• Russia has pulled combat forces from Africa to support its new offensive in the Kharkiv region.
• Africa Corps units recently deployed to fight with other Russian forces, Western intelligence said.
• The Russian Africa Corps was created last year and consists of former Wagner Group mercenaries. 

Russia has moved some combat forces from Africa to help support its latest offensive efforts in northeastern Ukraine, according to a new Western intelligence assessment.

Over the past week, Moscow has deployed units from its Africa Corps to fight around Vovchansk, a small city in Ukraine's Kharkiv region that has been at the center of intense fighting in recent days, the UK defense ministry wrote in a Friday intelligence update.

The Russian defense ministry created the Africa Corps last year as a way to expand its footprint on the continent and also in the Middle East. The military formation, which has the same name as a World War II Nazi unit, consists of more than 2,000 regular soldiers, officers, and mercenaries — including many who once served in the notorious Wagner Group.

In Ukraine, Africa Corps units have been deployed alongside regular Russian military forces and Storm-Z penal units made up of convicts and troops with disciplinary charges to support the ongoing Kharkiv offensive, Britain's defense ministry noted.

Russia's defense ministry "almost certainly redeployed detachments from the Africa Corps to the Ukrainian border during April 2024 in preparation for this offensive," the defense ministry said. "It is highly likely that Russia is reinforcing its war on Ukraine with resources previously assigned to Africa."

Other Africa Corps detachments are believed to have deployed to Syria, Libya, Burkina Faso, and Niger, the UK said.

The Wagner Group — which long operated as a shadowy extension of Russia's foreign policy apparatus until their involvement in the Ukraine war thrust the mercenaries into the limelight — has a history of activity in those countries. The organization has also been accused of committing various atrocities and human rights violations across Africa.

Russia has moved to assume more control over Wagner in the year since the mercenaries staged a failed mutiny last June, sparked by grievances over the Ukraine war. Moscow's grip on the ruthless organization only tightened after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a still-mysterious plane crash just two months later.

The recent deployment of certain Africa Corps units to the Kharkiv region appears to underscore Russia's commitment to its new offensive.

Earlier this month, after gathering tens of thousands of troops near the border, Russia launched an assault into the region in an attempt to carve out a buffer zone near its territory.

The limited incursion is also designed to stretch thin Ukrainian forces across the sprawling front line and pin down Kyiv's defensive efforts around Kharkiv, possibly signaling the start of what could be a multi-pronged summer offensive.

Nearly two weeks into the offensive, Russia has captured a small amount of territory along the border and is closing in on Vovchansk, which had a pre-war population of more than 17,000 people.

The city has been at the heart of brutal fighting and has fallen victim to Moscow's devastating glide-bomb strikes. Imagery shared to social media shows widespread destruction.

Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a Friday update shared to Facebook that Russia had conducted multiple assaults in the Kharkiv direction, but Kyiv's troops were fighting back and able to repel the attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Kharkiv city on Friday, where he held meetings on the battlefield situation and received updates on defensive operations around Vovchansk.

He wrote in a post on X that "we paid special attention to the housing needs of our people who had been displaced from Kharkiv region territories targeted by enemy shelling."

• The US Air Force's bomber fleet is shrinking as decades-old aircraft face retirement or maintenance.
• The next-generation B-21 Raider offers hope, but budget cuts threaten its timely deployment.
• Ensuring the B-21 program stays on track is crucial to maintaining US deterrence capabilities.

The loss of a B-2 Spirit bomber due to fire and its subsequent retirement highlights the fragility of the US Air Force's bomber fleet.

With only 19 B-2s remaining and several other bombers aging or facing retirements, America's strategic bomber capacity is significantly reduced.

The B-21 Raider offers hope, but budget cuts threaten its timely deployment. Ensuring the B-21 program stays on track is crucial to maintaining US deterrence capabilities.

The US Air Force's bomber fleet shrinks…

Our military's strike capacity is literally going up in smoke. In 2022, a fire upon landing in a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber closed the runway at a critical air base and grounded the entire B-2 fleet for five months. Now, the Pentagon has announced this B-2 is set to be permanently retired, citing that the damage was "uneconomical to repair."  

While the peacetime destruction of just one aircraft may not seem significant, it represents a sizeable chunk of the Air Force's strategic bomber capacity. This lost stealth bomber is one of just 20 (now 19) B-2s in the US Air Force inventory, making each one too significant to lose. 

Of the 19 B-2s on hand, only an estimated 16 of these are considered mission-capable and ready for combat at any given moment, with the rest of the aircraft unavailable due to maintenance or testing requirements. Of those that could fight tonight, some B-2s must always be withheld from deployment to uphold the United States' nuclear deterrent and extended deterrence commitments to treaty allies.

The many demands on an exquisite fleet of strategic assets leave only half of America's stealth bomber inventory ready for worldwide operations daily — making the loss of one aircraft effectively equivalent to roughly 10 percent of the mission-capable B-2 fleet.

 This is the definition of a fragile force, which certainly could not be expected to withstand losses on the modern battlefield and, therefore, lacks credibility as a serious deterrent. The decision to retire the damaged B-2 further shrinks the total US bomber mix to the smallest it's been since the birth of the Air Force in 1947 — 140 aircraft — and the other bomber fleets are not faring much better.

Able to deliver a record-breaking 75,000 pounds of ordnance "anytime, anywhere," the B-1B Lancer has long served as the backbone of the Air Force's strike capability. Though first introduced in 1986, recent efforts to upgrade the B-1B's capability to launch Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles and other experimental hypersonic weapons have reinforced its usefulness in deterring peer adversaries.

However, accidents and retirements plague the aging B-1B fleet as well. Earlier this year, a B-1 crashed during a training mission, destroying the aircraft. In 2022, another B-1 caught fire and was nearly wrecked on the runway, with repairs expected to take three years to bring the aircraft back online.

Both of these incidents follow the retirement of 17 B-1Bs in 2021, as the Air Force has sought to divest from the 40-year-old bomber. Despite the B-1B's powerful payload and modernization efforts, just 45 B-1Bs remain, and their full fleet retirement is expected within the decade.

The Bone isn't even the oldest bomber in America's arsenal; that would be the B-52 Stratofortress. Over a half-century old, the upgraded airframe is expected to remain in service until the 2050s. The B-52 actually makes up nearly half of the existing bomber fleet, standing at 58 airframes in 2023.

