Intel completes sale of smartphone modem business to Apple valued at $1 billion

Intel has announced that it has completed the sale of the majority of its smartphone modem business to Apple. This transaction, valued at $1 billion, was announced back in July, and Intel already said that approximately 2,200 Intel employees will join Apple, along with intellectual property, equipment and leases. Intel closed its 5G modem business in April this year after Apple and Qualcomm announced a settlement and prior to this, Intel became the sole third-party provider of modems of the iPhones launched in 2018. Intel already said that will retain the ability to develop modems for non-smartphone applications, such as PCs, internet-of-things devices and autonomous vehicles. Few days back Intel filed a brief supporting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and said that it was forced out of the market because of its rival Qualcomm’s patent licensing practices. However, Qualcomm has denied the FTC’s accusations, and other parts of the U.S. government urged the appeals court to pause enforcement of the FTC ruling against it. "We invested billions, hired thousands, acquired two companies and built innovative world-class products that eventually made their way into Apple’s industry-leading iPhones, including the most recently released iPhone 11. But when all was said and done, Intel could not overcome ...

Apple announces best iPhone, iPad, Mac apps and games of 2019

As usual Apple has named the best iOS apps and games for 2019. It has also posted Trends of the year as well as top apps and games charts for 2019 and also shared most downloaded apps and most downloaded games of the year. This year's game trend were 'Blockbusters Reimagined' that includes Mario Kart Tour and Dr. Mario World (Nintendo), Pokémon Masters (DeNA Co), Assassin’s Creed Rebellion (Ubisoft), Call of Duty: Mobile (Activision Publishing) and more. This year's App trends were 'Storytelling Simplified' that includes Anchor (Anchor FM), Canva: Stories & Video Maker (Canva), Unfold (Unfold Creative), Steller (Expedition Travel Advisor), Spark Camera (Dayworks), Over (Over, Inc) and Wattpad (Wattpad Corp). iPhone App of the Year —  Spectre Camera (Lux Optics) iPhone Game of the Year — Sky: Children of the Light (thatgamecompany) iPad App of the Year — Flow by Moleskine (Moleskine)  iPad Game of the Year — Hyper Light Drifter (Abylight S.L.) Mac App of the Year — Affinity Publisher (Serif Labs) Mac Game of the Year — GRIS (Devolver / Nomada Studio) Apple TV App of the Year — The Explorers (The Explorers Network) Apple TV Game of the Year — Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Apple ...

JAYS x-Five wireless headphones launched in India for Rs. 3999

JAYS, a Swedish audio manufacturer has launched their new headphones in India called the JAYS x-Five. The headphones feature a comfortable foldable design with a long 20 hour battery life that makes it excellent for everyday use. The headphones connect over Bluetooth 4.1 with support for SBC and AAC formats. JAYS claim a battery life of 20 hours with a charge time of 2 hours over USB and a wireless range of 10 meters. The headphones feature foldable cups with memory foam for its ear cups and integrated buttons for on-headphone controls. The headphones are available for purchase online on Headphoneszone.in and amazon.in for a price of Rs. 3999 now.

Apple to have two phone launch events starting from 2020: Report

Every year since 2011, Apple has always launched its next generation of iPhone during a September or October event in that year. That may all change as now, JP Morgan analysts predict Apple might have two separate launches in 2021 with 4 phones launched instead of the current 3 model lineups. The prediction is based on JP Mogan's supply chain checks on Apple. They predict the release of two new iPhone models in the first half of 2021 followed by another two in the second half of 2021. This will mark a change in the strategy of Apple that historically has been to have one iPhone event a year. The move is said to allow Apple to compete with other brands that already have 2 or more events a year, releasing phones throughout the year. The prediction also states that iPhone's in 2020 will come in 4 new models, suggesting two 6.7-inch, one 6.1-inch, and one 5.4-inch screen size models. The phones are also said to be 5G compatible with all models have OLED screens. The World-Facing 3-D special camera is also said to make an appearance on some models. In the report, J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote: The 2H20 lineup will include all OLED phones, ...

Xiaomi Mi Credit digital lending platform launched in India officially, offers instant loans of up to Rs. 1 lakh

Xiaomi today launched its Mi Credit digital lending platform in India officially, after running a pilot last year. The company said that during pilot period it has disbursed over 28 crore worth of loans, and 20% of the loans disbursed were for the highest loan value. The company partnered with KreditBee last year, now it has partnered with Aditya Birla Finance Limited, Money View, EarlySalary, CreditVidya and ZestMoney. Xiaomi says that the process is 100% digital, and takes just 5 minutes to complete. It offers real-time disbursements and it supports all major banks. It is offering loans of up to Rs. 100,000, and says that it has high success rate and low interest rate. You can also check credit score for free. Mi Credit allows users to choose the amount and the tenure of the loan once it’s approved.  Repayment period can be selected from 91 days to 3 years with interest rates starting at 1.35% per month.  Xiaomi says that it has data protection agreement with all its lenders and its data is stored in an encrypted format in Indian data centres. How to apply for a loan? Step 1: Install Mi Credit app from Google Play Store and register through Mi ...

