Nintendo Denies Reaping More Profit From New Switch Model And Shoots Down Pro Variant Rumour

Nintendo has taken to Twitter to deny allegations of squeezing out more profit from the newly announced Switch model. As you may recall, Bloomberg published a report last Friday suggesting that the Japanese video game giant is marking up the prices of the newly announced variant – earning an estimated US$40 (~RM168) more on each unit sold, where production would only cost the company a mere additional US$10 (~RM42) over the existing model. For your reference, the standard Nintendo Switch retails at US$300 (~RM1,267) while the OLED model is priced at US$350 (~RM1,458).

“A news report on July 15, 2021(JST) claimed that the profit margin of the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) would increase compared to the Nintendo Switch,” the company stated via its official account on Twitter. “To ensure correct understanding among our investors and customers, we want to make clear that the claim is incorrect.”

It is pretty unusual for Nintendo to comment regarding any allegations or even rumours, let alone releasing an official statement intended to assure its investors via social media. Prior to this, the video game giant would often sidestep from commenting or would just provide vague details that neither confirm or deny certain information. Needless to say, this is indeed a rare occasion for the company.

Following the statement, the company also took the opportunity to shoot down rumours suggesting that it is developing or planning to release another variant of the console after releasing the OLED model in October. This is clearly referring to the numerous hearsays of the alleged Nintendo Switch Pro, which has been circulating around for months.

While that may sound disheartening for those looking forward to a beefier and 4K-capable version of the device, keep in mind that this isn’t the first time that the company has denied the development of a new model. In fact, Nintendo previously insisted that it had no plans to introduce a new Switch variant before finally removing the drape off from the recently launched 7-inch OLED model.

Samsung Denies Rumours Of Delayed Galaxy S21 FE Production

South Korean news outlet ETNews published a report on Sunday revealing that Samsung has delayed the production of its unannounced Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE) smartphone due to component shortage. However, the article itself was taken down just hours after without any explanation.

When approached by Bloomberg in regards to the supposed delay, Samsung denied that such decisions were made. “While we cannot discuss details of the unreleased product, nothing has been determined regarding the alleged production suspension,” a spokesperson told the publication.

After ETNews’ now-deleted article was published, industry insiders also shared additional information which seemingly corroborates the rumour. Renowned leakster Ice Universe (responding to WinFuture’s Roland Quandt on Twitter) says that his contacts have confirmed that “something unexpected” has happened to the supply chain, but did not go into further detail. Meanwhile, South Korean insider Ianzuk on Naver hinted that Samsung has delayed the Unpacked Event for the Galaxy S21 FE by a couple of months from its original schedule. 

Back to the phone itself, it’s also worth pointing out that Samsung may have unintentionally confirmed the Galaxy S21 FE’s existence in their response to Bloomberg’s query, albeit vaguely. The device, much like the Galaxy S20 FE that was released last year, aims to deliver users a more affordable variant of this year’s flagship by toning down certain hardware or features. Using its predecessor as reference and also unofficial information from earlier leaks, there’s a chance that the Galaxy S21 FE may feature a flat Super AMOLED display instead of Dynamic AMOLED, slower charging speed, and downgraded lenses for its camera setup.

Unfortunately, we’ll only find out its official specs by the time Samsung decides it is ready to announce the new smartphone. Earlier rumours suggested that the upcoming Galaxy S21 Fan Edition is expected to launch sometime in August, although that may no longer be the case if word of its delay turns out to be accurate.

Ant Group Denies Exploring Jack Ma’s Exit After Explosive Report

Ant Group strongly denied that the company ever considered the option of having founder Jack Ma sell his stake in the company to help end ongoing scrutiny from the Chinese government. The fintech giant was responding to an explosive Reuters report which cited anonymous sources alleging that the option was indeed being considered.

Sources told Reuters that officials from China’s central bank (People’s Bank of China) and financial regulator China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission met separately with Ma and Ant between January and March, where the possibility of the billionaire’s exit was raised.

One Reuters source said the company hoped Ma’s stake could be sold to existing investors in Ant or sister company Alibaba. But another source claimed that the billionaire was told, during his talks with regulators, that he wouldn’t be allowed to sell his shares to any entity or persons close to him – though the door was open for him to transfer his stake to a Chinese investor affiliated with the state.

