Drone maker DJI and Chinese chip giant SMIC added to US government’s Entity List

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar


The United States Department of Commerce has revised its Entity List for businesses (or people) that are deemed a threat to national security and has added 77 new entities to the list. Among them are drone maker DJI and Chinese semiconductor giant Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). With their inclusion on the list, US companies are effectively banned from providing (read: export, re-export, and transfer) their technology to DJI and SMIC owing to license restrictions imposed on the two companies under the Export Administration Regulations of BIS (Bureau of Industry and Security).

DJI is accused of enabling a humanitarian crisis

Starting with DJI, its inclusion on the Entity List has less to do with the national security risk, and is more about facilitating a human rights abuse. The latest “Addition, Revision and Removal of Entities from the Entity List” release mentions that DJI “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.”

This is likely in reference to the deployment of DJI drones for surveillance activities in connection with the suppression of Uyghurs – a primarily Muslim ethnic minority group – in the Xinjiang region of China. You can read about DJI’s alleged involvement in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in this lengthy Bloomberg Businessweek report here.

As for SMIC’s inclusion on the list, the US Department of Commerce’s press release cites SMIC’s ties with the Chinese military as the reason behind blacklisting it. “This action stems from China’s military-civil fusion (MCF) doctrine and evidence of activities between SMIC and entities of concern in the Chinese military industrial complex.”

SMIC has been blacklisted over its close ties with Chinese military

“Between SMIC’s relationships of concern with the military industrial complex, China’s aggressive application of military civil fusion mandates and state-directed subsidies, SMIC perfectly illustrates the risks of China’s leverage of U.S. technology to support its military modernization,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said regarding the US government’s latest move.

He added that the restrictions ensure that SMIC can be prevented from supporting what the US government classifies as China’s destabilizing military activities. For some added context, state-owned civilian and military telecom equipment supplier Datang Telecom Group is a major shareholder of SMIC, while Qualcomm and Broadcom are among its major customers.

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HUAWEI introduces AppGallery promotion to support businesses hit by the pandemic

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Over the course of the past year, HUAWEI has launched multiple initiatives to support developers and businesses that are part of the AppGallery and its HUAWEI Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem as a whole. Now, the company has introduced yet another program that aims to help businesses, specifically those involved in eCommerce, and other app developers that have been hard by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “The campaign aims to boost and support brands and enterprises in a period marked by difficult market conditions for many businesses,” says the Chinese giant.

As part of the support initiative, HUAWEI will prominently advertise certain apps and platforms on the AppGallery’s “Collections” tab, a move that shall offer more exposure to those brands and their respective offerings. Additionally, qualifying businesses and app developers will have their products listed on sliding banners that can be seen on the home page. Plus, HUAWEI will also offer free advertising worth up to €2500 to enterprises and developers whose revenue stream has been hurt by the global health crisis.

Content providers can keep 90% of the revenue generated from ad-click

For those who seek to avail the benefits of HUAWEI’s latest initiative, they have until December 31st to sign up for the program and stand a chance to gain more exposure in the face of a 36 million-strong monthly active user audience of AppGallery across the European countries. The support program is available to e-commerce businesses from the CEE and Nordics region through December 2020.

HUAWEI says it has shortlisted three class of entities that can avail the benefits of its latest initiative – eCommerce brands and businesses without any presence on HUAWEI’s app repository, businesses that have apps available on the AppGallery and are willing to upgrade to the HMS ecosystem, and existing businesses whose apps are already integrated with the HMS ecosystem. As for the specific perks of HUAWEI’s latest support program, they are listed below:

More exposure, better revenue share policy and free advertising boost.

  • Top 5 inclusion in AppGallery’s ‘Collection’ tab which features on the Home Page and highlights themed or seasonal collections of apps
  • Sliding banner ad featuring the apps on the Home Page
  • Access to AppGallery’s ‘Gift’ tab, which allows businesses to make special offers to users
  • Access to Push notifications to make consumers aware of key messages and information
  • In-country technical support team for app integration and dedicated business support to optimize the experience in HUAWEI ecosystem
  • 5 or 10 days-worth of free advertising on AppGallery worth €250 per day

HUAWEI is also letting content providers keep 90% of the revenue generated from ad-click, which is significantly higher compared to the 70% cut they get from rival platforms such as Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. HUAWEI is also making it easier to optimize the in-house Ad Kits that allows developers to monetize their service through ads by using strategies such as banners and ads in varied forms such as interstitial, roll and native to name a few. Among the brands that have already registered for the program are global food delivery service Bolt Food, Danish online takeaway portal hungry.dk and department store network Smyk.

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Apple is developing its own modem to replace Qualcomm’s

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

At its WWDC20 conference, Apple announced its move to shift from Intel chips to its own processors for the Mac lineup. Now, it seems like the company isn’t only looking to replace Intel but Qualcomm chips as well. For the unaware, the latest iPhone 12 lineup uses Qualcomm’s X55 modem, but it could change in the future. A new report claims that Apple is developing an in-house modem.

The latest development comes from Bloomberg that cites Apple’s Senior Vice President of hardware technologies Johny Srouji’s town hall meeting with Apple employees. It says that Apple is working on its own cellular modem to use on its future devices that will eventually replace modem components sourced from Qualcomm.

“This year, we kicked off the development of our first internal cellular modem which will enable another key strategic transition,” he said. “Long-term strategic investments like these are a critical part of enabling our products and making sure we have a rich pipeline of innovative technologies for our future.”

Johny Srouji, Senior Vice President of hardware technologies, Apple

Apple developing its in-house modem has been in the rumor mill for a while. The company also purchased a majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business to accelerate the project’s development. However, Apple had to go for Qualcomm likely to bring 5G to the new iPhone 12 lineup. Hence, it reached a settlement with Qualcomm and signed a multi-year licensing deal despite a major patent dispute with the silicon giant.

The agreement is still valid for the next five years, with an option to extend it for two more years, but Apple seems to limit its reliance on Qualcomm by developing its own modem now. The Cupertino company has now built a team of hardware and software engineers that will develop the cellular modem.

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HUAWEI announces Health Lab sports research center

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

HUAWEI has announced the implementation of its brand-new Health Lab in Xi’an, China. HUAWEI Health Lab researchers, engineers and developers will jointly explore the innovation and application of new sports and health technology, bringing the scientific and convenient sports experience to global consumers. The lab includes an experimental smart wearable product testing area and a sports health innovation area. 

In the experimental smart wearable product testing area, the engineers have set up more than ten reliability tests based on strict standards. All of the HUAWEI smart wearables will stand up to destructive test repeatedly. Only those products that passed the test will be introduced to the market and eventually provide services to consumers. With more than 20 professional research devices, researchers simulate multiple exercise scenarios, collect fitness and health data, and continuously optimise Huawei’s fitness and health data algorithms. In this way, all of the consumers with different physical condition can obtain the accurate fitness and health data from our wearable products.

According to the market research report of IDC, a world-renowned market consulting firm, Huawei’s wrist wearables ranked No. 1 in the second quarter of 2020.

To provide global consumers with more advanced smart wearable products and ultimate fitness and health experience, Huawei’s smart wearable and fitness and health R&D team spent nine months integrating existing R&D resources and introducing new professional research devices. After re-location and planning, Huawei’s smart wearable and fitness and health R&D team has built the brand-new HUAWEI Health Lab to further enhance innovation capabilities.

Huawei Health Lab

Over 40 researchers, developers and testers work together closely in the lab, actualising their passion for an active and healthy lifestyle with help from a wide range of specialised research equipment and innovative research methods. Behind the convenient health and fitness experience offered by Huawei wearable products, there are always complex R&D process happened within the HUAWEI Health Lab.

In order to capture health data such as maximum oxygen uptake, running posture, heart rate and calories burnt when running, researchers at HUAWEI Health Lab has designed a core data collection system for running with the help of a foot pressure treadmill, cardio-metabolic mask, heart rate belt, optical gesture capture system and professional treadmill.

In 2020 alone, researchers have collected 10,900 hours of running data and a running mileage of around 105,000 kilometers. These data are continuously verified and optimized by data algorithms to restore the actual physical state of people when they are running and are eventually applied to Huawei’s wearable products.

There are hundreds of reliability tests designed by the product team. Among them, a quarter of the test items belong to the extreme durability test. For the Huawei smartwatches and bands that are going to the tests, this is undoubtedly a journey of no return. If the test fails, they will be disassembled to analyze and sent to the factory to destroy.

“In the future, Huawei will continue to increase the investment in the field of sports and health, and build another sports health laboratory in Songshan Lake, Dongguan which will collaborate closely with more than 10 of Huawei’s global science institutes, sharing R&D resources with the aim of building an innovative, industry-leading, and open Huawei sports health ecosystem. We also aim to provide consumers easy to use, professional and accurate health and fitness products,” said Rico Zhang.

