Smartphone Sales leaders

We know that Sony has been shifting gears with their corporate strategy, trying to focus on devices, and components over their own consumer electronics products - so some of this isn't a surprise.

What is interesting overall is that this is a quite fluid list. Yes, there are some big players here who have remained big players -- Samsung, Apple and LG; but some drop off the list, and some have risen very quickly (Xaiomi & Micromax)

Don't think for a second that Sony couldn't pop back onto this list in a big way with the right innovations (they have the manufacturing capability -- and a lock on a certain component that could make them immensely more popular.)

With the big players desperate for innovation -- and some small players providing it. I think the landscape is very interesting and still very favorable for Microvision.

TechPP  - more at the source.


There’s no denying that Chinese OEMs are rocking the smartphone industry since the last few years with the IC Insights report for 2015 stating that 7 among the top 12 smartphone OEMs were based in China. This year’s report by the American analytical firm however cites some more interesting news. As per the report, some established market players including the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Coolpad have been kicked out of the Top 12 Smartphone OEMs list by a few emerging brands like Meizu and Micromax thanks to their breathtaking growth during the first quarter of 2016.

Sony, the Japanese giant has been struggling with its smartphone strategy, both in high end and low end markets. Recently, the company has tried to get rid of the Xperia Z series for Xperia X, but that doesn’t seem to have made any significant impact. Microsoft on the other hand, has almost given up on the Windows 10 Mobile, with hardly any new Lumia phones released since 950 and 950 XL. What was once considered to be a viable alternative for iOS and Android, is slowly but surely getting relegated to insignificance.

Micromax, the Indian smartphone maker has in fact jumped up to the 12th spot after having secured sale of 5 million smartphones in the last quarter, thereby making their first entry into the list. Sony, Microsoft and Coolpad on the other hand saw their figures of 3.4, 2.3 and 4 million respectively. The analytical firm expect Micromax to record a year on year growth of 74% leveraging on its head start in the first quarter of 2016. Thus it can be assumed that the homegrown smartphone brand isn’t quite facing a slowdown in the sales thanks to its Chinese counterparts, and going by the report, it seems to be dominating the retail smartphone market in the India.




Samsung however is still leading the pack with a sales figure of 81.7 million smartphones (Q1 2016) and is closely followed by Apple. IC Insights however expects them to incur a fall in their smartphone shipments by 1% and 3% respectively by the end of this year. Samsung’s Korean counterpart LG however has fallen down a rank and is now placed at 7th spot just below the high flying Vivo. Apart from that, most other Chinese smartphone makers have successfully held on to their places with Huawei and Oppo securing the 3rd and the 4th spots respectively.

Incidentally, Xiaomi which was one of the high flying Chinese smartphone brands during 2013 and 2014 has failed to make an impact this year and is still stuck at the 5th spot. With the likes of OnePlus 3, ZUK Z2 Pro competing with the Xiaomi Mi5 with their stellar price to performance ratio, Xiaomi needs more than just the Redmi Note 3 to turn tables.

Next Week: MicroVisions Engine Licensees - Sony and Foxconn

Barring something significant, this deal is done. 

MicroVision has two Engine partners: SONY and FOXCONN. Both occupy primary positions in Apple's supply chain.

I see this as a major advance for the company. Are things better this quarter than last? Absolutely.

Times of India

TOKYO: Sharp's two main banks are set to lower interest rates on billions of dollars in loans and offer other financial support as part of a planned takeover by Taiwan's Foxconn, a source with direct knowledge of the plan said.

The move is partly a response to a last-minute hitch to the signing of the deal over potential liabilities at the ailing Japanese display maker, although some of the discussions have been going on for a while, the source said.

He added that the deal is now likely to be announced next week.

The core banking units of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group have extended the vast majority of Sharp's 510 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in syndicated loans which are due at the end of the month.

Major customers of Foxconn include or have included: (From Wikipedia)

• Acer Inc. (Taiwan)^[56]
• Amazon.com (United States)^[8]
• Apple Inc. (United States)^[57]
• BlackBerry Ltd. (Canada)^[58]
• Cisco (United States)^[59]
• Dell (United States)^[60]
• Google (United States)^[61]
• Hewlett-Packard (United States)^[62]
• Huawei (China)^[63]
• Microsoft (United States)^[64]
• Motorola Mobility (United States)^[60]
• InFocus (United States)
• Nintendo (Japan)^[65]
• Nokia (Finland)^[57][66]
• Sony (Japan)^[67]
• Toshiba (Japan)^[68]
• Xiaomi (China)^[69]
• Vizio (United States)^[70]

AND LENOVO... 

From Pocketnow

Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Acer, Nokia, Toshiba, Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, are just a few of Foxconn’s largest clients. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group, is a Taiwanese company that also happens to be the world’s largest electronics contractor manufacturer. At a recent company shareholder meeting, the company’s chairman, Terry Guo, made some reassuring statements.

According to Guo, this year, in 2015, Foxconn will become the world’s largest desktop, tablet, and smartphone OEM (original equipment manufacturer) / ODM (original design manufacturer). Foxconn is also the largest OEM for iPhones, and Guo reassured the shareholders — worried about Apple contracting other OEMs — that the company has been collaborating with Apple since the first generation of its products, and will continue to be Apple’s major OEM.

Thank you William!

Xiaomi Releasing new product - tomorrow?

There are apparently two events, coming up soon. I'm paying attention to "mystery handset" language. Especially when it's an innovative company like Xiaomi.

Phone Arena

There is now some rumble about a July 16th event, during which the company will be revealing a mystery handset. Some speculate that it may, in fact, be the new Mi 5 flagship. It still may turn out that this is not the case, but a new rumor will have use on our toes yet – according to Chinese tech blog Mobile Dad, the Mi 5 may be announced on the 5th of August – just 3 weeks from now.


Silicon India
Chinese Smartphone maker, Xiaomi, is rumored to launch its Mi5 tomorrow. The company posted teasers across social media about their upcoming product. However, they did not mention anything about what the product actually is, reports BGR India.

Micromax: A Company to Watch Closely

This company produces new phones quickly. They take chances. They're innovative.

Of course, at a rate this fast, producing a PicoP product, separate from their phones seems to validate the "stand alone first" strategy of MicroVision management.

There's a lot more at the original article.


At Wall Street Journal


Early last year, product planners at India’s best-selling phone maker decided consumers wanted a handset that could be operated in many of the country’s 20-plus official languages.

Four months later, Micromax Informatics Ltd. unveiled the $110 Unite, which let users label their apps, type, send messages and interact on social media in 21 different scripts—from Marathi and Gujarati to Tamil—rather than just English and Hindi, as is common for Indian phones.

“We turn around faster than any other company,” said Micromax Chief Executive Vineet Taneja,as he reviewed mock-up models of more than 10 phones in the company’s buzzing Delhi headquarters.

Micromax sits at the bleeding edge of the global smartphone wars.

While Apple Inc. launches only two new iPhone models a year and Xiaomi around four, Micromax shipped more than 30 new smartphones last year ranging in price from $50 to more than $300—as well as a host of no-frills feature phones.

Micromax cuts language barrier



The most unique feature of Unite 3 would be, a user can easily translate or transliterate (change the script of the text) on the phone.

The awaited technology would be as simple as just swiping the screen on the phone which would perform the former operation within a few seconds.

Mystery Port -- UPDATED

Something worth paying attention to: I have no idea what this is or what it means.

It's interesting, because if a case-based or "sled" accessory using PicoP were created, a separate port for the projector would be an optimal. Wireless connections take time to established, and are vulnerable to interference.

With a wired connection a PicoP projector could be "instant on" which would be fantastic for picture sharing.

Very interesting something, but not anything for sure.

These may well be USB3 ports -- which should be appearing in the new Apple MacBook as well.

TWO leaked photos of two different phone brands have "mystery ports on them.

"The leaks also suggest the inclusion of a mysterious port located at the bottom of the device, adjacent to the more predictable USB port. The hole is roundly elongated."  Here

A port next to the microUSB on the bottom of the smartphone is the biggest mystery in the unannounced Xperia Z4. With the 3.5mm audio jack sitting on top of the device, we are yet to find out what purpose will the element follow.

This Xiaomi Mi 5 Image (not yet released as well, has a similar sized port in a similar location.)


From Android Authority