However, its advanced age is making maintenance difficult, limiting mission availability until planned modernization is complete. Additionally, the aircraft lacks stealth capability and is less capable than its modern alternatives, limiting its mission scope.

The B-21 Raider bomber is critical

There is a silver lining to America's bomber fleet decline in the B-21 Raider. A longtime coming, the next-generation medium stealth bomber is shaping up to be a rare success story for Pentagon purchasing.

Thus far, the B-21 is coming in under budget and developing in record time, setting the stage for successful production and deployment at scale.

For the B-21 to provide the force with timely strike capability and rescue the rapidly shrinking fleet, however, the program can afford no delay nor can its procurement quantity shrink. Unfortunately, under the "hard choices" of the budget caps constraining the Pentagon's FY 2025 request, investment in key future capabilities is being sacrificed for readiness today.

B-21 procurement funding would fall by nearly 30 percent from previous projections should the White House budget request be approved by Congress. Though procurement quantities are not provided, subtracting funding is hardly a recipe for success and could result in the delay of crucial deliveries, a loss of lower pricing because of bulk buying, and eventually a total tail cut.

Washington must recognize the strategic failure of a small and antiquated bomber fleet. The Air Force was initially meant to procure 132 B-2s but ended up buying just 21 due to the high unit cost and a supposedly depleted need for stealthy strike capability during the war on terror. The resulting fragile fleet illustrates that the abandonment of bomber procurement was a short-sighted mistake that must be rectified if the United States is to uphold deterrence across three theaters of the world at all times. 

A tiny bomber force that cannot afford losses, especially in peacetime, will not deter nor defeat America's emboldened adversaries. As Congress considers next year's defense budget request, they must work to ensure the B-21 stays on schedule by providing full funding to keep the program meeting cost and schedule targets. Facilitating the on-time deployment of the next generation bomber cannot come too soon in order to restore the size and strength of America's bomber fleet.

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Sony has launched its latest lineup of 4K TVs, with sizes ranging from 43 inches to 85 inches. The new collection features LED, OLED, and Mini LED models, including the company's brightest 4K TV ever.  

To help shoppers easily determine where each new TV falls in the lineup, Sony has introduced a simplified naming scheme that puts its Bravia branding front and center. On the high end, there's the Bravia 9 Mini LED, followed by the Bravia 8 OLED and Bravia 7 Mini LED, and capped off by the entry-level Bravia 3 LED.

In addition to those four new displays, the company is retaining three 4K TV models from 2023. These include the midrange X90L QLED, the smaller-sized A90K OLED, and the premium A95L OLED, which is our top high-end pick for the best TV you can buy. 

All of Sony's 2024 models once again use the Google TV operating system, which offers access to all of the best streaming services and typically performs well in our tests. The Bravia 7, 8, and 9 also include a new feature called "Voice Zoom 3," which can isolate dialogue in movies and TV shows so you can adjust the volume of speech without impacting other sound effects.

Prices start at $600 and go up to $5,500, depending on the model and size you choose. Below, we've listed the sizes, prices, features, and retail options for each model to help you decide which Sony TV is right for your needs. 

Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV price and specs

• Sony 85-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV ($5,499.99) – See at B&H Photo
• Sony 75-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV ($3,999.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 65-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV ($3,299.99) – See at Amazon

The Bravia 9 is Sony's latest flagship TV geared toward buyers who want the absolute best image quality. It's an advanced QLED with a Mini LED backlight and local dimming, and Sony says it's the company's brightest 4K TV so far.

This high brightness is a key factor in realizing Sony's desire to preserve the creative intent of filmmakers. To this end, Sony says the Bravia 9 uses technology similar to what's employed in its new BVM-HX3110 professional monitor, which can achieve a whopping 4,000 nits of peak brightness. The BVM-HX3110 is marketed toward Hollywood colorists for use during the mastering process of their upcoming films, and its impressive luminance could result in more movies being graded with higher brightness levels in mind.

In theory, this direct link between the Bravia 9 and the actual post-production equipment used by the film industry should enable it to produce an incredibly accurate image with brightness and color performance that more closely mirrors what filmmakers create on their mastering monitors. Sony's past flagship TVs have done an exceptional job of mimicking the look of its previous-generation professional monitors, so we have high expectations that the Bravia 9 will follow suit.  

However, while the Bravia 9's brightness capabilities are impressive, it's important to note that this is a Mini LED QLED TV rather than an OLED. As such, it uses a backlight instead of self-illuminating pixels, and it relies on local dimming zones to control its contrast and light output. With that in mind, Sony is touting some big advancements for the TV's local dimming tech and says that the Bravia 9 has up to 325% more dimming zones than its flagship Mini LED TV from 2023, the X95L. 

Though we've seen some models get close, we've yet to test a Mini LED TV that can truly mimic the pixel-level precision and perfect black-level performance of an OLED, so we're curious to see how Sony's latest local dimming process stacks up. We will begin testing a Bravia 9 unit soon, so check back for our full review. 

Sony Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV price and specs

• Sony 77-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV ($3,899.99) – See at B&H Photo 
• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV ($2,799.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 55-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV ($1,999.99) – See at Amazon 

Sony's Bravia 8 is its only new OLED TV set for release in 2024. This midrange model is the successor to last year's A80L, and it's expected to deliver very similar performance with a few upgrades here and there. Meanwhile, the high-end A95L OLED from 2023, one of our picks for the best 4K TVs you can buy, is carrying over to 2024.

Sony says that the Bravia 8 will deliver a modest increase in peak brightness compared to the A80L, but general image quality will be about the same. With that in mind, we expect around 700 to 800 nits of brightness, which is decent for a midrange OLED but much lower than the 1,500 nits peak you can get on pricier flagship models. 

More so than picture improvements, Sony is touting design tweaks as the main upgrade for the Bravia 8 over its predecessor. The company says the Bravia 8 is 31% thinner than its 2023 predecessor, and its bezel is 29% slimmer. It also has an updated four-way stand.

The A80L was a great TV in its own right, so it makes sense that Sony won't be reinventing the wheel with the Bravia 8. However, we tend to give competing midrange OLEDs from Samsung and LG a slight edge over Sony's options in this class since they often deliver similar image quality for less money.  

Sony Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV price and specs

• Sony 85-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($3,499.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 75-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($2,799.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 65-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($2,299.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 55-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($1,899.99) – See at Amazon

The Bravia 7 is designed to serve as a more affordable step-down version of Sony's flagship Bravia 9, and it also uses a QLED panel with a Mini LED backlight and local dimming. But the Bravia 7 can't get as bright as the Bravia 9, and it doesn't have as many dimming zones, so its contrast control isn't as precise.

But that's not to say the Bravia 7 won't deliver high-end image quality. Sony says this model will perform a lot like the X95L, which was the brand's flagship QLED last year. Sony's X95L was an impressive TV, but it was only available in an 85-inch screen size in the US, so it will be nice to get a similar level of performance in more sizes with the Bravia 7.

Sony's QLEDs in this class tend to be pricier than options with similar specs from budget-friendly brands like TCL and Hisense, but their higher cost comes with a few notable perks, like superior picture processing, better quality control, and fancier design elements with sturdier builds. 

Sony Bravia 3 LED 4K TV price and specs

• Sony 85-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($1,799.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 75-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($1,299.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 65-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV  ($999.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 55-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV  ($849.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 50-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($699.99) – See at Amazon
• Sony 43-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($599.99) – See at Amazon

On the entry-level side of Sony's 2024 lineup is the Bravia 3. This basic smart TV uses a standard direct-lit LED panel without Mini LEDs, quantum dots, or local dimming. As such, it's not expected to come anywhere near the picture capabilities of its pricier siblings. But, it should still provide a reliable experience for casual streaming and cable TV viewing. 

The Bravia 3 appears to replace last year's X77L, but it remains to be seen whether it offers any improvements. Based on our knowledge of past Sony models in this class, the Bravia 3 will likely end up being a bit overpriced for what it offers in the picture quality department. 

Generally, Sony excels more at upper midrange and high-end TVs, while brands like TCL, Hisense, and Vizio deliver better value for your dollar in the entry-level and mid-tier markets. For instance, you can get a 65-inch Hisense U6K with a Mini LED backlight, quantum dots, and local dimming for just $500, half the price of the less advanced 65-inch Bravia 3. 

• Last year's job cuts weren't the end of layoffs. Further reductions have begun in 2024.
• Companies like Tesla, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and Amazon have announced plans for cuts this year.
• See the full list of corporations reducing their worker numbers in 2024.

A slew of companies across the tech, media, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts to staff in 2023. Tech titans like IBM, Google, Microsoft, finance giants like Goldman Sachs, and manufacturers like Dow all announced layoffs.

This year is looking grim too. And it's only May.

Nearly 40% of business leaders surveyed by ResumeBuilder think layoffs are likely at their companies this year, and about half say their companies will implement a hiring freeze. ResumeBuilder talked to about 900 leaders at organizations with more than 10 employees. Half of those surveyed cited concerns about a recession as a reason.

Another major factor is artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 respondents said they'll conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI. Dropbox, Google, and IBM have already announced job cuts related to AI.

Here are the dozens of companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.

Nike's up-to-$2 billion cost-cutting plan will involve severances.

Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December 2023 earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike's stock plunging.

"We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world," Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in December.

Google laid off hundreds more workers in 2024.

On January 10, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant.

In an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. According to the email, April 9 will be the last day for those unable to secure a new position.

The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6% reduction of its global workforce (about 12,000 people) last January.

Discord is laying off 170 employees.

Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason Citron in early January.

"We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020," Citron said in the memo. "As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated."

In August 2023, Discord reduced its headcount by 4%. According to CNBC, the company was valued at $15 billion in 2021.

Citi will cut 20,000 from its staff as part of its corporate overhaul.

The layoffs announced in January are part of a larger Citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180,000 — excluding its Mexico operations.

In an earnings call that month, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to $2.5 billion after it suffered a "very disappointing" final quarter last year.

Amazon-owned Twitch also announced job cuts.

Twitch announced on January 10 that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of the employees at the live-streaming company.

CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is "meaningfully" bigger than necessary.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

BlackRock is planning to cut 3% of its staff.

Larry Fink, BlackRock's chief executive, and Rob Kapito, the firm's president, announced in January that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20,000.

However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.

"As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources," the company leaders said in a memo.

Rent the Runway is slashing 10% of its corporate jobs as part of a restructuring.

In the fashion company's January announcement, COO and president Anushka Salinas said she will also be leaving the firm, Fast Company reported.

Unity Software is eliminating 25% of its workforce.

Around 1,800 jobs at the video game software company will be affected by the layoffs announced, Reuters reported in January.

eBay is cutting 1,000 jobs.

In a January 23 memo, CEO Jamie Iannone told employees that the eBay layoffs will affect about 9% of the company's workforce.

Iannone told employees that layoffs were necessary as the company's "overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business."

The company also plans to scale back on contractors.

Microsoft is reducing its headcount by 1,900 at Activision, Xbox, and ZeniMax.

In late January, nearly three months after Microsoft acquired video game firm Activision Blizzard, the company announced layoffs in its gaming divisions. The layoffs mostly affect employees at Activision Blizzard.

"As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business," Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a memo obtained by The Verge.

The cuts come a year after the tech giant announced it was reducing its workforce by 10,000 employees. It then slashed a further 1,000 roles across sales and customer service teams in July 2023.

Salesforce is cutting 700 employees across the company, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Salesforce announced a round of layoffs that the company says will affect 1% of its global workforce, The Journal reported in late January.

The cuts followed a wave of cuts at the cloud giant last year. In 2023, Marc Benioff's company laid off about 10% of its total workforce — or roughly 7,000 jobs. The CEO said the company over-hired during the pandemic.

Flexport lays off 15% of its workers.

In late January, the US logistics startup laid off 15% of its staff which is around 400 workers.

The move came after Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen initiated a 20% reduction of its workforce of an estimated 2,600 employees in October.

Flexport kicked off 2024 with the announcement that it raised $260 million from Shopify and made "massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability."

iRobot is laying off around 350 employees and founder Colin Angle will step down as chairman and CEO.

The company behind the Roomba Vacuum announced layoffs in late January around the same time Amazon decided not to go through with its proposed acquisition of the company, the Associated Press reported.

UPS will cut 12,000 jobs in 2024.

The UPS layoffs will affect 14% of the company's 85,000 managers and could save the company $1 billion in 2024, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during a January earnings call.

Paypal CEO Alex Chriss announced the company would lay off 9% of its workforce.

Announced in late January, this round of layoffs will affect about 2,500 employees at the payment processing company.

"We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth," CEO Alex Chriss wrote in a January memo. "At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."

Okta is cutting roughly 7% of its workforce.

