Nokia 6 smartphone announced with aluminium body and Snapdragon 430 processor

HMD Global has announced the first Nokia branded smartphone named Nokia 6. Foxconn will manufacture the Nokia smartphones. Nokia's latest smartphone will run on Android. However, there is no word on Windows 10 variant of the device. Surprisingly, there was no launch event, the company simply released a press statement and announced the Nokia 6 for China market.

"The Nokia 6 marks the first step towards Nokia's ambition to set a new standard in design, material quality and manufacturing innovation across every tier of its products, by building on the hallmarks of a true Nokia phone experience," said HMD.

Before you get overexcited, the Nokia 6 is not a flagship phone from the company. This isn't surprising as HMD earlier confirmed that the company will launch smartphones with premium quality and competitive pricing.

Unfortunately, Nokia 6 is currently available in China and the company may not launch the phone for other markets anytime soon.

| The decision by HMD to launch its first Android smartphone into China is a reflection of the desire to meet the real world needs of consumers in different markets around the world. With over 552 million smartphone users in China in 2016, a figure that is predicted to grow to more than 593 million users by 2017, it is a strategically important market where premium design and quality is highly valued by consumers – HMD |

You can watch the video of the Nokia 6 below:

Nokia 6 Specifications

Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 wth X6 LTE modem

5.5-inch hybrid in-cell display with Full HD (1920x1080px) resolution and 2.5D Corning Glass

Display polarizer layer to improve screen clarity in direct sunlight

4GB RAM

64GB onboard storage

16MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus, LED flash and f/2.0 aperture

8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture

Dual-amplifiers with 6dB louder volume than a regular amp

Dolby Atmos support for "powerful, moving audio"

Android 7.0 Nougat

Nokia 6 Price and Release Date

Chinese retailer JD.com will be selling the Nokia 6 for 1,699 CNY (roughly $250 USD). The smartphone seems to be exclusive to China. However, it could be announced for other market.

Source: Nokia 6 smartphone announced with aluminium body and Snapdragon 430 processor

China’s Xiaomi Dismisses Fundraising Speculation After Challenging Year

Chinese smartphone upstart Xiaomi Corp. doesn't need to raise additional cash to fund its expansion and plans to take a slow approach to expanding in the U.S., an executive said.

At the consumer electronics expo CES in Las Vegas, Xiaomi's Chief Financial Officer Shou Zi Chew dismissed speculation that the Beijing-based firm could be raising additional funds in response to a challenging year in which Xiaomi has lost smartphone market...

Source: China's Xiaomi Dismisses Fundraising Speculation After Challenging Year

Samsung Galaxy S8 & S8 Plus smartphones are reportedly being tested in China

Samsung is all set to launch it's new flagship smartphone(s) for the year 2017 the Galaxy S8. We don't have an official confirmation from the company. However, it looks like the launch will happen next month in Barcelona just like every year. We already have a lot of rumors and speculations surrounding this smartphone and judging by all that, this is indeed shaping up to be one of the best smartphones from Samsung. While we wait for the smartphone to launch officially, we keep getting more and more new info about this smartphone day-after-day.

According to the new reports, the south Korean Smartphone Giant is already testing two variants of the S8 smartphone. It has been reported that two variants i.e the S8 as well as the S8 Plus are being tested in China. Now the name S8 Plus might not be really familiar since we have been getting Edge variants from the company. However, since both the variants will be having an edge display this year, the 'Plus' seems more suitable than the 'Edge' tag that we had last year as well. So if everything goes right as planned, we might be getting the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus this year as the Samsung's flagship devices for 2017. Interestingly, it has also been reported that not just the Chinese variant but also the international variant is being tested in China.

Apparently, the Chinese variant of the smartphone carries the software build numbers G9500ZCU0APLF for the Galaxy S8 and G9550ZCU0APLF for the Galaxy S8 Plus. While these are the numbers for Chines variants, the international variants come with software versions G950FXXU0APLH for the Galaxy S8 and G955FXXU0APLH for the Galaxy S8 Plus. Not much info is available apart from this, but t has been reported that both the variants will be running the Qualcomm's latest snapdragon 835 SoC out of the box. Now that the smartphones being tested, it can be expected that they could be launched next month as planned earlier. As of now, all we can do is sit back and wait for the official announcement from the company. We hope both the devices do well in the market since people surely don't want another disappointment from Samsung after the Note 7.

With that said, if you want to know more about these devices, then we suggest you stay tuned to PhoneRadar for more details on this as we will update once we have more info regarding the same. Meanwhile, you can check out the Samsung Galaxy A series of smartphones that the company made official yesterday for 2017.

Note – The featured image displayed above is of Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

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Source: Samsung Galaxy S8 & S8 Plus smartphones are reportedly being tested in China

Global launch by Huawei of new mid-range smartphone

Las Vegas: Chinese electronics giant Huawei announced Tuesday a global launch of its mid-range honour 6x smartphone which includes dual-lens camera technology and is aimed at young consumers.

The smartphone, which was launched in China last year, will be available in 13 new markets this month, including the United States, at a price of $249 to $299, the company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in las Vegas.

Huawei marketing director George Zhao said the device is a successor to the honour 5x launched a year ago, which sold 11 million, and that he expects the upgraded model will sell even more.

"Twenty million," he told an audience.

Huawei has emerged as the world's third largest smartphone vendor but has had only limited success in the United States. It sells mostly unlocked devices through online and mass-market retailers, which amounts to a small segment of the US market.

