With Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 getting underway in Barcelona this week, it’s worth reflecting on one advantage of 5G that often goes under the radar – its positioning prowess. Mobile networks have long had the ability to triangulate user equipment based on signals received from neighboring base stations, but 5G positioning takes this to the next level.

What’s more, while ramping up the accuracy of radio-based positioning typically incurs a cost for users – who may need to install additional hardware – 5G breaks this trend by using existing communications technology to deliver high-resolution location information at a lower price point.

MWC Barcelona 2024 is officially OPEN!!

Don't forget to join the conversation using #MWC24 and #4YFN24 and enjoy the event! pic.twitter.com/uD1vHenuTA

— #MWC24 (@MWCHub) February 26, 2024

Want to know more about 5G positioning? Then MWC 2024 is the place to be.

Thanks to features added to the global wireless standard, 5G networks offer positioning capabilities that can pinpoint connected devices within a 1 m area, and that’s just the beginning. “5G Advanced represents a further development of 5G technology and promises faster data transmission of 20 GBit/s and localization accuracies of 20-30 cm to meet the growing demands of the connected world,” writes the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer-Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen).

Applications are numerous and will appeal to industrial users in particular. As Ericsson – a provider of indoor 5G positioning systems – points out, smart manufacturing operators can use real-time location information to specify tool settings. “Tightening wheels and putting on car doors requires different torque curves,” explain Magnus Kristersson and Partha Sarathy – product specialists at the global communications technology firm – in a related blog post. “With indoor 5G positioning, we can automate getting the right torque curve to the right tool while disabling tools that are not in a work cell.”

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Defining 5G in terms of business and enterprise use cases

Qualcomm – a developer of chips for mobile devices – has put together a test bed highlighting its industrial precise positioning capabilities using 5G and complementary technologies. In the demonstration, engineers used 5G positioning augmented with machine learning RF fingerprinting to locate machinery under non-line-of-sight conditions.

The setup has six 5G transmission reception points distributed within the facility, which can follow objects of interest with high precision thanks to the data fusion approach.

On TechHQ, we’ve written about how private 5G networks can be a game-changer for businesses. Firms can use private 5G networks to bring connectivity to locations not readily served by public mobile networks – for example, operations in remote areas. But the benefits don’t have to stop there.

If companies are looking for accurate real-time location services on top of data transmission capabilities then it’s possible that 5G networks could perform both duties, saving on the amount of upfront investment required.

Modern wireless standards such as 5G feature positioning reference signals, which can be received passively by user equipment to help pinpoint devices. It’s also possible to measure round trip time using multiple cells to deliver positioning information. And one of the big breakthroughs is the use of angular based methods that report on the arrival of signals across 5G antenna arrays.

Researchers in Sweden have shown how developments have made it possible to perform vehicular positioning with only a single base station, which shows how car-makers could automate navigation when GPS signals are unavailable.

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Edge computing keeps 5G in the fast lane and on the pulse

Satellite navigation can become unpredictable when relatively weak GPS signals are blocked in dense urban areas. Mass transit systems such as trains can also be disrupted when satellite positioning fails, as their automatic door-opening systems depend on GPS functionality.

The list of potential use cases for 5G positioning is long and includes use cases indoors and outdoors, from asset tracking to emergency rescue. Plus, solutions can be portable – such as the Fraunhofer IIS Nomadic 5G positioning testbed, which the institute has on display at MWC 2024.

The post 5G positioning adds to cellular network skillset appeared first on TechHQ.

If you’re not making use of your smartphone’s multiple eSIM capabilities to save money on international roaming charges, then it’s time to change that. Digital nomads have long known the secret to paying less for mobile internet – as countless travel vlogs reveal. However, many business travelers are still paying over the odds for mobile access to email and other internet services overseas. Activating an international travel eSIM on your smartphone could massively reduce your data roaming charges, based on research by TechHQ.

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Defining 5G in terms of business and enterprise use cases

For example, customers can face network access charges of more than USD $8 per day if they use their national data plans overseas. But what subscribers may not realize is that they could activate an international travel eSIM instead and switch seamlessly to a data provider offering much more competitive roaming rates at their destination.

Of course, one way of avoiding high data roaming charges is to simply turn off data roaming on your phone. But it’s a big sacrifice to make. You’ll be missing out on all of the benefits that the internet brings to international travel. Having live maps and travel tips at your fingertips makes getting around much easier and – for business travelers – having cellular data will keep you in touch with colleagues and clients while you’re on the move.

How to activate an international travel eSIM

The good news is that not only is an international travel eSIM much more affordable than using your national data plan overseas, it’s straightforward to set up too. In fact, it may be as simple as scanning a QR code using your smartphone camera and applying a couple of device settings.

Today, there are numerous international travel eSIM providers to choose from (see examples in the list below) and users can select travel eSIM plans for an individual country, groups of destinations, or even products with global coverage. Plans are competitively priced by duration – for example, 5, 10, 15, or 30 days – and by the amount of data that customers expect to use.

Also, if users underestimate their mobile data roaming needs, it is straightforward to top up and purchase additional capacity. Travel eSIM customers can log into their accounts and access a dashboard that shows how much data they have consumed so far, the amount remaining, and its expiry date.

Examples of international travel eSIM providers –

• Airalo
• Holafly
• Maya Mobile
• Nomad

Once the eSIM has been added to the mobile device, it needs to be activated, which will require internet access. Typically, travelers will make use of free Wi-Fi at their destination – for example, at the airport. However, you can skip having to search for an access point and avoid the security concerns of using free Wi-Fi by activating the travel eSIM the day before you travel when connected to a trusted router.

Naturally, the smartphone will report that its unable to connect to the target cellular network (because you are at home and the mobile network partner is only active at your destination). But the travel eSIM will now be active and ready to connect to the local cellular data provider as soon as you arrive. The only penalty for doing this is that your plan will now be running, depending on the start date that you’ve selected.

Check that your phone is unlocked

If your smartphone is tied to a specific carrier then you’ll likely run into problems when trying to setup your international travel eSIM. However, it’s easy to check whether your device is unlocked or not. On an iPhone, simply navigate to Settings>General>About and scroll down to the panel containing ‘Network Provider Lock’ information.

