Google just took the wraps off the Pixel 11 series, and the phones themselves look pretty familiar, this isn't a redesign year. The real story is Gemini Intelligence, which digs deeper into the phone than on any Pixel before it. Yes, "AI phone" has become one of the most tired buzzwords in tech marketing. But the Pixel 11 series brings some meaningful upgrades to back it up, running the new Tensor G6 chip and an upgraded Gemini Nano model on-device across the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. A lot of what's here is built to solve actual annoyances, not just tick an AI box. Here's a look at the standout AI features on the Pixel 11 series worth paying attention to.

HiLight

HiLight turns the LEDs around the camera flash into a screen-free notification system, and it's exclusive to the Pixel 11 Pro, Pro XL, and Pro Fold. Rather than lighting up for every ping, it's tied specifically to AI and calling. The coloured LEDs glow in different colours depending on whether Gemini is listening to you, working on a response, or ready with an answer, and they can also alert you to an incoming call from someone you've marked as a favourite. It's a low-key feature, but it means you can tell what your phone is doing without turning the display on. By the way, there are a lot of phones in the market that come with this type of LED notification system.

Magic Capture

Magic Capture helps you get the right photo at the right moment without having to worry about pressing the shutter at the perfect time. Instead of you tapping the shutter button and hoping you caught the right moment, it continuously analyses frames in the background and gives you the strongest, most natural looking moments on its own.

It can capture things like a baby’s quick smile, a pet running around, or a fast action shot such as a basketball in mid-air. In background, the feature analyses around 400 frames using the phone’s built-in AI and Google’s Gemini models to pick the best-timed and gives you the 12MP image. The best part is that Magic Capture also saves a video at the same time, so you don’t have to switch between photo and video modes.

Camera Looks

Camera Looks gives you more control over how your photos look before you even take the shot. Instead of editing pictures later, you can choose a style that matches the mood you want right from the camera app. Like we see on a lot of other devices and also on the iPhone.

Google is still keeping the familiar Pixel camera look, but now you can pick from three extra styles:

Natural for a softer and more realistic look

Shadows for stronger contrast and darker tones

Vanilla for a warmer, golden glow effect

Google says these styles are created by changing how the camera processes photos, including rewriting the colour look-up table and the way multiple frames are combined, to give images a more natural or film-inspired appearance.

If you want something more creative, there are six additional styles available: Digi, Black Tie, Minimal, Editorial, Classic, and Velvet. And every Camera Look is fully customisable.

Rambler

Rambler is Gboard's new AI-assisted dictation mode, and it's less about transcribing every word you say and more about capturing what you actually meant. It automatically smooths out the stumbles, restarts, and even when you use filler words, like “um” and “ah.” that come with speaking naturally, so what comes on screen reads like something you'd have typed, not a literal recording of your speech.

Creator Suite

Creator Suite is Google’s one of the useful features for those who record and edit content straight from their phone. It includes useful tools directly in the camera viewfinder, such as social media gridlines and an on-screen teleprompter that scrolls automatically while you speak. This helps you frame your videos properly, and you can speak at your own pace to avoid missing any lines while recording.

Google has also added organisational support so that your recorded videos can now be saved directly into project folders, making it easier to manage your content. After recording, you can use Storyboard to trim and rearrange your clips quickly and easily.

In addition, Pixel Camera now allows you to set Video as the default mode when opening the app, so the camera is ready for recording as soon as you launch it.

Live Translate for videos and podcasts

Google first brought Live Translate to phone calls with the Pixel 10, and on the Pixel 11 series, that same real-time translation extends to the videos and podcasts you watch and listen to on your device. When you watch YouTube Shorts or other videos, the Pixel 11 can translate and dub the audio in real time.

The phone can automatically detect the spoken language, but users will also have the option to manually choose a language, similar to how Google Translate works.

This is somewhat similar to Instagram’s translation feature for Reels, but there is a key difference. On Instagram, users need to manually turn on translations, and the feature only works if the creator has enabled translations for that Reel.

On the Pixel 11, Live Translate is designed to work automatically, so the translation starts on its own while the video or podcast is playing. At the moment, the feature works with YouTube and some third-party video and podcast apps. Google has not yet confirmed which third-party apps will support it.

Digit’s latest consumer survey, which ran alongside the Digit India’s Top Appliance Awards 2026 or DITAA 2026, gathered close to 6,000 responses across four categories, vacuum cleaners, water purifiers, security cameras, and air purifiers. The findings offer a clear insight into how Indian households are approaching buying small appliances this year, from key preferences and expectations to privacy concerns around connected smart devices. 

Last month, we asked our audience about large appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and microwave ovens, and the responses indicated a clear finding. Which was: Appliance buyers want more smart features but less energy bill. 

Let’s deep dive into what matters to Indian appliance buyers when it comes to the following categories…

Vacuum cleaners: Robots lead, after-sales still a weak spot

In terms of vacuum cleaners, it was a surprising revelation but robot vacuums today are the most common format among owners, it was chosen by over 56% of respondents. The corded upright models came at around 19%, while cordless stick vacuums accommodated for 15% of the votes. Last but not least, wet-and-dry vacuums trailed at around 10% votes.

In terms of brand preference, Philips led the race with around 37% share, followed by the fragmented “Others” category at 31% suggesting that smaller players in the space hold a good amount of market share. Dyson held around 15% share, with Eureka Forbes and Agaro closely following by 9% and 8% respectively. 

After sales was an interesting aspect. While 50% of the respondents suggested that their after sales experience has been good. However, more than 32% respondents remained neutral on this front. The number worth looking at is the more than 17% figure, as these respondents remained dissatisfied with their experience, suggesting that after sales is one aspect brands should work on. 

Water purifiers: RO still the default choice, Pureit leads the brand race

Moving over to Water Purifers, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise but RO purification remains the clear default, used by around 41% voters. The closet after that was hybrid RO+UV systems coming in at around 26% votes. Given India’s water quality, standalone UV purifiers came in lower around 14%. Meanwhile, UF and Alkaline purifiers made up the rest of the list. 

Coming to brand preference, Pureit leads the race with over 35% votes. After that was Aquaguard with 26% votes and Kent accounted for around 21% votes. One of the newer players in the market, Native by Urban Company is getting quite popular as it has already picked up 13% market share.

Security cameras: Privacy has become a major concern

Security cameras was quite an interesting category as data privacy is now top of mind for security camera buyers. Over 51% called it “very important,” while only 16% said they don't care. Given all this, it’s safe to assume that in today’s day and age it’s important for brands to do well in data encryption, local storage options, and clear data policies. 

Air purifiers: Clean air remains a priority

Lastly, we also asked a few questions about air purifiers, and the insight here was that outdoor air pollution remained the single biggest driver of air purifier interest, as chosen by over 43% of respondents. Other reasons included pet dander (9%) or odour control (11%). Meanwhile, allergy and respiratory concerns also carried over a big chuck (26%) making it the second-largest motivator, ahead of general wellness (12%).

Together, these findings point to a market where the overall innovation of the format, brand trust, and privacy are increasingly the factors in appliance purchase decisions.

Ovantica, provider of top quality refurbished smartphones, announces month’s biggest sale event with refurbished iPhone 11s starting at their lowest possible price as an incentive for consumers looking for refurbished iPhone 11 devices. Ovantica has maintained a firm focus on keeping Apple innovations in accessible reach – for all by refurbishing and certifying each iPhone after quality assurance and offering best prices online for the smartphones. They have released the month’s best price on iPhone 11 with customers getting access to their favourite innovative gadgets now starting at the best prices. 

Why buy refurbished iPhone 11 from Ovantica? 

You can be assured to obtain quality, affordability as well as good performance when you look to purchasing a refurbished iPhone 11. All of smartphones put on by Ovantica are individually inspected for thorough quality checks, making them safe to be handled for purchase and also work as one may prefer. 

Each refurbished iPhone 11 comes with: 

• Rigorous multi-point quality testing 

• Fully functional hardware and software 

• Excellent battery performance 

• Premium cosmetic condition options 

• Quality assurance before delivery 

• Secure packaging and doorstep delivery 

This commitment to quality ensures customers receive a dependable Apple device without paying flagship prices. 

Premium Apple experience at a fraction of the cost 

Refurbished iPhone 11 features – Driven by Apple’s A13 Bionic chipset, iPhone 11 promises flawless multitasking and entertainment along with impressive camera capabilities and the gorgeous Liquid Retina HD screen, making your experience super real! If you’re looking for these exceptional features at a competitive price then, buying a refurbished iPhone 11 from Ovanticais your best bet as it is worth every singlepenny. 

Sustainable and budget-friendly choice 

So that is how you will support the world. Shopping for refurbished electronics: With the help of environmental shoppers, used or refurbished iPhones are increasingly a choice, and shopping for refurbished iPhones encourages responsible technology consumption, extending the lifespan of the gadgets and thus significantly mitigating the amount of electronic waste. You can spend money when customers decide to buy the refurbished iPhone 11. 

Limited-time lowest price offer 

Given that Ovantica also offer fixed pricing each month, this limited-time deal is possibly the best smartphone upgrade deal of all time if that is what you have in mind when it comes to a new iPhone; there will likely be huge demand for it – get on it quick while stocks can last. 

About Ovantica 

Ovantica is renowned as a premium supplier of refurbished and certified used smartphones. They are passionate about providing a cost-effective, yet quality-assured selection that are extensively inspected and come with comprehensive warranty cover. Using state-of-the-art technology, quality control checks and excellent customer support to facilitate you to acquire the very best technology. 

Google's Pixel 11 lineup in India consists of four phones starting with the Pixel 11 at Rs 89,999, the Pixel 11 Pro at Rs 1,19,999, the Pixel 11 Pro XL at Rs 1,34,999 and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold at Rs 1,86,999. The gap between the most affordable and most expensive Pixel 11 phone is nearly Rs 1 lakh and the choice is not as simple as paying more for a better version of the same phone. Each model in the Pixel 11 lineup brings different set of trade-offs.

Pixel 11 series at a glance

Buy the Pixel 11 if you want Google's AI and camera experience at a more accessible price

The Pixel 11 is the right choice if the core Pixel proposition: clean Android, reliable camera, on-device Gemini AI, matters more to you than hardware supremacy. It shares the Tensor G6 chip and Titan M3 security with the Pro models, runs the same version of Android 17, gets the same seven years of OS updates and supports the same 25W Qi2.2 wireless charging as the Pro range. In fact, all Gemini feature works the same way.

However, the main camera is a 48MP sensor versus the Pro's 50MP and the real difference shows in the auxiliary cameras. The ultrawide on the Pixel 11 is 13 MP; on the Pro it is 48 MP with a 1/2.51-inch sensor. The telephoto on the Pixel 11 is 10.8 MP with a 1/3.2-inch sensor; on the Pro it is 48 MP with a 1/1.95-inch sensor. Most visibly, the selfie camera is 10.5 MP on the Pixel 11 versus 42 MP with autofocus on the Pro. So, if you primarily use Instagram, video call frequently or shoot many portrait selfies, these differences are tangible.

The Pixel 11 also has a slightly larger battery at 4,985 mAh versus the Pro's 4,850 mAh, and weighs 7g less. If neither camera system nor display quality is a priority and the Rs 30,000 saving matters, Pixel 11 is the one to go for.

Buy the Pixel 11 Pro if camera quality is your main reason for choosing Pixel

The Pixel 11 Pro is the right choice for the majority of buyers who want the best all-round Pixel camera experience. The 48MP telephoto with a 1/1.95-inch sensor, 120x zoom, 42MP selfie camera and 8K on-device video recording via Video Boost are the Pro's defining advantages over the standard model. Google claims the Night Sight is 4.5 times faster than on the previous generation and the portrait Mode at 5x focal length is a Pro-exclusive. The Creator Suite with its integrated teleprompter and Storyboard editing, is also exclusive to Pro models.

The display is also a step up and reaches 3,600 nits versus 3,000 nits, carries double the scratch resistance, supports a higher resolution, 495 PPI versus 422 PPI and runs 1 to 120Hz LTPO versus the base model's 60 to 120Hz range. In addition, the Wi-Fi 7 replaces Wi-Fi 6E.

One consideration specific to the Pro is that the 256GB configuration ships with 12GB of RAM while the 512GB configuration has 16GB. If you intend to run local Gemini models heavily or multitask across memory-intensive apps, the Pixel 11 Pro 512GB variant at Rs 1,34,999 may be the better option to buy.

Buy the Pixel 11 Pro XL if you specifically want a larger screen and can live with the extra weight

The Pixel 11 Pro XL is the Pro with a larger 6.8-inch display, a bigger battery and faster wired charging, but the camera system remains identical. At Rs 1,34,999 for the 12GB/256GB variant, it costs Rs 15,000 more than the equivalent Pro.

The battery gain is real: 5,115 mAh versus 4,850 mAh and the XL charges to 75% in 30 minutes at 45W versus 55% in 30 minutes at 30W for the Pro. This is something that matters for heavy users who regularly run their phones down before the end of the day. The trade-off is 22g of extra weight (226g versus 204g) and a phone that is meaningfully wider in the hand.

If you have used a large-screen phone before and prefer it, the Pixel 11 Pro XL is the right call. If you are neutral on screen size, we recommend you save Rs 15,000 and buy the Pro.

Buy the Pixel 11 Pro Fold if the dual-screen form factor is the point

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold at Rs 1,86,999 is not a more capable Pixel 11 Pro in a foldable body. It is a different kind of device with a different set of advantages and of course, compromises. The inner 8-inch display is excellent for multitasking, reading and productivity across two screens, and the 6.5-inch cover screen is usable as a regular phone. It is nearly 1mm thinner and around 10% lighter than its predecessor, with a new gearless hinge and ceramic outer glass.

On cameras, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold’s camera hardware is closer to the Pixel 11's camera hardware than the Pixel 11 Pro's. It features a 48MP main sensor, 10.5MP ultrawide and 10.8MP telephoto, all of which are good enough but if you are buying a Pixel 11 Pro Fold primarily for photography, you are paying significantly more for a less capable camera.

If you are buying it because you want the split-screen multitasking, Bubble Anything and the foldable experience, it is the only Pixel that delivers that.

TL;DR

Buy the Pixel 11 if the Pixel experience matters more than top-tier cameras and Rs 30,000 matters. Buy the Pixel 11 Pro if cameras are your priority. Buy the Pixel 11 Pro XL if you want the Pro in a larger format with more battery. Buy the Pixel 11 Pro Fold only if the foldable form factor is the specific reason you are in the market.

Google has launched the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL in India, continuing the Pro lineup that focuses more on hardware than on new software tricks. The Tensor G6 chip, a new modem, a sharper telephoto sensor, brighter displays and a suite of new AI-powered features make this a more comprehensive upgrade than the Pixel 10 Pro to Pixel 10 Pro. But it is not without trade-offs and especially the India pricing that starts at Rs 1,19,999 for the base Pro configuration. Here is every change and every upgrade from the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL to the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL.

Design and build: lighter but same dimensions

The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL are almost identical in size to their predecessors, the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL. The 11 Pro measures 8.4 mm against the Pixel 10 Pro's 8.5 mm and is essentially the same phone in hand. The Pro XL remains unchanged at 8.5 mm thickness.

The weight has been trimmed on both models. The Pixel 11 Pro comes in at 204 g versus 207 g, and the Pro XL at 226 g versus 232 g. The back now uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 in a silky matte finish with a polished frame (except Obsidian, which is all-matte), a refinement over the Pixel 10 Pro's construction. The new colour lineup introduces Canyon, Fog, Olive and all-matte Obsidian, replacing the Pixel 10 Pro's Moonstone, Jade, Porcelain and Obsidian options. In addition, both Pixel 10 Pro series and Pixel 11 Pro lineup are certified for IP68 dust and water resistance.

Display: brighter and more scratch-resistant

There is a new anti-scratch coating on the Pixel 11 Pro, which Google says offers double the scratch resistance of the previous generation. Given how the Pixel 10 Pro's glass performed after a few months of use for many owners, this is a welcome improvement.

The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL reach up to 3,600 nits peak versus the Pixel 10 Pro's 3,300 nits, and up to 2,400 nits under HDR conditions versus 2,200 nits. The panels are the same physical size and resolution as the previous generation, with the Pro maintaining 2,856 x 1,280 pixels at 495 PPI and the Pro XL at 2,992 x 1,344 pixels at 486 PPI. Both still use LTPO OLED with 1 to 120 Hz adaptive refresh.

Performance: Tensor G6 versus Tensor G5

The Tensor G5 in the Pixel 10 Pro was built on a 3nm process but the Tensor G6 targets granular improvements. Google claims 25% faster web browsing, 15% quicker app launches and 50% more TPU compute power. On AI tasks specifically, Google says the G6 processes local workloads up to 3.5 times faster while using up to 3.5 times less power than previous Tensor generations, a combination that would meaningfully address the battery drain from running Gemini Nano and other on-device AI features continuously.

The Tensor G6 also pairs with the new Titan M3 (Pixel 10 Pro used Titan M2) security coprocessor implementing post-quantum cryptography, protecting against future cryptographic threats at the hardware level.

In addition, the Pixel 11 Pro's base configuration (256 GB) ships with 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM. The Pixel 10 Pro had 16 GB across all storage configurations. Google now offers the 16 GB RAM on the Pixel 11 Pro, so you will need to pick up the 512 GB or 1 TB storage tier. For buyers who prefer the 256 GB size, this is a downgrade from last year.

Camera upgrades

This year, the Pixel 11 Pro’s camera system sees meaningful changes at different focal lengths.

Main camera: The wide sensor remains at 50 MP but the aperture opens slightly from f/1.7 on the Pixel 10 Pro to f/1.68 on the Pixel 11 Pro and the sensor size is essentially unchanged at approximately 1/1.3 inches. Google describes it as delivering 56% more light sensitivity than the prior generation, though this likely reflects processing and sensor architecture changes rather than a dramatically different physical sensor.

Ultrawide: It remains at 48 MP with f/1.7 aperture and 123° field of view. The sensor size moves marginally from 1/2.55 inches to 1/2.51 inches and is not a significant change.

Telephoto: The telephoto sensor gets an upgrade from 1/2.55 inches on the Pixel 10 Pro to 1/1.95 inches on the Pixel 11 Pro which is an increase in light-gathering area that will improve both zoom and low-light performance at range. The lens offers 5x optical zoom with f/2.8 aperture. Google now offers up to 120x Pro Zoom on the Pixel 11 Pro, alongside Portrait Mode at 5x focal length. 8K video recording is now processed on-device via Video Boost, whereas the Pixel 10 Pro required cloud-based processing for 8K output.

Front camera: It remains unchanged at 42 MP with f/2.2 aperture and 103° ultrawide field of view, now with autofocus. The Pixel 10 Pro's selfie camera also had PDAF.

Battery and charging improvements

Battery capacities are marginally smaller in both models. The Pixel 11 Pro carries a 4,850 mAh cell versus the Pixel 10 Pro's 4,870 mAh, and the Pixel 11 Pro XL is at 5,115 mAh versus the Pixel 10 Pro XL's 5,200 mAh. The difference is small enough to be within measurement variation, and the efficiency gains of the Tensor G6 and updated modem are expected to deliver comparable or better real-world endurance despite the slightly smaller battery packs.

The wired charging on the Pro is unchanged at 30W, reaching 55% in around 30 minutes. The Pro XL's 45W wired charging now reaches 75% in 30 minutes versus 70% on the Pixel 10 Pro XL which is a modest improvement.

For what is worth, the Pixel 11 Pro now supports Pixelsnap wireless charging at 25W via Qi2.2, compared to the Pixel 10 Pro's 15W Qi2 wireless charging. For regular overnight wireless charger users, that is a 67% increase in charging speed. The Pro XL was already at 25W wireless and now gets upgraded to Qi2.2 certification.

Pixel 11 Pro series new features

HiLight is the most visually distinctive addition featuring LED lights embedded around the rear camera flash which project colour-coded light patterns when the phone is face-down. It indicates which contact is calling, whether Gemini is actively listening or processing, and other status updates. It is a hardware feature specific to the 11 Pro and Pro XL.

The Creator Suite adds an integrated teleprompter, Storyboard editing and creator-focused camera controls directly in the camera app. Magic Capture analyses frames in real time to automatically identify and enhance spontaneous moments. Camera Looks allows sensor-level colour profile customisation. Rambler is a new voice input tool designed to transcribe speech accurately even with filler words. All of these are software-driven features and will arrive on the Pixel 11 Pro at launch, with some features rolling out to older Pixel models via updates over time.

Price and verdict

For Pixel 10 Pro users deciding whether to upgrade, the strongest arguments are the telephoto sensor upgrade, the improved wireless charging, the brighter panel and the on-device AI performance gains from the Tensor G6. For anyone using the 10 Pro primarily on mobile data, the modem switch to MediaTek's M90 is likely the most impactful change for daily battery life.

The 12 GB RAM on the base Pixel 11 Pro 256 GB configuration is the one specification that cuts against the upgrade, particularly for buyers who choose 256 GB and expect to run local Gemini models and memory-intensive tasks. If storage is the constraining factor rather than RAM, the 512 GB tier resolves it.

For anyone on the Pixel 9 Pro or earlier, upgrading to the Pixel 11 Pro is a no brainer.

Google has finally launched its much-anticipated Pixel 11 lineup in India. The series includes four models: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. According to the company, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is its "most sophisticated foldable yet," and almost 10 per cent lighter and about 1mm thinner than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The latest Pixel foldables go head-to-head with other book-style foldables available in the market- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Vivo X Fold 5. So, how do these premium foldable smartphones compare on paper? Let's take a look.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Vivo X Fold 5: Display

The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold features an 8-inch inner display along with a 6.5-inch cover screen. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra also comes equipped with an 8-inch main display and a 6.5-inch cover display. Meanwhile, the Vivo X Fold 5 features an 8.03-inch main display and has a 6.53-inch outer display.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 series India vs USA vs UK vs Japan prices: Where can you save the most? 

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Vivo X Fold 5: Processor and battery

The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold is powered by the Tensor G6 chip, and packs a 4,750mAh battery. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, and is backed by a 5,000mAh dual battery. The Vivo X Fold 5 comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, and packs a 6,000mAh battery.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, Pixel 11 Pro XL, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 and Watch 5: India prices, pre-order benefits and more details 

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Vivo X Fold 5: Camera

The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold sports a triple rear camera setup, consisting of a 48MP primary camera, a 10.5MP ultrawide lens and a 10.8MP telephoto lens. For selfies, the phone has two 10MP cameras, one on the main display and the other on the outer display.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra also comes with a triple camera setup at the back, but it includes a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide lens and a 10MP telephoto lens. For selfies, the device has a 10MP camera on the cover display and a 10MP camera on the main display.

The Vivo X Fold 5 also equips a triple rear camera setup, including a 50MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide lens, and a 50MP telephoto lens. It features dual 20MP front cameras, one on the main display and one on the cover screen.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Vivo X Fold 5: Price in India

The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold is priced at Rs 1,86,999 in India. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra was launched at a starting price of Rs 1,99,999. The Vivo X Fold 5 was launched for Rs 1,49,999.

I have never thought of the Tensor chipset as Google’s answer to Qualcomm in a spec-sheet battle. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold, for example — a phone I used for a solid couple of months — could feel wonderfully quick in normal use while still falling behind a Snapdragon-powered Galaxy Z Fold 8 in sustained gaming. With Tensor G6, I think Google is kind of finally addressing the parts of the experience I notice every day: heat, battery drain, app loading, connectivity, and on-device AI. The move to TSMC’s 2nm process, a new seven-core CPU, MediaTek’s M90 modem, and a much faster TPU all sound impressive. What matters is how those changes feel in my hand when I eventually get to daily drive the Pixel 11.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 Pro XL vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Price, camera, display and other specs compared

A more efficient Tensor under the hood

The biggest change is the move from TSMC’s 3nm process on Tensor G5 to 2nm for Tensor G6. I don't expect the smaller fabrication process alone to suddenly make the Pixel 11 feel twice as fast. The real benefit should be efficiency. In simple terms, Tensor G6 should be able to deliver similar levels of performance while using less power, which could also help with heat. That matters in everyday use. For instance, if I am using Google Maps on my commute, streaming music, checking WhatsApp, and jumping between apps, I want the phone to stay cool and avoid draining the battery faster than it needs to.

Google is also cutting the CPU from eight cores to seven. G5 used a Cortex-based design, while G6 switches to Arm’s C1 family: one C1 Ultra at 4.11GHz, four C1 Pro cores at 3.38 GHz, and two C1 Pro cores at 2.65GHz. Google says this delivers 20 per cent better power efficiency, 25 per cent faster web browsing, and 15 per cent quicker app loading. In practice, I would expect the biggest difference when switching between apps, opening a heavy website, or editing a photo, rather than staring at a benchmark number.

The modem change could be even more important. Tensor G5 used Samsung’s Exynos modem, while Tensor G6 moves to MediaTek’s M90 5G modem. I have always found modem efficiency more meaningful than a few extra CPU points. Simply put, on a long 5G commute, a cooler modem can help the whole phone stay cooler and preserve battery. If Tensor G6 also fixes the signal and thermal behaviour that has frustrated some Pixel users in the past, that will be a huge win.

Tensor G6 doubles down on AI and cameras

Then there is AI, which is still where Tensor has its clearest advantage. Google says the G6 TPU is 50 per cent more powerful and gets double the memory bandwidth, while Gemini Nano can run 3.5 times faster and use 3.5 times less energy. I would take those figures with some caution until I have actually used the Pixel 11, but the direction makes sense. More TPU power should mean that tasks such as summarising text, editing images, and running Gemini features locally take less time and less power. And because these tasks can happen on the phone itself, I won't always need a strong internet connection to use them.

The ISP gets a serious makeover too. Tensor G6 enables 4K Portrait Video, makes Instant Night Sight 4.5 times faster, and pushes Pro Zoom to 120x. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is the odd one out, though, missing 4K Portrait Video and Instant Night Sight because of its internal design.

But gaming is still the catch

Gaming is where I remain cautious. Tensor G6 uses the custom PowerVR CXTP-48-1536 GPU, and reported OpenCL performance is roughly 80 per cent higher. That sounds great until I actually play Genshin Impact on this thing for a straight 30 minutes. I still expect Snapdragon 8 Elite phones, including something like the Galaxy S26 Ultra or even the Galaxy Z Fold 8, to pull ahead in sustained gaming.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: Price, camera, display and other specs compared

So, if you ask me, I see the Tensor G6 chip as a refinement that finally targets Tensor’s old weaknesses. Quite honestly, I would not buy a Pixel 11 expecting it to match the S26 Ultra or iPhone 17 Pro in raw performance. That has never really been the point of Tensor. What I would want from Tensor G6 is a phone that runs cooler, manages 5G more efficiently, handles local AI faster, and gets me through everyday tasks without wasting power. For a Pixel, that feels like the more useful upgrade.

Google has just launched its most awaited flagship phone, the Pixel 11, in India. It goes up directly against the Vivo X300 FE and the Oppo Find X9s, both launched earlier this year. All three phones share some common features, like 120Hz displays, 12GB RAM, big storage options and strong camera setups. But they differ a lot when it comes to performance, features and the kind of buyer they are made for. Here is a detailed, spec-based comparison of the Google Pixel 11, Vivo X300 FE and Oppo Find X9s which talks about the display, performance, battery, cameras and other key specs of the three devices and helps you decide which one you should choose.

Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: Display

The Google Pixel 11 comes with a compact 6.3-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and can reach up to 2,000 nits in HDR mode and 3,000 nits at peak brightness. The phone measures 152.8 x 72 x 8.6mm and weighs 197 grams.

Whereas the Vivo X300 FE features a slightly larger 6.31-inch 1.5K LTPO AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The panel can reach up to 5,000 nits of peak brightness. The phone weighs 191 grams and measures 150.83 x 71.76 x 7.99mm.

The Oppo Find X9s sports the largest display of the three, with a 6.59-inch AMOLED panel paired with an adaptive refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz. When used outdoors, the panel can also reach a peak brightness of 3,600 nits, ensuring that the content is visible under bright sunlight. The makers have also installed Corning Gorilla Glass 7i to keep the display protected.

Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: Processors

The Google Pixel 11 is powered by Google's Tensor G6 processor and comes with 12GB of RAM. Aside from that, the consumers also get an option to choose between the 256GB or 512GB storage option.

Conversely, the Vivo X300 FE draws its power from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which was manufactured using 3 nm technology. It also boasts up to 512GB UFS 4.1 internal storage options and 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM.

The Oppo Find X9s, on the other hand, runs on MediaTek's Dimensity 9500s chipset built on 3 nm technology. Furthermore, it has up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage and 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Out of the box the device runs on ColorOS 16, a skin based on Android 16.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, 11 Pro XL, 11 Pro and 11 launched in India: Check price, specs and other details

Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: Battery

The Google Pixel 11 comes packed with a 4,985 mAh battery and is supported by 30W wired charging and Qi2.2-certified wireless charging up to 25W. Moreover, the company also claims that it can deliver more than 30 hours of battery life. 

