Tech

Google has teased the arrival of new Gemini features and capabilities will be unveiled at the upcoming Google I/O 2025 developer conference. According to a report, the information was shared with Gemini Advanced subscribers in the company’s April newsletter. The Mountain View-based tech giant teased a “more personalised assistant” and new productivity tools for users. Additionally, the company also hinted at newer ways of interacting with the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Gemini subscribers were recently given access to the Veo 2 model and new Gemini Live features.

Gemini Could Receive New Capabilities at Google I/O 2025

9to5Google reports that the tech giant has informed Gemini Advanced subscribers that they can look forward to new features for the AI chatbot that will be unveiled at its annual developer-focused Google I/O conference. 

“We’ll announce a wave of exciting updates that will allow you to experience a more personalised assistant, unlock enhanced productivity, and open up new possibilities for interacting with and leveraging Gemini,” the company said in the newsletter.

While the company did not disclose what these capabilities could mean, “a more personalised assistant” could refer to new features in the Gemini AI assistant in Android devices. It is possible that the AI-powered voice assistant will be able to connect to more apps, and complete more on-device tasks than it currently can.

Similarly, productivity features could refer to the integration of the chatbot with more Google apps and newer features in existing apps. For instance, the tech giant could add a Canvas-like collaboration mode in Google Docs or introduce the ability to generate visual representations of Google Sheets data beyond graphs and charts. With Imagen 3, the company is already in a position to offer the latter.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the teaser is the “possibilities for interacting with and leveraging Gemini.” Currently, users can interact with the AI chatbot via text, images, videos, and voice. However, agentic capabilities in Gemini are still limited to the Deep Research tool. At Google I/O, the company might unveil DeepMind’s Project Mariner.

Project Mariner is a Gemini-powered AI agent that can complete several tasks with the user’s browser. It is natively multimodal and can understand text, code, images, forms, and other web elements. It is currently a prototype in the alpha testing phase.

Electronic Arts is laying off hundreds of workers and canceling a Titanfall game that was in development at its Respawn Entertainment subsidiary.

Between 300 and 400 positions were eliminated, including around 100 at Respawn, according to a person familiar with the cuts.

“As part of our continued focus on our long-term strategic priorities, we’ve made select changes within our organization that more effectively aligns teams and allocates resources in service of driving future growth,” Justin Higgs, a spokesman for the Redwood City, California-based company, said in a statement.

The canceled project, code-named R7, was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe, according to people familiar with its development. It was not close to being released.

In a post on social media, Respawn said it “made the decision to step away from two early-stage incubation projects and make some targeted team adjustments.” The other project referenced in the statement was canceled earlier this year, the people said.

Respawn is known for the Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi titles, and the company said it would continue working on the next Jedi game as well as new seasons and an overhaul for Apex Legends.

Earlier this year, EA reduced its bookings estimate for the fiscal year following the miss of its latest soccer game, EA Sports FC 25. The company also shrunk subsidiary BioWare following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which it said missed sales expectations by 50 percent.

© 2025 Bloomberg LP

Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025 is now live exclusively for Prime members, offering 12 hours of early access before it is available to all customers in India. It promises discounts across a wide range of categories including smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, and Amazon devices. The first day of the sale now offers some great deals on these consumer electronics devices. You can pick up gadgets on your wishlist at discounted prices, and maximise savings using other bank discounts and exchange offers. We’ve handpicked a selection of the top deals currently live on the e-commerce platform.

In addition to price drops, customers can take advantage of a 10 percent instant discount on transactions carried out via HDFC Credit Card. There are benefits on EMI transactions too. Additionally, Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit card users can avail of five percent cashback on purchases made during the Amazon sale. 

The e-commerce platform has rolled out another benefit — a flat 20 percent cashback with no minimum order value on the first purchase. However, it is to be noted that the following offers and pricing are subject to change as the sale progresses.

Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025: Best Deals on Smartphones

During the sale, Amazon offers up to 40 percent discounts on a wide range of smartphones from brands like Apple, OnePlus, Xiaomi, iQOO, Samsung, Realme, and Tecno.

Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025: Top Offers on Laptops and Tablets

Amazon says buyers can enjoy heavy discounts on laptops and tablets from brands such as Apple, Lenovo, HP, Asus, and more. You can also exchange your older laptop to further lower the price of your purchase.

Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025: Discounts on Premium Smartwatches

If you’ve been eyeing a premium smartwatch, then the Amazon Great Indian Summer Sale 2025 is a great avenue to get one. The sale introduces offers on wearables from Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and other brands.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is expected to launch later this year as a successor to the Galaxy Z Flip 6. The existing clamshell foldable is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. The company’s handset was previously tipped to make its debut later this year with a Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. There have been contradictory reports about the smartphone using an in-house Exynos 2500 chip. A new report reiterating the latter claim recently surfaced online, along with the anticipated production timeline of the foldable phone. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Chipset Details

The purported Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 will be powered by an in-house Exynos 2500 chipset, according to a report by ChosunBiz. Mass production for the handset is expected to begin in May, and 200,000 units are tipped to be manufactured by June. The report suggests that the phone will be launched in July.

