McAfee researchers have found 38 Android apps that can infect your phone with malware, Phonerena reports.
Smartphones are always at risk of getting infected with malware. Malware can find its way to your device in many ways, but downloading a malicious file or app is the most common way of it. In one of the latest cases, McAfee Mobile Research Team came up with a “HiddenAds” campaign that includes 38 Android games that were discovered on the Google Play Store.
As the name suggests, these Android games can run advertising in the background and generate illicit revenue for creators. According to a McAfee report, these apps are installed by at least 35 million users worldwide, and some of them even have over 10 million downloads. Additionally, the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Brazil are the most affected regions.
These infected Android games can load up your phone with malware, McAfee says
Running ads in the background without permission can create an unfavorable experience for users. For example, it can slow down the device, cause sudden crashes, and freeze the device while playing a game. Identifying the roots of the issue is also hard in such cases.
McAfee says they have reported infected apps to Google, and none exist in the Play Store anymore. However, if you’ve already installed any of these Android apps, you should promptly remove them from your device.
Here is the list of the infected Android games:
Block Box Master Diamond
Craft Sword Mini Fun
Block Box Skyland Sword
Craft Monster Crazy Sword
Block Pro Forrest Diamond
Block Game Skyland Forrest
Block Rainbow Sword Dragon
Craft Rainbow Mini Builder
Block Forrest Tree Crazy
Craft Clever Monster Castle
Block Monster Diamond Dragon
Craft World Fun Robo
Block Pixelart Tree Pro
Craft Mini Lucky Fun
Block Earth Skyland World
Block Rainbow Monster Castle
Block Fun Rainbow Builder
Craft Dragon Diamond Robo
Block World Tree Monster
Block Diamond Boy Pro
Block Lucky Master Earth
Craft Forrest Mini Fun
Craft Sword City Pro
Block Loki Monster Builder
Block Boy Earth Mini
Block Crazy Builder City
Craft Sword Vip Pixelart
Block City Fun Diamond
Craft City Loki Rainbow
Craft Boy Clever Sun
Block City Dragon Sun
Craft Loki Forrest Monster
Lokicraft: Forrest Survival 3D
Craft Castle Sun Rain
Craft Game Earth World
Craft Lucky Castle Builder
Craftsman: Building City 2022
Craft Rainbow Pro Rain
You can check the above list and see if you’ve installed any of these apps. And if you have, it’s recommended that you uninstall them as soon as possible. Especially if you live in one of the listed regions where the impact number is the highest.
According to a tweet from reverse engineer and mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi (via BGR), who is blue-check verified on Twitter, Instagram wants to post messages from you that will remain hidden from all but your close friends. Based on the screenshot included in Paluzzi’s tweet, Instagram users posting on the platform will be able to go to the new “Audience” tab and select to have their messages visible to everyone or to Close Friends only.
Users could choose to have their Instagram Stories and Instagram feeds offer exclusive content to Close Friends. We assume that there will be a place on Instagram where each user will be able to create a list of Close Friends who will be able to see the posts hidden from everyone else. Owned by Meta, which purchased Instagram in the tech deal steal of all-time back in 2012 for $1 billion, Instagram has been adding several new features to the social media platform.
Last month Instagram added a feature that many have been requesting for some time; that is the ability to add multiple links to a user’s Instagram profile. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that this has been one of the most requested features for the platform. And Instagram also now allows users to add a soundtrack to a photo posted on the feed. This is also being tested on Instagram’s carousel posts and Notes. It is unclear just when the Close Friends feature will be available.
Instagram has come a long way since it originally launched as a photo-sharing app that included filters that could be used on photos before they were shared with others. Eventually, borrowing from rival Snapchat, Instagram launched its Stories feature which shows pictures and videos in the order that they were posted for 24 hours. This might have been the most important feature added to the platform. The app now boasts 2.35 billion monthly active users as of this past March and Instagram is believed to be worth more than $100 billion.