You’ll want to confirm that there are no SIM restrictions in the Network Provider Lock box before going ahead and purchasing an international eSIM. And if your device is carrier-locked then you’ll need to contact your mobile network provider to get that SIM restriction removed.

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Once you can see the new eSIM listed – having either scanned a QR code using your smartphone camera or entering the respective codes manually – you’re ready for the final setup steps.

You may want to keep the default voice line to ‘Primary’ (your original device SIM) as this will mean that you can receive SMS alerts from your bank, which can be useful. Although note that making and receiving calls could still incur a charge from your national provider, if you choose this option.

Switching our attention to data roaming, it’s important to turn this option off for the ‘Primary’ SIM and to turn it on for the newly added international travel eSIM. This means that smartphone will default to the more affordable travel eSIM line for data usage, saving you from the higher cost of using your Primary SIM.

If users have their Primary SIM selected for voice and regular SMS, and a travel eSIM selected for data roaming, they’ll notice a double set of signal strength bars.

Once you’ve got into the swing of using an international travel eSIM there’s no going back to those high data roaming charges. And although devices such as Apple’s iPhone can only have two SIMs in use at one time, it’s still possible to have up to eight registered on the device.

Business travelers can simply switch their installed eSIMs on and off as they make their various journeys. Deleting an eSIM means that you’ll need to scan a new QR code to continue using that data roaming service. Also, it’s worth paying attention to the terms and conditions as some travel eSIMs allow tethering and some don’t – if you’re planning on sharing your data roaming allowance with other users.

The post Install an international travel eSIM and pay less for data roaming appeared first on TechHQ.

• 5G networks may suit your organization.
• Some physical and technological problems exist.
• Don’t believe the marketing hype.

5G is one of those buzzwords that tend to be mentioned as part of a longer string whenever ‘next generation’ technologies are mentioned: AI, Web 3, the metaverse, and 5G. But unlike the elusive Web 3, the non-existent metaverse, and the disappointingly average ‘AI,’ 5G is a technology with practical use cases for businesses and private organizations today.

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UK government invests in 5G connectivity

As the next step in cellular technology, 5G gets a great deal of airtime in the mainstream media, with cell networks proudly offering new phones, tablets, and hotspots equipped and ready for the very latest in interconnectivity. But short of upgrading your business fleet of cellphones to 5G, what are the practical effects of 5G in operational terms for businesses?

The headline features of 5G are its speed of data transfer and, sometimes more importantly, its low latency – the time taken, measured in milliseconds, for data flows to begin between devices and the nearest tower or access point. Low latency means that 5G-equipped devices can react more quickly to incoming data (there’s less waiting time between the sides of digital conversations) and have their outbound messages more quickly sent and acted on.

That’s why autonomous vehicles, for example, usually have a 5G element in their technological arsenals: fast updates to a real-time situation don’t suffer from delays in communication that would otherwise affect operations. If the car in front of you brakes sharply, and your autonomous vehicle is in a digitally controlled convoy of similar vehicles, your vehicle will know to brake an instant sooner and so avoid running into the car in front. The same could be said of fast-moving production lines comprising multiple machines: fast, low-latency comms between each would be advantageous in the event of a speed-up or sudden stop in throughput. The same situation might benefit from fine, real-time control over machinery, where one device’s performance can attenuate another’s speed.

“Worker in an industrial factory” by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

5G networks explained

One of the downsides to 5G networks though is that to achieve faster communications, they use a higher frequency band of radio waves to communicate. And if your high school physics lessons stuck, you’ll know that the higher the frequency of a radio wave, the more susceptible it is to being blocked by an object, like a building or insensitively-placed hill between sender and receiver.

As a result, high-frequency radio waves effectively don’t travel as far due to their tendency to be absorbed by obstacles (that’s why you mostly hear the thumping, low-frequency bass in music from a noisy neighbor’s party and not so much of the higher-frequency vocals).

Data interchange on 5G happens on three frequency bands, low, mid, and high (the latter sometimes termed mmWave), to help ensure the best balance between distance, reliability, and speed.

In private settings and the right environments, therefore, 5G offers the types of speed and low latency equal to or in excess of cabled networks, but with all the advantages of wireless communications. Public, private, and hybrid (combining the first two) networks comprise cell points, a RAN (radio access network), a core that manages traffic, physical SIMs (the transmit/receive mechanism analogous to an old-school modem) and various mechanisms to prioritize or otherwise slice a network according to priorities or need. A large company with many manufacturing plants may use a hybrid 5G network, with the different facilities bridged by public 5G, yet operate a series of private 5G networks at each of the premises.

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Huawei ends DC lobbying: What’s next for US-China relations?

Notably, the frequency bands licensed for 5G vary from country to country, so sourcing equipment must be done carefully. Cheap imports may or may not work as desired and operate on unlicensed frequencies. The latter means that users may not actually be liable for prosecution – although this is probably worth some research – but could be subject to interference from others using the same frequency bands, whether accidentally or deliberately.

Private 5G networks offer several advantages, whether local to a single site or more widely spread over a hospital complex or college campus. The first is the ability to limit access to the network and isolate users from third parties. High-security installations will find this advantageous, as will environments where IIoT or IoT devices need to be separated from other networks.

5G in the workplace

The speed of 5G, especially if nodes are within direct line-of-sight, means disparate and widely-spread buildings or groups of buildings can be connected to one another easily, making a LAN (local area network) into a WAN (wide area network) with little overhead in terms of speed and responsiveness encountered by users. In the past, such connections were made by microwave radio links, which used even higher frequency connections that could be susceptible to interruptions caused by, for instance, heavy rain or wind blowing roof-mounted aerials slightly out of line.

Practical uses of 5G internal to an organization, therefore, depend very much on the type of business. In controlled and known areas, where high-speed comms and low latency are important, 5G offers some significant advantages. The costs of hardware and associated technology have dropped in price significantly in some markets over the last two or three years, especially where consumer uptake of 5G has been healthy. In the same way, few businesses would undertake upgrading their ethernet infrastructure from 5 to 6 wiring – using an outside contractor with appropriate experience and skills is likely the best way forward.

Unlike the consumer segment for 5G, which is driven almost entirely by marketing creating demand that need not exist (4G provides enough speed and bandwidth for high-quality video streams to most modern smartphones), there is no need to deploy 5G with a private network or public network subscription without just cause. But in some situations, this next generation of cell technology can be a game-changer for the early adopter.