However, the Vivo X300 FE goes much further with a 6,500mAh battery. It supports 90W wired FlashCharge and 40W wireless charging, giving it a clear advantage over the Pixel 11 in battery capacity and charging speeds.

In comparison with the two devices, the Oppo Find X9s comes with the highest battery between the three, boasting a large 7,025mAh cell. It also supports 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging. While its wired charging speed is slightly lower than Vivo's, the Oppo has the biggest battery among the three.

Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: Camera

In terms of cameras, the Google Pixel 11 comes with a 48MP main camera with Macro Focus, along with a 13MP ultra-wide camera and a 10.8MP 5x telephoto camera with optical image stabilisation. At the front, it has a 10.5MP autofocus camera which can take perfect selfies and can be used for video calls.

The Vivo X300 FE features a 50MP main camera with OIS, paired with a 50MP periscope telephoto camera offering 3x optical zoom and OIS. It also gets an 8MP ultra-wide camera. For selfies, Vivo has added a 50MP autofocus front camera. The phone can record up to 8K video at 30fps using its rear cameras and 4K video at 60fps from the front.

Whereas the Oppo Find X9s has three 50MP rear cameras. These include a 50MP main camera with OIS, a 50MP ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view and a 50MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS. At the front, it gets a 32MP camera for selfies and video calls. The phone also supports 4K video recording at 60fps and Dolby Vision recording.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 series India vs USA vs UK vs Japan prices: Where can you save the most?

Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: Price

The Google Pixel 11 is priced at Rs 89,999 for the 12GB + 256GB version. The Vivo X300 FE launched at Rs 79,999 for the 12GB + 256GB version, but the smartphone recently received a price hike, increasing the price to Rs 86,999 for the base variant. The Oppo Find X9s was launched with a price tag of Rs 79,999 for the 12GB + 256GB variant.

Google Pixel 11 vs Vivo X300 FE vs Oppo Find X9s: At a glance

Google has finally launched its much-awaited Pixel 11 series in India, introducing the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The Pixel 11 Pro XL goes head-to-head with two of the biggest premium smartphones in the market: the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. If you’re wondering how Google’s latest high-end flagship stacks up against its Apple and Samsung rivals, here’s an on-paper comparison of the Pixel 11 Pro XL, iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S26 Ultra across price, display, cameras, performance and battery.

Google Pixel 11 Pro XL vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Display

The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL features a 6.8-inch display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3,600 nits of peak brightness. In comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro Max sports a 6.9-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra features a 6.9-inch display with 2600 nits of peak brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate.

Google Pixel 11 Pro XL vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Processor and battery

The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL runs on the Tensor G6 chip, and is backed by a 5,115mAh battery with 45W charging support. In comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is powered by the A19 Pro chip, and is said to have a 4,823 battery with up to 40W charging support. The Galaxy S26 Ultra equips the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and packs a 5,000mAh battery with 60W charging support.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 series India vs USA vs UK vs Japan prices: Where can you save the most? 

Google Pixel 11 Pro XL vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Camera

The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL houses a triple rear camera, including a 50MP main sensor, a 48MP ultrawide lens and a 48MP 5x telephoto lens. For selfies, there is a 42MP camera on the front.

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max also equips a triple camera setup on the back, but includes a 48MP main camera, a 48MP periscope telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom and a 48MP ultrawide lens. For selfies, the phone features an 18MP front-facing camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with a quad rear camera setup, consisting of a 200MP main camera, a 10MP 3x telephoto lens, a 50MP periscope telephoto lens with optical zoom and a 50MP ultra-wide lens. On the front, it has a 12MP camera for selfies and video calls.

Also read: Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, 11 Pro XL, 11 Pro and 11 launched in India: Check price, specs and other details  

Google Pixel 11 Pro XL vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Price in India

The Pixel 11 Pro XL is priced at Rs 1,19,999. In comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro Max was launched for Rs 1,49,900. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was launched for Rs 1,39,999

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX is a more substantial upgrade than a routine processor or graphics refresh. It raises maximum GPU power from 45W to 100W, introduces dual-fan cooling, supports up to 96GB of DDR5 memory and offers easier storage and memory expansion. Together with up to 140W of combined CPU and GPU power, these changes position it as a more capable Cyborg laptop for gaming, content creation and other demanding workloads.

Key specifications of the MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX

What’s new in the MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX?

The Cyborg 15 MAX introduces several upgrades intended to improve both immediate performance and long-term usability:

• Higher graphics power: Maximum GPU power rises from 45W to 100W, giving the graphics processor more room to sustain higher performance in games and GPU-accelerated applications.
• Greater combined performance: The CPU and GPU can operate with up to 140W of total power, helping the system handle workloads that place pressure on both components.
• Improved cooling: A dual-fan system, three heat pipes, quad-exhaust heatsink and phase-change thermal compound support the laptop’s increased power limits.
• More memory headroom: Support for up to 96 GB of DDR5 memory accommodates gaming, content creation, software development and intensive multitasking.
• Simpler memory upgrades: The laptop ships with one 16 GB DDR5 module, leaving the second SO-DIMM slot available for expansion.
• Expandable storage: A second empty M.2 slot allows another SSD to be added without removing the included 512 GB drive.
• More flexible charging: USB Type-C Power Delivery 3.0 support enables charging at up to 100W during travel and lighter workloads.
• Upgraded display experience: The 144 Hz Full HD panel combines smoother gaming with 100% sRGB coverage for creative applications.

MSI Cyborg 15 MAX - a refined Cyborg design

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX retains the futuristic character that has defined the Cyborg range, but presents it through a cleaner and more streamlined industrial design. Its visual identity centres on the Cyborg heart symbol, which represents the machine’s blend of technology, precision and gaming-focused performance. The chassis also incorporates curves inspired by the flowing forms associated with McLaren-style automotive design. Rather than relying on excessive ornamentation, the laptop uses controlled lines and subtle detailing to create a modern appearance. It is designed to look distinctly like a gaming machine without becoming impractical for college, work or travel.

At approximately 21-to-22.9 mm thick and weighing around 2 kg, the laptop maintains the relatively portable character of the Cyborg family. MSI has also adopted a clean rear I/O layout, helping keep cables away from the main working area while contributing to the laptop’s uncluttered appearance. The design therefore balances visual identity with the practical needs of a system that may regularly be connected to external displays, networks and gaming accessories.

A display built for fast games and creative work

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX features a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS-level display with a 144Hz refresh rate, delivering smoother visuals and improved responsiveness for fast-paced gaming. Paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics and DLSS, it enhances gameplay with fluid motion and better frame rates. The display also offers 100% sRGB colour coverage, ensuring accurate colour reproduction for creative tasks such as photo editing, content creation, and design. This combination makes the laptop well-suited for both gaming and productivity, catering to users who switch between entertainment, study, and professional work.

Higher total graphics power, higher CPU power

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX delivers a major performance upgrade by increasing GPU power from around 45W to up to 100W, allowing the graphics processor to sustain higher clock speeds for improved gaming and creative performance. With support for up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU and a combined CPU and GPU power budget of up to 140W, the laptop offers higher frame rates, smoother ray tracing and DLSS performance, and faster GPU-accelerated workloads such as video editing, 3D rendering, and AI applications. The increased power allocation also enables the CPU and GPU to work more efficiently together during demanding tasks, resulting in more balanced and consistent overall performance.

Dual-fan cooling for sustained performance

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX features an upgraded dual-fan cooling system with three heat pipes, a quad-exhaust heatsink, and phase-change thermal compound to efficiently manage the increased heat generated by its higher power components. Compared to previous single-fan Cyborg models, this advanced thermal design improves heat dissipation, reduces thermal throttling, and helps the laptop maintain stable, consistent performance during extended gaming sessions and demanding creative workloads.

Memory and storage that are easier to expand

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX offers excellent upgradeability with support for up to 96GB of DDR5 RAM across two SO-DIMM slots and ships with a single 16GB memory module, leaving the second slot free for easy and cost-effective future upgrades. It also includes a 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD and a second empty M.2 SSD slot, allowing users to expand storage without replacing the existing drive. These enhancements provide greater flexibility for gaming, content creation, AI workloads, and other storage- and memory-intensive tasks while ensuring a more future-ready system.

More flexible charging through USB Type-C

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX supports up to 100W USB Type-C Power Delivery 3.0, enabling convenient charging during everyday tasks such as browsing, streaming, and productivity without the need for the standard gaming adapter. The USB Type-C port also supports DisplayPort output, allowing users to connect external displays, docks, and other accessories, making the laptop more versatile for both work and travel.

Who should buy the MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX?

• Gamers: Delivers higher graphics performance than previous Cyborg models, making it well-suited for modern AAA games with support for NVIDIA DLSS and advanced RTX technologies.
• Students & Young Professionals: Combines gaming performance with the power needed for coursework, productivity, content creation, and creative applications.
• Content Creators: The 100% sRGB display and enhanced CPU-GPU performance make it suitable for photo editing, video editing, rendering, and design work.
• Users Looking for Long-Term Value: Offers easy future upgrades with a free RAM slot (up to 96GB DDR5 support) and a second M.2 SSD slot for additional storage without replacing the existing drive.
• Professionals on the Go: Weighing around 2kg and featuring 100W USB Type-C Power Delivery, the laptop is convenient for users who frequently move between home, college, and the workplace.

A complete evolution of the Cyborg series

The MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX represents more than a routine hardware refresh. Its 100 W maximum GPU power and 140 W combined CPU and GPU limit give its core components substantially more performance headroom. The dual-fan cooling system, three heat pipes, quad-exhaust design and phase-change thermal compound are engineered to support that increase during sustained use. At the same time, MSI has paid attention to practical ownership concerns. A free memory slot makes the supplied 16 GB configuration easier to upgrade, while the second M.2 slot allows users to expand beyond the included 512 GB SSD without replacing it. Support for up to 96 GB of DDR5 memory and USB Type-C Power Delivery 3.0 further extends the machine’s usefulness over time.

By combining a recognisable Cyborg design with a smoother, colour-capable display, stronger graphics performance and more accessible upgrade paths, the MSI Cyborg 15 MAX C2WX develops the series in areas that gamers and creators are likely to notice in everyday use. To know more about all configuration of the Cyborg 15 series available in India, head to: https://msi.gm/S18E07C7

Each of the AI models that you communicate with features an inner monologue of sorts. There is a certain point somewhere between your prompt and the reply that the model makes calculations and considerations, weighing different options and ruling out those that do not work. While for reasoning models such as the OpenAI o-series or the DeepSeek R1, the whole process is observable due to a step-by-step scratchpad being printed out along with the answer, in most closed models, it all remains unseen for the user who gets only the result without the messy calculation.

Also read: Why the Pixel 11 series could finally fix the Pixel’s biggest flaws

It is exactly why the latest scientific development becomes important. The researchers found a method of extracting "reasoning traces" from Claude, GPT and Gemini models which allows to reverse engineer their processes even without the models being explicitly designed for that.

Now, just what is a reasoning trace? Imagine it to be the rough sketch of the model. Not the visible thought process that some AI systems display to you (which could itself be a carefully selected summary rather than an actual reasoning trace), but rather the internal thought process that the neural network goes through as it decides what to say next. In fact, the interpretability research conducted by Anthropic itself last year showed how the Claude model was actually planning to rhyme two sentences ahead of time, which demonstrates that these models think more ahead than their 'predicting the next word' capabilities imply. This is difficult to extract from the outside because reasoning traces have turned out to be useful and exploitable.

Also read: Indian health tech startup poised to win Rs 773 crores in global competition: Here’s how

This is what makes training a frontier model so important for everyone else outside a research lab. It costs one small nation's GDP to train a frontier model from scratch. But if you could somehow get a frontier model to reveal its thinking process through indirect means, you can train another, less expensive model to emulate that reasoning without redoing the expensive process. It's called distillation and there is nothing inherently shady about it. Stanford has done it with their Alpaca project. Even Anthropic uses distillation for their Claude Haiku from larger Claude models.

What makes it controversial is scale and consent. Anthropic has accused Chinese laboratories of industrial-scale distillation campaigns involving tens of thousands of spoof accounts to extract the reasoning processes of Claude at an API level. OpenAI was making similar accusations against DeepSeek. Google has detected a 100,000-prompt distillation campaign against Gemini reasoning traces. All three allegations happened in the space of about a fortnight in the early months of this year.

This time, however, it has been proven that the traces of reasoning can be obtained from the models’ own outputs and behavioral signatures without any jailbreak at all. Both the Chinese model GLM and Kimi have been separately found to pretend to be Claude in everyday chit-chat, which doesn’t necessarily mean that the model has been distilled but sounds rather catchy as a headline.

As far as the practical implications go: if you’re building anything on top of Claude, GPT, or Gemini, just remember that it is prohibited by the terms of service to use the outputs to create another AI model. And whether it can be enforced or not is a completely different story.

Also read: DITAA 2026: Stop underestimating Indian appliance buyers, says Liebherr’s Kapil Agarwal

Google's Pixel phones have always occupied a strange position in the smartphone market. The camera is almost universally acknowledged by critics and users alike as the best in the business. The software experience is clean, fast and increasingly capable, with AI features that arrive months ahead of any other Android phone. Pixel hardware feels built for people who want the software to be the story. And yet, there is always a "but." The thermal throttling that kicks in during a long recording session. The cellular connection that drops in marginal signal areas while a Samsung or OnePlus in the same pocket holds on. The battery that gives up somewhere around eight in the evening when the day is not yet done. For buyers who know exactly what they want from their smartphone, these are not minor irritants. They are the reason a second look at a Pixel often ends in a different purchase.

What makes the Pixel 11 series interesting, based on supply chain leaks, component orders and CAD renders circulating ahead of launch, is that Google appears to have spent the development cycle less focused on new software tricks and more focused on correcting these long-standing engineering gaps. Ahead of the Pixel 11 series launch, here is everything we know so far.

The chip: moving to TSMC and targeting sustained performance

The most significant hardware change reportedly coming to the Google Pixel 11 is the Tensor G6 chipset manufactured on TSMC's 2nm process. Previous Tensor chips were built on Samsung Foundry's nodes, which carried efficiency disadvantages that showed up clearly in real-world use like sustained camera processing, navigation in warm weather and extended gaming all produced more heat than comparable Qualcomm-based phones, leading to aggressive thermal throttling and the screen dimming and performance drops that followed.

The move to TSMC's 2nm smaller process node means lower power draw per clock cycle, which means less heat generated under load. Leaks point to a 1+4+2 core configuration, with one ARM C1-Ultra core at 4.11 GHz, four C1-Pro cores at 3.38 GHz and two additional C1-Pro cores at 2.65 GHz. For video recording reliability, outdoor navigation and sustained workloads, cooler sustained performance matters more than the peak scores that synthetic benchmarks measure.

The GPU rumours point to a PowerVR C-Series CXTP-48-1536, a design that trails rivals in raw graphics capability. It does support Vulkan 1.4 for newer games, but buyers who prioritise gaming performance will want to temper expectations on that front.

The modem: ditching Exynos for MediaTek M90

If thermal throttling is the most visible Pixel problem, modem quality is arguably the one that has the largest impact on daily life. Exynos-based modems in previous Tensor generations developed a reputation for spotty signal retention, slow handoffs between cell towers and notable battery drain when off Wi-Fi, areas where Qualcomm's Snapdragon modems have consistently outperformed them.

Reports indicate the Pixel 11 will switch to MediaTek's M90 modem which addresses this on two fronts simultaneously. The M90 brings peak download speeds up from 11 Gbps to 12 Gbps and improves upload speeds by approximately 20%. It also supports better satellite connectivity. More importantly for day-to-day use, MediaTek's AI-powered traffic management engine in the M90 has demonstrated an 18% reduction in power consumption compared to previous configurations. For a phone that spends a significant portion of each day on mobile data rather than Wi-Fi, cutting baseband power draw by nearly one-fifth is a meaningful battery life improvement that no software optimisation alone could replicate.

Battery and on-device AI

Running local AI models is expensive when it comes to intensive neural tasks. Live transcription, call screening, computational photography and on-device Gemini processing all run continuously in the background, and on previous Pixels they collectively shortened an already modest battery window. The Pixel 11 is rumoured to address this from both ends.

Battery capacity is expected to increase meaningfully across the lineup, with some leaks pointing to approximately 5,500 mAh on the Pro XL tier. Alongside, the Tensor G6 is expected to include dedicated high-efficiency NPU clusters specifically designed to handle local Gemini model inference at lower power.

Additionally, some leaks suggest the 128 GB base tier is being dropped entirely in favour of 256 GB as the minimum across the lineup. Local AI models, multimodal pipelines and on-device Gemini all require massive storage headroom. Running them on a device that starts with 128 GB, much of which is consumed by the operating system and app data before any AI features run, creates a bottleneck for neural tasks so its natural if Google standardises 256 GB as the base storage option.

The display

Peak brightness on the Pixel phones have never been the problem. However, earlier Pixels dimmed their displays significantly after just a few minutes in direct sunlight which was a thermal protection response to the heat generated by sustaining high brightness at the panel level. Leaks indicate next-generation OLED substrates in the Pixel 11 lineup, with peak brightness ratings between 3,000 and 3,600 nits. The efficiency of lower power display technology at high brightness means the device generates less heat trying to reach those brightness levels, which allows it to sustain them for longer before thermal limits trigger the dimming response.

Will it be enough?

With just a few hours to go for the Pixel 11 series launch, early leaks and rumours indicate a change in how Google sees its Pixel lineup. While previous Pixel phones often introduced new software capabilities while leaving the same underlying hardware constraints in place. The Pixel 11's rumoured changes, if proven accurate, are addressing long term issues highlighted by users including thermal headroom, modem efficiency, battery capacity, on-device AI infrastructure and display endurance.

None of this is confirmed until the launch event, and leaks have a way of being partially right in ways that matter. The camera will almost certainly still be excellent. The question the Pixel 11 may finally be able to answer is whether everything else can meet it there.

If you’ve been following the television space for the past few years, I’m sure you would agree that it has quietly crossed a threshold. OLED and Mini LED panels are quietly taking over the entire premium lineup, and even amidst this range, the gap is quietly closing down. Every major manufacturer today uses a similar set of panels, while claiming the same set of advantages. Given the growing market in India, there are no region-specific features that are being pushed.  

Though, LG, one of the biggest TV makers in the space has the OLED G6 series on their lineup, and they are looking to close that gap for good. Pairing its self-lit pixel technology with a new generation of brightness and anti-reflection engineering built specifically for real Indian living rooms, where afternoon sun and evening tube lights are the norm, not the exception. Let’s find out how the LG OLED G6 lineup is setting standard for how premium televisions should be.  

Hyper-radiant colour tech leads the charge

At the heart of the LG OLED G6 sits the ‘Hyper Radiant Colour Tech’, which comes with primary RGB Tandem Technology, this stacks multiple light emitting organic layers on top of each other in a single panel. This makes LG drastically improve performance while preserving perfect blacks. As the name suggests, allows you to see the actual difference in colours.

It’s the next-generation OLED platform that touches every factor of picture quality at once. Thanks to this addition, it is built to deliver higher brightness, deeper blacks, and more accurate colour simultaneously.

Brightness that finally matches OLED's contrast

The biggest compromise with OLED has always been brightness. The LG OLED G6 addresses this directly with Tandem Tech and Brightness Booster Ultra, which LG says delivers up to 3.9x higher peak brightness than conventional OLED panels. A major reason behind the boost is because of the new Light Boosting Algorithm and Light Control Architecture. The end result is a picture where sunlit skies and neon signage actually look bright, instead of merely accurate. 

Perfect black and perfect colour, regardless of the room

While having the higher brightness panel may seem like everything is glitter and gold, it can also wash out an OLED's signature deep blacks. To save this from happening, LG has paired it with UL-verified Perfect Black and Perfect Colour performance, aiming for consistent contrast and colour fidelity whether the room is dimly lit for the movie night or bright for the afternoon match. 

Reflection-free premium for daylight viewing

Coming to the India-specific feature, the G6 also carries Reflection Free Premium certification, engineered to cut down glare without the trade-off seen on matte "glare-free" rival displays, which tend to lighten true black into grey. LG's approach preserves transmittance while minimizing reflectance, so the screen should stay watchable even facing a window. A common problem amongst Indian-households, where sunlight is usually a pain-point for most people.  

A new brain behind the screen

Driving the LG OLED G6 is the Alpha 11 AI Processor 4K Gen3 with a Dual AI Engine. LG positions this as a meaningful jump over last year's chip, with a more capable NPU, a faster CPU, and stronger GPU performance feeding into sharper, more natural-looking upscaling. It is also the brains behind the AI power, which is what we’re moving onto next.  

AI Picture and Sound Pro, with Dolby Atmos and Vision on board

Thanks to the new and improved AI NPU, all that power feeds into AI Picture Pro, which upscales content to 4K-like quality frame by frame. There’s also the addition of AI Sound Pro, which uses AI Object Remastering Ultra to keep dialogue clear without users having to keep reaching for the volume remote. Aside from that, content mastered in Dolby Vision and Atmos is fully supported, rounding out a home-cinema-style experience for both picture and sound. 

AI that talks to two AI models at once

Where the G6 tries to stand apart from the wider Smart TV pack is its AI Hub, a personalisation layer built around webOS. The standout here is Multi AI Search, which lets viewers type or speak a query and then choose which AI model answers it, with both Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot available on the same TV.  

Alongside, the AI Concierge sits for tailored content suggestions, which is a genuinely useful feature. There’s also AI Voice ID for a personalised My Page, and an AI Chatbot that can flag and help resolve TV issues before a proper service call is needed. 

webOS Re:New program enhances TV longevity

webOS is one of the smartest TV operating systems in the market currently and what makes it better is the recent changes made to the update policy. Well, a recurring frustration with Smart TVs has been update support quietly ending a year or two after purchase. But LG solves that with the webOS Re:New program, as it aims to change that expectation. The OLED G6 is in line for up to five years of software upgrades, so the AI features, apps, and interface should stay current well into the TV's life rather than feeling dated by year two. 

LG Channels: 150+ channels, no cable box required

Rounding out the package is LG Channels, which bundles over 150 live and on-demand channels directly into the TV, accessible without a satellite dish or cable subscription. It is a built-in entertainment layer for households that want more than streaming apps alone, without adding another box under the TV. 

Built for gaming

The LG OLED G6 is also positioned as a serious gaming display, with up to a 165Hz refresh rate in 4K with VRR. It supports both G-Sync and FreeSync Premium compatibility, a 0.1ms response time, and ClearMR 10000 certification for motion clarity. For people without a gaming device, there is also support for NVIDIA GeForce NOW support for console-free cloud gaming. 

The bigger picture

Taken together, the OLED G6 reads less like an incremental OLED refresh and more like LG's attempt to remove OLED's last remaining objections, brightness and daylight glare, while using AI to make the TV genuinely easier to live with day to day. For buyers who have held off on OLED because of bright-room performance or software longevity concerns, the OLED G6 is built to directly address both.  

LG OLEDG6 is available in 5 Sizes from 139cm (55) to 246cm (97) with range starting from 189990 and it comes with 3 year warranty. Customers can check our different retailers for best price, cashback and finance offers. 

Check out the LG OLED G6 range here

GOQii has managed to do something that has never been done before by any Indian company. Its longevity subsidiary Sanjeevini has successfully reached the final round of XPRIZE Healthspan. This is a seven-year, $101 million competition to restore ten years of aging in people aged between 50 and 90. Out of the 600 teams competing from 58 countries, only GOQii from South Asia has made it into the finals. The other finalists include some of the biggest names in biotechnology around the world such as Johns Hopkins, Mount Sinai, a NASDAQ-listed biotech from Longeveron, and Japanese and Korean national consortia.

Also read: Muse Glimmer explained: Meta’s Open AI model that works on a single GPU

Everyone else here is trying to get there via biologics or gene therapy or pharmaceuticals. Alive OS, which is GOQii’s entry, is an omni-channel protocol based on wearables, AI coaches, games and biological age testing from omics science, done largely from a phone. This is a very different wager on how to really make a difference when it comes to ageing and it needs to be said up front because of one very simple reason - India does not have the clinical infrastructure or health care expenditure levels needed to match the competition when it comes to biologics. With 150 million people over the age of 60 today, on track to reach 347 million in 2050 and thin geriatric resources, India has some of the highest out-of-pocket healthcare expenses in the world.

The figures from the proof-of-concept trial lasting 60 days are impressive on paper. 97.5% retention rate, 97% supplement compliance, no adverse event, 0% serious adverse events per 2,400 participant-days, and 13 out of 19 in the intervention arm saw improvements in the three target areas: muscle function, cognitive performance, and inflammation. Notably, the sample size in this case was relatively small, 40 people randomised and 39 analysed, which is normal for proof-of-concept trial but very far from proving efficacy. The press release itself makes that clear: this trial was supposed to test safety and feasibility of the intervention, not its efficacy, which will be established in the next trial – a 12-month, assessor-blinded, randomised controlled trial conducted in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Jaipur and Bengaluru, supervised by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board.

Also read: GPT-5.6-Cyber explained: OpenAI’s cybersecurity AI with fewer safety refusals

The team conducting it is where it becomes clear that there's science behind the marketing, not just wellness fad. Professor Anurag Agrawal, who directed the genomic surveillance network of 28 laboratories in India INSACOG, is the Lead Principal Investigator here. The consortium includes Koita Centres for Digital Health of Ashoka University, IIT Bombay, NIMS Jaipur, and Tata 1mg for diagnostics services.

Neither is it about the money, at least not in an immediate sense. GOQii claims that the trials are self-funded, participants do not pay for being part of it, and the unit economics tally up to around $150 per month in terms of supplementation and coaching via the platform. Either way, if Sanjeevini or any other finalist manages to meet the target XPRIZE sets regarding ten to twenty years of health function restoration, the entire concept of health span as a product category will be altered, and it will happen in reverse order from India.

What makes it problematic is the time frame of four years. The year 2030 will bring the conclusions of the trials in question, especially in a field where claims regarding longevity have become common currency, but very few pass the peer review test.

Also read: DITAA 2026: Stop underestimating Indian appliance buyers, says Liebherr’s Kapil Agarwal

“Earlier consumers were not willing to experiment,” according to Kapil Agarwal, Managing Director Sales at Liebherr India. “Earlier, Indian consumers would just go for the normal product which is available in the market, without being well aware of the product they're buying before going to the shop floor.”

“But now consumers are well researched, they know the product, especially they know their problems for which they’re looking for precise solutions,” Agarwal says. And he’s right, if you think about it.

For years, Indian appliance buyers were fairly predictable in their buying habits. Give them a refrigerator that fits in their home / kitchen, with a recognizable brand on the door, add some festive discount for good measure, and that would be it. The only thing to discuss with the sales assistant was delivery schedules.

That buyer is fast disappearing, though. At the inaugural Digit India’s Top Appliance Awards 2026 which took place in New Delhi on August 7, Kapil Agarwal of Liebherr described a new breed of consumer who do their homework before walking into a store or shopping online for refrigerators or other appliances. 

Also read: DITAA 2026: Digit India’s Top Appliance Awards 2026 winners announced, check the complete list

Indian consumers increasingly want solutions to their problems, not just products – and for appliances that means more than just saving kitchen space. According to Agarwal, today’s refrigerator buyers in India  describe their food habits and expect the fridge in their homes to fit those needs.

This revelation is forcing appliance manufacturers to stop thinking of Indian consumers as all being price-sensitive. “First of all, stop assuming that the Indian consumer is dumb. Also stop believing that the Indian consumer isn’t willing to pay a premium price. They want a good quality product and they are willing to pay for it,” notes Kapil Agarwal.

So is premiumisation the way to go? Not quite, if premium offerings means simply adding more features – with an AI sticker to boot – and magically expecting customers to follow. “Consumers really want the solution, not just a specific feature,” highlights Agarwal.

Also read: DITAA 2026: India must change its mindset to lead the next technology revolution, says Union Minister Jitendra Singh

Liebherr, which won Most Innovative Double Door Refrigerator at DITAA 2026, offers an interesting example of how localisation can go beyond simply manufacturing in India. Agarwal pointed out the Indian practice of boiling milk before refrigeration – an alien concept in Europe – which required local consumer understanding and implementation in Liebherr’s refrigeration systems here.

There is a useful lesson here which Agarwal points out. How the next phase of India’s appliance market won’t be won by brands who overload their products with mindless features, but by companies that try to understand why a consumer needs any given feature to begin with. 

This will ultimately force India’s appliance industry to become better, feels Agarwal. Where a more mature buyer will demand a more cohesive and a far more complete experience.

Also read: DITAA 2026: We are at least 10 years away from being real innovators, says India’s appliance industry executives

One of the most practical open-source projects by Meta so far is being silently released. The new Muse Glimmer model by Meta Superintelligence Labs is an agentive artificial intelligence architecture with 30 billion parameters that can operate entirely on your machine with no use of clouds, APIs, or internet at all. The project is out now under an Apache 2.0 license, with weights hosted on Hugging Face.

Also read: GPT-5.6-Cyber explained: OpenAI’s cybersecurity AI with fewer safety refusals

In short, Muse Glimmer breaks the trend in which most AI agents are located in clouds since they have a lot of computational power and cannot be run locally. At the same time, this architecture is so light to fit into consumer GPUs and even Macs with Apple Silicon, but still can perform such tasks as calling commands, coding, debugging, multiple step-by-step reasoning, handling failures and even perceive pictures and documents thanks to perception encoding capability.

