Apple Tops the List of Ten Best Selling Smartphones in Q2 of 2024

As Q2 2024 is over, the smartphone market has seen some rise in its global shipment. There’s a list of top ten best selling smartphones, according to Global Smartphone Model Sales Tracker. Even though Samsung is dominating the top ten list, iPhone is still at the top in Q2 2024. Apple’s iPhone 15 was the best selling smartphone in Q2 2024. Overall, Apple secured 4 spots in the top ten list, while Samsung secured 5 spots.

Most of iPhone 15’s sales were seen in regions like LATAM and APAC, while iPhone 15 Pro Max moved down to the second spot in Q2. iPhone 15 Pro was the third most sold smartphone in Q2 2024. It was the third best selling smartphone in Q1 of 2024 too.

Samsung’s A15 5G was the fourth best selling smartphone in Q2, while A15 4G was the fifth best selling. Samsung’s GenAI capabilities of S24 series made the smartphone popular among users, plus the availability of Samsung in wider regions also made Samsung models best selling. Samsung A05 was the eighth best selling smartphone in Q2. Samsung’s affordable prices also contributed to the sales.

Xiaomi made it to the top ten best selling list after a year. Its Redmi 13C model was the seventh best selling smartphone in Q2 of 2024. It was easily accessible to many regions and MEA and LATAM saw an increase in its sales. Out of ten smartphones, six smartphones which were best selling in Q2 of 2024 belong to the premium price band. This shows that many users prefer using premium smartphones.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

What’s Behind the 43% Rise in Crypto Scams? “Pig Butchering” Takes Center Stage!

According to a new report by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, a scam known as "pig butchering" is on the rise. In this scam, victims are often lured into fake romantic relationships, where they are persuaded to make large investments. Once the money is invested, the scammers disappear. This year alone, scammers based in Myanmar have stolen $101.22 million using this tactic. Other scams, like address poisoning, drainers, and work-from-home schemes, are also becoming more common.

Scammers typically attract their victims through social media and dating apps like Tinder, Facebook, and Match.com. The report shows a 43% increase in these types of scams this year, with most of the stolen funds being transferred to wallets that were newly created in 2024. By comparison, only 30% of stolen funds went to wallets opened in 2022.

The duration of these scams is also changing. As technology advances, the lifespan of a typical scam is getting shorter, dropping from an average of 271 days to just 42 days. This reduction may be due to increased enforcement and stablecoin issuers blacklisting scam addresses.

Data from Immunefi supports the idea that criminal activity in the crypto market is decreasing, with losses dropping nearly twenty-fold in August compared to previous months. This decline is partly because no significant hacks have been reported in August so far. However, there was a notable exception in July, when the crypto exchange WazirX was hacked, resulting in a loss of $230 million.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

How Smart Home Apps Are Compromising User Privacy with Excessive Data Collection

In a world dominated by technology, the idea of privacy has quietly slipped away. Surfshark's Research Hub talks about "Smart Home Privacy," which reveals how many home security apps disregard user privacy and often collect too much personal data without consent. The study shows that a security camera app can be one of the biggest collectors of user data.

Surfshark reveals that an outdoor security camera apps can gather your phone numbers, email addresses, location and payment information. Many other smart home apps can also do the same thing. But an outdoor security camera app can collect your information 50% more than any other smart home apps. The outdoor security camera apps which were analyzed took 7 out of 12 data points to the users’ identity.

The indoor security camera apps can also collect your data but less than outdoor security camera apps. On average, they collect 9 data points, out of which 6 are linked to the user's identity. These data points include email addresses, user IDs, purchase histories, audio data and phone numbers. These indoor and outdoor security camera apps also gather names, physical addresses and other contact information of users which can be used to contact users outside the app.

