Samsung forecasts record-breaking profits for the second quarter in a row

Samsung is set for its best-ever quarter.

Samsung’s stellar performance in 2017 is set to continue into the second quarter. After recording the best-ever first quarter earnings earlier this year, the company is now forecasting that Qits Q2 profits will be the highest recorded in its history. Samsung posted profits of $8.8 billion on revenues of $44.7 billion in Q1 2017, and the manufacturer is now estimating it’ll make a profit of $12.2 billion on sales of $52 billion in Q2.

Samsung’s most profitable quarter to date is Q3 2013, where the South Korean company managed $9.6 billion in operating profits. Back then, a bulk of the profits were from the mobile unit, but this time around, Samsung’s chip division is likely contributing to a majority of the profits. In fact, Samsung is set to surpass Intel as the world’s largest semiconductor in terms of quarterly sales. The company is set to invest $18.6 billion into expanding its memory and display manufacturing facilities.

Alongside a strong showing in the semiconductor space, Samsung has recorded healthy global sales of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ series. The company will release the full earnings results later this month.

Sony’s next Xperia flagships could ship with Android O

Latest leaks suggest Android 8.0 may run on a pair of Snapdragon 835-powered Sony flagships.

Sony may be among the first manufacturers to ship a new phone with Android O, if new details leaked through benchmarking app AnTuTu are to be believed. The unconfirmed info paints a picture of an unconventional Sony handset with the model number G8441.

Could an Xperia XZ Compact be on the cards?

In addition to running Android 8.0, the phone apparently packs a Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a 720p display. The smaller display resolution hints that this could be a next-gen Sony “Compact,” however details spotted for this model in a UAProf file — used to detail how mobile devices should display web pages — suggests the true display resolution may be 1080p.

An 835-powered Compact would break the pattern established by last year’s smaller Sony handset, the X Compact, which used a mid-tier Snapdragon 650 chip. Or alternatively, it could just be a successor to the regular, non-“Premium” Xperia XZ, which is about due for a refresh. Either way, the possibility of it being one of the first Android 8.0 handsets is sure to win it some attention from enthusiasts.

This model is one of two new Xperias which have been cropping up online in recent days. XperiaBlog spotted models G8441 and G8341 in a storefront listing, suggesting they’d sell for €650 and €750 respectively.

No word on specs for the more expensive model, however storage, RAM and display resolution bumps compared to the cheaper Xperia are likely.

So we’re still dealing with a very incomplete picture of Sony’s next round of high-end smartphones, but we should learn more in the run up to their official announcement ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin, Germany in late August.

Xiaomi ships 23.16 million smartphones in Q2 2017, an uptick of 70% from Q1

Xiaomi sees record shipments in Q2 2017 as YoY revenues from India climb 328%.

Xiaomi announced that it shipped 23.16 million smartphones in Q2 2017, making it the best quarter ever for the Chinese company. The company faced a slowdown in sales last year over supply constraints, with CEO Lei Jun announcing a series of broad changes at the end of last year. It looks like the “recalibration” has worked, as Xiaomi noted a 70% uptick in sales from Q1 2017.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun noted that the increase in sales was down to a new retail model that sees the brand focusing more on offline retail. The company now has 123 Mi Home stores in China, and is set to open 14 additional stores tomorrow. The company is also partnering with online platforms to boost its visibility, noting that it recorded the most number of smartphone sales on JD.com, Tmall, and Suning during the mid-year “618” shopping festival.

Xiaomi’s global business has also contributed significantly to its fortunes, with revenue from its Indian unit increasing 328% year-on-year. The Redmi Note 4 was the highest-shipped smartphone in the country, and the manufacturer opened the first Mi Home outlet in India earlier this year. The retail push is set to continue over the next two years, with Xiaomi planning to launch 100 stores across the country.

Alongside a more aggressive retail strategy, Lei Jun noted that the company’s focus on R&D gives it an edge in this space. Xiaomi introduced its first -in-house chipset, the Surge S1, earlier this year, and Jun also highlighted advancements it made with camera and battery technologies with the Mi 6 and Mi Max 2.

Looking forward, Lei Jun is setting a revenue target of $14.7 billion (100 billion Yuan) for 2017, along with a shipments target of 100 million for 2018:

Today’s accomplishment is not an easy feat. We offer our sincere gratitude to all of our Mi Fans for the trust they have placed in us over the years. We are grateful to our partners for their support, and especially to Xiaomi’s 13,000 employees and families for your dedication.

