Gadgets Roundup: Apple slashes iPhone prices, Samsung may cut smartphone shipments

Apple iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 5S get massive price cuts: Apple fans in India have a reason to rejoice this holiday season as the company has slashed the price of its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus smartphones by up to 16 per cent. iPhone 6s (16GB variant), which was launched at Rs 62,000 on October 16, is now available for about Rs 47,000 online.

However, most smartphone buyers may still not be able to spend Rs 47,000 for a smartphone. In that case, an iPhone – under Rs 25,000 – would be a real treat for them. Apple had slashed prices of iPhone 5s earlier this month and the device is now available for around Rs 21,000 online. (Techcircle.in)

Huawei's best-selling Honor smartphones come to brick-and-mortar stores: Huawei's Honor brand of smartphones, until now, have only been available through online retailers in India. Now, the Chinese firm has tied up with Zopper, a hyperlocal marketplace that lets users search products, check their offline prices, and order them from nearby stores. The partnership will allow the Honor smartphones reaching out to a total of 267 outlets in cities including Delhi NCR, Chennai, Vellore, Pondicherry, and Bangalore. (gsmarena.com)

Micromax YU Yureka most searched smartphone on Google: Yes, that's right. Domestic brand Micromax YU Yureka was the most googled mobile device in 2015, beating popular brands such as Apple, Samsung, and Lenovo. But in a larger context, Lenovo and its subsidiary Motorola have emerged as the winners as they together got five devices in the top 10 list, whereas Micromax got three. (Hindustantimes.com)

Micromax YU Yureka was the YU brand's first device. The phone sports a 5.5-inch HD screen and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system. It has 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 processor, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB onboard memory.

Samsung may cut smartphone shipments in 2016: Samsung might reduce smartphone shipments by as much as 12 per cent in 2016. The South Korean electronics giant remains the top-selling smartphone brand both globally and in India, despite having lost market share. The company is seeing quarter-over-quarter shipment decline in India, and its global market share has declined to 21.9 per cent from 26.2 per cent in 2014. Samsung has been facing a lot of competition from Chinese and Indian brands like Xiaomi, Huawei and Micromax, among others. (ubergizmo.com)

Smartphone launches this week: 

Xolo Black 3GB: Lava's Xolo brand launched a new variant of its Black smartphone with 3GB DDR3 RAM. The online-only device costs Rs 11,999 and will be available exclusively on Snapdeal.

Wickedleak Wammy Note 5: Wickedleak has launched the Wammy Note 5 smartphone in India at Rs 16,990. The smartphone is now up for registrations for interested consumers via the company's website and will be available to buy from January 15.

Huawei Nexus 6P Special Edition: The phone is up for pre-orders but the roll out is not expected to commence until December 29 at least. The 64GB model of the smartphone costs Rs 43,999.