South China Sea: The Fishermen on the Front Lines

Lingao fishermen repairing their boats, Tanmen, Hainan (2015).

Image Credit: Edyta Roszko

Vietnam's and China's fisheries are at the forefront of the South China Sea disputes.

By Edyta Roszko for The Diplomat

April 01, 2017

Under the cover of night, a Vietnamese boat with fishermen from one of Central Vietnam's coastal provinces sneaks into the exclusive economic zone of Malaysia in the South China Sea to buy freshly caught seafood from other Vietnamese fishermen who act as brokers. Cam — a young Vietnamese fisherman — had just entered Malaysian waters when a speedboat with five masked and armed men on board seized his boat and quickly forced the fishermen to the bow and on their knees. They were not allowed to turn their heads to catch a glimpse of their attackers, who stripped them of their mobile phones and other valuables that they had on their bodies. Beaten with gun barrels and bamboo sticks, the fishermen were threatened and intimidated and then forced into a cell under the deck where they had to wait until the boat with the attackers sailed away.

The Vietnamese fishermen could not tell who the attackers were, although some pointed at the Malaysian military, whose offshore exclusive economic zone stations were located on nearby islands and atolls. According to Cam, the Malaysian military was responsible for safeguarding the sea under national jurisdiction and they knew where Vietnamese fishermen trespass into foreign territorial waters. If he had been in Indonesian waters Cam would not have been so lucky. His boat would have been burned and destroyed on the spot by the Indonesian navy to prevent them from returning, he explained.

This incident shows the complex reality of fishing in the South China Sea, which is subject to claims for sovereignty from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and other ASEAN countries, and involves other global powers such as the United States. Besides its growing geopolitical importance, the South China Sea is a maritime region with large coastal populations in Vietnam, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia that depend heavily on fisheries and other marine resources for their livelihoods. The increasing imbalance between supply and demand for fish turns the South China Sea into a bitterly contested battleground not just for state sovereignty and oil and gas, but, above all, for marine resources.

Source: South China Sea: The Fishermen on the Front Lines

Cristiano Ronaldo teases Nubia Z17 Mini smartphone with dual camera setup

By: Meenu Rana, The Mobile Indian, New Delhi

Last updated : Friday, March 31, 2017 - 11:54

The smartphone features a dual camera setup of a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

ZTE is all set to launch a new smartphone on April 6 in China dubbed as Nubia Z17 Mini. Just ahead of the launch, Nubia's brand ambassador and captain of the Portuguese football team, Cristiano Ronaldo, shared an image from his photo shoot with Nubia on his Weibo page. The image shows the football star holding the upcoming Nubia Z17 Mini.

From the image shared by Ronaldo, we can see the back revealing a dual camera setup and a fingerprint scanner for the Nubia Z17 Mini smartphone. This smartphone will be company's second dual camera phone after Nubia M2 which was launched last week in China.

Recently, the Nubia Z17 Mini was spotted on TENNA certification website with model number NX569J. As per the listing, Nubia NX569J features a 5.2-inch display that has full HD display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. It is powered by a 1.8 GHz octa-core processor which is coupled with 4GB RAM. It offers 64GB of internal storage, expandable storage via a micro SD card, dual camera setup of a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

The dual SIM phone runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system and is fueled by 2930 mAh battery. Connectivity options of the smartphone include 4G-LTE, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS/A-GPS and a micro USB port. The dimensions of the phone are 146 x 72.14 x 8.1 mm and it weighs 160 grams. The device is listed in Gold and Silver colour option. The phone has Gravity sensor, distance sensor, a light sensor as per the listing.

Source: Cristiano Ronaldo teases Nubia Z17 Mini smartphone with dual camera setup

Asian markets fall as China liquidity concerns intensify

By KELVIN CHANAP Business Writer

HONG KONG (AP) - Most Asian stock markets fell Thursday, led by a slide in Chinese shares as investors' concerns about liquidity intensified.

KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite index skidded 1.1 percent lower to 3,207.13 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5 percent to 24,272.60. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8 percent to 19,059.75 and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.3 percent to 2,161.60. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4 percent to 5,896.20. Southeast Asian indexes were mixed.

LIQUIDITY ISSUES: China's central bank refrained from open market operations for a fifth straight day, effectively siphoning money from the banking system. The People's Bank of China said in a statement that liquidity in the banking system was at a "relatively high level," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

MARKET INSIGHT: "Definitely one of the problems is the liquidity problem at this moment, mainly driven by the People's Bank of China," said Dickie Wong, research director at Kingston Financial Group. He predicted that China would continue to hike interest rates this year, which would improve profit margins at Chinese banks and financial services, but investors might be tempted to sell their shares if earnings reports don't beat expectations, he said. "It gives the perfect reason for investors to sell on spec and pull back all of their money."

SAMSUNG: Shares of the South Korean electronics giant rose after it unveiled its first major smartphone since the embarrassing recall of its fire-prone Note 7. The Galaxy S8 comes in two sizes but doesn't have more battery capacity, giving it more breathing room.

TOSHIBA FILING: The embattled Japanese company's shares jumped more than 4 percent after it said its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric filed for bankruptcy protection. The Chapter 11 petition is an important step for Toshiba as it fights to stop hemorrhaging losses at the ailing nuclear business, which has been hit with rising costs because of safety concerns and regulations, and rising anti-nuclear sentiment in some countries.

U.S. ECONOMY: In the latest encouraging sign for the U.S. economy, a report by a real estate group said more people signed contracts to buy U.S. homes last month. The pending home sales index climbed 5.5 percent in February to its second highest point since 2006. Optimism that hoping Congress and the White House will be able to enact President tax cuts and other business-friendly policy proposals has kept markets buoyant. But some of that optimism has dimmed recently weeks after Trump's plan to revamp healthcare failed to win enough votes.

WALL STREET: Major U.S. benchmarks finished little changed. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2 percent to close at 20,659.32. The S&P 500 index added 0.1 percent to 2,361.13. The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.4 percent to 5,897.55.

ENERGY: Oil extended its rally. Benchmark U.S. crude oil futures climbed 18 cents to $49.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.14, or 2.4 percent, to close at $49.51 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 10 cents to $52.63 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.18 yen from 111.04 yen. The euro fell to $1.0754 from $1.0767.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: Asian markets fall as China liquidity concerns intensify

Didi Chuxing, China’s Ride-Hailing Giant, Holds Talks With SoftBank

Photo Masayoshi Son, the leader of SoftBank, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. A deal with SoftBank could help Didi Chuxing contend with a rash of difficulties. Credit Alberto Estevez/European Pressphoto Agency

HONG KONG — Didi Chuxing, a company in China that last year bested Uber in that huge ride-sharing market, is in negotiations to get SoftBank of Japan to take part in a multibillion-dollar investment round, according to people familiar with the talks.

Should a deal be reached, it could be the latest big bet that SoftBank's eccentric leader, Masayoshi Son, has placed on a significant technology company. Mr. Son has been raising $100 billion for what he calls the SoftBank Vision Fund and has already pledged to invest $50 billion and create 50,000 jobs in the United States. While it is unclear whether that fund is involved in the talks over Didi Chuxing, analysts say it could be further used to make sizable investments in big, global tech companies.

A deal could also help Didi Chuxing, which counts Apple among its powerful backers, contend with a rash of difficulties. Since the company bought Uber's business in China in the summer to form a business valued at $35 billion, it has been mired in regulatory pressures.

