China's Huawei to launch 'milestone' smartphone with homegrown OS

Chinese tech giant Huawei will on Tuesday launch its first smartphone equipped with a fully homegrown operating system, a key test in the firm's fight to challenge the dominance of Western juggernauts.

Apple's iOS and Google's Android are currently used in the vast majority of mobile phones, but Huawei is looking to change that with its newest Mate 70 devices, which run on the company's own HarmonyOS Next.

The launch caps a major turnaround in the fortunes of Huawei, which saw its wings clipped by gruelling US sanctions in recent years but has since bounced back with soaring sales.

"The search for a viable, scaleable mobile operating system largely free of Western company control has been a lengthy one in China," Paul Triolo, a Partner for China and Technology Policy Lead at consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group, told AFP.

But the new smartphone -- also powered by an advanced domestically produced chip -- shows Chinese tech firms can "persevere", he said.

The Mate 70 is set to be unveiled at a company launch event on Tuesday afternoon at its Shenzhen headquarters.

More than three million have been pre-ordered, according to Huawei's online shopping platform, though that does not require them to be purchased.

The risks are high -- unlike a previous iteration, based on Android's open-source code, HarmonyOS Next requires a complete rewiring of all apps on the smartphones it powers.

"HarmonyOS Next is the first home-grown operating system, a milestone for China to move away from reliance on Western technologies for software with performance improvement," Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis, told AFP.

But, "while Chinese firms may be willing to allocate resources to contribute to Huawei's ecosystem, there are challenges to whether HarmonyOS Next can offer the same number of apps and functionalities to global consumers", Ng said.

'HIGH EXPECTATIONS'

Huawei found itself at the centre of an intense tech rivalry between Beijing and Washington, with US officials warning its equipment could be used to spy on behalf of Chinese authorities -- allegations they deny.

Since 2019, US sanctions have cut Huawei off from global supply chains for technology and US-made components, a move that initially hammered its production of smartphones.

That fight is only set to intensify underUS President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised huge tariffs on Chinese imports in response to what he says are Beijing's unfair trade practices.

"Rather than Huawei inspiring the tech industry as a whole, it is the self-reliance trend of the Chinese tech industry that has made Huawei's progress possible," Toby Zhu, a senior analyst at technology research firm Canalys, told AFP.

The success of Huawei's new generation of smartphone products will be a key gauge of whether that drive has worked, said Zhu.

"This generation of products cannot afford to miss the mark because everyone has high expectations for them," he added.

Huawei was once China's largest domestic smartphone maker before it became embroiled in a tech war between Washington and Beijing.

The company shipped more than 10.8 million smartphone units in the third quarter -- capturing just 16 percent of the Chinese market, according to a recent Canalys report.

In September the firm unveiled the world's first triple-folding phone at more than three times the price of the newest iPhone, the Mate XT, priced at an eye-watering $2,800.

The Mate 70 is unlikely to cost that much -- while its price is not yet public, its predecessor launched with a starting price of $750.

And it's unclear whether developers overseas will be willing to spend the money needed to build a completely new version of their apps for the latest smartphones, Rich Bishop, co-founder and CEO of AppInChina, a publisher of international software in China, told AFP.

One third-party agency in China quoted a price of two million yuan ($275,500) to custom-fit a foreign app for HarmonyOS Next, he said.

To convince them, "Huawei needs to continuously improve the software, provide better support for developers, and convince the developer community that it is committed to the long-term development of the Harmony ecosystem", said Triolo.

Agence France-Presse

Apple’s new iPhones get faster chips, better cameras, new charging ports

CUPERTINO, California — Apple on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of iPhones – a line-up that will boast better cameras, faster processors, a new charging system, and a price hike for the fanciest model.

The showcase at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, comes as the company tries to reverse a mild slump that has seen its sales drop from last year in three consecutive quarters. The malaise is a key reason Apple’s stock price has dipped by about 10% since mid-July, dropping the company’s market value below the $3 trillion threshold it reached for the first time earlier this summer.

Investors apparently weren’t impressed with what Apple rolled out Tuesday. The company’s shares fell nearly 2% Tuesday, a steeper decline than the major market indexes.

As has been the case with Apple and other smartphone makers, the four types of iPhone 15 models aren’t making any major leaps in technology. But Apple added enough new bells and whistles to the top-of-the-line model – the iPhone 15 Pro Max – to boost its starting price by $100, or 9%, from last year’s version to $1,200. As part of the higher base price, the cheapest iPhone 15 Pro Max will provide 256 megabytes of storage, up from 128 megabytes for the least expensive version of the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple is holding the line on prices for rest of the line-up, with the basic iPhone 15 selling for $800, the iPhone 15 Plus for $900 and the iPhone 15 Pro for $1,000.

Although maintaining those prices are bound to squeeze Apple’s profit margins and put further pressure on the company’s stock price, Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro believes it’s a prudent move with still-high inflation and spiking interest rates pinching household budgets. “The reality was that Apple found itself in a challenging position leading up to this event,” Monteiro said.

And the price hike for the iPhone 15 Pro Max could help Apple boost sales if consumers continue to gravitate toward the company’s premium models. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives expects the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to account for about 75% of the device’s total sales in the upcoming year.

All the new models will be available in stores September 22, with pre-orders beginning this Friday.

One of the biggest changes that Apple announced is a new way to charge the iPhone 15 models and future generations. The company is switching to the USB-C standard that is already widely used on many devices, including its Mac computers and many of its iPads.

Apple is being forced to phase out the Lightning port cables it rolled out in 2012 because of a mandate that European regulators plan to impose in 2024.

Although consumers often don’t like change, the transition to USB-C ports may not be that inconvenient. That’s because the standard is already widely used on a range of computers, smartphones and other devices people already own. The shift to USB-C may even be a popular move since that standard typically charges devices more quickly and also offers faster data transfer speeds.

