Huawei surpasses Apple as 'world's second-biggest smartphone maker'

Huawei has overtaken Apple Inc. as  the world's second biggest smartphone maker in terms of sales. Huawei surpassed Apple in sales for June and July, breaking the duopoly enjoyed by Apple and Samsung for at least five years according to figures from Counterpoint Research.

Apple has moved to third place, a position it hasn't seen since the heyday of BlackBerry and Nokia. Apple has held one of the top two spots since 2010 after unseating BlackBerry and later on Nokia, companies that are no longer considered serious platforms and merely serve as Android OEMs today.

Huawei's reign, however, is expected to be short as Apple is planning its biggest iPhone release in years starting next week. With multiple models expected to hit the market, the company is expected to rally in terms of sales even as initial supplies are expected to be constrained. 

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Samsung Gear Sport gets leaked ahead of rumoured IFA debut

With IFA just a few days away, we get a look at what looks like another wearable coming from Samsung. The Gear Sport (SM-R600) will supposedly have 5ATM waterproofing, which makes it suitable for taking on a swim. In the FCC schematics, you can see that it’s still similar looks-wise to other Gear smartwatches with its round screen. Not much is known from the leaked image. But it’s expected to be the first smartwatch to run on Tizen 3.0 and have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It’ll supposedly also have a heart rate sensor, as one would expect from a fitness tracker. We should be hearing more about this next week.

Source: GSMArena

Samsung stresses improved battery safety during Galaxy Note8 launch event

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

In case you missed it, Samsung has launched a successor to the doomed Galaxy Note7 phablet. The Galaxy Note8, an enormous 6.3-inch smartphone featuring all the latest Samsung technologies, is coming on September 15 and will be sold in Canada through Bell, Eastlink, Freedom, MTS, Rogers, Sasktel, Telus and Videotron. Off contract price is a whopping $1,200.00! Making this the most expensive Samsung handset in recent memory.

The big question many consumers have is, how safe is the Note8 given its predecessor's battery defects and subsequent $5.3 billion dollar recall. Samsung seems to have addressed this during today's launch.

"Samsung continues to uphold its commitment to lead the industry in battery safety. The Galaxy Note8’s battery has undergone our Samsung 8-point battery check," Samsung explained.

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Samsung's Bixby smart assistant finally comes to Canadian Galaxy S8 phones

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

A long six monts after it was unveiled alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8, Gear 360' Camea and Gear VR, the Bixby smart assistant is finally coming to Canadian Galaxy S8 devices.

Bixby rollout was off to a shaky start. It was key differentiator for the Galaxy S8 (Samsung even built-in a proprietary button for the service) but didn't appear on devices until last month. While Samsung touts Bixby's capabilities and advanced assistant features. Bixby is expected to transcend mobile devices and be integrated into other appliances. Samsung likely got Bixby out of the gate today because it will be included in the Galaxy Note8, which is the phablet they are launching this week and is the successor to the faulty and exploding Note7.

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