14 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE
THESMARTPHONEWORLDrarely slows down,
andphone makers are still kicking out new handsets
despitethe global coronavirus pandemic.
OnePlus, forexample, launched its flagship
OnePlus 8series at thebeginningofApril. Though
many are tightening their purse-strings in the current
crisis, the firm’sflagship OnePlus 8Pro –which
comes with a120Hz screen, 5G support andwireless
charging –isthe Chinese company’s most expensive
smartphoneyet, withastarting price of £799.
Apple has taken adifferent tack and jumped
back into the affordablesmartphone arenawith a
reboot of the iPhone SE.The device, whichisApple’s
cheapest handset at £419, has a4.7in Retina display,
aTouch ID button, a12-megapixel cameraand the
sameA13 Bionic processor that powersthe iPhone 11 range.
Given thesehigh-profile launches, along with the arrivalofthe
Huawei P40, you’d be forgiven forthinking it’s business as usual for
the smartphone industry.
However,analysts are warning thatthe mobile phone marketis
expected to slowby13% in 2020. CCS Insights said it expects 1.57 billion
mobile phones will be sold worldwide this year,the lowest numberina
decade.The analyst house warned that theCovid-19 outbreak is
dampening demand among businesses andconsumers, while supply chain
slowdowns areaffecting both manufacturing and distribution.
CCS Insightisn’t the only onepredicting agloomy year ahead forthe
smartphone industry.Gartner toldComputerShopperthatconsumer
demand fornew devicesisdecliningrapidly,
warning that this could have ramificationsfor
months to come.
“People arenot going to buy anew smartphone
in the current economic situation,”saidRoberta
Cozza, senior director analyst at Gartner’s Tech
ProductManager team.
“There’sgoing to be adropand ashift; the
moneyconsumers could have been spending on
smartphones during Q2 and Q3 is going to be spent
more on services, content andbetter connectivity.”
This dramatic drop in spending perhaps explains
why OnePlus, afirm famed forits cut-price ‘flagship
killers’,has increasedits prices. Apple,acompany
often criticised forits overly priceygadgets, has
instead opted to targetthosenot willing to shell out £1,000 forahandset
in the currentclimatewith its most affordablesmartphone in years.
While some firms appear to be continuingasnormal–Samsung
recently launched its top-of-the-line Galaxy S20 series (see pages 18 and
36) –this shift change could be felt forsome time to come andcould even
meanthat Apple’s typically flashy September launch, where itisexpected
to show off the 5G-enabled iPhone 12,doesn’t go ahead as planned.
“Appleneeds to send over engineers to approvefinal designs in China,
and this is going to slowdown,”saidCozza.
“Can yousee them releasing the iPhone 12 in this situation? Forthem
this hastobeaveryimportant launch, it has to be ahit, which it’s unlikely
to be if consumer spending stays as it is.”
SAYWHAT?
Tech firms braced for global slowdown
ONESIDEEFFECTofthe coronavirus crisiswe
certainlydidn’t expectwas aconspiracy theory
linking5Gtothe virus.
There are some bizarretheories that the
coronavirus is simplyawaytocover up deaths
caused by 5G, or that it is helping the virus spread
and suppresses people’s immune systems.
There isn’t asingle shred of evidence to link 5G
and coronavirus, so it seems bizarre that the two
things couldpossiblybelinked, especially as 5G
useselectromagnetic radio frequencies while
Covid-19 is adroplet-based virus.
Areport byWiredtraced the origins of the conspiracy theoriesbackto
an interview conducted by Belgium newspaperHetLaatsteNieuwswitha
GP called KrisVan Kerckhoven. When asked if the growth of 5G masts
around the Chinese city Wuhan, where the Covid-19 outbreak happened,
could be related to the coronavirus spread, VanKerckhoven replied: “I
have not done afactcheck... But it maybealink with current events.”
The article was withdrawn by the newspaper,but it wastoo littletoo
late, as the GP’swords spread likewildfire online,and were translated into
English, thus propagating5G-coronavirustheories.
No evidence wasprovided tosupportthe spurious
claims, but outlandishtheories spread nonetheless.
And then the celebrities jumped on the
bandwagon, with actors John Cusack and
Woody Harrelson, as well as boxer Amir Khan,
sharingpostsonsocial media thatreferenced 5G
and coronavirus conspiracies. TV presenter
Eamonn Holmesalso expressed his own,
unevidenced, 5G concerns.
“I totally agreewith everything you aresaying
but whatIdon’t accept is mainstream media
immediately slapping thatdown as not true when theydon’t know it’snot
true,” Holmes said on ITV’sThisMorningin response to the show’s
consumer editor, Alice Beer, describing thenewsof5Gphone masts being
vandalised in responseto5Gconspiracies as “incredibly stupid”.
Thewhole conspiracy theory literally ignited with phone mastsbeing
set on fireinwhatappeared to be arson attacks by anti-5G groups.
Somewhatironically,many of thesetowers were for3Gand 4G
technology,not mastsfor the next-generation mobile network.
‘Stupid’ 5G conspiracy theories lead to arson
SAYWHAT?
