Business Articles

Xiaomi has confirmed its entry into the electric car industry with a new Smart Electric Vehicles company. According to an official announcement, Xiaomi will invest US$10 billion dollars in its new venture over the next decade.

The FE is a popular and well-priced variant of Samsung's Galaxy S20 range. New leaks suggest that the OEM is not quite done with its release cycle yet, as it now has a 4G/LTE-only version of its Snapdragon 865-powered SKU ready to go. Should they prove true, it might represent a bargain for many consumers.

OnePlus has contributed to what is already an action-packed day for the mobile device market by releasing its new 9 flagship series in China. It has announced that the 2 phones combined raked in 300 million yuan (nearly US$46 million) in the first 10 seconds of this event. This performance outdoes that of the 8 series this time last year by a considerable margin.

A report from a Taiwanese media site has revealed that both Acer and Asus appear to be planning on implementing price hikes on their popular laptop ranges. The continuing high demand for notebooks and mobile workstations has led to a situation where Acer and Asus are likely to increase product prices in the second quarter of 2021.

Although the full review is not live yet, the final scores are public, and one thing is certain: the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is DxOMark's new king. The overall score of 143 is the result of the following areas: 148 (photo), 100 (zoom), and 117 (video), enough to grab first place from the Huawei Mate 40 Pro+.

The full specs and price tags for both the Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra have been leaked just a few hours before they are officially launched. The Mi 11 Pro apparently starts at 4,999 yuan (US$763) while the Mi 11 Ultra has a base model for 5,599 yuan (US$854). International fans will be looking at paying over US$1,000 for the Ultra phones.

ZA/UM's remarkably political RPG is set to receive a major upgrade on March 30th. The Director's Cut of Disco Elysium will include new narrative content as well as full voice acting, fleshing out hundreds of thousands of lines of in-game text.

According to some recent leaks, Huawei is about to launch a new series of TVs. The OEM is also now said to have partnered with the sound specialist Devialet for these putative 2021 smart screens' audio solutions. This collaboration has, apparently, results in inbuilt speakers that might make the user forget about an external set-up.

The flagship OnePlus 9 series initially encountered a stumbling block on its launch in the US market: it was not compatible with Verizon's 5G service. However, the new Android phones now have a better shot at attracting those who use this carrier, thanks to a new certification to use its bands, as well as those of its pre-pay subsidiary Visible.

The Ricoh Theta Z1 is this brand's latest miniature camera for 360-degree, spherical captures. It can achieve these in a single shot at a resolution of 6720x3360, and can also be used for all-around 4K/30fps video. Furthermore, it is the first of its series with an internal storage spec of 51GB, which may overcome the limitations of previous Theta models.

The laptop is barely four months old and retailers are already heavily discounting the model. The ThinkPad X1 Nano is an even smaller version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon equipped with Thunderbolt 4 and an Intel Tiger Lake CPU.

Xiaomi is slated to launch the Ultra version of the Mi 11, not to mention the latest generation of the Mi Mix line, on March 29, 2021. It now seems that another kind of product might take the stage alongside them: a new Surge SoC. This in-house chipset might be intended to power the next generation of the OEM's connected ecosystem devices.

AMD Ryzen CPUs have taken parts of the market by storm since Ryzen 4000 came out. One area that has been left largely untouched: Mobile workstation. Too bad, as the Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 1 shows that AMD Ryzen and workstation could go great together.

The Black Shark 4 series has made a remarkable start, but so has Xiaomi's new Redmi K40 smartphones. According to Xiaomi, the Black Shark 4 series generated CNY 200 million (~US$30.5 million) in sales in its initial five minutes, while the Redmi K40 series has sold over 1 million units in the last month.

LG has announced that the release of its latest A1-, C1- and G1-series of 4K OLED TVs to the US market has begun. They start at US$1,299 for a 48-inch model, although the highest-end 83-inch C1 variant is $6,000. Most models are available from now, although the OEM is holding back on some until April to June 2021.

Sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Xiaomi plans on launching an EV by 2023. It will allegedly Chinese carmaker Great Wall's infrastructure and engineering expertise to manufacture the vehicle. We could hear more about this at its March 29 event, where the company slated to unveil a host of products.

