HTC U Ultra and Play Launched, Xiaomi Mi 6 Leaked, Airtel Payments Bank Official: Your 360 Daily

As another day in tech comes to an end, we’re left with a variety of breaking news, product leaks and speculations, launches, etc. We respect your time, and that is why our editors pick the most relevant news, for your easy consumption. Here are your top stories.

HTC U Ultra, U Play launched
HTC has announced two phones we’ve been spotting in the wild lately - the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play. The phones will be available in India by March. The HTC U Ultra has a dual screen, similar to the LG V20, and is powered by the Snapdragon 821 chip. The HTC U Play seems to be an upper-mid-range smartphone with a 5.2-inch 1080p display and a MediaTek chip.

Airtel Payments Bank officially launched
Airtel officially launched its Payments Bank in India on Thursday, with coverage across all 29 states. 2,50,000 Airtel retail locations will start functioning as banking points. Using the service, you can directly deposit money to other people’s banks and even earn interest rate, just like you would using a typical bank.

Xiaomi Mi 6 price, specs leaked
The Xiaomi Mi 6 will reportedly have a standard version, and a Pro version with a dual curved display. It’s also said to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and dual cameras too. In other news, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun wrote an annual letter to employees, where surprisingly the annual sales figure wasn’t declared. But targets are set for 2017 and he’s even seen pushing a new offline retail strategy.

Samsung foldable phone maybe soon, Galaxy S7 receive Nougat
After seeing foldable screen demos for many years, Samsung might finally be ready to ship its first foldable smartphone in the later half of 2017. As per a report, Samsung Electronics is expected to take a decision about the launch of its foldable smartphone after its executive-level reshuffle that will be carried out in either February or March.

And in other news, Samsung has finally started rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat update to the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones. Also, a big-screened Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro could come to India on January 18.

Moto G5 Plus press image and details leaked
The Moto G5 Plus has leaked more than once already, and this time reports point to the same design we’ve seen in leaked images before. The handset is said to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chip, a 5.5-inch 1080p display, and 4GB of RAM.

Google parent shuts down ‘Titan’ Internet drone project
Google’s parent company Alphabet said that it will prefer using balloons to deliver Internet instead of drones, thereby ending Project Titan. Other than the cancelled drone project, Google’s Project Loon was tasked with creating a network of balloons that will provide wireless Internet coverage to remote, unconnected parts of the world. The staff working on the aforesaid drone project is moved to other divisions.

PC sales fall fifth year in a row
Preliminary figures from research firm Gartner indicated that PC shipments have fallen consistently for the last five years. They tallied at roughly 269.7 million units, a 6.2 percent decrease from last year. In other PC related news, Chrome OS, which now has the ability to run Android apps, will soon get an update that will enable features specific to Android 7.1 Nougat.

LG G6 to be waterproof, have wireless charging
LG teased a promo video where smartphone users talked about their needs, and the company claims that the LG G6 will fulfill those, as it launches this MWC. The teaser suggests the phone will be waterproof, may have a big 5.7-inch QHD+ display wrapped in a relatively compact body, and may have a shatter-resistant screen too.

Nintendo Switch pre-orders start Friday
The highly anticipated Nintendo Switch's price and release date will be announced by the company tomorrow. But that’s not stopping it announcing pre orders, that will commence on the morning of January 13 at Nintendo's retail outlet in New York. No surprise that it will be available in limited quantity.

Facebook Journalism Project to combat fake news
After accusations of rampant fake news on the social network, Facebook has come back with the Journalism Project. Facebook will collaborate with news organisations and learn from people in the industry to make your News Feed freer of fake news.