Tipsters reckon the three could be the Nothing 3, Nothing 3a and Nothing 3 Pro.

The first Nothing phone was released in July 2022, and the Nothing 2 followed in July 2023. The 2a was made available in March 2024, and the 2a Plus in July 2024.

The came the 2a Plus Community Edition: “Using green-tinted phosphorescent material finishes, elements of the back of the phone emit a soft glow in the dark. Like fireflies, the glowing feature can also be functional. Allowing you to locate your phone in the dark.”

A phone believed to be the 3 popped up recently on Geekbench with the model code A059.

It runs Android 15, has 8GB RAM and 7.25GB of memory.

Geekbench scored it 2,813 in multi-core testing and 1,149 in single-core testing.

Geekbench stats on new Nothing phone, tipped to be the Nothing 3.

Fans of the handsets eagerly awaiting the Nothing 3 would see nothing in 2024, Nothing boss Carl Pei conceded in June, but there are signs three new Nothing phones will be rolled out in 2025.

Tech types are curious to see how Nothing will go about integrating AI into the 3 range.

In June Pei posted on X: “There’s been a lot of hype around AI. Some great, some confusing. It’s great to see new companies rethinking the user experience and form factors. However, there is no doubt that smartphones will remain the main consumer AI form factor for the foreseeable future.

“The way we use our smartphones needs to be redefined. The current user experience hasn’t evolved for more than a decade! The next era needs a highly personalized, dynamic, and cross-device interface. One that also creates a human connection that makes tech feel more at ease to interact with.

“For the last two months, we’ve been designing and prototyping AI interactions. Expect this to be improved and gradually introduced, starting with Phone (3) next year. It’s important we get the product right, integrating hardware and AI in a way that is both useful and brings a smile to people’s faces.”

The Nothing 2a 5G 128GB (Milk White) retails for $529, but at the time of writing JB Hi-Fi had it at the sale price of $426.

Released on November 28 in Australia, Moana 2 opened to $1.76 million at the Australian box office, making it the highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios opening day film of all time.

It puts Moana 2 as the biggest animated opening day film post pandemic and the second-highest opening day of 2024, only behind Deadpool & Wolverine.

While Universal’s Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II have jostled for viewership at cinemas, Moana 2 is emerging as a clear frontrunner. For comparison, in its third weekend of its international release, Gladiator II is now at $208.8 million (A$321.55 million) overseas, for a global running total of $320 million (A$492.8 million).

The first Moana, which was released in a staggered overseas pattern in 2016, did approximately A$99.64 million abroad in like-for-like markets at today’s rates.

It was an original IP at the time and has since gained huge awareness through Disney+.

The original Moana film starring the voice talents of Auli‘i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson crossed 1 billion hours streamed on Disney+.

“Seeing the popularity of Moana grow since it was released eight years ago is incredible,” said Jared Bush, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios.

“We spend so long making these movies, and everyone puts their heart into them. That people still find themselves in her story and want to be with Moana on the canoe, it’s a dream come true.”

Apart from Australia, Moana 2 also logged the second-highest Walt Disney Animation Studio opening ever in Germany, Spain, UK and Ireland, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland, among other international markets.

Recently Intelligent Investor reported that the business is currently investing $330 billion alone in a new processor plant, and to put that into prospective one only has to look at the entire market capitalisation of BHP which is currently $202bn.

ChannelNews took a deep dive into the South Korean business who recently laid off staff in Australia; after reporting a fall in both profits and revenue similar to the steep falls reported by archrival LG Electronics whose market capitalisation is only A$17.4 billion which is a pittance compared to Samsung’s $412.87 billion capitalisation.

Current Chairman Jae-Yong Lee who was last week pleading not to be sent back to jail, has already done time in prison after he was convicted in 2021 for trying to bribe Geun-hye Park, President of South Korea, who got 25 years for her part in the same investigation.

For most companies, this would have been devastating, a scandal of the highest order with the share price of the business which is currently down 29% rising 29% while he was serving his initial sentence.

