The Zenfone 4 and Zenfone 5 have sold considerably well in India, and Asus (TPE:2357) is now looking to continue that momentum this year with the launch of its latest handset, the Zenfone 2. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Zenfone 2 grabbed headlines in the tech community as being the first device to feature an astounding 4GB RAM.

Launched in Taiwan in the month of March for what amounts to $295, the 4GB variant (ZE551ML) features great hardware for the price, including a 5.5-inch full-HD display, Intel’s quad-core 2.3GHz Atom Z3580 CPU, 64GB internal memory, microSD slot, dual SIM and LTE connectivity and a 13MP camera at the back along with a 5MP front camera and 3,000mAh battery. Software-wise, the Zenfone 2 features the latest version of Android 5.0 with Asus’ Zen UI rounding off the customizations.

While devices such as the Zenfone 2 are highly anticipated in Western countries, in India, the handset will encounter fierce competition from the likes of Lenovo (HKG:0992), Xiaomi and Huawei, all of whom offer stellar hardware at an affordable price. The differentiator for Asus, at least in India, will be the 4GB ZE551ML variant, which will make it the first device to offer that much memory.

In terms of hardware, the Zenfone 2 is up there with the likes of Xiaomi’s Mi Note, which the Chinese vendor has dubbed the “best smartphone available today.” Xiaomi has become a force to reckon with in India, but Asus has also enjoyed a healthy dose of attention from consumers with its budget offerings. Furthermore, the brushed metal design of the Zenfone 2 looks far more polished than the glass back on offer with the Mi Note. Pricing may also turn out to be a factor that determines the fate of either device in the country, with Xiaomi already showing that it can offer its products for as low as what they are available in China.

There isn’t an exact launch date mentioned for the Zenfone 2 in India, but it should be making its debut sometime before the end of the month. Along with the 4GB model, there will be several affordable options that offer 2GB RAM and a lower resolution screen.

The post Asus Zenfone 2 To Launch In India By The End Of April appeared first on VR World.

It appears that Taiwan’s HTC (TPE: 2498) is going through something of a transition.

Last week the company announced that its’ CEO Peter Chou had stepped down to lead the company’s innovation lab, being replaced by founder Cheryl Wang. On Friday in Taipei the company announced that HTC’s design chief Jonah Becker was departing the company.

“We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the Company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago,” a statement from the company read. “We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design office.”

This announcement comes just under a year after the Scott Croyle, who held the position of design chief for quite some time, was moving on.

It’s been an amazing seventeen year journey with One & Co and HTC, but it’s time for a new adventure. Stay tuned for details of what’s next.

— Jonah Becker (@JonahABecker) March 26, 2015

Why the departure?

There is no clear reason Becker  chose to depart the company at this time. While HTC’s new One M9 was criticized for its boring design, the company had a series of design wins with its Periscope and VR headset revealed at the 2015 Mobile World Congress.

It could be that the company’s new CEO would like a clean slate as she hopes to reboot the company. With any large firm there are more political alliances than Frank Underwood could deal with and a successful corporate reboot might mean installing new faces.

If HTC wants to properly compete, it needs a new, fresh and compelling design language. Perhaps CEO Wang thinks the only way to effectively do this is through a new team.

The post Another HTC Designer Calls it Quits appeared first on VR World.

While 4K certainly has its uses and benefits on larger displays, the potential use cases on such a small smartphone screen are negligible at best. On an average smartphone screen, which is usually around 5.5-6 inches, the resolution of QHD — let alone 4K — is too great for the eye to appreciate. Apple’s Retina display has a pixel-per inch density of 326. A QHD display on a smartphone would equal something in the range of 538.

A PPI of 538 is far beyond the maximum resolution that the human eye can recognize. There is a bit of controversy as to what the highest practical PPI is for a 5.5 inch screen held 12-18 inches away from the eye, but the consensus holds that it’s 477 PPI at 12 inches and 318 PPI at 18 inches. Of course, holding it closer than 12 inches away from your face would make it difficult to properly focus.

So this means that the iPhone’s Retina resolution introduced in 2010 is the highest practical resolution for a smartphone sized screen. Of course with bigger screens found on phablets and full-on tablets this figure jumps.

QHD and 4K smartphones are impractical

The other issue with QHD and 4K displays on smartphones is the substantial battery drain that comes as a result. Battery technology has reached a ceiling, yet the demands keep on increasing. A QHD or 4K screen requires substantially more push from the SoC to drive a screen of that resolution, which means the SoC will require more battery power for all tasks.

Before the 2015 Mobile World Congress kicked off, Huawei (SHE:002502) announced that it would not be producing 4K smartphones because it simply is not worth the battery drain.

“4K needs a lot of power, so if you use it you have to make compromises. A 4K display on a smartphone may give you half a day of battery life but a 2K display can give you maybe one day or more,” President of the Handset Product Line Kevin Ho is quoted as saying. “4K has four times the pixels of Full HD so the power consumption is maybe 4 or 8 times as much as Full HD so the smartphone has to have compromises with battery life.”

All about competition

Pushing up the resolution of smartphone displays  is not the only way to improve the quality of the screen. There’s much to be done to improve color depth, backlight quality, and the ability for the screen to display in bright conditions.

But the resolution race is a way for vendors to compete with each other. The screen resolution of a device is an easy and digestible metric to understand. But for consumers this resolution race isn’t, in the end, a value add as it does little to increase productivity or performance.   

The post Resolution Overkill: Why QHD and 4K are Too Much for Smartphones appeared first on VR World.

Internet.org, the brainchild of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has the ambitious goal of “connecting the next 5 billion” Internet users by focusing on the emerging economies — the lower tiers of mobile users whose primary means of getting online is via mobile devices.

With a goal of having a presence in 100 countries within 2015, Internet.org sets foot in Southeast Asia through PLDT (NYSE:PHI), which operates the Philippines’ biggest mobile and fixed line network by subscriber base. According to estimates, only 38% of the country’s population had Internet access as of mid 2014. Meanwhile, mobile penetration rate has surpassed 100%, although only a minority are on smartphones.

Facebook’s effort to connect the otherwise underserved sectors of society is done in partnership with public and private organizations in its target countries. Internet.org vice president Chris Evans said in a keynote at the recently-concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the effort will essentially provide basic Internet services like access to educational and health information. But it also aims to be a feeder to other mobile services, as well, envisioning to “see more people coming online, buying data and voice and SMS bundles.”

Internet.org launched initially in countries like Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Colombia, Ghana and India. The Philippines launch marks the first Southeast Asian country that carries free basic Internet access through the initiative.

Through Internet.org, users can access a curated set of websites, currently numbering 24, which include sites like Wikipedia for news, Inquirer for news, Accuweather for meteorology and Jobstreet for job hunting (the list of services differs by market). As expected, the service will also provide free access to social networking staples Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

Access will be available to users within PLDT’s mobile brands, which includes SMART, Sun Cellular and Talk n’ Text. The biggest mobile network by subscriber base, the group counts about 71.2 million prepaid subscribers, which comprise about 90% of its cellular business.

Prior to the local Internet.org launch, PLDT already initiated its “Internet for All” campaign, which provided free access to mobile users, with 50MB daily allocation. While this is decidedly a small amount for most, it was deemed enough for basic access like instant messaging and light social networking.

“Smart’s partnership with Facebook is a big boost to our ‘Internet for All’ campaign, an advocacy we have been strongly pushing for,” says Smart president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno. “By launching Internet.org app with Facebook in the Philippines, we are making useful information within reach of millions of Filipinos.”

Earler this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared some statistics on Internet.org, saying about 7 million people used the Internet for the first time through the service. In addition, the carriers involved also saw an upsurge in data subscriptions and usage of basic services, an indication that Internet.org does not only serve to enhance access to the underserved, but it also contributes positively to carriers’ business. Other companies, such as Nokia, are also finding ways to enable Internet access with inexpensive Internet-enabled devices for the emerging markets.

The post Internet.org Launches in SEAsia With Free Access to Essential Online Services appeared first on VR World.

Indian manufacturer Micromax’s wholly-owned subsidiary Yu Televentures has started teasing its second handset, codenamed Project Caesar. The handset is set to launch sometime next month, and will continue to offer CyanogenMod out of the box following an exclusive partnership between the two companies in India.

In the teaser, Yu says, “Stay tuned, the fYUture is coming!” followed by an image of a lollipop and a finger of KitKat, with the tagline, “KitKat in the age of Lollipop? Give Me a break.”

The Me stylization is a reference to Xiaomi’s Mi branding in India, and the remark is concerning the fact that MIUI 6 — the latest version of the operating system found on Xiaomi’s products — is still based on Android 4.4 KitKat.

While the teaser is further proof that Yu’s upcoming smartphone will run CyanogenMod 12, which is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, out of the box. The device itself is said to be a Qualcomm reference design with mid-range hardware that will be offered at an affordable price tag, as is the case with Yu Yureka, which is essentially a rebranded Coolpad F2 that offers a 720p display, Snapdragon 615 SoC, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 13MP camera, 5MP front camera and a 2,500mAh battery for the equivalent of $150.

Yu has been steadily gaining attraction since launching the Yureka in India late last year, accruing over 175,000 sales thus far. The handset is set to make the switch to Android 5.0 in the coming weeks, with the possibility of the update coinciding with the launch of the second Yu handset looking likely at this stage. It is clear that Yu is positioning itself as a direct competitor to Xiaomi, with both vendors offering a differentiated software experience along with stellar hardware at an affordable price.

Xiaomi is set to launch the Mi Pad and Redmi 2 later this month, and it is entirely within the realm of reason that Yu’s next handset will target Xiaomi’s upcoming handset.

The post Yu Starts Teasing Its Upcoming Smartphone By Mocking Xiaomi On Twitter appeared first on VR World.

Being a Samsung (KRX: 005930) Galaxy user across a number of years (From the S3 to Note3 and then the S5, the last two in parallel right now – that’s quite a vote with someone’s wallet, I guess), I did eagerly await the launch of the Galaxy S6 to see if it is worth the upgrading consideration. Especially since the Galaxy Note Edge, the interim variant with the single curved side 2560×1600 16:10 display, did show some promise on how the extra curve can be used without affecting the main work area size.

However, what came out did seriously disappoint me: what happened was that both the straight and curved versions share the same 2560×1440 16:9 display – meaning that the curved side in a sense lost some 1/6 of its straight viewable work or play area on an already narrow display.

But that was just the beginning: the new phones had no microSD card slots for user storage expansion flexibility and, no, the battery can’t be replaced by the user either, just like on the iPhones. But yes, they have very very fast processors and 3+ megapixel displays with gazillion dots per inch density in a, yes, 5-inch format.

Hold on for a second: the existing 1920×1080 FullHD displays on 5-inch plus smartphones already reach some 400 dots per inch resolution, beyond what a normal human eye can discern from say one foot distance. What is the point of adding extra resolution that can’t be seen? Wouldn’t it be better if Samsung add extra pixels to its laptops instead, so that 4K 15-inch models are a reality? Or UHD 16:10 3840×2400 tablets, for instance, in the same format?

