The advancements coming out of China’s tech industry every moment have the potential to reshape our world as we speak. Every day, the ACT team brings you our hand-picked selection of breaking news, financial transactions rocking the industry, big people making big waves, and the coolest new gadgets. Don’t miss these headlines:
According to a report by Credit Suisse, Apple has cut 10% of its orders of iPhone components. It’s also expected that iPhone 6s shipment will drop between 55-60 million units. Weak demand from the Chinese market may be a primary reason for the decrease. Earlier reports reveal that an iPhone6s production line in China has been removed.
Chinese market research agency TalkingData indicated that in the first 17 days after the release of the iPhone 6s in China, its activation rate compared to that of iPhone 6 in the same period tumbled 14.6%. The company also pointed out that sales of iPads and Apple Watches “failed to meet expectations”.
NetEase Q3 report: USD 820M revenue comes from online games
China’s leading news portal and online game services provider, NetEase, has announced its Q3 financial results. Its net revenue reached RMB 6.7 billion (USD one billion), a 114.1% year-on-year increase. William Ding, CEO of NetEase, said mobile games are driving new growth. Forbes reported on Thursday that NetEase invested USD 25 million in Reforged Studios, a game studio with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland.
T-mall’s Double 11 revenue in 2015 reaches USD 14.3 B
As the Double 11 shopping festival ended with a bang, e-commerce giant T-mall has set another world record for overall transactions – RMB 91.2 billion (USD 14.3 billion), according to Sina Finance. T-mall claimed that RMB 62.6 billion of its revenue came from offline transactions, amounting to 68.67% of the overall transactions. It took T-mall less than 12 hours to break the 2014 record of RMB 57.1 billion.
Huawei, Xiaomi accused of faking Double 11 sales numbers
With smartphone sales being perhaps the biggest competition of the Double 11 shopping day, big Chinese domestic brands Xiaomi and Huawei are being accused of faking sales numbers. Prominent industry watcher Wang Guanhong posted on his Weibo account that some people were buying hundreds of phones in a single order. Huawei and Xiaomi have both proclaimed innocence, while Meizu accused Huawei of creating a publicity stunt. Huawei, Meizu and Xiaomi were the top-selling smartphones on Nov. 11.
Lenovo reports USD 714 million loss after consecutive profits
Lenovo has released its latest financial report ending Sept. 30, 2015. Lenovo received revenue of USD 12.2 billion, a 16% year-on-year increase. It reported a net loss of USD 714 million after operating at consecutive profits for many quarters. In the same period of last year, Lenovo reported a profit of USD 262 million. The loss was mostly due to one-time fees for restructuring and clearing smartphone stocks. 26% of Lenovo’s revenue came from the China region.
China’s Craigslist 58 Ganji launches secondhand goods trading app, backed by Tencent
58 Ganji, China’s Craigslist, has launched a secondhand goods swapping platform called Zhuanzhuan. It will work closely with Wechat, utilizing Wechat’s moments sharing function and Wechat wallet to exchange goods. CEO Yao Jinbo estimates that in two years, secondhand exchange will become 58 Ganji’s biggest area of business. 58.com merged with Ganji, its rival, back in April.
Alibaba expands U.S. operation with two new offices
Alibaba will open up two more offices in the US in the next five months, in order to expand overseas business by bringing more foreign brands and sellers into the Chinese market, Forbes reported. Michael Evans, head of international business at Alibaba, said the two offices would be located in New York and Washington D.C., adding to the three existing offices in the US. Alibaba is also expanding its business into the European market. The company has just made USD 14.3 billion in sales during the Double 11 shopping festival, breaking its own record from last year and topping the list of all e-commerce platforms.
Chinese real estate developer Vanke moves into unmanned ground vehicles
Chinese real estate developer Vanke has branched out into intelligent unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in response to a national slowdown in the property market. Vanke CEO Wang Shi explained that he expects as much as 40% of its staff to be shed over the next 10 years due to advancements in robotics technology.
The Vanke ‘Great White’ autonomous vehicle was developed over three years in conjunction with Shanghai Jiaotong university and is able to accommodate up to 6 people at a top speed of 40km/h. Potential applications for the ‘Great White’ include transportation in airports and last mile transport for subway terminals and bus stops.