Samsung on top? Galaxy Note 8 surges ahead of iPhone 8

NEW DELHI: Samsung Galaxy Note8 that came to India last month and saw over 250,000 registrations within no time is selling like hot cakes and has left Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus behind in the race at the moment, industry sources said on Wednesday.

According to dealers, Galaxy Note8 sales are ahead when compared to iPhone8 and 8 Plus.

“For every 100 Galaxy Note8 being purchased, 60-70 iPhone8 and iPhone 8 Plus are being sold,” a south Delhi-based dealer told IANS on the condition ..

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Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/samsung-on-top-galaxy-note-8-surges-ahead-of-iphone-8/articleshow/60938377.cms

HTC U11 Life to be the third Android One-powered smartphone this year

The news comes from Twitter tipster @LlabTooFeR, who leaked out the specifications to what appears to be a fresh new, HTC smartphone.

According to the leak, the HTC U11 Life, will feature a 5.2-inch full HD touchscreen display. While there are no details about the handset’s design, the U11 Life will inherit the U11’s Edge Sense squeeze feature. Also expected is IP 67 water and dust resistance along with HTC’s USonic headphone support, which hints at a missing 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Inside, we can expect a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset that is paired with a 3/32 GB combination or a 4/64 GB combination.

As for the cameras, the HTC U11 Life is said to pack in a single 16 MP rear camera and a similar 16 MP front-facing camera.

The highlight would indeed be the software, with a stock Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. In fact, the HTC U11 may be the first Android One smartphone to feature the update. The device is said to be powered by a 2,600 mAh battery, which is a bit worrisome since it is paired to a 14 nm, 630 chipset and a 5.2-inch full HD display.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/htc-u11-life-to-be-the-third-android-one-powered-smartphone-this-year-4107891.html

Huawei Honor 9 India launch on October 5: Specifications, expected price, and more

Huawei Honor 9 will launch in India on October 5. Honor 9 comes almost a year after its predecessor Honor 8 which was announced at Rs 29,999. With Honor 9, the focus is on dual rear cameras which feature a combination of monochrome and RGB lens like we saw on the Huawei P9.
Honor 9 starts at 2299 Yuan in China, which translates to around Rs 23,000 on conversion. The price is for the base model (4GB RAM+64GB ROM). Other storage models include 6GB RAM with 64GB or 128GB storage. It is unclear at this point of time whether Honor will bring all three storage versions of Honor 9 to India, but expect the pricing to be around the same.
Honor 9 gets a 20MP monochrome camera along with a 12MP RGB lens at the back. Honor has included 2x optical zoom for the cameras, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF, and dual LED flash as well. People can click ‘bokeh’ styled photos keeping the subject in sharp focus with background blurred.
Huawei has been doing dual cameras for quite some time now. Huawei P9 smartphone, launched in April, was one of the first devices to get this kind of a setup. However, the feature was mostly exclusive to premium smartphones back then. Honor 9 comes at a time when dual cameras have made their way to budget and mid-budget segments as well. Few examples include Lenovo K8 Plus at Rs 10,999, Moto G5S Plus at Rs 15,999, Coolpad Cool Play 6 at Rs 14,999, and Xiaomi Mi A1 at Rs 17,499.
In terms of specifications, Honor 9 has a 5.15-inch Full HD display and it runs Android 7.0 Nougat with Emotion UI 5.1 skin on top. It sports a curved glass design at the back. The front camera is 8MP and it comes with f/2.0 aperture. Powered by Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 960 chipset, the phone also supports a microSD card slot for expandable storage.
Honor 9 features a hybrid SIM slot, which means people can either put use two Nano SIM cards at once or a SIM and microSD card. There’s a 3200mAh battery with fast charging support. In Chine, Honor 9 comes in Blue, Black, Amber Gold, and Gray colour options.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/mobile-tabs/huawei-honor-9-india-launch-on-october-5-specifications-expected-price-and-more-4873604/

Google Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL launch tonight: Can these beat the Apple iPhone series?