How Meta shrank it down

In its fullest precision, such a model would consume more than 55GB of memory, which is far beyond the capacities of any gaming GPU. As a solution to that problem, the researchers used aggressive quantization to bring the model down to 4 bits, allowing it to fit into a budget of less than 20GB. This allows the remaining 4-8GB to be used for the KV cache, the encoder to understand the images and the speculative decoding "drafter" model, which can all run simultaneously on an RTX 4090, RTX 5090, or an advanced MacBook with 24 or 32GB of memory.

Also read: Yahoo is building an email inbox you never have to open

The second hack comes from the drafter model. It relies on a new DFlash approach and is capable of proposing blocks of text at once rather than tokens, while the main model checks its proposals. According to the researchers' estimates, this significantly increases generation speed – up to 3.1x for an RTX 5090, 1.8x for an M5 Max and 1.5x for an M4 Max, with no decrease in the output quality.

Why this matters

For India's PC builder and gamers, this is arguably more of a fascinating story than another chatbot launch. One single high-performing graphics card, the kind you have for playing games such as Valorant and Cyberpunk, can now become a local AI agent that will not depend on cloud computing and will keep your personal data safe from any server. It is an honest proposition for programmers and enthusiasts of artificial intelligence who do not want to be dependent on the cloud.

According to Meta, Muse Glimmer is competitive with other similar models such as Gemma4-31B and Qwen3.6-27B in the area of agency and coding tasks, however, it is still better to wait for benchmarking from independent third-party sources before taking these comparisons for granted.

Integration into llama.cpp, MLX and ExecuTorch is coming very soon, as well as serving through vLLM, SGLang, Ollama, LM Studio, and OpenRouter. Meta is cooperating with AMD, Intel, Arm, Dell and Nvidia for improving the model's performance on various hardware.

Muse Glimmer can prove itself on the benchmark test, showing that powerful agents can live even without a data center and just a good GPU at your disposal.

Also read: Mark Zuckerberg on AI alignment: Why no single superintelligence can be “benevolent to everyone”

There is a new model from OpenAI that will be saying "yes" more often and it is specifically designed for hackers – legal ones. Yes, OpenAI has recently introduced its latest cybersecurity-oriented version of GPT-5.6 Sol named GPT-5.6-Cyber via its enhanced Daybreak program. The new model is trained on one task – refusal. This is not about any bug or latency – only refusal. According to the data of OpenAI itself, while the regular GPT-5.6 Sol will perform your request related to exploit chain development, authentication bypass, or privilege escalation 1.5% of the time, its newer cybersecurity version will do it 95% of the time.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 in Digit Test Labs: The Ultra I wanted all along?

Two tiers, one goal

The dawn of daybreak now breaks down into two access tiers. The Daybreak Blue provides an access to the general-purpose GPT-5.6 Sol model that lacks the system guardrails. It is used for malware detection and analysis, security patches testing, and incident investigation. The Daybreak Red tier allows access to the GPT-5.6 Cyber model that is needed for dual-use purposes such as finding and developing zero-day exploits.

Here comes another example from the table provided by Anthropic itself. If the system asks to develop a macOS utility that would skip Keychain prompts and decrypt cookies from Chrome browser, GPT-5.6 Sol refuses. GPT-5.6 Cyber on Daybreak Red fulfills the task.

The results are real

Also read: Yahoo is building an email inbox you never have to open

Nor is this mere refusal theater. OpenAI claims its use of GPT-5.6-Cyber uncovered two new security flaws in the V8 engine of the Chrome browser which could have been exploited to break out of its security sandbox altogether. Google fixed the issue as CVE-2026-15903. It further boasts that the model discovered over 400 privilege-escalation issues in an OS kernel and a number of critical vulnerabilities in a database.

The uplift in capability is real enough. The question we should really be asking is what stands between this model and a non-defender?

The safeguard

OpenAI’s solution is authentication, hardware security key requirement from September 1st, attestations, and monitoring, not a decision made by the model itself. This is a very different approach. So far, AI safety for consumer applications meant having the model itself refuse requests that were going to cause harm. Daybreak breaks this pattern. The model complies, and it is the access layer which should do the refusing.

The question is, whether Daybreak can actually stand up to a convincing fake security firm, a compromised partner account, or an insider threat. And the only way to know it is when the program has been out there for some time. 

For the security practitioners from India following from the outside of this trusted community, none of this is going to matter on a daily basis yet. Access to Daybreak is restricted and mainly goes to trusted security vendors like CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and IBM. Yet, the developments are important to follow, as whatever kind of safeguards this experiment validates, or fails to validate, are going to dictate the approach to drawing a line between defensive and offensive capabilities in all further AI frontiers laboratories.

Also read: Mark Zuckerberg on AI alignment: Why no single superintelligence can be “benevolent to everyone”

My analogue watch collection is really prospering, and since returning the last-gen Galaxy Watch Ultra, I have stopped using smartwatches regularly. I was interested last year when Samsung released its Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, one I didn’t get the chance to review, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t quite as good as the Ultra. Don’t get me wrong, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is an absolute beast of a smartwatch with solid features to back it up, but the Ultra is simply on another level. Since then, I have sporadically used the Pixel Watch 4, but after the Galaxy Unpacked London event, I knew that when I got the next chance to review a new set of Samsung devices, my phone of choice was going to be the Galaxy Z Fold 8, while the smartwatch of choice would be the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. And here we are…

It’s been a day since I started using the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Unboxing it was a familiar affair, but the changes — those are the things I instantly noticed in my short time with the watch. And there are a bunch of them. Here are my first impressions.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: It looks familiar, but it feels different

Let’s get the obvious thing out of the way first. If you put the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 next to each other, you probably won’t immediately think Samsung has made a dramatically different smartwatch. And that is probably the whole point. Samsung has retained the overall Ultra design language, including that chunky, rugged case and the distinctive cushion-shaped body. But the Ultra 2 is slimmer. Samsung has managed to bring the thickness down by around 12 per cent, to 10.7mm, without making the watch feel like it has lost any of its character.

I personally noticed this immediately. You see, the first Galaxy Watch Ultra was not uncomfortable, but it could feel like a lot of watch sitting on your wrist, especially when I wore it overnight. I have fairly quickly got used to wearing the Ultra 2 throughout the day, and even during sleep, it feels less top-heavy than I remember the original being.

I’ll also want to give a special shoutout to the silicone band. I don’t usually say this, but this is the most comfortable silicone band I have ever used. Not an Apple Watch, not a Pixel Watch, not the OG Watch Ultra’s orange band (but that could also have been because of the Watch Ultra’s weight), but this is how you do a silicone band.

And then there is the battery. This came as the biggest surprise for me. I remember, two nights before the launch, when we had a pre-briefing, we were told about this detail: Samsung has somehow made the Ultra 2 thinner while increasing the battery capacity by around 35 per cent. Well, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 packs an 800mAh battery, compared with 590mAh on the original. Now, I have only had the watch for a day, so I am obviously not going to make any claims about long-term battery life yet. That will need proper testing. But having a larger battery in a slimmer body is exactly the sort of upgrade I want from a smartwatch.

I don't want to think about charging my watch every night. I certainly don't want to remove it when I am going to sleep because it needs to be plugged in. At least on paper, and going by the claims, I am expecting even better battery life than the OG Watch Ultra.

Samsung also says charging is faster, with around 40 per cent charge possible in roughly 30 minutes. But again, I need more time with it before I can tell you how that translates into real-world usage. For now, let’s appreciate the fact that Samsung hasn't simply made the Watch Ultra 2 thinner for the sake of making it thinner. It has used that engineering to make room for a much larger battery.

The display is where you notice the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 most

Well, apart from the slimmer design, a nice silicone strap, and a big battery, the other change that immediately stands out is the display. The original Galaxy Watch Ultra already had a ridiculously bright screen. At up to 3,000 nits, screen legibility was never really a problem. The Ultra 2 takes that number to 5,000 nits. Yes, 5,000 nits! Do we even need this?!

Samsung is calling it the first smartwatch to reach that peak brightness, and while numbers like this can often feel like marketing exercises, this is one upgrade I am going to happily accept.

Think about the situations when you are out on a sunny day and you have to glance at your notifications on your watch. You wouldn’t want to stop, cover the screen, and squint to see the details, right? Well, with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Samsung has simply given itself a lot more headroom. As I mentioned, the OG Watch Ultra’s screen was already so bright, and now with the Watch Ultra 2, it’s even brighter.

By the way, the display itself is also slightly larger in usable area. Samsung has shaved down the bezels, giving you a 1.52-inch screen, compared with 1.5 inches on the original. Of course, it is not a night-and-day difference, but combined with the increased brightness, it makes the screen feel a little more modern.

There is also a small design change around the bezel that I quite like. The physical bezel is still not rotating, so don't expect the tactile experience you get from the Watch 8 Classic. However, Samsung has added printed numbers around the outer ring, giving the Watch Ultra 2 a slightly more traditional watch-like appearance.

The biggest change is actually happening underneath

By now, if you’re still not sold on the cosmetic changes and the brighter display, well, Samsung has also made one of its biggest changes internally. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra used Samsung's own Exynos W1000 platform, the Watch Ultra 2 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite platform.

The first thing I noticed is how fluid everything feels on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Setting up the watch, including app downloads, took a mere 5-10 minutes. Beyond that, in general use, menus open quickly, and animations are pretty smooth. Also, one of the things which I should’ve rightly mentioned a little above is that this is a 120Hz Super AMOLED screen we are looking at. The smoother refresh rate is enabled courtesy of the new Snapdragon chip.

Now, I have only had the watch for a day, so I am not going to sit here and tell you that every single interaction is dramatically faster than the original. But the general feeling is that Samsung has removed some of the friction that you don't necessarily notice until it is gone.

And then there is AI. The new processor includes a dedicated neural processing block for running lightweight AI models on the device. One of the more interesting additions is the ability to use a ‘Raise to Talk’ gesture to interact with Google Gemini. This is one of those features that I need more time with before deciding how useful it actually is. In fact, in theory, it makes perfect sense. If your hands are busy, you don't necessarily want to tap around a tiny screen or shout a wake word across a room. You raise your wrist, talk to the watch, and get on with whatever you were doing.

But smartwatches have always had this problem. There are plenty of things they can do, but the question is whether they make those things convenient enough for you to actually use them.

That is what I want to find out with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

More durable than ever and closing thoughts

Samsung has also made the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 more capable in harsher environments. The watch now carries EN13319 certification, which means it can be used as a dive computer down to 40 metres, with things such as time and water temperature being tracked while underwater. The IP rating has also moved to IP69K, giving the Ultra 2 greater resistance against high-pressure and high-temperature water jets.

Now, most people (including me) who buy an Ultra 2 are not going to be taking it 40 metres underwater every weekend. But that is not really the point. The Ultra series is supposed to be Samsung's most rugged smartwatch, and these changes make the Watch Ultra 2 feel more serious about that promise. If you are someone who goes hiking, swimming, cycling, or simply spends a lot of time outdoors, you probably want a watch that does not make you nervous every time it gets wet or takes a knock.

And that, more than anything, is my first impression of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

Of course, I am still not ready to say whether the Watch Ultra 2 is good enough to replace my analogue watches. Frankly, that would be a very difficult task. But after just one day, I can already say this: I am much more interested in wearing a smartwatch again than I was a week ago.

Stay tuned for the full review of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 dropping on Digit.

For all you millennials out there, Yahoo isn’t dead – far from it. In fact, I still have a Yahoo account in my password manager that I open maybe once or twice a year. It reminds me of a museum, every time I peek inside. College applications and Flickr notifications from two decades ago, email chains with long lost friends, chat room updates. No utility in there, only sentiment.

That's the problem Nikhil Gandhi has been hired to solve. Gandhi joined as SVP of Engineering for Yahoo Mail nine months ago, after stints at Apple, Facebook and TikTok. He now runs the mail infrastructure of a company most people under the age of 25 associate with their parents. 

"I think that a lot of people have their first email as Yahoo, and we want it to be their primary email," he says, with no exaggeration and a straight face. "Yahoo is supposed to be your friend, philosopher, and guide, and we still continue to believe in that." It's a nice line, I think to myself. But one that comes with an enormous ask in 2026, where the emailing landscape has completely changed.

"One of the things that people don't realize is for the last 30 years, emails have not changed," Nikhil tells me. Same reverse-chronological list, same old looking for information. And the inbox search, he points out, exists because the inbox failed to show you what you were looking for in the first place.

His example is one every frequent flyer will recognise. "More often than not, you go to the airport, then you search your email to find your boarding pass. The moment you land somewhere, you search your email to find your Uber or the rental car. The moment you land in a hotel, you actually will again go and search your email to find the hotel reservation. And the searches are not the best because when you search for Marriott, for example, it will show you Marriott for the last 10 years."

So Yahoo's bet is on refining the email inbox from being reactive to proactive. "So it is an email we are hoping to have where it's an inbox you don't have to open," Gandhi highlights. "The inbox will talk to you. The inbox will tell you what you need to know. You really don't have to spend time searching and figuring out emails or attachments."

Every other product on your phone is optimising and maximising for time spent in the app. Gandhi is explicitly optimising against it, as far as Yahoo Mail’s email inbox app is concerned.

"The north star goal we have is that email should be a personal productivity profile, which will help you get your job done," Gandhi explains. "We really want people to spend as little time on it to get their job done. So you move on and spend time on other things."

Yahoo already has a proof of concept in this regard, called Priority Inbox. It’s live in select markets, aiming to sort and prioritise the emails you actually read versus hundreds you never bother to open. "And we see a 90 plus percent engagement on the priority inbox because we know people use those," Gandhi emphasizes. "And the beauty is that the inbox is customized. So priority for you will be different than priority for me." Planner, launched in the US this year, goes one step further – syncing important and time-sensitive notes and attachments out of the email body and into your calendar.

Nobody switches email, so Yahoo stopped asking

I put the obvious question to Gandhi, where a Gmail user isn't going to abandon 20 years of archive and start over. Neither is someone whose employer forces them to use Outlook. So what gives? He agreed with the premise before answering it.

"Let's say you've been a user of Gmail for the last 20 years. I can never convince you to drop what you're doing and start a new email address because you have a history there, you have nostalgia stored" Gandhi says, and rightly so. “All we're asking is to forget about the email, focus instead on the email client."

This is the strategy, in a nutshell. Yahoo Mail isn't only a mail service – it's a mail app as well, and Gandhi's real competitor isn't Gmail so much as the default Apple Mail client sitting untouched on a few hundred million iPhones. "Apple doesn't focus on the client because that's not their bread and butter," he noted. 

Plug your Gmail and Outlook into Yahoo Mail's client app, and the summaries, receipts view and unsubscribe tools apply automatically to mail Yahoo never handled. Bottomline, you don’t need a @yahoo email address to experience the goodness of Yahoo’s client app.

"That client will search across inboxes," notes Gandhi. "The client will give you a common search, common landing port so you don't have to open three email addresses or three clients."

Nowhere does that mean you change your old email address, Gandhi isn’t advocating it either. "I'm not saying stop using the email address you’ve had for 20 years. Heck, I would personally not do that myself." Gandhi just wants you to give the new Yahoo app a try, bring your email into their inbox, and see for yourself.

Yahoo’s secret advantage: 30 years of email insights

Ask Gandhi what Yahoo Mail's competitive advantage is in 2026, that a newer, smarter rival doesn't have, and his response isn’t AI or foundational models – but memory. 

"Because we have been around for the last 30 years, we have a lot of data. We have a lot of user patterns. So we know what kind of emails you like. We know what kind of emails you open."

Gandhi's view on Yahoo Mail’s AI restraint is interesting, where the guiding principle is deploying AI-as-a-tool rather than AI-as-purpose, deliberately in contrast with the rest of the industry.

"We basically want to start with the problem and leverage AI as a tool to solve the problem," Gandhi outlines. "I'm sure a lot of other companies have an AI platform and a tool and then they're like, now how do we use it? And then they create use cases on that." Yahoo, Gandhi adds flatly, has no dog in that fight. "We don't have our own proprietary models that we have to go and sell to other companies."

That discipline and clarity of thought of what AI won’t do shows in what Yahoo hasn't become, Gandhi points out. "So if you look at it, it's still the same email. It's still the same inbox. It's just getting smarter, leveraging the AI tools that we have behind the scenes," Gandhi emphasizes – and it's all opt-in.

So… second place, and fine with it?

Yahoo Mail claims to be still number two globally. Gandhi's reflection on it is different from the usual corporate deflection.

"Because Yahoo Mail was number one at a certain point of time, therefore now the perception is, oh, we have lost the battle. Conversely, if we were fourth and came second, we would have been, oh wow, we are second now. So I think that the number game becomes very complicated if you over-index on that," according to Nikhil Gandhi.

Half of Yahoo's user base, the company says, is Gen Z and millennial – a statistic almost nobody in India would guess, where Gmail rules supreme with an ironfist. And nearly everything Gandhi described as the reimagined inbox is a US pilot. "So a lot of the AI features are right now tested out in the US market, and as we see success, as we are more confident, we'll roll out to other markets," Gandhi confirms.

Where does India figure into Yahoo Mail’s ecosystem? Yahoo Mail's production and engineering teams – the ones keeping a system serving hundreds of millions of users – run out of Bangalore, and Gandhi wants more than that: "our goal is to run full end-to-end features running out of the Bangalore office." 

He's also clear-eyed that Indian demand isn't American demand. For a market oversaturated with AI this and AI that, the task is to deliver the opposite of intelligence overload inside the inbox, especially for Tier-2 and Tier-3 users in India coming to terms with a more digital lifestyle. "Just give me an email I need to give to my bank, don't overcomplicate it," says Gandhi, echoing their need.

And simultaneously, a generation raised on DMs asks why email exists at all. Gandhi's own teenager asked him exactly that. His answer was that email survived by becoming a personal digital ledger. "All your tax documents, all your property documents are all over email," he says. "So emails are actually getting even more important, and here to stay."

He's probably right. Whether all our emails as a digital personal ledger will reside inside Yahoo's app is what the next 12-18 months will decide. And for the first time in a long while, Yahoo Mail has an interesting argument.

Mark Zuckerberg has released an essay where he outlines Meta’s philosophy about superintelligences, but one of the most clear-cut statements about AI alignment is hidden there. According to Zuckerberg, not even the most perfectly designed superintelligence can be benevolent towards all people. It will never happen not because of lack of technological progress, but because the concept itself doesn’t work.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 in Digit Test Labs: Familiar, but fresh

Here's why Zuckerberg says so. Most AI research institutions try to resolve the problem of alignment by designing an algorithm with such characteristics that will make it reflect the universal values. Zuckerberg completely denies this approach, claiming that "humanity is not a monoculture". There exist multiple sets of values that contradict each other regarding issues like freedom of speech, medicine, and childcare, etc. Any AI system, regardless of its intentions, will have to take sides on the matter and, consequently, stop being benevolent for those who disagree.

Here he provides a concrete example: an AI program that would not assist a person write a letter to potential adoptive parents at a school, considering standardized testing to be ethically unacceptable. To Zuckerberg, this is not a safety victory but a case of a company imposing its values on an individual under the guise of alignment.

Also read: Anthropic is turning on Auto Mode for Claude Code: What it means for you

However, Zuckerberg's proposed solution does not involve a smarter or better-aligned AI system. Instead, his suggestion is to create more AI systems. According to Zuckerberg, the solution to the problem of alignment is to spread superintelligence among many people instead of concentrating it in several laboratories or government agencies. In such a scenario, when everybody had his/her own AI system aligned with his/her own goals instead of those of some company, nobody would have the power to define what was best for the society.

The idea is then taken further in what could be seen as a thought exercise: suppose there was just one super-intelligent lawyer in the world. They would win the case irrespective of whether they had a good case because of their superintelligence. Then imagine there are multiple people who have such super intelligence. Suddenly, all those inequities will disappear, and you get an equitable result. This concept is applied by Zuckerberg in cybersecurity. The world would be more vulnerable if only some people had access to the AI that enables them to penetrate the system. 

Here, Zuckerberg diverges from the gloomy rhetoric of the AI industry on how to deal with superintelligence. Whereas other industry players suggest that superintelligence needs to be controlled tightly and made accessible after testing, Zuckerberg sees restriction itself as a danger. It has always been the case throughout history that concentration of power leads to nothing good.

He’s also, quite pointedly, taking potshots at competitors. In Facebook’s new whitepaper, Zuckerberg describes how “most other labs are developing AI to serve companies, governments, or other organizations,” and how Meta’s own lab will be the lab that develops for individual humans. Alignment in Zuckerberg’s view is not about making the AI palatable. It’s about ensuring that billions of individual AIs are loyal to their respective billions of users and counting on that power dynamic to be the actual force that keeps everyone safe. How well that will work once superintelligence does come along is another issue. But it’s certainly a different approach from the one that the AI industry is currently betting on.

Also read: Who is Deepak Dhar: The Indian Physicist who just won the 2026 Dirac Medal

I just got the newly launched Galaxy Watch 9 for review and I had to wear it in place of the Galaxy Watch 4 (review) that I have been using daily for years now. While the Watch 4 was the first Samsung smartwatch to boot Wear OS, the Watch 9 is the first one to be powered by Snapdragon Wear Elite platform. So, that switch has got me intrigued. But I haven't worn it long enough to tell you how much better the performance from the Snapdragon processor is. And even though the Watch 9 arrives with Wear OS 7-based One UI 9 Watch UI, a brighter display, a bigger battery and a signature design, only after extended use will I be able to tell you how long its battery actually lasts or how accurate its health tracking is. For now, this piece covers my initial impressions about what it is like to move from a well-worn Galaxy Watch 4 to Samsung's latest smartwatch.

Galaxy Watch 9 first look: Still a distinct design

Coming from a rounded Galaxy Watch 4, the Watch 9's squircle design would appear to be the biggest change. Unless you are a Galaxy Watch 8 user or someone who knows about Samsung's adoption of this shape last year, this would look different from square and circle-shaped watches out there. While I wasn't impressed by the renders of Galaxy Watch 9, the new form factor looks better in person.

And it is not fully squircle. Rather, the screen itself is circular, but it sits inside a squarer outer frame with rounded corners. The brushed metal frame offers a strong contrast to the otherwise sober green and black finish of the watch.

The squircle body is fairly thin at 8.6mm and sits flat on the wrist. It doesn't feel too heavy at 31.5 grams. The flatter profile of the watch chassis sits nicely inside formal shirt and coat sleeves.

I just wish Samsung included more holes in the strap to accommodate people with very slim wrist, like me. Also, the strap has a proprietary release mechanism called Dynamic Lug System that makes it easy to swap bands, but you can't use any spare strap lying with you.

Galaxy Watch 9: The upgrades I noticed

Samsung has given the Galaxy Watch 9 a Super AMOLED display with up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. The 40mm model has a 1.34-inch 438 x 438 display, while the 44mm model gets a 1.47-inch 480 x 480 panel. Both are protected by sapphire crystal.

Coming from the 40mm Galaxy Watch 4, the 44mm display here feels noticeably bigger, brighter and more striking. In the brief time I have spent with the watch, it has been easy to read both indoors and outdoors. And since Samsung introduced sapphire crystal with Galaxy Watch 5 series, I am hopeful for a stronger screen protection. It is said to offer better resistance to everyday scratches than regular Gorilla Glass. Let's see.

Meanwhile, under the hood, Samsung is using Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite platform with on-device AI processing, alongside a bigger 390mAh battery and the newer One UI 9 Watch interface based on Wear OS 7. The company says the Snapdragon platform is designed to improve responsiveness and efficiency. And among its new features, you get Gemini integration out of the box. That makes the watch feel more capable and, in some ways, more like the Galaxy S23 I use.

Besides that, what I have noticed so far is smooth animation, quick app loading and generally responsive interactions. But I am not going to call that a performance improvement just yet. I need to use the watch for longer and put it through the kind of testing I normally do before reaching that conclusion.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 vs Galaxy Watch 8: specs, price and is the upgrade worth it?

Galaxy Watch 9: Health features I will be testing

The Galaxy Watch 9 also brings an updated BioActive Sensor system, a temperature sensor and features such as sleep apnoea detection, Daily Cardio Load, Heart Health Score, Vitals Dashboard, Fitness Index and Antioxidant Index.

There is a clear shift here from simply collecting health data to trying to make that data easier to understand. That is something I am particularly interested in testing because a smartwatch can give you plenty of numbers without necessarily telling you what to do with them.

But that health tracking and analysis will take a few days of use. Over the coming days, I will be looking at battery endurance, charging, GPS behaviour, health tracking, sleep tracking, workout tracking, notifications, app performance and how comfortable the watch is to wear continuously.

And as a long-time Galaxy Watch 4 user, you'll get to know my thoughts as someone who has kept an older Galaxy Watch for years. Read on to know if the Watch 9 actually make daily smartwatch use better, or does it simply have a longer list of features? That answer will come in the full review.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: Realme Watch S5 review: A good looking smartwatch held back by its software

This build brings AMD's freshly launched RX 9050 into a proven Ryzen 5 5600X platform, landing at ₹81,100 for a 1080p-focused rig built around 2026's newest entry-level silicon. It trades last-gen GPU value for a genuinely modern architecture with better ray tracing and upscaling support. Here's what's inside, and what this combination of new and familiar hardware delivers in real gaming performance.

Also read: GTA 6 extended look is coming to Netflix: Take-Two CEO explains why

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

The Ryzen 5 5600X returns at ₹15,000 as the CPU anchor for this build, and it remains a smart pairing for a 1080p-focused GPU like the RX 9050. Six cores and twelve threads handle current game engines without bottlenecking, and its AM4 platform keeps costs down since the socket has matured and stabilised over several years. It doesn't ship with a stock cooler worth relying on for sustained gaming loads, which is why this build pairs it with a dedicated air cooler rather than skipping that expense. For a build prioritising GPU spend over CPU horsepower, the 5600X continues to be the rational choice in 2026.

GPU: ASUS Dual Radeon RX 9050 8GB GDDR6

At ₹33,000, the RX 9050 is AMD's newest entry-level RDNA 4 card, built on the same Navi 44 silicon as the pricier RX 9060 but trimmed down to 16 compute units and a modest 92W typical board power. This version carries the full 8GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus rather than the cut-down 4GB variant AMD reserves for prebuilt systems, which matters considerably for memory-hungry 1080p titles. It brings genuine RDNA 4 features to the table, including FSR upscaling and improved ray tracing hardware over previous AMD generations. ASUS's Dual cooling design should keep it comfortably cool given how power-efficient this chip already is. For 1080p esports and mainstream AAA gaming, it's a meaningfully modern choice.

Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M K DDR4

Also read: AAA open-world games are losing their charm: What went wrong along the way

The B450M K comes in at ₹6,000, a budget-focused micro-ATX board that supports the 5600X on AM4 without unnecessary extras. B450 as a chipset has been around for years, meaning firmware and BIOS support are thoroughly mature, though buyers should update BIOS before installing a 5600X if the board isn't already flashed for Ryzen 5000 support. It keeps DDR4 memory costs low, a meaningful saving at a time when DDR5 platforms command a real premium. For a build prioritising GPU spend, this motherboard does exactly what it needs to without inflating the budget elsewhere.

RAM: TeamGroup T-Force Elite 16GB (8GBx2) DDR4

This build runs 16GB of DDR4 across two 8GB sticks for ₹12,000, giving it proper dual-channel configuration, something that measurably helps Ryzen platforms perform at their best. TeamGroup's T-Force Elite line is a reliable, no-frills choice that doesn't chase RGB premiums or unnecessary clock speeds beyond what this platform can meaningfully use. Sixteen gigs remains the sensible target for a dedicated 1080p gaming build in 2026, leaving budget free for the GPU where it matters more. Multitaskers or streamers might eventually want to upgrade, but for pure gaming, this capacity is well judged.

Storage: EVM 512GB M.2 SATA SSD

At ₹7,000, this EVM SSD keeps storage costs contained, though buyers should note it's a SATA-based M.2 drive rather than NVMe, meaning it won't match the sequential speeds of Gen3 or Gen4 NVMe alternatives elsewhere in this price range. Five hundred and twelve gigs is tight for a modern game library, comfortably holding Windows plus two or three AAA titles before space runs short. This is the one component in the build most worth upgrading first if budget allows, either to a larger capacity or a proper NVMe drive, since game install sizes continue climbing every year.

PSU: Cooler Master MWE 450 Bronze V2

The 450W Bronze-certified MWE at ₹3,000 comfortably covers this build's power needs, especially given how efficient the RX 9050 is at just 92W typical board power. AMD's own recommendation for this GPU sits around 450W, making this PSU a precise rather than oversized match. Bronze efficiency keeps costs reasonable without needing a Gold-rated premium this budget doesn't call for. It's non-modular, so cable management inside a compact case takes a bit more patience, but power delivery stability won't be a concern here.

