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MWC2019 is over, and before we start thinking about the next show that will pull us all away from our offices, it’s time to do a quick recap of what we saw. The inevitable big theme of the show was, of course, 5G with a smattering of VR to prove out possible use cases. But it was also a show that saw OEMs starting to develop more interesting smartphones, and not just foldables.
MWC19 is upon us and it’s poised to be an exciting show thanks to the hype around 5G and revolutionary hardware innovations, such as foldable displays. While 5G will be the buzz word of MWC19, we are unlikely to see many consumer-oriented 5G device/service unveilings because of the premature state of the technology in terms of network deployments and device hardware developments. Nevertheless, there will still be a lot to get excited about at the show.
Google has announced that it is buying wearable tech intellectual property rights - along with an un-named number of engineers – from the Fossil Group for $40 million. This move could indicate that the tech giant is finally getting serious about the development of its Wear OS platform after seeing its share of the smartwatch market fall below 25 percent, according to NPD’s latest Consumers and Wearables survey. The purchase of Fossil IP could also lay the groundwork for the eventual launch of a long rumored Google branded Pixel smartwatch.
When I was young and foolish, I used to commute into the center of London on a motorbike. It was a fast commute that involved silly speeds and very questionable riding decisions as I, and the many other motorcycle riders, rushed to get to work as quickly as possible. It was a fun, and not very smart way to commute: somehow I’m still here to write about it.
Apple caused a stir this week with the warning that it was going to miss smartphone sales expectations for the past quarter. While much of the focus was placed on the Chinese market, there’s far more to digest here. Fundamentally, consumers are not upgrading their iPhones as frequently as Apple had expected, but this should hardly be a surprise. And there are greater concerns looking forward.
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The smartphone market has become rather boring over the past few years. But that may be about to change as we enter the era of foldable screens, potentially giving consumers a reason to lust after the next smartphone innovation.
Huawei launched its latest smartphones today, the Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro; and while we don’t usually focus on a single product launch in a blog, this one is worth the attention for a couple of reasons. Huawei has managed to upstage the typical flagship smartphones with this latest launch; and the U.S. market will probably not even notice, despite the fact that this is a major smartphone launch from the second largest smartphone manufacturer worldwide.
We’ve entered the time of year when the latest and greatest smartphones are revealed, just in time for the upcoming holiday season. And, as usual, we’re going to be seeing some pretty neat enhancements in power management and camera specs. But… we’ve all been saying that for years.