The digital-access-management company announced its plans for a "restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company's commitment to profitable growth" in an SEC filing in February.

The cuts will impact roughly 400 employees.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon told staff in a memo that "costs are still too high," CNBC reported.

Snap has announced more layoffs.

The company behind Snapchat announced in February that it's reducing its global workforce by 10%, according to an SEC filing.

Estée Lauder said it will eliminate up to 3,100 positions.

The cosmetics company announced in February that it would be cutting 3% to 5% of its roles as part of a restructuring plan.

Estee Lauder reportedly employed about 62,000 employees around the world as of June 30, 2023.

DocuSign is eliminating roughly 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.

The electronic signature company said in an SEC filing in February that most of the cuts will be in its sales and marketing divisions.

Zoom is slashing 150 jobs.

The latest reduction announced in February amounts to about 2% of its workforce.

Paramount Global is laying off 800 employees days after record-breaking Super Bowl.

In February, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish sent a memo to employees announcing that 800 jobs — about 3% of its workforce — were being cut.

Deadline obtained the memo less than a month after reporting plans for layoffs at Paramount. The announcement comes on the heels of Super Bowl LVIII reaching record-high viewership across CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon, and Univision.

Morgan Stanley is trimming its wealth management division by hundreds of staffers.

Morgan Stanley is laying off several hundred employees in its wealth-management division, the Wall Street Journal reported in February, representing roughly 1% of the team.

The wealth-management division has seen some slowdown in recent months, with net new assets down by about 8% from a year ago. The layoffs mark the first major move by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick, who took the reins from James Gorman on January 1.

Cisco slashes more than 4,000 jobs amid corporate tech sales slowdown.

In February, networking company Cisco announced it was slashing 5% of its workforce, or upwards of 4,000 jobs, Bloomberg reported.

The company said it was restructuring after an industry-wide pullback in corporate tech spending — which execs said they expect to continue through the first half of the year.

Expedia Group is cutting more than 8% of its workforce.

Cutbacks part of an operational review at online travel giant Expedia Group are expected to impact 1,500 roles this year, a company spokesperson told BI.

The company's product and technology division is set to be the worst hit, a report from GeekWire said, citing an internal memo CEO Peter Kern sent to employees in late February.

"While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth," the spokesperson said.

"Consultation with local employee representatives, where applicable, will occur before making any final decisions," they added.

Sony is laying off 900 workers

The cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment swept through its game-making teams at PlayStation Studios.

Insomniac Games, which developed the hit Spider-Man video game series, as well as Naughty Dog, the developers behind Sony's flagship 'The Last of Us' video games' were hit by the cuts, the company announced on February 27.

All of PlayStation's London studio will be shuttered, according to the proposal.

"Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources," PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst wrote.

Hulst added that some games in development will be shut down, though he didn't say which ones.

In early February, Sony said it missed its target for selling PlayStation 5 consoles. The earnings report sent shares tumbling and the company's stock lost about $10 billion in value.

Bumble is slashing 30% of its workforce

On February 27, the dating app company announced that it would be reducing its staff due to "future strategic priorities" for its business, per a statement.

The cuts will impact about 30% of its about 1,200 person workforce or about 350 roles, a representative for Bumble told BI by email.

"We are taking significant and decisive actions that ensure our customers remain at the center of everything we do as we relaunch Bumble App, transform our organization and accelerate our product roadmap," Bumble Inc CEO Lidiane Jones said in a statement.

Electronic Arts is reducing its workforce by 5%

Electronic Arts is laying off about 670 workers, equating to 5% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported in late February.

The gaming firm axed two mobile games earlier in February, which it described as a difficult decision in a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz.

CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told employees in a memo that it would be "moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry."

Wilson also said in the memo that the cuts came as a result of shifting customer needs and a refocusing of the company, Bloomberg reported.

IBM cutting staff in marketing and communications

IBM's chief communications officer Jonathan Adashek told employees on March 12 that it would be cutting staff, CNBC reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

An IBM spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that the cuts follow a broader workforce action the company announced during its earnings call in January.

"In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with," they said.

IBM has also been clear about the impact of AI on its workforce. Last May, IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna said the company expected to pause hiring on roles that could be replaced by AI, especially in areas like human resources and other non-consumer-facing departments.

"I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period," Krishna told Bloomberg at the time.

Stellantis is slashing 400 white-collar jobs

On March 22, the owner of Jeep and Dodge announced it's laying off employees on its engineering, technology, and software teams in an effort to cut costs, CNBC reported.

Workers learned they were being let go through video calls after the car company ordered them to work remotely for the day. The cuts are set to occur on March 31.

Amazon is laying off hundreds in its cloud division in yet another round of cuts this year

Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs from its cloud division known as Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg reported on April 3.

The reduction will impact employees on the sales and marketing team and those working on tech for its retail stores, Bloomberg reported.

"We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact," an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

On March 26, Amazon announced another round of job cuts after the company said it was slashing 'several hundred' jobs at its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions earlier this year to refocus on more profitable products.

"We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact," Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told employees in January.

This year's cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company's history. In 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers.

Apple has cut over 600 employees in California

Apple has slashed its California workforce by more than 600 employees.

The cuts follow Apple's decision to withdraw from its car and smartwatch display projects.

The tech giant filed a series of notices to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification program. One of the addresses was linked to a new display development office, while the others were for the company's EV effort, Bloomberg reported.

Apple officially shut down its decadelong EV project in February. At the time, Bloomberg reported that some employees would move to generative AI, but others would be laid off.

Bloomberg noted that the layoffs were likely an undercount of the full scope of staff cuts, as Apple had staff working on these projects in other locations.

Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside normal business hours.

Tesla is laying off over 10% of its workforce

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a memo to employees Sunday, April 14, at nearly midnight in California, informing them of the company's plan to cut over 10% of its global workforce.

In his companywide memo, Musk cited "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" as the reason behind the reductions.

An email sent to terminated employees obtained by BI read: "Effective now, you will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations."

On April 29, Musk reportedly sent an email stating the need for more layoffs at Tesla. He also announced the departure of two executives and said that their reports would also be let go. Six known Tesla executives have left the company since layoffs began in April.

Grand Theft Auto 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive is reducing its workforce by 5%

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, said on April 16 that it would be "eliminating several projects" and reducing its workforce by about 5%.

The move — a part of its larger "cost reduction program" — will cost the video game publisher up to $200 million. It's expected to be completed by December 31.