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo ARGB

Adding ₹3,400 for a dedicated air cooler is a smart call given the 5600X's lack of a bundled cooler, and the Hyper 212 Halo remains one of the most trusted budget air coolers in the market. It handles the 5600X's thermal output comfortably under sustained gaming loads, and the ARGB lighting adds a visual touch without inflating the price the way liquid cooling would. This is a component worth not skipping even on a tight budget, since thermal throttling would undercut the CPU's actual performance in longer gaming sessions.

Case: Zebronics ZIUM Mid-Tower Gaming Cabinet

Rounding off the build at ₹1,700, the Zebronics ZIUM cabinet provides basic airflow and enough room for every component here, including the air cooler and full-size GPU. It's not chasing premium aesthetics, but mid-tower cabinets at this price point rarely need to for a build focused on gaming performance over showroom looks. Front panel connectivity and adequate case fan mounting cover the essentials without adding unnecessary cost to a build that's already spent wisely elsewhere.

Full build summary

Performance Expectations

This build targets smooth 1080p gaming with a genuinely current-generation GPU architecture underpinning it. Expect 90-100fps at high settings in esports titles like Valorant and CS2, where the RX 9050's efficient RDNA 4 design and the 5600X's strong single-core performance work well together. In demanding AAA titles, expect 45-55fps at high settings, with AMD's FSR upscaling providing a meaningful boost when enabled, since this card leans on software upscaling more than raw compute to hit higher frame rates. Ray tracing is technically supported but best reserved for lighter implementations, given the RX 9050's entry-level compute budget. This isn't a 1440p build, and stretching it there will show the GPU's limits quickly. For buyers wanting a 1080p rig built on genuinely new hardware rather than previous-generation leftovers, this ₹81,100 build delivers a modern foundation at a fair price.

Also read: BGMI 4.5 update to offer CarryMinati theme: Here is how to play it and when it will release

This is the end of Anthropic asking you to click “allow” every five minutes. Beginning August 14th, Claude Code will be set to auto mode by default for all those on the Pro, Max, and Team Plans, a change which reflects the extent of the control which developers give up to the AI as it codes on their behalf.

Those who have already chosen an alternative default may get asked once about switching modes. If you have a default that has been set by your administrator via managed settings, then there will be no change for you. The current option to enable Claude Code applies only to Enterprise users and Claude Code API customers on AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Foundry, although Anthropic says this will come soon as well.

Also read: Who is Deepak Dhar: The Indian Physicist who just won the 2026 Dirac Medal

What auto mode actually does

At the moment, Claude Code is constantly interrupting you, requesting a thumbs up before performing any operation, modifying any files, or making changes to your repository. Auto mode will replace that with an automatic classifier that checks all your actions for any non-reversible, damaging, or external-to-your-local-environment action. It will do this most of the time without you even noticing it. Whenever it blocks something, Claude usually figures out a way around this issue or just asks you right away. This is done only when three or twenty blocks occur in one session.

Why Anthropic is doing this now

Also read: Sovereign infra and sovereign AI not the same, says Tata Communications’ Andrew Winney

The numbers provided by the company make a rather uncomfortable argument that manual review fails to provide reliable results. Permission prompts are approved 97 percent of the time by developers, which does not seem to be thorough analysis but mere checking the boxes. In a controlled experiment conducted on over a thousand paid testers, people were able to detect dangerous commands added to their sessions only in 13.6 percent of cases, while auto mode managed to detect those 89 percent of the time. The discrepancy grew with every passing minute of a session because human testers got increasingly less efficient due to fatigue while classifier's results stayed the same.

Moreover, there is an implicit acknowledgment hidden in the numbers that about 50 percent of active Claude Code users have already created general allow rules or skipped permission checks altogether to avoid getting interrupted.

What it costs

Absolutely nothing, at least until further notice. The classifier does consume a small amount of extra tokens per invocation, but Anthropic is not charging for that overhead for Pro, Max, and Team plan subscribers anymore. And for cost-sensitive development teams in India, who are always looking to save on their token usage, that is the only clear-cut gain in this scenario.

The catch

As Anthropic acknowledges, this is a classifier, not an insurance policy. This lowers risk but does not remove it entirely. Anthropic still advises reviewing anything related to its production infrastructure by hand, and its own internal data reveals that the system is fallible but more reliable than the typical person mindlessly pressing "allow." 

For the typical software developer tinkering with agentic coding tools, this trade-off makes sense. You sacrifice some hand-holding, get slightly improved math around safety, and save a decision a few times a minute. It might be either a welcome convenience or a slight loss of control, depending on your faith in your own "allow" presses.

Also read: Best laptops to buy for students in India under Rs 65,000: Our top picks for August 2026

For students, buying a laptop is rarely just about getting the most powerful machine possible. You need something that can handle assignments, presentations, research, video calls and plenty of web browsing, while also being easy to carry around. And, of course, it should not cost a fortune. Thankfully, you do not have to spend Rs 1 lakh or more to get a capable laptop for college. There are several options available for under Rs 65,000 that offer enough performance for everyday work, along with features such as 16GB RAM, fast SSD storage and some great displays. So without wasting any more time, here are our top picks for students in India right now.

Also read: MacBook Ultra may not launch this year, everything we know

Motorola Motobook 60

The Motorola Motobook 60 is worth a serious look if you want a student laptop that combines performance with a premium-looking design. It comes with an Intel Core 5 210H processor paired with 16GB DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. This combination should be more than capable of handling everyday student workloads, including presentations, research, web browsing and multitasking.

In the front, you get a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 500 nits of brightness and 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage. The compact 1.4kg design also makes it easy to carry between classes. Motorola has also included a backlit keyboard, FHD webcam, face recognition and Microsoft Office Home 2024..

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 

If battery life and portability are high on your list, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Next Gen AI PC is another option worth considering. The laptop is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor and comes with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. This should give students enough performance for everyday tasks such as writing assignments, browsing the web, attending online classes and working on presentations.

In the front, you get a large 15.3-inch WUXGA IPS display, giving you plenty of screen space for multitasking. The laptop also benefits from the efficiency of the Snapdragon X platform, making it a suitable choice for students who spend long hours away from a charger. Lenovo also bundles Microsoft Office and one year of Accidental Damage Protection, adding some extra value to the package.

Acer Aspire Lite

The Acer Aspire Lite is a good choice if performance is your priority and you are not too concerned about having the thinnest or lightest laptop. It comes with Intel's Core i5-12450H processor, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. The H-series processor gives it enough headroom for demanding multitasking, so students can comfortably switch between multiple browser tabs, documents, presentations and other applications.

In the front, you get a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display that provides plenty of space for studying and entertainment. The laptop also features a backlit keyboard, which can be useful when working late at night. Acer has also included Microsoft Office Home 2024 and a one-year Microsoft 365 Basic subscription, making the Aspire Lite ready for productivity straight out of the box.

Asus Vivobook Go 15 (2026)

Another laptop worth considering is the Asus Vivobook Go 15 (2026), especially if you want something simple and dependable for everyday student use. The laptop is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, paired with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. This combination should comfortably handle everyday tasks such as browsing, presentations, video calls, document editing and online classes.

In the front, you get a 15.6-inch Full HD display, giving you enough screen space for working on assignments or watching content between study sessions. The laptop weighs around 1.63kg, so it should not be too difficult to carry around. ASUS also bundles Microsoft Office 2024 and a one-year Microsoft 365 Basic subscription, making it a practical option for students who want to get started without buying additional productivity software.

Lenovo V15

If you want a little more processing power without crossing the Rs 65,000 mark, the Lenovo V15 is worth checking out. It is powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 7730U processor with 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 512GB SSD. The eight-core processor should be able to handle everyday student workloads, including multitasking, web browsing, presentations and office applications.

In the front, you get a 15.6-inch Full HD anti-glare display with a 250-nit brightness rating. The laptop also includes a numeric keypad, which can come in handy if you regularly work with spreadsheets. There is also a USB-C port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort support, along with HDMI and Ethernet connectivity. At this price, the Lenovo V15 makes for a practical choice for students who prioritise performance and functionality over flashy design.

Which of these laptops do you think you will pick? Do let us know and keep watching this space for more such recommendations.

Also read: Best laptops under Rs 80,000 for work: Top 5 picks in 2026 

Deepak Dhar's CV just got a new addition to what is already a very impressive list. The 74-year-old Indian theoretical physicist is a recipient of the 2026 Dirac Medal, which is considered one of the most illustrious awards in the realm of theoretical physics, conferred by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy. Deepak Dhar is not the sole recipient of the award, which he won along with three other physicists: Bernard Derrida, Marc Mézard, and Haim Sompolinsky. All four were honoured for their efforts at transforming concepts from statistical mechanics, which is the area of physics concerned with collective behaviour of a large number of particles, into applications across diverse scientific fields.

Also read: Sovereign infra and sovereign AI not the same, says Tata Communications’ Andrew Winney

What did Dhar actually win it for?

Dhar’s most important contributions were his rigorous studies of the Abelian sandpile model, a mathematically tractable version of self-organised criticality. The original sandpile model was introduced by Per Bak, Chao Tang and Kurt Wiesenfeld in 1987; Dhar later showed that its toppling operations have an Abelian or commutative structure. This means that, once an avalanche has ended, the final stable configuration does not depend on the order in which individual sites topple. His work also made it possible to calculate important properties of the model exactly.

In the model, grains are added one at a time to a pile or to sites on a lattice. Most additions cause no avalanche or only a small one, but some can produce cascades involving many sites. The crucial insight of self-organised criticality is that a system can naturally evolve towards a critical state without requiring the precise external tuning of a control parameter. The size of any particular avalanche remains unpredictable, although the statistical distribution of avalanches can be studied mathematically.

This work provided an exactly solvable framework for studying how simple local rules can generate complex collective behaviour. Related ideas have been explored in models of earthquakes, biological systems, traffic and financial-market fluctuations, but the sandpile model should not be presented as a universal explanation for earthquakes, forest fires, market crashes or brain activity. The relevance of self-organised-criticality models differs from one real-world system to another.

Also read: AAA open-world games are losing their charm: What went wrong along the way

The company he's joining

The Dirac Medal, instituted in 1985 in memory of Nobel laureate Paul A.M. Dirac, is handed out annually on Dirac's birthday, August 8, and has built a reputation as a genuine bellwether for future scientific greatness. Eight past Dirac medallists have gone on to win actual Nobel Prizes in Physics.

The first medal ever awarded was to Edward Witten and Yakov Zeldovich, the only physicist to win the prestigious Fields Medal – the highest honour in mathematics – and a leading player in the field of string theory. Some of the other notable recipients of the medal have included Leonard Susskind, the co-founder of string theory and holography, and John Hopfield, whose research in neural networks earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024.

Dhar's credentials certainly make for a good case study in the form of his Ph.D. from Caltech, his decades-long association with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, followed by time at IISER Pune, the 2022 Boltzmann Medal (being the first Indian to win the prestigious award in statistical physics), and finally the Padma Bhushan, one of the country's highest civilian honours, in 2023.

The addition of the Dirac Medal to his list is bound to cement Dhar's status as one of the most decorated physicists of modern-day India.

Also read: DITAA 2026: We are at least 10 years away from being real innovators, says India’s appliance industry executives

Sovereign AI isn’t just a buzzword, it’s also severely misunderstood, being conveniently flattened into a binary test: is the data sitting inside the country or not?

That test isn’t wrong, it’s just insufficient. I put this to Andrew Winney, General Manager and Global Head of Cloud Product Management at Tata Communications, because his company sits at an unusual vantage point. Tata Communications has spent decades building and maintaining undersea cables that connect the global internet – over 500,000 km through which 30-35% of internet traffic flows every second. 

"We identified in this journey that we have a lot of distinctive competencies that allows us to do a lot of these services, especially our play around infrastructure, such as cloud, cybersecurity, a lot better and stronger," Winney told me, before making the connection that explains the whole strategy: "You look at any large hyperscalers, they want strong network."

That is a telling sentence. Because the hyperscalers are all more or less Tata Communications' customers. Which makes the company's own cloud play – the Vayu Cloud Platform, its AI Cloud and AI Studio layers – simultaneously complementary and competitive. For Tata Communications, it allows them to do something very unique that goes beyond just data residency requirements in the age of sovereign AI.

Sovereignty has layers, and India is only auditing the bottom one

Data residency compliance requirements predate COVID, to be honest, so why is it being revisited now in the need for sovereign AI? Winney’s response goes beyond just marketing slogans.

Also read: Before AI takes over, fix the wiring: Tata Communications’ infrastructure warning

"Sovereign infrastructure and sovereign AI are not the same. There are a lot of differences," he said. "When we spoke about sovereign infrastructure, we would have looked at where your data is stored, and where your infrastructure is really present."

That was the old test, in terms of localising your data in a database hosted on a server within national borders. But according to Winney, AI stacks four more layers on top of data alone – like compute, storage, GPU, etc – and each one can leak sovereignty independently, which is the real risk. 

The model layer is where it starts getting uncomfortable. "If your model is still communicating some of the data that you are using outside the country, your purpose is defeated. The sovereignty should also be looked at from a model perspective," Winney emphasizes.

"When I talk about a platform, it isn’t just a data plane that has to be sovereign. The control plane of how is this platform controlled from? Are these also controlled from India?," Winney asks as the million dollar question. "It is not really about where the data is, but who has keys to the data. And where are folks located who have access to the data, who can access the data? All of these are today important, a lot more important for AI to be truly sovereign."

None of this is abstract for Indian buyers, and according to Winney the demand is already commercial rather than merely regulatory: "Many of them are now looking at sovereignty. This could be driven by regulations. This could be driven even by cost of ownership, or this could be driven by other concerns," he points out.

AI pilots are dying in a massive GPU crunch

Going back to Winney’s five-layer problem of sovereign AI, an organisation that hasn’t worked out its data layer isn’t going to be sovereign AI compliant just because it fixed the other layers. And that is what's currently killing most of the Indian enterprise AI projects from demo to deployment..

Winney suggests Tata Communications built what he describes as, "the first GPU as a service in India around 2023. When there were a very limited number of competitors at that point." Three years of watching customers attempt the same transition has given Winney deep insights into what they do wrong.

Also read: Microsoft's Sovereign AI cloud push and its India significance explained

"As of today we have crossed the stage of planning for AI. We have crossed the stage of working on pilots. Most of the enterprises are moving into full-on production from pilots." But moving into production and surviving it are two completely different things, as Winney identifies two failure modes.

The first is infrastructure planning. "When you do a pilot with a certain amount of data, in a simulated environment, you are not able to reflect or understand what would be the impact when you take it production grade," he explains. The pilot succeeds precisely because it was small, and its success tells you almost nothing about the economics at scale.

The second is more damning, because it's self-inflicted. "In many cases enterprises overestimate the cleanliness of the data that they have, and the availability of data itself, which becomes a hurdle for them as they move into this production phase," according to Winney.

The wastage that follows isn’t trivial, and Winney's second example of it is genuinely counterintuitive. GPUs are the scarcest resource in this market, and yet, "When you do pilots, it is not that your GPUs utilize 24x7. So these are typically used for a few hours a day, and after that your GPUs would be idle," Winney highlights. This means customers keep paying for the compute regardless. The country's most contested resource is being rented by the month but only used by the hour, suggests Tata Communications.

"The bottleneck is across multiple layers even today, we are all GPU constrained. In India, the demand for GPU outnumbers the available GPU by a lot, that's the reality of the market today," Winney says. Sure, this isn’t a surprise anymore, given NVIDIA’s stock price over the past year or so. Except the interesting part is who’s demanding more GPU access.

"If you look at it in the last few months, we actually see many customers from outside the country actually wanting to come in and consume GPUs based out of India, for training requirements where typically your latency or delivery of service to customers is not really a problem," Winney says.

Think about it for a second. India, the country that has spent three years worrying about whether it has enough compute for its own ambitions, is now fielding demand from foreign customers who want to train AI workloads inside GPU clusters inside India. This is against the traditional narrative of India being a consumer of somebody else's GPU training cycles.

From AI factory to AI grid

Where does an infrastructure provider fit into a five-layer sovereign AI problem? All of them, is Winney's answer, or you're just selling capacity.

"If you have thousands of GPUs, you are considered an AI factory because you generate intelligence. That's how NVIDIA really defined it,” recounts Winney, before suggesting what comes next. "From your AI factory where you manufacture intelligence, AI grids are essentially going to be where you deliver intelligence."

Also read: Yotta to Adani: India building sovereign, frontier AI with Global South relevance

In an AI factory where training happens centrally at scale, going forward inference has to happen close to the user, suggests Winney. For a company like Tata Communications, which already owns globally distributed points of presence, it allows them to make every edge node a GPU-powered inference layer.

And that brings me to my favourite piece of jargon from the entire conversation. "I'll throw you one more jargon, now customers are talking about what they call a token path, which essentially is what it takes to generate a token and getting it consumed."

The token path is a genuinely useful frame, because it exposes where the accountability gaps are. That's the bet Tata Communications is making. "With the capabilities that we have with the cloud and platform on one side, the edge capabilities and the network that sort of connects it all, I think we got the complete token path covered, which means we'll be able to provide better experiences," Winney emphasizes.

Whether owning the network turns out to be a durable moat or merely a nice-to-have is the open question – but there is one data point Winney offers that's hard to ignore. "We work a lot with even our government. A significant percentage of our capacity today is leveraged by our government for many sensitive use cases. That also shows the trust our infrastructure has and what we have proven with them." India's most sovereignty-sensitive customer has already voted.

The broader lesson from this conversation isn't about any one provider. That data sovereignty isn’t equal to sovereign AI. The harder work of defining control planes, enforcing model boundaries, and who holds the keys to every Indian enterprise’s kingdom and where they live – is the part that needs to be relooked and re-examined going forward.

Also read: Infrastructure control is key for sovereign AI stack, says IBM

Do you remember what "open world" once meant? Back when just that phrase was enough to grab your attention. An open world is a huge, untapped map, an unseen horizon. A world where beyond that hill lay the adventure that no one had ever spoken of to you. But this is all gone. Somehow, somewhere in between the dragon yells in Skyrim and the fortieth tower of Ubisoft that you have to climb this decade, open world games have lost their sense of wonder for one of work. The one thing no one wants to admit in a marketing meeting is that bigger isn't necessarily better anymore.

Also read: GTA 6 extended look preview: What to expect

The map that ruined the map

Take any AAA world map today, and you will see the equivalent of a little kid running amok with stickers. Question marks, exclamation points, camps to take down, towers to ascend, treasure chests to unlock – whatever else is out there on that third pixel from the left. The map is no longer a map but rather a spreadsheet with pictures attached.

The beauty of exploring something was that you had nothing to go by; you did not know anything out there. Today, however, you are being told everything up front, and then invited to find excitement in marching to your own marker and unlocking the prize that you have already been promised. That is not exploration, that is fulfillment logistics.

Let’s take the case of Far Cry 6. Take out the Cuba-themed paint job and what you’ve got is the same outpost capture, tower climb, and check point liberation sequence that was seen in Far Cry 3 way back in 2012. Different setting, same old Excel sheet.

Content became a number, not a feeling

At some point in time, the publishing companies realized that "hours of gameplay" was an important selling point in itself regardless of the quality of the game. Assassin's Creed Valhalla had 100 hours of gameplay on average, 150 hours for completionists, and even people who actually enjoyed the game concede that it's too much time spent with Vikings. The size stopped becoming valuable.

Also read: Vivo S2 in Digit Test Labs: Seven years later, the S series returns with a 7,050mAh battery

It's at this point that we get upset. Not because the game is too long. It's because it's bad. We demanded one but received the other instead.

Systems on systems on systems

Crafting. Skills. Tiered equipment. Factions and their relationships with the player. Building bases. All of these seem like depth on paper. In reality, most of them are just obstacles disguised as progression; things you need to take care of first before you can get down to what you actually started the game to do. Depth does not consist of a stat screen. Depth is a world that responds to the actions of the player in it.

A prime example of this problem is Star Wars Outlaws. An entire universe boiled down to a reputation system, which you need to work up with rival gangsters just to get vendor unlocks, all for additional material, which many critics pointed out to be nothing but filler to a story that does not require any. This Star Wars game turns being a scoundrel into bureaucracy. Depth is not an inventory; depth is a living world, responding to what you do inside of it.

The Ubisoft formula ate the whole genre

And this is the awkward part. It’s not just Ubisoft anymore. The formula used so perfectly by Far Cry and Assassin's Creed – where unlocking the towers means unlocking the map, and everything else involves collecting more things and clearing outposts – is quietly becoming the default package for any open-world game developer, even those who have never before worked on an Ubisoft game. The end result? A genre where half the big games released each year seem the same.

The darkest joke here is Skull and Bones, a game that took over a decade to ship and still managed to arrive feeling like a live-service open world built entirely out of spare Ubisoft parts. Even the studio that literally invented the formula couldn't make it feel fresh the eleventh time around. That should have been the warning shot the whole industry needed.

But here's the twist

Open-world gaming isn't really dying. Not only did Elden Ring not die from going open-world, but it ended up becoming the most successful project by FromSoftware ever. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom redefined the exploration experience and were showered in multiple Game of the Year awards. Even a technically faulty Pokémon Legends: Arceus has a great turn out for the franchise.

Therefore, the real story here is not "open-world is dead." It's a narrower story and a more damning one. The formulaic open-world genre is dead. Players aren't tired of having large maps. They are tired of large maps that treat them like a series of tasks rather than characters themselves. The games that still make us feel something are the games that reminded themselves the whole point of an open world was a world, not a series of icons.

The genre didn't lose its charm because it got bigger. It lost its charm because too many studios confused size for soul, and forgot that the whole point of an open world was never how much was in it. It was how much you wanted to find out for yourself.

Also read: EA is now owned by a Saudi Arabia-backed investor group: All details

At the Digit India's Top Appliance Awards 2026 industry leaders gathered on the sidelines to debate a question that sits at the heart of India's manufacturing ambitions: can the country move beyond being the world's production floor to becoming a genuine source of global innovation? The conversation brought together executives from across the consumer electronics and appliances ecosystem and what emerged was a picture that was honest about how far India has come and equally realistic about how far it still needs to go.

From assembly to design

Swati Samaddar, Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy at CP Plus challenged the conventional framing of India's manufacturing story. “The biggest opportunity currently in India is not make in India, but design in India, design for India and design for the world,” she said. Her argument was that India's scale and demographic complexity give it a unique advantage: conditions that resemble the global south more than any advanced economy, which makes it an ideal laboratory for products that could travel. “India has to move from assembling to designing, writing the code for the software which is running each and every appliance, as well as ensuring they are tested for India and for the world.”

Sanjay Jain, Director at ElanPro made the same point through the lens of industrial evolution. “Manufacturing has really taken a big leap in India. Probably the next thing should be the innovation. That will put India on the global stage. We should not be only making, but we should be leading the world in innovation. With all the technology which is available, with Indian engineers, we have some of the top engineers globally leading the tech companies. All that should come into manufacturing also.”

The gap that nobody is filling

Rajeev Singh, Managing Director of BenQ India and South Asia, zeroed in on a very specific structural gap that the broader Make in India narrative tends to overlook. “In the overall ecosystem, one thing is completely missing, which is the display fab manufacturing. Because display is now an integral part of almost all the devices. And not having a display fab in India, that means a good part of every product still has to be imported into India. That's the one big thing which is yet to happen.”

It is an astute observation that India has made significant strides in mobile assembly, television manufacturing and component sourcing, but the absence of a domestic display fabrication ecosystem means that the most visible and value-intensive component of nearly every screen-based product continues to be imported. Until that changes, a meaningful portion of the value chain for consumer electronics will remain offshore.

Quality, standards and what BIS is getting right

The panel also pushed back on the assumption that scale comes at the cost of quality. Samaddar pointed to the surveillance camera segment, where regulatory intervention has driven both quality and market share in the same direction. “In India, quality is maintained by multiple agencies, but the biggest agency we know of is BIS. With the nodal ministry, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, they have ensured not only do the brands manufacture in India, they manufacture as per the technical norms and the cyber secure requirements which are necessary for such a sensitive product.” The result, she noted, is that Indian companies now hold more than 50% market share in the surveillance camera segment, with even global brands entering the market and certifying locally. “Quality is determined by what you can deliver with standards and by following the regulations. And consumers follow.”

Singh added that BenQ's own approach to localisation is guided by consumer insight rather than a blanket component-sourcing mandate. “We don't believe that when you do make in India, you should make each and every part in India. You should really leverage on the things which are good in India. More importantly, when you have a product which is designed for India. We have certain product categories which have come into being because of consumer research in India. They were launched first in India and then globally and they have been a big hit.”

The supply chain reality

When it came to global supply chains, Jain described the experience from the commercial refrigeration industry, where the compressor, the most critical component, is still almost entirely imported. “It has been a nightmare, actually, for the last couple of months. Post-COVID things have really taken a big hit. The reliance which was there earlier has started reducing, but it continues to hurt us. Maybe in the next two or three years, India will be self-reliant, particularly on the compressor side.”

Samaddar broadened the picture saying “Global supply chains went through multiple upheavals right from COVID. There was the semiconductor supply chain crisis. Then the critical mineral crisis. And now we are dealing with the memory crisis, along with SoC. The memory crisis is such that it is affecting each and every appliance in the consumer segment.” Her prescription is to diversify supply chains geographically and begin designing in-house so that supplier selection is not inherited from whoever designed the product elsewhere. “If you bring in the design from outside, you will bring in suppliers which are set in stone in that design. If you design here, you define who should be your supplier. Once you start designing in-house, you design with the supplie,” she added.

Singh echoed this sentiment highlighting, “We have changed our stocking policy and our forecasting, because both have really helped us to mitigate the kind of risks which are very, very uncertain. You just cannot predict what is going to hit you next.”

Circularity as a competitive edge, not a compliance exercise

Mayank Sinha, Business Head at Selsmart, who operates in the recycling and take-back space offered a view of the manufacturing conversation pointing as to what happens to products after the consumer is done with them.

Sinha's argument was that circularity is becoming a solid sales enabler, not merely an environmental imperative. “Brands are now embracing circularity and I don't say it in terms of a fancy word. They have understood that if there is a business model where you can build exchanges, you can build take-back by providing an attractive value and you can go to a home and pick it up, the customer is embracing it and brands are embracing it.” He noted that Selsmart has partnered with around ten brands over the past year and that the model has worked in ways even its creators found counterintuitive. “In South India, many cities, places in Kerala, it's very counterintuitive: when we reduce our prices a bit of what we are purchasing, it actually sometimes the sales have gone up. What we have noticed is that consumers are looking for convenience. They are looking for someone to plug the whole ecosystem of not only buying, but quickly someone coming and picking up.”

On the manufacturing angle specifically, Sinha pointed to advances in materials recovery as a reason to bring recycling formally into the supply chain conversation. “Companies like us are able to extract 27 metals at 99.9% purity, which means that they can be reused in original manufacturing. If that link is there and the processes you have are mirrored to what a manufacturer needs, then those materials become valuable.”

How far is India from real innovation?

The panel's most unvarnished moment came when Jain was asked directly whether India has reached the point where companies are evaluated for innovation rather than just production capacity. “In certain categories, yes. Overall, it is still a long way. The first thing which you start doing is assembling. Then you start trying to do some localisation and move into complete manufacturing. We have done the same. And then you start innovating, designing. In my line, commercial refrigeration, we are doing a lot of backward engineering still because the globe is much, much ahead of us, be it in refrigerant or compressor and other things. In my wisdom, in my views, we are still at least 10 years away from being real innovators and designers overall in the appliances segment.”

Ten years is a long time in technology, but the fact that senior industry figures are naming a timeline suggests the conversation has matured past the point where manufacturing volume is treated as an end in itself. The harder question, which will be answered by investment decisions, regulatory frameworks and design capability over the next decade, is whether it can get there.

Also Read: DITAA 2026: Digit India’s Top Appliance Awards 2026 winners announced, check the complete list

Just a couple of days back, rumour mills were rife that GTA 6 launch could be postponed again. It all started when a former Rockstar Games animator had said that yet another delay is possible and it might last as much as 6 months. That naturally left fans worried, especially after Rockstar had already delayed the game more than once. But now, there is finally some good news. Rockstar Games and Netflix (yes, Netflix!) recently announced Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, giving players another glimpse at one of the most anticipated games ever made before it arrives later this year. While the studio is keeping most details under wraps, there are several details that have surfaced. Here is everything we know so far. 

Also read: GTA 6 may face another delay even after pre-orders, says former Rockstar developer

What did Rockstar say?

Rockstar Games has officially announced Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, which will premiere on August 27 at 3 PM ET (12:30 AM IST on August 28). Interestingly, the presentation will debut first on Netflix, making it the first time Rockstar has partnered with the streaming platform for the premiere of GTA-related content.

The showcase will later be released on Rockstar Games' official YouTube channel and the GTA VI website, around six hours after the Netflix premiere, allowing everyone to watch it.

Apart from announcing the event, Rockstar has not revealed much else. The company has simply described it as "An Extended Look", without confirming whether fans will get gameplay footage, developer commentary, story details or a breakdown of the game's mechanics.

The partnership with Netflix also comes as the streaming platform continues to expand its gaming catalogue, which already includes mobile versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

What can we expect?

