Technology

Bloomberg Shipments of Apple Inc’s popular AirPods wireless earphones are expected to double to 60 million units in 2019, according to people familiar with the Cupertino-based company’s production plans. This has been driven in part by “much higher” than expected demand for the pricier AirPods Pro model unveiled in October. The $249 AirPods Pro — which offer noise cancellation and …

Bloomberg Motorola is rebooting the iconic Razr flip phone as a 6.2-inch smartphone with a foldable display that gives the Lenovo-owned brand a unique selling point against Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co’s finest. The new device reprises the Motorola Razr name and looks like a modernised version of the original. It costs $1,499 and will be available for pre-order …

Bloomberg Apple Inc introduced its first major update to the MacBook Pro laptop in three years, adding a slightly larger screen to the top-end model, improved speakers, a better keyboard, and faster processors from Intel Corp. The new computer has a 16-inch screen, bigger than the 15.4-inch screen on the previous version. That alone may not be enough to spur …

Bloomberg Vietnam will inspect all phones imported from China, such as Huawei and Xiaomi models, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reports citing Nguyen Hung Anh, head of Vietnam Customs’ anti-smuggling and investigation department. At issue is whether the Chinese-made phones come with preinstalled navigation apps that use maps reflecting Chinese territorial claims rejected by Hanoi, such as the expansive nine-dash line …

Bloomberg Burberry Group Plc is teaming up with Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd to experiment with blending retail and social media in the key luxury market. The first step in the Tencent alliance will be a Burberry store in Shenzhen powered by the operator of social network WeChat. The space will offer “unique experiences that connect luxury customers’ social …

Bloomberg Alphabet Inc’s Google acquired smartwatch maker Fitbit Inc for $2.1 billion in cash, a move that could shore up the internet giant’s hardware business while also potentially increasing antitrust scrutiny. Fitbit shares jumped 16%. Google will pay $7.35 a share for San Francisco-based Fitbit, according to a statement. That represents a 71% premium to Fitbit’s stock price before Reuters …

Bloomberg Apple Inc lost ground to Samsung and Huawei in the third quarter when global smartphone sales rose on a quarterly basis only for the first time in two years, according to Canalys. Apple shipments fell 7% to 43.5 million units in the July to September period, just before the well-received iPhone 11 hit global store shelves, the researcher estimated. …

Bloomberg Nintendo Co can finally claim a mega-hit smartphone game with its new Mario Kart Tour, which has been downloaded 123.9 million times in its first month and comfortably eclipsed the company’s previous mobile game debuts, Sensor Tower data showed. “The racing app is Nintendo’s most successful mobile game launch by downloads so far, eclipsing Super Mario Run’s 21.8 million …

Bloomberg Google lured billions of consumers to its digital services by offering copious free cloud storage. That’s beginning to change. The Alphabet Inc unit has whittled down some free storage offers in recent months, while prodding more users towards a new paid cloud subscription called Google One. That’s happening as the amount of data people stash online continues to soar. …

Bloomberg Following fits and starts, Apple Pay has become the top mobile payment method at brick-and-mortar stores in the US, according to research firm EMarketer. Apple Inc’s payment service will have 30.3 million users in the US this year, compared with 25.2 million for the Starbucks payment app, EMarketer estimated. Starbucks Corp had been the leader, with innovative features that …