News Weekly: New HTC phone could be on the way, Google cuts more jobs, and more

This is News Weekly from Android Central, your go-to source for a concise summary of the week’s most important tech news. This is where we take a look at the top titles that showcase the latest developments and innovations contributing to the digital landscape.

This week, the tech world saw another round of layoffs at Google, HTC returned with a new phone, Samsung revealed more of its devices, Qualcomm’s second quarter indicates a recovery, and Google’s messaging continued. further improved. Let’s go.

Google is once again cutting jobs.

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Not a week goes by without Google making headlines. This time, in another round of layoffs, Google laid off 200 of its “core” employees to move faster and align with company goals.

These core teams were responsible for the technical foundation behind many of Google’s online security and safety products and services. The company also reportedly began a “reorganization” that would shift roles to India and Mexico.

Documents obtained by CNBC also suggest that employees learned of the cuts a week before they were announced, with Google saying this would help align with its “broader goals.” Google VP of Developer Ecosystem Asim Husain informed staff that “this is the largest planned cut” for the team in 2024 during a town hall. The cuts come at a good time, after Google’s first quarter earnings report announced a whopping $80.5 billion in revenue with “strong performance” across services.

Google confirmed the layoffs and a spokesperson added that those affected can reapply for other positions within the company.

HTC’s new phone could get a major upgrade

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HTC is a name you might think is out of the market, but it’s still in the smartphone scene. Although they don’t produce smartphones as often as other brands, a new leak indicates that its U24 Pro could give them another market entrant.

According to Android titles, it seems that the Taiwanese company is preparing to present the HTC U24 Pro this month. Although there is no official date yet on the exact date, the U23 Pro was launched in May last year, which could be a reason to expect the same with the addition of this year.

A few days ago, MySmartPrice spotted a device on Geekbench and speculated that it could belong to the HTC U24 series. The phone has the model number 2QDA100, but that doesn’t reveal much.

Design-wise, the HTC U24 Pro will likely look a lot like its predecessor. That said, it could come with a faster processor, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. As for price, the U23 Pro hit stores at $350, and the U24 Pro will likely stay in that range. We can expect the device to come with Android 14 out of the box with 128GB or 256GB of internal storage.

Samsung’s Q1 report gives more news on wearables

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Samsung released its revenue report for the first quarter of 2024 and the company says it made KRW 71.92 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 6.61 trillion in operating profit. During its earnings conference call, the company said its first-quarter profits were up 12.8% from a year ago.

Samsung believes Galaxy AI is driving its phone sales, saying it will “seek annual growth.” The company also hinted at expanding its Galaxy portfolio by integrating Galaxy AI into “existing and new flagship” products like foldables and tablets. The other side of this business is wearable devices, to which Samsung mentions the Galaxy Ring, something that could boost its revenue later this year.

Smartwatches will also play a role, with Samsung saying it will look to “meet demand for upgrades through the launch of new premium models.” It’s unclear exactly what Samsung means here, but rumors of an expanded Galaxy Watch profile have been circulating, with talk of a Galaxy Watch 7, 7 Classic, and 7 Ultra.

Qualcomm’s second quarter results improve

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Earlier this week, Qualcomm released its second quarter 2024 financial results. The company reported revenue of $9.39 billion for the quarter, an increase of 1% compared to the same quarter of 2023.

Qualcomm’s headset business, which accounts for the bulk of its overall revenue, also saw a 1% increase in the quarter, to $8.03 billion. While that doesn’t seem like a big gain, it speaks to healthy growth in the smartphone industry after a slight recession just a year ago. For comparison, Qualcomm’s results for the second quarter of fiscal 2023 revealed a 17% decline in headset sales and overall revenue, so the recent numbers look positive.

“We are excited about our continued growth and diversification, including achieving our third consecutive quarter of record revenue for QCT Automotive, the upcoming launches of our Snapdragon Cutting-edge AI on devices across multiple product categories,” said Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm. in a report.

With its current chipsets, Qualcomm is focusing on AI, which should enable more use cases in various devices, whether phones, PCs or cars. The company is highlighting its AI hub for developers to help drive this adoption.

“I want to take a step back and say that, generally speaking, I think AI is going to benefit all devices,” Amon says. “I think AI, when it extends to running on the device – besides the benefit of working with the cloud – it has completely new use cases around privacy, security, latency costs, customization, etc.”

*Drumroll please* Audio emojis are here

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Google is rolling out a unique new feature to its phone app that lets users express themselves with six new sounds.

As spotted by Google News on Telegram, the company is starting to roll out “Audio Emojis” in the Phone app. Users will be able to enable this feature in the app settings. From there, Google describes the feature as being able to help users “express emotions and moods with sounds like clapping, laughing, sadness, trombone, and more.” “.

Once activated, users can call their friends and family and start experiencing the new sounds. On the Phone app’s call screen, there will be an option to expand the Audio Emoji face row above the default toolbar.

However, the feature is coming first in the beta version of the app. According to DroidLifeAudio emojis spotted on a running version of the Pixel 8 Pro 128.0.6 of the Phone beta app.

These are some of the biggest stories this week. In the meantime, here are some other stories worth telling: