India smartphone market declines 11% to reach 45 mn units in Q3

November 3, 2022 | 7:34 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

According to the latest research from Counterpoint’s ‘Market Monitor service,’ the decline, which is the first ever for a Q3, can be attributed to the high base last year due to the pent-up demand during Q3 2021, as well as lower consumer demand in the entry-tier and budget segments in Q3 2022.

One in three smartphones shipped during the quarter was a 5G smartphone. Samsung led the 5G smartphone segment with a 20 per cent share, followed by OnePlus and vivo.

“The unfavourable macroeconomic conditions will continue to affect the Indian smartphone market in Q4 2022 as well, especially after Diwali. However, we may witness a demand uptick during the year-end sales,” said senior research analyst Prachir Singh.

vivo captured the third position even as its shipments declined 15 per cent YoY. realme remained at the fourth spot in Q3 2022, capturing a 14 per cent share.

OPPO maintained its fifth position in India’s smartphone market. OPPO is consistently increasing its shipments in the high-tier segments.

“After the 5G network rollout, consumers are quite keen on purchasing 5G smartphones, especially the upgrading users. In Q3 2022, 5G smartphones registered 31 per cent YoY growth and contributed to 32 per cent of the total shipments,” said research analyst Shilpi Jain.

“The sub-Rs 10,000 price band continues to be under pressure due to lower consumer demand and contributed to 27 per cent of the total shipments, down from 31 per cent a year ago,” she added.

LIVE | PAK vs SA Score, T20 World Cup 2022: RAIN Stops Play, Pak Ahead By 16 Runs in DLS

November 3, 2022 | 5:02 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

Pakistan opt to bat first as they will battle it out against South Africa to remain alive in the T20 World Cup. On the other hand, South Africa will look to consolidate their position in the race of the semi-final. Currently, they are undefeated in the group and placed second in the points table right after India.

Pakistan vs South Africa, T20 World Cup 2022 Playing 11’s:

South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi

Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

Musk confirms Twitter can soon expand or kill 280-character limit

October 30, 2022 | 12:06 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

New Delhi, Oct 30: Elon Musk on Sunday confirmed that Twitter can soon expand or even get rid of the 280-character limit on the platform.

Responding to a user who asked if we can get rid of character limits, or at least greatly expand it, Musk said: “Absolutely”.

Musk, who has acquired Twitter for $44 billion after a bitter battle, said in April this year that the micro-blogging platform needs long-form tweets which is “way overdue”.

Twitter currently allows people to post in 280 characters.

Reacting to a follower’s tweet thread, Musk said: “My most immediate takeaway from this novella of a thread is that Twitter is way overdue for long form tweets!”

Earlier, Musk demanded an Edit button, and the micro-blogging platform announced that it is working on such a feature that will allow users to correct errors in their tweets, albeit with some rules.

Twitter launched 280 characters in November 2017 to all users in supported languages, including English.

The company first announced the controversial plan to move beyond its traditional 140 characters in September 2017 with a small group of users.

Several Twitter users had argued that 280 characters would make Twitter less readable as the platform’s defining characteristic is the brevity of posts.

However, Twitter’s decision to double its character count from 140 to 280 characters did not dramatically change the length of Twitter posts.

According to the company, Twitter is still a place for briefer thoughts.

Only 1 per cent of tweets hit the 280-character limit, and only 12 per cent of tweets were longer than 140 characters, according to the data provided by the company a couple of years back. Only 5 per cent of tweets were longer than 190 characters.

Pakistan Likely To Pull Out Of World Cup If India Does Not Travel For Asia Cup

October 19, 2022 | 7:21 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

New Delhi: Pakistan, on Tuesday, threatened to pull out of next year’s World Cup in India, reacting strongly to BCCI secretary Jay Shah’s statement that they would prefer to play the Asia Cup at a neutral venue.

Pakistan is scheduled to host the next edition of the Asia Cup next year as per the Asian Cricket Council’s executive board’s decision. Incidentally, Shah is the president of the Asian Cricket Council.

After the BCCI AGM in Mumbai on Tuesday, Shah in an informal gathering of reporters stated that “India will play the Asia Cup at a neutral venue.” Sources close to PCB chairman Ramiz Raja indicated that one of the options that they are mulling after Shah’s statement is to pull out of 50-over ICC World Cup in India.

“The PCB is now prepared to take hard decisions and play hardball because it is also aware that the ICC and ACC events will have to face commercial liabilities and losses if Pakistan does not play India in these multi-team events,” a senior OCB source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

India does play Pakistan at global or continental events but hasn’t travelled to the neighbouring country since 2008 Asia Cup. Pakistan last came to India for a short six-match white ball bilateral series in 2012.

The PCB when contacted declined to give an official reaction to Shah’s statement.

“We have nothing to say at the moment but yes we will look at things and take up this matter at appropriate forums like the ICC board meeting in Melbourne next month,” a spokesperson said.

However, it has been learnt that PCB Chairman Raja and other senior officials were very upset with the announcement by Jay Shah that India would not travel to Pakistan next year and had decided to take some hard decisions now.

“The PCB officials are surprised at the timing of Jay Shah’s statement because there is still nearly a year to go before the Asia Cup is held in Pakistan in September 2023,” one insider said.

He said the PCB had been aware that the issue of India travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup was on the BCCI AGM but didn’t expect any announcement or statements on this issue at this time.

“The PCB is wondering in what capacity has Jay Shah given the statement that the ACC will look to relocate the Asia Cup to UAE out of Pakistan because the hosting rights were awarded by the executive board of the ACC not the President,” the PCB source said.