Still, executives at the company have said that they harbor international ambitions, and it is pushing aggressively to catch up in the development of driverless car technologies. A deal with SoftBank is also intended to increase Didi Chuxing's value, said one of the people familiar with the talks.

It is unclear whether Didi Chuxing will reach a deal with SoftBank and at what amount or whether it will involve other investors. The people familiar with the talks spoke on the condition of anonymity beca use they were not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions. Bloomberg earlier reported the talks on Tuesday.

The fund-raising efforts by Didi Chuxing show how foreign investors currently value dominance in China, an internet market largely closed to foreign competition that has the largest smartphone-using populace in the world. A new multibillion-dollar round would also put Didi roughly on par with the total funds raised by Uber. It has also raised money at home from the two biggest internet companies in China: Alibaba, an e-commerce giant, and Tencent, a games and social media conglomerate.

Didi Chuxing's longer-term expansion is likely to be closely watched as a touchstone of the prospects of China's homegrown internet champions. The company has a number of high-profile investors, both Chinese and foreign, and whether it develops important technology for autonomous cars or is able to exp and into other markets will become a new barometer for the abilities of companies that have grown large in China's relatively isolated market.

Along with receiving a bigger valuation, analysts said Didi would most likely use the money to invest in next-generation technology, like autonomous vehicles, and potentially also on international expansion, though the company has so far done little outside its domestic market.

Didi has been content to invest in and work with a band of similar ride-hailing companies in India, Southeast Asia and America. The partners include Uber's main rival in the United States, Lyft. It is uncertain whether Didi would consider introducing its own service to challenge those partners as part of an international push, look to other markets in developing countries or continue to invest in promising companies.

Even so, the company has put money into recruiting foreign talent. In March, Didi said it was creating a research and development lab in Silicon Valley that is focused on developing artificial-intelligence technologies to help with security and driverless cars. It also said that it would use A.I. to aid it in the data analytics required to improve transportation in China's many traffic-snarled cities. As a part of the effort, the company poached Charlie Miller, a well-known computer scientist who once worked for Uber.

Yet even as it speeds ahead with technology, Didi has faced a more prosaic challenge at home. New rules in China that have required drivers in some of the country's biggest cities to have registration documents have pinched the company's ability to respond to customer demand.

Regulations have "had a direct impact on the supply of cars," said Xue Yu, a senior analyst at IDC, a market research firm.

"For customers, it will be a lot more difficult to order a car than before the new regulations were announced," Mr. Xue said. "This has largely raised the operation costs for Didi."

Continue reading the main story
Source: Didi Chuxing, China's Ride-Hailing Giant, Holds Talks With SoftBank

China's "Internet Plus" model applicable in emerging markets: Xiaomi CEO

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- China's "Internet Plus" model could help enterprises in emerging countries stand out in market competition, according to head of China's tech giant Xiaomi.

Companies able to offer the best products at the most affordable prices will emerge as market leaders, Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said at the Global Business Summit in New Delhi on Monday, according to the company's press release.

China's "Internet Plus" action plan was unveiled in 2015. It proposed a new economic development model based on the integration of the Internet with traditional sectors to improve products, service quality and efficiency.

Xiaomi was one of the earliest companies to apply the Internet Plus approach to improve its business model with innovative technologies, cutting edge products and efficient operations, according to Lei.

The smart device manufacturer started with organic, word-of-mouth marketing to accumulate a customer base and improved their products based on user feedback, while the Internet, e-commerce in particular, helped remove the middlemen to price products close to cost.

"I believe that the power and unstoppable influence of the Internet means information asymmetry will sooner or later come to an end," Lei said.

Xiaomi's presence in India is testament to the success of the Internet Plus model. In India, Xiaomi is now the top selling smartphone brand online and the second largest smartphone brand in India in Q4 2016, with annual revenue of over one billion U.S. dollars for 2016.

Xiaomi opened its first overseas factory in India in 2015 and another one followed this year. More than 95 percent of Xiaomi's smartphones sold in India are now manufactured locally, creating over 7,500 jobs in India.

Lei said his company will create 20,000 jobs in India within three years.

To apply the Internet Plus model, Lei suggested enterprises in emerging markets should remain committed to innovation, focus on user experience and never sacrifice quality or efficiency.

"I believe that in the next decade or so products that enable lifestyle changes and offer more choices will rule the marketplace," Lei said.

Xiaomi launched its own chip, the Surge S1, last month, the fourth company in the world capable of producing both smartphones and chips, after Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.

The tech firm set up an "Explorer's Lab" last year to research artificial intelligence and will release an "exciting AI product" in the next six months, according to Lei.

"Companies in emerging markets need to offer their consumers a compelling vision so that they not only solve problems today, but even address problems on the horizon," Lei added.

Source: China's "Internet Plus" model applicable in emerging markets: Xiaomi CEO

Xiaomi eyes to increase offline share to 50% of sales: Founder Lei Jun

NEW DELHI: Online and offline markets will contribute nearly equal shares to Xiaomi's sales in China in a couple of years, a balance that the company may achieve in India overtime, founder and CEO Lei Jun told ET, adding that the short term goal in India would be to grab about 50% share of the burgeoning online market.

In an exclusive interview with ET, Jun, who is the 12th richest in China with a net worth of $6.8 billion, as per Forbes, said that the company will expand manufacturing in India to resolve issues around shortage of supply in the face of high local demand. The company may even look at exports from India.

"It's a possibility, we're still running out of stock of India," Jun, 47, said. "First fulfil Indian consumer needs before looking at exporting," he added.

Xiaomi has sold more than 4 million devices over last year. In March 2017, the company sold 250,000 units of the Redmi 4A priced at Rs 5,999, on Amazon.com within four minutes while getting over 1 million customers that have pre-booked the device.

"Even with the new (second) plant, still short in supply," Jun added, highlighting that the company would be keen to set up a third plant in India as well, thereby expanding capacity.

The company which started making phones locally with Foxconn in Andhra Pradesh in 2015, recently expanded its capacity to make one phone per second, and now locally makes 95% of the phones it sells in India.

India is the biggest market for Xiaomi outside China. According to analyst firm IDC, Xiaomi India has become the number one selling smartphone brand in the online market, with 29.3%.

Jun added that the company is keen to bring more of it s ecosystem products to India, and is equally keen to invest in start-ups in India on his own - through his and through Shunwei Capital - and through Xiaomi India.

Xiaomi shot to the No 1 smartphone manufacturer in China and No 3 in the world in 2014, the same year it became the most-valued tech startup in the world at more than US$45 billion valuation. While the company was ranked as one of the Top 50 innovative brands by BCG in 2016, in India it grabbed the No 2 position in smartphone segment as of December, with 10.7% market share.

Source: Xiaomi eyes to increase offline share to 50% of sales: Founder Lei Jun

Gionee A1 smartphone: Delight for selfie-lovers

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) At a time when margins are razor-thin in the fast-growing domestic smartphone market, any new device faces the challenge of not only meeting consumer expectations but also offering that something extra to stay in the race for at least one quarter.

Keeping this in mind, China-based Gionee -- known for delivering camera-driven smartphones in the past -- has launched the selfie-focused, mid-segment A1 smartphone in India.

Priced at Rs 19,999, the main highlight is its 16MP selfie camera and 13MP rear camera.

Here is what works for the device.

Taking a cue from the flat design of its earlier devices, A1 features a metal body which feels sturdy in hand and has a polished look. The overall look is clean but uninspiring.

The 5.5-inch full-HD display worked well indoors, delivering sharp colour reproduction and contrast with good viewing angles.