The basic iPhone 15 models have been redesigned to include a shape-shifting cutout on the display screen that Apple calls its “Dynamic Island” for app notifications – a look that was introduced with last year’s Pro and Pro Max devices. The basic models are also getting a faster chip used in last year’s Pro and Pro Max models, while the next generation of the premium iPhone 15s will run on an even more advanced processor that will enable the devices to accommodate the same kind of video games that typically require a console.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max also will be equipped with what Apple maintains is the equivalent of seven camera lenses. They will include periscope-style telephoto lens that will improve the quality of photos taken from far distances. The telephoto lens boasts a 5x optical zoom, which lags the 10x optical zoom on Samsung’s premium Galaxy S22 Ultra, but represents an upgrade from the 3x optical zoom on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.

In anticipation of next year’s release of Apple’s mixed reality headset, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will also have a spatial video option designed for viewing on that headset.

Apple is encasing the premium models in titanium that the company says is the same alloy used on some space ships.

Besides its new iPhones, Apple also announced its next generation of smartwatches – a product that made its debut nearly a decade ago. The Series 9 Apple Watch, available in stores September 22, will include a new gesture control that will enable users to control alarms and answer phone calls by double snapping their thumbs with a finger.

- Associated Press -

Musk threatens lawsuit as Twitter rival Threads takes off

WASHINGTON — Twitter threatened to sue Meta just hours after the Instagram parent company launched Threads, an app it hopes will beat out the struggling site owned by Elon Musk.

In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, published by online news outlet Semafor on Thursday, Musk lawyer Alex Spiro accused the company of "unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property."

The letter accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information."

Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of the world's biggest social media platforms, despite its struggles.

Zuckerberg's latest move against Musk further heightened the rivalry between the two multibillionaires who have even agreed to meet for hand to hand combat in a cage match.

Threads went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday (7 a.m. Thursday in Manila), and early feedback noted its close, but scaled back, resemblance to Twitter.

Within a few hours, more than 30 million people had downloaded Threads, Zuckerberg said Thursday.

"Feels like the beginning of something special, but we've got a lot of work ahead to build the app," Zuckerberg wrote on his official Threads account.

Accounts were already active for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist.

Zuckerberg wrote: "It'll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it."

"Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will."

Twitter has said it has more than 200 million daily users.

Musk meanwhile retweeted an image that said the Threads logo resembled a tapeworm. "Metaphorically too," he added.

In another post referencing Twitter's potential legal action against Meta, Musk noted that "competition is fine, cheating is not."

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said on Threads: "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee -- that's just not a thing."

'BE KIND' 

Threads was introduced as a spin-off of Instagram, giving it a built-in audience of more than two billion users and sparing the new platform the challenge of starting from scratch.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told users that Threads was intended to build "an open and friendly platform for conversations."

"The best thing you can do if you want that too is be kind," he said.

Zuckerberg is taking advantage of Musk's chaotic ownership of Twitter to push out the new product, which Meta hopes will become the go-to platform for celebrities, companies and politicians.

Analyst Jasmine Engberg from Insider Intelligence said Threads only needs one out of four Instagram monthly users "to make it as big as Twitter."

"Twitter users are desperate for an alternative, and Musk has given Zuckerberg an opening," she added.

Under Musk, Twitter has seen content moderation reduced to a minimum with glitches and rash decisions scaring away celebrities and major advertisers.

He also fired more than half of Twitter's staff, some of whom presumably went to other tech companies, including Meta.

EU 'MANY MONTHS' AWAY 

Meta has its legion of critics too, especially in the major market of Europe, which could slow the growth of Threads.

The company has been criticized for its handling of personal data, the essential ingredient for targeted ads that help it rake in billions of dollars in profits.

Mosseri said he regretted that the launch was delayed in the European Union, but had Meta waited for regulatory clarity from Brussels, Threads would have been "many, many, many, months away."

According to a source close to the matter, Meta was wary of a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that sets strict rules for the world's "gatekeeper" internet companies.

One rule restricts platforms from moving user data between products, as would potentially be the case between Threads and Instagram.

Globally, the Threads hashtag on Twitter has garnered three million tweets, with many users jokingly suggesting people will return to Musk's platform.

Others expressed privacy concerns.

"Meta loves to collect private information and I don't trust the way it treats private information," a Japanese user tweeted.

"I also have the impression that this is a company hated by EU, so I'm reluctant."

But some said they would permanently move to Threads.

One Threads user wrote: "Now I truly can say goodbye to Twitter forever."

Agence France-Presse 

Subscription version of Snapchat makes its debut

US tech firm Snap on Wednesday launched a subscription version of Snapchat as it looks to generate more money from the image-centric, ephemeral messaging app.

Snapchat+ is priced at $4 a month and will provide access to exclusive features, the California-based company said in a blog post. It said that these would include priority tech support and early access to experimental features.

The subscription version of the service is making its debut in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, Snap said.

Snap in February reported its first quarterly profit, but two months later warned that it saw the economic outlook as having darkened considerably.

The company said that more than 332 million people around the world use Snapchat daily.

"This subscription will allow us to deliver new Snapchat features to some of the most passionate members of our community," Snap said in the blog post.

Agence France-Presse

Zuckerberg loses $29 billion in a day, as Meta shares crash

Mark Zuckerberg lost $29 billion in net worth on Thursday as Meta Platforms Inc's stock marked a record one-day plunge following a disappointing earnings forecast that shook the global tech landscape.

Meta's stock fell 26%, erasing more than $200 billion in the biggest ever single-day market value wipeout for a US company. That pulled down founder and chief executive officer Zuckerberg's net worth to $85 billion, according to Forbes.

Zuckerberg owns about 12.8% of the tech behemoth formerly known as Facebook.

His one-day wealth decline is among the biggest ever and comes after Tesla Inc. top boss Elon Musk's $35 billion single-day paper loss in November. Musk, the world's richest person, had then polled Twitter users if he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker. Tesla shares have yet to recover from the resulting selloff.

At least 21 brokerages cut price targets on Meta after the company posted a weaker-than-expected forecast on Wednesday, blaming Apple Inc.'s privacy changes and increased competition for users from rivals, including TikTok and YouTube.

Following the $29 billion wipeout, Zuckerberg is in 12th spot on Forbes' list of real-time billionaires, below Indian business moguls Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.

To be sure, trading in technology stocks remains volatile as investors struggle to price in the impact of high inflation and an expected rise in interest rates. Meta shares could very well recover sooner rather than later, with the hit to Zuckerberg's wealth staying on paper.

Zuckerberg sold $4.47 billion worth of Meta shares last year, before 2021's tech rout. The stock sales were carried out as part of a pre-set 10b5-1 trading plan, which executives use to allay concerns about insider trading.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews, Akash Sriram and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

-reuters-

Alphabet eyes $2 trillion value after blowout results

Google parent company Alphabet Inc advanced nearer to joining peers Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp in the elite $2 trillion market valuation club on Wednesday as the search giant's shares surged more than 8 percent following a blowout quarterly report.

Last trading at about $2,975, Alphabet's stock was on track for its largest one-day percentage gain in almost two years, easing concerns around owning Big Tech following a sector-wide selloff in the past few weeks.

Alphabet's stock market value peaked just above $2 trillion after the start of the trading session, and was last at $1.97 trillion. That includes class B shares that do not trade on the stock market and are held by insiders.

A close above $2 trillion would be the first ever for the Mountain View, California-based company.

"The technology sector started 2022 with some of the biggest question marks over it since the dotcom crash more than two decades ago," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. "However, the largest and highest quality US tech names continue to deliver the answers the market wants with big earnings beats."

Shares of Wall Street's most valuable companies have soared in the past two years, driven by pandemic-led shifts in how people work and learn, even as regulators around the world scrutinize them over allegations of breaches of privacy and antitrust concerns.

At least 20 brokerages raised their price targets on Alphabet's stock after the company late on Tuesday delivered record quarterly sales that topped expectations. The median analyst price target is now $3,450, 16 percent above its current price.

Alphabet also announced a 20-to-1 stock split, which will give shareholders 19 shares for every share they hold.

Splitting stocks is a method companies use to woo investors by making them more affordable. However, some brokerages, such as Robinhood Markets, allow investors to buy fractions of shares, making the tactic less effective.

Tesla Inc and Apple split their stocks in 2000 to make their shares more appealing to mom-and-pop investors.

"The split will make the shares more accessible for retail investors and likely facilitate inclusion in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (which is somehow still share price-weighted), but it has no fundamental impact," J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth said.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms, which is set to report results on Wednesday after the bell, was last up 1.1 percent.

Adding to the rebound in tech stocks, Advanced Micro Devices Inc's shares jumped over 5 percent after its results topped Wall Street expectations. Rivals Nvidia Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Micron Technology Inc also rose.

-reuters-

Google and Facebook say on-campus workers must be vaccinated

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Google and Facebook on Wednesday said workers returning to offices will need to be vaccinated against Covid-19, in the latest move by firms and US government agencies.

Spikes in infections due to a Delta variant of the virus have ramped up concerns in the United States, where 611,000 people have died in the pandemic.

Google will make campuses off-limits to unvaccinated employees and extend its global work-from-home option through October 18, according to chief executive Sundar Pichai.

"Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated," Pichai said in a blog post.

"We're rolling this policy out in the United States in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months."

Implementation will be adapted to local conditions, including vaccine availability, according to the Silicon Valley-based tech titan.

"I hope these steps will give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen," Pichai said.

"Seeing Googlers together in the offices these past few weeks filled me with optimism, and I'm looking forward to brighter days ahead."

Google and Facebook were among companies worldwide that abandoned campuses early last year, letting people work remotely rather than risk exposure to Covid-19 in offices.

Google has been paying the salaries of campus workers unable to do their jobs because of closed offices, and helping employees get access to vaccines, according to Pichai.

"Even as the virus continues to surge in many parts of the world, it’s encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available," Pichai said.

"This is a big reason why we felt comfortable opening some of our offices to employees who wanted to return early."

Tech titan Facebook put out similar word on Wednesday, saying that as its offices re-open, only vaccinated workers will be welcomed.

"We will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated," Facebook vice president of people Lori Goler said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves."

Many unions and critics of mandates have spoken out against required vaccinations, citing personal freedom arguments.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that a vaccine mandate for America's more than two million federal workers was under consideration.

California and New York City announced that official workers would need to get vaccinated or take weekly tests.

Agence France-Presse

FBI warns of large 'scale' in US ransomware attack

NEW YORK - The FBI said Sunday the "scale" of a major ransomware attack against a US IT company could mean investigators won't be able to work with every victim individually. 

Hackers hit Kaseya, a firm that provides IT services to other companies, with a ransomware attack that could have targeted as many as 1,000 other businesses on Friday, just before the long holiday July 4 weekend in the United States. 

The FBI said it had opened an investigation along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other US federal agencies "to understand the scope of the threat."

"If you believe your systems have been compromised, we encourage you to employ all recommended mitigations, follow Kaseya's guidance to shut down your VSA servers immediately and report to the FBI," the bureau said in a statement Sunday, referencing the signature networking software that was attacked. 

"Although the scale of this incident may make it so that we are unable to respond to each victim individually, all information we receive will be useful in countering this threat," the FBI statement said.

President Joe Biden said Saturday that he had ordered an investigation, in particular to find out whether the assault had come from Russia. 

"We're not sure yet," he said Saturday.

Russian-based hackers have been blamed for a string of ransomware attacks, and Biden recently raised the threat in talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Ransomware attacks typically involve locking away data in systems using encryption, making companies pay to regain access.

Kaseya describes itself as a leading provider of IT and security management services to small and medium-sized businesses. VSA is designed to let companies manage networks of computers and printers from a single point.

The company said in a new statement Sunday that they were working "around the clock in all geographies" to get their systems working again.

They said they hoped to get a restricted version of their platform running again within days. 

The disruption forced Swedish supermarket chain Coop Sweden to close on Saturday because their cash register system had been taken down in the attack.

Multiple US companies, including the computer group SolarWinds and the Colonial oil pipeline, have also recently been targeted by ransomware attacks.

