Singapore Tech News, Features & Reviews

China's smartphone shipments fell 15.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier to 57.9 million units, according to the research firm IDC. It was the sixth consecutive quarterly decline, and a far steeper one than the roughly 4% fall recorded in the first half of the year. Two forces sit behind the number, with weak consumer spending in China on one side and the rising cost of components on the other.

Unitree Robotics founder and chief executive Wang Xingxing says OpenAI's newest artificial intelligence models may bring a robotics breakthrough as soon as next year, a sharp change from the guidance he gave earlier in the year. He puts the window at one or two years. His remarks carry weight because Unitree, based in Hangzhou, is China's best known humanoid robot maker, and investors and analysts treat them as a bellwether for the domestic sector.

Google has announced the Fitbit Edge, a slim fitness tracker that sits between its advanced Pixel Watch and the simpler Fitbit Air band. The company describes the device as lightweight and comfortable, a daily companion rather than a full smartwatch. Google says it built the Edge for people who want a middle path between a screenless band and a smartwatch worn on the wrist.