The waffleByte Newsletter
New Phones, Discord's Potential IPO, TSMC Pleases Trump with $100 Billion
Xiaomi Phones
MWC, which occurred the past week, saw Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker, launch its new series of flagships. The Xiaomi 15 series, mostly an evolution, did contain the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which as usual contained a notable camera setup. It has a 100mm equivalent telephoto camera, with a fairly large sensor, as well as a 1 inch type main camera. With improvements in video quality as well, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is looking to challenge for the best smartphone camera of the year, albeit at a hefty €1500 starting price.
More interestingly though, Xiaomi released a concept phone with an external camera module. This module had a micro 4/3s sensor, with a 35mm equivalent lens. This was attached using some pins to the back of the phone, and used lasers to beam data between them, achieving exceptionally low latency.
Reviews have been positive, and to a trained eye the improvement from a larger sensor and lens is clearly noticeable. Furthermore, the ability for sophisticated image processing algorithms to be used with the external module further increases the capabilities of it.
It is interesting to ponder if this will ever become a viable product. One must imagine that the demographic that would be willing to purchase such an expensive smartphone accessory ought to be camera enthusiasts. But such individuals willing to drop the money on this device would quite possibly already have cameras. Compared to a modern full-frame camera, the capabilities of the Xiaomi concept are still lacklustre. Perhaps it better competes with smaller, micro 4/3s cameras, but those are becoming a rare breed, as smartphones encroach on the entry-level camera market.
Still though, Xiaomi ought to be applauded for their innovation and desire to try new things, given the stale nature of the current smartphone market. Indeed, Xiaomi as a company is doing quite exceptionally, with newfound success in the electric vehicle market.
Nothing Phones
Another company that released new mobile phones was Carl Pei’s Nothing. They released their Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro. They proved to be good mid-range phones, with Nothing’s signature transparent design, a contemporary look and refreshing to many. They also seem to have been designed with greater care, and prove to be an excellent overall package.
Jumping on the AI train, Nothing released an AI feature called essential space, which allows you to record notes and thoughts. It is rather debatable if this is a useful implementation of AI, and it is not necessarily an original idea.
Given that these phones are still under their “a” series, it would seem likely that they would release a higher-end smartphone. Given that the 3a series had mid-range components, one would think Nothing’s flagship may well have flagship level hardware, such as faster storage, a better processor, and an even better screen. These costly components are often the hallmark of a flagship, yet it is worth considering if instead they might focus more on bringing an even more innovative design to their flagship, as opposed to loading it with top specs.
Apple’s Announcements
Meanwhile, Apple also made some quiet announcements via press conferences. A new Macbook air, with the latest M4 chip, a $100 price reduction, and perhaps most excitingly, a new blue colour that is barely blue was released. Thanks to Apple’s recent move to start all Macbooks with 16GB of RAM, to accommodate for the not so useful Apple Intelligence, this Macbook air continues to represent exceptional value for most buyers.
Apple’s Macbook series boasts excellent performance with their Apple Silicon chips, with impressive power efficiency making the Macbooks industry leading in terms of battery life. With good build quality, it is really hard to fault them, especially as they have become price competitive. Of course, certain software is not necessarily compatible with MacOS, but for most users without specific requirements, it is hard to recommend Windows Laptops, especially when they can often be as pricey.
What is also interesting with the pricing of the Macbook is the Trump administration’s new China tariffs. Not only is the tariff environment extremely volatile and unpredictable, the current amount levied on Chinese imports, 20%, is also rather significant and something Apple would have to pass onto consumers. Given that, the price reduction would suggest that Apple has successfully pivoted away from manufacturing in China, at least for Macbook Airs. This would represent another genius move by Tim Cook, in his finessing of supply chains.
Perhaps less excitingly, a new Mac Studio was also released, with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra processors available to it. Despite being a generation older, the M3 Ultra is more powerful than the M4 Max, thanks to two interlinked M3 Max chips providing huge amounts of computing power. What is also notable, especially given recent developments, is also the maximum 512 GB of RAM available to it, which makes running local LLMs a possibility.
Whilst this may be a productivity beast for some, those choosing to purchase it will pay a hefty price. With the maxed out version costing over $/£14,000, this device is certainly not for everyone. Cunningly, Apple continues to charge huge sums of money to upgrade storage and memory, which is perhaps clever price segmentation given those who need it likely can afford it.
Discord’s Potential IPO
According to the New York Times, Discord, a messaging app aimed at video gamers, is considering an IPO. With over 200 million monthly active users, Discord is certainly a formidable platform, albeit nowhere near as substantial as some of Meta’s offerings, with many boasting billions of active users.
Discord was previously valued at $14.7 billion in its latest funding round, and rejected a $10 billion offer by Microsoft to purchase it in 2021, at the time suggesting it wished to remain independent.
This coincides with a recent push to offer users free nitro, a premium tier service that allows for more customisation and higher quality voice calls to users. This is no doubt an effort to get users to sign up to this service, to boost their revenue numbers pre-IPO.
Quite possibly, Discord saw Reddit’s successful IPO attempt and wished to get in on the action themselves. Nonetheless, for users of Discord, it is possibly worth considering the impacts the IPO may have on user experience, and if it follows the example of Reddit, which has deteriorated significantly as a service, then it may well cause users to search for an alternative service.
TSMC’s $100 Billion Announcement
Much to the delight of American President Donald Trump, TSMC’s CEO C.C. Wei announced that the Taiwanese chip giant will invest $100 billion in the US to build additional leading edge semiconductor fabrication capacity. Semiconductors are a critical resource to national security, and Trump is keen to build them (and other things) in the United States.
This comes after TSMC has already invested heavily in Arizona, with a $65 billion commitment. However, this project has faced delays, with insufficient engineers and an apparent culture shock. Meanwhile, Taiwan, who has long hoped that TSMC was its trump card for US support in the event of a Chinese invasion, may well be concerned.
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