Apple has reportedly cut iPad production in half for the past two months and is repurposing older iPhone parts for use in the iPhone 13 to overcome the component shortage, per Reuters. Apple weathered the supply chain crunch better than other companies mostly because of preferred relationships with suppliers, as well as chip stockpiles.

The news: PayPal confirmed that it's exploring a stablecoin backed by the US dollar after developer Steve Moser discovered code and images referencing “PayPal Coin” inside the PayPal iPhone app, per Bloomberg. A company spokesperson said the hidden code and images were born out of a recent hackathon within PayPal’s blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies division.

We forecast that this year, adults in China will spend an average of 3 hours, 16 minutes (3:16) per day on smartphone activities, which we define as excluding calls on the cellular network. Up 25 minutes, or 14.6%, from 2020, this total will vault China to first place in the world for that metric. The US will drop to No. 2, with adults there spending 3:10 on smartphones daily.

In June, Amazon launched a new functionality for its Halo wearable that measures movement and flexibility via a smartphone camera and cloud-based AI—but privacy concerns are still limiting consumer adoption.

Connected vehicles can now serve as a driver’s smartphone, map, traffic updater, entertainer, and—eventually—driver, shifting new opportunities and touchpoints to cars. As the number of connected cars in use increases, auto manufacturers and marketers will be able to use data to personalize the driving experience and access consumers in new ways.

With these new in-car features and media, smartphones will face greater competition when it comes to data generation and media consumption. Longer term, this may require smartphone makers to produce more media and commerce apps that specifically serve an in-car audience. Trend No. 4: Sustainability. EVs were part of a larger trend of sustainability in tech at CES.

And integrating it with existing telematics data from smartphones or plug-in OBD II devices can optimize insurer’s pricing algorithms and help them reduce or circumvent monitoring periods. And when prospects know upfront what they’ll be saving, they’re more likely to let their insurer “ride shotgun” and collect their data.

For example, UK-based insurer LV= allows consumers to scan its flyers with a smartphone camera to access a 3D house model. Users can then “walk” around the house and see which items they could insure. Read Next. Sources. AdExchanger. Advertiser Perceptions. Artemis. Comperemedia. Jasoren. KPMG. LIMRA. Pathmatics. Progressive. S&P Global. Spotify. ValuePenguin.

Smartphone app gamers: Smartphone users of any age who use at least one gaming app on their smartphone at least once per month. A gaming app is a mobile app whose primary function is gaming (e.g., "Candy Crush," "Angry Birds," etc.). A mobile app is a software app that is developed for use on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This excludes browser-based web apps.

As internet access expands and smartphone usership becomes ubiquitous globally, social networking figures are increasingly aligning with overall national population figures. However, China’s blockade of international platforms and India’s TikTok ban complicate how these numbers translate to usership for the world’s most popular networks.

People are streaming short-form content on TV screens and watching traditional live TV on their smartphones. Connected TVs (CTVs), in particular, are becoming increasingly popular devices for consuming the full gamut of video content available to UK viewers. Other screens aren’t being sidelined, though.

Apple reportedly slashed iPhone 13 production by 10 million units and will likely see the shortages affect its other hardware product lines. Many Apple Watch Series 7 and MacBook Pro M1 and M1 Max models ordered today won’t be delivered until early to mid December.

The smartphone industry saw global shipments slip 6% in Q3 2021. The number of new device models launched in the first half of 2021 declined 18% YoY to 310, per Counterpoint. Most notably, Apple is slashing iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by 10 million units during its most profitable quarter, and Samsung saw shipments drop by 20%. The PC industry saw demand far outstripping supply.

Apps that connect with wearables and condition-specific monitoring devices, such as glucose meters, will allow users to send health data to their clinicians or EHRs from their smartphones. Note: This is just a snippet from our recently published Mobile Health Apps for Disease Management report. Click here to read the report in its entirety.

Digitization is much further along in China than it is in India, but the two markets have at least one characteristic in common: As goes the smartphone, so goes all of digital. In China, the adoption of mobile devices is already widespread, so as adults spend more and more time on their smartphones, time spent with smartphone-centric digital media will naturally tick up.

Tablets will continue to be challenged, mostly by premium smartphones and notebook PCs. In context, Apple cut iPad production in half in Q3 to focus on iPhone 13, which is in much higher demand.

The US market is closely tracking the global market. 5G smartphone sales will increase 298% in 2021, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). US consumers and businesses will buy 67.0 million 5G smartphones this year, which will be roughly 42% of all smartphones purchased in the country.

In February, Facebook started issuing its own prompt to iPhone and iPad users to let the company track their activity in anticipation of Apple’s update. Doing so also gives Facebook some insight into how the changes to IDFA may impact its business.