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True Ventures co-founder Jon Callaghan doesn’t think we’ll be using smartphones the way we do now in five years — and maybe not at all in 10. For a venture capitalist whose firm has had some big winners over its two decades – from consumer brands like Fitbit, Ring, and Peloton, to enterprise software makers HashiCorp and Duo Security – that’s more than armchair theorizing; it’s a thesis on which True Ventures is actively betting. True hasn’t gotten this far by following the crowd. The Bay Area firm has largely operated under the radar despite managing roughly $6 billion across…

Samsung is finally bringing the Galaxy A17 5G to the US. This phone was launched elsewhere in August. Joining it is the Galaxy Tab A11+, which was initially released in early November in other markets. Samsung Galaxy A17 5G The Galaxy A17 5G will become available on January 7 for $199.99 at AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Verizon, and Samsung Experience Stores. It will be offered in black, blue, and gray. Samsung is selling the model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage in the US. The phone has a 6.7-inch 1080×2340 Super AMOLED touchscreen with 90Hz refresh…

The iQOO 15 was introduced in China in October and then started appearing in other countries a month later. vivo’s sub-brand is now working on the iQOO 15 Ultra, according to a new rumor from Digital Chat Station on Weibo. This device was rumored in October as well, and today we get more purported details about it. The iQOO 15 Ultra will become official before February 17. It will be focused on gaming, as rumored before. It will have an active cooling fan as well as shoulder buttons. The fan will be the largest ever put inside a smartphone and…

Samsung announced the Exynos 2600 last week as the world’s first 2nm chipset. It is expected to make its debut on the Galaxy S26 series in Q1, 2026, and we now have some additional details regarding the 2600’s AI capabilities. The new chip is equipped with an all-new NPU, which is claimed to offer a 113% improvement over the Exynos 2500, and we now get confirmation that it will also get a significant boost for on-device AI tasks. Korean AI firm NotaAI revealed that its AI model optimization tech will be used on the Exynos 2600 to run larger AI…

Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and of them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. But the remaining 180 startups all blew us away as well in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition. Here is the full list of the consumer/edtech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.  Ahoi  What it does: Helps people find places that are…

To ring in the New Year 2026, WhatsApp has rolled out new stickers, video call effects, animated reactions, and more festive features. WhatsApp has added a new 2026 sticker pack that includes party themed stickers to send to your friends and family. There are new animated effects that are available during video calls, including fireworks, stars, and confetti, which show up as an overlay. Users will also see special reactions when they react to a message with the confetti emoji. And finally, animated stickers are also available in Status updates. There’s also a special 2026 layout that can be used…

Enterprises have been piloting and testing different AI tools for the past few years to figure out what their adoption strategy will look like. Investors think that period of experimentation is coming to an end. TechCrunch recently surveyed 24 enterprise-focused VCs and an overwhelming majority predicted enterprises will increase their budgets for AI in 2026 — but not for everything. Most investors said this budget increase will be concentrated and that many enterprises will spend more funds on fewer contracts. Andrew Ferguson, a vice president at Databricks Ventures, predicted 2026 will be the year that enterprises start consolidating their investments…

If you wanted to take a closer look at the design of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, today some pictures showing dummy units have been outed, along with a quick hands-on video (of the dummies). In the first photo below you can see the S26 Ultra standing next to the S26 (on the right), sharing the exact same design with the oval-shaped camera island onto which three cameras are placed. The two phones also have the same corner curvature radius for the first time. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra dummy units In the next photo…

This was supposed to be the year that climate tech died. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have done their best to dismantle the Biden administration’s hallmark industrial and climate policies. Even the European Union has begun to ease off its most aggressive goals. And yet, as the year closes, the receipts provide a different view of climate and clean energy investing in the U.S. and Europe. Instead of tanking, venture bets in the sector remained essentially flat relative to 2024, according to CTVC, far from the slide some had expected. That resiliency is due in part to continued…

Introduction Huawei has recently unveiled its next flagship foldable phone – the Mate X7. It comes a full year after the Mate X6 and brings improvements to design, screens, performance, cameras, and battery. Huawei has succeeded in miniaturizing the chip manufacturing process, probably the most significant upgrade, allegedly bridging the gap between the Kirins and the US-designed chips. The Mate X7 may be more powerful and feature-rich, but it has also become slightly thinner and tougher. It is now IP58 and IP59 rated for dust resistance and waterproofing. The international versions are offered with an eco-leather back cover. The inner…