– Broad-based revenue growth of 3.1% q-o-q, in USD terms
– EBITDA margin at 19.6% and PAT margin at 13.2%
BANGALORE, India and WARREN, N.J., Oct. 15, 2020 — Mindtree, a global technology services and Digital transformation company, guiding its clients to achieve faster business outcomes, announced its consolidated results today for the second quarter ended September 30, 2020 as approved by its board of directors.
"I am pleased and encouraged with our performance in delivering a broad-based growth with revenue of $261M and EBITDA of 19.6% for the quarter. We appreciate the trust from our clients and thank our employees for their unrelenting dedication and collaborative spirit during these unprecedented times. Our approach of Redefining Possibilities in the new normal for businesses enabled us to deliver a balanced H1 performance. This has helped to reinforce confidence on our strategy to build on existing strengths and drive profitable growth by being the business transformation partner for our clients, developing future ready talent and delivering value to all our stakeholders," said Debashis Chatterjee, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Mindtree.
Key financial highlights:
Quarter ended September 30, 2020
In USD:
Revenue at $261 million (growth of 3.1% q-o-q / decline of 3.7% y-o-y)
Net profit at $34.3 million (growth of 21.5% q-o-q / 79.2% y-o-y)
In INR:
Revenue at ₹19,260 million (growth of 0.9% q-o-q / 0.6% y-o-y)
Net profit at ₹2,537 million (growth of 19.1% q-o-q / 87.9% y-o-y)
Other highlights:
Clients:
283 active clients as of September 30, 2020
8 new clients added during the quarter
$10 million clients grew by 1, total 24
People:
21,827 Mindtree Minds as of September 30, 2020
Trailing 12 months attrition is 13.8%
Q2 deal wins with leading global clients:
For a global CPG client, Mindtree has been chosen as a strategic partner for digital transformation. Mindtree will provide managed services to maintain digital platforms, create digital assets, and provide insights for real-time analytics for timely decision-making process
Mindtree expanded its engagement with a leading national bank in the U.S. to be its strategic application managed services partner to streamline its processes, manage and optimize technology applications, and accelerate its business transformation journey
Mindtree won a multi-year contract with a Swedish medical solutions company to provide SAP application support and will migrate the customer’s on premise SAP to Microsoft Azure to enable platform-led DevSecOps operating model
For a UK’s leading consumer electronics retailer, Mindtree will deliver the End User services by using Voice bots , Augmented reality, Virtual reality ( AR/VR ) capabilities to support remote stores and employees
Recognition:
Mindtree Recognized as an Expert Managed Service Provider for Microsoft Azure that signifies Mindtree’s expertise in cloud services
A digital case study by Mindtree has been chosen as one of the top 25 case studies in ‘ISG Digital Case Study Book-2020" for a leading online grocery store on "Delivering on the Promise of Data"
Mindtree has been recognized a leader in the Managed Services Archetype in ISG Provider Lens Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services & Solutions 2020 Report
Mindtree recognized a leader in UK & US for SAP S/4HANA System Transformation, Managed Application Services for SAP ERP and SAP Leonardo Services in ISG Provider Lens SAP HANA and Leonardo Ecosystem Partners (Mid-Market) 2020 Report
Announcements
The Board of Directors at its meeting held on October 15, 2020 have declared an interim dividend of 75% ( ₹ 7.5 per equity share of par value ₹ 10 each)
About Mindtree
Mindtree (NSE: MINDTREE) is a global technology consulting and services company, helping enterprises marry scale with agility to achieve competitive advantage. "Born digital," in 1999 and now a Larsen & Toubro Group Company, Mindtree applies its deep domain knowledge to 280+ enterprise client engagements to break down silos, make sense of digital complexity and bring new initiatives to market faster. We enable IT to move at the speed of business, leveraging emerging technologies and the efficiencies of Continuous Delivery to spur business innovation. Operating in more than 15 countries across the world, we’re consistently regarded as one of the best places to work, embodied every day by our winning culture made up of over 21,000 entrepreneurial, collaborative and dedicated "Mindtree Minds".