The report states that the company leaned towards an Exynos chip over Snapdragon due to price and production concerns. Since the brand aims to manufacture only 200,000 units of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 foldable, it is reportedly more feasible to equip the handset with an in-house chip. It is also more cost-effective and will either help Samsung reduce the price of the phone or increase its profit margins.

An earlier report had claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 will arrive with the Exynos 2500 SoC globally. This contradicted an earlier leak that indicated that the phone would feature a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip.

A cheaper, thinner alternative to the Galaxy Z Flip 7, tipped to carry the FE or Xe branding, has previously been reported to come with an in-house Exynos 2400e chipset.

Unlike the Galaxy Z Flip 7, there are no contradictions about the processor details of the accompanying Galaxy Z Fold 7 handset. All leaks and reports so far have suggested that the book-style foldable is expected to get a Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC customised for Galaxy phones. 

A new plant making iPhones in southern India has started production and another will begin shipments in May, as Apple looks to boost manufacturing beyond its tariff-hit main manufacturing hub, China, sources said.

Apple is positioning India as an alternative manufacturing base to China as a trade war flares between Washington and Beijing, with US President Donald Trump’s more than 100 percent tariffs on China threatening supply chain disruptions and stoking fears of a rise in iPhone prices.

The Trump administration has so far spared China-made electronics from tariffs, but Washington has signaled that some levies could come in the coming weeks.

A new Tata Electronics plant in Hosur in south India’s Tamil Nadu state started operations in recent days to make older iPhone models on one assembly line, one source said.

Another $2.6 billion plant run by Taiwan’s Foxconn that is under construction in Bengaluru, Karnataka state, will also start initial operations with one assembly line within days, according to four sources, including one government official.

One source said around 300-500 iPhone units per hour can be made at the factory where, according to another, iPhone 16 and 16e models will be produced. The plant is expected to create 50,000 jobs at full capacity when construction is fully completed, which is expected by December 2027.

Tata declined to comment, while Apple and Foxconn did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China accounts for more than 75 percent of iPhone production globally, while India contributes to about 18 percent, research firm Counterpoint estimates. Apple is taking urgent steps to move production of most of its US-sold iPhones to factories in India by the end of 2026, Reuters has reported.

Apple in recent weeks has stepped up production in India to beat US tariffs, shipping some 600 tons of iPhones worth $2 billion (roughly Rs. 16,900 crore) to the US in March, a monthly record for both Tata and Foxconn, with the latter alone accounting for smartphones worth $1.3 billion (roughly Rs. 10,987 crore).

Tata, a relatively new Apple supplier, has quickly emerged as a key Indian contractor. With the new facilities, Foxconn and Tata will together operate a total of five iPhone factories from India.

© Thomson Reuters 2025

Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025 will begin at 12am (midnight) on Thursday for Amazon Prime members. Deals and discounts will also be available to all customers starting 12pm (noon). The discount sale will bring up to 80 percent off on various products across different categories like electronics, fashion, home decor, and kitchen essentials. Amazon has teamed up with HDFC Bank to offer an additional instant discount on their credit card and EMI transactions.  Further, interested buyers can avail of coupon-based discounts. 

When Is Amazon’s Great Summer Sale 2025?

Shoppers with an Amazon Prime subscription can access the Great Summer Sale 2025 starting 12am IST (midnight) on May 1. If you don’t have a Prime membership, you’ll have to wait for 12 hours when the sale opens for all customers.

Amazon hasn’t revealed when the Great Summer Sale 2025 will end, but it is expected to run for the next few days. However, if you already know what you want to buy and prices are down, it might be worth making a purchase while supplies last.

How to Get Early Access to the Amazon Great Summer Sale

You’ll need a subscription to Amazon Prime. In India, Amazon Prime is priced at Rs. 299 a month and Rs. 599 for three months. The yearly subscription costs Rs. 1,499 in India. There is also a free 30-day trial for new users. 

Customers can purchase the Prime Lite plan by paying Rs. 799 per year or purchase the Prime Shopping Edition plan by paying Rs. 399 per year. Besides free shipping, Prime members will also have access to Prime Video and Prime Music.

Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025: Deals and Offers Teased

The e-commerce website has started teasing offers via a dedicated microsite. Amazon Great Summer Sale 2025 promises up to 40 percent discounts on smartphones and accessories and up to 60 percent off on tablets.  Further, there will be up to 65 percent discount on house appliances, smart TVs and projectors. It provides up to 40 percent off on travel bookings. 