Don’t forget that the extra pixels add to the processing burden, video frame buffer memory footprint and of course the power consumption, yet there is almost no 1440p video content to benefit from them. And, yes, world standard 1080p FullHD content will look better on a “pixel for pixel” matching 1920×1080 screen then interpolated across a 2560×1440 screen. So, what the hell was the point in doing this? And, mind you, it’s not just Samsung doing this.

Is the Galaxy S6 a step in the right direction?

This brings us to a point: is the current smartphone evolution seriously misdirected? Not just from a ‘consumerised dumbing down’ of the overall approach and the waste of CPU cycles with slow Java apps compared to what optimised C++ stuff can do.  Remember a Cray 3 supercomputer three decades ago is slower than a current top end smartphone by quite a bit, but was hell a lot more optimally used resource-wise. It is desperately trying to create added specs that make no real usage sense, just to justify the new sales cycle – and any PC market technology trickery of that sort looks like angelic honesty compared to what is devised in the smartphone market.

The features being added don’t seem to make much sense in terms of real use: the 1440p displays are one good example of absolute uselessness unless you have a true eagle eye, I guess. The good stuff that was added – in the Samsung case, the USB3 connection for faster recharge and PC connections in the S5 and the Note3 – ended up removed and downgraded to the USB2 in the Note4 and the S6!

Then, if we really want a visually rich phone with such a strong GPU power, why not a direct microHDMI connection to a FullHD TV set to, say, play those lovely 3D Moto etc beginner’s games on it without having to use roundabout means such as wireless Screen Mirroring?

And, yes, looking at the on-screen keyboards there… when they occupy half of the screen, and you can barely see the message typed, it seems the time is to bring back the 16:10 screen to the smartphones too. It would help manage the problem, especially in the horizontal mode.

Back to the point above: Samsung is the leader of the smartphone market today, like it or not. Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) is still a formidable force, and Xiaomi could be the another top league member. However, the last we expected from a market leader was to create a closed ‘black box’ product with useless new stuff added, and good current stuff removed, all in the name of, what, an industrial design exercise? My vote on this is a big no, in the name of keeping what’s left of the basic sanity of this market, and it looks like the next phone I get will be a Chinese one (hope malware-free), and so be it – hope they get a little more pragmatic in the approach to the product evolution.

The post Whither Galaxy S6? Samsung’s Newest Entry Shows Misdirected Smartphone Evolution appeared first on VR World.

The most interesting news from last week’s Mobile World Congress was not a new smartwatch, or flagship handset, but rather a rumor that MediaTek (TPE: 2454) and AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) were on the verge of a licensing deal that would put Radeon GPUs into MediaTek’s SoCs.

While this deal is far from confirmed, on paper it’s a logical partnership that would allow both parties to score wins in respective spaces they have struggled in.

For MediaTek, the Radeon GPU technology would allow it to lessen its dependence on ARM’s (LON: ARM) Mali GPU and Imagination Technologies’ (LON: IMG) PowerVR GPU. MediaTek uses both for its GPU lineup: Mali on the low-end and PowerVR on the high-end. This would allow MediaTek to differentiate itself from other users of Mali, and would also free it from licensing GPU technology from Imagination — a company that it may be soon competing with in the SoC space if it starts bringing in some mobile hardware wins from MIPS.

And for AMD this is a chance to finally break into the mobile space. For a number of reasons, especially Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) aggressive subsidies of its chips in the mobile space, AMD could not compete in mobile. Eventually, last November, it said that it had “given up” on tablets having long backed out of the smartphone race.

What about Skybridge?

The going assumption — and it might prove to be correct — is that MediaTek would be the majority partner in this deal as it has the proven experience in the mobile space. However, considering AMD’s ambitious Skybridge plan — pairing ARM and AMD on the same die — it might be that this is a deal of equals.

Originally Skybridge was supposed to be about x86 and ARM on the same die, but this could be the evolution of the project. The big takeaway from the project would be successful interfacing of ARM and GCN, and the use of low-power Carrizo GPUs.

Remember that there is already significant cooperation between AMD and MediaTek on the Heterogeneous Software Alliance, so familiarity between teams exists.

AMD is scheduled to report its earnings in mid-April, while MediaTek has April 28 booked to report. If this deal has legs, an announcement would likely come around that time.

The post A MediaTek Deal Would be AMD’s Ticket to Mobile appeared first on VR World.

When it comes to marketing proneness, Taiwanese (and other Far Eastern) vendors often were afraid of their own shadow, not to interfere with lucrative OEM deals that western vendors utilized to the full extent: you may build your own stuff, but we contract you to build our stuff and you shall not interfere with that.

For good portion of it, the said mantra is true to this date, with Far Eastern industry giants still afraid to speak out, even though they now do almost everything for Western vendors such as Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) – without Foxconn (TPE: 2354) (iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro), Pegatron (TPE: 4938) (iPhone), Asustek’s (TPE: 2357)  China facility, Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) and Quanta (TPE: 2382) (MacBook an MacBook Air) – you would not be able to buy your favorite product from Cupertino (Designed in California, Made in China / Taiwan).

Not anymore – Asustek recently found balls of steel (that corporate move to Singapore seems to have helped) and decided to ditch the fear of the West and go for the jugular.

In two infographics, Asus attacked Apple’s products, pushing its design and manufacturing capabilities.

First ad attacks the MacBook and pitches its Zenbook:

ASUS North America tries to prove ZenBook is a thinner (and better) product than Apple MacBook. And 50% cheaper.

Second picture goes for the Golden jugular, pardon, Apple:

Golden Apple (Watch) is not the solution. We (our ZenWatch) is.

Who knows, perhaps Asian tigers will start challenging its former and current customers on more fields than just the price. After all, the key to selling a product is something that Far East still has trouble understanding – it’s not about the physical product, it’s about the experience.

