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HTC ThunderBolt outsells the Apple iPhone 4 on Verizon?
Some analysts have taken it upon themselves to find out how well the ThunderBolt has been doing, in terms of sales against Apple’s iPhone 4 on Verizon’s network. They contacted 150 Verizon Wireless retail stores over 22 major cities in the US and asked the sales representatives whether they were selling more ThunderBolts or iPhones over the past week. Their results: 61% said they sold an equal amount of both phones, 11% said they sold more iPhones and 28% said they sold more ThunderBolts.
But what do these results actually mean? Is the ThunderBolt really outselling the iPhone? Let’s take the following factors into consideration: the iPhone 4 has been out on the market for almost a year. Granted, it only arrived on Verizon a couple of months ago, but in the world of technology – the iPhone 4 is old. And as we all know, nobody really wants to buy an old phone. Let’s not forget – the iPhone 5 is rumored to arrive a few months down the road – who would want to be tied down to an old phone with a 2 year contract when a successor is due in the near future? The ThunderBolt is a new device, and consumer interest is at its peak, while interest in the iPhone has hit a plateau – of course people are going to want the more interesting, fresh device right now.
So while the ThunderBolt might be the hottest gadget right now (it is Verizon’s first 4G LTE phone after all), can it maintain its momentum? That is the more relevant question. After all it’s not saying much if a phone only sells well in its first few weeks, and then nobody buys it anymore. Until now, people are still buying the iPhone 4, which is a testament to the phone’s quality and attractiveness. Can we say the same thing for the ThunderBolt? And with Verizon being mum about the official sales figures for their phones, we won’t be able to tell for sure. What are your thoughts about the HTC ThunderBolt? Make sure you check out our sister’s site review of the iPhone 4 and of the ThunderBolt.
The Fairphone 2 was first unveiled in June earlier this year, where this particular handset carried a modular design while featuring majority of its components that have been sourced from conflict-free mines. It seems that this particular handset that you can purchase with a clear conscience has begun to ship to those who happen to live across Europe.
Fairphone announced in a blog post, “It’s been almost two years in the making, and some of the earliest buyers have been patiently waiting since July to receive their new phones. As community manager, I want to personally welcome the new batch of Fairphone owners to our community.” The initial 1,000 units are tipped to ship this month, before the other pre-orders follow in January 2016.
In terms of hardware specifications, the Fairphone 2 will run on a Snapdragon 801 chipset, has a 5″ 1080p screen with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, with Android 5.1 Lollipop in tow. It will be a dual SIM capable handset with a microSD memory card slot and plays nice with 4G LTE networks, retailing for approximately €525 a pop.
It looks like the upcoming flagship model from Xiaomi will feature NFC support, at least based on a document that was released by China UnionPay. Just in case you are scratching your head and wondering who China UnionPay is, they happen to be the only domestic payment gateway supplier and card organization, and hence, to see them offer detailed support concerning the newly released NFC-based payment system points to the very real possibility of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 featuring NFC capability.
After all, the Xiaomi Mi 3 was also mentioned on the list, which so happens to feature NFC, and there is no mention of the Xiaomi Mi 4 which does not come with NFC. Still, such a new payment system would be the ideal tool to see the reintroduction of NFC to the flagship model.
OnePlus did make an announcement in the previous month that the Ceramic variant of the OnePlus X will be released on November 24. True to their word, they did exactly that – although only a pitiful number of units were made available, and not only that, this was through a charity auction. Thankfully for the rest of the masses who are on the lookout for this device, it has gone on sale officially already.
Needless to say, this particular variant is available only by an invitation, although do bear in mind that standard OnePlus X invites are not good here – you will still need to snag yourself a specific Ceramic variant invite before you make a purchase. OnePlus is also on the lookout to offer additional methods of picking up this smartphone, although no further details were revealed.
The OnePlus X Ceramic will be available only in select markets, where among them include Europe, India, and Hong Kong. To date, we do know that OnePlus had made only 10,000 units of the handset available. A case of the early bird getting the proverbial worm here?