As of March 2023, the company said it employed approximately 11,580 full-time workers.

Peloton is reducing its staff by 15% as the CEO steps down as well

Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down, the company announced May 2. Along with his departure, the fitness company is also laying off about 400 workers.

McCarthy is leaving his role just two years after replacing John Foley as CEO and president in 2022. Peloton said the changes are expected to reduce annual expenses by over $200 million by the end of fiscal 2025 as part of a larger restructuring plan.

Microsoft-owned Xbox is cutting more jobs

Xbox is offering some employees voluntary severance packages in May after shutting three units and absorbing a fourth earlier in the month. Microsoft had already made cuts to the division at the start of 2024.

According to Bloomberg, the offers were extended to producers, quality assurance testers, and more staff at Xbox-owned ZeniMax. Others across the Xbox organization were told that more cuts are coming.

Xbox president Matt Booty told staff in a May 8 town hall that the studio closures are part of an effort to free up more resources, Bloomberg reported.

Indeed is cutting 1,000 workers after laying off 2,200 a year ago

Careers site Indeed says it will lay off roughly 1,000 employees, or 8% of its workforce, as it looks to simplify its organization.

CEO Chris Hyams took responsibility for "how we got here" in a memo in May but said the company is not yet set up for growth after last year's global hiring slowdown caused multiple quarters of declining sales.

Hyams said the latest cuts will be more concentrated in the US and primarily affect R&D and Go-to-Market teams. That's in contrast to last year's across-the-board reduction of 2,200 workers.

Walmart is axing hundreds of corporate jobs

Retail giant Walmart is cutting hundreds of corporate jobs and asking remote employees to come to work, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Workers in smaller offices, such as those in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto, are also being asked to move to central locations like Walmart's corporate headquarters in Arkansas or those in New Jersey or California, the Journal reported.

Under Armour is slashing an unspecified number of jobs, incurring $22 million in severance costs

Under Armour confirmed it was conducting layoffs in its quarterly earnings report, which was released May 16.

The company said it will pay out employee severance and benefits expenses of roughly $15 million in cash-related and $7 million in non-cash charges this year related to a restructuring plan, with close to half of that occurring in the current fiscal quarter.

"This is not where I envisaged Under Armour playing at this point in our journey," CEO Kevin Plank told investors on the company's full-year earnings call. "That said, we'll use this turbulence to reconstitute our brand and business, giving athletes, retail customers and shareholders bigger and better reasons to care about and believe in Under Armour's potential."

Pixar cuts about 175 people in pivot back to feature films

Disney's Pixar Animation Studios is cutting 175 people, about 14% of its staff, Reuters reported.

The cuts started on May 21 as the studio returns to its focus on feature-length movies. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who was axed in 2022, had increased staff across studios to create more content for the company's streaming service, Disney+.

Pixar cut 75 jobs last year, Reuters previously reported, part of a larger restructuring across Disney.

Lucid Motors is slashing around 400 jobs.

In a regulatory filing, Lucid Motors said it would lay off about 400 employees as part of a restructuring plan that should be complete by the end of the third quarter.

"I'm confident Lucid will deliver the world's best SUV and dramatically expand our total addressable market, but we aren't generating revenue from the program yet," CEO Peter Rawlinson said in an email to employees obtained by TechCrunch.

The cuts come ahead of Lucid's launch of its first electric SUV later this year. It comes over a year after the California-based company laid off 1,300 employees, TechCrunch previously reported.

• OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have released a flood of AI updates in recent weeks.
• The hype cycle was caused in part by a surge in AI funding and companies' psychological motivations, a Gartner analyst told BI.
• The race could slow if funding slows, the analyst said, which could also impact startups.

If you feel like you can't keep up with the deluge of AI announcements, you're not alone.

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt summed up what many of us are thinking at the VivaTech conference in Paris earlier this week: "It feels confusing."

In the last two weeks, developers and consumers have been bombarded with a steady stream of AI updates and product launches, showing just how heated the AI race has become.

OpenAI kicked off the flurry of AI news by first showing off its new version of ChatGPT, powered by its new flagship model GPT-4o, which can have more human-like conversations and reason across audio, vision, and text.

A day later, Google held its two-hour I/O conference, which introduced a series of new updates and launches related to its Gemini AI, including Project Astra, customizable "Gems" assistants, and a glimpse into AI-generated Search.

On Tuesday, Microsoft introduced over 50 new products and partnerships at its annual developer conference, which lasted over two hours. Next month, Apple is expected to announce its entrance into the generative AI race with the iOS 18 reveal at its WWDC event.

There are so many new announcements that it's becoming difficult to keep up with what's out and what's coming soon. So, what can we expect moving forward — and will the announcements ever slow down?

BI spoke with Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished Vice President, Analyst at Gartner, to find out.

How we got here

It isn't uncommon for companies to aggressively compete for the best offerings, and this trend is often seen in a tech hype cycle, such as when PCs and smartphones first came out.

Simply put, "all the tech cycles are this way," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

Gartner's Chandrasekaran gave two reasons for why the flurry of AI announcements is happening now. First, there's a psychological reason.

"Everybody wants to be heard in the noise," Chandrasekaran said.

That means that there's going to be a lot of so-called AI washing and AI marketing as companies fight for a chance to get noticed, Chandrasekaran added.

He also said there were tremendous investments in AI and tech from 2015 until 2022, resulting in hundreds of startups all trying to build their capabilities simultaneously. It's also resulted in ongoing waves of layoffs in the industry as companies recover from overhiring during that era.

The outcome of this climate

The result is that enterprise leaders are overwhelmed by the pace of produce releases, Chandrasekaran said. There's also a sense of fatigue in the industry because people are being overloaded with new announcements.

Chandrasekaran said that makes it difficult for enterprise leaders to make long-term bets in the AI space because everything they see currently on the market is likely to soon change.

"They prefer stability over speed," Chandrasekaran said about enterprise leaders.

"They're delivering services to their customers where reliability and performance and all of these things are of utmost importance to them," Chandrasekaran added.

But with the flurry of the product launches, it's becoming increasingly challenging to ensure reliability along with a stable set of deliverable services, Chandrasekaran said.

Chandrasekaran said that while there are some high-quality products and startups that will emerge as the next tech giants, there's also a lot of AI washing in the market today. That, and some vendors are claiming to have AI-related abilities that actually aren't AI.

"They could be using simple rules-based engine," Chandrasekaran said. "And they could be calling it AI or they may be using more classic machine learning and calling it like Gen AI."