Still, a ballsy move Asus. Ballsy indeed.

The post Asus’ Balls of Steel vs. Apple’s Golden MacBook and Watch appeared first on VR World.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) hasn’t been as successful as Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) in the LTE modem segment, but that may all change in 2016 as it is being rumored that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is leaning toward the chip vendor’s XMM 7360 LTE modem in lieu of Qualcomm’s offerings, which have been in use in iPhones for several generations now.

Venturebeat, citing anonymous sources, revealed that a variant of the next-generation iPhone — aimed at Asian and other emerging markets —  will feature Intel’s new XMM 7360 modem:

Intel has been gunning hard during the past year for a place in the iPhone and now appears to have succeeded, at least partly. The 7360 chip will ship inside a special version of the iPhone that will be marketed to emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, the sources said.

Like Qualcomm’s X12 modem, the Intel XMM 7360 offers LTE Category 10 connectivity, which is achieved through 3x carrier aggregation. The cellular modem can attain download speeds of 450 megabits per second. The modem was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month, with commercial availability slated for the second half of 2015. Apple engineers have allegedly traveled to Intel’s R&D facility in Munich, Germany to work with the chip vendor on the modem.

One of the major issues with Intel’s LTE offering in 2014, the XMM 7260, was finding manufacturers that were willing to use the modem in their SoCs. Samsung and LG used the modem in a few of their products, with a few versions of the Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4 featuring the XMM 7260 module, as well as LG’s first in-house SoC — Nuclun.

Managing to get its cellular modem on the iPhone will be a major win for Intel, and will be yet another blow for Qualcomm, which has already lost Samsung as a customer for its Snapdragon SoCs — at least in high-end devices — this year. Intel is readily acknowledging that it is far behind Qualcomm in the mobile application processor segment, but by making power efficient LTE modems and offering integrated solutions for mid-tier devices aimed at emerging markets, such as the Zenfone 2, it is turning into a credible threat in this space.

The post Next iPhone May Feature Intel’s Blazing Fast XMM 7360 LTE Modem appeared first on VR World.

In order to gain a foothold in the mobile payment market, Samsung (KRX: 005930) says that it will be waiving fees for its Samsung Pay service for credit card companies in Korea and likely the United States.

Samsung does not charge merchants that have a compatible terminal fees, but rather the credit card companies that it partners with. Reports say that Samsung was planning to charge credit card companies a 0.0015% fee per transaction.

Samsung Pay — which Samsung hopes will be offered as widely as Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) rival — is set to launch in the summer. Sources that spoke with Business Korea said that the company is “unlikely” to charge US credit card companies fees considering its decision for the Korean market.

Samsung’s payment platform is seen as more advanced than Apple’s. Samsung Pay supports NFC, magnetic secure transmission (MST), and barcodes for mobile payments, while Apple’s platform only supports NFC.

However both Samsung and Apple might have an uphill battle in getting consumers to use their mobile payment platforms. While Apple Pay is accepted at nearly 700,000 retail locations in the United States a survey by consultancy group Trustev shows that only 21% of users with compatible Apple devices have tried the service. From that only 2.1% of all respondents have used the service 10 times or more in a week. A whopping 79% of respondents haven’t used it at all.

For Samsung and Apple’s payment processors to take off, they need to show that there’s some benefit to their apps — as credit card companies or PayPal are free to make their own NFC or MST based contact pay apps. Both Samsung and Apple need to figure out how to make their apps more convenient for users if they want them to succeed.

The post Samsung Pay Going Free to Take on Apple Pay appeared first on VR World.

Recently security consultancy Bluebox Labs reported on some major security flaws found in the latest Xiaomi Mi 4 phone. Xiaomi didn’t take this criticism lying down, and has prepared a lengthy rebuttal to Bluebox’s claims.

While Xiaomi had already called the report “inaccurate” in a statement to VR World, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s VP International responded to Bluebox Labs by saying the phone purchased by the company in China had been tampered with. It’s important to note that Bluebox had already tested the device to make sure that it was authentic and not a knockoff.

“We are certain the device that Bluebox tested is not using a standard MIUI ROM, as our factory ROM and OTA ROM builds are never rooted and we don’t pre-install services such as YT Service, PhoneGuardService, AppStats etc,” Barra said in his statement. “Bluebox could have purchased a phone that has been tampered with, as they bought it via a physical retailer in China. Xiaomi does not sell phones via third-party retailers in China, only via our official online channels and selected carrier stores.”

If Barra’s claim holds true, this brings up the very worrying issue of supply chain security, as Bluebox points out. If these — authentic — phones are modified by the retailer, or someone else in the supply chain, that’s incredibly concerning for device security and brand reputation.

Barra says that customers should only purchase Xiaomi phones from the official online store to ensure authenticity and “reputable retailers”. But what makes a “reputable retailer”? If the one Bluebox purchased its phone from — and it went to great lengths to ensure authenticity — isn’t reputable than which ones are? After all, China is home to fake Xiaomi stores (and fake Apple as well as Samsung stores too).

If indeed what Barra says is true, this is largely a lesson in supply chain security. All vendors need to ensure that the China side of their supply chain isn’t compromised by a man-in-the-middle attack. Because clearly even local companies aren’t immune.

UPDATE: March 9 2015 11:00 AM China Standard Time

Xiaomi emailed VR World further statements to expand upon what it told Bluebox Labs. Here’s the statement in full.

There are glaring inaccuracies in the Bluebox blog post. Official Xiaomi devices do not come rooted and do not have malware pre-installed. Our investigation based on information received so far indicates that the phone Bluebox obtained is a counterfeit product purchased through an unofficial channel on the streets in China. We’re gathering more information to fully confirm this and should have a final answer in the next 24 hours.