The idea of Discord being bought out by Microsoft in a billion-dollar deal has mostly been dismissed as clickbait fuel - until now. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Redmond giant and chat-service stalwart are indeed in "advanced" talks concerning a potential acquisition. Therefore, the latter may not be merely trying to ramp up for a potential IPO after all.

Newly granted patents have been spotted concerning the Apple Car project. One focuses on improving night vision by utilizing a long-wave infrared sensor while the other describes a laser-based depth-sensing system, or LiDAR. A self-driving autonomous Apple Car could be launched in 2024 or even as late as 2028.

A surprising piece of Steve Jobs memorabilia has changed hands for a six-figure USD sum at a London auction. Rather than being an original Apple-1 or anything like that, it consists of a printed sheet of paper, filled out by the iconic Apple executive by hand in 1973. If nothing else, the document underpins Jobs' interest in computing even way back then.

Xiaomi's vice-president, Wang Xiang, has reportedly intimated that the global chip-shortage may lead to increased starting prices for this OEM's mobile devices. The executive made comments to this general effect during the company's latest earnings conference call, which also reveals increased revenue and profits for the last quarter of 2020 (4Q2020).

Apple has established new security regulations with supply chain partners, supposedly to stop the emergence of leaks of unreleased devices. The changes, which will mainly affect factory workers, include collecting biometric data and conducting background checks.

According to a report, NVIDIA plans to release a fifth CMP card, which it has designed for crypto miners. Apparently, the company will base the card on its GA100, currently found in the A100 GPU.

Looks like Intel does not really want to sever all ties with Apple, even after denigrating the new M1-powered Macs in its quite aggressive ad campaign released last week. With the introduction of its IDM 2.0 strategic plan that includes a Foundry Service program for fabless companies in the U.S. and Europe, Intel hopes to regain Apple's trust by offering to produce future ARM-based M processors. It remains to be seen how Intel is going to match TSMC's 3 nm and 2 nm nodes.

LG has aimed its latest 27-inch 4K monitor primarily at professionals who want a colour accurate monitor. However, the monitor should be suitable for some gaming on the side too, thanks to the tearing and input lag reduction technologies that it supports. The LG 27UP850 retails for US$549.99.

Lenovo introduces its third-gen 11.6-inch Windows machines for education as devices robust and versatile enough for any kind of learning situation the student might encounter. The 500w and 300w convertibles come in casings with the durability-focused designs schools might prefer to see, as does the 100w clamshell. The series incorporates the AMD 3015e platform, although there is the option of a Pentium chipset in the 500w.

An Intel Core i9-11900K processor has appeared in an unboxing video a week before its official sale date of March 30. Fortunately for the top-end Rocket Lake-S part, the hottest thing in the clip is the packaging. The angular shape of the i9-11900K’s box is surprisingly appealing.

LG Electronics may abandon its smartphone business, according to a new report. Apparently, negotiations with prospective partners have failed, leaving LG with the option of closing its smartphone business instead.

Samsung has launched its new S8, S7 and S6 monitors for businesses. Depending on the model, you get a 4K/1440p HDR10 screen that covers 99% of the sRGB gamut, up to five USB Type-A ports, a USB Type C port that can charge devices at 90W, an RJ-45 Ethernet jack, and more. They are expected to go on sale sometime in April 2021.

The latest market research indicates that Samsung sold 3 times more Galaxy S21 units in January 2021 compared to S20 phones for the same month of 2020 in the US. This may be due to the lower prices of the newer flagships in this market compared to their predecessors. The series' sales may have dropped off gradually since their launch; however, the release of the S21 FE could jump-start them again.

CTL's latest Chromebook is powered by the Intel Celeron N4020 and has 4GB of RAM, as many of the OEM's devices do. However, the NL71CT-LTE also has standalone mobile data, so it need not be reliant on Wi-Fi for its often educational use-cases. This spec has helped win it one of Tech & Learning's Excellence Awards for Best Remote & Blended Learning Tools.

The display-standard specialist group TÜV Rheinland has announced its new Dynamic Privacy Filter certification, and that 2021's ThinkPads X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga are the first 2 devices to officially match up to it. The 2 business PCs have done so by passing a battery of tests on their ability to protect sensitive data under a variety of lighting conditions.