To learn more about us, visit www.mindtree.com or follow us @Mindtree_Ltd
Safe harbour
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could decrease customer’s technology spending, affecting demand for our services, delaying prospective customers’ purchasing decisions, and impacting our ability to provide on-site consulting services; all of which could adversely affect our future revenue, margin and overall financial performance. Our operations may also be negatively affected by a range of external factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
HONG KONG, Oct. 15, 2020 — Insilico Medicine announced today that Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Insilico have entered into a research collaboration to identify novel therapeutics against aging. Insilico Medicine will utilize both the target discovery and generative chemistry parts of its Pharma.AI platform in this collaboration. It will use its proprietary Pandomics Discovery Platform to identify novel targets for senolytic drugs and Chemistry42 platform for a molecular generation. This collaboration brings together Insilico’s state-of-art artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in drug discovery with Taisho’s expertise in drug development, aimed to extend the human healthspan.
Insilico partners with Taisho
"We’re delighted to collaborate with Taisho pharmaceutical, a well-recognized leader in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare sector. It is believed that aging is a universal phenomenon that we cannot stop. However, emerging scientific evidence has shown that one may be able to reverse some of the age-associated processes. Through this collaboration, we will adopt our AI-powered drug discovery suites together with Taisho’s validation platform to explore the new space of anti-aging solutions," said Jimmy Yen-Chu Lin, PhD, CEO of Insilico Medicine Taiwan, a fully-owned subsidiary of Insilico Medicine
Under the terms of the agreement, Insilico Medicine will receive an upfront payment and milestone payments upon achievement of specified goals. Insilico Medicine will be responsible for early research phase target identification and molecular generation and Taisho will work collaboratively with Insilico in validating the results in various in vitro and in vivo assays. Taisho has the exclusive option to acquire Insilico’s co-ownership of the successfully developed programs under agreed payment.
"It is our great honor to be collaborating with the scientists of Taisho Pharmaceutical, one of the top 100 pharmaceutical companies in the world operating since 1912. The high level of the scientists we are interfacing, and our previous successes in the application of the Pharma.AI platform for discovery of novel targets and molecules in fibrosis, and previous experience in senolytic drug discovery give us confidence that this collaboration will be successful," said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.
Since 2014 Insilico Medicine is focusing on generative models, reinforcement learning (RL), and other modern machine learning techniques for the generation of new molecular structures with the specified parameters, generation of synthetic biological data, target identification, and prediction of clinical trials outcomes. Recently, Insilico Medicine secured $37 million in series B funding. Since its inception, Insilico Medicine raised over $52 million, published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, applied for over 25 patents, and received multiple industry awards. Website http://insilico.com/
Hot on the heels of the iPhone 12 launch, Google has sent out invites for a live stream event on October 15th at 12PM PT/ 3PM ET (3AM GMT+8/MST) called Search On. Google is looking to highlight how the company is applying the power of AI to help the people to understand the world better.
Source: Google
The event was announced through a brief tweet that revealed little about the virtual event. However, given the company’s focus, you can expect that the search giant will be updating the world, particularly developers, of the new features, services, and products from Google. More interestingly, Google is expected to update the world on how it is updating Search.
The event will be one of a series that has taken the place of I/O this year. The Their events have, in the past, had a singular focus – focusing on Assistant, Maps, and so on; so we are expecting that the search giant will be focusing their keynote on the advancements they will be introducing to Search.
SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 15, 2020 — ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, and China Mobile have been rewarded Best Enterprise Private Line Solution Award, in recognition of their cloud-managed intelligent OTN enterprise private line, at Broadband World Forum (BBWF) 2020.
Best Enterprise Private Line Solution Award
ZTE and the Dongguan branch of China Mobile have jointly built up this intelligent OTN enterprise private line solution to provide high-quality networks, so as to satisfy differentiated access demands of users.
The enterprise private line supports 2M-100G tunable granularity to make better use of the bandwidth resources. Moreover, it can implement automatic CPE deployment and PnP (Plug and Play) so that the CPE deployment is shortened from days to hours.
Meanwhile, the enterprise private line allows CPE disaggregation through the intelligent management and control platform, enabling end-to-end cross-vendor management.