If you do not have Instagram on your mobile device, you can install the app for your iPhone from the App Store by tapping on this link. Those with an Android device can click on this link to install the app from the Play Store.
We take a look at one newspaper’s innovative way of bypassing Russian media restrictions.
A Finnish newspaper is making clever use of popular video game titles to promote press freedom and bypass Russian media restrictions regarding the invasion of Ukraine. The plan: Hide a secret room underneath a map, which players can stumble upon and see facts, figures, and photographs of what’s been going on.
The map is a custom built design intended to be used in the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, playable via the Steam platform. We decided to take a look at how effective this is in practice, and what’s contained in the hidden room.
Is this the part where I fire up my ancient Counter-Strike account? It sure is.
Finding the map
First thing’s first. The map is a custom build, not designed by the game developers. How do you find it? The answer is to visit the game’s Workshop page. This is where custom made content for eligible games on Steam can be found, from maps and weapons to in-game objects or playable characters, depending on the title.
The map, de_vonya, currently displays as the most popular map of the week so it’s off to a good start. The map description says:
On the surface, it seems like a normal Slavic city. However, there might be something hidden underneath.
If you click on the map to open its page, and then hit the green “Subscribe” button, the map will be available next time you load up the game.
Finding the room
Counter-Strike is a team based first person shooter, where small teams race to complete objectives. I haven’t played in years, so I took the easy way out and set up a custom game with the only other combatants being bots. Playing against other people would be a surefire way to make a mess of this exploratory adventure.
The central idea of this map is to accidentally stumble upon the room containing the free press style content. In practice, this proves to be rather difficult.
The first problem: You can’t access the secret room unless you’re dead (don’t worry, I’ll come back to this). While playing normally, the door remains resolutely shut no matter what you try.
The door to the secret room can’t be opened if you’re alive
“How do I access the room when I’m dead,” you say? Well, when you die in Counter-Strike you can watch your teammates or you can float around the whole map and take in all of the action. In this state, you have no collision detection. In other words, players who are still alive will stop moving if they walk into an object like a wall. While dead, you’re essentially a floating camera and will pass right through it.
The second problem: Counter-Strike rounds are short, around a couple of minutes. They’re short enough with bot, but with actual humans playing, everything can be over very quickly indeed. Even with bots set to the easiest difficulty, three rounds had ended before I eventually found the room.
The third problem: Flying around the map is not entirely helpful with regard to finding the room. Counter-Strike makes use of a game design element called skyboxes. A skybox is something which acts as a distant background in the game you’re playing. Imagine a big cube wrapped around the level you’re in, with the sky (or something else altogether) projected on it. No skybox, no background. The world around you would just be a black void.
If the level you’re on has a small or “low” skybox, you’ll run into problems when trying to find a hidden secret. Want to fly up and take in a bird’s eye view of the map? The moment you fly too high up, the screen goes blank (or at least blue coloured, in this level’s case).
As a result, the “best” way to find the hidden room is to float around slightly underneath the floor and look for some flashing lights. If you manage to do this before the level ends prematurely, you’ll be able to locate and enter the room.
Flashing lights indicate the presence of the room
Inside the room
The room itself is made up of several areas of information, with a main table located in the middle.
One wall reads:
COUNTERSTRIKE OF THE FREE PRESS. This room contains independent journalism that is forbidden in Russia
A sign on one wall states “Russian strikes on civilian targets 2022-2023,” above a map highlighting strike locations, next to several photographs of the damage inflicted.
One wall of monitors and overturned TV screens states “Russians left behind mass graves in Bucha and Irpin”, along with images of said actions.
All very powerful. It is somewhat bizarre to look at a wall of photographs and text which reads “Missile strikes: he went to buy food, she and her child were killed in their home” as the game flashes up a message about the last round of Counter-Strike saying “Terrorists win. MVP: BOT Yanni for most eliminations”, though.
