Apple drops AirPods Max with spatial audio and dynamic head tracking priced at Rs 59,990

Apple AirPods Max has officially launched as the first wireless over-the-ear headphones by the Cupertino giant after weeks of rumours and speculations. Apple is on a product launching spree since September when it announced the Watch Series 6 and Watch SE which was followed by the new iPhone 12 series in October and Apple M1-powered MacBooks and Mac Mini in November. However, one product that was rumoured to make an appearance all this while, it seems was saved for the last launch, just in time for holidays.

The new over-ear headphones expand the AirPods lineup that already includes two truly-wireless earphones, namely the AirPods and AirPods Pro. The AirPods Max is as premium a headphone as it gets considering its price tag of Rs 59,900 in India. The new headphones feature active noise cancellation, spatial audio and support high-fidelity audio along with adaptive equalization. 

“With AirPods Max, we are bringing that magical AirPods experience to a stunning over-ear design with high-fidelity audio. The custom acoustic design, combined with powerful H1 chips, and advanced software enable AirPods Max to use computational audio to wirelessly deliver the ultimate personal listening experience,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Apple AirPods Max pricing and availability

Apple AirPods Max is priced at Rs 59,900 in India and will go on sale starting December 15. The headphones will be available to purchase from Apple India Store Online and Apple Authorised Resellers across India.

Apple AirPods Max features

Being a flagship headphone, the AirPods Max looks strikingly premium with the headband being made from breathable knit mesh atop a stainless steel frame. The mesh design of the headband reduces on-head pressure when using it as it aims to distribute the weight equally. Moreover, the stainless steel headband joins the anodized aluminium cups through extendable arms that can rotate for the most comfortable fit. The AirPods Max weighs 384 grams and is offered in silver, space grey, sky blue, pink, and green colours to choose from.

The ear cushions are made from memory foam and there is a multi-function digital crown for volume and playback control along with answering calls or engaging Siri. There is a dedicated Noise control button that can be used to switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency modes. The transparency mode users in-built microphones to allow ambient sounds while continuing the playback so that the user can interact with others when needed.

The AirPods Max features 40-millimetre dynamic drivers that aim to provide a clean and rich audio experience that is consistent across different frequencies. The headphones are equipped with the Apple H1 chip in each earcup and assists in blocking ambient noise and adapt the playback audio for an immersive experience. There is an Adaptive EQ that makes use of the microphones to monitor the audio playback and configure the music frequencies automatically to enhance the overall listening experience. 

The new Apple headphones also support Spatial Audio and are capable of delivering a theatre-like experience for films, TV and audio recorded in 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos. With this, the AirPods Max uses the gyroscope and accelerometer to detect the motion of a user’s head and adjusts the audio field so that it stays anchored even when moving the head.

The AirPods Max can automatically detect when they are on the user’s head and supports one-tap login across all Apple devices. The headphones are equipped with nine microphones out of which three are used for voice pickup. 

Apple claims that the AirPods Max are capable of offering upto 20 hours of listening on a single charge with ANC enabled. Additionally, the AirPods Max offers around 1.5 hours of listening time on charging it for 5 minutes. Apple provides a Type-C to Lightning connector in the box.

The AirPods Max comes with a Smart Case that can be used for safekeeping the headphones. Once stored in the smart case, the headphones enter an ultra-low-power state for preserving the battery life.

 

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Registrations for the Qualcomm Snapdragon Conquest Tournament are now open, prize pool of Rs 20,00,000 offered

Free Fire fans, it’s time to get those trigger fingers ready as Qualcomm has announced its first-ever eSports event in India. Dubbed the Qualcomm Snapdragon Conquest Tournament, the aim of this event is to create and nurture budding talent within the ever-growing mobile gaming ecosystem in India. Registrations start today and is open to participants above the age of 12. Players will also be required to form a four-member squad and are welcome to invite their friends or join other teams. You just also have a Garena Free Fire account which is above level 10. You can read more about the terms and conditions of the tournament, here. 

Qualcomm Snapdragon Conquest Tournament: Format

A three-month-long tournament, the ‘in-game qualifiers’ will commence once the two-week registration period comes to an end. The in-game qualifiers will take place over a period of 6 days, where squads will be required to play 15 classic matches in the community favourite Bermuda and Kalahari maps. Out of the 15 matches, the top 10 performances will be considered. In a situation where there is a tie, total squad kills, survival time and accuracy, among many other parameters will be considered. A total of 648 teams will progress to the playoffs.  

During the ‘Playoffs’, the 648 teams will be divided into 54 groups. To up the ante and challenge the players, the squads will be subjected to direct single-match eliminations through 3 rounds. Only the top 4 from each group comprising 216 teams will progress to round 2 and be further divided into 18 groups, out of which again, the top 4 from each group made up of 72 top teams will qualify for round 3.

The final playoff round will consist of a total of 18 matches and the teams will be divided into 6 groups. The Top 3 teams from each group will then qualify for the next phase.

