Taiwanese electronics giant Acer has reaffirmed its commitment to continue contributing to the Make in India initiative in the backdrop of its chairman’s visit to the country. The 47-year-old company views India among its pivotal markets and has announced that it will be drilling deeper into India’s tech market via new segments like consumer electronics, eMobility, and AI PCs. In the coming years, the company wishes to bring more layers of eco-friendly technologies so that it stays true to its commitment to attain a carbon neutral status in due time.

As part of India’s renewed focus on manufacturing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had launched the Make in India initiative in September 2014. It focuses on encouraging investments in India, promoting innovation, improving skill development, and establishing India as an international manufacturing destination.

With plans to expand manufacturing of its new lines of upcoming products in India, Acer said it will be getting into more collaborations with local original design manufacturer (ODMs) for its IT hardware products like laptops, desktops, tablets, servers, workstations, and PC monitors with an annual manufacturing capacity of over three million units.

“The Indian landscape is a thriving ground for innovation and expansion, and we believe in the potential of the Indian consumer base,” Jason Chen, Chairman and CEO of Acer Inc., said in a statement.

As the company recently explained in the Dubai COP28 Global Press Conference, Acer will now be foraying out of the traditional computing landscape.

Through its new and eco-friendly ‘Conscious Technology’, the company aims to develop laptops laced with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies like GenerativeAI (GenAI). One such laptop series the company has is named the Aspire Vero lineup.

“Acer has also pledged a commitment to achieving carbon neutrality for its Aspire Vero laptop line, beginning with the latest Aspire Vero 16 model. Acer seeks to amplify positive impacts on the environment through united actions; 60 percent of its critical suppliers have committed to RE100 or set science-based carbon reduction targets (SBT). Acer has set a goal to use 20-30 percent post-consumer recycled plastic in its computers and monitors by 2025, for which 17 percent use was achieved in 2022,” company representatives had said during the Dubai event.

For India, this could open new avenues of understanding technologies that could nudge other players of the industry to try and go greener in the years to come.

Samsung usually launches its latest Galaxy S series phones in late January or February. The South Korean tech giant is yet to reveal a possible date for the launch of the Galaxy S25 lineup, but a newly leaked survey suggests that we may see the phones earlier than usual this time. Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 series in January this year. Last year’s Galaxy S23 series was unveiled in February. Samsung’s new non-foldable flagship lineup is likely to include the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S25 alongside the Galaxy S25+, Galaxy S25 Ultra and a fourth Slim variant.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Lineup Early Launch Evidence Is Growing

A leaked Samsung promotional survey, spotted by X user IMEI Pham, points to an early January release for the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 Ultra. As per the screenshots of the survey (translated from Vietnamese), users who complete the promotional survey will receive a “10 percent discount” on the 2025 Galaxy S series on “January 5,” hinting that Samsung could announce the lineup on that date.

The January 5 launch window would be earlier than Samsung’s usual launch timelines. This year’s Galaxy S24 series was launched on January 17 during the Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, California. Pre-orders for the phones opened that same day with a January 31 in-store sales date. The Galaxy S23 series was unveiled on February 1, 2023, and went on sale from February 17.

Samsung recently revealed that the Galaxy S25 series will go official in the first half of next year. The Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 Ultra models are expected to be powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and are likely to ship with new Galaxy AI features. The purported fourth model, the Galaxy S25 Slim, is rumoured to join the lineup later. 

As per past leaks, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Ultra will be released in seven colourways and the Galaxy S25+ in eight colour options. They are said to be available in three online exclusive shades as well.

Microsoft was looking to acquire gaming giants such as Sega, Bungie, and Niantic in the past few years, court documents from the ongoing FTC trial over Xbox parent’s Activision Blizzard acquisition revealed. The emails, as reviewed by The Verge, detailed that in November 2020, Xbox chief Phil Spencer wrote to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the company’s CFO Amy Hood, requesting strategy approval to approach Sega Sammy — best known for Sonic the Hedgehog games — for a potential game studio acquisition. Microsoft is currently trying to convince the court that its $69 billion (about Rs. 5,65,845 crore) deal to acquire Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard is beneficial for gaming. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), meanwhile, is trying to block it.

