Pixel Is Fastest Growing Smartphone; WWDC 2019 & Apple’s Head of AR Marketing; Amazon Buys Eero Mesh Router Maker; Mag Safe Kickstarter for USB-C MacBook Pros

While smartphone sales have softened, even for market leaders Apple and Samsung, one brand is showing big growth in the US. 9to5google.com reports that the Google Pixel grew by an astounding 43% year over year, from 4th quarter of 2017 to 4th quarter of 2018! Overall, the US smartphone market was down by 23%, which makes the growth all the more impressive. The Pixel phones have great cameras, which many tests have shown out shoot iPhone and Samsung Galaxy cams. Deals and discounts have also aided the Google phone, but the bottom line is…they’re a great phone.

Rumors are flying that Apple’s WWDC will be June 3-7 in San Jose. Although registration hasn’t opened yet for Apple’s annual developer conference, it’s expected they will show a Dark Mode for iOS 13, as well as new details on macOS 10.15. According to appleinsider.com, Apple has appointed veteran Frank Casanova to the new position of head of AR marketing. Technically, he will have the total of Seiion Director, Worldwide Product Marketing, but Casanova will be “responsible for all aspects of Product Marketing for Apple’s Augmented Reality initiative.” This just adds to the belief that AR will be hugely important to the Future of Apple. Tim Cook has even said it’s a ‘big idea’ on the level of the smartphone.

Amazon is acquiring Eero, a maker of mesh home routers. Theverge.com says Amazon feels that Eero and its technology will help Amazon move the ball forward on making the smart home (to say nothing of Alexa) ubiquitous. The mesh router is a design that helps eliminate the dead spots you can get in a home from normal routers.

USB-C has speed and data advantages, but a lot of people have lamented Apple’s dropping of their great MagSafe tech on the latest MacBook Pros. The MagSafe connector would ‘break away’ if you or someone tripped over the cord, saving the laptop from being pulled onto the floor and breaking a screen or other parts. Now, there’s a Kickstarter campaign to give this capability back to the MacBooks. According to 9to5mac.com, ThunderMag is running a campaign to produce a connector that goes between your USB-C cable and the port with the magnetic break away type design Apple had on their MagSafe. The difference with the ThunderMag is that it allows the connection to carry high speed data…with the MagSafe, the port was strictly for charging. It will support 100w fast charging, 4/5k video and audio, and up to 40G/bps data transfer. The Kickstarter campaign brought in more than 6 times the goal, so expect the ThunderMag to be out in April. It will retail for $79 to the public (or less, depending on store or online discounts.)