Motorola's biggest smartphone launch of 2023 is set for June 1

The Lenovo-owned Motorola is set to unveil its long-anticipated next-gen Razr phones on June 1. The Chinese smartphone maker has shared a teaser video on its official Twitter account to reveal the launch date of the new Moto Razr phones. The teaser video shows silhouettes of two devices which will be unveiled on June 1 at an event named “Flip the Script.” This suggests that the company will announce both the flagship Moto Razr 40 Ultra as well as the less https://ift.tt/H3khKXv

Tencent reports Q1 revenue up 11% YoY to ~$21.4B, above estimates and the fastest growth in over a year, and net income up 10% YoY to ~$3.6B, below estimates (Zheping Huang/Bloomberg)

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Tencent reports Q1 revenue up 11% YoY to ~$21.4B, above estimates and the fastest growth in over a year, and net income up 10% YoY to ~$3.6B, below estimates  —  Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s earnings missed estimates despite the fastest pace of revenue growth in more than a year …

Apple announces a suite of features to improve cognitive, vision, and speech accessibility on iOS and iPadOS, rolling out later in 2023 (Amanda Silberling/TechCrunch)

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Apple announces a suite of features to improve cognitive, vision, and speech accessibility on iOS and iPadOS, rolling out later in 2023  —  Apple previewed a suite of new features today to improve cognitive, vision and speech accessibility.  These tools are slated to arrive on the iPhone, iPad and Mac later this year.

As the European Central Bank prepares to pilot a digital euro in October, consumers, financiers, and politicians are questioning the project's aims and benefits (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
As the European Central Bank prepares to pilot a digital euro in October, consumers, financiers, and politicians are questioning the project's aims and benefits  —  Europe's central bank is pushing ahead with the development of electronic currency even as politicians question its purpose

Mobile Premier League enters African gaming market, launches gaming app in Nigeria

Mobile Premier League, the esports and digital gaming platform has expanded to other markets. The company has officially launched its app in Nigeria. With this move, MPL is now present in four continents: Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa. https://ift.tt/uZxtYEM

Sam Altman plans to tell Congress that AI regulation is "essential", stress the need for government flexibility, and recommend safety measures on Tuesday (Cristina Criddle/Financial Times)

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Sam Altman plans to tell Congress that AI regulation is “essential”, stress the need for government flexibility, and recommend safety measures on Tuesday  —  OpenAI's chief executive Sam Altman will tell US lawmakers on Tuesday that regulation of artificial intelligence must allow companies …

Q&A with Michael Lewis on his FTX book, "Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon", slated for October 3, visiting SBF, the forthcoming trial, and more (Alexandra Alter/New York Times)

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
Q&A with Michael Lewis on his FTX book, “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon”, slated for October 3, visiting SBF, the forthcoming trial, and more  —  About a year after the author Michael Lewis began to shadow Bankman-Fried, the founder of the crypto exchange FTX, Bankman-Fried was arrested.

After decades of slumber, Japan's tech industry, which has produced just 10 unicorns, finally shows some signs of life as its startups raised ~$6.4B in 2022 (Roland Kelts/Rest of World)

Roland Kelts / Rest of World:
After decades of slumber, Japan's tech industry, which has produced just 10 unicorns, finally shows some signs of life as its startups raised ~$6.4B in 2022  —  After decades of slumber, the country that brought us bullet trains and Nintendo has mustered some momentum.

Motorola Edge 40 launching in India on May 23: What to expect

Motorola has confirmed the launch of Edge 40 in India. After its debut in global markets last month, Motorola Edge 40 will launch in India on May 23. Here’s what to expect from Edge 40. https://ift.tt/CypQvq9

Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin's Telly opens a waitlist to give away 500,000 55-inch 4K HDR TVs in 2023 with a second screen that constantly shows ads (Jared Newman/Fast Company)

Jared Newman / Fast Company:
Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin's Telly opens a waitlist to give away 500,000 55-inch 4K HDR TVs in 2023 with a second screen that constantly shows ads  —  Would you take a free TV if it constantly ran banner ads beneath everything you watched?  —  That's the proposition for Telly …

Tech layoffs: Cred-owned Happay lays off 15% workforce

Cred-owned startup Happay has reportedly laid off 15% of its workforce. Cred's Kunal Shah acquired the business expense management solutions Happay in 2021. The company has laid off the employees in a restructuring exercise. As reported by The Economic Times, the exact number of impacted employees is not known right now. However, the company has reportedly laid off about 10 to 15% workforce. https://ift.tt/ARcfKoY

Kenya-based M-KOPA, an asset financing service offering African customers access to "productive assets" and digital payments, raised $55M equity and $200M+ debt (Tage Kene-Okafor/TechCrunch)

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Kenya-based M-KOPA, an asset financing service offering African customers access to “productive assets” and digital payments, raised $55M equity and $200M+ debt  —  M-KOPA, the asset financing platform that offers underbanked African customers access to “productive assets” …

Oppo may soon exit European market, wiped its German website

Following a patent dispute with Nokia, Oppo (and its sub-brand OnePlus) was compelled to suspend operations in Germany last year. Since then, rumors have circulated about Oppo potentially shutting down shops in Europe, despite the company's denial. Nonetheless, the actions taken by Oppo seem to indicate otherwise. Now the company's official website in Germany currently has no product listings, leaving it empty. https://ift.tt/ZD6k5JC

At I/O 2023, Google Assistant was an afterthought, superseded by Bard, a notable omission after Assistant took center stage at multiple previous I/O keynotes (Khari Johnson/Wired)

Khari Johnson / Wired:
At I/O 2023, Google Assistant was an afterthought, superseded by Bard, a notable omission after Assistant took center stage at multiple previous I/O keynotes  —  Google's generative AI chatbot Bard took center stage at the company's I/O conference.  The company's answer to Siri was left backstage.

How love for 5G phones ‘helped’ Amazon India in the first quarter of the year 2023

5G smartphones seem to be a rage, especially in Tier 2 markets in the country. The love for 5G smartphones reportedly spurred US-based ecommerce giant Amazon’s sales in the first quarter of the year. According to a report in Economic Times (ET), strong demand from Tier 2 markets for 5G smartphones boosted Amazon India’s smartphone sales to double-digit growth in the first quarter of the year. The double-digit growth reportedly came during the first three months of the year (Q1-2023) when several market research reports pegged the overall industry shipments to have slumped nearly 20% year-on-year. https://ift.tt/nOCTutG