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Tencent tackles mobile game addiction with time limits for kids
In the face of public pressure, Chinese internet giant Tencent is limiting play time for younger users of its hit mobile game Honor of Kings (dubbed Strike of Kings in the west). Starting Tuesday, anyone under 12 will be restricted to one hour of play per day, and those between 12 to 18 will be allowed two hours game time.
Huawei is considering cell towers that wirelessly charge drones
Huawei's big news at MWC was, of course, the P10 handset and a new watch. The company does have its fingers in other pies, though, and one of those is the drone game. Far away from the exhibition halls where all the smartphones are on display is an area called "Innovation City" (it's more of a hamlet, but we'll go along with it). Here, Huawei is demoing a number of quirky ideas, one of which is a grand plan to help solve the short battery lives of drones -- and it's as curious as it is clever. In case you were worried, that's a scale model of a cell tower above. The plan isn't to have mega drones.
HTC's beefier M9 for China leaks with sharper screen and fingerprint reader
Rumor of a beefier HTC One M9 variant -- aka "M9+" -- had been floating around for some time, but we've remained skeptical until we came across the latest batch of leaks. Better yet, some of these are backed up by an official (poorly made but actually legit) Beijing launch invitation sent out earlier today; see for yourself after the break. What we're seeing is that the Duo Camera feature on the M8 is here to stay, and there's also the previously rumored front-side fingerprint reader which, sadly, reminds us of the home buttons on earlier Samsung devices.
Google backs an undersea cable that will give the internet a big speed boost
The internet is quickest when you have a direct connection to the sites you're trying to reach, but that's a daunting challenge in the Pacific -- undersea network cables can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It's therefore good to hear that Google and a host of telecom giants (China Mobile, China Telecom, Global Transit, KDDI and SingTel) are backing FASTER, a $300 million fiber optic cable that runs between Japan and the US. As the name implies, it's all about speeding up data transfers between Asia and the Americas; the cable should offer a whopping 60 terabits per second of bandwidth between the two regions, which makes even Google's gigabit home internet service look puny by comparison. You won't see the difference until FASTER is finished in the second quarter of 2016, but it promises to improve the internet as a whole when it's ready. Don't be surprised if foreign multiplayer games and video streams get noticeably smoother within a couple of years. [Image credit: US Pacific Fleet, Flickr]
Sony's next flagship phone allegedly shown off with new body, same camera
The jump from Sony's Xperia Z1 to the Xperia Z2 was relatively minor, so don't be surprised if this familiar-looking leak turns out to be legit. According to a Baidu Tieba post (which has since been deleted), we're looking at a prototype of Sony's upcoming Xperia Z3 aka L55t (China Mobile variant with TD-LTE) which is, surprise surprise, running on a more powerful Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC chipset (the Z2 uses MSM8974AB) plus Android 4.4.4. Judging by the photos, this device shares the same height as the original Galaxy Note and hence the Xperia Z2, meaning the screen size should stay at 5.2 inches. Likewise, the Z2's 20.7-megapixel camera is here to stay. What makes this prototype stand out is its new, simpler body design, which is a surprise given how the range's appearance has changed little since the Xperia Z. That is, unless, this phone turns out to be just a variant of the Z2, so only time will tell if our guess is right.
HTC One's plastic cousin (E8) officially shown off with M7 design, M8 guts
It's no secret that HTC's prepping a plastic variant of its flagship One (M8) phone, but we've never taken a proper look at it until now, courtesy of the company's China website. And no, this isn't a leak. Ahead of the device's June 3rd launch, HTC's limited edition giveaway campaign unveiled almost everything about the M8 Ace, aka "Vogue Edition," of the One. The clear product renders -- shown in black, white, blue and red options -- indicate that this upcoming phone carries a similar design language as the metallic, award-winning M7 from last year; but the new plastic-only construction means you get a cleaner look on both the back and the profile sides. Update: HTC has since then announced that this will be known as the E8 outside China, but there's still no news on the price.
Samsung debuts projector-equipped Galaxy Beam 2 smartphone
Chances are your phone doesn't have a built-in projector -- and it never will. But there's at least a small subset of the Chinese market that apparently has a need for an entry-level smartphone capable of projecting dim videos and presentation slides onto a flat surface. The Galaxy Beam 2 sports a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1 gig of RAM and an underwhelming 800x480-pixel 4.66-inch display. The battery tops out at 2,600 mAh of juice, so if you're thinking of planning a smartphone movie marathon you might want to bring the charger along. It launched today on China Mobile's 3G network (with pricing TBA), and while Samsung has yet to detail an international release, it's unlikely that we'll ever see the second-generation Beam on this end of the Pacific.
Intel aims at China with its speedy LTE Cat 6 solution, shipping in Q2 this year
Marking Intel's 29th year in China, CEO Brian Krzanich took the stage at IDF Shenzhen with a little surprise: his company will be shipping its first Cat 6 multi-mode LTE solution, the XMM 7260, in Q2 this year. This follows the XMM 7160 that started shipping with Cat 4 LTE and half the number of basebands last October. The new solution has added support for China's popular TD-SCDMA plus TD-LTE networks, along with the usual 2G GSM, WCDMA plus FDD-LTE around the world. With Cat 6 LTE's carrier aggregation mode, the XMM 7260 can reach a top theoretical speed of 300Mbps, which is twice that of Cat 4 LTE.
Samsung Galaxy Beam successor spotted in China (updated)
At Mobile World Congress in 2012, Samsung announced a pico projector smartphone known as the Galaxy Beam. Although it was a cool concept, the phone's downfall was its middling specs, aging OS and large chassis. Two years later, it appears that Samsung's working on a successor to the Beam called the SM-G3858, according to China's government database. The Tenaa entry even comes with a few pictures, most of which offer an indication of a projector: there's clearly a bump on the upper back which opens up to a wide lens on the top, and we also saw an extra button that models after the original Beam -- in fact, the icon above the button looks eerily like the one seen here. Curiously, Samsung has shed the sporty misshapen look in favor of a sleek metal build, which certainly seems a better fit for professionals. The database also gives us a glimpse at its specs, some of which are an improvement over the original Beam; the China Mobile-branded phone reportedly packs a 4.66-inch WVGA (800x480) display, Android 4.2.2, a quad-core 1.2GHz chipset with 1GB of RAM, microSD slot with up to 32GB external storage, as well as TD-SCDMA and GSM connectivity (no LTE on this model, although there's a chance this is simply a 3G-only variant of a global model). It's also 11.6mm thick, which is much thicker than most Samsung smartphones but still is nearly a full millimeter thinner than the original. It's still too early to determine whether this is going to be exclusive to China Mobile or available to a global market, but at least we know the phone exists for now; Samsung, we're hopeful, will provide us with the rest of the story at some point down the road.
Apple rolls out iOS 7.0.5 to iPhone 5s and 5c in China, promises network fixes
Apple's usually pretty quick when it comes to fixing issues with its software, and today is no exception. The iPhone maker has begun delivering iOS 7.0.5 to 5s and 5c models that are available in China, an update that is expected to solve "network provisioning" for some affected handsets there. This comes shortly after Apple finally announced a deal to bring the iPhone to China Mobile, which put an end to a long, long period of negotiations and landed its shiny new devices on the carrier. As such, and even though the changelog doesn't single the network out, iOS 7.0.5 would appear to be tailored for China Mobile subscribers who recently bought an iPhone. Either way, for those of you outside of China, no need to be hunting for this particular version -- it's only for those who actually need it.