Also, it supports fast end-to-end deployment and provisioning of the entire network, with the service scheduling shortened from hours to minutes, thereby significantly reducing the TTM (Time to Market) and enhancing the competitiveness of China Mobile in the vertical industries.
By means of real-time latency measurement and alarm, the intelligent OTN enterprise private line has guaranteed that its latency indicators will well meet the requirements of users.
ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, operators, companies and public sector customers. The company has been committed to providing customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and information technology sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), ZTE sells its products and services in more than 160 countries.
Media Contacts:
Margaret Ma ZTE Corporation Tel: +86 755 26775189 Email: ma.gaili@zte.com.cn
Apple’s HomePod was introduced back in 2017. This was the dawn of a new era for smart homes and smart home peripherals. It was Apple’s first smart speaker, and it was the only one that featured Siri as a built-in assistant. Malaysia did not get the smart speaker love though.
It is 2020 now, and nothing has technically changed. You still cannot get the Apple smart speakers in Malaysia. You can import one though with prices starting from MYR 1,140 per piece. While that sounds like a bargain over the official US$ 299 (MYR 1,241*), you have to consider that it is a product that is about 3 years old, and the prices has not included taxes and shipping just yet.
Source: Apple
There is a more affordable option now though from Apple. They call it the HomePod mini and priced it at US$ 99 (MYR 411*). It is tiny too, which is fitting, since it is the HomePod mini.
Of course, being the more affordable option will not be as feature packed as the more expensive Apple HomePod. But it still has most of the capabilities that makes the HomePod an attractive smart speaker for the home in the first place.
For one, because it is more affordable, you can buy more of it, and place the speakers all around the house, including your kids, or parent’s room. That way, you do not have to shout at your kids from the kitchen to tell them dinner is ready, stop playing Call of Duty or Dota2 and come to eat.
Source: Apple
Like the original HomePod, the HomePod mini is designed for households. Siri now recognises different voices and connects those voices to individual devices. So now, if mummy needs to set a reminder or create a shopping list for herself, she can simply tell Siri and her smartphone or iPad will be updated. You need to send a quick text message to your other half to buy milk? Voila, the speaker will get your personal iPhone to do it. Mind you, you need to have an iPhone for it to work.
Apple said they designed the device to ensure that it will fill the room with the best sort of audio experience. For that, they employed a full-range dynamic drive that points down to a wave guide. The wave guide is supposed to distribute audio in all directions, creating an omnidirectional audio experience. Thanks to the Apple S5 chip, the speaker can tune itself to adjust for the environments. It is not a noise cancelling tool though.
Source: Apple
It is also clever enough when you put two speakers nearby each other. When that happens and Apple’s HomePod mini detects a buddy, the two speakers turn themselves into stereo speakers. If you bring your Apple iPhone nearer to it, the LED top flashes and give you some interesting colour play.
Like the Apple HomePod, it can be integrated into smart home systems as a controller. It is basically a smart home voice controller. You can even set scenarios with Siri too, just to get a pre-set mood, lighting, air-conditioning, curtain opening, and much more. Of course, you need to make sure that all these products are smart home products and is connected to the WiFi umbrella in your house.
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The Apple HomePod mini will be available in white or space grey. It will be priced, as mentioned, at US$ 99 (MYR 411*). Pre-orders in selected market starts on the 6th November 2020. It will be available from retailers from the 16th November 2020 onward. Unfortunately, Malaysia is not on that list just yet. You might just be able to import a unit though.
*Conversion based on approximate rate US$ 1= MYR 4.15 as of 15/10/2020
Malaysia’s largest pay TV operator, Astro Malaysia Holdings, is looking to start a streaming service to take on deep-pocketed, international rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Astro is planning to launch a new streaming service sometime in 2021. The service will mainly focus on the original content made by the pay-TV company. This includes their numerous productions spanning multiple genres such as movies, series, and variety shows. Naturally, the main audience Astro is looking at for now, is the Malaysian audience.