There are some outdoor apps which gather the most user information like LOREX and Deep Sentinel. These two apps collect 18 out of 32 data points which link to the user's identity. The indoor security app, Nest Lab, gathers 17 data points linked to users, followed by Ring and Arlo Apps. Both of these apps collect 15 data points. If no regulations and standards are implemented on these data apps, they can pose a lot of risks and threats to users including cyber attacks, data breaches and physical harm. After collecting the data, these apps give that data to data brokers or third party companies which can bring a lot of harm to users.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

The Fate Of Twitter’s Investors: Wealth Destruction Worth Billions Thanks To Elon Musk

Purchasing a tech platform like Twitter was a lot of work for Elon Musk. In case you did not know, he didn’t do it singlehandedly.

Mush purchased the app and renamed it X. While he did use a huge amount of his wealth to cover the massive $44B costs in 2022, a list of investors and bank loans went a long way to achieve the financial objectives.

During that era, many were in awe of Musk who managed to attract dozens of leading investors worldwide. Musk was given two thumbs up regarding his leadership skills and many praised him for his confidence in taking on this decision. However, it appears that they might have spoken too soon.

Some might be still happy with the investment while others feel the deal was a huge mistake to begin with. Investors are not happy with the way things have turned out for Twitter, now X. The company’s valuation is nowhere near what it used to be, and clearly, things went downhill quickly.

The end result is investors losing out on billions. Thanks to a new analysis by The Washington Post, the eight top investments reported by the US are today worth a staggering $5B less than what they were at the time.

It would not be wrong to mention that Musk’s intervention to make Twitter better with his ideology of X failed. Many experts now agree that Twitter should have never been in the hands of Elon Musk, to begin with.

The company’s main means of generating revenue was advertising. After seeing Musk’s controversial decision-making skills and opinionated beliefs, most advertisers fled. Hence, the goal for Musk and executives right now is to make monetization a top priority.

It’s hard to get a clear financial picture of where the company stands today as it’s a private firm. But there are a few things that are now crystal clear: the current stance of some of the biggest investors and how much they differ from that seen in the past.

Let’s begin with the tech billionaire himself, Elon Musk. He began with $33.5B which came from his own personal wealth combined with Tesla’s shares. Today, it’s worth $9.38B so it’s a drop of $24.1B.

Next, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal from the Kingdom Holding Co. invested $1.8B, and today the valuation is $529M. The losses incurred are close to $1.36B. Out of all the investors, he’s the most optimistic as he continues to see X prosper in the future.

Jack Dorsey who was Twitter’s co-founder and the ex-CEO invested $1B and today that’s worth just $280M. The losses incurred are close to $720M. In case you’re still wondering, he regrets Musk's decision to purchase Twitter.

Larry Ellison who is Oracle’s co-founder and chairman of the board invested $1B which is today worth $280M. Losses incurred are roughly $720M, again not a great decision. Meanwhile, Sequoia Capital’s investment was $800M and that stands at $224M today. The losses incurred are $576M.

Moving on to Vy Capital, investments included $700 which are today worth just $196M. Losses incurred are $504 million. While Binance was excited to invest $500M and bring Elon Musk’s vision to life, they stand at just $140M with losses hitting $360M.

Andreessen Horowitz invested $400M in the company but incurred $288M worth of losses as their valuation stands at $112M today. Last but not least, the Qatar Investment Authority invested $375M whose value has declined by $270M to reach just $105M. While the company’s head showed support for Musk in 2023, we’re not quite sure if he will be too happy with the current stance of the firm.

With the majority, if not all investors underwater, this is not the picture that Musk would have liked to show the world. The reality is Elon Musk’s uptake of Twitter has caused a huge amount of wealth destruction.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next:

• Google’s AI Overviews Are Deeply Impacting Publisher Visibility On Search, New Study Shows

• Gamelight Over-Delivers D30 ROAS by 246% for Sunshine Island by Stillfront Group

by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Gamelight Over-Delivers D30 ROAS by 246% for Sunshine Island by Stillfront Group

In a recent campaign, game development company Stillfront Group partnered with user acquisition company Gamelight to scale the user base for their farming simulator mobile title, Sunshine Island.