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OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei reveals what he is doing next

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna
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In October 2020, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei left the company. Since then, he’s been away from media attention. After two months of exit, we now know what the Swedish entrepreneur is planning. He is building a new startup. Moreover, he has raised USD 7 million funding for his new audio startup. This venture is said to step in the market sometime in 2021.

As per Techcrunch, Pei has raised USD 7 million from high-profile investors for his new hardware venture. The entrepreneur said that he had secured the seed financing from his friends and private investors, which include Tony Fadell (Principal at Future Shape and inventor of the iPod), YouTuber Casey Neistat, Kevin Lin (co-founder of Twitch), Steve Huffman (chief executive of Reddit), Liam Casey (founder and chief executive of PCH), Paddy Cosgrave (founder of Web Summit) Josh Buckley (chief executive of Product Hunt), and a group of former and current Truecaller employees Kim Fai Kok, Nick Dahl, and Zakaria Hersi.

Pei says he has plans to use the fresh capital to set up an office in London, hire talent and fund product research and development. He also posted a ‘we are hiring’ tweet, which leads to the page of open positions in cities like Bangalore, India and London, GB.

I am grateful and tremendously excited to have friends of this caliber supporting us in building what’s next. We plan on moving aggressively against our vision, and can’t wait to see how the market will react.This seed investment will support the creation of a head office in London, hiring of the team, and finance ongoing product research and development efforts.

Carl Pei

Despite Pei remaining tight-lipped about his upcoming venture, a report from Wired claims that his next brand is audio-related. Furthermore, we can expect its first products to be launched next year. Pei has also said that his company will have a broader focus than just headphones.

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Samsung aims to enhance shopping experience with its Exclusive Stores programs

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Samsung has announced some programs for customers buying Galaxy smartphones from Samsung Exclusive Stores, which includes Samsung Smart Café and Samsung Smart Plaza. The company aims to enhance the shopping experience for consumers who are planning to buy Galaxy smartphones in Samsung Exclusive Stores.

Using the Smart Club Loyality Program, customers become eligible for reward points, service coupons, and other attractive benefits on first-time purchase of Galaxy smartphones worth minimum INR 15,000 from a Samsung SmartCafe or Samsung Smart Plaza. These reward points can be redeemed on subsequent purchases at Samsung Exclusive Stores. Additionally, customers will also get three vouchers worth up to INR 6000 with their Smart Club membership (valid up to December, 2020) and fast track upgrades on products like Galaxy Z Fold2 and Galaxy Tab S7. With fast track upgrade, customers get a direct entry to a higher membership tier than usual program construct.

Plus, there’s a Samsung Referral Program that gives an opportunity to existing Samsung consumers to earn a commission when referring Samsung devices to their friends. The company is now launching its Referral Program at Samsung Exclusive Stores.

Samsung ProductReferrer
Reward [INR]		 Referee Reward [INR]
Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Galaxy Z Fold, & Galaxy Z Flip25003500
Galaxy Note 20 series, Galaxy Note10, Galaxy Note10+, Galaxy S20 series, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10, & Galaxy S10E15002000
Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite10001500

Customers who do not want to repair their out-of-warranty Galaxy smartphones can now get a 5% discount coupon when they visit an authorized Samsung Service Center. Furthermore, Samsung has launched WhatsApp Chatbot that will help consumers connect to the nearest Samsung SmartCafé. By sending a “Hi” message on Samsung SmartCafé WhatsApp number 9870-494949, customers can locate the nearest Samsung SmartCafe, buy online from the store, book a Home Demo, request a call back from the store, and learn about the latest offers and product launches. 

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Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO and more hit by import hurdles in India: Report

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

According to a report, Apple’s latest iPhone 12 lineup, Xiaomi devices and other gadgets had a slow down in import due to India’s “tight control of quality clearances for electronic goods from China.” Reportedly, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which typically processes applications within 15 days is now taking up to two months and longer. This is likely to affect the brands’ plans for upcoming devices in India.

The latest development comes from Reuters, which reports that BIS started delaying approvals for China-made imports of devices like smartphones, smartwatches, and laptops. It is all part of the fallout from deteriorating ties with China after a border clash in June that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. It was only after that that the Indian government went on a Chinese app-ban spree, and banned apps like TikTok, CamScanner, and more, the latest of them being the popular game PUBG Mobile.