Source: Astro Malaysia
Astro’s ability to subsidize local content production and its understanding of the market gives it and added advantage over global competitors. The report by Nikkei also pointed out that Astro is relying on its knowledge on the Malaysian market as well as its extensive customer, marketing, and sales reach in order to attract other content providers. Astro will be a natural partner to welcome any companies that are seeking to enter the Malaysia market . Astro has so far partnered with HBO GO and China’s iQIYI which aligns with Astro’s efforts to position itself as a “super aggregator” of digital content.
As it enters the Streaming (known in the industry as over the top (OTT)) it will be looking at catering to different groups which have emerged. This can be seen from the pricing strategies adopted by its competition which caters to unique groups with different psychologies. However, it seems that one thing that may take anyone by surprise, the pay TV operator isn’t going to banking on its brand for the streaming service opting to go with a completely new brand.
LONDON, Oct. 15, 2020 — Clarivate Plc (NYSE: CCC), a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, announced today the integration of Darts-ip™ case law data with the Innography™ IP intelligence and analytics solution, to provide significantly enhanced strategic decision making across the IP lifecycle.
The integration follows the acquisition of CPA Global by Clarivate, and will see corporate IP departments and law firm customers benefit from multi-jurisdictional litigation data from 141 countries – covering millions of patent cases across 3,000 courts in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. The insights from big data analysis of more than 1.8 million patent cases will inform customers in their patent research, competitive intelligence, portfolio strategy, licensing, litigation, M&A due diligence, freedom to operate and more.
This is the third integration of Darts-ip into Clarivate products in under a year following the acquisition of the company:
In March 2020, Darts-ip global IP case data was integrated with CompuMark™. By adding trademark cases to the world’s largest trademark database, trademark professionals gained greater context for their most important decisions when building and protecting their trademark portfolio, including the litigiousness and history of a specific mark or owner across the full spectrum of trademark research solutions: screening, clearance and protection.
In July 2020, Darts-ip was integrated with Derwent Innovation™. The combined solution gave our customers greater context to support better, more confident decisions when building and protecting their IP portfolios. By integrating patent case data with Derwent Innovation, customers gained a more complete picture of potential obstacles with litigation history, allowing for easy assessment of immediate risks and opportunities, improved efficiency, accelerated decision making and reduced cost.
Now, Darts-ip has been integrated with Innography, connecting international litigation data and patent data with ultimate subsidiary and parent assignments to facilitate seamless analysis and provide a fuller picture across jurisdictions. The expanded offering will include enhanced definition of the industry renowned PatentStrength™ metric, to indicate the external strength of any asset in a portfolio, now updated to factor even more patent data from across the globe.
Jeff Roy, President, IP Group at Clarivate, said: "With all our acquisitions, including CPA Global and Darts-ip, it’s important for us to focus on immediately delivering value to our customers. This integration represents one of the most popular Innography requests from our customers. We’re listening, and we are hard at work helping our customers lower their total cost of doing business with customized packages and fully integrated solutions. Today’s announcement is a terrific early indicator of how our customers will benefit from the combination of Clarivate and CPA Global, and we’re excited about what the future will bring."
"With the integration of Darts-ip into three Clarivate products in under a year following the acquisition of the company, we can now provide IP professionals with the opportunity to take a truly global deep dive into IP data, make smarter decisions faster and mitigate risks based on actionable intelligence. IP analysis plays a crucial role in strategic decision making and with these three integrations, customers will be better equipped to handle their next challenge, lower their total cost of doing business and seize new commercial opportunities."
About Clarivate Clarivate™ is a global leader in providing solutions to accelerate the lifecycle of innovation. Our bold mission is to help customers solve some of the world’s most complex problems by providing actionable information and insights that reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing inventions. Covering scientific and academic research, pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare intelligence and intellectual property services, we help customers discover, protect and commercialize their inventions using our trusted subscription and technology-based solutions coupled with deep domain expertise. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.
