Remember when creating realistic 3D models meant weeks of painstaking work by skilled artists? Well, Tencent just threw that playbook out the window with the latest 3.0 version of Hunyuan 3D, and honestly, the results are pretty mind-blowing.

What Makes This Different?

Most AI 3D generators feel like they’re throwing digital clay at a wall and hoping something decent sticks. Hunyuan 3D 3.0 takes a completely different approach with something called “3D-DiT”, think of it as having a master sculptor who starts rough and gradually adds finer and finer details.

Instead of trying to generate everything at once (which usually leads to wonky-looking results), this system builds models layer by layer. It starts with basic shapes, then keeps refining until you get something that actually looks… well, real.

The Numbers Are Ridiculous

We’re talking about three times better precision than before, support for up to 36 billion voxels (that’s a lot of tiny 3D pixels), and resolution that can go up to 1536³. But here’s the kicker: it’s completely free to use.

Finally, Characters That Don’t Look Like Aliens

Anyone who’s played around with AI-generated 3D models knows the struggle: faces that look slightly off, bodies with weird proportions, poses that scream “I was made by a robot.” Tencent seems to have cracked this code.

The new system generates human characters that actually look human. Facial features sit where they’re supposed to, skin textures look believable, and poses flow naturally instead of looking like mannequins arranged by someone who’s never seen a person move.

Smart Problem-Solving

Here’s where it gets really clever: the system can figure out what should be there even when it can’t see it. If you’re generating a character who’s partially turned away or behind an object, the AI makes educated guesses about the hidden parts based on what it does see. No more bizarre gaps or impossible anatomy.

And textures? They actually wrap around objects properly now. No more skin that looks painted on or fabric that defies physics.

Built for Everyone (Seriously)

Tencent could have easily charged premium prices for this technology. Instead, they’re giving it away free through their Hunyuan 3D platform. For developers who want to integrate it into their own projects, there’s a cloud API available too.

If you’re a professional who needs more advanced features, they’re also testing Hunyuan 3D Studio, a full production suite that handles everything from UV mapping to rigging. It’s invite-only for now, but you can apply through their platform.

The Open-Source Promise

In a move that’ll make developers everywhere happy, Tencent plans to open-source a version called Hunyuan 3D Omni. This will give researchers and companies even more control over the generation process, perfect for when you need something very specific rather than just “make me a cool character.”

Why This Matters

Look, we’ve seen plenty of AI tools promise to revolutionize creative work, and most fall short when you actually try to use them. But Hunyuan 3D 3.0 feels different. The combination of actually good results, zero cost, and accessibility could genuinely democratize 3D modeling.

Whether you’re an indie game developer working on a shoestring budget, a digital artist exploring new possibilities, or just someone who thinks creating 3D stuff sounds fun, the barrier to entry just got obliterated.

Sometimes the most exciting tech advances aren’t the flashiest ones; they’re the ones that just work really, really well.

In related AI news, Baidu has recently released PP-OCRv5, a compact optical character recognition model that surpasses larger models in benchmark tests. The company has also unveiled the Ernie X1.1 deep thinking model, which it claims outperforms DeepSeek R1 in reasoning and comprehension tasks.

For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.

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Tencent Yuanbao, a large-scale model application by Tencent, has introduced a groundbreaking feature called “3D Avatar Dream Factory,” transforming the landscape of 3D character creation.

This feature allows users to effortlessly generate personalized 3D characters from a single front-facing image, making it the first universal app to achieve such high-quality 3D generation.

Tencent’s AI-powered app transforms single image into customizable 3D characters

Leveraging advanced AI technology and 3D applications, “3D Avatar Dream Factory” simplifies the traditionally complex process of 3D character creation. Users can now swiftly customize their characters by choosing from diverse templates and even have the option to 3D print their creations.

Tencent Yuanbao uses technologies like 3D head swapping, geometric sculpting, and PBR material texture mapping to ensure realistic and detailed character models. This includes optimizing head models and textures, refining geometric precision, and enhancing material textures for a more lifelike appearance.

Initially offering 10 distinct character styles, the feature is poised to expand with further updates and innovative gameplay options. The application is powered by Tencent’s Yuanbao large model, boasting multimodal interaction capabilities and a history of early adoption in 3D asset generation.

The generated models can be viewed in a full 360-degree view, allowing for easy sharing, modification, and even 3D offline printing, bridging the gap between the virtual and physical realms.

Users can experience the “3D Character Dream Factory” directly on the Tencent Yuanbao app or WeChat mini-program.

As the demand for personalized and immersive digital experiences grows, Tencent Yuanbao is poised to lead the way in empowering users with intuitive and powerful tools for 3D creation.

(Via)

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Just ahead of Children’s Day in China (June 1), Tencent Games has announced a significant upgrade to its “Anti-Addiction 4-tool Set” management tool. This suite of features aims to empower parents and promote healthy gaming habits among minors.

Empowering Parents with Enhanced Anti-Addiction Tools

The upgraded set builds upon Tencent’s existing anti-addiction measures like real-name authentication, playtime and recharge limits, and facial recognition. It goes a step further by offering a comprehensive “all-around toolbox” for personalized control.

The four key features of the upgraded system include:

One-click Ban on Play and Recharge: This allows parents to instantly pause their child’s gameplay and in-game purchases, providing a quick and easy way to manage playtime and spending.

Self-Account Management: This empowers children to manage their own accounts within pre-set limitations. It fosters a sense of responsibility and encourages them to develop healthy gaming habits.

Green Mobile Reporting: This feature provides tools for parents to report inappropriate content or behavior encountered within the game, contributing to a safer online environment.

One-click Block Strangers: This allows parents to restrict their child’s interaction with strangers within the game, minimizing potential risks associated with online interactions.

The upgraded tools will be progressively rolled out through the “Tencent Growth Guardian” official account and mini-program. Tencent emphasizes that these features target crucial areas like gaming duration, in-game spending, and social interaction. This multi-pronged approach equips parents with a powerful weapon to safeguard their children from the negative impacts of gaming addiction.

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Tencent has officially unveiled its latest projector, the Aurora P2S Projector, now up for pre-sale at a price of 3599 yuan ($506) in the Chinese market.

Set for a market release on March 7th, this new addition to Tencent’s lineup boasts significant improvements and high-end features aimed at enhancing the viewing experience for users.

Tencent Aurora P2S Projector Specifications:

The Aurora P2S steps up its game with a brightness level of 700 CVIA lumens, ensuring clear and vibrant images even under various lighting conditions. It supports true 1080P full HD resolution, powered by the advanced O-VISION 2.0 picture quality engine. This technology, along with HDR10+ and HLG dual decoding, and MEMC motion interpolation, promises a cinematic visual experience.

Equipped with TOF laser sensors and CMOS HD cameras, the smart projector features intelligent recognition algorithms for quick and precise calibration, enhancing usability and setup convenience. The projector also comes with a suite of smart features, including automatic focus, trapezoid correction, screen alignment, obstacle avoidance, and eye protection, making it a versatile choice for both home and professional use.

Running on Android 9.0, it supports various wireless casting protocols, and its optical specs include DLP technology, a high-transmission coated glass lens, and compatibility with 2K/4K resolutions. The projector is recommended for screen sizes between 60-120 inches.

At its core, the Aurora P2S is powered by the Amlogic T982 chip, featuring 4GB DDR4 RAM and 32GB eMMC storage. Audio quality is not left behind, with the device housing dual 10W high-fidelity speakers within a 300CC sound chamber. The sound system supports Dolby & DTS dual audio effects, tuned by Harman’s acoustic experts, ensuring an immersive auditory experience.

It’s well-equipped for gaming and streaming, featuring SPDIF, HDMI 2.1, USB, LAN, and DC, with a notable 48Gbps transmission bandwidth for high-speed connectivity, low latency of 20ms gaming mode, and access to Tencent Cloud Gaming and Aurora TV for a variety of entertainment options. The device is designed for quiet operation with a noise level of ≤24dB and supports a wide range of interfaces for connectivity and expansion.

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Tencent, well known for its video games and social media amongst other things, is now diving into something quite different: giving Chinese opera a modern makeover. They’ve started with the story of Hua Mulan, the legendary heroine who disguised herself as a man to fight in her father’s place. The story is known worldwide, thanks to Disney, and is getting a new audience in China through Tencent’s tech-savvy approach.

The company is even planning to build a digital library

The company took an old 1956 opera performance and made it look new again using artificial intelligence (AI) to clean up the video. This project was a hit, drawing in more than 7 million viewers to its live stream. It’s all part of a bigger plan with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to bring the traditional Chinese opera into the digital age.

Tencent isn’t stopping with just cleaning up old videos. They’re using advanced tech like 6DoF, which is big in virtual reality, to capture the intricate movements of characters from famous operas. This kind of tech makes it possible for people today to see and appreciate the complex beauty of these traditional dances and stories.

The goal is to keep these classic stories alive and share them with a new generation. Tencent is facing challenges, like finding enough old opera data to work with, but they’re finding ways around it. They’re even planning to build a digital library so more people can find and enjoy these restored performances. In China, tech companies are using their resources to celebrate and preserve traditional culture. Through their efforts, they’re making sure that these important pieces of China’s heritage won’t be forgotten, making a public statement how technology can be a bridge between the past and the present.

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The 2023 Game of the Year, Elden Ring, is apparently hitting the mobile gaming market soon. The highly acclaimed title is reportedly getting a mobile version with Tencent being behind the development. This is quite a surprise considering the studio behind it is best known for making hit console and PC video games. So here’s everything you need to know.

An Elden Ring Mobile Game in the works

According to a report from Reuters, China’s Tencent is bringing the thrilling experience of Elden Ring to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. To recall, Elden Ring is the latest entry in FromSoftware’s popular Souls-like genre. It is a Dark Fantasy based Open World RPG, which saw massive success within the gaming community for its gorgeous visuals, deep mechanics, and challenging boss fights.

Now, it appears that this formula might get translated from a $60 AAA title to a free-to-play mobile game. Of course, this means that microtransactions will likely make an appearance in-game. Unfortunately, this was all the information shared in the report. It is worth noting that news of the Tencent made Elden Ring mobile game arrives soon after the Chinese company halted development of the highly anticipated Nier mobile game.

For those unaware, Tencent reportedly dropped the Nier mobile project since it couldn’t find a monetization model that would let it recover the cost of licensing the franchise from Square Enix. So it remains to be seen if the Elden Ring mobile game actually hits the market. There will likely be some friction with fans of Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series, who may view the mobile version as inferior. This is all we know at the moment, so stay tuned for more updates. Till then, you can check out some of our recent gaming related coverage like Palworld’s record sales and Xbox exclusives possibly releasing on the PS5 soon.

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The gaming landscape is witnessing an unprecedented rush as Alibaba and Tencent, two of China‘s technology behemoths, dive into a competitive frenzy over cloud services. This rush is fueled by the explosive popularity of Palworld, a game that brings together open-world survival with creature collecting.

Alibaba and Tencent are trying their best to capitalize on this cloud gaming opportunity

Developed by Tokyo-based studio Pocketpair, Palworld has taken the gaming community by storm, selling a staggering 8 million copies on Steam within just days of its release. The game allows players to catch, raise, and battle with creatures known as Pals in an expansive open world, pushing the boundaries of the traditional creature-collecting genre. However, the game’s massive success has overwhelmed its servers, prompting Pocketpair to offer the option for players to run the game on private servers, a move that has sparked interest from China’s cloud service giants.

Alibaba and Tencent have quickly capitalized on this opportunity, offering dedicated server plans for Palworld players. Their competitive pricing aims to attract the game’s growing fanbase, indicating a new battleground in the cloud computing sector where these firms have historically competed fiercely.

Despite its success, Palworld has not been without controversy. The game has faced scrutiny over potential intellectual property issues with The Pokémon Company, highlighting the challenges of innovation within the tightly regulated world of gaming copyrights. As of now, the game is enjoying one of the biggest inflows of players witnessed in a long time, and it will be interesting to see how it goes!

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Riot Games, the powerhouse behind the cult favorite “League of Legends,” has announced significant staff layoffs. This decision, affecting approximately 11% of its global workforce, translates to around 530 employees facing an uncertain future. This news comes as a shockwave in the gaming community, casting a spotlight on the challenges even successful digital game publishers face in today’s economic climate.

11 percent translates to roughly 530 employees from the organization

Riot Games, a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, has been a prominent player in the online gaming arena. However, the company is now grappling with the harsh realities of a stagnant market. High inflation rates and a trend among players to limit their spending on new titles or stick with a few favorites have hit the industry hard. Riot isn’t alone in this struggle; last year, Electronic Arts trimmed its workforce by 6% and scaled back on office space, signaling a broader trend of belt-tightening across the sector.

CEO Dylan Jadeja’s letter to employees revealed a critical introspection within Riot. He acknowledged the company’s loss of focus and the unsustainable growth in costs. This admission is a rare glimpse into the internal workings of a major gaming company, one that is often perceived as invincible by its fan base.

The restructuring is not just about cutbacks. Riot aims to sharpen its focus on its most successful titles: “League of Legends,” “Valorant,” “Teamfight Tactics,” and “Wild Rift.” However, it’s the cessation of new game development under “Riot Forge” and the scaling back of certain features and staff in “Legends of Runeterra” that underscores the depth of this strategic shift.

Riot’s pivot comes amidst Tencent’s broader involvement in the gaming industry, including stakes in other U.S. gaming giants like Epic Games. This reshuffling at Riot Games might be a harbinger of changes we could see across the industry as companies strive to adapt to the evolving gaming landscape and economic pressures.

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In a striking turn of events, Tencent‘s WeChat app seems to have made a lot of progress in e-commerce, leveraging its short video and live streaming features. In 2023, these features propelled the app to nearly triple its gross merchandise volume (GMV), a clear indication of the growing trend of integrating social media and online shopping.

This was possible thanks to WeChat’s video section, known as Channels

The heart of this growth lies in WeChat’s video function, known as Channels. In 2023 alone, Channels saw a staggering 244% increase in orders compared to the previous year. This success story was shared at the annual Open Class Pro developer conference in Guangzhou, though the exact GMV figures were kept under wraps. This surge in e-commerce activity underscores the strategic foresight of Tencent’s CEO, Pony Ma Huateng, who, back in 2022, had identified short video as the future of the company.

Despite the impressive growth, WeChat’s e-commerce turnover still trails behind giants like Kuaishou and Douyin. However, Tencent isn’t deterred. It’s betting big on capturing a significant share of the market, leveraging WeChat’s vast user base of 1.34 billion. This strategy seems to be paying off, as WeChat Channels has become a major force not just in e-commerce, but also in advertising for Tencent.

The company is not resting on its laurels. Plans are underway to expand the live-streaming e-commerce team, diversify product categories, and enhance the WeChat Pay infrastructure. These moves are poised to solidify Tencent’s position in the online retail space. Interestingly, as of mid-2022, Channels had more active users than Douyin and Kuaishou, a testament to its growing popularity.

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The latest RUNTO report indicates that Tencent was the leading smart TV box retailer in China as of November 2023. The online retail sales of smart boxes were 113,000 units with an average online sales price of 201 yuan ($). The results indicate a 44.6% decline year-on-year and comes amidst greater regulation of the online streaming apps, amongst other factors.

Several policies have been introduced that placed restrictions on startups that may have negatively affected sales of smart boxes. The RUNTO report indicates that Tencent remains the market leader with a share of about 20% and a slight increase year-on-year. The other leading brands in the smart box sales arena in China were Tmall Magic Box (19.8%), Saimini (11.5%), Xiaomi (9.4%), and Huawei making the top five.

The various smart box brands experienced a mixed bag of fortunes according to the RUNTO data. Tmall Magic Box had a 2.4 percentage points increase from the previous year, with the 7C Youth Edition driving the sales. The 7C Youth Edition has been the best-seller for several consecutive months and accounts for 30% of the market share in the sub-100 yuan category. The third-best brand Saimini has re-engineered its price regime with the average price of its models decreasing to 60 yuan, which translated to a greater volume of units sold within the period. Xiaomi accounts for up to 30% of the market share in the 200-499 yuan mid-range category, placing it in the fourth position overall.

The market outlook of smart box sales in China could continue in the same trajectory as highlighted by the RUNTO data. There are however still some strong players in the market that may continue to hold the aces even with declining demand for TV boxes in the country.

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2023 was a huge year for ByteDance, the owner of the popular app TikTok. The company saw its sales skyrocket to over $110 billion. This impressive achievement not only showcases the company’s growth but also signals a significant shift in the tech world, as it potentially overtakes Tencent, one of China’s internet giants.

The company has faced major scrutiny in markets like China & India

ByteDance’s journey has been remarkable, especially considering the economic challenges in China and intense scrutiny in major markets like the U.S. and India. Despite these hurdles, the company’s revenue growth mirrored its 2022 pace, rising from over $80 billion. This is a testament to ByteDance’s adaptability and innovative approach.

The company’s strategy goes beyond just social media. It’s leveraging TikTok’s massive popularity to venture into e-commerce and other areas. This diversification is crucial, particularly in times when relying solely on social media might be risky. ByteDance’s move into e-commerce is not just about expanding its business portfolio; it’s about redefining how social media platforms can drive economic growth.

In China, ByteDance is transforming Douyin into an all-encompassing platform, offering services like food orders and hotel reservations. This expansion is directly challenging established players like Alibaba and Meituan. Meanwhile, TikTok’s strategy in the U.S. and other international markets focuses on merging entertainment with shopping, as seen in its acquisition of Tokopedia’s e-commerce unit in Indonesia.

