Xiaomi Joins Samsung at the Top, Vodafone's New Plans, OnePlus 5T India Launch Date, and More: Your 360 Daily

Xiaomi has jumped to the top of the Indian smartphone market, and now holds the position of the country’s biggest smartphone brand by volume, along with Samsung. According to market research firm IDC, Xiaomi and Samsung each accounted for 23.5 percent of the Indian smartphone market in the previous quarter, followed by Lenovo (including Moto) at 9 percent, Vivo at 8.5 percent, and Oppo at 7.5 percent. The rest of the players in the industry constituted 27.6 percent of the volume. For Samsung, the best-selling models were the Galaxy J2, Galaxy J7 Nxt, and Galaxy J7 Max, while Xiaomi's Redmi Note 4 was the country’s highest-selling smartphone, according to IDC.

OnePlus 5 highest-selling premium smartphone
OnePlus 5 has emerged as the highest-selling premium smartphone in India, according to IDC. The smartphone had 12 percent market share in the first quarter, which has more than doubled to 26 percent in third quarter. In online sales, OnePlus 5 accounts for 24.75 percent of the premium phones sold. Overall, OnePlus accounts for 62.2 percent of the premium market share and is the eighth biggest smartphone brand in the country, IDC says. The market research firm classifies the premium segment as the price band above $400 or roughly Rs. 26,000.

Vodafone launches new plans with 1GB daily data allowance
Vodafone has launched two plans for subscribers seeking 1GB data per day, bundled calls, free outgoing calls on roaming, and 100 SMSes per day. The Rs. 458 plan has validity of 70 days, while the Rs. 509 plan provides validity of 84 days. For now, both Vodafone prepaid recharge packs are available to only select customers, so you will have to check the MyVodafone app or call the customer care to find out if you are eligible for them. However, the bundled local and STD calls are limited to 250 minutes of free per day and 1,000 minutes per week.

OnePlus 5T India flash sale details revealed
The OnePlus 5T global unveiling is just a couple of days away, and Amazon has revealed that the time of the smartphone’s first flash sale in India. The November 21 OnePlus 5T India flash sale will start at 4:30pm IST, and will only be for Prime members. General availability of the handset in India will begin a week later, on November 28. Also today, the OnePlus 5T made an appearance on GFXBench, which reveals the handset (or at least the test build used on which the benchmark was run) is powered by Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and reiterate previously-leaked features such as the 6-inch full-HD+ display, Snapdragon 835 chipset, 8GB of RAM. An early review by a German magazine says the handset doesn’t have optical zoom, a feature the OnePlus 5 offers.

Apple may launch three bezel-less iPhones in 2018
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo – widely considered to be one of the more reliable names when it comes to predicting what to expect from Apple – has said the company will launch three iPhone models next year bearing the signature iPhone X design. Two of the 2018 iPhones will sport OLED panels (the one used in iPhone X), while the third will be stuck with a TFT-LCD screen (the one on iPhone 8 and other models). As for the display sizes, the three will feature screen sizes of 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.5-inch. The upcoming iPhone models will sport the facial recognition courtesy the TrueDepth camera system; the 6.1-inch LCD model will be the cheapest of the lot and will be made using cheaper materials so that the price can be kept in the $650-750 band, Kuo says.

HTC Vive Focus standalone VR headset unveiled
HTC has launched the Vive Focus virtual reality headset with 6DoF tracking support. Unveiled at the Vive Developer Conference in Beijing, the Vive Focus is said to deliver "world-scale" tracking through inside-out, six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) support. The Vive Focus headset doesn’t require a PC or mobile device, and comes with its own high-resolution AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, a 3DoF controller, and water-repellent padding and instant-on support. There are no details of price or availability of the HTC headset yet.

Xiaomi Mi Router 3C's price slashes
Xiaomi Mi Router 3C has received a price cut in India, bringing the price down from Rs. 1,199 to Rs. 999. Amazon India is offering Rs. 300 as cashback on purchases made using Amazon Pay balance, while Flipkart is giving 5 percent instant discount on Axis Bank Buzz payments. However, the price cut is temporary, and will end on November 16. The Xiaomi router has four “high-performance” copper antennae, each with a dedicated PCB circuit. Read our Mi Router 3C review before you buy.

Android Marshmallow has biggest market share on active devices
Android Marshmallow still powers 30.9 percent of the active Android devices two years after its debut, while Android Nougat has a share of 20.6 percent. Android Oreo, the latest version of Google’s mobile OS, is presently on 0.3 percent devices; this marks an increase from last month, when the figure stood at 0.2 percent. The data comes courtesy the Google Play distribution data for the seven-day period ending November 9. Android Lollipop, the ageing build released over three years ago, still has the second biggest share of devices at 27.2 percent.

Intex Aqua Jewel 2, Lions T1 smartphones launched
Intex has launched the Aqua Jewel 2 and Lions T1 smartphones in India, aimed at first-time smartphone buyers. Priced at Rs. 5,899, the Intex Aqua Jewel 2 is an Android 7.0 Nougat-based dual-SIM smartphone with 5-inch HD screen, 1.3GHz quad-core Spreadtrum processor, and 2GB of RAM. It comes with 16GB internal storage, supports microSD cards up to 32GB, and has a 5-megapixel front camera, 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and 2500mAh battery. The Intex Aqua Lions T1 costs Rs. 4,999 and has a 5.2-inch qHD screen, Android 7.0 Nougat software, 1.3GHz quad-core chipset, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage, microSD support up to 64GB, 8-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera, and 2700mAh battery.