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Verizon Charges Whopping $70 for Base 5G Unlimited Plan

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 11:20 AM PDT

Verizon 5G If you think you are paying more for a top-line 4G plan in India from Vodafone Idea or Bharti Airtel, think again. Verizon, one of the top telecom operators in the USA charges users a whopping $70 per month for offering an unlimited 5G plan. To save you the hassle of conversion, $70 would mean Rs 5,220 approximately. Even for a 5G plan with unlimited data and multiple benefits, this plan is very expensive. Before you judge the pricing of this plan any further, let's go through its complete benefits.

Verizon 'Start Unlimited' 5G Plan Benefits

The 'Start Unlimited' 5G plan from Verizon comes for $70 per month. This is before taxes and fees. With this plan, users get access to the telco's nationwide 5G network. As per Verizon's website, there are more than 2,700 cities where its 5G network is available. Further, on locations where there is no 5G network available, users will be able to access the company's 4G LTE network. If the users want, they can also purchase access to the 5G Ultra-wideband network of Verizon to gain an even enhanced 5G experience by paying $10. Other benefits of the plan include unlimited data and texts. I looked into the website and didn't find anything on the fair usage policy of the plan. So it's highly likely that, unlike the Indian operators, Verizon offers truly unlimited data to the users. But this makes sense as well since the company is charging pretty hefty from the user. The good thing is, if there are multiple connections/lines that a user is purchasing, the price of the plan will drop. With this plan, the company offers over-the-top (OTT) benefits as well. OTT benefits include Disney+ for 6 months, Discovery+ for 6 months, Apple Arcade for 6 months, Google Play Pass for 6 months, and Apple Music for 6 months. Hopefully, the 5G unlimited plans in India are much cheaper than this.

56 Days Validity Prepaid Plans You Should Know About

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 10:06 AM PDT

Prepaid Plans Telecom operators have rolled out different prepaid plans that comes with intriguing benefits and multiple validity periods. While most of the users prefer monthly prepaid recharges, some users prefer annual prepaid plans to reduce the hassle. A major chunk of users also opts for prepaid plans that comes with 84 days and 56 days validity. In this article, we will mention the best-prepaid plans of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea that are packed with 56 days validity period. Follow the article to the end for a detailed guide.

Reliance Jio Rs 598 Prepaid Plan

Reliance Jio has developed an extensive portfolio of prepaid plans that are packed with the internet, calling and OTT benefits. Under the Rs 598 prepaid plan, users get 2GB of internet data every day, making the total data count 112GB. Once the daily FUP limit is finished, the internet speed reduces to 64 Kbps. Unlimited voice calling benefits and 100 SMSes per day are included in the prepaid plan. Since OTT benefits have become crucial in prepaid plans, Reliance Jio also offers a one-year subscription to Disney+Hotstar worth Rs 399 at no extra cost. Additional benefits of the prepaid plan include a subscription to Jio apps such as JioCinema, JioCloud, JioTV and more.

Bharti Airtel Rs 558 Prepaid Plan

The prepaid plans offered by Airtel directly compete with Reliance Jio. Since the benefits and OTT subscription benefits of the prepaid plan are similar, prepaid subscribers face the dilemma of picking the best-prepaid plan. Under the Rs 558 prepaid plan, Airtel offers 3GB of internet data per day. Once the daily data usage is finished, the internet speed reduces to 64 Kbps. Subscribers also get 100 SMSes per day and truly unlimited calling benefits. Additionally, Airtel provides 30 days free trial of Amazon Prime Video along with free online courses of Shaw Academy for one year. Users also get a three-month subscription to Apollo 24/7 circle. Lastly, Airtel offers Rs 100 cashback on FASTag and Wynk Music free subscription.

Vodafone Idea Rs 595 Prepaid Plan

Vodafone Idea Rs 595 prepaid plan offers 2GB of data per day. Once the daily quota is over, the internet speed reduces to 64 Kbps. Vodafone Idea prepaid subscribers also get truly unlimited calling benefits and 100 SMSes per day. The service validity of the prepaid plan is 56 days, and weekend data rollover facility is also provided to subscribers. Additionally, Vodafone Idea offers a subscription to Zee5 premium for one year along with Vi Movies and TV subscriptions.

Samsung’s The Premiere Is a Home Theater Aficionado’s Dream

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 08:49 AM PDT

Samsung Samsung on Tuesday launched its ultra-premium projector range, dubbed The Premiere in India. This is a big advancement for the brand, which marks its foray into the private cinema experience space. The Premiere stands out with its compact design, which is made possible due to the fact that it is an ultra-short throw projector. This allows for the reduction in size, since ultra-short-throw projectors need not cover too much distance and can be placed fairly close to the user’s wall or screen where the content is to be projected. Samsung believes that these space-saving projectors are meant to be kept close to the screen, with the primary example being that the Premiere can be kept on the coffee table or drawers, a mere 11.3 cm away from the screen and can project to a screen that is 130-inches or less.

