Apple's $1000 iPhone 8 Has Scared People in China - What About $1200 iPhone X?

Apple's (AAPL) new iPhone X upscale phone may be able to offset sluggish sales in China of the iPhone 8 series thanks to the willingness of many Chinese consumers to pay a bit more for items with touch of luxury and originality.

Although growth in the Chinese economy has been slowing and luxury consumption cooling, demand for expensive handsets has never vanished as many people still buy them to highlight their social status. Apple has long been regarded as a high-end brand in the country, and although Chinese makers offer upscale design and performance at reasonable prices, the cachet of the Apple brand can still draw buyers.

"I do believe there are people who will be willing to pay for the iPhone X in China. Especially in certain industries like banking and consulting, consumers will want to purchase a high-end phone to maintain a certain image, perhaps that of a higher status," said Tay Xiaohan, senior market analyst at technology research firm IDC.

"Also, consumers want phones that look significantly different from previous iterations so that everyone will know that they are using the latest model, especially in China. This is a reason perhaps why uptake for the previous versions of the iPhone has not been high," Tay said.

Apple suffered a setback after the launch of its iPhone 8 series in China, with some retailers cutting prices just a week after the phones hit the market, due to sluggish sales.

Although the 8,388 yuan (US$1,260) starting price in China of the iPhone X is 42 percent higher than the 5,888 yuan of the iPhone 8, many Chinese consumers have said in online posts that the iPhone 8 looks so similar to the previous iPhone 7 series that they would rather wait and spend more for the X, the first full-screen handset without a home button that Apple has made.

Nana Wang, a 27-year-old nurse in Shenzhen, is one such buyer. 

The Porsche phone.

She is happy to wait one more month for the iPhone X to replace her broken iPhone 6 even though the cheaper iPhone 8 is already available.

"The iPhone X is all I want at the moment. The design is so unique and I want to be among the first people to own such a handset," Wang said. But she was concerned about whether she would be able to get one quickly as many of her friends are also waiting.

It is not only Apple of course that sees a market among people like Wang. Some Chinese brands have also tried to offer highly priced products with limited supplies to tap into high-spending groups in society.

In November, 2016, Huawei teamed up Porsche Design to launch a limited edition model of its Mate 9 smartphone with a price tag starting from 9,888 yuan, almost double the coast of a standard Mate 9 model. This week, Porsche Design unveiled its first-ever laptop in China, priced at 18,888 yuan - one of the most expensive laptops ever sold in the country.

A McKinsey report earlier this year estimated that there are 7.6 million Chinese households who spend more than 71,000 yuan on average every year on luxury goods. But it noted that the market is maturing and brand loyalty is becoming the key issue for makers.

"Since 2015, the primary driver of increases in luxury spending has shifted from consumers making their first purchases of luxury goods to incremental spending from existing luxury consumers," the report said.

"This transition means that luxury-goods players need to invest more in building loyalty among existing customers than in recruiting new ones," it said.

Read the original article on South China Morning Post. For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2017.

Source: Apple's $1000 iPhone 8 Has Scared People in China - What About $1200 iPhone X?

Nick Kyrgios vs Alexander Zverev LIVE stream: How to watch China Open semi-final match

The pair are fighting it out to beat Rafael Nadal in the final tomorrow.

Ahead of the clash, Zverev said: "It's unpredictable. Obviously he's a great player. He's a big server. He's someone that I know very well outside the court as well.

"We've played a few times this year, all on hard courts, all on the US hard courts. In Miami he beat me, Indian Wells. In Montreal, I was able to beat him.

"Hopefully it's going to be another entertaining match. I think we're both playing great tennis. Hopefully it's going to be a high-standard semi-final

When does Nick Kyrgios face Alexander Zverev?

The match is scheduled as third on the main court - the National Tennis Stadium - today.

Play is scheduled to begin at 2pm BST, 9pm local time.

The pair have met three times before, with Kyrgios winning twice and Zverev once.

Nick Kyrgios vs Alexander Zverev live stream

The China Open is being broadcast by BT Sport (WTA competition) and Sky Sports (ATP competition) in the UK.

Today's match is being shown from 2pm on the Sky Sporta Mix channel.

That's on channel 121 on your Sky box.