“We believe that Sega has built a well-balanced portfolio of games across segments with global geographic appeal, and will help us accelerate Xbox Game Pass both on and off-console,” the 2020 email from Spencer reads (via The Verge). He further added that since Sega is a publicly traded Japanese company, there are some ‘deal complexities,’ albeit it’s unclear whether Nadella matched his enthusiasm for the purchase. The company’s presence in the mobile gaming segment in Asia was also a driving factor for Spencer to consider the acquisition. As mentioned before, Microsoft had other targets in sight as well, including Halo and Destiny maker Bungie and Niantic, the minds behind Pokémon GO — revealed in a 2021 internal merger review document.

Rumours from back in September 2020 suggested that Microsoft had been looking to acquire Bungie multiple times, but the deal fell through due to “high price.” At the time, Pete Parsons, the current CEO of Bungie disputed the reports, simply stating that they were false. It’s possible they were just referring to the price aspect, though Bungie did split from Microsoft in 2007, and then became an independent company. The Destiny developer was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) last year. The documents mentioned that Microsoft intended to secure the Destiny IP and its community, while integrating its live ops infrastructure into Xbox Game Studios. The game was also noted to have generated the ‘highest hours’ of playtime on Game Pass. Hades developer Supergiant Games and the Hitman reboot creator IO Interactive were also mentioned in the documents.

Late last week, Microsoft claimed that the next generation of gaming consoles — the Xbox Series S/X successor and PlayStation 6 — should be out in 2028. Xbox continues arguing that it is willing to come to a 10-year agreement that would ensure that Activision’s biggest franchise Call of Duty is released in parity on PlayStation consoles. Sony has refused to respond to that offer, though if agreed upon, the period exceeds the 2028 release window, allowing COD to flourish on the PS6 as well. Team Green also admitted that it has basically given up competing in the current console wars and will instead focus on delivering quality software and pushing Xbox Game Pass to more gamers.

Honor Magic 7 series will be unveiled soon as successors to the Honor Magic 6 lineup. The company has announced the launch date for the phones, but not much else is officially known about them. However, details about the phone’s camera, battery, display, chipset and build details had surfaced online recently. The series is expected to include a base and Pro variant. Meanwhile, Honor will be unveiling its Android 15-based MagicOS 9.0 this month as well. Notably, Honor will launch the Honor X60 series and Honor Tablet GT Pro on October 16.

Honor Magic 7 Series, Honor MagicOS 9.0 Launch

Honor confirmed in a Weibo post that the Honor Magic 7 series will launch in China on October 30. In the same promotional post, the company announced that Magic OS 9.0, its upcoming UI skin based on Android 15, will be unveiled on October 23. This suggests that the Magic 7 series handsets may ship with MagicOS 9.0.

Details about the anticipated Honor Magic 7 lineup or the Magic OS 9.0 skin have yet to be revealed by the company. We can expect to learn more about them in the days leading up to the launch.

Honor Magic 7 Pro Specifications (Expected)

Honor Magic 7 series may launch with a vanilla model and a Pro variant, similar to the preceding Magic 6 lineup, which was introduced in China in January this year. Leaked specifications of the Magic 7 Pro handset had surfaced online recently. The phone may get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC, coupled with support for LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 onboard storage.

The Pro variant of the anticipated Honor Magic 7 series may sport a 6.82-inch 2K dual-layer OLED screen with quad-curved edges, a 120Hz refresh rate, and Kunlun Glass protection. The display is tipped to support Honor’s eye protection 3.0 and 8T LTPO technology.