BIS tests and certifies product applications in India.

The report says that Apple India executives called on BIS to speed its approval up when the new iPhone 12 was caught in the delays. It did so by assuring that the company would continue to expand its assembly operations in India. We have reached out to Apple for a comment on the matter. For the unaware, Apple has assembly operations in India. But the iPhone 12 lineup is imported from China, where contract manufacturers make the bulk of Apple’s devices.

According to the report, around 1080 applications to BIS for laptops, tablets, and other devices are pending. Plus, 669 of those are waiting for more than 20 days. These include applications for devices from China-based factories of Wistron, Compal Electronics, and Hangzhou Hikvision. The BIS has also delayed smartwatch imports from Xiaomi and OPPO. We have also reached out to Xiaomi for a comment.  

Meanwhile, an ARMWorldwide (company that manages Amazfit brand in India) executive confirmed on Twitter that the delay in the launch of new smartwatches from multiple brands is due to the delay in BIS approvals since August 2020.

“While the BIS is delaying approvals for products like smartwatches, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is pushing companies to make these devices in India,” said one of the sources as per the report. It adds that Xiaomi was denied the special license to import roughly 30,000 units of TVs after India’s trade ministry restricted inbound shipments of TVs by requiring importers to get a special license in July 2020. Plus, Samsung has faced similar import hurdles.

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iPhone 12 Pro, M1 MacBooks, new iPad Air demand is higher than expected: Report

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Apple has launched a slew of new products in the past couple of months. It started the launch season by unveiling the new iPad Air, and announced the iPhone 12 lineup. The most recent launch was the M1 Macs. All of these products have received favorable reviews from the media. Now, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released their latest report about the recent performance of Apple leading into the holiday season. And, we can say, it was expected.

However, the sales of the iPhone 12 are a bit different from expectations. The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max demand is higher than anticipated. On the other hand, the iPhone 12 and 12 mini’s demand is not as high as was expected. This comes as a surprise since the vanilla iPhone 12 (review) offers better value for money than its same-sized Pro sibling. That said, the overall iPhone 12 sales are going strong, and momentum looks promising for the holiday season and going into 2021.

Further, the demand for M1 Macs is higher than expected. For the unaware, the new MacBooks have received favorable reviews. Plus, the iPad Air demand is also higher than expected. Kuo predicts that iPad sales will continue to strengthen going into 2021. This is because Apple is already reported to announce a new mini-LED model and a lower-priced iPad. Further, Apple Watch Series 6 and Series SE are both selling well too. The report says “innovative health management functions and improved design” can be attributed to the good sale.

Coming to the AirPods sale, the figures are lower than expected. It is predicted to either plateau or decline by 5-10% sometime in the first half of next year. While the research report says that the supply chain on AirPods is a bit tight with the iPhone 12’s taking priority, Apple is said to be prepping to launch new variants of both the AirPods and AirPods Pro.

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PS5 pre-orders on Amazon UK are shipping, but customers are receiving random items like a foot massager

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

November 19 was PlayStation 5’s launch day in the UK. Amazon started shipping pre-orders of the product, but customers are claiming the Amazon is shipping random items instead. Some PlayStation 5 (PS5) orders started shipping on Thursday but reportedly, they didn’t arrive, despite the seller marking them as delivered. Moreover, some customers claimed that their PS5 orders were substituted by the products they never ordered including a foot massager, cat food, and a coffee machine.

Freelance journalist Bex tweeted that Amazon UK had marked her PS5 order as “missed” at around noon Thursday, while the platform didn’t make any attempt to deliver the order. However, she received a parcel on the same evening. Surprisingly, it didn’t have PS5, instead, it contained an “unsolicited” air fryer. Following Bex’s post, several other Twitter and Reddit users came forward with similar claims. Furthermore, multiple customers said Amazon marked their PS5 orders as “delivered” without this actually being the case. 

Another user claims that their PS5 pre-order arrived. They even received the PS5 box. However, it was empty inside. The Twitter user also claims that Amazon UK has been of “no help won’t replace it or anything. Heard multiple theft stories as well on Reddit.” Some other users have claimed to have had similar experiences to Bex where unexpected products turning up instead. One customer received a coffee machine while the other received a foot massager. Moreover, one of the pre-orders arrived with cat food in place of the PS5. Amazon posted the following reply to the cat food user’s complaint:

One customer informed Amazon of the fake delivery. The Twitter user went on to explain that Amazon told them to wait for 48 hours, after which the platform would either refund the customer or ship them a new one.

