Month: July 2020

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a handful of deals on worthwhile USB-C wall chargers, cables, and portable batteries over at Amazon. The retailer is running a one-day Gold Box sale on a variety of Anker chargers, for one, but we've also compiled a few other discounts on fast-charging USB-C accessories we've tested in the past.

These include Aukey's PB-Y13, a slim 18W portable battery with a USB-C Power Delivery port—which is powerful enough to charge all recent iPhones and many Android phones at maximum speeds—alongside two USB-A ports. We've recommended it in our guide to the best USB-C accessories; it's currently down to $19 from its usual $30 with the code "YHXP6UE6" at checkout. If you need a fast wall charger, meanwhile, the Dealmaster can vouch for Aukey's PA-D5, which includes two USB-C PD ports, one of which can charge some (thinner) laptops at up to 60W, and uses gallium nitride (GaN) tech to put them both in a more-compact-than-usual package. It's down to $25 from a typical street price of $40 when you clip the on-page coupon. Elsewhere, if you're willing to pay for a higher-quality fast-charging cable, Anker's six-foot PowerLine III and PowerLine+ II can reliably refill Android and iOS devices, respectively, and are both down to their lowest prices to date.

We have more recommended USB-C charger deals below, but first, a caveat: some smartphones are already capable of utilizing higher-power charging solutions than an 18W battery like the PB-Y13 can provide, and firms like Qualcomm are working on solutions that should reduce charging times even further. But for recent devices that can't make use of all that power today, the deals below should still provide good value. And if you don't need a new charger, we also have discounts on Lenovo ThinkPads, portable SSDs, and more. Have a look at the full rundown below.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Yuichiro Chino)

Amazon has received US approval to launch 3,236 low-Earth orbit satellites for its planned "Project Kuiper" broadband service.

A Federal Communications Commission order granting Amazon's application was released Thursday. Amazon said in a blog post that it will invest more than $10 billion in the project.

"This investment will create jobs and infrastructure around the United States, build and scale our ground network, accelerate satellite testing and manufacturing, and let us deliver an affordable customer terminal that will make fast, reliable broadband accessible to communities around the world," Amazon said. Amazon will target areas without good Internet service and said that "Project Kuiper will deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband service to places beyond the reach of traditional fiber or wireless networks."

Enlarge / Google logo seen during Google Developer Days (GDD) in Shanghai, China, September 2019. (credit: Lyu Liang | VCG | Getty Images)

Google has suffered its first recorded revenue decline, as the coronavirus crisis wiped 8 percent from advertising income in the latest quarter and depressed parent company Alphabet’s revenues by 2 percent from the year before.

Despite the unprecedented fall-off in its core business, however, Google executives said conditions had improved as the quarter progressed, and offered cautious optimism for a return to growth in the current period.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive, said Google had seen “the early signs of stabilization, as users returned to commercial activity online.”

Update, 5:02pm ET: Since our story went live this morning, Microsoft has confirmed the below leak as authentic. Halo Infinite will indeed include the series' first free-to-play multiplayer content on a console when it launches later this year. Microsoft forwarded a link to its announcement in its response to our questions. The company has yet to clarify whether related rumors about the Xbox Live Gold service are impacted.

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  Master Chief is back, alongside the man who saved his life. [credit: Microsoft ]

Original report:

Halo Infinite may offer free access to its multiplayer modes, if some now-removed text from an online store listing out of the UK is to be believed.

Enlarge / Huawei's logo at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona in November 2019. (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images)

Despite aggressive sanctions from the US government, Huawei has become the number 1 smartphone manufacturer in the world, according to Canalys. The company's 55.8 million smartphone shipments in Q2 2020 put it at the top of Canalys' charts for the quarter, marking the first time the company has passed Samsung for the top spot.

Huawei's top spot isn't really due to it defeating US sanctions. Huawei's sales are actually down slightly compared to last year, but in the age of the coronavirus, sales being down only "slightly" is a major win. Huawei sales are down 5 percent from Q2 last year, but Samsung sales have been tanking, and are down 30 percent year-over-year. Samsung's dramatic drop was enough to give Huawei the top spot at 55.8 million, compared to Samsung's 53.7 million.

Canalys shows smartphone sales are down nearly across the board this year, with overall shipments falling 14 percent compared to Q2 2019. The one company with growth is Apple in the #3 spot, which is up a whopping 25 percent. Canalys credits the new iPhone SE for a lot of that success, saying that "[i]ts new iPhone SE was critical in the quarter, accounting for around 28% of its global volume, while iPhone 11 remained a strong best-seller at nearly 40%."