“A candid shot from the iPhone production line.” by followthethings.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The post The limited business case for 5G appeared first on TechHQ.

• Huawei has submitted a formal notice announcing the termination of its lobbying efforts at the Capitol.
• The move signals a more substantial attempt from China to decouple from the US.
• The Chinese telecommunications giant allocated more than $13 million for lobbying efforts in the past decade.

More than a decade ago, Huawei Technologies, based in China, embarked on an extensive and costly mission to establish a stronghold in the North American market. In the early phases of this endeavor, the Chinese telecommunications giant significantly increased its lobbying expenditure in Washington, prompted by the US government’s investigation into potential Chinese espionage risks and threats to America’s telecommunications infrastructure posed by Huawei’s presence.

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Huawei: A teardown of the latest laptop shows a chip made in Taiwan, not China

However, despite facing scrutiny since 2012, Huawei has vehemently and consistently denied all allegations, particularly those related to its supposed ties with the Chinese military. Washington has remained skeptical, considering Huawei’s global dominance as the world’s largest telecom equipment supplier and the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer. With its technology spanning the globe and a substantial budget dedicated to research and development, Huawei has emerged as a frontrunner in 5G technology.

The concerns escalated as Washington began questioning Huawei’s potential involvement in espionage, given its widespread deployment in numerous cell towers and network infrastructure throughout the US. Despite Huawei’s claims that its products posed no threat, by 2022, US regulators had taken stringent measures, prohibiting the company from selling its products in the US and imposing restrictions on its access to advanced technology.

Huawei continued its lobbying in the US as it still had ambitious plans for market expansion. The company had always planned to establish a stronger foothold in the American telecommunications landscape. But it became apparent that navigating the complex regulatory environment and addressing concerns related to national security were paramount.

Unsurprisingly, Huawei’s lobbying efforts faced formidable challenges, particularly as the company became a focal point in the US-China trade tensions. On top of espionage, allegations of cybersecurity threats and growing skepticism from policymakers posed significant hurdles. 

In due course, Huawei became ensnared in a complex network of restrictions, notably being added to the Entity List by the US Department of Commerce. Despite challenges, Huawei adopted a multi-faceted approach to counter the negative narrative. The company invested heavily in building relationships with lawmakers, government agencies, and industry influencers. After all, Huawei has aimed to dispel concerns about its ties to the Chinese government and present itself as a responsible and transparent player in the global technology landscape. 

Huawei also launched extensive public relations campaigns to improve its image. These campaigns highlighted the company’s contributions to technological innovation, job creation, and efforts to bridge the digital divide.

Eventually, the company initiated a gradual reduction in its lobbying endeavors, culminating in a complete cessation, as reported by Bloomberg last week.

How much did Huawei spend on lobbying in the US?

It was Huawei itself that officially notified the termination of its lobbying activities at the Capitol. The company has also discontinued its operations at the Plano, Texas offices, as confirmed by Trey Smith, the executive vice president at CBRE, a real estate services firm managing leases for the building, in an email to Bloomberg.

At its peak, Huawei boasted a squad of nine lobbying firms and a cadre of public relations representatives working in its service. Top-level executives frequently orchestrated briefings with congressional offices and prominent news outlets. Federal filings reveal that the company allocated over US$13 million to lobbying efforts in the last decade alone.

The Chinese wireless equipment maker spent tens of millions of dollars trying to win over US policymakers. Source: Bloomberg.

For context, in just one quarter of 2019, Huawei’s spending on federal lobbying skyrocketed to US$1.8 million, marking a six-fold surge from the previous year. The company’s total lobbying expenditure in the US for 2021 amounted to US$3.6 million, per official filings. Some of these funds were allocated to extravagant events attended by prominent figures, including seasoned Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, who reportedly earned US$1 million from Huawei that year. 

Podesta officially concluded his work for Huawei on December 30, 2022, according to disclosures with the US Senate. “The US market isn’t a likely place for a breakthrough for Huawei in the near future,” Chris Pereira, a former Huawei public relations executive and founder of the consultancy iMpact, told Bloomberg.

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With a solid ban in effect and minimal business presence in the US, Huawei has little incentive to continue depleting funds on lobbying efforts in Washington. So much so that the company’s final two registered lobbyists, Jeff Hogg and Donald Morrissey, departed in recent months. 

Morrissey, who lobbied for Huawei and Futurewei, confirmed via LinkedIn that he departed the company in December. He now holds the position of senior director of government affairs at the battery technology company Gotion. Hogg, Huawei’s head of government relations since 2020, left the company in November, per his LinkedIn profile. Requests for comment from Hogg went unanswered.

“The lobbyists’ recent departures follow an exodus of staff from Huawei’s US operations and mark a quiet end to the company’s costly, years-long effort to maintain a presence in the North American market. The firm reached its peak by supplying small mobile firms across the US even as major carriers shunned it. Rising tensions with Beijing eventually all but banned it,” the report by Bloomberg reads.

With Huawei ending its lobbying gam, what’s next in the US-China tussle?

As Huawei bows out of Washington, it marks the end of a chapter in its American aspirations. Yet the company is far from bereft of alternatives. Responding to the US ban, China’s government has decried unfair practices, while Huawei pivots to cultivate its domestic market and spearhead technological advancements. For now, how Huawei fills the void left by the US market remains uncertain. 

The upside is that Huawei is anticipated to shine brightly in the smartphone industry in 2024, and the China-based telco giant is poised for a substantial surge in global shipments, marking a projected double-digit growth. A report from research firm TechInsights recently suggested that the company might emerge as a significant surprise in the overseas market. Will Huawei dominate its native China after teh Mate Pro 60, and grow from there as a symbol of an alternative way for tech firms to expand?

Watch this space.

The post Huawei ends DC lobbying: What’s next for US-China relations? appeared first on TechHQ.

• The 5nm chip in the laptop was manufactured by TSMC in 2020, coinciding with the period when US sanctions restricted Huawei from accessing chipmakers.
• TechInsights‘ discovery suggests that Kirin 9006C assembly and packaging took place in the third quarter of 2020, aligning with the timing of the 2020 Huawei sanctions that began in the second quarter.
• How long can stored chips fuel a fight against US restrictions?

