Xiaomi Mi A2, Mi A2 Lite coming to India on August 8
Madrid, July 24 : Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Tuesday expanded its Android One line-up by launching Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite devices here that will come to India on August 8.
Mi A2 sports 12MP+20MP rear AI dual camera and 20MP front camera. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chip with the powerful Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine (AIE), the company said in a statement.
The smaller Mi A2 Lite has 12MP+5MP rear AI dual camera and 4,000mAh battery.
"Mi A2 is coming to India on 8th August," tweeted Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi, and Managing Director, Xiaomi India.
As Android One devices, both the units will have unlimited high-quality photo storage with Google Photos.
"Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite are two devices that will take our win-win partnership with Google to new heights, following the success of Mi A1 last year," said Wang Xiang, Senior Vice President, Xiaomi.
Mi A2 comes in three variants -- 4GB+32GB, 4GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB. Mi A2 Lite will be available in 3GB+32GB and 4GB+64GB. The devices will be rolled out gradually in 40 markets around the world.
"Our Android One series has now developed an excellent reputation and allowed us to win over the hearts of many more users in our global expansion journey," Xiang added.
Mi A2 features 5.99-inch 18:9 Full Screen Display, protected by a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
"We're thrilled to expand our Android One partnership this year to introduce two great new devices -- Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite. We can't wait for consumers around the world to see and experience them," added Jamie Rosenberg, Google's Vice President of Android and Google Play Business.
A useful feature on Mi A2 is that users can manually select the 20MP or 12MP rear camera according to environment lighting.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
