Business Articles

The under-display sensor may come to replace the punch-hole in smartphones as time goes on. A new report by a Korean media outlet asserts that Samsung has them in the works for 2021; however, they will only feature in the OEM's highest-end foldable device. Meanwhile, the same company is now said to also have affordable versions of the Galaxy Z Flip in development.

Redmi has been celebrating the news that the total amount of Redmi Note smartphones sold around the world has now topped 140 million units. The lasting popularity of devices such as the Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 8 has assisted the Xiaomi sub-brand with achieving this phenomenal sales record.

OnePlus has revealed its 2020 Black Friday deals for the US market. They include discounts on the flagship 8 and 8 Pro, as well as 40% off its latest wireless earphones. However, the best deal here may be the 7T, which can be had for just US$349 during this holiday sale.

What's the easiest way to boost your product into the high-end category? By associating it with fancy cars, of course. The prosumer 14-inch Acer Book RS Porsche Design comes with the Core i5-1135G7 CPU and just 8 GB of RAM for a hefty price tag of $1400 USD.

Huawei has sold its low-cost subsidiary Honor to a Chinese consortium. The former parent company has emphasised that US sanctions forced it to sell Honor, and the sale was more about the survival of the Honor brand than providing Huawei with needed cash flow.

Amazon will have more stock of the PlayStation 5 and Digital Edition consoles in multiple countries come launch day. The company has a limited inventory of both consoles, but it should offer respite for some people who missed out on the pre-ordering Sony's next-generation console.

Less than two weeks since it managed to hit the US$15,000 threshold, the world's most popular cryptocurrency recorded a 24-hour jump of almost 9 percent and reached the highest value of the year so far — US$18,453.87. Now, can it blow up the US$20,000 barrier before the end of the year or not?

Unveiled yesterday, the Microsoft Pluton security processor is the result of a joint effort that has managed to bring together the Redmond giant and three major silicon partners, namely AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm. This chip-to-cloud technology will soon bring more security advancements to Windows PCs.

A leak pointing to a new Samsung smartphone battery with a 5830mAh battery may also imply the imminent launch of a device called the Galaxy M42. This putative phone is rumored to have a 64MP primary camera, and may be available in India soon.

Intel has reportedly sold its Enpirion arm to MediaTek. This division is responsible for the chipsets that regulate the power delivered to CPUs or ICs. Therefore, the Taiwanese silicon firm may be looking to combine some or all of these in new future products.

Turtle Beach asserts that its Stealth 600 and 700 headsets have been top sellers in their markets for a few years running now. New data from the research group NPD indicates that this trend has been upheld by their latest generation, released in September 2020. Their Xbox-compatible variants were the first- and second-best selling units for the following month.

OPPO's Inno Day is its annual developer's conference, at which it might also unveil some new hardware and concepts. In 2020, this event was dominated by the introduction of its 3+N+X strategy. This will determine how the OEM's software will be distributed and developed across its expanding range of products, its 2nd-gen AR glasses included.

Eve Devices has already invited feedback on the keyboard and chassis of its second-generation "crowd-designed" convertible, the V 2020. Now, it's the turn of its chipset, RAM, wireless connectivity and other specs. The company seems to want to assess the popularity of more expensive options with their new poll.

AMD has announced what it calls the world's fastest HPC GPU, the Instinct MI100 based on the CDNA architecture. The Instinct MI100 offers up to 11.5 TFLOPs of FP64 compute performance when paired with 2nd gen EPYC processors. The MI100 is slated to offer better performance per dollar compared to the NVIDIA A100 GPU along with support for the new ROCm 4.0 software platform.

Sony has promised to address the 4K/120 Hz issue affecting its XH90, XH900H, X9100H and XH92 TVs. The issue, which Sony has blamed on video processing, makes content at 4K and 120 Hz look blurry.

A few days ahead of the official launch, several retailers in Australia stated that the stock for both the Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT is "pretty terrible" but at least it is also expected for the launch availability of these cards to differ depending on the region. Sadly, the overall situation does not look great.

Huawei can now buy some chipsets from Qualcomm, albeit only those with 4G modems. Qualcomm has other licence applications pending with the US Department of Commerce though, leaving 5G chips like the upcoming Snapdragon 875 and Snapdragon 775G on the table.

Microsoft has issued a document outlining the dates on which its own-brand convertibles or laptops run out of software updates. It shows that the Surface Pro 3, despite launching in 2014, will get them until November 2021. Oddly, the Pro 4 will also see the end of its service on the same day.

The processors that power our phones have become so powerful that they are now designed with the kind of cooling historically only expected from high-end PCs. This involves heatsinks, thermal paste and even vapor-chambers on a mobile scale these days - to such an extent there are now signs that insulation might also start to play a role in next-gen phones.

The Realme X7 and X7 Pro are phones based on 5G MediaTek Dimensity chipsets that aren't often seen in international markets. However, this may change soon as their release to the Indian market has just been announced. Unfortunately, this will not take place until 2021.

Brydge has announced that its 12.3 Pro+ keyboard is now exclusively available at Best Buy. This accessory is rated to turn a Surface Pro tablet into a laptop-like device. It is compatible with the 4 to 7 generations of this Microsoft device.

Nokia has introduced some old familiar names as new KaiOS devices. These versions of the 6300 and 8000 have 4G/LTE in 2020, although they look much the same as old-school button phones. There are also features such as FM radios, WhatsApp support and headphone jacks in evidence with these new devices.

Given that consumers may be gearing up for their 2020 holiday shopping, Mozilla has expanded its Privacy Not Included initiative by ranking various popular devices and/or gift ideas by how "creepy" they are. It is based on the organization's research into how they or their OEMs handle and respect user personal data, and has thrown up what may be unpleasant surprises in some cases.

Rumour has it that Apple plans to release up to five Apple Silicon-backed Mac devices within the next year. Apparently, a 24-inch iMac, 12-inch MacBook, 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro will debut before the end of 2021, with a new Mac Pro set for release in either late 2021 or 2022. Apple is thought to be releasing a new Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro and the long-rumoured AirTags within the next 2-3 weeks, too.

Xiaomi's Mi Mix series has typically provided some of the most impressive smartphone designs, but the company doesn't appear set to offer a Mi Mix 4 anytime soon. Samsung may be about to ride to the rescue, however, as the South Korean company has filed a patent for a rather...interesting smartphone design.

The Lenovo ThinkPad L15 is an affordable office laptop based on AMD's new Renoir architecture that impresses with its good workmanship and keyboard in particular.

If satellites and atmospheric balloons are simply too expensive to boost Internet signals across the world, Google now plans to use light beams to connect underdeveloped areas. The first country to benefit from wireless optical networks is Kenya, and the connections can reach 20 Gbps speeds, but are limited to a 20 Km radius.

After beating Apple in the US in terms of smartphone sales after many years, Samsung also managed to grab the leading place in India. Now, we find out in a new report that five devices out of the top ten best-selling smartphones worldwide are made by Samsung. In the third quarter, Samsung shipped over 10 million Galaxy A21s handsets.

DISH, the company behind Sling TV, has announced that it will soon offer 5G services in the US. Furthermore, its network will be the first to be compatible with Open Radio Access Network (RAN) technology, so as to make the integration of individual vendor equipment easier. This will be achieved thanks to a partnership with Qualcomm.

Google is ending its free unlimited photo storage on Google Photos. The change will take effect from June 1, 2021, and will affect all but owners of Pixel smartphones. From that date, Google will count all photos backed up to Google Photos against a 15 GB data limit.

Without any formal announcement, Lenovo releases two new ThinkPad laptops onto the market: The ThinkPad L13 Gen 2 and the convertible brother ThinkPad L13 Yoga Gen 2 are the first business models with Intel Tiger Lake. At the same time, they also are the first L series ThinkPad with Thunderbolt 4.

Honor has introduced a phone called the 10X Lite to the European market. With its 6.67-inch FHD+ display, Kirin 710A SoC, 4GB of RAM and 5000 mAh battery, it is distinctly pitched at the low- to mid-tier market in this region. Its normal price is €265 (~US$311), although this has been reduced to €229.90 (~$270) as one of the brand's new 2020 holiday deals.

PlayStation 5 launch dates for nations in South America and Southeast Asia have started appearing on the official country-specific websites. Key markets such as Brazil and Singapore can still expect a PS5 launch on November 19, and there are a few countries that will have to wait until December, but there is a 2021 launch for Indonesia.

At just 989 grams, the Tiger Lake-powered Dynabook X30W-J is over 300 grams lighter than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 or 200 grams lighter than the LG Gram 14 convertible.

The PlayStation 5 may be a huge console, but it could have been even larger, had its design had his way. There may be some Easter eggs hidden within the next-generation console too, and not just the pattern of the DualSense controller that has already been discovered.

AOC's latest gaming monitor has been developed in partnership with Porsche Design, and it certainly looks the part. However, the Agon PD27 also packs a 27-inch panel that has a WQHD native resolution and a 240 Hz refresh rate. The Agon PD27 is VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified too and will be available from this month for US$799.99.

Huawei is on the verge of selling Honor for US$15.2 billion, according to Reuters. Due to be sold by as early as Sunday to a consortium, the sale would free Honor of the hindrance of the sanctions that the US government currently imposes on Huawei.

A well-known Weibo leaker now claims that OPPO - an OEM mostly known for its smartphones and wearables - is planning to also move into the tablet space. Similarly, it is also now said to start making its own laptops, much as Xiaomi and Huawei do now. Examples of these new product categories for the company might emerge as soon as 2021.

Recent leaks have pointed to a "new" Nokia 8000 that may launch soon. The reliable tips site WinFuture has now posted what looks like a real-life promo for this device. The possible marketing image paints the device as a high-end feature phone that might not use Android.

Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi have taken up all 10 places in the Q3 2020 table for most shipped smartphones of the quarter. While Samsung has five different Galaxy A-branded devices in the charts and Xiaomi has great results with the Redmi Note 9 and Redmi 9, it’s the Apple iPhone 11 that rules the roost once again.

The Nemeio keyboard is highly customisable, thanks to its ePaper display. The 81-key keyboard supports Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, while it can also operate in multiple languages and configurations. The Nemeio will not ship until September 2021, but it has received over 200% over its funding goal.

Sony has announced the creation of the Airpeak brand, which is to be applied to a new series of drones developed by this OEM. However, it seems these devices are to be pitched at professional content creators and enterprise customers rather than take on products like the DJI Mavic series. Their first examples may be launched in the spring of 2021.

The iPhone 12 mini is here, and Apple is copping some flack for the device's underwhelming battery life. The 5.4-inch iPhone has a 2,227 mAh battery, so it should come as no surprise to see it barely lasting a full working day between charges.

Recently, reports of a fire breaking out at MSI's plant in Bao'an, Shenzhen arose on social media and on news sites. Now, the OEM has officially stated that these reports were true, although the incident in question was immediately met with appropriate action. No harm to workers at the factory was reported.

LG recently added 4K or 4K/UHD LED and laser variants to its high-end CineBeam projector line-up. Now, the OEM has announced that they can now access the Disney+ app directly from their smart-TV-like interface. This means it will now be much easier for them to show The Mandalorian in the home-theater setting they can achieve.