Huawei Mate 8 vs Huawei Mate 9: What’s the difference?
Why hello there new big phone. Huawei has announced the Mate 9, its large-scale Android device for 2016, in an era when big phones are increasingly popular.
The Mate 8 was well received when released in 2015, albeit tricky to obtain in the UK. Will the newer Mate 9 make a bigger dent in the market? And what sets these two big-screen phones apart?
Huawei Mate 8 vs Mate 9: Design
- Both devices measure 7.9mm thick
- Same metal body design with chamfered edges
At first glance there’s barely a difference between the Mate 8 and Mate 9 when faced front-on. They feature the same metal body design and chamfered edges, but look closer and there are subtle differences.
The Mate 9 is marginally smaller, measuring 156.9 x 78.9mm compared to the Mate 8’s 157.1 x 80.6mm. That’s because its screen size is 5.9-inches, rather than 6-inches like the Mate 8. In the hand nobody is going to tell the difference though, because half a millimetre can’t be felt. Both handsets have the same 7.9mm thickness.
Mate 9 colours are limited to so-called Ceramic White or Moonlight Silver (the latter with a black bezel front) in the UK. Other territories will receive Space Grey, Champagne Gold and Mocha Brown.
- Huawei Mate 9 preview: The big screen boss
Huawei Mate 8 vs Mate 9: Display
- Mate 8 has 6-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD display
- Mate 9 has 5.9-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD display
A surprise specification is that the Mate 9 doesn’t increase the screen resolution, as was much rumoured. It does reduce its size ever so slightly though with a 5.9-inch display compared to a 6-inch display, as we mentioned above.
Both phone’s screens are 1920 x 1080 resolution IPS LCD panels, sporting 2.5D glass, which has a subtle curve to its edge and sits neatly in the design.
The pixel density in the Mate 8 is 368ppi; it’s a slightly higher 373ppi in the Mate 9 given the minor screen size reduction. You won’t notice this by eye.
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Huawei Mate 8 review: Big beauty
Huawei Mate 8 vs Mate 9: Cameras
- Mate 9 introduces dual cameras, 27mm f/2.2 equivalent
- Leica partnership, 12MP colour and 20MP B&W sensors
Flip the Mate 9 over and you’ll see its biggest difference compared: dual cameras, not just the single camera of the Mate 8.
Similar to the smaller P9 smartphone from earlier in 2016 these are colour and black & white sensors, with the established Leica partnership ongoing. The main difference between P9 and Mate 9 is that the same 12-megapixel colour sensor is paired with a higher-resolution 20-megapixel B&W sensor (it was also 12-megapixel in the P9).
Both cameras peer through 27mm f/2.2 (equivalent) lenses, stacked vertically. The apparent reason for the resolution increase is for “optical zoom” – but as the optics are fixed, this is a mistruth, the Mate 9 can only digitally zoom via its pinch-based software integration.
The Mate 9 also introduces 4K video capture with H.265 compression, up from the Full HD capture of the Mate 8.
- Huawei P9 Leica camera explored: Double the camera, double the fun?
Huawei Mate 8 vs Mate 9: Hardware and power
- Mate 8 has Kirin 950 octa-core processor (4x 2.3Ghz A72 + 4x 1.8Ghz A53), 4GM RAM, Mali-T880 MP4 GPU
- Mate 9 has Kirin 960 octa-core processor (4x 2.4Ghz A73 + 4x 1.8Ghz A53), 4GB RAM, Mali-G71 MP8 GPU
The Mate 9 also houses the latest Kirin 960 chipset, which on paper might not sound a lot more powerful than the Mate 8’s Kirin 950 chipset, but the new phone’s big boost comes in the form of graphics.
Indeed the Mate 9 has triple the graphics performance of the Mate 8 thanks to the new Mali G71 GPU, which is sourced from ARM. With framework optimised for Vulkan, this platform is far more responsive and should make for a smoother experience.
