A customer has raised concerns about a Samsung 25W adapter bought from Amazon India. He claimed that the adapter is not genuine. Atul Tiwari shared his complaint on X and mentioned Amazon India in his post.

According to his tweet, the order was placed with order ID 402-3304623-8207544. The seller listed for the product is M/s IBERLS, and the product was a Samsung 25W adapter.

Atul Tiwari said he noticed a difference between the product box and the adapter. The box reportedly says “Made in India,” while the adapter itself says “Made in Vietnam.” This difference made him question the product’s authenticity. The customer has described the product as fake, but the claim has not yet been independently confirmed.

Image via Atul Tiwari (X)

The case has, however, raised concerns among online shoppers about buying electronic accessories from third-party sellers. Chargers and adapters are important products, and customers usually want to be sure that they are original and safe to use.

Customers who receive a product they believe may be fake should keep the box, take clear pictures of the product and contact Amazon and Samsung for verification. The incident also highlights the importance of checking seller details and product information before buying electronics online.

At present, the information is based on Tiwari’s social media post. Further verification from Amazon, Samsung or the seller would be needed to confirm whether the adapter is genuine or fake.

Surging memory chip prices have significantly shrunken the US budget phone market. Sales of smartphones priced under $100 plummeted in the second quarter of this year to one-third of the level seen in the same period last year.

According to Counterpoint Research, sales of sub-$100 smartphones in the US market fell 64 percent YoY in Q2. This drop occurred as smartphone makers cut shipments or raised prices due to rising costs of memory chips.

During the same period, combined sales of the top four manufacturers, Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and Google, declined by 4 percent. In contrast, sales from all other brands combined dropped by 45%. Overall market sales fell 5 percent.

Some smaller brands, such as HMD, had already exited or scaled back operations in the US market due to slumps in the prepaid market and concerns over US government tariff policy last year.

Compounded by rising costs for memory and storage, the business environment has become increasingly difficult for niche manufacturers whose primary revenue comes from low-cost, low-margin devices.

Prepaid smartphone sales in the US decreased 11 percent year-over-year in Q2. However, amid price pressures, Samsung and Motorola capitalized on the slump of rival budget brands to expand their market shares.

Samsung’s share of the US prepaid smartphone market rose 9 percentage points from 38 percent in Q2 last year to 47 percent in Q2 this year. During the same timeframe, Motorola grew 4 percentage points to reach 32 percent.

Mobile carriers relied heavily on Samsung’s Galaxy A series and Motorola’s Moto G series to retain churning prepaid customers. As low-cost lineups dwindled, carrier options essentially narrowed to these two brands.

Apple is once again caught between its memory supply needs and Washington’s expectations, and this time the pressure is coming from the top.

According to a new report from Wall Street Journal, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has personally pushed back against Apple’s reported interest in sourcing memory chips from Chinese manufacturers CXMT and YMTC.

Apple has spent months exploring alternatives to ease a global memory chip shortage, and Chinese suppliers have emerged as one option on the table.

The problem is that YMTC sits on the US Commerce Department’s Entity List, and both YMTC and CXMT have been flagged by the Pentagon over alleged military ties.

That has made any potential deal politically sensitive, especially with a bipartisan group of senators already asking Apple to steer clear of these companies altogether.

Speaking after a visit to Apple’s manufacturing facility in Houston, Lutnick made the administration’s stance clear, saying there need to be other solutions to the memory shortage that don’t involve American companies relying on Chinese suppliers. He also confirmed that he has communicated this position to Apple directly, and rather bluntly at that.

The Houston visit came just as the company continues rolling out its massive 600 billion dollar domestic manufacturing push, an effort widely seen as an attempt to stay in the administration’s good books. Sourcing memory from Chinese firms right now would send a very different signal.

Apple COO Sabih Khan has noted that memory chips don’t require heavy customization compared to other components, which theoretically makes off-the-shelf Chinese chips workable. But with this level of political resistance, it’s looking less likely that any such deal moves forward anytime soon.

Samsung TV Plus has renewed Hooligans: The ARCH Racing Project with Keanu Reeves & Gard Hollinger for a second season. The news comes before the first season finale, which will premiere on Sunday, August 16, at 9 p.m. ET.

The six-part series stars actor Keanu Reeves and motorcycle builder Gard Hollinger. Both are also executive producers. The show follows their ARCH Motorcycle team as they enter the world of professional motorcycle racing.

The series features riders Corey Alexander and Jeremy McWilliams. It shows the team building powerful motorcycles, preparing for races and competing in MotoAmerica, a major motorcycle racing series in the United States.

Hooligans gives viewers a look at what happens behind the scenes. It shows the hard work, risks and pressure involved in motorcycle racing. It also focuses on the team’s passion for motorcycles and their goal of competing with some of the best teams in the sport.

Salek Brodsky, a senior executive at Samsung TV Plus, said the show has been an important success for the platform. He praised Reeves and Hollinger for bringing motorcycle culture and their passion for racing to viewers.

Samsung TV Plus has also launched the MotoAmericaTV Channel. The 24/7 channel offers more than 200 hours of racing content, including live events, race replays, practice sessions and older footage. The series is produced by V10 Entertainment, Thank You Pictures and Trojan Horse Productions.

Samsung is once again on the receiving end of a patent lawsuit, and this time it’s the Galaxy S23, S24, and S25 series that are named in the complaint tied to a battery-saving GPS trick.

The lawsuit comes from mPanion Licensing LLC, a Non-Practicing Entity that has filed a complaint against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electronics America in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, as per The Biz.

The complaint specifically calls out the Galaxy S23, S24, and S25 lineups along with tablets and watches running Android 10 or above. mPanion has been clear that this list isn’t final either, and more Samsung products could be added as the case moves forward.

Battery-saving GPS technology

mPanion holds a set of five patents (8,489,111, 8,965,464, 10,334,532, 11,690,017, and 9,980,231) that cover a fairly clever way of saving battery on smartphones while still keeping location tracking accurate.

Rather than allowing the GPS module to run constantly, the patented method leans on lower-power sensors like the accelerometer or cellular signal to figure out whether the device is actually moving.

If the phone is sitting still, GPS stays in a low-power or standby mode. The moment motion is detected, it wakes back up and starts calculating precise location again.

It’s a smart way to balance accuracy with battery life, and according to mPanion, Samsung has been using this exact approach without licensing the underlying patents.

The NPE isn’t just asking for a ruling in its favor. It’s also pushing for a willful infringement finding for anything that continues after Samsung is officially served, monetary damages, royalties, treble damages, and coverage of its legal fees.