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• Samsung is rumored to be working on a tri-fold
• It could take on an 'infolding' form factor
• A screen size of 9-10 inches has been predicted

The Huawei Mate XT foldable has attracted a lot of attention for its triple-folding mechanism, and its very high price – and a new leak suggests Samsung's own rival tri-fold is going to take a different approach to the form factor.

As per ET News (via @Jukanlosreve), Samsung's effort is going to be launching in 2025, with the design finalized by the end of this month. That design is expected to be an 'infolding' one, with both 'side' screens folding inwards.

The three screens on the Huawei Mate XT fold back on each other, so the far left screen acts as the main display when the device is folded shut. In the Samsung model, there would need to be an additional screen on the back somewhere.

That's the case with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, and other foldables like the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, where one panel has displays on both the front and back. A similar trick would be needed on the new tri-fold, when it appears.

Keep on folding

Samsung is planning to launch a foldable device that folds twice. The design and launch model are expected to be finalized later this month. Also, unlike Huawei, Samsung’s triple-fold device will fold inward twice.https://t.co/7hMnKmHVnWNovember 14, 2024

Part of Samsung's thinking is that having an infolding device protects the main screen from scratches and other damage, according to the report. If Samsung does take this route though, one of the hinges will need to be bigger than the other.

We do have a few more details from the ET News report, based on industry sources. The new Samsung foldable is said to be coming with a screen size of around 9-10 inches when unfolded (the main screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is 7.6 inches).

The article also adds that Samsung is hoping to boost demand for foldables and protect itself against its competitors with the new device, which is no surprise – the Huawei Mate XT is only available in China, but has grabbed a lot of headlines and interest.

We will still see the standard Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 next year however, and rumors of a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip FE are refusing to go away. With Apple circling too, 2025 is likely to be the biggest year for foldables yet.

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• Chipmaking giant AMD is laying off 1,000 of its 26,000 workers
• The company wants to focus on artificial intelligence and data centers
• Data center revenue accounted for 51% of AMD’s entire revenue last quarter

AMD has confirmed it will be laying off around 1,000 workers, or 4% of its headcount, as it looks to shift its internal focus towards AI.

The chipmaker believes that by losing the 1,000 workers, it will be able to focus more on areas of its business with significant growth potential, such as AI servers and data center hardware.

“As part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps that will unfortunately result in reducing our global workforce by approximately 4%," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "We are committed to treating impacted employees with respect and helping them through this transition.”

AMD to lay off 1,000 workers

Given its strong financial performance last quarter, the change it seen more as a strategic shift rather than a reaction to financial worries, unlike key rival Intel.

AMD had doubled its headcount in recent years to tackle the surge in demand for high-performance processors used in AI data centers, however its revenue has only climbed 23%. Although recent figures suggest growth is strong, it’s likely that the company overestimated its human resource requirements, hence the adjustment.

Two weeks ago, AMD confirmed a third-quarter revenue of $6.82 billion, up 18% year-over-year and up 17% compared with the previous quarter. It also boasted of a record data center segment revenue, up 122% year-over-year and 25% quarter-over-quarter to $3.5 billion, or more than half (51%) of its entire revenue.

Despite strong figures, AMD’s market cap has fluctuated over the past year with several peaks and troughs. Share prices are up 16.2% in 12 months, compared with a 194.5% rise in Nvidia share prices during the same period. Intel shares are down 36.8%.

In the most recent quarterly report, AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su said: “Looking forward, we see significant growth opportunities across our data center, client and embedded businesses driven by the insatiable demand for more compute.”

AMD isn’t the only company making adjustments to staffing – a few months ago, Intel confirmed it would be laying off 15,000 workers, or 15% of its headcount, in relation to poor financial performance.

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• Garmin could soon add support for rucking workouts
• A rumor says the feature could arrive by the end of year, possibly alongside a new Instinct 3
• Rucking is a new fitness trend that involves walking with a weighted backpack.

A new leak claims that some of the best Garmin smartwatches on the market could soon add support for rucking, one of the hottest new trends in fitness.

The news comes by way of leaker @Jw, reported by the5krunner. According to the report, Garmin is "about" to add a new Rucking sport profile that will let users track dedicated rucking sessions, with options to add the weight of their pack manually. Once you're off, your Garmin will reportedly track distance and pace, as well as the impact of the exercise on overall fitness stats including VO2 Max.

As the report points out, it would make Garmin the first smartwatch manufacturer to offer dedicated rucking tracking. According to the report, the feature could arrive by the end of the year, and may debut alongside a rumored new Instinct 3, although the report notes that there's "no new intel on that" and files it as speculation.

