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• Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch Benchmarks Showcase True Power of M1 Chip
• Reliance Jio Lost Active Subscribers While Bharti Airtel Gained Plenty
• Forecasts Predict 5G Connections to Hit 3.6 Billion by 2025
• Mediatek’s 5G Offerings Inching Ahead of Qualcomm Snapdragon Chipsets
• Do Megapixels Really Matter for Good Camera Performance?
• Ericsson Launches Multiple Products to Accelerate 5G Indoor Connectivity
• Asus Zenfone 8 Mini Renders Leaked Ahead of Launch
• 170+ Countries Now Hold Spectrum License for Low-Band LTE or 5G
• Nokia G10, G20 Appear on BIS Certification Hinting Imminent Launch
• OnePlus Watch Cobalt Limited Edition Launch Date Revealed
• How Far India Has Come With 4G in Five Years
• Poco UI, M3 Pro and Super Flagship, Here’s All You Should Know
• PS5 Digital Edition Is Now Available for Pre-Order in India
• Vodafone Idea Beats Market Expectations, Adds Subscribers
• Internet Privacy, Everything You Should Know About It
• PUBG Mobile’s Return Will Eat Up FAU-G’s Attention
• Revisiting Popular Postpaid Plans From Vodafone Idea

Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch Benchmarks Showcase True Power of M1 Chip Posted: 12 May 2021 08:29 AM PDT Apple has been working to update its lineup with the M1 chip, starting to move away from Intel with the M1 based MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, with more recent examples being the iPad Pro 11-inch and 12.9-inch, as well as the new iMac. With this change, users expected a massive shift when it comes to performance, since the Intel chipsets were not as competitive in recent times, and, with AMD's existence, the performance seemed sub-par at best. Now, the real extent of the shift has been revealed, and, as had been earlier predicted, the difference is so major that it is capable of disintegrating its immediate competition. This is evident via the recent benchmark results of the iPad Pro 2021 running the M1 chip, with the test having been done on an iPad Pro 12.9-inch with 16GB of RAM. What Do The Benchmarks Indicate? Credit – GSM Arena As per the benchmarks, the single-core performance of the iPad Pro is comparable to the A14 Bionic chip found on the iPhone 12 series and, why should it not, since it makes use of the same cores. The M1 chip does have four big cores in comparison to the two found on the phone, showcasing a major difference in the multi-core test. In comparison with the top chipsets for Android, the Apple chip is miles ahead. The test also included some x86 based laptops such as the Surface 4 running on the Intel Core i7-1185G7 and the HP ProBook x360 G8 running on the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U for comparison, both being 15W chips. As can be seen via the screenshot, the achievements made by Apple are quite substantial, considering how the iPad beats out all devices listed in the single-core test, whilst it falls short of the top spot in the multi-core test, falling behind the Ryzen 7 5800U on the HP ProBook x360. Considering that this is the first of its kind SoC, the strides are pretty decent and, with Apple working on the mass production of a newer and more powerful chip, rumoured to be called the M1X or M2, the performance will keep on getting better. Key changes expected include a higher core count, capable of rivalling the best that AMD's desktop-class CPUs have to offer, bringing the fight to the best on offer, but brought to you by Apple.

Reliance Jio Lost Active Subscribers While Bharti Airtel Gained Plenty Posted: 12 May 2021 07:49 AM PDT Looking at the monthly report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, it is pretty evident that Reliance Jio added more net subscribers than Bharti Airtel during February 2021. However, one key metric that one should not overlook is the number of active subscribers both the telcos gained or lost. The report highlights that Jio added a net 4.2 million subscribers during the month against Airtel's 3.7 million users addition. According to the Visitor Location (VLR) or active users data mentioned in the report, Bharti Airtel added more active subscribers than Reliance Jio during the month. Bharti Airtel's Comfortable Lead on VLR Front While Reliance Jio is the king when it comes to overall 4G subscribers market share, it is behind Airtel when the active subscribers are focused on. As per the TRAI's report, Bharti Airtel added 3.7 million active users during the month, while Reliance Jio lost 0.2 million active users. With the net active subscribers’ addition, Bharti Airtel's total active subscriber base rose to 340 million, and with the loss of 0.2 million active users, Jio's total active subscriber base dipped to 324 million. Airtel held 34.6% active subscribers market share while Jio's active market share dipped to 33%. Even though Vodafone Idea (Vi) added net subscribers for the first time since October 2019, the telco lost 0.2 million active subscribers. Vi's active subscriber market share fell to 26.1%, with a total of 256 million active users. Airtel's VLR Ratio Highest, Jio's Lowest Amongst Private Operators Reliance Jio's VLR ratio was 78.16% which was the lowest amongst all the private operators of the country. Vi's VLR ratio stood at 90.61%, and Airtel led the industry with a 97.47% VLR ratio. However, the JioPhone 2021 offering might change things for Jio in the month of March, and the telco might have added net active subscribers. The true figures will only be revealed once TRAI releases its monthly report for March 2021. The figures are just a testament to the fact that Airtel focuses more on adding quality and high-paying customers than Jio, which wants more subscribers. The drop in Jio's quarterly ARPU is also because of the fact that the telco is losing high-paying subscribers and adding low ARPU subscribers.

