Vivo X200, X200 Pro, and X200 Pro Mini with MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC was launched in China last month. Now, Vivo has confirmed the launch date of the Vivo X200 series in Malaysia, which appears to be the first market outside of China to receive the flagship series. However, the Vivo X200 Pro Mini model seems to remain exclusive to China. The lineup has LTPO AMOLED displays and features Zeiss-branded triple rear cameras. The Vivo X200 series is expected to debut in India next month.

Vivo X200 Pro Mini May Not Launch in Malaysia

The Vivo X200 series will be launched in Malaysia at 7pm (4:30pm IST) on November 19, the brand announced through its Facebook handle on Thursday. Both Vivo X200 and Vivo X200 Pro are currently listed for pre-orders in the country through the Vivo Malaysia website. Unfortunately, there is no listing for the Vivo X200 Pro Mini as of now, indicating Vivo may keep the phone only in its home country.

Interested buyers can avail of gifts worth up to RM 1,787 (roughly Rs. 33,000) and extended warranty offers while pre-ordering the new phones. The bundled discount includes a Vivo branded laptop backpack, wireless charger and Vivo’s TWS 3e earbuds. Buyers of the Vivo X200 series can avail of the Vivo Watch 3 with 30 percent discount through a purchase-with-purchase offer.

The Vivo X200 is confirmed to be available in Aurora Green and Midnight Black shades in Malaysia, whereas the Vivo X200 Pro will be available in Midnight Black and Titanium Grey finishes. They will be sold in 16GB RAM + 512GB storage configuration.

Vivo is said to bring the Vivo X200 and Vivo X200 Pro to India in December. The brand is rumoured to skip the X200 Pro Mini in the Indian market too.

The Vivo X200 series was launched in China in October with a starting price of CNY 4,300 (roughly Rs. 51,000) for the base 12GB + 256GB storage configuration.

All models in the Vivo X200 lineup have a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC under the hood and boast a Zeiss-branded triple rear camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel primary camera. They feature LTPO AMOLED screens and run on Origin OS 5 based on Android 15 in China.

The standard Vivo X200 houses a 5,800mAh battery with 90W wired charging support. Meanwhile, the Vivo X200 Pro carries a 6,000mAh battery with 90W wired charging support.

India’s cash incentives to boost domestic manufacturing have attracted over $17 billion (roughly Rs. 1,42,279 crore) of investment since the 2020 launch of the production-linked scheme, a government official said on Wednesday, amid efforts to reduce imports from China.

The scheme, which offers four to six percent cash incentives on incremental sales to manufacturers, was launched across 14 sectors including electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and white goods.

“The PLI scheme has been successful to attract investments and boost manufacturing,” said Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Secretary of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

India has emerged as a global hub for electronics manufacturing, particularly smartphones, and is now the second-largest producer of mobile phones, he said, citing Apple’s iPhone exports – exceeding $12 billion (roughly Rs. 1,00,437 crore) in the 2023/24 fiscal year ending March.

The incentives have resulted in production worth about 11 trillion rupees ($131.6 billion) and nearly one million jobs over four years, he said.

After reducing mobile imports from China by attracting global players like Apple, India now plans to produce more laptops, tablets, computers and servers, official sources said.

On Tuesday, the government extended by three months the “import management system”, launched in November 2023, which requires companies to register their laptop and tablet imports.

“We have signalled to the industry that we want to cut imports particularly from China,” one of the government official sources, said.

India’s IT hardware market, including laptops, is estimated at nearly $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,67,395 crore), with nearly $5 billion (roughly Rs. 41,848 crore) domestic production, according to Mordor Intelligence, a consultancy.

India announced the new system for laptops, tablets, personal computers and servers after it rolled back an earlier plan to impose a licensing regime, requiring the likes of Apple, Dell, and HP to obtain licences for shipments of imported laptops and tablets.

In the first phase, the government has approved incentives for 27 IT hardware manufacturers including Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to manufacturer in India, expecting production of about $42 billion (roughly Rs. 3,51,530 crore) over the next few years, government officials said.

“India has a strong case for building its own laptop manufacturing capabilities,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder of Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank, noting that China contributed significantly to these imports worth over $9 billion in 2023/24.

In India, rising incomes, expanding business activities and education have boosted demand for laptops and other devices, that favour local manufacturing.

Among local electronics manufacturers, Dixon Technologies has qualified for the incentives scheme and hopes to meet 15 percent of India’s domestic demand by the fiscal year 2025/26. “Dixon plans to create a capacity of two million units by FY26, which shall cater to 15 percent of India’s total requirement,” Prithvi Vachani, Executive Director at Dixon Technologies told Reuters. Dixon, that has separate pacts with global firms like HP to make laptops and computers in India, will secure manufacturing components locally “in times to come”, Vachani added.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Alphabet’s Google faced a call on Wednesday for additional investigations into its compliance with landmark European Union rules aimed at reining in Big Tech.

Privacy-focused internet search engine DuckDuckGo, which research company Statista said had a global market share of 0.54 percent in January this year, urged the European Commission to open three additional investigations.

Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act adopted in 2022, Google and six other tech companies are required to make it easier for users to switch to rival services and banned from favouring their products on their platforms, among other obligations.