The smartphone market is brutally competitive, and we are only taking the first steps in our journey. In order to continue growing, we must keep true to our core values, and innovate relentlessly. We have to give our engineers the freedom to think outside of the box, and explore fearlessly without boundaries.

We set no limit when it comes to innovation and investment. In the next 12 months, we will need to hire thousands of R&D talent for our smartphone business and further bolster our innovation capabilities.

I told everyone at the start of the year that the most difficult times are behind us. I also set a humble revenue goal of RMB 100 billion for the year. I am now confident we can achieve this goal. A new chapter for Xiaomi has just begun, and so many possibilities lie ahead of us. Our future is as vast as the constellations and beyond.

Finally, let’s just add another humble goal: to ship 100 million smartphones in 2018!

How to install the Android SDK on Windows, Mac and Linux

Everything you need to get started with the Android SDK, and everything you need to know about installing it.

Most of us will never need to install the Android SDK. The reason why is right in the name — Software Development Kit. It’s built for people writing Android apps who need tools to work with Android from a computer.

But those tools can also be handy for folks wanting to do some more advanced stuff. Stuff like manually updating software or rooting their phone. Fastboot and ADB are vital if you’re into “hacking” at the Android software. And Google provides it free for everyone.

What to choose?

There are two ways to get a working set of Android tools on your computer. The easy way is to just install Android Studio. Everything needed to run and use the Android command line tools is part of Android Studio, as well as a way to keep the tools updated. While it’s designed for folks who want a complete development environment and includes a code editor, Android emulator, and compiler, you can use just the command line tools and never open the rest.

If you’re not afraid to get your feet wet, you can install just the SDK components outside of Android Studio. Installing them is easy (they’re inside a zip file) but setting up your computer to use them isn’t a straightforward process.

Manually installing the Android SDK

Download the SDK direct from Google by clicking here. Scroll down a bit and find the section marked “Get just the command line tools” and save it somewhere easy to get to, like your desktop. We’ll be extracting it to a better location in the next step.

The file you downloaded is compressed. You’ll need to be familiar with compressed files — and how to extract them — to go any further. If you’re not, stop here and spend the time to learn about them.

Extract your compressed file into the following location:

• Windows: The root of your C: drive
• OS X: Your home folder
• Linux: Your home folder

Rename the extracted folder to “Android”. This will make the rest of this guide, and your time with the SDK, much easier.

Prerequisites

You’ll need a working version of Java to run the SDK components. For most things you’ll be doing with the SDK both Open Java and Sun Java from Oracle (yes, that Oracle) will work.

• On a Mac, it’s pretty easy because you’ll already have it installed unless you uninstalled it. If you did, install it again — you should know how.
• On Windows, head to the Oracle website and download the correct version (32- or 64-bit) for your computer. Again, if this gives you any trouble stop what you’re doing and learn a bit more about your computer. If you can’t install Java, maybe you’re not yet ready to use the Android SDK.
• On a Linux computer, you’ll also need to install Java. You can find x86 and x64 binaries for Sun Java from Oracle at their website. OpenJDK also works for most things you’ll need to do with the SDK.(OpenJDK is now bundled with Android Studio which includes the SDK as well as a development environment) and you’ll find complete instructions to get it installed at the OpenJDK website. If you need more assistance or want to use a package manager to install Sun Java, you’ll need to refer to the documentation for your particular distro.

Linux users will also have to make sure they have some 32-bit libraries installed if they are running a 64-bit version of the operating system. If you’re using Ubuntu or another Debian variant, install ncurses5 and stdc++6 through your terminal:

sudo apt-get install lib32ncurses5 lib32stdc++6

If you’re using a different flavor of Linux, find the correct packages for ncurses5 and stdc++6 and install them.

Setting your PATH

The PATH variable in your computer’s operating system tells it where to look when you want to run a command from a terminal or the command line. For example, to run the adb command you either need to type and provide the complete path — ie the folder adb is actually in, inside the SDK folder — or have the location set in the PATH variable itself. It’s a bit confusing, but the good news is that doing it is easier than explaining it.

For these directions to work as written, you will have to have extracted and renamed the SDK download folder as mentioned above, and to the correct location for this tutorial.