Forecasts Predict 5G Connections to Hit 3.6 Billion by 2025 Posted: 12 May 2021 07:10 AM PDT During this pandemic, a number of businesses and services have taken a hit, and many have even ceased to exist. On the other hand, the technology business and services have roared throughout the world under the same conditions. With businesses realising that most of their office centred work can function in a Work-From-Home model, the need for technology to support a smooth transition and daily operations has definitely led to an uprise in demand for technology. 5G network connection is the fastest, most reliable and stable internetconnection available to mankind yet, has also been predicted to be in high demands in the coming year. CCS Insight, a Global Analyst Company, has revealed a new forecast related to 5G connections. According to the forecast, worldwide connections to the 5G network will triple down in 2021 to reach 670 million connections. If this trend continues for the coming years, 5G connections will reach a mammoth of 3.6 billion connections by 2025. Mobile Industry to Overcome Temporary Challenges Vice President of Forecasting at CCS Insight, Marina Koytcheva, has noted that even though due to the pandemic, their near-term expectations were not met, the mobile network will eventually overcome these temporary challenges to meet their prediction of 3.6 billion connections by 2025. 5G to Become Prevalent Worldwide The forecast further predicts that in advanced markets such as North America, Western Europe and Asia–Pacific, 75% of the mobile phones will transition to 5G networks by the middle of this decade. These milestones will be fuelled by the demand of consumers for connectivity, an increase in the number of affordable 5G phones, and countries on their way to build a fully functioning 5G infrastructure. South Korea and China are leading in this 5G race in the world, according to CCS Insight. In South Korea, one-fifth of the mobile phones have already transitioned to 5G networks, whereas China will achieve this milestone in 2021. In China, 7 out of 10 smartphones sold in the first quarter already have 5G capabilities which are helping the country to progress at a rapid pace. US was the first to launch 5G in the world but has only started seeing some progress in the last six months as more and more 5G smartphones have started becoming available. Europe had a mixed response to 5G due to a delay in spectrum auctions in many cities causing the network development to come to a halt. CCS Insight also stated that these delays were not long-lasting, and mobile operators reached out to alternative providers of network infrastructure to sign agreements.

Mediatek’s 5G Offerings Inching Ahead of Qualcomm Snapdragon Chipsets Posted: 12 May 2021 06:59 AM PDT MediaTek has launched its top of the line 5G enabled chipset at the starting of this year with the launch of the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 for 2021. Now the company is expected to launch a mid-range chipset which is going to launch soon. According to the reports, the company is working on the upcoming Dimensity 900 SoC, which is expected to be the successor of the Dimensity 820. Rumours also suggest that the Dimensity 900 with model number MT6877 is better than Qualcomm's Snapdragon 768G SoC. It seems that MediaTek mid-range chipsets are inching ahead of the Snapdragon chipset. Let's have a closer look at how MediaTek is heading ahead in the race with Qualcomm. MediaTek Dimensity 900 Outperforms Snapdragon 768G According to a report from GSMArena, the MediaTek Dimensity 900 chipset is listed on the AnTuTu benchmark listing with model number MT6877. The benchmark listing shows that the mid-range MediaTek processor outperforms the Snapdragon 768G SoC. The alleged Dimensity 900 has managed to score 480,000 points compared to 440,000 points scored by Snapdragon 768G. Going with the previous benchmarking test, the Dimensity 820 scores about 440,000 at the AnTuTu listing. Looking at the numbers, we can say that there is an overall performance growth of 10% compared to the predecessor and Snapdragon processor. Though the difference is not great, we can see the potential here that the company is making all its efforts to surpass the Qualcomm chipsets. However, we can't deny the fact that the existing Qualcomm's mid-range processor Snapdragon 780G with 5G support beats MediaTek's upcoming Dimensity 900 chipset single-handedly by scoring 540,000 points in the same benchmark. MediaTek is one of the biggest competition for Qualcomm because it's the only chipset maker in the entire market which offers equivalent performance to the Qualcomm chips. Looking at the progressive efforts, we can say that the company is gradually inching ahead of the rival band in selected categories. We can safely expect that the MediaTek CPUs will soon go head to head with Qualcomm ones. It seems that Qualcomm needs to tie up its laces to compete with the rival. Do let us know in the comment section below what you think about the upcoming Mediatek Dimensity 900 chipset.