Via: Business Insider

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Apple is halving its commission rate to 15% for most developers

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Apple has announced a reduction to its 30% App Store commission under its Small Business Program. It is lowering the commission to 15% for developers who earned up to $1 million in proceeds during the previous calendar year. Apple says this program will benefit the vast majority of developers who sell digital goods and services on the store. It will provide them with a reduced commission on paid apps and in-app purchases. The App Store mall Business Program will launch on January 1, 2021.

The reduced commission translates to small developers and aspiring entrepreneurs having more resources to invest in and grow their businesses in the App Store ecosystem.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. We’re launching this program to help small business owners write the next chapter of creativity and prosperity on the App Store, and to build the kind of quality apps our customers love,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The App Store has been an engine of economic growth like none other, creating millions of new jobs and a pathway to entrepreneurship accessible to anyone with a great idea. Our new program carries that progress forward — helping developers fund their small businesses, take risks on new ideas, expand their teams, and continue to make apps that enrich people’s lives.”

Apple will reveal comprehensive details in early December. As of now, it has said that existing developers who made up to $1 million in 2020 for all of their apps, as well as developers new to the App Store, can qualify for the program and the reduced commission. Further, if a participating developer surpasses the $1 million threshold, the standard commission rate will apply for the remainder of the year. Plus, if a developer’s business falls below the $1 million threshold in a future calendar year, they can requalify for the 15 percent commission the year after.

This comes after the whole Apple-Epic Games fiasco.

The reduced cut comes after the whole Apple-Epic Games fiasco where Fortnite was banned from the App Store in August. Then, Apple just terminated Epics Developer Account, to which Epic responded by taking it up the legal way. The Cupertino company has had spats with Facebook, Microsoft, WordPress and more who some or the other way accused Apple of forcing to add in-app purchases.

Source

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Huawei sells Honor phone brand to government-backed consortium

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Huawei has announced the sale of its smartphone brand Honor citing ‘tremendous pressure as of late.’ The company says it has had persistent unavailability of technical elements needed for their mobile phone business due to the US sanctions. Hence, it has decided to sell all of its Honor business assets to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd., which is a government-backed consortium. It is a company formed by a technology enterprise owned by the government of the southern city of Shenzhen, where Huawei is headquartered, with a group of Honor retailers. 

Huawei hopes this move will help Honor ‘ensure its own survival.’ Once the sale is complete, Huawei will not hold any shares or be involved in any business management or decision-making activities in the new Honor company. However, this announcement gives financial details. The company will retain its flagship Huawei smartphone brand.

The move comes after the Chinese tech giant was rumored to sell its budget smartphone brand, Honor recently. Huawei has been at the center of US-Chinese tension over technology, security, and spying. As per American officials, Huawei might facilitate Chinese spying, which the company denies. Further, the Trump government is lobbying European and other allies to exclude Huawei and other Chinese suppliers as they upgrade networks.

The US has blocked Huawei’s access to most US tech, which includes Google services, and it was tightened this year when the White House barred manufacturers worldwide from using US technology to produce chips for Huawei.

That said, we have no information on how Honor’s new owners planned to regain access to US chips and other technologies including Google services. For reference, Chinese brands like OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi operate without such restrictions.

Source

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PUBG Mobile to make a comeback in India

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

In September, India banned PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite citing threats to the privacy of users and security of the nation. These games are owned by China’s Tencent and were said to engage “in activities that are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order.” However, in a recent turn of events, PUBG Mobile is making a comeback in India.

PUBG Corporation has announced it is preparing to launch a new game called ‘PUBG Mobile India’. It says this game is “created specifically for the Indian market.” The developers added that they will improve in-game content and also customize it to “reflect local needs.” These changes include clothing on new characters, a virtual simulation training ground setting, and green hit effects instead of red. Further, it will also add a feature to restrict game time for younger players.

The corporation has announced this new game will maximize data security for its players and adhere to the local regulations by conducting regular audits and verifications on the storage systems that store the personal information of Indian users. This will be done in order to make sure that the data is kept safe.