“The DMA has yet to achieve its full potential, the search market in the EU has seen little movement, and we believe launching formal investigations is the only way to force Google into compliance,” Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo’s senior vice-president for public affairs, wrote in a blog.

The world’s most popular internet search engine is already the target of two DMA investigations related to its app store Google Play’s rules and whether it discriminates against third-party services on Google search results.

Google said it was working with industry, experts and the Commission and has made significant changes to its products to comply with the DMA.

“This includes providing consumers and businesses with even more choices about what services they use. When consumers use our services, they expect their data to be protected. We will not compromise that trust in order to give competitors more access to sensitive data,” a Google spokesperson said.

The Commission declined to comment on DuckDuckgo’s allegations, saying it was fully committed to ensuring the implementation and enforcement of the DMA.

Bazbaz said one investigation should target Google’s proposal to license anonymised search data to rivals directed at European users, saying this data set likely excludes 99% of search queries, effectively making it useless to competitors.

“Google is trying to avoid its legal obligation in the name of privacy, which is ironic coming from the Internet’s biggest tracker,” Bazbaz said.

He said Google should also be investigated for allegedly failing to comply with the DMA obligations to allow users to easily switch to rival search engines.

If companies are found to have breached the DMA it can cost them as much as 10 percent of their global annual turnover.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Copilot, Microsoft’s in-house artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, has begun shipping in AI PCs across India. Dell and HP have already launched new laptops under the Copilot+ PC branding, and Microsoft Surface devices will go on sale starting August 5. In the last few months, the tech giant has spent a significant amount of time talking about new features such as Cocreate, Live Captions, and Windows Studio Effects. But there is one problem. Despite touting the AI-powered Windows operating system, the end consumer remains apprehensive about how these features can improve their daily activities.

There are other concerns as well. The AI chatbot space is brimming with competition. Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude are just a few names among many. While Copilot has the advantage of becoming the default option in AI PCs, it still has to offer something that adds a distinct value to users’ lives to stand out from the competition.

To understand these complexities and the unique selling point (USP) of Microsoft’s Copilot AI, Gadgets 360 spoke with Shruti Bhatia, Country Head, Modern Work & Surface, India & South Asia, Microsoft. During the conversation, we spoke about the different ways the end user can benefit from integrated AI solutions and how they can make the most out of their experience. Also, we touched upon the most burning question of them all.

Why Should One Use Copilot Over ChatGPT?

Currently, the free version of Copilot is powered by GPT-4, and the paid Copilot Pro is powered by GPT-4 Turbo. In contrast, OpenAI’s in-house AI chatbot ChatGPT offers access to its latest flagship model, GPT-4 Omni (or GPT-4o). So, when users can get a faster and more powerful AI tool in the latter, why would they opt for Copilot? “The biggest advantage when you use Copilot is that it is embedded into your applications. The work that I get done throughout the day is in my mail, chat, PowerPoint, and Word document. That is only possible with Copilot,” explained Bhatia.

Shruti Bhatia, Country Head, Modern Work & Surface, India & South Asia, Microsoft
Photo Credit: Microsoft

In simple terms, Copilot is not just a standalone chatbot. The tech giant has embedded AI capabilities within its Microsoft 365 apps, Teams, and Paint, while certain features are accessible all across the OS.

“Without leaving my application, I can get my work done. It saves me time and ensures it understands the context of my query. This capability is only available when you work with Copilot. It is not about searching for something on the web. It is about having that in your application and knowing the context of how you’re operating with the backdrop of all the information on your device,” added Bhatia.

How Can the End User Make the Most Out of Copilot-Powered AI PCs

Another issue that can be a hurdle in the adoption of AI PCs is the lack of awareness among users on the capabilities of generative AI. While most know that an AI chatbot can have conversations, answer queries, and even generate images, they don’t know how to integrate it into their daily tasks to get more out of the technology.

“The power of AI impacts all walks of your life. It could be across your personal or work engagements. It could be as simple as planning a vacation or asking the AI if I have forgotten any of my tasks before closing for the day. It can analyse, summarise, and create documents; it can create replies to emails with the right tonality, and more,” said Bhatia, answering the question.

To break it down, Copilot is available on Word, where it can analyse and summarise the document. It can also create documents with simple text prompts. The AI can also generate a full-scale presentation via PowerPoint and write email replies. What Microsoft is offering is an assistant in all of its apps to minimise the labour-intensive work, so users can focus on tasks that need their attention.

“Whether you are discovering, aggregating, or creating, Copilot can help with all three and impact both your work and play. Copilot has the capability of truly becoming your buddy and companion to boost your day-to-day productivity,” Bhatia added.

The Art of Prompts

Getting the AI to do your work is a lucrative proposition. However, many times, it simply refuses to generate what you need. Many times, the AI might get one-half of the prompt right while completely ignoring the other half. Or, it might fetch the right information but present it in the wrong format. Put simply, it can be frustrating to create the perfect text prompt that the AI can understand to generate the right response.

“Never worry about getting the prompt right because you can always ask it a follow-up question. However, being very clear, categorical, and specific in your prompts will give you the output faster,” Bhatia explained.