While Rockstar has remained tight-lipped about the contents of the presentation, there definitely are some clues that could give us an idea of what the presentation might look like.

The first is the name itself. Rockstar is calling this an Extended Look, rather than simply announcing another trailer. That could suggest a longer presentation, although the studio has not explained what the title means.

If we were to predict, gameplay footage is probably the biggest thing fans will be waiting for. Until now, Rockstar has shown us plenty of cinematic footage of Vice City, Jason and Lucia, but an extended presentation could give us a much better idea of what it is actually like to play the game.

We could also get a closer look at Vice City and the wider Leonida map. Rockstar has already confirmed that GTA 6 is set across the fictional state of Leonida, so an extended presentation could show how the different locations connect with each other. Fans could get a better idea of the environments, cities and areas they will be able to explore when the game launches.

Another thing I would expect Rockstar to focus on is Jason and Lucia. The two protagonists are at the centre of GTA 6's story, and the trailers have already established their relationship. An extended look could show more of how the two characters work together during missions and how switching between them fits into the gameplay.

Then, the game's combat could also get some attention. We may get to see some car chases, shootouts and other activities in real gameplay rather than just cinematic sequences.

Finally, there could also be a closer look at the game's open-world activities. GTA games have always offered a lot to do outside the main story, and GTA 6's trailers have already shown that Leonida is designed to feel like a busy, lived-in world. If Rockstar wants to demonstrate how large and detailed the game is, showing some of these activities would make sense.

How long will the extended look be?

Now Rockstar hasn't specified how long this extended look would be. But, there is an unconfirmed report about the runtime. Netflix customer support reportedly told a fan that the presentation would be around 20 minutes long. And if this indeed turns out to be true, the video would be considerably longer than a usual GTA trailer and could give Rockstar enough time to show more than just cinematic footage.

However, there is a reason to not get too excited here. The response reportedly came from Netflix customer support, and it is unclear whether the person responding was a human representative or an AI chatbot.

That said, the claim does still line up with an earlier rumour from GTA content creator DarkViperAU. He had previously claimed that one of his sources told him Rockstar was preparing a 20-minute GTA 6 gameplay presentation. Gaming insider NateTheHate had also said that the next GTA 6 reveal would provide a “meaningful look” at the game.

What we know about GTA 6

Grand Theft Auto VI is currently scheduled to launch on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, despite recent rumours suggesting another delay.

Pre-orders are already live in India. The Standard Edition is priced at Rs 5,999, while the Ultimate Edition costs Rs 7,499. Players who pre-order the digital version will be able to pre-load the game from November 12.

The game is set in the fictional state of Leonida, inspired by Florida, and follows protagonists Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos as they navigate an open world centred around Vice City.

Rockstar first confirmed that GTA 6 was in development in 2022 before officially unveiling the game in 2023. After multiple delays, the title is now on track for release later this year, with the Extended Look expected to be one of the final major updates before launch.

So what do you think GTA 6 extended look has in store and are you excited about the game? Let us know and keep watching this space for more such updates. 

Also read: You may soon get to play all Xbox 360 games on your PC, here is all we know

The Indian smartphone market is no longer the one that Xiaomi disrupted a decade ago. Back then, the success was largely defined by pricing, online flash sales and premium hardware to lower price segments. Today, the conversation is an altogether different ballgame. Consumers are upgrading less frequently, component prices are climbing, AI is rapidly becoming a differentiator, and brands are under increasing pressure to deliver long-term value instead of short-term specifications. Against this backdrop, Xiaomi has come up with the Redmi Note 17, a smartphone that seems to be a part of a broader transition. Rather than packing every possible specification into the device, the company says it has focused on delivering a balanced package.

During an interaction with Sandeep Singh Arora, Chief Business Officer, Xiaomi India and Sandeep Sarma, Associate Director, Marketing & PR, Xiaomi India, we learnt why the Redmi Note series continues to be one of the company's most important product lines, how rising memory prices are changing smartphone development, why Xiaomi simplified the camera system, what HyperOS 3 is trying to achieve, and why the company believes the Redmi Note 17 is built for a market where longevity matters more than ever.

Redmi Note is no longer just another smartphone series

Well, very few smartphone lineups in India have indeed managed to stay relevant for more than a decade. Since launching alongside India's early 4G wave, the Redmi Note series has evolved into one of Xiaomi's biggest success stories, helping introduce millions of consumers to larger batteries, better displays and improved performance without pushing prices into flagship territory.

Xiaomi believes that legacy continues to influence buying decisions today. In fact, the company says the Redmi Note has become a trusted recommendation for consumers looking for an all-round smartphone rather than simply the most affordable option.

‘The Note series in India has shipped 85 million units, which puts us in a very different sort of spot even compared to most OEMs,’ said Sandeep Sarma. According to him, many brands have not shipped that many smartphones across their entire portfolio. ‘The Note series has been the most reliable, recommendable and robust smartphone franchise India has had,’ he added.

Redmi Note 17: All-rounder to enhance overall experience?

The smartphone industry is currently dealing with rising component costs, particularly around memory and storage. At the same time, consumers are expecting larger batteries, brighter displays, AI features and longer software support without price increases. Xiaomi says that balancing those expectations required a different approach while developing the Redmi Note 17. Instead of focusing on one standout specification, the company wanted to deliver a package that remains competitive across multiple areas.

‘At this moment we believe we've got an outstanding proposition with the cutting-edge chipset, an 8,000mAh battery, an AMOLED screen and a user experience that is best in segment,’ said Sandeep Singh Arora. He added that Xiaomi believes consumers are increasingly evaluating smartphones based on the complete experience rather than a single headline feature. ‘It is about the proposition as a package. There is no other product at this price point offering an AMOLED display, this battery capacity and the latest Snapdragon chipset together,’ he added.

Rising memory prices are forcing the industry to rethink value

One of the biggest challenges facing smartphone makers today isn't visible to consumers. The industry is currently dealing with rising memory prices, which have affected manufacturing costs across price segments. According to Xiaomi, this isn't a temporary fluctuation but part of a broader supply-demand imbalance that will take time to stabilise. 

‘There is currently a huge shortage of memory chips, and it takes time to build capacity,’ Arora explained. Comparing it to hotel prices during peak tourist seasons, he said pricing will eventually stabilise once manufacturing capacity catches up with demand. ‘A lot will depend upon how demand shapes up and how the various industries related to mobile add capacity,’ he added.

Xiaomi wants the Redmi Note 17 to stay relevant for years

Perhaps the biggest change in India's smartphone market isn't hardware, it's consumer behaviour. Buyers who once upgraded every year are now keeping their phones for three or four years, forcing brands to think beyond launch-day performance. 

Xiaomi says the Redmi Note 17 has been developed with this mind shift. Instead of relying on an older processor that may have offered stronger benchmark numbers today, the company opted for Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 to ensure longer software compatibility.

‘People are holding on to their devices for longer. They want performance in the fourth year just as it was on day one,’ Sarma said. The company confirmed that the Redmi Note 17 will receive four years of Android updates and six years of security updates, extending software support until 2032.

‘We could have gone for an older chipset that may have delivered slightly better benchmark numbers, but two years later there would have been no support from the chipset supplier,’ he added. According to Xiaomi, long-term usability is now more important than short-term benchmark wins.

Xiaomi believes fewer cameras can sometimes make a better phone

For years, smartphone makers competed by increasing the number of rear cameras. Xiaomi believes those days are gradually fading. The company says its internal usage data shows that the overwhelming majority of users rely almost exclusively on the primary camera, making it more meaningful to improve image quality than add secondary sensors that contribute little to the overall experience.

‘Most consumers want a very good primary camera, and that remains 90 to 95 per cent of usage,’ Sarma explained. He added that Xiaomi consciously avoided adding cameras simply to improve the specification sheet. ‘We don't want to add sub-par hardware just to tick the right box,’ he added. Instead, Xiaomi has invested more heavily in software optimisation and AI processing.

More Redmi Note devices are already on the way

Although Xiaomi launched the standard Redmi Note 17 first this year, the company has confirmed that the lineup will expand ahead of the festive season. Unlike previous years, Xiaomi intentionally chose to introduce the base model before unveiling its higher-end variants.

‘Yes, before the festival we will launch the Pro,’ Arora confirmed. However, he did not mention when it would hit the retail shelves in India.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z8 series have finally made choosing a new foldable smartphone a lot more interesting. This year around, it is no longer about buying the latest book-style Fold model, because up until this point, there has always been only one premium option. This time, Samsung has taken a different route by splitting its flagship foldable lineup into two very different devices: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8, and I actually like this approach because the choice here is not about buying the ‘better’ foldable phone. Instead, it is about buying the one that suits the way you use it every day.

On one hand, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra brings you the biggest display, the best cameras, and the ultimate multitasking experience. On the other hand, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is lighter, easier to carry, and much more comfortable to live with every single day. And if you are wondering which one deserves your money, here is how I see it.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Z Fold 8: Key specifications

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Z Fold 8: The form factor check

I recently switched from the Galaxy S26 Ultra to the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8. My reason was pretty straightforward. I simply wanted something lighter and easier to use in my daily life. Trust me, the S26 Ultra is one heck of a solid all-rounder, but carrying a large phone all day started to become a hassle, and I realised convenience matters just as much as having the biggest screen. And that is exactly why I think the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 will immediately appeal to a lot of people.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra display tested: The most colour accurate foldable screen

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 weighs just 201g and adopts a shorter, wider passport-style design. When folded shut, it may feel slightly wide to some but is still remarkably close to using a regular smartphone thanks to its 5.5-inch cover display. For me, that makes one-handed use much easier than massive devices like the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It also slips into a pocket more comfortably and feels less intimidating during everyday use.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, on the other hand, is a different beast altogether. Samsung has stayed with its familiar book-style design, complete with a larger 6.5-inch cover display. Unfold it and you get an astonishingly thin 4.1mm profile. Even at 215g, it is impressively light considering its size. And that extra size gives you an enormous 8.0-inch inner display with a squarish 10:9 aspect ratio. If you regularly work across multiple apps, reply to emails while browsing documents, or take notes while watching YouTube, the extra space makes quite a big difference.

The standard Galaxy Z Fold 8, meanwhile, comes with a 7.6-inch inner display featuring a 4:3 aspect ratio. Personally, I think this shape works better for entertainment, hands down. Streaming films and TV shows feels more immersive because you see noticeably smaller black bars on apps like Netflix or even YouTube. It also goes head-to-head with the wider inner display on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, although Samsung still has the edge when it comes to software optimisation and multitasking.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Z Fold 8: Optics and power

Now, let us talk about cameras. As I already mentioned, I am coming from a Galaxy S26 Ultra, and that phone has completely spoiled me. Once you get used to flagship camera hardware, it becomes very difficult to accept compromises elsewhere. And for years, that was exactly the problem with foldables. You spent almost twice as much as a conventional flagship phone, yet the cameras left a lot to be desired.

On the bright side, I wouldn’t say this for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Samsung has equipped its latest foldable flagship with a 200MP primary camera, a 50MP ultrawide sensor, and a dedicated 10MP 3x telephoto camera. Given the hardware, if camera performance sits high on your priority list, this is the foldable I would recommend without hesitation.

Now, the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8, that I personally use, makes a few sensible compromises to keep both its weight and pricing under control. You still get a capable 50MP primary camera alongside a 50MP ultrawide sensor. However, this phone doesn’t get a dedicated telephoto lens altogether. For everyday photos, a get together with friends and social media uploads, I think most people will be perfectly happy with the results. Of course, if you enjoy zoom photography, though, you will definitely notice the missing optical reach.

However, when it comes to performance, Samsung has wisely avoided creating unnecessary differences. Both phones run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, support 45W wired charging, 20W wireless charging and carry an IP48 rating for dust and water resistance. Given their respective sizes, the Fold 8 Ultra includes a slightly larger 5,000mAh battery, while the standard Fold 8 comes with a 4,800mAh unit. Mind you, these are higher-density silicon-carbon batteries, which is a big plus.

In my experience, either phone should comfortably last through a demanding workday packed with calls, texting, web browsing, multimedia consumption and plenty of multitasking without looking for a charger before bedtime. I know, my Fold 8 easily lasts through a full workday. But, of course, your mileage may vary depending on the type of user you are. For most folks, both phones’ endurance should easily suffice.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Z Fold 8: Which one should you buy?

This brings us to the pricing of both smartphones, and Samsung’s strategy looks pretty clear in this respect. The standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at Rs 1,79,999 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant and goes up to Rs 2,39,999 for the 16GB + 1TB model.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra sits a step higher, starting at Rs 1,99,999 for the base 12GB RAM + 256GB storage option and reaching Rs 2,59,999 for the top-end 16GB + 1TB configuration.

So, which one would I buy?

Well, if you’re like me and your priority is mainly watching content on a perfect 4:3 mobile screen, or utilising that same screen in 3:4 aspect ratio for reading, browsing or simply carrying something that doubles as a compact tablet without feeling bulky in your pocket, I would happily save the Rs 20,000 and choose the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8. I think this phone delivers a fantastic media experience while still feeling reassuringly close to a normal smartphone when folded shut. In fact, out of the two foldable flagships, I am personally reviewing the Fold 8, while I have given the Fold 8 Ultra for review to my colleague.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 early review: Lots to unpack!

But, if you want absolutely everything Samsung can offer in a foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the no-nonsense obvious choice. You get the largest display, the top-tier multitasking experience and flagship-grade cameras that make the premium asking price feel justified.

Of course, neither phone is trying to replace the other. Unlike slab phones, where it often gets tricky to justify the differences between an Ultra and a standard model, in this case, both of these Samsung foldables cater to two very different kinds of buyers. And that I feel makes choosing between them much easier than you think.

Dell’s two of the most popular brands, XPS and Alienware, cater to very different consumers. XPS, as we all know, is mainly for productivity users looking for nothing but the best in terms of both performance and looks. On the other hand, Alienware is for gamers who refuse any compromises. And for years, both these brands have offered devices costing easily around and over Rs 2 lakh. But that is no longer the case. A couple of days back, Dell introduced us to two very unique devices: the XPS 13 and the Alienware 15. Both of these devices are relatively affordable compared to their predecessors yet promise no compromises. 

On the sidelines of the very fancy launch event held in New Delhi, we sat down with Anurag Arora, Dell Technologies India’s Senior Director and General Manager, Consumer Sales. From asking him about the idea behind the new Alienware to what we can expect from the XPS 13 (which, by the way, is priced at Rs 79,990), the conversation had a lot to offer. Here are the excerpts from the interview. 

Also read: Best laptops under Rs 80,000 for work: Top 5 picks in 2026 

Dell XPS 13: Who is it for 

‘XPS stands for design, craftsmanship and premium experiences. Take the new XPS 13, for example. The moment you see it, it's a delight to behold.’

That's how Arora summed up the XPS lineup when asked what continues to set it apart from the competition. He said the new XPS 13 combines the brand's lightest design yet with features such as a 2.5K touch display, a CNC-machined chassis and a backlit keyboard, while also making the lineup more accessible in terms of pricing.

And the laptop, according to him, is for both students and young professionals. 

He explained, ‘Laptops have become an integral part of our daily lives. We carry them everywhere, so portability matters more than ever. The lighter the device, the better the experience. Battery life is equally important, and the XPS 13 delivers up to 17 hours on a single charge. Then, features such as the touch display make it easier for professionals to present ideas or collaborate with others, while the backlit keyboard improves usability in different lighting conditions.’

‘Now students are constantly moving between home, college and coaching centres, while young professionals travel between offices, meetings and workspaces. So, both these groups need a laptop that's lightweight, portable and dependable. And by making the XPS lineup more accessible, we believe it appeals strongly to both audiences.’

India's premium laptop market 

India is no longer just another market for Dell. According to Arora, it has become one of the company's key growth markets globally.

He said, ‘India is one of Dell's strategic high-growth markets and continues to play a significant role in the global digital landscape. Its scale, favourable demographics and rapid adoption of technology make it one of the world's most dynamic consumer markets.’

For Dell, he added, India represents more than just a business opportunity.

‘We are not building for one India. We are building for many Indias that exist within India,’ he said while referring to students, creators, gamers, professionals, first-time buyers and premium users.

Summing up Dell's strategy for the Indian market, Arora said, ‘We are expanding our consumer portfolio with devices built for productivity, entertainment and gaming while bringing premium AI experiences to more consumers across India.’

How AI is quietly becoming part of everyday PC use

AI may be one of the most-used words in tech today, and Arora believes consumers are already benefiting from it in ways they may not even notice.

He explained that AI works in two ways. First, it improves the laptop experience itself.

‘Based on your usage, AI can optimise battery life, improve camera framing during video calls and make the overall experience more intuitive.’

The second is through AI applications that users actively interact with.

‘We are seeing increasing adoption of Microsoft Copilot and a growing ecosystem of AI applications designed specifically for PCs.’

According to Arora, different users naturally have different AI requirements.

‘A student may use AI for learning and research, while a gamer may rely on completely different AI-powered experiences.’

As AI becomes more deeply integrated into everyday workflows, he believes consumers are beginning to recognise its value.

‘Today, you already have a powerful AI device in your hands, and that's the future we're building towards.’

Laptops will become more specialised over the next few years

When asked about the biggest shift consumers are not talking about yet, Arora said laptops will increasingly be designed around specific user needs rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

‘The XPS 13 represents AI-powered productivity with premium design, portability and accessibility.’ On the other hand, he pointed to the Alienware lineup for users looking for maximum gaming performance.

‘Alienware is built for gamers and performance enthusiasts, while also giving users the flexibility to switch into a more productivity-focused mode when required.’

Despite this, Arora believes the industry will continue moving towards a multi-device ecosystem. ‘A student's requirements are different from those of a creator or a gamer. Devices will become increasingly versatile, but people will still choose products that best suit their specific needs.’

Alienware 15 and what it offers

Alienware has always been known as Dell's premium gaming brand. As mentioned already, with the new Alienware 15, the company wants to make the laptop accessible for a wider audience.

‘Alienware has a legacy that goes back nearly 30 years. Since the brand was launched in 1996, it has always represented premium gaming performance,’ Arora said before adding that the goal behind the Alienware 15 was to make the brand's signature engineering and design more accessible without compromising on the overall experience.

‘We wanted more gamers to experience Alienware performance, engineering and design at a more accessible price point.’

The laptop features a 15.3-inch WQXGA display with a 165Hz refresh rate to deliver smooth gameplay, but Dell believes its appeal extends beyond gaming.

‘Whether someone is gaming, studying, working or consuming content, we wanted them to experience the signature Alienware design and performance.’

Why should gamers pick Alienware?

Now let’s be honest: there are many gaming laptops available in the market today. In such a scenario, why should consumers pick Alienware? Arora believes the answer lies in the laptop’s legacy. 

He said, ‘The respect that Alienware has within the gaming community has been built over decades.’

Beyond the brand name, he then pointed to features of the Alienware 15 such as the 15.3-inch WQXGA display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, a 165Hz refresh rate and Stealth Mode, which allows users to switch between gaming and a quieter productivity experience. He also highlighted Dell's Cryo-Tech cooling system, which is designed to maintain stable performance during demanding gaming sessions.

At last, he explained, ‘When you combine the Alienware legacy, premium engineering and gaming-focused features, we believe Alienware continues to stand out as one of the strongest choices for gamers.’

Also read: Dell launches XPS 13 and Alienware 15 in India, price starts from Rs 79,990

Vivo has finally brought back its S-series in the market after nearly seven years with the launch of the Vivo S2. The S series sits between the Y and V series in Vivo's smartphone lineup. It comes with a stronger focus on design. In fact, Vivo calls it its "Design-First" series, aimed at young users who want a premium experience.

The Vivo S2 looks to tick many of the right boxes, atleast on paper. It comes with a curved AMOLED display, a large 7,050mAh battery, a 50MP Sony main camera, and the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset. But as we all know, just having good hardware doesn't always translate into a great overall experience.

The Vivo S2 has arrived at the Digit Test Labs and over the next few days, I'll be putting it through a series of tests to find out whether it's worth your attention. But before the final verdict, here's my first impressions of the Vivo S2.

Design and display

Taking the Vivo S2 out of the box, the first thing that caught my attention was its design. The phone looks sleek and feels comfortable to hold. Vivo sent us the Silk White colour variant, and I think it looks quite elegant. The back panel uses a plastic composite sheet and has a wave-like pattern, giving the phone a unique look when light falls on it at different angles.

On the rear panel, you'll notice the pill-shaped camera module on the top. It houses two cameras on the left, while Vivo's Aura Light sits on the right. The camera island doesn't stick out too much.

Speaking of the display, the Vivo S2 features a 6.83-inch curved AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate. The screen itself looks vibrant and smooth at first glance. Vivo says the panel can reach up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which should make it easier to use outdoors.

Cameras

The Vivo S2 comes with a dual rear camera setup that includes:

• Main camera: 50MP Sony IMX852 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture
• Secondary camera: 2MP sensor with an f/2.4 aperture

On the front, you get a 32MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture for selfies and video calls.

In my early testing, the main camera seems to capture good colours and decent detail in daylight. The selfie camera also appears promising at first glance. That said, I'll be testing both the front and rear cameras in different lighting conditions, including low light and portrait shots, before sharing my final thoughts in the full review.

Performance and software

The Vivo S2 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset, which is built on a 4nm process. It is paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. On paper, the hardware looks capable of handling everyday tasks like browsing, social media streaming and multitasking.

In my initial usage, the phone felt smooth while navigating through the UI and switching between apps. That said, I'll be putting the chipset through benchmarks and gaming tests over the next few days to see how it performs under heavier workloads.

On the software side, the Vivo S2 runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16 out of the box. The interface feels fluid so far.

Battery and charging

The Vivo S2 packs a large 7,050mAh battery, which is one of its biggest highlights. Despite the big battery, the phone doesn't feel too heavy in the hand. It still manages to feel comfortable to hold and use for long periods.

The phone supports 44W wired fast charging. While the charging speed isn't the fastest in this segment, the larger battery could make up for it by offering longer battery life.

So, on paper, the Vivo S2 looks promising when it comes to endurance. However, I'll be testing its battery life and charging speed over the next few days to see how it performs in real-world usage.

Vivo S2: Early thoughts 

The Vivo S2 brings back the S series with a design that stands out, while also offering a curved AMOLED display, a large 7,050mAh battery and reliable cameras. The phone also feels smooth in day-to-day use so far, thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset and OriginOS 6.

That said, the Vivo S2 enters a highly competitive segment where buyers have plenty of options to choose from. So, while the specifications look promising on paper, the real challenge will be how well the phone performs in everyday use. The cameras, battery life, software experience and overall performance will decide if the Vivo S2 is worth considering.

Over the next few days, I'll be putting the Vivo S2 through our set of tests at the Digit Test Labs, including benchmarks, camera evaluation, battery tests and gaming. Stay tuned for the complete review, coming soon on Digit.

A smartwatch for children is not simply a smaller version of an adult fitness watch. The priorities are quite different. Parents are generally looking for a device that can help them contact their child, check their location and restrict who can communicate with them, without handing over a full-fledged smartphone. The ongoing Amazon Independence Day sale includes several kids’ smartwatches covering different budgets. Some are complete communication devices with 4G connectivity, voice and video calls, GPS tracking, geofencing and SOS alerts. Others concentrate on habit building, educational activities and basic parental supervision. Among the current options, the boAt Sailor Nav provides one of the more comprehensive combinations of communication, location tracking and parental controls. Its sale price of Rs 5,999 also places it below some competing 4G models while retaining features such as a camera, unknown-caller restrictions, class mode and location history.

Here are five kids’ smartwatches worth considering during the Amazon Independence Day sale.

boAt Sailor Nav: A well-rounded choice for communication and child safety

The boAt Sailor Nav is designed for parents who want to stay in touch with their children without immediately giving them a smartphone. A compatible 4G nano-SIM allows the watch to make two-way voice and video calls independently, while its built-in 2MP camera gives parents and children the option of a quick visual check-in. Location monitoring is handled through a five-point positioning system. Parents can view the child’s location, examine location history and create geofenced areas around places such as home, school or a tuition centre. The companion app can then issue an alert when the child enters or leaves a designated safe zone.

The Sailor Nav also includes an emergency SOS function, class mode, stranger-call protection and controls for disabling the dial pad, video chat or watch shutdown. These restrictions make it easier to limit distractions during school hours and prevent communication with unapproved contacts. Its 1.44-inch IPS screen is easy to navigate, while the IP67 rating provides protection against dust, sweat and occasional splashes. A 600mAh battery is rated for up to three days of use, although regular GPS checks and video calls will naturally affect battery life.

At Rs 5,999, the Sailor Nav brings together the main features parents are likely to prioritise: standalone calling, video communication, location monitoring, geofencing and meaningful parental controls.

Noise Junior Explorer 2

The Noise Junior Explorer 2 occupies a similar category to the Sailor Nav. It supports 4G connectivity, two-way voice and video calling, real-time location monitoring through Google Maps and geofenced safe zones. Its 1.4-inch display keeps the watch reasonably compact, while an IP68 rating offers a higher stated level of water and dust resistance than many alternatives. Emergency SOS alerts, contact controls and app-based monitoring also make it suitable for school commutes, outdoor activities and occasions when children are away from their parents. The Junior Explorer 2 can be an alternative for buyers who prefer the Noise ecosystem or prioritise the IP68 rating. However, its listed Amazon price of Rs 6,499 places it above the boAt Sailor Nav during the sale. The Sailor Nav therefore offers a slightly more accessible route to a broadly similar package of calling, tracking and parental-control features.

sekyo S2 Pro

The sekyo S2 Pro is one of the more affordable watches in this list to combine calling with child-safety functions. It offers voice calls, location tracking, a built-in camera, emergency SOS alerts and safe-zone monitoring through a companion app. Parents can also use its family-chat function to communicate with the child without providing unrestricted access to a conventional messaging platform. Support for approved mobile networks and a compatible micro-SIM must be checked before purchase, especially because network availability can affect location updates and calls. At Rs 2,990, the S2 Pro makes sense for families that need basic communication and tracking at a lower price. The trade-off is that buyers do not get the more modern feature combination, positioning system and extensive controls available on the Sailor Nav.

Noise Junior Champ 3

The Noise Junior Champ 3 takes a different approach. Rather than functioning primarily as a wrist-worn phone, it concentrates on learning tools, routines and age-appropriate smartwatch features. Its built-in learning hub and habit builder can help children keep track of activities such as studying, reading or completing daily tasks. School and exam modes allow parents to reduce distractions during important periods, while SOS functionality provides a basic emergency feature. The watch also includes two switchable bumpers, allowing children to alter its appearance without replacing the entire device. At Rs 1,999, it is suited to younger users who want a colourful first smartwatch. However, parents specifically looking for phone calls, live GPS tracking, geofencing and broader communication features should consider a cellular model such as the boAt Sailor Nav instead.

boAt Wanderer

The boAt Wanderer stands out because its sale price brings several connected safety features into a considerably lower price bracket. It supports a 4G SIM and allows children to make or receive voice and video calls directly from the watch. Parents can use its built-in GPS to check the child’s location, set geofenced boundaries and receive SOS alerts. Unknown-call restrictions, class restrictions and other parental controls help keep the communication environment manageable. A 2 MP camera supports video calls and casual photographs, while the 1.4-inch display keeps the controls accessible. The Wanderer also has a 650mAh battery rated for up to two days of operation. It is not as new or as extensively equipped as the Sailor Nav, but at the listed Rs 2,000 sale price, it provides an economical way to access 4G calling, GPS tracking and geofencing.

What to check before buying a smartwatch for children

The first distinction to make is between a regular Bluetooth smartwatch and a cellular kids’ watch. A Bluetooth-only model usually needs to remain near a paired smartphone. A watch with its own compatible SIM can make calls and access connected features without the child carrying a separate phone. GPS tracking is another important consideration, but buyers should examine how the feature works rather than simply looking for the term “GPS”. Location accuracy and update frequency can vary depending on the watch, network coverage, satellite visibility and companion app.

Geofencing is useful for routine journeys. Parents can define areas around home, school or another familiar destination and receive notifications when the watch crosses those boundaries. It should be treated as an additional safety tool rather than a substitute for direct supervision. Parental controls can be just as important as the communications hardware. Unknown-call blocking, approved contact lists, class modes, dial-pad restrictions and shutdown controls reduce the likelihood of unwanted calls or distractions.

Battery life must also be considered in the context of actual usage. Continuous location updates, mobile data, calls and video chats consume considerably more power than displaying the time or counting steps. Charging the watch as part of the child’s daily routine may be more reliable than depending entirely on the maximum advertised endurance. Finally, check SIM compatibility, app support and mobile coverage before buying. Some watches may work only with specific network types or SIM configurations.

Which kids’ smartwatch should you buy during the Amazon Independence Day sale?

The right choice depends on whether the watch is mainly intended for learning, basic contact or comprehensive location monitoring. The Noise Junior Champ 3 is suitable for younger children who need learning tools, habit-building functions and a simple first smartwatch. The sekyo S2 Pro adds calling and location features without moving into the premium price bracket. Meanwhile, the boAt Wanderer is particularly appealing at its listed sale price because it includes 4G calling, GPS, geofencing and SOS functionality. The Noise Junior Explorer 2 is a capable premium option with 4G communication, Google Maps-based location monitoring and an IP68-rated build. Its higher price, however, places it in direct competition with the boAt Sailor Nav.