Watch the China Open live online

You can live stream the China Open online if you are a BT Sport subscriber.

BT Sport will also be showing the China Open on desktop computers or laptops via the company's own site.

The BT Sport website, is available to download now on iOS, Android and Windows 10 devices, provided you have a BT ID.

Unfortunately you are unable to beam BT Sport content from your device to a TV via a Google Chromecast, unless you're also a BT broadband customer.

The BT Sport enhanced video player is also available online.

Sky TV and Virgin Media customers can also tune into BT Sport 1, via channel 413 and 531 respectively. The BT channel number is 408.

If you are a Sky customer all the action can be followed on your desktop or laptop via the Sky Go app, which if you're an existing customer, is also available on iOS and Android smartphone and tablet devices.

Sky Go is also available on a number of platforms including Amazon Fire devices, iPad, Mac computers and laptops, Playstation 3, PS4 and Xbox One.

The Sky Sports app, available to download on iOS and Android devices, will also be providing live text coverage and updates.

Source: Nick Kyrgios vs Alexander Zverev LIVE stream: How to watch China Open semi-final match

Gamer goes blind in one eye because she played on her smartphone all day

Doctors say a woman's partial blindness was brought on by excessive tiredness after she sought medical help because she had played smartphone games for an entire day and could no longer see out of one eye.

Wu Xiaojing, 21, says she can no longer see from her right eye after a day of gaming on her device from her home in Chang'an city in north-western China's Shaanxi Province.

AsiaWire

Wu Xiaojing, 21, lies on her hospital bed after being struck down by blindness in one eye

The trainee accountant says she stopped gaming for dinner, only to have her eyesight dim then go in her right eye.

She rushed to hospital where doctors diagnosed her with a condition named retinal artery occlusion, a disease that is usually caused by tiredness of the eye.

Wu said playing games on her phone is her "only hobby", with the mobile device taking all of her spare hours after work and at weekends.

The obsessed gamer says at the weekend, she hardly goes anywhere and will instead stay home to play games.

AsiaWire

Pictured is Wu's eye, showing the damage to her retinal arteries

AsiaWire

She would often rise at 6.30am and then game to 4am, it was reported

She said a typical day sees her gets up around 6:30am and begins to play the game after having breakfast.

She said she then does not stop until around 4pm when she has a late lunch, then a nap then games once she wakes until 2am in the morning.

Wu remains in hospital under doctor care. It is not known if her eyesight will return.

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Source: Gamer goes blind in one eye because she played on her smartphone all day

Chinese Consumers Want These Smartphones More Than the iPhone

China is a crucial market for Apple, so it must be worrying for the company that people there seem to be less enthusiastic about the iPhone 8 than they were about previous models. Now, a new survey has backed up that picture by suggesting that Chinese consumers have become more keen on another brand from closer to home.

The Financial Times' FT Confidential Research surveyed 1,000 Chinese consumers and found that less than quarter intended to buy an iPhone as their next handset—and that covers both the iPhone 8 and the more expensive, feature-rich iPhone X.

Meanwhile, 31.4% of respondents said they were planning to get a Huawei handset as their next phone. That's the same percentage that were planning to buy iPhones two years ago—a figure that dropped to 25.8% last year and now rests at just 24.2%.

This marks the first time that Huawei, which makes well-specified mid-range phones such as the P10, has knocked Apple off the top spot in Chinese consumer buying intentions.

It also isn't the first data to show how Huawei is providing a serious challenge to its better-known U.S. rival. In August, global shipment figures analyzed by Canalys showed the Chinese company shipped 38 million units in Q2—a 20% year-on-year increase—to Apple's 41 million. Samsung, the leading smartphone vendor, shipped 79 million units in the q uarter.

Even sticking to the responses of Apple fans, the new figures don't look good for Apple's latest models. According to the FT Confidential Research data, the share of those willing to shell out for a new model is dropping: 65.1% of those planning to buy an iPhone are aiming for an iPhone 8, 8 Plus or X, while the rest are looking at cheaper models. A year ago, more than three-quarters of respondents who were considering iPhones were looking at buying a new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus.