The top 18 teams from the playoffs along with 6 invited teams will be allowed to participate in the ‘League Stages’. A grueling four weeks long match schedule will test the perseverance of the teams in a round robin format, where each competitor will in turn face every other competing team. 

The finals will see the top 12 teams compete over two days in the Snapdragon Conquest: Free fire Open 2020 Grand Finale. The squad with the highest cumulative score will be crowned the Free Fire Open 2020 Champions. 

Qualcomm Snapdragon Conquest Tournament Prizes

The tournament gives squads a chance to walk away with INR 20,00,000 to the team who comes in first place at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Conquest tournament, INR 8,00,000 for first runners up and INR 5,00,000 for second runners up. There are also prizes up for grabs for reaching the finale. Additionally, individual valor and team effort will also be commended in the grand finale and receive special awards such as:

Team with the highest kills in the Grand Finale - INR 1,00,000  Individual with the highest kills in the Grand Finale - INR 50,000 The Most Valuable Player Award (Fan vote) - INR 50,000 The Most Popular Team Award (Fan vote) - INR 1,00,000 

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Nvidia RTX 3090s worth 3,36,000 stolen from MSI factory in China

PC gamers out there, if you thought you were desperate to get the latest Nvidia RTX 3090 series of GPUs, well, there’s probably an Asian dude somewhere who wants it more than you. And on that note, just last week a ton of RTX 3090 GPUs were stolen from the MSI factory in China. The news first broke on Twitter, with the user @GoFlying8 posting an MSI document that addresses the theft.

MSI Chinese mainland factory was stolen, stolen 40 boxes RTX3090, the total value of 2200000RMB ...... MSI has been officially announced and informed to the police ,Reward of 100000 RMB for reporting effective information. pic.twitter.com/JWw8hOMioG

— 夕惕若厉 (@GoFlying8) December 7, 2020

The good folks over at Ars Technica were kind enough to translate the document and is presented in English below. 

So, apparently, from what we can see, the thieves or thief made off with around $3,36,000 US worth of RTX 3090s. The document doesn’t specify how may GPUs or the total value of the stolen good were. But reports have emerged that state that the theft set the company back by about 2.2 million RMB or about 40 containers of the RTX 3090 GPU! Well, clearly some gamers will resort to corporate theft to actually get their game on. We wonder if the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 has anything to do with this theft? Hmmmm. 

The shortage of the RTX 30 series GPUs have caused a bit of concern in the PC gaming scene and it looks like someone decided that enough was enough and stole around 224 RTX 3090’s.  If you’re interested in the RTX 3090, you should check this out. Or, if you’re more of a console gamer, you can check out our first impressions of the PS5, right here. 

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Oppo Find X3 Pro with Snapdragon 888 detailed in a new leak

Oppo Find X3 Pro has leaked online revealing its key specifications ahead of its launch in 2021. The company has already confirmed that the successor to the Find X2 series will be powered by the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. Oppo is planning to launch the Find X3 series sometime in the first quarter of next year so a lot of things could change between now and then.

A new leak by popular tipster Evan Blass on Voice has revealed the key specifications of the Oppo Find X3 Pro codenamed “Fussi”. We already know that the next smartphone in the Find X series is slated to feature Android’s first 10-bit full-path colour management system that is expected to bring accurate colour reproduction with support for DCI-P3 colour range and creating 10-bit image and videos.

Oppo Find X3 Pro https://t.co/TLA70IsFZa

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) December 7, 2020

The post by Blass reveals some interesting titbits about the Find X3 Pro such as the use of two 50MP cameras on the back along with support for 65W fast charging out-of-the-box. The upcoming phone in the Find X series will most definitely have Snapdragon 888 running under the hood, so expect it to be amongst the supremely powerful Android phones launching in Q1 2021.

Oppo Find X3 Pro leaked specifications

The Oppo Find X3 Pro is rumoured to feature a 6.7-inch QHD+ (3216 x 1440 pixels) resolution display that uses an AMOLED panel. The phone is expected to have support for 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ certification and full-path colour management system. 

The phone is expected to have a ceramic or matte-frosted glass finish on the back with the phone being curved along the edges. The leak indicates that the phone will be offered in black and blue colours initially and a white colour variant will be announced at a later date. The Find X3 Pro is rumoured to have a thickness of 8 millimetres and could weigh around 190 grams. 

The Find X3 Pro is expected to come with a quad-camera setup that consists of a primary 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor and another 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera. This is supported by a 13MP periscope telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and a 3MP macro camera. On the front, there is expected to be a 32MP selfie camera.

As for the battery, the Find X3 Pro is rumoured to be equipped with a 4,500mAh battery with support for 65W wired fast charging and 30W fast wireless charging out-of-the-box.

