Apple Store has been taken offline by the Cupertino-based tech giant ahead of its “Awe Dropping” event, where the four new iPhone 17 models are likely to be unveiled along with AirPods Pro 3 and new Apple Watches. This is an annual tradition by Apple to take down its store ahead of new product launches to use the downtime to refresh its website with new products, specs, pricing, and promotional material.

Also Read: Apple Event 2025 LIVE

Navigating to the Apple Store currently shows the ‘Be right back’ message, followed by “We’re making updates to the Apple Store. Check back soon” and a link to the Apple Event.

The Apple event is set to commence at 10 AM Pacific Time or 10:30 PM India time. It is being held at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino and can be watched by navigating to Apple’s official YouTube channel, the company’s website, and Apple TV.

If Apple sticks to its usual schedule, the new iPhone 17 models could be available for pre-orders from Friday, September 12. They are tipped to go on sale through the Apple Store and other platforms from September 19.

What to expect from iPhone 17 series?

The standard iPhone 17 will likely grow slightly in size to 6.3 inches, featuring a smoother 120Hz ProMotion display with always-on functionality. It may also include a sharper 24MP selfie camera, Apple’s new A19 processor, support for Qi2 25W wireless MagSafe charging, and a refreshed palette of six colours, including steel grey, green, and purple.

iPhone 17 Air

Perhaps the most radical addition to the line-up will likely be the iPhone 17 Air – an ultra-thin, lightweight model designed to replace the outgoing Plus variant. Measuring just 5.5mm in thickness and weighing 145 grams, it could boast a titanium-aluminium frame and a 6.6-inch ProMotion display. The Air is expected to house a single 48MP rear lens within a sleek camera bar, run on the A19 chip with Apple’s in-house C1 modem, and offer 12GB of RAM. Other features include a 3,000mAh battery, both Action and Camera Control buttons, and four exclusive finishes, such as light gold and sky blue.

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max

The top-end iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are expected to bring major camera and performance upgrades. Both will likely have a redesigned back with a horizontal camera bar and a mix of aluminium and glass. The display could be brighter, while an Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip may improve wireless speeds. A new 48MP telephoto lens is expected to allow up to 8× optical zoom, and video recording will reach 8K resolution. The Pro Max will also likely feature a larger 5,088mAh battery, while both Pro models could start at 256GB of storage. New finishes are likely to include dark blue and orange.

Apple’s most important day of the year has arrived, with the company preparing to showcase its latest iPhone range at the “Awe Dropping” event on Monday, 9 September, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. All eyes are on Cupertino as the tech giant looks set to deliver one of the biggest overhauls to its flagship device in years.

As per a MacRumors report, here are the last-minute cheat sheet of the iPhone 17 series.

iPhone 17

The iPhone 17 family is tipped to headline the event, with multiple models introducing substantial design, performance, and camera upgrades. The standard iPhone 17 will likely grow slightly in size to 6.3 inches, featuring a smoother 120Hz ProMotion display with always-on functionality. It may also include a sharper 24MP selfie camera, Apple’s new A19 processor, support for Qi2 25W wireless MagSafe charging, and a refreshed palette of six colours, including steel grey, green, and purple.

iPhone 17 Air

Perhaps the most radical addition to the line-up will likely be the iPhone 17 Air – an ultra-thin, lightweight model designed to replace the outgoing Plus variant. Measuring just 5.5mm in thickness and weighing 145 grams, it could boast a titanium-aluminium frame and a 6.6-inch ProMotion display. The Air is expected to house a single 48MP rear lens within a sleek camera bar, run on the A19 chip with Apple’s in-house C1 modem, and offer 12GB of RAM. Other features include a 3,000mAh battery, both Action and Camera Control buttons, and four exclusive finishes, such as light gold and sky blue.

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max

The top-end iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are expected to bring major camera and performance upgrades. Both will likely have a redesigned back with a horizontal camera bar and a mix of aluminium and glass. The display could be brighter, while an Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip may improve wireless speeds. A new 48MP telephoto lens is expected to allow up to 8× optical zoom, and video recording will reach 8K resolution. The Pro Max will also likely feature a larger 5,088mAh battery, while both Pro models could start at 256GB of storage. New finishes are likely to include dark blue and orange.

iPhone 17 series pricing

Pricing is expected to hold steady for the regular iPhone 17, with an entry-level cost of $799 in the United States, offering 128GB of storage. However, analysts anticipate higher prices for the Pro and Pro Max ranges, reflecting both the increased base storage and advanced hardware. Market research firm TrendForce predicts the iPhone 17 Pro will start at $1,199, while the Pro Max could begin at $1,299. The new iPhone Air is also set to debut at $1,099 for the 256GB model. In contrast, J.P. Morgan’s forecasts suggest Apple may price the Pro line slightly lower, with a starting figure of $1,099.

If Apple sticks to tradition, pre-orders will open on Friday, 12 September, at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Early buyers can expect deliveries and in-store availability to begin the following week on Friday, 19 September.

OpenAI is lending its tools and computational resources for the creation of a full-length animated film that is being made largely with AI and is expected to be released globally next year, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The movie, named “Critterz,” is said to be about forest creatures who go on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a stranger. It is the brainchild of Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, who first made a short film of the same name using the DALL-E 2 image-generation model.

Nelson has reportedly teamed up with production companies in London and Los Angeles to debut the full-length feature film at the Cannes Film Festival in May next year.

OpenAI reportedly wants to make the movie faster and cheaper than Hollywood studios, with a planned time of around 9 months instead of the around 3 years it would take a typical full-length film to make.

The movie is being produced by London-based Vertigo Films along with Native Foreign, a studio that is said to specialize in using AI with traditional video production tools.

Vertigo’s parent company, Federation Studios, is funding the project, and the studio is said to have developed a compensation model where around 30 people working on the film will share in any profits.

The script for “Critterz” has been written by some members of the team who also wrote “Paddington in Peru.” The production for the film has begun, and casting decisions for the voices of the characters will be made in the next few weeks.

Why is OpenAI making a film?

The bet from OpenAI’s perspective is that if “Critterz” is successful, it will show that AI can deliver strong content for the big screen while also accelerating the adoption of technology in Hollywood.

“OpenAI can say what its tools do all day long, but it’s much more impactful if someone does it,” Nelson said.

“That’s a much better case study than my building a demo,” he added.

Top entertainment companies have already begun experimenting with the use of AI in their movies and TV shows. Netflix recently also released a set of guidelines for its creators to follow while using AI in their work.

Meanwhile, Disney and Universal have also sued AI companies like Midjourney for allegedly making copies of their copyrighted work.

Apple may finally be nearing the rollout of its artificial intelligence platform, Apple Intelligence, in China after months of regulatory delays and geopolitical challenges. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter, the company is planning to release the features before the end of 2025, likely as part of iOS 26.1 or iOS 26.2, reported 9To5Mac.

Reportedly, the company first introduced Apple Intelligence in 2024 and has since been working to expand availability to the Chinese market, the world’s largest for smartphones. However, the path has been far from straightforward.

Approval battles and partnerships

The report adds that the Chinese regulations require any firm introducing generative AI tools to gain approval from domestic authorities. To comply, Apple struck a partnership with Alibaba earlier this year, a deal publicly confirmed by Alibaba Group chairman Joe Tsai.

Initially, Apple hoped to launch the service by mid-2025, but approval was stalled amid ongoing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. The delay coincided with unease in the United States, where lawmakers raised concerns about Apple’s reliance on a company with close ties to the Chinese government, noted the report.

According to the publication, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of the US House Intelligence Committee described the tie-up as “extremely disturbing,” warning of national security implications. Analysts such as Greg Allen of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies added that such collaborations risk accelerating China’s progress in the global AI race.

A critical launch window

The timing of Apple’s new push is significant, with the iPhone maker set to unveil its iPhone 17 line-up at its “Awe Dropping” event this week. Executives reportedly see Apple Intelligence as a central selling point for the new devices.

China remains the only major market without Apple Intelligence, a gap analysts say has dented Apple’s sales in the country. Chief executive Tim Cook has previously acknowledged the absence of these features as a factor in weaker iPhone performance in the region.

Bringing Apple Intelligence to China would not only give Apple a crucial foothold in the fast-evolving AI sector but could also help stabilise its standing in one of its most strategically important markets.

If you use an artificial intelligence chatbot, it’s likely that you may have hit a roadblock at some point when the chatbot refuses to answer questions that go against its core commandments. Now, if the AI were a human, you would probably use some of the persuasion techniques from a best-seller, but you wouldn’t expect them to work on an AI chatbot, right?

Well, not quite. A new pre-print study from the University of Pennsylvania titled “Call Me A Jerk: Persuading AI to Comply with Objectionable Requests” found some human-like psychological techniques to get the AI chatbot to answer questions that it wouldn’t have in normal circumstances.

What did the study find?

The study was conducted on the GPT-4o mini model from last year and was aimed at getting the chatbot to specifically answer two kinds of questions it normally wouldn’t answer: 1) insulting the user (calling them a jerk) and 2) helping with synthesizing a regulated drug.

The researchers used seven research-tested principles of persuasion—authority, commitment, liking, reciprocity, scarcity, social proof, and unity—to get the desired results from the large language model (LLM).

Researchers found that when using the persuasion principles in their prompts, they managed to more than double the likelihood of compliance by the AI model, from 28.1 percent to 67.4 percent for the insult prompt and 38.5 percent to 76.5 percent for the Drug prompt.

They also found that there was even more success when employing some specific persuasion techniques. For instance, researchers got the success rate from 4.7% to 95.2% by referencing the “world famous AI developer” Andrew Ng.

Similarly, they also found that the “commitment” persuasion helped increase the chance of success for both the prompts, from 18.8% and 0.7% to 100% respectively. This principle involves eliciting a minor, harmless action from the AI model first, then linking to a related but objectionable requested action.

“The results reported here indicate that AI behaves “as if” it were human,” the researchers state.

“Although AI systems lack human consciousness and subjective experience, they demonstrably mirror human responses,” they added.

Microsoft has confirmed that its Azure cloud services are once again operating normally after a disruption linked to damage to several undersea cables in the Red Sea.

Azure services resume normal operations

The technology giant said on Saturday that it was no longer detecting issues across its platform, following earlier warnings that some customers could face higher latency. According to an update on the company’s service status page, the disruption had particularly affected data traffic moving between Asia and Europe through the Middle East.

Damage to subsea cables and mitigation efforts

While Microsoft did not specify how the subsea cables were damaged, the firm explained that its engineering teams had been actively working to reroute traffic and minimise delays. “Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair, as such we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime,” the company said in a prior statement.

The Red Sea is considered one of the world’s most important digital corridors, linking Europe with Africa and Asia through Egypt. Restoring connectivity in the region can be a complex process, made more difficult by ongoing instability and security risks. Shipping routes in the area have faced repeated attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement, further complicating cable repair operations.

Despite the challenges, Microsoft now reports that its services have returned to stable conditions, although monitoring and optimisation efforts will continue as repairs to the affected infrastructure are undertaken.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is stepping up its cybersecurity measures by beginning the second phase of mandatory multifactor authentication (MFA) enforcement for Azure users from 1 October 2025.

The move follows the company’s research showing that MFA can prevent more than 99 per cent of account compromise attempts, making it one of the most effective defences against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

In August 2024, Microsoft announced its plan to introduce compulsory MFA for Azure Public Cloud sign-ins, rolling out the requirement in phases to give customers time to adapt. The first phase, covering access to the Azure Portal, Microsoft Entra admin centre and Intune admin centre, reached full implementation across all Azure tenants in March 2025.

The second phase will now extend MFA enforcement to Azure Resource Manager operations carried out through a range of clients, including the Azure CLI, PowerShell, REST APIs, SDK libraries, the Azure Mobile App and Infrastructure as Code tools. Deployment will be managed gradually via Azure Policy, in line with Microsoft’s “safe deployment practices”.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

OpenAI has rolled out a highly requested feature in ChatGPT, allowing users to branch conversations and explore multiple directions without losing the original thread. The update is now available to logged-in users on the web.

How the new feature works

The announcement came via OpenAI’s X account on Friday, following requests from users who wanted greater flexibility in managing their conversations. The feature allows users to pursue alternative threads at specific points in a chat, making it easier to experiment with different lines of discussion or side prompts without muddying the original context.

The request was initially made by X user Micah (@MicahJanke), who explained: “Let us branch off from chats at specific points without losing the node we branched off from. Sometimes I want to pursue multiple possible branches to a conversation, or sometimes I want to go on a 1–3 side prompt conversation without it muddying the context of the original chat.”

OpenAI replied to Micah’s post, confirming that the feature had been implemented. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, also retweeted the announcement, describing it as a “very requested feature.”

The new branching functionality is expected to enhance the user experience significantly, offering greater flexibility for those using ChatGPT for brainstorming, research, or creative exploration.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has also announced plans to launch a new jobs platform next year designed to connect employers with workers who possess AI skills. The initiative comes as concern grows over the potential impact of AI on employment, particularly in fields already experiencing disruption from automation.

Certification programme to train workers

Alongside the jobs platform, OpenAI is preparing to introduce an AI certification programme in the coming months. The scheme aims to equip workers with practical knowledge of how AI is used in the workplace and to provide them with credentials recognised by employers. According to the company, the long-term goal is to certify 10 million Americans by the end of the decade.

OpenAI, the American artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, has announced plans to launch a new jobs platform next year designed to connect employers with workers who possess AI skills. The initiative comes as concern grows over the potential impact of AI on employment, particularly in fields already experiencing disruption from automation.

Certification programme to train workers

Alongside the jobs platform, OpenAI is preparing to introduce an AI certification programme in the coming months. The scheme aims to equip workers with practical knowledge of how AI is used in the workplace and to provide them with credentials recognised by employers. According to the company, the long-term goal is to certify 10 million Americans by the end of the decade.

White House meeting on AI and education

The announcements were made on Thursday during a White House task force meeting on AI and education, hosted by First Lady Melania Trump. Senior technology industry figures, including OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Alphabet boss Sundar Pichai, attended the meeting. Sam Altman is also due to meet senior White House officials separately, underlining the political importance of AI’s role in the economy.

OpenAI said the jobs platform will go beyond the format of a traditional job board. Instead of companies simply posting vacancies, candidates will be able to highlight what skills they can offer, demonstrate proficiency through certification, and then be matched to businesses and public bodies with specific needs. This approach could put the company into closer competition with Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, currently the dominant global platform for professional networking and recruitment.

Walmart partnership for training

The certification programme is being developed in collaboration with Walmart, the United States’ largest private employer. Walmart has confirmed that all 1.6 million of its American staff will be offered training free of charge. The company already deploys AI across multiple functions, including staff scheduling, stock management and inventory ordering, and intends to expand its use further across customer service and supply chain operations. For other organisations, certification may eventually carry a cost.

The developments highlight the competing narratives surrounding AI’s role in the labour market. On one hand, technology firms and some employers argue that the spread of automation can reduce repetitive tasks and create new types of work. On the other hand, academics and labour advocates warn that significant categories of jobs are at risk of being replaced outright.

A recent study from Stanford University found that employment had fallen by 13% over the last three years among early-career workers in sectors considered most exposed to AI, including accountancy, administrative support and software development. Researchers concluded that automation is already having a measurable effect on opportunities for those entering the workforce.

Adapting to technological change

Technology executives speaking at the White House meeting acknowledged that disruption is inevitable, though they stressed that training and certification could provide a pathway for employees to adapt. Historical comparisons were made to earlier waves of technological change, where new tools shifted rather than eliminated work.