With the large parallel street market for mobile phones in China, not only is it somewhat common for third parties to tamper with the software sold on smartphones, but there are counterfeit products which are almost indistinguishable from the original products on the outside. This happens across all brands, affecting both Chinese and foreign smartphone companies selling in China. 

Furthermore, “entrepreneurial” retailers may add malware and adware to these devices, and even go to the extent of pre-installing modified copies of popular benchmarking software such as CPU-Z and Antutu, which will run “tests” showing the hardware is legitimate — fooling even very discerning buyers.

Xiaomi takes all necessary measures to crack down on the manufacturers of fake devices or anyone who tampers with our software, supported by all levels of law enforcement agencies in China. However, for the safety of our users, Xiaomi and all smartphone brands always recommend buying phones through authorised channels. Xiaomi only sells via Mi.com, and a small number of Xiaomi trusted partners including mobile operators and select authorised retailers, such as Flipkart in India. 

In addition, contrary to what Bluebox has claimed, MIUI is true Android, which means MIUI follows exactly Android CDD, Google’s definition for compatible Android devices, and it passes all Android CTS tests, the process used by the industry to make sure a given device is fully Android compatible. All Xiaomi devices sold in China and international markets are fully Android compatible.

The post Updated: Xiaomi Hits Back Hard at Bluebox Labs’ Claims appeared first on VR World.

After becoming the third largest smartphone vendor in the world in 2014, Xiaomi is looking to continue the momentum by setting itself a sales target of 100 million units. To do so, Xiaomi will focus more on its home market as well as India — which the vendor mentioned as its largest overseas market — before setting its sights on the West.

With devices like the Mi 3, Redmi Note and Mi 4, Xiaomi managed sales of 61.1 million in 2014. One of the main reasons for Xiaomi’s success was the remarkably low pricing of its handsets, which were sold at near manufacturing cost. Xiaomi’s global VP Hugo Barra mentioned that the Chinese brand was able to do so as it does not have any significant overhead in terms of marketing and advertising. All Xiaomi products are sold online in a flash sale model, and advertising for the brand is done solely through social media. The model seems to be working very well for the vendor, as it has over 10,50,000 fans on China’s Weibo microblogging service.

Xiaomi hits 100 million sales

Xiaomi will be looking to improve upon its sales numbers with the likes of the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro. Unveiled last month in China, both handsets are a departure from Xiaomi’s previous handsets in that they both feature glass backs. The 2.5D curved glass at the front and 3D glass surface at the back are both protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3, with the bezel at the front a mere 3.0mm. While the resolution of the 5.7-inch Mi Note is at full-HD, Xiaomi has mentioned that the panel used for the device offers adaptive dynamic contrast as well as a night mode that reduces glare in low-light conditions.

In terms of hardware, the Mi Note offers a quad-core 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC that features an Adreno 330 GPU, 3GB RAM, 16/64GB internal storage, dual-SIM connectivity, 24-bit/192KHz lossless audio playback, 13MP camera (IMX214) with OIS, 4MP front camera and a 3,000mAh battery.

The Mi Note Pro — as the name suggests — is the beefier of the two, and features a 5.7-inch 2K (2560 x 1440) display, 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 810 SoC, an astounding 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB internal memory based on the eMMC 5.0 standard, 13MP rear camera, 4MP front camera and LTE Category 9 connectivity along with a 3,000mAh battery.

The Mi Note is available for sale in China with prices starting at $370, while the Mi Note Pro will go on sale later this month at $530. During the initial months of a device’s launch, Xiaomi does not make a significant amount of money from sales, but as the lifecycle of the handset wears on and the cost of the components used comes down, the vendor manages to eke out a small margin. This is why all of Xiaomi’s handsets are manufactured have a limited production run as that decreases overall cost incurred.

Going after Apple in China

After targeting the likes of Samsung (KRX: 005930) and Lenovo (HKG: 0992) in its home markets, Xiaomi has raised the bar and is now setting its sights squarely on Apple, and the iPhone 6 Plus. Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) larger iPhone debuted in China to great success, with demand for the device far greater than supply.

Xiaomi called out Apple on several occasions during the launch of its latest handsets, making a reference to how the camera sensor on the Mi Note sits flush on the body, unlike the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6. Xiaomi also revealed how it was able to fit a screen that’s 0.2mm larger than what is on offer with the iPhone 6 Plus in a body that is thinner by 0.15mm.

The first few flash sales of the Mi Note have concluded, with the device selling out in mere minutes, which is essentially what is to be expected of a Xiaomi flash sale these days. A device’s success does not depend only on the hardware, however, and in terms of software, Xiaomi is looking to step up its efforts.

Both the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro come with the latest version of Xiaomi’s operating system, MIUI 6. With over 100 million global users, MIUI began life as a custom Android ROM, and is installed as standard on all Xiaomi devices. The latest iteration bears a slight resemblance to iOS 7, but there is a wide chasm when comparing the experience offered by the two operating systems. MIUI 6 offers a combination of settings and functionality that is geared at novice users as well as power users. The plethora of settings that allow users to customize all facets of the operating system are cleverly hidden away so as not to overwhelm new users to the ecosystem.  Xiaomi offers its own suite of software services, and with the Play Store banned in China, these are the main gateway for Chinese consumers to access mobile services.

Building a lifestyle brand

Xiaomi is known for its handsets, but the brand wants to be much more than that. By offering TVs, routers, smart home products and even air purifiers, Xiaomi is looking to become a lifestyle brand, with Barra stating as much during his MWC keynote. Xiaomi is looking to build an ecosystem of services and products that integrate with the vendor’s software offering, MIUI. Doing so will prove to be a challenge, but given Xiaomi’s loyal fanbase, most of whom are in their mid-twenties, as well as the brand recognition it commands in China, venturing into the IoT market as well as exploring new territories.

