News Weekly: A new HTC phone could be on the way, Google cuts more jobs, and more

That is Android Central’s Information Weekly, your go-to supply for a concise roundup of the week’s most vital tech tales. That is the place we delve into the highest headlines that present the newest developments and improvements contributing to the digital panorama. 

This week, the tech world noticed Google’s contemporary spherical of layoffs, HTC’s comeback with a brand new telephone, Samsung teasing extra of its gadgets, Qualcomm’s Q2 level to a restoration, and Google messages simply received higher. Let’s get into it. 

Google makes job cuts, once more.

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Not per week goes by when Google does not make it to the headlines. This time, in a contemporary spherical of layoffs, Google let go of 200 of its ‘core’ staff to maneuver quicker and align with the corporate’s objectives.

These core groups have been accountable for the technical basis behind a lot of Google’s services and products for safety and on-line security. The corporate has additionally reportedly began a “reorganization” that strikes roles to India and Mexico.

Paperwork obtained by CNBC additionally recommended that staff discovered about these cuts per week earlier than they have been introduced, with Google stating that it will assist it align with its “broader objectives.” Google’s vp of its Developer Ecosystem, Asim Husain, knowledgeable workers that “this was the most important deliberate discount” for the staff in 2024, throughout a city corridor. These cuts come at time, after Google’s Q1 earnings report introduced a whopping $80.5 billion in income with “sturdy efficiency” throughout companies. 

Google confirmed these layoffs, and a spokesperson added that these affected can reapply for different roles throughout the firm.

HTC’s new telephone might get a serious improve

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HTC is a reputation that you just may suppose is off the market, nonetheless, they’re nonetheless within the smartphone scene. Whereas they do not churn out smartphones as typically as different manufacturers, a brand new leak indicated that its U24 Professional might give them one other entrant available in the market.

Based on Android Headlines, it appears to be like just like the Taiwanese firm is perhaps on the point of introduce the HTC U24 Professional this month. Though there is not any official phrase on the precise date but, the U23 Professional was launch in Might final 12 months, which has might be a cause to anticipate the identical with this 12 months’s addition.

A couple of days in the past, MySmartPrice caught sight of a tool on Geekbench and speculated that it’d belong to the HTC U24 collection. The telephone has mannequin quantity 2QDA100, however that does not give away an excessive amount of.

On the design entrance, the HTC U24 Professional will in all probability look rather a lot like its predecessor. That stated, it’d sport a quicker processor —the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. As for the value, the U23 Professional hit retailer cabinets at $350, and the U24 Professional is prone to keep in that vary. We are able to anticipate the gadget to have Android 14 out of the field with both 128GB or 256GB of inner storage. 

Samsung’s Q1 report provides extra information on wearables

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Samsung posted its income report for Q1 2024, and the corporate states it earned 71.92 trillion KRW in consolidated income and 6.61 trillion KRW in working income. Throughout its earnings name, the corporate said that its Q1 earnings noticed a 12.8% bounce in comparison with final 12 months.

Samsung feels that Galaxy AI is the driving drive behind its telephone gross sales, stating it’ll “search annual development.” The corporate additionally hinted at increasing its Galaxy portfolio by bringing Galaxy AI to “present and new flagship” merchandise like foldables and tablets. The opposite facet of this enterprise is its wearables, to which Samsung mentions the Galaxy Ring—one thing that might enhance income later this 12 months.

Smartwatches may even play a task, with Samsung stating it’ll look to “meet demand for upgrades by way of the launch of latest premium fashions.” It is unclear precisely what Samsung means right here, however rumors of an expanded Galaxy Watch profile have been circulating, with discuss of a Galaxy Watch 7, 7 Traditional, and seven Extremely. 

Qualcomm’s Q2 earnings are trying up

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Earlier this week, Qualcomm posted its fiscal 12 months Q2 2024 monetary earnings. The corporate reported $9.39 billion in income for the quarter, a rise of 1% over the identical quarter in 2023.

Qualcomm’s headset enterprise, which makes up most of its total income, additionally noticed a 1% improve through the quarter, reaching $8.03 billion. Whereas this may increasingly not seem to be a big achieve, it indicators wholesome development within the smartphone business after a little bit of a hunch only a 12 months in the past. By comparability, Qualcomm’s FY Q2 2023 earnings revealed a 17% drop in headset and total income, so the latest numbers look constructive.

“We’re enthusiastic about our continued development and diversification, together with reaching our third consecutive quarter of report QCT Automotive revenues, upcoming launches with our Snapdragon X platforms, and enabling main on-device AI capabilities throughout a number of product classes,” says Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon in an announcement.

With its present chipsets, Qualcomm is specializing in AI, which it expects will allow extra use instances in varied gadgets, be they telephones, PCs, or automobiles. The corporate highlights its AI hub for builders to assist drive this adoption.

“I need to step again and say, basically, I feel AI goes to profit all of the gadgets,” Amon says. “I feel AI, when extends to working on-device—in addition to the good thing about working alongside the cloud—they’ve utterly new use instances privateness, safety, latency value, personalization, and so forth.”

*Drumroll please* Audio emojis are right here

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Google is rolling out a singular new characteristic on its telephone app that lets customers categorical themselves with six new sounds.

As noticed by Google Information on Telegram, the corporate is beginning to roll out “Audio Emojis” within the Telephone app. Customers will be capable of toggle the characteristic within the app’s settings. From there, Google describes the characteristic as one that may assist customers “categorical feelings and moods with feels like applause, laughter, unhappy, trombone, and extra.”

When enabled, customers can name their family and friends and begin experimenting with the brand new sounds. On the Telephone app’s name display, there will probably be an choice to broaden the Audio Emoji’s row of faces above the default toolbar.

Nonetheless, the characteristic is arriving first within the app’s beta model. Based on DroidLife, Audio Emojis have been noticed on a Pixel 8 Professional working model 128.0.6 of the beta Telephone app.

These are among the largest tales from this week. In the meantime, listed here are another tales which can be price catching up on: