Apple / WIRED
Apple is supposedly mulling its biggest feature-ditching move yet – the removal of the Lightning port. More accurately, rumours are rife from sources with strong track records, such as
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, that Apple is considering producing a truly wireless smartphone. But, we’ve been here before.
Everyone remembers the saga of the headphone jack. As rumours began to ramp up about Apple ditching the audio port, there was a raft of think pieces dissecting the decision. The iPhone 7 launched – and the port was absent.
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What followed was almost all of the phone industry following suit, many after mocking Apple’s decision initially – such as Samsung. We then got a sense of déjà vu last year when Apple decided to ditch the charger from the iPhone 12 box. Manufacturers, like Xiaomi, once again mocked then followed suit.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi s launch event for the Redmi Note 10 series must have been an awkward watch for anyone at Samsung. It kitted out the headline features of Xiaomi s latest Redmi: a 108MP Samsung camera sensor and a 120Hz Samsung screen, but the Xiaomi announcement was pretty much a Galaxy A71 bash-a-thon.
Indeed, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 outclasses Samsung s mid-ranger in virtually every respect, all the while costing less, with a global price of $279 (around £200). But we seldom see such laser-focused take-downs of just one smartphone at launch events.
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A quick look at some numbers, though, and Xiaomi s clearly done its homework. The Galaxy A51 was the best-selling Android phone in Q1 2020 worldwide while the Galaxy A21s was the best-selling Android phone in Germany that year â Germany is a key untapped market for Xiaomi.
Getty Images / WIRED
Channi Dorsetâs online shop, Cr8tive Wallflower, is looking bare. Last year, shoppers could buy the 26-year-oldâs artwork emblazoned on more than 170 different product lines, including clothes and mugs. Visit the site today and youâll see just 15 items on sale. The reason? Brexit.
Dorset uses dropshipping, a method of fulfilling orders that means sellers donât have to keep the products they list in stock. Instead, they rely on a third-party producer to manufacture the item on-demand and ship it directly to the customer. âItâs an easier way of not having to hold all that stock but being able to access a lot of different [customers worldwide],â Dorset says. âIt wasnât the most efficient way of getting the best profit, but it was working.â Or at least it was, until it stopped working altogether.