Do Megapixels Really Matter for Good Camera Performance? Posted: 12 May 2021 05:30 AM PDT Smartphone cameras have improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years, going from offering a single primary sensor or a dual-camera setup featuring a telephoto sensor to offering at least a quad rear camera setup with multiple uses such as a telephoto sensor, a macro sensor and a wide-angle sensor. That being said, one trend that has become increasingly common is that of higher megapixel counts, going from a 12MP or a 16MP sensor to 48MP, 64MP, 108MP sensors that become headlining features of certain devices. This trend has affected most companies, with a handful of them choosing to retain basic hardware, the key of them being Apple. Despite the higher count, though, one can see how Apple offers better camera performance than any other company with megapixel counts, at times being higher by up to nine times. Before we delve into whether or not megapixel counts really matter or not, one needs to discuss the concept of what a Megapixel is to provide some much-needed context. What Is A Megapixel? Prior to discussing whether or not the megapixel count actually matters, we need to discuss what a megapixel is. Pictures taken on a digital screen are made up of tiny specks or dots, which are called pixels, which are stitched together to make an image. A megapixel is these pixels, but instead of being a single pixel, they are made up of/ consist of a million pixels. When one reads the megapixel count for a sensor, it means that the sensor can shoot pictures that have millions of pixels in them, wherein the size of a picture is denoted by the number of horizontal pictures x vertical pixels. By this concept, one can easily deduce that the more pixels, the larger the image and more one can see (usually). For example, a 64MP camera is capable of taking 9216*6912 resolution images in comparison to, say, a 12MP sensor that can take 4032*3024 resolution images. Now, using this data, common sense would dictate that more megapixels are better, right? Since the images are larger with more detail. Well, it's not that simple. Higher Megapixels: More Quality Or Larger Size In reality, a megapixel is the measure of size rather than the measure of quality. The key USP of higher megapixels is the ability to obtain a larger image. So, if you are taking a look at something on a large screen or billboard, a higher megapixel count will make a difference. Do note that the key features of an image, be it depth, contrast, colour, dynamic range, or detail, depend on parts of the camera, such as the size of the aperture, software processing and the lens or camera in use. With this statement comes another question, which asks as to whether or not more megapixels have any effect on picture quality. Sometimes it does. When a larger number of pixels are squeezed into a tiny area, something quite common for a phone camera, the size of each pixel is reduced, affecting the overall ability of the sensor to gather light. What this results in is a downgrade in image quality, with noise or grain being one of the most common cons in this scenario. You might think that companies talk about offering larger sensors, but certain budget companies offer sensors that are much smaller than those found on point and shoot cameras. This is not the case with certain flagships, such as Xiaomi or Oppo, both of them offering larger sensors leading to much better images. Are Higher Megapixel Sensors A Gimmick All of this might make you think that megapixels are useless or just a gimmick. This is not quite apt, as they are important when it comes to taking photographs, especially when pitted against devices with smaller megapixel counts. A 64MP camera will capture a ton of detail in comparison to a 12MP sensor. This difference will not be apparent on your tiny smartphone display or even your laptop, but when the image is viewed on a television or a 30-inch or above the display, the megapixel count comes into the equation since you can notice the difference in detail. Another use case of having higher megapixel counts is that of digital zooming, which makes use of the primary sensor's image and crops it to make the image appear larger. With a larger megapixel count, the detail lost whilst cropping will be reduced in comparison to, say, a sensor with a megapixel count of 12MP or 16MP. So, to conclude, are megapixel counts important? Of course, they are. But, are they the reason for a good camera? No, there are many aspects that one needs to consider and, if megapixel counts were proportional to overall camera performance, a budget phone with a 48MP or 64MP sensor would be defeating the iPhone.

Ericsson Launches Multiple Products to Accelerate 5G Indoor Connectivity Posted: 12 May 2021 04:30 AM PDT The Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson has expanded its indoor 5G portfolio. The new offerings by the company are Ericsson Indoor AIR 1279 and Ericsson Radio Dot 4459 small-cell radio. Both the products will cover the US market and Ericsson Indoor Connect, which supports multi-operator and multi-vendor scenarios will increase the 5G connectivity. Jessy Huang, who is the Head of Ericsson's Indoor Product Line, marked that the quality of 5G service in indoor areas holds equal importance as compared to outdoor connections. To ensure proper connectivity, Ericsson is expanding the 5G indoor portfolio and making it the simplest and most flexible product. Since the 5G footprint is expanding around the globe, Mid-band and millimetre Wave (mmWave) spectrum is effective for providing ultra-fast speeds and a low latency network. Ericsson Indoor AIR 1279 Doubles the Performance The newly launched Ericsson Indoor AIR 1279 is the world's first indoor 800 MHz Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR), and it brings mmWave 5G to small, medium and large venue with double effectiveness and performance as compared to any existing solution in the market. The Ericsson Indoor AIR 1279 is designed to offer beamforming capabilities and advance software features. Also, it will minimise the need for new cabling to reduce site footprint and total cost ownership (TCO). Ericsson Radio Dot 4459 Targeted at US Market Along with Indoor AIR 1279 and Radio Dot 4459, Ericsson has also launched Indoor Connect, a multi-operator and multi-vendor mobile solution in which the Radio Dot System developed by Ericsson enables multiple CSPs to deliver 5G indoors on sub-6 GHz bands. The Ericsson Radio Dot 4459 is the latest addition to the Radio Dot System. It is specially targeted at the US market, and it will support Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) New Radio (NR) which is the 150 MHz wide broadcast band of 3.5 GHz in the country. All the products in the Ericsson Radio Dot System portfolio are already in operations in venues worldwide. Dominik Fischer, the Product Manager of 5G and In-house services at Swisscom, stated that offering the best possible and reliant customer experience is always the top aim for Swisscom. The early deployments of the new multi-band, multi-operator Radio Dot System provides the cost and performance effectiveness of the new 4G and 5G indoor solution by Ericsson.