This is certainly an innovative way to bypass Russia’s media restrictions. One has to wonder if it would be a lot easier to simply have the secret room’s door open, especially as one team starts the level right next to it.
If you go looking for the room, be warned that some of the images are graphic. We’ve blurred some elements of the above screenshots that you may find disturbing, including dead bodies and body parts. While Steam Workshop has policies in place for individual items like characters or weapon skins, we can’t find anything for maps. Could players with an objection to the map’s existence cause it to be removed from Steam? Possibly.
It’s likely we’ll see more maps along these lines, especially as regular map makers see the idea and decide to run with it. Could Russia ultimately ban a game like Counter-Strike over this? Also possible, but I suspect (for now at least) very unlikely.
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Samsung is rapidly getting done with the May 2023 update for Galaxy devices. A week into the rollout, the company has already pushed the latest security patch to over a dozen smartphones and tablets, including the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy Tab S8. It continues to add more devices to the party every day. The latest to join this group is the Galaxy S22 series.
The Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra are currently receiving the May SMR (Security Maintenance Release) in Latin America. The update is live in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Samsung should expand the release to more countries in the region over the next few days. The new firmware build number for the 2022 flagship trio is S90*EXXS4CWD5 or S90*EXXS4CWD4 depending on your country.
Samsung pushes the May update to the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S22
Note that the Galaxy S22 series shipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in Latin America and most other markets, while users in Europe got the Exynos 2200 chipset. The build numbers may vary depending on your region as well as the processor variant. The content should remain unchanged, though. And speaking of content, there isn’t much here to look forward to. The build numbers suggest it’s just a security patch and Samsung’s official changelog confirms that.
That said, it isn’t unusual for Samsung to push different updates to the same device in different markets in the same month. It sometimes delays new feature updates in some markets for the next month. We can confirm that only after the company releases the May update for the Galaxy S22 trio outside Latin America. The vulnerabilities patched by the May SMR won’t change anywhere, though.
The latest security release contains patches for more than 70 flaws, including at least six critical ones. Among those are 21 Galaxy-specific issues (at least two critical flaws) and over 50 Android OS issues. Samsung will push these security enhancements to all eligible Galaxy devices globally. If you’re using a Galaxy S22 or any other Galaxy device, you can check for updates from the Settings app.
To see if you have an update available, open the Settings app and go to the Software update menu. Now tap on Download and install. If an update is available, you will be prompted to download it. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. But if you don’t see any updates today, wait a few days and repeat the steps to check again.
After announcing Rapid Security Response (RSR) last year, Apple has finally released the first RSR patches to the public.
On Monday, Apple released its first batch of Rapid Security Response (RSR) patches, iOS 16.4.1 (a), iPadOS 16.4.1 (a), and macOS 13.3.1 (a), for iPhone and iPad, and macOS devices, respectively.
RSR is a new type of software patch delivered between Apple’s regular, scheduled software updates. Previously, Apple security fixes came bundled along with features and improvements, but RSRs only carry security fixes. They’re meant to make the deployment of security improvements faster and more frequent. According to an Apple notice about RSRs, the new updates “may also be used to mitigate some security issues more quickly, such as issues that might have been exploited or reported to exist ‘in the wild’.”
Think of it as the company’s version of Microsoft’s out-of-band (OOB) patches.
“When a Rapid Security Response has been applied, a letter appears after the software version number, as in this example: macOS 13.3.1 (a),” the notice said, giving users a glimpse of how RSR versioning works.
Apple introduced Rapid Security Response updates with the launch of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura at its Worldwide Developers Conference last summer. Devices allow automatic RSR patching by default, but the company provided its users with the option to disable it. You can visit this Apple Support page to learn how you can do this on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
If you do disable RSR, you will still receive security fixes as part of Apple’s regular software updates, just as you did previously. However, not getting a quick fix when it’s available could leave your device vulnerable to in-the-wild exploits.