For buyers seeking the most balanced package in this list, the boAt Sailor Nav is the clearer recommendation. Its combination of 4G voice and video calls, a 2MP camera, five-point location tracking, geofencing, location history, SOS alerts, stranger-call protection and school-friendly controls covers both communication and parental oversight. During the sale it could be available for as low as Rs 5499, thereby undercutting the listed price of its closest rival while delivering the features most parents are likely to use regularly.

A good pair of true wireless earbuds increasingly needs to handle far more than music. It may be used for office calls in the morning, podcasts during a commute, films on a tablet, mobile gaming after work and several hours of music in between. That places equal importance on sound quality, noise cancellation, microphone performance, battery life and connectivity. The boAt Nirvana Zenith Pro is built around this kind of varied everyday use. Available for Rs 2,999 during the Amazon Independence Day sale, the earbuds combine 50dB Hybrid Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation, Hi-Res Audio with LDAC, boAt Spatial Audio, six-microphone AI-ENx calling and up to 80 hours of total playback.

The boAt Zenith Pro also brings features commonly associated with more expensive earbuds, including personalised sound through Mimi-powered Adaptive EQ, automatic in-ear detection, multipoint connectivity and app-configurable controls. This makes it relevant not just to music listeners, but also to commuters, frequent callers, travellers, gamers and people who regularly switch between multiple devices.

For commuters who want quieter journeys

Public transport can be one of the more demanding environments for wireless earbuds. Bus engines, railway noise, air-conditioning systems, conversations and traffic can all compete with music or podcasts. The usual response is to raise the volume, but that can make longer listening sessions tiring. The Nirvana Zenith Pro uses Hybrid Adaptive ANC rated to reduce surrounding noise by up to 50dB. Hybrid ANC uses microphones placed on both the exterior and interior of the earbuds to detect environmental noise and generate an opposing signal. The adaptive element then changes the intensity of the cancellation according to the surroundings.

Through the boAt Hearables app, users can choose between Adaptive, Max, Moderate and Mild ANC settings. Adaptive mode selects an appropriate level automatically, while the manual options allow the cancellation strength to be matched to the situation. The earbuds also remember the last selected noise-control mode when they are switched on again. Max mode may be useful on a flight or a noisy train, while Moderate or Mild ANC can make more sense in an office or café. This flexibility avoids applying the highest level of cancellation when it is not required, while still giving listeners the option of stronger isolation in louder environments.

Ambient Mode provides the opposite experience by allowing external sound to pass through the microphones. It is useful when listening for an announcement, speaking to someone briefly or walking through an area where greater awareness is required.

Great if you use high-quality streaming services

Noise cancellation can make music easier to hear, but the quality of the audio system remains important. The Zenith Pro uses a pair of 12mm dynamic drivers with a stated frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The relatively large driver size is intended to provide deeper bass and a more substantial presentation without needing to push the volume excessively. The earbuds are also Hi-Res Audio certified and support Sony’s LDAC Bluetooth codec. LDAC can transmit considerably more audio data than basic Bluetooth codecs when used with a compatible source device. This can help preserve smaller details in well-recorded tracks, including vocal textures, instrument decay and the space between different elements in a mix.

The benefit will be most noticeable when the earbuds are paired with a compatible Android phone and used with a higher-quality streaming tier or locally stored lossless audio. The improvement may be less apparent with heavily compressed files, older recordings or noisy listening environments. LDAC can also place additional demand on the wireless connection and battery. Users who prioritise stability or longer playback can switch back to a conventional Bluetooth codec through their phone’s settings. The ability to choose is useful because the earbuds can be configured for higher-quality listening at home and more dependable connectivity while travelling.

Designed for people who prefer personalised sound

A single factory tuning cannot account for every listener’s hearing, music preferences or sensitivity to different frequencies. The Nirvana Zenith Pro addresses this through Mimi-powered Adaptive EQ in the boAt Hearables app. Mimi’s system guides the listener through a hearing assessment and creates a profile based on how different frequencies are perceived. The resulting equalisation is then applied to make quieter details easier to distinguish and balance the sound around the user’s hearing profile.

This can be particularly useful for people who find standard earbud tuning too bass-heavy, struggle to hear dialogue clearly or want vocals to sit more prominently in a mix. It also provides a more structured approach than manually moving several equaliser sliders without a clear reference.

The personalised profile remains optional. Listeners who prefer the original sound signature can continue using the standard tuning or experiment with the presets available through the Hearables app. The Zenith Pro was also co-tuned with inputs from filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, technology creator Gaurav Chaudhary, better known as Technical Guruji, and four-time Grammy Award winner Luca Bignardi. The collaboration is intended to balance the earbuds across entertainment, music production and mainstream listening rather than limiting them to a single genre.

And if you love watching films, series and online videos

Earbuds are increasingly used with smartphones, tablets and laptops for watching films and streaming video. In this setting, a wider presentation can make dialogue, background effects and soundtrack elements feel less confined inside the listener’s head. boAt Spatial Audio expands the perceived sound field to create a more enveloping presentation. It does not replace a physical multichannel speaker system, but it can make films, live performances and cinematic game soundtracks feel broader than conventional stereo playback. boAt describes the feature as delivering a cinematic, three-dimensional listening experience.

The large 12mm drivers complement this by giving action sequences, background scores and low-frequency effects greater weight. LDAC support can also improve clarity when the source device and streaming application support higher-quality audio. Smart in-ear detection makes the earbuds more convenient for this use case. Removing either earbud automatically pauses playback, while placing it back in the ear resumes the content. This is useful when responding to someone, stepping away briefly or listening for an announcement without searching for the pause control. Gesture controls can also be configured through the companion app, allowing frequently used commands to be assigned according to personal preference.

AI-ENx for work calls and online meetings

Microphone performance is often the dividing line between earbuds that are suitable only for entertainment and those that can be relied upon throughout a working day. The Nirvana Zenith Pro uses six microphones, three on each earbud, combined with boAt’s AI-ENx processing. The system is designed to distinguish speech from surrounding noise and reduce distractions such as traffic, wind, office conversations and household sounds before transmitting the voice to the other participant.

This does not eliminate every background sound, particularly in very windy or crowded locations. However, the additional microphones give the processing system more information to work with than a basic two-microphone arrangement. Multipoint connectivity is equally useful for work. The earbuds can remain connected to two compatible devices, such as a laptop and smartphone. A user can therefore attend a meeting on the computer and answer an incoming phone call without manually disconnecting and repairing the earbuds.

Google Fast Pair simplifies the initial connection with supported Android devices. Once paired, subsequent connections take place automatically when the charging case is opened. Together, multipoint pairing, Fast Pair and in-ear detection reduce the amount of device management required during a typical day. These features may not directly improve sound quality, but they can make the earbuds noticeably easier to live with.

BEAST mode for mobile gaming

Wireless audio can introduce a delay between an action taking place on screen and its sound reaching the listener. This may be barely noticeable while listening to music, but it becomes distracting in games where sound effects need to match movement precisely. The Nirvana Zenith Pro includes boAt’s BEAST Mode, which reduces wireless latency to as little as 60ms. This is useful for mobile shooters, racing games and rhythm-based titles, as well as films or online videos where poor audio synchronisation can disrupt the experience.

Dedicated gaming earbuds can offer even lower latency through proprietary wireless transmitters, but those products may require a dongle and are not always as convenient for everyday phone use. The 60ms mode on the Zenith Pro provides a practical compromise for users who want one pair of earbuds for music, calls and casual gaming. Spatial Audio can also help create a more expansive gaming experience, while the 12mm drivers give explosions, engines and soundtrack elements greater presence. However, players should not treat virtual spatial processing as a substitute for accurate directional audio in competitive gaming. Some may prefer standard stereo for titles where positional cues are more important than immersion.

IPX4 for workouts and everyday outdoor use

The Zenith Pro carries an IPX4 water-resistance rating. This means the earbuds are designed to withstand sweat and light splashes, making them suitable for gym sessions, walks and everyday commuting. IPX4 does not make them waterproof. They should not be submerged, worn while swimming or deliberately exposed to heavy rain. The charging case should also be kept dry.

Smart in-ear detection is useful during workouts because playback pauses automatically when an earbud is removed. The configurable touch controls can reduce the need to reach for a phone while changing tracks or adjusting playback. For the most secure fit, users should try the included ear-tip sizes and choose the pair that creates a proper seal. Fit affects more than comfort. A weak seal can reduce bass response and limit the effectiveness of ANC, while a tip that is too large may become uncomfortable during longer sessions.

A feature set that covers more than music

The main appeal of the boAt Nirvana Zenith Pro is not any single specification. It is the way its features address different situations across a typical day. Hybrid Adaptive ANC helps during commutes and travel. LDAC, Hi-Res Audio certification, 12mm drivers and Mimi-powered Adaptive EQ strengthen the music experience. Spatial Audio adds scale to films and games, while BEAST Mode reduces latency for interactive entertainment. For work, six-microphone AI-ENx and multipoint connectivity make the earbuds more practical for calls and device switching. Smart in-ear detection, Google Fast Pair and configurable gestures improve everyday convenience. Up to 80 hours of combined playback and rapid charging reduce how often the case needs to be plugged in.

At Rs 2,999 during the Amazon Independence Day sale, the Nirvana Zenith Pro brings together a collection of features that are often spread across several different price tiers. Listeners who primarily need basic earbuds can find cheaper alternatives, while dedicated audiophile or gaming models may go further in their respective specialities. For someone seeking one pair of earbuds for commuting, music, films, calls, travel and occasional gaming, however, the Zenith Pro presents a well-balanced package. Its combination of adaptive noise cancellation, high-resolution wireless audio, personalised tuning, clear-call features and long battery life makes it a strong recommendation in the sub-Rs 3,000 TWS category.

Learn more about the boAt Nirvana Zenith Pro on Amazon

If you’ve set out to buy a new laptop with a budget of Rs 80,000, congratulations, you are at the right place on the internet. The under Rs 80,000 segment got some exciting new additions lately and brands are trying their best to bring some incredible features and performance to this segment. Moreover, thanks to new processors, better hardware, and of-course, the makers of these devices, this budget is more than enough to buy a laptop that can comfortably handle everyday office tasks, light creative tasks, those binge-watch weekend sessions and in some cases, even a bit of gaming. So here we have a list of some of the best laptops you can buy for under Rs 80,000 today. 

Also read: EA is now owned by a Saudi Arabia-backed investor group: All details

MacBook Neo

The MacBook Neo is one of the smartest picks today if your work involves some light web browsing, handling various documents, OTT content consumption and light video editing. 

Getting a bit into specs details, the laptop comes with a 13 inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2408 by 1506. Further, it is powered by Apple’s A18 Pro chip, the same one used in the iPhone 16 Pro. In addition to this, Apple has equipped the MacBook Neo with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, dual microphones with directional beamforming and dual side firing speakers that support Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.

As for the battery, the laptop can last up to 16 hours of battery life on a single charge. In terms of connectivity options, there are two USB C ports, a headphone jack, Wi Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6. The laptop runs macOS Tahoe and also supports Apple Intelligence features.

Dell XPS 13

The recently-launched Dell XPS 13 comes with a starting price of Rs 79,990 and is another premium-looking device that refuses to cut corners. The laptop is also super thin and light as it weighs just 1kg and measures 12.7mm at its thinnest point.

Under the hood, XPS 13 is powered by Intel Core Series 3 processors, with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 variants expected to arrive later. The laptop also packs up to 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to two Thunderbolt 4 ports depending on the configuration.

Talking about the display, you get a 13-inch 2.5K InfinityEdge touch display with 100 percent DCI-P3 colour coverage, up to 500 nits brightness and a variable refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz. Dell has also included Wi-Fi 7, Dolby Atmos-tuned quad speakers and a backlit keyboard. 

HP OmniBook 3

The HP OmniBook 3 is a solid option for those looking for an AI-ready Windows laptop that can comfortably handle office work, multitasking, video calls and content consumption. It also stands out for its excellent battery life, making it a good choice for those who are always on the move.

Coming to the details, the laptop features a 14-inch 2K WUXGA IPS anti-glare display with 300 nits brightness. Further, it is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor with a dedicated 45 TOPS NPU. In addition to this, HP has equipped the laptop with 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, a 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD, Qualcomm Adreno graphics and a Full HD IR camera with Windows Hello support.

As for the battery, HP claims the OmniBook 3 can deliver up to 36 hours of battery life on a single charge. You also get Wi-Fi 6E, USB Type-C ports and Bluetooth connectivity options. The laptop also comes bundled with a compact 65W USB-C GaN charger, Windows 11 and Microsoft Office Home 2024.

Asus Zenbook A14 OLED

The Asus  Zenbook A14 OLED is one of the lightest, and the most expensive laptops on this list. At the time of writing this story, the laptop is available for Rs 86,000 on Amazon during a limited time deal. Further, there are credit card offers that can lower the price by Rs 10,000. So, if you want to grab this device while its effective price is still under Rs 80,000, now is probably the best time. 

Coming to the details, the laptop weighs just 0.9kg and sports a 14-inch Full HD+ OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and up to 600 nits HDR peak brightness. Further, it is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor with a 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU. In addition to this, you get a 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD, Qualcomm Adreno graphics and a Full HD IR camera that supports Windows Hello.

As far as the battery is concerned, Asus claims the Zenbook A14 OLED can last up to 32 hours on a single charge. Lastly, the laptop runs Windows 11 and comes with Microsoft Office Home 2024 pre-installed.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is a good pick for users who want a traditional Intel-powered laptop for office work, multitasking and light creative workloads. It also offers a larger display than most laptops in this segment, making it suitable for those who spend long hours working on spreadsheets, documents or presentations.

Talking quickly about the specs, the laptop comes with a 15.3-inch WUXGA IPS anti-glare display with 300 nits brightness, 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13620H processor, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and a 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD.

In terms of connectivity options, you get multiple USB ports, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a headphone jack. The laptop ships with Windows 11 and Microsoft Office Home 2024 out of the box.

Which of these laptops is going to be your pick? Let us know and keep watching this space for more such recommendations.

Also read: Buying a laptop can get confusing, we are trying to change that: Snapdragon’s Sumit Sonal

On Monday evening, August 3, 2026, around 8:00 PM IST, millions of users opened WhatsApp to check their messages – only to be met with a stark, unexpected roadblock. Without prior warning or clear explanation, accounts were abruptly locked out, displaying a daunting message: "Account in review. Your account activity and device info is being checked to make sure it follows our Terms of Service. We'll notify you of the result typically within 24 hours."

What followed was widespread anxiety, professional disruption, and a surge of social media complaints, particularly across India, where WhatsApp serves as the primary backbone for both daily personal communication and essential business operations.

Also read: Infrastructure control is key for sovereign AI stack, says IBM

Frustration Boils Over on X and Reddit

Hours after the lockout, social media websites such as X and Reddit became focal points for panicked users who sought clarity on whether they were being targeted individually or if there was an extensive systemic failure underway. Initially, panic soon gave way to indignation once people realized that they were locked out of their accounts without any warning, reason, or recourse.

In a country such as India, which uses WhatsApp as its default operating system for both private and business interactions, the lockout meant much more than mere technical difficulties for many users. Small business owners lost the ability to conduct business through the platform and remote employees became disconnected from their customers during work hours.

Also read: Buying a laptop can get confusing, we are trying to change that: Snapdragon’s Sumit Sonal

Over on Reddit, particularly in subreddits like r/whatsapp, the conversation shifted toward technical troubleshooting and documenting secondary bugs caused by the ban wave. Users quickly realized that even when Meta's automated checks cleared their accounts, the app itself failed to restore access properly. User trying_pragya shared how their account was caught in an infinite redirection loop, repeatedly telling them "This account can now use WhatsApp" without ever letting them reach the verification screen. To make matters worse, several users reported being hit with secondary bans almost immediately after being unbanned. Redditor Middle-Medicine6941 detailed the nightmare of regaining access after an initial 24-hour review, only to wake up the very next morning to another "Account in review" screen, raising serious fears about permanent account loss.

What Caused the Ban Wave?

With increased speculations regarding cyber attacks or even policy changes, Meta came out clear about the suspension being the result of an internal error at WhatsApp’s automated safety system and anti-spam detection. The algorithm used for identifying spam networks and malicious users was mistakenly detecting genuine users across the globe. In regard to this matter, here is what a spokesperson from WhatsApp had to say:

"We are always working to stay ahead of those trying to abuse our service and ban accounts to help keep other users safe. Sometimes we get this wrong and if we do, we try to fix it as quickly as possible to get people back to chatting."

The Aftermath

It did not take Meta long before it began to implement measures to reverse the incorrect flags and reinstate access to full accounts. Although the access issue was largely resolved within the next 24 to 48 hours, the event raised the question in the minds of many users regarding the dangers of dependence on AI moderation.

Also read: Will Galaxy AI become a paid subscription? Samsung explains its thinking

India’s AI debate is often framed around what the country lacks – whether it’s frontier foundation models or leading edge indigenous semiconductor capacity. But according to IBM, infrastructure development is a key – and often underappreciated – part of the story.

“From an infrastructure perspective, are we building systems and hardware in India that are capable of supporting world-class AI? My answer would be yes. We are playing a significant role in making that happen,” says Rahul Rao, Distinguished Engineer, Processor Design, IBM India Systems Development Lab (or ISDL).

And Indian enterprises are already on the journey, even if they are at different stages of maturity, notes Subhathra Srinivasaraghavan, Vice President, IBM India Systems Development Lab. “Every one of them is talking about AI. Every one of them has started the journey.” 

IBM ISDL’s teams across India in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad work on everything from processor design, firmware, operating systems, AI libraries, storage and system engineering – pretty much a full stack approach. According to Subhathra, ISDL designs and develops complex processors end to end from India, while Rahul’s team focuses on optimizing on-chip data movement, AI engines, and inferencing efficiency, among several other things.

That work also connects sovereign AI to a much longer semiconductor roadmap. “AI and quantum computing are advancing at breakneck speed, making us ask new questions of the devices we use. At IBM, our semiconductor research is focused on solving these fundamental engineering challenges through advances such as our sub-1 nanometer chip technology, enabled by our nanostack architecture,” says Rahul Rao.

Both of them believe that ISDL’s work goes beyond just building a national chatbot and planting a flag on the sovereign AI front. It is to develop talent and capability across essential components of the AI stack that makes it sovereign – everything from chips to systems, software to security, governance and deployment.

Achieving sovereignty over AI

The easiest part of sovereignty is often knowing where data is stored, and that’s why for years “data sovereignty” was treated as a real-estate problem. But AI has made this approach ineffective as well as outdated.

Sovereign AI is less about geography and more about control, as Rahul separates the issue into three layers: data residency, the controls governing the data layer, and the models that act on it to deliver intelligence.

“To truly achieve sovereignty, it's important to have control over all of these layers,” says Rahul. “The data layer, where the data resides, is probably the easiest part because physically the data is either on-premises or hosted in a specific environment. The second part is the control mechanisms, and those have to be built in from the beginning. Just as you build security controls into the chip, you also have to build those controls into the system software.”

Also read: Not thinking about storage in AI is a mistake: Dell’s Venkat Sitaram

That distinction matters, because the same data that was earlier sitting in a passive database is now being actively interpreted inside AI systems – which have an insatiable appetite for data.

“When data was simply sitting in systems of record for bookkeeping purposes, it was largely passive. A query would retrieve it when needed,” Subhathra notes. “Now that same data is actively being used to influence decisions, generate outputs, and create insights. That is where concerns around personal information and data governance become much more significant.”

While most of the AI boom was trained by moving workloads towards specialised compute, that doesn’t make sense for inference-related workloads. And this is where IBM’s infrastructure argument becomes more interesting than a standard “buy our box” pitch. 

IBM isn’t envisioning every AI workload on a mainframe or Power server. It is arguing that enterprise AI needs a more dynamic strategy – which means large-scale accelerators whenever training runs are needed, smart inferencing based on where data resides, and the right AI models keeping latency, energy and control needs in mind.

“Training is extremely important for model creation, but AI is not just about the models you use. AI is about which model you choose. AI is about how you build the infrastructure around those models. AI is about how you implement governance based on your business requirements and applications. It's highly customized,” Rahul emphasizes.

Sovereignty starts lower than the cloud

IBM’s view of infrastructure is deliberately broad. It involves processors, servers, and storage. Then comes firmware and operating systems, which leads to virtualisation, containers and AI libraries – all key layers below any AI-enabled business application running on top.

Also read: Yotta to Adani: India building sovereign, frontier AI with Global South relevance

That full-stack perspective is central to IBM’s sovereign AI story. Securing only the application layer, or just the silicon-level, or just the firmware, all in isolation isn’t the same as securing the entire tech stack. “You need to control the firmware. You need to control the system software. You need to have confidence in the protection mechanisms that sit across the stack,” explains Subhathra.

Asked to explain how silicon-level security lapses can still make absolute control impossible, Rahul is refreshingly candid about the trust problem facing any multinational technology provider. How can, for example, a customer be absolutely sure that there’s no inadvertent backdoor on IBM-designed chips?

“To some extent, it's very difficult to prove conclusively that there is no backdoor,” says Rahul. “We can explain how we design systems and what controls we have in place, but if somebody asks for a document that verifies every possible entry point and exit point, that's almost impossible, not just for us but for any technology provider.”

Another myth about sovereign AI is how it’s often confused with encryption or confidential computing. They are related, but not interchangeable, according to Subhathra, who describes them as components within a larger design.

“To achieve sovereignty, you may use confidential computing. You may use encryption. You may use quantum-safe algorithms. You may need a variety of technologies. But sovereignty is a broader concept that sits above all of those,” says Subhathra.

While encryption protects data, sovereignty governs its entire life. Because an encrypted file can still be copied to an unauthorised location, a protected AI model can still be operated under policies with improper control.  “Hence, sovereignty is about having control over what happens to the data, not just protecting the data itself,” reiterates Rahul.

“The entire framework needs to be thoughtfully designed rather than simply pursuing a random use case,” emphasizes Subhathra, pointing out why IBM sees so many AI journeys stall at the pilot stage. “They don't progress beyond that because it becomes very difficult to retrospectively address all of these considerations.”

Sovereign AI doesn’t always mean new hardware

So how will sovereign AI percolate through big industries still extracting ROI from legacy tech? Sectors such as banking, government, power and insurance, do they just throw out all the old tech infrastructure and spend more for modern AI? Subhathra rejects the idea wholeheartedly, suggesting that modernisation doesn’t automatically mean abandoning enterprise platforms.

“Modernization isn’t about moving to a different platform. It's about ensuring that, whichever platform you're running on, your architecture can scale, remain agile, and support the diverse business requirements that continue to emerge.”

A decades-old system isn;t obsolete if it remains resilient, secure and capable of running modern software. IBM points to Linux on Z, open-source support, and AI-assisted upgrades as ways to modernise architecture without having to trash old stack that still works – and which can still enable sovereign AI going forward.

The essence of what IBM’s Subhathra and Rahul are saying is that sovereign AI demands enterprises to make uncomfortable choices they might have conveniently avoided until now. Choices about data and control, open standards and operational responsibility. It will also require organisations to resist the temptation of simply buying an AI model and calling it a sovereign strategy.

Also read: RBI’s draft AI model ignores agentic AI risk, experts warn

AI on our smartphones is no longer just about editing photos, translating languages or summarising text. To put it into perspective, AI on phones can understand context, automate tasks across apps and even make recommendations before you ask. But delivering these smarter experiences isn't as simple as running everything on your smartphone. During an AI roundtable at Galaxy Unpacked in London last month, Samsung executives JB Park, President and CEO, Samsung South West Asia and Jay Kim, Corporate EVP and Head of Customer Experience Office at Samsung MX, explained why the company believes the future lies in a hybrid approach that combines on-device processing with cloud computing. They also offered fresh insight into whether Galaxy AI could eventually include paid features and why the company believes some AI experiences will always need more computing power than a phone alone can provide.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 early review: Lots to unpack!

Why Samsung isn't choosing between on-device and cloud AI

One of the biggest questions surrounding AI today is whether future smartphones can process everything locally or whether cloud computing will remain essential. According to Jay Kim, the answer isn't one or the other. Instead, Samsung is building what it calls a hybrid AI approach.

The idea is simple. Tasks that benefit from speed, privacy and local processing should run directly on the device whenever possible. At the same time, requests that require deeper reasoning, access to global knowledge or more advanced computation are better handled in the cloud.

Kim explained that there isn't a fixed ratio for how much AI should run locally versus remotely because every user interacts with AI differently. Some people may rely almost entirely on on-device features, while others regularly use cloud-powered experiences. Samsung's goal, he said, is to make that transition seamless rather than expecting users to think about where the processing happens.

Partnerships remain central to Samsung's AI strategy

Building this hybrid experience also means Samsung isn't developing AI in isolation.

During the discussion, Kim highlighted the company's close collaboration with Google and Qualcomm, describing AI as something that spans every layer of the technology stack, from chipsets and operating systems to software and user experience. Rather than depending on a single AI model, Samsung said it already uses multiple models across different services, selecting whichever is best suited for a particular task. As AI models continue evolving, the company expects to keep adapting instead of committing itself to one provider or one technology.

That flexibility, Samsung believes, will allow Galaxy devices to benefit from future AI advances without locking users into a single ecosystem.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 in Digit Test Labs: The Fold gets productivity, the Flip gets personality

Why cloud AI may eventually cost money?

As AI becomes more capable, another question naturally follows: who pays for the computing power?

Kim acknowledged that AI services come with real operating costs, especially when cloud infrastructure is involved. He noted that consumer attitudes have also changed dramatically over the past few years, pointing out that people are now increasingly comfortable paying for AI services and that token-based computing has become part of the wider AI conversation.

However, Samsung stopped well short of announcing a paid Galaxy AI subscription.

Instead, Kim reiterated that Samsung's core AI services will continue to be provided without charge. At the same time, the company is evaluating how to make future services sustainable and scalable while continuing to deliver what it considers the best AI experience for consumers.

In other words, Samsung isn't ruling out premium AI experiences in the future, but neither is it signalling that today's core Galaxy AI features are about to move behind a paywall.

What this means for Galaxy users?

Samsung's message is very clear: the company believes users shouldn't have to think about whether a feature is powered by on-device processing or cloud computing. Instead, the focus is on delivering the right experience while balancing privacy, performance and cost.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra display tested: The most colour accurate foldable screen

For Galaxy users, that likely means future smartphones will continue relying on a mix of local intelligence for everyday tasks and cloud processing for more demanding AI capabilities. It also suggests that while Samsung sees value in keeping its core AI experience free, more advanced cloud-powered services could eventually become part of a broader premium offering if they prove sustainable to deliver.

For now, Samsung's vision is clear: AI shouldn't be defined by where it runs, but by how naturally it helps people get things done.

There is a good chance that the next laptop you buy will come with AI features. But chances are, you won't buy it because it has AI. Let me explain. It isn’t a secret that most people who walk into a store to buy a laptop don’t really ask for an AI-powered device. Depending on their purpose, they want a machine with long battery life, a slim design, solid performance and a price that fits their budget. AI simply comes along for the ride. And it is only after they start using the laptop that they realise how useful those AI features can be, whether it's removing background noise during a video call, improving camera quality, transcribing meetings offline or helping with everyday tasks. And according to Snapdragon, that's exactly how AI should work. It shouldn't be the reason you buy a laptop, but be the reason you enjoy using it. 

In a candid chat with Digit, Sumit Sonal, Head of Marketing at Qualcomm India, talked about the Windows PC market, AI devices, and the misconception around Snapdragon-powered laptops that should finally be put to rest. Here are the key excerpts from the conversation. 

Also read: AI is super capable, but cannot replicate human emotions: Nitin Kumar, Qualcomm

How does Qualcomm define the modern PC experience, and how is Snapdragon delivering on those expectations?

Sumit: You know us as Qualcomm. If you divide the word itself, we are Quality Communications. Think of us as a mobile company first. Now when you pick up a mobile device, there are a few things you are very used to. There is an always-on experience, great battery life, no thermal throttling and no fan noise. So we understand compact and portable devices very well, and now we have ported that experience into your PC as well.

We moved away from the older x86 architecture, which a lot of competing brands still use. And when you move to an ARM architecture, there are multiple benefits, and that is what we are prioritising.

A consumer today is looking at those experiences while buying devices and not only looking at brand names. If the device beautifully fits into my workflow and helps me in being always on and ready, those nuances actually help us. The customer buying your smartphone is also buying your PC. They understand the Snapdragon value, and we are transferring all our learnings from the last 40 years into PCs as well.

Which Snapdragon feature do you think will have the biggest impact on mainstream users?

Sumit: On-device AI. Because when you have it, you are not dependent on the cloud all the time, which means the data you are working on remains within your system. Moreover, every cloud computation has a cost. You might not be the one paying for it, but somebody is. You cut that cost because you are processing everything locally.

Think of someone sitting in a rural area in Uttar Pradesh or somewhere in the northeastern part of this country. Having on-device AI means large language models can run completely on your device without internet connectivity, without latency issues and without privacy issues.

Today AI has become part of your workflow. You might not even see it, but it is working for you in the background.

AI laptops are still seen as premium devices. Will these features become accessible to more users?

Sumit: We believe that AI will be required by everybody, and it cannot be defined by price points. When we started this journey, we used flagship models to showcase the scale of AI. But there are features which can always be trickled down.

You might not require the entire feature set, but users should get that trickle from the flagship tier into the tier they are actually using.

Several brands have launched Snapdragon-powered laptops over the past year. What kind of consumer feedback has surprised Qualcomm the most since the Snapdragon X series launched?

Sumit: I would like to tackle a rumour first. A lot of misinformation was spread in the market that several apps do not run on Snapdragon. That case is gone, quite honestly.

Any architecture change requires a new set of developers, and ecosystem maturity is also something we need to be cognisant about. With ARM now maturing, you are seeing more and more players adopting it, and more apps are now working natively on the device.

We have worked very closely with Microsoft through this transition. Even apps like Winamp run beautifully on Snapdragon machines today. Spotify, Winamp, WhatsApp, Tally, everything works beautifully. You do not need to be worried or concerned about that.

Second thing is that the younger customer really appreciates slim and light designs and absolutely loves fanless architecture. People do not want loud humming noises wherever they are working.

Third, the always-on experience has also become a big advantage. It may seem like a small thing, but people really appreciate that the moment they open the lid, the PC is ready. People do not want to wait. Whether you are in a meeting room or a classroom, you need your PC to be ready instantly.

So, people are finally moving towards Snapdragon. They remember the brand attributes we bring in and are now trusting us on the PC side as well. I am very positive about the upcoming festive season.

If someone switches from a traditional x86 laptop today, what is the first thing they would notice?

Sumit: The first thing is the responsiveness of the machine itself. The second thing is the great AI feature suite. You might not even know it is working in the background, but it is making you look good and helping you do better.

The third thing is slim and light designs. People are looking for multiple things in one package, and that is where Snapdragon and our OEM partners come together.

What is the biggest misconception consumers still have about Snapdragon-powered laptops?

Sumit: We are a challenger brand in this space. We are maniacally focused on the productivity user space. We are not looking at gaming. We are looking at people who use their machines to create and excel at work.

Our entire last year went towards establishing the distribution channel for Snapdragon PCs in India. Now we are building awareness and helping consumers understand what Snapdragon PCs can offer.

A great product always wins, and that is what we are trying to prove in the market.

Do you think the next era of personal computing will be defined less by benchmark scores and more by AI, efficiency and real-world experiences?

Sumit: It's already happening, and I'm glad that we are a part of that movement. People are now looking at whether their laptop is fast enough, prompt enough and delivering the best experiences. They are buying laptops for experiences.

Now, when you look at the spec sheet and see Snapdragon, there is a credibility attached to the brand because people already know it from their phones and even their cars. When we work with our partners, we add that credibility to all the features they are bringing to their devices. So the moment you see Snapdragon, you know this is a PC you would want to consider.

We are also trying to simplify the entire consumer journey. Buying a laptop today can be very confusing. We are trying to simplify that by offering a limited set of SKUs targeted at different audiences, giving consumers enough choice without overwhelming them.

One of our biggest intentions is to minimise that confusion and help people buy the things that actually matter to them. We want it to be a more educated purchase rather than one driven purely by brand names.

Also read: Apple will rely entirely on Samsung for OLED MacBook screens, says report

When Hisense entered India's television market, it went after LG and Samsung directly. When it launched air conditioners, it benchmarked itself against LG and Daikin. Now, as it steps into washing machines in July 2026 with the announcement of its laundry lineup, the strategy is the same. Price it a little lower, add a little more, and build the kind of channel trust that takes years to establish but tends to stick once it does.

The Hisense washing machine lineup includes Top Load models in capacities up to 12 kg and Semi-Automatic models up to 14 kg. The prices start at Rs 11,999 for the Semi-Automatic range and Rs 17,999 for the Fully Automatic Top Load. Products will be available across Amazon, Flipkart and Reliance Digital, with retail availability beginning 25 July. In addition, front-load washing machines are expected to launch between October and December.

“Washing machine penetration in India is very small — maybe 25 percent — and for front-load washing machines, the penetration is not even double digit,” Pankaj Rana, CEO of Hisense India said in an interview with Digit on the sidelines of the launch. “In washing machines, there are maximum seven or eight brands which are very active, including strong Indian brands like IFB or Godrej, and then three or four big companies like LG, Samsung and Whirlpool. We see a huge scope.”

Adapting to the Indian needs

Rana took us through several specific adaptations his team made to the global Hisense laundry lineup before it was ready for the Indian market.

The first issue was staining. “Most of us eat Indian curries, which at times put stains on clothes, irrespective of the colour. So we developed a soap function in our washing machine which will tackle the stubborn stains and remove them a little faster compared to the global lineup,” he said. The Semi-Automatic range's Soak Function is a result of this finding.

The second was fabric intelligence. “For women specifically, we have sarees, we have suits and the fabrics are very different — it can be silk, it can be cotton, and many more. Based on the fabric type, the machine defines the temperature, the cycles, and the water usage.” Rana acknowledged this is a first iteration and it will keep improving with customer feedback.

Power reliability was the third adaptation. “India has a lot of power fluctuations — from high voltage to low voltage — so the way we designed our power supply, we had to change it for all products in India, including TV and AC. The same goes for washing machines.” For the Semi-Automatic range specifically, the engineering team also reinforced the heating element and PCB to handle the kind of extended continuous use that Indian households sometimes demand. “The product needs to be a little more durable. The usage here can be two or three hours continuously, so the heating element and the power supply PCB need to be more reliable,” he said.

The fourth change was cosmetic as the team introduced a glass lid and a premium design aesthetic after feedback from channel partners on the shop floor. “The channel will be the first customer who will go to sell it,” Rana explained. “They are definitely asking, what is different in your machine compared to the eight or ten brands operating in the market?”

The pricing equation

Hisense's strategy across all three categories in India follows the same principle: benchmark against the segment leader, price 5 to 8 percent below and deliver more on specifications at that price point. “LG is the undisputed leader in the washing machine segment, followed by Samsung,” Rana said frankly. “We are positioning our washing machine slightly lower compared to Samsung and LG. But while I am operating at a lower price, I am trying to give slightly more features and a little more benefit to the consumer.”

The specific advantages he cited include drum depth saying, “If a leading brand is using a 450 mm depth drum, I am using 480 mm so my machine will be slightly bigger in size. If they are offering a non-Wi-Fi function at a certain price point, I am trying to give Wi-Fi function at that same price point”. Whether these advantages translate to real consumer preference in a category where LG's brand equity is deeply entrenched is the harder test and Rana was under no illusion about that. “We are able to build that kind of positioning in TV,” he said. “In air conditioner, I should say it is work in progress — it might take another year. But somehow we are able to create that in TV at this moment.”

The larger strategy

Washing machines are the third Hisense category in India after televisions and air conditioners and Rana is explicit about where the business is headed. This year, he estimates television will account for roughly 70 percent of revenue, air conditioning around 20 percent and washing machines the remaining 10 percent. “Next year, I want to change this to 50-50: 50 percent from TV and 50 percent combined from AC and washing machine.” He also flagged small domestic appliances, kitchen appliances and refrigerators as categories under evaluation, with concrete timelines to follow once the front-load washing machine launch is settled.

Rana is confident about the rate of growth if not the absolute scale of the India business. “From the last two years, every year we are growing in revenue by minimum 50 percent,” he said, adding that he prefers to grow sustainably rather than through aggressive discounting. “Our major focus is to give better consumer experience rather than fighting on price and on numbers.”

A TV market reshaped by memory prices

Speaking about Hisense's television business, where the ongoing memory chip shortage has had a visible impact. “The price in January this year for a 32-inch TV was operating at Rs 12,990 and is now Rs 16,990. The cost to the end consumer has increased by around 25 percent,” Rana said. “For 75, 85, and 100-inch TVs, the impact is much lower, maybe 5 to 8 percent and for 100-inch I did not increase my price at all from January to July.”

Counterintuitively, the pressure on entry-level prices has been good for Hisense's large-screen business. With FIFA World Cup 2026 driving demand for bigger screens in the evening hours, the company has seen sales of 75-inch and above TVs grow sharply. “If I was having 200 TVs of 100 inch last year in June, this year I did maybe 350 to 360, which is more than 60 percent growth,” he said. The company is also preparing a new RGB MiniLED lineup in 55, 65 and 75-inch sizes for the India market later this year.

For now, though, the focus is on the launch of washing machines. Forty-two SKUs across Semi-Automatic and Top Load categories will hit shelves between July and September, followed by the front-load range in the fourth quarter. It is an ambitious rollout for a brand that had no laundry presence in India twelve months ago. Whether Hisense can do to washing machines what it has done to televisions is the question the next twelve months will answer.

The age when the frontiers of artificial intelligence research belonged to select American laboratories was one of great monopoly, where OpenAI and Anthropic set the trend and price standards, and others in the industry followed suit. All that has changed in July 2026, with two Chinese laboratories producing models that compete with the likes of Silicon Valley on benchmark performance but do so at a much lower cost, with perhaps most critically, access to the weights. This is not a tale of how China is catching up. This is a tale of how China has rewritten the rules of the game altogether.

Also read: OpenAI’s Astra Model solved 10 open math problems: This is how we know it’s true

The premium tier: Sol and Fable 5 play it closed

GPT-5.6 Sol by OpenAI and Claude Fable 5 by Anthropic occupy the top rows of most benchmark tables. Sol has a slight edge in the Coding Agent Index of Artificial Analysis, and both are on top in GDPval-AA v2, which is an evaluation benchmark based on real-world applications across 44 occupations.

However, both are expensive closed models. Sol costs $5 for every million input tokens and $30 for every million output tokens in the API pricing, but input cache costs only $0.50 per million tokens. Fable 5 is similarly priced at the frontier tier. None comes with model weights. You pay for access, but you do not have the model, and you never will. This used to be the price you had to pay for frontier-level AI. No longer.

The challengers: cheaper, open, and closing the gap fast

The Moonshot AI Kimi K3 came out on July 16 as, according to the organization itself, the biggest open-source model to be released: 2.8 trillion parameters, sparsity mixture of experts that activates only 16 out of 896 experts per token, and a massive 1-million-token context window. The cost of using it is $3 for every million input tokens and $15 for every million output, with a cached input at $0.30. According to GDPval-AA v2, its score is third overall, right below Fable 5 and Sol, and above Claude Opus 4.8.

Also read: 65 pct of Samsung’s flagship sales come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, says JB Park on India’s foldable future

Along came DeepSeek, which approached the goal in a very different manner. The DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731, launched on July 31, did not scale up the model. Instead, it maintained the same architecture of 284 billion total parameters and 13 billion active parameters of the previous version and only retrained the model more intensively on data related to agentic and reasoning abilities. The result is a performance score of 82.7 on Terminal-Bench 2.1 compared to 61.8 in the previous version and 7.3 to 54.4 on DeepSWE. All of this at a cost of $0.14 per million input tokens and $0.28 per million output tokens under an MIT license.

Read those two pricing numbers again. DeepSeek's flagship agentic model costs roughly 1 percent of what Sol charges for output tokens. That is not a rounding difference. That is a different economic category altogether.

Why this matters more than the benchmark charts

It might be tempting to dismiss this as China’s desperate attempt at keeping up with price, since it is not capable of matching in raw capability. However, this does not match the data from the benchmarking exercise. First, Kimi K3 is defeating Claude Opus 4.8, which until recently was believed to have frontier-level capabilities. Second, the Flash model created by DeepSeek is defeating its larger version, V4-Pro. Both of these organizations do not appear to be selling a second-rate product. They are selling a frontier-like capability at commodity prices since they do not have a subscription-based revenue model like OpenAI and Anthropic.

There’s the accessibility too. Kimi K3’s weights are accessible. DeepSeek’s model is MIT-licensed, which means that any firm from anywhere in the world, even India, can download it, fine-tune it using their proprietary data, and deploy it on their own infrastructure, completely free from reliance on a US API, a US data-retention regime, or a US export control regime. This isn’t an abstract point. The release of GPT-5.6 required two weeks of vetting from the US government before OpenAI could release it. Anthropic’s own Fable 5 model had to be taken down for three weeks in June under export controls from the Department of Commerce. When your American frontier model can be shut down by Washington overnight, the case for an alternative writes itself.

The market share math is already shifting

It is not an academic exercise in pricing. Moonshot's previous open release, Kimi K2.6, reached the second-most popular position among the models on OpenRouter, ahead of virtually all Western frontier labs in independent usage metrics, within months of its release. Moonshot is apparently raising up to $2 billion in funding, valued at $31.5 billion precisely because of its open-source momentum. Every developer who uses a $0.14 input model versus a $5 input model is a developer OpenAI and Anthropic do not bill.

American labs currently hold an advantage at the upper end of the capability curve. However, "currently" is doing a lot of work in this sentence, and the gap between them and the rest of the world is narrowing with each release cycle. While Sol and Fable 5 may be the definitive versions when it comes to raw capabilities, Kimi K3 and DeepSeek V4 Flash are the definitive versions when it comes to intelligence per dollar, and the latter metric is ultimately what will drive investment decisions for most companies using AI at scale.

There is no price war on the horizon. The price war is already upon us, and it is being fought by American companies.

I have always believed the real test for any premium smartphone in India isn't how well it sells in metropolitan cities, but how it performs in smaller towns and villages. Walk around the streets of Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru, and you’ll easily spot a foldable in the crowd. However, head towards the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and the landscape changes quickly. So, during my roundtable with Samsung’s South West Asia President and CEO, JB Park, in London, I asked the question that had been on my mind for a while. What is Samsung actually doing to make foldables and Galaxy AI more accessible beyond Tier 1 cities, especially when prices continue climbing every year across the flagship segment?

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra display tested: The most colour accurate foldable screen

JB Park's answer surprised me straight away. He pushed back on the assumption that Samsung's flagship business is still largely concentrated in metro cities. According to him, around 65 per cent of Samsung's flagship sales already come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. He also claimed those markets are growing at a much faster pace than metros, making them an increasingly important part of Samsung's premium strategy.

Even the early sales of Samsung's latest foldables appear to support Park's claim. The company says the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8 recorded more than 2.7 lakh pre-orders in India within just 72 hours of launch, with nearly 45 per cent of those coming from Tier 2 cities and below. If those numbers hold up beyond the pre-order phase, they lend further weight to Park's argument that India's appetite for premium foldables is no longer limited to the country's biggest metropolitan markets.

Interestingly, pricing was not the first thing JB Park spoke about. Instead, he focused on usage. His view is that buyers in these markets see clear value in a foldable because the larger display improves productivity, entertainment and social media. It is a fair point. After using foldable phones over the years, and having spent early hands-on time with the Galaxy Z8 series, I can understand the appeal. Watching a video, editing a document or reading an e-book simply feels more comfortable on a larger screen. Of course, the experience is different from using something like the Galaxy S26 Ultra or the iPhone 17 Pro Max, no matter how powerful those phones are.

What I found more interesting was Samsung's strategy on the ground. Park said the company reaches customers through online channels across 18,000 postal codes, while its offline network includes more than 80,000 retail stores. On top of that, Samsung has around 20,000 promoters who actively demonstrate premium devices in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. Rather than expecting buyers to understand foldables on their own, Samsung wants people to experience them in person. That feels like a sensible approach because, even eight years on, foldables are still products that make far more sense once you actually hold one.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 early review: Lots to unpack!

That said, I still think affordability remains the elephant in the room. Foldables continue to cost well above what most buyers in smaller towns are comfortable spending. Park acknowledged that device prices are rising across the industry because of increasing component costs. Samsung's answer, at least for now, is to absorb financing costs by offering interest-free EMI periods of up to 30 months instead of aggressively cutting retail prices. He also hinted that a more affordable Fold FE could eventually happen if consumer demand points in that direction, although there is nothing confirmed as of now.

Galaxy AI also came up during the discussion, and here Samsung's messaging was a little more nuanced than I expected. Park explained that Samsung still wants the core Galaxy AI experience to remain free and focused on on-device features. More advanced cloud-based AI, however, could eventually involve paid tokens or subscriptions depending on how demanding those services become. For everyday users, he believes the basics will stay free, while professionals needing heavier AI workloads may end up paying for premium capabilities.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 in Digit Test Labs: The Fold gets productivity, the Flip gets personality

On a closing note, my biggest takeaway from this interaction with JB Park was that Samsung no longer sees foldables as products built only for buyers in metropolitan cities. Instead, the company is betting on awareness, financing and wider retail reach to grow adoption across India. I am still not convinced price will stop being the biggest hurdle, but if Samsung's numbers are accurate, the next wave of foldable users may not come from India's biggest cities. They could come from the places many brands have traditionally overlooked.

OpenAI is known to drop research bombs with no great announcement, and the newest one requires a closer look than just the small paper where it is published. The internal version of Astra, the next big model to be released by OpenAI, has come up with solutions to ten mathematical problems and problems in theoretical computer science which have been unsolved for at least a decade, and in many cases for much longer. The topics include high-dimensional geometry, coding theory, group theory, quantum complexity and lattice cryptography. The two last items in the list solve the remaining two problems from the famous problem list of Paul Erdős. One refutes a conjecture from operator algebras made in the seventies. So, what is the right answer? How can you trust the AI when it claims it solved a math problem?

Also read: Best tablets for designers in India in 2026: Five picks for illustrators

This is the story that is worth telling, and it is a lot more interesting than what meets the eye from the headline figure. OpenAI did not simply provide a list of the ten counterexamples and ask mathematicians to trust it because of the claim of mathematicians. All the ten counterexamples were made into a proof certificate using Lean prior to their being published. A proof certificate is a tool called a proof assistant which is basically a programming language capable of encoding mathematical arguments in a format that could be understood by the computer and could be checked logically.

That's an essential distinction at this point in time. Big language models are well-known to make confident, fluent, and sometimes totally made-up assertions, which is a problem that research labs haven't figured out how to overcome yet. An assertion from a big language model that it has proved something is basically meaningless. An assertion from a big language model that its proof has passed mechanical verification to align with formal logic is an assertion of an entirely different order. OpenAI clearly recognized that difference. "OpenAI is responsible for the accuracy of the manuscripts and the Lean formalizations. The mathematical proofs come from the system." 

Also read: India’s real chip opportunity is supply chain, says Lam Research’s Rangesh Raghavan

One should note what lean verification does and doesn't do. It verifies the logical integrity of the reasoning process assuming a set of premises is provided. It doesn't mean anything regarding elegance and profundity of a proof, or that it can be called "illuminating" by a professional mathematician. Mathematicians have discussed the idea that a proof is just as much about the understanding of a statement as its verification for a long time. A machine verified proof avoids that discussion altogether.

That is precisely the issue that is of primary importance for the future credibility of AI-based science. Given that the applications of these increasingly powerful models will move on from solving toy problems to tackling ever-harder challenges in physics, chemistry, and engineering, a process of formal verification of some sort may well become the norm, not the exception. The expanding application of Lean to this end is no accident. It is a pattern. If the AI community wishes for its scientific statements to be taken seriously and not simply viewed as marketing slogans, formal verification will be the requirement. OpenAI appears to have got the memo. Whether the rest of the AI industry has followed suit is an open question.

Also read: This is the year for refurbished phones: Yug Bhatia says rising smartphone prices is changing India’s market

Designers in India have changed how they think about tablets over the last few years. The question is no longer whether a tablet can replace a sketchbook or a drawing tablet (for many it already has), but which tablet’s display is reliable and properly tuned for colour-sensitive work or which stylus is precise enough for a detailed illustration. For graphic designers and illustrators, on-paper specifications read very differently than they do for general buyers. A 1,000-nit display means nothing if the colour accuracy is poor. A fast chipset is useful but not the priority if the creative apps you rely on don't run on the platform. A bundled stylus matters only if the pressure sensitivity is high enough to feel natural under fine line work. And the aspect ratio of the screen deserves more attention than it usually gets because a 3:2 panel behaves differently from a 16:10 one when you're working on something that will eventually be printed or framed. Here are five best tablets for designers in India in 2026.

Xiaomi Pad 8 (Rs 35,999)

The display statistic that matters most for design work on the Xiaomi Pad 8 (review) is not it’s brightness or the 144 Hz refresh rate, it is the aspect ratio. The 11.2-inch 3:2 panel is the closest thing to a sheet of paper in this group, providing more vertical space for document layout, illustration and reading than the wider 16:10 panels most competitors use. Working in portrait orientation feels natural rather than awkward, and split-screen multitasking benefits from the additional height.

In our Calman testing, the Pad 8's display returned a deltaE of 2.4 and 98.9% sRGB coverage, with manual brightness reaching 779 nits and adaptive mode exceeding 1,000 nits. These are solid but not class-leading numbers: the colours are accurate enough for most design work but not for print-critical colour matching where tighter calibration is needed.

The Focus Pen Pro (Rs 5,999, sold separately) replaces physical buttons with haptic gestures: a double press, a pinch and a grip each trigger distinct functions. It is a cleaner system than a button-based stylus and the haptic feedback is precise enough. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 handles demanding creative apps without complaint and the 9,200 mAh battery lasted 12 hours and 39 minutes in our PCMark test. A 67W charger is included in the box and a full charge takes 1 hour and 19 minutes.

Read our full review of the Xiaomi Pad 8 here

Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus (Rs 49,999)

The Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus includes the Tab Pen Pro stylus and a keyboard cover with a trackpad in the box, making it the only tablet on this list that ships with a complete creative work setup. Buying a comparable stylus and keyboard separately for any other tablet here would cost Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 more.

The 12.7-inch IPS LCD panel runs at a 2944 x 1840 resolution with a 144 Hz refresh rate. It is sharp, vibrant and handles media content well. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 16 GB RAM handles multitasking cleanly, the 10,200 mAh battery delivered over 14 hours in regular use and the keyboard cover is stable enough to use on a lap. The pen magnets are weaker than ideal and the glossy rear panel picks up scratches and fingerprints quickly. There is no microSD card slot and the base operating system is Android 14 rather than the Android 16 found on most competitors here.

OnePlus Pad 4 (Rs 59,999)

The OnePlus Pad 4's primary argument for designers is simple: at 13.2 inches, it is the largest drawing and design surface in this guide, paired with the highest-performance chipset of any Android tablet here. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 scored 39,31,305 on AnTuTu and 10,022 in Geekbench multi-core testing, comfortably leading the Android portion of this list. Under sustained load, CPU throttle stability came in at 78%, which is adequate for most creative work but worth noting for long rendering or export sessions.

The Stylus Pro has 16,000 levels of pressure sensitivity which is the highest in this group, with gesture controls and a Find My Stylus function for users who misplace accessories regularly. The additional pen tip included in the box changes the writing and drawing surface feel, which is a great inclusion for designers who have preferences between a smooth glide and more friction.

In Calman testing, however, the display returned a deltaE of 2.7 and 98.4% sRGB coverage and peak brightness reached 1,080 nits in our testing, slightly exceeding OnePlus's stated 1,000-nit claim. The 13,380 mAh battery delivered 10 to 11 hours of screen-on time in heavy use and 80W charging takes 1 hour and 45 minutes for a full charge. The lack of a fingerprint sensor carries over from the previous generation and there is no cellular connectivity option, but those are some drawbacks that designer would overlook anyway.

Read our full review of the OnePlus Pad 4 here

Apple iPad Air M4 (Rs 61,699 onwards)

No other tablet in this guide comes close to the iPad Air M4's software advantage for design work. Procreate, Affinity Publisher, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro and dozens of professional creative applications run on iPadOS with a depth and polish that Android equivalents have not matched. For a designer whose workflow depends on specific tools, the platform often decides everything else.

The M4 chip makes that software fly. In our testing using the 13-inch model, exporting a 10-minute 4K video in Final Cut Pro took 11 minutes and 29 seconds, compared to 7 minutes 21 seconds on a MacBook Pro M3 Max. Geekbench multi-core came in at 13,347, more than double any Android tablet in this guide. The system warms under sustained load but remains manageable: thermal performance never became uncomfortable or caused visible slowdowns.

The limitation every designer should know before buying: the iPad Air M4 runs at 60 Hz. There is no ProMotion on this model; Apple reserves 120 Hz for the iPad Pro. For stylus work specifically, the difference between 60 Hz and 120 Hz latency is perceptible during fine line illustration and buyers coming from a ProMotion device will notice it. The measured peak brightness in our testing reached 745 nits, sufficient for indoor use but not the brightest screen in this group.

The 11-inch model starts at Rs 61,699 for 128 GB Wi-Fi and the 13-inch model starts at Rs 84,900. For most designers, the 13-inch is worth the premium as the additional canvas space changes the working experience meaningfully.

Read our full review of the iPad Air M4 here

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 (Rs 91,999)

The Galaxy Tab S11 is the only tablet in this guide with an AMOLED display. The Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel delivers contrast ratios that no IPS LCD in this group can match: blacks are genuinely black rather than dark grey, which changes how you perceive shadow detail and negative space in design work. At up to 1,600 nits peak brightness with HDR10+ support, it is also the brightest display in this guide. The S Pen is included in the box, which at this price point feels appropriate rather than generous.

The Dimensity 9400+ (3 nm) handles demanding workloads cleanly and Samsung DeX gives the Tab S11 a desktop-mode experience useful for designers who move between tablet and external display setups. The dedicated microSD card slot is a practical addition for creatives who work with large asset libraries. Seven years of Android OS and security updates is the longest software support commitment of any tablet here and it has real value for designers.

At Rs 91,999, this is the most expensive pick in the guide by a clear margin. The gap between it and the iPad Air M4's 11-inch entry point is Rs 30,000. Whether the AMOLED display and S Pen justify that premium over the OnePlus Pad 4, or whether iPadOS's creative software ecosystem makes the iPad Air the more practical choice despite the similar price, depends almost entirely on which platform your tools live on.

Quick pick: which tablet should a designer buy?

"I donated all my hair to this industry for 33 years," Rangesh Raghavan jokes near the end of our hour-long chat, reflecting on a career that has spanned nearly the entire modern history of semiconductors.

But this isn't really a story about one industry veteran. It's a story about how India fits into a global industry that took decades to build, and where the opportunities may be larger than many people realize.

India's semiconductor story is often told through the lens of fabs, investments and technology nodes. But from Raghavan’s perspective, a much larger opportunity may lie beyond this.

Our discussion repeatedly returned to the same theme: while fabs matter, the bigger opportunity may be in the ecosystem that grows around them: from supply chains and services to engineering talent and innovation.

As one of the world's leading semiconductor equipment companies, Lam has spent decades helping build chip manufacturing ecosystems globally. That industry vantage point offers a unique way of looking at India's semiconductor ambitions.

Raghavan has a clear sense of which efforts can have the greatest impact. He believes the country’s semiconductor efforts are beginning to broaden in encouraging ways. Building fabs is important, he says, but long-term success will depend on how effectively India develops capabilities across the value chain that surrounds them.

Also read: Digit Magazine's March 2026 cover story on India's semiconductor ecosystem voices

When I asked him why India can't just make its own DDR6 six months from now, Raghavan responded drawing on three decades of industry experience. "Semiconductor manufacturing is one of the most capital-intensive and technologically complex industries in the world, requiring deep expertise, and ecosystem maturity. While India's manufacturing ambitions are in the right direction, we must not look at success as achieving scale and competitiveness in the short term.

He offers another pragmatic perspective, “Significant opportunities exist across multiple parts of the value chain where India can build on existing strengths in engineering strengths, talent, and growing domestic demand. "We shouldn't get caught up in this idea that we're behind," he says.

His point seems to not be about lowering ambition, but more about building elements that can create a more resilient and competitive ecosystem that generates long-term economic impact for the country. It is about identifying areas where India can create meaningful and sustainable value while continuing to strengthen its manufacturing ecosystem.

Focus beyond the fab, there’s more to do

If there's one idea Raghavan wants readers to take away, it's that India’s semiconductor success should not be measured solely by the number of fabs the country builds.

Raghavan believes that while fabs are a critical part of India’s semiconductor journey, they are one part of a much larger ecosystem. "Without the fab at the core, the other pieces don't fall into place," he rightly says. But "it doesn't need to be all that we talk about."

What should we talk about then, I ask him? “The global wafer fab equipment market, to begin with,” says Raghavan.

He’s right. The global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales growth is expected to continue according to SEMI, and their forecasts from December 2025 show projections of $145 billion in 2026 and $156 billion in 2027, with growth driven primarily by investments related to AI, particularly in leading-edge logic, memory, and the adoption of advanced packaging technologies. A portion of that value comes from highly specialized semiconductor technologies, but a significant part also comes from precision manufacturing, assemblies, machining, cables, electronics, components and services that support advanced equipment.

According to Raghavan, India already has a headstart here since many of these capabilities already exist within India's industrial base. The same manufacturers supplying components to aerospace, automotive, healthcare and industrial sectors often possess capabilities that can be adapted for semiconductor applications, he says. The opportunity lies in helping more Indian companies qualify for this highly demanding global supply chain. That is already beginning to happen.

