Huawei challenges Apple with premium smartwatch

[TaiShang]

Huawei challenges Apple with premium smartwatch
November 5, 2015

As a direct challenger to the Apple Watch, Chinese technology company, Huawei, Wednesday launched its high-end smartwatch products in Britain.

Two months after being launched in the United States, the Huawei Watch arrived in Britain as one of the most expensive smartwatches that run on Google's Android Wear operating system. Huawei's ambitious wearables product will be priced between 289 pounds to 599 pounds, depending on the style, according to the company.

Measuring 42 mm in diameter and encased in a cold-forged stainless steel frame, the smartwatch features a fully circular 1.4-inch touch-sensitive AMOLED display, which is coated in scratch-proof sapphire crystal.

This is part of Huawei's efforts to bring more products into major markets outside of China.

Huawei has emerged as second largest Android brand in European Union's big five markets, namely Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, according to the latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the third quarter of 2015.

But when it comes to the wearables, the market is by far a tough nut to crack, as many consumers are yet to be convinced that they need these products, at least in major markets like the United States.

The wearables market is still in its infancy, with only three percent of the U.S. population aged 16 and up owning a smartwatch or a smartband, according to the latest data released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, which specializes in monitoring and analyzing consumer behavior.

The figures are based on a survey conducted in late August among eleven thousand consumers.

The survey showed that among the non-owners of smartwatch interviewed, 20 percent were not sure what these devices were, and 11 percent had never heard of them.

"Considering the poor job vendors have done thus far in defining the smartwatch category it is surprising that 52 percent of those interviewed were able to identify what these devices are: something you wear like a watch, and that let you runs apps," said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

But according to Kantar, manufacturers, ecosystem owners, and developers all see significant opportunities ahead in the wearables market, despite the numbers.

 

[cirr]

Live from Beijing: Huawei details the Kirin 950 chipset

BY PHIL NICKINSON

Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 at 10:19 pm EST

Expected in Huawei's upcoming flagships, the Kirin 950 boosts performance and lowers power consumption even further — and that's ballgame for those of us using the phones.

We're coming at you live from Beijing, China, where Huawei is detailing the new Kirin 950 processor. While Kirin's not a name you hear in the U.S. at all — Huawei's phones in our part of the world ship with other processors — but it's a big deal in Asia, and in China specifically, and it's expected in the rumored Huawei Mate 8. And the 950 is a big step forward for HiSilicon, the Kirin line and Huawei specifically.

The 16nm chipset sports four high-power ARM Cortex A72 processors at up to 2.53 GHz, and four lower-power Cortex A53 processors at 1.8GHz, in the big.LITTLE configuration, with a "tiny" i5 "always-sensing" coprocessor on board as wel. It's got a Cat 6 LTE modem on board, and graphics are powered by a Mali T880MP4 processor.

And in addition to the on-paper boost in processing speed, the leap to VoLTE (and that'll extends back to the Kirin 920 and 930 as well) and the improvement in voice quality plays a big part in Kirin 950's appeal, Huawei says. And the voice demonstrations during Thursdays morning's press briefing showed the stark contrast in frequency range — a 100 percent increase, Huawei says, ranging from 50 Hz to 7KHz. That means better low- and high-frequency response for voice, with the latency down from 5 to 6 seconds to 05. to 1.5 seconds. Voice quality improves twice over as well. And there's an across-the-board improvements for music.

The other big leap in Kirin 950 comes from using flip transistors and FinFET — the short, short version is that it has to do with power consumption, or, specifically, consuming less power without sacrificing performance, building transistors vertically instead of only horizontally. Huawei's saying a 40 percent increase in performance, with power consumption down by 60 percent. And that ultimately adds up to an additional 10 hours of "normal" use on a device with a 3500 mAh battery.

The included i5 co-processor (and don't think of that in terms of the Intel i5 you're probably more familiar with) is for things like the sensor hub, barometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and acceleration. It's "always sensing" and is four times better than the second-generation i3, with power usage decreased from 90 mA to 6.5 mA.

As far as graphics power goes, Huawei says the Mali T880 GPU has 100 percent better performance over the Kirin 930, with a similar increase in GFLOPS.

For end users, that means faster, with longer battery life. And, in a word — better. And that's a a huge deal for Huawei, as more than half of China's 4G+ phones are running a Kirin chipset today.

Live from Beijing: Huawei details the Kirin 950 chipset | Android Central

 

[qwerrty]

Live from Beijing: Huawei details the Kirin 950 chipset

Live from Beijing: Huawei details the Kirin 950 chipset | Android Central

huawei should sell their chips to other chinese companies and watch mediatek and qualcomm stocks drops like stones... they should do it now while qualcomm is having bad reputation with their nasty overheating snapdragon chips

Qualcomm Profit Sinks 44% With Low Chip Sales And Continued Struggles In China Over Licensing

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2015/11/04/qualcomm-profit-sinks-44-with-low-chip-sales-and-continued-struggles-in-china-over-licensing/

 

[cirr]

Now that we take Huawei seriously, what’s next for the Chinese giant?

by: SIMON HILL

18 HOURS AGO

It’s well past time that Huawei was on your radar. It’s one of the most exciting manufacturers in the Android space today. This year’s well-received highlights so far include the classy Huawei Watch, and the excellent Nexus 6P. Its partnership with Google could be the springboard it needs to crack the US market. If it can continue on its current trajectory, then Samsung and Apple will have to look over their shoulders.

Huawei grabbed an 8.7% share of the worldwide smartphone market in Q2 of this year, up from 6.7% in 2014, and 4.3% in 2013, according to IDC. In its homeland, Huawei has just wrestled the throne from Xiaomi, becoming the top smartphone vendor in China in Q3, according to Canalys. It appears to be riding the crest of a wave. Can it reach new heights, will it maintain its course, or is there danger of a wipeout?

Moving on up

The smartphone market has grown much more competitive in the last couple of years. The impact of falling prices and powerful new players undercutting the old order, can be plainly seen in Samsung’s decline, and the struggle of once-powerful players like Sony, HTC, and Motorola. How has Huawei so consistently managed to swim against the tide, with growing sales in all regions of the world?

It has adopted a shifting strategy, using its growing popularity to climb the ladder from budget, to mid-range, and now up to premium. Huawei’s main line has been branded as Ascend for years, but it dropped the name when it released the impressive Huawei P8. This marks a strategy shift that CEO, Richard Yu, spoke about at the start of the year when he told Bloomberg, “We are giving up the low end of the market. Many vendors are suffering. Only two vendors have had a good life: Apple and Samsung.”

Ten months after making that statement you could make a pretty strong argument that Huawei is selling the best Android Wear smartwatch on the market, and the best Android smartphone. The Huawei Watch and the Nexus 6P are premium devices in terms of design, specs, and features, but they significantly undercut Apple and Samsung on price.

Just because Huawei is reaching for the top, doesn’t mean it’s ignoring the rest of the market. The Honor brand is Huawei’s answer to Xiaomi. It has been selling feature-packed smartphones through direct e-commerce channels, targeting a younger audience, and it’s being run separately from the core company. It has expanded into more than 70 countries already, and offers impressive specs at mid-range prices.

Conquering the States

Huawei is selling smartphones across the globe. It dominates China, it has been doing great in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Sales have been soaring in Europe after a major marketing campaign. Huawei sells phones everywhere, from Japan to Jamaica, but the next major target is the US.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that it will be an uphill struggle, especially after a U.S. congressional committee suggested Huawei was a security threat because of alleged ties to the Chinese government, back in 2012. But that claim looks rather ridiculous in light of Snowden’s revelations about the NSA hacking into Huawei, as reported by the New York Times.

Smartphone sales stateside started out gently last summer with the Ascend Mate 2, sold unlocked and direct from Huawei’s online store (it also offered the cheap SnapTo). The uninspiring P8 Lite followed in June this year. But Huawei is done sticking its budget toe in the water.

There’s little doubt that the Nexus 6P will be Huawei’s biggest selling smartphone, so far, in the US market. Being formally introduced to many Americans by Google can only be a boost for Huawei’s fortunes. We’ve looked at the potential depths of Google and Huawei’s relationship before, in terms of wireless networking and Google’s desire to re-enter the Chinese market. Which brings us neatly to an important point about Huawei.

A tech giant

We aren’t talking about a small company here, and Huawei certainly isn’t reliant on the smartphone market. It first made the Fortune 500 back in 2010. It rose to prominence making equipment for the telecommunications industry. Huawei’s routers and switches power many of our networks.

A brief scan of recent tech news is revealing. Huawei just demoed the world’s first 1 Gbps mobile network with Hong Kong Telecom, which it called 4.5G. It’s also a major player in enterprise storage, where a partnership with Micron will bring flash storage to European data centers, as reported by The Register. This is a company with reach.

Returning to smartphones, Huawei is well-positioned, in part, because it can manufacture and use its own chipset, courtesy of the HiSilicon division. This enables the kind of integration you see at Samsung, and it could lead to the licensing and sale of Huawei’s Kirin processors to other manufacturers in future. There’s a very broad base here, enabling Huawei to tackle the smartphone market from a position of strength.

What’s next?

The Nexus 6P is an important phone for Huawei, but we’ve never seen Galaxy S and iPhone levels of sales from a Nexus phone and it probably won’t change that. Huawei’s next big release is going to be the Huawei Mate 8, set to be unveiled at the end of the month. It’s expected to have the HiSilicon Kirin 950 SoC, which may feature an octa-core design and Cat 10 LTE support, for fast performance and lightning download speeds. We also expect a premium design, possible Force Touch support (first shown in the Mate S), and a top notch camera.

There’s a chance that the Huawei Mate 8 will be the most advanced smartphone on the market for the next few months, at least. Beyond the specs, it’s going to be interesting to see what Huawei plans in terms of release. Will it be available worldwide? Could it be the first Huawei flagship to sell in the US?

Samsung and Apple have been untouchable for a long time (in tech industry terms), but Huawei does seem to be breaking away from the rest of the pack. If it keeps making the right moves, this could be a serious, sustained challenge to the dominance of the top two.

 

[TaiShang]

Huawei Watch hands-on: The most fashionable Android Wear watch yet

• SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

The circular screen features a 400 x 400 resolution over 1.4-inches (Credit: Chris Wood/Gizmag)

Earlier this week, we finally got pricing and release details on the Huawei Watch. It's priced a little higher than some of its competition, but does its high-end build make it worth the extra cash? Gizmag went hands-on with the wearable at IFA 2015 in Berlin.

If you look at the Huawei Watch's spec sheet, you'll notice that it's not doing much that its competitors aren't, with the same Snapdragon 400 chip and 512 GB RAM you'll find in numerous other Android Wear watches. That isn't what makes the Huawei Watch special. Instead it's about providing users with a premium, luxurious build, one that could be mistaken for a high-end traditional watch.





We tried out both the silver and black steel cases, as well as steel and leather straps. We found the silver body to look notably higher-end than the darker case, which has subtle dial markings reminiscent of last year's LG G Watch R.

Pairing leather or steel band with the silver case makes for a ridiculously good-looking wearable. Like the LG Watch Urbane, it has a fully round display and like the Moto 360 a minimal bezel with chamfered edges. Many smartwatch-makers have put an emphasis on fashion, but Huawei's is the most convincing of the bunch so far. If you're shopping for a damn good-looking smartwatch, all hail Huawei.

The leather band might just be the most luxurious feeling smartwatch strap we've tried so far, and the metal link band has more weight to it (in a good way) than Android Wear competitors like the Asus ZenWatch 2 and second generation Moto 360.





The band pictured above also has a deployment buckle, where the clasp is practically invisible when closed. It's something you'll routinely find on non-smart luxury timepieces, and adds an extra touch of class here.

One technical area where the wearable sits at the top of the Android Wear field is its display. The circular screen has a 400 x 400 resolution over 1.4-inches. That equates to a respectable 286 pixels per inch, making Google's wearable OS look sharper than ever. For some context, the Apple Watch's display comes out to roughly 326 PPI, while the new Gear S2's is 302 PPI, so Huawei's still trails a bit behind its biggest non-Android Wear rivals.

Given the higher price point of the watch (depending on configuration, it ships for between US$350 and $800), it won't be for everyone. But as long as you don't mind your wearable dollars going towards higher-end design and build quality, rather than extra functionality, the Huawei Watch delivers.

