Friday, July 31, 2020

Apple Smartphone Shipments Grow as Huawei Takes Top Spot in Q2 2020

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Apple's iPhone shipments have grown in Q2 2020, as Huawei overtook Samsung as the world's largest smartphone vendor, according to new data shared by Canalys and IDC this week.



Though the global smartphone market contracted by 14-16 percent in Q2 2020, Apple was the only vendor to defy expectations and grow by up to 25 percent compared to the previous year. As Apple does not publicize exact shipment numbers, the estimated data varies between the two reports. Canalys places the number at 45.1 million, while IDC places it 37.6 million.

Both IDC and Canalys accredit Apple's growth to the success of iPhone SE, stating that the device accounted for around 28% of its global volume, while iPhone 11 accounted for almost 40%.

"‌iPhone SE‌ will remain crucial to prop up volume this year, amid delays to Apple's next flagship release," commented Canalys Analyst, Vincent Thielke. "In China, it had blockbuster results, growing 35% to reach 7.7 million units. It is unusual for Apple's Q2 shipments to increase sequentially. As well as the new ‌iPhone SE‌, Apple is also demonstrating skills in new user acquisition. It adapted quickly to the pandemic, doubling down on the digital customer experience as stay-at-home measures drive more customers to online channels."


Huawei toppled Samsung as the world-leading smartphone vendor, with 55.8 million shipments over Samsung's 53.7 million. Xiaomi came after Apple in fourth place with 28.8 million units, followed by Oppo with 25.8 million units. Huawei was also the standout leader in the world’s largest smartphone market, China, taking 44% market share. IDC cautions that the impact of the U.S. Huawei ban will continue to create uncertainty for the company in foreign markets.

Senior Canalys Analyst Ben Stanton stated that going forwards "geopolitical uncertainty also hangs over the global smartphone market. Countries are becoming polarized between the interests of the US and China. In India, for example, Chinese companies now face a wave of negative sentiment. Smartphone vendors need to act, and many are already directing funds to brand marketing to highlight their positive impact in a local region."


IDC expects the launch of four new potential models to allow Apple to effectively challenge Android 5G devices that have been out for more than a year. Apple no longer discloses ‌device shipments, which means that analyst estimates cannot be confirmed by specific sales data.
Tags: IDC, Canalys

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Apple's Stock Price Officially Crosses the $400 Mark

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Following yesterday's strong earnings report, Apple's stock price has officially broken through the $400 mark in regular trading today, rising over 5% to sit at roughly $406.


Apple's share price rose above $400 during after-hours trading yesterday following the earnings release, but now that the mark has been breached during regular trading, it's considered official as an intraday all-time high.

Apple's stock had dropped as low as $224 in late March as concerns mounted over the global health crisis, but it has experienced a strong and steady recovery since, rising over 80 percent in the last four months. Many other large tech companies have experienced similar surges, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet.

As part of its earnings release yesterday, Apple also announced that it will be initiating a four-for-one split of its stock in late August. The move will drop the price of a single share of the company's stock to around $100, before accounting for any changes in price between now and the effective date for the split. Current owners of Apple stock will receive three additional shares for each share they own.
Tag: AAPL

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Emails Reveal Why Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller Blocked In-App Purchase of Kindle Books

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Internal Apple emails, made public by the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust inquiry, have revealed information about why Apple blocked in-app purchases of Kindle books on iOS devices, reports The Verge.



Two sets of emails between Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue, and various other senior Apple executives, disclose the exact thinking behind how Apple approached Kindle on iOS. The current precedent was outlined by Steve Jobs, who stated that "I think this is all pretty simple — iBooks is going to be the only bookstore on iOS devices. We need to hold our heads high. One can read books bought elsewhere, just not buy/rent/subscribe from iOS without paying us, which we acknowledge is prohibitive for many things."

Originally, Kindle books were available for purchase via the iOS app. Since 2011, the Kindle iOS app has only allowed users to read books in the app. Purchase of new titles can only be made in Safari, not in the app itself. This allows Amazon to avoid a 30% Apple surcharge on in-app purchases.

‌Phil Schiller‌ expressed concern in one of the emails that Amazon was advertising the fact that users could still access Kindle books purchased on iOS on Android devices, suggesting it was convenient to switch from iOS to Android.



Schiller explained that Apple initially made an exception for Amazon, because "users would be buying books on a Kindle device and later accessing them on iPhone." Over time, as sales of iOS devices rose dramatically, Schiller believed that it was time to reconsider the exception. Amazon's TV advertising was a clear point of contention for Apple and prompted the change of attitude.



These discussions took place as Apple was planning to announce revised App Store policies for subscriptions. Jobs suggested in his response that Amazon "must use our payment system for everything," and justify this with the new subscription policies. "If they want to compare us to Android, let's force them to use our far superior payment system," Jobs wrote.



Amazon later removed a link to the Kindle Store in the iOS app to comply with the new App Store subscription rules. From then onwards, the Kindle app's storefront feature was removed entirely, with no overt direction as to where to buy books.



Yesterday, further emails published by the U.S. antitrust subcommittee revealed that Apple offered Amazon lower ‌App Store‌ fees to convince it to launch its Prime Video app on the ‌‌App Store‌‌ and Apple TV.

The news that Apple made exceptions for Amazon for Kindle prior to 2011 and for Prime Video has caused confusion among some observers, as Apple has consistently claimed it treats every developer the same. ‌Phil Schiller‌ stated ahead of the antitrust inquiry this week that all apps in the ‌App Store‌ have been treated "the same - one set of rules for everybody, no special deals, no special terms, no special code, everything applies to all developers the same."
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