The rounded-off edges allow it to sit comfortably in the hand and offers plenty of grip. Armed with 2GHz octa-core P10 Helios processor and 4GB RAM, A1 ran smoothly with whatever we threw at it -- be it movies, games or browsing.

The 16MP front camera produced brighter pictures. It packs an LED flashlight to light up the images in case of low-light conditions. The images captured had rich colour tones with an appreciable amount of detailing.

The 13MP rear camera is good, fast and the shots captured had bright colours, fine details and delivered good depth of field when clicking in bright-light conditions (sunny days are here and so this will work even better now).

The 4,010mAh battery did a better job in this price segment, solving the issue of poor battery life faced by smartphone consumers. The device with full charge ran for approximately over a day.

Packing 64GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 256GB, storage is another key feature on the A1, allowing you ample amount of space to create and store moments, apps and music, etc.

What does not work?

As with some other smartphones, the rear camera fails to impress in low-light conditions as noise becomes apparent. Watching videos and surfing outdoors was also a bit of struggle and we had to top the brightness to max levels for comfortable viewing.

Weighing 183 grams, the smartphone is slightly heavy to use with one hand.

Conclusion: Gionee A1 looks like a straight-forward phone with standard features and is again built for selfie-lovers.

(Anuj Sharma can be contacted at anuj.s@ians.in)

--IANS

anuj/na/ky

Source: Gionee A1 smartphone: Delight for selfie-lovers

Nokia’s Android phones to hit market by end of June

KARACHI: An established name in feature phones, Nokia is set to introduce its first-ever range of Android smartphones in Pakistan by the end of June, which are unbreakable and believed to attract middle to high-income groups.

"The phones [Nokia 6, 5 and 3] will be launched in Pakistan, Middle East and North Africa late in the second quarter of 2017," said HMD Global Vice President Middle East and North Africa Per Ekman.

HMD, the manufacturer of the phones, has already launched its flagship Nokia 6 in China in January, claiming a great success.

"We had pre-sale one million registered buyers of the phone [in China]. All the phones available in store on the day [January 19] of the launch were sold in just a blink of 23 seconds," he said at a media briefing.

He, however, did not disclose the exact number of phones sold on the launch day.

Google launches its Android One phones in Pakistan through QMobile

The unique feature of the phones is that they are rock solid and unbreakable. A small video, played by Ekman during the briefing, showed a woman breaking walnuts with the phone, throwing it towards a wall and it hit back like a ball and dropping it down to the floor from a height of around three feet, but the phone still remained intact.

With this launch, the multinational firm staged a comeback in the smartphone category after a gap of almost three years. Earlier, it had presented Windows-based smartphones globally, but they failed to succeed.

An official of Nokia's local partner HMD Pakistan told The Express Tribune, "Lumia 930 was our last Windows-based smartphone introduced sometime in 2013."

Nokia globally ended its collaboration with Windows in April 2014. "Actually, Windows did not keep its apps updated, which disappointed phone users and became a cause of failure," he said.

Nokia had also launched a phone carrying some Android features sometime back, but that also failed to attract mobile phone users.

"We say these [Nokia 6, 5 and 3] are our first-ever Android smartphones," he said. Some of the phones would carry low features as the company would launch multiple versions of them keeping in view the diversity in the market.

Along with Android phones, it would re-launch its iconic 3310 in a new shape and with increased features.

Nokia dominated with "80% market share in the early days of feature phones in Pakistan," said the official, adding those days were followed by innovation of smartphones and arrival of many new names in Pakistan.

HMD Global launches first Nokia smartphone

Responding to a query, Ekman said: "It [Pakistan] is a key strategic market for us."

According to an estimate, about one million mobile phone users (on an average) are switching to smartphones every month in Pakistan.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's latest data, there are 137.09 million mobile phone users as on January 31, 2017. Almost 28% or 38.26 million are believed to carry smartphones, as they are 3G/4G mobile internet users.

Last month, Motorola staged a comeback in Pakistan under the new trademark, Lenovo Moto, targeting the high-end smartphone market.

Alcatel made its way into Pakistan with a range of feature and smartphones in August 2016.

Other prominent brand names in the country include Samsung, QMobile, Huawei, Apple, Lenovo, iPhone and Infinix.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2017.

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Source: Nokia's Android phones to hit market by end of June

New Meizu Smartphone with Model Number M621C-S Certified by TENAA

Meizu is one brand that is known for its innovativeness, so we were thrilled by a leaked product schedule said to be that of Meizu was spotted. The product schedule revealed the company would launch a total of six smartphones spread across the months of the year. So far, we have only seen one smartphone and from the schedule, we expect to see the next one in June. But the leaks just won't stop coming, despite the scanty launch we expect this year.

The latest leak is that of a new Meizu smartphone which appeared on China's Telecommunication regulatory agency's (TENAA) website where it has been certified. The listing gave us a view of the device's render from all four sides and also a rundown of the specifications of the device simply identified as Meizu M621C-S. The renders look very much like those of the  Meizu M5S which touched down last month and considering the model name it is listed with, the device will likely be the Meizu S.

On the listed specs, the Meizu smartphone is listed with a dimension of 153.6 x 75.6 x 8.15mm and weighs just 175g. It sports a 5.5-inch TFT display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The device is listed as coming with 2GB, 3GB and 4GB RAM versions and would be powered by a 1.8GHz processor which would likely be a MediaTek Helio P25 chip. There is also three storage versions of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB respectively and all three can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD.

On the camera end, the Meizu phone packs a 13MP rear camera sensor with a round LED flash and upfront, there is a 5MP selfie shooter. The phone runs Android Marshmallow out-of-the-box and keeping the lights on is a 3920mAh battery which is appreciable. Connectivity options like Bluetooth, 3G, 2G, 4G, Wi-Fi and others are also listed.

Read Also: No Flagship Snapdragon Chip For Meizu This Year Says Analyst

We can't say if this smartphone is the same model that received 3C certification days back and was also granted radio transmission certificate last week but its appearance on TENAA may be an indication its launch is drawing closer. Whenever that happens, expect the device to be available in white, silver and blue colors.

(source)

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Source: New Meizu Smartphone with Model Number M621C-S Certified by TENAA

Lava to sell only 6 smartphone models, focus on retail stores

Home > News > Lava to sell only 6 smartphone models, focus on retail stores Lava yesterday launched two new dual-SIM 4G smartphones Lava Z25 and Z10.

Home grown smartphone maker Lava will sell only six smartphone models at any given point of time, and work to strengthen its connect with offline retail stores.

"Instead of launching multiple handsets, we will focus on selling only six smartphones during any given point. Lava will focus on connect and visibility at retail stores," Lava International Product Head Gaurav Nigam said on sidelines of launching two new dual sim 4G smartphones Lava Z25 and Z10.

He said that the company's new strategy is to remain neck-to-neck in competition with Chinese players who have deep pockets. "In terms of branding, we will focus on visibility at retail stores. We are currently selling through 1.2 lakh retail stores, and by end of this year we plan to have our products at 1.6 lakh retail counters, covering almost entire retailer base for mobile phones," Nigam said.

He said that Lava is now selling all phones that are made in India at its Noida plants and expect to come out with first smartphone of Lava that will be designed in India.

"We have 750 engineers employed by Lava in China for designing phones. We recently hired 50 engineers in India, who are working on to design first Lava phone in the country," Nigam said. He added that the company has enhanced test criteria to increase robustness in the phones.

