WeChat’s Earthquake Alert Service Gets a Major Upgrade
On August 2nd, the WeChat Earthquake Alert service—a joint effort by the China Earthquake Networks Center, China Media Group’s National Emergency Broadcasting, and Tencent—unveiled two brand-new features: “Shake Intensity Aggregation” and “Location Update.” This upgrade builds on the service’s existing millisecond-level alert delivery and its ability to reach hundreds of millions of users, further refining how people get quake info, report their experiences, share their location, and get involved in the process.
Xiaomi Officially Raises Prices on Multiple Phone Models
Late on the evening of August 1st, word started circulating that Xiaomi might be adjusting prices on some of its phones. By the morning of August 2nd, the Xiaomi Mall website showed that several models had indeed gone up in price. According to the official Xiaomi online store, the Xiaomi 17 series has been bumped up by 300 to 500 yuan per device, while the REDMI K90 and Turbo 5 series each saw a 300 yuan increase.
CXMT’s LPDDR6 Nears the Final Stretch of R&D Validation
On August 1st, as reported by Yicai, industry insiders revealed that CXMT’s LPDDR6—the sixth-generation low-power double data rate memory standard—is getting very close to wrapping up its R&D validation phase, which is a crucial milestone before mass production. Back in March, market chatter suggested that CXMT was actively pushing its LPDDR6 products forward and had already sent samples to key customers. The plan is to officially launch and kick off mass production adoption in the second half of 2026. Reports indicate that CXMT’s first LPDDR6 product is designed to hit 12,800 Mbps, with a base operating rate of 10,667 Mbps when paired with an SoC (system-on-chip). It comes in a 16Gb die capacity and uses a 1295-ball POP (package-on-package) design. On top of that, it brings notable improvements in low-power consumption and RAS (reliability, availability, and serviceability) features compared to its LPDDR5X predecessor.
Amazon Wraps Up Its $50 Billion Total Investment in OpenAI
On July 31st, local time, Amazon disclosed in its 10-Q quarterly report that it has now completed its full $50 billion investment in OpenAI. During Q1 of this year, Amazon poured $15 billion into OpenAI’s Series C preferred stock and committed to an additional $35 billion. In Q2, the company used $13.7 billion of that committed amount to buy more Series C preferred shares. After the reporting period, Amazon invested the remaining $21.3 billion of its commitment into those same shares.
Amazon noted that if OpenAI goes through with an initial public offering (IPO) or hits another liquidity event, the outstanding Series C preferred stock will convert into common shares. The company expects to be bound by the customary lock-up period following an IPO, after which it will still be subject to applicable securities laws.
The World’s Most Valuable Company Just Changed Hands Again—Nvidia Back on Top
On Friday, local time, Apple’s stock took a nosedive, dropping 7.35% and erasing nearly $358 billion in market cap in a single day. Meanwhile, chip giant Nvidia saw its shares close up 2.93%, propelling it back to the top spot as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.
Joe Tsai and Wife Call It Quits After Nearly 30 Years of Marriage
According to multiple media reports, on August 1st, Beijing time, Joe Tsai—chairman of Alibaba Group and owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and WNBA’s New York Liberty—and his wife Clara Wu Tsai announced they are ending their marriage of nearly three decades. Their business empire and team ownership stakes will remain unchanged.
Big Update Coming for Insta360 GO Ultra? CEO Liu Jingkang Says It’ll Redefine the Thumb Camera
On the evening of July 31st, Insta360 posted a teaser hinting that the GO Ultra is about to get a massive update, possibly introducing a voice assistant feature. The next day, Insta360’s CEO Liu Jingkang took to social media to say the update “will redefine what a thumb camera can be” and could potentially become the largest personal AI assistant by both installed base and shipment volume, outside of Meta.
Kingsoft Office’s WPS Rolls Out New Storage Management Update
As of August 1st, Kingsoft Office made its debut at ChinaJoy, and with it came a fresh WPS update that includes a bunch of storage management improvements. For starters, WPS now has a unified “Storage Management” hub—things like disk usage checks, cache clearing, and storage path tweaks, which used to be scattered across different menus, are now all in one place. On top of that, installation paths can now be configured separately.
At the ChinaJoy event, visitors could scan a QR code to submit their feedback and suggestions for WPS. The product team reportedly checks these submissions at scheduled times each day to verify issues and respond.