In the camera department, the Honor Magic 7 Pro could come with a triple rear camera setup, including a 50-megapixel OmniVision OV50H primary sensor and a 50-megapixel ultrawide shooter. The third rear camera unit could be a 50-megapixel Sony IMX882 sensor with a periscope telephoto lens or a 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HP3 sensor. For the front camera, the phone may carry a 50-megapixel sensor alongside a 3D depth sensor.

The Honor Magic 7 Pro will likely be backed by a 5,800mAh battery with support for 100W wired and 66W wireless charging. For security, the handset may get an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and a 2D face recognition feature. It could come with an IP68 or IP69-rated build for dust and splash resistance.

E3, what was once the biggest video game expo, is officially dead. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) confirmed the news on Twitter, thanking the fans and developers who attended and supported the in-person show for over two decades. Its closure was only a matter of time, slyly signalled in March, when the 2023 edition got cancelled due to a lack of interest from several publishers including the big three — PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo — all of which pulled out. Add to that pandemic-era disruption which caused global lockdowns, competitors such as Summer Game Fest, and the general audience preferring to catch up on game reveals from the comfort of their homes, eventually leading to its demise.

“We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion,” ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis told The Washington Post in an interview. “We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.” Several attempts were made to revive and reinvent E3, but online digital events became a go-to favourite for both fans and developers, who didn’t want to deal with the hassle of travelling long distances to attend a crowded physical show and spending large amounts to secure booths at the event. During the peak COVID-19 period, industry giant Geoff Keighley decided to quit working with E3 and took the opportunity to kickstart his own online season of games called the Summer Game Fest, allowing developers to switch on their webcams and promote games.

In fact, PlayStation even adopted that digital format for both its smaller State of Play events and its bigger showcases, as a medium to present a slew of video games at once and generate hype. Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft was another major publisher, who backed out of this year’s proposed E3 event and decided to host an online Ubisoft Forward show, albeit with select journalists at the venue. This year’s E3 was supposed to be held from June 13–16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, marking the first in-person extravaganza since 2019. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the pandemic, then there was an online version in 2021, and the 2022 E3 was outright cancelled in the hopes of revitalising it. And now we’re here.

Since its conception, E3 also served as a stage for some of gaming’s biggest figures like Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. As such, the latter has shared his favourite memories from the show and expressed gratitude for opening the gates for Japanese games to flourish in the global market. Meanwhile, God of War reboot game director Cory Barlog reminisced on the time when he debuted the bearded and reserved look for Kratos to thousands of screaming fans. “Both loved and hated this show. RIPs to the E3,” he tweeted. At the time of writing, there are reportedly no plans for selling the E3 brand name, either.

Microsoft has announced that it will end support for Mail, Calendar, and People apps for Windows by the end of the year. It is migrating users to the new Outlook for Windows app, where they will be able to access their local emails, calendar events, and stored contacts on a single platform — services previously available on three separate apps. The Redmond-based technology giant is also planning to replace the desktop version of Outlook with the web-based version.

Microsoft Ends Support for Apps

In a blog post, Microsoft highlighted that it wants users to use its Outlook app, which comes with a simplified design and expansive list of features. Thus, the tech giant will no longer support apps such as Mail, Calendar, and People from December 31 onwards. It says users who don’t move to the new platform “will no longer be able to send and receive email using Windows Mail and Calendar.”

However, local emails, calendar events, and contacts stored in Mail, Calendar, and People will remain exportable. Additionally, users who do not wish to use the new app will have a choice of going back to the Windows Mail and Calendar platforms. The company adds that most email accounts, including Outlook, Hotmail, work, and school, will be supported by the new app. Furthermore, it also includes support for third-party accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo, and iCloud via the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).

Notably, Outlook for Windows was available in the preview stage until August, when Microsoft launched it globally for users. It comes pre-installed on Windows devices running Windows 11, version 23H2 or higher. Once signed in, Outlook will launch into the account users have set as their default send account.

The app allows users to see their various accounts and calendars in one view. They can also toggle between accounts to see their emails and contacts. It also bundles artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, such as intelligent spelling and grammar checks, AI writing tools, and Copilot features.