In August 2023, Huawei Technologies Co. achieved a momentous breakthrough, seemingly defying the constraints of US sanctions on semiconductor advancements. The pivotal discovery emerged through a meticulous examination of the primary chip nestled within the Mate 60 Pro smartphone, revealing that Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) had bypassed Washington’s attempts to restrict Huawei’s access to high-performance chips.

The chips showcased 7-nanometer technology, defying stringent limitations that confined Chinese companies to chip production beyond the 14 or 16-nm threshold. 

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With a sense of technological triumph, Chinese state media celebrated the microchips at the core of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro as a powerful testament to Chinese ingenuity, breaking free from the constraints imposed by America’s blockade on advanced chipmaking technologies.

The technological mission statement of the Mate 60, not to mention its performance as a smartphone, captured the hearts of Chinese consumers in the last quarter of 2023, propelling Huawei beyond the symbolic revenue threshold of US$100 billion. The triumph not only reinstated the company’s financial standing but also eroded the towering dominance of Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

The Huawei Mate 60 Pro phone, powered by the domestically developed Kirin 9000S chip manufactured by China (SMIC), reflects significant progress in China’s quest to improve its domestic chip production ecosystem. “It is very concerning, but we’re going to take the strongest action to protect the US,” the US Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo told Bloomberg on December 11 during her visit to China.

Raimondo’s remarks might have come off as a face-saving measure considering the efforts made by the US to prevent China from manufacturing such components. Until recently, SMIC was known for producing parts with a maximum of 14nm. However, a teardown study of the Mate 60 Pro by TechInsights for Bloomberg in September last year indicates that China can now have 7nm components, whether the US and its allies like it or not. 

What’s inside the box?

Huawei: smartphone and laptops with more advanced chips is the start of many more

During the company’s annual conference in China last month, Huawei CEO Richard Yu declared that the company will launch more leading and disruptive products in 2024. “We will continue to exceed everyone’s expectations,” he promised. In the same month, Huawei took the world by surprise again, this time through a new laptop equipped with an even more advanced chip: the 5-nm application processor (AP).

According to its website, Huawei’s new laptop, the Qingyun L540, is powered by the Kirin 9006C AP chip made through a 5-nm process. It has an eight-core architecture and a clock speed of up to 3.13 gigahertz (GHz). Venturing into the realm of 5-nm technology marks a significant stride for the Shenzhen-based tech giant, placing it closer to the cutting-edge processes predominantly focused on 3nm nodes.

The 5nm feat by TSMC, not SMIC

Getting to grips with the new Huawei laptop. Source: TechInsights.

Following a teardown of the Mate 60 Pro that TechInsights conducted for Bloomberg News in September 2023, leading to the revelation that the new Kirin 9000s chip was fabricated in China by SMIC, a similar dismantle was done on the Qingyun L540 notebook, the latest laptop by Huawei, released last month. After all, the debut of the 14-inch ultralight in early December, featuring a 5nm processor, sparked intense speculation about China’s domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, suggesting a more advanced state of the Chinese art than was previously believed to be the case.

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This time, the teardown revealed that the enigmatic 5nm Kirin 9006C processor was made by chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), rather than a Chinese manufacturer. An investigation into the origin of the underlying silicon showed that “analysis confirms with high confidence that the HiSilicon Kirin 9006C is indeed manufactured by TSMC, dispelling debates about SMIC involvement.”

The findings also show that the notebooks’ processor strongly resembles the HiSilicon Kirin 9000 which was packaged in the 35th week of 2020. “The die uses the same BEOL [back end of line] stack and process node that TechInsights has reported for the Kirin 9000 processor,” the team concluded.

The process by which Huawei acquired a three-year-old processor remains unclear, but the Chinese company has been building semiconductor reserves since facing global access restrictions. Despite being on the Washington Entity List since 2019, TSMC only stopped fulfilling Huawei orders in 2020 to comply with heightened US trade restrictions.

The post Huawei: A teardown of the latest laptop shows a chip made in Taiwan, not China appeared first on TechHQ.

• The business benefits of 5G go beyond standard smartphone speed.
• Private 5G networks in particular advantages for app or use case testing.
• 5G could yet bring significant business benefits to the transport and logistics sector.

With some commentators voicing concerns about whether 5G has lived up to expectations, it’s worth looking at what the fifth generation of cellular network technology is – and what it and isn’t. A good way of getting to the heart of that capability is to focus on what 5G can do for enterprise customers and business users.

5G was badged as being superfast, and this may have added to the confusion. For example, smartphone users may not notice a great deal of difference in device performance, regardless of whether they are connected to 4G or 5G.

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However, there are still reasons to celebrate from an infrastructure perspective. As we’ve mentioned on TechHQ, upgrading base stations to the latest 5G technology not only means that equipment is smaller and lighter – there can be significant energy savings too. And the advantages don’t stop there.

“The integration of AI and 5G in modern switchgear marks a significant leap in the electrical infrastructure management,” comments Kiran Raj, practice head of disruptive tech at GlobalData. “Not only does this tech convergence boost operational efficiency, but it also enhances safety by predicting and mitigating electrical failures before they happen.”

Operators in China have shown how miniature cameras inside switch cabinets can be used to detect fire and activate extinguishers. And predictive analytics can be trained using data from power transformers.

Understanding 5G business benefits

Given the link between 5G and telecoms, it’s natural to look to smartphone performance for signs that the next generation of cellular network technology is living up to the hype. But the bigger picture for 5G goes well beyond handsets.

In its recent report, 5G Building a Digital Society, Vodafone explains how 5G can improve daily life more broadly and shares examples that business and enterprise users may not have considered.

For example, Vodafone says that 5G-enabled sensors on rail networks have the potential to improve services by raising track maintenance efficiency by up to 40% and reducing the rate of fault incidence by 20%. 5G-enabled rail could also help to add capacity to the network, lowering overcrowding at peak times.

Coupling trains virtually using 5G would enable them to share braking and acceleration data. A white paper by Thales calculates that train separation distance could be reduced by 43% compared with using current railway signaling methods, based on analysis of the UK South West Main Line (a 230 km route linking central London and the coastal town of Weymouth). In principle, this would allow many more trains to run without having to build additional tracks.

Low-latency private 5G networks are being used to automate vehicles driving between parts warehouses and main manufacturing sites.

