Apple again commanded a majority share of the smartwatch market in the first quarter, when the COVID-19 outbreak encouraged health tracking and drove a 20 percent rise in shipments. Global smartwatch shipments reached 13.7 million units in the first three months of this year, defying a worldwide slump in consumer electronics arenas such as mobile phones. Apple’s share inched up a percentage po...

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Cars sales in Russia plummeted by a historic 72.4 percent in April, manufacturers said Wednesday, after the industry was hit by the sweeping restrictions imposed to slow the coronavirus pandemic. Year-on-year sales in April totalled just 38,922 units across the country, according to the Association of European Businesses which represents foreign investors in Russia. This is "the...

DUBAI (AP) -- Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's energy producer, announced on Tuesday a net income of $16.7 billion for the first three months of the year and dividends of $18.75 billion for shareholders. Despite posting the highest quarter dividends in 2020 of any listed company, its profits were 25 percent down, compared to the same time last year when earnings topped $22 billion. Aramco President ...

Global 5G smartphone shipments grew to 24.1 million in the first quarter. Samsung Electronics was the top vendor of 5G smartphones, shipping 8.3 million units globally in the first quarter this year, according to market tracker Strategy Analytics. Huawei Technologies came in a close second, shipping 8 million 5G smartphones, as Vivo, Xiomi and OPPO rounded out the top five.

Global personal computer shipments dropped the most since 2013 in the first quarter, after the COVID-19 pandemic ensnared the Chinese supply-chain and created production problems for major hardware companies. PC makers shipped 51.6 million laptops, desktops and workstations in the first three months of 2020, a 12 percent decrease compared with a year earlier, research firm Gartner said in a st...

China last year became the world leader in international patent filings, unseating the United States which had held the top spot for more than four decades, the UN said. The World Intellectual Property Organization said that China topped the ranking with 58,990 applications followed by US, Japan, Germany and South Korea. And for the third consecutive year, China-based telecoms giant Huawei Tec...

TOKYO (AFP) -- Struggling Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group on Monday forecast a $7-billion net loss for the year ended March due to the negative impact of coronavirus and losses related to WeWork. The telecoms and investment giant, led by flamboyant entrepreneur Masayoshi Son, also said in a surprise press release it expected to suffer an operating loss of 1.35 trillion yen or $12.5 billion....

Moody's has downgraded South Africa's credit rating to junk status, piling more anguish on an economy already in recession and battered by Africa's worst coronavirus outbreak. Two other major international rating agencies Fitch and S&P had cut the credit rating of Africa's most developed economy to subinvestment level in 2017. Losing its last investment grade rating will see the country being e...

Samsung Electronics retained its dominant position in the South American smartphone market last year, data showed. Samsung accounted for 38 percent of the South American smartphone market in 2019, up 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. Motorola was the runner-up with a 15.5 percent market share, up 2.7 percentage points from a year...

With the global economy melting down after the failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008, world leaders swiftly created an international forum that committed to boost economies by spending more and keeping trade open. Central banks announced rate cuts within seconds of each other. The approach to the economic shock from the coronavirus outbreak is, so far, looking very different. The disease for most p...

RIYADH (AFP) -- The deadly coronavirus epidemic could put an already fragile global economic recovery at risk, the IMF warned Sunday, as G20 financial chiefs voiced "real concern" over its economic ripple effects. Global growth was poised for a modest rebound to 3.3 percent this year, up from 2.9 percent last year, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said after a two-day meeti...

BEIJING (AP) -- Automakers are reopening factories in China that were idled by anti-virus controls as they try to reverse a sales slump in their biggest market. Local officials have orders from the ruling Communist Party to get businesses functioning again while still enforcing anti-disease curbs that shut down much of the world's second-largest economy. "Local governments are putting their ful...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - It is too early to tell the economic toll from the virus outbreak in China, but the hit to global growth should be "mild," International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said Wednesday. The death toll from the new coronavirus epidemic in China has climbed past 1,350, but hopes have risen that the outbreak could peak later this month. The IMF is expecting a "V-shaped i...

Under Armour is plunging in premarket trading after the company said it anticipates a big financial hit from the viral outbreak in China and saying separately that it may need to restructure this year at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. The athletic gear company anticipates the virus outbreak in China will drag first-quarter sales down by $50 million to $60 million. It's also looking a...

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Boeing on Tuesday officially pushed back the timeframe for the 737 MAX to return to the skies, sending shares plunging and overshadowing an earlier announcement of a first flight of the delayed 777X plane. Boeing said it is now targeting the return of the grounded MAX "during mid-2020," the latest delay in the schedule for the troubled jet, which has been grounded since March f...