.

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Source: Xiaomi Mi 5C with Surge S1 SoC & Redmi 4X Smartphones Launched in China

China’s phone makers eye world stage

China's phone makers eye world stage

Cheap handsets helped Chinese smartphone makers climb to the top of their home market. Now they're hoping cutting-edge technology will take them global.

Added by Agency Staff on 28 February 2017. Saved under In-depth, Top Tags: Apple, Huawei, OPPO, Samsung, Vivo, Xiaomi Tweet

Xiaomi handsets

Cheap handsets helped Chinese smartphone makers climb to the top of their home market. Now they're hoping cutting-edge technology will take them global.

Shrugging off a reputation for knockoffs, the country's biggest brands are starting to push the envelope in everything from gadget specs to marketing campaigns.

Huawei Technologies has declared open-season on Apple and Samsung Electronics, vowing to overtake the market champions within half a decade.

Oppo used Barcelona's Mobile World Congress to unveil its most advanced camera technology yet, signalling a new maturity. And Xiaomi, the country's most valuable start-up, now designs microchip processors in-house.

China's largest phone makers have gained a reputation at home for inexpensive yet just-as-good devices. That approach helped Oppo, Huawei and Vivo take the top three spots in the world's largest mobile market for the first time in 2016, relegating Apple to fourth and pushing Samsung out of the top five.

Now they're keen to demonstrate they're not just fast adopters but innovators as well, capable of devices that can stand alongside the latest from the world's two largest players.

The trio are becoming aggressors on foreign soil from Southeast Asia to India, where Chinese labels occupied four of the top five spots in 2016's final quarter.

"The top Chinese makers have their eyes fixed on overseas markets as competition in China heats up," said Jia Mo, an analyst from industry consultancy Canalys. "They are chasing each other to debut new technologies and innovations because that's key to expanding globally."

To be sure, Chinese brands have yet to gain worldwide acceptance. While Lenovo, Xiaomi and Oppo phones are popular in parts of Asia, few have yet made significant strides in developed markets dominated by Apple and Samsung. It remains to be seen whether the phones to be unveiled this week from Barcelona to Beijing live up to their billing.

Huawei's P10 with Leica cameras

But they're coming after a series of rapid-fire improvements over the past year that have won over Chinese consumers and left foreign labels also-rans in a market they dominated for a decade. By going steadily up-scale and employing vast retail networks, local names have rapidly displaced iPhones and Samsung Galaxy devices.

The speed with which Chinese brands are packing in the bells and whistles has stunned industry observers, with no let-up in sight. Seven of the top 10 Chinese patent-appliers last year make smartphones, according to the State Intellectual Property Office. Of those, Oppo, Huawei and Xiaomi filed close to 12 000 applications or a third of the total, the data shows.

"In terms of technology and innovation, Chinese players are very close to industry leaders like Samsung," said Kitty Fok, a research director at IDC China. "China's gigantic mobile Internet market helped to boost online services, which require hardware with better performance. Many local players caught the opportunity to shake off the copycat label."

Leading the charge is Guangdong Oppo Electronics, which made features like rapid charging, low-light photography and 6GB memory standard (the iPhone still lacks quick-charging). The current Chinese market leader is focusing its energies on the camera, targeting selfie-crazy youths as well as amateur snappers.

Oppo unveiled what it calls its most advanced mobile photography technology yet. Its "go five times further" Barcelona tagline referred to an optical zoom technique that combines telephoto and wide-angle lenses and a specially designed prism with software to achieve a 5x zoom effect.

Huawei — number 3 worldwide after Samsung and Apple — also aimed to make a splash in Barcelona with its marquee P10.

Oppo is one of China's biggest smartphone brands

The company unveiled one of the first dual-camera smartphones with an organic light-emitting diode screen a year ago — thus stealing a march on Apple, which is said to be adopting the next-generation displays only later this year.

This week, the Shenzhen-based company touted an even more advanced gadget, a roughly $700 device capable of identifying faces and adjusting angles and lighting on the fly.

Huawei's shown no lack of confidence: it vowed last year to displace Apple and Samsung from the global top in five years. The Chinese company raised eyebrows when it sued Samsung in the US and China for patent infringement. Samsung has counter-sued.

Unusually for a Chinese consumer brand, it's also exhibited marketing savvy, teaming with Leica and enlisting Hollywood star Scarlett Johanssen to plug devices.

This week, it featured the storied camera-maker again, alongside colour pioneer Pantone and GoPro, whose mobile editing app will come pre-installed on the P10.

Even Xiaomi, which once topped Chinese sales by undercutting the competition and building an online user community, is going up-market. In October, it showed off the Mi Mix concept phone, developed with famed designer Philippe Starck, featuring a ceramic body and bezel-less screen.

Xiaomi will this week showcase the first phones using its "Pinecone" chipsets, foregoing those from Qualcomm and Mediatek. It will join a select club that includes Huawei, Apple and Samsung. Employing the chipset, which was developed with the Datang Group, not only helps save on cost but also lets Xiaomi tailor the processor to unique phone features.

"Technology innovation will be a key focus for Chinese players this year amid surging cost in the supply chain and an even more brutal fight over the retail channel," Canalys's Jia said.  — (c) 2017 Bloomberg LP

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Source: China's phone makers eye world stage

Soccer-Asia confederation terminates deal with China broadcaster-sources

Chinese company LeSports had its four-year contract to broadcast Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions terminated by the continental governing body last week after failing to pay an instalment on the deal, sources have confirmed to Reuters.

The deal, worth in excess of $100 million, was signed with the sports unit of Chinese technology giant LeEco in October 2015 and gave the company exclusive China broadcast rights to matches played under AFC auspices.

The agreement was cancelled last week, sources said, after LeSports failed to pay the latest instalment on a contract that covered the Asian Champions League, Asia's final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup finals and the Asian Cup from 2017 until 2020.

There was no immediate reply to a request for comment from LeEco. The AFC told Reuters it was not in a position to comment.

The AFC oversees all football in Asia and its showpiece club tournament, the Asian Champions League, includes the top sides from the continent as well as Australia.

LeSports, which also holds the China rights for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, made a last-minute payment in December to ensure it was able to honour its commitments to broadcast the English Premier League.

LeEco announced in January it had received new investment worth 15.04 billion yuan ($2.19 billion) from property developer Sunac China Holdings.

While China's national football team has struggled in recent years, interest in the club game has surged in China.

Guangzhou Evergrande won the Asian Champions League in 2013 and 2015 and an influx of highly-paid foreign talent, including Brazilian Oscar and Argentine Carlos Tevez, has flooded into the Chinese Super League (CSL) in time for the kickoff of its new season next weekend.

Chinese entities and individuals have ploughed more than $3 billion into overseas soccer investments over the past year or so but plenty of money has been spent in China too.

Entrepreneurs, encouraged by avid fan President Xi Jinping, have answered the call to help swell the domestic sports market five-fold to a value of 5 trillion yuan ($727.22 billion) by 2025.

LeEco has been expanding aggressively in a range of businesses including online entertainment, electric and driverless cars, smartphones as well as sports rights.

LeSports signed a two-year deal at the start of 2016 worth 2.7 billion yuan ($392.70 million) for the exclusive rights to the CSL and announced plans to purchase a stake in the Beijing Guoan club, although that deal was not completed.

LeEco's billionaire chief executive, Jia Yueting, said in a letter to staff in November that the conglomerate was facing cash shortages and the announcement of cuts to staffing levels at LeSports followed in December.

The next round of Asian Champions League matches will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday and the cancellation of the contract could have an impact on plans to broadcast the game between Shanghai SIPG and Australia's Western Sydney Wanderers.

($1 = 6.8755 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

Source: Soccer-Asia confederation terminates deal with China broadcaster-sources

Best Upcoming Smartphones of March 2017 – Expected Specs & Features

As most of the smartphone launches will be happening during Mobile World Congress, we will be skipping those devices from this list. In March, we will see the launches of Snapdragon 835 powered smartphones. Few smartphones which are already launched in China will be coming to India in next month. While we already know the specifications of these devices, there official pricing and availability will be announced on the launch day.

This year, there is no Galaxy S8 Edge since both the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will be coming edge display. Both the devices will be launched on March 29th and are rumored to go on sale on April 21st. The devices will be using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 and in-house Exynos 8895 processors for the different markets. With the almost bezel-less display, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge are said to come with a 5.8″ and 6.2″ screen sizes that might not measure too big. The physical button on the front button which we are seeing on all the Galaxy S devices is now removed. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the rear, sitting beside the primary camera. In the camera department, there will be a 12MP dual pixel camera on the rear and an 8MP selfie camera on the front.

The Xiaomi Mi 6 is recently spotted in an alleged image with a wider and a bigger display than the 5.15-inch on last year's Xiaomi Mi 5. Though it comes with bezels on all the four sides, we can see them to be smaller in size. The company might go with the 17:9 aspect ratio as seen on the Mi MIX. Following the Mi 5S and Mi 5S Plus smartphones launch in second half of 2016, the company is also rumored to launch the Mi 6 in two variants with Full HD and Quad HD resolution displays. One variant is also rumored to come with 6GB of RAM. It will be powered by the powerful Snapdragon 835 SoC based on FinFET 10nm Architecture. While the exact launch date is not yet announced, it will be only after the Galaxy S8 launch.

Earlier this week, Honor launched the Honor 8 Lite and flagship Honor V9 (a.k.a Honor 8 Pro) smartphones in China. According to our exclusive source, the company will be launching the Honor 8 Lite in India in the first week of March. The design looks almost same as the Honor 8 but misses the dual camera setup. It even comes with the same 5.2-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) as seen on the Honor 8. It is powered by Kirin 655 octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM; even the Honor 6X comes with the same processor and RAM capacity. There is a 12MP rear camera with an aperture of f/2.2 and an 8MP selfie shooter on the front. It is kept powered on by a 3,000mAh non-removable battery that supports 5V/2A fast charging.

Apart from Honor 8 Lite mid-range smartphone, the company will also bring also the Honor Bee 2 4G smartphone to the Indian market. It will be the successor to Honor Bee which was first launched in 2015 in India. Much like any other affordable smartphone, the Honor Bee 2 4G  The new device is also expected to come with a 4.5-inch FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) display. This will be company's most affordable 4G smartphone. It packs 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, and 2100mAh battery. There will also be a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and MicroUSB 2.0 port. Though there is no information about the OS, we expect it to run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

We will update the article once we have information about any other upcoming smartphones. Stay tuned!

Recommended: Best Selling Smartphones of February 2017 on Flipkart and Amazon India

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Source: Best Upcoming Smartphones of March 2017 – Expected Specs & Features

ZOPO Color C5 Smartphone with 5″ HD Display & 4G LTE Announced

ZOPO, the little-known smartphone manufacturer from China, launched the world's first smartphone with a deca-core processor. At the MWC 2016, the company launched high-end ZOPO Speed 8 smartphone with the MediaTek Helio X20 processor. Now, the company launched a new entry-level smartphone called ZOPO Color C5. Earlier to this, the company launched the Color C2 smartphone which also sports basic specifications. The Color C5 comes with a textured body that gives a premium brushed metal look. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and the UI looks close to the stock Android UI.

The device sports a 5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display offering a pixel density of 294 ppi and a 2.5D glass laid on top. Since it is an entry-level device, we can see the thick bezels on all the four edges. It is powered by the MediaTek MT6737 quad-core processor coupled with Mali T720 MP1 GPU.The Color C5 also includes 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. There is also MicroSD card slot for further expansion of storage upto 64GB. The chrome finished volume rocker and power button are placed on the right edge of the device.

In the camera department, there is a 5MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and a 2MP selfie camera with f/2.8 aperture. Both the front and rear cameras come with LED flash. After removing the back panel, we find the 2,100mAh removable battery. Even the dual SIM card slots and a MicroSD card slot are placed under the back panel. With the pre-installed Parallel Space app, the user can duplicate any app on the device to use with another account. For example, the user can have two Whatsapp or Snapchat accounts on the same device. It also comes with Picture-in-Picture (PIP) mode for viewing videos on top of other apps.

Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, 3.5mm Audio port, and a MicroUSB 2.0 port. It measures 144 x 72.2 x 8.8 mm and weighs 155 grams. The Color C5 comes in Matte Black, Champagne, Rose Gold, and White. Talking about the earlier Color C2, it lacks the 4G LTE connectivity and has just 8GB of internal storage. Apart from those two, most of the other specifications are same on the both the Color C2 and Color C5 smartphones. The pricing nor the availability of the device are yet to be announced. Stay tuned on Phone Radar for more details!

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Source: ZOPO Color C5 Smartphone with 5″ HD Display & 4G LTE Announced

Nokia to Announce Details of their Android Smartphones via Facebook and YouTube Live a Head of the MWC 2017

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Few days to the world's biggest phone show; Mobile World Congress 2017, which is scheduled to take place in Barcelona on Feb 27th to March 2nd, HMD Global in new reports says it will be revealing four of its Nokia Branded Android smartphones at the event. The predecessor of Microsoft Mobile made a comeback earlier this year when it launched its ever Android smartphone, Nokia 6 in China which is still limited to China market.

There was no mention of whether the Finland-based firm would make the phablet available globally.

Nokia 6 is packed with a 5.5-Inch Display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, 1.1GHz octa-core processor, 16MP rear and 8MP front cameras respectively, 4GB RAM, 64GB ROM with expandable microSD slot of up to 128GB, runs on Android 7.0 Nougat and all is backed on 3000mAh battery.

Putting a side the Nokia 6, Nokia in its Nokia Mobile official Facebook Page confirmed that it would be 'Live-Streaming' the details of their Nokia Android Smartphones.

"We'll be announcing live on Facebook the details of our Nokia smartphones on Android – see it here first!" Nokia Mobile writes in a Facebook Post

For the upcoming event, HMD Global is widely expected to bring back the refresh of the Nokia 3310 feature phone along side Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 while Nokia 6 is also expected to see global availability details out at the same event.

Source: Nokia to Announce Details of their Android Smartphones via Facebook and YouTube Live a Head of the MWC 2017

Most Affordable 6GB RAM Smartphone Launched at Just 14,000 INR

Earlier, the Chinese smartphones used to very affordable but that low price tag came with certain compromises like cheap build quality and basic specifications, but things have been changing in the last few years. As far as the hardware is considered, the Chinese brands are offering better specifications than the smartphones from well-known brands. There are few companies like OnePlus and Xiaomi which are also offering better software optimization and more customizations to the end user. After launching the world's first 4GB RAM smartphone in 2015, Asus launched 8GB RAM smartphone, Zenfone AR at the recently concluded CES 2017. In between, we have also seen 6GB RAM smartphones which are popular in China.

