Omdia

Apple

2026-09-04 18:35:03

Apple’s first week under John Ternus puts iPhone 18, foldable iPhone Ultra and MacBook Ultra in focus

Apple entered a new product cycle after John Ternus formally took over as CEO on Sept. 5, according to BlockBeats. Market chatter suggests the company is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 lineup next week, with the iPhone 18 Pro potentially adding new color options including a dark cherry finish. Apple may also shift preorders to early Sept. 12 because Sept. 11 marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The report also said Apple’s first foldable phone, the iPhone Ultra, is still expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro series if the current schedule holds. Even so, early supply could be tight due to a new manufacturing process and structural design, which may lead to longer shipping wait times for buyers. On the Mac side, market research firm Omdia said Apple is revising its future MacBook roadmap. A higher-end MacBook Ultra could use OLED displays and come in 14-inch and 16-inch versions, with a launch window as early as the second half of 2026 to early 2027. Apple is also not expected to discontinue the existing mini-LED MacBook Pro right away, leaving both display versions on sale in parallel for several years. Separately, Apple has allowed universal Mac App Store apps that require macOS 13 or later to drop support for Intel-based Macs.

850

SK Hynix

2026-08-28 00:29:01

SK Hynix loses ground in NAND transition as YMTC closes in on revenue share

SK Hynix is falling behind in NAND manufacturing upgrades, according to a report by South Korea’s Chosun Biz cited by ChainCatcher. As of the second quarter this year, about 50% of the company’s NAND output still came from 176-layer products, while Samsung has already completed a shift centered on 236-layer chips. Omdia data cited in the report showed Micron’s 232-layer products accounted for 53% of its mix, while YMTC reached 68%. The timing matters because NAND prices are rising, and companies with a higher share of advanced-process products are seeing better cost and profit improvement. The report also said SK Hynix, including Solidigm, saw its NAND revenue share drop from 21.4% in the fourth quarter of last year to 16.4% in the first quarter of this year. Over the same period, YMTC’s share climbed from 11.5% to 16.2%. Chosun Biz said SK Hynix has prioritized equipment spending on DRAM and HBM, while NAND investment has declined for three straight years, falling from $3.5 billion in 2023 to $2.9 billion in 2025. The company is now considering an impairment on older NAND assets to improve costs.

930

Xiaomi

2026-08-03 12:52:15

Xiaomi raises prices across nine phone models as shipments decline and memory costs climb

Xiaomi has raised prices on nine smartphones across the Xiaomi 17, REDMI K90 and Turbo 5 lineups, marking its third round of price increases this year. The latest move, rolled out on Aug. 2 through Xiaomi Mall, pushed flagship Xiaomi 17 models up by 400 yuan to 500 yuan, while REDMI devices in two product lines were lifted by 300 yuan. The top-end Xiaomi 17 Pro Max now starts at 6,499 yuan, up from 5,999 yuan. The pricing changes come as Xiaomi faces weaker shipment numbers. IDC said global smartphone shipments fell 6.7% year over year to 277.5 million units in the second quarter of 2026. Xiaomi shipped 31.2 million units for an 11.2% share, ranking third globally, but its shipments dropped 26.3% from a year earlier, the steepest decline among the top five vendors. Omdia reported that Xiaomi shipped 8.2 million units in mainland China in the same quarter, down 21% year over year, leaving it fifth in the market. The report ties the latest price increases to rising memory costs. Xiaomi President Lu Weibing previously said prices for the same memory configuration had surged nearly fourfold from the first quarter of 2025, while IDC estimated consumer memory costs were up nearly 300% year over year.

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