For Samsung, it barely registered with the Chairman stepping out of prison to instantly get back down to business running Samsung from outside a prison cell, and that included meetings with US President Joe Biden that resulted in a US$6.6 billion-dollar subsidy from the US Government to Samsung who is currently investing heavily in the USA.

Analysts at Intelligent Investor recently told clients that Samsung who began as a dried fish and noodle trading company in 1938 is “Not a normal Company”.

The business started using leftover Japanese industrial equipment to become the centre piece of the Korean economy.

Jae-Yong Lee’s father Lee Kun-hee and Hong Ra-hee his mother became known as ‘chaebols’ because of their tireless work in turning the business into a conglomerate spanning more than appliances and TV’s.

Today the business is into healthcare, biotech, advertising, shipbuilding, and even (branded) sports teams as well as banking, insurance, construction, and resorts.

The Crown jewel is Samsung Electronics who deliver sales equivalent to 11% of South Korea’s GDP.

A key partner of CE and appliance retailers in Australia, retailers, resellers and key partners are, only exposed to a small part of their business, and because of the size of the Australia market, the region is not seen as a major contributor, other than in the smartphone market for the simple reason Australians are among the highest acquirers of premium smart phones where Apple and Samsung dominate.

Whichever way you look at Samsung’s global revenues, they are either the world’s number one or number two company by revenue, or volume, in multiple categories and that’s before you take into consideration their technological edge such as their leadership in the AI space found in their mobile phones and tablets today, with TV’s and appliances set to be added to that list at CES 2025 where a new range of TV’s and appliances with advanced AI are set to be revealed.

What’s surprised me is Samsung’s reluctance to launch a range of PCs in Australia to support their tablets and smartphones despite their success overseas.

They are already the world’s number one computer memory producer, number two computer logic producer with their slim powerful PC’s range flying off shelves in the USA.

A review of the business by categories reveals that Samsung’s revenues exceed 100% when tallied by division because its business which manufacturers components such as OLED Display screen and processors for the likes of Apple who just happen to be not only their archrival but their biggest customer.

While Samsung provides everything from computer chip fabrication to memory and displays to Apple for their iPhones, Mac PC’s notebooks, iPads Should Apple wish to break up with Samsung, it has limited alternatives especially as the incoming Trump administration wants to slap a 25% tariff on anything coming out of China.

In logic fabrication, Apple’s only other options are TSMC or the troubled Intel.

In the all-important memory market, Samsung leads with around 40% market share.

In screens, Samsung has similar dominance according to analysts.

investment Financial Services has pointed out to their investors that Samsung’s average forward PER has been 15.5 for some time, but is now trading at 9.2, Vs 31 for Apple, 18 for TMC, and just 4.0 for archrival Hynix, another South Korean chaebol and the second-largest memory producer.

One of Samsung’s past problems has been meeting demand, despite having leading memory products, the South Korean Company struggled to keep up with demand with their factories needing to be expanded and upgraded.

Key competitor SK Hynix captured market share as a result of this.

Samsung Galaxy Fold6 & Flip6

Questions are also being asked about the S25 which is expected to be launched on January 22nd, 2024, and the future of the Samsung Exynos house brand processor which have been a victim of production delays and yield issues.

he products also underperform against Apple, Qualcomm, and Mediatek alternatives.

ChannelNews understands that Samsung has cut a deal with Qualcomm for their latest process that will be used to power the new top end Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Let’s cut to the key facts, there is no death spiral happening at Samsung, this is a Company that can quickly reengineer themselves and that started last week with multiple new appointments of senior executives to head up key divisions at the conglomerate.

Expression of anger at poor performance is a key part of Samsung’s D&A.

In 1995, Kun-hee Lee- former Samsung chairman, son of founding chairman, and father of current chairman – was so furious with the inadequacy of Samsung products that he had 150,000 phones gathered at the factory and burnt in a bonfire as senior executives and key employees looked on.

A role at Samsung is widely considered the most elite career path in South Korea, open to only two tenths of one percent of the population, these executives many who have ended up in Australia have lost staff who are not prepared to put up with the Korean 6 or 7 days a week work ethics that many Australians are not prepared to put up with.

Despite family control and nepotism, Samsung’s management is consistently rated highly.