Forward-Looking Statements This press release and any statements included herein may contain forward-looking statements regarding Clarivate. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations or forecasts of future events and may include statements regarding results, anticipated synergies and other future expectations. These statements involve risks and uncertainties including factors outside of the control of Clarivate that may cause actual results to differ materially. Clarivate undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
With Singapore’s First SEA Games Esports Medalist Onboard
SINGAPORE, Oct. 15, 2020 —YouTrip, Singapore’s leading multi-currency mobile wallet announces the launch of ‘YouTrip Gaming’, an online gaming community tailored for Singaporean gamers. As a consumer past time, gaming has grown significantly during the pandemic. With the launch of YouTrip Gaming, YouTrip hopes to provide a platform to connect like-minded users and strengthen the love for gaming that spans beyond the pandemic. With restrictions still in place for group sizes and public gatherings, many Singaporeans are still opting to stay home to play video and online games instead. In 2020 (January to September), YouTrip has noted a 260% increase in online transactions of games and accessories compared to the same period in 2019.
YouTrip Gaming Community
With COVID-19 social distancing measures increasing the demand for gaming as a form of entertainment, YouTrip has noticed a similar trend in users making more online purchases from gaming-related sites like Nintendo, Twitch, and Steam. Based on a survey of 2,000 YouTrip users, the top five most popular games are Dota 2, Valorant, Among Us, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
To provide a platform for passionate gamers to connect, YouTrip Gaming is hosted on Discord, a server-based instant messaging platform. On the dedicated server, users can chat with others who enjoy the same type of games, discuss tactics and initiate gaming sessions together. Since the launch, YouTrip Gaming members have spent 3,620 minutes on Valorant and 2,735 minutes on Dota 2.
One of the prominent features of the community group is the interest-based chat groups where users can discuss with others who share the same interest. For example, in the "Recommend Gears" discussion group, users can recommend their gaming equipment purchases to others who might be new to this area.
Offering the unique proposition to pay at the best foreign currency exchange rates at no mark-ups and fees, the use case of YouTrip to pay for games and accessories from overseas sites was highly popular. YouTrip has seen a 98% quarterly increase in transactions made in foreign currencies from April to June, compared to January to March. Similarly, online transactions on gaming accessories like computer monitors, which boasts a dual-use for remote work arrangement have also been on the increasing trend.
YouTrip Gaming Ambassadors
To represent YouTrip’s unique extension into gaming, prominent names in the local gaming community are onboard as YouTrip’s gaming ambassadors. They include content creator and Singapore’s first silver medalist for e-sports in 2019’s SEA Games, Thomas Kopankiewicz, and Megan Soh, a full-time gaming and lifestyle streamer on Twitch with over 10,000 followers. Till date, YouTrip has amassed close to 5,000 active users in various community groups with interest in shopping, beauty and travel.
YouTrip Gaming Community is open to anyone with an interest in gaming. To join, please visit http://go.you.co/Gaming. In the coming weeks, YouTrip will be launching mini gaming tournaments and curated rewards for the gaming community.
ABOUT YOUTRIP
YouTrip is a regional financial technology startup, dedicated to creating the best mobile financial services for travellers across Southeast Asia by simplifying overseas spending and creating a fuss-free travel experience. YouTrip first launched in Singapore in 2018 and subsequently in Thailand in 2019.
People tell me that smartphones are getting boring. No one truly innovates anymore. Hardly anything is that exciting anymore. Most smartphones launched these days are minor upgrades from the previous generation of devices. They offer nearly nothing special, or nothing new that we have not seen before.
In that sense, nothing really excites us anymore. That is true until 2020 hits us. No, it is not the pandemic that changed anything. Tech has taken a step toward the right direction somehow in 2020. We see a very interesting Samsung Galaxy Note20 that is a true creator powerhouse. We see Sony launching their super powerful Xperia smartphone, and their highly acclaimed noise cancelling headphone – the WH-1000XM4. They even launched the Sony PlayStation 5, coming end of this year 2020. Apple already wowed the world over too with the introduction of the iPad Air, which is also a sign of what is to come yesterday (this early morning, rather).
Welcome to what we think is the most exciting Apple iPhone yet. Nay, welcome to the most exciting smartphone of 2020 yet. Welcome to the Apple iPhone 12 and Apple iPhone 12 Pro line-up.
Source: Apple
They kickstart the presentation of Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone for 2020/2021 with 5G. They say that all the iPhones from this point on will receive the 5G treatment, and 5G ready. Malaysia’s Maxis has already confirmed they are taking on 5G with the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPhone 12 series is compatible.