At a media event held in San Francisco on February 12, Xiaomi has announced that it will be launching its Mi.com store in the US later this year, through which the vendor will offer accessories such as the $15 Mi Band fitness tracker, Mi piston headphones and the Mi power banks. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Xiaomi announced that it would be launching the accessory store in Europe as well. The goal behind making accessories available to customers in Westerns countries is to get feedback from a wider audience base and generate interest in Xiaomi as a brand.

With stellar handsets and a move into wearables, action cameras and smart home products, Xiaomi is trying for the first time this year to achieve vertical integration: tie in different products with a single software experience.

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After launching the Redmi 2 in Taiwan in February, Xiaomi is looking to bring the handset to India later this month, with March 12 cited as a possible launch date for the device in the country.

The Redmi 1S and Redmi Note got off to a great start in India, mainly due to their aggressive pricing and the stellar hardware on offer. Both devices were regularly sold out in under a minute during weekly flash sales, and formed the benchmark for affordable devices in the country. The hardware available with the Redmi Note in particular was far better than what was provided by other international vendors.

With Motorola launching an updated version of the Moto E in India on March 10, it makes sense for Xiaomi to do likewise since the Redmi 1S is now discontinued in the country. The Redmi 2 features better hardware from its predecessor in the form of a 4.7-inch 720p screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2, 1GB RAM, quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC, 8GB internal memory, microSD card slot, dual-SIM connectivity, 4G LTE, 8MP camera with BSI sensor, 2MP front shooter and a 2,200mAh battery.

In terms of software, the Redmi 2 features the latest iteration of MIUI, MIUI 6. There’s also a beefier version of the device that offers 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory, but there is no word as yet if we’ll see that handset in India. Pricing of the device will be determined once it launches in the country, but it is believed to cost the same as the Redmi 1S, which retailed for $100. At that price, there won’t be a contender to the Redmi 2 that offers a similar set of features.

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Xiaomi devices have taken Asia by storm, providing fierce competition to established players such as Samsung (KRX: 005930). Recently Xiaomi has been under the microscope for security issues, as it has been alleged that these devices serve as a conduit that allows Chinese intelligence services to siphon user’s data. However a new report by security consultancy Bluebox Labs shows that the real threat might come from sloppy coding.

The device tested by Bluebox researchers was the Xiaomi Mi 4. Like many smartphones from Chinese vendors, it ships with a forked (non official) version of Android branded as MIUI. Forked versions of Android do not undergo the same security vetting procedures from Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) as official versions do.

Being a forked version of Android means that Google services are not available on the device. For example, the phone ships with a Google Play alternative called Mi Market. However the researchers found that this version of Android appeared to be a combination of 4.4.4 and older versions. Doing a deep dive into the OS the researchers found some conflicts at the API level. The devices contains a mixture of API keys from Android 4.4 and Android 4.2 that are both test-keys (not for public use) and release-keys. As test-keys are not finalized they ship with more security bugs than their final counterparts. However the combination of both test and release keys could be incredibly problematic as bugs will no doubt arise just by combining the two.

Bluebox researchers did on the device was a scan for suspicious apps — malware, spyware or adware. They found three apps considered to be risky. The most problematic of which was an app called Yt Service as it disguises its developer package to make it look like it came from Google — which is not the case. Next up were apps called PhoneGuardService which was identified as a Trojan and AppStats which is classified as riskware.

Bluebox gives the device a low trustable score of 2.6. By virtue of the fact that it runs a forked version of Android, Xiaomi devices ship with security flaws that have been long ago patched by Google.

For its part Xiaomi has not responded to Bluebox’s attempts for responsible disclosure — approaching the vendor first before going public.

Bluebox told VR World that it did not accept outside funding for this study.

Update 4:50 China Standard Time:

Xiaomi sent in this response:

“We are investigating this matter now. There are glaring inaccuracies in the Bluebox blog post, as official Xiaomi devices do not come rooted and do not have any malware pre-installed. It is likely that the Mi 4 that Bluebox obtained has been tampered with.”

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People visiting Barcelona this month for the Mobile World Congress 2015 will be greeted by Huawei’s (SHE: 002502) new smart watch, which introduces a mix of old and new in a very good way.

The new wearable was simply introduced as the “Huawei Watch”. The basic overall design of the watch exude a classic look and finish, something that we are accustomed to with old-century type watches. The screens are even glazed in sapphire crystal, as well as being encased in stainless steel, which clearly introduces it as more than just another wearable. What’s obviously different though is that this is a smart watch, and has all the nifty perks modern wearables have today. It has a 1.2 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. The screen itself shows off its bright and crisp 1.4-inch 400×400 AMOLED display.

Like with many other wearables, it will feature various kinds of sensors and monitors, including a barometer, a heart rate monitor, and a standard accelerometer/gyroscope. It will also use the Android Wear OS.

As the advertisement states “classic design and impeccable craftsmanship” meshed with “state-of-the-art wearable technology”. So far, at least according to the demo announcement, the “Huawei Watch” does not disappoint. The old, stylistic look certainly warrants it the premium treatment, as quaint as it may seem to be. Performance-wise, it should be able to handle the Android Wear OS, though we may have to see the actual commercial version to firmly assess this.

Ad placements at the Barcelona Airport have been welcoming arriving guests with a discreet announcement for its “Huawei Watch”, even since before Huawei’s official announcement of the new product a few days ago. The billboards, which has the slogan “Timeless design. Smart within.” written on it, are basically teasers that introduced one of its three possible color versions: silver, gold, and black.

