Content
- New logo for Kirin chipsets
- Charging 200W for smartphones
- Fortnite and the generation gap
- MacBook shipments up 36%
- Instead of a conclusion: new games from Ubisoft
New logo for Kirin chipsets
I’m not sure about the reliability, but the Chinese social network Weibo has shared a new logo for the Kirin chipsets. I consider it my duty to tell you about the dragon with hooves. I especially liked that the original logo news story says it’s just a “breath of fresh air.” What do you think? Is it easier to breathe?
Charging 200W for smartphones
In laptop reviews, I regularly complain that often a thin, light and beautiful laptop (with discrete graphics) is completely ruined by a huge power supply. Just look at the previous generation Lenovo Legion or Dell’s Alienware and G-series. The prettiest cars are accompanied by a 230 W unit weighing more than a kilogram and the size of a brick. And the usual 65 W adapter is also not a crumb.
This completely kills the mobility of the device. Somehow, out of curiosity, I tried to take the Dell G5 and HP Omen as a travel laptop. Despite the fact that I go to and from the airport by car, my back gets tired from the laptop + power supply in my backpack. Another unpleasant discovery is the inability to recharge such a laptop on an airplane. The Boeing lacks power in the sockets. The situation is somewhat similar to webcams. An expensive laptop for 300 thousand can be such a shame that it is sad to watch. I used to think that manufacturers are greedy. But after the expensive candy bar from HP with a 5MP camera, I got the idea that PC makers simply do not have enough experience. Unlike smartphone manufacturers, they hardly deal with cameras. That is, they do not have algorithms for suppressing noise and extracting image quality, and there is no notorious artificial intelligence in cameras.
On the day of this article, Oppo will show its 125W mobile charging version, and on July 16, the Honor brand will hold a presentation in which it is rumored to show a 200W compact charger designed specifically for laptops.
In both cases, the event is remarkable, since both charges will be USB Type-C + PowerDelivery. In the technology specifications, the maximum value is 100 watts. However, back in September 2018, Texas Instruments announced that they had succeeded in creating 200W Type-C + PD controllers. Probably few people were interested in this in 2018 TI.
In early July, the news came out that Xiaomi had certified its 120W charging.
What is happening gives hope that buyers, having learned that powerful chargers can be compact, will create a request and laptop manufacturers will have to respond. This is positive news. The sad moment is that for such powerful charging, you will need a modification of both the USB Type-C port and the entire device. This means that only the owners of the newest laptops will be able to enjoy compact charging technology.
If you don’t understand why smartphones need such powerful chargers, then everything is very simple. For example, 120W charging allows you to charge a 4000mAh battery in 15 minutes. It changes the experience of using a smartphone, making the device even more mobile.
What I am most looking forward to is when powerful laptops will finally be truly mobile.
Fortnite and the generation gap
Suddenly I realized how the generation gap occurs. This term in sociology describes the phenomenon when the cultural values of the younger generation differ from the older. As a result, conditional “children” and “parents” perceive each other as representatives of alien cultures with different worldviews.
Everything happens slowly, the water wears away the stone drop by drop. At a certain stage, people deliberately stop and stop developing. For example, my grandmother never mastered a computer and smartphones, despite the fact that before that she worked at a high-tech military plant and still, when a cruiser is shown on the day of the Navy, she recognizes the names and likes to repeat what she did electronics for them. My father mastered the computer at the level of Skype, YouTube and a couple of games. I gave him a computer a long time ago, but apart from the above, he never learned anything. And every time Windows shows some system message, it immediately calls me without reading it.
In turn, I mastered both a computer and a smartphone, and even a number of social networks. And at the current moment I can still be considered as “in the subject”. Although this is absolutely not the case. Snapchat, TikTok, Fortnite, and more have passed me by. Grandma says she doesn’t need a tablet or video. You can call that. The father says that in the computer he has mastered what he needs, but he doesn’t need more. I say that I don’t have time to look at TikTok bullshit and waste time on dumb games like Fortnite. I’d rather play chess or Assassin’s Creed.
The reason why this happens is simple: laziness and fatigue. Mastering new things is such a lot of stress, after which you want to lie down. As a journalist, I am often sent new equipment for the test. And every time you need to make a certain effort on yourself, in order not only to unpack, study and delve into the features, but also most importantly – to understand the idea and logic of the creators. I have additional motivation in the form of work, while ordinary people only have curiosity. If there is, but usually there is no strength for curiosity. For example, Apple is not just pushing iPhone and macOS updates. If Windows and Android, by virtue of their architecture, still push people to understand at least a little bit of the system, then Apple, with its strict restrictions, implying the use of the device “as is”, on the contrary, discourages the desire to dig. Just do not try, please, in the comments to make value judgments, inventing the praise / accusation of Android / Apple.
Some innovations can be skipped, and some become powerful platforms, misunderstanding of which takes you out of context. For example, Fortnite has suddenly become such a new platform (for me), which already has over 250 million users.