The campaign ran on iOS and Android in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. Impressive results were achieved with Gamelight's AI-powered recommendation platform, which aims to find the perfect player for each title and user base.

The Campaign Success Factors

The key factors that made these results possible were primarily centered around Gamelight’s platform's sophisticated AI targeting for optimization, which utilized advanced algorithms to accurately target the potential players most likely to engage with Sunshine Island.

Additionally, the campaign incorporated 18 varied in-game events, strategically designed to maintain player interest and diversify their interactions within the game. A long-term event postback window provided deeper insights by allowing for extended analysis of user behavior, which enhanced targeting and optimization strategies. Furthermore, real-time data and feedback loops facilitated ongoing adjustments to the campaign, ensuring its responsiveness and sustained success in engaging players effectively.

Achieved Results

The campaign for Sunshine Island not only met but substantially surpassed Stillfront's objectives, thanks to the AI-driven platform utilized by Gamelight. The D30 ROAS goals were exceeded across multiple markets including the UK, Germany, South Korea, and Japan, with an overall performance boost of over 200%.

Specifically, the ROAS over-delivery reached 246% on Android and 223% on iOS. This achievement highlights the effectiveness of Gamelight’s user acquisition platform, which, by leveraging its advanced AI algorithms, was able to pinpoint and engage the target audiences effectively, thereby exceeding the set targets by significant margins.

The campaign experienced extraordinary success in Japan and South Korea, significantly over-delivering the D30 ROAS goals by 284%.

The high engagement levels in these regions indicate that players in Japan and South Korea particularly value and respond positively to personalized mobile content, highlighting the strategic importance of customized marketing approaches in these markets.

User acquisition manager Ana López from Stillfront Group who worked on the campaign, commented about the collaboration: “Gamelight's excellent track record in delivering high-performing traffic has enabled us to quickly and profitably scale our campaigns, ultimately exceeding our game goals. Excited to keep working together for more success!”

About Stillfront Group

Stillfront Group is a global games company established in 2010 in Sweden. They develop digital games that cater to a diverse audience, with their extensive portfolio reaching nearly 70 million users monthly. Their title, Sunshine Island, is a vibrant island-building tycoon game where players start from scratch to create an island, raise animals, explore new archipelagos, compete with other players, and build a thriving community.

In Conclusion

Gamelight's campaign for Stillfront’s Sunshine Island not only reached but significantly exceeded its objectives, achieving an impressive 246% ROAS over- delivery on Android and 223% on iOS. These results demonstrate the success of Gamelight's AI-driven strategy in effectively engaging target markets and optimizing user acquisition. The outstanding results in Japan and South Korea, with a 284% over-delivery on D30 ROAS goals, underscore the platform's ability to tailor content that resonates with specific audiences, setting the stage for future collaborative successes and sustained growth in global markets.

by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Google’s AI Overviews Are Deeply Impacting Publisher Visibility On Search, New Study Shows

A new study is shedding light on Google’s AI Overviews and how they are negatively impacting the visibility of publishers inside search results.

Image: DIW-Aigen

For those who might not be aware, Google delivers AI-generated summaries at the top of search results for all of its users across the US and UK. While this technology was first cut back in May of this year, thanks to the widespread inaccuracies, it’s back.

Google says it has worked long and hard to fix the errors that many had noticed in the past. Now, it appears like it’s back to where we began as a study carried out on queries in the US and UK showed how Overviews continued to trend, affecting up to 17% of all search results in these regions.

The authors also highlighted how AI-generated summaries are rarely ever delivered by Google when the topic of discussion is current affairs. However, they do negatively impact publisher visibility when seen in search for content that’s not time-sensitive.

In the past, we saw a leading website under the ownership of Martha Steward take the lead position for search results linked to killing wasps. Now, AI versions have replaced that easily and take the lead in the search along with sponsored links. The old trending article from Martha Stewart is found towards the bottom third of the page.