"We are promising our customers that the screen of Lava smartphones will not break due to fall. If it breaks within a year of purchase, we will give one replacement for free. We have also enhanced test criteria for moistures," Nigam said. ALSO READ: Lava Z10, Z25 launched at prices starting Rs 11,500: Specifications and features

He said that the same robustness is present in Z25 and Z10 models that it will start selling for Rs 18,000 and Rs 11,500 a unit in select stores in Delhi from March 23. The 5.5-inch Lava Z25 comes with 8 megapixel front camera and 13 MP rear camera, fingerprint sensor, 4GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage with similar capacity support for external storage, 3020 mAh battery and finger print sensor.

Lava Z10 has 5-inch screen, 8 MP rear and 5 MP front camera, 2620 mAh battery, 2GB RAm and 16 GB internal storage.

Published: March 23, 2017 11:35 AM IST | Updated: March 23, 2017 11:46 AM IST
Source: Lava to sell only 6 smartphone models, focus on retail stores

Official: Nokia to Bring All of its Phones to Pakistan in Few Weeks

Nokia is coming back to Pakistan and is optimistic about capturing a significant share in the local market. It hopes to accomplish this with its new series of smartphones to be launched in the local market by end of second quarter, 2017.

Per Ekman, Vice President – Middle East & North Africa HMD Global, in his recent media talk, termed Pakistan as a strategically important market for his company that is receptive to new Nokia phones.

The series of handsets include three smartphones – Nokia 3, 5, 6 and one feature phone – the legendary 3310.

HMD Global formed a strategic alliance with Nokia and Foxconn to introduce bring back Nokia through a series of handsets.

Nokia 6 was launched in December 2016 in China which received more than one million pre-sale registrations in a matter of few weeks. The handsets were sold out in 23 seconds of its launch in the market—a higher-than-expected feedback.

Results showed that 86 percent of the buyers fall under the category of millennial age, depicting the popularity of the handsets with the tech-savvy generation.

Not only in China, which is the biggest and most competitive market in the world, but the new handsets created a positive buzz in the market to attract customers looking for quality handsets , VP HMD Global said.

The features of the smartphone are unique especially with regards to its engineering, design and body material which are making a difference in the market.

Read More: Nokia 6 vs 3310 Drop Test: Do We Have a New Durable Champion?

The smartphone's body is made up of aluminum which guarantees durability. Nokia 6 came with Android 7.0 out of the box, replacing the Windows platform used before it.

Per Ekman revealed an interesting fact that Nokia 3310 is being introduced all over the world due to customer demand. HMD Global had asked in a survey whether the 3310 should be revived and it received a very positive response from all over the globe.

Read More: Nokia 6's Durability Test Against Scratches, Bending, Burning & More Shocks Everyone 

He hoped that Pakistan's market will respond positively when the popular Nokia brand returns to the country with the same high build quality but with Android, this time around.

The arrangements of making handsets available are underway and the new Nokia phones will be launched in Pakistan in phases and a rollout can be expected in the next quarter. Prices for the phones will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Source: Official: Nokia to Bring All of its Phones to Pakistan in Few Weeks

Micromax to launch smartphone with dual rear cameras on March 29

Micromax today sent out invites for the launch of a new smartphone on March 29th. The company had already teased a smartphone with dual rear cameras is coming soon.

The roar will silence the noise. Block your date to see the #Extraordinary pic.twitter.com/eYYdnaVhTg

— Micromax India (@Micromax_Mobile) March 21, 2017

This. Is. Just. The. Beginning. Get ready. pic.twitter.com/ab4826wpFs

— Micromax India (@Micromax_Mobile) March 17, 2017

According to earlier rumors, this could be the Micromax E4815 (F620) that surfaced in China last month. The smartphone is said to feature a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a 5-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information. The sticker on the back says that the phone will be powered by an Octa-Core MediaTek MT6750T 64-bit processor with Mali T860 GPU.

On the front it has a 5-megapixel camera along with a selfie flash. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the front. According to the images, the phone could have a unibody metal design.

We should know all the details about the smartphone when it launches in the country next Wednesday.

Source: Micromax to launch smartphone with dual rear cameras on March 29

Xiaomi Redmi 4A: Is it poised to be a good, affordable Android phone?

Xiaomi has another new budget Android smartphone lined up for Indian consumers. The new phone is likely to be the Redmi 4A, which was released in China in November last year at CNY 599 (approximately Rs5,679). It is the successor to the Redmi 3S and 3S Prime smartphones which are selling in the Indian market at Rs6,999 and Rs8,999, respectively.

Considering the Redmi 4A's lower configuration we expect it to cost less than the Redmi 3S. At that price, there are very few smartphones that can compete with it on paper. Additionally,an Amazon.in advertisement hints that the new phone will be available only on Amazon.in, initially.

Small screen

The Redmi 4A is a small screen phone with a 5-inch IPS LCD display. It has a screen resolution of 1,280x720p and pixel density of 294ppi. The phone's display size and configuration are exactly the same as the Redmi 3S.

Android with MIUI

Xiaomi is at times slow down when it comes to adopting the latest version of Android, because they wrap the MIUI interface over it, and optimizing it sometimes takes more time. The Redmi 4A is no different. It runs on a slightly older Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Xiaomi's proprietary MIUI 8.

Lighter and thinner

The new smartphone is not going to be a battery powerhouse like the Redmi 3S which offers a 4,100mAh battery. The Redmi 4A runs on a smaller 3,120mAh battery, and is one of the reasons for the phone's lighter form factor. It weighs just 131g, and has a thickness of 8.5mm. The Redmi 3S weighs 142g.

Touch of metal

The Redmi 4A has a similar unibody metal clad exterior as most Xiaomi smartphones we have across in the last few months. It comes in three colour options—gold, rose gold and dark grey. The battery is packed inside the metal chassis. The dual SIM (micro/nano) tray is placed on the side panel. One of the SIM slots also doubles up as microSD card slot. The speaker grille is on the back, the micro USB at the base and the 3.5mm audio jack at the top side panel. The phone doesn't have a finger-print sensor.

The interior

It is rare to see a phonemaker switch to an inferior processor in a newer phone. The Redmi 4A is driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core processor with 2GB RAM. The Nokia 3 is the other new smartphone that runs on this processor. The Redmi 3S and 3S Prime are powered by a slightly superior Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor.

First Published: Mon, Mar 20 2017. 11 59 AM IST

Source: Xiaomi Redmi 4A: Is it poised to be a good, affordable Android phone?

Why Chines smartphone brands will still dominates in Kenyan markets.

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Over the past couple of years, China's top smartphone makers have become one of the biggest on the market. The country's most successful manufacturers have shifted away from cheap me-too models to compete more seriously for the high end of the market. Recent years Chines brands have crushed their presence in the local market with low-cost, medium and high-end smartphones, providing customers with a wide range of internet-enabled devices.

The rising Internet usage to connect on social media, growth of app based services and the penetration of internet in the country has also driven the high demand for smartphones. The total number of mobile Internet subscriptions grew to more than 21 million last year, up from 14 million a year earlier.

Pricing.

Chinese budget smartphones range between Sh5, 000 and Sh20, 000, where 66% of the country occupied by the youth and 46% are unemployed hence many will go for chines smartphone where their budged range.   Hong Kong-based Infinix, for instance, has sold more than 500,000 units since entering the Kenyan market in 2014, riding on e-commerce to cut distribution costs and enabling lower prices. .The entry of Techno, Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and Infinix into Kenyan market has exerted downward pressure on smartphone prices in a market teeming.