What on earth is rucking?

(Image credit: Getty Images / Javier Zayas Photography)

If you've never heard of rucking and don't know what it is, then don't worry, you're not alone. Not to be confused with the ferocious contest for the ball at the breakdown in a game of rugby, rucking is a trendy new form of exercise that involves walking with a weighted rucksack (hence the name) in the pursuit of better fitness.

Rucking puts lower impacts on your knees and ankles compared to running, but the increase in weight you're carrying means it's almost as effective at burning fat. This makes it ideal for really anyone, but especially people who might struggle with the demands running can place on their joints.

It's a technique used by the military for training, and Garmin's rumored adoption of tracking for the trend could signal that it's about to go mainstream.

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• Google has launched a standalone Gemini app on iPhone
• The app gives iPhone users access to Gemini Live
• This new Gemini app is the best way to experience Google AI on iOS

Google has unveiled a standalone iPhone Gemini app that includes support for Gemini Live, the incredibly smart AI voice mode.

Gemini was previously available via the Google app for iOS by clicking through tabs, but now this standalone version makes it incredibly easy to access Google's AI chatbot whenever you want.

The Gemini app has iOS-specific features like Dynamic Island integration and even supports Gemini Extensions for apps like Gmail, allowing you to ask Gemini questions about your inbox.

Earlier this week, the app appeared on the App Store in the Philippines but now users around the world can get a taste of everything Gemini has to offer.

Free to download from the App Store, you can subscribe to Gemini Advanced for more features via an in-app purchase which costs $18.99 / £18.99 / roughly AU$30. With Gemini Advanced you can take advantage of Gemini Live, one of the most impressive AI voice assistants we've tested so far.

Gemini Live on iPhone

(Image credit: Google)

Gemini Live works very well in our initial testing of the Gemini iOS app. It has seamless Dynamic Island and Lock Screen integration so you can quickly interact with AI without opening the app, and it's very responsive to even the most difficult prompts.

Gemini Live's natural voice is seriously impressive and considering we're still waiting for Siri to take its final Apple Intelligence form, this could be the go-to for a lot of people looking for the ideal virtual assistant for the best iPhones.

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• Turntable.fm returns as Hangouts, a collaborative music app
• Create your own virtual space for music sharing
• You and your friends can take turns to DJ

From flared jeans to fascism, it's a well-known fact that if you hang around long enough everything old comes back again. And if you remember turntable.fm, the collaborative streaming music platform of the early 2010s, you'll get a flash of déjà vu when you look at the newly launched Hangout. It looks and works very much like turntable.fm, and that's no bad thing. (And just to clarify, this is nothing to with Google Hangouts, which closed its virtual doors in November 2022).

The idea behind Hangout is simple: you create your own personal space, which is called a Hangout, and you and your friends can then take turns being the DJ. There are over 100 million officially licensed tracks to choose from, and you can take part from multiple platforms: your web browser, your iOS device or your Android device.

What's different from turntable.fm?

Hangouts comes from Turntable Labs, a spin-off from the original Turntable.fm. That service suffered from one big problem when it launched: it had no official deals in place with any record labels, so operated within a gray area that limited what it could do. Instead of getting licenses from the record companies, it claimed to be a non-interactive radio station, which meant you couldn't play your own choice of music if you were the only person in the room and only US residents could use it. It did sign licences in 2012 with four major music labels, but the site shut down the following year.

Hangout clearly doesn't want to repeat that history, hence the licenses being in place from the get-go. But with former Turntable.fm VP of technology Joseph Perla at the helm, it clearly hopes to recapture the magic of the original without any of the other issues. However, it also has a rival – and that too has a turntable.fm connection, as it is run by former turntable CEO, Billy Chasen. That one's called deepcut.fm, and it's a rebranded (and very retro-looking) version of turntable.fm.

As interesting as the history is, what really matters is whether anybody's going to use it – and music collaboration has changed somewhat since Turntable's heyday. Apple's SharePlay, Spotify Live and other similar services already offer collaborative listening, and while they don't have Hangouts' cutesy interface, they do already have established customer bases.

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• Watch parties are now available in YouTube VR
• You'll all need to own paid content to watch it together
• You can't watch 360 video together yet

VR gaming, like gaming in general, is always more fun with friends. Hopping into Just Dance VR is fine, but taking it on in a multiplayer session – either online or for couch co-op – is a much more enjoyable experience. The same is true for Walkabout Mini Golf and Beat Saber – and now you can also enjoy shared experiences when watching movies or other content in the YouTube VR app.

Whether it’s watching a 4K movie or your favorite YouTube Short, it’s now possible to host a YouTube watch party with up to seven other guests at the push of a button – no matter where you all happen to be (though it will need to be somewhere with an internet connection).