This year, in the face of strategic and execution missteps and strikes by workers demanding less hours and more pay, the company implemented a 64-hour workweek.

The vice chairman also issued a public apology for the mishandling of key divisions memory and mobile where the Exynos processor spruiked by Samsung is now seen as an obsolete processor.While the stumbles aren’t good news, they appear immaterial to long-term prospects.

The complexity of semiconductors, the evolution of mobile phones and the expansion of AI means companies need to invest and Samsung is throwing billions at their future and that of the entire industry.

Retailers need Samsung, Manufacturers such as Apple need Samsung and the investment of a mere $500 billion + over the next few years is tipped to produce some cutting-edge capabilities.

To put this expenditure into prospective, Australia’s national debt is forecast to increase from 32.0% of GDP ($881.9 billion) in 2024‑25 to 35.7% of GDP ($1,136.3 billion) in 2027‑28 due in part to heavy borrowing by the current Labor Government.

The premium piece of gear has a 27-inch, QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440) WOLED display with a 0.03milliseconds Gray-to-Gray (GTG) response time.

It joined the Asus ROG Swift OLED gaming monitor at the 480Hz refresh rate.

Well, according to news out of Korea, Samsung is set to trump LG and Asus with a 500Hz OLED panel. 

Display Daily says a translated ET News report from Korea states Samsung “is in the final stages of developing” the panel. 

“According to the publication’s industry sources, Samsung Display is currently in discussions with major monitor manufacturers for commercialisation, with plans to launch products incorporating the new panel in the first half of next year.

A Samsung Odyssey gaming monitor.

“While some LCD panels have achieved 500Hz refresh rates, they were limited to FHD (1920×1080) resolution.”

In fact, LCD panels on Acer’s new Nitro XV240 F6 have a 1920×1080 resolution and 600Hz refresh rate.

Visitors to CES 2025 in Las Vegas in January may be the first to experience the new Samsung gear.

Hertz, a unit of frequency – is part of the metric International System of Units. The number of hertz, named after German physicist Heinrich Hertz, indicates the number of cycle per second.

“The frequency of any phenomenon with regular periodic variations can be expressed in hertz, but the term is used most frequently in connection with alternating electric currents, electromagnetic waves (light, radar, etc.), and sound,” per Britannica.

Global foldable smartphone shipments declined 1% year-on-year decline in Q3 2024, following six consecutive quarters of year-on-year growth, according to Counterpoint Research.

This was also the first-ever Q3 decline in the segment’s history, which the research company attributed mainly to Samsung’s “relatively underwhelming performance” with its new Galaxy Z6 series. One of the main obstacles to growth of foldables is believed tp be their relatively steep pricing.

Samsung Galaxy Fold6 & Flip6

“The global foldable market appears to have entered a transitionary phase where it is facing challenges as it progresses from a niche segment to the mainstream,” said Jene Park, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint. “User satisfaction is particularly high with book-type foldable devices, but the prohibitively high prices remain the biggest obstacle to mass
adoption.”

Counterpoint found that Samsung regained its position as the global market leader with a 56% share, driven by the Z6 series launch in July. However, the brand’s unit shipments fell 21% year-on-year.

Among Samsung’s new models, the book-type Galaxy Z Fold6 delivered a modest performance, while the clamshell Galaxy Z Flip6 struggled to match its predecessor’s sales.

Samsung’s decline in market share came as competitors in China, mainly Huawei, have debuted devices such as trifolding Mate XT.

Huawei continued its year-on-year growth in foldable shipments, supported by its Mate X5 and Pocket 2 in China. Its newly launched budget-friendly Nova Flip, along with the Mate XT, were more experimental offerings and saw lower shipments than existing models. Counterpoint expects Huawei to drive further growth with the recent launch of the Mate X6.

Honor and Motorola remained among the fastest-growing brands in the foldable market. Samsung is increasingly facing strong competition from Moto with its full range of sub-$1000 Razr flip foldables, and from Honor which has its thin Magic V series book-type foldables.

Xiaomi recorded the highest YoY shipment growth among foldable brands at 185%. The growth was driven by the addition of its first clamshell model, the Mix Flip. The brand’s global shipment share rose to 6% in the third quarter, its highest since entering the foldable market in Q1 2021.