On Windows

Unless you’re still using an older version of Windows, you no longer can set the PATH in the autoexec.bat file or autoexec.nt file. You’ll need to update the system Environment Variable settings instead. Here’s how it’s done on a Windows 10 machine:

• Hit the Start key on your Keyboard.
• Start typing the words Environment Variables.
• As you type, you’ll see the choice to Edit the system environment variables. Choose it.
• In the Environment Variables window, select the PATH line item in the User variables for (your user name) section, then click the Edit button.

Add the full path to the Android SDK tools and Android SDK platform-tools folders in the edit box, separated by a semi-colon. It should look something like this:

C:Androidtools;C:Androidplatform-tools

For older versions of Windows, refer to the documentation that came with your computer for assistance on setting the PATH. And, again: If you’ve installed your SDK somewhere other than Android, you’ll need to adjust accordingly.

On a Mac

You can set your PATH variable on a machine running OS X in your bash profile. Doing so is easy, and is all done in one file.

In your Home folder is a file named .bash_profile. Open it with any text editor. Never touch the .bashrc or .bash_profile files you might find in the /etc directory!

You may see a blank file, or it may be full of other information. All we need to do is add a couple lines to the top of the file:

export PATH=”$HOME/Android/tools:$PATH”

export PATH=”$HOME/Android/platform-tools:$PATH”

(Did we mention that if your SDK is in another location, you’ll need to adjust things accordingly? Good.)

Save the file, and reboot your computer so the new PATH is sourced properly.

On Linux

Setting the PATH on a Linux computer is almost the same as on a Mac, you just edit a different file.

Using your favorite text editor, open the ~/.bashrc file. It will probably exist and have multiple entries. If you get an error that the file does not exist, simply create a new file and save it as ~/.bashrc when finished.

You’ll want to add the following two lines to the END of the .bashrc file:

export PATH=”$HOME/Android/tools:$PATH”

export PATH=”$HOME/Android/platform-tools:$PATH”

Save the file, and close the terminal window. Open a new instance of the terminal and type this command:

source ~/.bashrc

Your session will reference the changes you made and the SDK will be in your PATH.

Wrapping it up

You should now have a working set of Android command line tools and be able to do things like flash the latest factory images or manually update your phone with a zip file. And because you did it yourself, you have what you need to fix it when things go wrong.

Good luck and have fun!

Updated July 2017: with the current methods and instructions, and new download locations.

OnePlus 5 camera tips and tricks

The best camera is the one you have with you — but the photographer is important, too.

The OnePlus 5 has a capable camera, but as is the case with any other camera it can get better when you learn its quirks and features. Those possibilities are increased by its dual cameras that give you different resolutions, lens apertures and focal lengths — plus the software-enhanced Portrait Mode.

To get the most out of your OnePlus 5’s camera, follow these tips and tricks.

Turn on the camera quick launch

This is the simplest tip and one that every can benefit from: turning on the camera quick launch shortcut. Under Settings then Buttons you’ll see an option to press the power button twice to launch the camera. With that enabled, you’ll always have the camera to hand without having to unlock the phone and launch the app manually.

It’s hardly a new thing, but we’re happy to see it here. You should use it to make sure the camera is available at a moment’s notice.

Mix it up with both lenses

The simplest benefit of the OnePlus 5’s dual cameras is that you have two different focal lengths to choose from with the tap of a button. But you shouldn’t just think “am I shooting something near or far?” when choosing — both cameras have their benefits, and not just in terms of distance.

The main lens still takes the best overall photos, but the second lens gives a unique look.

Use the main lens when you want the highest-quality photo in general. The 16MP sensor has larger pixels and the lens has a faster aperture, letting in more light and giving you a crisper overall shot. This is particularly true for indoor or low-light shots, where the secondary camera just doesn’t get the job done.

Use the long lens for a tighter field of view and unique perspective. The lens is about a 40mm equivalent, which is great for all sorts of shots because it’s close to the human eye in terms of its field of view, without being so long that it feels like a telephoto lens. It’s great for street scenes or shots where you want the focus more on an individual part of a photo rather than the whole view.

Portrait Mode isn’t for every type of scene

With Portrait Mode just a swipe away in the camera app, it may be enticing to start using it for every photo you take. For as fun as it is to play with, Portrait Mode just doesn’t work for every type of scene — it’s best used in specific scenarios to get the strongest effect. Here are some tips:

• Pick scenes with a clear, defined foreground object: Portrait Mode works best when there’s a single object to focus on and blur the rest — like a person, or a flower, or a cup sitting on a table. It doesn’t work well with a mixed scene with several potential primary focal points.
• Get close to your subject: Portrait Mode just looks weird when you take a shot of an open, expansive area. Step closer to your subject, preferably 2 to 4 feet away from the camera. This way the subject fills a large portion of the scene, leaving less to be blurred in the background.
• Try a few different shots: Portrait Mode is good, but it’s not perfect. Try a few different shots with different focal points, and be sure to let the camera indicate “depth effect” in green in the viewfinder before shooting.