You’ll want to boot up the free YouTube app on your Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3S (after installing it if you haven’t already), then look above the screen to see the co-watch icon (it looks like a person-shaped outline flanked by two silhouettes), and click it to start your watch party.

From there you can invite people from your followers list – provided you follow each other – by sending them a notification. Once they accept they'll join your virtual group, and then you can decide what you all want to watch.

There are a few restrictions to note, however. As mentioned you’ll have to be following each other, and it's important to note that you want to watch paid-for YouTube content everyone in the party will have to pay for it separately – so you can’t get away with splitting a single rental fee.

Additionally, full-360-degree immersive video is not yet supported, which is a shame as these 3D experiences are among my favorite ways to use the YouTube VR app. Hopefully it'll be added in the near future, but for now I'm excited to start some watch parties with YouTube's huge catalog of 2D content.

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• Xbox boss Phil Spencer says he is pleased with Microsoft's multiplatform push
• Spencer says there are no "red lines" when it comes to releasing more Xbox games on other platforms
• Spencer thinks "the ball is moving in the right direction"

Microsoft's gaming head Phil Spencer has said that there are no "red lines" regarding the release of more Xbox games on PlayStation.

The company's multiplatform push kicked off earlier this year, which saw the likes of Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, Pentiment, and Sea of Thieves make their way to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Now, Spencer has revealed that he isn't against seeing more Xbox games released on other platforms, but has held back on confirming which titles.

Speaking in a recent interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said: "I think the ball is moving in the right direction. I think this idea of open platforms, where users have more choice, creators have more choice, you see the momentum, right?"

The Xbox boss continued, saying that he is pleased with the beginning of the multiplatform plan, and, according to Bloomberg, confirmed Microsoft wants to "do more of that" and that it won't rule out any titles in its major franchises.

"I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,'" Spencer said, but added that it's too early to decide on the next version of Halo.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was originally thought to be an Xbox-exclusive title until it received a confirmed PS5 release date this summer.

Bethesda's next major action game will launch on December 9 for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC as a timed exclusive instead, before it arrives on PS5 in Spring 2025.

After the announcement, Spencer explained the surprise PS5 release, calling it a business move for the company.

"Obviously, last spring we launched four games, two of them on the Switch, four of them on PlayStation, and we said we were gonna learn," Spencer said. "We said we'd watch. I think at [the] Showcase, I might have said, from our learning, we're gonna do more.

"What I see, when I look, our franchises are getting stronger. Our Xbox console players are as high this year as they’ve ever been. So I look at it and I say, okay, our player numbers are going up for the console platform. Our franchises are as strong as they’ve ever been."

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• Poor tech uptake has cost the UK economy an estimated £111 billion
• Report claims 676,000 jobs could have been created despite the perceived AI threat
• ‘Digital leaders’ are more likely to see strong turnover growth

A new report from Virgin Media O2 Business and Cebr has highlighted how much is being left on the table by companies that have failed to adopt new technologies, and it could be affecting the entire country as well as their own profits.

The study claims if all British businesses had increased their digital technology usage in 2021, when pandemic-induced digitization was on trend, the UK’s economy would have seen a £111 billion uptick in turnover by 2023 – a sum worth around 3% of the nation’s estimated GDP.

Still today, the study found three in four have not increased their digital technology usage since 2021, highlighting a major gap that could be plugged.

British businesses need more tech

More locally, businesses branded by the report as ‘digital leaders’ – companies actively investing in digital solutions – have seen a 12% growth in turnover, compared with only 5% for their not-so-digitally-inclined counterparts.

Firms with a strong digital culture are nearly twice as likely to have workforces that are prepared for the future than those with weaker digital cultures (81% versus 43%).

“There’s a £111bn boost to the UK economy to be unlocked for those organisations who build strong digital cultures, where technology underpins the way people connect and collaborate with colleagues and customers to drive business outcomes," noted Jo Bertram, Managing Director at Virgin Media O2 Business.

Apart from the direct economic benefits, Virgin Media O2 Business believes that a further 676,000 jobs could have been created by 2023 – a considerable number given the ongoing worry that artificial intelligence could replace human workers.

This in itself is a theory that has been challenged, with experts seeing AI more as a colleague than a replacement – an idea I explored myself at a recent tech conference.

Nina Skero, CEO at Cebr, added: “We encourage UK leaders to use this report as a guide to navigate the challenges and opportunities of a digital workplace. By prioritising cultivating a strong digital culture, organisations can unlock their full potential and drive sustained growth for the UK economy and wider society.”

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