The PC market grew by a range somewhere between 2.3% and 4.8% in Q4 2019, according to research firms Gartner and IDC, which both released positive (and only slightly conflicting) news.
This matters, because it marks the first full year of growth in the PC category for the first time since 2011. Here’s how that looks (before 2019’s stats) according to Gartner, via Statista:
Windows 7 upgrades?
Dual/folding devices, and 5G:
🤔 Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra specs leak, but is it a real device? (Android Authority).
🆕 The era of pre-announcing smartphone features seems to be here, now OnePlus says the OnePlus 8 will have a “120Hz Fluid Display”, just like the Samsung S20 (Android Authority).
🍎 Apple said it is helping the Pensacola shooting investigation, but won’t unlock the shooter’s iPhones: "We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation" (BuzzFeed).
🙅♂️ Also, Microsoft CEO says encryption backdoors are a ‘terrible idea’ (The Verge).
💻 Apple might be developing a 'Pro Mode' to speed up Macbooks (9to5Mac).
🍏 Apple’s very few remaining uses of the word “Macintosh” (TidBITS).
🔊 Sonos Move review: brilliant sound now portable: five stars, but not cheap (The Guardian).
🧾 The European Parliament is looking at forcing companies to use a common charger “for all mobile phones”. Happily, the industry is already consolidating around USB-C, including iPhones either this year or next, so ...it’ll happen anyway? (europarl.europa.eu).
🐛 There’s some kind of serious Windows update coming today (KrebsOnSecurity).
🕵️♂️ How digital sleuths unraveled the mystery of Iran's plane crash (Wired).
💳 Visa is buying Plaid, a financial services API startup that powers much of new fintech startups backends like Venmo: a cool $5.3 billion changes hands (TechCrunch).
🎮 Sony skipping E3 again as it gears up to launch the PlayStation 5 (The Verge).
📚 These are the most frequently checked-out books in the history of the New York Public Library (NPR).
🕹 Japan’s Super Nintendo World theme park will feature smart Mario-themed wristbands (The Verge).
🌙 Dr. Phil Metzger with some detailed knowledge about moon dust, rocks, and how we simulate the moon’s environment on earth with coarse quartz sand containing no dust (Twitter).
🤮 Amazing reporting showing how borderline evil, and definitely vile media headlines praised one British princess and trashed the other for doing the same stuff. The avocado thing is just the worst. (BuzzFeed).
📰 “Clickbait Defamation”: Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig sues New York Times for describing what he said (Vice).
🤔 “What can never be filmed or photographed, thus never observed by humans?” (r/askreddit). “We've never actually seen the core of our own planet and I doubt we will ever actually see it,” is, sadly, a pretty good answer.
Based on data out of Statista and CIPA came this graph late last year, exploring the rise of smartphones versus cameras:
Cheers,
Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor
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