News Weekly
News Weekly is our column where we highlight and summarize some of the week’s top stories so you can catch up on the latest tech news.
This is Android Central’s News Weekly, your go-to source for a concise roundup of the week’s most significant tech stories. This is where we delve into the top headlines that provide the latest developments and innovations contributing to the digital landscape.
This week, Samsung confirms that its XR headset and trifold phone will launch this year, Meta’s Q2 earnings soar, Qualcomm says Xiaomi will be the first to get its next Elite chipset, this Pixel 10 leak is as good as it gets, and Samsung could be mixing things up with its next Galaxy S26 lineup.
But before we get into the weeds of it, it’s back-to-school season! So we’ve rounded up the best deals on laptops, tablets, and accessories to get you or your kid ready for a new year of learning. Check out our buying guides and avoid the last-minute rush
Samsung’s trifold and XR Headset will launch this year
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Samsung announced its second-quarter earnings this week, and the Korean OEM seems to have made KRW 74.6 trillion (approximately $53.5 billion); however, the company’s profits took a dip, with operating profit dropping to KRW 4.7 trillion ($3.37 billion). That’s a 55% decline compared to last quarter and almost the same year-over-year.
Samsung says the big reason behind the decline is the delay in shipping high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to Nvidia, along with U.S. tariffs affecting chip sales to China. While that was some grim news for the company, things picked up mid-earnings call as the company essentially confirmed that it will launch the most awaited XR headset, its first trifold, and the Galaxy S25 FE later this year.
The company is “preparing to introduce next-generation innovative products, including our XR headset and tri-fold smartphone this year.”
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Meta reported its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday (July 30), and the company saw a 22% increase in its total revenue year over year, making $47.52 billion in Q2 alone. While Reality Labs still operates at a loss, on a more positive front, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses sales more than tripled in Q2, with CFO Susan Li adding that the 5% year-over-year increase was “driven by increased sales of Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and partially offset by lower Quest headset sales”.
Li said that Meta is ramping up production on these glasses to meet the demand later this year.
Post the earnings announcement, Meta’s stocks jumped by approximately 10% as well. “We’ve had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, in the press release. “
Meta attributes these results to its digital advertising sector, which brought in $46.56 billion, representing approximately 98% of its total revenue. Zuckerberg said during the earnings call that this strong momentum in digital advertising was driven by AI.
Qualcomm’s FY Q3 revenue hits $10.4 billion
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Along with Samsung and Meta, Qualcomm also announced its earnings this week. The company made $10.4 billion in revenue, up 10% from the same period last year. Qualcomm’s QCT division, which consists of its chipset sales, is what mostly contributed to its revenue. Headset sales experienced modest growth to $6.32 billion, while automotive and IoT saw larger 21% and 24% growth, respectively.
“Another quarter of strong growth in QCT Automotive and IoT revenues further validates our diversification strategy and confidence in achieving our long-term revenue targets,” said Amon in a statement on Wednesday.
Even Qualcomm didn’t shy away from making a big announcement to its investors listening in. During the call, Amon highlighted that the company also extended its partnership with Xiaomi to power multiple generations of devices for the massive Chinese market.
They noted that Xiaomi will be “the first OEM to launch with our next Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which comes out over the next couple of months.”
This Pixel 10 leak is as good as its gets
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Prominent tipster Evan Blass seems to be at it again, considering we’re closing in on the Pixel 10 series launch. This week, Blass posted a series of images on X, of the alleged Pixel 10 devices, the Pixel Watch 4, as well as the Pixel Buds 2a.
These official-looking images don’t just show off the products but also share the supposed specs of the phones. The leak reconfirms that the baseline Pixel 10 will include a triple-camera setup featuring a 48MP primary sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide lens, and, for the first time, a telephoto lens with up to 20x Super Res Zoom. Meanwhile, the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL will retain their telephoto sensors but offer an upgraded “Pro Res Zoom” capability of up to 100x, among other things.
What’s more interesting is that one of the images shows the alleged Pixel 10 connected to a magnetic charger snapped onto the back of a 10 device without a case, suggesting that the Pixel 10 series could be the first flagship Android phones to support MagSafe-like Qi2 magnetic charging natively.
That said, this isn’t official until it comes from the source itself, which seems to be not too far away, as the official unveiling is just around the corner — Aug. 20.
Samsung could rejig its Galaxy S26 lineup
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A new deep dive into One UI 8’s build revealed that Samsung could be giving up on the standard Galaxy S26 for a new Galaxy S26 Pro. This comes after rumors that Samsung could also replace the Plus variant with the all-new Edge, with some tweaks, hinting that the Korean OEM might be switching things up in a huge way.
Android Authority seems to have stumbled upon evidence for this line-up rebranding in the One UI 8 build, and the product codenames seemed to have indicated that there may not be a base or, as they say, vanilla variant for the Galaxy S26 series next year.
“Instead, Samsung’s upcoming flagship series appears to consist of three models: Galaxy S26 Pro, Galaxy S26 Edge, and Galaxy S26 Ultra,” the website stated.
More stories this week
Those are some of the biggest stories from this week. Meanwhile, here are some other stories that are worth catching up on: