AllChinaTech wraps up the past week’s news in consumer electronics and software. Don’t miss out on these headlines!
Xiaomi successfully crowdfunds its latest smartphone
Building up suspense in anticipation of China’s Double 11 sales festival, Xiaomi announced updates to its Mi Band fitness band, Mi Power Bank external battery and also the commencement of a crowdfunding campaign for a new smartphone. With crowdfunding now having officially ended, the campaign for the RMB 1000 pledge brought in a total of RMB 35 million yuan, far exceeding Xiaomi’s initial target of RMB 1 million.
The world’s largest mobile market discards 80 million cell phones every year
80 million cell phones are discarded every year in mainland China due to the tendency of users to replace their phones. The average frequency for replacement is currently about once every 8-12 months. With smartphone usage having reached peak levels throughout China’s mainland, where do all the waste products go when they are discarded?
ZTE and Huawei gear up for China’s 5G revolution
ZTE announced last week that it plans to introduce its pre-5G technology to the Chinese and Hong Kong markets starting as early as next year. In the same week, Huawei gave a demonstration of the technology in Hong Kong, with devices seen to be reaching speeds as high as 1 gigabit per second, roughly 5 times the speed of current fourth generation LTE devices. China will bring to market 4.5G devices as early as next year leading up to the rollout of 5G, with the government eager to establish China-friendly international standards.
Xiaomi introduces a heart-rate sensing Mi Band for Double 11 shopping day
Having gained a sizable audience and coming in at No.3 in the world’s best selling wearables, the Mi Band is back for a features update, this time promising the all-important feature that was lacking from the original – a heart-rate monitor. Offered for the same price as the original at 99 RMB (15USD), this is likely to open up the real possibility of a fully-fledged fitness product, able to compete on many of the same battlefronts as the competition.
Deadly Android virus infects 20,000 apps including Facebook
A deadly Android virus has been found to have affected 20,000 third-party marketplace apps according to a report by security firm Lookout. The virus was discovered embedded in popular user-uploaded applications like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram across third-party marketplaces in places like China, where the official Google Play Store is unavailable.