Weekend overview: Graphene batteries, LG and Sony financial results, Microsoft layoffs, Chinese mobile market breakdown

Quite a few stories broke out during the weekend and there were a few that I felt would be wrong not to cover.

First, the Chinese company Dongxu Optoelectronics launched the first graphene battery pack for consumers and it's nothing short of impressive. The graphene batteries are often viewed as the next generation of power supplies for the mobile devices, as they allow for super-fast charging and there's no risk of explosion.

The Dongxu's G-King Battery Pack has a capacity of 4,800 mAh - far from impressive capacity and it is bulkier than a regular Li-Ion 10,000 power bank. But this particular graphene battery recharges in about 13 minutes. Indeed, it seems the future is closer than we thought.

By the end of last week some quarterly reports were made available as well. LG announced its Q2 earnings of $503 million - a 140% increase over Q2 in 2015. The growth is attributed to the strong sales of air conditioners worldwide and overall steady performance in Asia and Europe.

As far as LG's mobile department is concerned, it saw a revenue of $2.86 billion - that's 12% better than Q1, but down from Q2 2015. Due to the increased market expenses the division posted an operating loss of $132 million.

Sony's financial results for its Q1 (April-June) bring some good news. Sony Mobile posted a total profit of $4 million which may not be much, but the division is no longer operating at a loss thanks to trimming and reorganization of its business. This also means it's no longer in jeopardy of closure, at least for now.

It's not all roses, though, as Sony needs to sell more phones. Sales are down 33.7% and its expenses are rising because of the stronger Japanese Yen. Well, if it all falls apart, the PlayStation department is always there to bring some nice numbers to Sony and keep the investors happy enough.

Microsoft saw some trouble last week - in order to trim its Nokia losses down even more, the company laid off 2,850 workers. A few months ago another batch of 1,850 workers were dismissed in continuing efforts to keep the losses from Nokia's somewhat manageable.

And finally, a report from China explored the state of the Chinese mobile makers throughout Q2 this year. Huawei is the top selling Chinese brand globally with more than 32 million phones sold, followed by Oppo with 22 million, and Vivo with 16.4 million. Xiaomi tumbles down to the fourth place with 15.2 million sales.

Oppo still has cause for celebration - Oppo leapfrogged Huawei in the final month of the quarter when it commanded 23% market share and dominated Huawei's 5.5% share.

Source (Dongxu) • Source (LG) • Source (Sony) • Source (Microsoft) • Source (Xiaomi) • Via 1 • Via 2