More Folders from Samsung Soon; iPhone Cuts Prices in China; Target’s Digital Sales Explode; Chinese Hackers Hit Colleges for Mil Tech

Now that Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Fold, and Huawei has put out the Mate X, you probably thought everyone else would just follow suit and copy, right? Well now, Samsung is working on TWO additional folding phones! One folds vertically like a clamshell…top to bottom. The other folds away like the Mate X. According to engadget.com, Samsung is also thinking of offering free screen replacements to account for a visible crease that appears on the Fold after it has been folder some 10,000 times. Durability will be an issue for a gadget people have to drop over $1900 for! The wave of folding phones is thought by some to be a way to keep up excitement and sales as smartphones level off in sales.

Apple continues to suffer from weak sales in China. It caused their first guidance miss in 16 years. Although they say market conditions are improving, 9to5mac.com reports that major Apple Chinese resellers have cut the price on iPhone XR and XS Max, and are running promotional deals on the XS. The promo cuts the price on the XS by around $150, and the discount on the Max is nearly $300. XR sales in China have been rising at a reasonable pace, but the XS and XS Max sales have been flat. Apple had previously said they were adjusting prices to account for currency fluctuations.

Target’s digital sales grew ten times faster than in-store sales in 2018. Target has been focusing on fending off Amazon, and posted the biggest rise in comparable sales in 13 years, according to geekwire.com. The company has turned some of its biggest stores into mini-warehouses for shipping and pickup of online orders, and has also opened smaller neighborhood stores. Even with the dramatic online growth, Target’s online sales still only account for 7% of total sales…but that’s up from 5.5% in 2017. In the 4th quarter of 2018, they passed 10% online for the first time.

Chinese hackers have apparently been working overtime to break into US universities in search of info they can steal for military use. Zdnet.com says that University of Hawaii, MIT, and University of Washington have been targets, and that the Chinese have been trying to crack some 27 universities worldwide. The main thrust is maritime tech for military purposes. The Chinese have mainly used phishing attacks to gain entry, and are emanating from servers known as Mudcarp, Leviathan, APT40, and Temp.Periscope. The hacks are believed to be aimed at supporting China’s naval modernization effort.