Source: Chinese Consumers Want These Smartphones More Than the iPhone

China Open: Maria Sharapova remains a crowd favourite despite serving 15-month doping suspension

>Beijing: One fellow player labelled her "a cheater" and she is said to be unpopular in the locker room, but Maria Sharapova remains a crowd favourite in China despite her doping ban.

"Welcome back goddess," said one banner at the China Open in Beijing this week, while a Russian flag had the words: "I got your back Maria."

The 30-year-old Russian was in the Chinese capital this week for the first time since coming back to tennis in April from a 15-month suspension for taking the banned substance meldonium.

The former World No 1 is now 104 in the rankings and needed a wildcard to make it to the China Open, where she was to take on World No 2 Simona Halep later on Wednesday.

Sharapova's return to the tennis circuit divided opinion, with the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard among her biggest critics, calling the five-time Grand Slam champion "a cheater" who should never have been allowed to play again.

But try telling that to Sharapova's fans in Beijing, where along with Rafael Nadal she has been the biggest draw by far at the China Open.

Suky, 26, flew from Xiamen in eastern China to see her hero in the flesh for the first time.

Chinese flags flutter all over the country at this time of year to mark the founding of communist China, but the only flag on Suky's right cheek was a smudged Russian tricolour.

On her left arm and chest she had written her version of Sharapova's signature in black biro.

"I love Maria Sharapova," she said. "She's fair and beautiful, and so powerful and determined, she never gives up."

But what about that doping ban?

"I think that's an American secret," she replied, lowering her voice slightly.

Pushed to expand on her conspiracy theory, she pulled out her smartphone and tapped Chinese into a translation app.

"Political intrigue" popped up on the screen in English. She declined to go into further detail.

>'She's beautiful and so tall'

Vivian and Lucia, both 20 and volunteers at China's biggest annual tennis event, are also diehard Sharapova fans.

"She fights to win every game, even when it's difficult and hard," said Vivian, a student who only volunteered so she could catch a glimpse of the Russian.

"She's also beautiful and so tall. We walked past her and I was like, 'Gosh!'"

So that makes up for the ban?

"So what? It doesn't matter," Lucia chipped in. "It's in the past. So you never made a mistake?"

Sharapova, who according to reports is not popular with some players because of her supposedly lofty attitude, had an initial two-year ban reduced to 15 months after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled she was not "an intentional doper".

On her first appearance back, in Stuttgart in April, the crowd gave her a polite reception and then in her Grand Slam return -- at the US Open €" the crowd was largely supportive.

If her Chinese fans are keen to look forward, the Russian is too and in one press conference in Beijing she alluded to being "away from the game for a long time", without saying any more.

But in what is the sixth tournament of her stop-start comeback, she is more forthcoming when asked about the unwavering support she gets in China, where she won the Beijing title in 2014.

"It's always really nice to have that welcome and it's really special to see fans that take the time and effort to make signs, to come up with wording," she said.

"For them to put in that effort is very special. For them to cheer and welcome me back to Beijing is really nice." View More

Source: China Open: Maria Sharapova remains a crowd favourite despite serving 15-month doping suspension

How to protect android phones from malware and hackers

With Android system-based mobile phones coming under hacker attacks increasingly, users must use quality security apps to ward off risks, cybersecurity experts said.

Li Tiejun, a security engineer at Beijing-based Cheetah Mobile Inc, said, "In developed countries, Google Play commands a dominant position as a trustworthy marketplace for apps that help keep users' systems safe. However, China's Android app stores are dominated by different local players and these third-party marketplaces are often riddled with malicious software."

Thus, compared with Android users in developed countries, Chinese users have a greater need for security apps, he said.

Li said as iPhone users can download apps from only Apple Inc's official App Store, there is not much room for viruses to infect Apple devices, obviating the need for security apps in them.

A report released in May by the Internet Society of China and the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China revealed that among a total of over 2 million mobile internet malicious programs spotted in 2016, 99.9 percent targeted Android devices.

Another report published in March by internet research firm iiMedia Research showed that China had 539 million security app users by the fourth quarter last year.

According to the report, 97.3 percent of surveyed mobile users said they were concerned about their mobile phone security.

ChengXiao, 27, an architect based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, owns an Android-based made-in-China smartphone. Cheng once used a wide range of third-party security apps, but now he uses only built-in security app offered by the manufacturer.