Samsung had already launched the Galaxy C9 Pro in India and China with 6GB RAM. At the upcoming MWC 2017 event, we might be seeing LG launching the LG G6 smartphone with 6GB RAM. All these are the high-end smartphones with premium price tags. Even the Chinese companies like OnePlus and LeEco launched the 6GB RAM smartphones which are also priced on a higher side. Today, Qihoo 360 launched its latest smartphone called 360 N5. It is the successor to the 360 N4 and the 360 N4s smartphones. The 360 N5 is now the most affordable smartphone to feature 6GB of RAM. It is priced at 1399 Yuan (approx $200 / Rs. 14,000) for the 32GB storage variant and 1599 Yuan (approx $230 / Rs. 16,000) for the 64GB storage variant.

On the front of the 360 N5 is a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display with a 2.5D laid on top. Under the hood is the 64-bit Snapdragon 653 (MSM8976 Pro) octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz. There is also a MicroSD card slot for storage expansion up to another 128GB. Coming to the camera department, there is a 13MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual LED flash, and PDAF. The 8MP front camera comes with FotoNation 4.0 technology. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow based in-house 360 OS 2.0. With all these powerful specs, the device is backed by a 4,000mAh non-removable battery and also support Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology.

The company also mentioned the battery on this device can be fully charged from 0% to 100% in less than 90 minutes. It measures 152 x 76 x 8.25 mm and weighs almost 156 grams. Connectivity options on this dual SIM device include 4G, VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, 3.5mm Audio port, and MicroUSB port. The 360 N5 smartphones come in Gold and Black color options. It is now available to pre-order, and the sales start from February 27th. While the QiKU smartphones are launched in few Asian countries, after rebranding to 360, the company has limited its devices only to China. Stay tuned on Phone Radar for more updates!

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Source: Most Affordable 6GB RAM Smartphone Launched at Just 14,000 INR

Apple tops Taiwan's smartphone sales in January

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Apple Inc. was the top smartphone vendor in Taiwan in terms of both sales volume and value for the fifth consecutive month in January, industry sources said Wednesday.

Apple was the top smartphone vendor by volume during the month, capturing 23.6 percent share of the 692,000 units sold in Taiwan in January, down from a 24.3 percent share in December, the sources said.

The lower market share reflected a slight decline in buying interest in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which hit Taiwan's market in September, the industry insiders said.

Coming in second was South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., which accounted for 20.9 percent of January sales by volume.

It was followed by Taiwan-based PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc. (15 percent), Japan's Sony Corp. (9.8 percent) and Taiwanese smartphone brand HTC Corp. (9.1 percent), the sources said.

In terms of smartphone sales value in Taiwan, Apple took a 57.7 percent share of the total in January, dwarfing the second largest vendor Samsung (11.6 percent), the sources said.

Sony was third with an 8.8 percent share, followed by Asustek with 6.8 percent and China's OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp. with 5.6 percent, the sources said.

It was the first time the Chinese brand ranked among the top five smartphone vendors in sales value in Taiwan, squeezing out Taiwan's HTC.

OPPO made it into the top five with its popular R9s phones, while HTC unveiled its latest flagship models -- the bigger HTC U Ultra and the smaller HTC U Play -- in January and it was expected to see stronger sales in February, the sources said.

In terms of individual smartphone sales, Apple's 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus 128 GB, unveiled in September 2016, continued to top the unit sales rankings in Taiwan in January, followed by the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 128GB, the sources said.

Coming in third was Samsung's Galaxy J7 (2016), followed by OPPO's R9s, Asustek's ZenFone 3 ZE552KL, Sony's flagship Xperia XZ, Samsung's Galaxy J2 Prime, Galaxy J7 Prime, Asustek's ZenFone 3 ZE520KL and ZenFone 2 laser ZE550KL.

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Source: Apple tops Taiwan's smartphone sales in January

Nokia 8 Android Smartphone listed online ahead of launch

HMD has finally introduced the Nokia brand with the launch of Nokia 6 that went official early last month in China, and the company is expected to launch a range of Nokia branded smartphone at the MWC 2017 event that is going to kick start soon. One among them is the Nokia 8 which was in the news from past few days, thanks to various leaks. Today the device is being listed on JD.com in China and comes with a price tag of CNY 3,188, though the authenticity of this listing can't be vouched for.

The listing reveals the renders of the Nokia 8 that comes with a bezel-less display sporting a 5.7-inches Quad HD SUPER AMOLED display and is said to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC with two different storage options. One with 64GB and the other with 128GB with a microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 256GB. It is expected to run on Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box.

In the camera department, the device is supposed to feature a 24-megapixel rear camera with OIS, LED Flash and many other features and a 12-megapixel front camera for selfies and video calls. Apart from Nokia 8, HMD Global is expected to bring the refreshed model off the iconic Nokia 3310, though there is no credible report to support the rumor just yet. Other smartphones in their portfolio include a high-end Nokia P1 and budget-oriented Nokia 4 and Nokia 5.

Though these leaks and rumors are just meant to be taken with a pinch of salt until the company goes official with them. The HMD Global event is scheduled for February 26th at the 4:30 p.m. local time (9 pm IST) in Barcelona.

Source: Nokia 8 Android Smartphone listed online ahead of launch

China shipped 131.6 million smartphones in fourth quarter

China shipped 131.6 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2016 with Huawei topping the list, followed by Oppo and Vivo, a new report said on Saturday.

According to a report by Singapore-based market research firm Canalys, the smartphone shipments in China accounted for nearly a third of worldwide shipments.

"Smartphone shipments in China for the fourth quarter of 2016 were also the quarterly highest in the history. Shipments for all of the year came to 476.5 million units, rising 11.4 percent from 2015 levels," Digitimes reported, quoting Canalys report.

Huawei shipped 76.2 million units in China's smartphone market in 2016, followed by Oppo with 73.2 million units and Vivo with 63.2 million."In 2016, the top three brands were competing with new product launches, go-to-market strategies and brand building," Canalys research analyst Jessie Ding was quoted as saying.

Xiaomi took the fourth spot while Apple fell to fifth place.

"In 2017, competition between Huawei, Oppo and Vivo will become much more intense, while their increasing scale and bargaining power within the industry will have a larger impact on device strategies of operators and open channel partners," Ding predicted.

Source: China shipped 131.6 million smartphones in fourth quarter

First Look at the Rumored Xiaomi Mi 6

After our review of OnePlus 3 and 3T, and a little disappointment in the VR department, we decided to look for a phone with that can mix a good price with a better screen. After discussing with several vendors and their retail / e-tail outfits, we came across a few good ones. If the price point is set around $500, we came to conclusion that in that price bracket, there are just two really good phones with high quality displays. First one is ZTE Axon 7, and the third one, the topic of this first look is Xiaomi Mi6.