Samsung The Premiere: Features and Specifications

In terms of design, the Premier comes with a white design that is minimal in nature, complete with rounded edges and a fabric finish. The Premiere will be on offer today un up to 12o-inch and 13o-inch screen sizes, with the model numbers being LSP7T and LSP9T respectively. Both of these sizes come with support for a laser-powered 4K resolution. Samsung does not shy away from pointing out that The Premiere LSP9T is, in the words of the company, the world's first HDR10+ certified projector with triple laser technology. What this means is that these projectors come with a promise to offer revolutionary contrast details with peak brightness of up to 2,800 ANSI Lumens, which, for those wondering is a unit defined by the ANSI or American National Standards Institute measuring the overall amount of light output via a specific projector. The Premiere also comes with Filmmaker mode and is offered with Samsung’s Smart TV platform, which means that users get easy access to apps such as Netflix, Prime and Youtube, coupled with features such as Mirroring and Tap View. A Game Mode has also been built into the projector. Audio-wise, the Premiere is offered with built-in woofers as well as surround sound courtesy of Acoustic Beam. The latter can deliver up to 40W and 4.2 channel sound for the LSP9T and 30W and 2.2 channel experience for the LSP7T.

Samsung The Premiere: Pricing and Availability

When it comes to the pricing and availability, the two models will be offered via Samsung’s official online store, Samsung Shop and at a few Samsung Smart Plazas starting August 10. The LSP9T is priced at Rs 6,29,900, whilst the LSP7T is priced at Rs 3,89,900. Early-bird buyers will get Amazon’s Echo Plus for free and both projectors come with 12 months of warranty.

Reliance Jio Might be Looking Towards a Stake Buyout in T-Mobile Netherlands

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 08:16 AM PDT

Reliance Jio Dutch Firm buyout Reliance Jio's parent company Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has its hands in a vast array of businesses and RIL having a strong hand when it comes to financials has been making many acquisitions as of late. In a new move, Reliance Jio might be making deliberations about acquiring a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG,  T-Mobile Netherlands BV. The dealings and deliberations for the deal seem to be going on behind closed doors as per the people with the knowledge of the matter. Also, there has been no final offer and the details have not been finalised yet. Reliance Jio happens to be working on with an advisor on the matter to make an offer to the Dutch company.

Deutsch Telekom Employs Morgan Stanley

The report comes from ET Telecom as per which both the companies have declined to make any comments on the same. Deutsch Telekom seems to be seeking around 5 billion euros for the company which translated to $5.9 billion in USD. As for the other interested parties, some of the big names that are on the line interested to buy T-Mobile Netherlands include Apax Partners, Apollo Global Management Inc., BC Partners, Providence Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus. Morgan Stanley is working out with Deutsch Telekom on the details of the deal and evaluating offers.

Reliance Jio Making Big Strides in the Industry

It is worth noting that in the Netherlands, Deutsche Telekom entered the industry in 2000. The company formed a venture with Belgacom SA and Tele Danmark and in 2003, T-Mobile Netherlands bought the leftover stake thus changing the name to same. On the other hand, Reliance Industries Limited is the biggest company of India by market cap with its hands delving into industries like petrochemicals, refining and of course telecom. Reliance Jio has shared its intentions of becoming a big tech giant in the coming years with multiple Digital Services. The telecom company has made many strides in the last few years with the introduction of FTTH services under the name of JioFiber and the amassing of 400 million and more subscribers on its LTE services.

Xiaomi’s Mi MIX 4 Is the Company’s Latest Innovative Flagship

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 07:11 AM PDT

Mi MIX 4 Xiaomi, the Chinese Smartphone Giant is known for taking the adventurous route, be it in terms of optics, cameras or displays. This was evident by past versions of its MIX series of devices and, today is no different. The company has finally launched the Mi MIX 4 in China and it pushes the boundaries of what a flagship is. The key points that are worth noting are the inclusion of an in-display camera to the front, 120W fast charging and peak performance. It is worth noting before we begin that there is no word regarding an India launch for the Mi MIX 4, so don’t get your hopes too high, but, given as to how Xiaomi has successfully launched flagships in the country, we could very well see a launch down the line.

Mi MIX 4: Specifications and Features

The Mi MIX 4 pushes the limits of the display by employing a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel with curved edges, HDR10+, 10-bit TrueColor with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of 480Hz. The device also comes with Dolby Vision support, allow for a great content consumption experience. Performance-wise, the device makes use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ SoC coupled with the Adreno 660 GPU. This is paired with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a whopping 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage. The device boots MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11. Coming to the optics side of things, the Mi MIX 4 makes use of a triple rear camera setup with a primary 108MP sensor with an aperture of f/1.33, with support for OIS and 100x zoom. The setup adds an 8MP 50x periscope camera and a 13MP ultra-wide angle sensor with an aperture of f/2.2. Towards the front, there is an in-display selfie snapper. There is a 4,500 mAh battery under the hood with support for 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. To ensure the users of their safety, the company added that the maximum temperature will be 37 degrees on the wired charger. Connectivity options include support for 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11.ax, Bluetooth 5.2 NFC, GPS and NavIC. The device will be offered in three hues, namely Ceramic White, Ceramic Black and Ceramic Gray. Miscellaneous features include heat dissipation, an IR blaster, Hi-Res audio, dual-stereo speakers and an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

Mi MIX 4: Pricing

The Mi MIX 4 will be offered in four different models, with the base variant priced at RMB 4,999 or approx Rs 57,000, with the variant coming with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The 8GB+256GB variant is priced at RMB 5,299 or Rs 60,800, with the 12GB+256GB variant on offer for RMB 5,799 or Rs 66,000. The final variant offers 12GB of RAM and 512GB of RAM for RMB 6,299 or Rs 72,200.

iQOO 8 Pro to Offer 50MP Primary Sensor With Five-Axis Stabilization

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 06:28 AM PDT

iQOO 8 Pro Chinese smartphone giant iQOO is all set to launch the iQOO 8 series of devices in China on August 17. During the launch, the company is expected to launch two new flagships offerings intended for the Q3 and Q4 of 2021. These devices will be the iQOO 8 and the iQOO 8 Pro. Ahead of this launch event, the company began teasing certain details in relation to the upcoming flagship phones. The latest of these teasers reveals the Pro model’s camera details, confirming that the Pro model will include a triple-camera stack to the back, with the sensor details also out.

What Do We Know About the iQOO 8 Pro’s Cameras?

The latest teaser reveals that the Pro model of the iQOO 8 series will come equipped with a  triple-camera stack with the standout feature being the inclusion of VIS five-axis micro-cloud anti-shake gimbal stabilisation, which is sure to make videography a breeze for the user. Other optics related details include the presence of a main 50MP sensor coupled with a 48MP ultra-wide lens. The third lens will be a 16MP mid-focus sensor with a focal length of 14-60mm. This leak comes after previous teasers revealed that the Pro model of the upcoming series would employ the services of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ SoC, which will supposedly be coupled with 12GB of RAM and 4GB of extended RAM. The device will also come with support for ultra-fast 120W charging. The front of the phone has also been leaked, with another leak suggesting that the display would be a curved 2K display with a hole-punch notch to the top. It was also confirmed that the Samsung E5 AMOLED display in use for the Pro model would come with LTPO or Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide technology to allow for a variable refresh rate panel that can switch from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on the use case. Other details are bleak as of now, with the final bit of information on offer being that the Pro model would come with a BMW Edition and a Black hue. This launch would be quite an interesting one, considering as to how the company recently launched the iQOO 7 series in India. If the iQOO 8 series does come to India, which it probably should, then we could see iQOO trading blows with the likes of Oppo, OnePlus and Samsung which is great news for the consumer, who will get more options for their money.

Tata Group Company Inks Deal With Telesat to Provide Satellite Broadband Services

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 05:50 AM PDT

Nelco inks partnership with Telesat The environment for satellite communication services and satellite broadband is heating up in India as well. In this race, there are obvious names like OneWeb and Starlink, but from India, the top name happens to be Nelco which is a Tata Group company. To launch satellite services providing communication services like the other companies, Nelco has partnered up with the Canadian firm Telesat. Last we heard, both the companies were working on the details of the deal and now it appears that both Nelco and Telesat have worked out the deal to finally ink the partnership. Nelco has also clarified that it has not decided to set up a separate venture for this deal. PJ Nath, Managing Director of Nelco, said that Nelco and Telesat will have an MSA (master services agreement) for offering LEO (low-earth-orbit) satellite services.

Satellite Broadband Market Expected to Grow Manifold

For the unaware, satellite communication of this nature requires launching Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites which form a cluster around 100-200 km away from the earth surface thus staying close, travelling at a very high speed and providing communication services using a cluster of such satellites. Recently, in a new report, Starlink appears to have pegged impressive download and upload speeds on Ookla's speed tests which are almost comparable to fixed broadband services. Also, in a new release, ICRA had noted that the market in satellite broadband is slated to grow to 2 million users by 2025 with the total financial market for the services to be around Rs 6,000 crore by the same year.

Tata Group Company to Focus on B2B Business

Since the launch of such services requires multiple satellites in clusters, hence the cost of even a single such broadband connection is expected to be twice as much as a normal fibre connection. Thus, Nelco and Telesat in this partnership would not only focus on the consumer business but would also be marketing their services to businesses as well. As per Nath, the focus would be on trying to reduce the costs for the satellite access terminals.