Zhao said the specifications of the new handset make it a worthy competitor to those of its larger rivals Apple and Samsung.

It estimates battery life of over two days with normal use, and has improved the software for photo processing to deliver improved images even with low light conditions.

Huawei, which has stated its goal of becoming the number one smartphone maker, faces a crowded market behind the top two sellers, competing against other Chinese firms such as Lenovo and Xiaomi and South Korea's LG, which have also slated announcements at the electronics show.

The handsets, priced below Huawei's flagship devices, go on sale from this week in the US, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with other markets to follow.

Source: Global launch by Huawei of new mid-range smartphone

Digitimes Research: China touch panel makers step into other product lines

Digitimes Research: China touch panel makers step into other product lines

Jen-Chieh Yang, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Wednesday 4 January 2017]

First-tier China-based touch panel makers, in view of decreased orders for projected capacitive touch solutions (out-cell) used in smartphones due to increasing adoption of in-cell and on-cell touch solutions, have extended production to full bonding of TFT-LCD display panels and touch modules, cover glass, fingerprint recognition modules, iris recognition modules, industrial and automotive displays, according to Digitimes Research.

For example, Shenzhen O-film Touch has developed air touch and force sensing technologies, Jiangxi Holitech Technology has stepped into production of electronic labels, Chung Hua EELY Enterprise has developed touch panels made of a metal mesh layer and a silver nanowire layer for combination with flexible AMOLED panels, Digitimes Research indicated. Cover glass maker Lens Technology has developed algorithm for fingerprint and iris recognition and won adoption for smartphones from Samsung Electronics, Microsoft and Fujitsu.

In contrast with touch panel makers, touch IC design houses, such as US-based Synaptics, Taiwan-based FocalTech Systems and Himax Technologies and China-based Goodix, have gained footholds in the market segment of in-cell touch solutions. Taiwan-based Parade Technologies has developed integrated display driver IC and touch IC solutions and promoted such solutions among China-based LTPS TFT-LCD panel makers.

Source: Digitimes Research: China touch panel makers step into other product lines

Twitter's China boss Kathy Chen quits after 8 months

NEW YORK/BEIJING Twitter Inc executive Kathy Chen, brought in to run Greater China just over eight months ago, has quit, according to a tweet sent by her over the weekend.

Twitter has been blocked in China since 2009 but is still used through virtual private networks (VPN).

Domestically, the Sina Weibo microblogging platform and Tencent's WeChat messaging app are more widely used. But Chinese entities, including the state news agency Xinhua, use Twitter to reach audiences abroad.

Chen, who had worked with Microsoft and Cisco, was brought in to lure more Chinese advertisers to the platform. At the time, social media criticism focused on her early work with Chinese state-affiliated enterprises.

"Now that the Twitter APAC team is working directly with Chinese advertisers, this is the right time for me to leave the company," she wrote.

Twitter grew its Greater China advertiser base nearly 400 percent over the past two years, she wrote, making it one of the company's fastest growing revenue markets in Asia Pacific.

Its Chinese advertisers have included Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, online shopping giant Alibaba Group, white goods producer Qingdao Haier and flag carrier Air China.

"We remain committed to this market," Chen said, adding the company's Hong Kong office would remain open.

Twitter has been undergoing a significant shakeup, and not only in Asia, announcing in October that it would cut more than nine percent of its global workforce to keep costs down. Parminder Singh, managing director for India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, left the company in early November.

Twitter spokespeople in the United States and Singapore were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Himani Sarkar)

Next In Money News Gold starts 2017 on positive note, edges up despite firm dollar

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Singapore's Q4 GDP growth surprises as manufacturing rebounds

SINGAPORE Singapore's economy posted surprisingly strong growth in the fourth quarter, although the outlook is clouded by China's slowdown and risks of rising global trade protectionism under the incoming Trump Administration.

ETFs globally gather record cash in 2016 - BlackRock

NEW YORK Investors funneled $375 billion into exchange-traded funds in 2016, investment manager BlackRock Inc said on Tuesday, a global record that came as investors looked to cut costs.

Source: Twitter's China boss Kathy Chen quits after 8 months

Asus X00GD Pops Up On TENAA; May Sport A 4850 mAh Battery

Asus X00GD with 4850mAh battery and Android 7.0 clears TENAA

Some of the features that'll make the handset extremely desirable when it hits the market is the fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button. The smartphone looks very similar to Xiaomi's Redmi 3s smartphone with very minute differences. The listing reveals the full specifications of the smartphone, which also matches the specs of a GFXBench listing earlier revealed.

The images listed on TENAA website show the front and back panel of the smartphone.

The unannounced ASUS handset's details came to the light via China's TENAA or rather the Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center. The ASUS X00GD will come with a 5.2-inch display screen with a rather unconvincing resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The device weighs in at 169.5 grams and measures 149.5×73.7×8.85mm. The processor is an octa-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz and backed by your choice of 2GB, 3GB or 4GB of RAM.

An unknown ASUS smartphone with model number X00GD has made an appearance in China and with it comes a number of really interesting aspects.

Asus has also sent media invites hinting that the company might launch a device, which will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset at CES 2017.

In the camera section, the unnamed smartphone will carry a 13-megapixel rear shooter with dual LED flash placed at the top left corner, and an 8-megapixel front camera. The handset maker can unveil new products either in January at CES, or in late February at MWC.

Source: Asus X00GD Pops Up On TENAA; May Sport A 4850 mAh Battery