News
Google to Pay $700 Million in Antitrust Settlement Play Store with US States and Consumers
In order to resolve state prosecutors’ antitrust complaint regarding Google’s app store and billing methods in the US, Google will pay $700 million. The settlement’s specifics, finalized in September, have finally been made public. They verify that Google will contribute $630 million to a fund intended for distribution among an approximated 102 million qualified customers, as well as an additional $70 million to a fund that the states may utilize to settle additional related actions.
Google stated as part of the agreement that it will now permit app developers to bill customers directly rather than through Google, which keeps up to a 30% cut of the revenue.
Out of the $700 million, $630 million will go into a settlement fund that will be used by the states and disbursed to consumers in accordance with a scheme agreed upon by the court. The remaining $70 million will go into another fund. The internet behemoth announced that it will also streamline the procedure for allowing users to download programs from sources other than its own app store, the Google Play Store. Given that legislators, app developers, and other interested parties have long urged Google to relax its control over the installation and payment processes for apps on Android devices, these modifications to Google’s app store are noteworthy. However, Google is only now making significant compromises as regulatory and legal pressure mounts surrounding the app store.
Without having to submit a claim, the states project that at least 71.4 million consumers will get automatic payments. The eligibility requirements outlined in the settlement terms apply to people who downloaded apps from Google Play, chose a subscription, or made an in-app purchase through Google Play Billing and whose legal address in Google Payments was in one of the US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands between August 16, 2016, and September 30, 2023. From the outset, OEMs can still provide users with the option to use Play or another app store, as Google will make explicit. Other marketplaces may handle future application upgrades for Android 14. Installing updates automatically while an app is idle is one example of this.
Conversely, user choice The number of US games and Android applications that can provide a separate payment method is growing. In addition, when a customer makes a digital purchase through the app, developers can provide various pricing alternatives within it.
The first quarter of 2024 is already over; during this interval, Samsung has introduced several Galaxy smartphones of particular belonging, such as the flagship Galaxy S24 series, the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, the mid-range ones, the Galaxy A15 and Galaxy F15, the budgetable ones, and many more. But the fact is, after being the latest smartphones, they have a lack of ‘charging speed.’
Undoubtedly, Samsung is leading the tech industry with its top-notch features, design, and larger batteries, as compared to other Android manufacturers, but despite all this, it has a massive lack of charging speed. Samsung usually attaches larger batteries to its Galaxy smartphones to enhance the users’ non-stop-using experience. But a larger battery isn’t worth it unless it has a good charging speed.
On the other hand, Chinese manufacturers are equipping their smartphones with charging speeds north of 100W, whereas 45W is the maximum speed you can get on Galaxy smartphones. However, even 45W charging is quite rare among Galaxy phones. Samsung has launched most of the Galaxy devices in the last couple of years, including the flagship with support for 25W.
Here we are making things easy for you if you are looking to buy a Galaxy smartphone that debuted in 2024 with the support of 45W charging speed by mentioning a list of devices:
- Galaxy S24 Ultra
- Galaxy S24+
- Galaxy F55
- Galaxy M55
- Galaxy C55
The list is quite short, even considering that the Galaxy F55, M55, and C55 are just rebranded variants of the same smartphone for different regions. Now Samsung is setting up to launch its next-generation foldable devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, in July, but it is yet to be confirmed whether these devices will get a boost in charging speeds from 25W or not.
The Korean brand – Samsung has recently announced its two mid-range Galaxy smartphones – Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G. A new benchmark listing has a spot for Samsung’s affordable smartphone, Galaxy35 5G.
Samsung is now gearing up for its next affordable Galaxy smartphone, the M35 5G, as the reports are unvunveilhey have found a new benchmark listing for Samsung the Galaxy M35 5G.
The smartphone has been spotted with the model number as an identification code – SM-M356B on the Geekbench 6.2.2 database. Not only this, but it also confirmed the presence of 6GB of RAM and Android 14 OS. The chipset also came to know which is the latest Exynos 1380.
The codename for the motherboard is also mentioned, which is ‘s5e8835.’ The reports say that it has scored 656 and 1967 points in performance scores on the benchmarking platform. Exynos 1380 is the latest chipset of the Korean brand, which is a 5 nm processor. It consists of 4 Cortex A78 cores, which clock at 2.4GHz, and 4 Cortex A55 cores, which clock at 2.0GHz. It is coupled with a Mali g68 MP5 GPU. It also has an AI Engine.
This also offers connectivity options, which include the latest Bluetooth version 5.3 and Wi-Fi 802.11 ax with three bands. It supports a camera resolution of at least 200MP for capturing images, and for video recording, there is support for up to 30fps 4K recording. The storage supported is UFS v3.1, and RAM will be of the LPDDR4x/5 type.
Samsung has recently debuted its two smartphones, Galaxy A55, and Galaxy A35; the Galaxy A35 5G smartphone is powered by Exynos 1380 chipset. From this perspective, Galaxy M35 5G could be a variant of Galaxy A35.
At the moment, no specs and features of the device have been revealed or leaked. Still, since Galaxy M series smartphones usually have a bit higher battery power of at least 6000mAh, the forthcoming Galaxy M35 5G smartphone also arrives with the same battery power.
Firmware
Verizon rolls out the March 2024 security patch update for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 devices
Verizon has rolled out the March 2024 security patch update for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 devices. Earlier, these devices had received the same update outside the US, but now they are gradually expanding to the US.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are spotted getting new updates with the firmware version numbers F926USQS5HXBD and F711USQS6HXBD, respectively. It is worth noticing the update is currently available for the devices locked to Verizon, but it will soon be available on more carriers.
For your information, the latest update for Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 doesn’t bring any significant changes, but as it is the latest security patch, it will provide some internal fixes to maintain the security of the devices.
If you are getting some other issues from the last update, you should also update the device to the latest update, as it may also address some issues. Along with the update, other improvements may also be made to enhance the overall performance of the devices.
Suppose you use the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Flip 3 device in the US. In that case, you can update the device to the latest version by simply going to the system settings and then to the software update. If you haven’t received the update, you should wait for some time, as it may arrive in the next few days.