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| Hey, Insiders! Welcome to Monday's Inside Tech newsletter. Here's a look at today's top stories: - Microsoft-owned LinkedIn lays off nearly 700 employees.
- Apple and Samsung dominate smartphone sales.
- Australia fines X/Twitter for failing to disclose information about child abuse content.
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Microsoft-owned LinkedIn announced layoffs of 668 employees across its engineering, product, talent, and finance teams. The layoffs impact over 3% of LinkedIn's nearly 20,000-member workforce. More: - It marks LinkedIn's second round of layoffs this year, following cuts of over 700 jobs in May and the closure of its China-focused app, InCareer.
- The layoffs come as LinkedIn's revenue growth has slowed for eight consecutive quarters, showing only a 5% increase in Q2.
- Bloomberg reports that LinkedIn is facing decreased demand for its services as fewer employees pursue new jobs and companies hire less.
- Microsoft has cited reduced hiring and ad spending as its main challenges.
Zoom out: - The layoffs are in addition to the 10,000 job cuts announced by Microsoft in January
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| 2 | | Apple and Samsung continued to dominate the global smartphone market in Q2 2023, securing the entire top-10 share, according to Counterpoint Research. 
What the numbers show: Apple continued to hold the top four positions in smartphone sales, with the iPhone 14 leading the way, followed by the iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro. The older iPhone 13 held its ground in fourth place, with Apple gaining a number of new users in Asia and Europe. Both the base models, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 13, also saw year-over-year growth, although Apple's overall share in the top-10 list saw a slight decrease. Samsung, not far behind, secured the remaining positions in the top-10 list. The budget-friendly Samsung Galaxy A14 claimed fifth place, followed by the Galaxy A54, Galaxy A14 5G, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy A04e, and Galaxy A34. The bigger picture: 2023 is still expected to witness a 10-year low in global smartphone shipments, primarily because of economic challenges. According to initial findings by Counterpoint, smartphone shipments are expected to decline by 6% in 2023, reaching a total of 1.15 billion units, marking the lowest figure in a decade. However, with the launch of the iPhone 15 last month, 2023 could usher in a new era for Apple. Its strong presence in the premium market and robust performance in the U.S. could propel the company to the top spot in global annual shipments for the first time, according to Counterpoint. Q: How do you think last month's launch of the iPhone 15 could impact Apple's performance in the smartphone market in the coming year? Join the conversation here. | | | |
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| 3 | | Apple will likely launch MacBook Pros with M3 chips in early 2024, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. This could be followed by the new MacBook Air several months later, he reported. More: - Gurman, who initially hinted at an October MacBook Air release with the new chip, now expects it to arrive at the earliest between spring and summer.
- Meanwhile, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips are in the design validation test (DVT) stage, hinting at a consumer release between early and spring 2024, similar to this year's timeline.
- New entry-level iPads, iPad Air, and iPad Mini with faster chips are also in the works, though Gurman doesn't anticipate any major updates in the near future.
Zoom out: - Gurman's report contradicts sources who claim Apple will announce new iPad updates this week.
- The iPad Air, iPad Mini, and base model iPad are due for updates, likely with only minor spec improvements rather than major design changes, according to 9to5Mac.
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| 4 | | Australia's online safety regulator has fined X, formerly Twitter, 610,500 Australian dollars ($385,000) for failing to disclose information about its efforts to combat child exploitation. X was fined for not complying with Australia's Online Safety Act, requiring online service providers to disclose their actions against child abuse content. X has 28 days to respond or pay the penalty. More: - In February, Australia's e-Safety Commission issued legal notices to Google, TikTok, Twitch, Discord, and X (then Twitter), seeking answers about how they address child sexual abuse material (CSAM) under Australia's Online Safety Act.
- According to the commission, X failed to answer questions about its response times to child abuse reports and its detection methods for such material on the platform.
- X left some sections of its responses incomplete, inaccurate, or entirely blank.
- The platform did inform Australian officials that its detection of child abuse material on the platform dropped from 90% to 75% in the three months after Elon Musk's acquisition a year ago, but has since improved.
Related: - Google also received a warning for providing "generic responses to specific questions," though X's lack of response was more extensive, according to Australian officials.
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| 5 | | Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan is the latest tech leader to boycott this year's Web Summit, the global tech conference, following Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave's recent criticism of the Israeli government. More: - Cosgrave, the organizer of Web Summit, has faced backlash for remarks about Israel violating international law and committing war crimes.
- In an X post, Tan said he was canceling his appearance at the conference, adding, "I condemn Hamas and pray for peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people."
- Zeev Farbman, CEO and co-founder of Lightricks, and Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data, have also withdrawn from the conference.
- Former Chief Executive of PayPal, David Marcus, said he would not attend, sponsor, or speak at a Web Summit event again.
Zoom out: - On Monday, Israel's Ambassador to Portugal informed the mayor of Lisbon that Israel would not participate in the Web Summit due to what he called "outrageous statements" made by Cosgrave.
- The conference is scheduled in Lisbon from November 13 to 16.
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| 6 | Captions, which specializes in AI-powered video editing tools, has introduced a new video dubbing feature. "Lipdub" translates into 28 languages, preserving the user's voice and synchronizing their lips with the translated audio. More: - Lipdub prompts users to record a video featuring only their face, then uploads and returns the video with the new language overdub in minutes.
- The app also removes filler words and reduces background noise from recordings.
- Captions boasts over 3 million app users and 100,000 daily active users.
- Founder Gaurav Misra, the former head of design engineering at Snap, believes generative AI will eventually enable real-time translation for broadcasts and video conferences.
Zoom out: - New York-based Captions recently secured a $25M Series B funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel.
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- Minecraft has made history by selling over 300 million copies, outpacing its closest rival, Grand Theft Auto V, which has sold 185 million copies as of August.
- Netflix's clampdown on password-sharing likely added around 6 million subscribers in Q3, and it's expected to lay the groundwork for potential price hikes in the near future, according to Reuters.
- EVEscape, an AI tool developed at Harvard Medical School and the University of Oxford, has the potential to predict dangerous virus mutations, which could help scientists develop better vaccines and therapies.
- Pair Eyewear raised a $75M Series C round to expand its D2C-focused business.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is an editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic and USA Today and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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