But it gets better from there. We are going to butcher the presentation flow a little bit and start with what is important to us. Bear with us, as we start from the inside out.
The Apple iPhone 12 & iPhone 12 Mini
Source: Apple
The Apple iPhone 12 is not just 5G capable because they have a new antenna. They have, in their own words, optimised the antenna placement for the best all-round reception, by the way. The 5G capability is also embedded in their new chip, the A14 Bionic.
If you find that the name of the A14 Bionic chip sounds familiar, you are right. It is the same powerful 5nm chip that powers the Apple iPad Air. It is the same chip that Apple says can make quick work of 4K videos. Now, it is powering a small smartphone in your palms.
Apple says that this is their most powerful chip yet. We believe them. We also know that this is the most advanced System on a chip (SoC) in the world so far. Until we see Qualcomm and Samsung, or even HUAWEI pushing their boundaries again, we maintain that Apple’s A14 Bionic is the world’s most advanced smartphone SoC to date.
As mentioned in the Apple iPad Air release, the A14 Bionic is a 5nm chip. That means it packs about 11.8 billion transistors spread across 6 CPU cores. There are 4 GPU cores to enable PC class gaming experience in your handheld multifunction device (according to Apple). There are also various machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) optimisations going on here. That also means things like SIRI can fully take advantage on being a better personal assistant on your smartphone.
Source: Apple
As usual, they did not mention the size of the RAM that comes with the device. All we need to know from Apple is that it is “enough”. You get up to 256GB in storage, which is actually more than decent. If you need more storage, Apple has the iCloud anyway. If not, just transfer your photos out to your PC or an external hard drive. We would like the MicroSD card format to be accepted on an iPhone, but we also accept that we may never see that day. Still, 256GB is ample space.
They omitted the battery information as well. We suspect that is also because there is no major improvement in battery life with the Apple iPhone 12. In that sense we also expect the Apple iPhone 12 to come with about the same battery size as the older Apple iPhone 11. Hopefully it gets the same battery life too.
All this is wrapped with an aluminium shell that holds together a ceramic piece on the front and a glass back of the device. They call the ceramic shells the “Ceramic Shield”. This is not the first time a smartphone works with ceramics. Xiaomi has done if before with their previous flagships. This is the first time though that a smartphone manufacturer has replaced the front with a ceramic material, instead of the usual Corning Gorilla Glass.
They say that ceramic is more durable than the glass. It is supposed to be more resistant to scratches and less likely to break or shatter when impacted. Somehow, you can make it thinner than glass too. It is also a more premium material though, means more expensive smartphones. The Apple iPhone is expensive enough though.
Under the display at the front of the device is an OLED display with double the resolution of the previous iPhone 11. That is an OLED Super Retina XDR retina 6.1-inch display with 2,532 by 1,170 pixels to create an immersive 460 pixel per inch (ppi) experience. Apple say that the display is Dolby Vision certified too, meaning HDR10 compatibility. No 120Hz or 90Hz refresh rate here, which is a little bit disappointing, but understandable. The display can display up to 1200nits though, a plus point for outdoor use cases. Of course, there is the regular notch on top.
Source: Apple
Move to the back and what you find is a very familiar Apple logo design with plain glass. There are new colours for 2020. There are now five funky colours to choose from including green, red, and blue colour variants. But that is not all the things that you get on the iPhone 12.
You still get the familiar looking camera arrangement too with the Apple iPhone 12. Instead of three cameras, the regular iPhone get two cameras. Both feature 12-Megapixel sensors. The main wide camera features 7-elements of glass to ensure stelar photo quality and to take advantage of the new larger sensor in the Apple iPhone 12. It is faster too at f/1.6 aperture. This also means that the device should perform better in low-light conditions. The new 7-element glass also allows 27% more light to hit the sensor, so that should help too. The other 12-megapixel sensor is lodged under an ultra-wide lens for breathtaking landscape shots.
