Home-grown smartphone maker Micromax on Friday launched a new affordable smartphone called IN 2B in two storage variants.
The 4GB+64GB and 6GB+64GB variants are priced at Rs 7,999(US$107.54) and Rs 8,999, respectively, and offers black, blue and green colour options.
Micromax also forayed into the audio segment with the launch of true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds in two variants — AirFunk 1 and 1 Pro — at Rs 1,299 and Rs 2,499.
“We are closely connected to our consumers. We understand their needs and pain points,” Co-Founder, Micromax India, ,” Rahul Sharma said in a statement.
“With the IN 2b, the NO HANG PHONE, the consumers will get a powerful processor with the best in-category performance, high RAM and battery life,” Sharma added.
The smartphone features a 6.5-inch HD+ display with 400 nits brightness. It is powered by a UNISOC T610 processor and houses a 5,000mAh battery.
It has a 13MP+2MP AI dual rear camera and a 5MP selfie camera. Both front and rear cameras support selectable background blur to deliver an excellent bokeh effect for professional portraits.
The IN 2b also comes with FHD Video recording as well as a unique Play and Pause recording feature.
Meanwhile, AirFunk 1 comes equipped with 3D Surround Sound stereo mode and auto connectivity with Bluetooth 5.0 and gives 15 hours of playtime with the charging case.
AirFunk 1 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm QCC 3040 chipset with CVC 8.0 (Clear Voice Capture) noise and echo cancellation and instant connectivity with Bluetooth 5.2v. It is said to be coupled with Environment Noise Cancellation (ENC) with quad microphone.
The smartphone will be available on the company website as well as on Flipkart from August 6, while the new earbuds will be available from August 18, the company said.
Thanks to the introduction of Apple Silicon M1 chip, Macs had their greatest Q2 sales ever and reached six million shipments in the second quarter and 90 per cent Macs are powered by M1 chips, a report showed on Friday.
Apple in November last year introduced three new Mac devices — MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini — powered by the Apple M1 system on a chip (SoC).
“The M1 can meet most of the general demands. However, it is not only a replacement for the Intel CPU but also allows Apple to develop new apps and create fully controlled ecosystems,” said Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, Brady Wang,.
“Furthermore, M1-powered Macs can help Apple improve its profit margin by increasing Mac store sales and lowering production expenses,” he said in a statement.
Apple’s 22 per cent (YoY) growth in the quarter supported its 7.5 per cent market share in the global PC market despite severe component shortages.
As Apple gradually shits its Mac devices to its own Silicon M1 chip, the purpose of the first generation of Apple Silicon is aimed at creating a new experience, to achieve the balance of performance and power consumption, instead of high computing.
Meanwhile, global PC demand continued to grow in Q2 amid component shortages, with shipments increasing 15 per cent (on-year) to 80.1 million during the quarter, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest data.
Lenovo stayed ahead in the market in Q2 with 25 per cent share. HP’s 23 per cent share marked its stability in the enterprise market, though its growth momentum was partly offset by decelerating Chromebook shipments.
Dell also leveraged the elevated commercial demand to push forward its market share to 17 per cent.
The global PC supply chain has been experiencing component shortages for the past several months, resulting in an imbalance between orders and actual shipments.
“This situation will not improve in the second half of the year. Therefore, we may not see normal seasonal trends in the PC market in 2021, as accumulated orders cannot be fulfilled anytime soon,” the report mentioned.
“We expect double-digit shipment growth in 2021 but have reduced the number slightly to factor in component shortages and Chromebook sales slowdown,” said research analyst William Li.
