Asus is integrating DTS:X Ultra audio technology in its Republic of Gamers (ROG) phone, said the companies Friday. The technology is said to give gamers a competitive edge by adding accurate sound sources in a 3D environment relative to players, improving their ability to hear and locate opponents and identify other key environmental sounds. DTS:X Ultra supports all immersive audio formats and was designed to deliver enhanced bass response, loudness and audio clarity customized for ROG headphones and phone speakers, DTS said.

Mobile wallet solutions provider Dynamics seeks an import ban on Samsung smartphones with the Samsung Pay feature, it said in a Section 337 complaint filed with the International Trade Commission. Dynamics says the Samsung mobile devices, which include the Galaxy S8, S9 and S10, copy its patented technology for magnetic multifunction emulators and near-field communication technology for executing financial payment transactions. Dynamics asked the ITC to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning import and sale of infringing Samsung devices. Samsung hatched a scheme at January 2012 CES to steal the trade secrets of Dynamics and embed the stolen technology in at least 10 models of Galaxy smartphones since the S8, alleged Dynamics in a July 12 complaint (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Manhattan (see 1907120024).

Oppo unveiled a prototype device with what it calls a “waterfall screen" design, a curved body said to make a mobile device “almost completely borderless.” The design is part of the company’s exploration of new form factors for smartphones, it said. Oppo’s Find X phone had a panoramic arc screen with a 93.8 percent screen-to-body ratio, it said.

Q2 smartphone shipments declined 2.3 percent globally on “continued challenges” across most major world regions, said IDC Wednesday. Vendors shipped 333.2 million smartphones, a 6.5 percent sequential increase from Q1, it said. China and the U.S. had the sharpest quarterly declines, though the declines in China in the first half were “less severe” than those in the back half of 2018, “suggesting some recovery is underway in the world's largest single market,” it said. Apple had the worst Q2 decline, with iPhone unit shipments down 18.2 percent from Q2 a year earlier, said IDC. Apple CEO Tim Cook said on a fiscal Q3 earnings call Tuesday that iPhone sustained another double-digit revenue decline in the quarter, but the rate of erosion was less severe than in earlier quarters (see 1907310030). Apple maintained the No. 3 global position, but its 10.1 percent share was only 0.4 percentage points higher than that of fourth-place Xiaomi, it said. Samsung held firmly onto the No. 1 position with 22.7 percent share, said IDC.

Motorola launched the moto e6 smartphone Thursday for Verizon, starting at $149. The phone has a 5.5-inch display with 18:9 aspect ratio, a 13-megapixel camera with portrait mode, headphone jack and 3000 mAh removable battery. Users can watch movies or play games for more than eight hours or listen to songs offline for 109 hours, said the company. The Android phone will also be available via T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Consumer Cellular and Xfinity Mobile, and unlocked on Amazon.com and at Best Buy, B&H Photo and Walmart, it said.

The iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR models generated 67 percent of U.S. iPhone sales in Apple’s June quarter, said Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Monday. The lowest-priced model of the trio, the XR, had 48 percent of U.S. iPhone sales in the quarter, the highest CIRP has seen for an individual Apple phone model since the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2015, it said. With the XR, Apple set out to create a price-competitive model to take on Android phones, offering a large screen on a midsize handset, said analyst Josh Lowitz: “It is easy to choose the mid-point between the expensive XS and XS Max models, and the older 7 and 8 models.” Services penetration among iPhone buyers has had varied success according to time in market, CIRP said: 47 percent pay for iCloud storage, 3-6 percent bought an AppleCare warranty, 35 percent use Apple Music and 15-29 percent use Apple TV, Apple Podcasts and Apple News, it said. Apple had a head start on competitors with a podcast app, giving it the highest penetration for iPhone buyers, but Apple TV has lower penetration due to competition against Netflix and other streaming video services. Apple competes against Best Buy for extended warranties, where it has lower penetration, said analyst Mike Levin. After Apple discontinued iTunes, Apple Music became its unified music service, but its 35 percent share trails Spotify and Pandora, Levin said. Findings were based on an April-June survey of 500 U.S. Apple customers that bought an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch.

Growing awareness of unlocked smartphones is widening the market for the devices beyond initial users who were typically “frugal consumers looking for lower priced devices," reported NPD Monday. Noticeable shifts in unlocked smartphone adoption occurred among women and consumers ages 35-54, said an NPD report, which estimates 46.5 million active unlocked smartphones are running on U.S. mobile networks, up 22 percent from the end of Q1 2018 to Q1 2019. Most consumers are aware of the advantages of an unlocked phone, including lower cost and freedom to choose carriers, said NPD analyst Brad Akyuz. Carriers are helping to educate them about advantages through “aggressive BYOD (bring your own device) offers, which give consumers yet another opportunity to bring their device to a new network to take advantage of a discounted rate.” Unlocked devices used to fall mostly in the sub-$400 category, but now $500-$700 phones account for nearly a quarter of the installed base of unlocked phones, mirroring the overall rise in average selling prices, he said. Big box retailers’ financing programs are also enabling price-sensitive shoppers to buy expensive unlocked “hero devices,” he said.

CTIA released updates to messaging principles and best practices, first issued in 2017. “The updates clarify that organizations should obtain opt-in consent before sending text messages,” CTIA said Friday: Americans send 63,000 texts a second. Three percent of texts are considered spam.

TCL Communication announced the Alcatel Go Flip V flip phone Thursday. Features include a tactile keypad, HD Voice and Wi-Fi Calling and a secondary preview display to view calls without having to open the phone. Accessibility features include real time text, text telephone, and M4/T4 hearing aid compatibility, it said. The $99 flip phone, with a 2.8-inch display, is available at Verizon for $4.16 over 24 months, said the carrier.

T-Mobile has blocked 3.5 billion scam calls and warned customers of about 15 billion “Scam Likely” since launching its free Scam ID and Scam Block in March 2017, it said Thursday. T-Mobile warned of “about one billion ‘Scam Likely’ calls a month -- or 23,000 every minute.”