AC Information Weekly
Information Weekly is our column, the place we spotlight and summarize a number of the week’s high tales so you may compensate for the most recent tech information.
That is Android Central’s Information Weekly, your go-to supply for a concise roundup of the week’s most vital tech tales. That is the place we delve into the highest headlines that present the most recent developments and improvements contributing to the digital panorama.
This week, the tech world noticed Google’s recent spherical of layoffs, HTC’s comeback with a brand new cellphone, Samsung teasing extra of its gadgets, Qualcomm’s Q2 level to a restoration, and Google messages simply obtained higher. Let’s get into it.
Google makes job cuts, once more.
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Not per week goes by when Google does not make it to the headlines. This time, in a recent spherical of layoffs, Google let go of 200 of its ‘core’ staff to maneuver quicker and align with the corporate’s objectives.
These core groups have been answerable for the technical basis behind a lot of Google’s services for safety and on-line security. The corporate has additionally reportedly began a “reorganization” that strikes roles to India and Mexico.
Paperwork obtained by CNBC additionally urged that staff came upon about these cuts per week earlier than they have been introduced, with Google stating that it will assist it align with its “broader objectives.” Google’s vp of its Developer Ecosystem, Asim Husain, knowledgeable workers that “this was the largest deliberate discount” for the staff in 2024, throughout a city corridor. These cuts come at time, after Google’s Q1 earnings report introduced a whopping $80.5 billion in income with “robust efficiency” throughout providers.
Google confirmed these layoffs, and a spokesperson added that these affected can reapply for different roles inside the firm.
HTC’s new cellphone may get a serious improve
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HTC is a reputation that you just would possibly assume is off the market, nevertheless, they’re nonetheless within the smartphone scene. Whereas they do not churn out smartphones as typically as different manufacturers, a brand new leak indicated that its U24 Professional may give them one other entrant available in the market.
In keeping with Android Headlines, it appears to be like just like the Taiwanese firm could be on the point of introduce the HTC U24 Professional this month. Regardless that there isn’t any official phrase on the precise date but, the U23 Professional was launch in Could final yr, which has may very well be a motive to anticipate the identical with this yr’s addition.
A number of days in the past, MySmartPrice caught sight of a tool on Geekbench and speculated that it would belong to the HTC U24 sequence. The cellphone has mannequin quantity 2QDA100, however that does not give away an excessive amount of.
On the design entrance, the HTC U24 Professional will most likely look quite a bit like its predecessor. That stated, it would sport a quicker processor —the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. As for the worth, the U23 Professional hit retailer cabinets at $350, and the U24 Professional is more likely to keep in that vary. We will anticipate the machine to have Android 14 out of the field with both 128GB or 256GB of inner storage.
Samsung’s Q1 report provides extra information on wearables
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Samsung posted its income report for Q1 2024, and the corporate states it earned 71.92 trillion KRW in consolidated income and 6.61 trillion KRW in working earnings. Throughout its earnings name, the corporate acknowledged that its Q1 earnings noticed a 12.8% leap in comparison with final yr.
Samsung feels that Galaxy AI is the driving pressure behind its cellphone gross sales, stating it is going to “search annual progress.” The corporate additionally hinted at increasing its Galaxy portfolio by bringing Galaxy AI to “present and new flagship” merchandise like foldables and tablets. The opposite aspect of this enterprise is its wearables, to which Samsung mentions the Galaxy Ring—one thing that might increase income later this yr.
Smartwatches will even play a job, with Samsung stating it is going to look to “meet demand for upgrades via the launch of latest premium fashions.” It is unclear precisely what Samsung means right here, however rumors of an expanded Galaxy Watch profile have been circulating, with speak of a Galaxy Watch 7, 7 Basic, and seven Extremely.
Qualcomm’s Q2 earnings are wanting up
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Earlier this week, Qualcomm posted its fiscal yr Q2 2024 monetary earnings. The corporate reported $9.39 billion in income for the quarter, a rise of 1% over the identical quarter in 2023.
Qualcomm’s headset enterprise, which makes up most of its general income, additionally noticed a 1% improve through the quarter, reaching $8.03 billion. Whereas this may occasionally not seem to be a big achieve, it alerts wholesome progress within the smartphone business after a little bit of a hunch only a yr in the past. By comparability, Qualcomm’s FY Q2 2023 earnings revealed a 17% drop in headset and general income, so the latest numbers look optimistic.
“We’re enthusiastic about our continued progress and diversification, together with attaining our third consecutive quarter of report QCT Automotive revenues, upcoming launches with our Snapdragon X platforms, and enabling main on-device AI capabilities throughout a number of product classes,” says Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon in a press release.
With its present chipsets, Qualcomm is specializing in AI, which it expects will allow extra use circumstances in varied gadgets, be they telephones, PCs, or automobiles. The corporate highlights its AI hub for builders to assist drive this adoption.
“I wish to step again and say, normally, I feel AI goes to profit all of the gadgets,” Amon says. “I feel AI, when extends to working on-device—moreover the advantage of working alongside the cloud—they’ve utterly new use circumstances privateness, safety, latency value, personalization, and many others.”
*Drumroll please* Audio emojis are right here
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Google is rolling out a novel new function on its cellphone app that lets customers specific themselves with six new sounds.
As noticed by Google Information on Telegram, the corporate is beginning to roll out “Audio Emojis” within the Telephone app. Customers will have the ability to toggle the function within the app’s settings. From there, Google describes the function as one that may assist customers “specific feelings and moods with feels like applause, laughter, unhappy, trombone, and extra.”
When enabled, customers can name their family and friends and begin experimenting with the brand new sounds. On the Telephone app’s name display, there can be an choice to broaden the Audio Emoji’s row of faces above the default toolbar.
Nonetheless, the function is arriving first within the app’s beta model. In keeping with DroidLife, Audio Emojis have been noticed on a Pixel 8 Professional working model 128.0.6 of the beta Telephone app.
These are a number of the greatest tales from this week. In the meantime, listed here are another tales which might be price catching up on:
