New Electronic System to Limit Car Accidents

An investigator takes photos of a crash scene along Commonwealth Avenue involving a fire truck and a car Monday in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. AP PHOTO
An investigator takes photos of a crash scene along Commonwealth Avenue involving a fire truck and a car Monday in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. AP PHOTO
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New Electronic System to Limit Car Accidents

An investigator takes photos of a crash scene along Commonwealth Avenue involving a fire truck and a car Monday in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. AP PHOTO
An investigator takes photos of a crash scene along Commonwealth Avenue involving a fire truck and a car Monday in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. AP PHOTO

LG, for home appliances and TVs, has come up with a new driver-assistance system to mitigate or prevent car crashes.

The CNET.com website pointed out that the advent of new technology in cars, from 4G-connected navigation to driver assist systems, is opening up new opportunities beyond traditional automotive equipment suppliers. While the LG brand has appeared on a wide array of consumer electronics, the Korean company is now branching into automotive with new innovations.

LG, along with partners NXP, a chipmaker, and Hella, an automotive camera specialist, came up with a new automotive vision platform designed to detect objects and hazards in the driving environment, potentially preventing collisions.

This new automotive vision platform relies on a camera mounted behind the windshield, near the rear view mirror. With its processor, it can identify cyclists and pedestrians and automatically hit the brakes.

The system can also read road signs, alerting drivers to stop signs and speed limits, and see lane lines, warning of vehicle drift.

Late in 2017, NXP and Hella announced what the companies called an "open vision platform for autonomous safe driving," with Hella supplying cameras and NXP supplying chips that could process the imagery. The addition of LG adds further image processing expertise.



Apple’s China Market Share Shrinks as Huawei Surges, Data Shows 

A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)
A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)
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Apple’s China Market Share Shrinks as Huawei Surges, Data Shows 

A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)
A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)

Apple's market share in China shrank by two percentage points in the second quarter of 2024, as the tech giant faced intensifying competition from rivals like Huawei, according to data from market research firm Canalys.

The decline underscores the difficulties the US tech giant faces in its third-largest market.

Huawei's smartphone shipments surged 41% year-on-year in the quarter, bolstered by the launch of its new Pura 70 series in April.

The Canalys data, while not providing specific shipment figures for Apple, showed that the company's market share in China dropped to 14% in the second quarter of 2024, a decrease from 16% in the same quarter of 2023.

As a result of this decline, Apple's ranking in the Chinese smartphone market fell from third to sixth place.

Overall, China's smartphone shipments rose by 10% in the quarter, Canalys said. Vivo was the top vendor with a share of 19%, followed by Oppo, Honor and Huawei with 16%, 15% and 15% respectively.

"Domestic manufacturers have demonstrated market leadership, occupying the top five positions in the mainland Chinese market for the first time in history," said Lucas Zhong, research analyst at Canalys.

"On the other hand, Apple faces growth pressure in the Chinese market and is actively focusing on optimizing channel management."

Huawei made a comeback to the high-end smartphone segment last August with the release of a device powered by a domestically-made chip, defying US sanctions that have cut off its access to the global chipset supply chain.

In an effort to boost sales, Apple has ramped up its discounting efforts this year to entice consumers. The US company launched an aggressive campaign in May, doubling the scale of an earlier promotion in February and offering price cuts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318.84) on select iPhone models.

Analysts expect Huawei's strong performance to continue throughout the year. Canadian research firm TechInsights projected earlier this year that Huawei's overall smartphone shipments in China will exceed 50 million units in 2024, with the Pura 70 series accounting for 10 million of those shipments.

That would make Huawei the No. 1 seller with a 19% market share, up from 12% in 2023, TechInsights has said.