Asus Zenfone 8 Mini Renders Leaked Ahead of Launch Posted: 12 May 2021 03:30 AM PDT Asus is all set to launch its latest lineup of the ZenFone 8 series globally today at 10:30 PM IST. The upcoming smartphone series is said to bring two new devices, including the ZenFone 8 and the ZenFone 8 Pro. It was also expected that the company is planning to launch the ZenFone 8 Mini, but some reports claim that the ZenFone 8 and 8 Mini are the same. The launch event is all set to go live tonight, but it seems that leaks are rumours are not ready to stop anytime soon. In the latest development, leaked renders of the upcoming ZenFone 8 Mini have been spotted on the web, revealing the design of the smartphone ahead of the official launch. Let's have a detailed look at the latest leaked renders of the ZenFone 8 Mini. Asus ZenFone 8 Mini Leaked Renders Image Credit – Abhishek Yadav Popular tipster Abhishek Yadav has shared the leaked renders on his official Twitter handle, suggesting that these are high-quality official images. The renders revealed the handset will come in silver and black colour options. Looking at the leaked images, we can say that the handset looks premium; it has a power button and volume rocker keys on the left chassis of the phone. At the top, it offers a 3.5mm audio jack, and the bottom of the phone features a SIM tray slot, USB Type-C port, a speaker grill and a primary microphone. The antenna stripes make the phone look premium, like the iPhone 6 series. The leaked renders also show a rectangular shaped camera bump placed on the top-left corner of the rear panel. The camera module consists of a dual-camera setup along with an LED flash. Upfront, the screen sports a punch-hole camera cutout design to make some room for the selfie camera. The leaked renders revealed the complete design of the phone ahead of the official launch, but the company is yet to pull wraps from the upcoming handsets, so we have to wait for the launch event to see whether the leaked images are legit or not. Asus is all set to launch the devices at a virtual event which is going to be live-streamed on the company's official YouTube channel at 10:30 PM IST. You can also watch the event here at the embedded video link.

170+ Countries Now Hold Spectrum License for Low-Band LTE or 5G Posted: 12 May 2021 03:08 AM PDT The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) today announced that over 173 countries around the globe have operators that hold spectrum license for low-band LTE or 5G. To be precise, a total of 515 operators in the concerned 173 countries have licenses for low-band spectrum that can enable them for providing 5G or LTE services. Adding to this, over 400 operators have already launched 5G or LTE networks with the help of low-band spectrum. More than 15,000 Devices Can Support LTE Networks According to the latest Low-Band Spectrum for LTE and 5G report shared by the GSA, there are more than 15,000 devices across the globe that can support LTE networks on low-bands. Also, out of the total 316 5G smartphones that are capable of supporting low-band spectrum for NR, 219 devices are already commercially available. The report further says that 37 countries have already formally announced tariff plans for the 5G-suitable low-band spectrum frequencies. Looking at this, GSA believes that the number of auctions for low-band spectrum for 5G services will increase further in the coming years. On top of this, GSA said that the operators would look for 5G NR deployments with the help of the already assigned spectrum. Why is Low-Band Spectrum Important for 5G? There are different kind of frequency bands when it comes to spectrum. One of them is the low-band spectrum. Low-band spectrum is important to provide good coverage in rural parts of the country and even extended coverage in the urban cities enhancing the indoor network experience for the users. The only drawback of the low-band spectrum is that they won't provide the highest speed to the users. For high-speeds, operators will make use of mmWave bands and mid-bands. More and more operators around the world will be looking to roll out 5G services leveraging the low-band spectrum. As in the case of Indian operators, the airwaves in the 700 MHz (sub-GHz) band is considered crucial for the 5G roll out. The government has also given the telcos the coveted 700 MHz band spectrum for conducting their 5G trials both in the urban and rural parts of the country.

Nokia G10, G20 Appear on BIS Certification Hinting Imminent Launch Posted: 12 May 2021 02:45 AM PDT Nokia is all set to launch its new entry-level smartphone in India and it has been reported that the company is gearing up to launch Nokia G10 and Nokia G20. Numerous leaks and rumours are already popping up on the internet claiming the specifications of the handsets. We have also witnessed the handsets on various certification sites revealing some of the vital information about the phones. Now the handsets have appeared on the Indian BIS listing hinting toward an imminent launch. Let's see what information this new listing has bought for us. Nokia G10, G20 BIS Certification The Nokia G10 and G20 have been listed on the Indian BIS certification site with model number TA-1334 and TA-1365. The listing was first reported by popular tipster Mukul Sharma, the certification site didn't disclose anything about the smartphone but it suggests that the company is looking for an imminent launch in the country. Back in March, Nokia G10 appeared on the SIRM certification site confirming the moniker. Rumours suggest that the smartphone might launch with a 6.4-inch HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 20:9 along with a waterdrop notch design to make some room for the selfie camera. Leaks also claim that the Nokia G10 is expected to be powered by a MediaTek Helio G25 and the Nokia G20 might draw power from a MediaTek Helio G35 chipset. The handsets are said to be backed by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage with expandable storage of 512GB via a microSD card. Going with the previous reports, the Nokia G10 and Nokia G20 phones are said to be powered up by a 5,050mAh battery with 10W charging support. The Nokia G10 also appeared on the Geekbench listing with model number TA-1334. The certification site suggests some mediocre specs. According to the listing, the smartphone is tipped to ship with 3GB RAM and run on Android 11 out of the box. The listing also claimed that the phone will have an octa-core MT6762 chipset which is the codename for MediaTek Helio G25. The smartphone has managed to score 150 points in the single-core and 858 points in the multi-core benchmark test. Do note that the company is yet to reveal anything and it's advisable to take this piece of information with a grain of salt.

OnePlus Watch Cobalt Limited Edition Launch Date Revealed Posted: 12 May 2021 01:50 AM PDT OnePlus Watch was launched in India with the arrival of the OnePlus 9 series on March 23, 2021. During the launch, the company had announced that there would be a special Cobalt Limited Edition of the smartwatch as well, which will be launched at a later date. The OnePlus Watch comes in two basic colours – Midnight Black and Moonlight Silver. Now the company has revealed the launch date of the Cobalt Limited Edition variant of the OnePlus Watch for the China market. OnePlus Watch Cobalt Limited Edition Launch Date The OnePlus Watch Cobalt Limited Edition will launch on May 14 in China. The company has confirmed the launch via a post on Weibo. The images of the smartwatch and its packaging have also been revealed. The new Limited Edition OnePlus Watch will come with a glass covering made of sapphire and don a 316L stainless steel body. There will also be a cobalt alloy frame in the middle of the smartwatch. As per the images, it is evident that the round frame of the smartwatch will be covered in golden polish, and the straps will be dark navy green. Looking at the packaging box on the image shared by the company, it is clear that users will get an all-round 'premium' experience with the OnePlus Watch Cobalt Limited Edition. There are no other specifications available about the smartwatch. However, we expect it to be almost similar to the normal OnePlus Watch in terms of specifications. There might be a few changes, but that will only be uncovered when the company launches the smartwatch in China. OnePlus hasn't confirmed the India launch date of the smartwatch yet. But if it is launching in China, it won't take long for the company to avail it in India. For the unaware, the standard edition of the smartwatch is priced at Rs 14,999 in India. It comes with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage and is powered by the STM32 processor. The smartwatch can deliver performance for up to 14 days on a single charge. Further, with the fast charging mechanism, users can get a day's worth of battery life in just 5 minutes of charging.

How Far India Has Come With 4G in Five Years Posted: 12 May 2021 01:09 AM PDT 4G got a major boost in India with the arrival of Reliance Jio in September 2016. Since then, the amount of growth and traction that 4G services and smartphones have seen is tremendous. No other connectivity technology, including 2G or 3G, saw such fast adoption rates as 4G. According to a Nokia MBiT Index report, 4G has displayed the fastest growth rate in the telecom history of India. Reliance Jio came to the market in 2016 and in less than 3 months added around 52 million 4G subscribers. By the end of 2016, the 4G subscriber base in India had grown to 70 million users. The numbers grew to 702 million 4G subscribers at the end of 2020 from 70 million at the end of 2016. Low-Cost 4G Smartphones Helped a Lot One of the major reasons behind the growth in 4G adoption in India was the availability of low-cost 4G smartphones. At the end of 2016, the 4G device penetration stood at 12% at a PAN-India level. However, in the last 5 years, it has grown to 77% PAN-India level. In the metro cities, the 4G devices penetration was 22% in 2016, whereas, by the end of 2020, it stood at 83%. The overall 4G data traffic in December 2016 was 13%; however, it grew to approximately 99% by the end of 2020. A & B circles of the country constituted 76% of the PAN-India data traffic in 2020. Since operators shifted their focus on the A, B, and C category circles, the data traffic growth rate for them was higher than that of metro circles which have attained 4G saturation. With the rise of 4G, the overall data traffic of 3G fell sharply, which is not surprising in any manner. The rise in Demand for Mid-Tier 4G Smartphones The cheapest 4G phone in 2016 was priced at Rs 3,000. However, in 2017, that changed with the arrival of a new 4G phone costing Rs 1,500 only. In 2017, the average selling price of (ASP) of top 25 4G phones was Rs 10,000. But by the end of 2020, the demand for mid-tier 4G smartphones grew significantly, and almost 80% of the customers were opting for 4G devices below Rs 15,000 mark. Cheap 4G smartphones helped with the increase in consumption of 4G data in the rural parts of the country. In 2020, 45% out of the total data consumption accounted for the data used by rural India. The increase in data consumption has led to growth in average data usage per month. With a CAGR of 76% in the last five years, the average data usage per month grew from 2.7GB in 2016 to 13.4GB in 2020. There was significant demand for smartphones in 2020 due to a rise in data consumption, which resulted in shipments of over 150 million units of 4G devices despite the COVID-19 restrictions. Falling Data Rates Acted as Catalyst For Video Streaming and OTT Content Consumption From Rs 226/GB data in 2016 to Rs 7/GB data in 2019, the data rates have fallen significantly. This acted as a catalyst for the growth of over-the-top (OTT) content platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, and more. The growth in short-video consumption reached an all-time high, and the growth rate for average active monthly users consuming short-video content reached a 9x multiple in 2020 when compared with 2016. Indians used to spend an average time of 3 hours on their smartphones back in 2016. That grew to about 5 hours of average time in 2020 on the back of falling tariff rates and cheaper 4G smartphones. With the arrival of 5G networks and cheap 5G smartphones, by 2025, the average time spent on short video content is further expected to grow 4x. Growing Fiberisation of Telecom Towers Back in 2016, around 20% of the total telecom towers in India were fiberised. However, that percentage grew marginally to 32% by the end of 2020. The fixed broadband (FBB) growth was very slow at just 22% over the five years. In 2016, there were 18 million FBB subscribers, which grew to 22 million in 2020. This is a sector the operators can focus on to grow their revenues fast since the need for fixed broadband has grown significantly.

