Samsung extends standard warranty across products until June 15: Know more

The new warranty extension shall benefit more customers' as it widens the scope of warranty period on products that were not part of earlier announcement.

Samsung India has extended standard warranty on its product portfolio until June 15 to provide relief to customers grappling with the impact of coronavirus crisis, which has put the nation in lockdown for a period of more than two months.

"Keeping in mind the current situation, we have extended the standard warranty across our product portfolio till June 15, 2020. This will be valid for all products whose warranty expired in the period between March 20 and May 31," said Samsung India in a statement.

This is the second time Samsung has extended standard warranty on its products since the first lockdown owing to coronavirus was announced. Earlier, the company had extended the standard warranty till May 31, 2020 for all products whose warranty were expiring between March 20 and April 30.

The new warranty extension shall benefit more customers’ as it widens the scope of warranty period on products that were not part of earlier announcement.

Besides offering extended warranty, Samsung has also been working on new business models to boost sales amid coronavirus crisis. The company has partnered with digital payments platform Benow to help customers purchase Galaxy smartphones and Samsung consumer durables from their neighbourhood stores though digital platform.

Moreover, the company recently announced that all of its exclusive stores have been 'Suraksha' certified to ensure consumer safety at a time when social distancing is the new normal.

WhatsApp now allows up to 8 people to join a group video call: Details here

WhatsApp emphasised that like written messages, all calls on its platform are protected with end-to-end encryption.

Facebook-owned instant messaging platform, WhatsApp now allows up to eight people in a group video call. The number of total participants allowed in a video call were earlier limited to four. The change has been done in view of increasing number of people turning to digital platforms to connect with friends and family amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, WhatsApp said that people on average are spending over 15 billion minutes talking each day on WhatsApp calls, well above a typical day before the pandemic.

"...we see that people all over the world are turning to voice and video calling on WhatsApp more than ever before. Group calling has been particularly useful and our users have asked to connect with more people at once," WhatsApp said in a blogpost.

Starting Tuesday, the company is doubling the number of participants one can have on a WhatsApp video or voice call from 4 to 8 people at a time, it added.

WhatsApp emphasised that like written messages, all calls on its platform are protected with end-to-end encryption.

"We have built group calling in a way that makes it available for as many users as possible, including people on lower-end devices and slow network conditions," it added.

WhatsApp said that to access the new, higher participant limit on WhatsApp calls, all participants in a call need to update to the latest version of WhatsApp available on iPhone or Android.