By choosing wisely when you use Portrait Mode, it’ll give you the best effect and it won’t feel forced or overused. Your Instagram followers will thank you.

The main lens is still good for macro

With both the long lens and Portrait Mode available, it may be enticing to use both of them to take those sharp, close macro-style shots. But oftentimes you’ll find the primary camera is actually best for close-ups of delicate objects.

Don’t just assume that Portrait Mode’s faux bokeh is the best way to go.

With an f/1.7 aperture, the 16MP main camera can often provide the blurred background “bokeh” look common in macro shots better than Portrait Mode can do synthetically. And even though it has a 24mm equivalent focal length, its auto focus system is actually really good and capable of focusing even when you get in tight to an object — you can get within 4 or 5 inches.

The primary camera is also just downright sharper than the secondary lens, and that characteristic is even more on display when you’re taking a macro photo that shows off the details of your subject. So next time you go to shoot a macro, consider trying the main camera first.

Resist the urge to digitally zoom

Having a roughly 40mm focal length on the secondary lens is nice because it gets you that much closer to a far-away subject than the main lens. But if you see something far away you need to reach out even further for, you may be enticed into thinking you should just digitally zoom. Even though the second camera has an ample 20 megapixels of resolution to work with, that’s not that much runway for digitally zooming before things start to look bad.

The same scene at 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x zoom.

Things start to get pretty grainy and unsightly at about the 4x zoom level, even though the camera will technically let you slide all the way to 8x. So yes, the long lens and 20MP resolution give you some wiggle room — but this is still a small sensor with limited capabilities, and you should respect that. You’ll always get better results by zooming with your feet; just walk toward your subject whenever possible!

Dabble in Pro Mode

Most of us will just shoot in auto mode and be happy with the results, but it’s worth noting that the “Pro Mode” is just two taps away in the camera app. With Pro Mode turned on, you’ll be able to tweak everything imaginable, not unlike the DSLR or mirrorless camera you may be familiar with. Even the interface changes, giving you more advanced options like a horizon line and histogram.

In Pro Mode you can manually set your exposure, focal point, shutter speed, white balance and ISO — and if you know how these work, you can get some great results. Once you lock in some settings that you expect to use often, you can save them as a preset to jump back to later. The camera app also saves RAW files if you choose, which can take things to another level when it comes to editing after the fact. Pair Pro Mode with a tripod, and you could get next-level photos out of this thing.

OnePlus 5

• Complete OnePlus 5 review
• OnePlus 5 specs
• Which OnePlus 5 model should you buy?
• Camera comparison: OnePlus 5 vs. Galaxy S8
• The latest OnePlus 5 news
• Join the discussion in the forums

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The Morning After: Friday, July 7th 2017

Hey, good morning!

It’s 7/7 and we’re finishing off this blissfully short week with all kinds of wearables: AR biking specs, an exoskeleton that looks like it was made for sci-fi and a fitness tracker that measures your calories, through science or something.

‘The Raptor specs were outstanding.’
AR glasses will quench your ride-stat thirst

The bike Roberto Baldwin was riding to test the new Everysight Raptor AR glasses was probably a bit too small for him. Also, it was a typical San Francisco summer day, so it was cold and windy, and he’d left his jacket upstairs. But none of that mattered, because he was peering into the future of biking. The best part was that the Everysight Raptors didn’t feel bulky or make him strain his eye sockets to look into a tiny screen — all the information was projected right in front of him.

Can you tweet while wearing it?
Russian exoskeleton suit turns soldiers into stormtroopers

Developed by the state-owned Central Research Institute for Precision Machine Building, this very Star Wars-esque combat-armor concept features a powered exoskeleton, ballistic protection from bullets and shrapnel and a heads-up display.