Under that pretty looking glass back though is a new format of wireless charger. It is now 15W capable. But on top of that, it is now magnetic. We are annoyed with most wireless chargers because we cannot seem to find the right spot to lay our device. That also means that your device hardly charges when you lay your device on a wireless charger unless you make extra adjustments. Not on the iPhone 12.
Source: Apple
The magnets surrounding the wireless charging coil ensures that compatible wireless chargers will immediately pick up contact and charge the device. Even when you lift the device, the charger is still attached to it, means you do not have to reposition your device every time you pick up your phone. But it still works with compatible Qi chargers, only with about half the efficiency. But more than that, the magnetic mechanism they call ‘MagSafe’ gives a world of possibility in terms of modular accessorising. You can detach and attach a wallet at any given time. You can attach cool looking trinkets at the back of your device to personalise your smartphone. Heck, you can even attach extra lens modifiers made for the iPhone if they bothered to make one.
Then there is the iPhone 12 Mini, a smaller, more compact version of the Apple iPhone 12. That is the thing though. Smaller does not mean less power here. The iPhone 12 Mini is everything that the Apple iPhone 12 is, but way smaller.
They pack everything in a body that shrink wraps itself around a 5.4-inch OLED display with 2,340 by 1,080 (Full HD+) pixel to give you 476 ppi. That is a higher ppi than the iPhone 12 itself. Of course, you get a slightly smaller battery pack too, though they have not mentioned the size. Of course, with smaller battery pack, battery life is a little shorter.
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You still get MagSafe, you still get the A14 Bionic chip, you even get the same colours. All of that in a more compact body. Of course, cheaper price too; US$ 100 cheaper than the full-sized iPhone 12.
Apple iPhone 12 Pro & iPhone 12 Pro Max
Source: Apple
The main star of the show is the Apple iPhone 12 Pro and the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max. These are the most powerful iPhone you can get for your money today. These are the culmination of Apple’s 2020 launches.
For starters, again, we are going inside out; the smartphone comes with Apple’s latest A14 Bionic SoC. We have pointed out the power of the A14 Bionic and out views on it earlier, so we are not going to elaborate. But it does sound like a huge generational leap compared to the previous generation Apple A13 Bionic chip.
You can opt for the same great display size at 6.1-inch or even bigger at 6.7-inch (Max) with the Apple iPhone. Bigger is definitely better here, with the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max. Instead of the regular 2,532 by 1,170 pixels on the display, you get 2,778 by 1,284 pixels on the 6.7-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display.
Like the regular iPhone 12, it has HDR capability as well of course. It also has Dolby Vision certification with it of course. They are also even more premium than before. With glossy metal sides.
Source: Apple
Why do you want to get the iPhone 12 Pro over the regular iPhone? It has two extra camera sensors. Well, that is not exactly the reason why you pay a premium over the regular smartphone.
The Apple iPhone 12 Pro really banks on the camera this time. You can still record 4K videos, like the iPhones before it. But it is also more powerful in the sense that they have shifted the whole image stabilisation platform to the sensor instead of the lens. The result of that is even steadier videos with less heft on the lens.
The details is helped by an extra sensor they also put on the Apple iPad though. They managed to shoehorn a LiDAR sensor to the back of the device. That also means that the Apple iPhone camera benefits from LiDAR 3D scanning the room or subject. The better understanding of the environment allows the Apple iPhone to add more lighting and texture detail to their photos. Apple also added something they call ProRAW mode into their camera app. That is Apple’s own RAW formatting mode that uses the camera and the LiDAR sensor to create even more detailed photos with flexibility like you never seen in a smartphone.
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All these RAW photos and 4K videos can be edited internally thanks to Apple’s A14 Bionic chip. But 4K is not enough sometimes. So the Apple iPhone 12 Pro’s capable camera can shoot in HDR at 10-bit, benefiting from 700 million colours to create an almost true to life video. Dolby Vision certification on the camera means that this can really replace your expensive rig.
