Huawei surpasses Apple in global smartphone market share for Q2 2018

Power Trio: The Huawei P20 Pro Review

Huawei had a great second quarter for 2018. Data coming from IDC and Canalys show the Chinese tech company surpassing Apple and taking second place when it comes to the number of smartphones shipped worldwide. Huawei has shipped over 54 million handsets for Q2 2018 compared to the 41.3 million iPhones from Apple. Samsung is at number one with 73 million units shipped. According to the press release from IDC, “The arrival of Huawei in the second position marks the first quarter since 2Q10 where Apple has not been the number one or two smartphone company in terms of market share.”

Click to read more ...

Logitech will buy Blue Microphones for US$117 million

Logitech is securing its place in the high-end audio recording market with its latest acquisition. The company just announced that it is buying Blue Microphones for US$117 million. It’ll be an all-cash transaction. Blue, which is known for creating USB condenser mics like the Snowball and Yeti, will be joining Logitech’s other brands like Astro Gaming, Jaybird, and Ultimate Ears.

In a blog post announcing the deal, Logitech wrote, “For Logitech, this is a new space. But, at the same time, it’s not at all. Gamers are already using our Logitech G webcams to stream. People are video calling with friends and family thanks to Logitech every day. And in business, our audio and video know-how is apparent every time a video meeting takes place at the office. Joining up with Blue and their microphone lines is a logical adjacent opportunity with great synergies.”

Facebook accidentally makes plane reaction emoji available to Android users

One new Facebook reaction emoji wasn’t supposed to go live. But it was spotted by some eagle-eyed Android users before the social network could take it down. Among the list of available reactions on the app, a cute little airplane emoji showed up. A lot of people assumed this was a feature Facebook was testing or getting ready to launch. (Although, we question what an airplane emoji could even mean.) Facebook was quick to dispel the news. Apparently, it was part of an employee hackathon and it wasn’t meant to go live. A Facebook spokesperson said, “This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn’t cleared for takeoff. Our apologies.”

Source: Fast Company

Apple reports $53.3B revenue record for fiscal 3Q on strength of services segment

Apple just reported that its financial results for its fiscal 2018 third quarter ended June 30, 2018. Apple Inc. posted quarterly revenue of $53.3 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.34, up 40 percent. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple's current market cap is $935 billion. If stock value continues to rise above 7 percent, Apple is on its way to becoming the first trillion-dollar company at a price of US $203.46 per share.

This record revenue was fueled largerly by a whopping 31 per cent increase revenue from services which encompass various Apple Store, iTunes, Apple Pay, AppleCare, licensing and other ecosystem-related plays.

Click to read more ...