We’re getting into the busy tech season, folks. Apple had its massive 2024 iPad event this week, Google I/O 2024 is coming next week, and there are so many more announcements on the way.
But before we get into next week, we need to catch up on the week we’ve just had. So, to lend a hand, we’ve gathered the 8 biggest tech news stories of the week and bundled them here for you to read through them. This list includes Apple’s iPad news, Amazon‘s terrible ad plans, a new Superman suit, and another major Windows 11 bug that could slow down your PC.
Samsung has become the world’s biggest OLED monitor brand just one year after releasing its first. According to the latest figures from market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung captured a 28.3% share of the global OLED monitor market in 2023.
In terms of value, the South Korean firm had a 34.7% value share of the OLED monitor market, which means Samsung sells pricier models than most other monitor brands.
Samsung becomes the world’s biggest OLED monitor brand in just one year
Apart from being the world’s number one OLED monitor brand in sales and revenue, Samsung also occupied 20.8% of the global gaming monitor market, according to IDC’s worldwide quarterly gaming tracker. With this feat, Samsung has remained the world’s biggest gaming monitor brand for five consecutive years.
Samsung’s first OLED monitor was the 34-inch Odyssey OLED G8 (G85SB), which launched in October 2022. Last year, the company expanded its OLED series with the launch of the 49-inch Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SC). At CES 2024, Samsung launched two new flat-screen OLED gaming monitors: the 27-inch QHD Odyssey OLED G6 (G60SD) and the 32-inch 4K Odyssey OLED G8 (G80SD). You can watch both of them in action in our hands-on video below.
Samsung is planning to launch the new version of the Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SD) gaming monitor in the next few months. It features Multi Control (sharing files and text wirelessly with other Samsung ecosystem devices), Samsung Gaming Hub (quick access to cloud gaming services), and SmartThings Hub (for controlling smart home devices).
Jeong Hoon, Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business Department, said, “Achieving the global first place just one year after entering the OLED monitor market is the result of repeated technological innovations so that gamers can experience excellent picture quality and overwhelming gaming performance. Samsung Odyssey Gaming Monitor is a great choice for gamers. We will continue to work hard to ensure that it is recognized as the best gaming device for consumers.“
New data from Synergy Research Group has revealed a significant surge in cloud infrastructure service spend, with Q1 2024 not only setting a new high but also sending year-on-year growth rates on an upward trajectory.
The firm’s report revealed global cloud spend surpassed $76 billion during the first three months of 2024, marking a substantial 21% year-over-year increase of $13.5 billion, and also the second quarter to have seen considerable year-on-year growth.
Happy Star Wars Day to those who celebrate! But even on these most nerdy of holidays, the tech world moves so fast it’s like it’s jumped to Hyperspace.
If you’ve lost track of the top stories this week we’re here with our trusty lightsaber to cut through the noise so you can get caught up on the most important tech news of the past seven days from Netflix, Rabbit R1, DJI, and Apple.
Ulefone is set to launch the Armor Pad 3 Pro, a rugged tablet featuring what it claims is the world’s largest-ever tablet battery, reportedly a staggering 33,280mAh.
Launching on May 13, this device boasts triple the battery life of Apple‘s iPad Pro, promising to deliver exceptional energy efficiency at a budget-friendly price tag.
If you’ve lost track of this week’s most important tech news then don’t fret, as we’re here to catch you up to speed – and this is one week you won’t want to have missed.
We say that because some major things have happened in the last seven days. Meta announced that it’s sharing its Horizon OS with other VR headset makers – which is the biggest announcement it will likely make this decade – Apple teased its 2024 iPad lines and gave us a launch date for them, and DJI gave us a release date for its cheapest-ever 4K drone.
And here at TechRadar we hosted our first Sustainability Week, producing a whole host of articles showcasing some fantastic examples of how the tech industry is focusing on sustainability – and a few instances where it still needs to do better.
The next Apple HomePod might have a much longer and thinner horizontal design than previous models, making it look more like a soundbar, according to an Apple patent spotted by AppleInsider.
The patent details the design of what appears to be a horizontal HomePod with speakers and a central display that reminds us of the design of the JBL Charge 5 speaker or a chunkier soundbar, like the Sonos Ray. Either way, it’s a huge departure from the cylindrical design of the first HomePod or the HomePod Mini’s cute sphere aesthetic.
This week in the world of tech: Boston Dynamics unveiled a new robot, and while it terrified us, the barrage of negative Humane AI Pin reviews showed us that maybe the artificial intelligence uprising is perhaps further aware than we initially feared.
But maybe you’ve missed these or other major tech stories from this past week. No worries, because we’re here to help with a round-up of the eight biggest tech news stories from the last seven days.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau and finance minister Chrystia Freeland hold copies of the 2024 federal budget.Credit: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty
Researchers in Canada got most of what they were hoping for in the country’s 2024 federal budget, with a big boost in postgraduate pay and more funding for research and scientific infrastructure.