Further details on both the jobs platform and certification programme are expected later this year, though OpenAI has not confirmed when the initiatives will be available to the wider public.

Samsung has launched its new Fan Edition device globally, the Galaxy S25 FE, which will compete against the Google Pixel 9a and others in the realm of flagship killer devices. Here is an in-depth comparison of how the two devices stack up against each other.

Pixel 9a specifications:

The Pixel 9a comes with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The phone has a peak brightness of 2,700 nits.

As for optics, the Pixel 9a features a 48MP primary shooter and a 13MP ultra-wide angle lens. On the front, the phone features a 13MP shooter for selfies and video calls.

The phone runs on a Tensor G4 chip, along with support for the Titan M2 security chip. It runs on Android 15 out of the box, with support for 7 years of OS updates and security patches.

The Pixel 9a gets an IP68 water and dust resistance rating. It comes with a thickness of 8.9mm and a weight of 186 grams.

The phone packs a 5,100mAh battery with support for 23W wired fast charging and 7.5W wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE specifications:

The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE features a 6.7-inch Full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1900 nits of peak brightness. The phone is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection.

It comes with an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance and has a thickness of 7.4mm while weighing in at 190 grams.

The new Samsung device is powered by the Exynos 2400 processor with an Xclipse 940 GPU. It comes with support for 8GB RAM and up to 512GB of storage.

The Galaxy S25 FE comes with a 4,900 mAh battery with support for 45W of wired fast charging and 15W wireless charging. With the compatible adapter (which is sold separately), Samsung says the phone can be charged up to 65% in around 30 minutes.

As for optics, the phone comes with a triple camera setup with a 50MP primary shooter with OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide angle lens, and an 8MP 3x telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and OIS.

Pixel 9a vs Galaxy S25 FE: Which device is a better buy?

The Pixel 9a and Galaxy S25 FE are pretty evenly matched in most areas, with both models offering similar display capabilities, processors, and Android support. The Galaxy S25 FE does take an edge in the camera department with the addition of an 8MP telephoto lens and faster charging support. However, the Pixel comes with a slightly higher resolution front camera and a bigger battery.

At this point, the winner in this battle would be decided based on how well Samsung prices the S25 FE in India. If it’s priced similar to the Pixel 9a, the S25 FE would definitely seem like a better choice, but if the phone comes at a slight premium, then the Pixel might just become a more tempting option.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT experienced a widespread outage on Wednesday, leaving users across the globe, including many in India, frustrated as they struggled to access the popular AI tool.

Reports of errors quickly flooded social media platforms, with many sharing screenshots of network issues. Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions, showed a sharp spike in complaints from both desktop and mobile app users starting around 11 am.

According to Downdetector, over 500 reports came in from India alone during the peak of the outage. While most users reported problems with ChatGPT itself, a smaller percentage faced issues with the OpenAI website and its Writing Coach tool. By 3:30 pm, the number of active reports had dropped significantly, indicating that services were gradually being restored.

OpenAI has not yet issued an official statement about the cause of the outage.

Top AI Alternatives To Use While ChatGPT Is Down

If you’re unable to access ChatGPT, there are several reliable AI chatbots you can use in the meantime:

• Google Gemini – Great for generating text and brainstorming ideas.
• Microsoft Copilot – Offers a premium ChatGPT-like experience with additional image generation features.
• YouChat – Delivers updated, real-time responses thanks to its integrated search engine.
• Jasper Chat – Tailored for creators looking to produce SEO-optimised content.
• Perplexity AI – Ideal for academic research with accurate sources and citations.

Other chatbots include Claude, DeepSeek AI, Character.ai, Grok, ChatSonic and Pi.

While ChatGPT’s outage disrupted many users, these tools can help bridge the gap until OpenAI’s services are fully back online.

Earlier on Tuesday, American AI company OpenAI said it plans to introduce parental controls for its chatbot, ChatGPT, following reports that the system allegedly encouraged a teenager to consider suicide. OpenAI also stated that parents will be notified if ChatGPT detects their teen is experiencing acute distress, AFP reported.

Parents will also receive notifications from ChatGPT “when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress”, OpenAI added.

The company said it had further plans to improve the safety of its chatbots over the coming three months, including redirecting “some sensitive conversations… to a reasoning model” that puts more computing power into generating a response.

“Our testing shows that reasoning models more consistently follow and apply safety guidelines,” OpenAI said.

“We’re not investing in the hundreds of millions in India right now, but we’re bullish on India because the country remains one of the world’s most fast-developing economies,” ASML chief executive officer Christophe Fouquet told Mint in an interview on the sidelines of Semicon India 2025 on Tuesday.

“As a result, while we had already set-up an India entity before, we’re now bringing more executives and see an opportunity now to have more engineers work closely with India’s semiconductor companies in order to have a more robust presence in the Asia semiconductor supply chain,” Fouquet added.

Over the last few years, ASML, which was spun out of the Dutch electronics firm Philips in 1984, has sprung on to the centre stage, as it is the sole company that can use ultraviolet or low-frequency light to etch integrated circuits onto silicon wafers. It has become essential to top chip manufacturing firms, including Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Fouquet said the company’s push for a larger presence in India will scale up in line with the industry itself. As more chip testing and packaging factories come up and India’s chip fabs go live, ASML will establish a larger presence for its core technologies.

While ASML had already set up an India entity a few years ago, this is the first time it is scaling up in the country. The move comes as India itself is pitching to set up a holistic semiconductor supply chain, including indigenization of semiconductor components, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi also touched upon in his keynote at the conference on Tuesday.

Having greater control and presence in Asia is of utmost importance for ASML, which is Europe’s largest tech company with a market cap of $293 billion as of Tuesday. In the wake of the US’s trade war and associated pressures on the semiconductor supply chain and critical technologies, ASML said in a statement that its annual performance this fiscal year would be hit by the restrictions in selling advanced technologies to China.

After Taiwan, China is one of the largest markets for semiconductor supply chain specialists such as ASML. The company, which follows a January-December financial reporting cycle, earned EUR 28.3 billion last year, up 2.5%. This was significantly slower than 2023, when it had posted net revenue increase of 30%. For this year, the company has projected a 6% revenue rise to EUR 30 billion on the back of diversifying its presence across markets and product segments. India, incidentally, is one such bets of the firm, albeit in early stages.

ASML’s growth and importance is, however, not tied solely to these revenues. The company is the sole supplier of patented machinery and technologies for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), a process that enables firms such as TSMC to build cutting-edge, 3 nanometer, or even smaller, chips. The latter, are critical to trillion-dollar industries, such as smartphones and laptops.

“EUV is only one of the products that we offer, which is quite advanced and will likely be associated with India at a later stage, once the industry in the country builds up. For now, we’ll be focusing on building a larger team, gradually investing more in the overall chip supply chain, and seeing what we can offer as the industry gradually scales up,” Fouquet added.

The scale-up of India’s chip industry is in process. The prime minister said India’s second-generation chip incentives plan with India Semiconductor Mission is currently under evaluation, and the first trial assemblies of chips from the first outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (Osat) facilities have started from Tata Semiconductor, Micron, CG Semi and Keynes—four of the ten government-backed projects.

“For us, having a larger presence in the Asia supply chain is important in order to showcase the best of our products. Going forward, we remain in conversation with the industry, and will look forward to bringing more of our chip supply chain here. However, we currently do not have plans to set up engineering and machine manufacturing here,” Fouquet said.

India looks to capture a larger share of the world’s semiconductor industry currently estimated at $600 billion, as per Gartner. Ajit Manocha, president of global chip industry body Semi, said the global semiconductor supply chain is set to scale up to $1.3 billion by 2030, a time in which India will seek to capture a larger share.

Fouquet concurred with the optimism around India’s chip plans. Its chip thrust “will grow and accelerate in time, as more of the country’s chip plants, as well as government initiatives, come alive,” he said.

However, the company has now confirmed the timeline for the 10,000mAh phone’s mass production.

Realme explains when the 10,000mAh phone will go into mass production:

A user on the Chinese social media website Weibo asked Realme Vice President Chase Xu when the 10,000mAh phone will go into production. To this, Chase replied, “Beginning of the year.”

This suggests that the phone will go into mass production in early 2026 and should likely also come to market in the same year.

What we know about Realme’s 10,000mAh phone:

Realme had said earlier in the year that it is using an ultra-high silicon content anode battery with the new phone that boasts a 10% silicon ratio and an energy density of 887Wh/L.

The phone will supposedly come with support for 320W of fast charging and will feature a thickness of under 8.5mm and a weight of below 200 grams. The Chinese smartphone maker is using a Mini Diamond Architecture technology to rearrange the layout of internal components inside the phone to make space for the big battery.

Rise of big battery phones:

While Realme has been showcasing 10,000mAh and 15,000mAh phones, the company is not alone in adopting big batteries for its smartphones. Recent leaks have revealed that OnePlus could be working on an 8,000mAh phone while Vivo recently launched the Y500 in China with an 8,200mAh battery.

Meanwhile, many phones in the Indian market already come with over 7,000mAh battery, such as the OnePlus Nord CE 5 (7,100mAh) and the Poco F7 (7,550mAh battery). Most Android flagships these days already come with an over 6,000mAh battery and that could reach up to 7,000mAh with newer devices like the OnePlus 15 and iQOO 15.

Realme has been showcasing its advancements in battery tech with its concept smartphones that feature thin designs while packing massive batteries. Recently, the Chinese smartphone maker has showcased a 15,000mAh battery phone with a thickness of just 8.89mm. Prior to that, the company had also showcased a 10,000mAh phone in the GT lineup but did not give a timeline on when the phone will go into production or when it will be available for sale.

Artificial Intelligence is slowly making advances in the healthcare industry, with each new model from tech companies getting better at analyzing health-related queries. Despite the new technology, the way to treat patients has remained largely the same, with doctors using stethoscopes hanging around their necks to access the internal organs of their patients.

The nifty item that has been a part of a doctor’s toolkit since 1816 has now received an AI-powered upgrade. The new AI stethoscope can diagnose three heart conditions—Heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), and valvular heart disease (VHD)—in just 15 seconds.

While the traditional stethoscope listens to sounds inside the body, like a heartbeat or breathing, the AI-powered stethoscope goes further than that and can pick up on tiny changes in the heartbeat or blood flow that a human ear would miss. Meanwhile, it can also perform a quick ECG (electrocardiogram) at the same time.

The new device, which is the size of a playing card, has been showcased by researchers at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust as part of a study in the UK called TRICORDER.

The device can also connect via Bluetooth to a dedicated smartphone app where the captured data can be visualized. Meanwhile, it uses cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity to access cloud-based AI algorithms to work its magic. These algorithms are managed by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and are said to show promising results.

“The statistical performance of these three AI algorithms has been shown to be high and consistent against international external validation studies,” authors of the research paper wrote in the BMJ Open journal.

How does the AI stethoscope work?

The AI stethoscope is placed on the chest of a patient to take an ECG recording of the electrical signals from their heart while its microphone records the sound of their blood flowing through the heart.

This information is then sent to the cloud to be analyzed by the AI algorithms that have been trained on health data from tens of thousands of people and can detect subtle heart problems that a human may have missed.

The test result, which indicates whether the patient is flagged as at risk for heart failure or not, is then sent straight back to the smartphone.

The British Heart Foundation, which partly funded the study, states that people examined using the AI stethoscopes were “2.33 times more likely to be diagnosed with heart failure, 3.45 times more likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, and 1.92 times more likely to be diagnosed with heart valve disease in the next 12 months.”

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, has launched legal action against a former employee accused of stealing sensitive information about its Grok chatbot and passing it to rival OpenAI.

Details of the lawsuit

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in a California federal court, claims that engineerXuechen Li misappropriated confidential data on “cutting-edge AI technologies with features surpassing ChatGPT” before joining OpenAI earlier this month.

Li’s role at xAI

According to the complaint, Li joined xAI last year and played a key role in developing and training Grok, the company’s conversational AI. The suit alleges he downloaded trade secrets in July, just after agreeing to a position at OpenAI and cashing out $7 million in xAI stock.

xAI further claims Li admitted during a meeting on 14 August to taking company files and attempting to conceal his actions, though investigators later uncovered additional undisclosed material on his devices. The company argues the information could give OpenAI an advantage in enhancing ChatGPT with xAI’s more imaginative features.

OpenAI has not been named as a defendant in the case. Neither Li nor representatives for the two companies have commented publicly on the matter.

Broader rivalry with OpenAI

The legal clash highlights both the intensifying competition for top AI talent and the personal rivalry between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015. Musk is already engaged in separate litigation against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, accusing them of straying from the company’s original non-profit mission. OpenAI has filed a countersuit, describing Musk’s actions as harassment.

Earlier this week, xAI also sued OpenAI and Apple in Texas, alleging the two companies are working to monopolise AI services on Apple devices.

In the latest filing, xAI is seeking unspecified damages and a court order preventing Li from taking up his role at OpenAI.

(With inputs from Reuters)

The iPhone 17 series is all set to make its debut at the “Awe Dropping” event on September 9. The most flashy upgrades to this year’s iPhone lineup will be with the new thin and light iPhone 17 Air along with the iPhone 17 Pro models. While Apple hasn’t revealed any details about the new phones, we have had plenty of leaks throughout the last year that give us a good idea of what to expect from the two devices and how they may stack up against each other.

iPhone 17 Air vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max

Design:

Both the iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max are likely to come with a horizontal camera layout this time around. However, the iPhone 17 Air will likely feature a smaller pill-shaped cutout like the Pixel devices, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max is tipped to get a larger rectangular cutout that could eclipse most of the upper half of the device.

The big difference between these two devices is likely to be in their construction, with the iPhone 17 Air said to weigh around 145 grams and have a thickness of around 5.5mm.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, could have a thickness of around 7.75mm and would weigh well over 220 grams.

Camera:

Both the iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max are likely to come with the same 24MP selfie shooter, with the ability to crop up to 2x images without any detail loss.

The iPhone 17 Air, however, could have a single 48MP camera sensor and lack support for either a telephoto or an ultra-wide angle lens.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is likely to get a major telephoto camera upgrade, with the sensor going up from 12MP on its predecessor to 48MP on the new model. This could mean that the new phone could potentially have a triple 48MP setup on the back.

Display:

Both the iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max are expected to come with a 120Hz ProMotion OLED display. The iPhone 17 Pro Max could get a 6.9-inch real estate, while the iPhone 17 Air could come in a 6.6-inch size.

Processor:

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is said to come powered by the A19 Pro chipset based on TSMC’s 3nm architecture. The new processor is expected to result in marginal improvements in performance and battery life compared to the last generation.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air could come with the A19 chipset, much like the iPhone 17. Both the phones, however, could get support for 12GB of RAM that could help improve multi-tasking related tasks along with running Apple Intelligence-based features.

Battery:

The iPhone 17 Pro Max could come with a 5,000mAh battery, up from 4,676mAh on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Paired with the improvement in the processor and the same screen size, this is expected to result in improved battery life than the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to come with a 2,800-3,000mAh battery setup, which could make it the only iPhone 17 model that may not last a full day on a single charge.

Price:

If leaks are to be believed, the iPhone 17 Air could retain the same starting price as the iPhone 16 Plus from last year, which could result in a $899 starting price.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max could have a $50 higher starting price than last year due to a rise in internal parts for Apple owing to the US government-induced tariffs. The phone could begin at a starting price of $1,249 in the US.