Transportation and logistics could be big winners as 5G networks become more widespread. Vehicle telematics systems have long used cellular communications to connect to the cloud and monitor that all’s well through remote analytics.

Vendors can deliver software updates over-the-air rather than having to instruct owners to contact their dealership. And 5G telematics adds to those capabilities.

Vehicles can connect to each other to see around corners and gain greater knowledge about the road ahead. Automotive technology firm Harman, which is owned by Samsung, describes 5G as the missing piece of the puzzle for highly automated vehicles.

The low latency response time (of around 1 millisecond) that’s possible over 5G – a reduction of ten times compared with 4G – means that humans can remotely control cars, trucks, and other vehicles, with reaction times that are similar to having a driver sitting inside, directly behind the wheel.

Industry 4.0 is changing the business landscape right before our eyes, thanks to #5G and the innovations that come from it . Learn how to stay at the forefront of what’s coming. #5GHQ https://t.co/rghLt3TEG2 pic.twitter.com/EIZ8oIq48B

— David Yelvington (@DavidYelvington) December 11, 2023

5G also supports a much higher connection density than 4G, which benefits smart city infrastructure and brings us arguably one of the most appealing configurations for business and enterprise users – private 5G networks.

Private 5G networks give firms data coverage inside and outside facilities while keeping communications secure. The high connection density and low latency capabilities mentioned above suit mobile robots and so-called ‘intralogistics’ – the movement of goods within a warehouse, distribution center, or production facility.

Kollmorgen, a specialist in the fleet control of automated guided vehicles and mobile robots, has demonstrated (in tests with its partner Ericsson) that platforms are as stable on private 5G networks as on Wi-Fi.

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Antenna handovers are seamless, and 5G enables localization in dynamic environments without having to use artificial landmarks, according to the team.

Support for time-sensitive networking (TSN) allows fixed Ethernet and 5G networks to operate in harmony with each other. What’s more, TSN means that 5G can support applications normally carried over wired Ethernet, potentially saving on long cable runs at large sites.

Looking at industrial operating environments for 5G, business cases include airports, manufacturing sites, ports, mining facilities, and offshore locations.

How to build a private 5G network

Business and enterprise users interested in deploying their own cellular services have the option of using a private 5G network starter kit. The approach is ideal for testing applications on a pilot scale and gaining experience before making larger investments in the technology.

Private 5G starter kits for business:

• 5G Ready – X4000 Private 5G (XP5G) Solution
• Airspan Private 5G Network in a box
• Athonet starter kit for 5G-SA
• CampusGenius 5G StarterKit
• Flo Networks Private 5G Starter Kit
• Tech Mahindra Private 5G Wireless Network suite on Azure

It’s clear that companies have much to gain from the technology, but other organizations may also wish to take a look at what 5G installations can do for them.

The Liverpool 5G Testbed, which created the largest 5G mmWave mesh network in the UK and second largest in the world, showed how a private 5G network could benefit health and social care services.

Features included a 4k video link to help patients check that they were taking their medicines correctly, which resulted in fewer GP visits and trips to hospital.

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According to the study, there was a 50% reduction in people taking the wrong medication or receiving an incorrect dosage. Medication adherence levels were as high as 95% compared with a national average of 55%.

Returning to the topic of saving energy, testing of smart streetlights in Oslo – featuring 5G-enabled sensors – demonstrated a 45% reduction in electricity consumption. In dense urban areas, savings could reach 60% – based on a 12,000 light installation deployed in the City of London, which overhauled 30-year-old lighting stock.

Smart city lighting allows control down to the level of specific streets and buildings and enables the illumination to be dimmed as well as turned on and off.

With timely investment, the rewards of 5G to businesses and society can extend way beyond the smartphone.

The post Defining 5G in terms of business and enterprise use cases appeared first on TechHQ.

• Apple is facing stiff competition, particularly from Huawei in China, on top of lingering supply chain challenges affecting the availability of its latest iPhone 15 models.
• Huawei and Xiaomi witnessed impressive YoY growth of 66% and 28% during the Singles’ Day.
• Apple encountered a 4% decline in smartphone sales during the same two-week period.

The smartphone market in China is characterized by intense competition among key players such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Apple. Traditionally, Apple enjoyed undisturbed success, particularly with the iPhone, which eventually became a status symbol within the country’s social circles. However, there have been notable shifts as domestic players like Huawei and Xiaomi returned to prominence in recent months.

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Apple strives in China and India amid a global smartphone slowdown

Armed with innovative features, competitive pricing, and diverse product offerings, Huawei and Xiaomi have been reshaping the dynamics of the Chinese smartphone market in recent months, challenging Apple’s longstanding dominance. So much so that Huawei is now grappling with the challenge of meeting unexpectedly high demand.

Xiaomi’s 14 series, launched in late October, has received over one million orders, contributing to the company’s increased market value by around US$20 billion since a low in June. This success poses challenges for Apple, the world’s most valuable company, which has relied on nearly 20% of its revenue coming from greater China in recent quarters.

Smartphone sales in the world’s biggest mobile market surged by 11% compared to the previous year in the opening four weeks of October, marking a noteworthy indication of the market’s rebound from an eight-month decline. Before October, China’s mobile industry had been mired in a prolonged contraction, following an inventory glut built up a year ago amid Covid Zero lockdowns.

China smartphone shipments market data.

Now, domestic brands are coming out and outpacing Apple. According to a report published by Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi, Honor, and Huawei Technologies were the main forces behind the growth in the Chinese smartphone market. Huawei saw sales rise 90% year-on-year (YoY) during the period. The increase in overall demand indicated that China’s smartphone market is close to exiting an extended slum.

Apple has been under pressure to meet demand for its new devices, all while Huawei and Xiaomi released their latest flagship smartphones. “The clear stand-out in October has been Huawei with its turnaround on the back of its Mate 60 series devices,” Counterpoint China analyst Archie Zhang said in the report, referencing the Shenzhen-based company’s latest handsets launched in late August, including the Mate 60 Pro. 

Despite US sanctions intended to stifle access to such technology, that device is equipped with an advanced made-in-China 5G chip. On the other hand, Xiaomi’s latest flagship, the Xiaomi 14, released on October 26, experienced a 33% sales surge in China within four weeks. The company achieved over one million unit sales in under two weeks, as Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun reported on Weibo. 