Music lessons that focus on songs and fun, instead of shredding and theory.
Fender Play doesn’t judge — it just teaches you guitar

Fender Play is a digital lesson platform designed to keep young would-be guitarists coming back day after day, year after year. The company’s research suggests it’s not hard to attract new players, but it’s extremely difficult to keep them tied to the instrument for the rest of their lives. Most players don’t even make it past the first three months. Play has been designed not only to be simple but to cater to an increasingly diverse player base, delivering relatively quick gratification.

We heard you like expensive tech.
Camera maker RED is building a phone with a ‘holographic’ screen

RED — makers of those pricey digital cinema cameras — is trying something a little different. The company just revealed its plans to release the Hydrogen One, a high-powered, unlocked Android smartphone with prices starting at an eye-watering $1,195. That gets you an aluminum phone with some crazy-looking grips; the titanium finish will set you back an extra $400. But what about that screen?

Haters will say it’s Photoshop.
Mike Pence visits NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

In a speech during his visit, the vice president said: “And with the National Space Council, we will grab that destiny with both hands and go to work with each and every one of you.”

Microsoft to lay off 3,000 people as it tries to boost Azure.
Cuts focus on the Microsoft sales team

As expected, Microsoft has announced a radical reorganization of its sales business, with thousands of people expected to lose their jobs. The process will cut up to 3,000 jobs, mainly in the sales department — that’s less than 10 percent of Microsoft’s total sales force — and roughly 75 percent of the cuts will be outside of the United States, CNBC reports. The reorganization effort is meant to help Microsoft focus on building up Azure, its cloud platform.

At last.‘Overwatch’ debuts its fourth new hero: Doomfist

Fans of Blizzard’s squad shooter have been waiting for Doomfist since they saw the game’s first cinematic trailer, and now he’s here. Well, he’s here if you play in test realms on the PC. Before he brings his metallic arm to the main game, we’re expecting a few weeks of play testing, but all players can get familiar with the new character’s lore and capabilities right away.

But wait, there’s more…

• Jay-Z’s 4:44 album is available for streaming everywhere — except Spotify
• What is going on with Samsung’s delayed Bixby AI?
• ‘Destiny 2’ beta begins July 18th on consoles, hits PC in August
• Samsung’s Smart TVs can stream your Steam games
• Healbe’s GoBe 2 tracker does so much more than just step or heart-rate tracking

Russian hackers target the US nuclear industry

The New York Times and Bloomberg both claim that Russian hackers have been attempting to infiltrate America’s nuclear power industry. The infiltrations themselves have been public knowledge since last week, but now fingers are being pointed towards the usual suspects. Unlike Stuxnet, a worm that specifically targeted nuclear facilities, this program was not intended to take down the plants themselves. Instead, malware was used in an attempt to infiltrate the corporate networks of the companies that run the power plants.

Or said more simply: phishing emails are lightyears removed from “what about Stuxnet” arguments. It’s simply otherworldly in comparison.

— Robert M. Lee (@RobertMLee) July 7, 2017

On one hand, that’s good, because it means that there’s no obvious, immediate threat to life and limb or the risk of every nuclear reactor suddenly switching itself off. On the other, the hackers reportedly sent malware-laden CVs to key employees who have access to critical nuclear systems. The intention is either to watch those systems for intelligence gathering, or to obtain credentials that could be used in a later breach. It’s a method that certain, anonymous, experts have told the Times matches the MO of the Russian hacking group Energetic Bear.

Very important correx: Hit with malware that appears to serve as surveillance to set up potential further attacks.

This matters for norms. https://t.co/1R2lSfvIND

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 7, 2017

2017 is shaping up to be a very big year in the not-so cold war between nation state-level hackers and the countries that they target. We’ve already seen the NotPetya worm take down systems in the US, Russia, Europe and Ukraine, as well as malware attacks like WannaCry. Private sector attacks are also on the increase, with big names like Chipotle, OneLogin and the companies that make voting machines. Let’s hope that the White House’s initiative to harden the US against cyber intrusion is successful, or else this will keep being a threat.

Source: NYT, Bloomberg

Apple Hits Back at Supplier Imagination for ‘Inaccurate and Misleading’ Statements in Contract Dispute

Apple today hit back at disgruntled chipmaker Imagination Technologies for questioning whether it can develop new graphics technology without using the supplier’s intellectual property, calling the British firm’s response to Apple’s decision to part ways with it “disappointing, inaccurate, and misleading.”

Back in April, Imagination Technologies announced that Apple had told the U.K. firm it planned to stop using its graphics processors in consumer devices over the next two years. The news came as a shock to investors and the company’s shares fell by 60 percent on the day.