PUBG Corporation also said that it is planning to establish a local office. It will hire over 100 employees to enhance communications and services with players. “In addition to establishing a local office, the company will look to actively collaborate and leverage local businesses to strengthen its gaming service,” the developers added. Furthermore, Krafton, PUBG Corporation’s parent company announced its plans to invest $100 million in India. This will be done to “cultivate the local video game, e-sports, entertainment, and IT industries.” However, there is no exact release date for PUBG Mobile India yet.

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Amazon sells more iPhones in one day than entire Indian festival sale last year

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Amazon says it has sold more iPhones on the opening day of its Great Indian Festival than its entire last year’s sale. Notably, the first day of sale was only open to Prime members. The sale numbers can undoubtedly be attributed to the fact that Amazon is selling the iPhone 11 at a good discount. The device was priced at INR 47,999 during the first day of the sale, which is down from INR 62,999 regular selling price. For the unaware, the smartphone has received a price cut after the launch of iPhone 12.

Further, the top sold categories have been smartphones, large appliances, and consumer electronics. Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi have sold products in record numbers. Other top searches include laptops, headphones, tablets, cameras, and smartwatches, alongside security cameras and drones. Asus, Lenovo, and HP have been the top-selling brands in laptops, while Samsung and Apple have sold the most number of tablets.

In smartphones, iPhone 11, Redmi Note Series, Redmi 9A, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus Nord and Samsung Galaxy M31 have been the best selling products. Moreover, OnePlus 43-inch and 32-inch, along with Samsung 32-inch, have been the most popular TVs.

Further, Amazon has also sold 2.5 times more Kindle devices than on the first day of the sale last year. The Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot (3rd Generation) are heavily discounted, and they have been among the top 10 products sold on the e-commerce site during the sale. Plus, customers have bought twice the streaming devices than that of last year’s sale. Amazon also claims that 85 percent more people signed up for Prime membership to get early access to the sale this year compared to last year. 

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Samsung India announces ‘Reward Yourself’ program: Check out the offers here

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Samsung India has announced its ‘Reward Yourself’ program in the Indian festive season. With ‘Reward Yourself’, consumers get flat 10% cashback with HDFC Bank credit and debit cards and SBI credit cards, exciting bundle offers and a range of other benefits on Samsung’s wide portfolio of smartphones, wearables and tablets. It covers a range of products including smartphones, tablets and wearables. Here are the offers that are applicable under this program:

10% cashback on HDFC Bank cards: This offer is applicable on select smartphones, tablets and wearables priced between INR 4,999 to INR 104,999. It is valid from October 15 to October 27, 2020.

10% cashback on SBI credit cards: This offer is applicable on all Galaxy smartphones priced between INR 4,999 to INR 47,999 and select tablets and wearables. It is valid from October 28 to November 17, 2020. 

Instant cashback: Consumers can get INR 10,000 cashback on purchase of Galaxy Note20. This offer is valid from October 16 to October 25, 2020.

No Cost EMI with Zero down payment: It is applicable on Galaxy A Series and all flagship devices. Consumers can purchase these Galaxy smartphone with zero down payment, zero processing fee and zero interest.

Upgrade offer: Customers can get an upgrade bonus of up to INR 13,000 and Samsung voucher worth INR 7,000 on purchase of Galaxy Note20 Ultra from October 16 to October 25, 2020.

UV Sterilizer at 50% of MRP: This offer is valid from October 15 to November 17, 2020 on Galaxy A71, Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A31.

Buy a tablet and get INR 10000 off on Keyboard cover: This bundle offer is applicable on Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+. Valid from October 15 to November 30, 2020.

Buy a Galaxy smartwatch and get Galaxy Buds+ at INR 3,990: It is valid from October 15 to November 17 along with 10% cashback on all leading banks’ cards in October and November. The 10% cashback on all leading banks’ cards is also available on standalone purchases of Galaxy Buds+ and Galaxy Buds Live for the same period.

Samsung Care+ offer: Consumers can avail 50% off on accidental and liquid damage (ADLD) protection plan on select smartphones and LTE based tablets. Valid from October 16 to November 17, 2020.

Galaxy Forever offer: Purchasers can buy a brand new Galaxy smartphone at just 60% of the price.

Galaxy Assured offer: Consumers can purchase a brand new Galaxy smartphone with exciting buyback offers of up to 70% device cost.

Galaxy Forever & Galaxy Assured offers are applicable on select flagships and premium devices.

Samsung Finance+ offer: Consumers can buy Galaxy smartphones with easy paperless finance from the comfort of their homes.

All of these offers will be available on the purchases made on leading retail stores and Samsung.com.

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