Could Meta be forced to sell Instagram? PS5 prices to rise across several markets

Instagram
A trial in the landmark antitrust case against social media giant Meta kicks off in Washington on Monday. The US competition and consumer watchdog alleges that Meta, which already owned Facebook, bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition, effectively giving itself a monopoly. The FTC reviewed and approved those acquisitions but committed to monitor the outcomes. If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wins the case it could force Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to sell off both Instagram and WhatsApp. BBC 

The exemption of smartphones, laptops and other electronic products from import tariffs on China will be short-lived, top US officials have said, with Donald Trump warning that no one was “getting off the hook.” “There was no Tariff ‘exception’, Trump said in a social media post on Sunday. “These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’” In the post on his Truth Social platform, Trump promised to launch a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector and the “whole electronics supply chain”. The Guardian 

PlayStation 5
Sony has announced a price increase for its PlayStation 5 consoles across several key markets, including the UK and Europe, attributing the decision to a “challenging” economic environment.  The price of the digital edition of the PS5 in the UK will rise by £40 to £429.99, while European customers will see an approximate €50 increase, bringing the cost to €499.99. Similar price hikes are also slated for Australia and New Zealand. In a blog post explaining the move, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) executive Isabelle Tomatis pointed to “high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates” as the primary drivers behind the price adjustments. Tech Digest 

It’s been more than 60 years since a woman travelled into space without a man. And now six of them are blasting off from Earth. Popstar Katy Perry, author Lauren Sanchez, journalist and TV presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn are due to launch in Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin rocket today. It will be the latest flight of the New Shepard programme, named NS-31, and is aiming to “create a lasting impact that will inspire generations”. Sky News 

Huawe Pura X closed and opened
Image: Huawei’s Pura X features an unusual shaped screen. Phone Arena
The recently launched Huawei Pura X foldable phone may be a China-exclusive for now, but its innovative design and practical 16:10 main screen aspect ratio sure managed to cause quite a stir. In short, the Pura X is a flip phone that doesn’t open like a normal flip foldable to become a more or less standard bar; instead, it opens sideways, and the result is a phone with a considerably wider screen than normal. Technically, its display has a 10:16 aspect ratio in portrait mode, which is much wider than the tall and slim 1:2 (or thereabouts) ratios we’ve gotten used to in recent years. Phone Arena 
Samsung commenced rolling out the Android 15-based One UI 7 update for the Galaxy S24 series in South Korea, Europe, and the US last week. The release came after months of testing and six beta builds. Given the lengthy testing, you’d expect the final firmware to be free of showstopping bugs. But that’s apparently not the case, with Samsung suspending One UI 7’s rollout globally after discovering a major bug in the stable release firmware. Over the weekend, Samsung pulled the stable One UI 7 build for the Galaxy S24 from its servers. Android Police