Amazon Great Indian Festival sale: Check offers on latest, upcoming phones

by Hansraj Agrawal | Sep 21, 2022 | Technology

Amazon is back with its ‘Great Indian Festival’ sale, which is set to kick off from September 23. In the sale, the e-commerce platform will offer discounts of up to 40 per cent on mobile phones and accessories. Besides, SBI credit and debit cardholders can get an instant discount of 10 per cent on select items. With only a few days left for the sale, take a look at the latest and upcoming smartphone launches on Amazon:

iQOO Z6 Lite 5G

Among the latest smartphones on sale is the iQOO Z6 Lite 5G. Launched in September, the smartphone will be available at an effective price of Rs 11,499 after discounts and offers. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 processor and 5,000 mAh battery. It comes in mystic night and stellar green colours. The phone is available in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants.

OPPO F21s Pro

Yet another new launch, the OPPO F21s is available at a starting price of Rs 22,999. The smartphone comes in starlight black and dawnlight gold colours. It features a 4,500 mAh battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor, and 8GB RAM.

Redmi 11 Prime

This budget smartphone is currently available for pre-book at Rs 99. Powered by MediaTek Helio G99 processor and 5,000mAh battery, the smartphone will be available in 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB configuration at Rs 12,999 and Rs 14,999, respectively. It will be available in playful green, flashy black, and peppy purple colours.

OnePlus 10R 5G – Prime Edition

The OnePlus 10R 5G Prime Blue colour is an Amazon festive season sale special. The mid-premium smartphone is currently available for pre-book at Rs 999. According to Amazon, the smartphone will be available at Rs 28,499 – including bank and Amazon Pay offers. On the pre-book, Amazon is bundling a free three months membership of its Amazon Prime subscription.

Realme Narzo 50i Prime

Another newly launched smartphone, the Narzo 50i will be available ahead of the sale, on September 22, exclusively for Amazon Prime subscribers. Priced Rs 7,999 onwards, the smartphone is powered by Unisoc T612 processor and 5,000 mAh battery.

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Samsung may use Exynos chipset in Galaxy S23 series, to be launched in 2023

by Hansraj Agrawal | Sep 21, 2022 | Technology

South Korean tech giant Samsung is likely to use the Exynos chipset for its upcoming flagship Galaxy S23 series, which is expected to launch in 2023.

According to GizmoChina, Samsung is apparently having internal conflicts about whether to use the in-house Exynos chip or Qualcomm’s next-gen SoC in the upcoming Galaxy flagships.

Tipster Ice Universe revealed via Weibo that Samsung’s MX (Mobile eXperience) division is not very happy with the performance of the company’s Exynos chipset in the Galaxy S22 smartphones and “hopes” the upcoming Galaxy S23 smartphones will be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC.

However, Samsung’s leadership wants to continue using the Exynos chipset in next year’s flagships, the report said.

Several reports suggest Samsung’s Exynos 2300 SoC, which is said to be on par with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, could power the Galaxy S23 series.

A recent report revealed that the S23 lineup will feature no upgrades in terms of display size. However, they may offer better specs, like supporting a higher peak brightness level, lower power consumption, and more.

The S23 series is said to have three models — Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. The high-end S23 Ultra could feature some serious upgrades.

As per a report, the device will feature a 200MP primary sensor on the back.

All the models in the series are expected to be powered by the upcoming Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 SoC and Exynos chipset and will focus on battery efficiency.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Google asks loan apps to display link to partner bank, NBFC: Report

by Hansraj Agrawal | Sep 21, 2022 | Technology

After a series of meetings with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Google has asked the loan disbursal apps and credit aggregators on Google Play Store to display a link to the partner bank or the Non-Banking Finance Corporation (NBFC), according to a report by Economic Times (ET).

“For apps that remain non-compliant with the requirements past the deadline provided, as is done for any policy non-compliance, we have been taking necessary enforcement action as part of our ongoing policy compliance sweeps, including removal of apps from the Play Store,” ET quoted a Google official as saying.

Google issued the policy on September 5 and gave the compliance deadline of September 19. It further said that the apps that fail to comply with the rules, will be deleted from the Google Play Store.

The centre has been putting pressure on Google, among other platforms, to make the digital finance ecosystem more transparent.

With the new changes, the apps will display the live link to the page of partner banks and NBFCs. The customers will be able to verify the connection by going to their pages. Also, the website of the partner banks will display the names of apps that are connected to them.

The rules are expected to bring down the menace of lending apps that defraud customers in lieu of offering instant credit.

On September 9, the RBI also released a whitelist on the loan apps that are allowed to operate in India. It was done at the request of the finance ministry.

According to Google, all the apps offering instant loans must connect customers with third-party lenders and must mention details such as the minimum and maximum time for repayment, interest rates and other costs in the metadata, the ET report stated.

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YouTube takes on TikTok by plugging advertising into Shorts videos

by Hansraj Agrawal | Sep 20, 2022 | Technology

YouTube is fighting back against TikTok using the video giant’s key advantage: money.

On Tuesday, YouTube announced plans to share advertising sales with creators of Shorts, its bite-sized video feature. Unlike on YouTube’s main site, the new program will compensate creators using a pool of funds that’s similar to the way that TikTok pays its popular stars.

But YouTube sees its effort as more ambitious than what TikTok has done. Neal Mohan, the company’s chief product officer, described the plan as the first to fund short-form online video “at scale.”

Creators can join “whether they want to be the next big thing or just need help paying the bills,” Mohan said at the company’s Los Angeles production space. “We want YouTube to be the place that gives them the greatest support in the digital landscape.”

YouTube, part of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, is facing competition from TikTok for both young viewers and the online stars that made the video platform a commercial success.