Poco UI, M3 Pro and Super Flagship, Here’s All You Should Know Posted: 12 May 2021 12:50 AM PDT Poco's latest launch was the Poco M3, which sold well on a global scale. The company has made decent strides after a return to the market in 2020, post a hiatus for a year and a half. Now, in an exclusive interview with Android Central, Poco's plans for 2021 have been revealed and, there are some major things coming to the company. The interview, which was with Poco's Global exec Kevin Xiaobo Qui and Angus Ng, consisted of multiple revelations, one of them being the addition of the Poco M3 Pro 5G to the M3 lineup of devices, this being the first 5G device from the brand. What Do We Know About Poco's Plans For 2021 The first of these plans is the launch of the Poco M3 Pro 5G, as mentioned above, with the device coming in the iconic POCO Yellow color, which debuted with the Poco M3. Furthermore, Kevin added that this device will feature a display with a higher refresh rate display, a first for the M-series of devices. He also mentioned that the company wishes to provide a cheaper way to use 5G, which will be the USP of the M3 Pro, a budget device set to launch soon. Here are some other key takeaways from the interview: The Poco executives revealed that when the Poco M3 Pro 5G will be released, the Poco X3 NFC will be discontinued from global markets as both devices fall in the same price bracket. This will leave the Poco X3 Pro to be the only X3-series device when this happens. In addition to the higher refresh rate panel, which as per leaks could be a 6.5-inch FHD+ LCD panel with a refresh rate of 90Hz, as Kevin confirmed the existence of the same. The device will also feature a Mediatek Dimensity chip, which will provide both performance and 5G capabilities. For the overall performance bump, the Poco M3 Pro will offer 60% better performance when compared to the Poco M3, which makes use of the Snapdragon 662 SoC. Moving to the software side of things, Poco, which makes use of MIUI based Poco skin for its devices will be adding further features, something that the company has been doing since its inception. The updates will still be based on MIUI, but there is a possibility of a rebrand to Poco UI, in a bid to differentiate it from MIUI. Angus Ng did mention the prospect of creating a unique interface from scratch but stated that this would not be feasible as of now. If the company does get an increased market share on a global scale, this could be something to look into. Finally, when asked about the chances of a proper flagship, unlike the Poco F3, the executives stated that no such devices are planned for the future, due to prices going up, something that has occurred with the MI 11, S21 and iPhone 12, as flagship-grade hardware comes with a certain cost.

