Qualcomm Latest-Snapdragon 8 Gen 1; Apple Looks to Pass Samsung This Quarter; Browser Extension- Brands That Are Actually Just Amazon; Verizon Launches Android TV Soundbars with B&O Audio

Qualcomm has bowed its latest flagship chipset, and has changed naming for their chips. According to engadget.com, it’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The company will be moving away from 3 digit numbers like 865 and 888. The latest system on a chip includes Qualcomm’s X65 5 G modem. Qualcomm says it can theoretically download at speeds up to 10 GBPS. The new chip also features an 18-bit image signal processor. The chip can process data from 3 36Mp cams simultaneously without shutter lag. You will probably see it hitting the market in phones in the next few months.

Apple pulled back into the #2 slot in smartphone manufacturing in third quarter, and is poised to reclaim the top spot in the 4th quarter from leader Samsung. Appleinsider.com reports that Cupertino had 15.9% of the market in the third quarter. Comparing quarter to quarter from 2020 and 2021, iPhone production is up 22.6%. Trendforce estimates that Apple will overtake Samsung during the holiday season 4th quarter, claiming 23.2% of the market. Samsung had 21.2% in third quarter. Besides the two top makers, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo round out the top 5. 

A handy new browser extension claims to show you which products in Amazon search results are sold by brands that are either owned or exclusive to Amazon. Theverge.com says the Amazon Brand Detector uses a list of Amazon brands created by the Markup, and has additional filters to detect Amazon owned or controlled brands. Private label brands aren’t exactly new…every major grocery chain has had them since the 60’s. Amazon even has a page that lists a lot of them, if you want to hunt for it. The browser tool works on Chrome, Chrome-like browsers, and Firefox.

Verizon has launched a couple of new soundbars running the Android TV OS. Dubbed the Soundbar and Soundbar Pro, they will run Android TV 11, according to 9to5google.com. They should sound fantastic, as Verizon has partnered with Bang and Olufsen. The bars support Dolby Atmos ‘virtually.’ The standard model is $399, and has 5 built in speakers, while the pricier Pro ($999) rocks 9 speakers. Both should ship starting December 14th.