There’s more going on behind the scenes too. The Mate 9 and new Kirin chipset combine hardware and a new intelligent algorithm to learn your usage over time and prioritise the importance and priority of apps to avoid slowdown in short- and long-term scenarios. Huawei calls it a very Apple-sounding iAware.
Huawei Mate 8 vs Mate 9: Battery
- Both models feature 4,000mAh non-removable cells
- Mate 9 adds USB, SuperCharge fast-charging and dynamic charging protection
One of the Mate 8’s best features is its huge 4,000mAh battery capacity, providing two days of battery life. That same cell has returned in the Mate 9, but with the addition of USB-C and fast charging – or what Huawei is calling SuperCharge.
SuperCharge works by lowering the voltage (to around 4.5V) and upping the current (to 5A) so the battery can be charged in double-quick time – some 50 per cent quicker than the Mate 8 – meaning just 30-minutes at the plug could see the Mate 9 have almost 60 per cent charge.
The Mate 9 also introduces a dynamic charging mechanism, meaning the phone can adapt the current based on the source and cable provided. There’s a five-gate protection system within the phone to ensure it doesn’t overheat. This, in essence, is Huawei pointing a big middle finger to Samsung, following the Note 7 fireball debacle.
Huawei Mate 8 vs Mate 9: Software
- Mate 9 introduces EMUI 5.0 software
The last piece of the Mate 9 puzzle is new software. There’s Android 7.0 at its core, with the company’s latest re-skin, Emotion UI, found here in EMUI 5.0 form.
EMUI 5.0 is all about being cleaner, whiter, simpler to navigate and drops the over complex colours and themes of the Mate 8.
Neither phone supports Force Touch – the deep press touchscreen technology – but the EMUI 5.0 software can support this feature going forward, perhaps for future devices.
Huawei Mate 9: Price and release date
The 64GB Mate 9, which includes a dual SIM (the second slot doubles-up as a microSD card slot), doesn’t have an official UK price just yet. Based on its Mate 8 predecessor (£429), we would predict it to sit around the £449-479 mark.
So when will this 5.9-inch budget beauty be available? At the moment there’s no official word on release date, but we expect the Mate 9 to be released internationally within November 2016.
- Huawei Mate 9 preview
- Huawei Mate 8 review
Huawei launches Mate 9 and Mate 9 Porsche Design smartphones
Huawei has announced its new flagship phone, the Mate 9, along with a limited edition designed in collaboration with Porsche Design. The Porsche Design variant of Huawei’s new flagship unfortunately won’t be making its way to the UK, but it’s an exciting smartphone nonetheless.
Strangely, the two phones have completely different designs. The standard Mate 9 has a flat, 5.9-inch full HD display and runs on the Kirin 960 processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage which is expandable up to 256GB by microSD. It’s powered by a 4000mAh battery and sports USB-C for fast charging. Huawei says you can get a full day’s charge in just 20 minutes.
You’ll find a fingerprint scanner on the back where you finger naturally lies, as well as a dual camera system made in collaboration with Leica.
The dual system comprises a 12-megapixel colour RGB sensor that can also record 4K video with optical image stabilisation, and 20MP monochrome sensor to help with depth. Huawei has also implemented a 4-in-1 hybrid autofocus which combines laser focus, phase detection focus, depth focus and contrast focus. The company says the camera system is able to produce “stunning photography”.
The Mate 9 will also come running Android 7.0 Nougat with Huawei’s own EMUI 5.0 on top.
The Huawei Mate 9 will be available for €699 in black, space gray, moonlight silver, champagne gold, mocha brown and ceramic white when it launches. It will initially be available in select European countries, the UK not being one of them.
Limited edition Porsche Design
The Porsche Design version meanwhile has a smaller screen than the standard Mate 9 at 5.5-inches, not only is it AMOLED, but it gets a bump in resolution to 2560 x 1440 Quad HD. It also comes rocking a curved glass screen and all metal body. The fingerprint scanner has been moved from the back to being embedded in the home button on the front, and in its place you’ll find a Porsche Design logo. The limited edition model will only be available in a graphite finish.
Some other specs are the same as the standard Mate 9, including processor, and the dual camera system, but it gets 6GB RAM and 256GB storage with no option to expand via microSD.
The Mate 9 Porsche Design will be available from Porsche Design stores in Europe from December for €1395 and will make its way to other Porsche Design stores worldwide, except in the US from January 2017.
Huawei’s new Mate 9 wants to be a smarter kind of smartphone
Huawei’s slice of the worldwide mobile pie isn’t as big as it used to be, but hey — at least it keeps getting better at making big phones. We didn’t know it would be the last Nexus phone, but the 6P was a solid sendoff. Then came the enormous Mate 8, which was incredibly well built (even if the company’s EMUI interface sometimes made me want to jam a fork in my eye). With the new Mate 9, however, Huawei is trying to do things a little differently. Case in point: the phone will eventually launch in the US, a first for the company’s flagship phablets. And that stuffed-to-the-gills custom interface? It’s been streamlined thanks to Huawei’s new user experience chief. Fortunately, the company’s smart moves don’t seem to end there.
For one, the Mate 9 feels impeccably solid, with a sloping back, rounded edges and an almost complete lack of bezel running around the sides. All together, these flourishes make the Mate 9 feel like a premium piece of kit and a little smaller than you’d expect. That last bit is especially important since the Mate 9 sports an enormous 5.9-inch, 1080p LCD screen — it’s still big, but surprisingly manageable. It helps that the Mate 9 is light too, so it’ll fit into a Daydream VR-compatible headset without straining your neck.
It would’ve been nice to see Huawei run with an even more pixel-dense display considering that Daydream compatibility, but the screen we did get seemed bright and plenty punchy. That more modest resolution probably helps the Mate 9’s 4,000mAh battery do its thing, too, and the SuperCharge tech Huawei has been working on should get a bone dry Mate to almost 60 percent in a half hour.
Huawei once again chose a Kirin chipset — the high-end 960 — to take on the Exynoses and Snapdragons of the world. It’s an octa-core affair paired with 4GB of RAM and an octa-core Mali graphics processor. We’ll have to wait and see the Mate 9 stacks up to the rest of 2016’s best phones, but the unfinished models we took for a spin didn’t break a sweat, even as we tried to break them. (Note to the Huawei folks reading this: I’m kidding. Sort of.) Now, sheer power is one thing — applying it more intelligently is a whole other matter. Ever notice how smartphones, like computers, start to run more slowly over time? Huawei says it’s using a machine-learning algorithm to prevent that power drain from happening.
To hear Huawei tell it, the algorithm looks for patterns in how you use your device over time. If you like to play Hearthstone immediately after using Twitter, for example, the Mate 9 should pick up on that and optimize available memory and CPU performance while you’re still checking tweets. The Mate 9 also uses a specific kind of storage system that keeps your saved bits from getting fragmented for even better performance down the road. This all sounds pretty great, but you should still probably take these claims with a grain of salt. Huawei promises that performance won’t suffer over time, but there’s really no way for us to check those claims right now.
The thing about using Huawei phones was that even though they pack a lot of power, the underlying software and interface was always sort of a mess. They’re working on it, though, and we’ve got a new version of Huawei’s EMUI that honestly does feel a little less cluttered. Icons have been redesigned, for one, and features that get used frequently are now easier to get to. That might not sound like a huge step forward, but it is. The EMUI of old involved a lot of putzing around, but now, something like 90 percent of the features people use most frequently are accessible within three taps. Beyond that facelift is the ability to run messaging apps like WeChat and Line in a split-screen mode, and a sort of private zone where you can store files and apps you don’t want others peeking at. It’s still a long way from stock, but there’s a good chance you won’t hate this software.