PS5 Digital Edition Is Now Available for Pre-Order in India Posted: 11 May 2021 11:46 PM PDT PlayStation 5 (PS5) has become a super-hit throughout the world, and Sony has faced some major supply issues with the popular gaming console. To recall, the PS5 series was launched in multiple variants. There was a vanilla PS5 with a UHD disc drive and a PS5 Digital Edition. The Digital Edition was priced at Rs 39,990, and the PS5 with a disc drive was priced at Rs 49,990. The PS5 Digital Edition was also supposed to launch with the disc variant of the gaming console on February 2, 2021. However, due to supply issues, Sony said that it is delaying the launch of the PS5 Digital Edition in India and will be only availing the PS5 with a disc drive for the time being. Now Sony has confirmed the pre-order date for the PS5 Digital Edition in India. Read ahead to find out when you can pre-order the popular gaming console. PS5 Digital Edition Pre-Order Date PS5 Digital Edition will go on pre-order sale from May 17 at 12 PM. It will be exclusively selling from the Sony Center's website – ShopAtSC.com. It will be only selling on Sony Center's website until at least June 2021. At the same time, the PS5 with a disc drive will also be available to be purchased from the Sony Center's website. This comes at a time when Sony had expressed to the analysts that there will be huge supply issues with the PS5 console in India until next year. Based on that, we don't expect the gaming console to be available for more than a few hours or days on the website, given it will only be limited stock. If you are a PS5 fan, you can buy either of the consoles from Sony Center online on May 17 at 12 PM. The gaming consoles are also available to be purchased on EMIs, and the website of Sony Center says that it will provide free deliveries to its customers. You can make online payments for the console via debit or credit cards as well as UPI and more. It will be the first time that the PS5 console will come on sale at the Sony Center online since its launch on February 2, 2021.

Vodafone Idea Beats Market Expectations, Adds Subscribers Posted: 11 May 2021 10:52 PM PDT The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released its monthly report for February 2021, highlighting the performance of the telecom service providers (TSPs). In a surprising turn of events, Vodafone Idea (Vi) finally added net subscribers at the end of the month, and hopefully, this time, it is not an error in the numbers provided by the telco. Further, Bharti Airtel lost its rally of adding more subscribers than Reliance Jio continuously since Jio added the most number of subscribers during the month, amongst all the operators. Let's take a detailed look at how the numbers for February look like. Reliance Jio Added 4.2 Million Subscribers During February Source – TRAI Reliance Jio added a net 4.2 million (42,66,819) subscribers during the month as compared to Airtel's 3.7 (37,37,645) million subscribers. Vodafone Idea added 0.65 million (6,52,625) subscribers, which is the first time for the telco since October 2019 that it added net subscribers. As for the state-run telecom operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) lost 0.35 million (3,59,157) subscribers, and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) lost 5,261 subscribers. Wireless Subscribers Grew in Almost Every State Every state or circle saw an increase in wireless subscribers except Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. Mumbai saw an increase in wireless subscribers by 4.83%, which is the biggest growth for any circle during the month. The second circle that saw the highest growth in wireless subscribers was Punjab, with a growth rate of 1.95%. The addition of wireless subscribers in most parts of India is not a surprising thing since more and more budgets smartphones are entering the market, and the telecom operators are pushing to convert legacy network users to their 4G services. Further, the work from home culture is also driving people to purchase more wireless connections for data and voice calling needs. In terms of subscriber market share, Reliance Jio was again at the top with 35.54%, followed by Bharti Airtel with 29.83%, Vodafone Idea with 24.20%, BSNL with 10.15% and MTNL with 0.28%. It is sad to see that BSNL's subscriber market share is declining with every quarter and month that follows. Jio must have seen a small positive effect in the numbers because of launching the JioPhone 2021 offer in late February.

Internet Privacy, Everything You Should Know About It Posted: 11 May 2021 09:30 PM PDT In the 21st century, it has become almost impossible to think of a world without the internet. The internet has led us to create a separate version of ourselves 'online'. We use the internet to communicate, share our thoughts, opinions, views, and it has become almost impeccably easy to do so with a click of a few buttons. Everything we consume, share and store on the Internet is data. Internet Privacy and Data Privacy can often be interlinked, but in reality, Internet Privacy is just a subset of Data Privacy. What does Internet Privacy mean? In simple terms, as the name suggests, Internet Privacy is the right to privacy on the internet. It is also commonly known as online privacy and, as we noted above, is just a part of data privacy. Your right to own privacy when you view, store and communicate data or information is known as Internet Privacy. Everything we do, share and store on the internet is information that needs to be protected and kept private. But this is not what usually happens when we access the internet. All our personal, financial and browsing information is at risk when we use the internet. Online privacy or digital privacy is how much of that information is actually kept secret. What All Needs to be Protected? We share an extremely dangerous amount of data over the internet. This sharing can be intentional or unintentional. Online privacy is about a combination of what you are doing on the internet and who you are. Who you are can be easily identified as we share personally identifiable information (PII) on the internet. This PII includes your name, mobile number, email address, home address and more. PII makes it very easy to track down an individual these days. This can be a major threat to real-world security. Talking about online security, what we do on the internet comes into play. Our browsing history, the websites we visit, the data we consume, our transaction history are all something that also needs to be protected as it gives away information on what we do. Privacy Threats to Consider There are enormous amounts of scams and ways in which your data can be compromised and put at risk. Here are some of the key privacy threats that you must know about. Tracking: We all are witnessed a specific target audience of ads on the internet. Have you ever observed how when you search for something on the internet and then get along with your work on another website, you start seeing ads related to your recent web search? This may have a convenient factor for some, but for most, it is an invasion of their privacy. Every movement we make across sites are tracked by advertisers, websites and other third parties, and they use cookie profiling to keep a record of your online movements and habits to target you with ads accurately. Surveillance: Due to the lack of proper law infrastructure in place regarding data and internet privacy, even your country's government can monitor your activity and movement to aid law enforcement. An example of this is the UK having legal authorization under their Investigatory Powers Act to enforce mass surveillance of its citizens. Theft: There are various techniques and viruses that cybercriminals use to access your personal information with or without your knowledge. These include malware, spyware and phishing techniques. These cybercriminals can break into your online account and access and steal your personal information committing identity theft.

