India’s mobile handset makers can restart production soon, according to press reports, but, unsurprisingly, the companies involved are not confident of getting back to full capacity on that day – or for a while after.
Some encouraging news in this difficult time comes from the World Bank, highlighting how distance learning is being rolled out in a number of African countries during the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns.
Last year’s Indian gains in global smartphone production due to the US-China trade war could be lost thanks to the coronavirus lockdown.
According to local news reports in the Gulf region, the leading UAE operator Etisalat has expanded its CloudTalk Meeting platform. It will now enable up to 50 simultaneous participants at any one time.
Emirates-headquartered operator Etisalat has announced the launch of Business Edge, a comprehensive platform offering a wide range of services and solutions that cater to small and medium-sized enterprises.
A new survey that has gained a lot of interest in the Indian press says that 81 percent of mobile phone users in the country now use a 4G smartphone.
The continuing outbreak of Covid-19 (coronavirus) has seen smartphone shipments in China plummet throughout February.
India has given Apple the go-ahead to open branded retail outlets in the market, with the US firm planning a launch in 2021.
According to local press reports, Malaysia’s Axiata Group, one of the leading telecommunications groups in Asia, is planning to go ahead with a bid for a digital banking licence in the country.
Vodafone Idea Business Services (VIBS), the enterprise arm of Indian operator Vodafone Idea, has announced the launch of Vodafone Secure Device Manager (VSDM), powered by IBM Security MaaS360, a unified end-point management (UEM) system.
Pan-African operator Africell has launched its first 3G smart feature phone, afriphone.
Technology from live video streaming company LiveU is offering an alternative to traditional satellite, fibre and microwave technology for live coverage of South Africa’s popular horse racing industry.
Rwanda’s Mara Group has launched two smartphones, which it describes as the first Made in Africa models.
Kia Motors India, a division of the South Korean company Kia Motors, is planning to utilize IoT Solutions from Vodafone Idea Business Services, a division of the Indian operator Vodafone Idea, to enable an array of connected car services.
Global sales of smartphones to end users declined 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2019, totalling 368 million units. However, demand for high-end smartphones has slowed at a greater rate than demand for midrange and low-end smartphones.
China Mobile has revealed plans to release a proprietary 5G smartphone as part of its drive to launch the technology in more than 50 Chinese cities before 2020.
Google is reportedly planning to begin manufacturing its Pixel smartphones in Vietnam due to the escalating US-China trade war.
Strategy Analytics has predicted worldwide 5G smartphone sales of 160 million in 2020, provided China embraces the technology as forecast.
TECNO, a top three handset vendor in Africa, has announced the launch of the first KaiOS powered 3G smart feature phone, the T901.
Huawei’s China-developed operating system, branded as HarmonyOS, has been officially unveiled at the vendor’s developer conference in Dongguan.
The first Huawei-made smartphone to use the vendor’s domestically developed operating system will release in Q4, the company has said.
Venezuela is currently undergoing country-wide blackouts that are leaving 98% of the population without internet connectivity.
Bangladeshi digital services provider Robi and Comviva-incubated fintech firm YABX have partnered to facilitate financing for smartphones for Robi’s customers in Bangladesh.
Nokia and Dawiyat Integrated Telecommunications and Information Technology Company, part of Saudi Electricity Corporation (SEC), will collaborate on multiple projects to develop the ecosystem for Industry 4.0 in the country.
The South African smartphone market enjoyed solid growth in 2018, with unit sales rising 7.2% year-on-year to around 13.5 million, and value growing 13.2% to just under R35 billion.
The Indian smartphone market grew by nearly 20% in Q4 of 2018, with data from IDC showing that Chinese vendors were the main beneficiaries.
Samsung is looking to regain the ground it has lost in India to Chinese device makers with a range of low-cost smartphones.
Russian technology firm Yandex has unveiled its first smartphone.
MTN has partnered with KaiOS to launch the world’s first 3G smart feature phones in Africa.
African tech player Mara has announced their newest product, the Maraphone – the first made-in-Africa, full-scale smartphone, soon to be manufactured in plants across Africa.
The second quarter of 2018 saw renewed growth in the Philippines’ smartphone market, with Chinese brands increasing their share of this market.
Korean smartphone giant Samsung may shutter operations at one of two device factories in China as a result of escalating labour overheads and waning sales in the market.
Research firm Canalys reports that Xiaomi has seen its annual shipments grow by 155% in India, taking the lead in a smartphone market that is growing yet rapidly consolidating.
The government of India is imposing import duties on a broader variety of smartphone components, underlining its wider efforts to encourage the local manufacture of devices.
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