It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and the mobile realm has become such a competitive arena that even major companies are often struggling to survive. LG, which is currently runner up in sales on its home Korean turf after Samsung, is facing major sales challenges and has reportedly been forced to depreciate its models to prices that bring in mere cents in profits.

The information was obtained by analyzing recently released Mobile carrier SK Telecom statistics that include the average handset prices by Manufacturer. The numbers in question are for subsidized units on the company’s most-popular contract – KRW 60,000, or about $51 a month. Apparently LG’s phones average at around KRW 175,341 ($150), while Samsung units are valued much higher at KRW 414,357 ($354) and Apple’s iPhones go for even more at KRW 858,533 ($733).

What this means is that carriers are slashing unit prices to almost absurd levels just to ensure that LG at least sells it stock. And this is done with flagship models, like the LG G4, as well as mid-range offers. Consequently, LG’s mobile division came flat in terms of year-over-year revenue in Q2, but with a whopping 99.7% drop in operating profits. This means that the OEM’s phones are currently selling for about their factory value and that definitely spells trouble.

This major depreciation is felt of international markets as well, which is even more worrying for LG. At least this strategy is moving units and should prevent the company form suddenly falling dead in the market with a lot of stock that it can’t sell. Shipments have apparently dropped by only three percent year-over-year and are now at 14.1million units.

Still spirits seem to remain high at LG, which boats a new record for LTE phone shipments, which now broke the 8 million marks and make up about 57% of all sales.

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Amazon has announced the new Fire TV. The main feature here is support for 4K content, with the device being able to play back 4K movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Video, and Prime Video. The quality of 1080p content has also improved with the new HEVC codec support, that’s also more efficient.

The new Fire TV runs on a 64-bit quad-core MediaTek processor that is said to have 75% more processing power than the previous Fire TV. There’s also Wi-Fi 802.11ac with MIMO, microSD support, Amazon Mayday customer service, and Dolby Audio over HDMI and Bluetooth. The new Fire TV also comes with the new Fire OS 5 “Bellini”, that includes Alexa, Amazon’s new search assistant first seen on the Amazon Echo. The voice functionality works with Amazon’s Voice Remote.

As before, the Fire TV has support for Android games on the Amazon Appstore. You can separately purchase the wireless Fire TV Game Controller to pair with the Fire TV. Additionally, Amazon will also be selling a Fire TV Gaming Edition, that comes with the controller as standard, along with a 32GB microSD card and two free games, Shovel Knight and Disney’s Ducktales.

The new Fire TV is priced at $99.99 and the Gaming Edition at $139.99. The Fire TV Game Controller can separately be purchased for $49.99.

Amazon also announced the new Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote. It’s the same Fire Stick as before but now comes with the Voice Remote so you can use Alexa to search for things instead of typing on the remote. The Fire Stick is priced at just $49.99.

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Amazon has announced three new tablets as part of the new Fire series (notice the dropped ‘Kindle’ from the name). There is the new Fire HD, the Fire, and the Fire Kids Edition.

The Fire HD is the most expensive model and comes in two sizes, 8-inch and 10.1-inch. Both tablets have a resolution of 1280×800 pixels. The tablet runs on an unspecified quad-core 1.5GHz chipset, has a new thin and light body that is also said to be 2X more durable than the iPad Air 2, stereo speakers with Dolby Audio, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, new Fire OS 5 “Bellini” based on Android Lollipop, that looks quite similar to stock Android with Material Design, 5 megapixel rear camera and HD front camera, microSD support, and 8 hours of battery life.

The Fire HD 8 will be available in 8 and 16GB and the Fire HD 10 in 16 and 32GB. The Fire HD 8 starts at $149.99 and the Fire HD 10 at $229.99. Both are available in black, magenta, blue, and tangerine.

Next is the Fire, which is Amazon’s cheapest tablet. Starting at just $49.99, the Fire has a 7-inch 1024×600 resolution IPS display, quad-core 1.3GHz processor, 8GB internal memory with microSD support, 2 megapixel rear camera with VGA front camera, Wi-Fi 802.11n, 7 hours of battery life, and Fire OS “Bellini”.

The Fire Kids Edition is essentially the Fire in a kid-proof case and free two-year ‘no questions asked’ replacement guarantee if your kid still manages to break it. There’s also a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited access thrown in for good measure. All this comes at just $99.99.

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For a number of quite sound marketing reasons Windows-powered mobile phones rarely come near to the hardware in current Android powerhouses, but with the introduction of Windows 10 and sophisticated features like Continuum, this is set to quickly change. Higher-end offers, like the Acer Jade Primo are starting to appear and it naturally, it was a matter of time before China OEM’s enter the market as well.

The latest such offer comes courtesy of Elephone. Its “Vowney” model was first spotted a few months ago and if rumors are true, it does promise to dual-boot Android and Windows 10 on quite a capable hardware platform. This includes a 5.5-inch, QHD display (2560 x 1440 pixels). 3GB of RAM and an octa-core Mediatek MT6795 SoC. Other details include a 21MP camera (probably an Exmor RS IMX230 sensor), a large 4200 mAh battery and even a fingerprint sensor on the back.

The phone can be preordered today, starting at $299, which is definitely not a bad price for a capable Windows 10 device. It is also worth noting that unlike Android, which has free access to AOSP, Microsoft charges OEM for its OS, so, presumably, there is a charge for the software calculated in there as well. According to the website, the first units should start shipping on September 30, so if you get on board, the wait isn’t all that…

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Rumors about a successor to the highly-successful Xiaomi Mi Band have been spreading like wild fire lately. A few months ago, we saw a new wearable that resembles the current smart band plus an added heart-rate sensor with the name Mi Band 1s. This seems to be in keeping with Xiaomi’s current portfolio and naming convention, but a subsequent rumor from a few days ago threw a new curve ball into the mix, by showcasing an entirely new round device with a whole new name – Amazefit.

Now, the full story is finally unriddled and it turns out the latter Amazefit device was more than a mere speculation. It is now official and comes courtesy of a company called Huami and doesn’t bear the Xiaomi name. The quick-growing Chinese OEM does, however, have some part in the wearable, mostly in financing.

The Amazefit portfolio is now officially up on amazefit.com and consists of a small donut-shaped smart tracker in two colors – white and black and a wide selection of bands and straps. It looks to be pretty simple by design and even lacks the LED’s of the Mi Band. In terms of functionality, it is quite similar with step counting and activity tracking, vibration alarms and notifications and a sleep tracker. Amazefit also adds scenario monitoring and smart home control to the mix, as well as wireless charging.

The whole backstory is as follows – the insanely popular Xiaomi Mi Band, that sold over a million units in the first three months of availability was actually the result of a partnership between Xiaomi and Huaheng Electronic Technology. The joint venture was dubbed Huami Technology and had the benefit of Xiaomi financing, combined with hardware development expertise from Huaheng, which has its own track of manufacturing consumer electronics. The original Mi Band is actually a Huami product, which bears the Xiaomi brand.

Amazefit on the other hand is Huami’s new project, for which it has allegedly already secured about $35 million in investments from Banyan Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Morningside Capital. Xiaomi, apparently backed the new wearable at first, but did not participate in the second round of funding. What this means is that Amazefit is no longer solely paid for by Xiaomi and is spinning off into its own separate line, but we can understand the tendency to still associate the two.

The undoubtedly stylish Amazefit is still not up for sale and judging from the Chinese-only website, international availability is doubtful, at least at…

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Apple has announced the new pricing for its updated three tier iCloud storage options. The company had previously announced the prices only for the US but now also revealed it for other regions.

In Europe, for example, the 50GB tier is priced at EUR 0.99, 200GB at EUR 2.99, and 1TB at EUR 9.99 per month. If you’re in India, you’ll be paying INR 65, 190, and 650, respectively. People in Australia will be paying AUD 1.49, 4.49, and 14.99, respectively.

Apple has listed prices for other regions on its support site in the link…

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LG is feeling the heat of rising competition, which is forcing it to cut the prices of its high-end smartphones, according to a report out of the company’s home country of South Korea.

The report cites data released by South Korea’s top carrier SK Telecom, according to which, the average cost of 17 smartphones manufactured by the country’s number two smartphone vendor was around $150 for customers who opted for SK Telecom’s $51 level subscription plans.

This compares with smartphones manufactured by Samsung – the country’s No. 1 player – which went for an average of around $355, and Apple’s iPhones, which sold at an average price of around $735.

LG hasn’t had a great second quarter – its mobile division’s revenues were largely flat, operating profit was down a whopping 99.7%, and smartphone shipments decreased 3% Y-o-Y in the…

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Google has changed the name of its Glass project to Project Aura, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Keep in mind that Project Aura is different from Project Ara, the company’s modular smartphone effort.

The report also says that engineers, software developers, and project managers that previously worked with Amazon’s Lab126 hardware division have been hired as part of the new Project Aura team. Most of them were laid off after the Fire Phone debacle.

Interestingly, a quick look at the LinkedIn profiles of those who have been hired reveals that the Project Aura team is also working on wearables “beyond” the Google Glass, the report notes.

For those who aren’t in the know, the Mountain View, California-based company stopped selling the head-mounted gear to the general public earlier this year, but still offers a version to to firms in industries such as health care, manufacturing, and…

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The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge smartphones are receiving a new update that installs more Microsoft apps including Office, Word, and PowerPoint on the devices. The handsets already come with Microsoft OneDrive and OneNote apps pre-installed.

Sized at around 220MB, the update carries a build number of LMY47X.G925FXXU2COH2, and reportedly installs the aforementioned apps without the user’s consent – you’ll find them installed after you’re done updating your device.

Whether or not you’ll get the update depends on your region and carrier – currently there’s not much information available on it.

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Apple released an Android app to help users switch to one of its iOS offerings. Conveniently dubbed “Move to iOS,” the solution is available to download and install for free in Google Play.

As its name suggests, the application allows newly minted iOS users to move content from their old Android device to their new Apple toy. Moveable items include contacts, photos and videos, bookmarks, calendar appointments, email accounts, and messages.

Syncing of devices takes place over a private Wi-Fi network created by the iOS device. “Move to iOS” will boot on all Apple devices running Android 4.0 and up.

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