However, ByteDance’s journey is not without challenges. Its profitability, particularly as a private company, remains unclear. Also, its efforts to address national security concerns in the U.S. highlight the complex landscape international tech companies navigate.

Looking ahead, ByteDance’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and other tech realms show its desire to be more than a social media powerhouse. Though it has faced setbacks, like in its gaming venture, the company’s willingness to experiment and adapt could be key to its future success.

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Tencent, a major player in China‘s tech industry, faced a service disruption with its video streaming platform, Tencent Video. This incident reflects the challenges even big tech firms face in maintaining uninterrupted services. Tencent Video, similar to Netflix, encountered “temporary technical issues,” leading to widespread user complaints. This event has sparked a conversation about the reliability and stability of digital services provided by large tech companies.

Tencent Video has a huge user base of over 100 million subscribers

Tencent Video’s outage was evidenced by user-shared screenshots showing error messages and issues with subscription plans. The company acknowledged the problem on Weibo and assured that restoration efforts were underway. However, the full status of the service recovery remained unclear as Tencent did not provide immediate further comments.

This setback comes amidst an intense competitive landscape in China’s video streaming sector, where Tencent Video vies with rivals like Baidu‘s iQiyi and Alibaba‘s Youku. The industry is not just fighting among themselves but also faces threats from the rising popularity of short video platforms. Despite these challenges, Tencent Video boasts a substantial user base with 117 million subscribers, although it has seen a slight decline in recent times.

Interestingly, this incident is not isolated. It follows similar service disruptions experienced by other major Chinese tech firms, including Alibaba’s cloud computing unit and Didi, the country’s leading ride-hailing service. These instances highlight a broader issue of technical reliability in China’s tech sector. Alibaba Cloud faced outages affecting various regions and services, while Didi’s breakdown was attributed to a system software failure.

Moreover, Tencent’s other service, WeChat, also encountered a breakdown earlier this year, drawing attention from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. As a side note, Tencent is streamlining its operations, planning to shut down its lesser-known music streaming service, Moo.

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Tencent Holdings, a major player in China‘s tech sector, is making bold moves into the healthcare industry, leveraging its expertise in social media and artificial intelligence (AI). This initiative is part of a larger trend where big tech firms are seeking to revolutionize China’s burgeoning healthcare market.

Tencent is relying on its LLM, Hunyuan which is already integrated with WeChat

At the forefront of Tencent’s healthcare endeavors is its large language model (LLM), Hunyuan, integrated with popular social media tools like WeCom and WeChat. This strategic fusion is designed to offer specialized AI solutions to clients in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, including big names like AstraZeneca. Alexander Ng, the head of Tencent Healthcare, emphasizes the focus on enhancing the pharmaceutical industry’s academic grasp of drugs, rather than just marketing outcomes.

Tencent’s foray into healthcare isn’t limited to AI models. They have also developed consumer and business-facing products like Miying, an AI medical imaging tool, and a medical insurance payment service integrated with WeChat. These innovations represent Tencent’s commitment to redefining the way healthcare operates in China, a market expected to reach a staggering $311.5 billion by 2026.

However, the healthcare sector’s adoption of AI has been more measured compared to other industries, given the high stakes involved in patient well-being. Chinese authorities have implemented regulations to limit AI’s use in healthcare, including banning AI-generated medical prescriptions and emphasizing that AI cannot replace doctors in diagnosis and treatment.

Despite these regulations, there’s significant potential for AI to augment the medical sector, especially in assisting doctors. With China’s ageing population and the consequent strain on medical resources, Tencent sees an opportunity to transform healthcare delivery. This includes not just traditional doctor-patient interactions but also self-service models on internet platforms, offering disease prevention tips, managing chronic illnesses, and providing educational medical live-streaming sessions.

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In response to the recent broadened U.S. restrictions on high-end chip sales to China, Tencent Holdings is strategically navigating the challenges posed by the semiconductor export bans to safeguard its cloud services. The company, acknowledging its substantial stockpile of AI chips from U.S. manufacturer Nvidia, is proactively planning to optimize their usage amidst the evolving regulatory landscape.

Tencent’s President, Martin Lau, emphasized the impact of the U.S. ban on exporting additional AI chips to China, revealing that the company is committed to efficiently utilizing its existing Nvidia chip stock for the continued development of its “Hunyuan” AI model. Despite the ban, Tencent assures continuity for at least a couple more generations, minimizing the near-term impact on its AI capabilities.

However, the export restrictions are expected to affect Tencent’s cloud services, particularly in the resale of AI chips to clients. Tencent currently relies on Nvidia, which dominates approximately 90% of the Chinese AI chip market. The company is exploring alternatives, including domestically produced chips, to mitigate the risks posed by the U.S. restrictions.

Tencent’s rival, Baidu, has reportedly taken steps to secure alternatives by ordering 1,600 Huawei Ascend 910B chips. In a bid to address the challenges posed by the ban on its H800 AI chips developed by Nvidia specifically for China, Tencent plans to reserve them for the crucial training phase of AI model development. The company is actively seeking ways to offload inference capability to lower-performance chips, preserving high-performance AI chips for training purposes.

Recognizing the need to reduce reliance on U.S.-made chips, Tencent is looking to increase its usage of domestically-produced chips. The company is not alone in this endeavor, as Chinese firms, including Baidu, are seeking alternatives and turning to domestic chipmakers like Huawei.

In response to the changing landscape, Nvidia is expected to announce new China-bound AI chips designed to comply with the export rules by featuring reduced computing power while retaining essential AI features. 

Tencent’s move to explore domestic sources for training chips aligns with China’s broader efforts to invest billions in its semiconductor industry, countering the impact of U.S. high-end chip bans. Initiatives like the $41 billion fund launched in September and support for domestic chipmakers, such as YMTC, demonstrate China’s commitment to achieving self-sufficiency in the semiconductor sector despite external challenges.

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Tencent is a Chinese technology company known for its wide range of digital products and services. Founded in 1998, Tencent has become one of the world’s largest tech companies. It is best known for its instant messaging platform WeChat, which boasts a large user base and offers various features beyond messaging, such as social networking, mobile payments, and more. Tencent is also a major player in the gaming industry, with popular titles like Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile under its portfolio. In addition to these core areas, Tencent has investments in areas like e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital entertainment, contributing to its significant presence in the global tech landscape.

Tencent’s Q3 Financial Report Highlights

Earlier today, Tencent Holdings released its third-quarter financial results, showcasing strong growth and resilience in the ever-changing tech industry. The company reported a total revenue of 154.6 billion yuan ($21.6 billion), slightly below the forecasted 154.8 billion yuan but still a solid 10% increase from the previous year.

Tencent’s standout performance in its financial report is its impressive net profit, which exceeded expectations. The net profit reached 36.18 billion yuan ($5.05 billion), marking an impressive 39% year-on-year increase. Additionally, the non-IFRS net profit of 44.92 billion yuan ($6.29 billion) solidifies Tencent’s position as a formidable financial powerhouse.

Tencent’s success is significantly driven by its international gaming revenue, which grew by 14% to reach 13.3 billion yuan ($1.86 billion). Even when factoring in exchange rate fluctuations, this growth highlights Tencent’s global expansion and its ability to connect with diverse gaming communities worldwide. In its domestic market, Tencent’s gaming revenue also saw a 5% growth, reaching 32.7 billion yuan ($4.57 billion), demonstrating its strong presence in China.

Tencent’s social software division remains strong, with 1.336 billion monthly active user accounts on its flagship platforms, WeChat and Weixin, showing steady growth. This growth is attributed to Tencent’s efforts to boost user engagement, notably with a 50% increase in total playtime on the Weixin Video Account, driven by a growing creator community. However, there are challenges, including a decline in monthly active users for QQ.

Tencent achieved a record high in advertising revenue as well, experiencing a remarkable 20% year-on-year increase, reaching 25.7 billion yuan ($3.60 billion). Given this strong financial report, it’s highly probable that the company’s stock price will go up.

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Tencent is undoubtedly one of the largest technology companies in China and even the world. This tech giant operates in various fields, including the gaming industry. In fact, we recently mentioned that Tencent generated $200 million in revenue in September alone, primarily from PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings. Now, the company has been granted a patent for a new technology that enables users to conceal and encrypt their chat conversations. Here are the details…

Tencent Developing New Ways to Hide and Encrypt Chat Conversations

Tencent has been granted a patent for a new technology that allows users to hide and encrypt chat conversations. The patent, titled “Chat Conversation Display Method, Device, Terminal, and Storage Medium,” was granted on October 24. The patent describes a method for hiding chat conversations by moving them from the main chat interface to a hidden chat interface. To access the hidden chat interface, users must first enter a password. This two-step process helps to protect the privacy of sensitive conversations.

