The World Opinion

Tag: Smartphone

  • Global Smartphone Market Grows 2%, iPhone 16 Makes Apple Biggest Brand In September |

    New Delhi: Global smartphone market grew 2 per cent in the July-September period – the first year-on-year growth in a third quarter since Q3 2018 — as Apple became the biggest brand in September helped by early launch of iPhone 16, according to a new report on Tuesday.

    This was the global smartphone market’s fourth consecutive quarter of growth, a testament to the ongoing market recovery, according to Counterpoint Research’s Smartphone 360 ​​Tracker.

    Apple’s sales grew 1 per cent in Q3, and it established itself as the biggest brand globally in September, helped by the iPhone 16 launch, despite iPhone 16 series sales remaining flat.

    The market has remained stable in 2024, rebounding from the lowest sales in a decade as consumer sentiment and macroeconomic factors continue to fare better than last year. Most markets recovered in Q3 led by Western Europe, Latin America (LATAM) and Japan, all recording double-digit YoY percentage growth.

    Research Director Tarun Pathak said that ass smartphone players have benefited from the recovering market in 2024, and the top 10 brands have all consolidated share.

    “Samsung and Apple retained the top two spots in Q3 2024, followed by Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Samsung led the market with a 19 per cent share, thanks to sustained A-series demand and better performance of the S24 series,” Pathak added.

    “Even as the iPhone 16 series saw flat sales initially, we expect the demand for iPhone 16 series to remain stable due to the large installed base of iPhone users,” he added.

    Growth in smartphone sales volumes is slowing due to lengthening holding periods and maturing consumer base.

    Nevertheless, consumers are spending more than ever on new smartphones, leading to value growth in the industry, said the report.

    “One in four consumers buying a smart phone in 2024 will spend more than $600. This is the segment where new technologies like Gen AI will make a difference,” said the report.

  • Did You Know How Many Smartphone Users Will Use Digital Identity Wallets By 2026?: Reports |

    New Delhi: At least 500 million smartphone users globally will regularly make verifiable claims using a digital identity wallet (DIW) by 2026, a report said on Tuesday.

    Identity verification establishes confidence in the identity of a person during a digital interaction when curated credentials do not exist, are not available or do not provide sufficient assurance.

    However, due to challenges with the traditional IDV model, solutions based on portable digital identity (PDI) have emerged, according to a Gartner report.

    “The market is entering a transition period as PDI solutions are starting to mature, which in the next five years, will reduce the demand for standalone IDV,” said Akif Khan, VP Analyst at Gartner.

    The current IDV model of a user being asked to do the ID-plus-selfie process repeatedly, is not ideal. Khan said that the processes in place today are focused and limited to core identity data (name, date of birth, address etc.).

    As more and more processes move online, there is a need to tie many other attributes to a user’s identity, such as educational or workplace qualifications, proof of employment, not to mention healthcare data, Khan noted.

    A PDI is best defined as a digital identity that contains all the necessary attributes for identifying someone in the digital world. PDI also means that the user maintains some level of control over security and privacy.

    According to the Gartner report, the principle of PDI is that the user formerly proves their identity with a trusted entity, and once authenticated, it is recorded as an identity assertion.

    That identity assertion is either stored with the party that verified their identity (centralized model) or saved in a DIW on their smartphone (decentralised model).

    The European Commission will also require all EU member states to make a DIW available to citizens by 2026.

  • Cell phone stops a bullet, saves Ukrainian soldier’s existence | Watch video

    A video of a soldier being stored from a bullet via a smartphone goes viral on social media. The video is said to be from the continued Russia-Ukraine conflict.

    Screengrab from the video.

    A viral video of a soldier on a battlefield being stored from a bullet via his smartphone is doing rounds on social media.

    The purported video is reported to be from the continued Russia-Ukraine conflict which has entered its moment month.

    Within the 30-second lengthy video, an alleged Ukrainian soldier is noticed speaking to someone else, the place he’s pronouncing that the smartphone stored his existence.

    The video then specializes in the telephone, which has a bullet of seven.62mm caught inside of it. The smartphone served the aim of a bulletproof vest which might have in a different way killed the soldier.

    The sound of gunfire is obviously heard within the video, which presentations that the video is of the battlefield.

    Alternatively, India Nowadays may now not test the supply of the video.

    Russia-Ukraine Conflict

    Because the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its moment month, Moscow has ramped up the depth of its assaults in japanese Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin, on April 21, declared that the strategic port town Mariupol were ‘effectively liberated’. Recently, day-to-day bombings are being recorded in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s moment greatest town, as either side proceed to fiercely struggle for gaining keep an eye on of the area.

  • Cheap smartphone based totally take a look at can correctly come across COVID-19 in 20 mins

    By way of PTI

    WASHINGTON: Researchers in the USA have advanced a low cost smartphone based totally diagnostic software for COVID-19 that mixes the rate of over the counter antigen assessments with the accuracy of PCR assessments.

    The Cohesion COVID-19 take a look at advanced through researchers on the College of Washington in the USA detects genetic subject material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the researchers mentioned.

    Whilst the normal PCR assessments can take a number of hours, the Cohesion equipment can give ends up in lower than 20 mins for some samples and with an identical accuracy, they mentioned.

    “We designed the take a look at to be low cost and easy sufficient that it may well be used anyplace,” mentioned Bary Lutz, an affiliate professor on the College of Washington.

    “We are hoping that the low price will make high-performance checking out extra out there in the neighborhood and all over the world,” mentioned Lutz, senior writer of the analysis paper revealed within the magazine Science Advances.

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    The take a look at makes use of a “PCR-like” strategy to come across the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome in a nasal swab pattern with assistance from a small, low cost detector.

    A smartphone is used to perform the detector and skim the consequences, the researchers mentioned.

    The detector can care for as much as 4 samples at a time and would have compatibility into a typical automotive’s glove compartment, they mentioned.

    The accuracy of COVID-19 assessments has been a urgent subject all over the pandemic.

    Many at-home antigen kits for COVID-19, which come across items of the proteins the virus creates as a substitute of its genetic subject material, are 80-85 correct.

    The researchers famous that the accuracy of antigen kits would possibly drop with the Omicron variant, which harbours a fairly excessive selection of mutations now not present in different traces.

    PCR assessments are usually 95 in line with cent correct or higher however require dear apparatus and a protracted stay up for effects.

    Preliminary effects display that the Cohesion equipment is 97 in line with cent correct for nasal swabs, in line with the researchers.

    The Cohesion equipment detects 3 other areas of the virus’ genome.

    If a brand new variant has many mutations in a single area, the brand new take a look at can nonetheless come across the opposite two, they mentioned.

    It could, as an example, come across the Omicron variant, which has dozens of mutations within the area of the genome that encodes the so-called spike protein, the researchers mentioned.

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    Despite the fact that assessments according to PCR are extremely correct, a key limitation is that PCR assessments require dozens of cycles of heating and cooling to come across genetic subject material in a pattern.

    The brand new take a look at overcomes this factor through depending on one way referred to as RT-LAMP, which does not have the similar stringent temperature-cycling necessities.

    “This take a look at operates at a continuing temperature, so it removes the time to warmth and funky and provides ends up in about 20 mins,” mentioned Lutz.

    The workforce spun out a brand new corporate, Anavasi Diagnostics, to expand the Cohesion prototype equipment right into a product and scale up production to lend a hand deal with the continued scarcity of COVID-19 diagnostic assessments.

    Lutz and associates hope the kits may well be first of all made to be had to be used in clinics, in addition to different settings comparable to offices and colleges.

    Later, the researchers mentioned they wish to adapt the take a look at for domestic use.