Agence France-Presse

US-based hacker fighter FireEye says breached by elite attackers

SAN FRANCISCO - Hacker fighting firm FireEye on Tuesday said its own defenses were breached by sophisticated attackers who stole "Red Team" tools used to test customers' computer systems.

While the hackers had yet to be identified, their tactics and targets led FireEye to believe it was a state-sponsored attack "by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities."

"The hack of a premier cybersecurity firm demonstrates that even the most sophisticated companies are vulnerable to cyber-attacks," said US Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat who is vice chairman of the

 senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"We have come to expect and demand that companies take real steps to secure their systems, but this case also shows the difficulty of stopping determined nation-state hackers."

It did not appear any customer data was stolen from FireEye, or that the taken tools have been used in other attacks, according to the Silicon Valley-based firm.

"The attackers tailored their world-class capabilities specifically to target and attack FireEye," FireEye chief executive Kevin Mandia said in a blog post revealing the breach.

"They used a novel combination of techniques not witnessed by us or our partners in the past."

FireEye shares were down more than 7 percent in after-market trades that followed released of news about the hack.

RELENTLESS ATTACKS

FireEye said it is investigating the attack with help from the FBI and industry partners, including technology colossus Microsoft.

"Their initial analysis supports our conclusion that this was the work of a highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques," Mandia said.

The hackers primarily sought information related to government customers which is consistent with nation-state cyberespionage, according to FireEye.

Also targeted in the attack were "Red Team" tools that help diagnose the security of customers' networks by mimicking the behavior of hackers, Mandia said.

FireEye was making available countermeasures to defend against someone using the tools.

The US Department of Homeland Security said it was aware of the attack but that it had no information indicating the stolen cyber tools were being "maliciously used" so far.

US spy agencies have been asked to brief the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about the cyber attack in the coming days, according to chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California.

"Foreign actors have not stopped attacking our country and its critical and cybersecurity infrastructure since 2016," Schiff said.

Schiff found it troubling that the hackers stole from FireEye tools that could be used in future attacks.

OIL-BANKS-POLITICS

The FireEye hack came less than two months after the US Treasury announced sanctions against a Russian research institute which it said was tied to the powerful malware Triton, used to damage a Saudi petrochemical plant in 2017.

FireEye tied Triton to the Moscow-based research institute and a specific, unnamed person with close ties to the institute.

It was not determined whether Russia was linked to the FireEye hack.

"The Russian government continues to engage in dangerous cyber activities aimed at the United States and our allies," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement at the time.

FireEye's track record includes identifying an Iran-based social media campaign to sway public opinion by impersonating reporters, politicians and others, as well as identifying North Korean hackers implicated in of a wave of cyberattacks on global banks that netted "hundreds of millions" of dollars.

Agence France-Presse

YouTube back up after worldwide outage

YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc's Google GOOGL.O, said late on Wednesday it had fixed a glitch that led to a worldwide outage of the video-streaming service.

DownDetector.com, a website which monitors outages, showed nearly 286,000 incidents of people reporting issues with the service.

The issue started at around 6:53 p.m. ET (23:53 GMT), according to Downdetector.com, with users complaining about trouble in watching videos on the platform.

"We're so sorry for the interruption. This is fixed across all devices & YouTube services," YouTube said in a tweet bit.ly/36r4sjz, without explaining what had caused the outage.

Google did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the outage.

Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath and Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Anil D’Silva

-reuters-

Clash of consoles: New PlayStation and Xbox enter $150 billion games arena

TOKYO/CHICAGO/STOCKHOLM - Think Michelangelo vs Da Vinci. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Batman v Superman. Another epic rivalry is rejoined next week when Sony and Microsoft go head-to-head with the next generation of their blockbuster video-game consoles.

Sony, whose PlayStation 5 (PS5) takes on Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S, is widely viewed as being in pole position to capitalize on a pandemic-driven boom in consumer spending that has buoyed the $150 billion video game industry.

The Japanese company's deep bench of games and broader fan base - it has sold over 100 million PS4s, winning the battle of the previous generation - should see it retain its edge over it American archrival, according to industry experts.

"People who own Xbox tend to buy the new Xbox, while people who own PlayStation tend to buy the new PlayStation," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.

Yet the industry is changing and cloud gaming is on the rise, allowing games to be streamed without bulky hardware. This could curb console sales in coming years, analysts say, a shift that could benefit Microsoft.

The two consoles - the first to be released by the two companies for seven years - are eagerly awaited; the Xbox will go on sale on Tuesday, and the PS5 two days later in core markets, costing about $300 to $500 apiece.

The race to order the devices in advance actually began weeks ago, though blink and you might have missed it. Pre-orders of Sony's PS5 sold out within minutes on many retail sites, for example, frustrating fans.

Julian Mercado, 17, managed to reserve a PS5 from Walmart.com just minutes after pre-orders started on Sept. 16, knowing he'd be up against a legion of gamers.

"It's exactly like shopping on Black Friday," said the high school student from Dallas, who has been playing video games with his dad since he was five. "You show up early, you walk away with something good. You show up too late, you'll walk away with nothing." PLAYING IN A PANDEMIC Sony might have the edge, but the stakes are high for the Japanese company. Its gaming business is its biggest cash cow; in its fiscal 2019 the division, which includes hardware, software and services, brought in close to a quarter of its roughly $77 billion group sales and nearly 30% of its $7.9 billion operating profit.

Microsoft does not break out the results of gaming, though it's a smaller part of its business than for Sony. It also does not disclose hardware sales but the current Xbox One is estimated by analysts to have sold 50 million units.

For the other big hardware player, Japan's Nintendo , sticking to consoles is paying off with it hiking forecasts last week following elevated demand for its Switch.

The PS5 will retail at $499.99 or $399.99 for a digital-only version, while the Xbox Series X will sell for $499.99 and the lower-spec Series S for $299.99.

About 5 million PS5s are forecast to be sold this year, versus 3.9 million of the new Xboxes, according to media research firm Ampere, with combined sales expected to be higher than the previous generation.