With generative AI making a huge impact in different walks of life, the technology has long been poised to make significant changes to how organizations work. A top Microsoft executive has now predicted that the technology could lead to the end of hierarchies inside companies.

Microsoft’s AI Platform Product Lead Asha Sharma, in an episode of Lenny’s Podcast, said, “I think the whole kind of organizational construct might start to look different in a few years, so I am pretty excited about it.”

“The org chart starts to become the work chart. I think that tasks and throughput become more important than they have been before. I also think that you just don’t need as many layers,” she added.

“I think in the future work will look really different,” Sharma added.

“And I think at the end of the day, when you have a set of capable agents, and people are capable of more things, you’re not going to start to think in hierarchy and communicating upwards and start to figure out, like kind of outward, task-based type of opportunities,” Sharma further stated.

Sharma also noted that employees will be able to expand their skill set by bringing their own “agent stack” to work, similar to how they bring their own devices.

“You can start to have access to a set of skills that you never had before,” she added.

Big Tech and AI:

Most Big Tech companies are developing their own AI agents, though it isn’t clear how this is impacting the workflow at this point.

However, since last year there have been many job cuts at the top tech companies. For instance, reports claimed that the layoffs of around 6,000 employees by Microsoft this year was linked to reducing layers of management.

Meanwhile, a recent CNBC report revealed that Google has eliminated around 35 percent of its managers who were overseeing small teams in order to reduce bureaucracy and drive efficiency within the company.

“We have to be more efficient as we scale up so we don’t solve everything with headcount,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly said at the meeting.

Apple’s iPhone 17 series is just a couple of weeks away from debut, with the Cupertino-based tech giant already announcing its hardware launch of the year would be called “Awe Dropping” and would be held on September 9. Just like every year, the spotlight at this year’s iPhone launch will be on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is all set to replace its predecessor as the best iPhone money can buy. But how much of an upgrade will the new iPhone have? Let’s find out all about rumored upgrades we have for the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: Top 7 upgrades expected

1) Largest battery on an iPhone:

The iPhone 17 Pro Max could have the biggest battery that one has seen on an iPhone so far, as the new device is expected to house a 5,000mAh setup, up from the 4,676 mAh battery on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The increase in battery size could also lead to the phone getting a bit thicker, going from 8.25mm to 8.75mm.

2) New Selfie camera:

All-new iPhone 17 series devices are expected to get a 24MP selfie shooter, up from the 12MP lens on the previous lineup. The new lens, while offering improved image quality, is also said to allow for up to 2x more cropping without causing a loss in quality.

3) Triple 48MP lens:

Apple is expected to upgrade the telephoto sensor on the iPhone 17 Pro Max from the 12MP lens on its predecessor to a 48MP lens. This change would mean that the new Pro series iPhones would be the first to get a triple 48MP camera setup.

The new 48MP lens is tipped to come with 3.5x optical zoom instead of the 5x optical zoom on the current iPhones, which could theoretically make it better for portrait shots.

The new iPhone 17 Pro models are also expected to come with support for 8k video recording, a major upgrade from 4K recording support on the iPhone 16 Pro lineup.

4) Fiery orange is the flavour of the month:

Apple could be leaving behind its history of having muted colour options for the iPhone 17 series with the addition of a new fiery orange colour option with the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Apart from that, the phones are expected to come in black, gray, silver, and a dark blue sheen.

5) Complete design shift:

Apple is expected to ditch its squarish camera island setup on the iPhone 16 Pro Max in favour of a horizontal camera bump that could house the triple camera setup.

This could mark the biggest design shift in Pro series iPhones in years, and the company is also planning to eliminate the use of Titanium on the premium iPhones in favour of a Glass Aluminium finish.

6) Display:

The new iPhone model is expected to feature a 6.8-inch ProMotion 120Hz display as last year. However, there are some leaks about Apple using a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective display coating on the phone, but that may be pushed to the iPhone 18 series next year.

There are also rumors of Apple working on reducing the size of Dynamic Island on the iPhone 17 Pro lineup, which could lead to a more immersive viewing experience on the new devices.

7) Bigger processing power:

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is expected to run on the new A19 Pro chipset based on the 3nm process, which is likely to result in marginal gains in performance and efficiency compared to the last generation. The phone is also expected to come with 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB on the 16 Pro Max.

The upgraded RAM is expected to help power Apple Intelligence features in iOS 26 more smoothly while also helping with multi-tasking.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is also expected to get a vapor cooling chamber for improved heat dissipation and to prevent throttling during high performance tasks.

Google has issued a strong warning to Gmail users after a well-known hacking group, ShinyHunters, managed to steal sensitive information through a data breach. According to Google’s Threat Intelligence Report, the hackers gained access to data through a corporate Salesforce system, leaving billions of Gmail accounts potentially vulnerable.

The company said around 2.5 billion Gmail users have been urged to reset their passwords and strengthen their account security, Tech Radar reported. While the exposed information included mostly names and business contact details, Google warned that this still increases the chances of phishing scams and extortion attempts.

How the breach happened

As per Tech Radar, the breach took place when ShinyHunters impersonated company staff to trick IT support teams and gain access to Google’s Salesforce instance. Google confirmed that the stolen data was limited to basic and largely public business information, but stressed that the threat should not be underestimated.

In a statement, the company said, “In June, one of Google’s corporate Salesforce instances was impacted by UNC6040 activity. The data retrieved was confined to basic business names and contact details.”

Phishing and extortion risks

Google has emailed affected users to be on the lookout for phishing emails or calls demanding Bitcoin payments. Cyber experts say even harmless information can be used to create social engineering attacks that trick users into sharing sensitive data.

ShinyHunters has a long track record of major cyberattacks. The group was previously linked to breaches involving Santander, AT&T, and Allianz, making it one of the most dangerous hacker groups today.

Google’s report further warns that the hackers may launch a data leak site (DLS) in the near future to put additional pressure on their victims.

What’s next?

Google says it is monitoring ShinyHunters and will update as the situation develops. In the meantime, users should change their passwords, enable two-factor authentication and be cautious of suspicious emails or calls.

FAQs

1. Who is behind the Gmail breach?

ShinyHunters, the hacking group that has hit major global companies, is behind the data breach.

2. What kind of data was exposed?

Mainly names and business contact details, but this data can be misused for phishing and extortion.

3. What to do now?

Reset password, enable two-factor authentication, and be on the lookout for suspicious emails or calls.

Reliance has announced a number of new AI-powered features coming to the JioHotstar app, which includes a new voice assistant, a real-time dubbing service, and new viewing angles.

Akash Ambani, Chairman of Jio, while speaking about Jio’s new voice assistant Riya, said, “Finding what to watch from thousands of hours of content can feel overwhelming. That’s why we have built Riya, your new voice-enabled search assistant that makes discovering content effortless. Riya is built for the way you think and speak, whether it’s key moments from your favorite shows.”

The new voice assistant can understand natural language inputs and find the relevant search results across seasons, episodes, and years.

Ambani also unveiled a new real-time voice cloning service inside the JioHotstar app called Voice Print. With the new option, users can enjoy their favorite content in the local language with the original actor’s voice and expressions by taking advantage of lip-sync and AI voice-cloning technology.

“With the power of AI voice cloning and lip-sync technology, your favorite stars will not just get dubbed, they will speak in your language, in their own voice, with perfect lip-sync on screen,” Ambani added.

JioHotstar will also get a JioLenZ feature, which allows users to watch the content in different viewing angles, depending on the screen that they are watching it on.

The last feature coming to the JioHotstar app is called MaxView 3.0, which allows users to access real-time features like live scorecards, instant highlights, different languages, and multiple camera angles.

“This cricket viewing experience has been designed around the way you naturally hold your phone, making it more immersive, more intuitive and closer to the action than ever before,” Ambani noted.

Ambani, however, did not share details of when the features would go live on the JioHotstar app, and there is no available timeline yet on either the RIL or Jio website.

Apple’s “Awe Dropping” event, scheduled for 9 September 2025, will take centre stage for the iPhone 17 lineup reveal. But several reports suggest the company may unveil a wider array of products, spanning wearables, audio devices, accessories, and potentially more. Here’s what’s expected at the keynote.

Apple Watch refresh

Sources indicate Apple will introduce the Apple Watch Series 11, along with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3. These updates continue Apple’s pattern of debuting new smartwatch models at its September iPhone events. Features rumoured include blood-pressure monitoring and sleep-apnoea detection.

AirPods Pro 3

The next generation of AirPods Pro is widely expected to appear. Reports point to enhancements in health tracking and improved audio performance.

AirTag 2

A potential surprise at this year’s event is the long-awaited AirTag 2. According to 9to5Mac, the new tracker could include extended range, stronger privacy features, and a new ultra-wideband chip.

Accessories – cases and straps

Leaked renders suggest Apple may also launch new phone cases—specifically “TechWoven” bumper cases for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air, complete with a possible crossbody strap for convenience.

Unlikely announcements

Despite speculation, some products are unlikely to debut at the September event. According to 9to5Mac, new Macs (M5 models), a HomePod Touch, and successors to AirPods Max or AirPods 4 are expected to arrive later in the year or early 2026.

What this means for Apple’s lineup

The upcoming event appears poised to offer major hardware updates across multiple categories, with a strong focus on the iPhone 17 resolutions but also significant refreshes in wearables and accessories. AirPods and AirTags are likely to bolster Apple’s ecosystem, while new cases and straps indicate interest in practical add-ons. However, Macs and larger ecosystem devices seem reserved for future announcements.

The highly anticipated launch of the iOS 26 operating system by Apple next month, besides the iPhone 17 series, might serve as a major roadblock for US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party ahead of the midterms. Several Republicans believe that the next month’s iPhone update will disproportionately put the brakes on conservative fundraising as well as their voter outreach efforts. This might echo the past controversies surrounding Big Tech, which earlier targeted the voters of the GOP across the United States, as per Fox News.

iOS 26: What to expect?

Ahead of the operating system’s public release next month, Apple recently came out with iOS 26 Developer Beta 8 for iPhone, which was followed by the Public Beta 5 update.

Apart from the several updates that Apple will bring through iOS 26, such as a new design and improvements to the apps, the Cupertino tech giant is also updating its text filtration system.

Officials associated with Launchpad Strategies and its parent company, American Made Media Company, told Fox News Digital that the updated system siphons text messages that people receive on their devices from unknown numbers with no chat history to the recipient into another message folder. This will not show any alert to the recipient.

Also read: Apple’s iOS 26 update boosts charging speeds for iPhone 16 series: Here’s what’s changing

On the other hand, recipients will continue to get alerts regarding text messages from known numbers, which are saved on the person’s device. These will feature in the usual text application only.

Sean Dollman, founding partner of American Made Media Company, told Fox News Digital that it is not surprising to see Big Tech trying to “stop” the US President and other Republicans from getting in touch with people “because they’ve tried every other method to interfere already”.

“Big Tech has suppressed him, suspended him, and banned him outright. And now they’re trying to make it so he can’t text anybody either. But MAGA won’t be stopped, and MAGA will always find a way,” Dollman told the news outlet.

During the 2024 US presidential election, Launchpad Strategies worked as the Trump campaign’s digital firm that looked after the online advertising and consulting. It continues to work as a “full-service Republican digital agency dedicated to helping campaigns win,” as per its official website.

In total, Launchpad managed to raise $509 million in funds, besides the additional amount of $18 million from various clients. 

Is iOS 26 update a problem for Republicans?

The fundraisers for the Trump campaign have stated that the upcoming iPhone update is expected to impact the election cycles, with text messages related to voter registration and campaign rallies getting added to the new messages folder.

This comes ahead of the midterms, where the Democrats are aiming to take back control of the House and Senate from the Republicans.

During the 2024 US presidential election, data showed that the Republican Party benefited from the text campaigns and remained two-to-one ahead of the rival Democrats.

Earlier, a report by Punchbowl News claimed that the National Republican Senate Committee had sent out an internal memo in July this year that raised alarm over the next iOS update. It stated that this might cost the Republicans over $25 million in revenue.

FAQs

When will the Apple event take place?

Apple will hold the event, marking the introduction of the iPhone 17 series, at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Cupertino on September 9.

Is iOS 26 coming out next month?

Yes, the operating system is expected to be out in September.

How much revenue might Republicans lose with the launch of iOS 26?

In a July memo, the National Republican Senate Committee suggested that the next iOS update might cost them over $25 million in revenue.

Agrawal is building infrastructure and tools optimized for AI agents to access, verify, and organise web data. Simply put, he wants to change how AI surfs the internet by creating a platform that is built for AI, works in real time, can be trusted, and scales easily. But is the idea new? What does it entail? And will it truly transform the web or remain a private ecosystem? Mint explains

What is Parag Agrawal’s story so far?

India-born Parag Agrawal began his career in 2006 as a researcher at Microsoft before moving briefly to Yahoo and later returning to Microsoft. In 2009, he joined AT&T’s research division, but it was at Twitter, which he entered in 2011 as a distinguished software engineer, that his career took off.

After six years, he rose to chief technology officer and, in 2021, was named CEO. His tenure was cut short when Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, rebranded it as X, and ousted thousands of employees, including Agrawal and three other top executives. The employees collectively sued Musk for $500 million in severance pay, which the latter has partly tentatively settled for now. However, Agrawal and the other three senior executives continue to pursue their own claims in court.

Why is he in the news again?

The IIT Bombay graduate recently announced the launch of his new company’s “Deep Research API (application programming interface)”, which he claimed is “…the first to outperform both humans and all leading models including GPT-5 on two of the hardest benchmarks (the DeepResearch Bench and Browse Comp benchmarks show how well AI can dig up hard-to-find information and produce detailed reports)”.

In operations since last October, Parallel Web Systems already powers “millions of research tasks every day”. According to Agrawal’s LinkedIn post last week, “…some of the fastest growing AI companies use Parallel to bring web intelligence directly into their platform and agents. A public company automates traditionally human workflows, exceeding human-level accuracy with Parallel. Coding agents rely on our search to find docs and debug issues…”

What does it mean for users and enterprises?

Unlike Google or Perplexity, which serve people with answers or links, Parallel is designed for machines. Its Deep Research API enables AI agents to move beyond surface-level searches, using multiple research engines to deliver anything from quick responses to complex, time-intensive insights.

Each result comes with attribution, confidence scores, and structured outputs, making the data both verifiable and machine-ready. For enterprises, this means plugging the API into their own AI systems to power tasks like market analysis, due diligence, customer research, or competitive intelligence. By prioritising traceability and reliability, Parallel is attempting to tackle the problem of AI hallucinations. That makes it especially valuable for sectors such as finance, law, and healthcare, where accuracy and trust matter most.

But how unique is Agrawal’s idea?

Agrawal is right that today’s web still serves humans: we click links, juggle tabs, compare prices, and judge credibility. AI systems attempt the same with unstructured data, paywalls, and noise, limiting them to simple queries. His vision, though, isn’t entirely new.

The programmatic web has long imagined reshaping the internet so machines can interact with it directly. The agentic web goes further, envisioning AI agents that don’t just fetch facts but act on them— booking flights, restocking groceries, or running analysis. But unlike Web3, which focused on decentralised ownership but never scaled, Parallel is a web built for AI as its primary user. With APIs that promise clean, verifiable, real-time data, Agrawal is creating the first serious infrastructure for this shift in the hope that enterprises will pay for it.

What about standards and protocols?

Every major shift in the web’s history has relied on standards and protocols established by bodies like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)—from hypertext mark up language (HTML) to the frameworks that make today’s web interoperable, allowing programs to communicate with each other.

In the early days of search engines, for instance, companies each used their own indexing methods until standards around metadata and site maps helped unify the ecosystem. Likewise, the rise of mobile apps forced developers and device makers to agree on protocols that allowed apps to work across platforms.

The programmatic web, though, is a complex marketplace dominated by opaque systems and proprietary tech. It still runs on the foundation set by bodies like the W3C and IETF, but remains a patchwork of open ideals and closed commercial interests even as standards groups are trying to rein it back.

Agrawal’s vision of a programmatic, machine-first web, too, would need common formats for attribution, verification, and structured outputs to enable AI agents to reliably share and interpret information across platforms, failing which his project risks becoming another siloed ecosystem as opposed to the transformative web infrastructure he envisions.

What about the AI bot problem?

Automated bots already make up close to half of all internet traffic, performing tasks such as price comparisons and content scraping, but also spamming or gaming systems for ads and clicks. Further, AI-driven bots can mimic human behaviour, learn from their environment, and evade detection.

A machine-first web risks amplifying those problems unless it can distinguish between “good” AI agents and malicious bots. Verification and attribution, which Parallel is building into its system, may help by giving enterprises a way to trust certain sources while filtering out noise. But how do you stop an AI-first internet from becoming overrun by low-quality or adversarial traffic? Search engines like Google already fight constant battles with SEO spam; a programmatic web like Agrawal’s Parallel could magnify that challenge many times over.

So, what can we conclude?

For now, the good news is that investors are supporting the idea. To date, Agrawal has secured $30 million in funding from investors including Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, and Index Ventures. However, given the bad bot problem and interoperability challenges, Agrawal’s AI startup will not only have to build infrastructure for AI research, but also ensure governance and guardrails that prevent the platform from being gamed.

Google has unveiled Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (nicknamed “nano-banana”), its latest image generation and editing model, aimed at giving developers greater creative control and higher-quality outputs.

The update builds on Gemini 2.0 Flash, which was praised for its low latency and cost-effectiveness but had limitations in image quality and editing precision. Gemini 2.5 Flash Image addresses these gaps with several new features:

Multi-image fusion – Blend objects, restyle environments, and combine multiple photos into a single realistic image.

Character consistency – Maintain the same character or product appearance across different settings and angles, useful for storytelling, branding, and catalogs.

Targeted transformations – Make precise edits via natural language prompts, such as blurring backgrounds, removing objects, altering poses, or colorizing photos.

World knowledge integration – Use Gemini’s semantic understanding to read hand-drawn diagrams, assist with education, and follow complex editing instructions.

Template adherence – Generate uniform assets like employee badges, real estate cards, or dynamic product mockups.

Developer tools and pricing

Gemini 2.5 Flash Image costs $30 per 1 million output tokens, with each image priced at approximately $0.039. Google AI Studio has also upgraded its build mode, allowing developers to quickly test, remix, and deploy AI-powered apps—or save their projects to GitHub.

Partnerships and accessibility

To expand adoption, Google has partnered with OpenRouter.ai, bringing the model to its 3 million developers, and fal.ai, a platform for generative media. Gemini 2.5 Flash Image also incorporates SynthID, Google DeepMind’s invisible watermarking tool, to label all AI-generated or edited images.

Google said it is continuing work on improving long-form text rendering, factual detail accuracy, and further boosting reliability in character consistency. The model is expected to move from preview to stable release in the coming weeks.

OnePlus has launched the new OnePlus Nord Buds 3r in the Indian market with a price of ₹1,799 and a claimed battery life of around 54 hours. The TWS will succeed the OnePlus Nord Buds 2r and will compete against other wireless earphones in the sub- ₹2,000 price bracket from Oppo, Realme, and others.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r price:

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r are available in Aura Blue and Ash Black color variants. The earbuds will be available to buy from September 8 on OnePlus’s own website, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Croma, Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, Bajaj Electronics, and other partner outlets.

The new OnePlus earbuds are priced at ₹1,799 but will be available for a special price of ₹1,599 on the sale date. The company is also promising to reveal other special offers closer to the sale date.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r specifications:

The OnePlus Nord Buds 3r feature 12.4mm dynamic drivers with a Titanized vibrating diaphragm, which is said to deliver deep, powerful bass and “crystal-clear” sound for music and gaming. The TWS comes with support for Sound Master EQ, which allows users to choose from three pre-tuned EQ presets or customize their sound with a 6-band equalizer to match their listening preferences.

The earphones also come with support for OnePlus 3D Audio, which helps provide a 360-degree surround sound experience but is only available on select OnePlus devices.

The Nord Buds 3r comes with support for Bluetooth 5.4 and is claimed to offer 47ms of low latency in gaming mode. The earphones also come with support for dual-device connectivity and Google Fast Pair, meaning they should be able to connect automatically to the connected device upon opening the case.

OnePlus is claiming a battery life of 54 hours on the case and 12 hours on the buds for the latest TWS, which would make them the earbuds with the longest playtime in the OnePlus TWS lineup.

The TWS also comes with a dual mic setup and AI noise cancellation to ensure that the user’s voice is heard clearly even in noisy environments.

The Nord Buds 3r also comes with features such as AI translation for real-time language support, Tap-2-take (double tap to take pictures), Aqua Touch for better touch controls, and Find My Earbuds for when you misplace the TWS

Elon Musk’s younger brother Kimbal Musk has alleged that Elon Musk has not been paid for the last six to eight years by Tesla and that the world’s richest man “deserves to be paid.”

While speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week, Kimbal Musk said, “I think my brother deserves to be paid.”

“He has zero pay for the past six to eight years. I don’t think that’s right. I’ll let Tesla shareholders make that decision, but I believe that it does need to be. He needs to be paid,” Kimbal added.

Earlier this month, Tesla granted an “interim” pay package of 96 million shares, valued at approximately $29 billion to keep the billionaire as its CEO. Musk will be able to claim the award if he continues to be the CEO of Tesla for another two years.

The package was approved in a special committee of the Tesla board where Elon and Kimbal Musk had recused themselves.

Notably, the Tesla board had to design a new pay package for Musk after the Delaware court revoked his $56 billion package from 2018.

Last year Musk said that he wanted even more control over Tesla or he would prefer to build products outside of the company.

“I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.” Musk wrote in a post on X.

As it turns out, Musk has gone on to develop his products outside of Tesla. He started an AI startup called xAI, which makes the Grok AI chatbot, and later merged it with his social media platform X. Over the past few months, Musk has devoted his time to talking about the new feature launches for Grok and what the upcoming updates would entail for the chatbot.

Musk also said last week that he was starting a new startup called “Macrohard,” which would replicate much of the products offered by Microsoft using AI. Not much is known about the startup other than what Musk explained in his post.

“In principle, given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate them entirely with AI.” Musk said in his post.

The craze for ChatGPT has only increased with every successive model launch, with its GPT-4o native image generation feature going so far as leading a viral Ghibli-style image generation trend earlier this year. While OpenAI’s GPT-5 launch hasn’t gone as planned, the company still continues to be among the most popular in the market with over 700 million weekly active users.

However, there could be a dramatic increase in ChatGPT’s subscriber base if a new report by The Guardian is to be believed. The Microsoft-backed AI startup is said to be in talks with the U.S. government to give the whole country a ChatGPT Plus subscription, which costs $20/month.

Reportedly, Sam Altman and UK technology secretary Peter Kyle had recently discussed a multibillion-pound deal to give all UK citizens access to the ChatGPT Plus tier. While ChatGPT is accessible to all users without a subscription as well, the usage limit is lower and some features like personalities, Sora video generator, and AI agents are restricted behind a paywall.

The report, while citing two sources, states that this idea was floated as part of a broader discussion in San Francisco about the opportunities for collaboration between OpenAI and the UK government.

However, the UK technology secretary did not reportedly take the idea seriously because it could have cost as much as £2bn to the government.Kyle had previously dined with Altman in March, April, and in July he signed an agreement with OpenAI to give the UK’s public services access to the company’s AI.

The secretary has been a big champion of AI within the government and reports had emerged in March from ChatGPT on a lot of work-related questions, including why British businesses were not adopting AI and what podcasts he should appear on.

“ChatGPT is fantastically good, and where there are things that you really struggle to understand in depth, ChatGPT can be a very good tutor for it,” Kyle told PoliticsHome in January.

The British government is reportedly looking to attract AI investment from the U.S. and has already struck a deal with many of OpenAI’s rivals like Google and Anthropic.Meanwhile, OpenAI has been in talks with several governments over the past few months to provide its paid subscriptions.

OpenAI, the company behind popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, has warned its investors that they could lose their investment or may not see any returns in a post-AGI world. The company further stated that it may be difficult to know what kind of role money will play in a world where AGI has been achieved.

A warning on the OpenAI website, first reported by Business Insider, reads, “It may be difficult to know what role money will play in a post-AGI world.”

“Investing in OpenAI Global, LLC is a high-risk investment. Investors could lose their capital contribution and not see any return,” it adds.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s recent remarks also caused quite a stir when he suggested that the AI industry may be in a bubble.

“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes.” Altman told journalists last week.

In an interaction with CNBC, Altman further stated that foundation models may have already hit saturation, and they may not get better in the future.

“The models have already saturated the chat use case. They’re not going to get much better… And maybe they’re going to get worse,” Altman stated.

Meanwhile, OpenAI finalised a $40 billion funding round from SoftBank at a $300 billion valuation. OpenAI employees are also reportedly planning to sell their $6 billion worth of shares at a $500 billion valuation.

What is AGI?

AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, is a hypothetical stage in the development of AI systems where the foundation model can perform any intellectual task as well as or better than a human can. Almost all AI companies have proclaimed that they will be the first to reach AGI with their technology, but the current AI systems are thought to be a long way off from that landmark.

Not only is there no agreed-upon definition of AGI, there is also no confirmed timeline on when this hypothetical stage will be reached. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has previously predicted that AGI is still 5-10 years away, while others, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, state that we could see some form of AGI by 2026.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday announced the creation of a new company called Macrohard to take on Microsoft’s software business while leveraging the power of AI.

In a post on X confirming the existence of Macrohard, Musk wrote, “It’s a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!”

“In principle, given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate them entirely with AI,” he added.

Media reports revealed that Musk’s xAI had filed for the ‘Macrohard’ patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office on 1 August. xAI’s application lists a number of AI-focused services that Macrohard could provide, including “downloadable computer software for the artificial production of human speech and text” and “downloadable computer software for designing, coding, running, and playing video games using artificial intelligence.”

In a post on X last month, Musk had said that xAI’s latest AI software company would spawn “hundreds of specialized coding and image/video generation/understanding agents all working together and then emulate humans interacting with the software in virtual machines until the result is excellent.”

“This is a macro challenge and a hard problem with stiff competition! Can you guess the name of this company?” he added.

Musk has had a blow hot-blow cold relationship with Microsoft and its CEO Satya Nadella over the past few years. On the one hand, he has dragged Microsoft into his lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the ChatGPT maker has breached its foundation mission in favor of a profit-seeking motive. On the other hand, Musk and Nadella had a public conversation in May when Grok 3 models were made available on Microsoft’s Azure AI platform.

Musk also recently warned Microsoft about OpenAI ‘eating’ it alive, to which Nadella responded in his classic diplomatic style. Musk has been on a mission to tease the potential of his Grok 5 model (said to launch by year-end) while claiming that Grok 4 is still a much superior AI model than the competition. Meanwhile, Microsoft has largely been reliant on OpenAI’s AI models to power its Copilot-based features on the web, GitHub, and Windows, among other platforms

Google’s search dominance has been under threat ever since OpenAI unveiled its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. The fears of AI cutting into Google’s search business became even more real as OpenAI introduced search capabilities in ChatGPT last year, even as rivals like Microsoft’s Bing and Perplexity already provided similar solutions.

ChatGPT’s search capabilities are supposedly so great compared to Google that its CEO, Sam Altman, in a recent interaction with The Verge, said that he doesn’t use Google Search anymore.

“I legitimately cannot tell you the last time I did a Google search,” Altman said.

However, a new report by The Information has now stated that OpenAI has been using data scraped from Google Search in order to help ChatGPT answer real-time questions about issues like news, sports, and financial markets, areas where its own AI tools aren’t up to the mark yet.

OpenAI is reportedly scraping data via SerpApi—a paid web-scraping service that allows developers to extract real-time search engine results.

Apart from OpenAI, SerpApi’s client list also includes tech giants like Meta, Apple, and Perplexity. The web scraper had earlier publicly listed OpenAI on its website, but that reference has reportedly been removed now.

Prior to the report by The Information, a former Google engineer, Abhishek Iyer, had also shown how ChatGPT uses Google Search to answer real-time queries. Iyer created a few dummy web pages which appeared only in Google’s index, and later when he prompted ChatGPT about information from those pages, the chatbot was able to access that information.

Google had rejected OpenAI’s request for its search index:

Officially, OpenAI has previously said that its search functionality on ChatGPT is powered by its own web crawler, along with data from Bing and licensing partnerships with news and content publishers. However, during the Google anti-trust trial last year, ChatGPT head Nick Turley had admitted that the company had reached out to Google for its search index but that request was denied.

Turley had also confirmed that it had “significant quality issues” with Microsoft’s search results and “it was at best a near-term solution.”

“Having access to the data that underlies Google’s index, the content or signals, would accelerate the development of our own index,” Turley had said last year.

A Russian state-backed messenger application called MAX, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets from next month, the Russian government said on Thursday.

The decision to promote MAX comes as Moscow is seeking greater control over the internet space as it is locked in a standoff with the West over Ukraine, which it casts as part of an attempt to shape a new world order.

The Russian government said in a statement that MAX, which will be integrated with government services, would be on a list of mandatory pre-installed apps on all “gadgets,” including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia from September 1.

State media denies accusations from Kremlin critics

State media says accusations from Kremlin critics that MAX is a spying app are false and that it has fewer permissions to access user data than rivals WhatsApp and Telegram.

Which apps are mandatory?

It will also be mandatory that from September 1, Russia’s domestic app store, RuStore, which is pre-installed on all Android devices, will be pre-installed on Apple devices.

A Russian-language TV app called LIME HD TV, which allows people to watch state TV channels for free, will be pre-installed on all smart TVs sold in Russia from January 1, the government added.

The push to promote homegrown apps comes after Russia said this month it had started restricting some calls on WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, and on Telegram, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of failing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.

WhatsApp, which in July had a reach of 97.3 million in Russia, responded by accusing Moscow of trying to block Russians from accessing secure communications, while Telegram, which had a reach of 90.8 million users, said it actively combats the harmful use of its platform.

The third most popular messenger app in July, according to Mediascope data, was VK Messenger at 17.9 million people, an offering from the same state-controlled tech company VK which developed MAX.

MAX said this week that 18 million users had downloaded its app, parts of which are still in a testing phase.

MAX safer than foreign rivals?

Russia’s interior ministry said on Wednesday that MAX was safer than foreign rivals, but that it had arrested a suspect in the first fraud case using the new messenger.

Philips is a well-known brand in India’s grooming space with products ranging from trimmers to hair dryers and shavers. The Dutch company recently launched its new i9000 electric shaver, which promises a comfortable shaving experience tailored to each user with the help of AI. But how well does it hold up to that promise? Let’s find out in this review.

