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Global smartphone sales recover from a months-long slump
Smartphone sales shrank year-over-year in the fall, leading some to wonder whether the category's halcyon days were finally over. Well, not quite. Gartner has determined that smartphone sales bounced back ever so slightly in the first quarter of 2018, growing 1.3 percent over the same period a year earlier. Don't credit that to hot flagship phones like the Galaxy S9 or iPhone X, though -- if anything, it came in spite of those high-priced devices.
Tesla: Model 3 production could hit 5,000 per week in two months
One of the major stories about Tesla's car business has been its struggle to build sufficient quantities of its Model 3 electric car. In a just-released earnings report the company said that prior to its most recent shutdown, it had managed to build over 2,000 cars per week for three weeks in a row for the first time, and anticipates it will manage 5,000 per week in two months. Following comments from Elon Musk that over-reliance on robots slowed production, the earnings report expanded on that angle. In certain production areas like "portions of the battery module line, part of the material flow system, and two steps of general assembly" it has "temporarily" dialed back automation in favor of semi-automated or manual processes. If it can hit its production goals, Tesla also claims that it can be profitable in Q3 and Q4 of this year. On an earnings call after the release, Musk specifically detailed a "Flufferbot" Tesla created to place fluff on a battery, before determining that humans were better at it and that the fluff wasn't necessary. He also chided journalists for coverage of Autopilot-related crashes, claiming that they shouldn't be writing about it, since, he said, it could lead to people turning off the feature and dying in a crash. Expect to see "quarterly safety statistics" from Tesla about the feature going forward. That people have died with the feature engaged did not come up. Musk also got tired of "boring" questions from investors and turned for a few minutes to crowdsourced questions from YouTube.
Samsung shows record profits despite weak demand for mobile OLED
With its latest earnings report, Samsung notched its fourth straight quarter showing record operating profits of $14.4 billion. As predicted, that's mostly due to the memory chips it makes that go inside its phones as well as many other devices, but the most notable element of the report might be its warning of slow OLED sales. Samsung makes the OLED screen fronting Apple's iPhone X, and like other iPhone suppliers, its results imply that shipments and demand have been lower than anticipated. Still, Samsung appears to be expecting a follow-up version in the second half of this year when "OLED panels in the smartphone industry are expected to see a rebound in demand." Apple will report its earnings May 1st, although it doesn't usually provide information on sales of specific iPhone models. As far as its own devices, sales of the Galaxy S9 family were strong along with unexpectedly high numbers for the outgoing Galaxy S8. That's all while Samsung prepares for its next flagship phone later this year, which should be a new Galaxy Note. In TVs, sales were slightly down, but we're keeping an eye on updates about the stunning 8K and MicroLED Wall displays shown off at CES. According to the report, those are both still in the works for a launch in the second half of this year.
Twitter posts another profit and adds 6 million users
Three months ago, Twitter was able to tell the world that, for the first time in its 12-year life, it had made a profit. The company can now say that those good numbers weren't a blip, since it has now notched a first quarter profit of $61 million. That's down a little from the $91 million it made in the previous three months, but the news is good enough to get the champagne corks popping in San Francisco.
Netflix subscriber count hits 125 million
Netflix's first quarterly report for the 2018 financial year shows that after notching its most subscriber additions in Q4 2017 (8.33 million) it barely slowed down. Over the last three months, it added another 7.4 million subscribers (1.96 million of them in the US), its second-biggest quarter ever and enough to hit 125 million subscribers on the dot. The ongoing flood of new content certainly helps, including stunts like its Super Bowl Sunday release of The Cloverfield Paradox. Despite the response from critics Netflix still said: "the event showcased how a big branded film can be marketed and delivered to consumers instantaneously across the globe without a wait for the theatrical window." Meanwhile, the Spanish series Money Heist became its "most-watched non-English series on Netflix ever." As far as the controversy over eligibility for awards like Cannes, Netflix reiterated that it wouldn't do anything that would prevent viewers in France from seeing its films right away. While confirming that it will spend between $7.5 and $8 billion this year on content, there isn't much new to announce. Netflix touched on its expanded agreement with Comcast briefly, and while it didn't reveal bundle prices it said "We believe that the lower churn in these bundles offsets the lower Netflix ASP" so we'd expect some discount. It already as an agreement in the US with T-Mobile, plus Sky, Proximus and SFR Altice in Europe. The company has also posted the video of its earnings q&a call for the quarter. In it, content chief Ted Sarandos declined to comment on rumors Netflix is working on a deal with the Obamas, but shot down rumors of a 60 Minutes-like show, saying: "The move into news has been misreported over and over again." CEO Reed Hastings responded to a question about privacy and data issues like the ones Facebook is dealing with by saying he believes the company is "substantially inoculated" from them, and that he's glad they "built the business not to be ad supported" in opting for a subscription model.
Dell was the bright spot in a lousy winter for PC shipments
Sorry, folks, those hopes of the PC market making a comeback were short-lived. Both Gartner and IDC estimate that computer shipments were down in the first quarter of 2018, ranging from barely under zero growth (IDC) to a drop of 1.4 percent (Gartner). While the exact numbers vary (Gartner includes more tablets in its data than IDC, but not Chromebooks), there are some common themes. In particular, Dell came to the industry's rescue -- it was one of the few bright spots in a market where rivals either saw sluggish growth or declined.