The patent also describes a method for encrypting chat conversations. This means that the conversations would be scrambled in such a way that only the user who knows the password would be able to read them. This would further protect the privacy of the conversations, even if someone were to gain access to the device.

Tencent has not yet announced when or if it plans to implement this technology in its products. However, the patent suggests that the company is interested in developing new ways to protect the privacy of its users’ communications.

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In September, Tencent Games generated nearly 200 million US Dollars in revenue. The company brought in this massive figure from just two of its massively successful mobile games, namely Honor of King and PUBG Mobile.

PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings are Tencent’s top grossing games

The news arrives from market research firm Appmagic. In a recent report, the firm found that Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile were the top grossing mobile games from the Chinese gaming giant, Tencent. The Honor of Kings was the highest grossing mobile game, while Scopely’s Monopoly Go took the second spot. PUBG Mobile took the third spot, with the three titles bringing in 115.8 million US Dollars, 87.95 million US Dollars, and 83.19 million US Dollars respectively.

In other words, Tencent alone generated almost 200 million US Dollars with just two of its titles. For those unaware, Honor of Kings is a MOBA mobile game similar to DOTA 2 and League of Legends, while PUBG Mobile is a looter shooter battle royale. These are some of the most popular mobile games in the market, with the two games being especially popular in the Asian market.

Apart from these titles, HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail retained its fifth spot in September 2023, but saw an 8 million US Dollar decrease over the previous month. On the other hand, Genshin Impact (another HoYoverse game) saw a 10 million US Dollar rise last month, making it rise to the seventh spot in the overall ranking. NetEase Games’ new Dunk City Dynasty is a new street basketball title, which generated 19.5 million US Dollars last month. This is a Chinese exclusive game at the moment, so it is clear that China is still a major market for these aforementioned games.

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Artificial intelligence technologies are taking the internet by storm. Almost every day, a company announces plans to create their own AI model or to integrate an existing chatbot like ChatGPT into their services. For now, “western brands” like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are leading the race, but Chinese companies are not far behind. Recent news shows that Chinese tech giants have ordered $5 billion worth of generative AI chips from Nvidia. Here are the details…

Chinese Tech Giants Invest $5 Billion in Nvidia AI Chips

No matter which side you’re on, one thing is clear: China is home to some of the world’s biggest tech companies. We see these brands in many parts of our lives. For example, even in my house, I have products like the Xiaomi robot vacuum and Huawei modem. Of course, some of these brands are also involved in trending areas like artificial intelligence.

China’s tech giants, including Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba, have initiated orders with Nvidia for $5 billion worth of chips to construct generative artificial intelligence systems. Some of you might wonder what Nvidia has to do with this. Even though many of us know Nvidia for its RTX series graphics cards, the company is very experienced in artificial intelligence.

They make technologies like the A800 processor that can handle AI tasks. You can see examples of this in the technology used in the GeForce RTX series cards. For example, if you download Nvidia Studio on your computer, you can get AI features like changing the background and noise cancellation.

The Chinese tech companies mentioned above have placed an order with Nvidia worth about $1 billion. They will produce and deliver about 100,000 units of Nvidia’s A800 processor by the end of the year. Also, these companies bought graphics processing units worth $4 billion, and they plan to ship these units in 2024.

Nvidia’s A800 processors are a line of professional graphics cards that were launched in November 2022. They are based on the GA100 graphics processor and are designed for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. The A800 processors offer a number of features that make them well-suited for these demanding workloads.

The A800 processors have 6912 CUDA cores, which is more than any other professional graphics card on the market. This allows them to handle complex computational tasks with ease. This processors also have 80GB of HBM2e memory, which is more than enough for even the most demanding AI applications. Moreover, the A800 have a 400GB/s interconnect, which allows them to communicate with other GPUs and CPUs quickly and efficiently.

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TV boxes were probably one of the most useful inventions in history. These devices, which became prominent especially in the early years when smart TVs first appeared, gained fame by making all television models, old or new, smarter. Also at the time, every brand had its own operating system, and only premium devices had the hardware to satisfy users. This increased the popularity of TV box producers like Xiaomi. However, it seems those days are behind us. TV box sales in China have dropped by 28%, and Xiaomi even has lost its leading position. Here are the details…

Smart TV Box Market in China Shrinks by 28.7% in Q1 2023

Smart TV box sales in China are declining. In the first half of 2023, sales dropped by 28.7%. Actually, this situation is not surprising at all. As we mentioned above, when smart TVs first became popular, the market was a “mess”. Manufacturers made smart TVs with poor hardware, bad interfaces, and empty app stores. This drove people to buy smart TV boxes with their TV’s. However, as we always say, technology is rapidly advancing.

The advancement in technology has led to significant improvements in smart TV technologies, which in turn has resulted in price reductions. Therefore, nowadays, most TVs on the market have features that are good enough for most people, apart from some brands that stand out for their affordability. Moreover, the widespread adoption of operating systems like WebOS and Android TV has eliminated issues related to user interfaces and app stores. As a result, even in the world’s largest markets like China, serious declines have begun.

RUNTO shared their new monthly report about the online sales of smart TV boxes in China. The report showed that in the first six months of 2023, online sales of these boxes reached 929,000 units. This is a drop of 28.7% from the same time last year. The total money made from these sales was 190 million yuan ($26,5 million), which is 31.7% less than last year. The average online price for each box was 209 yuan ($29). The report also showed that the top five brands in China for the first half of 2023 were:

• Tencent: 21.6%
• Xiaomi: 16.5%
• Semine: 13.0%
• Tmall Magic Box: 11.6%
• Dangbei: 9.9%
• Others: 27,4 %

Tencent is currently the top brand, and the company’s market share is 21.6%, which is a 5.7% increase from last year. In second place is Xiaomi, with a 16.5% share. This is 3.8% less than last year. Even so, Xiaomi owns almost 40% of the global market for products priced between 200 and 499 yuan. For example, I also use Xiaomi at home. Semine moved up to third place, capturing 13.0% of the market by selling at low prices. Tmall Magic Box fell to fourth place with 11.6% of the market. Dangbei also saw an increase in its market share to 9.9%, up 3.2% from last year.

The total sales across all channels will drop to below 3.5 million units. In just eight years, China’s smart box market has rapidly lost 10 million units from its 14 million units in 2016.

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According to recent reports from the Wall Street Journal, Meta, the company headed by Mark Zuckerberg, is engaged in discussions with Chinese enterprises to introduce its VR headsets into the Chinese market. The move aims to reestablish Meta’s presence in China and expand the availability of its devices. However, some Chinese companies express concerns due to Zuckerberg’s previous statements, which may pose challenges to potential collaborations.

One of the companies reportedly in negotiations with Meta is Tencent. The decision to proceed with talks was made by Tencent’s founder and chairman, Pony Ma, after an internal debate among executives. However, Tencent has stated that they first need to understand the cooperation conditions put forth by Meta.

Challenges and Opportunities in China’s VR headset market

If an agreement is reached, Meta’s Quest 3 headset is likely to make its way into the Chinese market. Unveiled prior to Apple’s Vision Pro in early June, the Quest 3 features the Pancake optical design, resulting in a 40% reduction in weight and thickness compared to the Quest 2. Powered by the latest Qualcomm chip, the headset boasts performance more than twice that of the previous Snapdragon XR2 generation. While the device has not yet been officially released, Meta has announced its pricing, starting at $499, which represents a significant increase compared to its predecessor.

Currently, PICO, a VR headset manufacturer acquired by ByteDance, holds significant influence in the Chinese market. PICO’s PICO 4 series of VR headsets offer a price advantage over Meta’s Quest 3. Furthermore, the VR headset market in China is relatively small, making the success of Meta’s collaboration with Chinese companies uncertain, even if the Quest 3 is introduced.

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Tencent has outlined its plan to enter the Artificial Intelligence race and launch an AI-powered Chatbot which can compete with ChatGPT. The company plans to embed the chatbot into its famous WeChat app. Apart from this, the company is also planning to incorporate some AI-based technologies into its flagship products like Weixin, Tencent Video, and QQ. 

Tencent’s Chatbot is called ‘HunyuanAide’. The chatbot will use the Tencent Hunyuan AI model which has the capacity for natural language processing, multimodal content understanding, computer vision, content creation, and more. Hunyuan AI gives Tencent an edge over its competitors in the Chinese market as it is the best AI model available for the Chinese language. 

Tencent president Martin Lau Chi-ping said that the company wants to explore more of the  Generative AI technology used by ChatGPT and similar apps. Tencent views this AI tech as a growth multiplier instead of a threat, as it can help to expand and enhance the social media and gaming operations of the company.

However, Lau said that Tencent is not in a rush to enter the AI race as it wants to do it better than others. He told reporters that when it came to AI-based apps, the company’s strategy was to try and do it right rather than do it in a rush. Additionally, he stated that their main focus was to ensure the foundation AI model being developed by the company is actually built correctly and on solid footing. 

