Technology

New Delhi: Smartphone shipments recovered in the third quarter of 2020, posting an 8 percent growth to 50 million units. It was also the largest shipment of smartphones in the country recorded in a single quarter, stated the latest smartphone market report by Canalys. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi continued to dominate the charts with a market share of 26.1 percent, therefore posting annual growth of 9 percent annually. Samsung secured the second spot with 20.4 percent of the market in the latest quarter, marking shipment volume growth of 7 percent annually.

The third, fourth and fifth spots include Vivo with 17.6 percent, Realme with 17.4 percent and Oppo with 12.1 percent market share respectively. Notably, all the top ranked OEMs posted positive annual growth in smartphone shipments, marking a turnaround after the Covid-19 pandemic pegged the market back. According to Canalys, when compared to the last quarter of 2019, Vivo's smartphone shipments grew by 12 percent to 8.8 million units, while Realme's shipments increased by 23 percent to 8.7 million units. On the other hand, Oppo posted 6 percent annual growth and shipped 6.1 million units.

Google continues to streamline its product lineup for users and businesses. The company has a fragmented range of software products that overlap with one another. Earlier this year, Google had Meet, Hangout, and Duo to take advantage of people working from home. And now, the company is looking to simplify its catalogue, by shutting down Hangout next year.

Google first revealed its plan to split Hangouts into Meet and Chat apps in 2017. The announcement was the first sign towards the death of Hangouts app and now, Google has announced the final timeline for the messaging service. And from 2021 onwards, the full transition will be done. This will allows users as well as G Suite users to start using Chat in place of Hangout. In addition to this, Chat will be available for free users as well. Before this, users had to pay to access Chat.

This is the last ditch effort from Google to take on Slack, which owns the enterprise communication and Microsoft Teams, which is making strides in driving Office 365 customers to adopt its messaging service and Zoom.

Bangalore-based payment solution provider Razorpay became one of the Indian tech startup’s to join the Unicorn club after it raised $100 million (about Rs 731 crore) in a funding round, the company announced on Monday. The fund raising round was co-led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Sequoia Capital India.

The round, which valued the company at over $1 billion also saw participation from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Y Combinator and Matrix Partners, a statement said.

The company has witnessed a 300 per cent growth in its business during the last six months, it added.

Razorpay helps businesses modernise their financial infrastructure by providing intelligent automated payment and banking solutions to manage their entire money flow.

New Delhi: Upgrading its popular Mi Smart Band series, Xiaomi has launched a budget-friendly next-generation fitness tracker Mi Smart Band 5 for just Rs 2,499 in India ahead of the festive season. Mi Smart Band 5 comes with an upgraded and large display which means 20 per cent more screen. It sports a 1.1-inch AMOLED display while its predecessor Mi Smart Band 4 offered a 0.95-inch AMOLED display. The wearable also comes with all-new hassle-free magnetic charging.

We used the smart band for a couple of days. Let's see how it fares. Mi Smart Band 5 looks almost identical to its predecessor Mi Smart Band 4 but makes some notable improvements. The overall design and look of the band is impressive. Also Read - Microsoft ending Open License Programme for SMBs in Jan 2022 Not just activity tracking or wellness tracking, in terms of design, weight and battery this smart band has ticked the right boxes.

Minecraft Live is one of the most highly-anticipated events for the Minecraft community as the player base receives exciting news and announcements for future updates.

Mojang showed up with the big guns this year, giving fans enough to be excited about in terms of new content. One of the biggest announcements from the event included Minecraft v1.17 which is a Caves and Cliffs update.

The update is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever in Minecraft history. It will introduce several significant elements to the game such as new caves and mountains.

Given the scale and size of the update, Mojang are playing their cards close to the chest, with the update being planned for a release in mid-2021. The update also includes a new Mob in the form of the Glow Squid.