Then we’ve got the cameras. You guessed it: Huawei took a cue from the P9 and gave the Mate 9 a dual-camera system. There’s a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor around back that adds extra detail to the color data captured by the main 12-megapixel sensor. Together they’re Leica-certified, and together they’re used for a sort of 2x zoom mode… which the company has been pretty bad at explaining. Throw in the usual slew of photo modes and a handy adjustable aperture feature in software and you’ve got the makings of a fun, fascinating smartphone shooter.
Huawei hasn’t said when the Mate 9 will hit the US, or how much it’ll cost when it does. Even so, the Mate 9 leaves a strong first impression — in light of stiff competition in its native China and abroad, it’s nice to see Huawei’s bringing its A-game. Stay tuned for more juicy details as we learn them.
ICYMI: Photos of wild animals that are far superior to yours
Today on In Case You Missed It: The BEASTCAM is a camera rig to scan live animals for fast 3D models to share with educators. Meanwhile Cambridge Consultants is marketing the Ekano mobile surgical suitcase for surgeons to use in developing countries.
The very important Whisk Wiper is available online and the rotary dialing smartphone is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The Huawei Fit feels cheaper than its $130 price
It’s almost gift-giving season, and companies are scrambling to release products that will fill your loved ones’ stockings later this year. And plenty of people are considering options for the fitness fiends in their lives. Huawei threw its name in the ring today with the newly unveiled Fit, an activity tracker (with some smartwatch characteristics) that constantly monitors your heart rate. It’s also really thin and light, to the point where it actually feels kind of chintzy. The device costs $129, which is $20 less than the Fitbit Charge 2. I’ve spent about two days with a preview unit of the Fit, and so far, I think there are better options on the market.
Don’t get me wrong, there are things I like about the Fit. As a watch purist, I like that it has a round face. I also dig its clean aesthetic. At 11.2mm, its silver-colored aluminum case is thinner than most smartwatches, making it so comfortable that I often forgot it was on my wrist. There are no knobs, dials or buttons, other than a reset button on the underside, which keeps the overall design uncluttered. However, that left me confused as to how to turn on the device when I first unboxed it. As it turns out, I didn’t have to — it’s always on, as long as it’s charged.
I also appreciate how lightweight the Fit is, but although the device feels sturdy overall, it still manages to feel cheap. What’s more, three of my colleagues agreed when I asked for another opinion. That may be due to the watch’s silicone band, which wouldn’t look or feel out of place inside a McDonald’s Happy Meal box. This could be a difference in taste, but it’s worth noting that many people prefer a little heft in a $130 device.
The Fit is available in three band colors. I got an orange one, but my favorite’s the blue. If you’re boring, a black option is also available, although it’ll be a Best Buy exclusive until the end of November. You can also swap in any 18mm watch strap if you’re so inclined.
The Fit’s 1.04-inch, 208×208-pixel LCD touchscreen displays your stats in black and white, and it is easy to read indoors. An ambient light sensor activates the backlight so you can read it in the dark, but it’s harder to make out in strong light. You can’t adjust the brightness either, so there’s no way to tweak visibility in different environments. Another thing that made the display hard to read: It picks up smudges very easily — indeed, smears and fingerprints sometimes obstructed my view.
I like that the Fit constantly shows the time, so that I didn’t have to wait for it to wake up before finding out exactly how late in the day it was. That, together with the fact that the onboard heart rate monitor (HRM) was checking my pulse every 10 minutes, made Huawei’s battery life claim of six days somewhat impressive. That’s similar to the five-day estimate that Fitbit gives for the Charge 2. I’ve only been using the Fit for two days, so I can’t vouch for its endurance, but its indicator suggests the battery is still basically full.