No prices announced yet, but Huawei announced that it will be available very soon.

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During its keynote at the 2015 Mobile World Congress, Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) gave a few more details on its upcoming Snapdragon 820 flagship SoC.

While the details during the keynote were rather sparse, we did learn a few important things. First the chip’s CPU will be Qualcomm’s new Kyro 64-bit architecture using ARMv8. Dubbed Kyro, this will be fabricated on a 16nm process node likely from TSMC (TPE: 2330). No details on the chip’s GPU or CPU speed were announced.

However the most talked about feature of the Snapdragon 820 will not be the Kyro CPU, but rather the machine learning integrated into the chip called Zeroth. Qualcomm says Zeroth will allow the device to learn more about its surroundings by collecting data from all of its sensors such as its microphone and camera. All of the processing and machine learning will be done locally on-chip rather than in the cloud.

Qualcomm said that Zeroth’s capabilities will evolve over time. Its first use cases will be simple but things will improve as time goes on. Qualcomm said that it will have a number of technology demos on the show floor later this week.

For Qualcomm this is a way to differentiate its chips from the competition. Having lost the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge to the competition (in this case Samsung’s (KRX:005930) home-grown SoCs), Qualcomm needs something spectacular to set its chips apart from the competition. Progressively faster CPU and GPU speeds just won’t cut it anymore.

The Snapdragon 820 will start shipping in the second half of this year. Qualcomm did not say when devices containing it will be available to consumers.

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Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) unveiled three chips in its mobile Atom lineup at the 2015 Mobile World Congress, emulating its “good-better-best” style used for desktop and mobile Core processors.

The Atom x3, which occupies the low end of the lineup, is based on Intel’s SoFIA platform and comes with an integrated 3G or LTE baseband. The x3 will come in three editions, targeting different use cases and price points.

The first is the low-cost x3-C3130, which is intended for budget smartphones or devices marketed to the developing world. It has a 64-bit 1Ghz processor, Mali 400 MP2 GPU, and an integrated 3G modem.

Next is the Atom x3-C3230RK. It has a quad-core 1.2GHz CPU, with a Mali 450 MP4 GPU and 3G connectivity. Intel says this chip will be competitive against the likes of MediaTek’s MT6582 and Qualcomm’s MSM8212 by 50%.

Lastly we have the Atom x3-C3440, which is targeted at higher-end devices in the low-cost marketspace. It has an integrated LTE baseband, a 1.4GHz quad-core 64-bit CPU with Mali T720 MP2 GPU and NFC connectivity.

Intel said that the x3 lineup of chips would be integrated in devices between $75-$149.

On the higher end is the x5 and x7 lineup, formerly known as Cherry Trail. These are targeted at higher-end devices running Windows (Windows 10 will be fully supported) or Android. Chips in these lineups will be the first to be fabricated on Intel’s 14nm process node. They will not have an integrated modem so they will be required to be paired with something like the Intel XMM 726x.

Intel also announced that many leading vendors have already committed to building devices with the x3, x5 and x7 Atom chips.

More information on these chips, including in-depth benchmarking, is likely to be available at IDF Shenzhen in April.

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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) opened a press conference Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress with the announcement of its new Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL smartphones. These two new phones are targeted towards a bigger tech market with its lowered price point, making it available to more consumers.

The Lumia 640 and the Lumia 640 XL are both technically the successor to the Lumia 630 and Lumia 1320 respectively. Featuring the Clear Black Display, the Lumia 640 sports a 5-inch, 1280×720 screen, while the Lumia 640 XL ups the size a bit to 5.7-inch. Spec-wise both are almost the same, 1.2 Ghz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. The Lumia 640 gets an 8-megapixel front camera while the Lumia 640 XL gets its 13-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics camera.

The Lumia 640

Lumia 640 XL

Perhaps the most notable feature of both phones is its one-year free subscription to Office 365 Personal, which saves its users at least $70 worth for the new units. Coupled with its relatively low-cost, Microsoft aims to widen the base for Windows Phone users, which would in turn help the development of more apps for its mobile OS.

Information for the announcement of the two new Windows Phone models was actually already leaked at least a day prior to the press conference at the Mobile World Congress. The leak was through an empty link header, which clearly detailed the announcement in the title.

Both the Lumia 640 and the Lumia 640 XL will be installed with Windows Phone 8.1. However, the two phones are also designed to be upgradeable to Windows 10 later on after it becomes officially released. It will be commercially available sometime around this month, at an equivalent price of about $156 (3G) and $178 (LTE) for the Lumia 640, and about $212 (3G) and $245 (LTE) for the Lumia 640 XL. It will also be available in matte and glossy versions, as well as in cyan, orange and black colors.

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The 2015 Mobile World Congress has kicked off this week in Barcelona, and the phone announcements and releases are coming in fast. Samsung (KRX: 005930) gave the press a first peek at its flagship Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge Sunday night in Barcelona.

Also read: Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Will Have a Problem at MWC 2015

Samsung’s flagship for the year comes with a big boost in speed and specs compared to its predecessor. The phone comes with two processors from Samsung’s Exynos line, an octa-core 2.1 Ghz SoC and a 1.5 Ghz quad-core SoC, 3 GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel screen, 32/64/128 GB of storage, a 2500 mAh battery, a 5.1-inch screen, a screen resolution of 2500 x 1440 with 577 PPI, and Android 5.0. Some of the drawbacks include not having the ability to expand onboard memory via microSD and due to the new design implemented, the battery is no longer removable on either model.

The Galaxy S6 will be available in two versions: the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge. The internals of both smartphones remain the same, the only difference is the Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a curved display.