Apple began testing RSR last year, with its beta testers. Monday’s patches were the first to be released to the public. Some users reported they couldn’t install the updates, even when devices successfully downloaded the patches, but that problem seems to have been resovled now, according to The Verge.
The company also didn’t make clear what security fixes RSR for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS addressed, since there were no notes released for them. Moving forward, Apple will only make RSR available to all devices running the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
RSRs aren’t the only recent innovation that should make it harder for criminals to exploit Apple devices. On April 21, we reported on Citizen Lab’s investigation into the effectiveness of Apple’s Lockdown Mode, a feature designed to provide a safer environment for users at a higher risk from targeted attacks, such as those developed by NSO Group, the company behind the notorious spyware Pegasus, and QuaDream. NSO Group is known to take advantage of 0-day vulnerabilities. RSRs should improve protection further by allowing Apple to patch those 0-days immediately after they’re discovered.
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The ASUS ZenFone 9 is one of the best compact smartphones you can get at the moment. It did get some competition when Xiaomi launched its very own, rather compact offering, the Xiaomi 13. Those are the two phones we’re here to compare, the ASUS ZenFone 9 vs Xiaomi 13. Granted, the ZenFone 9 is the smaller one of the two, and you will notice the difference. But still, the Xiaomi 13 has truly thin bezels, and a 0.46-inch larger display, so that may be worth it for some.
Both of these phones are quite powerful, though they both look different, and feel different in the hand. There are quite a few differences here in general, so comparing them should be interesting. We’ll first list their specifications, and will then move to compare them across a number of other categories. Let’s get to it!
You will notice that both smartphones have flat displays, but don’t really look that similar from the front. The Xiaomi 13 does have thinner bezels in comparison (and uniform too), while their display camera holes are in different spots. The ZenFone 9 has one in the top-left corner, while the Xiaomi 13’s is centered at the top of the display. They both have rounded corners, though. You will notice that both of these phones also have flat sides all around.
Both devices also have physical buttons on one side only, the right side. The ZenFone 9’s power/lock key does double as a fingerprint scanner, and it has more functions. If we flip them over, you’ll notice quite a few differences. The ZenFone 9 has two cameras on the back, each of which is presented by its own camera island. The Xiaomi 13 includes three cameras back there, but all of them are included inside a single camera island.
The ZenFone 9 combines an aluminum frame with a composite polymer back, while the Xiaomi 13 comes in both glass back and silicone polymer back variants. It includes an aluminum frame. Both devices are IP68 certified, while the ZenFone 9 is the lighter of the two. It is also shorter, narrower, and thicker than the Xiaomi 13. Both smartphones feel really good in the hand, and are good for one-hand use, but the ZenFone 9 more so than the Xiaomi 13. Both companies did a good job when it comes to build quality.
ASUS ZenFone 9 vs Xiaomi 13: Display
The ASUS ZenFone 9 includes a 5.9-inch fullHD+ (2400 x 1080) Super AMOLED display. This panel is flat, and it has a 120Hz refresh rate. The ZenFone 9’s display supports HDR10+ content, and it also gets up to 1,100 nits of peak brightness. This display has a 20:9 aspect ratio, and it’s protected by the Gorilla Glass Victus.
The Xiaomi 13, on the flip side, has a 6.36-inch fullHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED display. This display is also flat, and it has a 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Vision is supported, and so is HDR10+ content, by the way. The Xiaomi 13’s panel goes up to 1,900 nits of peak brightness, and it has a 20:9 aspect ratio. The Gorilla Glass 5 protects this display.
Now, both of these displays are really good. They offer more than enough sharpness, they’re vivid, and have good viewing angles. The touch response is good on both of them. We did prefer the default color settings on the Xiaomi 13, but you can tweak that through the settings. The Xiaomi 13 panel does have one notable advantage, and that is its brightness. If you’re using your phone outdoors a lot, you’ll definitely appreciate the difference. The Xiaomi 13 can go way higher in terms of brightness.