Although this phone has not been released yet (wait for Mobile World Congress, to be held in Barcelona February 27th to March 2nd), we know its price and specifications. And after seeing that we just couldn't keep it to ourselves. Xiaomi already filled retailers with all the information and the only thing everyone is waiting for is the end of traditional Chinese New Year holidays, which vary from company to company – from 2 weeks to a whole month. If you're an European dealing with China, annual cycle is a maximum of 45 weeks where you can work together (write off February and August, plus the Christmas – New Year week).

Display

First thing first; the display. Regardless of your size preference, the quality of display always has to be the first thing in matter of importance, since that's what every user sees in a phone. The Mi6 is expected to have 5.2-inches with 2560 x 1440 resolution. This display will give you amazing experience for sure. From the point of VR this phone should be a better choice than the OnePlus with its FHD display.

Processor and Memory

Speed is a really important factor while looking for a phone. Xiaomi made a decision to power their new Mi6 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, world's first volume processor created using Samsung's 10nm FinFET manufacturing process. This is an Octa-Core processor rocking at 2.5GHz. While the processor cores are not the fastest one ever, the new process enabled Qualcomm to beef up the graphics department, which is strongest yet. Beside that beast of the processor, you will also get 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal memory.

Battery

All the amazing features at one place will have users wanting to use them at their fullest and you require a good battery. Mi6 gives you exactly that with an 4000 mAh, non-removable battery that can easily last for a whole day if users want to use Mi6 phones extensively. Still not confirmed at this point is a wireless charging option with fast charging (Qi).

Price and Release Date

The price of this phone set less than $500, making it one of most affordable Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 powered phones on the market. Fast growing Chinese e-tailer Gearbest announced that the price of Xiaomi Mi6 is set at $478.11, plus local relevant taxes and shipping. In terms of release date, we still do not know when this phone will be available. However, if you are interested you can submit an request for arrival notice here.

Conclusion

If all the information turns out to be correct, this phone well as might be the next big thing. We still do not know is this phone is going to feature fingerprint reader or a retina scan, and there's a lot of rumors lately. This is somewhat a typical Chinese smartphone manufacturer strategy, where a product is "pre-released", receives an official seal of approval to be listed at various retail and e-tail stores, but the final specifications are held until the launch. Which of course, does not happen until everyone has stock in place. This way, these lower-cost, highest performing phones can compete on pricing levels to the more famous brands such as Apple or Samsung.

The same thing is about their System. We know it will be based on Google's Android 7, i.e. Nougat. The final GUI i.e. user interface could be different. There are sites proclaiming Mi6 will feature next-generation MIUI 9 but by looking at the pictures, we can clearly see that it uses MIUI 8. Flashing the phone to original Android Nougat might be difficult, so it's not irrelevant which version of the UI the phone will use. Knowing the price of the phone, it is mostly intended for users that want to have all the latest and greatest on every year base, compared to higher priced devices which require longer (psychological) recovery / ROI time. However, a lot of things can change until this phone is released. For now, at the price, and with that display, I do not believe you can find a better VR ready phone for the price. It should be fully Daydream compatible, meaning you can either use it in Google's Daydream View or in-house developed VR.

Source: First Look at the Rumored Xiaomi Mi 6

Huawei developing its own AI Assistant to go with its smartphones in China

One of the trends which we expect to see in the smartphone of 2017 apart from the bezel-less displays is the Virtual Assistant. Apple was the first one to pioneer this concept of having a virtual assistant in a meaningful way with Siri for the iPhones, iPods & iPads. Eventually, the Siri is now available on macOS as well. However, Google is also doing a great job now with its Google Assistant which unfortunately is only available on Pixel smartphones as of now. While we are seeing a lot of rumors about the assistant rolling out for Android devices as well, Huawei seems to have different plans.

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is apparently getting ready to be added to the list of companies with their own virtual assistant. It has been reported that the company is having over 100 engineers working on the project. Huawei is planning on using its new AI virtual assistant dubbed as Huawei Assistant in China. The details on this alleged new Virtual Assistant is scarce at the moment, but it surely looks like we will see something from the company here in near Future. However, it looks like this Assistant will be limited to China only.

Most of the integrated apps that are pre-installed in the Android smartphones are blocked in China and hence we might be seeing something new here from Huawei themselves. However, if you are wondering about the rest of the Huawei smartphone overseas, Huawei seems to be planning on fitting them with Google's Assistant or Amazon's Alexa. Do make a note that none of this info is confirmed just yet officially by the company, but still it looks like a great move so that they can gain an edge over their competitors in China.

Talking about manufacturers having its own AI Assistant, Samsung is also expected to announce its new AI, the Bixby. We also have the logo in place and now it is just the matter of the official announcement from the company. Having said that, it is going to be very interesting to see what we have with is over the next couple of months as there are going to be a ton of great options. Let us know, what do you think about the different virtual assistants and if you would be interested in trying out different options.

Related

Source: Huawei developing its own AI Assistant to go with its smartphones in China

Meizu M5s with 5.2-inch display, MediaTek processor launched in China

The Meizu M5s will be available in black, silver, gold and rose gold colour options

Meizu has officially announced the new M5s smartphone in China. This is an upgraded version of company's budget offering, the M5, which was launched in November 2016.

The Meizu M5s features a 5.2-inch display with screen resolution of 1280x720 pixels. The handset is powered by MediaTek's MT6753 chipset coupled with 3GB RAM and 16/32GB storage. The smartphone sports a 13MP primary camera with f/2.2 aperture and phase detection autofocus. The front shooter is a 5MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and support for beautification mode.

Under the hood, there is a 3000mAh battery with support for fast charging. Meizu claims, the device can be charged from 0 to 19 percent in 10 minutes. The smartphone features a metal unibody design, which, as with many Meizu smartphones, takes a lot of cues from iPhone's design language.

The Meizu M5s features a fingerprint sensor embedded with the physical home button. Meizu calls this button as mTouch, which supports gestures for accessing quick shortcuts. The dual-SIM smartphone supports LTE and will be available in black, silver, gold and rose gold colour options. The Meizu M5s is priced at 799 Yuan (approximately Rs 8,000) for 16GB storage model and 999 Yuan (approximately Rs 10,000) for the 32GB storage variant. No word has yet been released on its India availability.

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​
Source: Meizu M5s with 5.2-inch display, MediaTek processor launched in China

Apple Ends Samsung’s Two Year Reign As #1 Smartphone Maker

Apple has overtaken Samsung as the top smartphone manufacturer worldwide for the first time in two years.

According to research from Gartner, smartphone sales of the two companies were the closest they had ever been during Q4 2016, with Apple edging out Samsung by just 256,000 units.

Overall smartphone sales were up 7% in the quarter compared to 2015 with a total of 432 million units sold. Apple's market share grew by a modest 0.2% with 77 million units sold, and Samsung experienced a 2.9% drop in market share during the period with 76.8 million units.

Huawei remains steady in third position, selling 40.8 million units and holding a 8% share of the market. Assisted by the launch of the Mate 9 soon after Samsung's decision to discontinue the Galaxy Note 7, Huawei narrowed the gap between the two companies from 50 million units in Q4 2015 to 36 million units in Q4 2016.

In fourth position with 26.7 million units, Oppo almost doubled its market share in the quarter, up from 3.2% in Q4 2015 to 6.2% in Q4 2016. BBK Communication Equipment, which manufactures OnePlus and Vivo branded smartphones popular in China and India, sold 24.3 million units to double its market share to 5.6%, while other manufacturers made up the remaining 47.6% share of the market.