Bharti Airtel to Usher Investments for Rapid 5G Development

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 04:54 AM PDT

Bharti Airtel chairman financial health concern Bharti Airtel, on Tuesday, sent out an annual report to stock exchanges detailing its affairs and numbers for the year-end at the end of the previous financial year. In the report, the head of the second-biggest telecom company, Sunil Bharti Mittal, made some statements that included words about Airtel's preparedness about the 5G network. In the report, he remarked that Bharti Airtel was ready for the deployment of 5G network in the country as it had the required equipment for it. Also, he said that Bharti Airtel would be working with domestic and global manufacturers to turn India into a 5G technology hub.

Airtel Hopeful of Positive Outcomes in Future

He made some references to the currently going on financial tussle in the industry with Vodafone Idea and said that he hopes that government is able to retain the "3+1" telecom companies structure in the industry. This alludes to the presence of three private telecom players, including Bharti Airtel, in addition to BSNL. He also added that Bharti Airtel is ready to capitalise on opportunities like satellite terminal deployment, data centres, submarine cable deployment, cybersecurity and more and on the back of these, Airtel would be on the path of becoming a truly digital-first company to serve Digital India. As per the ET Telecom report on the manner, the exec also said that Bharti Airtel is capable of building world-class solutions thanks to the partnerships it has made with the likes of Apollo Hospitals, IBM, Cisco, Google, Amazon and more.

Mittal Seeking Tariff Raise Support from Govt

Sunil Bharti Mittal also added that such heavy investments in an industry which requires it, coupled with legacy issues and extremely low tariffs, have had their impact on the company. He also did not forget to mention that despite its challenges, India remains a top choice for long term investors. The company head further raised his opinion to match Kumar Mangalam Birla on the matter that the government should intervene to ensure good tariffs for the company. Ending on a positive note, he said that Bharti Airtel is leading in metrics like ARPU and figures like Revenue Market Share (RMS).

Best True Wireless Earbuds To Buy Under Rs 5,000

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 02:50 AM PDT

TWS Earbuds It won't be an exaggeration to say that the truly wireless earbuds are a rage right now. Apparently, the market is flooded with choices from Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi, OnePlus and others. There are notable features including noise cancellation, long battery life, superior audio quality and more that come into the picture when you purchase one. The launch of TWS earbuds from various brands has reduced the cost of these products. If you are looking for a pair of TWS earbuds, then you will be spoilt for choice. Check out the best TWS earbuds to buy in India under Rs 5,000 from here.

Oppo Enco W51

One of the options you should consider buying is the Oppo Enco W51. This pair of TWS earbuds features three microphones for noise reduction and an efficient voice calling experience. There is a combined battery life of up to 24 hours and IP54 certification for dust and water resistance.

OnePlus Buds Z

OnePlus Buds Z is yet another TWS earbuds offering you can purchase under Rs 5,000. It features 10mm dynamic drivers assuring to deliver enhanced depth, bass and details. It uses a Dirac Audio tuner for 3D stereo sound. As per the company, it offers up to 20 hours of battery life and supports fast charging. The other aspects of the OnePlus Buds Z include an IP55 rating, Bluetooth 5.0 and a quick pair feature.

boAt Airdopes 441

One of the TWS earbuds from a popular brand – boAt Airdopes 441 features up to 25 hours of battery life. Its specifications include up to 10 meters of range with Bluetooth 5.0, an IPX7 rating for water and sweat resistance, and other important features that users will expect at its price point.

OnePlus Buds

Another offering from the Chinese smartphone brand is the OnePlus Buds. It features up to a whopping 30 hours of battery life. Also, it supports fast charging wherein 10 minutes of charging will give up to 10 hours of backup. This pair of TWS earbuds also uses three microphones to assist in noise cancelation. There is IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance.

boAt Airdopes 511V2

The boAt Airdopes 511V2 is a stylish pair of TWS earbuds with a unique case with premium design and looks. It comes with Bluetooth 5.0, 10 meters of range, IPX4 water and sweat resistance, up to 24 hours of battery life and two mics, one in each earbud.

5G in India Will Not Help Operators Much Initially

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 01:46 AM PDT

5G in India There are investors pulling their money out of the telecom market because of the current environment; then there are investors who are putting their money in the telcos and thinking 5G is going to solve their problem. The thing is, 5G is going to help, but not as fast and not as much as people anticipate it would. There's one thing absolutely clear; the telcos aren't going to avoid offering 4G services even once they launch 5G. This is because 5G networks would take a lot of time to be rolled out throughout India. The operators are only expected to do a soft launch of 5G networks in metro cities or towns they are already testing the next generation connectivity networks.