China phones are so cheap because there are less costs of marketing and advertising included in the price. The value of the hardware of a customary phone only makes one quarter of the selling price. By buying a Smartphone you also pay for (apart from the phone itself) the manufacturer's marketing. Companies as Samsung, HTC or Apple invest millions in advertising in TV, the internet or posters. These costs make the prices rise and have to be paid by the customer. Additionally you also pay for the manufacturer's name. For a China phone there are none of these costs.

Quality.

Mobile handsets top the list of items that traders ordered from China last year, underlining the popularity of the low-priced smartphones in the Kenyan market despite concerns over quality. Many will have to go for them because they offer same spec with leading smartphone brands like iPhone and Samsung.

A China phone has the same performance as a Smartphone of a well-known label because they are manufactured with the same hardware and technology. Even Smartphone manufacturers as Samsung, HTC or Sony have their Phones produced in China and buy the various components (display, camera, processor…) from other manufacturers there. Chinese brands as Xiaomi, THL or Cubot get their hardware from the same manufacturers as the great and popular brands. Therefore only the name makes the difference, not the technology.

Phone specs.

China phones use – as most of the well-known manufacturers – Google's Android operating system. Often they even get more frequent and quicker updates, as this is for example the case with Samsung. Chines phones have fancy features like dual lenses at the back camera for sharper pictures, unibody metal design and fingerprint sensor. Also, they offer's long lasting batteries which deliver up to  24 hours of talk-time and standby time of up to 250 hours.

For a long time it was said that Phones from China were nothing more than bad replicas of the well-known brands and that they didn't work. In fact, this was right a couple of years ago. Now, however, there is a new generation of China Smartphones, which blow the branded phones away.

Source: Why Chines smartphone brands will still dominates in Kenyan markets.

China exceeds India in internet usage, smartphone ownership: Pew Research

Home > News > China exceeds India in internet usage, smartphone ownership: Pew Research In India, there is a gender gap on smartphone ownership with 23 percent men likely to own a smartphone than 14 percent women.

China is way ahead of India when it comes to internet access and smartphone ownership, a latest Pew Research report has said. According to the survey, 71 percent of Chinese say they use the internet at least occasionally or own a smartphone, our definition of internet users. In contrast, only 21 percent of Indians say they use the internet or own a smartphone. Sixty-eight percent respondents in China said they own a smartphone, as compared with 18 percent in India as of spring 2016.

Smartphone ownership in China has jumped 31 percentage points since 2013, but in India it has increased by only six points during the same time period. While virtually every Chinese person surveyed owns at least a basic mobile phone (98 percent), only 72 percent of Indians can say the same, it said.

"Nearly four-in-ten Indians with a secondary education or more (38 percent) own a smartphone, compared with only nine percent of less educated Indians. The gap holds for Chinese and Indians above and below their respective countries median incomes," it said.

The report also reflected a rural urban gap on smartphone ownership. ALSO READ: India added 268.9 million new internet users in 3 years: Adobe

"More urban Chinese (72 percent) own a smartphone compared with rural Chinese (63 percent), and the same goes for urban Indians (29 percent) compared with rural Indians (13 percent)," it said. "In India, there is a gender gap on smartphone ownership. Indian men (23 percent) are more likely than women (14 per cent) to own a smartphone," Pew said. ALSO READ: India ranks 36 in internet inclusiveness: Facebook-EIU

BONUS VIDEO: Vivo V5 Plus Review Published: March 18, 2017 6:00 AM IST | Updated: March 18, 2017 6:00 AM IST
Source: China exceeds India in internet usage, smartphone ownership: Pew Research

HTC Sells Off Its Smartphone Factory in China to Focus on VR

HTC is known for its smartphones the One M8 for example is famous among Pakistani users.

Over the years the company's smartphone business has suffered quite a few losses and cannot compete against the likes of Apple and Samsung directly.

A solution would be to sell its shares on the Taiwanese Stock Exchange but the share value is so low ($2.47) that it won't help much. Plus it bears the added risk of diluting current investors, some of which have deep pockets that are holding up HTC's stock values.

HTC's VR Business

A ray of hope for HTC is its VR business. Even though VR headsets by Samsung and Google offer cheaper alternatives, HTC managed to sell 450,000 Vive units in 2016.

That equates to $360 million in revenue. Last year HTC reported $2.44 billion in revenue with a loss of $117 million. This was the lowest revenue ever since 2005 for HTC.

The smartphone maker is now planning to sell its phone factory in Shanghai to Xingbao Information Technology to invest in its VR business.

Factory Details

The factory which was acquired by HTC back in 2009 and covers an area of 114,000 square meters, will be sold for about $91 million. It used to be one of the main centers of production, churning out as much as 2 million phones during its heyday back in 2011. However since 2013 that number had been falling at a continuous rate.

It's not the first factory sold by the Taiwanese-company; in late 2015 it sold one in Taiwan for $183 million. It seems likely that the production of the HTC U and HTC U Ultra smartphones will be affected.

As it stands, the virtual reality market is only just starting to warm up. Estimates say that the market could grow up to $120 billion by 2020.

Via Phone Arena

Source: HTC Sells Off Its Smartphone Factory in China to Focus on VR

Choosing the Right Smartphone for You: Reviewing the Moto G5 Plus, Samsung Galaxy A5, and Xiamoi Redmi Note 4

India and some countries in the South Asia are experiencing official launchings of the Moto G5 Plus, Samsung Galaxy A5, and Xiamoi Redmi Note 4, and so we took time to review each phone's strengths so people can check out what phone really suits them before they go out and buy. So without further confusion since smartphones can have that effect on people, here are the three phones. The Moto G5 Plus was first introduced short of an official launching at the MWC 2017 in late February. It contains near-stock Android 7.0 Nougat software, an all metal design, and has Google Assistant, an AI-based virtual assistant. Other great features of this new Moto smartphone are its 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.7 aperture and dual auto-focus pixels, as well as a 5-megapixel wide-angle front camera.

Image Source | Youtube.com

Favorite features include the always-on Moto Display and gesture-based Moto Actions, as well as the new One Button Nav that allows users to navigate screens using only the fingerprint sensor. Key specifications for th e phone include a 5.2-inch full-HD screen, 2GHz Snapdragon 625 processor, a fingerprint sensor on the back, up to 128GB storage expansion, and 3000mAh battery with fast-charging. The smart phone can be a good buy for those looking for an affordable compact device that balances software and hardware well enough.

Image Source | Youtube.com

The Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 model no longer carries the stigma of its "flaming battery cousins." It sports a design almost similar to that of the Galaxy S7; this smartphone is water- and dust-resistant, features an "enhanced" camera with low-light optimizations, an always-on 5.2-inch full-HD Super AMOLED screen and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system. Other great features of the phone include the Octa-core 1.9GHz Exynos 7880 processor with 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 16-megapixel camera with f/1.9 aperture on both front and back, 3000mAh battery with fast-charging, fingerprint sensor in front, support for up to 256GB with micro SD cards and USB Type-C port. You can opt for the Galaxy A5 if you want to buy a decent mid-range smartphone.

Video Courtesy of Youtube:

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is currently among the most popular affordable smartphones in the market, though with this option we caution again that since most, if not all, Chinese brands are funded by China's intelligence services, the user needs to take time to review the phone extensively if a third-party app has been added to steal your private information. In fairness to the phone though, it offers specs similar to the Moto G5 Plus, but has a slightly bigger screen at 5.5-inches with the same display resolution. However, the Redmi comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow software and doesn't have the software features such as Google Assistant and Moto Actions that the Moto phone has. The battery capacity, on the other hand, is much bigger at 4100mAh. Both smartphones run on the same chipset. So, go out and choose your wild.

