Dogecoin Value Reaches New High At US$0.68 Per Coin

Dogecoin achieved another milestone today, with its value now barking at an average of US$0.68 (~RM2.82) per coin. That is a surge of 30% from its last peak average value of US$0.40 (~RM1.65), which has been bouncing around since mid-April.

It’s interesting to see a cryptocurrency that was created as a joke to the initial wave so many years ago, take centre stage amongst the digital assets. At its launch, Dogecoin’s value was worth significantly less than a US cent; fast forward to January this year, the coin’s value was listed at US$0.0075 (~RM0.031).

While that was still just a fraction of a US cent, it was still a significant rise in value for the coin. However, in less than 24 hours, the coin began trading at US$0.03 (~RM0.12), and then at US$0.05 (~RM0.21). Right after that, the April surge came, and the rest is history.

Dogecoin’s surge in value can be attributed to a variety of factors. Some experts believe the sudden surge in its popularity began after Reddit investors thwarted some Wall Street investors’ plan to “short” – the process where an investor makes a profit from a company’s failure – GameStop’s stocks.

Then there is the coin’s endorsement by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla. Despite his political nuances, Musk’s opinion is somewhat valued heavily within both the advanced science and technology, as well as the cryptocurrency community. For proof of the latter, you don’t have to look any further than his recent US$1.5 billion (~RM5.77 billion) investment into Bitcoin.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Dogecoin will even be available in Malaysia; unless it can be proven to the Securities Commission (SC) that the coin has other applications other than its monetary value, there is little chance for the body to give it an official trading status.

Illegear Adds Selenite X Into Its GeForce RTX 30 Series High Performance Laptop Lineup

After unveiling five gaming laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics back in January, local high-performance PC outfit Illegear has since added another model into the lineup. It comes in the form of Selenite X which is an all-new model for 2021 according to the company.

Equipped with a 17.3-inch WQHD IPS display that also has a refresh rate of 165Hz, the new Selenite X can be obtained with either Intel Core i7-10875H or AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX. Interesting enough, customers’ choice of CPU will also affect their graphics option as well.

Those who prefer the Intel CPU can choose between RTX 3060 and RTX 3070 while the Ryzen-based variant is equipped with GeForce RTX 3080 as standard. Positioned as a high-performance laptop that can cater to both gaming and professional environment, the Selenite X can be fitted with up to two 2TB PCIe NVMe M.2 solid state drives.

The 2.42kg laptop is also equipped with a 63Whr battery and RGB backlit keyboard. Price-wise, the variant with Core i7 CPU and RTX 3060 GPU starts at RM 7299 while its RTX 3070’s twin has a starting price of RM 8,398.

As for the Ryzen 9 and RTX 3080 combo, it can be obtained from RM 12,198 onwards. To learn more about the new Selenite X high-performance laptop, check out Illegear’s official website right here.

Apple brand loyalty hits all-time high as Samsung loyalty dives

Apple brand loyalty among smartphone owners has hit an all-time high, according to a survey by SellCell. It shows that 91.9% of iPhone owners plan to buy another iPhone when they next upgrade, up 1.4% from 2019.

Samsung, in contrast, has seen its own brand loyalty plunge …

SellCell says that only 74% of Samsung smartphone owners plan to buy another Samsung model, down from 85.7% in 2019.

iPhone owners gave four reasons for sticking with Apple:

• Like iPhone best or never had an issue with it: 65%
• Locked into the ecosystem: 21%
• Switching from iOS to Android is too much hassle: 10%
• Prefer to stick to what they know: 8%

The ecosystem is clearly a big advantage for Apple. While almost as many Samsung owners were happy with the brand as Apple owners (64% versus 65%), just 5% said they were too invested in the Samsung world.

iPhone owners who plan to switch to Android gave three main reasons:

• Other brand has better technology (e.g., screen, camera, battery, etc.): 38%
• Prefer the design of other brand: 26.4%
• Latest model from the other brand has more features than the latest model of my current brand: 12.9%

Almost half would switch to Samsung, and a third to a Google Pixel.

Conversely, the majority of Samsung owners would switch to iPhone, almost a third of them saying that Apple offers better privacy protection, and a quarter saying they consider Apple offers better value for money.

SellCell also asked respondents to pick their favorite smartphone, with the iPhone 12 and and 12 Pro Max heading the list.

1. Apple iPhone 12 — 17%
2. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max — 12.7%
3. Samsung Galaxy S21 — 11.4%
4. Apple iPhone 12 Pro — 10.6%
5. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra — 10%
6. Samsung Galaxy S21+ — 9%
7. Google Pixel 5 — 8.1%
8. Apple iPhone 12 Mini — 6.3%
9. Other — 5%
10. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G — 3.1%

The survey sample is 5,000 US smartphone owners – 2,000 each of iPhone and Samsung, and the rest split across other brands roughly in line with market share.