Plenty of other examples can be found where old trending stories are now nowhere to be seen and therefore cannot compete with the rankings of new AI-generated stories which makes authors upset. If that was not enough, link symbols on AI Overviews ensure readers stay on Google’s website and stop them from hovering over the source directly. They just open a source window that needs another click to open.

Google’s AI Overviews will soon turn into the norm for search results, as explained by one research expert. It was first a test that was limited to content type and region. Now, it’s getting famous around the globe. And will soon include all topics where AIO results are displayed.

Google will also not provide any useful data on its Search Console about clicks and publisher traffic. Most of the world will need to come up with better tools to estimate their content’s impact through data from API and SERPs.

All in all, the future for publishers does not appear too great thanks to Google’s latest venture. Experts predict it will have a negative impact unless a publisher already has a leading position across AIO.

Today, the Android maker has the single biggest traffic source for nearly all news publishers. Such findings suggest even if the past organic ranking had a good foundation, AI Overviews might force you to do better to fight with competition.

As per Google, its AI Overviews generate a greater number of clicks than that seen with search results in the past. However, they’re yet to provide evidence on this front.

H/T: Pressgazette

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google Trends Researching Made Easy: Unlock Expert-Level Insights with These Simple Tips

Google is shedding light on its popular Google Trends tool and how it entail some powerful features that most of us didn’t know existed! The search giant published a video tutorial (featured at the end) for making use of Trends for research and sharing keywords as well as subject-specific data.

The tutorial shows ways to find hidden filters and search tools through its interface. Similarly, how users can highlight actionable data is also in discussion. As per Google, there are six ways to explore and share through Trends. This includes punctuation, language, YoY trends, Comparison, Seasonality Discovery, Regional Interest, and ways for sharing and exploring. We’re describing each of them for your ease below.

For starters, punctuation goes a long way. Three ways to advance search is through the use of quotation marks ("test words"), plus + operator, and minus - operator. If you carry out a search without punctuation like adding keywords, you’ll see a big difference in search volumes. When there are two keywords, it’s always great to try a plus (+) sign to research more about the same theme.

Next, Google talks about specific languages and how you can limit your search for them. If you’d like to combine two, simply use the plus sign for a great combination.

Thirdly, filters on Google Trends are a great way to compare keywords to ensure more meaningful results. To have meaningful comparisons, make use of filter capabilities inside the search, such as time frame and location.

Next comes seasonality discovery, where users can enter the desired word in the explore search tab and then alter the timeframe as per their liking. This gives rise to the most interesting charts that display whether or not the term is seasonal. People look more for vacations during the holiday season than when it’s back to school time in the fall. But you can remove them if you want.

Special filters analyze various trends YoY and it assists in analyzing seasonal effects. This makes sure users compare similar things at the same time. You can alter filters by altering the date to the past 12 months, adding the same term to compare boxes, and then hovering over that card. To change filters, click on the 3 dot menu and apply "change filters".

These kinds of comparisons can be done for up to five searches. This ensures no noises for seasonality get implemented.

Google Trends wants users to know that they can compare interests by nation or region. This allows search query comparisons from one country to the next or between two of them at the same time. For this, simply go to the menu and select the filters. It really does make a difference in terms of analysis.

Last but not least, you can share and save trend results with ease. You can make use of URLs, Embedded, and even Export to spreadsheets. URL is simply copying URL links from browsers and sharing them.

Embedding produces embeddable charts with data that is added to web pages. The benefit is that this can be updated routinely. Simply generate the embeddable card to websites from any search found on the page.

Also, exporting data is a simple task now. Simply click on the export data and it gives rise to Google Trends information in CSV formats. How quick and convenient is that?

If you ask us, Google Trends is one of the best tools for keywords search data and carrying out research on certain topics. Above all, it’s free of cost. Making use of these methods will assist you in getting the data you need at that time.



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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World