We take a weekly look at mobile and tech stories from around the world. Headlines include… Apple Delays Key AI Features for Siri, Struggling to Keep Pace with Rivals, Meta Integrates ‘Community Notes’ for Crowdsourced Fact-Checking, Niantic Sells Pokémon GO and More to Saudi Backed Scopely for $3.5 Billion and more… Alternatively listen On MEF Radio.
Apple Delays Key AI Features for Siri, Struggling to Keep Pace with Rivals
Yahoo
Apple’s delay of key AI features for Siri highlights the company’s struggle to stay ahead in the mobile ecosystem, as competitors like Google and Amazon push forward with more advanced voice assistant capabilities. Features like “on-screen awareness” and app integrations, initially promised for this year, are now pushed to 2026 at the earliest.
While Apple works to integrate Siri with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and improve its AI, this setback risks its dominance in the mobile voice assistant market.
As rivals like Samsung and Amazon roll out their own AI-powered assistants, Apple faces increasing pressure to catch up.
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Meta Integrates ‘Community Notes’ for Crowdsourced Fact-Checking
Meta is integrating “Community Notes” into Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, allowing users to crowdsource fact-checking directly within its apps.
Launching March 18 in the U.S., the system—based on Elon Musk’s X technology—lets contributors flag misleading content, replacing third-party fact-checking.
With 200,000 users signed up, this shift makes content moderation a built-in feature of Meta’s mobile experience, streamlining engagement while aligning with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to improve relations with the Trump administration.
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Niantic Sells Pokémon GO and More to Saudi Backed Scopely for $3.5 Billion
Reuters
Niantic has sold its gaming business, including “Pokémon GO,” to Scopely for $3.5 billion, backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
The deal adds top titles like “Pikmin Bloom” and “Monster Hunter Now” to Scopely’s mobile portfolio, which already includes hits like “MONOPOLY GO!” and “MARVEL Strike Force.”
With 30 million active users, the acquisition strengthens Scopely’s position in the mobile gaming market. Niantic, focusing on geospatial AI, will spin off Niantic Spatial with $250 million in capital. This highlights the growing role of Saudi-backed investments in the mobile gaming ecosystem.
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Match Group Shifts Focus to Meaningful Connections and AI-Driven Mobile Innovation
Fastcompany
Match is set to enhance its mobile ecosystem by streamlining operations, investing in growth areas, and focusing on improving user experience across its dating apps, including Tinder and Hinge.
In a letter to employees shared with the news website Fast Company, CEO Spencer Rascoff shared a vision to shift from a numbers-driven approach to one that prioritizes real, meaningful connections.
As part of the strategy, Match will integrate more artificial intelligence and open a confidential feedback channel for employees.
The move is aimed at addressing the challenges Tinder faces, including user decline and evolving preferences among younger, mobile-first users. With a strong focus on mobile innovation, Match Group hopes to rebuild trust and deliver a more engaging app experience.
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Intel’s Stock Soars 15% as Lip-Bu Tan Takes Helm to Drive Foundry Strategy
Reuters
Intel’s stock jumped 15% after the tech giant appointed Lip-Bu Tan as CEO, with analysts noting his strong industry background.
Tan has pledged to continue with the company’s strategy to become a leading foundry, producing chips for outside clients.
This follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Pat Gelsinger, who was ousted in part due to the costly push into this competitive market.
Despite the challenges, Tan aims to restore Intel’s status as a world-class product and foundry company.
Despite delays in new plants, Intel is betting on future growth, but it remains unclear whether Tan will split the company’s foundry and chip design operations to streamline the business.
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D-Wave Achieves “Quantum Supremacy” with Breakthrough in Material Simulation
Dwave
D-Wave has claimed a milestone in quantum computing, announcing it has achieved “quantum supremacy,” a moment when a quantum machine solves problems too complex for traditional computers.
D-Wave’s latest breakthrough, demonstrated in a paper published in Science, involved simulating a material’s magnetic field in 20 minutes—something that would take a supercomputer almost a million years.
Despite past financial struggles, the company has secured new funding and is positioning itself to commercialize its quantum technology, focusing on applications like material simulation.
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Google DeepMind Unveils Gemini Robotics Models for Real-World Task Mastery
Google DeepMind has launched its Gemini Robotics models, designed to make robots more adaptable and capable of handling real-world tasks.
Trained with large language models, these robots can perform tasks like folding origami and dunking a basketball.
The development, in partnership with Apptronik, aims to advance robotics for industries like healthcare and manufacturing.
Experts note the progress but caution that more work is needed before robots can be fully deployed in everyday environments.
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Foxconn Debuts FoxBrain AI Model to Power Manufacturing and Supply Chains
Reuters
Foxconn has unveiled its own AI language model, FoxBrain, developed in-house and trained in just four weeks with support from Nvidia.
The model focuses on data analysis, reasoning, and code generation.
Foxconn plans to open-source the model for industry collaboration, aiming to enhance manufacturing and supply-chain management.
With its core electronics business facing challenges, Foxconn is expanding into AI and electric vehicles to stay competitive.
More details will be revealed at Nvidia’s tech event next week in San Jose, California.
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Alibaba Unveils AI-Powered Quark App with Advanced Assistant Features
Alizila
Alibaba unveiled a new version of its AI assistant mobile app, Quark, now powered by its latest in-house model, Qwen. The app integrates various functions like a chatbot, deep thinking, and task execution into a single platform. Users can now do everything from generating images to planning trips.
The updated Quark app was launched as a pilot showcasing features like writing articles from images and creating meeting minutes. The launch follows Alibaba’s unveiling of its R1-Omni model, which can read emotions, signaling the company’s drive to stay competitive with China’s AI startups. As Alibaba pushes further into AI, it’s aiming to keep pace with rivals like ByteDance’s Doubao and startups like Manus AI.
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OpenAI’s New AI for Creative Writing Sparks Copyright Uproar
Guardian
And a new OpenAI’s AI model, designed for creative writing, has not been released to the public yet but is already stirring legal concerns as it appears to have been trained on copyrighted materials.
CEO Sam Altman shared a glimpse of the model’s impressive output, describing it as the first time he was “really struck” by something written by AI.
The announcement comes amid ongoing lawsuits from the New York Times and authors accusing AI companies of using copyrighted works without permission.
In the UK, a proposal allowing AI models to train on such materials without consent is facing opposition from the creative industries, the Guardian reported
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