Vivo S20 series is set to launch in China soon. We’re still waiting for an official launch date from the Chinese smartphone maker, which has opened pre-orders for the new S series via its official online store in the country. The online listing reveals the rear design of the Vivo S20 family. The lineup is expected to include the base Vivo S20 and Vivo S20 Pro models, as a successor to the Vivo S19 and Vivo S19 Pro, respectively. Meanwhile, the standard Vivo S20 has been spotted on a benchmarking website.

Vivo S20 Series Pre-Reservation Offers

Vivo has begun accepting pre-reservations for the lineup through its official website in China. Customers pre-booking the phones will have a chance to avail of unspecified benefits worth CNY 278 (roughly Rs. 3,000). This offer will be limited to 2,500 customers, according to the company. Those who reserve can avail of the Vivo 44W charger and one-year extended warranty. Buyers will also have the opportunity to receive Vivo TWS 4 earbuds, Vivo Pad 3 or credit points.

The brand has released the first teaser image of the Vivo S20 series revealing the rear design of the handsets. They appear to feature a vertically aligned rear camera layout that is surrounded by a ring flash. One model has a glossy finish around its camera housing.

Separately, a Vivo handset has been spotted on the Geekbench benchmarking website with the model number V2429A. The listing, believed to be that of the vanilla Vivo S20, suggests that it may run on Android 15. It shows 1,223 points in single-core testing and 3,422 points in multi-core testing. As per the listing, the handset has 14.90GB of RAM, which means it could debut with 16GB of memory.

As per the listing, an octa-core chipset with the codename ‘crow’ and a base frequency of 1.80 GHz will power the Vivo V2429A. It shows a prime CPU core with a maximum clock speed of 2.63GHz. These CPU speeds and codename appear to be associated with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC. The Vivo S19 also has the same chipset under the hood.

As per past leaks, the Vivo S20 Pro will run on a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 SoC. It could boast a 6.67-inch display with a 1.5K (1,260×2,800 pixels) resolution and a 50-megapixel selfie camera. It is tipped to carry a triple rear camera unit comprising a 50-megapixel Sony IMX921 main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor, and a 50-megapixel Sony IMX882 periscope telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom. Vivo is expected to pack a 5,500mAh battery on the Pro model with 90W charging support.

Helldivers 2 launched exclusively on PS5 and PC on February 8, quickly becoming a phenomenon and rising up the charts to become one of the most played games on Steam. The co-op third-person shooter, developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, broke the mould a bit when it launched simultaneously on Windows alongside the PlayStation platform. While it’s not a first-party title, publishers Sony rarely release games under their banner on other platforms at launch. The overwhelming success of Helldivers 2, however, could be forcing the PlayStation parent to rethink its strategy. The game is now rumoured to be a subject of internal discussions over a possible Xbox release.

The information comes from XboxEra co-founder Nick Baker (@Shpeshal_Nick), who talked about a possible Xbox launch for Helldivers 2 in the latest episode of the XboxEra podcast. “We know that PlayStation has a new CEO at the moment. And I think the CEO might be a little more open to certain things,” Baker said. “So, what I’ve heard — just a rumour that I’ve heard — is that there may be some very, very early preliminary discussions about the possibility of Helldivers 2 coming to Xbox,” he added.

Bear in mind, however, these are just rumours and there is no official confirmation from either Sony or Microsoft on Helldivers 2 making its way to Xbox platforms. Baker, too, clarified that the rumour didn’t mean the game was coming to Xbox. “What I’ve heard is there’s some very early discussions about it, it could all fall to pieces. They might not come to an agreement on something,” he said in the podcast.

The possibility of Helldivers 2 coming to Xbox, however, wouldn’t be that far-fetched. The game has been a phenomenal success on PC, with regular updates and content additions keeping players hooked well over two months after launch. An Xbox release for an online co-op shooter would bring a whole new set of players to the game. And with the game’s live service model, more player engagement would generate greater revenue.

Back in February, just as Helldivers 2 was blowing up, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer had bemoaned the PlayStation and PC exclusivity of the game and wondered who it was helping by not being on Xbox. “I will say, when I look at a game like Helldivers 2, and it’s a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation, I’m not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox,” Spencer had said in an interview with Game File.

Spencer’s comments came after Microsoft had announced that four Xbox exclusive titles — HI-Fi Rush, Grounded, Sea of Thieves and Pentiment — would launch on rival platforms from Sony and Nintendo. With the four Xbox first-party titles coming to PS5, it wouldn’t be a big surprise if Sony indeed decides to launch Helldivers 2 on Xbox.

Weeks after its release, Helldivers 2 broke several peak concurrent player count records on Steam, surpassing popular games like Grand Theft Auto 5, Destiny 2, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, even as the game suffered from technical issues. The game’s massive success and ballooning player count had left the developers unprepared for server crashes. Since then, Arrowhead Game Studios have released several updates to address the game’s issues and stabilise the servers.

