iQOO has launched its Z11 smartphone in India, with prices starting at Rs 34,999 for the base 6GB+128GB variant.

The phone features a 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 2000-nit peak brightness, and a curved 3D design.

It is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 7500 Turbo chipset, which iQOO says is debuting in India with this device, paired with a 7,050mAh battery and 44W fast charging.

The Z11 comes with IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance, and is available in Celestial Blue and Aurora Green colour options.

On the camera front, the phone gets a 50MP Sony IMX882 main sensor with optical image stabilisation, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 32MP front-facing camera.

Sales begin on August 25 at 12 PM IST through Amazon.in, iQOO’s website, and select retail partners, with top-end variants priced up to Rs 49,999.

The device carries both IP68 and IP69 ratings, giving it protection against dust, immersion in water, and high-pressure water jets.

Sales begin on August 25 at 12 PM IST through Amazon.in, iQOO’s own website, and select offline retail partners including Reliance Digital.

The Z11 arrives in a crowded month for smartphone launches in India, with rivals including the Redmi Note 17 series, Vivo S2 and Google’s Pixel 11 lineup also debuting in August.

iQOO has positioned the Z11 as a mid-range device aimed at buyers who want flagship-adjacent features such as a high-refresh curved display and strong dust and water resistance without paying flagship prices.

The base 6GB+128GB variant at Rs 34,999 sits alongside 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB and 12GB+256GB options priced at Rs 39,999, Rs 44,999 and Rs 49,999 respectively.

The phone is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 7500 Turbo chipset, marking the first time this processor has appeared in a smartphone in India.

Storage and memory options range from 6GB+128GB up to 12GB+256GB, with the top variant priced at Rs 49,999.

Photo by Android Open Source Project (Peng Chia-Chieh), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5

ISRO will eventually stop manufacturing launch vehicles altogether, with the work shifting to private industry, IN-SPACe Chairman Pawan Kumar Goenka has said.

“Eventually, ISRO will not make any launch vehicles and will not manufacture any launch vehicles,” Goenka said, outlining a structural shift already under way in India’s space sector.

Under the new approach, ISRO will concentrate on advanced technologies, scientific missions and research, along with developing specialised satellites for particular orbits and scientific purposes.

Manufacturing of launch vehicles, satellites and other routine production work will transfer to private companies, continuing a shift that has already seen the SSLV programme move to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The announcement comes as India observes National Space Day today, marking the anniversary of Chandrayaan-3’s historic soft landing on the Moon’s south pole in 2023.

This year’s National Space Day theme is ‘Towards Viksit Bharat — Innovating, Collaborating and Aspiring to Global Space Leadership,’ reflecting the sector’s push toward greater private participation.

The restructuring is aimed at expanding India’s space economy from around $8 billion currently to a targeted $44 billion by 2033.

National Space Day, observed every August 23, commemorates the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s south pole in 2023, a feat that made India only the fourth country to achieve a soft lunar landing.

The announcement was made by IN-SPACe Chairman Pawan Kumar Goenka at Business Today’s India @ 100 Economy Summit on August 21.

The SSLV, ISRO’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, has already been transitioned to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, with HAL’s first SSLV launch expected in September 2027 from a new independent space launch centre.

Future transfers to the private sector will include the PSLV and LVM3 rockets, with upcoming bids for that manufacturing work set to exclude public sector companies.

ISRO has already transferred more than 120 technologies to private industry as part of this broader restructuring of India’s space sector.

Photo by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Bank of Baroda is investigating an alleged data leak after nearly a terabyte of data reportedly linked to the bank surfaced on the dark web.

The dataset was first identified by cybersecurity researcher Srikanth Lakshmanan, founder of the consumer advocacy platform Cashless Consumer, who found the listing over the weekend.

The alleged leak reportedly includes customer identity documents, loan application and appraisal records, internal audit reports, branch documents, customer application forms and internal communications.

Some reports have additionally claimed the dataset contains Aadhaar numbers and account records tied to savings, current and loan accounts, as well as NRI and corporate banking customers.

Researchers have suggested a possible link to a threat actor known as TripleX, previously tied to attacks on Indonesian financial institutions, though the connection is unconfirmed.

Bank of Baroda said the incident originated from the compromise of an employee’s email account, not any breach of its core banking infrastructure.

“The bank’s core banking systems were not accessed and continue to remain secure,” the bank said, confirming a comprehensive forensic investigation had been launched.

The bank said it was working closely with relevant authorities as the probe into the alleged breach continues.

Bank of Baroda’s share price fell 1.50 per cent to Rs 240.35 on the NSE on July 28, as the alleged breach added to concerns following the lender’s weaker first-quarter FY27 results.

The bank said containment measures were implemented immediately once the breach was detected, and that it was complying with all applicable regulatory requirements during the ongoing probe.

Data breaches involving Indian financial institutions have drawn increasing regulatory attention in recent years, with lenders required to report significant cybersecurity incidents to sector regulators within stipulated timeframes.

Bank of Baroda is one of India’s largest public sector banks, with a network spanning thousands of branches across the country as well as international operations in several countries.

(Image: Photo by Raghavan2010, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)