In addition to tracking your pulse, the Fit is capable of quite a few tasks,though they’re all typical for the category. With its onboard accelerometer, gyroscope and HRM, it automatically keeps tabs on your steps, sleep, time elapsed, calories burned, cardio zone and distance traveled (when connected to your phone’s GPS). The new Huawei Wear app for iOS and Android also lets you create customized workout plans to meet goals such as running a 5K, 10K, half marathon or full marathon. The schedule will be beamed to your wrist so you can stay on target without having to pull out your phone.
For those who are interested in activities other than running, Fit also has workout modes for walking and cycling, and will follow your distance, time, fat burning and aerobic performance during those workouts. You can start a session from your wrist or from your phone, if you want to tap its GPS for distance tracking.
The Fit is rated IP68 and 5 ATMs for water resistance, which, in layman’s terms, means it can withstand submersion at up to 50 meters. The goal is to add swim tracking capability to the Fit by 2017, but this feature is not yet live.
Like many other fitness bands on the market, the Fit will remind you to get up and move if you’ve been idle for 30 minutes or longer. I got an alert in the middle of writing this story, and the watch showed an animated stick figure doing some stretches to prod me into action. (I ignored it because who has time for that?) And just like the rest of its competition, the Fit will buzz to alert you of incoming calls, texts and messages from apps such as WeChat and Facebook. The list of apps that can send notifications to the Fit is short at the moment, but Huawei says it’s working on adding more.
During my time with it, the Fit was slow to read my pulse. I’m used to the Charge 2’s speedy response time, so the relatively long 12 seconds I had to wait for the Fit’s readout probably drove my heart rate way up.
Folks with more patience can probably live with that delay (and the Fit’s other minor shortcomings) in exchange for its relatively low price. For the money, it offers a decent list of features, especially that constant HRM, and a clean design. But $20 is a small price to pay to upgrade to the more-powerful Fitbit Charge 2, which has a better display and faster sensor. Ultimately, the Huawei Fit’s biggest problem is that it simply doesn’t feel like something you’d spend $130 on. Huawei needs to drop the Fit’s price below $100 if it’s going to stand a chance against the competition.
Future wearables could use magnetic circuits to self-heal
Smart clothing might be huge, except for one problem: The printed “ink” electronics are delicate, so you can break them just by stretching the wrong way. However, researchers from the Jacobs School of Engineering have developed a self-healing magnetic ink that can repair multiple cuts in as little as 50 milliseconds. That could eventually yield batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable electronic circuits that fix themselves autonomously, making the smart textile industry more feasible.
The concept is pretty simple. The team crushed up a bunch of neodymium permanent magnets, like the kind you find in electric motors and hard drives, into microscopic particles. It then inserted them into the ink used to make printed electronics, along with carbon powder to increase conductivity. The ink is then subjected to a magnetic field, aligning the particles so that when it’s torn or cut, each side is magnetically attracted to the other, healing the breach.
The team says the system repairs tears as wide as 3 mm, “a record in the field of self-healing systems.” As shown in the video above, it can also self-heal multiple cuts. They add that unlike other systems, the magnetic ink is long-lasting, fast, works without any user intervention and shrugs off humid or hot conditions.
There is one big issue — the cut ink traces still function electronically after healing, but the ink is no longer bonded, which could cause intermittent problems under heavily loading. However, the group plans to develop new self-healing ink recipes and test them using computer simulations. “Our work holds considerable promise for widespread practical applications for long-lasting printed electronic devices,” says lead author Joseph Wang.
Via: The New York Times
Source: Science Advances
Motorola is thirsty for new Moto Mods
Motorola’s dream of a slick, modular smartphone is struggling to take off. The base handset is perfectly capable, but the ecosystem of Moto Mods is still pretty sparse. After its launch accessories, we’ve seen a Hasselblad attachment and little else. To solve the problem, Motorola is teaming up with Verizon and Indiegogo for a new developer competition. The challenge is simple: Create the best Moto Mod out there. If the Moto team likes your work, you’ll be invited to a hackathon and encouraged to set up a crowdfunding campaign. Finalists will pitch at Motorola’s headquarters in Chicago for “a shot at funding” and distribution in Verizon stores.
