Tech Wrap Nov 26: iQOO 15 launch, OnePlus 15R, Copilot leaving WhatsApp

iQOO 15 launched in India. OnePlus 15R to feature Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Microsoft Copilot AI leaving WhatsApp. Realme P4x 5G and Watch 5. POCO F8 series. ChatGPT Voice. Perplexity shopping tool

iQOO 15 launches in India with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5, OriginOS 6

 

Chinese smartphone maker iQOO has launched its next-generation flagship smartphone in India, the iQOO 15. The newly launched smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, paired with the iQOO Supercomputing chip Q3, up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB UFS 4.1 storage. The iQOO 15 debuts with Vivo’s Android 16-based OriginOS 6 interface, marking the end of the FunTouchOS era that Vivo and iQOO smartphones used in non-Chinese markets, including India.

 

OnePlus 15R to feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, launch set for Dec 17

 

OnePlus has confirmed that its upcoming OnePlus 15R will run on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, making it the first smartphone to arrive with the latest chipset. The device is scheduled to launch in India on December 17, alongside the OnePlus Pad Go 2 tablet.

 

Microsoft to take down Copilot from WhatsApp starting Jan 15

 

Microsoft has announced that its AI assistant Copilot will no longer work on WhatsApp starting January 15, 2026. The company said it is preparing a smooth transition for users and will guide them toward Copilot on mobile, web, and PC to ensure uninterrupted access.

 

Realme P4x 5G and Watch 5 to be launched on December 5

 

Realme will expand its P-series smartphone line in India on December 4 with the launch of the Realme P4x 5G. Alongside the smartphone, the Chinese smartphone maker will launch the Realme Watch 5. The Realme P4x will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultra chipset, paired with up to 256GB storage. The smartphone will boast a 7000mAh battery. Upon launch, the Realme P4x 5G and the Realme Watch 5 will be available for purchase across Realme’s website, ecommerce platform Flipkart and select retail stores.

 

POCO F8 Ultra and F8 Pro unveiled with Bose-tuned speakers

 

Chinese smartphone brand Poco has unveiled its F8 series, which includes the Poco F8 Ultra and Poco F8 Pro. The Ultra variant steps up with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and a 6,500mAh battery, while the Pro model runs on last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and features a 6,210mAh battery.

 

ChatGPT: OpenAI brings together voice and text modes in default chat window

 

OpenAI has introduced an update to ChatGPT that makes its voice mode more deeply integrated into regular conversations. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the company said that ChatGPT Voice can now be used directly inside any chat, allowing users to continue reviewing previous messages or follow along with images, maps and other visual responses while speaking to the AI assistant.

 

Perplexity debuts AI shopping assistant to rival tools from Google, OpenAI

 

Perplexity has added a conversational shopping experience to its service, rolling the feature out free to users in the US. The tool pairs the company’s AI assistant with product discovery and an integrated checkout flow powered by PayPal. The availability of this tool for India has not yet been announced by Perplexity. Notably, this news comes on the heel of OpenAI and Google recently announcing the rollout of similar shopping assistant tools in their respective AI services.

 

Vivo's OriginOS 6 review: Redesigned UI with smoother animations, AI smarts

 

OriginOS 6 marks Vivo’s most ambitious software overhaul in the past few years, arriving with a promise of cleaner visuals, smoother performance, deeper AI integration and a modern design language that feels more coherent than anything the brand has delivered before. This is an ambitious update because smartphones from Vivo and its related brands iQOO used to run FunTouch OS earlier in India and other global markets, but OriginOS in China.

 

YouTube rethinks how recommendations work with user-shaped content feed

 

YouTube has announced that it is testing a new feature designed to give users clearer control over what shows up on their home feed. According to a report by The Verge, the experiment, called “Your Custom Feed,” aims to fix long-running frustrations with YouTube’s recommendation system, which often surfaces videos that do not match what viewers actually want to watch.

 

Black Friday sale: Check offers on iPhone 16, Galaxy S24, Samsung foldables

 

Several retailers and e-commerce platforms are currently offering discounts, bank offers, and other deals on premium smartphones. For instance, last year’s Apple iPhone 16 is listed on Croma for Rs 62,490 (after bank offers) as part of its ongoing Black Friday sale. Other flagship devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Z-series foldables, Nothing Phone 3, and more, are also available at reduced prices across Amazon, Flipkart and other platforms.

 

Google reportedly plans 'Aluminium OS' to rival Windows and macOS on PCs

 

Google is reportedly planning to compete with Windows and macOS with its new Aluminium OS. Earlier at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit 2025, Google revealed that its Android for PC is coming next year, which will unify ChromeOS and Android. According to a report by Android Authority, this unification into a single desktop platform now has a codename, ‘Aluminium OS.’

 

Another Deloitte report accused of AI-made citations, this time in Canada

 

An investigation into a major health workforce report prepared for the government of Newfoundland and Labrador by Deloitte has revealed that parts of the document appear to rely on inaccurate or nonexistent academic citations. The issues were identified by a Canadian news outlet The Independent.

 

Google Meet down as users see '502 error'

 

Google Meet users across India experienced a major disruption on Wednesday, with thousands reporting problems while trying to access the platform. Data from Downdetector.in showed a sudden surge in outage reports, crossing nearly 2,000 complaints within a short period.

 

Nvidia patch restores GPU performance impacted by recent Windows 11 update

 

Nvidia has confirmed that the recent Windows 11 25H2 / 24H2 October update (KB5066835) is causing gaming slowdowns on PCs with GeForce GPUs, leading to noticeable frame rate drops in certain titles. The company has now issued a dedicated hotfix driver — GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 581.94 — to address the issue ahead of its next major driver rollout.

 

ChatGPT not to blame in teen suicide

 

OpenAI defended itself against a lawsuit accusing ChatGPT of coaching a 16-year-old to kill himself, saying the chatbot directed the teenager to seek help more than 100 times. In a court filing Tuesday, the artificial intelligence startup called the death of California high school student Adam Raine “a tragedy” and said a “full reading of his chat history shows that his death, while devastating, was not caused by ChatGPT.”