OPPO to showcase 5G advancements and more at INNO DAY 2019 on December 10

On December 10th, OPPO will hold its inaugural INNO DAY 2019 in Shenzhen, China. With the theme of "Create Beyond Boundaries", the event is aimed at showing OPPO's broad and deep integration of cutting-edge technologies and services in the 5G era. The event follows after the success of an internal technology exhibition that showed it R&D capacity and breakthroughs in various other fields. Just like last year, INNO DAY will also have in-depth interactions with key industry experts about the future of technology. The event will be open to global media, analysts, industry partners and the public. OPPO INNO DAY will invite industry experts, partners and opinion leaders to shed a light on the enormous changes 5G will bring. The event will also showcase OPPO's integrated ecosystem and how they are useful in various scenarios. For more information about the event, you can visit the website here. Source

Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun steps down as China president as Lu Weibing takes over

Xiaomi has announced that the company's co-founder Lei Jun will be stepping down as the China president, and Lu Weibing will be replacing him. Wang Xiang, who had been the Senior Vice President of the Group and head of global business, has been promoted as the President of the Group. He will be responsible for the Group’s administrative platform, and will assist the Group’s CEO, Lei Jun, to take charge of the Group’s operations.  Lin Bin will continue to hold the positions of executive Director, Vice Chairman of the Board and President of the Group’s Smartphone Department Wang Xiang has been promoted as the President of the Group, and will be responsible for the Group’s administrative platform and will assist the CEO to take charge of the Group’s operations Lu Weibing has been appointed as the President of China region, as Lei Jun steps down, and he will remain as the General Manager of Redmi brand. He Yong has been promoted as the Vice President of government affairs, administrative affairs and regional management department. Senior Vice President and CFO, Chew Shou Zi has been appointed as the President of the Group’s Global Business Department A CFO Search Committee comprising of ...

Google Pixel phones get December 2019 security update, brings Live Captions, Gesture navigation in third-party launchers and more to older Pixels

Google has started rolling out new over-the-air (OTA) update for Pixel devices and also posted factory images as part of monthly Android Security release for December. Pixel and Pixel XL get the final patch, as it had promised. Google is also adding Live Captions (for Pixel 3 and later), Styles & Wallpaper (Pixel 3 and Later) Pixel themes, Swipe-down gesture for notifications and Gesture navigation in third-party launchers (Pixel 2 and later), as noted by Android Police. The update also includes several functional improvements especially for the Pixel 4 devices. New builds for the Pixel devices with December 2019 Security update: Pixel & Pixel XL QP1A.191005.007.A3 Pixel 2 XL & Pixel 3 XL: QQ1A.191205.008 Pixel 3a XL: QQ1A.191205.011 Pixel 4 XL: T-Mobile, Fi, EMEA: QQ1B.191205.011, Japan & Taiwan: QQ1C.191205.016.A1, All other carriers: QQ1B.191205.012.A1 Check out the complete set of issues that are fixed in the latest update in the Android update Bulletin here, Security and download full factory images or OTA images for these Pixel devices from the Google Developers website, if you don’t have the over-the-air (OTA) update yet. Google said that Pixel 4 series will get the update next week, so the factory and OTA images for them are also missing. As usual Essential has also rolled out the ...

Redmi K30 series with dual punch-hole display, quad rear cameras, SA/NSA dual mode 5G to be announced on Dec 10 [Update: New teasers, Qualcomm 5G SoC]

Update: December 3, 2019 - A week before the launch Redmi has teased the design of the phone which reveals quad rear cameras arranged in the center, dual LED flash below that and the 5G branding below it. On the front the phone has dual punch-hole screen with minimal bezels. Actor Wang Yibo is the brand ambassador of the phone who shows the phone in a range of colors with a gradient finish. The phone should have a 3D glass back, same as the K20 series. The phone will be powered by next-gen Qualcomm SoC with 5G confirmed the company. This will likely be Snapdragon 735 (Snapdragon 7250) as rumored earlier. Redmi says that it will be 2020 5G pioneer. Vivo and OPPO are also expected to use the same SoC. We should know more details at the Snapdragon Tech Summit later today. Earlier: After teasers, Xiaomi's Redmi brand has confirmed that the Redmi K30 series of smartphones will be introduced in China on December 10th. The invite once again confirms punch-hole display for dual selfies cameras, and support for 5G stand alone and non-stand alone (SA/NSA) sub-6GHz networks. These are the successors of K20 and K20 Pro that were introduced in China ...

Realme 5/5s ColorOS Software Update Tracker [Update: A.20 with Dark mode toggle, November Android security patch]

realme launched the realme 5 smartphone in India running ColorOS 6.0 realme edition on top of Android 9.0 (Pie). The company recently launched the realme 5s, an enhanced version of the realme 5 with 48 MP primary camera in India. realme doesn't follow a fixed update frequency but the company rolls out updates frequently. This post will help our readers in keeping track of ColorOS updates for realme 5 and realme 5s, also check out our content, realme 5 Unboxing and First Impressions realme 5 review: sub-10k king? realme 5s Unboxing and First Impressions ColorOS updates rolled out for the realme 5 so far, [Dec 2, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1911EX_11_A.20 update with November security patch. The update adds a dark mode quick switch toggle in the notification panel and brings multiple bug fixes. [Download Link] [Nov 25, 2019]: realme 5 and 5s will be upgraded to Android 10 based ColorOS 7 in May 2020, confirms realme. [Nov 11, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1911EX_11_A.18 update with October 2019 security patch. This also brings dark mode, wide-angle video recording and more. [Download Link] [Oct 18, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1911EX_11_A.15 update with September 2019 security patch. The is a small incremental ...