TCL pushed its NXTVISION display and camera technology at IFA Thursday, bowing the Plex smartphone it’s using as a starting statement piece to solidify its position in the category. TCL has sold Blackberry-based smartphones (see 1904190015), but the 6.5-inch $360 Plex is the first of a range of mobile devices it will release next year, “including 5G products and devices with foldable displays,” said Peter Lee, general manager-global sales and marketing. The Plex, due in Europe this fall, uses standard dynamic range-to-HDR real-time conversion to enhance contrast, color, highlights and shadows in photos, said the company. Its primary 48-megapixel camera uses a Sony sensor with 4K recording function and a separate dedicated video camera with 2-MP 2.9-micrometer low-light sensor for night shooting, it said. It also has a 16-megapixel, 123-degree wide-angle camera and a 24-megapixel front selfie camera.

TCL will bow its first branded smartphone for global markets at IFA, said the company Friday. It will also give a peek into future products at the Berlin event, showing updates to its foldable display concept devices, due for launch next year, and a first look at a wearable display with a 100-inch viewing experience. The Project Archery wearable is the size of sunglasses, said the company. All three are using displays from TCL’s sister company, CSOT; the smartphone uses the company’s Dotch display first shown at Mobile World Congress this year. The foldable smartphone concept design will introduce a ButterflyHinge system, it said.

Samsung had a 17 percent rise in global smartphone sales in Q2 due to the Galaxy A series, Gartner reported Tuesday. Reversing six consecutive quarters of declines, Samsung’s 75.1 million units were 20.4 percent of the industry’s 367.9 million units, down 1.7 percent from 374.3 million units in the year ago quarter. “Demand for high-end smartphones has slowed at a greater rate than demand for midrange and low-end smartphones,” said analyst Anshul Gupta, noting manufacturers are extending flagship features such as multi-lens front and rear cameras, bezel-less displays and high-capacity batteries to lower-priced phones. Huawei (15.8 percent) and Samsung (20.4 percent) together had more than a third of global smartphone sales in the quarter, despite a “sharp decline” in Huawei’s global phone sales due to Huawei’s placement on the Commerce Department’s entity list (see 1907050003). Huawei’s strong promotion and brand positioning led to its selling a record number of smartphones in Greater China, where sales grew 31 percent, Gartner said. IPhones sales continued to decline year over year, though the 13.8 percent rate was lower than in Q1, said Gartner, attributing declines to “too few incremental benefits” enticing customer upgrades. Apple sold 38.5 million shipments in the quarter, for 11 percent share, reaching “an inflection point” in its business shift from hardware toward services, Gupta noted: Services were 21 percent of Apple's total revenue in Q1. China held the top position in smartphone sales, with 101 million sales in Q2, up 0.5 percent year on year; with more 5G smartphones available in Q2, vendors there cleared out inventory of high-end 4G models, said Gartner. Global smartphone sales will remain weak for the rest of the year, the researcher said, forecasting a 2.5 percent drop to 1.5 billion units for the year.

Apple and Samsung fraudulently market their smartphones “as emitting less RF radiation than that set by law and as being completely safe to carry and use on or in close proximity to the human body,” alleged a complaint (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in San Jose Friday seeking class-action status. “Recent testing” found that the “potential exposure for an owner carrying the phone in a pants or shirt pocket was over the exposure limit, sometimes far exceeding it -- in some instances by 500 percent,” it said. The complaint relies on tests the FCC-accredited RF Exposure Lab did on 12 smartphone models for the Chicago Tribune in the past year. The iPhone X and iPhone 8 emitted RF radiation “above the federal limit of 1.6W/kg,” it said. “When tested at 2 millimeters, the Samsung Galaxy S8 exceeded the federal limit by more than 500 percent.” The Tribune published results Aug. 21, reporting the FCC was investigating. Apple and Samsung “have failed to take steps to prevent this excessive RF radiation exposure” or to warn the public, the complaint said: The companies are guilty of negligence, breach of warranty, consumer fraud and unjust enrichment. Plaintiffs seek “actual damages, the costs of medical monitoring, restitution and injunctive relief.” Apple and Samsung didn’t respond to emails. Also Monday, an FCC spokesperson declined comment.

Some T-Mobile customers experienced “intermittent call issues” Wednesday night, CEO John Legere tweeted. “Update: Call issues are resolved and service is back to normal,” Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray later tweeted, apologizing for the disruption. A spokesperson had no additional comment Thursday.

The outlook for AT&T is improving, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors. “AT&T’s network is improving, based on objective testing, and it seems as if churn is showing early signs of improving too,” he said. “We have been bearish on AT&T for years.” Verizon could face tough times if T-Mobile completes its buy of Sprint and Dish Network launches another wireless network, Chaplin said Tuesday: “If AT&T starts to take share as well, Verizon is very exposed. AT&T’s recovery is still speculative; sub trends aren’t improving yet; but they should if the network improves, and the network should improve with new spectrum.”

The International Trade Commission is beginning a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that Samsung mobile devices with the Samsung Pay feature infringe patents held by Dynamics, the ITC said Tuesday. In a complaint filed in July, Dynamics said Samsung's Galaxy S8, S9 and S10, among other devices, copy its patented technology for magnetic multifunction emulators and near field communication technology for executing financial payment transactions. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing merchandise, it said. Samsung didn't comment Wednesday.

Samsung’s share of the European smartphone market jumped to 41 percent in Q2, with 18.3 million shipments, from the year-ago quarter, as its main rival Huawei “suffered the impact of political restrictions” in the U.S., Canalys reported Monday. Huawei’s shipments fell 16 percent to 8.5 million units, giving it 19 percent share, while Apple shipments dropped 17 percent to 6.4 million iPhones for 14 percent share, it said. Xiaomi grew 48 percent to 4.3 million units, for 10 percent share. Samsung has been “quick to capitalize on Huawei’s US Entity List problems, working behind the scenes to position itself as a stable alternative in conversations with important retailers and operators,” said analyst Ben Stanton: Lack of brand loyalty among low-end and mid-range Android smartphone buyers drove Samsung’s “best performance in years.” Europe, said the analyst, remains “one of the most brand-volatile smartphone markets.”

Unit shipments of foldable smartphone displays will number only about 360,000 panels globally this year, but rise to 52.9 million in 2023, said Display Supply Chain Consultants Tuesday. The first shipments of foldable notebook and tablet displays are expected to begin in 2020 but will pale in comparison with those of foldable smartphones, it said. Foldable displays in all will be an $8 billion global market in 2023, with more than 68 million panels in unit shipments, it said. “Perhaps the biggest surprise” in foldable trends to watch will be “the number of models coming from Samsung that use ultra-thin glass,” plus the number of “clamshell” phones being introduced across the industry, it said. Clamshells offer a smaller seam, smaller hinge and higher yields, it said. They also enable “the smallest smartphone form factor with the best portability,” plus lower cost, it said. DSCC sees clamshells getting at least a 60 percent unit share of all foldable smartphones through 2023 even though none have yet made their market debut, it said.

Global smartphone shipments declined in Q2, though shipments by Huawei increased, despite U.S. pressure, IHS Markit said Tuesday. This is the seventh quarter of year-over-year declines. Worldwide smartphone shipments slipped to 331.2 million units in Q2, a decline of 3.6 percent from the same period last year, according to preliminary data from the IHS Markit Smartphone Intelligence Service. Four brands among the top-10 -- Samsung Electronics, Huawei, OPPO and TCL Alcatel -- had growth, the report said. "Huawei [has] been able to weather the storm so far,” said Jusy Hong, IHS research and analysis director: “Huawei was able to replace falling international shipments with increased sales in China. However, the full effects of the ban likely will be felt by Huawei’s international business in the third quarter of this year.”