Like Instagram, YouTube has responded to TikTok with mimicry. In 2020, YouTube introduced Shorts, a format for vertical videos that it has increasingly promoted in the company’s app. Earlier this year, YouTube disclosed that Shorts had over 1.5 billion monthly viewers and told investors that it would bring ads to the format.

YouTube began sharing ad sales with producers in 2007 and now has more than 2 million creators in its program. Last year, YouTube reported more than $28 billion in ad sales, before creator payouts. Yet growth has slowed this year, which analysts attribute to Apple Inc.’s restriction on ad targeting and TikTok’s rise.

Mohan said that creators can join YouTube’s partner program if they have more than 10 million views on Shorts and over 1,000 subscribers. Historically, YouTube has given 55% of its ad sales to creators and kept the remainder. With Shorts, YouTube will only share 45% of its ads program.

Tara Walpert Levy, a YouTube vice president, said the company changed its commission because of the added complications of distributing sales to Shorts creators.

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India to see smartphone sales worth Rs 61k cr this festive season: Report

by Hansraj Agrawal | Sep 20, 2022 | Technology

India is likely to witness record sales of smartphones this festive season, at around $7.7 billion (over $61,000 crore), and 1 out of every 3 smartphones sold during the festive season will be 5G enabled, a report showed on Tuesday.

E-commerce channels are expected to capture 61 per cent of the overall sales, down from 66 per cent last year, according to Counterpoint Research.

The smartphone retail average selling price (ASP) during the festive season will grow 12 per cent to reach its highest ever at $242, although the unit sales may decline by 9 per cent (on-year).

India’s smartphone market is entering this festive season with the highest ever channel inventory of over 10 weeks, the report noted.

“The festive season has been the highlight of India’s smartphone market where almost 20 per cent of the annual sales happen over four-five weeks. Hence, this festive period is important for all the players in the value chain,” said senior analyst Prachir Singh.

This year, the sales will start on September 23 with Amazon’s Great India Festival and Flipkart’s Big Billion Days.

“According to our forecast, the festive season smartphone sales will account for around $7.7 billion, the highest ever. However, we estimate a 9 per cent YoY decline in terms of shipments. We have seen a similar trend in China’s 618 festival this year, where shipments declined 10 per cent YoY,” Singh noted.

The festive shopping season will end with the Diwali sale.

According to Research Director Tarun Pathak, the retail ASP (average selling price), similar to the total value, will be the highest ever and may record 12-15 per cent YoY growth.

The consumer demand is likely to be high, especially in the mid-tier and premium segments. The various promotions and offers targeting the Rs 15,000 segments have already been announced by the brands and channels on social media.

“The increasing affordability of these devices due to promotions and offers will drive their sales. This will be further supported by the 4G-to-5G migration. According to our estimates, one out of every three smartphones sold during the festive season will be a 5G smartphone,” said Pathak.

In terms of channels, the offline market players are pushing promotions and offers that are on par with their online counterparts.

“The entry-tier and budget segments have witnessed a considerable decline in recent quarters. However, we expect these segments to grow during the festive season, though the growth may be limited as the consumers in these segments have been under pressure due to macroeconomic headwinds,” Pathak added.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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WinZo sues Google for allowing limited categories of real-money games

by Hansraj Agrawal | Sep 20, 2022 | Technology

Online gaming platform WinZo has filed a lawsuit against tech giant Google for limiting its recently launched pilot program allowing real-money gaming apps on Play Store to Rummy and Daily fantasy sports (DFS) categories, sources said. The company has termed the policy an unfair trade practice.

The vernacular social gaming platform has challenged the recent Play Store policy in the Delhi High Court for selective inclusion of only DFS and Rummy on the Google Play Store. The gaming platform has called the policy arbitrary, unfair, and restrictive, as it leaves out a large segment of skill gaming platforms and indie developers.

Starting September 28, Google Play will begin a year-long pilot allowing the distribution of DFS and Rummy apps by developers incorporated in India for Indian users. The tech giant has defined DFS as games in which contestants use their knowledge of athletic events and athletes. It defined Rummy as a set of card games in which a player must strategise, memorise the fall of cards, and arrange valid card sets and/or sequences.

Although Google declined to comment about the lawsuit at the moment, a person familiar with the matter confirmed that the company has received a legal notice. “This is the initial phase of the pilot project and the decision of including these two categories was taken because of user safety concerns around fantasy game apps,” a Google executive said on condition of anonymity.

WinZo has its rummy and DFS gaming apps, but also offers other real-money games such as Carrom, Ludo, Bingo and Pool. The platform said the policy was discriminatory and might hurt the growth of apps from other categories.

“Google Play, as a market leader, has a duty to act in a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory manner. There is no engagement with the industry to find out the dynamics. There is no evaluation of the impact that is likely to result from such a discriminatory and arbitrary classification,” said Saumya Singh Rathore, Cofounder at WinZO Games.

Rathore said the pilot program may result in a monopoly of the apps from the selected categories by cutting down their marketing cost to one-fourth of the current spending.

She added, “In the fast-evolving sunrise sector, gaming, a level playing field is key to innovation and success. The year-long pilot is detrimental to thousands of companies and can lead to irreversible market distortion of a fast-moving gaming tech industry, leading to the death of many players as the strong get stronger.”

During the launch of the pilot program, Google had indicated that Play Store may allow apps from other real money gaming categories to list in the future. “Learnings from the pilot will help us explore possible updates to our real-money games, contests, and tournament apps policy,” the company said.

“We are constantly exploring ways for local developers to build successful businesses and offer delightful experiences on Google Play. Through this pilot program, we are taking a measured approach that will help us collate learnings and retain an enjoyable and safe experience for our users,” a Google spokesperson said during the launch of the pilot program.

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Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

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