Huawei takes Samsung’s crown as most profitable Android smartphone manufacturer

Apple dominates everyone with a staggering 91 percent operating profit market share but the very distant number 2 at 2.4 percent of the market share is Huawei. Samsung’s troubles with its Galaxy Note7 have given the Chinese brand the top spot in the Android device manufacturing game. Two other Chinese companies—Vivo and OPPO—have gained 2.2 percent market share each. Samsung has slipped to ninth in the third quarter, which is mostly attributed to the Note7’s troubles.

Source: VentureBeat

Watchmakers easing into smartwatch and fitness tracker market with a sense of style

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Two years ago, almost every smartphone or PC company had some sort of smartwatch in the market. The Apple Watch, a veritable latecomer to the segment, had yet to define its area of focus (something that's happened only in Q3 this year with watchOS 3 and Series 2 devices). 2016 saw smartwatch sales fall by up to 51 per cent according to some sources and various companies who were gung-ho on wearables have pulled out entirely.

This has made it possible for traditional watchmakers to move into the market but they have changed things up a bit by focusing on style and convenience over technological prowess. We now see companies like TAG-Heuer has a connected premium smartwatch, HP has teamed up with Movado, Michael Bastien, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Hugo Boss and Scuderia Ferrari to engineer various lines of fashion-first smartwatches that are aimed to entice traditional watch lovers.

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Apple obtains patent for bendable iPhone

Patents don’t usually translate into products but sometimes they do and certain ideas we want to see implemented—like this new patent Apple has recently been granted. The design in the patent shows what could be the basis for a foldable iPhone. Apple applied for the patent back in July 2014 and features a flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen that is reminiscent of clamshell phones of the past.

Apple has always relied on liquid-crystal displays (LCD) but rumours have been floating around that OLED is in Apple’s future. Having “bendable” phones isn’t exactly a new thing. The likes of LG have played around with the idea before so if a foldable iPhone is in our future we won’t be as surprised. What do you think? Is this something you’d want to have?

Source: Recode

Microsoft Solitaire comes to mobile

I remember the days when I’d waste so much time playing Solitaire on my Windows PC. Now, Microsoft wants us to relive those days on our mobile phones. The built-in Solitaire game—along with Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and Tripeaks—are coming to both Android and iOS. Called the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, the games will have Daily Challenges to let you play “guaranteed solvable” challenges daily in all the five gaming modes with varying and multiple levels of difficulty. Of course, awards will be offered for your effort.

Aside from the Daily Challenges, the collection gets Xbox Live integration. This means you can sign in with your Xbox Live gamertag or Microsoft account to earn Xbox Live achievements and Gamerscore, compete with friends, and even continue playing on your varied devices as your data is saved in the cloud.

Source: BGR