When will it slow down?

Chandrasekaran said many startups may not make it to the next round of funding because they lack market fit or a clear path to profitability.

We'll start to see that moment of reckoning in the second half of 2024 into 2025, Chandrasekaran predicted.

When some of that dust starts to settle down with the startups, Chandrasekaran said the big vendor ecosystem will feel less pressure and will also start to slow down.

"It's kind of a vicious cycle that I think will be broken at some point in time," Chandrasekaran said.

• Google's AI search results suggested you could put glue in pizza sauce to keep the cheese from sliding off.
• Google had obviously ingested a Reddit comment that was meant as a joke — but the AI didn't get it.
• I still went ahead and made a pizza with 1/8 of a cup of glue. What's this all mean for the future?

Google launched its AI search results last week, and people have been noticing it's been giving some wildly wrong results. It's said that, yes, a dog has played in the NHL, that running with scissors has health benefits, and that 17 US presidents attended the University of Wisconsin.

But the most ridiculous of all was someone who noticed on X that if you asked Google about "cheese not sticking to pizza," (don't you hate it when that happens?) AI would give you a helpful answer. Adding glue to the pizza sauce:

I knew my assignment: I had to make the Google glue pizza. (Don't try this at home! I risked myself for the sake of the story, but you shouldn't!)

I did use Google to make sure that "non-toxic" glue was indeed semi-safe to eat. Google's AI answer said that small quantities might lead to an upset stomach but not, say, death. That's good enough for me.

(Since I know you're wondering, yes, I did eat paste as a kid. I loved it. It was minty. I only stopped because of shame from the other first graders. But now I'm an adult and can't be shamed for eating glue pizza.)

I assembled my ingredients from my local grocery store: shredded cheese, marinara sauce, a ball of pizza dough, and, of course, non-toxic school glue (which I already had at home).

OBVIOUS WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. DO NOT EAT GLUE. SERIOUSLY.

And to anyone who feels compelled to point out I shouldn't have used jarred sauce or pre-shredded cheese: Please … keep in mind I'm eating glue here.

After spreading out the dough, now to mix the sauce and glue.

Google said to use 1/8 cup of glue, but not how much sauce. I eyeballed that the pizza would need about a half cup of red sauce.

I had imagined the amount would be more like a "light drizzle" of glue. But 1/8 of a cup is 2 tablespoons, and it seemed like quite a bit more than I expected.

It came out a nice orange color, like vodka sauce. As I mixed and spread, I didn't notice a significant change in the consistency of the sauce.

Now for the cheese and some fresh basil. Ready for the oven!

I baked it at 450 degrees for 12 minutes, which turned out to be a little too long — it was lightly burned.

When I opened the oven door, I was hit with a blast of steam and fumes, and I momentarily freaked out. I remember that when "NyQuil chicken" was a viral meme, doctors warned that the real danger was lung damage from toxic fumes.

By heating up the chemicals in the glue, would I create some kind of toxic gas?

Well, let's hope not! Here we go!

Finally, the taste test:

My verdict: This wasn't the best homemade pizza I've had — I couldn't necessarily tell if the glue was the problem or the cheap jarred sauce could've used a little more seasoning. (In the marinara's defense, it's hard to complain about taste when you add glue.)

But also … it was kind of OK? I only had a few bites because I was afraid of poisoning myself.

Most importantly: Did the glue keep the cheese from sliding off? You bet it did:

What does this all mean? For me personally, this means that I'm an idiot who eats glue. But what does it mean for Google and the future of AI-powered search?

These goofy AI answers are funny but apparently rare. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider: "The examples we've seen are generally very uncommon queries and aren't representative of most people's experiences. The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web."

But still: Google AI spits out wild answers often enough that it's reasonable to say that there's a user mistrust of AI-powered answers (for now). The pizza glue controversy is silly — no one with three brain cells would actually do this — but we can assume that AI also gives answers that are less obviously wrong but still wrong.

It appears that the origin of the pizza glue was a joke made on Reddit 11 years ago about adding glue to sauce. That Google's AI search answers are based on Reddit should largely be a good thing: Reddit is full of useful answers for how to do things and other common quandaries. But Google's AI failed to decipher that this Reddit answer was clearly a joke.

What will this mean for the general public's trust in Google and AI? I'm not sure! This week's OpenAI/Scarlett Johansson debacle probably had a much bigger effect on worries about whether the companies behind AI are operating ethically, regardless of what actually went down.

Presumably, Google AI search results will improve, and these weird flukes of bad results will become increasingly rare. There is a very reasonable concern among a lot of people that "let Google do the Googling for you" will have a very bad effect on the web as we know it. Depriving clicks to the websites that actually provide the information that powers AI results will probably have some unfortunate long-term effects.

If you'd like to hear some more smart thoughts on this, I recommend the most recent episode of the Search Engine podcast on this topic. It would be great to listen to as you cook up your own homemade non-glue pizza.

Lastly, I have to say, once again: DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF. DO NOT EAT GLUE PIZZA.

• One of the most storied US submarines of WWII has been found at the bottom of the South China Sea. 
• The Lost 52 project aims to find and memorialize all 52 US submarines sunk during World War II.
• The group uses advanced underwater drones and photogrammetry to confirm its finds.

Researchers say they have located the final resting place of one of the most storied vessels of World War II: the USS Harder.

The submarine was found more than 3,000 feet underwater at the bottom of the South China Sea, almost intact except for damage to its conning tower, according to the archaeology branch of US Naval History and Heritage Command.

US NHHC confirmed the find on Thursday, crediting data collected by Lost 52, a project dedicated to finding and memorializing all 52 US submarines sunk during the war.

Lost 52 is headed by entrepreneur and ocean explorer Tim Taylor, along with diving entrepreneur Christine Dennison.

They used advanced photogrammetry and underwater robotics to locate and take stunning images of the Harder, which was sunk by Japan off the coast of the Philippines in 1944.

Lost submarines are notoriously difficult to locate and identify, as Business Insider's Elias Chavez previously reported.

"Submarines by their very design can be a challenge to identify, but the excellent state of preservation of the site and the quality of the data collected by Lost 52 allowed for NHHC to confirm the identity of the wreck as Harder," the NHHC said in a statement.

The Harder — sailing under the slogan "Hit 'em Harder" — was sunk on August 24, 1944, after racking up a prodigious number of kills.