5G Is a Long-Term Play

Look, this is not investment advice. Don't put money in or pull money out reading this article because there's no predicting how markets change. But there's one thing that needs to happen, and that is the government must come out with a relief package for the sector right now. This will help the operators in transitioning from 4G to 5G gracefully. As of now, Vodafone Idea (Vi) might not be thinking of rolling out 5G networks simply because the telco doesn't have the money to invest in the networks. Note that Vi is readying itself for the 5G era as it is conducting trials in multiple cities of India. 5G in India is a long-term play for the operators, and it will only help the companies after years of investments. While for the sector, new investors, better cash flow, and government support is required in the near term to help it grow aggressively. India is one unique telecom market as there are several hundred million users consuming 4G data services and yet the operators are struggling financially. A tariff hike is going to help the operators in the short term while government support will go a long way.

WhatsApp New Updates For Android Beta, Desktop And Web Versions

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 01:24 AM PDT

WhatsApp New Updates For Android Beta, Desktop And Web Versions WhatsApp desktop and web versions are allegedly getting new photo editing tools, which was a feature available only in the mobile app so far. In addition to this, the WhatsApp beta version 2.21.16.10 for Android likely brings new emojis for users. These emojis were announced in April and made their way to the iOS iteration of the app recently.

Photo Editing Tools For WhatsApp Web, Desktop

As per the WhatsApp update tracker WABetaInfo, the new photo editing tools rolled out for WhatsApp Web and Desktop versions are called Drawing Tools. These tools let users edit images before sending them from WhatsApp Web or Desktop app. With this, users can add emojis or text to an image, and rotate or crop it before sharing it with others. The desktop and web versions of the app are likely to get an additional capability of adding stickers to images while editing, which is missing in the mobile app (both Android and iOS). These editing tools can be seen at the top after choosing an image you wish to share. The option to add text will be at the bottom with the option 'view once'. As per the report, the feature will be rolled out to all users. It is important to update to the latest version of the app to get this feature. Notably, the 'view once' feature lets users send disappearing photos and videos that can be viewed by recipients only once.

New Emojis For Android Users

In another report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp beta version 2.21.16.10 for Android in the Google Play Store gets a slew of new emojis. In order to get the new emojis before others, it is important to sign in to the beta program of WhatsApp. These emojis were unveiled by Unicode Consortium in July last year and were already rolled out to iOS users. Reportedly, all users with the WhatsApp beta for Android will get this feature. The new emojis include face in clouds, multiple-skin tone couple emojis with heart, face with spiral eyes, couples kissing, and more. In total, there are a whopping 217 new emojis.

Government Must Help Indian Telecom Sector to Avoid Duopoly

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 12:57 AM PDT

Indian telecom sector The story of the Indian Telecom industry has been a pretty painful one with the exit of multiple operators in the last few years. On top of this, the state-run operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Vodafone Idea (Vi) are barely surviving in the cut-throat market. Let's not dive into reasons why these operators haven't been able to stay afloat gracefully, but focus on what needs to be done. Right now, apart from Jio, there's no operator who is financially comfortable. Even though Bharti Airtel is cash flow positive, the telco's profits are diminishing and there's substantial debt in the books. If things don't change any time soon, it would result in the downfall of the current market structure of 3 private operators plus one state-run operator. This market structure is absolutely the best for India, even in the long term. This is because operators won't have to battle it out with other 10 operators to get spectrum and because of that users will be able to access seamless network services from the same operator throughout the country.

Sunil Bharti Mittal Says Government Must Step In

The Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal recently said that the telecom sector of India needs long-overdue support from the government. As per a PTI report, Mittal said that because of the existing environment, Bharti Airtel had to pay a toll on its finances in the FY21. To an extent, I agree with the words of Mittal. The sector is in deep financial trouble and the government could help the ailing telcos by redefining the AGR dues, thereby excluding the non-telecom revenues from being a part of the calculation. Further, the government must come out with a much-needed relief package as soon as possible. Without some sort of relief, the industry is going to get more pressured and even the investors won't be too keen on putting their money in the telecom market.

Samsung Bags Fourth Position in Global Android 5G Smartphone Market

Posted: 10 Aug 2021 12:35 AM PDT

Samsung Smartphone manufacturers had a roller coaster ride in the global market due to the rising demand for 5G smartphones. The global market was dominated by Xiaomi and other Chinese smartphone manufacturers because of its affordable offerings and unique features. The South Korean multinational giant Samsung is the fourth-largest vendor in the Android 5G smartphone market in the second quarter of the year. As reported by market researcher Strategy Analytics, Samsung bagged a market share of 16.5 per cent in the April-June quarter. Samsung nearly shipped 15.6 million units of 5G smartphones packed with the Android operating system.

