MILAN (Reuters) – Italian consumer association Altroconsumo said on Monday it had told Apple it has launched a class action against the U.S. tech giant for the practice of planned obsolescence.

In a statement Altroconsumo said it was asking for damages of 60 million euros ($73 million) on behalf of Italian consumers tricked by the practice which had also been recognised by Italian authorities.

Altroconsumo said the lawsuit covers owners of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus, sales of which in Italy totalled some 1 million phones between 2014 and 2020.

Apple said in an email that it had never done anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.

Two similar lawsuits against Apple have been filed in Belgium and Spain for the planned obsolescence of iPhones.

European consumer association Euroconsumers, which is coordinating the three lawsuits, said it was also planning to launch a class action in Portugal in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, Elvira Pollina, editing by Louise Heavens)

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China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is in early-stage talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, a move that could see the company eventually exit from the high-end smartphone-making business.

The talks between the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker and a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms have been going on for months, the people said, declining to be identified as the discussions were confidential.

Huawei started to internally explore the possibility of selling the brands as early as last September, according to one of the sources. The two sources were not privy to the valuation placed on the brands by Huawei.

Shipments of Mate and P Series phones were worth $39.7 billion between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, according to consultancy IDC.

However, Huawei has yet to make a final decision on the sale and the talks might not conclude successfully, according to the two sources, as the company is still trying to manufacture at home its in-house designed high-end Kirin chips which power its smartphones.

“Huawei has learned there are unsubstantiated rumors circulating regarding the possible sale of our flagship smartphone brands,” a Huawei spokesman said. “There is no merit to these rumors whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan.”

The Shanghai government said it was not aware of the situation and declined to comment further.

The potential sale of Huawei’s premium smartphone lines suggests the company has little hope that the new Biden administration will have a change of heart towards the supply chain restrictions placed on Huawei since May 2019, the two people said.

The Shanghai government-backed investment firms may form a consortium with Huawei’s dealers to take over the P and Mate brands, according to the second person, a similar model to the Honor deal. Huawei is also likely to keep its existing P& Mate management team for the new entity, if the deal goes through, the two people said.

OVERCOMING U.S. CURBS

Huawei, the world’s biggest telecoms equipment vendor and No.2 smartphone maker, last November announced the sale of its budget phone brand Honor to a consortium of 30 dealers led by a company backed by the Shenzhen government.

The second source said the all-cash sale fetched more than 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion). Honor declined to comment.

The Honor sale was aimed at keeping the budget brand alive, as sanctions slapped on Huawei by the United States had hampered the unit’s supply chain and cut off the company’s access to key hardware like chips and software such as Alphabet Inc’s Google Mobile Services.

Huawei may have a similar objective in pursuing the sale of the mobile brands. The two sources said that Huawei’s latest plans for the two high-end brands were motivated by insufficient chip supplies.

Washington says that Huawei is a national security threat, which Huawei has repeatedly denied.

On Friday, Honor indicated that the goal of the spin-off had been reached by announcing it had formed partnerships with chip makers such as Intel and Qualcomm and launched a new phone.

Last year, the company’s Consumer Business Group Chief Executive Richard Yu said U.S. restrictions meant Huawei would soon stop making Kirin chips. Analysts expect its stockpile of the chips to run out this year.

Huawei’s HiSilicon division relies on software from U.S. companies such as Cadence Design Systems Inc or Synopsys Inc to design its chips and it outsources the production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which uses equipment from U.S. companies.

The P and Mate phone series are among the top players in the higher-end smartphone market in China and compete with Apple’s iPhone, Xiaomi Corp’s Mi and Mix series and OPPO’s Find series.

The two brands contributed nearly 40% to Huawei’s total sales over the third quarter of 2020, according to market research firm Counterpoint.

Analysts have already noted recent insufficient supplies of the flagship P40 and Mate40 series due to a severe components shortage.

“We expect a continuous decline in sales of P and Mate series smartphones through Q1 2021,” said Flora Tang, an analyst at Counterpoint.

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(MENAFN – NewsBytes) Realme X7 and X7 Pro are expected to be launched in India on February 4. In the latest development, Flipkart has activated a microsite for the upcoming handsets, confirming that the Realme 7 series will be available through the e-commerce platform.

As for the highlights, the phones come with a 5G-enabled MediaTek Dimensity chipset, an AMOLED screen, quad rear cameras, and 65W fast-charging technology.

In this article Realme X7 and X7 Pro: At a glance For the shutterbugs and selfie lovers Under the hood Availability and pricing

Design and display Realme X7 and X7 Pro: At a glance

The Realme X7 and X7 Pro sport a punch-hole design with a slim bottom-bezel, an integrated fingerprint sensor, and a quad rear camera setup.

While the X7 bears a 6.4-inch Full-HD+ (1080×2400 pixels) AMOLED screen, the X7 Pro comes with a 6.55-inch Full-HD+ (1080×2400 pixels) AMOLED screen with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a 120Hz refresh rate.

Information For the shutterbugs and selfie lovers

The X7 and X7 Pro pack a quad rear camera setup comprising a 64MP (f/1.8) primary sensor, an 8MP (f/2.3) wide-angle lens, a 2MP (f/2.4) macro sensor, and a 2MP (f/2.4) depth sensor. On the front, they sport a single 32MP (f/2.5) selfie shooter.

Internals Under the hood

The Realme X7 is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor whereas the Realme X7 Pro is backed by a MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chipset. They offer up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage.

The standard X7 packs a 4,300mAh battery while the X7 Pro model houses a 4,500mAh battery. Both the handsets support 65W fast-charging technology via the Type-C port.

Key details Availability and pricing

At present, all we know is that the Realme X7 series will be available for purchase through Flipkart and is likely to be announced on February 4.

As for the pocket-pinch, the X7 model is expected to carry a price-tag of around Rs. 20,000 while the X7 Pro should cost around Rs. 25,000.

MENAFN25012021000165011035ID1101487103

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