The youth targeted brand, that operates on the Telstra network is set to deliver an audience that Telstra who is seen as an expensive 5G network has struggled to deliver in the past.

Jason Hayes who was recently promoted to CEO of the Boost business in Australia said “My role over the coming months will be to help the Boost business transition and integrate into Telstra”.

Hayes who is set to leave the business, with questions already being raised about the culture of the Boost brand under Telstra management after the current management succesfully went where Telstra has been unable to go with their Belong brand which appears to have been a dismal failure.

Hayes added “The strong performance of the business means that Telstra is acquiring a brand poised for continued growth, and I look forward to helping ensure the business is effectively integrated to continue Boost’s success. Beyond this transition period, I will then be departing the business, with pride at what was achieved during my 8-year tenure leading Boost Mobile, including growing the business to a position that has enabled a successful sale for our shareholders.”

In 2012, Optus ended its business relationship with Boost, who then switched to the Telstra network.

In March 2013, Boost began to offer products and services under the Boost Pre-paid Mobile brand as an MVNO hosted on the Telstra Next G network.

Boost was the only Telstra MVNO with access to the full Telstra mobile network across regional/rural Australia.

On 30 May 2022, Boost began rolling out 5G service access to all customers with a compatible service and device.

Then in February 2024, Boost began provisioning eSIM through their mobile applications.

eSIM were made available for both existing and new Boost Mobile services on iOS and Android smartphones that supported eSIM functionality.

Peter Adderton the founder of Boost Mobile sold the US rights to the Boost brand to US carrier Nextel Communications.

The business was then acquired by Sprint Corporation and Boost Mobile became a subsidiary of the merged company, Sprint Nextel Corporation.

Currently Boost Mobile is sold at 10,000 retailers across Australia including Coles and Woolworths.

The only downside could be if JB Hi Fi sees the brand as a disrupter to the sale of other products they offer.

AFR sources said Telstra was advised by Gilbert + Tobin, while Boost used Allens and Miles Advisory.

Boost Media has more than 1 million users, which is a key metric on valuing businesses of its ilk.

As an example, rival Optus in 2020 paid $250 million for Amaysim which had 1.17 million customers.

Telstra’s last foray on the M&A circuit saw it pay $267.5 million for cloud specialist Versent in October 2023.

Updates to follow.

From January 2025 around 500 of Costco’s more than 600 US stores will no longer stock books from January to December, according to Publishers Weekly. 

In a ray of sunshine for the publishing industry, Costco will continue year-round sales of books at the other 100 stores.

“Costco, along with other mass merchandisers such has Walmart and Target, has become an important bricks-and-mortar outlet for print books,” Publishers Weekly says. 

“Not only do they have the capability of selling tens-of thousands copies of a title, but they serve as important places for consumers to discover new titles not typically sold in other stores and which can be difficult to find online.”

Costco Australia. Photo: ADCO.

According to the site “publishing executives see 2025 as an important year for the future of books at Costco. If sales remain strong and a more user-friendly model is created, Costco could return full-year book sections to more stores. If sales decline, however, book sections across the chain could all move to the holiday season model”.

ChannelNews has sought comment from Costco Australia on what impact, if any, it will have on the Australian operation.

There are 16 Costco outlets in Australia. 

Costco operates in 15 countries including Iceland, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, the UK and Canada.

According to its website its annual turnover is around US$64 billion (A$98 billion). 

Stocking books in Costco is labour intensive as it generally has to be done by hand, unlike other products that can be dropped in place by forklift.

Tech reviewers testing the tool have observed that Recall fails to save the snapshots that allow the function to work.

It may take “several minutes” for a snapshot to save, which may leave delays in the AI processing, reported CNBC. Another senior editor at The Verge, Tom Warren, said that snapshots were not saving at all in his experience.

There doesn’t seem to be a ready patch to sort this issue out. Instead, Microsoft has recommended the basic computer restart method to tackle the issue.

The company sent out an advisory notice to the Dev channel of its Windows Insiders program, which are the main users currently previewing the Recall feature.