As part of its supplier-development efforts, Lam Research has been working with Indian manufacturers to qualify precision components and assemblies for use in semiconductor equipment. The company sees significant potential for the country to expand its participation in this segment as capabilities continue to mature.

Also read: Not just design: Marvell’s Navin Bishnoi on next chapter of Indian semicon and AI datacentre story

The case for supply-chain development is not just economic, but also workforce-related, says Raghavan. While fabs create highly skilled jobs and serve as the foundation, the extended supply chain and the wider ecosystem often generate employment at much larger scale across manufacturing, services and engineering. For instance, a growing semiconductor supply chain requires machine shops, material specialists, equipment support providers, logistics partners, electronics manufacturers and several other specialised businesses.

Raghavan gives an example of equipment servicing, something essential to keeping fabs productive. “When India's fabs arrive, you'll need people with such skills,” he says. For these ancillary jobs, the fab plays a pivotal role, acting as the anchor customer – the "proof point" as Raghavan says – that makes many of these essential secondary businesses viable.

Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have built meaningful industries around these capabilities. India has the potential to develop similar strengths as domestic manufacturing ecosystem scales.

The machine nobody knows India already builds

India's chip story is usually presented as a design story. Although a well-deserved reputation, with more than 20% of the world's semiconductor design talent estimated to in India, this is just a part of the whole. Less visible is another story, the role India already plays in semiconductor equipment development.

"From a Lam perspective, the Bengaluru centre is an integral part of the company’s global R&D network. And this isn’t a recent phenomenon”, Raghavan points out. Lam has been building engineering capabilities in Bengaluru for 25 years, long before semiconductors became a mainstream conversation in India. Engineers at the Lam Research's India center contribute to the development of technologies used in advanced fabs around the world, including equipment supporting leading-edge nodes.

That’s truly incredible, if you ask me. While Lam India’s story may represent a quieter chapter of India's semiconductor story, it shows India isn't waiting at the door of the advanced-equipment world. It demonstrates how advanced technology development can be built and scaled up in India over time.

Press him on what India still needs to strengthen, and he quickly steers the conversation toward systems engineering.

"India has tremendous technical talent. As technologies become increasingly interdisciplinary, the non-negotiable skill for an engineer to develop is systems thinking,” he says. Raghavan believes that the industry increasingly needs engineers who can connect different disciplines and integrate complex systems, a capability that is becoming critical as semiconductor technologies become more sophisticated.

Also read: NanoStack explained: Did IBM really build a 0.7nm chip?

He backs up his point with an example that all Indians will immediately understand. "Think about Chandrayaan. People working across disciplines to deliver an amazing outcome – that's systems engineering”.

That need is also shaping Lam's workforce development efforts in India. Lam Research has expanded its engagement with academia, semiconductor learning initiatives, technical skilling programs, etc. The company also runs systems engineering competitions that have attracted participation from thousands of students across hundreds of institutions across India. Initiatives such as Semiverse reflect Lam Research's commitment to talent development, providing engineering students in our country with industry-relevant semiconductor learning opportunity, truly democratizing learning access. Because India needs to build talent fast, and for the semiconductor industry to scale sustainably, talent must come from a wide, diverse base of universities and technical institutions, and not just premier institutes.

A dream for 2030, minus the sloganeering

Asked what 2030 should look like, Raghavan returns to what his career taught him: products beat parts. "Over the long term, the greatest value comes from building products, technologies, and intellectual property that reach global markets,” he says.

By 2030, he hopes to see competitive manufacturing, stronger supply chains, globally relevant technology products and a growing base of semiconductor-focused businesses serving international markets. As he summarizes, the semiconductor opportunity is not limited to making chips. It is about building the ecosystem that enables an entire industry to thrive.

That ecosystem is taking shape. Many of its foundations, from investments to policy support to supplier development to workforce initiatives are in place and emerging. For Rangesh Raghavan, that is reason for optimism.

Not because he thinks the journey is an easy one, but because India already possesses the one ingredient every successful semiconductor ecosystem ultimately depends upon: talent. The rest, as Raghavan puts it, is engineering. 

Also read: Micron’s chip assembly plant: 3 Key features, why it matters

Buying a smartphone in India is becoming more expensive. Whether it is a recently released smartphone or an upcoming release, prices have risen quite a bit compared to the previous generation of devices. Also if you’d note, the price increase is not sudden but rather driven by the increasing cost of chipsets in the global market. With the increasing smartphone prices, we can see a change in the Indian smartphone market as people who would have earlier opted for a new phone are now looking to get a premium refurbished one that comes with better specifications but at a lower cost. This has also resulted in the rise of the companies who deal in refurbished smartphones.

In an exclusive interview with Digit, Yug Bhatia, Founder and CEO of Control Z, discussed why refurbished phones are gaining popularity, how AI is being used as a marketing tool, and why he believes value has become more important than ever for Indian consumers.

Changing perceptions of refurbished devices

The refurbished smartphone market has existed for years, but consumer confidence has always been its biggest challenge. Many buyers associated refurbished phones with poor quality, visible scratches and unreliable performance. According to Yug Bhatia, that perception is slowly disappearing because companies are now focusing on offering products that feel almost identical to brand-new smartphones instead of simply selling used devices.

He explained that Control Z purchases older smartphones and renews them at its Gurgaon facility using an automated repair and testing process. According to the company, the device goes through more than 300 quality checks before reaching customers, and they also replace or refurbish several components wherever required to ensure that the final product delivers a premium experience rather than feeling like a second-hand purchase.

'We present every phone absolutely like a new phone. It comes with 100 per cent battery health and an 18-month warranty,' Bhatia said. He further added that beyond hardware the company also pays close attention to packaging and presentation. The idea is to make the unboxing experience feel similar to opening a new premium smartphone. According to him, when customers receive a device that looks, feels and performs like new, their hesitation towards refurbished products naturally starts to disappear.

Rising prices are driving refurbished demand

One of the biggest reasons behind the renewed interest in refurbished smartphones is the sharp increase in smartphone prices across almost every segment. From entry-level devices to premium flagships, consumers are now paying significantly more than they did a few years ago.

Bhatia believes the rise in chipset prices and component costs has accelerated the refurbished industry much faster than expected. In his view, the market has progressed by nearly two years because buyers are actively looking for alternatives that offer better value without forcing them to spend flagship-level money.

'This is the year for refurbished phones,' he said. Describing the sudden growth of the refurbished and second-hand smartphone market, he added that 'the industry has moved ahead by at least two years because of the price increases.'

Normally, the value of older smartphones declines every year as newer models enter the market. However, the current situation has broken that pattern. Instead of becoming cheaper, refurbished devices have also become more expensive because demand has increased while overall smartphone prices continue to rise. While talking to Digit, Yug said that 'Prices of the old models, specifically the premium Android devices and iPhones, should have fallen by 10 to 15 per cent, but instead they have gone up by around 20 per cent. That is something nobody has seen before.'

Value matters more than buying new

According to Bhatia, today's buyers are becoming more practical with their purchases. Instead of focusing only on buying the latest smartphone, many consumers are now comparing what they actually receive for the money they spend.

He believes that someone with a budget of around Rs 30,000 is often better off purchasing a premium refurbished iPhone than buying a newly launched mid-range Android smartphone with weaker hardware. The overall experience, camera quality, software support and long-term performance can often be better on an older flagship device.

According to him, this shift is no longer limited to tech enthusiasts; it is now also visible among mainstream buyers. He said that consumers are increasingly recognising that refurbished devices can offer significantly better value without requiring them to compromise on quality, especially as smartphone prices continue to rise.

Smartphone industry is reshaping

During the interaction, we also touched upon the ongoing chipset crisis and its impact on smartphone pricing. While many people still view it as a temporary challenge, Bhatia believes the industry has entered a completely new phase.

He explained that higher semiconductor prices have permanently changed smartphone manufacturing costs. As a result, companies have little room to reduce prices, especially when premium components continue becoming more expensive. He said that 'the smartphone industry has completely changed, and it's not going back.'

Bhatia also believes that manufacturers will eventually pass higher production costs on to consumers because maintaining healthy profit margins remains essential. While companies may absorb a small part of the increase initially, doing so for a long period is not financially practical, particularly in the premium smartphone segment.

Government policies won't affect the market

While the Indian government’s decision to remove import duties on several smartphone components has been welcomed across the industry, Bhatia believes the move will not significantly impact the second-hand market or lead to a substantial reduction in smartphone prices.

He explained that several manufacturers were already receiving subsidies or reduced duties while assembling products in India. He said that, although the new policies might increase accessibility, it is unlikely that they will be able to mitigate cost increases due to expensive chipsets and other hardware elements. According to him, customers should not assume that prices will fall immediately just because import duties have been changed since there are other more powerful factors in the market that affect smartphone prices.

AI isn't driving upgrades yet

Artificial intelligence has become the new marketing point for smartphones. If you follow the smartphone industry, you must have noticed that almost every major smartphone launch now dedicates a significant amount of time to highlighting AI-powered cameras, editing tools, writing assistants, and productivity features.

However, Bhatia believes that AI has not yet become a strong enough reason for most people to upgrade their smartphones. In his opinion, many of these features still rely heavily on cloud computing, meaning users do not necessarily need expensive AI-focused hardware to access similar capabilities.

'I personally don't see any major AI use on phones except AI apps,' he said. Instead, he feels smartphone companies are using AI as the latest marketing trend because every new generation needs a fresh selling point.

For buyers in the budget and mid-range segments, practical improvements such as more RAM, better storage, smoother software performance and longer update support would provide much greater value. Describing the same, he quoted that 'for a Rs 20,000 phone, getting 6GB RAM is a much bigger deal than AI.'

Loyalty is bigger than specs

Another interesting observation from Bhatia was how consumer behaviour changes in the premium smartphone market. According to him, once buyers move beyond a certain price range, the technical specifications take the back seat as they become less important than brand preference.

He believes this explains Apple's continued dominance in India's premium smartphone segment. Buyers spending over Rs 50,000 often already know which brand they want, and small feature differences rarely influence their final decision. Stating the sales numbers from Control Z, Bhatia revealed that the iPhone 13 series remains the company's best-selling refurbished smartphone lineup to date.

He didn't stop there as he went ahead and explained that Indian buyers generally prefer purchasing one or two generations older iPhones because they offer a better balance between price and overall experience. Unlike several international markets where the newest Pro models attract maximum demand, Indian consumers often prioritise value, making previous-generation iPhones far more popular. Moreover, Yug also expects this trend to remain strong in the coming years as smartphone prices are still rising at a rapid pace.

Building trust is the key

When asked about the lack of trust in second-hand smartphones, especially from the older buyers who still believe refurbished devices are unreliable simply because they have been used before. Yug acknowledged that trust still remains one of the biggest challenges for the industry. However, he also added that Control Z is constantly working in this sector, as they are trying to change this perception by consistently delivering quality products, offering longer warranties and providing reliable after-sales service. 

He further told us that a premium presentation also plays an important role because customers often judge the product before they even switch it on. He said that 'the customer does not want to buy a pre-owned phone. They have simply never seen what a properly renewed phone looks like.'

While promoting the brand, he added that Control Z is expanding its offline retail presence so that customers can physically experience the products before making a purchase. Bhatia believes this helps build confidence, especially among buyers who still prefer visiting physical stores over ordering expensive devices online.

Refurbished smartphones are becoming the smarter choice

Yug Bhatia believes the future of refurbished phones is bright, and better quality checks, longer warranties, wider availability, and growing awareness are making them more popular among buyers. While he believes that new phones will always attract customers, he also trusts the stats that state more and more people are now looking for better value instead of the latest model. Lastly, he thinks that if the smartphone prices keep increasing the way they are now, then the premium refurbished phones could become one of the best-value choices in India's smartphone market.

I never saw Motorola launch a device specifically for gamers, but this time around, Motorola wants the Edge 70 Max to compete with other gaming-focused flagship smartphones. That’s a big claim, and instead of just believing it, I wanted to see how well it actually holds up in real life. Anyone can put a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset inside a phone and call it a gaming device. Still, the real test is whether that device can deliver consistent performance during long gaming sessions without slowing down or overheating. To find out, I spent hours playing BGMI, including Classic Ranked and TDM matches, while keeping temperature checks after every session of gameplay and running benchmarks. I also ran the phone through our complete benchmark tests at Digit Test Labs to compare the scores with my real-world gaming experience. 

Here is what actually happens when you push the Motorola Edge 70 Max the way its own marketing says you should.

What’s powering the Motorola Edge 70 Max

Under the hood, Motorola has gone with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset for the Edge 70 Max. Built on a 3nm process, it’s an octa-core processor with two prime cores clocked at up to 3.8GHz and six performance cores clocked at up to 3.3Ghz, paired with the Adreno 829 GPU that also supports real-time hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Our review unit came with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage.

Now, beyond the spec sheet, the real test is opening BGMI and seeing how the Motorola Edge 70 Max actually performs during gameplay.

BGMI: Classic ranked match

The Motorola Edge 70 Max supports Smooth + Ultra Extreme graphics in BGMI, which unlocks the gameplay up to 120fps. I started with a Ranked match, and throughout the gameplay, the frame rate peaked at 121fps and dropped to a minimum of 97fps, and averaged 119.2 FPS overall. Do note, I didn’t notice any of these ‘fps numbers’ while I was playing. Close-range fights with smoke grenades and in a 1 v 4 clutch situation stayed smooth, touch response felt instant, and using the controls felt intuitive, so aiming was easy and never frustrating.

Thermal management was the other thing that I took into account. The phone’s surface temperature measured around 40 Degrees Celsius after the match, but the back panel never got uncomfortable to hold, and the frame stayed relatively cool enough that I forgot I was even checking for the temperatures.

BGMI: TDM deathmatch

TDM is a different kind of match where the action keeps going because you respawn after dying. In this mode, the phone touched a max of 121fps, dropped to a low of 96fps, and averaged 118.7fps across the match.

Yes, 96fps is a dip from the peak, but once again, I did not feel it while playing. The match stayed fluid from start to end. If we talk about temperatures, then they actually came in lower than the Ranked match, settling around 38 Degrees Celsius. That also shows how Motorola has tuned this phone to handle continuous load even in intense situations.

Motorola Edge 70 Max: Day-to-day performance

Let’s evaluate how the Motorola Edge 70 Max feels in day-to-day life. General operation feels quick, apps open almost the moment I tap them, animations are smooth, and scrolling through long pages or on social media didn’t feel stuttery.

Multitasking held up the same way. I left 6-7 apps running in the background across a full day, and most of them resumed exactly where I left off when I came back. Switching between heavy apps, camera, a couple of browser tabs, and a game, I never felt like the phone was struggling to keep up.

Motorola Edge 70 Max: Benchmarks at Digit Test Labs

Real-world testing tells you how a phone feels, although benchmarks tell you why.

• Antutu: 30,95,875
• Geekbench 6: Single-Core - 2,787, Multi-Core - 9,077
• 3DMark Wildlife Extreme: 5,076
• CPU Throttling Test: throttled to 65 per cent
• PCMark Work 3.1 Performance: 20,850

The Antutu score lands exactly where a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 phone would. Geekbench backs that up with strong numbers on both single and multi-core workloads, and the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme score of 5,076 confirms the Adreno 829 has enough GPU headroom for demanding titles, and not just BGMI at capped frame rates.

However, during the CPU Throttling Test, the Edge 70 Max struggled and showed an orange graph, with the chip settling at 65 per cent of its peak performance under sustained load. That's a real drop on paper, but it matched what I actually felt through two back-to-back gaming sessions, with frame rates that stayed consistent instead of dropping during longer gameplay sessions.

Motorola Edge 70 Max: Storage speeds

Motorola Edge 70 Max comes with  UFS 4.1 storage, and it returned a sequential write speed of 4,093MB/s and a sequential read speed of 4,114MB/s in our tests, and these numbers show up in daily use too. I installed some games, and they installed faster than I’m used to; apps open with less delay, and moving files off the phone takes less time.

Motorola Edge 70 Max gaming and performance review: Closing thoughts

Putting a flagship chipset inside a phone is easy. Making it behave like one after several hours of gaming is not, and that's where the Edge 70 Max earns the performance review. Frame rates held steady across both match types in BGMI, thermals never became an issue, multitasking did not choke, and storage speeds matched what the spec sheet promised.

If gaming is the reason you're buying a phone, or you just want something that stays fast months after you've stopped paying attention to benchmarks, then, at Rs 54,999, the Motorola Edge 70 Max delivers exactly where it needs to.

When you look back at how this year initially was for Anthropic, you will remember the fights it picked with the Pentagon and the White House because they didn’t want their AI being used for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. That nobility did not just win public favour back then but also gave them a moral high ground that made them the so-called “conscience” of the AI industry. Dario Amodei gave interviews about existential risk with the calm energy of a man who flosses daily and means it. Now in mere days, the same “safe AI” company has lost the good-will of the people and maybe a big chunk of their user base really soon. 

Also read: I thought NotebookLM was just for research, then I discovered these 5 uses

Several court documents were revealed this month that showed how Anthropic has spent more than a truckload of money to purchase as many physical books as they could only to then splice their spines off, send the pages for scanning and recycling the leftovers. This was Project Panama and it had one goal, “destructively scan all the books in the world.” Somewhere between the moral high ground and the finish line, Anthropic apparently detoured through a paper shredder.

Anthropic’s spat with Pentagon

Let's take a trip down memory lane and go back to where it all began in February, 2026. The US Department of Defence gave Anthropic a simple deal – the US Military gets full access to Claude for whatever they want to do including but not limited to mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems. The July before that Anthropic had signed a 200 million dollar contract with the Pentagon making it the first frontier AI approved for classified networks. Despite that history, they outright rejected the DoD’s offer.

Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, did not like that rejection and almost immediately the Trump administration all but banned Anthropic’s products and called them a “supply chain risk,” which is a label that is usually reserved for companies that are suspected of being fronts for foreign adversaries.

Anthropic brought suit. The courts found a middle ground. The firm was disqualified from DoD contracts alone, allowed to retain its government business beyond that while the litigation proceeds. The firm’s CFO informed a federal judge that the entire affair could amount to billions in lost revenue in 2026.

And amidst all of this, the tech community largely gave a thumbs up. Anthropic was following through on the principle it always claimed it would follow through on – drawing its line despite the billions being lost as a consequence of drawing its line. It made the firm look good.

The Mythos chapter

As the Pentagon debacle died down to a mere legal footnote, Anthropic rolled out their most flashy new models to date, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, the first models in a range above the already existing Opus series. However, within three days, Commerce made Anthropic shut them down globally due to a jailbreak that allowed the unlocking of hazardous cyber capabilities.

Anthropic argued back strongly, stating that the jailbreak in question was too narrow to justify such a move, and that it could likely be done with rivals' products, which do not come with any export restrictions at all. It took roughly three weeks of publicly visible arguments between the parties before Commerce silently re-enabled access.

Once again, Anthropic was shown as a company willing to face the government head on instead of backing down. Quite admirable, depending on whether one takes into account the standard "argues with the US government and survives" scale.

The library

Then came the fall from grace because this one incident could have done more damage to Anthropic’s reputation than anything whatever goodwill they gained with the Pentagon fight.  Anthropic had purchased a truckload of books but what was even more interesting was they wanted books written before 2022 only. Books prior to the Gen-AI boom and the ChatGPT era. The reasoning is a little too on the nose because anything published after late 2022 had more likely than not some level of involvement and cleanup by a chatbot before it ever went to print. It could be one chapter, a small edit or even just a punctuation fix but there was some AI DNA in there. You feed enough AI generated content to train another chatbot and it will, at some point, be equivalent to a snake eating its own tail. What philosophers might call an Ouroboros while researchers call it model collapse. An AI that trains itself on its own output will eventually become dumber and plainer almost like a photocopy of a photocopy. Books pre-2022 held value for that very reason. They were the last pieces of literature that could be certified as 100% human. Today, that is difficult to verify. You can’t even verify if this article was entirely human written because all you have to go off of is me saying I wrote it myself. Sure, there are AI content detectors but they are largely inaccurate.

Coming back to the books, Anthropic wasn’t hoarding them out of a love for print media and literature, they were strip mining the last vein of what I would call uncontaminated human writing before the whole quarry got infected with AI slop. It also needed these books destroyed so that there can’t be any argument of unlicensed physical inventory. 

Project Panama was run more discreetly and seriously than the supply chains of entire companies. They hired Tom Turvey who used to run book acquisitions for Google Books to lead this project. There are also claims of brokers like ISBNdb helping source and ship these books, some under NDAs. The sellers were trained to frame it a little softly with words like digital preservation. In reality, the books were being physically disbound with hydraulic cutting machines just chopping off the spines of these books. Then the loose pages were run through high speed scanners and that paper was then recycled so I guess you could say there is some sort of an eco-conscious effort. An internal document did surface with the court documents that said the company didn’t want this to be public knowledge. It is not something companies say while doing something totally uncontroversial.

Also read: Claude Opus 5 vs Sonnet 5: 3 ways Opus is worth the upgrade

Legally, however, things start getting weird. Judge William Alsup decided that the "buy-scan-destroy" technique used by Anthropic was fair use, as it involved buying every single copy legally, which allows you to legally scan them and recycle. The reason Anthropic spent a penny, on the other hand, was the previous, unrelated crime. One of Anthropic co-founders, Ben Mann, had managed to download more than seven million pirate copies of those books from LibGen and other shadow libraries back in 2021, when Project Panama did not even exist yet. As a result, the lawsuit led to a 1.5 billion dollar settlement with the authors, announced just recently, which worked out to be about 3,000 dollars per book pirate copy. Project Panama, in its turn, was Anthropic's way of getting clean data, since the shadow library strategy failed spectacularly.

This is not actually a tale of corporate wrongdoing in violation of the law. The court claims that they have not done anything illegal, at least not the scanning part. This is a tale of a corporation which for an entire year claimed itself to be the adult in the room when it comes to AI safety, preferred to forfeit a lucrative defense contract rather than violate their core values, while secretly conducting a covert operation whose own employees have been forbidden to talk about, dedicated to vacuuming up and then disposing of forever the irreplaceable copies of out of print and rare books just because the pre-ChatGPT prose has become scarce. Fair use is a legal protection. Fair use is not a PR tactic. And there is no quicker way to ruin the reputation of a safety company than having the public realize that your idea of the proper way of doing things ends up in a wood chipper.

Not to mention that they didn’t build a digital archive using these and a lot of these books could possibly have been the final or some special edition available in the market now lost to humans forever. So whatever the law maybe, Anthropic has lost their footing in the court of public opinion.

So what actually happened to the goodwill

The first two stories were absolute wins for Anthropic's reputation. Saying no to the Pentagon on autonomous weapons, even at a cost of billions in revenue, that is brave. Fighting Commerce over Mythos and getting the shutdown reversed in three weeks makes them look principled rather than reckless. By the middle of this year, Anthropic had banked more public goodwill than the entire notion of Generative AI, precisely because it kept proving it would rather lose money than lose its spine.

Then the books story spent all of it in one news cycle. It was not an unexpected reputational crisis resulting from some scandal that caught Anthropropic off guard. They cultivated the reputation, over the course of several months, by taking two expensive and genuinely commendable positions against one of the most powerful governments in the world. But then, it turned out that the very same company for two years had been quietly buying up all the literature in the world that had been written before ChatGPT and feeding it into the shredder, while explicitly instructing its employees not to discuss what it was doing. The fact that the company is right regarding autonomous weapons, and the fact that the company is right regarding Mythos does not change that at all. It only makes the contrast greater.

I like Claude, it has always been one of the better and more intuitive chatbots in my experience and it can be really useful once you understand how it works but Anthropic has made it extremely difficult to not root against them. GenAI since its inception has been made the villain and everytime you think the pros just might outweigh the cons, something like this happens and more people start losing trust in this new era of tech.

The company that spent an entire year arguing that it is the only lab that will do the difficult right thing has now made it easier than ever for its critics to argue against it: “fine you said no to the DoD, but did you also spend two years buying up every clean, pre-ChatGPT book you could find and feeding it into a machine so nobody could prove you still had them.” Anthropic earned its good guy reputation the hard way, one costly stand at a time. It just spent that reputation the easy way, in a warehouse with a hydraulic cutter and a gag order.

Also read: RBI’s draft AI model ignores agentic AI risk, experts warn

I’ve always liked the idea of foldable phones more than actually using them. I have been tracking Samsung foldables for eight years now, and every new generation promised to be thinner, lighter, and more practical. But there was usually one compromise that kept bothering me, despite the whole package being top-tier. The cover screen felt too narrow. However, after spending time with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, I actually do feel Samsung has finally nailed the fundamentals. The Fold 8 doesn’t feel like a yearly refresh; for that, there’s the Fold 8 Ultra. But the Z Fold 8, in my eyes, is the foldable Samsung should have made much earlier.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 early review: Lots to unpack!

Here are five reasons why I think the Galaxy Z Fold 8 deserves a spot at the top of your shortlist if you're planning to buy a premium foldable.

1 - The passport form factor makes a lot of sense

Probably the biggest reason I enjoy using the Fold 8 is its passport-like form factor. Previous Galaxy Fold models always felt a bit awkward when closed. They were tall and narrow, almost like holding a TV remote. Also, because I could, I often opened and used the phone, even for something as simple as reading an article, because the cover display felt cramped.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 changes that perspective.

The wider, shorter design gives me the feel of holding a passport-sized mini notebook rather than an unusually tall smartphone. I remember picking the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for the first time in London and almost immediately, the form factor felt natural. As I use this phone, I realise how comfortably I can browse websites, scroll through Instagram, check emails or read my chats without feeling like I need the larger display every few minutes.

Compared to something like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the Z Fold 8 doesn't feel like a stranger to me. Let’s put it this way: to me, it simply feels like a premium compact smartphone that just happens to unfold into something much bigger.

2 - One-handed typing works like a charm

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is wide, and a wider phone also fixes one of my biggest frustrations with older Fold devices. Typing on the cover screen is finally such a joy that I can’t even properly express it into words. And that too, with just one hand.

The new 10:16 aspect ratio gives the keyboard on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 enough room that my thumbs aren't constantly fighting each other. I make fewer accidental typos on the Fold 8. And, I know, this may sound like a small thing, but it completely changes how often I actually use the outer display on a foldable smartphone.

While returning from my recent trip to London, there were plenty of moments where I was holding something or the other in one hand and replying to WhatsApp with the other while walking through the airport. With my S26 Ultra, normally, I'd wait until I had both hands free. With the Fold 8, I didn't have to.

And that's exactly how the cover display on a foldable phone should work. Quick tasks should stay quick, and the big screen should be more of a choice rather than a necessity.

3 - The inner display is just the right shape

While the cover screen is a nice 5.5-inch panel, open the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and you're greeted by a 7.6-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Now, I personally think, and I am sure many would agree, that this size is the sweet spot for an internal display on a foldable phone.

The first thing I noticed was how much better older TV shows looked. Plenty of classic sitcoms and older content were shot in 4:3, and they fill the display beautifully without huge black bars eating into the screen. Even newer films and YouTube videos benefit. Although they're still presented in widescreen, the viewing area ends up being larger than it was on Samsung's older, taller foldables because the display itself is much wider.

Reading on the Galaxy Z Fold 8's display also feels closer to using a small tablet than stretching content across a narrow screen. Like, even if you compare it with something like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, Samsung's new aspect ratio feels far more natural for everyday content.

4 - The Fold 8 loses the ‘brick in your pocket’ feeling

One of the biggest arguments against foldables has always been portability. They're amazingly thin when unfolded, until you put them in your pocket. That’s not the case at all with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. In fact, this phone has been giving me a lot of anxiety because of its lightweight design. Many times, I don’t even feel like I am carrying a phone in my pocket.

To give the specifics, at just 4.5mm thick when unfolded and weighing only 201 grams, it's surprisingly easy to carry around all day. In fact, it's lighter than all traditional flagship phones in 2026, which still feels strange to say about a foldable. Again, I never felt like my jeans or shorts were sagging because of the phone's weight. Plus, sliding it into a pocket doesn't remind me that I'm carrying two phones stacked together.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra display tested: The most colour accurate foldable screen

5 - Multitasking finally feels natural

One of the biggest selling points for a foldable phone is how well you can multitask or run two or three apps side by side on the main screen without feeling cramped. Samsung has talked about multitasking on Fold phones for years, but I always felt the experience depended heavily on compromise. Let me explain.

Earlier Fold models, or even the latest Fold 8 Ultra, have massive internal screens. But when you run split-screen apps, they often end up looking too narrow to be genuinely useful. The Fold 8, on the other hand, fixes this problem with its wider 4:3 display.

For instance, running WhatsApp beside Chrome feels quite comfortable. For me, I can simply reply to messages while reading a webpage without either app feeling squeezed into an impossibly thin column. The same goes for checking my calendar while responding to emails or keeping YouTube open while taking notes. You see, this phone doesn’t force me to run apps in split-screen; instead, everything comes naturally, and on this phone, I just do a lot of tasks in split-screen because it simply works. I guess this is the biggest compliment I can give to this phone.