Motorola has tried to jump-start the developer community before. The Moto Mods Development Kit (MDK) was launched in the US last summer, followed by China, Europe and South America in September, and Canada last month. The company needs these attachments to make the Moto Z stand out; without them, the phone is a rather forgettable Android flagship. A decent one, as Engadget’s reviewer Chris Velazco found out, but not without its faults. The lack of a headphone jack is still frustrating (why Motorola, why) and the average battery life will disappoint power users.
There’s potential in the Moto Mod idea, however. It’s still one of the simplest and cleanest executions (sorry, LG) of the modular smartphone idea to date. Motorola’s window is closing though — the phone is starting to age, and soon its spec sheet will feel outdated. If the company wants the device to succeed, it needs compelling Moto Mods, and fast. Otherwise, it might as well give in and turn its attention to next year’s flagship.
Source: Motorola (Blog Post)
Review: Pad & Quill’s Small Briefcase Is a Neat Bag for Your iPad, MacBook, and More
The heated debate over whether an iPad can replace a Mac as a day-to-day workhorse shows no sign of abating. One way of evading the crossfire is to plump for both, but to do that you need a bag that can conveniently accommodate the two devices for when you’re on the move.
Pad & Quill’s Small Briefcase ($219) is one of the Minneapolis company’s latest compact leather and canvas solutions for carrying an iPad Pro and a 13-inch MacBook Pro, along with more traditional study/business miscellanea, so we looked at whether it can live up to its billing.
Design
Pad & Quill puts lots of effort into its packaging, and the small briefcase was no different. Little touches like the well-designed welcome tags, manufacturing backstory and genuine craftsman’s signature on the stitching continue this tradition. It’s fun to open and sets up the product as a nice gift option.
The bag itself is handcrafted from full-grain leather and water-repellant canvas. I received the smart-looking whiskey and charcoal color, which goes well with dark chino and leather fashion styles. One immediately obvious characteristic of the canvas is that the material preserves its original folds and creases, presumably a result of the crafting process. This gives each bag a distinct look, which could be either uniquely endearing or unsightly, depending on your taste.
The “parachute grade” nylon stitching where the two materials meet is neatly done, and cleanly applied across the seams on the handles and the leather overlay, which fastens using a single rounded nickel knob.
On one side of the bag there’s some leather branding fixed to the bag with nickel rivets, and the handles are stitched inside a quick-access “newspaper” pocket, which also comfortably holds a couple of paperback books.
The leather shoulder strap (not included and costs $39 extra) is adjustable and removable, and fastens onto either side of the zipper using big, shiny, traditional-looking nickel buckle hooks. The strap itself has a wider padding where it meets the shoulder and has a robust feel to it.
Opening the leather overlay reveals another bit of branding underneath and a Japanese polished nickel zipper, which boasts some pretty strong teeth. The zipping action also has a satisfyingly rugged feel, which complements the sturdy stitching either side.
Opening up the bag, there’s one internal divider that comfortably houses an iPad (up to 12.9-inch), and two pockets on its front that are sizable enough to secure, say, a portable hard drive and a MacBook charger. There’s also two pen loops, so Apple Pencil owners have somewhere for that to go, too. The main compartment opens up easily and is lined with the same waxed canvas as the rest of the briefcase body – it’s good for a 13-inch laptop but it’s too small for a 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Performance
I set out to pack the briefcase with a 13-inch MacBook Pro, an iPad mini, two chargers, four medium-sized books, SoundMAGIC P30S portable headphones, an Angelbird SSD2go drive, a small umbrella, and a couple of Moleskine notebook-sized items.
Everything fit nice and snug inside. I could have added a couple more books into the main compartment quite easily, but when I tried it the extra weight started to exert too much of a pull on my shoulder after walking around for a while. A couple of wrapped sandwiches instead would probably be okay though.