The Global Android 5G Smartphone Market Increased 104% on Year

Since the 5G technology is being aggressively deployed around the globe, the smartphone manufacturers are launching 5G ready smartphones to capitalise on the next-generation technology. The report by Strategy Analytics showed that the global Android 5G smartphone market increased 104 per cent on-year to 94.6 million units in the second quarter. The global market was dominated by Xiaomi, with a market share of 25.7% after its shipment increased by 452% to 24.3 million units. Vivo and Oppo bagged the second and third positions with 18.5% and 17.9% market share, respectively. If we talk about cumulative Android 5G shipments since the first quarter of 2019, Samsung holds the second position since it has shipped 76.5 million Android 5G smartphones. Huawei is leading the market with 95.2 million shipments since the first quarter of 2019.

Supply Constraints have been Troubling Samsung

The impact of Covid-19 has been positive and negative for smartphone manufacturers. While Xiaomi reaped positive benefits from the rising demand for 5G smartphones. Samsung faced supply constraints. The production plant of Samsung in Vietnam was majorly impacted due to the surge in Covid-19 cases. Since the production was halted, Xiaomi capitalised on the opportunity and launched premium 5G smartphones to lead the global Android 5G smartphone market. Apart from supply constraints, Xiaomi also reaped benefits from the demise of Huawei. The smartphone manufacturer rapidly expanded its operations in China, Europe, the Middle East and Africa which are the primary market of Huawei and Honor.

Xiaomi Mi 11T With MediaTek Dimensity SoC Likely In Pipeline

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 11:44 PM PDT

Xiaomi Mi 11T With MediaTek Dimensity SoC Likely In Pipeline Xiaomi is gearing up to unveil a slew of new devices in China at an event later today. It is expected to take the wraps off the flagship smartphone Mi MIX 4, Mi Pad 5 tablet, the next-generation OLED Smart TV, a stylus and a high-end smart speaker among others. While we already knew about these devices, there is another one that could be among them – the Xiaomi Mi 11T. While we are just hours ahead of the launch event, the Xiaomi Mi 11T has been certified in Indonesia. The certification listing has shed light on quite a few elements of this smartphone in question and we will get to know the complete details at the time of its announcement. It looks like the upcoming Xiaomi smartphone could be launched in the near future.

Xiaomi Mi 11T Rumors

This smartphone has been certified with model number 21081111RG. As per the certification listing, the upcoming Xiaomi smartphone could get power from a MediaTek Diemensity processor. While the exact chipset is not known, it is believed to be a flagship-grade smartphone, thereby making us believe that it will use a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset. Notably, if this turns out to be true, then the Xiaomi Mi 11T will be the first smartphone from the company to use a MediaTek chipset. The devices launched by the company to date are believed to get the power from a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Xiaomi Mi 11T: What To Expect?

Similar to its prequel, the Xiaomi Mi 11T is expected to be launched in two variants – Mi 11T and Mi 11T Pro. Recently, the well-known tipster Digital Chat Station also hinted that the Mi 11T and Mi 11T Pro might arrive with an OLED display with a 120Hz display rather than a 144Hz LCD display seen in the Mi 10T series. As of now, nothing much is known about the Xiaomi Mi 11T series smartphones. We can expect to get more clarity as these devices could be launched in the coming weeks. Furthermore, it is also speculated that the company is prepping to launch a new smartphone in India – the Mi 11 Line NE.

Asus ROG Phone 5S Might Only Bring Small Enhancements

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 11:37 PM PDT

Asus ROG Phone 5S Asus might come out with a new smartphone called the ROG Phone 5S very soon. It would be in line with the company's strategy since it also came out with the ROG Phone 3S last time around. The ROG Phone 5S will be a slight upgrade over the already launched ROG Phone 5. Now fresh information regarding the alleged smartphone has surfaced online. Popular tipster Mukul Sharma tweeted recently that the ROG Phone 5S will come in two different memory variants. Here's everything that you should know about the smartphone.

Asus ROG Phone 5S: All You Should Know

As per the information revealed by the tipster, the Asus ROG Phone 5S is expected to come with an OLED display with support for 144Hz refresh rate. Further, the smartphone might feature a large 6000mAh battery with support for 65W fast-charging. Honestly, it would be great to see if the ROG Phone 5S can come with at least 100W fast-charging capabilities since it is a smartphone made for gamers. The device might come powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ SoC. The SD 888+ is a very slightly enhanced version of the SD 888. So one shouldn't be too excited to see major improvements in the performance. Of course, Asus can make major leaps in terms of software optimisation, but solely in terms of hardware, the device doesn't look like a beast people the way people expected it to. This is because even the Asus ROG Phone 5 (review) comes with a SD 888 SoC, 6000mAh battery, 65W fast-charging support, and a 144Hz refresh rate screen. As per the leaked information, the only major difference that can be spotted between the ROG Phone 5 and the ROG Phone 5S is the display. The ROG Phone 5 comes with an AMOLED display but the ROG Phone 5S is expected to feature an OLED display. More information about the device is expected to come out soon.