Fortnite has evolved from a game to a social phenomenon. Fortnite is used by young people as a social platform for both communication and entertainment. Last year, DJ Marshmello’s concert attracted about 10 million people. This year, American rapper Travis Scott staged a performance that was watched by nearly 28 million players.
The big companies that have opted out of Facebook ads have turned their attention to Fortnite. For example, before the release of the third “John Wick” and “The Avengers”, players had the opportunity to play as characters or get a themed virtual merch. Nike made a drop of fashionable sneakers that were only available in-game. Last year, Fortnite had a “fight” between pizza and burger lovers, with two chains, Durrr Burger and Pizza Pit. As you read about ad integrations like this, keep in mind that the Fortnite collaboration starts at $ 500.
Just the other day, the Sony Group bought 1.4% in Epic Games for a “space” $ 250 million, which implies a total studio cost of $ 18 billion. This tiny fraction means Sony won’t be able to influence the studio’s decisions. However, this will allow the company to integrate promotions for its films, music, and even PlayStation 5 games into Fortnite.
The essence of such integrations in new platforms for third-party people is only one thing: we are out of context. First, it’s one game, then another game, then some new platform or application, and then you don’t understand what’s happening. I believe that during the self-isolation quarantine, the older generation in Moscow felt what it was like to be completely out of context, when you have to issue a pass through the Internet to leave the house, and order couriers to buy food. It will be funny if, after 10 years, I cannot get a conditional number to see a doctor, because for this I will have to go to such and such a level in some new analogue of Fortnite.
MacBook shipments up 36%
I don’t think it came as a surprise to you that the quarantine has contributed to the growth in sales of equipment. The people locked in their homes decided that it was necessary to update the equipment, since it became a window to the world. Not a single large manufacturer left this celebration of life offended. HP, Dell, Apple and even Acer have seen double-digit sales growth over the same period last year. Lenovo grew a little more modestly – 7.4%.
Several comments about the situation. Looking at the table, we see two undisputed growth leaders – HP and Apple. In this situation, HP needs to be praised. It was rumored at the beginning of the quarter that the company had placed a large order for its notebooks. The move was risky, because if the general quarantine had not happened, HP would have been left with an overflowing warehouse. And so most manufacturers are faced with the fact that they cannot meet the growing demand. As a result, only HP laptops were on the shelves. It’s no surprise that many Dell and Lenovo customers bought HP and were happy with it.
The second growth leader is Apple. As much as 36%. Apple’s result is interesting in that, unlike HP, the company did not receive new customers. New MacBooks bought themselves existing clients, who were pushed by quarantine to update the “old” hardware. The share of macOS remained at the level of March – 8.3%.
You can rejoice for the loyalty of your customers. Even in conditions of quarantine and rising prices, they still preferred to buy Apple products. This once again shows that the company’s customers are less sensitive to price changes. Here, of course, it’s worth noting that MacBooks prefer to buy certain types of users who use them either as work tools, or just as a “good laptop for the home.” In this case, I mean that, unlike the iPhone, which is still a fashion accessory in addition to a smartphone, the MacBook has a slightly different image and is bought competently.
But the iPhone is not so smooth. If you look at the breakdown by share of operating systems, the share of iOS fell from 17,23% in April to 14.3% in June. There may, of course, be various reasons. For example, iOS users simply stopped visiting sites that use Statcounter, or started using a VPN that hides their operating system. I have two theories. Firstly, as I mentioned above, the iPhone is a great sign that broadcasts to the world that everything is fine with you and that you are the right person. In fact, the iPhone should be a consequence: if you have money, you buy an iPhone. But many both in our country and around the world prefer the reverse, buying an iPhone to prove that they are doing well. The iPhone is often borrowed. And so the coronavirus hit such people, as a result of which the iPhone became an unaffordable luxury, which had to be disposed of. Secondly, unlike a MacBook (which is for work), the iPhone is still a smartphone for the soul, so the high price has already played a role here, and people, wanting to update their equipment, still preferred to buy Android, saving money in difficult times. Although Apple called itself a service company, it stopped calling the number of platform users. Well, we will wait for July 30 and listen to the results of the quarter. Perhaps Tim Cook’s rhetoric will provide facts and clarity.
Instead of a conclusion: new games from Ubisoft
Ubisoft hosted an event where they announced new games. The main ones are, of course, Far Cry 6 and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Far Cry 6 is notable for the fact that the role of the main villain will be played by Giancarlo Esposito, whom you know from the series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The Far Cry 6 trailer is more intriguing than thrillers. Be sure to take a look. Release date – February 18, 2021.
My favorite is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Starting with Origins, Ubisoft has been releasing chic, historically and folklorically accurate games. To be honest, I don’t really follow the inner twists and turns of the plot associated with animus and time travel. I like the historical epic itself. There were Egypt, Greece, now the Vikings. Release date – November 17 this year.
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