Technology News
Latest technology news and updates
Total: 510
Forty‑Five Billion Yuan and a New Front: China’s Tech Giants Turn Lunar New Year Into an AI User‑Education Arms Race
China’s biggest tech firms spent more than 45 billion yuan over the 2026 Lunar New Year in an AI‑focused red‑envelope battle that mixed cash prizes, task‑based incentives and offline vouchers. The campaign was a large‑scale acquisition and product‑education experiment whose success will be decided not by downloads or single‑night peaks but by whether users form lasting habits and remain active after the holiday.
Apple Moves Beyond the iPhone: Three-Pronged Push into AI Wearables
Apple is accelerating development of three AI-focused wearables — high-end smart glasses, a clip-or-necklace pendant and camera-enhanced AirPods — that rely on Siri and visual context awareness while remaining tethered to the iPhone. The company aims to start production on its glasses prototype by December 2026 with a 2027 launch, and is also expanding AI into home devices; success hinges on major improvements to Siri, privacy safeguards and consumer acceptance.
Musk Opens Grok 4.2 Candidate to Public Beta, Promising Weekly ‘Fast‑Learning’ Updates
Elon Musk has opened a candidate public beta of Grok 4.2, requiring users to opt in and inviting public feedback. The model claims a new fast‑learning capability and will receive weekly updates accompanied by release notes, accelerating xAI’s iterative development approach but raising questions about safety and oversight.
Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4.6 Pushes AI From Chat To Desktop: Faster Web Automation, Better Defences — New Risks
Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 4.6, a model that can perform multi-step computer tasks like filling web forms and coordinating across browser tabs, and claims better resistance to prompt injection attacks. The upgrade accelerates practical automation while raising new security and governance challenges as AI agents gain control of interfaces.
Apple Accelerates Push Into AI Wearables with Smart Glasses, Pendant and Smarter AirPods
Apple is rapidly developing three AI-focused wearables—a pair of smart glasses, a clip-or-necklace pendant and more capable AirPods—each built around a visually aware Siri and integrated tightly with the iPhone. The initiative signals Apple’s ambition to lead multimodal, AI-enabled consumer hardware while navigating technical, privacy and regulatory hurdles.
Year of the Horse Preview: AI Will Drive the Next Wave of Consumer Tech — Is Apple’s Next Big Thing a Foldable iPhone?
AI is set to be the defining force in consumer electronics for the lunar Year of the Horse, driving changes across chips, sensors and software. While foldable phones are a logical battleground — and a possible next hit for Apple — the real competition will be about integrating efficient on-device intelligence, managing supply-chain costs and meeting regulatory expectations.
India Pledges $200 Billion for Data‑Centre Buildout to Power an AI Push
India has signalled plans to marshal about $200 billion to build data centres that will underpin a national AI push, a package that reportedly includes commitments from Google, Microsoft and Amazon. The pledge underscores New Delhi’s ambition to secure compute capacity and foster a domestic AI ecosystem, but faces major logistical, fiscal and regulatory hurdles before it can deliver results.
Alibaba and Tencent Back High‑Valued Chinese AI Startup in $700m Round as Founder Says Cash Hoard Tops ¥10bn — ‘Not IPO‑Driven’
A major Chinese AI startup raised over $700 million in a round led by Alibaba and Tencent, valuing it above $10 billion. The founder — a post‑1990s entrepreneur — said the company holds more than ¥10 billion in cash and is not pursuing an IPO, highlighting a shift toward long‑term, control‑oriented growth amid an intensely competitive AI funding surge.
Chinese Lab’s Aluminium‑based EV Cell Passes -25°C Road Test, Charging to 90% in 20 Minutes
A Chinese Academy of Sciences institute reports an aluminium‑based lithium‑ion battery that, when fitted to a production EV, sustained over 92% discharge efficiency and charged to 90% in 20 minutes after a 24‑hour soak at −25°C. The result, if validated and scalable, could reduce winter range loss and simplify thermal management, widening EV usability in cold markets.
China’s Spring Gala Puts Humanoid Robots Center Stage — Embodied AI Moves From Lab to Spotlight
China’s Spring Festival Gala prominently featured humanoid robots whose stage performances were presented as signs that embodied intelligence is moving from innovation into industry. Firms showcased advances in facial actuators, dynamic balance and large embodied datasets, a combination that could accelerate commercialization but raises questions about robustness, safety and regulation.
China’s Kimi Rockets to a $10–12bn Valuation After Two Rapid Funding Rounds Exceeding $1.2bn
Kimi, a Chinese AI startup also known as Yue Zhi Anmian, has raised over $700 million in a new funding round led by existing investors, bringing two consecutive financings to more than $1.2 billion and valuing the company at $10–12 billion. The deals signal strong investor appetite for large AI models in China and a scramble by tech giants to secure model supply, but commercialisation and regulatory risks remain significant.
AI Eyewear Becomes a Lunar New Year Must‑Buy as China’s Wearables Move from Gimmick to Gadget
AI‑enabled smart glasses emerged as a standout Lunar New Year purchase in China, with sales up 70–80% in Shenzhen’s electronics district amid a broader tech spending rebound. Subsidies, rapid miniaturisation and on‑device AI models are pushing the category from niche headsets toward everyday wearables, while global production plans and shipment forecasts suggest the market could scale to tens of millions of units within a few years.