Apple dropped under $400 for its latest iPhone introduction Wednesday, a $399 model (64 GB) that replaces the iPhone 8 in the company’s smartphone lineup. The most affordable phone in the Apple portfolio, available for preorder Friday, comes when customers can expect little hand-holding while upgrading phones. Apple stores are temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Best Buy, Apple’s largest authorized service provider, is selling product online, with stores providing only curbside pickup and no in-store sales assistance. Verizon's website urges customers to shop online and go to stores only for “appointment-only critical technical support.” The Verge called the latest SE “essentially an iPhone 8 with a better camera and processor." The 4.7-inch SE -- available in black, white and red bodies -- has the A13 Bionic chip that’s in the flagship iPhone 11 and 11 Pro models, said Apple. The Retina HD display supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 playback, and the phone has a home button like on previous-generation iPhones with a steel ring to detect fingerprints for Touch ID. The SE has a single-camera design with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture lens and 4K video support; the selfie camera is 7 megapixels. Buyers get a free year of Apple TV Plus.

Consumer and industry groups supported proposed changes in a January NPRM asking whether the FCC should update hearing aid compatibility standards (see 2001300041). Groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing supported the HAC proposals, but seeking further changes (see 2003180055). Require in-store testing of handsets until all are fully hearing aid compatible, asked the Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Gallaudet University's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. “Require service providers to provide HAC ratings on call out cards for consumer education” and seek further comment on a proposal to eliminate the “refresh” and “differing levels of functionality” requirements, they said. HAC rules should "evolve to ensure they are effectively meeting consumers’ needs,” CTIA said. CTA appreciated utilizing "industry standards in its rules and for taking the common-sense step of incorporating the most recent version.” The FCC “proposes an appropriate transition, which includes grandfathering handsets that were HAC-certified," Samsung said. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 20-3.

Global smartphone shipments plummeted 38% year on year in February, the biggest fall in category history, said Strategy Analytics Friday. Shipments fell to 61.8 million, from 99.2 million in February 2019, it said. Smartphone demand “collapsed in Asia last month,” due to the COVID-19 outbreak, as some Asian factories were unable to manufacture handsets and many consumers were unable or unwilling to buy new devices in retail stores, said analyst Neil Mawston. Despite “tentative signs of recovery in China,” SA expects worldwide smartphone shipments to remain weak in March, with “hundreds of millions” of affluent consumers sidelined, said analyst Yiwen Wu. The industry will likely turn to online flash sales, “generous discounts” or smartwatch bundles to lift sales, Wu said.

The Hearing Loss Association of America and Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Gallaudet University support an FCC proposal to update hearing aid standards, based on American National Standards Institute (ANSI) 2019 standards. The groups' representatives met with FCC staffers working on the issue, said a posting Friday in docket 20-3. “Consumers should be informed on the packaging material that the handset has been tested to the standard and meets the volume control requirements it specifies." The advocates urged the FCC to “continue to require in-store testing of handsets for consumers with hearing devices.”

LG unveiled a 5G smartphone Wednesday, the V60 ThinQ 5G with Dual Screen, slated for availability “in coming weeks” on AT&T, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. LG said that features include 6.8-inch, 2,460x1,080 “cinematic” displays based on a thinner OLED panel, a 64-megapixel main camera and a 13-megapixel super-wide-angle lens. The phone is LG’s first to support 8K video recording, and it includes HDR10 Plus video capture. Four mics allow for recording sounds from different directions. Based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, it includes Quick Charge 4 Plus and Bluetooth 5.1.

Without Mobile World Congress as a stage due to its cancellation last week (see 2002120056) on coronavirus concerns, Qualcomm announced from San Diego Tuesday OEMs and brands using its Snapdragon 865 platform for their 5G phone releases. 5G smartphones announced, or coming soon, based on the 865 mobile platform include Black Shark 3; FCNT arrows 5G; iQoo 3; Legion Gaming Phone; Nubia Red Magic 5G; Oppo Find X2; realme X50 Pro; Redmi K30 Pro; Rog Phone 3; Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra; Sharp Aquos R5G; Sony Xperia 1 II; vivo Apex 2020 Concept Phone; Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro; ZenFone 7; and ZTE Axon 10s Pro, it said.

The Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force plans its first “formal meeting” this month to begin developing a “consensus-based” standard for recommendation to the FCC that will achieve “100 percent HAC for wireless handsets,” ATIS filed, posted Friday in docket 15-285. The Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Telecommunications Industry Association as “joint consensus proposal signatories” picked ATIS to administer the task force last year, it said. Task force members at the first meeting will discuss “leadership structure,” adopt operating procedures and establish groups, said ATIS. Members will “develop a work plan to complete the initial research projects and discuss other projects that are necessary throughout 2020,” it said: “Based on research and technical analysis conducted in 2020, the group will meet throughout 2021" to develop the recommended standard.

It’s not possible to create an encryption back door for police that wouldn’t be “discovered and exploited by hackers” and other criminals, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said Wednesday. “Encryption is critical in protecting our country and our most private information,” he wrote. “But the current encryption debate wrongly pits technology and national security against each other.”

T-Mobile, Sprint and Comcast all are making secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) and secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) technology available. It will "give customers peace of mind that calls from the Sprint network to the T-Mobile network (and vice versa) are really coming from the number listed on their caller ID display,” the mobile carriers said Tuesday. Comcast and Sprint said the call authentication tech has been implemented in Sprint's mobile network and in Comcast's Xfinity Voice landline phone network for calls between the two companies' customers. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pressed carriers for adoption of the call authentication technology to help combat illegal robocalls (see 1907110023). The agency on Tuesday said it had written gatgeway service providers to seek their assistance in tracking foreign illegal robocalls' origins (see 2002040069).

Samsung maintained its leading 21 percent smartphone share last year, its shipments rising 1.7 percent to 295 million, reported IHS Markit Wednesday. The global smartphone market “failed to sustain its growth momentum” in Q4, when shipments declined 1.5 percent to 359.2 million units, said IHS. Full-year shipments fell 2.2 percent to 1.38 billion units, it said. The decrease was slightly less than the 2.4 percent decline in 2018 from 2017. Huawei was No. 2, recording 16.7 percent growth to 240.6 million units. Huawei “started to feel the impact of continued headwinds from U.S. government trade actions,” said IHS. After three quarters of “significant growth,” Huawei’s shipments declined 7.4 percent in Q4, it said. IHS sees 5G smartphones as a “key trend” for 2020. “While shipments are not large enough to significantly boost the market,” fifth-generation will bring “excitement to a growing number of market segments,” it said. “Major chipset vendors have already announced their reduced-cost 5G system-on-chip devices, allowing the industry to start to make a dent in the high pricing.” IDC's report Thursday on 2019's global smartphone shipments pegged the decline at 1.1 percent to 1.37 billion. Samsung raised its market-leading share 0.8 points to 21.6 percent in 2019, despite only a 1.2 percent increase in shipments. Apple captured the top share globally on strong holiday sales, the researcher found: "Despite Huawei's ongoing challenges outside of China," and a 7.1 percent decline in Q4 shipments, "it did manage to overtake Apple for the number 2 position overall."