“Some users experience a delay before snapshots first appear in the timeline while using their device. If snapshots do not appear after 5 minutes, reboot your device. If saving snapshots is enabled, but you see snapshots are no longer being saved, reboot your device, ” Microsoft said in a blog post.

Even though the rollout of the tool has been delayed, even now the preview is initially only available on Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus PCs, with support for Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot Plus PCs expected to follow soon.

Recall takes screenshots of almost everything you do on a Copilot Plus PC. It makes this information searchable and therefore easy to recall a memory or retrace your steps.

If you enable snapshots to be recorded by Recall, you can use the Recall app to search for what you were working on previously using natural language queries.

The Recall feature in Copilot+ PCs will be offered as an opt-in feature, and the tool automatically detects sensitive information like credit card details, passwords, and personal ID numbers and does not save those snapshots.

The Chemist Warehouse website crashed on Friday, seemingly unable to cope with all the people wanting to buy discount perfume ahead of Christmas.

Those who went to the site to look for Black Friday deals were met with a message: “You are now in line. Thanks for your patience. We are experiencing a high volume of traffic and using a virtual queue to limit the amount of users on the website at the same time. This will ensure you have the best possible online experience.

“Your estimated wait time is 58 minutes. This page will automatically refresh, please do not close your browser.”

Chemist Warehouse website down.

The good news was that the 58 minutes didn’t take 58 minutes.

After about 25 minutes ChannelNews was forwarded to an odd-looking Chemist Warehouse page (see top image).

The bad news was that when we clicked on a link to take us to the home page, we were redirected back to the “You are now in line” message. And the clock had reset.

Black Friday JB Hi-Fi.

The site has been unable to process visitors for at least four hours.

Other websites appear to be handling the Black Friday traffic in Australia.

Black Friday Good Guys.

At the time of publishing sites including JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Kmart, LEGO, Officeworks, Myer, Big W, Amazon Australia, Kogan and David Jones were all up and running.

ChannelNews reported last year on the Harvey Norman website crashing on Black Friday. Today the company’s website was working.

Market research firm TrendForce last year estimated that sales of OLED monitors would quadruple in 2023 and double in 2024 to cross 1 million sales.

Samsung 49″ Odyssey OLED G95SD Curved DQHD Gaming Monitor.

Samsung is currently leading the OLED monitor market with its QD-OLED panel technology.

The company is expected to secure the top spot owing to strong sales of its 49-inch OLED monitors and a steady pipeline of new product releases. Samsung’s 2024 market share is forecast to expand to 31%.

TrendForce says that LGE with its ample panel resources and steady product line expansion, is poised to take second place with a projected 19% market share.

The research firm claims that Asus, with its focus on high-end products, is set to grow its OLED monitor shipments significantly in 2024. The brand is forecast to closely compete with Dell for third place in the market.

As for MSI, TrendForce says that its aggressive expansion into new sales channels has resulted in substantial growth in overall monitor shipments, with the company recording the highest growth rate across all categories.

OLED monitor shipments for MSI are projected to increase at the fastest rate, elevating its market share to 11% and securing its position as the fifth-largest brand.

Meanwhile, Gigabyte, with the launch of new OLED models, is projected to rank sixth in market share.

There are currently two mainstream OLED panel technologies – QD-OLED (Samsung Display) and WOLED (LG Display) – available for monitors.

QD-OLED’s share of total OLED monitor shipments is expected to rise from 53.5% in 2023 to 73% in 2024. In contrast, WOLED’s market share is forecast to decline to 26%, with RBG OLED accounting for just 1%.

Also seeking to capture a large share of the OLED market is TCL which has begun mass production of inkjet-printed OLED panels. This technology directly challenges the likes of LG Display and Samsung Display with the inkjet-printed OLEDs having a wide range of applications including notebooks, monitors, and TVs.

TCL CSOT, the display manufacturing arm of TCL, said that its first mass-produced 21.6-inch 4K product using this technology has already entered the mass production cycle.

In addition to the 21.6-inch 4K OLED, mainly intended for medical monitors, the company also unveiled a 27-inch inkjet-printed OLED prototype.