The company said that generative AI technology can be used to further improve the user experience. For instance, this technology can help developers build mini-programs faster and improve efficiency to achieve gaming innovation. When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, Tencent has big plans for its gaming and video streaming platforms but as of now wants to take things slowly. 

What is Generative AI Technology?

Generative AI Technology is a type of Artificial intelligence that can generate or create new and unique content like text, images, videos, and more. Unlike traditional algorithms that are designed to identify, classify and recognize patterns and commands, Generative AI continuously learns from its database and generates new content that has not been programmed into its system. The most famous example of Generative AI technology is  ChatGPT developed by US-based Open AI. 

Chinese companies working with Generative AI Technology:

China is also entering the Generative AI race with multiple companies announcing their plans to roll out apps using this technology. Baidu, the AI tech company that runs China’s largest search engine, recently launched a chatbot called“Ernie Bot” for limited users. Alibaba’s DAMO Academy is in the internal testing stage of developing its own ChatGPT-style chatbot. E-commerce company JD is launching ChatJD, an AIGC platform. Fudan Univeristy of China has already rolled out MOSS Chatbot for public testing. Other tech giants like ByteDance, NetEase, and Huawei have also announced their plans to enter this race and are working on similar products. 

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Tencent has unveiled its plan to develop a ChatGPT-like bot called ‘HunyuanAide’.  The chatbot will use the Tencent Hunyuan AI model which has the capacity for natural language processing, multimodal content understanding, computer vision, content creation, and more. 

Hunyuan AI model recently won the top position in the CLUE (Chinese Language Understanding Evaluation) classification list which makes it one of the most advanced AI in terms of human language understanding. Hunyuan AI gives Tencent an edge over its competitors in the Chinese market as it is the best AI model available for the Chinese language. 

Tencent has roped in some of the best scientists to develop its own advanced AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT. Zhang Zhengyou, head of Tencent AI Lab and Robotics X Lab will also head this inter-departmental project. The team will have members from multiple departments like data processing, video games, strategy and planning, Tencent cloud, and more. 

ChatGPT which was launched in November 2022 has started an unprecedented AI race across the world. The Chatbot which is the fastest-growing app in human history has already shaken up stock markets across the globe including China. 

ChatGPT in China:

ChatGPT is officially banned in China. The government has banned ChatGPT and related services stating national security concerns but has promised to support indigenous apps similar to ChatGPT.Tech giants like Alibaba and Baidu have promised to launch their own version of the Chatbot in the country and Tencent is the latest company to join this Artificial Intelligence race. 

Alibaba announced that its research institute Damo academy is already testing its own version of a ChatGPT-like service. Baidu is all set to launch Ernie Bot this month, which will compete with ChatGPT.  Last week Fudan university launched its own version of a ChatGPT-style bot named MOSS for public testing. Chinese internet technology company NetEase Inc and the e-commerce platform JD.com have also announced their plans to create ChatGPT rivals.

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Tencent is apparently planning on abandoning one of its more recent projects. The company is rumored to be ending its VR (Virtual Reality) hardware project. So here are all the details.

With the unveiling of the Metaverse, brands rushed to launch their own products that would enable users to tap into the new sphere of social networking. However, it seems that it wasn’t quite an easy market to capture. The Chinese tech giant was originally planning on building VR based products through its XR unit last year. But now it has seemingly asking its staff to “seek other opportunities” after the hype behind Metaverse died down.

As per a new report, the company faced “Difficulties in achieving quick profitability”. In simpler terms, the amount of money it would have to spend to compete with other rival brands in the same category wouldn’t have brought in any profit. Furthermore, this decision was also made following a lack of compelling games and non gaming apps, which were the original reason that saw the company focus in virtual reality.

Previously, Tencent had also made a “ring like handheld game controller” concept, but this unit wouldn’t have been profitable until 2027. Thus, the company decided to pull the plug on this project. The brand has worked in VR for sometime now, but it appears that it no longer sees a point in entering the market with its own hardware for the time being. So stick around for more updates regarding this matter.

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The National Press and Public Administration (NPPA), the body responsible for issuing gaming licenses, has issued 88 new licenses this year. This is excellent news for gaming companies and players, as China now seems to have relaxed its grip on the industry, allowing some breathing space for gaming companies.

China has the world’s biggest online gaming market, with more than 664 million active players. However, the sale of video games dropped by over 10% in 2022, coming as a shock to the entire industry. Rising regulatory pressures, economic slowdown, COVID-19 restrictions, and sluggish consumer demand led to declining game sales in China, a first-ever trend seen since 2003.

China implemented some of the toughest video gaming rules to combat gaming addiction and clean up content. These restrictions shaved off the market value of some of the biggest gaming companies including Tencent and NetEase and led to the closure of more than 200 gaming studios. In 2022, mobile game sales, which account for over 70% of total sales, declined 14.4% to 193.1 billion yuan ($28.05 billion). 

In 2022, due to the drop in gaming revenue, Tencent lost 24.7% and NetEase lost 27.3% in market value. However, the new round of licenses added life to the industry and helped the shares of both companies to rise by almost 21% in 2023. 

2023 marks a fresh start for the gaming industry in China. The world’s largest video gaming company (by market share) Tencent Holdings and other big players like NetEase and miHoYo have got licenses for new games this year. Tencent got three domestic licenses including one for its upcoming action game Undawn, developed by LightSpeed studio and Alchemy Stars, a tactical mobile game developed by Tourdog studio. NetEase, on the other hand, got approval for the shooting game Badlanders which has already been released globally but was waiting for approval in China.

The Shanghai-based miHoYo, which developed the world-famous mobile game Genshin Impact, got the license to launch the much-anticipated installment of the Honkai Series called Honkai: Star Rail. Other notable firms that got licenses in 2023 include Hong Kong-based XD Inc, Shenzhen-based Perfect World, and Shanghai-based 37Games.

The number of games approved to date in 2023 is higher than the number of monthly games approved last year. Last November, after an 18-month hiatus, the NPPA approved licenses for 84 new games by domestic developers and 44 imported games. This brings hope that the gaming sector will be revived and Beijing is now ready to allow more options to its gaming audience. 

Experts are predicting the approval of 800 to 900 new gaming titles in 2023. This will be way more than the approvals made in the last couple of years. 

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Chinese Technology giant and the world’s largest video game company, Tencent, has fired more than 100 employees over allegations of fraud, corruption, and embezzlement. The company reported more than 10 employees to the Police, with one of the employees being sentenced to three years in prison for accepting bribes from a competitor. There are six other cases that have resulted in imprisonment. 

The numbers prove that the size of internal corruption is larger and more severe in 2022 than the previous years. As a part of its anti-corruption campaign, Tencent has started annual reporting of the number of corruption and fraud cases found within the company. Some of the cases of 2022 include employees from the company’s News and Media content group and its famous TiMi and Lightspeed gaming studios. 

Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Tencent Pony Ma admitted that the corruption level is severe within the company. Last month in an internal company meeting, he gave an intense speech highlighting the problems within the company’s management, gaming business, WeChat platform, and other subsidiaries. He stated, “the internal corruption is really shocking, involving some managers. This year, Tencent introduced the digital capability for anti-fraud by collecting reimbursement within the company and the data of external suppliers.”

In response to the corruption allegations, the firm said that it had a zero-tolerance policy against such behavior and would blacklist the people and parties involved in such shady business. The company also said that external firms and businesses involved in such transactions will be barred from future contracts. 

In the last couple of years, Tencent has been involved in controversies and has been a target of the censorship campaign of the Chinese government. The biggest video game company in the world was under an 18-month ban from launching new games. The ban was lifted last September when the government approved a new batch of licenses, including one for Tencent’s action game, Metal Slug: Awakening. TiMi studios, a subsidiary of Tencent that developed this game, was also reportedly involved in the corruption scandal.

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China has acquired ‘Golden Shares’ in a couple of domestic subsidiaries of the tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, strengthening its control over the company. Beijing is also proposing to get similar shares in Tencent Holdings and other tech giants, revealing its plans to sway the power equation of technology companies in the country. Other firms which already have such golden share arrangements include subsidiaries of TikTok owner ByteDance, Kuaishou Technology, Weibo, etc.

‘Golden Shares’ are a type of share that gives its holder veto power over the company’s major decisions, even though he or she may not be a majority shareholder. In the case of Alibaba Group, the government has acquired a minority stake of about 1% which comes with special management rights. The government purchases such Golden Shares in tech giants through government-backed funds or state-run companies. It then appoints a government representative to the board of directors with veto power to change any major decision taken by the company. 

The Alibaba group has been a target of a severe crackdown by the regulatory authorities over the past few months. Apart from Alibaba, several other homegrown technology giants like Tencent, Didi Global Inc, etc also faced the government’s wrath. During the two-year regulatory crackdown, hefty fines and penalties were imposed on tech giants, which erased more than $1 trillion in the market value of these firms. 