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Source: Choosing the Right Smartphone for You: Reviewing the Moto G5 Plus, Samsung Galaxy A5, and Xiamoi Redmi Note 4

ZTE Nubia Z17 mini to be Unveiled in China on March 21

ZTE's new smartphone is all set to launch on March 21 at an event in China. As per the sources, the event is likely to take place at Shekou district near Shenzhen, China. The manufacture poster of the new ZTE Nubia Z17 mini reads 'see more beautiful.' The teaser hints that the device will comes equip with a dual rear camera setup.

Discussing the specs, Nubia Z17 mini features a 5.2-inch Full HD 2.5D display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution. The device is available in 2 variants- one is 4GB RAM variant with Octa Core Snapdragon 652 processor. Another is 6GB RAM variant with Octa Core Snapdragon 653 processor. Both the variants packs an Adreno 510 GPU for graphic duties.

Also Read Xiaomi has unveiled another budget offering Redmi 4X in China

The smartphones get 64 GB internal memory and is expandable up to 200 GB with microSD card. Nubia Z17 mini runs Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Nubia UI 4.0 on top. The device comes with a Hybrid slot with dual nano SIMs which one of them doubles up as microSD slot. The handset gets a fingerprint sensor in the physical home button on the front panel.

Nubia Z17 mini packs 13MP dual rear cameras with Sony IMX258 sensor. Other camera options include f/2.2 aperture, dual-tone LED flash. Another 16 MP front facing camera is assigned for camera duties. Connectivity option in the device includes dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.1, USB Type-C and GPS + GLONASS.

The device is backed by a 3000mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support. As of now, ZTE Nubia Z17 mini will be rolled out in China first for price of 1,899 yuan (Rs. 18,155 approx.)

Also Read Meizu M5s Launched in China with 3GB RAM, 5.2-inch HD Display

ZTE Nubia Z17 Mini specifications:

2-inch Full HD 2.5D display (1920 x 1080 pixels)

Octa-Core Snapdragon 652 processor, 4GB RAM / Snapdragon 653 processor, 6GB

Adreno 510 GPU

64 GB internal memory, 200 GB with microSD card.

Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Nubia UI 4.0

13MP dual rear cameras

16 MP front facing camera

3000mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support

Source: ZTE Nubia Z17 mini to be Unveiled in China on March 21

LeEco’s upcoming flagship smartphone leaks with a curved display

Weekly Giveaway #1 Every Sunday we will Giveaway a Limited Edition PhoneRadar Mug to one of our Active Follower. To Win just share this Status & Tag your 3 friends. Have a Happy Weekend. Team PhoneRadar

Posted by PhoneRadar on Sunday, February 19, 2017
Source: LeEco's upcoming flagship smartphone leaks with a curved display

Xiaomi Mi 6 Smartphone is tipped to come with Sony IMX400 Sensor

The Xiaomi Mi 6 has been in the rumor mill for quite a time now, and recent leaks revealed the dual camera setup. Now, according to the new leaks, the device is said to come with Sony IMX400 sensor, and this source from China also revealed that there would be two different version of the device, one bearing a 5.15-inch screen while the other will sport a bigger 5.7 display. We saw Xiaomi announcing its Mi 5 smartphone last year at MWC, but this year it did not announce it there.

According to the earlier leaks, we know that the Mi 6 will come powered with Snapdragon 835 processor and the new leaks also reveal the same for both the variants of the Mi 6. The successor of the Mi 5 is said to come with IMX400 sensor and is the same 3-layer stacked CMOS imager that was announced by the company a few weeks ago. This is the same sensor that was used in Xperia XZ Premium and XZs that showed its 960fps high frame rate shooting.

The upcoming flagship model will come in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants, and there will be no expandable storage option like we have seen in most of the smartphones from the company. Nothing much about the other specs is known yet, but we have to take all these information with a pinch of salt as nothing is confirmed by the company yet.

From the earlier rumors, the device is said to be launched on April 16 and we can expect it to be available in its home country initially and will be rolled out globally gradually. We can expect more and more leaks to come by the time the smartphone gets an official announcement from the company. Are you excited to get this upcoming flagship device from Xiaomi? Stay tuned to PhoneRadar and comment in the section below to know more on the same.

Note: The feature image used here is of Mi5

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Source: Xiaomi Mi 6 Smartphone is tipped to come with Sony IMX400 Sensor

5 things Silicon Valley needs to know about India’s massive smartphone market

Every time I return to India to visit colleagues and family, I'm amazed to see how quickly smartphone adoption has overtaken the country. On my visit to Bangalore last month, seemingly every person I passed on the street was focused on their smartphone — not just tech workers in India's growing middle class, but street vendors and food hawkers, who looked more eager to accept payment from India's version of Square than cold hard rupees. It's one thing to know intellectually that India has replaced the U.S. as the world's second largest smartphone market and that smartphone penetration is forecast to reach one in three of the 1.3 billion population this year, and another to see this burgeoning ecosystem first hand.

Every time I return home to Cupertino, however, I'm just as amazed by how little Silicon Valley investors are focused on the Indian market. While most Sand Hill VCs frequently reference China's WeChat or Tao Bao, they rarely mention PayTM or FlipKart (the PayPal and Amazon of India, respectively), which have nearly as many users. I suspect this is partly due to India's startup industry being relatively small. In all candor, it's also possible that some California investors have an unconscious blind spot to India, having pigeonholed the entire country by its outsourcing industry.

This is a massive missed opportunity, especially with the arrival of mobile data plans in India with speeds rivaling even the best American carriers. To be sure, India's smartphone market is significantly different from that of the U.S. or China and is heavily shaped by local policy and market history. Here's a quick cheat sheet to start understanding the ecosystem.

1. Thanks to government intervention, digital payments are being widely adopted in India

The growth of India's smartphone market is partly due to the "Digital India" movement instituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who devalued high currency notes late last year. This has posed a huge problem for India's middle class, who typically use 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on a regular basis, but his goal was to curb money on the black market while also pushing Indians to use digital payments. PayTM, roughly the PayPal/Apple Pay of India, was not strongly succeeding until this policy shift. Now, even street vendors are rapidly adopting mobile payments. But digital payments require smartphones with data plans — which brings me to my next point:

2. Indians tend to be very price-conscious about mobile data consumption

Up until very recently, mobile data usage on Indian smartphones operated on a "pay as you go" model, with carriers typically selling data as premium add-ons to their voice package. Consumers were hesitant to use their data unless absolutely necessary. People would use mobile data to check email and make quick digital payments, but not for entertainment. (Until, that is, they could access Wi-Fi from home or elsewhere.)

All of this has greatly influenced adoption patterns for mobile apps. WhatsApp is much more popular in India than Facebook, in great part because WhatsApp data usage is more economical. Indians have also come to perceive online entertainment apps as something to do at home and/or connected to Wi-Fi but not while traveling or outdoors. It's not that they don't want to consume and share YouTube videos and other entertainment while on the road, just that the cost of doing so has been so prohibitive. For this reason, Snapchat, with its "share whatever you do, wherever you are" model, will probably not succeed in India in the short term; same goes for Periscope and other live streaming services.

I wrote "short term" because something just changed in India:

3. Extremely fast broadband use is now catching on quickly

Due to the cost concerns I mentioned, Indians have largely used data plans only for "useful" apps like payment services or ordering rides from Uber or the local incumbent, Ola Cabs. In fact, many would simply turn off their cellular data most of the time, enabling it only when absolutely needed.

Then late last year, Reliance, one of India's largest mobile carriers, took a different approach, launching its "Jio Mobile" service, offering free voice calls from anywhere to anywhere within the country — but also requiring that customers buy a data plan. This has created a huge adoption wave in India, with many migrating from AirTel (the local leader) to Reliance, the first carrier to start competing purely on data package. In response, AirTel and other carriers now offer competing plans.

It's important to emphasize how great these data plans can be. On my visit last month, I tested the data speed from Reliance Jio and was blown away to see it was 25 Mbps (on LTE) during non-peak time, and still around 5 Mbps during peak time. This is not only faster than in-home Wi-Fi speeds typical for India four years ago, it's faster than my current AT&T plan in the U.S!

You can probably see where I'm going with this:

4. This is the time for Western broadband-dependent apps to enter India

Competition is causing rapid adoption of mobile data usage across India, which will keep driving prices down and broadband speeds up, quickly changing the Indian consumer's attitude from "use data only when necessary" to "Kuchh masti waala dikhao!" ("Show me entertaining stuff"). Indian consumers will soon be hungry for app-based content that Western developers can easily provide — especially to the 125 million+ Indians who are already English-fluent. Apps like Netflix, Spotify, and Saavn (the Pandora of India) are likely to see much more usage on mobile. It's still common for Indians to use DVD and thumb drives to watch videos while traveling, or play downloaded mobile games, but all that will soon change. We should also expect to see livestreaming services from journalists, reporters, and celebrities, all hugely popular on cable TV in India.

"That's interesting," I already can imagine my Valley colleagues saying, "but how do we monetize it?" Which brings us to my final point:

5. App monetization in India: Less about IAP, more about carrier partnerships

Since popular digital payment services are local, their usage probably won't carry over soon to non-Indian, transaction-based apps such as Amazon or eBay. Similarly, in-app payments are still not very common in India, especially for companies or brands that consumers aren't readily familiar with. Instead, it's better not to directly charge consumers.

For apps, the best strategy in India is to work with a mobile carrier and monetize through carrier billing. For instance, partner with a carrier to offer an app as part of a bundled, premium data package, and earn based on a revenue share. As I noted, data plan competition has become incredibly hot in India, so carriers are eager to add well-known apps to their plans.

It's possible I'm being too bullish about this market. But if India smartphone trends follow the U.S. and China, I doubt it. When I visit Bangalore next year, I fully expect to read about U.S.-India content partnerships coming to the country's biggest mobile carriers. And when I'm back in California, I expect to hear from VCs angrily kicking themselves for not getting into India sooner.

Balaji Krishnan is founder and CEO of DabKick, a live media sharing service, and Snapstick, a mobile-to-TV streaming technology acquired by Rovi.

Source: 5 things Silicon Valley needs to know about India's massive smartphone market

Customs court adjourns hearing of cell phones smuggling case

LAHORE: The Special Federal Court of Customs Taxation and Anti-Smuggling adjourned the hearing of mobile-phones smuggling case. Earlier, the court had approved the extension in judicial remand of an accused who was arrested by the customs authorities from the Allama Iqbal International Airport while smuggling cell-phones from China to Lahore.

The Investigation and Prosecution (I&P) team of Customs Lahore had presented the accused, Naveed Bhatti, before the special court and asked for his physical remand for five days to investigate more smuggling. After the completion of physical remand, the court sent him to jail for judicial trial which is extended again for 14 days.As per sources of Customs Today, Naveed Bhatti was arrested by the Customs Preventive when they seized 170 android mobile phones of assorted types from his luggage at the Lahore airport. The total value of the mobile-phones has been estimated at Rs05million.It is pertinent to mention here that due to transfer of Chaudhary Muhammad Khan, numbers of cases are getting late for hearing.

Source: Customs court adjourns hearing of cell phones smuggling case

Nokia 8 Smartphone Rumored to Feature Snapdragon 835 SoC & Dual Lens Camera

At the recently concluded Mobile World Congress, Nokia unveiled the new Nokia 3310 feature phone with a slimmer body and a bigger display. Apart from Nokia 3310, the company also launched three Android smartphones called Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6. Out of these three devices, the Nokia 6 is already on sale in China where it is selling like hot cake. Though the company announced to ramp up the production, the stocks are getting cleared within minutes after listing. The Nokia 6 packs decent specifications to make it a good mid-range smartphone, but the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 falls behind the competition.

While the earlier rumors suggested the company to launch a flagship smartphone powered by the new Snapdragon 835 SoC at the MWC, but nothing was mentioned about this device on the stage. Once again, we are seeing the rumors about the Nokia 8 and now, it is mentioned to launch in two variants. The leaks suggest the device to launch in June with different screen sizes. Most of the major manufacturers are launching their flagship devices in two different screen sizes to cater different audience. Now the upcoming Nokia 8 will be coming in two different sizes sporting similar hardware.

Both the variants will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SOC built on the 10nm FinFET process. The devices will be coming in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants along with different storage capacities. We also expect the device to feature metal built unibody design instead of the glass back body as seen on the recently launched LG G6 and even the upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will also use glass on front and back of the device. On the rear, we might also see dual camera setup, but there won't be PureView or Carl Zeiss branding as seen on the year's old Nokia smartphones powered by Symbian and Windows Mobile OS.

The device will be running on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box without any customized UI on top. Except in China, the devices shipping to other countries will get the Google Assistant built-in. Though there is not much information about the device, the smaller variant is said to cost 4,000 Yuan (approx $580 / Rs. 38,500) whereas the other variant with bigger display might be priced around 4,500 Yuan (approx $650 / Rs. 43,500). The delay in Snapdragon 835 chipset production is making the smartphone manufacturers to postpone their launches.

At MWC 2017, Sony launched the XZ Premium as the world's first smartphone with Snapdragon 835 SoC, but it will not go on sale until June this year. Instead of waiting, LG went ahead with the last year's Snapdrag9on 821 SoC for its LG G6 smartphone. Samsung will be launching the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones with Snapdragon 835 and Exynos 8895 processors later this month. Xiaomi Mi 6 will be unveiled next month in China and will also use the Qualcomm's flagship processor. Stay tuned on PhoneRadar for more details!

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Source: Nokia 8 Smartphone Rumored to Feature Snapdragon 835 SoC & Dual Lens Camera

Samsung remains world's No.1 smartphone seller in 2016: data

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. was the biggest seller of smartphones in 2016, followed by Apple Inc. and China's Huawei, industry data showed Thursday.

Samsung sold 308.5 million units of Galaxy series smartphones last year, according to the statistics by industry tracker Strategy Analytics.

The comparable figure for Apple Inc.'s iPhone smartphones was 215.5 million and those for Huawei's Honor and Ascend series 72.2 million and 65.7 million each.

China's Shaomi came fifth with 46.4 million units.

China's OPPO sold 38.4 million units of R series smartphones while another Chinese brand Vivo sold 33.7 million X series and 25.6 million Y series smartphones last year.

Most Chinese smartphones are priced between 300,000 won (US$259) and 600,000 won, although Huawei introduced P10 smartphones priced at about 800,000 won at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The P10 aims to make inroads into the global premium smartphone markets, the SA data showed.

"Chinese smartphone producers need to strengthen their premium phone lineups to catch up with Samsung and Apple," an industry source said.

Apple Inc., meanwhile, had US$44.9 billion in operating profit last year, 79.2 percent of the total global smartphone profits of $53.7 billion, the SA figures said.

Apple's operating profit margin stood at 32.4 percent last year.

Samsung Electronics Co.'s smartphone business posted an operating profit of $8.3 billion last year, accounting for 14.6 percent of the global profits.