Apple topped the global best-selling smartphones list in the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, according to a report by a market research firm. The Cupertino-based tech giant took the top three spots, headlined by multiple models from its iPhone 15 series. Meanwhile, Samsung grabbed the most spots in the list, with a Galaxy S device entering the top 10 rankings for the first time since 2018. The top 10 models contributed to a share of 19 percent of the total smartphone market.

Top 10 Best-Selling Smartphones

According to Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker, the iPhone 15 was the best-selling smartphone in the world in Q3 2024. It was closely followed by the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 15 Pro which took the second and third spots in the list, respectively. In total Apple managed to grab four spots, with the iPhone 14 also joining the lineup in the seventh place.

Top 10 Best-Selling Smartphones Globally in Q3 2024
Photo Credit: Counterpoint Research

The research note suggests growing user preference for high-end smartphones is helping Apple bridge the sales gap between its standard and Pro models. It is the first time in a third quarter that the Pro variants contributed to half of the total iPhone sales in Q3, helping Apple achieve higher-value device sales.

On the other hand, Samsung was the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) with the most smartphones in the list; five. Four of these devices belonged to the budget A-series. However, the Samsung Galaxy S24 managed to grab the tenth place, becoming the first Galaxy S-series device to enter the top 10 rankings since 2018. The South Korean technology conglomerate is said to have larger customer segments in the entry and mid-price bands across geographies.

Both Apple and Samsung are expected to maintain their positions at the top courtesy of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) on their smartphones. iPhone models get AI features with Apple Intelligence while Samsung handsets are powered by Galaxy AI. Both tech giants were joined by a budget device — the Redmi 13C 4G — which finished ninth in the rankings. Xiaomi was the only other manufacturer which managed to achieve high sales numbers apart from Apple and Samsung in Q3 2024.

Global shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) PCs rose in Q2 2024, according to a report by market research firm Canalys. Over 8.8 million AI-capable computers were shipped by device manufacturers, and Apple’s Mac computers accounted for a majority of these devices. Meanwhile, the adoption of these computers is reportedly expected to increase in the second half of 2024, following the launch of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chipset series that is based on Arm architecture and powers recently launched Copilot+ PCs from a range of OEMs.

AI PC Shipments Grew in Q2 2024

Canalys’ latest report reveals that Mac computers powered by Apple Silicon chipsets made up 60 percent of the AI PC shipments in Q2 2024, which was considerably higher than all Windows AI computers that made up just under 40 percent of shipments in the same period.

Photo Credit: Canalys

All of Apple’s current-generation computers are equipped with M-series chips unlike Windows computers that still ship with some non-AI-focused processors. However, most customers will be able to fully leverage the AI capabilities of their Mac hardware with the arrival of Apple Intelligence features later this year or in early 2025.

While Apple commanded the majority of shipments in the quarter gone by, Windows AI PC shipments grew sequentially by a whopping 127 percent, according to the market research form. Among OEMs in this segment, Lenovo’s Yoga Slim and ThinkPad laptops brought its share to 6 percent, which was slightly lower than Dell’s market share which stands at 7 percent with its Inspiron, XPS and Latitude models. Meanwhile HP commanded an 8 percent market share, following the launch of its EliteBook and Omnibook Copilot+ PCs.

The research firm also notes that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series chipsets were only launched in June, which means that there was a very small window for OEMs to ship enough units of these AI-capable computers in Q2 2024.

However, these companies have committed to incorporate these Arm chipsets into upcoming products, enabling them to offer higher performance and more efficiency than most x86 chips. “With a strong foundation now set, AI-capable PC shipments are poised to gain further traction in the second half of 2024,” Canalys’ Principal Analyst Ishan Dutt said.

Google has separate operating system (OS) versions based on the device type. There’s Android for smartphones and ChromeOS for Chromebooks. However, there is one such product category where both the OSs overlap — tablets. That is not likely to be the case anymore, according to a new report. Google is said to be planning to embark on a project to fully turn ChromeOS into Android to develop a product which finally competes with the iPad.

Google Turning ChromeOS Into Android

Citing a source, Android Authority detailed Google’s plans to turn ChromeOS into Android in a report Monday. The publication claims that the Mountain View, California-based technology giant is working on a multi-year project for the development of a hybrid platform that may compete with Apple’s iPadOS which powers the iPad.

Google reportedly plans to unify its OS efforts for more efficient management of engineering resources and better compete with the iPad. Instead of merging Android and Chrome OS to develop an entirely new platform, it is claimed to have plans to migrate the latter into the former. This move will result in the availability of more apps on Android and more money for developers due to an increased number of users, as per the report.

One of the first devices to run on this hybrid platform is reported to be the purported Pixel Laptop, which is reported to be in development. This device is reported to come with high-end internals and is said to have been codenamed “Snowy”. The company is also said to be developing many new features for providing a desktop-like experience on Android, including better keyboard and mouse support, support for external monitors and multiple desktops, and more.

While these efforts are primarily reported to target Google’s internal Android-on-laptop project, they are also speculated to boost the capabilities of tablets, including the purported Pixel Tablet 2 which is slated to come with an upgraded Tensor chip, improved camera, and a new keyboard cover accessory.