Mobile phones and accessories from Apple, iQOO, OnePlus, Samsung, Realme and Xiaomi will be available at lower prices. Handsets including Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, iPhone 15, and OnePlus 13R are already listed with discounts. The Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy M35 5G are also teased to be available at discounted rates during the sale.

The 43-inch Xiaomi Smart TV A Pro and the 55-inch Sony Bravia 3 Series 4K Ultra HD TV are confirmed to receive price cuts during the sale. The sale also brings offers on Amazon devices as well. 

Amazon is also offering an instant discount of 10 percent for purchases made via HDFC cards and EMI transactions. Buyers can also get no-cost EMIs offers and offers on Amazon Pay ICICI credit card purchases. Furthermore, there will be exchange discounts and coupon discounts. 

Far Cry 4, the open-world first-person shooter from Ubisoft, has received an update a decade after its release that boosts the performance of the game on current-generation consoles. With the new patch, the game now runs at 60fps on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Far Cry 4 released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360 and Xbox Series S/X in 2014.

Far Cry 4 60 FPS Patch Released

Patch 1.08 is a free update that brings 60fps performance on current-gen consoles. PS5 users first spotted the update and posted about it online, before Ubisoft confirmed it on Tuesday.

“Far Cry 4 will now run at 60 frames per second on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PS5 Pro, thanks to a free update deployed today,” the company said in a blog post. “Whether you’re wingsuiting out of a gyrocopter for an aerial incursion or wielding a rocket launcher atop an elephant as you charge into battle, the beautiful scenery and unbridled chaos have never been so inviting on console.”

With the free patch, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X users will be able to dive into the game’s Himalayan setting and enjoy smoother gameplay. The game was previosly capped to 30fps performance on current-gen consoles. The update arrives just when Far Cry 4 is joining Xbox Game Pass. The game is available on Microsoft’s subscription service starting Wednesday, April 30.

Far Cry 4 Discounted

Additionally, Ubisoft announced that Far Cry 4 would be going on sale on different platforms. The game will get deep discounts on PlayStation Store from April 23 to May 7, on Xbox from April 20 to May 5 and Ubisoft Store from April 29 to May 20.

On PlayStation Store, the game is currently priced at Rs. 299, with an 85 percent discount on its Rs. 1,999 retail price. PS Plus Extra and Premium members can also play the game for free as part of the Game Catalog.

This is not the first time Ubisoft has released a 60fps patch for an older title on modern consoles. Last year in November, the French studio rolled out a free 60fps update for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Prior to that, Ubisoft had released free 60fps patches for Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey, as well. In 2023, the company released a 60fps patch for Far Cry 5 on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.

Far Cry 4 is set in a fictional Himalayan country of Kyrat, based on Nepal and Bhutan, and follows the story of Ajay Ghale, who returns to his homeland in the middle of a civil war and fights against the oppressive regime of dictator Pagan Min.

Meta is working on a new technology called Private Processing for WhatsApp that allows users to access artificial intelligence (AI) tools in a private and secure environment. On Tuesday, the Menlo Park-based tech giant shared a first look at the technology and how it is ensuring both data security and transparency at the user level. Notably, the company claims that messages shared with the AI and the responses generated within this cloud-based environment cannot be accessed by anyone (including Meta and WhatsApp) apart from the user and any other person they’re talking to.

The company detailed the vision behind Private Processing and the layered infrastructure that will be used to create this secure environment. It is currently under development, and the company stated that it will soon publish details about some of the components that went into building this technology to enable independent research in this area.

Private Processing is aimed at letting users interact with Meta AI and using features, such as summarising unread chats and generating writing suggestions, without compromising their privacy. This also solves the tech giant’s issue of integrating AI on WhatsApp without raising user concerns about Meta storing user data on its servers and breaking the platform’s end-to-end encryption for messages and other features.

Meta said it is building Private Processing on a trusted execution environment (TEE) infrastructure, a secure part of the cloud that processes data without revealing it to anyone else. For instance, if a user sends a request to the AI to summarise a group’s messages, only the user’s device and the secure processing environment will be able to access this data. Additionally, once the summary has been processed, the information is deleted from the servers.

Coming to technical details, Meta said Private Processing uses advanced cryptographic techniques such as Oblivious HTTP and Remote Attestation to ensure that the user’s identity and data remain hidden. Each request is routed through third-party relays and verified against public ledgers to ensure only approved code is used.

This confidential processing also means that neither Meta nor WhatsApp can access the data entering the cloud environment, either during transit to Private Processing or while processing the data, according to the company. 

Meta has also added enforceable guarantees so that if there is an attempt to modify the system, it will automatically trigger system failure. The company also plans to let users and security researchers audit the secure environment and verify the guarantees made.