Samsung remained on top for 2016 overall, making up 20.5% of the 1.5 billion total smartphone sales for the year.

Source: Apple Ends Samsung's Two Year Reign As #1 Smartphone Maker

Nokia 3, 5, & 6 Android Smartphones to Launch at MWC 2017 Along with New Nokia 3310

HMD Global already launched its first Nokia smartphone called Nokia 6 in China. While the HMD Global's presence at the upcoming Mobile World Congress is already confirmed, now got some leaked information revealing about the products that will be launched there. The Nokia 6 will be launched on a global scale along with the even affordable Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 smartphones. The Nokia 6 is currently retailing at 1699 Yuan (approx $245 / Rs. 17,000) in China. It comes with an all-metal body and packs decent specifications.

The device runs on the latest Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. The 5.5-inch display on the front of the Nokia 6 comes with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution and is protected by a 2.5D Gorilla Glass. Under the hood, it is powered by Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz and coupled with Adreno 505 GPU. It also includes 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. There is also a 16MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, and a 3,000mAh battery. Talking about the other two devices, they come with less-powerful specifications to cut down the costs.

The Nokia 5 is said to sport a 5.2-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) display and packs the same Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor as on the Nokia 6. However, it has just 2GB of RAM and a 12MP sensor on the rear. While the Nokia 6 is said to come with a price tag of €249, the Nokia 5 will be costing €199. The Nokia 3 with entry-level specifications will be priced at just €149. Along with Nokia 6, the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 also runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. As seen on the Chinese version of the Nokia 6, the UI looks different to the stock Android UI and lacks the app drawer.

Yesterday, HMD Global launched the Nokia 150 in the U.K for £35. It was first unveiled in December last year and was launched in Netherlands just last week. At the Mobile World Congress, the company plans to introduce yet another device, this time it's not a smartphone. The company is said to launch the newer version of the Legendary Nokia 3310. It will be priced £59 and might come with the sturdy build quality as seen on the 17 years old device. With more than 126 million sales, the Nokia 3310 is one of the best selling mobile phones in the world.

We hope the new Nokia 3310 also offers weeks-long battery life and includes the popular Snakes game. While the company is yet to confirm these specs and pricing, we will know complete details on the launch day. The company will be holding its press conference on February 26th, alongside the other major manufacturers like Samsung, LG, and Sony. As of now, the availability of the device in Europe in confirmed. Since the company already launched the Nokia feature phones in India, we expect these devices also to be launched here. Stay tuned on Phone Radar for more details!

Source: Nokia 3, 5, & 6 Android Smartphones to Launch at MWC 2017 Along with New Nokia 3310

Indian smartphone market grew 5.2 per cent in 2016: IDC

India registered 109.1 million units of smartphone shipments with a marginal 5.2 per cent annual growth in 2016, market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Monday. Chinese players led the pack.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, smartphone shipments clocked 25.8 million units -- registering similar volumes as that of 2015 but declining sharply by 20.3 per cent over the previous quarter.

This was mainly due to a seasonal decline after an all-time high festival quarter and demonetisation in November, which led to relatively lower consumer sales in November and December.

Also Read: Global smartphone shipments crossed 1 billion in 2016, Apple leads

"Feature phone to smartphone migration has slowed down as prices of smartphones are still quite high for a feature phone user," said Karthik J, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC.

The share of China-based vendors touched a whopping 46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016. Their shipments doubled over the same period last year while the share of homegrown vendors slipped to 19 per cent.

Also Read: India will ship 270 million mobile phones in 2017

Samsung continued to lead the smartphone market with 25.1 per cent share despite a 13.1 per cent sequential decline in the fourth quarter of 2016. But Samsung's annual shipments grew 3.2 per cent in 2016, driven majorly by the J-series.

Xiaomi climbed up to second spot with 10.7 per cent share against 3.3 per cent share in the same period last year. Year-on-year shipments grew threefold while sequential growth was 15.3 per cent.

For more news from India Today, follow us on Twitter @IndiaTodayTech and on Facebook at facebook.com/indiatodaytechFor news and videos in Hindi, go to AajTak.in.ताज़ातरीन ख़बरों और वीडियो के लिए आजतक.इन पर आएं.

Source: Indian smartphone market grew 5.2 per cent in 2016: IDC

Dr Jekyll Becomes Mr Hyde: The Curse of Android

Few technologies from Silicon Valley have managed to create an impact as big as Android has. Whatever be one's views on Android (especially versus iOS – what a debate that is!), there's no denying that with the advent of Android, hundreds of millions of people that earlier had no access to any form of computing device are now in possession of one. Countries like China and India have been mobile-first economies and to be honest, although iOS brought the concept of a touch-based smartphone OS, it was Android that truly helped in spreading it to the masses.

Android helped Google find a firm footing when it came to mobile devices as it had seen how Microsoft had locked the PC market pretty much to itself. The rise of Android made sure that Google apps had a place in the vast majority of smartphones. But there is a darker side to the picture too – Android has become a drag on Google and its ability to partner with others.

The dark side of the Android moon

When Android really started picking steam (somewhere around 2010), everything seemed rosy. It seemed a kind of win-win situation. Google had created a smartphone OS which any interested OEM could use for free. If the OEM wanted to pre-install Google apps, then it would have to conform to some rules set down by Google. Else, it was free to do anything it wanted with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) version of Android. The OEM sold the smartphone that ran Android OS at a particular margin and Google, in spite of giving away Android for free, benefitted from the eventual use of pre-installed Google apps. Consumers and telecom operators got an alternative to the iPhone and everything seemed fine.

However, as time passed, it started becoming eminently clear that the profit equation was tilting more in Google's favor than anyone else. In the early days of Android and the smartphone market in general, there was a lot of space in the top end of the smartphone market for all Android smartphone manufacturers (and indeed, Apple as well) to tap into. But as time passed by and the high end of the market started saturating, most Android smartphone manufacturers had to turn to the low end to find further growth.

Since Android is basically a piece of software, the marginal cost for Google in replicating Android is close to zero. Once the research and development (R&D) work are done in creating a new version of Android, the cost for Google to distribute Android to 200 million or 1 billion smartphones is same. However, this was not the case for smartphone manufacturers. Every additional smartphone created had its own cost in terms of manufacturing, distribution, etc. As Android phone manufacturers saw the high end of the smartphone market saturating, they started investing in the low end of the market. But the margins in this segment were not high enough and the overall profitability (if any) of phone manufacturers kept declining.

Advantage, Google…and no one else!

While smartphone makers had a tough time improving profitability, Google kept benefitting as manufacturers and brands competed with each, driving down the price of Android handsets and expanding Android's base on which Google could pre-load its apps that displayed ads and helped Google make money. What happened in the case of Google and Android is not new – many people had already seen it coming as it is exactly what had happened in the case of Microsoft and Windows as well. Even in the case of Windows, Microsoft kept benefitting as PC vendors competed with each other, driving down costs.

However, the intensity of competition in case of Android has been several magnitudes higher than that of PC, quite simply because more people use smartphones than computers. At the time of writing, barring Samsung, hardly any other manufacturer has been able to make money out of Android. Manufacturers like HTC that once had a good run with Android are now seeing all their profits being drained away by ever mounting losses.

As profits of smartphone makers kept falling, Google kept tightening its control over Android. A number of apps that were part of AOSP had been gradually converted into proprietary apps only available on the Google Mobile Services (GMS) version of Android with the AOSP versions not being updated at all. Google also kept setting rules as to the extent to which manufacturers could modify Android.

Watch out! Are smartwatches stepping away from Android?

Google's increasing control of Android and dipping profits left many smartphone makers frustrated and with a bad taste in their mouths. Samsung soon started developing its own Tizen OS and launched a couple of Tizen smartphones as well. Although Tizen will never be able to make a meaningful impact in the smartphone market, it has affected Google nonetheless.

Tizen may not be meaningful in the smartphone space but when it came to smartwatches, Samsung seems to have gone all in with Tizen. Not a single Samsung smartwatch runs Android Wear. Just like the smartphone market, Apple's closest competitor in the smartwatch market happens to be Samsung, but unlike the smartphone market where Samsung runs Android, in the smartwatch market, it runs Tizen OS.

Image: wareable.com

Even other manufacturers do not seem to be warming up to Android Wear. Fitbit has largely been in the fitness tracker market. When the company wanted an OS to better compete in the smartwatch market it went ahead and bought Pebble primarily for its Pebble OS. Come to think about it, if Fitbit wanted, it could have just started using Android Wear letting Google do all the heavy work on the software, but as the company wanted to avoid relying too heavily on Google for software and then get stuck in the future, it went ahead and spent USD 40 million to buy Pebble.

It is becoming clear that the only players in the smartwatch market that are investing in Android Wear are companies that either does not have the resources to create an OS all by themselves or are not big enough yet in the smartwatch market to justify that kind of an investment. Everyone else who is in the long run for smartwatches is making sure that they have their own software.

The cost of a phone-y victory

And this is not just the smartwatch market, even players that are not in the tech industry seem to have become wary of Google. When Nokia was planning to sell off its Here mapping division, a consortium of German car manufacturers went ahead and purchased Here. Google Maps is definitely more detailed than Here and it would have taken no money (or very little money) for the car manufacturers to start using Google Maps. However, considering that Google has been developing its own driverless cars, the manufacturers were wary of relying on Google and bought Here instead.

The disenchantment with Google was apparent at the recent CES too. Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, was the star of the show and literally every appliance maker has integrated Alexa into its consumer electronic devices. However, what many people missed noticing was that even Google had opened up the API to Google Assistant, allowing third party manufacturers to integrate it with their devices. But barring Belkin, there was hardly any third party integration of Google Assistant. Part of the reason for the lack of Google Assistant integrations could be that Samsung and LG which are some of the biggest manufacturers of home appliances from TVs to washing machines are the very companies that Google has annoyed in the smartphone market.

Although Google might have managed to win the smartphone race using Android, the after-effects of that victory are spilling into other categories where Google's products are finding it difficult to gain partners. Android Wear, Google Maps, Google Assistant are all being victims of Android's victory in the smartphone rat race.

In light of these developments, the Alphabet holding structure of Google starts making even more sense. If a particular division of Alphabet needs several partners in order to form an ecosystem and work effectively, then its best bet is to separate from the Google mothership and form a separate entity because being attached to Google seems to be doing more harm than good, thanks to Android.

Source: Dr Jekyll Becomes Mr Hyde: The Curse of Android

Xiaomi goes all-in on retail to revive China smartphone sales

Xiaomi, which was valued at about $45 bil lion in 2014, is resorting to traditional selling techniques to make inroads into the next generation of smartphone buyers who eschew buying online.

After pioneering online flash sales in China to reach the top of the smartphone market, Xiaomi Corp. is turning to old-fashioned retail to arrest its slide.

The phonemaker will roll out a chain of about 1,000 brick-and-mortar stores under the Mi Home banner over the next three years, as co-founder Lei Jun mimics a strategy that's helped the Oppo and Vivo brands leapfrog Xiaomi to the top of China's smartphone market. The new target accelerates plans outlined just last month to open 200 stores in 2017.

Xiaomi, which was valued at about $45 billion in 2014, is resorting to traditional selling techniques to make inroads into the next generation of smartphone buyers who eschew buying online. While Oppo and Vivo use a network of resellers to reach consumers in rural areas and smaller Chinese cities, Lei's strategy would be more akin to Apple Inc.'s, with plans to own and operate its own signature outlets.

"This is Xiaomi's biggest problem: how we can overcome the obstacles of our business model," Lei said in a video clip from a business forum posted by national broadcaster CCTV. "Our model can no longer be online, it has to be new retail."

"We have a chance to do 60 to 70 billion yuan in business" from those stores, Lei said without specifying a timeframe.

Xiaomi is overhauling its approach to try and regain its perch atop the world's largest smartphone arena. While it's expanding globally — particularly in India — plugging all manner of household appliances and deepening research into artificial intelligence and online finance, the company still gets much of its revenue from its first hit product.

Oppo and Vivo's retail strategy has helped them take two of the top three spots in the Chinese market, providing rebates and incentives for the shop owners that dominate sales in far-flung provinces to push their products.

That has driven down Xiaomi's share of the home market. Oppo's smartphone shipments more than doubled to 78.4 million units last year as it took top spot with a 16.8 percent share, according to IDC data. Huawei Technologies Co. and Vivo both rose at a double-digit pace to rank second and third. Xiaomi's shipments slumped 23 percent and had just 8.9 percent after topping the market two years earlier.

Savvy use of social media and flash online promotions, where a limited number of devices are available for a short period, helped build buzz around a company that has drawn comparisons to Apple for the fervor of its fans. But that doesn't work so well in rural areas, where more than 600 million people live and new buyers want advice and demonstrations.

Having its own network could also help Xiaomi push a wider variety of products.

While the company is best known for phones, it's invested in dozens of startups and now offers air purifiers, drones, speakers, TV set-top boxes and robot vacuum cleaners. Its Mi Home outlets resemble Apple stores with their white walls and spare space, but on display is the wider range of appliances that Xiaomi's invested in over the years. It operates about 50 locations across China currently.

Apple has about 40 stores across mainland China, most of which are in large cities, but its iPhones are also sold through about 40,000 locations such as outlets controlled by wireless carriers and spots within electronics chains.

Xiaomi's not just relying on offline retail to jazz up its phone sales. The company is close to using its own "Pinecone" processors and could introduce the chipset within a month, the Wall Street Journal has reported. In so doing, it would join Apple, Samsung Electronics Co. and Huawei in employing their own processors, which can heighten the user experience by making hardware and software work together more efficiently.

Source: Xiaomi goes all-in on retail to revive China smartphone sales

Three airline passengers held for days in China after using their phones during flights

'Jail' over jet music

One man, named only as Mr Wang, was detained by civil aviation staff for five days for listening to music as a domestic flight landed in Beijing

THREE airline passengers were held for up to five days by police after using their mobile phones during flights to and from Beijing.

One man was detained by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for listening to music on his phone when the plane landed in Beijing from the Heilongjiang Province on February 6.

Alamy

The men were held after domestic flights landed in Beijing

The man who is known only as Mr Wang was held for five days for the offence.

Another passenger, identified only as Zhag was held for five days for "refusing to turn off their phone" and "insisting on making calls during the flight".