Huawei's supply chain issues have reportedly led to shortages of its bespoke high-end mobile CPUs for 2021. However, this has not stopped new rumors that it will soon have a new variant of its flagship Kirin 9000 SoC manufactured. Called the 9000L, it is painted as a throttled and cut-down version of the more premium processor.

AMD has reportedly become TSMC’s number one customer in regard to purchasing 7nm wafers. Apple was previously the main customer for this node but has now moved its focus mainly on to 5nm. By securing more of TSMC’s 7nm output, AMD might be able to tackle the shortage of Ryzen 5000 chips and ensure delivery for EPYC Milan orders.

Amazfit has confirmed that it will be launching its next smartwatch on March 23. While Amazfit hopes to keep the T-Rex Pro under wraps until then, a Polish retailer is already selling it for PLN 749 (~US$193), confirming all its specifications in the process.

SoftBank has announced that it has set up a new 5G service in Japan. It is based on mmWave technology as opposed to sub-6GHz, which, according to its owner, brings the potential for higher speeds at reduced costs for carriers. The new system is made using Qualcomm hardware, and will support phones with the same OEM's SoCs.

The well-known wearable brand Amazfit hopes to release fitness trackers and smartwatches with ECG and blood pressure measurement in the US. The company is engaging with the FDA to bring these wearables to market.

A retailer has started selling the CMP 30HX, NVIDIA's least powerful crypto mining card. Inadvertently, the retailer has confirmed that the CMP 30HX is nothing more than a GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER with the display connections removed. However, the CMP 30HX costs US$815.40, about US$300 more than the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER sells for online.

OxygenOS (OOS) is OnePlus' well-received Android-based ROM for the global units of its phones. It has a Chinese-market counterpart called HydrogenOS (H2OS). However, the OEM has reportedly informed its users that it is to be discontinued in favor of OPPO’s ColorOS instead.

Dell's 2-in-1 device hardly warms up, offers good battery life, and comes with a touchscreen display in the 3:2 format. The latter can be operated both with the fingers and with the separately available Dell Premium Active Pen.

Google has announced that it is reducing the cut of revenue made on apps sold via the Play Store from 30% to 15%. The change applies to all developers who make US$1 million or less per year on the platform. According to the Mountain View giant, this move is intended to help Android app-makers grow at critical stages of their enterprises.

An Xperia PRO teardown video has confirmed that the US$2,500 smartphone is more than just an Xperia 1 II with an HDMI port. Not only has Sony included mmWave antennas, but it has included a huge vapour chamber cooling solution to account for its plastic body. In fact, the cooling solution is larger than equivalents found in modern gaming smartphones.

The hotly-anticipated OnePlus 9 series is still days from launch at this point (March 15, 2021). However, an electronics leaker claims that some consumers in Europe may be able to buy it early, albeit in blind box form. It apparently has a set price, although its contents can only be guessed at.

AMD has now made its 2021 line of Ryzen PRO mobile processors official. The OEM claims they build on the considerable leap in productivity-focused performance made by their 4000-series predecessors. This includes gains of up to 65% over the Intel Core i7-1185G7 in certain benchmarks, as well as reduced app-opening latency and improved performance in some MS Office tasks.

The Samsung S34A650 is a 21:9 curved monitor that operates natively at 1440p. The monitor has a 1000R curvature, a 4,000:1 contrast ratio and a 100 Hz peak refresh rate. The Samsung S34A650 supports AMD FreeSync too and has multiple ports.

A US court has averted the threat of Xiaomi being frozen out of future US investment. A final verdict on the case is yet to be delivered, but the judge has already hinted at a complete withdrawal of the US ban. Xiaomi insists that it has no ties to the Chinese military.

Asus advertises the quad-array microphone as one of the main features of the ExpertBook, which costs upwards of 2000 Euros (~$2400). It is supposed to improve the video-conferencing experience. At the same time, Asus uses the same 720p web camera as in almost all other current laptops such as the 3000-Euro (~$3600) MacBook Pro. When most people have to use their web camera everyday to study or work from home, this has to change!

Dying Light 2 developer Techland recent promised to deliver an update on the troubled game's progress on March 17th. This could shed light into the status of the game, what it looks like now, and when it'll actually ship.