Tim Cook: iPhone sales in China last quarter set a new record
With the iPhone finally set to go on sale at China Mobile this Friday, Tim Cook has been been out front and center hyping up Apple's new business partnership. Indeed, the fact that Cook's level of involvement far supersedes what might otherwise be just a few lines in a press release for other carrier deals underscores the strategic significance of China Mobile for Apple. Not only did Tim Cook speak to CNBC for a rare videotaped interview yesterday -- where he called the impending launch a "watershed day" -- he also spoke at length with the Wall Street Journal where he partook in a typically insightful Q&A. Employing an oft-repeated line, Cook explained that while China Mobile represents a great opportunity, Apple always has and always will be more focused on delivering the best products, not selling the most products. But make no mistake about it, you can be sure that Apple in this case is dead set on selling what it considers to be the best smartphone on the planet to as many people as possible. "Most" may not be Apple's driving force, but it's not completely off of Apple's radar either. And for a company as secretive as Apple is, Cook surprisingly tipped his hand a little bit when discussing iPhone sales in China during the most recent quarter. Last quarter, we haven't announced numbers, but I can tell you that last quarter we sold more iPhones in Greater China than at any time in our past. And so it was a record quarter, helped by launching China very first in the queue. Touching on the importance of the China Mobile deal -- aside from the fact that China Mobile has more subscribers than the U.S. has people -- Cook said that the deal now allows Apple to reach areas where it doesn't yet have much of a presence. China Mobile already has a reach to many cities that Apple does not have a reach to. So yes, you will see over time Apple going to more and more cities and this is something that China Mobile's skill and know-how and distribution network will be an enormous assist to us. Overall, the China Mobile deal is a really important feather in Apple's cap. With over 763 million subscribers, Apple has expanded its potential customer base by a significant margin. Indeed, one of every 10 people on the planet, statistically speaking, is a China Mobile subscriber. There's a whole lot more from Cook, including his take on what negotiations with China Mobile were like, over here.
China Mobile iPhone pre-orders are in the millions, Tim Cook calls deal 'a beginning'
It sure took quite a while for Apple and state-owned carrier China Mobile to finalize their deal, but it could end up being well worth Cupertino's time. According to The Wall Street Journal, the partnership extends beyond the carrier offering iDevices in the country and "entail[s] broad cooperation" between the two companies. As you'd expect, lips from both camps are tightly sealed, but Tim Cook says he's "incredibly optimistic" about the outcome. Whether the two are working on any big promotional or retail opportunities in an effort to catch up to Android in China remains to be seen. For now, we'll keep our eyes peeled in case new info surfaces when China Mobile starts shipping out iPhones (millions of them, apparently) on Friday.
The 6.8-inch Hisense X1 smartphone is basically a tablet and it's coming to the US this summer (updated: video)
There's big, there's b-i-g and then there's "oh my god, are you [redacted] kidding me this is [redacted] BIG!" That's pretty much how we felt when we first laid our eyes and outstretched hand on Hisense's X1, a 6.8-inch Android smartphone first introduced at this year's CES. You wouldn't be wrong for thinking it's a tablet -- it pretty much unofficially is and depending on your taste and needs, that could be a good thing. The X1, which is slated to launch in China before the US, comes outfitted with what we'd expect from a high-end smartphone: Snapdragon 800, 13-megapixel camera, 1080p IPS display, 3,900mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat. So the performance and shine are there, but its dimensions stop it just short of being practical in daily use. With Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 powering the X1, the overall user experience zips along smoothly and briskly. There's hardly any hesitation when effecting input actions, accessing the app drawer or launching applications. And viewing angles are also excellent, owing to that IPS display. As you can see from our gallery (demo video to come soon), the X1's also running a light skin atop Android, but it's not so cluttered as to make the phone confusing and nearly unusable a la Samsung's TouchWiz. Though the X1 model we previewed was on running 4.3 Jelly Bean, Hisense reps assured us it would ship with KitKat onboard.
