Despite the spectacle of the iPhone 17 launch, Apple's stock tumbled, losing $112 billion in market value, as investors and analysts noted a lack of revolutionary hardware innovation. The company's financial reports now reveal that its services division is outgrowing hardware sales, indicating a significant shift in its revenue model.

• Apple's services revenue reached $96 billion in 2024, now surpassing revenue from all non-iPhone gadgets.
• The iPhone's share of Apple's total revenue has decreased from a peak of 66% in 2015 to 51% in 2024.
• The Apple Watch has achieved over $100 billion in lifetime sales, showcasing a quiet success amid declining hardware growth.
• Concerns linger among investors regarding Apple's perceived slowness in the AI arms race, with reports of borrowing Google's Gemini model raising questions about its in-house innovation.

Qualcomm has officially announced its next flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, slated for an unveiling on September 23, 2025. This new chip, a successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, aims to set new performance benchmarks in the premium smartphone market.

• The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is rumored to achieve a record-breaking AnTuTu score between 4.2M–4.4M.
• It will feature custom Oryon CPU cores, with the prime core clocked at 4.6 GHz, and a "for Galaxy" edition reaching 4.7 GHz for Samsung's Galaxy S26 series.
• Built on TSMC's N3P 3nm process, promising significant efficiency gains.
• Xiaomi's Xiaomi 17 series (including the 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max) will be among the first devices to feature this new chip.

Samsung’s upcoming One UI 8 update will no longer support the Galaxy S21 series (S21, S21+, S21 Ultra), marking the end of major Android upgrades for these 2021 flagships. However, the subsequent Galaxy S21 FE will receive the update based on Android 16.

• The Galaxy S21 series launched with Android 11 and received four major OS upgrades, fulfilling Samsung's original promise.
• The Galaxy S21 FE, launched later with Android 12, also guarantees four upgrades, extending its support to One UI 8.
• This decision highlights Samsung's evolving software strategy, with newer models like the Galaxy S24 series now offering seven guaranteed Android OS upgrades.