"The pandemic is expected to transform the U.S. holiday shopping season," said Jason Benowitz, a senior portfolio manager at Roosevelt Investment Group. "Playing from home has become a way for some to safely socialize."

Sony's games depth is supported by in-house studios behind exclusives such as "Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales". By contrast the new Xbox, say games experts, will lack killer launch titles, with the latest in its flagship "Halo" series pushed back to next year as the pandemic hits development.

Cloud gaming growth could hand the US software giant an advantage in coming years, though. Although both companies have moved to offer services, Microsoft has been more aggressive.

Its Xbox Game Pass subscription service has grown rapidly; it offers more than 100 titles including brand-new games and has over 15 million users. Sony has been reluctant to make its hottest titles available on services like PlayStation Now, fearing this could cannibalise sales of big-budget games.

'DEMAND OUTSTRIPS SUPPLY'

The pandemic, while fueling some demand, has also constrained Sony and Microsoft's production, according to industry experts, who see shortages stretching into 2021.

"Demand will outstrip supply so there's going to be some people who won't get ahold of the console when they want to," said Piers Harding-Rolls, director of Ampere's games research.

Sony has announced that retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Target will sell the PS5 exclusively online when it launches on Nov. 12, to prevent people from camping outside stores during a pandemic.

Walmart stands to sell as much as $1.1 billion worth of new consoles by the end of January, according to Wedbush. It dominates the U.S. market along with GameStop, each with a roughly 30% share, while sales of consoles at Target and Best Buy comprise about 15% apiece, the research firm said.

Target said it was working closely with its vendors to secure enough inventory. Some shoppers who had reserved consoles told Reuters that Target had said they may receive them days after the launch date.

Walmart said it would start selling the new consoles at launch but declined to comment on whether it would have enough stock to meet demand. Best Buy also declined to comment on whether it would be able to meet demand, while GameStop did not respond to requests for comment.

For DeAnthony Thicklin, a casino attendant who reserved his PS5 on Target.com in September, the priority is to get their hands on a console on the launch day itself.

The 25-year-old offered some advice.

"Have all your card information set up so the only thing you have to do is click," he said. "Don't hesitate. Be quick."

-reuters-

Facebook removes 'inauthentic' networks spanning 8 nations

SINGAPORE - Facebook on Friday said it has dismantled seven separate networks of fake accounts and pages on its platform that were active in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Myanmar, Georgia, and Ukraine due to "coordinated inauthentic behavior".

The social media platform announced it had taken down the new networks as part of its monthly report into "coordinated inauthentic behavior", which also noted Facebook had removed nearly 8,000 pages involved in deceptive campaigns around the world in October.

Many of the networks taken down by Facebook were involved in deceptive political influence campaigns using fake accounts, targeting audiences both domestically and abroad.

One network of Facebook accounts and pages was operated from Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco by individuals connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian Islamist movement that operates networks of groups across the Middle East. 

The pages targeted countries across the region and included some terrorism-related content, Facebook said.

Facebook found 2 "inauthentic" networks in Georgia spreading political content, one of which the platform traced to individuals associated with 2 political parties.

In Ukraine and Myanmar, the social media giant found that public relations firms were running similar deceptive campaigns on behalf of political parties.

The company has been cracking down on such accounts globally after coming under fire for not developing tools quickly enough to combat extremist content and propaganda operations. 

In September, Facebook took down 57 accounts in the Philippines that have been allegedly manipulating campaigns on the platform. Most of the accounts were linked to the Philippine military and Philippine police.

-reuters-

With PlayStation 5 launch, Sony needs a high score

TOKYO - Sony launches its PlayStation 5 console next week angling for a mega-hit, and with the Japanese firm increasingly dependent on the lucrative gaming sector there is little room for error.

The PlayStation 5 will enter a head-to-head battle with rival Microsoft's new Xbox, released two days earlier, with both hoping to capture the market in the run-up to Christmas.

But the showdown has significantly higher stakes for Sony.

Since the PS1 launched in 1994, gaming has become the biggest segment of Sony's business, generating the lion's share of profit and about a third of sales -- more than electronics products or music.

By comparison, gaming made up less than 10 percent of Microsoft's sales for the year ending in June 2020.

Sony sold twice as many PS4s as Microsoft did Xbox Ones, and analysts say it has learned lessons from the disappointing roll-out of the PS3.

"We have seen in previous generations that at launch there are two major factors that will impact a generation's success -- the first to launch and the cheapest," said Morris Garrard, an analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

He cited the "relative failure" of the PS3, which went on sale a year after the Xbox 360 and at a higher price.

The PS5 is priced at $500, like the Xbox Series X, while a version without a disk reader costs $400.

That's more than the $300 price tag for Microsoft's less powerful Xbox Series S, which also has no disk reader.

Sony's margin on the consoles will be slim -- possibly even loss-making -- analysts say, and the firm is counting on sales of games, services and online subscriptions to turn a profit.

GAMES 'MAKE OR BREAK' FOR PS5

So far, demand looks strong, and Sony has reportedly boosted production targets.

But meeting those will depend on suppliers, particularly TSMC, the Taiwanese firm that manufactures the PS5's processor and graphics-processing unit.

It is already under pressure as a key producer of chips for 5G-compatible smartphones.

"Whatever Sony produces, it will sell," said Yasuo Imanaka, an analyst at Rakuten Securities, who thinks PS5 could exceed the record 157 million PS2 units sold since the 2000 launch.

But "everything depends on what TSMC can supply", he told AFP.

To stand out against the Xbox, Sony will be counting on its games line-up, including exclusive titles that Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan says will "make or break" PS5.

Among its trump cards is "Spider-Man: Miles Morales", which will be released with the new console. Its predecessor is among the best selling PS4 titles.

The game was developed by the American studio Insomniac Games, which Sony bought last year for $229 million.

The purchase brought the number of studios Sony owns to 14, and represents a popular strategy of bringing increasingly expensive game development in-house.