BSNL Hiking Tariffs of Prepaid Plans

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 10:52 PM PDT

BSNL Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has hiked the tariffs of its prepaid plans. The telco among other operators is looking to gain more revenues out of its each customer. Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Bharti Airtel have time and again made the case that the average revenue per customer (ARPU) for the industry should go up to Rs 200 at least. But at current market prices, it's very hard to do that. Thus the operators are looking towards tariff hikes and are increasing the prices of the plans or reducing the benefits of their existing plans and offering them for the same price. BSNL has implemented an indirect tariff hike as it has reduced the benefits of its plans but hasn't changed the price at all.

BSNL Prepaid Plans Which Have Become Expensive

BSNL has revised three special tariff vouchers (STVs) including Rs 49, Rs 75, and Rs 94 vouchers. Further, the Rs 106, Rs 107, Rs 197, and Rs 397 plan vouchers (PVs) will now come with revised benefits. The state-run telco has reduced the benefits offered by these plans. All of the above-mentioned plans now come with reduced validities. These changes came into place on August 1, 2021. The Rs 49 STV that used to offer users 28 days of validity now offers only 24 days. Likewise, the Rs 75 STV that came with a validity of 60 days will now come for 50 days only. It is not just BSNL that is aiming for higher ARPU from its customers. Bharti Airtel, the second-largest operator in India also removed its Rs 49 prepaid plan throughout India. Now the customers will have to spend at least Rs 79 with Airtel to keep consuming unlimited voice calling and data services. According to industry experts, BSNL is further expected to raise tariffs of its prepaid plans in the coming days. This change is not surprising to see and most people will understand the motive of the telcos.

Apple India Estimated to Reach $3 Billion Revenues This Fiscal

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 10:38 PM PDT

Apple India Estimated to Reach $3 Billion Revenues This Fiscal Apple Inc's numbers in India are expected to set another record as the early trends indicate that it will reach about $3 billion (Rs 22,200 crore) in revenue this fiscal year ending September 2021. It is believed to be a 60% year-on-year growth from the second-largest smartphone market in the world. Also, it is an increase of 29% from the last year. Notably, Apple follows the fiscal year pattern from October to September.

Apple India Revenue Growth

Despite the estimated jump in revenue, the revenue of Apple India forms just 1% of its global revenue. In India, it has under 5%  market share by volume, which is due to its pricing strategy, claim analysts. However, the revenue of the company has surged as there is a strong demand for iPhones. According to CMR, the demand has been high for the iPhone 11 along with other models, including iPhone SE 2020, iPhone XR and iPhone 12. With this demand in mind, Apple's contract manufacturers – Wistron and Foxconn, have already committed to produce Rs 3.6 lakh crore of iPhone units in the next five years. This will be 60% of the overall number of units committed by global manufacturers under the Production-Linked Inventive (PLI) scheme of the government for handsets. This commitment will set India as an important manufacturing and export hub for Apple instead of being a consumer market. As per ET, Prabhu Ram, head – industry intelligence at CyberMedia Research (CMR), said that the company has a strong lineup of products across price segments, and it will cater to all consumers such as first-time buyers and premium device seekers.

Successful Q3 Performance

When it comes to the performance of Apple in emerging markets, including India, in the third quarter of this year, the company has offered something for everyone, said its CEO, Tim Cook. In the quarter that ended in June 2021, Apple posted a 36% year-on-year revenue growth at $81.4 billion. Also, the net revenue for this fiscal year until June was $282.4 billion. Going by the estimates of CMR, the Cupertino-based tech titan's actual sale cloud be nearly $2.2 billion until June. Going forward, India is expected to show a strong sales story to the company.

Tata Group Might Partner With Telesat to Compete With Starlink, OneWeb

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 09:41 PM PDT

Tata Telesat Tata Group's company Nelco might partner with the Canadian company Telesat to offer fast satellite broadband services in India. This will Tata Group's attempt in competing with other major international satellite internet service providers (ISPs) which include companies such as OneWeb and Starlink. Nelco's Managing Director (MD), PJ Nath told ET Telecom that Telesat and Nelco are currently working on finalising the details of the commercial arrangements. Nath said that Nelco and Telesat will have an MSA (master services agreement) for offering LEO (low-earth-orbit) satellite services in India. Nath clarified that Nelco doesn’t have any plans of forming a separate joint venture with the Canadian firm Telesat.

Tata and Telesat Will Primarily Focus on B2B

Tata and Telesat don't want to limit themselves to offering just B2C services. The companies want to foray into the B2B model by offering its bandwidth capacity to the telecom operators of India who can use it for cellular backhaul in inhospitable and remote regions where their mobile network infrastructure is weak. Nath said that their main focus will be B2B which makes sense. Even the cheapest satellite broadband connections is expected to be twice as expensive as a fiber line internet connection that a consumer can purchase from JioFiber or Airtel Xstream Fiber. Thus the role of satellite broadband connectivity would not be to offer direct services to the consumers, but to the businesses which need that higher level of connectivity for seamless operations and can also pay the cost for it. But Nath expressed that both the companies will be working on how they can reduce the cost of the end-user access terminals so that the technology can become cheaper and accessible for almost everyone in India. Telesat is already working with multiple hardware vendors across the world to bring the cost of its products and equipment down for ensuring affordable plans for the end-consumers.

