Moto G5 Plus Live Image Leaked, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X Launched, and More: Your 360 Daily

After months of rumours, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X has been officially unveiled in China. While the company has not announced all the features of the smartphone yet, whatever it has revealed makes the Redmi Note 4X sound basically about the same as the Redmi Note 4 model that launched in India recently. That’s because the Redmi Note 4 that originally launched in China had a MediaTek SoC, whereas the Indian variant had the Snapdragon 625 chip, which is inside the Redmi Note 4X. It also has the same 4100mAh battery, 13-megapixel camera, etc. Design-wise, they’re similar too, except the Redmi Note 4X also comes in a Hatsune Miku Limited Edition.

Anyway, let’s move on to other top stories of the day.

1) Apple iPhone 8 production in full swing, report suggests
There are huge expectations from Apple regarding its plans to mark the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone with the launch of the iPhone 8. A report by BlueFin Research Partners suggests that production of the handset has started ahead of typical schedule, and that there’s a 300 percent increase in production estimates for the iPhone 8 in the June quarter, to make up for the expectedly huge demand. The report also states that production of the current iPhone models is slowly being dialled down.

2) Moto G5 Plus live image leaked
The Moto G5 Plus can now be seen in live form, thanks to a leaked image that shows the front side of the device. The protective sticker on the phone seems to suggest a 5.2-inch Full HD display, a 2.0GHz octa-core chip, 3000mAh battery, 12 megapixel camera, and a fingerprint scanner with NFC (supposedly to enable mobile payments). This Moto phone is set to be unveiled at the end of the month.

3) Tesla planning India launch by summer this year, says Elon Musk
Although we know that the most inexpensive Tesla car, the Model 3, will be sold in India, one eager fan couldn’t resist Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, about when it would happen on Twitter. We assume he would be delighted as Elon replied to him, suggesting that Tesla is aiming for an India launch in summer this year. Now that’s still pretty ambiguous, but one could expect that it means we could see Tesla cars on Indian roads before the second quarter of 2016, assuming Elon was referring to summer in India, not the United States.

4) Samsung Galaxy S8’s ‘Bixby’ assistant to support 8 languages at launch
Another awaited smartphone of 2017 is the Galaxy S8 by Samsung, which is said to have its own virtual assistant called ‘Bixby’. The latest rumour around it is that the assistant will support 8 languages at launch. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is also said to have a near bezel-less design, a removal of the physical home button, but will retain the 3.5mm headphone jack.

In other Samsung news, SDI - the maker of lithium batteries for many Samsung products - had a minor fire incident at their factory in China, for which the company as well as the local fire department have blamed faulty batteries.

5) TRAI says it will continue monitoring the Reliance Jio vs Airtel POI issue
There’s been a back and forth between Reliance Jio and Airtel with both parties throwing accusations that is preventing calls from Jio network to be successfully connected to Airtel’s. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) commented that they will not treat it as an Operator A vs Operator B issue, but rather an issue that is affecting consumers, and will keep monitoring the situation.

6) Government has received over 1,300 complaints against e-commerce firms
The government has received over 1,300 complaints against direct selling and e-commerce companies till December 2016 by the National Consumer Helpline. The top three companies on that list include bookmyoffer.com (449), eBay (135) and Snapdeal (120); others in the list include Amazon India (114), Flipkart (92), Whaaky.com (79), ShopClues (47), Paytm (46), HomeShop18 (18), and Jabong (15).

7) Transactions worth Rs. 361 crores via BHIM app until now, says government
Transactions worth Rs. 361 crores have so far been made using the newly-launched BHIM application for mobile phones, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said that while Scandinavian countries have achieved a rate of 90 percent in digital transactions, in India the figure was 3 percent, adding that if this touched 22 percent, it will help cut down black money from the economy.