"When I began to use the Android-based mobile phone, I was really concerned about the security. Then I found the risks are usually from the installation software introduced by some downloaded apps, and basically what I need to do is recognize secure apps and download them from trustworthy channels."

Li said in order to have better protection over the mobile phones, security apps will often ask for a lot of permissions and some even require root permissions to have access to the entire operating system.

"Root access will bring security risks. I suggest people should not offer the root permission. If users download knockoff apps, the root permission will allow the malware to have access to all personal information on the smartphones."

According to app tracker Analysys Qianfan, Tencent Mobile Manager, from the company of the same name, has become the most popular security app on the market with 175 million active users in July this year, taking a market share of 48.47 percent.

And 360 Mobile Security by technology major Qihoo 360 Technology Cois the second most popular security app being run with a 40.19 percent share, with Baidu's Mobile Guard in third slot with 43.62 million active users in July, grasping a market share of 12.07 percent.

Gong Wei, chief security officer of Shanghai Lantern Network Technology, a free Wi-Fi access provider, said currently Android users still need to install security apps, and in the future the situation will gradually change.

"As time changes, users will be wary of offering permissions for security apps. I also believe phone manufacturers will gradually improve their products to offer a safer environment," Gong said.

　　

Source: How to protect android phones from malware and hackers

Apple beaten by Huawei in China smartphone survey

Customers queue outside the Apple store in Beijing ahead of doors opening for the launch of the iPhone 8 © Bloomberg

Huawei has for the first time beaten Apple to the top spot for what smartphone buyers in China are intending to purchase, according to a survey of 1,000 consumers.

The finding forms part of research conducted after the launch of the iPhone 8 by FT Confidential Research, an investment research group owned by the FT. 

The result adds to doubts about global demand for the iPhone 8, as well as reflecting the strong competition Apple faces in China from domestic rivals, such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo.

Although weaker demand for the iPhone 8 has been blamed on Apple fans waiting for the feature-laden iPhone X, the FTCR data take into account expected orders for that new phone. In China, Apple's new models as a whole are underperforming previous launches, according to the research.

Of those planning to buy an iPhone, 65.1 per cent of respondents said they intended to buy an iPhone 8, 8 Plus or X, compared with the 75.7 per cent who said they planned to buy one of the two iPhone 7 models when they were launched last year.

Overall, the proportion of people saying they would buy an iPhone as their next phone dropped to 24.2 per cent in September, compared with 25.8 per cent at the time of the iPhone 7 launch in 2016 and 31.4 per cent in 2015. Huawei was the top choice, with more than 31.4 per cent of respondents opting for this brand.

Apple's decline in relative popularity in China is partly because market growth is becoming concentrated in mid-range phones that cost Rmb2,000-Rmb2,999 ($300-$450) rather than the more expensive end where Apple aims its models, according to FTCR data on consumer budgets. Costing Rmb8388 in China, the iPhone X is Apple's priciest handset yet.

But analysts also suggest the iPhone 8 is not as attractive to local tastes.

"Chinese consumers are particular about having phones that stand out and look different from previous versions. That is something perhaps that's lacking for the iPhone 8," said Xiaohan Tay, smartphone analyst at market research firm IDC.

Xie Pu, a technology columnist based in Changsha, said: "This [iPhone 8] model doesn't have that striking quality that makes users' eyes light up."

Apple declined to comment.

China's phone sellers, who buy in bulk and resell when Apple Stores run out, also give some indication of demand. Street sellers outside the Apple Store in a central shopping area of Beijing said they were reselling the iPhone 8 for Rmb700 above the official price, whereas they were able to resell the iPhone 7 for Rmb2,000-Rmb3,000 above official prices after last year's launch. 

Meanwhile, the share prices of iPhone casing supplier Catcher Technology and assembler Pegatron have dropped by 18 per cent and 14 per cent respectively since the iPhone 8 was launched. 

Largely because many customers are waiting for the launch of the iPhone X, which is expected in November, analysts at Yuanta forecast manufacturers will ship 49m of the 8 and 8 Plus in 2017, compared with 80m of the two iPhone 7 models shipped in 2016. 

Source: Apple beaten by Huawei in China smartphone survey