But these protections only ensure security from potential internal issues. Meta says it is also building safety layers for external threats. As per the post, cyberattackers will not be able to target individual users without compromising the entire system. Further, since the data is only stored temporarily on the server, attackers will not be able to retrieve older data even if they can pull off a server-wide attack.

In the coming weeks, Meta said it will release more details, including technical papers and bug bounty expansions. While AI-powered features like message summarisation will be part of Private Processing’s initial offering, the company plans to add several other use cases in the future. For more information, readers can find the entire blog post here.

Meta released a standalone app for its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Meta AI, on Tuesday. The new Meta AI app is available on Android via the Play Store and iOS via the App Store. The Menlo Park-based tech giant has added a social element to the app, where one can see others users’ posts and images in a Discover feed. Additionally, the company is introducing a voice mode where users can have a two-way verbal conversation with the chatbot. The voice experience is currently available in only select countries.

In a newsroom post, the tech giant announced the launch of the Meta AI app and detailed its new features. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously stated that the company was working on a standalone AI app. The standalone AI app is powered by the Llama 4 AI model and competes with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude.

The Meta AI app is designed to be a social experience. It comes with a Discover feed where users can share and explore their experience with the chatbot. Users can share prompts and Meta AI’s responses or images generated using AI. Additionally, they can also like and comment on others’ posts or remix them to use their prompts. The tech giant says nothing is shared to the feed unless the user chooses to post something.

Meta AI’s Discover feed
Photo Credit: Meta

The social experience is not limited to the Discover feed, either. To log into the app, one needs a Meta account, which can be either your Instagram or Facebook account. When a user signs in, their account information, such as profile, content they’ve engaged with, or conversations with Meta AI, can be accessed by the app. 

Using this, the chatbot can generate a personalised experience for users. This capability is currently available in the US and Canada, according to Meta.

Apart from drawing on the information from other social media accounts, Meta AI now also has memory. It can remember contextual information gathered from conversations with the user to tailor its responses.

Meta also offers a hands-free experience with the AI app. The chatbot can now verbally converse with the user in a natural and conversational tone. The company said it tweaked the Llama 4 model to add this capability. With this, users can also ask the AI to generate images or edit them via voice conversations.

The voice mode on Meta AI
Photo Credit: Meta

The company is also experimenting with a full-duplex speech technology. This setting instructs the AI to directly generate voice instead of converting written responses into speech (text-to-speech model). Meta says this experience is more natural and feels human-like. However, this mode currently does not have access to the web or real-time information. The voice mode is currently available only in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.

Finally, the Meta AI app is also merging with the Meta View companion app for Ray-Ban Meta glasses. This means users will need to connect their smart glasses with the app to access certain features such as checking their gallery, editing images, or checking conversation history.

Meta AI’s companion feature
Photo Credit: Meta

In select countries, users will also be able to switch from the AI app to the glasses without losing the context of the conversation. However, currently, conversations can only be started on the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, but they can be continued in either the Meta AI app or the website. Notably, the Meta AI app is free to download and use, and there are no paid subscriptions for the service at the moment.

Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro are rumoured to be in development. The purported phones have now been spotted on a Chinese certification website, with the listing hinting towards their imminent launch in China, as per a report. The listing also suggests the Honor 400 Pro potentially being equipped with a wired fast charging support of up to 90W. Meanwhile, a tipster has leaked key specifications of both handsets; the Honor 400 series phones may sport 1.5K resolution screens and run on Snapdragon chipsets.

Honor 400, Honor 400 Pro 3C Certification

Spotted by Gizmochina, the Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro were listed on the China Compulsory Certification (3C) website with the probable model numbers DNN-AN00 and DNP-AN00, respectively. The devices were listed as “5G Digital Mobile Phone”, confirming that they will support 5G network.

The listing also suggests that the standard model may support a maximum charging speed of 80W, while the Pro variant could get 90W wired charging support.

In a separate development, tipster Digital Chat Station (machine translated from Chinese) shared potential specifications of the purported handsets in a post on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. The Honor 400 is tipped to be equipped with a 6.5-inch flat OLED LTPS screen with a 1.5K resolution. The phone may be powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset.

Meanwhile, the Honor 400 Pro is slated to sport a larger 6.7-inch quad-curved OLED LTPS screen with the same resolution. It is tipped to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. Both handsets are said to be equipped with a 200-megapixel primary camera, while the Pro variant could also benefit from a 50-megapixel telephoto sensor.

The Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro are said to pack 7,000mAh silicon-based batteries and sport a frame built out of metal.

However, this is just speculation and the company is yet to officially reveal details about the handsets. Thus, the information should be taken with a small amount of scepticism. More details are likely to surface as the launch of the Honor 400 series nears.