At the same time, the company criticized Apple, claiming that it doubted the tech giant could go it alone without violating Imagination’s patents, intellectual property, and confidential information. One month later, the company opened a “dispute resolution procedure” with Apple after failing to resolve the disagreement.

On Friday, Apple responded to the graphics chip supplier by claiming that the firm had known for nearly two years that it was winding down the relationship. In an email statement received by Bloomberg, Apple said it first informed Imagination in late 2015 that it would no longer be buying the U.K. company’s latest technology, but that it would still use its older systems.

Apple claimed that it told Imagination in 2016 that it was further reducing the relationship by initiating a clause in its contract that allows Apple to pay a lower royalty rate for using a smaller amount of intellectual property. By February 2017, Apple said it had told Imagination it was ending the relationship altogether and would no longer be making any royalty payments in up to two years’ time.

Apple’s statement contradicts those made by Imagination, notes Bloomberg. Last week, Imagination CEO Andrew Heath said the company was informed by Apple at the end of March “that they were certain” that products to be released in 2018 or early 2019 will no longer use Imagination’s intellectual property. But Apple claimed the firm had known for longer.

“We began working with Imagination in 2007 and stopped accepting new IP from them in 2015,” Apple said. “After lengthy discussions we advised them on February 9 that we expected to wind down our licensing agreement since we need unique and differentiating IP for our products. We valued our past relationship and wanted to give them as much notice as possible to adapt their future plans.”

Imagination has yet to comment on Apple’s statement, but the supplier’s shares fell by up to 8 percent on Friday U.K. trading.

News that Apple would no longer be relying on its processors delivered a major blow to Imagination Technologies, which traditionally provides the PowerVR graphics architecture found in Apple’s full range of iOS devices and receives a small royalty on every sale, which amounts to up to half of the British firm’s revenue.

The company put itself up for sale in June. The formal sale process is still ongoing, despite a successful restructuring and a return to profitability for the company. Apple is unlikely to make an offer, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg.

Tag: Imagination Technologies
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Amazon Offers Prime Members 4 Months of Music Unlimited for $0.99

Amazon is offering Prime members who have yet to try its Music Unlimited streaming service a steep discount in the run-up to the company’s Prime Day on July 11.

Prime subscribers can currently sign up for four months for a total cost of $0.99 (or 99p in the U.K.), with the service reverting to its usual price of $7.99 (£7.99) per month thereafter. The non-Prime price for the service is $9.99 (£9.99) per month.

Amazon Music Unlimited launched last year to compete with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music. Its music catalog of “tens of millions of songs” makes the service distinct from the company’s Prime-only music library, which offers access to “over a million songs”. A standard Prime subscription costs $99 (£79) annually.

The four-month discount is only valid for Prime members and is only redeemable toward an Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Monthly Plan. The offer ends on July 11.

Data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimates that Amazon Prime membership has grown 35 percent in the past year. Figures suggest there were 85 million Prime members as of June 30, 2017, while CIRP’s June 2016 estimate put the number at 63 million.

Amazon is an affiliate of MacRumors and the site may benefit if you click product links in this article.

Tags: Amazon Music Unlimited, Amazon Prime
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Kanye West terminates his exclusive Tidal streaming deal

Tidal no longer has exclusive rights to stream Kanye West’s music, according to Complex and Billboard. Engadget was also able to independently confirm that Jay-Z’s streaming service and West, who was one of its 16 original artist-owners, have terminated their deal. A report published by TMZ says Ye made the decision due to a financial dispute: the company apparently still owes him $3 million, a bonus he was promised for bringing in 1.5 million new subscribers after The Life of Pablo dropped. He also says Tidal hasn’t reimbursed him for the music videos he shot for the service yet, a claim the company denied. According to one of TMZ’s sources, Tidal didn’t pay because Kanye hasn’t delivered the videos, but West refuses to hand them over until he’s paid what he’s owed.

The two parties don’t seem to be engaged in legal battle yet, but it’s certainly a possibility. Despite having a tight relationship in the past, Tidal mastermind Jay-Z and West are currently not in good terms. Jay certainly didn’t stop the company from firing off a letter to Kanye, threatening to sue him if he signs an exclusive agreement with one of its rivals. Seeing as Tidal has been surviving off exclusives at this point, and West is indisputably popular, his departure as an exclusive artist could have a big impact on the already-struggling streaming service.

Source: Billboard, Complex