Reuters said it couldn’t tell if Ant and Ma would ultimately proceed with a stock divestment option – or which one. Not long after the article was published, Ant tweeted that the story was “untrue” and “baseless”, adding that, “Divestment of Mr. Ma’s stake in Ant Group has never been the subject of discussion with anyone.”

Ma’s companies have been in government crosshairs ever since he criticised China’s regulatory system last October. Chinese authorities scuttled Ant’s high-profile IPO in November and initiated an anti-monopoly probe against Alibaba in December, which recently culminated in a CNY 18.23 billion (~RM11.5 billion) fine.

Square Enix Denies Reports Of Acquisition

Japanese games company Square Enix has denied reports that say it is getting acquired. This comes following closely after a report that says several potential buyers were showing interest in the company.

The report initially came from a subscription news site CTFN, which was then cited by Bloomberg Japan. It quoted two bankers who were reportedly familiar with the matter. There were speculations as to whether the supposed acquisition will involve only the gaming arm of Square Enix, or the entirety of the company. For context, the company does have a manga editing house.

Shortly after the report got widespread attention, the company shot down the acquisition reports with an official statement. In it, the company says that not only is it not selling, but also that it has not been approached by any third parties.

Normally, the acquisition of such a major video games publisher would not have been so easily believed. But the acquisition of ZeniMax Media by Microsoft has probably changed this. With an acquisition of that scale, a company as large as Square Enix getting acquired isn’t all that unbelievable anymore. Of course, there’s also the poor performance of its Marvel’s Avengers game being another factor.

Google Denies Service Downtime Caused By Data Centre Fire In France; Russian Authorities Disagree

Google and Russia have provided conflicting reasons to why Google and YouTube services were briefly disrupted in the country, the BBC reported. The Russian government blamed a fire at cloud provider OVH data centres in Strasbourg, France. But Google disputes this.

Instead, the tech giant attributed the downtime to a router misconfiguration at a local third-party internet service provider.

“Following extensive investigation we have no evidence to indicate that the fire in OVHCloud’s data centre, or Google’s own infrastructure, was the root cause of this incident,” Google said, according to the BBC.

In contrast, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulating authority, pointed fingers at the fire and said the service disruptions were “not connected to the agency’s actions on restriction of speed of access to the Twitter social platform”.

Roskomnadzor had recently slowed down the speed of Twitter in the country, claiming the platform failed to remove 3,000 posts related to suicide, drugs, and pornography. The authority said the move was aimed at protecting Russian citizens.

Incredibly popular in Russia, Twitter is frequently used by government opponents like Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

OVH, which operates the affected data centre, boasts 1.6 million customers across 140 countries. But Google services in Russia are not believed to be routed through OVH, the BBC said.

The fire does have one confirmed victim – the multiplayer video game Rust. The game’s developers tweeted that some player progression data was gone for good.

Nissan Denies Talking With Apple Over Self-Driving Car Project

Nissan Motor said it isn’t engaging in discussions with Apple over the latter’s self-driving car project, Reuters reported. Like other tech giants, Apple has been looking to enter the automotive market, leading to early-stage talks with several automakers.

“We are not in talks with Apple,” said a Nissan spokesperson, according to Reuters. “However, Nissan is always open to exploring collaborations and partnerships to accelerate industry transformation.”

According to the Financial Times, talks between both companies collapsed because Nissan did not wish to become an assembler of Apple-branded cars. The talks were apparently in early stages and hadn’t advanced to senior management.

Talks between Apple and Hyundai similarly went nowhere because the latter wasn’t content with being merely a contract manufacturer for Apple. Apple will have to keep looking for another partner, even as it reportedly plans for a 2024 launch for its car project.

China’s tech companies already building quite the head start. Last month, search giant Baidu partnered with automaker Geely to establish a new electric car company. Tencent also linked arms with Geely to develop technology for self-driving vehicles and smart vehicle cockpits.

Relatedly, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said he wasn’t worried about competition from Apple. “The car industry is not a typical tech-sector that you could take over at a single stroke,” said Diess, according to Reuters citing his interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “Apple will not manage that overnight.”