Seventy-nine servicemen were aboard, including the famed Commander Samuel Dealey.

"Harder was lost in the course of victory," NHHC Director and retired Rear-Admiral Samuel J. Cox said, adding that the sub used "particularly audacious attacks" against the Japanese.

In the course of a single patrol, Harder sank three enemy destroyers, as well as destroying or damaging a further two, according to NHHC.

The Harder's final patrol saw it seek out new targets alongside the USS Hake near Dasol Bay in the northern Philippines.

The pair started to hunt two Japanese ships. Harder fired three torpedoes before it fell victim to a series of depth charges. The Hake took evasive maneuvers, but the Harder was not so lucky.

The Lost 52 team has previously located at least six other US submarines.

"We maintain a policy of not disclosing current ongoing expedition plans" out of respect for families, the group says on its website, adding that it only announces discoveries once they are fully confirmed.

Lost 52's cofounder Taylor is the CEO of Tiburon Subsea, which focuses on ocean-floor data collection using underwater drones.

The discovery — which Taylor told BI is part of a multi-year $50 million project — illustrates the growing use of underwater photogrammetry to illuminate deep-sea sites that are otherwise difficult to reach.

Finding the Harder "highlighted the importance of ocean data collection and the significance of underwater robotic technology," Taylor told BI.

It's part of a growing "blue economy" that is predicted to be a $30 trillion industry by 2030, he added.

Undersea photogrammetry uses divers or remotely operated vehicles to take thousands of pictures from all sides, which are then stitched together using software, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Google's Pixel 8a is here to serve the pragmatics and those unwilling to spend over $500, and it's a phenomenal option for both. It's all the phone most people practically need, and it offers incredible value for its performance and camera quality.

In Google's ecosystem, the Pixel 8a is essentially a more affordable version of the Pixel 8 that's missing a few features. Yet, apart from a couple of inconsequential attributes (display borders and charging speed), it's doubtful that you'd notice much of a difference between the Pixel 8a and the Pixel 8. 

As such, the Pixel 8a cannibalizes the Pixel 8's need to exist, at least if you're looking at full price tags. No other phone can match the Pixel 8a's value proposition at its $499 starting price, and it's worth stretching your budget (if possible) if you had a lower price in mind.

Design: Only one dead giveaway that it's not an expensive phone

For those familiar with Google's recent Pixel design, there's little new or impactful to the Pixel 8a. The corners are more rounded than previous Pixel "a" generations, and the clear plastic back makes way for a smooth frosted texture, which I'm a fan of.

The phone looks and feels like a premium device, and you wouldn't know the back is made of plastic unless you're looking for clues by pressing on it and tapping it with your fingers — something I do while scrutinizing new phones for review, but not in day-to-day use.

The only real giveaway that the Pixel 8a isn't on the same level as Google's flagship models in terms of design is the wider black borders around the display than you'd find on premium flagships. It's a typical and expected tradeoff for the Pixel 8a's lower price, and not a dealbreaker by any means for one of the best budget Android phones. 

With its 6.1-inch display, the Pixel 8a is a smaller phone, so it won't please those who like big screens. There's no option with a larger display, either, and you're largely out of luck if you're looking for a large-screen budget phone with the same caliber performance, display, and cameras. 

Performance and display: Unrivaled for its price 

In day-to-day usage, the Pixel 8a is indistinguishable from a premium phone thanks to its bright OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and the same Google Tensor G3 processor found in the flagship Pixel 8 phones. 

Benchmarks scores reveal the Pixel 8a has identical performance to the Pixel 8, but the Pixel 8 Pro scores slightly higher. The only difference that can explain the discrepancy is the Pixel 8 Pro's 12GB of RAM compared to 8GB in the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. To be sure, the difference is barely notable, and the Pixel 8a should last just as long as the Pixel 8 Pro before it reaches your own definition of "too slow, time to upgrade."

On the topic of longevity, Google will keep the Pixel 8a updated with new versions of Android, new features, and security patches for the Pixel 8a for seven years until May 2031. That's great news for those who keep their phones as long as possible before upgrading, and it matches Samsung's support window for its Galaxy S24 phones.

With that said, I have my doubts the Pixel 8a will remain sprightly for as long as seven years, but that depends entirely on your threshold for slower performance before you feel it's time to upgrade. 

Cameras: Unfairly good

The cameras on Google's Pixel "a" phones set such a high bar for mid-range phones that it's almost unfair for other phones in the $400-$500 range, including iPhones. In fact, the Pixel 8a's 64MP main camera and 13MP ultrawide undeniably deliver premium-quality photos that you'd easily expect on an expensive flagship model. The only limitation compared to major Android flagships is its dual-lens camera compared to the triple-lens cameras.

The Pixel 8a bins (combines) the 64 megapixels in its main camera to produce a 16-megapixel photo, which dramatically reduces the sizes of each photo, and helps capture more dynamic lighting. 

The Pixel 8a takes clear, sharp photos with Google's signature excellent balance of color, lighting, and dynamic contrast that delivers plenty of depth. While it's not perfect, the Pixel 8a also does an excellent job of keeping details in ultra-bright subjects. Apart from taking high-quality photos, the Pixel 8a is reliably consistent, too — I don't feel the need to check photos after taking them.

The Pixel 8a has a 2x digital zoom that adds some versatility to the phone's camera system to capture sharper images of subjects further away or to get a close-up. Google says the Pixel 8a 2x zoom mode isn't optical quality like it is on the Pixel 8, but it sure looks that way — 2x zoomed photos are just as sharp and detailed as a 1x photo. You could almost go as far as to say the Pixel 8a has three cameras if you count the 2x zoom mode, even though it only has two physical lenses. 

The Pixel 8a takes decent shots in the dark, too, but it's not the best we've seen in terms of sharpness, and the dark sky appears pixelated and blotchy in some of our test shots. For the photo below, the Pixel 8a told me to stay still for two seconds — the same as premium phones like the iPhone 15 or Pixel 8. 

AI features: A lower price doesn't mean less for Google

The Pixel 8a has nearly all the same AI features as Google's flagship models in its current software iteration, and a subsequent update is set to add to its slate.

Popular and genuinely useful AI tools that actually work are present now, like Circle To Search, Best Take, Magic Eraser, and Call Screen, among several others.  

In a future update, the Pixel 8a will also support Google's on-device AI model, Gemini Nano, but as of now, you're not missing much.

On-device AI features powered by Gemini Nano, like Summarize for voice recordings and Smart Reply in Gboard, are rather niche at the moment for daily use, even if they're technologically impressive. 

Battery and charging: Great battery life but slow charging

The Pixel 8a obtained the same 61% result as the Pixel 8 after our battery test, which is a result we'd expect for a phone with a 6.1-inch display. That's to say the Pixel 8a has great battery life, but it won't miraculously change the way you usually charge your phones. 

The Pixel 8a's 18W charging speeds are slow but fairly typical for the price range — it's one of the compromises of a more affordable phone. You have the option of wireless charging, but only at 7.5W speeds. That's rather slow but totally fine for overnight charging.

You'll need your own charger, as Google doesn't pack one with the Pixel 8a. A USB-C-to-USB-C cable is included, as well as a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter that's handy for legacy chargers with USB-A, so you can use pretty much any charger you might already have. Just note that the charger you have, or intend to buy, needs to support at least 18W to charge the Pixel 8a at its fastest potential. 

Should you buy the Google Pixel 8a?

The Google Pixel 8a has premium attributes where it counts, like high-end camera quality and performance, for a mid-range price. It's an excellent phone that comes easily recommended as one of the best Android phones for its value. It even looks and feels like a premium device, and you can get more than your money's worth with Google's seven-year support window for Android upgrades and security updates.

However, the Pixel 8a hasn't seen many deals or discounts at the time of writing (soon after its release), and the Pixel 8 can be found for a periodic deal price of $549 from retailers like Amazon — a point you can justify going for the Pixel 8.

Plus, some carriers even offer the Pixel 8 (as well as the Pixel 8a) for free, albeit with some typical carrier conditions, like keeping your service active for a certain amount of time. If that's the case with your carrier, you might as well get the Pixel 8, as long as you're comfortable with the conditions set by your carrier. 

If you decide to buy the Pixel 8a, check out our guides to the best Google Pixel 8a cases and best Google Pixel 8a screen protectors to provide the phone with comprehensive protection. 

• A $35 million settlement fund could be established after a class action lawsuit against Apple.
• The 2019 lawsuit said iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues, which Apple denied.
• Some iPhone customers can receive up to $349.

Apple recently reached a $35 million settlement with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus users who said their phones had audio problems. That means if you had one of those phones, you could get paid.

The lawsuit — available on the Settlement Administrator website — was first filed in 2019. It argues the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues related to the "audio IC chip." The plaintiffs also accused Apple of violating consumer protection laws and breach of warranty.

Apple denied the phones had audio issues or that the company did anything wrong. Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Nonetheless, Apple settled the case. Now attorneys for the plaintiffs said affected iPhone users could get up to $349.

"We are proud of the nationwide class action Settlement that is pending final approval before the Court, which if approved will provide Settlement Class Members who complained to Apple about the alleged audio defect up to $349 in monetary relief," attorneys Andrea Gold and Greg Coleman said in a statement.

Here's what iPhone customers need to know.

Who qualifies?

Apple customers in the United States who owned those phone models between September 2016 and January 2023 might be eligible to receive payment for the proposed settlement.

The settlement administrator says customers must have reported the covered audio issues to Apple, including those who paid "out of pocket" for repairs and replacements related to the covered audio issues.

How much money could iPhone customers receive?

iPhone customers who paid Apple "out of pocket" for replacements and repairs related to the audio issue will receive "an equal payment of at least $50 and no more than $349."

Those who reported the audio issues to Apple but did not pay for repairs or replacements will receive "an equal payment of up to $125."

The $35 million settlement fund will be formally established if a judge grants approval during a hearing on July 18.

When is the deadline to apply?

The deadline for customers who want to be included in the settlement is June 3. They must provide the settlement administrator with payment information and preferred payment method.

Interested customers can provide that information via an online form or mail it to the Tabak v. Apple Class Action Administrators.

"Settlement Class Members must submit Payment Information Forms by June 3 in order to receive money if the Settlement is approved and we strongly encourage them to do so promptly," Gold and Coleman said in their statement.

Some customers included in the settlement may receive a postcard notification or email about the lawsuit.

If customers don't select a payment method and provide payment information, they'll remain in the settlement class but cannot receive payment. They will also waive their rights to sue Apple for the aforementioned issues in the future.

• NASA's James Webb Telescope observed three galaxies in the universe's very early stages.
• The galaxies were likely forming around the time our universe was just 400 to 600 million years old
• Studying early galaxy and star formation helps astronomers better understand the cosmic dark ages.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected three galaxies as they were likely forming during the universe's infancy, the space agency said Thursday.

Data from the telescope, which is located about a million miles from Earth, showed these galaxies feeding on gas when the universe was only about 400 million to 600 million years old, NASA said in a press release.

That's extremely young by cosmological standards since most astronomers agree that the universe is probably about 13.7 billion years old. In other words, these galaxies offer a rare glimpse of the universe in its infancy and an exciting opportunity for astronomers to learn more about what happened shortly after the Big Bang.

And it's all thanks to the tremendous observing power of the James Webb Telescope. "Without Webb, we would not be able to observe these very early galaxies, let alone learn so much about their formation," Kasper Heintz, an assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark said in the press release.

Heintz is the lead author of a study on this latest Webb discovery.

The images of the galaxies from the telescope merely look like "faint red smudges" so the researchers relied on other data, specifically patterns of colors known as spectra.

From that data, the team concluded the presence of large quantities of gas around the galaxies, which likely condensed to form young stars in the early universe.

The Cosmic Dark Ages

Studying young stars in the early universe is important because it helps astronomers understand a crucial moment in cosmic evolution: when the universe went from opaque to transparent, like what we see now.

This pivotal moment in cosmic history is known as the Era of Reionization. If you lived in the universe before the Era of Reionization you couldn't observe distant stars and galaxies because gas all around you would obstruct your view. For that reason, this period is often called the Cosmic Dark Ages.

But sometime around 1 billion years after the Big Bang, heat from stars and galaxies turned that opaque gas transparent. This is why we can see distant stars and galaxies in the night sky when we look up.

Astronomers study the Era of Reionization to understand the very early moments in our universe when galaxies and stars first formed and how. That's why Webb's latest images of three galaxies forming during the universe's infancy are so exciting because astronomers rarely witness galaxy formation so soon after the Big Bang.

"These galaxies are like sparkling islands in a sea of otherwise neutral, opaque gas," Heintz said in the press release.

The team published their results in the peer-reviewed journal Science this week.