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Festive spirit with Dolby: Top trends for India’s festive season
Mumbai: The festive season in India is just around the corner, and it’s that time of the year when joy, celebrations, and the spirit of giving take centre stage. With people looking to make the most of this season, Dolby is here to elevate your festive experiences with top audio and visual trends. Here are the trends to watch out for as you gear up for the festive season:
1. Immersive audio is a must-have:
Festive celebrations include music and movie nights. This season, it’s all about embracing immersive audio experiences with Dolby Atmos. Enjoy rich, three-dimensional sound that makes you feel like you’re right in the action. Dolby Atmos creates a captivating audio environment, perfect for enjoying classic festive songs or watching your favourite holiday movies with unparalleled clarity and realism. Also watch out for curated festive playlists in Dolby Atmos across streaming platforms. For the sports fan in you, host a watch party & enjoy this festive season with live sports in Dolby Atmos with your family & friends.
2. Relax and Unwind with Dolby Vision:
Festivals are a feast for the senses, and your eyes deserve the best treat. Dolby Vision brings movies and TV shows to life with stunning brightness, contrast, and colour, ensuring an unparalleled visual experience. Dolby Vision technology enhances the nitty-gritty, making every detail pop and leaving you in awe. And you don’t necessarily need to be in your living room near a TV, watch or record & share content in Dolby Vision on your smartphone, tablets etc while on the go as you step out to soak in the festivities…
3. Home Theater Extravaganza:
For the ones who opt for stay-at-home festivities, a dedicated home theatre setup is a must-have. Create your own festive cinema with a Dolby-enabled home theatre system or simply a soundbar or even a standalone smart speaker. A Dolby Atmos-enabled living room device will immerse you in the celebrations, bringing the sounds of fireworks, music, and laughter right into your living room.
4. Streaming Delights:
Streaming services take the lead in festive entertainment. Enjoy a wide array of content, from movies, TV Shows, live sports & news, music or even vernacular content, and make it an unforgettable experience in Dolby. International AV streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video & Apple TV+ to Indian streaming platforms like Disney+Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV, JioCinema, SunNXT, Hoichoi etc offer a plethora of content in Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. Experience your favorite content in your preferred Indian language now in the best experience available.
5. Gift the Magic of Dolby:
Gifting gadgets or simply recommending an unforgettable experience is a popular festive tradition in India. This season, make the magic of Dolby a part of your gifting tradition. Gift your loved ones Dolby-enabled, TVs, speakers, soundbars, smartphones, tablets or even headphones/TWS for a memorable and thoughtful present that enhances their entertainment experiences. For the ones wanting to share their favourite content experience in Dolby, can gift a subscription of their favourite AV, music or podcast streaming service in Dolby.
6. Watch Party – Bring Stadium home:
Transform your living room into a stadium-like atmosphere and invite friends over for an exhilarating live cricket watch party. Engage yourselves in the immersive audio experience of Dolby Atmos, enhancing the vivid visuals on Star Sports1 HD and Star Sports1 Hindi HD. Feel the excitement as if you’re in the stadium, passionately cheering for your favorite team. It’s a thrilling experience that brings the game to life right in the comfort of your own home.
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Amazon Q1 revenue jumps 17 per cent to $181.5bn, profit soars to $30.3bn
AWS surges 28 per cent while AI bets reshape cash flow and drive future growth
SEATTLE: Amazon kicked off 2026 with a strong first quarter, reporting a 17 per cent year-on-year jump in net sales to $181.5 billion, up from $155.7 billion in the same period last year, as growth across cloud, advertising, and retail continued to gather pace.
Excluding a $2.9 billion favourable impact from foreign exchange, sales still rose a solid 15 per cent, underlining broad-based demand across its businesses.
The company’s cloud arm, Amazon Web Services, remained the star performer, with revenue climbing 28 per cent to $37.6 billion. Operating income for AWS reached $14.2 billion, up from $11.5 billion a year ago, reinforcing its role as Amazon’s profit engine.
Meanwhile, North America sales rose 12 per cent to $104.1 billion, while international revenue increased 19 per cent to $39.8 billion, or 11 per cent excluding currency effects.
Profit growth outpaced revenue. Operating income climbed to $23.9 billion from $18.4 billion last year, while net income surged to $30.3 billion, or $2.78 per share, compared with $17.1 billion, or $1.59 per share, in the first quarter of 2025. A significant boost came from $16.8 billion in pre-tax gains linked to Amazon’s investment in Anthropic.
Cash generation also strengthened, with operating cash flow rising 30 per cent to $148.5 billion over the trailing twelve months. However, free cash flow dropped sharply to $1.2 billion from $25.9 billion, largely due to a $59.3 billion increase in capital expenditure, primarily tied to artificial intelligence investments.
Commenting on the results, Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy said, “We’re making customers’ lives easier and better every day across all our businesses, and their response is driving significant growth.”
He added that AWS growth of 28 per cent marked its fastest pace in 15 quarters, while Amazon’s chips business crossed a $20 billion annual revenue run rate, growing at triple-digit rates. Advertising revenue also crossed $70 billion on a trailing twelve-month basis, and store unit growth hit 15 per cent, its highest since the tail end of pandemic lockdowns.
Artificial intelligence remained front and centre of Amazon’s strategy. The company deepened partnerships with OpenAI, Meta, NVIDIA and Uber, while expanding its proprietary chip ecosystem including Trainium and Graviton.
Amazon revealed that it has already deployed over 2.1 million AI chips in the past year and plans to roll out more than one million NVIDIA GPUs starting in 2026. OpenAI alone is expected to consume around two gigawatts of Trainium capacity for advanced AI workloads beginning in 2027.
The company also highlighted rapid adoption of its AI services, with Amazon Bedrock processing more tokens in the first quarter than in all previous years combined, and customer spending on the platform rising 170 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Beyond cloud and AI, Amazon continued to scale its consumer and logistics ecosystem. It delivered more than one billion items via same-day or overnight delivery so far in 2026 and expanded ultra-fast delivery services across multiple global markets. Prime Video also saw strong engagement, including sports streaming growth and box office success for original content like Project Hail Mary, which has grossed nearly $615 million globally.
Looking ahead, Amazon expects second-quarter net sales to reach between $194 billion and $199 billion, representing growth of 16 per cent to 19 per cent year-on-year. Operating income is projected between $20 billion and $24 billion.
Despite macro uncertainties ranging from foreign exchange fluctuations to global economic conditions, Amazon appears to be leaning into its biggest bets yet. With AI investments accelerating and cloud demand holding firm, the company is positioning itself not just for growth, but for what it calls the next big inflection in technology and commerce.