PCB could pull out of ACC membership, The PCB sources said that Raja would be sending a strong letter to the ACC on the matter and would be demanding an emergency meeting of the ACC board to be convened in Melbourne next month to discuss Shah’s statement.

The insider also disclosed that the PCB had decided to look at several options and would not accept any disruption to its hosting rights.

“One option under consideration will be to pull out of the ACC as the PCB believes the ACC was formed to promote and develop cricket in the region and forge unity among the member nations. But the President of the ACC is going to give statements like these, there is no use for Pakistan to remain in the body,” he added.

Gurez Valley receives fresh spell of Snowfall, movement halted at Razdhan Pass

January 5, 2023 | 4:53 PMOctober 18, 2022 | 4:17 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

Bandipora: The fresh snowfall was witnessed in Gurez valley of the Bandipora district today afternoon.

The fresh snowfall was witnessed at the Razdan Top of the Gurez, the highest pass connecting Gurez valley with Bandipora district in north Kashmir.

Razdan Top is nearly at an elevation of 12000 feet, which also serves as a gateway to the scenic Gurez valley with light snowfall, following overnight rain and thunderstorms. Locals told JKyouth that the Razdan Pass received a fresh spell of snowfall Tuesday Afternoon.

Vehicle movement was also halted for some time from Peer-Baba to Zedkus Nala following the fresh spell of Snowfall, meanwhile later the authorities allowed vehicle to cross Razdhan pass from both the sides.

PM inaugurates IMC 2022 exhibition, experiences 5G tech by different operators

October 1, 2022 | 3:15 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 exhibition ahead of the formal launch of 5G mobile telephony services in India.

After inaugurating the exhibition at Pragati Maidan here, he went around pavilions set up by different telecom operators and technology providers to get a first-hand experience of what 5G can do.

He started with Reliance Jio’s stalls, where he witnessed the ‘True 5G’ devices displayed and experienced the use case through Jio Glass.

Flanked by Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and billionaires Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Airtel and Kumar Mangalam Birla of Vodafone Idea, he spent time understanding the indigenous development of end-to-end 5G technology.

He thereafter visited stalls of Airtel, Vodafone Idea, C-DOT and others.

SC Constitution bench to hear plea challenging WhatsApp’s policy to share users’ data on Jan 17, 2023

September 29, 2022 | 1:40 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would take up on January 17, 2023 a plea by two students contending that WhatsApp’s policy to share users’ data with parent company Facebook and others is a violation of their privacy and free speech.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph asked the parties to complete pleadings in the matter by December 15.

“We are inclined to adjourn the matter to January 17, 2023 for final hearing,” the bench also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar said.

The apex court was hearing the plea filed by two students – Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi challenging the contract entered into between the two companies to provide access to calls, photographs, texts, videos and documents shared by users is violation of their privacy and free speech.

Gold falls Rs 303; silver drops by Rs 197

September 19, 2022 | 8:05 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

New Delhi: Gold prices declined by Rs 303 to Rs 49,571 per 10 grams in the national capital on Monday amid weak global cues and rupee appreciation, according to HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, the yellow metal had closed at Rs 49,874 per 10 grams.

Silver also dipped by Rs 197 to Rs 57,090 per kilogram from Rs 57,287 per kg in the previous trade.

The rupee appreciated 14 paise to 79.64 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday in line with its Asian peers and as the American currency retreated from its elevated levels.

In the international market, gold was quoting lower at USD 1,662 per ounce, while silver was flat at USD 19.28 per ounce.

“Gold prices extended loses as firm dollar and speculation ahead of US FOMC meet has pinned down investment sentiments on expectations of larger rate hike,” Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities) at HDFC Securities, said.

Massive discounts on iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 in INDIA

September 18, 2022 | 8:54 PM by Hashim Iqbal Akhoon

Apple unveiled the iPhone 14 series at its Far out event on September 14. This time Apple launched four devices instead of three at its event. The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max were unveiled at the Apple event this year. So if you are planning to buy an iPhone, you can consider buying anyone from the series, but if your budget is not more than Rs 50,000 and you still want to buy an iPhone, you should check out the deals offered on Flipkart.

Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sale is all set to go live on September 23. During the sale, the e-commerce giant is expected to offer irresistible deals on the older iPhone clubbed with bank offers and exchange offers. But if you cannot wait till sale, you can check out the offers. So here is how the deals work:-

iPhone 11

Though old, the iPhone 11 can still be a pretty good buy if your budget is under around Rs 30,000. The smartphone is listed at Rs 43,900 on Flipkart for the 64GB variant. However, Flipkart is offering up to Rs 19,000 in exchange of your old phone. So this would help you bring the price down by almost Rs 10,000 if your old phone is in a very good condition. Along with that, Axis Bank card users can get up to 5 per cent off on the device.

iPhone 12

The iPhone 12, which brought back the flat-edged design, is selling for Rs 64,900 on Flipkart for the 128GB variant. You can further bring the price down by selling your old phone and getting up to Rs 19,000 in exchange for your phone. Additionally, Axis Bank card users can get up to 5 per cent discount on the phone. During the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale, the price of the phone is expected to go down even further.

iPhone 13

Between iPhone 14 and iPhone 13, there is hardly any difference in design and even the features. However, there is a lot of difference in the price of the two phones. The iPhone 13 is being sold for Rs 69,900. Flipkart is offering up to Rs 19,000 as an exchange offer. So if you have an iPhone 11, you can get up to Rs 18,000 or more. This brings the price down to Rs 50-900. Now, if you can wait till the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale, the price of the iPhone 13 is expected to go down by almost Rs 20,000. Flipkart had recently teased that the iPhone 13 could cost as low as Rs 49,900. But it does seem like a limited-time deal.

Source: India Today