Global smartphone shipments increased 1.5% year over year in the first three months of 2025, despite potential headwinds looming, IDC said Monday. Shipments rose to 304.9 million units, said an IDC report, which came after a confusing weekend for smartphones and the Trump administration's China trade policy.
FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz spoke Monday at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, two days after the FCC chairman’s office denied official travel requests from Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington for the NAB Show in Las Vegas (see 2504040059). “Spoke at #40thSpaceSymposium about how the FCC’s Space Bureau has a bias for innovation under Chairman Brendan Carr and was happy explaining how the FCC will be reviewing outdated technical satellite rules so rural Americans can get great broadband,” Schwarz said in a LinkedIn post Tuesday. The FCC didn't respond to a request for comment on Schwarz's travel arrangements. Simington and Gomez also didn’t comment.
In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside a Maryland district judge’s injunction that had ordered various agencies to reinstate probationary federal employees fired by the Trump administration. The FCC wasn’t one of the agencies, but the action affects DOD and Department of Commerce employees.
The White House executive order requiring agencies to review and cancel contracts with and security clearances held by Jenner & Block is within the executive branch’s authority and intended to protect national security and taxpayer dollars, said a DOJ filing Tuesday. Jenner & Block frequently practices before the FCC. The order “directs agencies to do what they should already be doing, declines to contract with entities who act inconsistently with valid social policies regarding discrimination, and calls for the lawful examination of security clearances and government access,” it said. Jenner & Block’s request for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the order should be dismissed, DOJ said, since the government “has every right to use its procurement power” to discourage “discriminatory practices” such as diversity initiatives. Jenner & Block’s objections to provisions of the order directing agencies to issue guidance limiting the firm’s lawyers’ access to federal buildings and agency staff are premature, DOJ said. Since no such guidance has yet been issued, “this Court should reject them as unripe without even reaching the merits.” Jenner & Block “can only guess the degree to which agency heads will limit government access.”
President Donald Trump should “fully revoke” tariffs in the wake of his 90-day pause announcement Wednesday, said Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro in a statement. “We appreciate President Trump's willingness to pause most tariffs,” but the additional 10% universal baseline tariffs, which are still in effect, and the “continued uncertainty” are “already hurting American small businesses,” Shapiro said. The pause doesn’t affect China, and in a post Wednesday on Truth Social, Trump announced an increase in tariffs on that country’s imports to 125%. Many consumer electronics are manufactured in China, including most iPhones. “CTA urges President Trump to focus his efforts on what he does best, dealmaking,” Shapiro said. “Now is the time to reposition the United States with our allies as a reliable trading partner while growing the American and global economy."
The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for counties in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee affected by severe weather and flooding, according to a public notice Friday. "The Commission appreciates the cooperation of all the communications providers that submitted data to DIRS in the aftermath of the April 2025 Severe Weather."
NAB on Monday sought reconsideration of an FCC order that expanded the parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power devices are permitted to operate without coordination (see 2412110040). The FCC declined to set aside 55 MHz as a “safe haven” for electronic newsgathering operations, as NAB requested (see 2410290052). Commissioners approved the order 5-0 in December,
New tariffs from the Trump administration could increase the price of smartphones in the U.S. by as much as 48.8%, warned the IPC, which represents electronics manufacturers. “Reciprocal tariffs have far-reaching consequences beyond just higher prices on finished imported goods,” Shawn DuBravac, IPC's chief economist, said in an emailed statement Friday. “Trade is essential to supply chain resilience, innovation, and cost competitiveness.”
The White House's firing of two Democratic FTC commissioners (see 2503190057) raises significant questions about whether regulatory agencies "can function effectively without the trappings of independence," American Enterprise Institute nonresident Senior Fellow Mark Jamison wrote Friday. A former member of President Donald Trump’s transition team, Jamison said independent regulatory agencies were never meant to be fully outside government reach, as their leadership is appointed and decisions subject to judicial review. But their design is to try to ensure that businesses and consumers see a consistent and fair legal environment, he said, adding that regulatory legitimacy relies on business and consumers seeing agency decisions that follow the law and evidence, not political favoritism. Investors believing regulators are making politically motivated decisions will move their capital elsewhere, he said. Even if the White House prevails in legal challenges to the FTC firings, "that does not mean that regulatory leaders should act like partisan operatives," he said. "Fair, consistent, and transparent decision-making should remain the priority, regardless of how this legal battle ends."
The FCC has expanded the scope of its disaster reporting efforts related to severe weather in Kentucky to include portions of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee, said a public notice Thursday. A status report Friday showed 1.5% of cellsites in the affected area were down, and 9,166 cable and wireless subscribers were without service. One FM station was reported down.