Contextualizing Apple's iPhone deal with China Mobile
After years of speculation, Apple this weekend announced that the iPhone will finally be landing on China Mobile beginning on January 17. With more than 760 million subscribers, China Mobile is, by a wide margin, the largest carrier on the planet. Consequently, the deal presents a tremendous opportunity for Apple to increase its annual tally of iPhone sales. In the wake of Apple and China Mobile's agreement, analyst expectations as to how the deal will affect Apple's bottom line have been all over the map. For instance, the most bullish of Apple analysts anticipate that Apple's newly inked deal may help increase annual iPhone sales by upwards of 30 million-plus units. Still, other analysts feel that any uptick in iPhone sales on China Mobile may be offset by a decrease in iPhone sales worldwide. While we'll have to take a wait-and-see approach to see how the China Mobile deal ultimately impacts Apple's iPhone business, there are a number of statistics worth considering to help contextualize the deal. First off, the sheer size of China Mobile's subscriber base is absolutely massive, so much so that it's tough to fully appreciate just how large it truly is. As it stands today, China Mobile sports 763 million subscribers. To put this figure into context, consider this: The world's population, as of July 2013, is estimated to be 7.13 billion individuals. Translation? One out of every 10 people in the entire world is a China Mobile subscriber. Even more jarring, China Mobile has more subscribers than the United States has people. How crazy is that? To further conceptualize China Mobile's subscriber base, let's turn to Verizon, the largest carrier in the US. As of Verizon's most recent quarter, the company boasts about 119.5 million subscribers, meaning that China Mobile is more than six times larger. In short, we know that China Mobile has an ungodly number of subscribers and, at first glance, it stands to reason that it's only a matter of time before Apple is selling iPhones to tens of millions of new users. The reality, as it often tends to be, is much more nuanced. For one, though China Mobile has hundreds of millions of subscribers, there is a huge income disparity between the wealthy and the poor. On average, the typical Chinese household brings home about US$12,000 a year. That said, the number of China Mobile subscribers who might actually want and be able to afford the iPhone is significantly lower than one might otherwise imagine. The New York Times writes: The cost-consciousness of Chinese consumers extends to their choice of mobile networks. Only 176 million China Mobile customers, less than a quarter of the total, subscribe to the company's high-speed wireless data service, using 3G technology. Apple and China Mobile announced their partnership a few days after China Mobile introduced an upgrade to a newer, faster system - 4G - for parts of its network. The existing 3G subscribers, not the overall customer base, will provide the main target audience for the new phones and services. A target pool of 176 million users is nothing to sneeze at, but certainly brings the 763 million-subscriber figure back down to earth a bit. On this point, it's worth taking a look at this simple and informative chart put together by Ben Thompson over at Stratechery. The takeaway is that if you're starting with a figure as big as 763 million users, even a small percentage yields a significant number of potential customers. So while the vast majority of China Mobile subscribers won't be carrying around iPhones anytime soon, the opportunity for Apple is still rather sizable. One final point worth mentioning is that the smartphone market in China is not as subsidy-friendly as it is in the US. As a result, some analysts have wondered how much this dynamic will adversely impact iPhone sales and temper analyst expectations. To this end, China Mobile is reportedly looking to increase the amount it spends on subsidies by 42 percent, from $4.4 billion spent in 2013 to $6.24 billion in 2014.
iPhone 5s and 5c to reach China Mobile on January 17th, 2014
Finally. Following a false start a couple of weeks ago (and some protracted discussions), Apple has confirmed that the iPhone 5s and 5c will reach China Mobile on January 17th, 2014 as part of a multi-year deal. As hinted earlier, both smartphones will support the carrier's TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA networks. Pricing isn't available just yet, but customers can pre-register starting on December 25th. The partnership is Apple's largest to date, at least in terms of sheer numbers -- even if only a small fraction of China Mobile's 700 million-plus customers buy iPhones, they're bound to significantly improve Cupertino's bottom line.
China Mobile deal with Apple still not official
Despite a number of indications that Apple was on the cusp of striking an iPhone deal with China Mobile, including China Mobile setting up adverts in its stores, we still haven't heard any official word from either Apple or China Mobile. While rumors of the iPhone landing on China Mobile have persisted for years, a deal seemed inevitable when the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that a deal had, in fact, been officially inked between the two companies. The report relayed that the iPhone was set to land on China Mobile later in December and, perhaps, would be timed to correspond with a China Mobile conference set to kick off on December 18. Flash forward to December 18 and there's still no deal to speak of. Indeed, during the aforementioned conference, China Mobile said that negotiations with Apple remain ongoing, with chairman Xi Gouhua noting that he had no announcement of any kind to make.