PUBG Mobile’s Return Will Eat Up FAU-G’s Attention Posted: 11 May 2021 08:00 PM PDT PUBG Mobile is all set to make a comeback in India. The game will come with a new name called "Battlegrounds Mobile India" and will be reserved for Indian players only. While this is good news for the fans of the game that have been waiting for its return, it is bad news for the other games in the market that are similar to the nature of PUBG Mobile. Multiplayer online games such as Call of Duty (COD) Mobile witnessed up to 9x more downloads in the period after PUBG Mobile was banned in India. Other games such as Free Fire also got the advantage of PUBG Mobile's forced to exit out of the Indian market. However, all of the games that got the extra attention after the exit of PUBG Mobile are under a serious threat of retaining the same kind of user base once the game makes a comeback in the Indian market. FAU-G Majorly Disappointed the Fans Our review of FAU-G was what other users felt to be accurate as well. Indian gamers had a lot of expectations from FAU-G, especially after the ban of PUBG Mobile. However, the game was a sheer disappointment. The graphics were 'okayish', and the gameplay was quite boring. Many users never played the game more than once, and many even deleted it after playing for a few minutes. Even though FAU-G enjoyed the brief period of users' attention where there was no PUBG Mobile, it couldn't create a major fan base in India. Now, things are about to change with the comeback of PUBG Mobile in the country as Battlegrounds Mobile India. Users know what they can expect from the game, and everyone knows the game won't disappoint them. The developers have even promised that there will be India specific events inside the game which will make it even more interesting to indulge in. COD Mobile, FAU-G, Free Fire and Many More Games 'Happy' Periods is Now Over There is one thing that might work in favour of COD Mobile and Free Fire, and that is the users' behaviour pattern. Games are addictive because of the dopamine they release in the body of the gamer. Free Fire and COD Mobile each have their own way of producing dopamine in the gamers' minds. If the users have become too used to these games, they might not lose their user base completely to the Battlegrounds Mobile India. But the return of PUBG Mobile is surely going to attract a lot of attention of the users. If the other games want to compete, they will have to bring in something better, and that too fast before the users' attention is gone.

Revisiting Popular Postpaid Plans From Vodafone Idea Posted: 11 May 2021 06:32 PM PDT There is no doubt that Vodafone Idea (Vi), India's third-ranked telecom operator, offers the best plans in the industry. Now be it postpaid plans or prepaid plans, the telco has got its customers' needs covered with a wide range of offerings. Vi is recognised for providing some amazing postpaid plans. Especially, the REDX plan offered by the telco remains unmatched in competition. Today, we are revisiting the popular postpaid plans from Vodafone Idea that you can buy to fulfil your needs. Vodafone Idea REDX Postpaid Plan The REDX postpaid plan from Vi is the 'best' postpaid plan any Indian can purchase today. It is a supreme offering from the telco that offers users truly unlimited data, truly unlimited voice calling, and 100 SMS/day. The additional benefits of the plan include 1 year of free Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscriptions. Further users get free access to airport lounges in both domestic and international airports at no extra cost four times a year. Further, the ISD calling to USA & Canada numbers will only attract charges of 50 paise per minute and Rs 3 per minute for the UK. The company offers users international calling at special rates for 14 countries. There are more benefits included in the plan. Users get 7 days of an International roaming pack worth Rs 2,999 once per year. The company will also give 'Premium' customer service to the REDX users. The plan's cost is Rs 1,099 per month. Even though it is one of the most expensive postpaid plans you can buy today, it is totally worth it if you travel a lot. Vodafone Idea Other Postpaid Plans The other popular postpaid plans from Vodafone Idea that you can check out costs Rs 699, Rs 499, and Rs 399. The Rs 699 plan also offers truly unlimited data to the users along with unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. Further, users get Amazon Prime Video, Vi Movies & TV, and Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscription for 1 year. The Rs 499 and Rs 399 plans each offer users unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. The difference between both the plans is that the Rs 499 plan comes with 75GB of data for one billing cycle (200GB data rollover facility), and the Rs 399 plan comes with 40GB of data (200GB of data rollover facility). The Rs 399 plan only comes with a single over-the-top (OTT) benefit of the Vi Movies & TV app, while the Rs 499 plan comes with the OTT benefits of Disney+ Hotstar VIP, Vi Movies & TV, and Amazon Prime video for one year. These are the popular postpaid plans from Vi that users can check out today. There are more plans at cheaper rates, and users can also check out the family postpaid plans from the company.

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