Despite receiving less media coverage than Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro, the Xiaomi 14 is notable for being the world’s first device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and running Xiaomi’s new Android-based operating system, HyperOS.

Apple vs. Huawei vs Xiaomi: who did it better for Singles’ Day?

Source: Counterpoint Research Smartphone 360 Weekly Tracker, China. (*2022 spans Oct 31 – Nov 13; 2023 spans Oct 30 – Nov 12.)

During this year’s two-week Singles’ Day sales event, smartphone unit sales in China grew by 5% YoY, indicating a positive fourth quarter, according to Counterpoint’s report. “This is a good start to the rest of the quarter,” says Mengmeng Zhang, senior analyst for China. “Huawei is continuing its strong run along with Xiaomi, which is enjoying a further spike in sales with the launch of its new 14 series devices.”

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Apple appears to be struggling from hiccups regarding supply, Ivan Lam, added senior analyst for manufacturing at Counterpoint, added. He added that Apple is improving compared to last month. “Considering last November’s supply snafu was an anomaly, the YoY numbers could move into positive territory as current supply tightness normalizes,” he concluded.

In total, the number of Apple smartphones sold declined 4% YoY during the two-week sales from October 30 to November 12, the research consultancy said last Thursday. In comparison, the number of units sold by Huawei and Xiaomi grew 66% and 28% YoY, respectively over the same period.

Huawei up, Apple down. Is this the new normal for the CHinese smartphone market?

A Reuters report indicated that the price for Apple’s latest iPhone 15 model starts at 5,999 yuan (US$832), while Huawei’s Mate 60 smartphones start from 5,499 yuan (US$763). Xiaomi’s latest Mi 14 smartphone is priced at 3,999 yuan (US$555). E-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com refrained from disclosing Singles’ Day sales figures this year, continuing a practice they adopted last year. 

JD.com did share that the transaction volume for Apple products on its platform exceeded 10 billion yuan (US$1.39 billion). Meanwhile, Xiaomi reported a cumulative gross merchandise value of more than 22.4 billion yuan for the shopping event.

Apple is navigating a fiercely competitive landscape in China’s smartphone market, especially since the launch of the iPhone 15 collection.

Traditionally a dominant player, the tech giant is now contending with challenges posed by formidable domestic rivals, reshaping the dynamics of the world’s largest smartphone market.

The post Huawei and Xiaomi outshine Apple in China’s Singles’ Day sales appeared first on TechHQ.

• The newly released Xiaomi Mi 14 series might help turn around a moribund smartphone market in China.
• Xiaomi and Huawei have seen impressive results in China during Q3.
• Xiaomi is the first smartphone on the market to use Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.

Since the resurgence of Huawei following the launch of its Mate 60 series in late August, the smartphone market in China has taken an exciting turn. Local players have been recording better numbers, albeit at a slower rate. Xiaomi, which launched its Mi 14 series in October, has also been selling its latest smartphones like hotcakes, signaling the end of a prolonged downturn in the smartphone market in China. 

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Like Huawei’s 5G-enabled Mate 60 series, Xiaomi has undeniably struck gold with the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro, especially within the Chinese market, where consumers seem genuinely excited, swiftly making their purchases. Xiaomi has acknowledged the success on its Weibo page. According to its report, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship sales soared six times higher within the first 5 minutes compared to the launch of the Xiaomi 13 a year ago. The demand was so overwhelming that some servers experienced initial disruptions due to the sheer rush of buyers.

Built upon Xiaomi 14, Xiaomi 14 Pro comes with enhanced technologies and innovative experience. Photo: Xiaomi

To recap, the smartphone market in China, the world’s largest, has been experiencing an extended period of decline. The industry, struggling alongside a sputtering economy, has seen shipments shrinking every quarter since the start of 2022, with even local brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, Oppo, and others recording severe drops in sales. 

But numbers from the recently concluded third quarter suggest that the smartphone market in China may be nearing a bottoming-out phase. Internation Data Corporation (IDC) anticipates a positive year-on-year (YoY) sales growth in China for the final quarter of this year, signaling a noteworthy reversal after ten consecutive quarters of decline.

As IDC’s analyst Guo Tianxiang wrote recently, “The market could bounce back in the fourth quarter when Apple and its rivals typically release their latest devices.” His assessment seems correct. For a start, the smartphone market in China has been showing signs of a revival on the back of brisk demand for Huawei Technologies’ new 5G smartphone and Apple’s recently launched iPhone 15 series.

A significant 15% year-on-year (YoY) growth in smartphone sales was achieved during the “golden week” holiday, from September 29 to October 6, celebrating China’s National Day, according to a research note last month by TF International Securities analyst Kuo Ming-chi. “The slump in the Chinese smartphone market will be over soon, with expectations of renewed growth,” Kuo wrote. 

Echoing Tianxiang, Kuo indicated that handset shipments in China will see growth resume in the fourth quarter of this year. For context, in the first six weeks of the Mate 60 Pro release, Huawei sold 1.6 million units, Counterpoint Research said. Meanwhile, Honor, a brand also once prominent in the market, has regained the top position in the recent third quarter, securing an 18.3% market share, according to Counterpoint. 

People look at mobile phones in Huawei’s flagship store in Shanghai on September 25, 2023, after queuing up for hours hoping to be able to buy the tech giant’s latest Mate 60 Pro mobile phone. (Photo by REBECCA BAILEY / AFP)

Honor also achieved a 3% YoY sales growth, and its ascent is attributed to the successful launches of the Honor 90 and Honor X50 models. Additionally, Honor’s foldable models, particularly the Honor Magic V2, have performed exceptionally well, ranking first among all foldable models in Q3 2023 in China. In short, China’s smartphone market dynamics are evolving, and Q3 reports alone were enough to offer intriguing revelations. 

That also means that the race to dominate in shipped units is getting more fierce in Mainland China. This week, the founder and CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, posted on Weibo that the company has sold more than one million units of its latest Xiaomi 14 in less than two weeks.

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With back-to-back news of local Chinese smartphones setting new records, it could only mean one thing: the competition is intensifying in the domestic market, and recent Apple and Huawei releases were not an isolated scenario. “It is true that [Xiaomi 14 sales] have surpassed 1 million units, but the shortage in stock remains severe,” Lei posted on Weibo on Tuesday, responding to another user’s question. 

