LONDON, April 21, 2026--The latest Omdia research shows that India’s smartphone shipments fell by 5% year on year to 30.9 million units in 1Q26, reflecting seasonally weak demand compounded by cautious channel inventory strategies. Demand was pressured by macro headwinds, including rupee depreciation and rising inflation weighing on affordability and delayed consumer upgrades. Additionally, earlie...
LONDON, April 21, 2026--The latest Omdia research shows that India’s smartphone shipments fell by 5% year on year to 30.9 million units in 1Q26, reflecting seasonally weak demand compounded by cautious channel inventory strategies. Demand was pressured by macro headwinds, including rupee depreciation and rising inflation weighing on affordability and delayed consumer upgrades. Additionally, earlier front-loading ahead of expected price increases limited incremental channel intake.
The number of members from China’s leading scientific and engineering institutes in the top ranks of the Communist Party has doubled over the course of a decade, according to a new report. It said the number of academicians in the party’s 18th Central Committee, selected in 2012, stood at 15, accounting for around 3.5 per cent of the total membership. But when the 20th Central Committee started it...
The number of members from China’s leading scientific and engineering institutes in the top ranks of the Communist Party has doubled over the course of a decade, according to a new report. It said the number of academicians in the party’s 18th Central Committee, selected in 2012, stood at 15, accounting for around 3.5 per cent of the total membership. But when the 20th Central Committee started its five-year term in 2022, this total had risen to 30, around 8 per cent of the total, including...
China To Import Record Amount Of US Ethane As Iran War Chokes Off Naphtha, LPG Supplies One year ago, in the immediate aftermath of Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, there was a flurry of discussion over who is more reliant on whom: the US on Chinese rare earth materials, or China on US ethane output ( see " Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates " and " Who Blin...
China To Import Record Amount Of US Ethane As Iran War Chokes Off Naphtha, LPG Supplies One year ago, in the immediate aftermath of Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, there was a flurry of discussion over who is more reliant on whom: the US on Chinese rare earth materials, or China on US ethane output ( see " Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates " and " Who Blinks First? China May Exempt Tariffs On US Ethane & Other Goods " ). Following the detente in the US-China trade war, that discussion was quietly relegated to the back of the line, however the time has come to bring it up again. That's because with the Iran war choking off traditional - and crucial - supplies, China is set to import a record volume of US ethane this month as petrochemical producers desperately seek alternative feedstocks for their operations. Shipments of US ethane are expected to rise to an all-time high of 800,000 tons in April, according to Chinese consultant JLC, which would be around 60% higher than the monthly average. Some companies can switch to using ethane, helping them offset disruptions to the supply of naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas from the Middle East after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Ethane is a natural gas liquid primarily used to produce ethylene, a key building block for plastics, and China depends almost entirely on the US for supply. The product became a political flashpoint between Beijing and Washington last year after the US tightened export controls during a bitter trade war. Of course, this means that if Xi plays the rare earth cards in his upcoming summit with Trump, the US president can retaliate by simply shutting down China's plastics industry. US ethane has become the preferred alternative for China’s ethylene makers due to stable supply and lower cost, said Shi Linlin, an analyst with JLC. Profits to produce ethylene from ethane was tenfold that of naphtha as of April 15, which has been inflated by crude...