ASUS ZenFone 9 vs Xiaomi 13: Performance
ASUS’ handset is fueled by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. In addition to that, it includes up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 flash storage. The Xiaomi 13, on the other hand, is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, while it comes with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage. Do note that its base, 128GB model, does include UFS 3.1 storage, not UFS 4.0. All the other variants do have UFS 4.0, though.
The Xiaomi 13 does include more powerful performance-related specs, that’s for sure. It has a more powerful SoC, and newer and faster RAM and storage. That is not something that will be obvious during usage, however. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is an outstanding SoC, and even though you may notice minuscule differences on how fast the two phones open apps, that’s really not important here.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will technically be able to handle more strain, but both phones perform admirably. Even when it comes to gaming, there’s nothing you won’t be able to run on the ZenFone 9. When you get the most graphically-intensive titles, you may notice a difference between the two, but the ZenFone 9 can still run any game with style. Both devices have outstanding performance, though we did prefer the software implementation on the ZenFone 9.
ASUS ZenFone 9 vs Xiaomi 13: Battery
ASUS’ handset includes a 4,300mAh battery, while the Xiaomi 13 has a 4,500mAh battery pack under the hood. They both offer good battery life, but the ZenFone 9 does have a slight advantage, at least based on what we’ve seen. Getting over 7 hours of screen-on-time was easily possible for us, while the Xiaomi 13 was closer to 6-6.5 hours most of the time. It’s possible that changed due to a number of updates, though, as the Xiaomi 13 is capable of providing more juice.
Your mileage may, of course, vary, considerably. You will be using your phone differently, with different apps installed, and with different signal strengths. One thing is for sure, for compact phones, both devices offer really good battery life. You cannot really expect the heights of the Galaxy S23 Ultra or the OnePlus 11, but for compact devices, this is excellent, especially if we compare them to some older models.
When charging is concerned, the Xiaomi 13 dwarfs the ZenFone 9. It supports 67W wired, 50W wireless, and 10W reverse wireless charging. The ZenFone 9 supports 30W wired, and 5W reverse wired charging. Both smartphones do come with chargers in the box, which is a nice touch, especially considering how many OEMs ditched chargers in the last couple of years.
ASUS ZenFone 9 vs Xiaomi 13: Cameras
The ASUS ZenFone 9 has a 50-megapixel main camera, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera (113-degree FoV). The Xiaomi 13, on the other hand, comes with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera (120-degree FoV), and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera (3.2x optical zoom). The Xiaomi 13 also has Leica lenses on the back. Do note that the two phones provide entirely different-looking photos.
The ZenFone 9 loves to tune up the saturation, and the images do tend to look a bit oversharpened. That’s not immediately noticeable in some situations, but the moment you zoom in even a bit, you’ll notice it. The Xiaomi 13 images do tend to look closer to real life. If you opt for the ‘Leica Vibrant’ shooting mode, however, you can make them more lively, without having them looking overprocessed. It’s a nice balance, actually. Both phones provide sharp and nice-looking photos, but we prefer the Xiaomi 13 output, due to the lack of oversharpening.
Ultrawide cameras do keep up with the main cameras in terms of color profiles. The Xiaomi 13’s ultrawide camera has a wider field of view, however. The ZenFone 9 doesn’t have a telephoto camera, so zoom shots do look better on the Xiaomi 13. They actually look really good in general. Both selfie cameras are good for what you’ll use them for, but the ZenFone 9’s has the same problem as the rear cameras, too much sharpening.
Audio
You will find stereo speakers on both of these phones, and both sets are actually really good. I didn’t expect much out of the ZenFone 9 in this regard, mainly due to its size, but the phone sure delivered. Both sets of speakers provide detailed and pleasant sound output, while they can also get quite loud if needed.