Google Pixel and Pixel XL might not have set the sales record on fire, but that doesn’t mean the search giant is giving up on its hardware dreams. Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will be launched tonight by the company at an event in San Francisco. Clearly Google is invested in this project for the long run. It has already announced the acquisition of a part of HTC’s engineering team, which includes people who were working on the Pixel series.
As with the previous Pixel phones, leaks have given us a pretty good look at the upcoming smartphones, though we will have to wait for the official launch to see what turns out to be true. However, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will also continue with the premium price tag that we saw in the earlier devices. Google Pixel started in India at a price of Rs 57,000, while the bigger Pixel XL had a price tag of Rs 67,000 for the base 32GB variant. Such pricing meant that when Pixel phones launched they were directly competing with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S series and Apple iPhone 7, etc.
While Pixel offered top notch specifications and a camera the press couldn’t stop raving about, the fact remained that there was nothing to really make the Pixel phones stand out from their mid-range rivals. Yes, Pixel phones comes with stock Android and were among the first phones to have the Google Assistant. But players like OnePlus have also adopted a more stock UI Android approach. Then there’s the Motorola list of phones, which has always sported stock Android. And Google Assistant was soon rolled out to the entire Android universe, which meant the exclusivity aspect of Pixel phones was soon lost.
With Pixel series, Google says it is in the hardware game for a long run. But this is not the first time that we have seen the company trying to succeed in this segment. There have been Nexus phones, though those were co-branded with other companies. In 2013, we saw Nexus editions of popular flagship phones like Samsung Galaxy S4 ‘Nexus Edition’ which came with stock Android.
Google Pixel XL Phone Review: Pros, Cons And Final Verdict

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/mobile-tabs/google-pixel-2-pixel-2-xl-launch-tonight-can-these-beat-the-apple-iphone-series-4873595/

iPhone X: Why Samsung will earn from $4 bn more thanks to Apple’s success

Apple iPhone X will go on sale globally from November 3 and it looks like rival Samsung will also be praying for the success of Apple’s upcoming flagship. The reason: Samsung is making parts for Apple’s iPhone X and will stand to gain nearly $4 billion more from this than its own Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones.
According to Wall Street Journal, Samsung will make most of this $4 billion in the 20 months after the iPhone X goes on sale. WSJ’s report is based off a Counterpoint Technology Market Research, which was done for the publication. The research firm’s report says Samsung will make $110 on each iPhone X sold until the end of summer 2019.
Counterpoint estimates over 130 million iPhone X units will be sold until this period, thus boosting Samsung’s profits as well. Samsung previously earned one third of its revenue by supplying for Apple products, and given the iPhone X (Ten) will see a boom in sales, 2017-2018 could be a great year for Samsung.
With the Apple iPhone X, Samsung is supplying the display and the memory chips. Apple iPhone X has a 5.8-inch OLED display with no bezels on the side and no home button on the front. Samsung is the world leader in OLED displays, so it stands to gain from the success of the iPhone X in a big way and will remain the major supplier for this device.
In fact, before the Apple iPhone X was revealed, well-known Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo of KGI Securities had revealed that the company was paying around $120 to $130 for the display parts. Kuo had said Samsung had the upper hand in the OLED display supply and that diversification of supply would take time. He also pointed out Apple was paying double of what it usually pay for LCD displays. Reports have also said Apple is exploring talks with LG for OLED display, but these will take time to actually materialise.
In terms of display specifications, Apple iPhone X has a Super Retina HD resolution and this is an HDR compatible display with 2436 x 1125 pixels resolution, which comes to 458 ppi. Apple iPhone X is also powered by the new A11 Bionic chip, which the company claims is equipped to handled Face ID on the device. It is also designed to handle AR apps better.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/mobile-tabs/apple-iphone-x-why-samsung-will-earn-from-4-bn-more-from-apples-success-4872116/

Apple’s most expensive iPhone is the device most people want

iPhone X pre-orders aren’t slated to open up for another few weeks, but demand for Apple’s forthcoming flagship iPhone is already quite strong. According to a new 4,000-person survey put together by RBC Capital Markets, 28% of respondents indicated an interest in purchasing the iPhone X. Meanwhile, 17% of respondents expressed an interested in the iPhone 8 with 20% expressing an interest in the iPhone 8 Plus.

“Our survey helps confirm our thesis that the rich feature set and differentiated design of the iPhone X will enable a mix shift toward it despite its significant price premium,” RBC said in a research note obtained by TheStreet. What’s more, the survey also revealed that 57% of individuals interested in the iPhone X are likely to opt for the pricier 256GB model as opposed to the 64GB model. This of course all bodes well for Apple given that the 256GB model carries a $150 premium over the lower tiered model.

Source: http://bgr.com/2017/10/02/iphone-x-vs-iphone-8-demand-256gb-model/