Apple’s iPhones are not as water-resistant as you think, Reddit reveals its daily user count for the first time, and Amazon has the biggest holiday shopping season in its history.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, December 2, and I’m your host Baneet Braich.
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iPhone water resistance claims ruled unfair; Apple fined $12M from technology
Are Apple’s phones really water-resistant? Italy’s regulators don’t seem to think so. They have fined Apple $12M for making water-resistant leading claims about iPhone’s water resistance. The Italian antitrust authority says Apple made water resistance claims without clarifying to consumers that these were true in ideal laboratory conditions, and phones did not pass the tests in real-life conditions. The second part is that Apple made resistance claims in its marketing but then refuses warranty service on phones with water damage. According to 9-5MAC, Apple fits iPhones with internal indicators which show when there has been water entry in the device. Apple has its own policy to deny warranty repair or replacement when this indicator is activated. Experts say this issue could lead to further fines in the EU and US.
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Reddit reveals daily active user count for the first time: 52 million from technology
Reddit has revealed its daily user count for the first time publicly. The social media giant hit a record high of 52 million active users for the first time, Reddit told The Wall Street Journal, adding daily usage grew 44 per cent year over year for October. When compared to Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook, Reddit has a daily usage growth rate that’s far faster than theirs. The growth is credited to Reddit’s redesign in 2018 and adding features like galleries and polls. It also began cracking down more on problematic communities. Despite the positive take from Reddit, the overall number of users on the platform woes in comparison to the other giants. Twitter has 187 million daily users, Snap has 249 million, and Facebook has 1.82 billion.
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And lastly, another tech giant is seeing growth as well. Amazon says this year’s holiday shopping season has been the biggest in its history. Amazon did not reveal its sales figures but says independent businesses made an estimated $4.8 billion in global sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, which is a 60 per cent increase since last year. This year’s Cyber Monday is the largest U.S. online shopping event ever, closing up to $11.4 billion, according to Reuters. Shoppers mainly refrained from physical stores due to COVID-19. [LinkedIn thread]
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Baneet Braich, thanks for listening.