With the zero covid policy and the subjugation of the major tech industries, the economic structure of China has worsened over the years. The restrictions and censorship on E-sports alone have wiped out millions from the Chinese economy. 

China’s gaming revenue for 2022 stood at a whopping $44bn. With more than 655 million mobile gamers and a $24 billion market share, the government cannot afford to lose gaming and other internet and technology businesses. Thus, it seems like Beijing is now acquiring management rights in major tech giants to reform and revive the sector.  

Therefore, the plan to acquire Golden Shares and gain special management rights can be seen as a sign of revival, to end the two-year crackdown, and move past the severe censorship. 

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Logitech G and Tencent Games are joining hands to bring a cloud gaming handheld for the users later this year. The handheld will apparently be an amalgamation of Logitech G’s hardware expertise and Tencent’s software services. It will support multiple cloud gaming services.

Both the companies are also working with the Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce NOW to enable gamers to play AAA games on the go.

From the announcement blog, it’s clear that the upcoming handheld will be cloud gaming-focused. For the unversed, Cloud gaming utilizes data center servers to stream video games to consumers. Gamers do not need to download or install games on their PC or console because they are rendered and played on remote servers.

“Logitech G’s leadership in PC and console gaming gear make them an ideal partner to help us realize the vision of bringing a better gaming experience to gamers around the globe,” said Daniel Wu, general manager of Tencent Games Smart Solution Innovation Lab. “Today marks the start of a new opportunity for our companies to further push the frontiers of gaming devices.”

“As one of the leading global platforms for game development, publishing and operations, Tencent Games has been at the forefront of innovation and it’s why we partnered with them,” said Ujesh Desai, general manager of Logitech G. “As someone that grew up playing video games, the idea of being able to stream and play AAA games almost anywhere is super exciting, and we can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on.”

The design and other details about the gaming handheld are yet to be revealed. However, back in r/SteamDeck subreddit (Via GSMarena) discovered a patent filing by Tencent, which showcased images of a gaming handheld.

It’s likely that the handheld discovered in the patent filing would be a totally different one because Logitech will definitely want to design the upcoming handheld itself. However, it may share some design elements.

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Last year, rumors began that Ubisoft in collaboration with WeGame (Tencent) is working Rainbox Six Siege mobile game. Now, reports have surfaced suggesting that Ubisoft may be gearing up to unveil the game in April.

According to an eXputer report, the game will be revealed on April 6th with a video game trailer revealing some details about the Rainbox Six Siege Mobile. Rumors of the game started circulating last year after Ubisoft Halifax sent out a playtest survey targeted toward mobile gamers on how familiar they are with Rainbow Six Siege. Tencent’s fourth-quarter earning’s call also revealed the term “Projects with Ubisoft” under the 2023 timeline suggesting that the game might get a global launch in 2023.

At the initial stages of development, the game is expected to follow the traditional route with a beta build being available to players who enroll in the beta testing program.

For those unaware, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is a first-person tactical shooter game that debuted on December 1, 2015, on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players. Each player assumes control of an attacker or a defender in different gameplay modes such as rescuing a hostage, defusing a bomb, and taking control of an objective within a room.

Last year, Ubisoft shut down the popular Rainbow Six Siege mobile clone “Area F2” which was a near-identical copy of the PC and console versions. The game was banned but gave hope to mobile gamers that Ubisoft might eventually bring the Rainbow Six Siege title to mobile with similar tactical focused gameplay. And according to sources who have seen a behind-the-scenes presentation have described the game as being “massive for the mobile market” and “it will be a mobile game that Siege fans will love”.

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The post Rainbow Six Siege Mobile to be unveiled next month appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Indian government has recently banned the popular mobile battle royale game, Free Fire. The app is owned by Singapore-based tech group Sea Ltd, with Tencent having a major stake. The game has been developed by 111dots Studio and published by Garena, a Singapore-based games publisher.

For those unaware, the Indian government has recently banned another 53 applications suspected of sending user data to servers in China, which includes certain apps that had resurfaced as clones of previously banned Chinese apps.

In a report by Reuters, sea ltd said that “the company does not transfer to, or store any data of their Indian users, in China.” Singapore, reportedly, reached out to Indian authorities and inquired as to why the app had been targeted in the government’s crackdown on Chinese apps.

The oddity of the ban is more pronounced and confusing as Sea is headquartered in the city-state and therefore the concern by Singapore as to whether the app had been “banned unintentionally”.

Garena, released a statement post-ban of free fire stating: “We are aware that Free Fire is currently unavailable in the Google Play and iOS app stores in India and that the game is currently not operable for some users in the country,” reads the statement. “We are working to address this situation, and we apologize to our users for any inconvenience.”

The Indian IT Department hasn’t yet released a statement regarding the specific ban of Garena’s Free Fire.

The game had gained immense popularity and had a thriving esports culture. Recently it was announced that European esports organization Team Vitality, formed a new Free Fire esports team in India.

As of yet, the game is not available for download either on Google Play Store or the App Store.

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• Realme 9 Pro Plus to arrive in a Free Fire Special Edition

The post Garena raises concern over Indian ban of Free Fire appeared first on Gizmochina.

The USTR (United State Trade Representative) has just added a number of companies in its “Notorious Markets list” recently. The latest additions in the list includes a number of Chinese tech firms, like AliExpress and WeChat.

Looking at the official list, the USTR has added a number of business that it considers being involved in trading counterfeit goods and promoting piracy. The official data lists 42 online sites and around 35 physical stores, which includes e-commerce based platforms as well. The trade agency believes that these businesses “engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright privacy.”

Notable brands in this list include AliExpress, which is owned by the Alibaba group, along with the Tencent operated WeChat. The USTR stated that the AliExpress platform offered a number of anti-counterfeiting tools and systems, however, despite its efforts there were a significant rise in counterfeit goods being offered for sale on AliExpress. Similarly, it also flagged WeChat’s e-commerce ecosystem for facilitating the “distribution and sale of counterfeit products.”

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement that “The global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods undermines critical US innovation and creativity and harms American workers.” On the other hand, Tencent said that “We strongly disagree with the decision made by the United States Trade Representative and are committed to working collaboratively to resolve this matter.” It also added that it has invested significant resources into protecting intellectual property rights as well. Notably, the news arrives amid the ongoing frictions between the US and China. So it remains to be seen how the situation impacts the two major China based online markets.

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The post AliExpress & WeChat added in the “Notorious Markets list” by the USTR appeared first on Gizmochina.

We expected last week to be slow, however, it turned out otherwise. We not only witnessed the launch of multiple smartphones but also interesting happenings. We have compiled some of them in this single article as ‘top stories’. Since everyone has a different opinion, we would like to know your top picks from last week after going through our list in the comment section below.

Honor’s first foldable smartphone is here – HONOR Magic V

After multiple leaks and teasers, Honor officially took the wraps off the HONOR Magic V and HONOR Watch GS 3 on January 10 in China. Though it is the brand’s first attempt at a foldable smartphone, the product doesn’t look like one, as it appears to have been under development while the company was still a sub-brand of Huawei.

The device’s hinge design makes it the thinnest foldable smartphone in the market right now. It has a thickness of 14.3mm and 6.7mm when folded and unfolded respectively. The inner display is folded in a tear-drop manner like the OPPO Find N to minimize crease.

Talking about specs, it has a 7.9-inch 90Hz foldable screen, 6.45-inch 120Hz external screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, Magic UI 6 based on Android 12, 50MP (wide) + 50MP (spectrally enhanced) + 50MP (ultra-wide) triple main cameras, dual 42MP front-facing cameras, dual stereo speakers, 4,750mAh battery, and 66W fast charging.

The HONOR Magic V is priced at ¥9,999 ($1,575) and ¥10,999 ($1,733) for 12GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB memory configurations respectively. Its first sale is scheduled for January 18 (tomorrow).

OnePlus 10 Pro gets a solo launch

Usually, OnePlus’ flagship smartphones are first announced in international markets. Also, both vanilla and Pro models debut together. The brand broke this tradition with the launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro in China on January 11. It was accompanied by a special edition of the OnePlus Buds Pro.

The successor of the OnePlus 9 Pro continues the partnership with Hasselblad. It arrives with a 48MP Sony IMX789 primary sensor with OIS, a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor 150° ultra-wide unit, and an 8MP 3.3x telephoto shooter with OIS. Then, there’s a 32MP Sony IMX615 sensor on the front for selfies and video calls.

Unsurprisingly, it comes with high-end features like a glass sandwich design with a metal frame, 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz 2nd-gen LTPO AMOLED display, Qualcomm snapdragon 8 Gen 1, LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 storage, Android 12-based ColorOS 12.1 with HyperBoost for gaming, dual stereo speakers, 5,000mAh battery, 80W fast wired charging, 50W fast wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging.

The OnePlus 10 Pro retails at ¥4,699 ($740), ¥4,999 ($787), and ¥5,299 ($835) for 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 256GB memory variants respectively.

