Xiaomi 18 Pro debuts
Xiaomi launched its 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max flagships in China on September 23, headlined by the world's first dual 200MP Leica camera system and an 8,500mAh battery in the Pro Max. The phones are also the first to ship with Qualcomm's new 2-nanometer Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip, announced at this week's Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. The launch continues Xiaomi's tradition of being first to market with each generation's flagship silicon.
Tech titans head to the White House
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Apple head Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are expected to attend a White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Artificial intelligence is set to dominate the talks, with export controls on advanced chips and competing visions of AI safety on the agenda.
Heidi Health lands $340 million
Melbourne healthtech startup Heidi Health raised a $340 million package — $100 million in Series C equity plus a $240 million non-dilutive growth facility — to expand its clinical AI platform. The company, which began as an AI medical scribe, now handles around 2.8 million patient interactions a week in 110 languages and has won a major NHS deployment in England. Its valuation sits near the $1 billion mark.
DeepSeek briefs the UN
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is among the companies briefing the UN Security Council on AI risks this week, alongside Sam Altman and representatives of Anthropic. The session highlights how AI governance has become a top-tier diplomatic issue between the US and China.
The keyboard phone gets real
Clicks Technology finalized specs for the Clicks Communicator, the Android smartphone built around a physical keyboard: 12GB of RAM, a 4,350mAh battery and Android 17 out of the box. The $499 launch price holds through September 30 before rising to $649, with shipments starting in December.
Meta's AI phone calls meet reality
Meta tested having human contractors handle some calls for the phone-calling feature of its AI assistant Muse, after merchants kept hanging up when they realized the caller was an AI. The company says the test ended for now and the feature will only roll out with proper disclosures.
Data centres' power appetite
Data centres are expected to use four times more electricity by 2035, according to new projections — a reminder of the physical cost behind the AI boom. The figure will likely fuel the ongoing debate about AI infrastructure, energy prices and the environmental footprint of frontier models.