Samsung's operating profit margin stood at 11.6 percent last year.

Profitability at Chinese smartphone makers is still low, although their cheaper handsets are rapidly gaining market share.

Huawei posted an operating profit of $929 million last year, accounting for 1.6 percent of global profits. OPPO took 1.5 percent of the global profits, while its rival Vivo accounted for 1.3 percent.

hdh@yna.co.kr

(END)

Source: Samsung remains world's No.1 smartphone seller in 2016: data

China’s ZTE pleads guilty, settles US sanctions case for nearly $900 mn

BusinessPosted at: Mar 8, 2017, 11:52 AM; last updated: Mar 8, 2017, 11:52 AM (IST) New York/Hong Kong, March 8

NEW YORK/HONG KONG: Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp has agreed to plead guilty and pay nearly $900 million in a US sanctions case, drawing a line under a damaging scandal that had threatened its cut off its supply chain.

While the fine was larger than expected, ZTE, also a major smartphone maker, reported robust underlying earnings for 2016 and was upbeat in estimates for the first quarter. That and the resolution of the case helped its Hong Kong-listed shares surge 6 percent.

A five-year investigation found ZTE conspired to evade US embargoes by buying US components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally shipping them to Iran.

In addition, it was charged in connection with 283 shipments of telecommunications equipment to North Korea.

"ZTE Corporation not only violated export controls that keep sensitive American technology out of the hands of hostile regimes like Iran's, they lied ... about their illegal acts," US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

ZTE relies on US suppliers for 25 per cent to 30 per cent of its components, many of which are key to its goods. It purchases about $2.6 billion worth of components a year from US firms, according to a company spokesman. Qualcomm, Microsoft and Intel are among its suppliers.

"ZTE acknowledges the mistakes it made, takes responsibility for them, and remains committed to positive change in the company," ZTE Chief Executive Zhao Xianming said in a statement.

The company agreed to a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges, which could be activated if there are further violations, as well as three years of probation, a compliance and ethics programme, and a corporate monitor.

It also agreed to an additional penalty of $300 million that will be suspended during the seven-year term on the condition the company complies with requirements in the agreement.

When asked about the ZTE case, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said relevant departments of the government would continue to pay attention as to whether Chinese firms were receiving fair treatment.

"The Chinese government consistently opposes foreign governments putting unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies.

At the same time, we have always asked our companies to operate legally abroad," he told a news conference without elaborating.

Tim O'Toole, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer with Miller & Chevalier specialising in sanction cases, said US court documents suggest ZTE's attempts to obstruct the investigation were the main reason for a penalty significantly higher than in similar cases.

"What seems really important to US regulators is whether a company or individual after the investigation starts is seen to continue to evade the sanctions and also obstruct the investigation," he said.

The investigation, spearheaded by the US Department of Commerce, followed reports by Reuters in 2012 that ZTE had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of the best-known US technology companies to Iran's largest telecoms carrier.

Last year, the Commerce Department released internal documents showing senior ZTE executives instructing the company to carry out a project for dodging export controls in Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan and Cuba.

ZTE has replaced executives allegedly involved, including naming a new president.

The company said on Wednesday it slid to a preliminary net loss of 2.36 billion yuan ($342 million) in 2016, its first loss in four years, due to the settlement.

But without the fine, it would have logged 3.8 billion yuan in profit, 18 percent higher than a year earlier. That was better than expected, as was a preliminary estimate for the first-quarter net profit rising between 21 and 31 percent, said Cindy Lam, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong.

The settlement includes a $661 million penalty to Commerce; $430 million in combined criminal fines and forfeiture; and $101 million paid to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The action marks OFAC's largest-ever settlement with a non-financial entity.

The Commerce Department will recommend ZTE be removed from a  list of entities that U.S. firms cannot supply without a license if it lives up to its deal and a court approves its agreement with the Justice Department.

First placed on the list in March 2016, it has continued to do business with U.S. suppliers under a temporary general license that has been extended several times, with the latest reprieve expiring March 29.

The company's guilty pleas, which must be approved by a judge, will take place in US District Court in Texas. — Reuters

Source: China's ZTE pleads guilty, settles US sanctions case for nearly $900 mn

Midas touch: China's tech, financial firms eye virtual gold rush

By Muyu Xu and Adam Jourdan

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's virtual gifting market, typically the domain of plugged-in young consumers celebrating special occasions or flirting, is luring major financial institutions keen to boost trade of another auspicious commodity: gold.

Tencent's digital gold packets, known as "microgold", are backed by the country's biggest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) <601398.SS>. They allow users to send funds that track the real-time value of gold to friends over the firm's popular messaging platform WeChat.

It's a financial innovation on the concept of virtual gifts, such as digital roses and chocolates, more commonly used in online communities and which have more sentimental value than any tangible economic worth.

For financial institutions, China's booming virtual goods and smartphone-driven exchanges offer new markets to boost trading volumes in everything from banking services to gems.

ICBC, in an internal memo seen by Reuters and sent to staff on Friday, said the WeChat microgold platform had helped drive "explosive growth" in new gold accounts.

Over the recent Lunar New Year period, WeChat users sent 70,000 microgold packets worth just under 100 million yuan (11.85 million pounds) across the chat platform, the ICBC document said. It expects over 300,000 new gold accounts to be opened as a result of the Tencent tie-up. Neither ICBC nor Tencent were immediately available for comment.

While the volumes are relatively small, the take-up of similar virtual products on the WeChat platform suggests room for growth.

The gold packets are based on WeChat's popular virtual red envelopes, or digital "hongbaos", that also allow users to send funds to friends, albeit of a fixed nominal cash amount. Over the Lunar New Year period, users gifted 46 billion virtual red envelopes over WeChat.

For many Chinese, the yellow metal has both emotional and economic significance.

A Tencent user who goes by the name Liri Kuangjiu posted he had sent 1.3 grams of virtual gold and 520 yuan in a digital hongbao to his girlfriend.

"The money isn't much but it's a matter of affection," he said.

Kong Lingxin, a 20-year-old student from the northern city of Tianjin, uses her smartphone to buy, gift and hoard gold online.

Kong has spent 10,000 yuan ($1,452.88) of her savings on gold derivative products this year on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd-linked platform "Cun Jinbao" - literally "store golden treasure".

"My family has a history of collecting gold bars, which influenced my choice of investment," said Kong. "I chose an internet platform because it's easy to track gold prices, see your profits and make trades."

GOLD DEMAND

Gold analysts said the push by tech firms into the sector, though still at an early stage, had potential longer-term to stir up a sluggish Asian market if it caught on.

"It will become a support for gold demand and the gold price if WeChat gold packets become popular, considering the amount of traditional red envelopes users send," said Guotai Junan gold analyst Xie Qingpeng.

Beijing has taken note of the trend. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a guideline last week, calling for tech to play a bigger role in gold trading.

China's millennial consumers, loosely defined as those born between 1980 and 2000, are seen as the drivers of future growth in everything from retail to housing.

They make up over 60 percent of internet-based gold trading, according to a September report issued by G-banker, an online gold-trading platform backed by venture capital firm Softbank China Venture Capital and Alibaba.

Amid a property price spike, gold offers younger buyers a more affordable and accessible investment.

"It's nearly impossible for young people to invest in property in first tier cities in China. Alternatively, they put small amounts into gold, as a low risk investment," said Helen Lao, Singapore-based metals analyst at Argonaut Securities.

(Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Source: Midas touch: China's tech, financial firms eye virtual gold rush