Fossil Teases Way Faster Gen 6 Smartwatch via Email, Could Launch Soon

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 08:40 PM PDT

Fossil Fossil is one of the largest smartwatch makers in the market, with the company’s products usually being one of the few options that can truly act as an Android alternative to the Apple Watch, due to the product’s rich feature palette and decent pricing. Today, in a method that is not at all subtle, the company seems to have tried to ruffle some feathers amongst potential buyers of the upcoming Galaxy Watch 4, by hinting towards an upcoming product that seems to fall in the same territory. 9to5Google reported that users of the social media platform Reddit and certain other platforms had received an email from the company, hinting at a way more way faster Gen 6 smartwatch that is set to launch soon, which could be around the same time period of the Galaxy Watch 4, set to launch on August 11.

Fossil Could Soon Take on Upcoming Galaxy Watch 4

Interestingly, the teaser reveals very little, with no mention of the release date or price. Fossil did reveal recently that it would be launching Gen 6 in the Fall of 2021, with both sorts of upgrades, hardware and software, with the latter being bumped up to Wear OS 3. In terms of the former, the company could make use of the existing Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset, which is not quite as popular as its predecessor, but, there are also rumours of the company using an upcoming chipset, which, as we reported earlier, could be dubbed as Snapdragon Wear 5100. Fossil had also hinted earlier that an unnamed chip could somehow improve the performance of the watch, provide better health monitoring, global LTE support and enhanced battery life, all of which make for a better smartwatch. A blood oxygen sensor is not mentioned anywhere, but, given as to how Apple has opted to equip the Apple Watch Series 6 with the same, it would make sense for Fossil to go down the same road. In case you wanted to buy or pre-order this Gen 6 watch, the company will only let you register for a notification that will prompt you when the Gen 6 watch is available to purchase. This is a smart trick, as it basically creates doubt in the minds of the Galaxy Watch 4 buyer, who might hold out to see what Fossil has to offer. Talking about the Galaxy Watch 4, Samsung could unveil a new OS made in collaboration with Wear and its Tizen OS, so that will be an interesting topic to keep note of during the launch, which is set to take place tomorrow at 7:30 PM.

SpaceX Is Going to Acquire Satellite Data Provider Swarm Technologies

Posted: 09 Aug 2021 08:06 PM PDT

SpaceX SpaceX, the Elon Musk backed company on Tuesday announced that it was acquiring the small-satellite data provider Swarm Technologies, with the former taking over the startup company’s 30 odd employees and 120 satellites. This deal was supposedly done in the month of July, which, is quite rare for SpaceX, a company that is known for manufacturing its rocket and satellite hardware in-house or via contractors. Swarm revealed the acquisition plans back in a filing with the FCC or Federal Communications Commission on August 6, wherein the company requested approval to shift the ownership of its satellite and antenna licenses to SpaceX.

Does SpaceX Acquiring Swarm Mean Something Bigger?

The merger agreement, as per the filing was signed on July 16, wherein Swarm is stated to become a direct and wholly-owned subsidiary of Elon Musk’s company. This acquisition of Swarm is a rare move for SpaceX, as it shows the company’s intentions to delve deeper into the world of consumer electronics and now aims to reduce unprofitability with Starlink, with the main intention probably being to turn this network into a potential moneymaker to somehow fund the Starship launch system. It is unclear as to whether there is any specific opportunity that the Elon Musk backed company sees in Swarm to benefit from its rather new broadband network. Both Swarm and SpaceX were approached by the Verge but refused to comment. This acquisition should allow the combined companies to provide innovative satellite services that can reach users in unserved and underserved regions of the world, stated Swarm in the FCC filing. It added that SpaceX would benefit in a similar fashion from access to the intellectual property held by the startup as well as Swarm’s SpaceBee satellites. For those of you wondering, Swarm, which was founded back in 2016 aims to offer ultra low-bandwidth data via its small SpaceBee satellites that can talk to smaller antennas present on the ground, dubbed Tiles. Out of the 150 planned satellites, around 120 are already in orbit, with the Tiles having the option to be installed as small chips inside. With GPS, devices that have Tile installed can easily be tracked, relay sensor data or do the intended work of the consumer via tiny pings of bandwidth to Swarm’s network for just $5 a month. This development is a rather important one since previous reports have claimed that Starlink could be finally available on a consumer level in 2022, so these small steps might indicate the company’s ongoing preparations.

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