The Xiaomi 14, Xiaomi’s latest flagship smartphone, was introduced in China on October 26, following Huawei’s resurgence with its Mate 60 series in late August and the launch of the iPhone 15 in September. Xiaomi’s latest handset represents a departure from the brand’s previous focus on budget-friendly handsets. Notably, it is the first smartphone powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and features Xiaomi’s new Android-based operating system, HyperOS.

An impending “structural change”?

Although the iPhone 15 was launched in the usual month in which Apple  annually releases its new products, this year’s sales have been different for the US tech giant in China. Kuo wrote on his X account that “the iPhone shipment decline in China is higher than expected.” Alongside Oppo and Vivo in China, Apple also experienced double-digit decreases in sales, based on Counterpoint’s data.

Considering that, Kuo believes China’s smartphone market will face “a structural change” with Huawei’s return and declining iPhone demand, which he predicts will continue until 2024. He based his forecast on Apple’s projections of its 4Q23 revenue, which is anticipated to be similar to 4Q22, “suggesting that Apple’s 4Q23 momentum is weaker than expected, primarily due to a decline in iPhone demand in the Chinese market,” Kuo added.

The post Xiaomi joins Huawei in reigniting the smartphone market in China appeared first on TechHQ.

There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to choosing a smartphone, and bringing everything together is the chipset inside the handset. And so whenever a new mobile processor hits the market, which happened this week with the release by MediaTek of its Dimensity 9300 smartphone chip, it’s worth considering what this means for consumers.

Contrary to what marketing materials may suggest, there’s no such thing as the perfect processor for mobile devices. Instead, it’s about finding a sweet spot. Chip designers must maximize performance while paying attention to cost, thermal management, power consumption, and many other parameters.

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What’s interesting is that different designers come to different conclusions on what that sweet spot looks like. And it means that before hitting the ‘buy now’ button, consumers may benefit from learning more about the chips inside their laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

The MediaTek 5G Dimensity 9300 is the latest in a flurry of mobile chip launches. New releases include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – unveiled at the firm’s developer conference in Maui – and Apple’s A17 Pro, its first to feature TSMC’s 3nm process, launched at the iPhone 15 event.

List of flagship mobile chips:

• MediaTek Dimensity 9300
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• Apple A17 Pro
• Samsung Exynos 2400
• Google Tensor G3

Without a doubt, MediaTek has Qualcomm’s popular Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in its sights. The chip maker dubs its 4 ultra-large cores and 4 big cores design as being ‘All-Big-Core’ compared with Qualcomm’s combination of 1 ultra-large core, 5 big cores, and 2 small cores.

In a pre-launch event attended by TechHQ and other members of the tech media, MediaTek’s Finbar Moynihan – who manages the firm’s global PR, marketing, and communications activities – explained the rationale behind the ‘All-Big-Core’ approach.

With smartphone applications becoming richer and placing more demands on processors, which includes bigger peaks at the high end, MediaTek’s designers wanted to create more headroom for on-chip compute. Moynihan describes the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 chip as being able to turn on big core performance when needed and power down quickly once processing demands have been met to save on energy.

Vivo X100 Series will be the first smartphone to launch with MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 SoC#vivo #vivox100 #vivox100pro #vivox100proplus pic.twitter.com/VyVuWfyTIO

— Gizinfo.com (@Gizinfo_) November 6, 2023

According to the firm, the combination of four performance cores (1x Ultra-Large Cortex-X4 @ 3.25GHz and 3x Cortex-X4 @ 2.85GHz) and four efficiency cores (4x Big Cortex-A720 @2.0GHz) provides 40% higher peak performance. So, if you’re a smartphone user who pushes your device to the limit, then – based on these numbers – it could be worth seeking out a handset featuring the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 chip.

Moynihan comments that the flagship segment is one of the bright spots in mobile currently. And it appears that Vivo’s X100 will be the first flagship smartphone series to feature MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 mobile chip. Also, it’s possible that the device could move into tablets too, as OEM explore what having four big cores brings to the table.

Another point to consider when shopping for smartphones is AI. If you’re a big user of generative AI, then there’s a lot to like about the latest generation of mobile processors, which includes the Dimensity 9300 chip.

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MediaTek reports that its device has comprehensive large language model (LLM) support for Meta’s Llama 2 as well as algorithms from Baidu and AI startup Baichuan Intelligent Technology, which highlights the significance of the Chinese market to the mobile chip developer.

Advanced hardware compression technology, which includes removing zero-weights and other techniques for lowering the memory requirements of running LLMs, make it possible to run inference on-chip – even for large models.

According to MediaTek, the Dimensity 9300 mobile chip – which features a dedicated AI processor – can perform image generation using Stable Diffusion (the popular text-to-image model) in less than 1 second. “It’s the most capable edge implementation that we have today,” said Moynihan in the briefing event.

Mobile edge computing

There are some great examples of how chip developers are bringing more computing power back to the device. For example, Apple’s neural engine is proving to be a game-changer when it comes to volumetric photogrammetry, which turns hundreds of high-resolution images into 3D digital assets for games and other simulation environments.

Having real-time photogrammetry running locally on iPhone Pro models is huge for 3D scanning companies such as KIRI Engine. The app developer has incorporated Apple’s object capture API into the latest version of its popular smartphone 3D scanning software. And it highlights the benefits that smartphone chips with mobile edge computing capabilities bring to users.

On-screen cues make the photogrammetry experience straightforward. “All you need to do is fill in the circle while walking around the object,” says Jack Wang, one of KIRI Engine’s three co-founders, in an online demo. “What’s really changing the game here is that everything runs locally on your iPhone – no cloud, no server, whatsoever.”

According to Wang, this was unimaginable even just a year ago. However, structuring the API around the iPhone’s neural engine and supporting the complex image processing with LiDAR data has opened the door to real-time photogrammetry on a smartphone.

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He suspects that LiDAR helps with photo alignment. Post-camera processing is one of the most computing-intensive steps in rendering a 3D digital model from an object photographed from multiple angles.

Once smartphone users experience the benefits of mobile edge computing there’s no going back. In this example, it was Apple with its A17 Pro chip, but as we’ve seen with the release of the Dimensity 9300, MediaTek and other developers are also expanding on-device capabilities through custom silicon designs.