Microsoft has made its own forays, buying ZeniMax in September for a record $7.5 billion.

'SHORT-TERM FOCUSED'

Despite the costs, Amir Anvarzadeh, a strategist at Asymmetric Advisors, said the trend makes sense given the risk of diminishing returns for console manufacturers on games produced by third-party developers.

Platform manufacturers charge games publishers a cut for each game sold for use on their device -- and nearly 70 percent of games sold for the PlayStation come from third-party developers.

But Sony and others are under pressure from publishers to slash that fee.

"If the royalty fees go down, they're in a lot of trouble because then they would have to sell twice as much hardware" to avoid a hit to their bottom line, Anvarzadeh said.

There are also fewer incentives now for studios to develop exclusive games, especially given the growing popularity of "cross-play", where gamers play one game together on different devices.

On top of bringing game development in-house, Microsoft has a subscription service that is broader than Sony's and gives users access to hundreds of Xbox and PC games.

Garrard said Sony continues to have several strong cards up its sleeve when it comes to PS5, and its "content portfolio, strength of consumer social networks and development of immersive tech... will all aid in encouraging consumer uptake of the hardware".

But he warned its focus on consoles risks being too fixated on short-term goals.

As well as its subscription model, Microsoft is investing heavily in streaming, also known as cloud gaming -- a strategy Garrard said "appears to be aimed at long-term dominance".

Agence France-Presse

Amazon to expand tech hubs, corporate offices, adding 3,500 jobs

WASHINGTON - Amazon unveiled plans Tuesday to hire 3,500 new employees as part of an expansion of its technology hubs and corporate offices across the United States.

The US technology and e-commerce giant said the latest plans call for some 2,000 new jobs in New York City, where Amazon has acquired the landmark Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue.

The move comes after Amazon -- which has seen gains in revenue during the pandemic from its e-commerce and cloud computing operations -- said it would make permanent 125,000 of the 175,000 jobs it added since the start of the public health crisis.

The latest moves expand Amazon tech hubs in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York, Phoenix, and San Diego and represent an investment of some $1.4 billion, according to the company.

"People from all walks of life come to Amazon to develop their careers -- from recent graduates looking for a place to turn their ideas into high-impact products, to veterans accessing new jobs in cloud computing thanks to our upskilling programs," said Beth Galetti, senior vice president of human resources at Amazon.

"These 3,500 new jobs will be in cities across the country with strong and diverse talent pools. We look forward to helping these communities grow their emerging tech workforce."

In New York -- where Amazon had announced but then canceled plans for a high-profile headquarters -- the announcement confirms Amazon's acquisition of the iconic Lord & Taylor department store building earlier this year, in a deal reported to be worth nearly $1 billion, from office-sharing startup WeWork.

The building will be used for some 58,000 square meters (630,000 square feet) of office space, according to Amazon.

Amazon, whose expansion has attracted increased antitrust scrutiny in the US and elsewhere, said its global workforce now stands at some 876,000.

In addition to e-commerce and cloud computing, Amazon has operations in streaming video and music and artificial intelligence and owns the Whole Foods supermarket chain.

It recently unveiled plans to invest $10 billion for its planned space-based internet delivery system that will deploy more than 3,000 low-orbit satellites.

Agence France-Presse

Instagram adds video clips in challenge to TikTok

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Instagram on Wednesday added a new short-form video feature to the image-focused platform in a direct challenge to TikTok, which is in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump.

"Reels" lets users record videos of up to 15 seconds and provides tools for editing, audio and effects, according to the Facebook-owned company.

"Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram," the social media platform, based in California, said in a blog post.

Trump has threatened to ban China-based TikTok in the United States on national security grounds, giving it until the middle of September to work out a takeover deal with Microsoft or another suitor.

The president on Tuesday defended his demand for the US government receive a large share of any TikTok purchase price after his stance was slammed by critics who said it appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion.

Reels puts an Instagram spin on the kind of playful video snippet sharing that has made TikTok a social media phenomenon.

"Reels is a big part of the future of entertainment on Instagram," the service said. "Our community is telling us they want to make and watch short-form, edited videos."

The feature is launching in more than 50 countries including Australia, Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, India, Japan, and the United States.

"Reels gives people new ways to express themselves, discover more of what they love on Instagram, and help anyone with the ambition of becoming a creator take center stage," the platform said.

The move fits Facebook's pattern of copying features that are hits at rival online services.

How the social networking titan wields its power in the market came under scrutiny last week when Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and the heads of Apple, Google, and Amazon were grilled by a US congressional antitrust committee.

"Simply put, they have too much power," said Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat who chairs the panel which has been conducting a year-long investigation into the business practices of the four companies.

"This power staves off new forms of competition, creativity, and innovation," Cicilline said.

Any deal allowing Microsoft to buy TikTok could be transformative for the US tech giant's efforts to become more consumer-focused -- if it can overcome the business and political risks.

Buying TikTok could make Microsoft a hipper, more youth-centric company after years of shifting to enterprise services and cloud computing, say analysts.

Agence France-Presse

US antitrust regulator may question Facebook chief: report

SAN FRANCISCO - US regulators may question Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and his right-hand executive to determine if the social network has broken monopoly laws, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday.

The Journal cited unnamed people close to the matter as saying the Federal Trade Commission is considering taking sworn testimony from Zuckerberg and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg as part of a yearlong probe into whether the leading social network has abused its dominance in the market.

The FTC declined to discuss the report.

"We look forward to sharing our views about the competitive landscape, along with other technology leaders, during this month's Congressional hearing, while also demonstrating for enforcement agencies that our innovation provides more choices for consumers," a Facebook spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

Leaders of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are to testify during an antitrust investigation hearing at the US House Committee on the Judiciary on July 27.

The hearing comes against a backdrop of growing complaints about tech platforms that have dominated key economic sectors, and calls by some activists and politicians to break up the Silicon Valley giants.

Chief executives Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple), Sundar Pichai (Google), and Zuckerberg can appear virtually if they wish, according to a joint statement released by Judiciary committee chairman Jerrold Nadler and Antitrust subcommittee chairman David Cicilline.

"Since last June, the subcommittee has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital platforms and the adequacy of existing antitrust laws and enforcement," Nadler and Cicilline said.

"Given the central role these corporations play in the lives of the American people, it is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming."

Google and Facebook, which account for the bulk of digital global advertising revenue, provide free services that have become dominant in their sectors -- such as Google's search engine or its subsidiary, video-sharing platform YouTube.

Users' interactions with these products allow the companies to collect data profiles and sell targeted advertising space on a massive scale.

At Apple and Amazon, it is their sales platforms -- the App Store on iPhones and iPads, or Amazon's e-commerce site -- that are in the sights of regulators, since the two companies are both hosts and merchants.

Earlier this year, the US Justice Department said it was reviewing potential anti-competitive actions by major tech platforms, and attorneys general from the majority of US states have launched antitrust investigations of Google and Facebook.

Agence France-Presse

JPMorgan drops terms 'master,' 'slave' from internal tech code and materials

NEW YORK -- JPMorgan Chase & Co is eliminating terms like "blacklist," "master" and "slave" from its internal technology materials and code as it seeks to address racism within the company, said two sources with knowledge of the move.

The terms had appeared in some of the bank's technology policies, standards and control procedures, as well in the programming code that runs some of its processes, one of the sources said.

Other companies like Twitter Inc and GitHub Inc adopted similar changes, prompted by the renewed spotlight on racism after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis in May.

The phrases "master" and "slave" code or drive are used in some programming languages and computer hardware to describe one part of a device or process that controls another.

"Blacklist" is used to describe items that are automatically denied, like a list of websites forbidden by a company's cybersecurity division.

"Whitelist" means the opposite - a list of items automatically approved.

Floyd's death has sparked a re-examination of words that might carry racial overtones. For example, some realtors are no longer using the term "master bedroom," and Universal Music Group's Republic Records stopped using the word "urban" to describe music genres and internal departments or roles.

JPMorgan appears to be the first in the financial sector to remove most references to these racially problematic phrases, and it comes after the bank has said it is taking other steps to promote Black professionals and anti-bias culture training for staff.

Columbia Business School programming professor Mattan Griffel said such terms have long been controversial and can be difficult to change.

The technology that underpins bank operations is often a spaghetti-like mess that results from merged companies, decades-old code and third-party systems, and any change can have cascading effects that are difficult to predict, Griffel said.

Changing these terms within the bank's code could take millions of dollars and months of work, Griffel said. "This is not a trivial" investment by the bank, Griffel said. "This kind of language and terminology is so entrenched. It has to (change) and now is as good a time as any."

-reuters-

Apple rejects Facebook’s gaming app, for at least the fifth time

Executives and engineers from Facebook’s games division submitted their new app, Facebook Gaming, to Apple last month for approval to offer it in the iPhone maker’s App Store.

Apple considered Facebook’s application for a few weeks. This month, it delivered its verdict: denied.

The Facebook team was not surprised. It wasn’t the first time Apple had said no to the Facebook Gaming app. Or the second. Or even the third.

Since February, Apple has rejected at least 5 versions of Facebook Gaming, according to 3 people with knowledge of the companies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details are confidential. Each time, the people said, Apple cited its rules that prohibit apps with the “main purpose” of distributing casual games.

Facebook Gaming may also have been hurt by appearing to compete with Apple’s own sales of games, 2 of the people said. Games are by far the most lucrative category of mobile apps worldwide. Apple’s App Store, the only officially approved place for iPhone and iPad users to find new games and other programs, generated about $15 billion in revenue last year.


Apple’s rejections of the app from Facebook, a fellow Silicon Valley powerhouse, illustrate the control it exerts over the mobile software and entertainment ecosystem — clout that regulators are increasingly examining. On Tuesday, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, said it had opened a formal antitrust investigation into Apple to determine if the terms that the company imposes on app developers violate competition rules.

“We need to ensure that Apple’s rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president in charge of competition policy.

This week, Basecamp publicly complained that its new email app, Hey, had been denied from the App Store because it charged customers outside Apple’s payment system, keeping the giant company from collecting its 30 percent cut.

“We keep trying to find logic, consistency in Apple’s App Store decisions,” David Hansson, Basecamp’s co-founder and chief technology officer, wrote on Twitter. “The answer is much more basic: power. Apple can do what they want, when they want, so they do.”

Hansson added that the Justice Department’s antitrust division had contacted him earlier to talk about Apple.

Apple, which will hold its annual developer conference next week, said the App Store has many apps that offer casual games and that follow its rules, including the main Facebook app.

Facebook said it would release Facebook Gaming when Apple approved it.

Apple has long taken a “walled garden” approach to its mobile devices while its main mobile competitor, Google and its Android operating system, has adopted a more laissez-faire philosophy. Both companies take 30 percent of most purchases on their app stores, leaving 70 percent to app developers.

“Apple and Google Play have always pursued different strategies for their app stores, which align with the closed ecosystem — Apple — versus open ecosystem — Google — company attributes,” said Candice Mudrick, head of market analysis at Newzoo, a game industry research firm.

Apple has said it monitors its App Store ecosystem closely to ensure the highest standards of quality and security. According to its App Store principles: “When you download an app, it should work as promised. We carefully review each app and require developers to follow strict guidelines on privacy, design and business models.”

But over time, that has increasingly grated on some app developers. The European Union investigation into Apple was spurred by a complaint last year from Spotify, whose music-streaming service competes with Apple Music. Spotify and others have criticized Apple for charging a fee of up to 30 percent on digital services sold through its App Store, arguing that it amounts to a tax that violates competition laws. 


Facebook announced its Gaming app in April as people were sheltering in place from the coronavirus pandemic and playing more video games. For the social network, the new app was a way to more deeply engage its users.

The free app has 3 main components: watching live streams of other people playing games; socially networking with other gamers; and playing simple games like Words With Friends and Thug Life. On both Apple and Android devices, those simple games can be delivered within Facebook Gaming’s app using software called HTML5.


