Retailers and carriers jumped on the iPhone XR release Friday, led by Sprint's "$0 per month" promotion for customers with an eligible trade-in phone and a Sprint Flex lease. The trade-in list includes seventh-generation and above iPhones, Samsung Galaxy 8 and above mobile devices, LG’s G7 ThinQ, and three Google Pixel models. At Best Buy, AT&T Wireless promoted a buy-one-save-$700-on-another deal for the XR with postpaid voice and data on both devices and at least one new line of activation. Best Buy's Verizon Wireless offer pushed the full X generation of iPhones, offering $750 in savings on an iPhone XR or X to customers who buy any of the X smartphones. Required are a new line of service that remains active for 24 months and an active first line account for six months. T-Mobile’s limited-time offer for any of the new trio of iPhone X models requires customers to agree to a payment plan and an eligible device trade-in to receive $10.83 per month back on their bill for up to 36 months. The XR, available in six colors, starts at $749, $250 less than the XS; has a 12-megapixel camera vs. the dual 12-megapixel cameras found on the XS and XS Max; and has a 6.1-inch LCD display vs. the 5.8-inch and 6.1-inch screens on the XS and XS Max.

Advanced Micro Devices is “monitoring the tariff situation very closely,” but “we don't see anything material” in the “overall impact,” said CEO Lisa Su on a Wednesday-evening earnings call. “We are doing quite a bit to adjust our supply chain, as I'm sure many others are,” she said. “We already had a supply chain that was highly multisourced, and so that's very helpful.” Computing and graphics revenue, the biggest portion of Q3 sales, rose 12 percent to $938 million from the year-ago quarter but declined sequentially. "The quarter-over-quarter decline was due to significantly lower graphics revenue driven by high channel inventory," AMD reported. The stock closed down 15 percent at $19.27.

Biometric technology company Zwipe teamed with Tappy Technologies to develop and launch biometric wearable payment, access and digital authentication devices, they said Monday. Tappy will license Zwipe’s IP, for biometric authentication in wearables and payment cards.

Innovation is ahead for a “stuttering” virtual reality market, Futuresource reports, predicting 220 percent growth this year for game content to $1.3 billion. “Mass market uptake is going to be gradual, but it is going to happen” as content evolves, user experience improves and entry-prices drop, said Michael Boreham Thursday. Full game sales and downloads are expected to dominate, led by Steam and Oculus, first in the “PC VR” and then “building out a presence in mobile VR,” which the analyst sees as the best hope for establishing a market foothold. Boreham predicts mobile VR will divide into Google’s Cardboard platform at the entry level and second-generation all-in-one devices.

Twelve percent of U.S. broadband households reported unresolved technical problems this year vs. 5 percent in the previous three years, with issues becoming more complicated and difficult to diagnose, Parks Associates blogged Wednesday. “Strong value is achieved from the smart home when devices communicate with each other,” analyst Patrice Samuels said, but diversity in device technology and communication protocols is making seamless communication difficult. Wi-Fi connectivity is the most persistent issue, Samuels said.

Flagship smartphones in 5- and 5.5-inch screen sizes are preferred by most consumers, especially in China and India, where a 5.5-inch screen is considered “ideal” vs. the preferred 5-inch last year, Strategy Analytics reported. SA Wednesday cited better productivity and entertainment capabilities, thinner designs, higher quality screen resolution and quality as features driving consumers to larger screens. Improving “one-handed usability” and adding voice assistants will reduce user friction with larger screens, pushing preferences for larger devices further, said analyst Chris Schreiner.

Smartphones remain among the most popular holiday gifts, and many will use them to make purchases, said Ben Arnold, CTA senior director-innovation and trends. Two-thirds of U.S. adults plan to buy a tech product as a gift this year, on par with 2017. Voice technology will help drive record-setting $96.1 billion in holiday U.S. tech revenue. Shoppers making purchases via mobile devices will bump to 58 percent, surpassing online for a second straight year, the group reported Tuesday.

Effects of 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, which the Trump administration imposed last month, aren’t likely to be felt at retail this holiday season, said CTA President Gary Shapiro Monday at the association's conference in Boston. Shapiro’s bigger concern is what happens after Jan. 1, when tariffs will rise to 25 percent. He left open the possibility of a domino effect involving other events -- the stock market, elections and the overall economic mood -- that could affect the holiday season. Responding to our question whether CTA will sue over the levies, he said “there’s definitely a reason to question the legality of what the president has done because the Constitution lays out our laws, the Constitution gives Congress the authority to raise taxes, the tariff is a tax, and there’s a very serious question of whether Congress has given the president the authority to raise tariffs because of retaliation.” Meantime, LG will deliver its first-ever keynote address at CES, CTA Executive Vice President Karen Chupka announced. Chief Technology Officer I.P. Park will discuss artificial intelligence and its future impact on consumers, said a company spokesperson.

U.S. demand for skilled tech workers is rising, but tech company optimism about finding such talent is waning, said CTA Monday. It canvassed 293 tech “leaders” May-July who identify as CTA members or CES attendees. Asked how they expect finding qualified candidates to fill jobs will change in five years, 7 percent think it will be easier, a 2 percentage-point decline. Fifty-nine percent expect it will get tougher.

SiriusXM bought PayTollo, a GPS mobile payment platform, said SiriusXM Thursday. It adds transportation tolling to Sirius unit's Automatic offerings, said Joe Verbrugge, the parent's general manager-emerging business. The company offers an install-it-yourself adapter and mobile app that enables most vehicles to become connected so drivers have access to services including crash alerts, roadside assistance, real-time vehicle location monitoring and sharing, vehicle performance monitoring, recall notifications and service reminders. PayTollo's mobile payment platform for tolls and bridges is used in California and Florida.