Competition to produce the best flagship mobile chip is strong. However, as mentioned above, each device maker will bring something different, which brings rewards for consumers who like to do the research before upgrading their smartphone.

The post MediaTek goes all-big on cores for Dimensity 9300 smartphone chip appeared first on TechHQ.

• Although worldwide smartphone revenues showed no YoY growth in Q3, Apple took the lead in the market.
• It recorded its highest-ever quarterly revenue and revenue share, driven by solid sales of the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
• During July-September, Apple increased its market share in China.

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook made a surprise visit to China. The trip came less than a month after the release of the Apple iPhone 15, the company’s flagship smartphone, which received a relatively tepid response in the company’s third-largest market. According to a Counterpoint Research report released not long before, the iPhone 15 series unit sales for the first 17 days of sales in China were down 4.5% compared with the iPhone 14.

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The reason for the lukewarm reception from the Chinese market is Huawei, which has reclaimed its position as the leading smartphone manufacturer in China, surpassing Apple. Huawei, just weeks before the iPhone 15 launch, surprised the world with its latest 5G-capable Mate 60 smartphone series, which was hailed as a victory amid US sanctions.

Making matters more complicated for Apple was the fact that the iPhone 15 launch coincided with a government directive to expand a ban on using iPhones in government agencies and state companies across China. All these factors took the shine off Apple’s new release during the first few weeks of iPhone 15 sales.

But it didn’t last for long. “In mainland China, we set a quarterly record for the September quarter for iPhone,” Cook told Reuters in an interview recently. “We had four of the top five best-selling smartphones in urban China.” The demand for Apple’s iPhones in China has remained strong.

People line up to purchase newly-launched iPhone 15 mobile phones at an Apple store in Hangzhou, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on September 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT

For context, Huawei was once the largest smartphone manufacturer in China and a significant competitor to Apple. Due to the challenges it faced from US sanctions, Huawei fell to sixth place in the market, and Apple began to dominate the Chinese market. But to reassure investors, Cook, on a conference call with analysts, said that Apple appeared to have gained market share in China in the July-September period, even if the overall smartphone market may have contracted.

Apple’s sales in China have fallen in three quarters of its 2023 fiscal year, which ended September 30. Some analysts, though, remained optimistic about Apple’s demand outlook in China through the fourth quarter as there were signs that a rebound in the broader smartphone market was gathering pace.

“While the latest iPhone series had underperformed in China in the launch quarter due to a shorter pre-holiday shopping period coupled with supply mismatches on the Pro Max, it could see improvement in the year-ending quarter with a strong 11.11 sales event performance,” research consultancy Counterpoint wrote in a note on Friday.

iPhone 15 pushing Apple to new highs

Counterpoint’s report shows that the Pro Max stood as the best-selling variant of the iPhone 15 series, allowing Apple to achieve its highest-ever Q3 operating profit. The report also highlighted that global smartphone market revenues remained flat year-over-year (YoY) despite growing by 15% QoQ to just over US$100 billion in Q3 2023. 

“Apple led the market with 43% share of global smartphone revenues, its highest-ever for a calendar Q3,” Counterpoint’s senior analyst Harmeet Singh Walia noted. That was despite Apple’s latest iPhone 15 series being available for one less week in the third quarter of 2023 compared to its predecessor in the same period last year. 

“This translated into Apple also clocking its highest-ever share of global smartphone revenue for a September-ending quarter,” he added. Consequently, the global smartphone operating profit also reached an all-time high, signaling how the smartphone market has adjusted to the post-pandemic trend of lower shipments, Walia argued.

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Despite Apple leading the global smartphone market with record Q3 revenue and revenue share, its global smartphone operating profit share remained flat. Counterpoint attributed that to the resurgence of Huawei and Honor, and an increased focus on profitability by other Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi and OPPO. 

“Counterpoint Research estimates that the Chinese smartphone market declined about 3% during the quarter. Apple’s China revenues fell 2.5% during the quarter. Considering the increased competition from Huawei 5G devices, this is a good signal for Apple and the iPhone 15 series – especially since the Pro Max and Pro were supply-constrained,” research director Jeff Fieldhack commented.

As for Oppo, its focus on phones with higher ASPs, such as foldables — of which the Oppo Find N2 Flip is the top-selling in China — is helping it achieve profitability. Yet, a slowdown in its expansion outside of China and India has brought about a YoY shipment decline, with Oppo’s smartphone revenue in the first three quarters of 2023 being the lowest since the pandemic, Counterpoint’s data shows.

Apple beats Samsung in revenue share, though falls behind on shipments. Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor prelimenary data.

Vivo, while remaining profitable, has faced more significant challenges in its home country, China, where its promotions have been less aggressive than those of Honor and Xiaomi. Vivo’s smartphone revenue fell 12% YoY and is almost half that of Q3 2021, Counterpoint’s data shows. 

Q3 was good for Apple.

Xiaomi is the only top five smartphone brand to see shipment increases both QoQ and YoY in Q3 2023 as it strengthened its positions in key markets such as China and India. Xiaomi also offered more affordable mid-range products at promotional prices to both retailers and consumers on the back of solid sales of the Redmi K and Note series, Counterpoint noted. 

That meant the Chinese OEM achieved both revenue and operating profit growth, both sequentially and annually. Samsung’s ASP, on the other hand, grew 4% YoY due to the successful launch of Fold 5, maintained momentum in S23 series’ sales, and a higher flagship share in major product lineups. 

“Nevertheless, an 8% shipment decline in the same period offset the ASP increase, making Samsung’s revenue decline by 4% annually,” the report reads. The full impact of the iPhone 15 series is yet to be seen, according to Counterpoint. 

“While the latest iPhone series had underperformed in China in the launch quarter due to a shorter pre-holiday shopping period coupled with supply mismatches on the Pro Max, it could see improvement in the year-ending quarter with a strong 11.11 sales event performance, which should also benefit other Chinese smartphone vendors,” Fieldhack added.

Moreover, the elongated festive season in India should boost shipments and revenues in the world’s second-largest smartphone market, where pent-up demand and 5G upgrades will also contribute to growth. Overall, Counterpoint believes the global smartphone market could end the year with cyclical change.

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