Design and app connectivity

Opening the box of the Philips i9000 shaver, you’re greeted with the device itself, a charging cable, and a premium-feeling travel case. The charging cable connects from USB-A to a proprietary pin, which feels like a missed opportunity for a premium product since USB-C has become the standard across most accessories.

The shaver itself feels premium in hand despite being made of polycarbonate. There’s a power button in the middle with a small display just below it, while the shaving heads sit on top.

Philips claims the i9000 offers a personalized shaving experience via its GroomTribe app, but I was unable to get the shaver paired with the Android app and therefore couldn’t test these features.

Battery life, however, is impressive. While I didn’t completely drain it to the claimed 60-minute runtime, my usage suggests it’s more or less accurate.

Performance

The shaver uses a triple-action lift-and-cut system powered by dual steel precision blades that Philips says can perform 7–8 million cutting motions per minute.

The i9000 is great for tackling small stubble (up to a week old), but if you have a longer beard, you’ll need to trim it down before shaving.

In practice, the process is straightforward: press the button, and the shaver kicks into action. It does feel like it adapts to the contours of your face as you go. As a first-time user, there is a slight learning curve, but once you get comfortable, the device really grows on you.

Verdict

At ₹17,999, the Philips i9000 electric shaver isn’t for everyone. But for premium users who want a grooming tool that combines performance with convenience, it’s a compelling option. It delivers on comfort and design, though app connectivity issues and the lack of USB-C leave room for improvement.

Sony has announced the arrival of the first-ever Legendary Warbond for Helldivers 2, and it comes with a crossover many fans have long speculated about. The Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond will go live on 26 August, bringing with it a full suite of weapons, armour sets, and cosmetics inspired by the iconic Halo 3: ODST.

The collaboration introduces the “Obedient Democracy Support Troopers” or ODST, better known as the Helljumpers, into the fight for Managed Democracy. Players will be able to outfit their Helldivers with gear that echoes the legendary squad, complete with authentic details and battlefield utility.

Iconic weaponry
The Warbond features an arsenal tailored for both all-out combat and stealth operations. The MA5C Assault Rifle makes its debut, equipped with an ammo counter and compass for battlefield navigation. The M6C/SOCOM Pistol includes a suppressor, a first for Helldivers 2, alongside a laser sight and flashlight for covert engagements. For close-quarters encounters, the M90A Shotgun arrives with heavy stopping power and a mounted flashlight. Rounding off the selection is the M7S SMG, a suppressed, caseless weapon designed for precision and quiet manoeuvres.

New armour sets
Two distinct armour options are available. The A-9 Helljumper Armour Set pays homage to a decorated Lance Corporal of ODST renown, offering a “Feet First” passive ability. Meanwhile, the sleeker A-35 Recon Armour Set is inspired by an intelligence officer’s combat gear, also carrying the “Feet First” boost, which reduces movement noise, improves detection range by 30 per cent and grants immunity to leg injuries.

Capes and cosmetics
Players can further customise their Helldivers with themed capes, such as the Honoured Heirloom, bearing the ODST insignia, and the Eye of the Clandestine, designed for those who prefer the shadows. The crossover also extends to ODST-themed player cards, a new title, and a “Mean Green” pattern for vehicles and equipment, including hellpods and exosuits.

Pricing and availability
The Legendary Warbond will be available from the Acquisitions Centre at 1,500 Super Credits – a higher price point than standard Warbonds, reflecting its expanded content. Sony also confirmed that Legendary Warbonds will not be compatible with the new Premium Warbond Token launching on the same day.

The Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond goes live on 26 August at 5am PT / 1pm BST, marking a major moment for both series’ communities.

India’s budget smartphone market has gained two new contenders this month, with Xiaomi’s Redmi brand and Poco going head-to-head. Both the Redmi 15 5G, launched on Tuesday, and the recently unveiled Poco M7 Plus 5G promise large batteries, smooth displays and AI-driven features, all within a sub- ₹17,000 price range.

Redmi 15 5G vs Poco M7 Plus 5G: Pricing and availability
The Redmi 15 5G starts at ₹14,999 for the 6GB + 128GB variant, going up to ₹16,999 for the 8GB + 256GB option. It will be available from 28 August via Amazon, Xiaomi’s official website and offline retailers. Buyers can choose between Frosted White, Midnight Black and Sandy Purple finishes.

The Poco M7 Plus 5G undercuts its rival slightly, with prices beginning at ₹13,999 for the 6GB + 128GB model and ₹14,999 for the 8GB + 256GB version. It went on sale from 19 August through Flipkart, in Aqua Blue, Carbon Black and Chrome Silver shades.

Redmi 15 5G vs Poco M7 Plus 5G: Display and performance
Both smartphones share strikingly similar specifications on paper. Each sports a 6.9-inch Full HD+ display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 288Hz touch sampling rate and up to 850 nits peak brightness. They also carry triple TÜV Rheinland certifications aimed at reducing eye strain.

At the heart of both handsets is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 chipset, paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM. Storage differs slightly: while Redmi offers up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 onboard storage across its line-up, Poco caps its higher-end configuration at 128GB. Both run on Android 15 with HyperOS 2.0 and come with a promise of two years of major OS updates and four years of security patches.

Redmi 15 5G vs Poco M7 Plus 5G: Cameras
The Redmi 15 5G features a 50-megapixel dual rear camera setup with AI enhancements such as AI Sky, AI Beauty and AI Erase. On the front, it carries an 8-megapixel selfie camera.

In comparison, the Poco M7 Plus 5G offers a 50-megapixel primary sensor alongside a secondary camera. It also houses an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, capable of recording videos at up to 1080p/30fps.

Redmi 15 5G vs Poco M7 Plus 5G: Battery and charging
Both smartphones pack a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, offering 33W fast charging and 18W reverse wired charging to top up other devices.

Redmi 15 5G vs Poco M7 Plus 5G: Additional features
Redmi’s offering brings a few extras to the table, including Dolby-certified speakers, Google’s Gemini integration, and support for Circle to Search. Both phones come with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, IP64 rating for dust and splash resistance, and the brand’s signature IR blaster on the Redmi 15 5G.

Redmi 15 5G vs Poco M7 Plus 5G: Verdict
With nearly identical specifications, the Redmi 15 5G and Poco M7 Plus 5G reflect how aggressively brands are competing in India’s affordable segment. While Poco is betting on a slightly lower entry price, Redmi offers more storage options, enhanced AI features and Dolby-tuned audio.

For consumers, the decision may ultimately rest on brand preference, minor feature differences and retail offers.

Realme is set to launch its P4 5G and P4 Pro 5G smartphones in India on 20 August. Ahead of the official release, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Francis Wong, has disclosed the price of the base variant of the Realme P4 5G.

Pricing details

According to Wong, the handset will be priced at Rs. 17,499 in India for the entry-level RAM and storage configuration. The figure is reported to include bank discounts, suggesting that the actual maximum retail price could be slightly higher. For comparison, the Realme P3 5G, launched in March, had a starting price of Rs. 16,999 but was available for Rs. 14,999 after a Rs. 2,000 bank offer.

Realme P4 Specifications

The Realme P4 5G is confirmed to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultra 5G processor and will feature a dedicated Pixelworks chip. It is suggested to offer a 6.77-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits.

Moreover, the phone will come equipped with a 7,000mAh battery that would supports 80W fast charging and may incorporate a 7,000 sq mm vapour chamber cooling system.

In terms of cameras, the P4 5G will offer a 50MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultrawide lens at the rear, alongside a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls.

The P4 5G is positioned as one of the few smartphones in the sub-Rs. 20,000 segment to include a dedicated graphics chip. The company has compared its specifications with competing models such as the Moto G96 5G, iQOO Z10R 5G, and Vivo T4R.

Realme P4 Pro 5G Specifications

The Realme P4 Pro 5G, launching on the same date, will feature a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor, a dedicated HyperVision AI GPU, a 7,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging, and 10W reverse charging. Both devices will be available for purchase via Flipkart.

Honor has launched its latest smartphone in India, the Honor X7C, with the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor, over 5,000mAh battery, 120Hz Full HD display, and IP64 rating. The phone will compete in the sub- ₹20,000 category against the likes of Infinix Note 50s, iQOO Z10R, and Poco X6 Pro.

Honor X7C 5G price:

Honor X7C 5G is priced at ₹14,999 for the sole 8GB RAM/256GB storage variant, which the company states is a limited-time price effective till 22 August. The phone comes in Forest Green and Moonlight White colour variants.

It will be available to buy from Amazon starting 20 August.

Honor X7C 5G specifications:

Honor X7C 5G features a 6.8-inch Full HD+ TFT LCD display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and 850 nits of peak brightness. The phone comes with an IP64 rating for water and dust resistance, meaning it should be able to handle water splashes and light rainfall but not full submersion underwater.

The new Honor device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor, which was earlier seen on the likes of Lava Blaze Dragon and Vivo Y400. It comes with an Adreno 613 GPU, support for 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and 256GB storage.

The Honor X7C runs on MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14. We have no clarity at the moment on if the phone will get update for Android 15 based MagicOS or not.

The phone packs a 5,200mAh battery with support for 35W wired fast charging.

As for optics, the Honor X7C comes with a 50MP primary shooter and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front is a 5MP shooter for selfies and video calls.

There is a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device and a 3.5mm headphone jack for connecting wired headphones. There is also a dual-speaker setup on the device with the ability to stretch the volume up to 300%.

Former Chief Executive Officer of Twitter (now known as X), Parag Agrawal, in a social media post announced that he has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture named ‘Deep Research API’ in efforts to take over ChatGPT in the world AI development race. 

In the post, Agrawal said that the first goal of the venture is to ‘outperform’ both humans and all leading models including GPT-5 from Open AI. He also called the target two of the hardest benchmarks to beat in the industry.

“We launched our Deep Research API – it’s the first to outperform both humans and all leading models including GPT-5 on two of the hardest benchmarks,” said Agrawal in his post on LinkedIn.

Parag Agrawal’s AI footsteps

The former Twitter boss also highlighted that his company is already powering millions of research tasks on a daily basis for ambitious startups and public enterprise companies. 

Parag Agrawal is the founder of the AI startup, Parallel Web Systems Inc., which is based in Palo Alto, California, United States. He said that the company offers automation facilities which companies use to carry out traditionally-human workflows with ‘exceeding human-level accuracy.

“We already power millions of research tasks every day, across ambitious startups and public enterprises,” said Agrawal in his post.

Who is Parag Agrawal?

Parag Agrawal is well-known in the industry for serving as the CEO of the social media giant, Twitter. Elon Musk fired Agrawal after taking over the company in 2022.

Agrawal started out his career as a Researcher at Microsoft in 2006, and after a few months, he shifted to the same position at Yahoo. In 2009, he again returned to Microsoft Corp.; however, after a brief run with the company, he joined the US-based telecom giant, AT&T. 

In October 2011, Agrawal finally joined Twitter as a Distinguished Software Engineer and after serving for over six years, he became the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the global giant.

After spending over four years as the company’s CTO, Parag Agrawal was promoted to the CEO role in November 2021.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Parag Agrawal was from the Atomic Energy Central School in India, and later finished his graduation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay with a Bachelor’s in Technology in Computer Science and Engineering.

Agrawal in 2005 finished his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Computer Science from the Stanford University in United States.

Artificial Intelligence chatbots have seriously taken off since ChatGPT became a viral sensation back in late 2022. While ChatGPT remains the most popular chatbot on the market, Google’s Gemini AI has caught up with some great new model launches in the last few months. What also helps Gemini’s case is that the chatbot is present across a number of Google services including Gmail and Calendar, making for easier integration.

Why is Google training Gemini on your conversations?

Google by default uses your conversations with Gemini to train its upcoming AI models. Notably, large language models (LLMs) like Gemini are trained on massive datasets in order to learn patterns in language, reasoning and context. In one sense, modern LLMs are essentially pattern recognisers and while publicly available datasets can help the model learn some useful patterns, they are not enough for the model to handle natural queries better.

By training on user interactions, LLMs like Gemini understand what queries users ask most and how the model could adapt to deliver more useful content.

With users increasingly going to chatbots to ask questions about everything in their lives, from simple tax troubles to past emotional traumas, the thought of Google having access to this data for training its new AI model could be unsettling. But if you want to revoke Google’s access to train its AI model on your conversations, there’s a quick fix for that.

How to stop Gemini from training on your personal conversations?

In order to stop Gemini from training on your personal conversations, you’ll need to turn off the ‘Gemini Apps Activity’ option by going to the settings page on the website or iOS/Android app. Google is soon going to change the name of this setting to “Keep activity” after a new update, but the process to turn it off will remain the same.

Stopping Gemini Activity on Desktop:

– Visit Gemini.Google.com on your browser and sign in to your Google account

– Click on the three-bar menu on the left-hand side of the page and tap on Settings and help

– Tap on Activity and you will be taken to a new settings page

– Click on the Turn off option next to Gemini activity to stop the chatbot from training on your conversations

– For even more privacy, you can delete past Gemini activity to remove data the chatbot collected before you disabled the feature

– Google will continue to store your Gemini activity for 72 hours before deleting it from its servers. Moreover, if you have multiple Google accounts from which you use Gemini, make sure to repeat the process for each one in order to stop Gemini from training on your conversations.

Stopping Gemini Activity on Mobile:

– Open the Gemini app on your phone

– Tap on the accounts option in the top-right corner and click on Gemini apps activity

– Follow the same process to turn off Gemini app activity and delete previous activity if needed

Infinix has launched another new device in its budget focused Hot series. The new device called Hot 60i comes with an IP64 rating, 6,000mAh battery, Dimensity 6400 processor, 120Hz display and 50MP primary camera while packing a price of less than ₹10,000. 

Infiinix Hot 60i price: 

Infinix Hot 60i is priced at ₹9,299 for the sole 4GB RAM/128GB storage model. However, there is a ₹300 discount on pre-paid cards on first day of sale which takes the effective price of the device to ₹8,999.

The Hot 60i 5G will go on sale on Flipkart and retail outlets from 21st August onwards. The phone will be available in four colour variants: Shadow Blue, Monsoon Green, Plum Red, and Sleek Black

Infinix Hot 60i 5G specifications: 

Infinix Hot 60i 5G features a 6.75 inch HD+ LCD display with 120Hz refresh rate and 670 nits of peak brightness. The phone comes with Panda Glass protection on the top and IP64 rating for water and dust resistance, meaning it should be able to handle some light water splashes but not full submersion under water. 

The new Infinix device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6400 processor with Mali-M57 MC2 GPU. The phone comes with support for 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB eMMC 5.1 storage. There is also support for up to 2TB of expandable storage via the microSD card slot. 

As for the optics, the Hot 60i comes with a 50MP rear camera setup with LED flash and support for 2k 30fps video recording. On the front is a 5MP shooter for selfies and video calls. 

The Hot 60i runs on Infinix’s XOS 15 based on Android 15 with support for a number of AI features including Circle to Search, AI Call Translation, AI Summarization, AI Writing Assistant, AI Eraser for photo editing, and AI Wallpaper Generator. The Hot 60i comes with a 6,000mAh battery with support for 18W of wired fast charging.

One uncommon feature with the Hot 60i is the prescence of new No Network Call” feature via the Ultra Link technology. Using this feature, users can use the phone to communicate without network coverage in, making it fit for situations like concerts, treks, or basements.

Google’s upcoming Pixel 10 series is set to be unveiled on 20 August, and fresh reports suggest the Pixel 10 Pro Fold could break new ground in the foldable market. According to a report from WinFuture, the handset is expected to be the first foldable smartphone to carry an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

What IP68 could mean for a foldable

Reportedly, the IP68 classification indicates full protection against dust ingress and the ability to withstand submersion in water, typically up to 1.5 metres for around 30 minutes. While the exact durability will depend on manufacturer specifications, the standard is considered a significant upgrade over current foldable devices. For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 has an IP48 rating, while the Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers IPX8 protection, which guards against water but not dust.

This latest leak adds weight to earlier reports from June and July, both suggesting Google had reached the IP68 benchmark.

Storage upgrade expected

The WinFuture report also points to a storage upgrade, with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold moving from UFS 3.1 to the faster UFS 4.0 standard. While the performance jump may not be dramatic, it is expected to improve read and write speeds, contributing to a smoother user experience.

Full details of the Pixel 10 line-up will be confirmed during Google’s launch event next week.

Ahead of the official announcement, reports have also surfaced revealing the expected pricing for all models in India, suggesting there may be no increase compared to last year’s Pixel 9 lineup.

According to a report by SmartPrix, the standard Google Pixel 10 could be priced at Rs. 79,990 for the sole 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. The Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL are expected to cost Rs. 1,09,999 and Rs. 1,24,999, respectively. Meanwhile, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold could retail at Rs. 1,72,999, with only one configuration available.

The report also notes that Google may offer bank discounts on all models, although further details are likely to be confirmed at launch. If these figures are accurate, the Pixel 10 series will be positioned in the same price range as the 2024 Pixel 9 series.

OpenAI is looking to bring in new revenue, and introducing ads to ChatGPT could be one of the ways to accomplish that goal. In a recent episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast, OpenAI’s head of ChatGPT, Nick Turley, said he’s “humble enough not to rule it out categorically” but noted that the company needs to “be very thoughtful and tasteful” about how ads are integrated.

“We will build other products, and those other products can have different dimensions to them, and maybe ChatGPT just isn’t an ads-y product because it’s just so deeply accountable to your goals. But it doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t build other things in the future, too,” Turley noted.

“Maybe there is a certain market where people aren’t willing to pay us, yet we want to offer the best, latest, and greatest. Maybe that would be a place to consider other indirect forms of monetization,” he added.

“If we ever did that I’d want to be very, very careful and deliberate because I really think that the thing that makes ChatGPT magical is the fact that you get the best answer for you and there’s no other stakeholder in the middle. It’s personalized as to your needs and tastes, etc. But we’re not trying to upsell you on something like that or to boost some pay-to-play provider or product. And maybe there are ways of doing ads that preserve that and that preserve the incentive structure, but I think that would be a novel concept and we’d have to be very deliberate,” the OpenAI executive further noted.

ChatGPT recently surpassed 700 million total weekly users, but only 20 million of them are paid subscribers. As per an earlier Bloomberg report, OpenAI is expected to generate around $12.7 billion in revenue through its subscriptions this year, but the AI startup is still not expecting to be cash-flow positive until 2029.

Speaking about the huge number of free users of ChatGPT, Turley said, “I actually don’t view the fact that the vast majority of our users are free as necessarily a liability. I really think it’s a funnel that we can build off of to build differentiated offerings for people who are willing to pay.”

Google has announced the rollout of ‘Flight Deals’, a new artificial intelligence-driven search feature within Google Flights, which will be made available in the United States, Canada and India over the coming week.

Targeting budget-conscious travellers

The company said the tool is aimed at travellers whose main priority is finding cheaper fares. It will be accessible directly via the Flight Deals page or through the top-left menu of Google Flights, the platform used to compare airline ticket prices. No sign-up or opt-in will be required.

Natural language search for travel preferences

Flight Deals allows users to describe their travel preferences in natural language, rather than manually adjusting dates, destinations and filters. For example, searches could include requests such as “week-long trip this winter to a city with great food, nonstop only” or “10-day ski trip to a world-class resort with fresh powder”. The system will then return the most relevant offers, including options that users may not have initially considered, potentially opening up new destinations and experiences.

The tool works by interpreting the details of the user’s request through AI and matching them with potential destinations. It then uses real-time data from Google Flights to provide up-to-date results from hundreds of airlines and booking platforms, making it easier for travellers to identify bargains without extensive manual searching.

Beta launch and new features

Google said the feature will launch in beta to collect user feedback and assess how AI can support travel planning. Alongside the new tool, Google Flights will also introduce an option to exclude basic economy fares for trips within the US and Canada, giving users greater flexibility in selecting preferred ticket types.

The existing Google Flights service will continue to operate alongside Flight Deals and, according to the company, will receive further updates over time to improve usability and options for travellers.

Igor Babuschkin, co-founder and former engineering lead at Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, has left the company to start a new venture focused on AI safety and research. In a post on X on Wednesday, Babuschkin said he was stepping away to pursue “the next chapter” in his mission to ensure that artificial intelligence develops in ways that are safe and beneficial for humanity.

Role at xAI and key contributions

Babuschkin joined Musk in 2023 to establish xAI, motivated by the belief that a new kind of AI company was needed, one that prioritises ethical and human-centred applications of advanced AI. During his time at xAI, he played a central role in building the company’s technical foundations, including infrastructure, product development, and applied AI projects.

He highlighted the rapid creation of the Memphis supercluster, a large-scale computing setup for AI model training. Babuschkin described overcoming technical challenges under tight deadlines, noting that the engineering team worked alongside Elon Musk on-site in Memphis to resolve critical issues.

Career background and vision

Reflecting on his career, Babuschkin cited his background in particle physics and his early work on DeepMind’s AlphaStar project as formative experiences that shaped his interest in superintelligent systems. He suggested that frontier AI models could eventually tackle complex scientific questions, but stressed that their growing capabilities make AI safety research increasingly critical.

Launch of Babuschkin Ventures

Babuschkin announced the launch of Babuschkin Ventures, which will back startups working on AI and agentic systems that aim to advance humanity. The venture will also support research into AI safety.

Reflections on xAI team

In his post, Babuschkin reflected on the dedication of the xAI team, acknowledging the long hours and collaborative efforts that brought the company to its current position in the AI industry. While his departure marks the end of his active role at xAI, he expressed continued support for the company’s growth and future endeavours.

xAI controversies

As per a Techcrunch report, Babuschkin’s exit follows a turbulent period for xAI, marked by controversies surrounding its AI chatbot, Grok. The bot was criticised for referencing Musk’s personal viewpoints in responses to sensitive topics. In a separate incident, Grok produced antisemitic statements and referred to itself using the name “Mechahitler.”

Russian hackers are likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam in Norway in April that affected water flows, police officials told Norwegian media on Wednesday.

The director of the Norwegian Police Security Service, Beate Gangås, said cyberattacks are increasingly being carried out against Western nations to stoke fear and unrest.

The Associated Press has plotted more than 70 incidents on a map tracking a campaign of disruption across Europe blamed on Russia, which Western officials have described as “reckless.” Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents, ranging from vandalism to arson and attempted assassination.

Intelligence officials told the that the campaign is becoming more violent.

During the April incident, hackers gained access to a digital system which remotely controls one of the dam’s valves and opened it to increase the water flow, NRK said. The valve was open for around four hours but did not pose a danger to the surrounding area, NRK reported.

A three-minute long video showing the dam’s control panel and a mark identifying a pro-Russian cybercriminal group was published on Telegram in April, police attorney Terje Nedrebø Michelsen told NRK.

Similar videos have previously circulated on social media, but the announcement by Norwegian police marked the first time since 2022 that officials have publicly suggested pro-Russian hackers may have successfully targeted critical water infrastructure in Europe.

Gangås told NRK that state actors typically use other groups to hack into facilities to show “look what we can do if we want to,” before bragging about it afterwards.

She spoke Wednesday alongside the head of Norway’s intelligence agency at a briefing titled: “Hybrid attacks against Norway: are we at war?”

NRK said Gangås warned such activity is only likely to increase in Norway and other European countries.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

POCO has launched its latest addition to the affordable smartphone market, the POCO M7 Plus 5G, which features a 7000mAh silicon carbon battery and a 6.9-inch Full HD+ display with a 144Hz refresh rate. The device is positioned as a budget-friendly option priced sub- ₹15,000 price point.

POCO M7 Plus 5G: Pricing in India

The POCO M7 Plus 5G will be available exclusively on Flipkart starting 19 August at 12 noon. The introductory price is set at ₹12,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant and ₹13,999 for the 8GB+128GB variant. Launch promotions include an instant ₹1,000 discount for users paying with HDFC, SBI, or ICICI Bank cards, as well as an exchange bonus of up to ₹1,000 for eligible devices. These offers are valid for a limited period.

POCO M7 Plus 5G: Specifications and features

The POCO M7 Plus 5G is equipped with the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 processor and offers up to 16GB of Turbo RAM, providing sufficient capacity for multitasking and high-performance applications. Its 144Hz adaptive refresh rate is designed to enhance visual fluidity.

A key feature of the M7 Plus 5G is its 7000mAh battery, which the company claims is engineered for up to 1,600 charge cycles and retains up to 80 per cent of its original capacity even after four years of use. The smartphone also supports 18W reverse charging, allowing it to act as a power bank for other devices.

The handset runs on a platform offering two operating system upgrades and four years of security updates. It has an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance, providing protection against light exposure to the elements. The exterior of the phone features a grid-style design with a matte finish, while photography needs are served by a 50MP AI rear camera.

Cybersecurity researchers have reportedly uncovered a large-scale campaign in which cybercriminals are using TikTok Shops to distribute malware and defraud users, particularly younger customers.

AI-generated content used to mimic real sellers

According to TechRadar, security analysts at CTM360 found that the perpetrators impersonate legitimate e-commerce sellers, often employing AI-generated content to bolster their credibility. The scam is not confined to TikTok, similar fraudulent storefronts have been detected on Facebook, where enticing advertisements offering steep discounts are used to lure victims, noted the publication.

The aim is reportedly twofold: to steal cryptocurrency payments and to compromise personal information through malicious software. Investigators have linked TikTok Wholesale and Mall-branded pages to more than 10,000 fraudulent URLs.

Reportedly, these mimic official retail portals but redirect visitors to phishing websites. Victims are then prompted to pay a deposit into a fake online wallet or purchase goods that do not exist.

Malicious apps disguised as affiliate tools

Some operations pose as affiliate programme managers, distributing disguised malicious applications. Over 5,000 download sources have been identified, many of which employ embedded links or QR codes to evade detection, the report added. One notable threat, dubbed “SparkKitty,” is capable of extracting data from Android and iOS devices, allowing attackers prolonged access even after the initial breach.

Because cryptocurrency transfers are irreversible, victims have little chance of recovering their losses. Scammers often deploy countdown timers or limited-time deals to create a sense of urgency, pushing targets to act without verifying authenticity.

Analysis of the fraudulent domains reveals a reliance on inexpensive extensions such as .top, .shop, and .icu, which can be quickly purchased and deployed.

Security precautions for online shoppers

Security experts advise consumers to verify web addresses before making payments, ensure sites use secure HTTPS connections, and avoid unusually steep discounts. They also recommend sticking to standard payment methods, avoiding direct cryptocurrency transfers, and maintaining up-to-date antivirus software with real-time protection. Firewalls and vigilance, even on polished-looking platforms, remain essential in identifying and avoiding scams.

Apple’s iPhone 17 series is just weeks away from its debut, and excitement about the new flagship launches is palpable. Ahead of the launch, a new leak has revealed that Apple’s design change for the iPhone 17 Pro could help the Cupertino-based tech giant reposition antennas on the two models, which could in turn lead to better cellular performance compared to older iPhones.

We have been hearing for months now that Apple will ditch its square-ish camera module on the iPhone 16 Pro in favour of a rectangular camera island that will encompass the entire top half of the device.

However, a new leak by tipster Majin Bu reveals that the company is also looking to reposition the antennas around the rear camera module. This approach is expected to shield the antennas from interference and improve performance in congested environments, potentially leading to a more stable connection while travelling.

The idea appears to take inspiration from the Apple Watch Ultra, where antennas are integrated strategically to maximise reception and signal stability.

On current iPhones, Apple places its antennas around the side edges. While the new change in antenna positioning may be coming to iPhone 17 Pro models, it is not yet clear if the same will apply to the iPhone 17 Air and the standard iPhone 17.

Bu states that repositioning the antennas will lead to the iPhone 17 Pro models offering enhanced 5G mmWave performance, reduced latency, improved efficiency, and more optimised internal space for components like the battery and thermal systems.

For context, the current iPhone models place antennas along the chassis edges, with visible breaks in the frame.

iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max: What to expect?

The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are expected to retain the same 6.3-inch and 6.8-inch sizes as last year, but the tech giant could ship them with an anti-reflective display coating similar to the one seen on Samsung’s Galaxy devices.

The phones could come powered by the latest A19 Pro chipset with 12GB of RAM, up from the 8GB RAM in earlier models.

As for design, the iPhone 17 Pro models could ditch the titanium frame in favour of an aluminium one. The new devices are likely to have an aluminium frame with the back featuring a half-aluminium, half-glass finish. Apart from helping with durability, the new design would still allow wireless charging thanks to the glass section.

Samsung has emerged as the clear leader in the global smartphone market, with shipments rising 7.9 per cent year-on-year to 58 million units in the second quarter of 2025, capturing nearly 20 per cent of the market share, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Global smartphone shipments show modest growth

Globally, smartphone shipments increased by a modest 1.0 per cent year-on-year to 295.2 million units in the second quarter of 2025. This slight growth comes amid a challenging economic environment marked by tariff volatility, currency fluctuations, rising inflation, and unemployment, which have collectively tempered consumer demand. These factors particularly affected the lower-end smartphone segments, where price sensitivity is highest, resulting in a noticeable slowdown in shipments of low-end Android devices.

China market faces a slowdown despite promotional efforts

The Chinese market, which has traditionally been a significant driver of global smartphone sales, showed a weaker performance in this quarter. Despite the success of the 618 e-commerce festival in terms of sell-through, the promotions were primarily used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and channel partners to clear existing inventory rather than stimulate new shipments. Apple, which was the top brand during the promotional period, saw a one per cent decline in shipments in China. However, strong double-digit growth in emerging markets helped the company record a global shipment increase of 1.5 per cent, with 46.4 million units shipped in total, representing a 15.7 per cent market share.

Other leading smartphone makers also posted mixed results. Xiaomi shipped 42.5 million units, holding a 14.4 per cent market share, while vivo’s shipments rose 4.8 per cent year-on-year to 27.1 million units. Transsion experienced a slight decline of 1.7 per cent, shipping 25.1 million units. The remainder of the market contracted by 3.1 per cent, indicating that smaller vendors and less established brands struggled in the face of broader market pressures.

Despite the political challenges, conflicts, and the complexities posed by tariffs, the smartphone market’s one per cent growth signals resilience and suggests a cautious return to expansion. The quarter saw a slew of new model launches featuring innovative designs and AI integration, contributing to the market’s eighth consecutive quarter of growth, a trend not seen since 2013. These developments underline the industry’s focus on incorporating advanced technology to attract consumers even amid uncertain economic conditions.

Oppo has just launched its gaming-focused K13 Turbo Pro smartphone in the Indian market. The smartphone goes neck to neck with Poco’s recently launched F7 series in offering gamers an enticing option under the ₹35,000 price bracket.

Let’s take a look at the detailed comparison of the two devices to find out which one is a better choice in this segment.