China Mobile begins in-store advertising for the iPhone 5s
With China Mobile gearing up to sell the iPhone for the first time, it's apparently rolling out quite the advertising campaign in some of its locations. According to the blog PRC And Me, at least one China Mobile store has begun placing iPhone 5s adverts in-store and, on top of that, even showcasing iPhone 5s and 5c models in displays. Advertisements on the wall showed what I believe to be discount pricing (probably with contract) of 4380元 (US$723) for the iPhone 5s and 3380元 ($558) for the 5c. Of the two display tables in the store, one was dedicated to iPhones and iPads and there was a pretty good crowd around the table as I passed by. Not only were there Apple advertisements all over the place, but even Phil Schiller was present, his A7 chip announcement playing on a flatscreen TV. All hail Schiller! A majority of the ad and display space in the store had been dedicated to Apple. If this is any indication, China Mobile is planning to aggressively promote their new Apple partnership in the hopes of blunting any advances from China Unicom and Telecom. Rumor has it that the iPhone 5s will go on sale on China Mobile on December 18, but no confirmation has yet been made by either Apple or China Mobile.
Analysts have high expectations for iPhone sales on China Mobile
Assuming that the iPhone/China Mobile agreement is finalized before the end of 2013, analysts have been quick to chime in with estimates regarding how such a deal will affect Apple's iPhone sales and the company's bottom line. AllThingsD was able to aggregate a number of analyst responses to the rumored iPhone/China Mobile deal. Here's what they found. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster anticipates that iPhone sales on China Mobile may reach 17 million units in 2014. ISI analyst Brian Marshall, meanwhile, is much more optimistic about Apple's prospects on China Mobile, anticipating sales of 38.7 million units in 2014. Lastly, analyst Brian White from Cantor Fitzgerald anticipates Apple will sell anywhere between 20 and 24 million units. While it remains to be seen just how well the iPhone does on China Mobile, it's hard to argue that the economic impact of such a deal is anything but huge. With over 740 million subscribers, China Mobile has more subscribers than the United States has people. What's more, more than 10% of all the world's population is a China Mobile subscriber (think about that for a second). That's the type of opportunity that now stands before Apple. Now there's no disputing that a large percentage of China Mobile subscribers won't be able to afford an iPhone. Nonetheless, the pool of subscribers on China Mobile is so large that when we zero in on the number of subscribers that can, in fact, afford an iPhone, we're still left with a sizeable pool of potential customers. Ben Thompson over at Stratechery put together this informative and impressively simple chart illustrating this very point. Put simply, when your starting point is 740 million, even a small percentage yields a sizable number. Lastly, take note that Apple has not yet confirmed that a deal has been finalized. While the WSJ report from yesterday relayed that it was a done deal, Reuters this morning ran a quote from China Mobile spokeswoman Rainie Lei who said that the two company's are still in the midst of negotiations.
Apple reportedly strikes deal to launch iPhone on China Mobile later this month (update: or not)
That was quick -- just hours after China Mobile granted its first 4G licenses, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has reached a deal to launch the iPhone on the giant carrier. China Mobile would stock hardware later in December, likely starting with the recently approved iPhone 5s and 5c variants for the country. Neither side has confirmed the deal just yet. If real, though, it could help Apple recover some lost smartphone market share in the region. With over 700 million subscribers, China Mobile has a large volume of potential customers. Update: Ruh roh. China Mobile told Reuters that it is actually "still negotiating with Apple." But hey, it's just a matter of time, right?
China finally grants 4G licenses, but still no iPhone deal for China Mobile
Just as promised, the Chinese government has finally granted TD-LTE licenses to the country's three carriers: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. This means the companies can launch their 4G services whenever they want, though the reality is only China Mobile, the world's largest carrier, has been conducting large-scale TD-LTE trials across the country. The remaining two companies have previously expressed that they plan to use the more common FDD-LTE as their main backbone, but the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is allegedly waiting for TD-LTE deployment to mature before it also grants FDD-LTE licenses. Either way, this is obviously good news for mobile phone manufacturers who want to dig deep into the Chinese market, as the faster service will motivate users to upgrade their phones -- especially with all the red pocket money they will be receiving in Chinese New Year at the end of next month. While there's already no shortage of TD-LTE devices out in the market, China Mobile recently told CNN that contrary to rumours, it has yet to secure a deal with Apple to sell iPhones. What's more bizarre is that a TD-LTE-flavored iPhone 5s has already been approved for use on China Mobile's network since September. Well, for the sake of Apple fans stuck with China Mobile, here's hoping the denial is just a cheeky decoy.
