Motorola began taking preorders Thursday for the moto g stylus mid-tier 4G smartphone. The $299 6.8-inch phone has a two-day battery life and a built-in stylus that integrates with the Moto Note app, the company emailed Thursday. The camera array includes a 50-megapixel front camera, 118-degree ultra-side-angle lens and macro lens for closeups, it said. The phone will be available unlocked from Amazon.com, Best Buy, Motorola.com and Walmart. Consumer Cellular and Cricket will offer the device in coming months, it said.

Global Q4 smartphone shipments declined year over year, for a second straight quarter of negative growth, reported IDC Thursday. Vendors shipped 362.4 million phones during the holiday quarter, 3.2% fewer than in 2020's Q4, it said. A strong first half spurred 5.7% growth in full-year 2021 shipments, to 1.35 billion handsets, it said. “There's no question the second half of 2021 failed to meet expectations with volumes declining 4.5%” year over year, said IDC analyst Ryan Reith. The supply chain bottlenecks and components shortages “started to have meaningful impact on the smartphone market as we entered the second half of the year, and this continues to be the case as we've now entered 2022,” he said. “We expect to see supply and logistical challenges continue through the first half of this year, but we currently believe we'll return to growth in the second quarter and second half of 2022.” Demand remains strong “in many markets,” spurred by “increasing consumer interest in 5G and new form factors like foldables," he said. Apple maintained top global Q4 share, despite its 2.9% decline in year-over-year shipments, said IDC. No. 2 Samsung gained 2 points of share on Apple by virtue of its 8.1% increase in shipments during the quarter.

Xiaomi is embedding Inner Beauty AI virtual proximity sensors from Elliptic Labs in its upcoming Redmi Note series smartphones, said the Oslo, Norway-based sensor maker Thursday. Replacing hardware sensors with a software version has environmental and cost benefits, while eliminating supply chain risk, said the company. The virtual proximity sensor turns off the phone’s display and disables the screen’s touch functionality when users hold the device to their ears on a phone call, saving battery life and reducing the risk of an ear or cheek triggering unwanted actions during a call, such as hanging up or dialing numbers inadvertently, it said.

Apple generated 22% of Q4 global smartphone shipments on strong iPhone 13 demand; Samsung followed at 20%, said a preliminary Canalys report Tuesday. Supply chain problems and COVID-19 limited overall shipment growth to 1%. Apple had “unprecedented” iPhone sales in mainland China on “aggressive pricing,” said the research firm. Though Apple’s supply chain is “starting to recover,” it was forced to cut production in Q4 due to shortages of key components, but supply chain disruptions affected low-end vendors the most, said analyst Nicole Peng. “Component manufacturers are eking out additional production, but it will take years for major foundries to significantly increase chip capacity.” Smartphone brands are responding by tweaking device specifications in response to available materials, approaching emerging chipmakers to secure new sources for ICs, focusing product lines on best-selling models and staggering new product releases, she said: Bottlenecks won't ease until the second half.

Sony’s Xperia 5 III smartphone, announced last year, is now shipping in the U.S., the company said Tuesday. The unlocked 5G phone is available from Sony authorized retailers for $999; orders placed by Feb. 27 will also get the WF-1000XM3 wireless noise-canceling earbuds (up to a $200 value) and 43,200 Call of Duty: Mobile CP Points with purchase (a $500 value). The 6.1-inch Android phone has an HDR OLED display, four focal lengths in photo and video recording, and 360 Spatial sound for up-mixing stereo music into an “immersive audio experience,” Sony said.

Don't get too prescriptive in rules to prevent SIM swap and port-out fraud, telecom interests said in FCC docket 21-341 replies that were due Tuesday. Comments last month requested flexibility (see 2111160036). Local number portability administrator (LNPA) interests said they don't have a role in verifying subscribers' identities. Saying the record doesn't show that SIM swap and port-out fraud is widespread, CTIA said the commission should expand its list of “secure authentication method" examples. "Enshrining authentication requirements into rigid regulations is not an effective way to fight the bad actors behind these fraudulent schemes," it said. It opposed prescribing specific authentication methods or being rigid in authentication requirements. Opus Research urged looking at other authentication methods, such as voice biometrics. Carrier Bandwidth said creating rules solely oriented to wireless services and numbers is "unlikely to effectuate the Commission’s stated objectives." It said the FCC should "lead the industry to develop and adopt improved competitively neutral text enablement methods and procedures that are consistent with established solutions in the toll free texting space." North American Portability Management said the agency should reject proposals for the LNPA to play a role in disputes between carriers and in identification of numbers. Iconectiv said the Number Portability Administration Center service management service and LNPA aren't involved in the pre-port process, nor do they have access to customer information, and thus don't have a role in identification of a customer or the request and response of information exchanged between current and new service providers.

Samsung cornered 93% global share of the foldable smartphones market in Q3, with Huawei accounting for most of the rest, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Tuesday. Q3 was a record quarter for foldables, when the 2.6 million handsets shipped surpassed the previous four quarters combined, growing 480% year over year, said DSCC. Samsung’s August release of its Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3 phones at mainstream prices, backed by strong promotional support, helped fuel the category’s “unprecedented” momentum, it said. Additional growth is expected in Q4, when the new Samsung foldables will have been "available for a full quarter,” said DSCC CEO Ross Young. He forecast 450% year-over-year Q4 growth to 3.8 million handsets, with Samsung increasing its stranglehold on the market to 95% global share.

Global smartphone sales to end users declined 6.8% year over year in Q3 to 342.3 million handsets, reported Gartner Tuesday. “Component shortages disrupted production schedules, leading to lower inventory and delayed product availability, which eventually impacted sales to end-users,” said Gartner. Samsung maintained top global share at 20.2%, but Apple stormed into second place past Xiaomi via its nearly 20% increase in units to 48.46 million iPhones.

Verizon asked the FCC for a waiver of its handset unlocking requirement for devices on the Tracfone network, after it completes a buy of the prepaid provider. “Wireless providers face a significant risk that opportunists will acquire heavily discounted devices and sell them or take them elsewhere, diverting subsidies intended to help customers obtain wireless service,” Verizon said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-112. Under rules for the 700 MHz C block Verizon bought in the 2008 auction, it’s subject to unique “open platform” requirements, including a limited ability to lock devices, the carrier said. “Since 2019, Verizon has operated under a waiver that allows Verizon to apply a 60-day lock to devices that include the 700 MHz C Block frequencies,” it said: “Verizon automatically unlocks the device at the conclusion of the 60-day period, absent evidence of fraud.” The problem is “some TracFone devices are not capable of unlocking automatically, and Verizon will need some temporary relief from the automatic unlocking commitment for those devices.”

Supply chain bottlenecks and chip shortages forced a 6.7% decline in Q3 global smartphone shipments to 331.2 million handsets, reported IDC Thursday. Though a slight decline was expected in the seasonally low quarter, the actual decline was more than twice the projected rate, it said. "Supply chain and component shortage issues have finally caught up to the smartphone market, which until now seemed almost immune to this issue despite its adverse impact on many other adjacent industries," said analyst Nabila Popal. “Stricter testing and quarantining policies are delaying transportation, and power supply constraints in China are restricting manufacturing of key components. Despite all efforts to mitigate the impact, all major vendors' production targets for the fourth quarter have been adjusted downwards.” IDC doesn't expect “supply-side” improvement until “well into next year," said Popal. Samsung maintained the top position with 20.8% global share, but Apple leapfrogged Xiaomi to No. 2 with a 20.8% year-over-year increase in iPhone unit shipments, to Xiaomi’s 4.6% decline, said IDC.