On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Sports Direct sets to further expand into the high street as it makes a £51.9 million offer for Game Digital, a cash bid triggered following plans to increase its stake in the game retailer to 38.5%.

“Sports Direct believes that the offer, in providing Game with the wider benefit of Sports Direct’s operating and other experience and increased support, will secure Game’s future and allow it to navigate these pressures,” a statement from the retailer reads.

The retailer, founded and led by Mike Ashley, already owns around 30% in Game. British takeover rules demand Sports Direct make a mandatory offer for Game should it increase its stake above 30%. Game currently faces tough times (as most retailers tend to), with fiscal H1 sales dropping by -4.7% to £492.9, but cost-cutting and higher margin sales helped interim pre-tax profits to increase by 20.3% to £14.8m.

HMD Global announces the Nokia 2.2-- a squarely entry-level Android One smartphone featuring what the company claims is AI-powered camera allowing for low-light photography.

Being a lower-tier device the Nokia 2.2 has specs to match. It carries a 2GHz MediaTek Helio A22 quad-core processor, 2/3GB RAM, 16/32GB storage (expandable via microSD card) and a removable 3000mAh battery. The 5.7-inch LCD display handles 720p resolution and has a notch housing a 5MP front-facing camera allowing for Face Unlock. Which should come useful, since the device lacks a fingerprint sensor.

Google takes to livestream ahead of E3 2019 to reveal further details of the Stadia game streaming service, including pricing model(s), the first games to hit the service and initial launch territories.

Stadia will technically be free to access, but customers wanting to check it out as early as possible will have to pay up. In November 2019 Google will launch the "Founder's Edition," a hardware package consisting of a Chromecast Ultra, a limited edition "Night Blue" controller and 3 months of premium service.

Samsung and AMD announce a multi-year partnership in "ultra low power high performance mobile graphics" based on AMD Radeon technology, with a particular focus on putting said technologies to work in smartphone applications.

“As we prepare for disruptive changes in technology and discover new opportunities, our partnership with AMD will allow us to bring groundbreaking graphics products and solutions to market for tomorrow’s mobile applications," Samsung says. "We look forward to working with AMD to accelerate innovations in mobile graphics technologies that will help take future mobile computing to the next level.”