Google quickly approved Facebook Gaming for its Google Play app store and began offering the app worldwide April 20. In the Android version of Facebook Gaming, a catalog of simple games is presented by category and with colorful icons. Some of those games allow players to spend real money for in-game purchases.

Facebook initially submitted its Gaming app to Apple for approval in late February, said the people with knowledge of the situation. Apple rejected that version, they said, citing Section 4.7 of its app rules, which state that HTML5 games are allowed “as long as code distribution isn’t the main purpose of the app” and “the code is not offered in a store or store-like interface,” among other restrictions.

But the initial version of the Gaming app that Facebook showed to Apple was similar to the Android version, listing games by category in a manner that could be interpreted as “store-like.”

Trying to get the Gaming app through Apple’s review process, Facebook then changed the design of the presentation of games in several ways, the people said. The colorful icons were removed in favor of a bland listing. The different games categories were removed to list all games at once. The ability to sort games was also taken away.

Facebook also included a version that looked almost exactly like how such games are presented already within the main Facebook app on Apple devices, which is a single unalphabetized, unsortable list, the people said.

Apple said no to each of them, pointing to the same rule, they said.

In Facebook’s most recent submission, the Gaming app did not include a separate tab for playable games and included no way for the user to choose from a wide selection of games to play, the people said. Instead, that version suggested certain games within the user’s news and activity feed.

Apple denied it.

Since then, Facebook has been weighing its next move. The company is considering releasing Facebook Gaming on Apple devices without playable games at all, the people with knowledge of the social network said. Another option, they said, is continuing to make playable games even more difficult for users to find within the app. 

2020 The New York Times Company 

Facebook's Zuckerberg faces employee blowback over ruling on Trump comments

Facebook employees critical of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to remove an inflammatory comment from US President Donald Trump took their dissent public over the weekend on Twitter, praising the rival social media firm for taking action and rebuking their own employer.

Many tech workers at companies including Facebook, Google and Amazon have become active on social justice issues in recent years and urged their employers take action and change policies.

Still, the criticism of Zuckerberg marked a rare case of high-level employees publicly taking their own CEO to task, with at least three of the seven critical posts seen by Reuters coming from people who identified themselves as senior managers.

“Mark is wrong, and I will endeavor in the loudest possible way to change his mind," wrote Ryan Freitas, whose Twitter account identifies him as director of product design for Facebook’s News Feed. He added he had mobilized "50+ likeminded folks" to lobby for internal change.

Jason Toff, identified as director of product management, wrote: "I work at Facebook and I am not proud of how we’re showing up. The majority of coworkers I’ve spoken to feel the same way. We are making our voice heard."

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the employee dissent.

Twitter on Friday hid a tweet from Trump that included the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" behind a warning label. It explained the tweet violated Twitter's rules against "glorifying violence" but was being left up as a "public service exception."

Facebook declined to take action on the same message, with Zuckerberg saying in a Facebook post on Friday that while he found the remarks "deeply offensive," the company decided they did not violate its policy against "incitements to violence."

Some of the dissenting employees directly praised Twitter's response.

"Respect to @Twitter’s integrity team for making the enforcement call," wrote David Gillis, identified as a director of product design. In a long Twitter thread he said he understood the logic of Facebook's decision, but said: "I think it would have been right for us to make a 'spirit of the policy' exception that took more context into account."

Toff was one of several Facebook employees who were organizing fundraisers for non-profit groups assisting protesters in Minnesota. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post early Monday that the company would contribute an additional $10 million to social justice causes.

"Giving a platform to incite violence and spread disinformation is unacceptable, regardless who you are or if it’s newsworthy," wrote another Facebook manager, Andrew Crow, head of design for the Portal product. "I disagree with Mark’s position and will work to make change happen." (Reporting by Fanny Potkin in Singapore. Editing by Jonathan Weber and Chizu Nomiyama)

-reuters-

Fuji X-T200 review: This camera is ideal for video content creators

MANILA -- Despite the coronavirus pandemic, this has been a busy year for camera giant Fuji.

Earlier this year, Fuji released the XF100v and many are awaiting the X-T4, the newest update to its top-of-the-line X-T series.

But more immediate, Fuji has recently released the X-T200, the follow-up to the X-T100 targeted at beginners and those transitioning from smartphone photography.

It seems that Fuji has taken strides to improve last year’s X-T100 by bringing in features from its more advanced and more expensive siblings. This can be seen in its video features as the camera is clearly positioned as a vloggers camera.

Coming in at very light 370 grams with the battery and a lightweight XC lens installed, it’s very handy to carry around.

The camera has a Hi-Res OLED screen visible even under direct sunlight. The screen can rotate 360 degrees so it’s perfect to mount on a gorilla pod so you can see yourself while talking to the camera. Besides that, the camera’s separate stereo jack enables users to connect an external microphone for clearer audio.

However, for the video content creator, the feature that’s most noteworthy is the digital gimbal. While not as smooth as the In Body Internal Stabilization (IBIS) of the X-H1, the X-T200 shoots at 6K and downscales the stabilized footage to 4K with the help of onboard software and the camera’s internal gyroscopic sensors. The handheld results are good enough to remove the jitters off a walkthrough, though a real gimbal is still recommended.

With regards to stills, the improved 24MP sensor is 3.5 times faster than the old one.

There has been some thought that went into upgrading the user experience when navigating the cameras features. A lot of the controls are now touch- and swipe-activated. For example, users can touch any of the 425 AF points to use them. For video creators, you can trim videos on the camera to reduce upload times and file sizes on the fly.

Fuji’s Camera Simulation and filters have been retained. A key feature with this is that you can do a split-screen comparison between the current one and previewed others.

The X-T200 is clearly aimed for a new breed of content creators. For those who want to go beyond camera phone video production, the Fujifilm X-T200 is an affordable camera that’s a great upgrade to more professional equipment.

The Fujifilm X-T200 is available in dark silver, silver, and champagne gold with an SRP of P45,990 and is now available at your favorite online retailers.

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