Price and Availability
The Apple iPhone 12 and Apple iPhone 12 Mini will be available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB variants. As mentioned, they come in five colours – blue, green, black, white, and (PRODUCT) RED. Prices start from US$ 799 (MYR 3,899*) and US$ 699 (MYR 3,399*) respectively. Pre-orders starts from 16th October 2020 onward to the 23rd of October 2020 for the Apple iPhone 12. The Apple iPhone 12 Mini will be available a little later with pre-orders starting on the 6th November 2020 to the 13th November 2020 (availability date). The global availability of the Apple iPhone 12 is reported to be on the 30th October 2020.
The Apple iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB flavours. You get to choose between graphite, silver, gold, and pacific blue premium colour finishes for the Apple iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro max. Prices start from US$ 999 (MYR 4,899) and US$ 1,099 (MYR 5,299) respectively. Pre-orders for the Apple iPhone 12 Pro start from the 16th October 2020 to the 23rd October 2020, same as the Apple iPhone 12. The iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available for pre-order from the 6th November 2020 onward to the 13th November 2020 (availability date). The Apple iPhone Pro will be available in stores from the 30th November 2020 onward.
Alongside the pre-order of the Apple iPhone 12 Mini and the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, most of the newly launched accessories will also be available on the 6th November 2020. The MagSafe Duo Charger and Leather Sleeve for the iPhone 12 series will be available later though. You also want to keep in mind that the new Apple iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max will only come with a USB Type-C to Lightning cable and nothing else inside the box.
You would need to buy a separate charging brick or use an existing one that you already have. Your regular Apple charging brick will not take on the USB Type-C cable too, so to take advantage of that, you need a separate brick from Apple. You do not get the usual bundled earphone too, so you might want to consider getting a Bluetooth earphone for yourself too or use the one you already have. On the bright side, the box is half the size from before.
INKR offers worldwide access to popular comics as well as all-new original content with the launch of their digital comics platform and publishing service.
SINGAPORE, Oct. 15, 2020 —INKR Global’s immersive new comics reading and publishing app, INKR Comics, launches today. This revolutionary new platform features an AI-backed translation technology, tailored content recommendations, a seamless reading experience, and integrated advertising, subscription, pay-per-chapter support, all combining to create one unprecedented global outlet for publishers.
Why limit your content to just one place? We help you bring your titles to millions of comic readers in over 100 countries and regions, on all major platforms.
Every one of our readers has a unique, personalized Home full of relevant content. No matter what type of comic you have, we help you sell it to the right readers.
We take care of localization with our proprietary INKR Localize tool and guarantee an optimal release frequency for your content.Our professional in-house localization team ensures the most authentic and natural results for each and every project. We will provide you the distribution-ready, high-quality localized content so you can distribute it anywhere you want.
Our team works with you to understand your goals and provide the ideal monetization plan for your content.
We create additional materials — cover photos, banners, and more — in various locations to maximize the chance that readers will check out your title.
"From our love for comics came the drive to build a platform that could leave a large-scale positive impact," said Ken Luong, INKR CEO. "With all the learning and experience in building products we have accumulated throughout the years, we realized that we are in a unique position to efficiently bring all types of comics to readers across the globe."
INKR offers readers universal access to comics from around the world, including Japanese manga from Kodansha and Tokyopop, Korean webtoons from Mr. Blue and Toons Family, Chinese manhua from Weibo and FanFan, and American comics from publishers such as Image, an unparalleled catalog of diverse works available to read on one app.
INKR also offers INKR Localize, AI-assisted localization software which allows comics to be translated and posted by their authorized creators in record time. INKR Localize will effectively end issues with the practice of unpaid, unauthorized scanned translations.
Alongside Localize, INKR for Publishers is every creator’s gateway to global distribution for their comics catalog. INKR for Publishers allows flexible monetization and in-app content promotion. For more details, please visit https://inkr.com/publishers.
The app is currently available on iOS and Android.
About INKR Global Pte. Ltd.
INKR Global is a human-centered, design-driven tech company aiming to make comics universally accessible. INKR helps comic publishers and creators reach readers globally by making awesome content available to consumers, no matter where they are.
Based in Singapore with a team working out of Vietnam, INKR was created by passionate readers of comics and manga. They believe in the potential of the medium as not only an avenue for storytelling but also as a means of education and communication. Other apps created by the team include Fuzel Collage, Woodpost, Wikly and KeepShot.