Oppo K13 Turbo Pro comes with a 6.8-inch LTPS AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and 1,600 nits of global peak brightness.

Meanwhile, the Poco F7 comes with a 6.83-inch 1.5K OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3,200 nits of peak brightness, and 1,700 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM). It is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i on the front.

While I cannot compare the camera samples from both devices since I don’t have the Poco F7 with me, their spec sheet itself says a lot about the two devices.

The Poco F7 comes with a 50MP Sony IMX882 primary sensor with OIS and EIS and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens. It packs a 20MP front-facing shooter for selfies and video calls.

The K13 Turbo Pro, on the other hand, comes with a 50MP Samsung OV02B1B primary sensor with a 2MP depth shooter. On the front is a 16MP shooter.

The lack of a telephoto or ultra-wide-angle lens does hurt the K13 Turbo compared to the competition.

The Poco F7 can record a maximum of 1080p at 60fps, while the K13 Turbo Pro can also record a maximum of 1080p but at 30fps from the front shooter

Processor:

Both phones come powered by the same Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor with LPDDR5x RAM. While the Poco F7 supports UFS 4.1 storage, the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro supports UFS 4.0 storage.

Battery and UI:

Poco F7 comes with a 7,550mAh battery with 90W fast charging, while the K13 Turbo Pro comes with a 7,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging.

The Oppo device runs on Color OS 15 based on Android 15 with 2 years of promised OS updates and 3 years of security patches. The Poco F7, on the other hand, runs on Hyper OS 2 with 4 years of promised OS updates and 6 years of security patches.

Additional features:

Both the K13 Turbo Pro and Poco F7 come with an attractive design that will appeal to gamers. The K13 Turbo Pro does have a special tool in its kit with the addition of a centrifugal fan that automatically kicks in during heavy-duty tasks to keep the thermals in check.

Price:

Oppo K13 Turbo Pro starts at ₹39,999 for the 12GB RAM/256GB storage variant, but during the upcoming sale, it will come down to an effective price of ₹36,999.

Meanwhile, the Poco F7 is priced at ₹31,999 for the 12GB RAM/256GB model. With discounts and offers during sales, the phone can be found for around ₹30,000 on e-commerce websites.

Which phone should you buy under ₹35,000?

Oppo K13 Turbo Pro is a bold attempt from the company to make a gaming phone that not only works like one but also screams that it is made for gamers. The new device matches the Poco F7 in processor, display, RAM, and storage options, but the lack of an ultra-wide-angle lens, smaller update cycle, and slightly higher price doesn’t go in its favour.

Meanwhile, the addition of a new centrifugal fan inside the phone could be just the nudge needed to push users towards buying the new device, even if it is at a slight premium.

Apple’s iPhone 17 series is all set to debut next month, running the latest iOS 26 operating system. The Cupertino-based tech giant is expected to unveil four new models during its September launch event — iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the new thin and light iPhone 17 Air.

While the official launch date hasn’t been confirmed, if Apple follows its traditional cycle, the devices will likely be revealed in early September. Anticipation is already high, with the rumor mill churning out leaks about potential features and pricing.

However, US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” on India and China — two major iPhone manufacturing hubs — have created uncertainty over whether Apple will maintain last year’s pricing or increase it.

iPhone 17 series likely to cost more than iPhone 16

According to a report by MacRumors, the iPhone 17 series will “likely” be more expensive than its predecessor in the US, based on estimates from GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu.

In a research note earlier this week, Pu attributed the possible price hike to new US tariffs on products imported from China and India.

Earlier, Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared at a White House press conference with President Trump, announcing an additional $100 billion investment in the US to bring more of Apple’s supply chain and advanced production home.

As a result of this investment, Apple has reportedly been exempted from part of the new tariff regime. According to The Wall Street Journal, the US would impose a 20% tariff on iPhones imported from China and 0% on those imported from India.

Cook has previously stated that most iPhones sold in the US between April and June were made in India. While India was once a minor part of Apple’s supply chain, it now accounts for 14% of flagship iPhone production.

Expected pricing for iPhone 17 series

A leak from Chinese tipster Instant Digital suggested a $50 price increase over the iPhone 16 series. If accurate, the iPhone 17 could start at $849 in the US (around ₹89,900 in India).

The new iPhone 17 Air could begin at $949 (around ₹99,900), while the iPhone 17 Pro may be priced at $1,199 (around ₹1,45,900). The top-end iPhone 17 Pro Max could cost $1,249 (around ₹1,64,900).

Apple is set to launch its new line of iPhones next month. The iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 17 Air are expected to be launched on September 9, as per a Gulf News report. The pre-orders for Apple’s new smartphones are expected to start on September 12, the outlet reported. 

Here is everything you need to know about the expected price and features of Apple’s iPhone 17 series.

Also read: Apple to commit additional $100 billion to US manufacturing: White House official

iPhone 17 price in US, the UAE and India

The new iPhones are expected to see a modest price hike, as per a Macworld report. The new smartphones could see a hike of $50. The iPhone 17 Pro could be around $1,049 or $1,149, depending on the extra $100 Apple customers have to pay for the 256GB model.

The iPhone 17 could be priced at  $799. Apple could charge  $949 or $999 for the iPhone 17 Air. The iPhone 17 Pro Max could be the costliest model in the lineup with an expected price of $1,249. 

In the UAE, the iPhone 17 could cost AED 2,934 ( ₹69,972). The iPhone 17 Pro Max could be priced around AED 4,587 ( ₹1,09,394). The iPhone 17 Pro could cost a maximum of AED 4,220 ( ₹1,00,641) while customers may have to shell out AED 3,669 ( ₹87,501) for the iPhone 17 Air.

iPhone 17 features 

The iPhone 17 is expected to include a 48MP telephoto lens with up to 8x optical zoom. The models could also have improved zoom capabilities. The high-end iPhone 17 variants could feature 12GB RAM and the A19 Pro chip. The use of aluminium frames instead of titanium could lead to a difference in cost and weight as well. 

The official details will be confirmed at the launch event only. Apart from the new iPhone models, Apple will also introduce the Watch Series 11, the Ultra 3, and the SE 3, according to Macrumors.

FAQs

When is the Apple iPhone 17 launching?

The series is expected to launch in September, but the exact date has not been confirmed.

What is the price of the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max?

As of now, Apple has not revealed the price of its upcoming models.

Will the Apple iPhone 17 feature the A19 Pro chipset?

Yes, the high-end models are expected to have the chipset.

OpenAI announced its latest GPT-5 language model during a live-streaming event on Thursday with the promise of a number of improvements across various areas such as reasoning, accuracy, writing, coding, health-related questions, and multi-modal abilities. However, OpenAI went against its history of reserving the latest model for paying users by also releasing GPT-5 simultaneously to free-tier users.

That being said, free users no longer have access to OpenAI’s GPT-4o or other older models that they had been using for months. Meanwhile, ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Enterprise users can still access GPT-4o by turning on the legacy settings on ChatGPT.

If you have already gotten access to GPT-5, there is a chance that you may have hit the limit for the new model and already been downgraded to a lower model (if in free or Plus category). Let’s find out what the message limits are for OpenAI’s paying and non-paying users.

How many messages can you send GPT-5 in a day?

1) Free users:

ChatGPT’s non-paying members are restricted to sending just 10 messages every hour for the standard model and one message per day to the GPT-5 Thinking model. After hitting the GPT-5 limit, free users will automatically use the mini version of both models for their queries.

2) ChatGPT Plus users:

ChatGPT Plus users were given access to 80 messages per 3 hours with the GPT-5 standard model at launch, but this limit has now been temporarily doubled to 160 messages per 3 hours. Meanwhile, they have access to 200 messages per week with the Thinking model.

Upon reaching their limit, Plus users will also have to interact with the mini model.

The ChatGPT Plus subscription costs $20/month, and along with a higher message limit, they also get a larger 32,000-token context window compared to the 8,000-token context window for free users. Plus users can also select the GPT-5 Thinking model directly from the model picker.

3) ChatGPT Pro:

ChatGPT Pro and Team users have unlimited access to GPT-5 Standard, Thinking, and GPT-5 Pro models, subject to abuse guardrails. The Pro subscription for ChatGPT costs $200/month, while the Team subscription costs $25 per user/month.

GPT-5’s unified model system:

Unlike the previous versions, GPT-5 has an automatic router that has been programmed by OpenAI to switch between the Thinking and Standard models based on the complexity, conversation type, tool required, and intent of the user. Users can also trigger this mechanism by adding keywords like “think hard about this” in their prompts.

Hulu will be phased out as a stand-alone app in 2026, with Disney confirming it is “fully integrating” the service — now wholly owned by the company — into its flagship Disney+ platform.

Starting in autumn 2025, Hulu will replace the Star brand on Disney+ internationally.

Hulu to merge into Disney+

A “unified” Disney+ and Hulu streaming app will launch in 2026, the company announced. A Disney representative said customers will still be able to purchase a stand-alone Hulu subscription, as well as a stand-alone Disney+ plan.

“Today we are announcing a major step forward in strengthening our streaming offering by fully integrating Hulu into Disney+,” CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston said in prepared commentary on the media giant’s quarterly earnings.

“This will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-caliber brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news and industry-leading live sports content in a single app,” they added.

Iger told investors the single Disney+ app with Hulu will deliver an “improved consumer experience,” which will lower churn. Both services will be “on one tech platform,” which he said would result in cost synergies. Disney — which already sells ads for Disney+ and Hulu together — also sees “new opportunities for bundling ad sales by fully combining them.”

When will the integration take place?

Hulu’s live TV business will be merged with Fubo under a proposed joint venture majority-owned by Disney. While Hulu + Live TV and Fubo will remain separately marketed for now, a Disney representative confirmed Hulu + Live TV will be integrated into Disney+ in 2026.

The integration has been underway for some time. In spring 2024, the Disney+ app launched “full” integration of Hulu content, aimed at converting stand-alone Disney+ subscribers into bundled Disney+/Hulu customers.

At what price will users get to purchase Hulu subscription?

Also on Wednesday, Disney announced it will stop reporting streaming subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, following the lead of Netflix and others. The company also set August 21 as the launch date for its ESPN stand-alone streaming product, priced at $29.99 per month.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved new rules to accelerate the deployment and security of subsea data cables, citing growing threats from China and other foreign adversaries.

The move aims to strengthen US leadership in artificial intelligence and next-generation technologies by targeting the vast global network of subsea cables that carry about 99% of the world’s Internet traffic and support more than $10 trillion in financial transactions daily.

Long critical to global communications, these undersea networks are increasingly viewed as strategic assets vulnerable to sabotage and espionage.

“We not only want to unleash the deployment of new undersea cables — we want to make sure those cables are secure,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in an accompanying statement. “In recent years, we have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened by foreign adversaries, like China.”

The new regulations streamline the cable licensing process, tighten security requirements and restrict participation from foreign entities deemed national security risks. 

Certain license applications from companies controlled by adversarial governments will now face a presumption of denial — meaning they are unlikely to be approved unless applicants can prove the project poses no threat to US national security. Additional cybersecurity and physical security measures will also be required for cables landing on US shores.

The changes are part of a broader US effort to reduce China’s role in sensitive technologies. Subsea cables stretching more than 1.4 million kilometers globally are frequently damaged by natural disasters or human activity, such as dragging ship anchors.

“Subsea cables are uniquely vulnerable to espionage, sabotage, and surveillance,” FCC commissioner Olivia Trusty warned in a statement. “Our global adversaries understand this.”

She added that while China is rapidly expanding its investments in undersea infrastructure, Russia’s military has shown it can track and map cable routes. “These trends cannot be ignored, which is why today’s order is so important,” she said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

OpenAI has rolled out GPT-5, its most advanced artificial intelligence model yet, in a move to stay ahead in the fast-evolving AI landscape. The model, which was announced during a livestreamed event on Thursday, promises significant upgrades in reasoning, coding, and creative writing.

Wider access starting today

Starting today, GPT-5 will be available to all free users and many paying ChatGPT subscribers. Enterprise and education customers are expected to get access from next week. OpenAI says paid users will benefit from higher usage limits.

Described by CEO Sam Altman as a “major upgrade”, GPT-5 is designed to feel more like talking to an expert. The model responds faster, answers more accurately, and makes up information less often compared to earlier versions. It can also decide on its own when to take more time to process a question, instead of relying on the user to choose a specific AI mode.

Features of GPT-5

As part of the launch, OpenAI has introduced four new chatbot personalities, Cynic, Robot, Listener and Nerd, which are currently available as a “research preview”. These are meant to let users customise how ChatGPT interacts with them.

A key focus of GPT-5 is on software development. OpenAI demonstrated how the model can quickly build a fully functional web app with games and interactive features, based on simple instructions. Early testers, including startups like Lovable and Anysphere, said the model is noticeably better at generating, fixing, and maintaining code.

OpenAI is placing a strong emphasis on GPT-5’s usefulness for software development. With more tech companies and startups building AI tools to assist developers in writing and debugging code more efficiently, a new wave of “vibe coding” is taking shape.

Sam Altman described this shift as central to GPT-5’s impact, saying that the concept of “software on demand” will define this next phase of AI.

The release comes at a time when OpenAI is facing growing pressure from competitors in both the US and China. Companies like Google, Anthropic, xAI (founded by Elon Musk), and DeepSeek are all pushing forward with their own advanced models. Meta, meanwhile, has been expanding its AI team, reportedly hiring several OpenAI staff.

To maintain its edge, OpenAI has secured tens of billions in funding to support the development of its models, data centres and computing infrastructure. It is also in early discussions for a stock sale that could value the company at around $500 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Microsoft has released the first in a series of videos outlining its long-term plans for the Windows operating system, under a campaign dubbed the “Windows 2030 Vision”. The video, published this week, features David Weston, Corporate Vice President of Enterprise and Security at Microsoft, offering a glimpse into what the future of Windows could look like as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly central to computing.

A shift towards agentic AI in Windows

The company appears to be signalling a significant shift in how users interact with their devices. In the video, Weston suggests that by 2030, Windows may be driven by what Microsoft calls agentic AI, a type of AI designed to act on behalf of the user. This evolution could fundamentally alter the desktop experience, potentially reducing reliance on traditional input methods like mouse and keyboard.

“I truly believe the future version of Windows and other Microsoft operating systems will interact in a multimodal way,” Weston said. “The computer will be able to see what we see, hear what we hear, and we can talk to it and ask it to do much more sophisticated things.”

He also commented on how conventional computing methods might become outdated, likening the use of a keyboard and mouse in the future to how modern users might perceive MS-DOS, the command-line interface common in the early days of personal computing.

Building on previous AI ambitions

While the video does not go into specifics, it builds on earlier comments made by Microsoft executives suggesting that AI could eventually operate within, alongside, and outside of applications. This idea was notably discussed at Microsoft’s Build 2023 developer conference, where the company explored how AI might manage files, tasks, and applications more independently through natural language commands.

CEO Satya Nadella echoed similar sentiments at the Snapdragon Summit in 2023, where he said AI would “fundamentally change what an operating system is, what a UI looks like, and how application interaction goes.”

Currently, AI in Windows is largely embedded in tools such as Copilot or used within specific applications. However, this new direction points to deeper integration at the operating system level, where AI could play an active, autonomous role in user workflows.

