That was reflected in the other victor from the quarter. Xiaomi’s share nearly grew by half to 9.6 percent on the back of mid-priced phones like the Redmi Note 7.

It wasn’t pretty for other vendors. Huawei appeared to have reeled from the effects of the US blacklisting, sinking to 18.8 percent share. Nokia phone maker HMD Global also suffered in this market. And Apple’s weak iPhone sales manifested themselves here, with a dip to 14.1 percent share. Not surprisingly, its most popular model was the relatively affordable iPhone XR — cost is still a concern even in the premium phone space.

These rankings might not hold for long. Samsung’s renewed focus on midrange phones could keep it out in front, but Huawei faces a murky future if it can’t rely on Android. Xiaomi might also enjoy more meteoric growth thanks to team-ups with carriers for early 5G phones. Apple, meanwhile, is likely just weeks away from introducing a new wave of iPhones that could include an iPhone XR equivalent with dual rear cameras. The pecking order could be considerably different within a matter of months, let alone a year.

The timing might have been ideal. While there wasn’t a huge GTA Online update in the spring, Red Dead Online exited beta in May with a large update that included more activities and, of course, more gear to buy. The current quarter looks bright, too, with Rockstar recently introducing an honest-to-goodness casino to GTA Online — it doesn’t involve betting real money, but it certainly helps encourage other purchases with real-world cash.

Whether or not that momentum persists is another matter. GTA Online is almost six years old at this point, and it’s too soon to say if Red Dead Online will have the legs of its predecessor. There’s also the not-so-small matter of next-gen consoles on the horizon. With the PS5 and Project Scarlett Xbox expected to arrive in late 2020, there’s a risk that Rockstar’s games will feel slightly dated even if they see some improvements from the new hardware. Still, not many people would have predicted that GTA Online would perform so well throughout the current console generation. Even if demand drops, it’ll represent a major success.

The shortcoming left Fitbit once again depending heavily on fitness trackers. About 68 percent of its revenue came from products introduced in the past year, only one of which (the Versa Lite) was a smartwatch. And that’s a problem when revenue hasn’t improved much. Fitbit had to sell 31 percent more devices, 3.5 million in total, just to add $14.3 million more in revenue. The company’s outlook is accordingly muted — it expects to make $50 million less revenue in 2019.

More importantly, the shortfall has prompted a change in strategy. Fitbit said it would shift its product introductions “back to innovation from value.” It’s not going to pursue lower-cost hardware like the Versa Lite as aggressively as it has, to put it another way.

You could see this coming. The Lite officially costs only $40 less than the regular Versa, but it strips out useful features like the altimeter, gyroscope, local music storage and even WiFi. When the standard Versa is already relatively inexpensive at $199, there’s not much incentive to spring for the Lite unless you can get it at a discount. Otherwise, why not just buy a fitness tracker and save even more money?

Also, as “protective global trade practices” increase and customers are increasingly reluctant to buy new high-priced phones, Samsung will “introduce more competitive A series models in the second half” to take advantage of interest in the midrange models. It already announced plans to bring the Galaxy A50 and a few others to the US, and if that pace increases then we’d expect to see more models like its A70 (pictured above) that puts many of the Galaxy S10’s features in a cheaper package. In an accompanying slide it specifically called out the Galaxy A80, which combines a motorized slide mechanism and rotating camera.

Similarly, it’s not expecting to see the TV market change much in the near future, but it will try to increase profits by pushing its latest technology: 8K. According to Samsung, it’s time to take the lead by “positioning QLED 8K TVs as mainstream TVs.” We’ll see if mainstream consumers are ready to bring that monster 98-inch Q900 set home.

Netflix just released its financial results for the second quarter of 2019 (PDF), and a number that jumps out is that its service grew by 2.7 million subscribers. That’s a problem for shareholders because in its last report, the company predicted it would be up about 5 million in Q2, and in the US it actually lost more subscribers than it added for only the second time ever, dropping by 130,000.

While any results tied to its juggernaut Stranger Things won’t show up until the Q3 report arrives in a few months, Netflix said “Our missed forecast was across all regions, but slightly more so in regions with price increases.” Another possible reason for the gap between expectations and reality is its big Q1 — the company experienced its second-largest period of subscriber growth ever with 9.6 million new customers.

Whatever the reason, Netflix’s letter is quick to make sure no one makes the mistake of attributing the gap to competition (which mostly hasn’t launched yet) or highly-viewed licensed content that will go away in the future like The Office.

While Samsung hasn’t explained what dragged it down this quarter, its performance early in the year suffered primarily due to a drop in memory chip sales. While its increased profits over the first quarter suggest that the Galaxy S10 and A-series launches helped, they weren’t popular enough to reverse trends.

The tech giant certainly faces a mixed summer. While the Galaxy Note 10 launch is right around the corner, the Galaxy Fold’s redesign has yet to get a release date. It’s also facing legal trouble in Australia and France over its advertising and labor practices. And then there’s the simple matter of competitive pressure. Even with Huawei’s troubles, Samsung still faces fierce rivalry from Chinese vendors and others that have historically hurt its sales.

The company didn’t directly explain the surge, but the Model 3’s availability in the UK may have helped along with continued interest from mainland Europe and China. The Model 3 was undoubtedly the star of the show with over 77,550 deliveries compared to 17,650 for the Model S and Model X combined.

These figures don’t say whether or not Tesla turned a profit thanks to the higher production, but the company touted streamlined logistics and deliveries that helped it fulfill demand while keeping costs in check. This might represent a return to form, which is no mean feat when Tesla doesn’t have the benefit of tax incentives like it did in 2018.