The ZenFone 9 even has a headphone jack, in case you want to hook up your wired headphones. The Xiaomi 13 does not offer it, so you’ll have to utilize the Type-C port. If you prefer wireless headphones, the ZenFone 9 and Xiaomi 13 support Bluetooth 5.2 and Bluetooth 5.3, respectively.
It’s no secret that ever since Apple switched to using its in-house processors, no other chip manufacturer has been able to match Apple in terms of performance per watt. However, AMD has stepped up its game with its latest processor, the Ryzen 7040U series. These new chips will directly compete with Apple’s latest offerings, and according to the promotional videos, the new Ryzen 7040U series just might be the competitor everyone has been waiting for.
AMD first showcased the new Ryzen 7040U series at CES in January. This series is part of the Ryzen 7040 family and consists of four new U-class chips, including the flagship Ryzen 7 7840U, the midrange Ryzen 5 7640U and 7540U, and the affordable Ryzen 3 7440U, which all have a configurable TDP of 15 to 30 watts. This feature allows laptop manufacturers to balance performance and efficiency.
However, it is important to note that all the newly launched U-class chips are not equal, as the two highest-end variants not only have more cores but also support Ryzen’s AI hardware.
Performance comparisons
In terms of performance, the flagship Ryzen 7 7840U promises to offer a solid 72% better multiprocessing performance, 9% better 3D rendering performance and 14% better responsiveness compared to Apple’s M2 chip. When competing with Intel, AMD claims that the 7840U can outperform Intel’s top-end Raptor Lake P chip by 30% to 130%, depending on the workload. Which is a pretty significant difference in terms of performance if the figures are accurate.
Furthermore, AMD claims that its new RDNA 3 iGPUs are significantly better than Intel’s Iris Xe integrated graphics, with performance up to 139% better than the i7-1360P’s graphics.
With the performance numbers AMD is claiming, these new chips can potentially disrupt the laptop industry. Slim and lightweight laptops like the Dell XPS 13 may now compete with Apple in terms of performance without having to rely on Intel’s power-hungry and less efficient chips.
Following the massive update that the Google Home app received back in March, it is now working on a new version with some additional changes. Some of the most obvious changes are the introduction of an Inbox and redesigned lighting controls.
This redesign, as reported by 9to5Google, is currently rolling out server-side to those who are enrolled in the Google Home Public Preview program. One of the most obvious design changes is the introduction of a notification bell icon that sits on the top of the favorites tab. Tapping on this notification bell brings up the Inbox feed, which is basically a redesigned activity tab.
An actual Activity tab will remain, but it will soon only display what was formerly known as the “History” view. As a result, Google has updated the bell icon in the bottom bar of versions 3.0 and higher of the app so that it more accurately reflects the app’s new purpose. Note that these new modifications to the bottom bar that contains all the tabs, has not been pushed to version 2.67, and version 3.0 is not yet generally accessible on Android.
Another very noticeable design change is what is rolling out with version 3.1, which will completely transform the look of the lighting controls. This change is currently only visible on that version which is only available in the Dogfood build, meaning the version of the app that is still being tested internally and with a trusted group.
The new lighting controls replace the familiar adjustment ring with a pill-shaped slider, enhancements to the color controls, and a grid of lighting presets. The enhanced color controls now let you adjust the temperature and color, allowing you to get more granular when wanting to pick a specific color.
It’s not clear when the new version will be rolled out to users. However, judging by the work has been done on it so far, it’s clear that Google is committed to making the Google Home app a one-stop-shop for your smart home.
Samsung‘s year-long run as the world’s largest smartphone company is under serious threat from Apple. The iPhone maker just posted its highest-ever Q1 share, almost toppling Samsung as the smartphone leader. The two firms were separated by less than a single percentage point in Q1 2023.