Realme 9 series debut, starting with realme 9i

The realme 9i went official in Vietnam on January 10 as the first Realme 9 series smartphone. It costs VND 6,490,000 ($286) for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The handset is scheduled to release in India on January 18 (tomorrow).

The phone sports features like a 6.6-inch FHD+ 90Hz display (LCD), Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC, LPDDR4x RAM, UFS 2.2 storage,  50MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (monochrome) triple camera setup, 16MP front-facing camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, dual stereo speakers, realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11, 5,000mAh battery, and 33W fast charging.

Meizu re-enters budget smartphone category with mblu 10

Meizu unveiled a budget smartphone after a long time The device is officially called mblu 10. As the name suggests, it is a phone under the company’s recently revived mblu sub-brand, which is also known as Blue Charm.

The handset offers a glass sandwich design with a plastic frame,  6.62-inch HD+ display (LCD), UNISOC T310 SoC, 48MP + 2MP + 2MP triple camera setup, 8MP selfie camera, IR blaster, Flyme 9 Lite based on Android 11, 5,000mAh battery, and 10W charging.

It comes in 4GB + 64GB, 4GB + 128GB, and 6GB + 128GB versions priced at ¥699 ($110), ¥799 ($126), and ¥899 ($142) respectively.

benco V80s – A smartphone without cameras and GPS

Out of nowhere, a company called INONE Technology launched a privacy-focussed smartphone dubbed as benco V80s on January 12. This phone lacks cameras and GPS.

Going by the specs, the Benco V80s is a subpar budget smartphone. It arrives with a 6.5-inch HD+ display (LCD), UNISOC S9863C chip, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, Android 11, and 5,000mAh battery.

The price and availability of this device are not known.

Vivo introduces smartphones with outdated chipsets – vivo Y10 and vivo Y10 (t1 version)

Vivo released two new budget smartphones in China called vivo Y10 and vivo Y10 (t1 version). These handsets are limited to 4G connectivity and house outdated chips.

Both these phones offer a near-identical set of specs and design. They also cost the same ¥1,099 ($173) for 4GB RAM and 128GB storage.

The only major difference between the two is that the vanilla model is powered by a MediaTek Helio P35 SoC, while the t1 version features a MediaTek Helio P70 SoC. Both these chipsets are around 3 years old and rarely do any brand use them now

Second Moto G tablet goes official – Motorola Moto Tab G70

Motorola debuted its second Moto G branded tablet called Motorola Moto Tab G70 in Brazil on January 13 for BRL 2,399 ($435). This tablet is essentially a rebranded Lenovo Tab P11 Plus. It is set to launch in India on January 18 (tomorrow).

The tablet sports an 11-inch 2K display, MediaTek Helio G90T chip, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 13MP rear camera, 8MP front-facing camera, IP52-certification, quad-speakers with Dolby Atmos support, Android 11, Google Entertainment Space, Google Kids Space, 7,700mAh battery, 20W fast charging

OnePlus 9RT and Motorola Moto G71 5G launch in India

The OnePlus 9RT and Motorola Moto G71 5G finally landed in India on January 14 and January 10 respectively. The latter was also accompanied by the OnePlus Buds Z2.

1 of 2

The OnePlus 9RT comes in two memory configurations, such as 8GB + 128GB and 12GB + 256GB for ₹42,999 ($579) and ₹46,999 ($633) respectively. Customers can avail bank discounts to lower the price.

On the other hand, the Motorola Moto G71 5G is priced at ₹18,999 ($256) for the sole 6GB + 128GB variant. It will go on sale for the first time on January 19.

Tencent eyes Black Shark acquisition for Metaverse entry

Recently, all popular companies have made announcements regarding metaverse. So it’s not surprising to learn that Tencent of all names is also interested in it.

A report from last week revealed that Tencent is eyeing to acquire Black Shark, a brand known for gaming smartphones and related accessories. With this acquisition, Black Shark will produce VR hardware, while Tencent will develop software to complement the hardware.

Tencent is yet to issue an official statement on this rumor.

BlackBerry isn’t dead yet

OnwardMobility, the licensee of the BlackBerrry brand, had plans to release smartphones with 5G connectivity in 2021. Unfortunately, that never happened. Hence, the revival of the iconic brand was thought to be dead after a short stint by TCL.

However, the brand licensee recently made an announcement saying that a BlackBerry smartphone with a keyboard and 5G connectivity is coming in 2022. Anyway, we don’t have any high hopes.

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• Upcoming Smartphones in India: Xiaomi 11T Pro, Realme 9i, and more
• Throwback Tech Thursday: Revisiting the Pocket PC, Nokia 6600

The post Top Stories from Last Week: OnePlus 10 Pro, HONOR Magic V, Tencent-Black Shark acquisition rumor, and more appeared first on Gizmochina.

A new report has just revealed that Tencent Group is planning on buying the Black Shark brand and integrating it with its own Content Business Group. The move from the company arrives as it apparently plans to step into the Metaverse.

The news arrives from 36Kr and multiple independent sources who stated that the Chinese tech giant aims on acquiring the gaming smartphone maker. It adds that the gaming smartphone making company will also undergo a business transformation after the acquisition process is complete. In other words, Black Shark as a brand would likely see an expansion once the transaction is completed.

This diversification process will reportedly grow to include VR (Virtual Reality) based technologies and devices. So, the software content for VR will be provided by Tencent while Black Shark manufactures the hardware. For those unaware, the gaming smartphone brand is a relatively young company that was established back in 2017 and was backed by another Chinese tech giant, Xiaomi. As of right now, Xiaomi is the majority shareholder, holding around 46.4 percent stake in Black Shark. Unfortunately, Tencent has yet to official comment on this news at the moment.

Although, with tech companies moving towards the AR/VR field, especially after the introduction of the Metaverse, it was only a matter of time before the Chinese company would also make its move. Back in Q3 2021, the brand had even filed for a number of trademarks for technologies for the Metaverse. While the company has yet to confirm this news, it makes sense that the group would seek out an experienced brand that has its own facilities for R&D and manufacturing to build a platform through which its content can be accessed.

This isn’t something new either, since Facebook had previously acquired Oculus in the past to fill up the hardware gap in its plans to provide both VR content along with the devices that allows you to access the VR world. Another source added that Tencent was likely in contact with all AR/VR related projects on the market, such as HTC. But since the group is known for a number of its popular gaming titles in the market, it isn’t odd that it chose Black Shark. Both brands have also previously partnered up for the latter’s gaming smartphones as well.

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• Tencent Music partners with Apple Music to expand its catalog globally

The post Tencent to acquire Black Shark, as it seeks to step into the Metaverse: Report appeared first on Gizmochina.

China-based Tencent Music Entertainment Group has partnered with Apple Music and as a benefit of this partnership, record labels and artists who are a part of TME Music Cloud can now distribute their music globally through Apple Music.

The company says that this will enable music lovers to explore China’s unique music culture and genres, enhancing the global discovery of Chinese music and assisting in the international development of Chinese musicians.

This development will also help promote more high-quality Chinese music overseas. It is not known what exactly TME’s “Music Cloud” is but it appears that the platform will serve small-time artists who lack distribution and marketing help from big labels.

Over the past years, Tencent Music Entertainment has built a platform for independent musicians for distributing their works, attract fans, host virtual concerts, which can eventually help them generate income.

Currently, there’s not much information available about this partnership and whatever the company has announced is quite vague. It’s unlikely that Tencent will share its expensive licensed music with Apple Music but we’ll know for sure when more details are available.

This isn’t the first time Tencent has joined hands with a major online music giant. A few years ago, in 2017, the Chinese internet giant had entered a share swapping agreement with Spotify but it didn’t include content sharing.

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The post Tencent Music partners with Apple Music to expand its catalog globally appeared first on Gizmochina.

The ASUS ROG Phone 5s series had just been officially launched in Taiwan. Now, the new flagship gaming smartphone lineup with top notch specs is arriving in China, along with a collaboration with Tencent.

Earlier today, the Taiwanese tech giant announced that it will be officially unveiling its ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5s Pro in China on 18th August 2021. These models are expected to feature similar specifications to the ones that were launched earlier this week. Both the base and Pro model feature a 6.78 inch Full HD+ Samsung’s E4 AMOLED HDR display with a 144Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate.

The series is powered by a large 6,000mAh battery pack that supports 65W fast charging with dual front facing stereo speakers. Notably, it even includes a headphone jack. Under the hood, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ SoC runs both smartphones, along with up to a whopping 18GB of RAM. The lineup run on the latest Android 11 OS with ROG UI and offer an in-display fingerprint sensor, ultrasonic sensors for AirTrigger 5, and grip press detection. It also comes with support for Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and NFC.

Unfortunately, the pricing for both smartphones for the Chinese market is currently unknown. But we do know that the devices are arriving with ASUS’ collaboration with Tencent. This collaboration will include certain popular Tencent games being preinstalled on the handsets. So stay tuned for more updates.

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The post ASUS ROG Phone 5s series with Snapdragon 888+ to launch in China on August 18 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Chinese internet giant Tencent has snapped up Sheffield-based UK games developer Sumo. Tencent is pursuing an expansionist drive that has already put it as the second-largest video game group in terms of revenue just behind Sony. The deal announced by Tencent is valued at $1.27 billion and will continue to push the Chinese company to the summit of global video games production and sales.

Tencent recently came under scrutiny in China after it sought to merge two video streaming sites DouYu and Huya. The Chinese market regulator blocked the move on possible breach of the country’s antitrust laws. Tencent has also had a very successful run with a number of its video games, some of which have high-profile mobile versions, like Call of Duty.

The company has several chart-topping video games that continue to drive the growth of its portfolio. The purchase is bound to boost Tencent’s global outlook, as it would add several of Sumo’s highly successful video games to its repertoire. Sumo has 14 studios spread across five countries, where it develops its video games.

Tencent holds an 8.75% stake in Sumo, and it is the second-largest shareholder of the company. Sumo had continued on a rising trajectory since 2017 when it was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The gaming provider’s shareholders will enjoy some impressive buyback of their shares in the deal with Tencent. Each share of Sumo has now appreciated 43% from its previous valuation, and a premium of $5.13 per share will be paid to shareholders of Sumo.

The move by Tencent is the second major deal involving a UK company after Electronics Arts (EA) snapped Codemaster within the past year. There has not been any report of a counteroffer at this time; hence it is unlikely that the deal would crumble. However, there could be some level of uncertainty in the regulatory regime of the company, due to the risks and uncertainties in the Chinese regulatory regime.

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• Xiaomi overtakes Apple to become the world’s second-largest smartphone company

(source)

The post Tencent buys British game developer Sumo in a deal worth $1.3 billion appeared first on Gizmochina.

Contra, a classic side scrolling run and gun shooter game, is making its way to smartphones soon. Konami has recently announced that it will be launching the game on iOS and Android in July 2021, even sharing a short trailer of the game on YouTube.

Notably, Konami has partnered up with Tencent to bring the game to the mobile platform. While versions of the game were seen before on Android, this is the first official release of one of the most iconic video games from Konami. For those unaware, Contra is a side scrolling game that was designed around arcades to offer a run and gun style of gameplay. Some versions of the game have even been available on PC, PlayStations, and Xbox consoles as well.

The new game has been titled “Contra Returns” and Konami has promised to offer an “authentic new take” on the series along with ” new graphics, gameplay upgrades, and more.” From what we know so far, the game will have customizable weapons and would even feature new characters and a storyline. The players will have to unlock new skills through playing the game to navigate through multiple stages.

In other words, Konami is bringing a modern touch to the game while also promising the same thrill as the original arcade versions. Contra returns will feature over 200 levels, new game modes, including a 1v1 and even 3v3 player vs player modes. At the moment, the game is available for pre-registrations on Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. You can also check out the trailer in the video link above.

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The post Contra to launch in July for iOS and Android smartphones, Pre-Registerations live appeared first on Gizmochina.

In a move targeted at several popular mobile applications, China’s internet regulatory watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), has named several companies for being involved in the unauthorized collection and use of personal data of users of these applications. Some of the popular applications mentioned were TikTok, LinkedIn, Kuaishou, Microsoft’s Bing, and Kugou.

In a statement posted on its official WeChat account, the regulator said that it received complaints from users that prompted it to launch an investigation into the data collection activities of several apps. The CAC noted that 105 apps were, after the investigation, found to have violated extant privacy laws by collecting excessive personal information through illegal access. According to the CAC statement, the owners of the 105 apps are required to remedy the observed breaches within 15 days.

The Chinese internet watchdog says it will continue to scrutinize mobile applications for possible breaches regularly. The CAC approach comes on the heels of the recent new regulations that provide stricter monitoring and controls for the public’s overall safety. The crux of the new rules is that app providers are held accountable for collecting excessive user data unrelated to the app’s core services and forcing users to give uninformed consent to how their data are used. These regulations cover a wide range of mobile applications of different hues.

China continues to strengthen its laws and regulations to be responsive to the evolving technological space. Some major brands like Alibaba and Tencent have been fined heavily for observed breaches of the rules governing their operations and anti-monopoly laws. These new moves by the CAC will help shore up consumer confidence in the system and ensure mobile applications do not take undue advantage of users.

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(via)

The post China accuses ByteDance, LinkedIn, Microsoft & others of improperly collecting user data appeared first on Gizmochina.

Tencent Holdings, one of the Chinese giants, is negotiating agreements with the United States national security panel as it eyes permission to keep its ownership stakes in the US-based gaming companies like Riot Games and Epic Games, reports Reuters citing people familiar with the matter.

The report adds that Tencent has been in talks with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) since last year. The committee has the authority to order the Chinese technology giant to divest its holdings in the U.S.

On the other hand, the report adds that CFIUS has been looking into whether Epic Games‘ and Riot Games’ handling of the personal data of their users constitutes a national security risk because of their Chinese ownership.

For those who are unaware, Tencent holds around 40 percent stake in Epic Games which is a maker of the popular game Fortnite. The Chinese giant had bought a majority stake in Riot Games in 2011 and acquired the remaining stake in 2015. Riot Games is the developer of League of Legends.

A Riot Games spokesman said to Reuters that the company operates independently of Tencent and that it has implemented “industry-leading practices” to protect player data.

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been cracking down on Chinese ownership of U.S. technology assets in the last few years amid an escalation in tensions between both the countries over trade, human rights, and the protection of intellectual property. The United States is concerned about the data of its citizens could end up in the hands of China’s Communist Party government.

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The post Tencent reportedly in talks with the United States to keep gaming investments appeared first on Gizmochina.

Tencent Games and Krafton have announced are organizing the first PUBG Mobile National Championship (PMNC) in the United Kingdom and China-based tech giant Xiaomi will be the title sponsor for the competition.

It will be held from 4th June to 8th August in which around 16 UK-based teams will compete for the total prize money of £22,000 GBP, which is approximately $30,000.

The actual tournament series is slated to start from July 22nd till August 8th. The teams are invited to register and compete online in the PMNC Open Qualifier which is taking place from June 4th till 11th June.

To participate in the PUBG Mobile National Championship United Kingdom (PMNC UK) Open Qualifier, teams must consist of a minimum of four players, with a maximum of six players from the same country.

The winner of the PBNC UK 2021 tournament will also qualify for the 2021 PUBG Mobile Pro League (PMPL) Western Europe which is set to take place this fall. The 2021 PMPL circuit will feature a $14 million total prize pool and seven new regions, including North America, Brazil, Latam, CIS, Turkey, Arabia, and Western Europe.

PUBG Mobile has plans to host a variety of tournaments throughout the year in Western Europe, with a cumulative prize pool totaling above $400,000.

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The post Xiaomi becomes Title Sponsor for PUBG Mobile National Championship UK appeared first on Gizmochina.

A former Tencent employee Chen Shuo has been fined about $167,000 by a Beijing court for breaching the non-compete agreement he signed with Tencent. The Beijing Number 1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled that Chen was guilty of interacting in a manner that indicated he could have joined TikTok-owner ByteDance less than six months after leaving Tencent. The Beijing Court then ordered Shuo to pay 1.1 million yuan (about $167,000) to his former employer for the breach.

A growing rivalry has been observed between Tencent and ByteDance in recent years, as both companies continue to battle for market superiority in various areas of their businesses. Chen was a former Senior Editor in Tencent who left the company in March 2019. He was spotted in ByteDance premises on several occasions in August 2019 that indicated he could have joined the company before the expiration of the mandatory period of the non-compete agreement.

Tencent insisted that Chen’s presence in ByteDance premises was different from an ordinary visit, and the company also tendered evidence of email communication between Chen and ByteDance.

Chen, in his defense, claimed that he did not sign a new employment contract directly with ByteDance, and therefore could not have been deemed to have breached the agreement. He also claims that Tencent had no proof that the video evidence tendered to the court was during the non-compete agreement period. He also said that he was filmed without his content, and Tencent had violated his privacy.

However, the court ruled that Chen should pay a fine totaling more than 1.1 million yuan in compensation and also refund Tencent’s 158,900 yuan payment that came with the signing of the non-compete agreement.

ByteDance presently has a case against Tencent in court, alleging that the company violated Chinese antitrust laws by restricting access to content from Douyin, ByteDance’s local version of TikTok its platforms, and is requesting damages of 90 million yuan. Chen joins the growing list of former Tencent employees who had been fined for breach of its non-compete agreement.

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(source)

The post Former Tencent staff fined ¥1.1m (~$167K) for joining ByteDance in breach of non-compete pact appeared first on Gizmochina.