The Huawei Watch is up for pre-order now (on Huawei's US store, the Google Store andAmazon), and is set to ship to US customers on September 17.

 

[cirr]

Apple's original iPhone designer lands at China's top smartphone maker

By Hope King @lisahopeking


Huawei sets sights on U.S. smartphone market

Former Apple executive Abigail Brody has landed a job at China's top smartphone maker, Huawei.

As Apple's former creative director, Brody helped develop and design the first iPhone, including its operating system, user interface, and user experience.

She spent almost 10 years at Apple (AAPL, Tech30) before leaving to join eBay as vice president of global design.

Brody is now Chief Designer and vice president at Huawei.

Huawei calls Brody a top expert in user experience in a company blog post on Weibo, a Chinese social media site,

The company says she will create and lead a design team in the United States to create "the best user experience" of Huawei's products.

On her LinkedIn profile, Brody describes her new job as: "Doing something new and incredible: reinventing Huawei Consumer from the ground up with a vision."

She also posted her email address with an open call for job applicants.

"Currently I have openings for the San Francisco based (yet to be established) design center," Brody writes. "Join me if you want to change the world through design."

Huawei recently overtook Xiaomi as the No. 1 smartphone vendor in China, according to research firm Canalys.

Like many other Chinese phone manufacturers, Huawei wants to get a bigger share of the U.S. marketplace.

The company already has phones on all of the major U.S. carriers, including the well-received Google Nexus 6P.

Huawei has had such a strong desire to enter the U.S. smartphone market that it even briefly changed its hard-to-pronounce name (WAH-way), calling itself "FutureWei" here.

That didn't last, but its ambitions remain.

Eventually, the company may also have competition with other Chinese phone makers who are just as ambitious too.

Lenovo, OnePlus, and ZTE are just some of the brands that have been cranking out beautiful and cheap new devices to go up against Apple and Samsung stateside.

Apple's original iPhone designer lands at China's top smartphone maker - Nov. 2, 2015

 

[Path-Finder]

I have become a Huawei owner and moved away from Samsung and don't regret the switch. looking forward to Ascend mate 8

 

[Jlaw]

Huawei has a tough job ahead. Buyers of Apple products are like members of a cult. IT's not about the technology. Huawei's tech can be five years ahead of Apple's but the Apple cult members will continue to buy Apple products.

Apple is not selling products. They are selling a religion.

 

[cirr]

Watch out Qualcomm, Huawei's new Kirin 950 smartphone chip looks beastly

The smartphone chip battle moves to China where Huawei's latest processor boasts a 40 percent boost in speed while providing a 60 percent power savings

By Kevin Tofel for Mobile Platforms

November 5, 2015 -- 15:17 GMT (07:17 PST)

When you think of the chip brand powering your smartphone or tablet, Qualcomm's Snapdragon surely has to come to mind.

Sure there, are others, such as Apple's own processors as well as Samsung's Exynos line but don't count out Huawei: The company says its silicon powers more than half of the 4G or faster phones in China. And based on the newest Huawei chip, that number may rise even higher.

On Wednesday in Beijing, the company introduced its Kirin 950 chipset with more power and improved energy efficiency. Android Central's Phil Nickinson was at the unveiling and came away very impressed:

"Expected in Huawei's upcoming flagships, the Kirin 950 boosts performance and lowers power consumption even further -- and that's ballgame for those of us using the phones."

The Kirin 950 is comprised of four ARM Cortex A72 processors capable of up to 2.53 GHz clock speeds and four 1.8 Ghz lower-power Cortex A53 processors. It wasn't that long ago when a 1.8 GHz dual-core chip powered a flagship phone by itself.

Huawei's 16nm process chip is also using a speedy Mali T880 graphics chip as well as a Category 6 LTE modem -- good for theoretical 301.5 Mbps downloads and 51.0 Mbps uploads -- as well as sensor package that Huawei calls the i5.

Nickinson notes that the Kirin 950 is built with flip transistors and FinFET technology to reduce power; Huawei says the chip boost performance by 40 percent over its prior silicon while dropping energy consumption by 60 percent. In a bold claim, that equates to 10 more hours of normal use with a 3500 mAh battery the company says.

While all ARM Holdings licensees generally work from the same chip architecture -- there are also license options to modify the chip design -- this can't be good news for Qualcomm; particularly in China if Huawei's market share claims are accurate.

Indeed, the number of devices shipping worldwide with Qualcomm chips inside peaked in December 2014 and have fallen each quarter since then. Qualcomm hopes to get back on track with its upcoming Snapdragon 820 as we'll see devices using the chip in the first half of 2016.

How many of them will come from China where there's far more room for sales opportunity?

Not likely that many based on how Huawei is quietly starting to corner the chip market in the world's most populous nation.

Watch out Qualcomm, Huawei's new Kirin 950 smartphone chip looks beastly | ZDNet

 

[Emperor Modi]

TATA has been challenging Apple for quite a long time, Huawei is not an issue.

 

[Path-Finder]

TATA has been challenging Apple for quite a long time, Huawei is not an issue.

Moohdhi ji is using an apple phone don't see him using TATU phone?

 

[cirr]

I have become a Huawei owner and moved away from Samsung and don't regret the switch. looking forward to Ascend mate 8

Kirin 960 in development，Kirin 970 in planning stage：

Huawei is also to have its own SMT4 cores for server CPUs。

海思麒麟950发布,华为自主架构处理器仅用于服务器 - 集微网:老杳微信号laoyaoshow

 

[vtnsx]

Snapdragon 820 is beast.

 

[Path-Finder]

Kirin 960 in development，Kirin 970 in planning stage：

Huawei is also to have its own SMT4 cores for server CPUs。

海思麒麟950发布,华为自主架构处理器仅用于服务器 - 集微网:老杳微信号laoyaoshow

My friend works for a major mobile phone outlet in the UK he told me that Huawei is going to be the king of phones very soon.

 

[cirr]

MADE IN CHINA TAKES NEW MEANING, AS HUAWEI WATCH COMES TO UK

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

BY RYAN HARRIS LEAVE A COMMENT

Here it is, the beautiful Huawei smartwatch

(Mirror Daily, United States) – One of the most anticipated devices of the year is finally here, so made in China takes new meaning, as Huawei watch comes to UK.

Well, it’s finally here. In the UK, that is, in stores such as Selfridges, the Google Store or vMall. The new Huawei smartwatch has been keeping us from sleeping at night for the past eight months, when it was first introduced in the MWC. We immediately fell in love with its amazing looks and sturdy quality build and we haven’t been able to sleep since. Yes, this watch ruined us for all other watches.

But now it’s finally within our grasp. It comes in three different models: the base with a silver finish and the classy leather strap will set you back a cool 289 pounds, the second model with metal bands of stainless steel will be about 329 pounds and, topping the list is the rose gold model, which will be 599 pounds. Of course, they are not cheap compared to other smartwatches, but you need to take into consideration that these look like classical watches, cool and slick, perfect for matching up with a suit and tie. So they might be worth all those quid.

The case is made completely out of stainless steel, the screen is round and covered with sapphire crystal. Talk about classy! The display is 1.4 inches and it has a resolution of 400 x 400 pixels, one of the highest out there, among other smartwatches. Also, the fact that it only has one button ads up to the elegant and posh look of this beauty.

It also comes equipped with a Snapdragon 400 processor and 512 MB of RAM. 4 GB of internal storage is more than enough for a smartwatch. So is there really nothing this smartwatch cannot do? Well, it can measure your heart rate, it has a gyroscope and an accelerometer. It has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options and 1.5 days of action with no recharge, thanks to the 300 mAh battery. Of course it runs Android Wear and is compatible with Android 4.3. Jelly Bean and later versions, so that would be KitKat, Lollipop and Marshmallow.

But it’s also compatible with iOS, don’t worry, because we know you’re a hipster and you have a white iPhone. So the Huawei watch is compatible with iOS 8.2 and later versions. However, the watch has no GPS, and it looks like we found the flaw we were looking for. But, like I said, you probably have an iPhone so you’re good.

Made In China Takes New Meaning, As Huawei Watch Comes To UK - Mirror Daily