According to research firm Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market declined 14 percent year-on-year (YoY) in Q1 2023. The firm reported a shipment volume of 280.2 million units in the first three months of the year, down from 326.4 million in the same period a year ago. Shipments also dropped seven percent from 302.6 million units in the year-ending quarter of 2022.
The ongoing economic situation caused this slowdown. All major smartphone vendors suffered a decline in sales in Q1 2023. But things now look much worse for Samsung than for its rival Apple. Its shipments dropped 19 percent this past quarter, while the iPhone maker suffered a negligible two percent decline. The result is, Apple captured 20.7 percent of the global smartphone market while Samsung’s share came in at 21.6 percent.
This is reportedly Apple’s highest-ever market share in the first quarter of any year. Its share in Q1 2022 was 18.1 percent. Samsung captured 22.8 percent of the global smartphone market in the first three months of last year. But it has failed to maintain that gap at the top in the first quarter of 2023. The Korean giant is now at risk of conceding the smartphone crown to the iPhone maker.
Apple usually leads the quarterly chart in the year-ending quarter thanks to the launch of the latest iPhones. However, such a close battle at the top in the first quarter doesn’t bode well for Samsung. The Korean firm launched the Galaxy S23 flagships early in February this year. It should have kept a healthy lead over Apple in Q1 2023. It remains to be seen if Samsung sees turn a of fortune in the second quarter.
Apple already has a massive lead over Samsung in smartphone profit share
Since Apple doesn’t make budget phones, its average selling price (ASP) is usually much higher than other smartphone vendors. Unsurprisingly, it has a massive lead in profit share too. The iPhone maker took about 80 percent of the total operating profit in the smartphone industry in Q1 2023, which is a 72 percentage point lead over Samsung. Apple also generated almost half of the total smartphone revenue despite the Korean firm increasing its ASP 17 percent YoY to $340.
Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are the three biggest smartphone companies behind Samsung and Apple, in that order. They also suffered a massive decline in shipments in Q1 2023. Xiaomi, which had the biggest decline of all five vendors (22 percent), marginally increased its ASP but that wasn’t enough to significantly improve its profit and revenue share. Overall, global smartphone revenues declined by seven percent YoY to around $104 billion in Q1 2023 on the back of poor sales.
Bluesky is the new kid on the social media block. And in the past couple of weeks, it has gotten very popular. So popular in fact, that invites to the new website are now being sold on eBay.
Just a quick search on eBay and you’ll find invites going for around $75 to $150, however those are bids. If you click on “Buy it Now” you’ll see invites going for as much as $6,900 right now. Which is incredibly insane. That’s just how badly some people want to get onto Bluesky, and away from Elon Musk’s Twitter.
To cap it off, after paying $6,900 for an invite, the seller is charging you $5.05 to ship it. It’s a digital code, there’s no shipping.
Why is Bluesky so popular right now?
Bluesky, if you aren’t aware, is a new social media network that was being built by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey even before Elon Musk bought Twitter. But since Musk bought Twitter, Bluesky has gained a lot of popularity. As Musk continues to drive Twitter into the ground, users are looking for an alternative.
Sites like Mastodon and Hive Social surged with new users in October and November after the Musk deal was finalized, but most users have stopped using those sites. Mastodon was the first to fall, because it is so difficult to use.
Enter Bluesky, who opened a waiting list for invites about a month ago. From the screenshots we can see, since we don’t have an invite yet, Bluesky looks like a stripped down version of Twitter. It looks exactly like Twitter, even down to the colors and fonts. But there are things missing, like private messages. The ability to block people was missing, but it rolled out earlier this week.
So why are people so interested in switching to Bluesky? Well, Musk is one reason. Another is so they can reserve their username of choice, and watch Bluesky grow up. Now will Bluesky take over and replace Twitter? Who knows. But it could end up being a really nice alternative to it.
If you want to get onto Bluesky, without buying an invite from eBay, you can check out our guide on how to get an invite here.
