Global premium smartphone sales rose 8% YoY in H1 2025, reaching the highest-ever mark for an H1; Apple grew 3% YoY, capturing 62%+ of the overall sales (Varun Mishra/Counterpoint Research)

Varun Mishra / Counterpoint Research:
Global premium smartphone sales rose 8% YoY in H1 2025, reaching the highest-ever mark for an H1; Apple grew 3% YoY, capturing 62%+ of the overall sales  —  - The global premium smartphone market's unit sales grew 8% YoY in H1 2025, reaching the highest-ever mark for an H1.

The EU's General Court sides with Meta and TikTok in their legal dispute with the EC over the DSA's 0.05% supervisory fee, saying the EU's methodology is flawed (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU's General Court sides with Meta and TikTok in their legal dispute with the EC over the DSA's 0.05% supervisory fee, saying the EU's methodology is flawed  —  Meta Platforms (META.O) and TikTok on Wednesday won their legal fight against a European Union supervisory fee imposed …

Investigation: IBM, Dell, Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, and other US tech companies helped design and build China's vast digital surveillance state (Associated Press)

Associated Press:
Investigation: IBM, Dell, Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, and other US tech companies helped design and build China's vast digital surveillance state  —  BEIJING (AP) — The body camera hung from the top of the IV drip, recording the slightest twitch made by Yang Guoliang as he lay bloody …

Sources: Ant Group's Ant Digital Technologies is quietly working to link ~$8.4B of energy infrastructure and other real-world assets to its AntChain blockchain (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Ant Group's Ant Digital Technologies is quietly working to link ~$8.4B of energy infrastructure and other real-world assets to its AntChain blockchain  —  A unit of Ant Group Co. is quietly making inroads to link over 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) worth of energy infrastructure …

Google updates a Help Center document to clarify Gemini 2.5 Pro usage limits: five prompts per day for free users, 100 prompts for AI Pro, and 500 for AI Ultra (Terrence O'Brien/The Verge)

Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Google updates a Help Center document to clarify Gemini 2.5 Pro usage limits: five prompts per day for free users, 100 prompts for AI Pro, and 500 for AI Ultra  —  Now you know exactly how many prompts you get for free a day. … Until very recently it wasn't clear what usage limits were placed on Gemini at the various tiers.

A profile of Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, as the gaming hardware giant readies AI tools for game development and to help players sharpen their skills (John Kang/Forbes)

John Kang / Forbes:
A profile of Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, as the gaming hardware giant readies AI tools for game development and to help players sharpen their skills  —  Razer, founded and run by Min-Liang Tan for two decades, is prepping to release cutting-edge AI tools to help game developers produce games faster …

PitchBook: VCs have invested $5B+ in humanoid robotics startups since the beginning of 2024, as years of steady progress and GenAI triggers an investment frenzy (Washington Post)

Washington Post:
PitchBook: VCs have invested $5B+ in humanoid robotics startups since the beginning of 2024, as years of steady progress and GenAI triggers an investment frenzy  —  A frenzy of investment has created a crowd of new human-like designs.  —  SALEM, Ore. — In an office park opposite an Amazon warehouse, the robots are at work.

Dealroom: European VC deals are set to rise 3-4% YoY in 2025 to $57B, about the same as in 2023, driven by rising startup valuations in AI, fintech, and defense (Ivan Levingston/Financial Times)

Ivan Levingston / Financial Times:
Dealroom: European VC deals are set to rise 3-4% YoY in 2025 to $57B, about the same as in 2023, driven by rising startup valuations in AI, fintech, and defense  —  Interest in AI and defence tech start-ups has boosted investor activity after a prolonged slowdown

The Winklevoss twins have become major GOP donors; a source says they've donated $32M+ since 2017, including $21M to a new pro-Trump and pro-crypto super PAC (Alex Isenstadt/Axios)

Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
The Winklevoss twins have become major GOP donors; a source says they've donated $32M+ since 2017, including $21M to a new pro-Trump and pro-crypto super PAC  —  There's a new megadonor force in Republican politics: the crypto-mogul Winklevoss twins. … - “Who are the donors going to be for the next 20 to 30 years?

Data shows WLFI's sharp drop was driven by shorting and dumping across exchanges, not Justin Sun's token movements; WLFI blames phishing-related compromises (Sam Reynolds/CoinDesk)

Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk:
Data shows WLFI's sharp drop was driven by shorting and dumping across exchanges, not Justin Sun's token movements; WLFI blames phishing-related compromises  —  Onchain data shows WLFI's sharp drop was driven by shorting and dumping across exchanges - not Justin Sun's token movements …

OnePlus ends its five-year partnership with camera company Hasselblad and plans to develop its own imaging engine called DetailMax Engine for upcoming phones (Dominic Preston/The Verge)

Dominic Preston / The Verge:
OnePlus ends its five-year partnership with camera company Hasselblad and plans to develop its own imaging engine called DetailMax Engine for upcoming phones  —  But Oppo and Hasselblad seemingly aren't. … From now on, OnePlus will develop its own imaging engine instead.

A look at the ramp up of Apple's retail footprint in India, as a source says Apple's revenue grew 13% YoY to $9B during India's fiscal year that ended in March (Sankalp Phartiyal/Bloomberg)

Sankalp Phartiyal / Bloomberg:
A look at the ramp up of Apple's retail footprint in India, as a source says Apple's revenue grew 13% YoY to $9B during India's fiscal year that ended in March  —  Follow Bloomberg India on WhatsApp for exclusive content and analysis on what billionaires, businesses and markets are doing.  Sign up here.

Thailand, aiming to become the second-largest PCB production hub, is witnessing a tech manufacturing boom as the PCB supply chain shifts from China and Taiwan (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia:
Thailand, aiming to become the second-largest PCB production hub, is witnessing a tech manufacturing boom as the PCB supply chain shifts from China and Taiwan  —  BANGKOK — Some 60 kilometers north of Bangkok in the old capital of Ayutthaya, China's Victory Giant Technology is in the hectic final stages …

Lenovo unveils Legion Go 2, with an 8.8" screen and AMD Ryzen Z2 or Z2 Extreme chip, available in October, starting at $1,099, costing $400 more than Legion Go (Sean Hollister/The Verge)

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Lenovo unveils Legion Go 2, with an 8.8" screen and AMD Ryzen Z2 or Z2 Extreme chip, available in October, starting at $1,099, costing $400 more than Legion Go  —  Bigger, heavier, almost certainly better. … Lenovo's Legion Go was a polarizing handheld gaming PC, and that won't change …

What to expect from Apple's September 9 event: major design upgrades for the iPhone, an ultrathin iPhone 17 Air, three Apple Watch models, and AirPods Pro 3 (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
What to expect from Apple's September 9 event: major design upgrades for the iPhone, an ultrathin iPhone 17 Air, three Apple Watch models, and AirPods Pro 3  —  Company is readying a slew of updated devices for the holidays.  —  Apple Inc.'s biggest product launch event of the year takes place on Tuesday …