 

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Apple rumored to launch AirPods Studio headphones in the coming week

The AirPods studio has kept Apple fans on their toes since they have been a part of the rumour mill.  Apple has not released any personal audio device since the launch of AirPods Pro. The last audio device they launched was the HomePod Mini and you can learn about it here. The AirPods studio are expected to be Apple’s over the ear headphones. These would be premium design headphones as Apple generally releases premium quality products. 

The Apple-branded headphones are also rumoured to have an ear detection feature and included the U1 chip for orientation awareness. The headphones are reported to compete with high-end offerings from Bose and Sony that retail close to $350 (Rs 25000 approx. directly converted).

According to Appletrack, Apple is planning an imminent launch of the AirPods Studio that could take place as soon as tomorrow, December 9. The website does not have any track record of predicting Apple product release, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Rumors about the release of AirPods Studio have been in the news quite a few times and were to be announced with the iPhone 12 launch but according to Jon Prosser, the production hit a snag and so the launch was delayed till 2021. However, Mark Gurman shared his article on Twitter regarding the announcement of the AirPods Studio, which hints at the debut of the product.

Some reading on our stories about the long-in-development Apple headphones April: https://t.co/IN5Yy7aDGI and in October https://t.co/cONNugsahk “Apple is still planning to announce high-end, noise-canceling over-ear headphones.”

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) December 7, 2020

According to 9to5Mac, the iOS 14.3 beta had revealed a new icon to the internal system files that illustrated the design of the upcoming AirPods Studio. You can find more information on the AirPods Studio over here.  

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Apple Music now available on Google Nest Smart Speakers

Starting today, Apple Music, the streaming service from Apple is available on Google Home as the default music player and can play the music on Nest smart speakers and also Google-assistant enabled devices.

The service will be first available in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan and can be set as the default music service in these regions. The devices supported will be Nest Audio, Nest Hub Max, Nest Mini, and Google-assistant enabled devices as announced by Google. 

The user will be able to access their favourite playlist and music selection from Apple Music by simply using their voice. You can ask Google Assistant to play a specific song, artist, or playlist or even play songs from your library by saying “Hey Google, play my songs”. 

The service also supports Google’s multi-room feature, where if you have more than one compatible device, you can dynamically move your music from one device to another or even sync up and play music on all the devices simultaneously. You can do this by saying,  “Hey Google, play music on all my speakers”.

Apple Music is a music streaming service similar to Spotify and Youtube Music. Before this new update, those that were subscribed to Apple Music would have to pair their Android or iPhone via Bluetooth to access Apple Music on a Google speaker.

As mentioned above, at present, the rollout is only in countries such as the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan and we may see the feature to be introduced in the near future in other countries such as India.  

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Xiaomi teases Redmi 9 Power launch in India

Xiaomi has officially teased the launch of a new Redmi smartphone in India. The new phone is rumoured to be called the Redmi 9 Power as indicated by the hashtags used by the company across all its social media posts. Moreover, Xiaomi has gone live with a dedicated website that teases the upcoming launch. Do note, however, the Xiaomi has not confirmed the name of the phone yet. 

If the upcoming phone does go by the name Redmi 9 Power, it would be the fifth phone in the Redmi 9 line-up after the Redmi 9A, Redmi 9i, Redmi 9 and Redmi 9 Prime. As per the event microsite, the upcoming phone seems likely to have a 48MP quad-camera setup and could be equipped with a large capacity battery to boot. 

Worlds will collide! Brace yourselves because we're about to redefine what it means to be #PowerPacked.  Check this space for more: https://t.co/KdkKO8oYFN Excited? RT & join in on the conversation!  pic.twitter.com/wHr42j7HYl

— Redmi India (@RedmiIndia) December 7, 2020

As per a previous report, the company could be looking to launch the Redmi Note 9 4G as the Redmi 9 Power in India. The Redmi Note 9 4G was announced alongside the Redmi Note 9 5G and Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G for the Chinese market earlier this month. Furthermore, there are rumours that the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G could launch as the Mi 10i in India after being spotted in a Google Play Console listing.

While the Redmi Note 9 4G features triple cameras on the back, Xiaomi has teased that the upcoming phone has a quad-camera setup. Some speculations indicate that the fourth camera could be a macro sensor. Having said that, there is no official word on the exact day of the launch yet but reports hint it could be planned for December 15. Xiaomi has also scheduled a launch event on December 16 for its Mi QLED TV in India. 

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 4G specifications

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 4G has a new design with the word ‘Redmi’ slapped on the back panel. It features a 6.53-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution display with a waterdrop notch cutout for the selfie camera. The screen is topped with Gorilla Glass 3. It measures 9.6 millimetres and weighs 198 grams and has a plastic built.

The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 610 GPU. This is paired with upto 8GB RAM and 256GB storage options to choose from. Like the other two phones, the Redmi Note 9 4G also offers storage expansion via microSD card.

It has a triple camera setup on the back with a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera housed within the waterdrop notch.

The Note 9 4G has stereo speakers along with a side-mounted fingerprint reader. It is equipped with a 6,000mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging.

 

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