Apple iPhone 15 has become the best-selling smartphone globally in the third quarter (Q3) this year, followed closely by iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro, according to a report on Thursday.

Samsung maintained the biggest presence in the global top-10 best-selling smartphones list with five spots, followed by Apple with four and Xiaomi with one, according to Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker.

While Apple’s share of the top-10 list has declined slightly, Samsung’s presence has grown to keep the combined market contribution of the top 10 smartphones at around 19 per cent.

More than three in 10 (35 per cent) Indian property buyers are now interested in luxury and ultra-luxury homes, nearly double the 18 per cent recorded in the previous quarter (Q2), according to a report on Thursday, as disposable incomes rise amid overall economic growth.

This notable shift reflects growing confidence in the luxury housing market, according to the survey by real estate platform Magicbricks.

The findings showed that 25.5 per cent of prospective buyers are considering properties priced above Rs 1 crore, with significant interest in the Rs 3.5–Rs 5 crore segment.

The survey also underscores a strong preference for larger living spaces.

Auto major Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) on Thursday reported a 13 per cent rise in its standalone net profit for the July-September quarter at Rs 3,841 crore, driven by higher sales of SUVs and a revival in the demand for tractors.

M&M said its automobile segment, which produces the popular Thar and Scorpio SUVs, recorded the highest-ever quarterly volumes at 2,31,038 units in the quarter, up 9 per cent over the same period of the previous year.

The company’s tractor sales during the quarter rose 4 per cent YoY to 92,382 units with its highest-ever Q2 market share at 42.5 per cent for the farm equipment segment.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday said it has signed a multi-year deal with Air France-KLM to help it become the leading data-centric airline group in the world.

Over the next three years, TCS will modernise the airline group's data by moving it to cloud, promoting the next generation of data-driven aviation.

The shift will help Air France-KLM exit data centres and harness the strength of the cloud, supporting a sustainable and adaptive aviation industry, said the Indian IT services major.

The new data architecture will enable the use of data to enhance operations, drive decisions, improve functionality and gain efficiency.

German lender Deutsche Bank has announced the infusion of an additional Rs 5,113 crore to bolster its India operations.

This is the largest capital allocation to India in recent years and will be used for expanding business across corporate banking, investment banking and private banking, according to a Deutsche Bank's statement.

The bank, which has been operating in India for 45 years, reported a balance sheet size of Rs 1.45 lakh crore as of March 31, 2024.

The recent capital infusion represents a 33% increase over 2023 levels, raising Deutsche Bank AG India branches' regulatory capital to nearly Rs 30,000 crore. Over the past decade, this capital has tripled. The bank's strategic focus is on leveraging India's favourable position amid global trends like supply chain shifts and digitisation. "Consequently, we see enormous potential," said Alexander von zur Muehlen, CEO for Asia Pacific and other regions.

The total retail sales of cars, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles in India surged by as much as 32 per cent in October to 28.33 lakh units from 21.44 units in the same month last year on the back of bigger discounts in the festive season and higher rural incomes, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers' Association (FADA) data.

“The strong growth in October this year was largely driven by the rural market, especially boosting two-wheeler and passenger vehicles sales, supported by the increased Minimum Support Price (MSP) for rabi crops,” FADA said.

Car sales shot up by 32.4 per cent to 4,83 lakh units during the month due to the festive demand, especially for sports utility vehicles (SUV), as well as new model launches and offers, but inventory levels remained high.

Hyundai Motor Group has outperformed Volkswagen Group to become the world's second-largest automaker in terms of operating profit, industry data showed on Thursday.

According to automotive industry data, Hyundai Motor Group achieved sales of 69.4 trillion won ($49.6 billion) and an operating profit of 6.5 trillion won during the third quarter.

For the period from January to September, the South Korean automaker's cumulative sales reached 208.9 trillion won, while operating profit was recorded at 21.4 trillion won, reports news agency.

Apple has released iOS and iPadOS 18.2 software updates into public beta that include new features like an AI emoji generator app, ChatGPT integration with Siri and visual search using iPhone 16 cameras.

The new Apple Intelligence features, that were earlier available to developers, are now in public beta, like Genmoji and the Image Playground feature that generates pictures. ChatGPT access is free and doesn’t require an account to use it.

Now, public beta users can ask Siri to show them information from inside their apps, or take action on something that appears on their screen. You can ask ChatGPT to help you write text, answer questions, create images and more.

Tata Steel Ltd on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 833 crore for the July-Sept quarter (Q2) of the current financial year to bounce back from a loss of Rs 6,196 crore in the same quarter last year.

The company’s revenue from operations in the quarter fell 3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 53,905 crore.

The company reported an EBITDA of Rs 6,141 crore during the second quarter while margins stood at 11.4 per cent.

State-owned Power Grid Corporation of India on Wednesday announced a consolidated net profit at Rs 3,793.02 crore in the July-September quarter of the current financial year in a regulatory filing.

The second quarter profit of the power transmission giant remained flat as it had reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,781.42 crore in the quarter ended on September 30, 2023.

The Power Grid board also approved payment of the first interim dividend of Rs 4.50 per equity share of Rs 10 each for the financial year 2024-25. The dividend will be paid to shareholders on December 4. The company has fixed November 14 as the record date for the purpose of payment of determining the eligibility of shareholders.