One thing to note is that I immediately regretted inserting my Mac without a protective cover – the big zipper teeth grated loudly along the sides of the unibody case. A horrifying sound indeed. Thankfully it didn’t leave any noticeable marks, but it was enough for me not to attempt it again without putting the laptop in a nylon sleeve, which fit inside with everything else quite happily.
Bottom Line
Overall I was impressed by the Small Briefcase by Pad & Quill. A couple of friends complemented on its stylish leather/canvas combination, and agreed it was a smart, fashionable, yet classic commute bag for around town.
It’s a convenient, water-repellant solution for people who like their tablet and laptop to go wherever they go, the fastening mechanism makes it easy to access your stuff, plus there’s ample extra storage space for books, notepads up to A4 size, lunch, a drink and whatnot. Just watch your unibody aluminum MacBook on that hungry-looking zipper.
Pros
- Stylish, classic look
- Comfy strap (as long as you don’t overpack)
- Robust design with easy access
- 25-year warranty
Cons
- Pre-worn canvas look may not suit some
- Zipper teeth sound awful against aluminum Macs
How to Buy
The Small Briefcase by Pad & Quill costs $219 and can be ordered from the company’s website.
Note: Pad & Quill supplied the bag to MacRumors for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received.
Tag: review
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Bell Fibe TV Now Available on Apple TV in Canada
Canadian carrier Bell has announced that its Fibe TV app is now available on the fourth-generation Apple TV in Ontario and Québec. The app allows Fibe TV subscribers to watch up to 450 channels live or on demand, with the ability to record, pause, and rewind live TV coming later this year.
The app features trending and on demand TV shows, a programming guide for live TV, and search functionality. A dedicated menu for recorded TV shows will be added later this year. Bell’s website says the Fibe TV app requires an unlimited internet plan, available as a $15 per month upgrade.
Bell also now sells the 32GB fourth-generation Apple TV for $199 at its stores in Ontario and Québec and through its website.
Fibe TV is Canada’s largest internet-based TV service with over 1.3 million subscribers as of September 2016.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Tags: Canada, Bell
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
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Kohl’s Will Begin Selling Apple Watch at 400 Locations Across U.S. Later This Month
Kohl’s will begin selling the Apple Watch at 400 of its 1,100 stores across the United States on November 15 as a way to boost its activewear business (via Fortune). Apple’s partnership with the retail chain is said to help the Cupertino company reach into areas of the country that don’t have Apple Stores or official Apple resellers with Apple Watches, as well as “reach a more modest-income shopper and a wider-ranging clientele.”
In total, Kohl’s locations will stock 10 different Apple Watch models, but the company didn’t go into specifics about which. In the retailer’s Black Friday ad, the Apple Watch Series 2 in Space Gray with Black Sport band and Series 1 in Rose Gold with Pink Sand Sport Band are both advertised.
Within the store itself, the Apple Watches will be displayed on stands that measure four feet tall, and the Kohl’s staff will be educated on the devices to help customers in purchasing an Apple Watch, which Kohl’s sees less like an electronic device and more “as an active and wellness device.”
“We’re not launching it as an electronics partner,” Michelle Gass, Kohl’s chief merchandising and customer officer, told Fortune in an exclusive interview at the retailer’s design center in New York City. “We were positioning this as an active and wellness device.”
On Black Friday, customers will be able to receive Kohl’s Cash when purchasing an Apple Watch: $105 for a Series 2 and $75 for a Series 1. The retailer hopes that its introduction of the Apple Watch goes over as well as its profits for selling FitBit devices, which is now “a $100-million-a-year business” for Kohl’s.
In September, Macy’s announced that it would be the first United States department store to begin selling Apple Watch when the device launched that month. The new Kohl’s deal of 400 retail locations is much larger than Macy’s, which began selling Apple Watch in 180 of its stores in September.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tag: Kohl’s
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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