Samsung's new Galaxy Note takes on Huawei in selfie beauty pageant

International News

Samsung unveiled a new version of the Galaxy Note smartphone on Wednesday with fast 5G network connection and improved camera features, hoping the premium model helps it revive slumping profit and widen the gap with struggling rival Huawei.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's trouble in the second quarter with a nearly 7% jump in smartphone sales, as the Chinese firm sold fewer phones in the global market after it was put on a U.S. trade blacklist in May.With emphasis on improved video and photography features, which helped Huawei become the world's No.2 smartphone vendor, Samsung hopes the Galaxy Note 10 will appeal to YouTubers and fans of social media.
Along with its first foldable phone, the big-screen Note 10, unveiled at an event in New York on Wednesday, is the South Korean tech firm's most important new product planned in the second half of this year to expand its mobile sales.
With two screen sizes of 6.3 inches and 6.8 inches, the Note 10 boasts enhanced video effects such as augmented reality and stabilization modes, and a front-facing camera centrally located at the top of the display for better selfies. It lacks a headphone jack, a tweak Apple Inc made to its smartphones three years ago.

 The Note 10 will be sold starting at $949.99 while the bigger Note 10 plus will start at $1,099. The Note 10 model with 5G capability will start at $1,299.99.The phone will go on sale from Aug. 23 and square off against Apple's latest iPhones, which are widely expected to come out later this year.Samsung declined to disclose its sales target for the new Note series, but said it expected to achieve higher sales volume than the predecessor Note 9 models...Read More

Apple likely to launch three iPhones in 2020 with 5G support: Report

International News

American technology behemoth Apple is likely to launch three models of its iPhone smartphones with 5G network support next year, according to the company’s analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The analyst earlier in his statement said that Apple might add 5G network support to at least two models of the three new iPhones planned in 2020. However, the company’s recent acquisition of chip-maker Intel’s smartphone modem business and revived relations with Qualcomm has fast tracked this process. The analyst believes that the company now have the resources to build 5G-ready iPhone in time to compete with its competitors, especially Android original equipment manufacturers – according to a news report in the Apple-centric technology news platform Macrumors.
The news report also states that Apple might use Qualcomm’s 5G chip in its first generation 5G phones, despite the fact that it now has access to Intel's smartphone modem chip business. This is because Apple will take time, until 2021, to build its own modem chips using Intel technology. Additionally, according to Kuo's earlier statement, the iPhone 2020-series might feature 5.4-inch to 6.7-inch screens. All three smartphones are expected to boast OLED panels.
Meanwhile, Apple is currently working on 2019 iPhones which are expected to launch sometime in September. The upcoming iPhone 2019-series is expected to get three models of different screen sizes, like the current generation iPhone. Codenamed the N104, D42 and D43, the upcoming iPhones are reported to be successor to the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, respectively.

 According to a recent news report in the 9to5mac, the upcoming iPhone models would come with a lightning port. All three 2019 iPhone models are also reported to be powered by A13 processor, details of which are still not known. Touted to be named the iPhone 11 series...Read More

Apple gets into 5G race; acquires Intel phone modem business for $1 billion

Current Affairs

American technology company Apple has announced the acquisition of chip-maker Intel's smartphone modem business for $1 billion.
Approximately 2,200 Intel employees will join Apple, along with intellectual property, equipment and leases, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker said in a statement late Thursday.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.
"This agreement enables us to focus on developing technology for the 5G network while retaining critical intellectual property and modem technology that our team has created," said Intel CEO Bob Swan.
"We're looking forward to putting our full effort into 5G where it most closely aligns with the needs of our global customer base, including network operators, telecommunications equipment manufacturers and cloud service providers," he added.
Apple will hold over 17,000 wireless technology patents, ranging from protocols for cellular standards to modem architecture and modem operation.
Intel will retain the ability to develop modems for non-smartphone applications, such as PCs, internet-of-things devices and autonomous vehicles.

 Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies said that Apple is excited to have excellent engineers join its growing cellular technologies group."They, together with our significant acquisition of innovative IP, will help expedite our development on future products and allow Apple to further differentiate moving forward," he added...Read More