AC News Weekly
News Weekly is our column where we highlight and summarize some of the top stories of the week so you can stay up to speed on the latest tech news.
This is Android Central’s News Weekly, your destination for a quick roundup of the week’s biggest tech stories. Here we look at the top headlines on the latest developments and innovations contributing to the digital landscape.
This week the tech world saw Google’s new wave of layoffs, HTC’s comeback with a new phone, Samsung’s announcement of more devices, Qualcomm’s Q2 hints at a recovery, and Google’s news just got better. Let’s get into it.
Google is cutting jobs again.
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Not a week goes by without Google making the headlines. This time, Google laid off 200 of its “core” employees in a new round of layoffs to move faster and align with company goals.
These core teams were responsible for the technical foundation of many of Google’s security and online safety products and services. The company has also reportedly initiated a “reorganization” that will move jobs to India and Mexico.
Documents obtained by CNBC also indicate that employees learned of these cuts a week before they were announced, with Google stating that they would help align with its “broader goals.” Asim Husain, vice president of Google’s developer ecosystem, told employees during a town hall meeting that “this is the largest planned reduction” for the team in 2024. These cuts come at the right time after Google announced a whopping $80.5 billion in revenue with “strong performance” across all services in its first-quarter earnings report.
Google confirmed these layoffs and a spokesperson added that those affected can reapply for other positions within the company.
HTC’s new phone could get a big upgrade
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HTC is a name that you might think has disappeared from the market, but they are still around in the smartphone scene. Although they don’t release smartphones as frequently as other brands, a new leak suggested that the U24 Pro could give them another entrant in the market.
According to Android Headlines, it looks like the Taiwanese company is preparing to unveil the HTC U24 Pro this month. Although there is no official information on the exact date yet, the U23 Pro was launched in May last year, which could be a reason to expect the same with this year’s addition.
A few days ago, MySmartPrice spotted a device on Geekbench and speculated that it could belong to the HTC U24 series. The phone has the model number 2QDA100, but that doesn’t reveal too much.
As far as design goes, the HTC U24 Pro will likely look very similar to its predecessor. However, it may have a faster processor – the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. As for the price, the U23 Pro retails for $350 and the U24 Pro is likely to stay in that range. We can expect the device to have Android 14 out of the box with either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage.
Samsung’s Q1 report contains more news on wearables
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Samsung released its revenue report for the first quarter of 2024 and the company says it achieved consolidated revenue of KRW 71.92 trillion and operating profit of KRW 6.61 trillion. During its earnings release, the company said its first-quarter profits rose 12.8% year-over-year.
Samsung believes Galaxy AI is the driving force behind its phone sales, stating that the company is “targeting annual growth.” The company also hinted at expanding its Galaxy portfolio by applying Galaxy AI to “existing and new flagship products” such as foldable devices and tablets. The other side of this business is its wearables, of which Samsung mentions the Galaxy Ring – something that could boost sales later this year.
Smartwatches will also play a role, with Samsung saying it will look to “meet demand for upgrades by introducing new premium models.” It’s unclear what exactly Samsung means here, but there are rumors of an expanded Galaxy Watch profile, with talk of a Galaxy Watch 7, 7 Classic and 7 Ultra.
Qualcomm’s Q2 results rise
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Earlier this week, Qualcomm released its financial results for the second quarter of 2024. The company reported revenue of $9.39 billion for the quarter, up 1% from the same quarter in 2023.
Qualcomm’s headset business, which accounts for most of its total revenue, also saw a 1% increase in the quarter, reaching $8.03 billion. While this may not seem like a huge increase, it does signal healthy growth in the smartphone industry after a slight dip a year ago. In comparison, Qualcomm’s Q2 2023 results showed a 17% decline in headset sales and overall revenue, so the latest numbers look positive.
“We are excited about our continued growth and diversification, including achieving our third consecutive quarter of record sales at QCT Automotive, upcoming launches with our Snapdragon in a statement.
With its current chipsets, Qualcomm is focusing on AI, which is expected to enable more use cases in various devices, be it phones, PCs or cars. The company is highlighting its AI hub for developers to drive this adoption.
“I want to take a step back and say that in general I think AI will benefit all devices,” says Amon. “I think AI as it expands to run on device – alongside the benefits of collaboration with the cloud – offers entirely new use cases for privacy, security, latency costs, personalization, etc.”
*drumroll please* Audio emojis are here
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Google is introducing a unique new feature in its Phone app that allows users to express themselves with six new sounds.
As spotted by Google News on Telegram, the company is starting to roll out “audio emojis” in the phone app. Users can toggle the feature in the app’s settings. From there, Google describes the feature as one that can help users “express emotions and moods with sounds like applause, laughter, sadness, trombone, and more.”
When enabled, users can call their friends and family and experiment with the new sounds. On the Call screen in the Phone app, there is an option to expand the face row of the audio emoji above the default toolbar.
However, the feature will first come in the beta version of the app. According to DroidLife, audio emojis have been spotted on a running version of the Pixel 8 Pro 128.0.6 the beta phone app.
These are some of the biggest stories this week. In the meantime, here are some other stories worth catching up on: