The prices of smartphones have long been a subject of controversy for years. Every year, people constantly whine about how the prices of new phones are just too much. If you’re in the same camp, the status quo won’t go away anytime soon. According to Xiaomi, smartphones are going to get even pricier next year, and it’s all thanks to AI.

If you haven’t noticed, AI is a buzzword these days. Every smartphone brand has an AI-powered phone today. Of course, smartphones aren’t the only bastions for AI technology. Larger infrastructures are also relying more on AI. Apparently, it’s this battleground that might ripple towards higher smartphone prices.

During an earnings call, Xiaomi President Lu Weibing, via Reuters, explained that chipmakers are shifting their production more towards high-bandwidth memory chips for infrastructure, away from mobile chipsets. As such, the prices of mobile chips are expected to keep rising next year.

“Overall, consumers are likely to see a sizeable rise in product retail prices,” he said.

Though the company saw an increase in performance from last year, consumers are worried about their prices. If you know Xiaomi, that’s a legitimate worry. Like its Chinese contemporaries, Xiaomi maintains a healthy lineup of smartphones spanning from flagships to affordable budget phones. If pricing is a concern for them, then the status of the whole industry is also in question.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi 15T Series, Gold Collection pricing in the Philippines

Gamers today will rightly point out that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the game that will most likely bag the coveted Game of the Year award for 2025. Ahead of December 11, the popular turn-based RPG has not won yet. However, the nominations have just been announced, and it’s now safe to say that Expedition 33 has a real shot for the award.

The annual Game Awards has a lengthy list of awards it usually hands out. Of course, the highlight is Game of the Year. Besides Expedition 33, five other titles are vying for the crown: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

Besides the coveted award, Expedition 33 also got 11 other nominations, totalling 12, which is the most a single game has gotten in the twelve-year history of The Game Awards. This includes Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Independent Game, Best Indie Game Debut, and Best RPG.

If you’ve been counting, that’s just nine nominations. The remaining three of the 12 need their own spotlight. For Best Performance, the game single-handedly got three nominees in: Ben Starr, Charlie Cox, and Jennifer English. That’s half of the list, rounded out by Ghost of Yotei’s Erika Ishii, Silent Hill f’s Konatsu Kato, and Indiana Jones’s Troy Baker. Notably, even 2023’s Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t get multiple nominees in the category.

While Expedition 33 has a real chance with running away with a good chunk of the awards, viewers can control 10 percent of the vote via the fan voting process already up now. Plus, the awards will soon include a Players’ Voice award, which goes up on December 1.

SEE ALSO: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review: Beautifully haunting

The Legend of Zelda might be one of the hardest video games to adapt. After all, how do you write a script for a protagonist who never talks? But, by God, Nintendo is doing it anyway. Now, the company has released the first official images from the upcoming live action film’s production.

The upcoming Zelda film has had a long production cycle. First announced in 2023, it was only earlier this year when Nintendo put a date to the film’s premiere: March 26, 2027. Even now, we don’t know much about the film.

Over the weekend, unofficial photos showed that product started its filming in New Zealand. Unofficial photos don’t really mean much except for those who hang around the rumor mill, but they can spiral towards those excited for the film’s release. To get ahead of the rumors, Nintendo released official photos, over the Nintendo Today app, which show both Link and Princess Zelda.

Notably, Zelda, the archetypal princess in distress, isn’t wearing her usual princess’s garb. Rather, she’s wearing the blue gear from the Breath of the Wild duology, where the princess had a more active role in saving Hyrule. Bo Bragason, who plays the princess, will likely take on a more front-and-center role.

Link, played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, is wearing his more traditional green clothing from the past games. Though the film looks like it’s adapting the most recent duology, it might be an entirely different story, based on Link’s different clothes.

SEE ALSO: The Legend of Zelda live-action film now has a premiere date