Product	Rating	Price
Best overall Acer Aspire Lite, AMD Ryzen 3 7330U Processor, 16 GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Full HD, 15.6″/39.62cm, Windows 11 Home, Steel Gray, 1.59KG, AL15-41, Metal Body, Premium Thin and Light LaptopView Details
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, Intel Core i5-12450H, 12th Gen, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, FHD, 14″/35.5cm, Windows 11, MS Office Home 2024, Grey, 1.37Kg, 83EQ0072IN, 3 mon. Game Pass LaptopView Details
Gaming laptop ASUS TUF Gaming A15, AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS Gaming Laptop(NVIDIA RTX 3050-4GB/60W TGP/16GB RAM/512GB SSD/FHD/15.6″/144Hz/RGB KB/48WHr/Windows 11//Graphite Black/2.30 Kg) FA506NCR-HN054WView Details
Dell 15 Thin & Light Laptop, 13th Generation Intel Core i3-1305U Processor, 8GB DDR4 + 512GB SSD, 15.6″ (39.62cm) FHD 120Hz 250 nits Display, Windows 11 + MSO’21, 12 Month McAfee, Grey, 1.69kgView Details
Value for money ASUS Vivobook 15, 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080), Intel Core i3-1315U, (8GB RAM/512GB SSD/Intel UHD iGPU/Windows 11/M365 Basic (1Year)*/Office Home 2024/Quiet Blue/1.7 Kg), X1504VA-NJ3321WSView Details

View More

Specifications

Display

15.6″ FHD TN, 1920×1080

RAM

16GB DDR4, upgradable to 32GB

Storage

512GB PCIe SSD, upgradable to 1TB

Ports

USB 2.0 x2, USB 3.2 Type-A/Type-C

Reasons to buy

Affordable, upgradable RAM/storage

Metal body and lightweight (1.59kg)

Reason to avoid

Speaker volume low

Display and keyboard backlight issues reported

Specifications

Display

14″ FHD, 250 nits, anti-glare

CPU

Intel Core i5-12450H, 8 cores/12 threads

RAM

16GB LPDDR5 (not upgradable)

Reasons to buy

Strong CPU and RAM for multitasking

Light, portable design

Reason to avoid

RAM not upgradable

Battery and audio volume inconsistent

Specifications

Display

15.6″ FHD, 144Hz, 250 nits

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (8C/16T)

Storage

512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD

GPU

NVIDIA RTX 3050 (4GB, 60-75W)

Reasons to buy

Top-tier gaming/creative performance

High refresh rate display

Reason to avoid

Short battery life in heavy use

Chassis can run warm, some fan noise

Specifications

Display

15.6″ FHD 120Hz, 250 nits

Storage

512GB PCIe NVMe SSD

Reasons to buy

Good performance and smooth display

Slim, portable build

Reason to avoid

Display screen issues noted by some

Battery life varies

Specifications

Display

15.6” FHD, anti-glare

CPU

Intel Core i3-1315U (6 cores/8 threads)

Reasons to buy

Excellent entry-level value

Clean, easy-to-use design

Reason to avoid

Trackpad reliability issues reported

Only 8GB RAM

Specifications

Display

15.6″ FHD, anti-glare, 250 nits

CPU

Intel Core i5-1334U (10 cores/12 threads)

Reasons to buy

High RAM for multitasking

Good keyboard and port selection

Reason to avoid

Runs hot under load

Mixed views on performance stability

Specifications

RAM

16GB DDR4 (upgradable)

Reasons to buy

Excellent for gaming/graphics

Upgradable storage/RAM

Reason to avoid

Short battery life

High fan noise

Specifications

Display

15.6″ FHD, 144Hz, 300 nits IPS

CPU

Intel Core i5-13420H (8 cores)

Storage

512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD

Reasons to buy

Excellent upgradable specs for gaming

Top-tier display and cooling

Reason to avoid

Battery drains quickly

Gets warm under load

Specifications

Display

16″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200), 60Hz, 300 nits

CPU

Snapdragon X (8 cores, up to 2.97GHz)

Storage

512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD

Reasons to buy

Excellent battery life and speed

AI-enhanced, future-ready

Reason to avoid

No discrete GPU, not for gaming

Software ecosystem still maturing

Specifications

Display

16″ FHD+ (1920×1200), 144Hz, 300 nits

CPU

Intel Core i5-13420H (8 cores/12 threads, up to 4.6GHz)

Storage

512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD

Reasons to buy

Large, fast high-refresh display

Portable, metal chassis

Reason to avoid

Integrated graphics only

No discrete GPU for gaming

Top 3 features of best windows laptops

OpenAI said on Tuesday it has released two open-weight language models that excel in advanced reasoning and are optimized to run on laptops with performance levels similar to its smaller proprietary reasoning models.

An open-weight language model’s trained parameters or weights are publicly accessible, which can be used by developers to analyze and fine-tune the model for specific tasks without requiring original training data.

“One of the things that is unique about open models is that people can run them locally. People can run them behind their own firewall, on their own infrastructure,” OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman said in a press briefing.

Open-weight language models are different from open-source models, which provide access to the complete source code, training data and methodologies.

The landscape of open-weight and open-source AI models has been highly contested this year. For a time, Meta’s Llama models were considered the best, but that changed earlier this year when China’s DeepSeek released a powerful and cost-effective reasoning model, while Meta struggled to deliver Llama 4.

The two new OpenAI models are the first open models OpenAI has released since GPT-2, which was released in 2019.

OpenAI’s larger model, gpt-oss-120b, can run on a single GPU, and the second, gpt-oss-20b, is small enough to run directly on a personal computer, the company said.

OpenAI said the models have similar performance to its proprietary reasoning models called o3-mini and o4-mini, and especially excel at coding, competition math and health-related queries.

The models were trained on a text-only dataset which in addition to general knowledge, focused on science, math and coding knowledge. OpenAI did not release benchmarks comparing the open-weight models to competitors’ models such as the DeepSeek-R1 model.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI, currently valued at $300 billion, is currently raising up to $40 billion in a new funding round led by Softbank Group.

Oppo has confirmed that its new K13 Turbo series will be making its debut in India on 11 August. The two phones K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro will be available via an exclusive partnership with Flipkart and the biggest USP of these devices is set to be the inbuilt cooling fan technology which Oppo says is the first for any Indian phone.

Oppo K13 Turbo series: What is confirmed?

Oppo has confirmed that there will be Turbo Breathing Light on Oppo K13 Turbo Pro which will see two Mist Shadow LEDs around the camera island and eight colour RGB lighting.

Meanwhile, the K13 Turbo will have a Turbo Luminous Ring around the tactical edge that will emit a soft fluorescent light in the dark when exposed to UV or natural light.

As for colour variants, K13 Turbo Pro will be available in Silver Knight, Purple Phantom, and Midnight Maverick sheens. The K13 Turbo, on the other hand, will also have a White Knight variant while the Purple Phantom and Midnight Maverick options remain the same as the Pro model.

The phone is also confirmed to come with an inbuilt cooling fan that spins at up to 18000 rpm and activates based on the temperature and load on the device in order to keep the temperatures in check. Oppo says that the inbuilt fan technology can lead to rapid heat dissipation and a temperature drop of two to four degrees Celsius even in high load conditions like playing games or having the phone directly under sunlight.

Oppo K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro specifications

While Oppo has not officially revealed the specifications of K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro, the midrange phones have already been launched in China which gives us a fair idea of what to expect from the device’s India variant.

Oppo K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro feature the same 6.8 inch 1.5K flat OLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate and 1600 nits of peak brightness. They get an IPX8 and IPX9 water resistance rating and an indisplay fingerprint sensor.

On the performance front, the K13 Turbo is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8450 processor with Mali G720 MC7 GPU. It is paired with up to 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1 TB of UFS 3.1 storage.

Meanwhile, the K13 Turbo Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, which was also seen in the iQOO Neo 10 (Review). It comes with up to 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage.

The two devices feature a 50 MP primary sensor and an 8 MP depth sensor. On the front is a 16 MP shooter for selfies and video calls.

They pack a 7000 mAh battery with support for 80 W of SuperVOOC wired fast charging. They will run on FuntouchOS 15 based on Android 15 in India.

Oppo K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro price

Oppo K13 Turbo starts at a price of 1,799 yuan in China (around ₹21,500) and goes up to 2,299 yuan (around ₹27,500) for the top-end variant. Meanwhile, the K13 Turbo Pro starts at a price of 1,999 yuan (around ₹24,000) in China and tops out at 2,699 yuan (around ₹32,500).

However, the Indian pricing of the device will only be revealed during the launch on 11 August.

Spotify has announced plans to raise the price of its Premium Individual subscription in several global markets, effective from September. The monthly fee will increase from €10.99 to €11.99 in regions including South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.

The streaming company confirmed that subscribers would receive email notifications detailing the change over the coming month. The move is part of Spotify’s broader strategy to strengthen its profit margins.

Reasons for the price hike

This follows previous price adjustments and a series of cost-cutting measures that have contributed to the company’s first annual profit in 2024. Despite a rise in both monthly active users and paying subscribers during the second quarter, Spotify reported a quarterly loss attributed to higher taxes tied to employee compensation. The tax impact has also led to a more cautious profit outlook for the third quarter.

In a bid to diversify its offering and attract more users, Spotify has been increasing its video content through its Partner Program. The initiative provides podcast creators with monetisation tools and has seen a growing number of contributors, significantly boosting the platform’s video catalogue.

Additionally, the firm is beginning to benefit from regulatory changes in the United States. Apple has approved Spotify’s app update that includes subscription pricing and external payment links, following a court ruling that blocked Apple from charging commission on off-app purchases. Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek noted that this development has resulted in a “very positive uptick” in the US market. He added that similar regulatory shifts in Europe and the UK could further benefit Spotify and other developers.

Spotify now offers 7 million podcasts

Spotify revealed that its platform now features a total of seven million podcasts, including more than 430,000 video podcast titles. In addition, it offers over 350,000 audiobooks available for one-time purchase. As of June 2025, the company employed 7,309 full-time staff across the globe.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Vivo has launched its latest mid-range smartphone in India, the Y400 5G, with a starting price of ₹21,999. The new phone comes shortly after the Chinese smartphone maker launched the Y400 Pro in India, while it is on the verge of launching its V60 series later this month.

Vivo Y400 5G price:

Vivo Y400 5G is priced at ₹21,999 for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant and ₹23,999 for the 8GB RAM/256GB storage model. The phone comes in two colour variants Glam White and Olive Green.

The phone will go on sale from 7th August onwards across Vivo’s own website, Flipkart, Amazon and all its retail partner outlets.

Vivo Y400 5G specifications:

Vivo Y400 5G features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1800 nits of local peak brightness. The phone comes with IP68 and IP69 water and dust resistance protection, meaning it should potentially be able to handle being submerged in up to 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes and handle cold or hot water jets from any direction.

The Y400 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor, which also powers budget phones like Lava Blaze Dragon and Poco M7. It comes with support for 8GB RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage.

On the optics front, the Y400 5G comes with a Sony IMX852 primary sensor and a 2MP bokeh lens. There is also a 32MP shooter on the front for selfies and video calls.

The new mid-range device is packed with a 6,000mAh battery with support for 90W wired fast charging, which is said to take the device from 1 to 50% in just 20 minutes.

Similar to other Vivo phones launched this year, the Y400 5G runs on Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15. There is no official word on the phone’s update cycle yet, but Vivo says it is promising a “50-month smooth experience optimization.”

The threat of artificial intelligence taking away many jobs previously conducted by humans is real, and reports are now emerging daily that show how the new technology is changing the workforce.

One job in particular that has been cited by various reports as under threat of being replaced by AI is that of an analyst. A new report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that global consulting firm McKinsey is going through an ‘existential transformation’ since artificial intelligence can now do the bulk of the work done by the firm’s highly paid consultants within minutes.

Artificial intelligence is being seen as such a big threat inside the company that it is reportedly a topic of conversation at every meeting of its board, and it has also changed how the company works with clients, how it hires, and even what projects it takes on.

Bob Sternfels, McKinsey’s global managing partner, told the Journal that the company is rapidly deploying thousands of AI agents to assist consultants in building PowerPoint decks, taking notes, summarizing interviews, and research documents.

Kate Smaje, a senior partner in charge of leading McKinsey’s AI efforts, told WSJ, “Do I think that this is existential for our profession? Yes, I do.”

“I think it’s an existential good for us,” Smaje added.

Elon Musk on why AI will not replace consultants:

Going against the popular tide, xAI CEO Elon Musk stated that AI would not replace consultants, given that they are mostly deployed to confirm the decision that the CEO was already thinking of taking.

In response to a post on X (formerly Twitter) citing the WSJ report, Musk wrote, “Some say that the main reason corporate CEOs use consultants is to have an ‘objective third-party’ confirm the decision they were going to make anyway and have someone else to blame if it goes wrong.”

“AI can’t replace that yet,” Musk added.

Musk’s xAI also runs an AI chatbot called Grok and competes with the likes of Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude in the artificial intelligence race. The chatbot received its last model update a few weeks ago and was involved in a number of controversies when it suddenly started showing some love for Adolf Hitler and later tried to toe Musk’s line on political issues. xAI later attributed these issues to deprecated code and issued a fix to resolve the problem.

In the last few days, Musk has been promoting a new Grok feature that can generate videos using text prompts, called ‘Imagine’. The feature is similar to the Sora model by OpenAI and Google’s Veo 3

Infinix has confirmed that its latest gaming-focused smartphone, the GT 30 5G+, will launch in India on 8 August. The new smartphone comes just a few weeks after Infinix launched its GT 30 Pro smartphone in India with the Cyber Mecha 2.0 design or LED light interface at the back of the device, and the GT 30 5G+ is all set to continue that trend.

Ahead of the official launch of the GT 30 5G+, Infinix has shared a number of key details about the smartphone, including its processor, display, colour options and AI features.

Infinix GT 30 5G+ design and colour options:

Infinix GT 30 5G+ will be available in three colour variants: Pulse Green, Cyber Blue and Blade White.

While the Blade White colour variant was also available for the GT 30, the other two options are exclusive to the GT 30 5G+. In the teaser image showcased by Infinix, all three colour options seem to be packing white-coloured LED lights at the back, which is a departure from the GT 30 Pro where one variant had white LED lights while the other one had an RGB lighting setup.

Infinix has confirmed that these lights can be set to three different patterns, ‘breathe’, ‘meteor’ and ‘rhythm’, to customise them for 10+ scenarios like incoming calls, notifications, games and more.

Also coming from the GT 30 Pro is the GT shoulder triggers, which are essentially touch-sensitive capacitive buttons placed on the right-hand side of the device and can be set for certain tasks inside a game. Infinix will also provide the ability to customise these buttons for camera controls, quick app launches and video playback.

Infinix GT 30 5G+ specifications:

Infinix has confirmed that the GT 30 5G+ will feature a 1.5K AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection and 4,500 nits of peak brightness.

The phone will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 256GB storage. This is the same processor that also powers the likes of iQOO Z10R and Motorola Edge 50 Fusion.

GT 30 5G+ will run on Infinix’s XOS 15 based on Android 15. Infinix has stated that, much like its other devices this year, the GT 30 will come with a suite of AI features like Circle to Search, AI call assistant, AI writing assistant and AI Magic Voice Changer (for games).

While Infinix has not given any details on the price of GT 30, the phone is expected to come under the ₹20,000 price bracket given that the GT 30 Pro already starts at around ₹25,000. At this price, the phone would compete directly against the likes of CMF Phone 2 Pro and Poco X6 Pro.