The curved screen offers the ability to see notifications and launch other applications. As you can see the Galaxy S6 Edge is an interesting exercise in industrial design, but it’s not clear how much of a benefit the curved screen will add — and if it will be worth it for the price premium it will command.

Overall Samsung has an interesting and compelling update to its Galaxy line. But the problem Samsung has, which it also had last year with the Galaxy S5, is that the incrementally updated feature set does not justify the buying a new handset. The specs simply aren’t revolutionary enough, and the pent-up demand is not there. The curved screen found in the Galaxy S6 Edge is a positive update, but time — and sales — will tell on where consumer preferences lie.

The Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge go on sale worldwide April 10.

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Smartphone commoditization has hit Taiwan’s HTC (TPE: 2498) hard. The top handset maker by volume in the US in 2011, HTC cratered over the next two years, posting its first annual loss in 2013 as Samsung (KRX: 005930) and low-cost Chinese brands chipped away at its market share. By 2014, HTC was no longer one of the top ten handset brands by shipments and held a pithy 1.5% share of the global market.

Analysts warned of HTC’s impending demise and suggested a buyout to increase its competitiveness. Going private would allow HTC to pursue strategies without an immediate payoff, but which would bear fruit in the long run, such as a push into lower-end handsets, they said.

HTC rejected the idea of a buyout. But it has cut costs, introduced cheaper handsets and is expanding into new product categories.

Following these moves, the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company has returned to profitability for three consecutive quarters. Its fourth-quarter profit rose 49% to $14.8 million over a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations of $10.4 million. Revenue increased 12% to $1.5 billion from $1.35 billion a year earlier. In the final three months of last year, HTC also posted its first quarterly sales growth since 2011.

HTC is forecasting an annual revenue increase of 30% this year.

Reading between the numbers

Aggressive cost cutting has driven HTC’s improved performance, industry experts say. A key part of that strategy has been outsourcing production of its non high-end handsets. In May 2014, chief financial officer Chang Chialin confirmed that contract manufacturers were making some HTC smartphones. He said the company’s outsourcing volume was below 50% of total shipments, but declined to specify the actual figure.

Compal Electronics (TPE: 2324) is handling a large portion of HTC’s orders. In 2014, the Taiwanese OEM made 2 million smartphones for HTC and may ship as many as 6 million this year, says Arthur Liao, a downstream analyst at Fubon Securities in Taipei. Compal also makes handsets for many other leading vendors including Sony (TYO: 6758) and makes Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Surface tablet.

“Outsourcing has improved the cost structure of HTC’s mid and low-end devices,” CK Lu, a principal research analyst at Gartner in Taipei, told VR World in an interview. “It’s an important part of their strategy to boost profitability.”

But there are limits to the benefits of outsourcing for HTC, because it still produces its premium smartphones in-house. Those high-margin devices are the company’s bread and butter, not lower-end handsets.

At the same time, HTC’s financials may be shakier than they appear. The New Taiwan dollar’s fall against the greenback was an important contributor to recent profitability, says Jeff Pu, an analyst at Yuanta Securities in Taipei.   “HTC was lucky that the NTD depreciated sharply,” he says. “Otherwise, they might have posted a loss in the fourth quarter.”

New product lines

As HTC tries to gain ground against its competitors, it is rapidly rolling out new product categories: tablet computers, action cameras, wearable devices, even a virtual-reality headset. The purpose of that diversification is to provide new sources of revenue and position the handset maker as a stronger consumer brand, analysts say.

“You can’t grow producing smartphones alone,” says Lu of Gartner. “The market is too saturated. HTC is the only major vendor without something else.”

Tablet computers are an odd place for HTC to start. Not only are the devices plummeting in popularity among consumers, but HTC’s previous foray into the tablet market in 2011-2012 was a flop. Its overpriced Flyer and Jetstream tablets each lasted less than a year.

Yet HTC is the producer of the new Nexus 9 tablet, which was released in October 2014. Reviewers have compared the device unfavorably to the iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, criticizing the Nexus 9’s poor battery performance, screen resolution and camera. Sales peaked for the Nexus 9 “in the first few days,” says Pu of Yuanta Securities, adding: “It’s going to be a disappointment.”

The “Re” waterproof action camera shows better potential. Also unveiled in October, the tube-shaped device features a 16-megapixel sensor, a wide-angle lens and HD video recording capability. Since the device connects to smartphones wirelessly, it will be able to live stream directly to YouTube under a planned partnership.

The Re camera is selling well, HTC says. In December, it forecast sales of 20,000 units of the device by the end of 2014, with strong momentum carrying into 2015. Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia, said at a product launch in February that the Re camera was performing well enough to boost the company’s overall first-quarter revenue.

HTC is competing with GoPro (NASDAQ: GOPRO) and Sony in the nascent action camera sector. Sander Research forecasts that market will grow 16% annually through 2018.

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC is taking its new product categories a step further with the launch of the Grip fitness band and Vive virtual-reality headset.

Grip is HTC’s first wearable device. The GPS-enabled fitness band was co-developed with the American sportswear company Under Armour, which supplies wearables to the US military. HTC is positioning the device as a fitness wearable rather than a smartwatch, but it does have email, message and phone functions. Grip is also compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

The Vive virtual-reality headset, which uses technology from the US game developer Valve, is the more intriguing of HTC’s two new gadgets. Vive provides a panoramic high-definition view and tracks body and head movements as the user walks. HTC says Vive’s mobility distinguishes it from Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s cardboard virtual-reality goggles, which users engage from the confines of a chair.

But unlike the Samsung or Google devices, HTC’s virtual-reality headset works only with PCs and consoles. HTC says it plans to make Vive compatible with mobile devices in the future.

A developer version of Vive will hit the market in spring and the device will be launched for consumers during this year’s holiday season.

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