“We are investing over $5 billion in Canadian brainpower,” said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her budget speech on 16 April. “More funding for research and scholarships will help Canada attract the next generation of game-changing thinkers.”
Postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers have been advocating for higher pay for the past two years through a campaign called Support Our Science. They requested an increase in the value, and number, of federal government scholarships, and got more than they asked for. Stipends for master’s students will rise from Can$17,500 (US$12,700) to $27,000 per year, PhDs stipends that ranged from $20,000 to $35,000 will be set to a uniform annual $40,000 and most postdoctoral-fellowship salaries will increase from $45,000 to $70,000 per annum. The number of scholarships and fellowships provided will also rise over time, building to around 1,720 more per year after five years.
“We’re very thrilled with this significant new investment, the largest investment in graduate students and postdocs in over 21 years,” says Kaitlin Kharas, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, Canada, and executive director of Support Our Science. “It will directly support the next generation of researchers.”
Although only a small proportion of students and postdoctoral fellows receive these federal scholarships, other funders tend to use them as a guide for their own stipends.
Many postgraduates said that low pay was forcing them to consider leaving Canada to pursue their scientific career, says Kharas, so this funding should help to retain talent in the country.
“This is going to move us from a searing brain drain to a brain gain, and position us to compete on the world stage,” says Chad Gaffield, chief executive of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, based in Ontario, which supported the campaign.
‘Determined to thrive’
The budget also includes marked boosts for basic research. There is an extra $1.8 billion over five years in core funding for the three federal grant-awarding research councils, as well as $400 million for upgrades to the TRIUMF particle accelerator in Vancouver, and more cash for several other large facilities and institutes across the country. There will also be more than $2 billion for the artificial-intelligence sector in Canada.
“[This budget] really emphasizes that Canada is determined to thrive in the twenty-first century based on science and research,” says Gaffield.
Others have pointed out that the vast majority of the money in the budget for the research councils is backloaded, with just $228 million coming in the next two years. This means that the gains will be slow, and could be vulnerable to changes in the political climate, says Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consultancy in Toronto. “Do not count on this money being there after an election,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). Canada’s next federal election is due in October 2025, and the opposition Conservative Party is campaigning on reigning in spending.
The budget also makes some changes to how science funding is organized. Instead of ten different programmes for scholarships and fellowships, with differing levels of support, there will now be a single programme with just three levels — master’s degrees, PhDs and postdoctoral fellowships. Kharas says that this should simplify the system.
The government will also create a new “capstone” research-funding organization to better coordinate the work of the three granting councils and “help to advance internationally collaborative, multi-disciplinary and mission-driven research”, the budget says. It will also create an advisory Council on Science and Innovation, comprised of leaders from academia, industry and the non-profit sector, which will develop a national science-and-innovation strategy to guide priority setting and increase the impact of federal investments. “This should help move us towards a more efficient, well-coordinated and nimble way of supporting research in Canada,” says Gaffield. “I look forward to working with the government to optimize it.”
Samsung sold over 60 million smartphones in Q1 2024
In Q4 2023, Apple became the world’s biggest smartphone brand in terms of unit sales. Samsung was pushed down to second place during that quarter. However, Samsung has returned strongly in Q1 2024, riding the wave of the successful Galaxy S24. According to market research firm IDC, it sold 60.1 million smartphones during the first quarter of this year. That’s slightly lower than Samsung’s 60.5 million sales from last year, marking a 0.7% drop compared to Q1 2023 figures.
Apple sold 50.1 million iPhones in Q1 2024, a 9.6% drop in sales compared to Q1 2023. It was the second-biggest smartphone brand in the first quarter of this year. According to previous reports, most of its sales drop might have come from China.
Xiaomi has also displayed a strong comeback, ranking third in the global smartphone market with sales of over 40.8 million smartphones during Q1 2024. That’s a massive improvement of 33.8% compared to Q1 2023. However, what’s even more impressive is Transsion’s gigantic 84.9% sales jump to 28.5 million units during the same period. OPPO’s sales dropped last quarter by 8.5%, and it sold 25.2 million smartphones globally.
Overall, 289.4 million smartphones were shipped globally in the first quarter of this year. That’s a 7.8% rise in shipments compared to the muted sales figures from 2023’s first quarter. Smartphone sales are increasing globally, and the recovery is underway compared to disastrous market conditions from last year.
Huawei has reportedly seen a strong comeback in China’s domestic market. However, they will likely not be in the top five rankings anytime soon due to the US sanctions on the company.
Nabila Popal, Research Director of IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team, said, “In contrast, while the Top 2 players (Samsung and Apple) both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters.”