And a final passenger, identified as Niu, has just been freed after three days for related offences, the aviation authority confirmed.

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One man was detained by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for listening to music on his phone

China prohibits phones on jets for safety reasons, although it is considering  lifting the ban.

Alamy

The men were held after using their phones during flights A new aircraft invention stops the person sitting in the middle seat from getting squished
Source: Three airline passengers held for days in China after using their phones during flights

Smartphones from Oppo, Vivo Make Gains on the iPhone in China

February 10, 2017 | Mobile

eMarketer recently examined the results of new Kantar Worldpanel ComTech estimates suggesting a decline in market share for foreign smartphone manufacturers like Apple. And with the release of full-year 2016 estimates on smartphone shipments in China by International Data Corporation (IDC), there's further evidence of the continued rise of local manufacturers Oppo and Vivo. The two firms appear to have found a winning combination of pricing and features, allowing them to beat out more established competitors like Apple and Xiaomi.

According to IDC, iPhone manufacturer Apple's market share in China fell to 9.6% in 2016, down from 13.6% a year earlier. Apple shipped 13.5 million fewer phones in 2016 than it did the previous year. At the same time, China-based smartphone manufacturer Oppo saw its market share more than double, climbing from 8.2% in 2015 to 16.8% last year. Oppo shipped 78.4 million smartphones in China in 2016, more than any other manufacturer. China-based device company Vivo did almost as well: Its market share jumped by more than 6 percentage points in 2016, and it shipped 69.2 million smartphones.

Even before the release of full-year 2016 results from IDC, other sources have tracked the rapid growth of these two homegrown manufacturers. According to Q3 2016 data from Counterpoint Technology Market Research, the shipment share in China for both Oppo and Vivo increased by more than 6 percentage points over Q3 2015.

What might explain the increasing popularity of Oppo and Vivo among smartphone buyers in China? The two companies have settled on a device strategy that combines functionality with an appealing "midrange" price point. In fact, smartphone sales in this midrange seem to be outpacing other categories. A GfK analysis of China's smartphone sales growth by device price point in the first half 2016 found that the fastest-growing category was devices priced between RMB 2,500 and RMB 3,000 ($376 and $451).

Oppo and Vivo seem to have found a sweet spot between cheaper bare-bones smartphones and the high-end products offered by Apple, helping the manufacturers position themselves for further growth among China's growing middle class.

—Jeremy Kressmann

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Source: Smartphones from Oppo, Vivo Make Gains on the iPhone in China

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, a special edition Redmi Note 4 smartphone launched in China

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X Hatsune Miku Special Edition comes in new green and pink colour option

Xiaomi has officially announced Redmi Note 4X, a special edition smartphone with specifications similar to that of Redmi Note 4. The smartphone is being introduced to commemorate the success of Japanese singing synthesizer application called Hatsune Miku. The new Redmi smartphone is called Redmi Note 4X Hatsune Miku Special Edition and will be available in new Green and Pink colour options.

As far as specifications are concerned, the Redmi Note 4X features the same 5.5-inch full HD display and has a Snapdragon 625 processor. The original Redmi Note 4 was launched with a MediaTek Helio X20 chipset in China. The smartphone offers 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a huge 4100mAh battery. The camera duty is taken care of by an improved 13MP rear shooter and a 5MP front snapper for selfies.

Earlier, rumours indicated that the Redmi Note 4X will be a significant improvement over the existing Redmi Note 4 smartphone. However, the new smartphone seems to be just a cosmetic upgrade. The smartphone also comes with a customised package containing a printed protective case and a limited edition Mi Power bank. Xiaomi has not revealed the pricing yet but the device will hit stores on February 14.

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Source: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, a special edition Redmi Note 4 smartphone launched in China

Smartphone Market Continues to Grow, Up 6.6 Percent Year-on-year in 2016

NUREMBERG, Germany, February 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Continued 4G expansion in China, plus accelerating growth in Russia, drove global demand over the year 

Smartphone sales in 4Q16 totaled 391 million units globally, up six percent year-on-year  

All regions except Western Europe saw year-on-year growth in 4Q16 

Global smartphone demand totaled 391 million units in 4Q16, up six percent year-on-year. North America returned to growth in the final quarter of the year, spurred on by flagship device launches and aggressive operator promotions. Despite strong demand in Great Britain during Black Friday promotions, sales in Western Europe fell four percent year-on-year in 4Q16.    

Smartphone sales 4Q 2016 vs. 4Q 2015 Units sold Sales value (in million) (in billion USD) Y/Y % Y/Y % 4Q15 4Q16 change 4Q15 4Q16 change Western Europe 40.4 38.6 -4% 16.3 16.2 -1% Central and Eastern Europe 20.9 24.2 16% 4.3 5.6 30% North America 56.2 58.0 3% 21.9 22.9 5% Latin America 29.9 32.3 8% 7.1 9.8 38% Middle East & Africa 41.5 41.9 1% 10.3 10.7 4% China 106.6 118.9 12% 33.7 36.9 9% Developed Asia 19.8 20.5 4% 12.3 13.6 11% Emerging Asia 53.3 56.8 7% 8.5 9.8 15% Global 368.6 391.2 6.1% 114.4 125.5 9.7% Source: GfK Point of Sales (POS) Measurement data in 75+ markets, December 2016

Based on GfK's Point of Sales data, smartphone demand totaled 1.41 billion units in 2016, in line with GfK's previously projected figures. Looking ahead, GfK forecasts global smartphone growth in 2017 to moderate to five percent year-on-year, with total demand reaching 1.48 billion.

Western Europe: A saturated market 

Smartphone demand totaled 38.6 million units in 4Q16, down four percent year-on-year. In Great Britain, demand was strong during November's Black Friday promotions. However, this was not enough to offset 10 percent year-on-year declines in both Germany and France in the quarter. In 2016, the region saw a three percent fall in demand year-on-year, bringing sales for the year to 131.6 million units. GfK forecasts flat year-on-year demand in Western Europe in 2017, as the overall region reaches saturation.

Central and Eastern Europe: A Russian recovery

Here smartphone demand totaled 24.2 million units in 4Q16, up 16 percent year-on-year. Due to improving political stability, Ukraine saw an impressive growth of 34 percent year-on-year. In Russia, currency stablization was the leading catalyst for improving smartphone demand, pushing sales up 10 percent year-on-year. GfK forecasts smartphone demand to reach 84.4 million in 2017, a rise of eight percent year-on-year.

North America: Flagship device launches and operator promotions power 4Q 

Following a dip in 3Q16, the market saw a turnaround in demand in 4Q16. This was driven by operator promotions and flagship devices launches, both coinciding with the holiday season. Smartphone demand hit 58 million units, an increase three percent year-on-year. GfK forecasts that tough competition between the carriers this year will drive marginal growth in smartphone demand of one percent year-on-year, totaling 193.4 mil lion units in 2017.

Latin America: Argentina enjoys a stellar 2016, Brazil bounces back 

Smartphone demand in the region reached 32.3 million units in 4Q16, building on the turnaround which started in 3Q16. This is up eight percent year-on-year. Brazil's improving political and econo mic situation heralded a gradual recovery in demand during 2016, with November posting the first year-on-year increase in demand of the year. Argentina demand remains strong, with 4Q16 up 38 percent year-on-year. In 2016, demand across the region is down one percent year-on-year. However, GfK has an optimistic outlook for 2017, as demand in Brazil continues to grow after two years of economic downturn.

Middle East and Africa: Growth continues to abate 

Smartphone demand totaled 41.9 million units, up one percent year-on-year. This was weighed on by macroeconomic weakness in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Egypt. However, GfK forecasts year-on-year smartphone demand growth in the region to accelerate in 2017, helped by expected economic improvements.

China: The spread of 4G powers rising demand 

In China, smartphone demand totaled 118.9 million units in 4Q16, up 12 percent year-on-year. The 4G smartphone user base hit 57 percent by the end of the year, driven by operator subsidies. Having penetrated the highly populated urban areas, 4G is now expanding to smaller cities and rural areas, as 2G and 3G users are encouraged to upgrade. GfK expects four percent year-on-year growth in 2017, bringing sales to 467.9 million units.< /p>

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Developed Asia: South Korea drives growth in a saturated region 

Overall smartphone demand totaled 20.5 million units in 4Q16, up four percent year-on-year. South Korea saw impressive growth of 17 percent year-on-year, helped by increasing demand for mid-range smartphones. However, like Western Europe and North America, the region is saturated and GfK expects smartphone demand to fall two percent year-on-year in 2017 to sales of 72 million.

Emerging Asia: India and Bangladesh drive growth in the region 

Smartphone demand in the region totaled 56.8 million units, up seven percent year-on-year, a slight slowdown from 3Q16. Demand in India grew five percent year-on-year, with strong Diwali sales in October partially offsetting the negative impact of demonetization. GfK has a positive outlook for the region for 2017, with smartphone demand expected to grow nine percent year-on-year, reaching 229.4 million units. Bangladesh's projected growth of 28 percent year-on-year, added to India's rise of nine percent year-on-year, provides a major contribution to this forecast figure.

Smartphone sales 2016 vs. 2015 Units sold (in mil.) Sales value (in billion USD) 2015 2016 Y/Y 2015 2016 Y/Y sales sales change sales sales change Western Europe 135.4 131.6 -3% 52.9 53.6 1% Central and Eastern Europe 71.5 78.5 10% 14.5 17.1 18% North America 191.0 191.3 0% 72.1 71.8 0% Latin America 108.4 107.1 -1% 26.8 31.7 18% Middle East & Africa 157.5 165.5 5% 40.4 41.8 3% China 385.3 450.1 17% 116.2 133.6 15% Developed Asia 73.4 73.8 1% 43.0 45.3 5% Emerging Asia 197.9 210.2 6% 32.2 34.1 6% Global 1,320.5 1,408 6.6% 398.1 428.9 7.7% Source: GfK Point of Sales (POS) measurement data in 90+ markets for calendar years 2015 and 2016.

Arndt Polifke, Global Director of telecom research at GfK, comments, "There is no other technology product that is as intensiv ely used by consumers as the smartphone. As a result, smartphone demand remains stable even in saturated markets. Spurred on by the impressive range of exciting innovations, such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, smart home functionality, mobile payments and mobile health, smartphones are going to gain further relevance for consumers in developed markets. On top of this, developing regions such as the Middle East/Africa and Emerging Asia have yet to mature and as such still have significant potential for growth. These two factors lead to a solid growth outlook for smartphone demand in 2017."

This release is based on final GfK Point of Sales data for October and November, and December estimates based on preliminary data. For more information, please visit http://www.gfk.com or follow GfK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GfK

Source: Smartphone Market Continues to Grow, Up 6.6 Percent Year-on-year in 2016

Digitimes Research: 124.2 million smartphones shipped in China market in 4Q16

Digitimes Research: 124.2 million smartphones shipped in China market in 4Q16

Luke Lin, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Monday 6 February 2017]

There were 124.2 million smartphones shipped in the China market in the fourth quarter of 2016, increasing 8.0% on quarter and 5.3% on year and accounting for 29.6% of the global total, according to Digitimes Research.

China-based vendors together accounted for 82.0% of the shipments and international ones for 18.0%, Digitimes Research indicated.

Oppo was the largest China-based vendor, taking up 20.3% of the shipments, followed by Vivo with 18.7%, Huawei Technologies with 12.0%, GiONEE with 4.3%, Xiaomi Technology with 3.9% and Meizu with 3.8%. Among international vendors, Apple posted a market share of 13.2% and Samsung Electronics 4.1%.

Shipments in the first quarter of 2017 will decrease to 100.2 million smartphones.

Source: Digitimes Research: 124.2 million smartphones shipped in China market in 4Q16

Xiaomi to officially unveil Redmi Note 4X in China on February 14

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Xiaomi is all set to launch their next smartphone Redmi Note 4X, the upgraded variant of Redmi Note 4. Redmi Note 4 recently launched in India too. Today Xiaomi officially posted a teaser on their Weibo handle. The post reveals the name of the device "Redmi Note 4X" and the launch date February 14. Though we haven't got any other details expect the device name from the teaser itself.

Back in December 2016, Redmi Note 4X was spotted in TENAA as well as in live images which have revealed some of its specs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X is expected to feature a 5.5 Full HD display with deca-core Mediatek Helio X20 processor and three RAM variants 2GB, 3GB, and 4GB. The internal storage is expected to come up with two variants 32GB and 64GB. Our guess Xiaomi will go rather for Snapdragon 625 SoC as they recently launched Redmi Note 4 in India with this chipset.

Apart from the chipset, Redmi Note 4X is expected to sport a 13 MP Rear Camera and a 5MP front-facing camera along with 4100mAh battery to power up the device.

Source

Source: Xiaomi to officially unveil Redmi Note 4X in China on February 14

Mystery Samsung phone with MediaTek CPU spotted on GFXBench

[Representational Image] Mystery Samsung phone with MediaTek CPU spotted on GFXBench. In Picture: Samsung Galaxy Note series phone put on display at an eventReuters

Smartphone leader Samsung is reportedly working on a new mobile with MediaTek chipset after a long time.

A mystery Samsung phone bearing model number: SM-G615F has been spotted on GFXBench platform, revealing that the device will be powered by MediaTek's MT6757 (Cortex A53 - ARMv8) octa-core CPU with ARM Mali-T880 MP2 graphics processor.

Also read: Top 5 most-anticipated phones to be launched in February 2017: Moto G5, Nokia 8, LG G6 and more

The phone will sport a 5.7-inch full HD (1920x1080p) display, Android 7.0 Nougat OS backed 3GB RAM, 32GB inbuilt storage, 12MP camera on both sides with 1080p video recording feature.

As of now, there is no word on the device's moniker. With MediaTek processor being used, we believe Samsung might come with new Galaxy series phones, because, the company, depending on the region of sale, usually incorporates Qualcomm or in-house built Exynos in its mid-range phones.

Mystery Samsung phone with MediaTek CPU spotted on GFXBenchGFXBench website screen-shot

We also believe that the MediaTek processor-based Samsung phone is most likely to be launched in emerging markets like China, India and Africa.

Watch this space for latest news on Samsung phones.

Also read: Samsung to host special preview of Galaxy S8 at MWC 2017; what we know about the Galaxy S7 successor so far

Source: Mystery Samsung phone with MediaTek CPU spotted on GFXBench