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Huawei has updated flagship laptop, the MateBook X Pro. The company has upgraded the MateBook X Pro to Intel's Tiger Lake platform, which it will offer with 16 GB of RAM and up to a 1 TB SSD. The 1.33 kg machine also features a 13.9-inch 3K display and starts at CNY 8,999 (~US$1,389).

The Xiaomi Redmi K40 series is seemingly almost upon us, with Redmi General Manager Lu Weibing teasing the entry-level model's prospective battery life. The Redmi K40 is believed to feature a Dimensity 1200 SoC and may start for as little as CNY 2,999 (~US$462).

MediaTek's next Dimensity 1200 premium SoC may launch on January 20, 2021). However, its successor might be even bigger news. A leaker claims that this chipset, thought to be the OEM's first 5 nanometer (nm) product, will integrate next-gen Cortex X2 cores. It may be joined by A79 cores, while its GPU might be the Mali-G79.

One week after releasing the update for the Galaxy Z Fold 2, Samsung is bringing the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 software update to its predecessor as well. The Samsung Galaxy Fold is receiving the new firmware already in France and the UAE (LTE version), as well as Switzerland and the UK (5G version).

Tipster @TheGolox recently claimed that Samsung is working on Exynos chips for desktop. If true, this would mean that we might soon see another entrant in the ARM on PC space, alongside the Snapdragon 8cx and Apple M1.

ASUS has teased the release of an upgraded ROG Phone, but a leaked hands-on photo suggests that the company has not called it the ROG Phone 4. Nonetheless, the next ROG Phone will feature a 6,000 mAh battery, 65 W charging capabilities, and expected to house Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 888 SoC.

The owners of various Macs that use the Apple M1 processor are reporting a bug that involves a rather random activation of the screensaver that also locks out the user. The problem seems to occur on Big Sur macOS 11.x and it looks like disabling Fast User Switching prevents it from happening again.

According to Roland Quandt, the next Snapdragon chipset for Windows 10 on ARM machines has been spotted. Apparently, the Snapdragon SC8280 has a larger die size than the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 and support for up to 32 GB of RAM. The Snapdragon SC8280 has been tested with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X55 modem too, meaning that it should support 5G connectivity.

Xiaomi has taken to its official Weibo account to enlist about 27 devices that are eligible to receive a closed beta rollout of the MIUI 12.5 update. The list of devices includes the upcoming Mi 11 flagship and goes as far back as the Redmi Note 7 released in early 2019. The closed beta is currently limited to China and a global release will follow soon.

Huawei is slated to launch its flagship P50 smartphone series in early 2021. According to a new leak, its vanilla model will have 5 rather different rear cameras, arranged in a new slim housing. It has been worked up into high-end renders that also show quad-curved displays and singular punch-hole selfie shooter.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 has a new firmware update that brings part of the OEM's virtual group-workout initiative to the wearable. It also now supports SmartThings Find, which might help an owner recover a missing unit, as well as Samsung's hand-washing app.

Honor had set the date of its event to unveil its upcoming flagship phones, the V40 series, on January 18, 2021. However, this has now been pushed back until January 22. In the meantime, it has released posters confirming the appearance of at least 1 of these phones and set up a new online store in its native China.

Can smartwatches help to diagnose cases of Covid-19? According to a couple of new studies, they can. The research applies to the Apple Watch and other wearables associated with heart-rate monitoring, as they might record the variations in this metric that might indicate the presence of the virus, even in asymptomatic patients.

Pricing information for Intel's upcoming 11th gen Rocket Lake-S chips has leaked on Belgian retailer 2compuite's site. According to prices listed by 2compute, the Core i9-11900K looks to be about 10% cheaper than the Core i9-10900K. However, other retailers seem to show a 10% increase in pricing making it a tad difficult to infer anything until Intel officially announces the MSRPs for Rocket Lake-S some time during end of Q1 2021.

Embattled smartphone makers Huawei has now removed the Mate 20 series from its security update schedule, in a move that mirrors what happened with the Mate 10 series a year ago. The phones include the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 RS, and Mate 20 X.

There are reports that Sony Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 smartphones have started receiving an Android 11 update earlier than scheduled. The Android 11 rollout has apparently already begun in Russia and Southeast Asia, even though the Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 were expected to receive the software update in February.

Single-core performance figures of the new Intel Core i7-11375H Special Edition from a purported Asus TUF Dash F15 laptop have leaked. The scores seem to indicate perceivable improvements over the Core i7-10750H and a significant lead over the AMD Ryzen 7 4800HS. Though these are still early leaks, they seem to be in the ballpark of what Intel claimed during its CES announcement of the Tiger Lake-H35 series.

Although it seems like a long shot, Android 11 works fine on the Xiaomi Mi A1. The POSP ROM might not be perfect but looks very good and seems stable enough for daily use. The version that I installed on my handset comes with the January 5 security patch, and it also seems to support Qualcomm aptX.

Following the release of the Samsung Galaxy S21 release, information about the phones' hardware has now been revealed, detailing camera models and other important bits, with one notable takeaway being the incremental nature of the S21 and S21+.

Units are expected to ship as early as January 22 while the $1800 GeForce RTX 3070 configuration will come a bit later. Asus is betting big on both AMD and liquid metal to pull itself ahead of the competition this year.

AV1 is a video codec rated to enhance file compression compared to its current alternatives. Google has become its a major proponent, to the extent that it is now reportedly insisting that manufacturers need to have it enabled in devices with compatible SoCs if they want to use the Android 10 for TV interface.

HP offers a privacy filter for its ultra-thin workstation that is supposed to protect the screen content from curious eyes. However, the HP Sure View technology is more of a curse than a blessing.

NVIDIA appears to have silently announced a GeForce GT 1010 GPU earlier this week. The GT 1010 is a Pascal card featuring the 14 nm GP108 GPU similar to the GT 1030. The GT 1010 has only 256 CUDA cores enabled, supports 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM, and has a TDP of 30 W. Availability information is not known yet.

WhatsApp has taken to social media channels to try to allay deep concerns that users have been voicing about data sharing and privacy. The company has decided to extend the deadline for its terms update acceptance from February 8 to May 15. However, millions have already decided to move to rival messenger services such as Signal and Telegram.

Realme is a brand that has built its appeal on affordable mobile and personal audio devices. Initial leaks suggest it is going to keep this going in 2021 with the launch of the C21 smartphone and the Buds Wireless 2 Neo. They are slated to be the successor to the cost-effective C11 and to be neckbuds rather than TWS earbuds respectively.

A recent leak may have generated confusion, if also some potential enthusiasm, at the prospect of the first in a new line of Samsung Galaxy M-series tablets. However, the device in question has now undergone testing at the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), which apparently reveals it is actually just another smartphone. Nevertheless, it is still touted to launch with an internal storage upgrade.

The ZenBook Duo series is aching for a panel provider who can mass produce OLED displays in the form factor that Asus needs. The IPS ScreenPad for the UX482 works better than it did on the UX481, but its core viewing angle disadvantages remain.

OPPO may have set a rough date for the launch of its 2021 premium smartphone series, likely to be called the Find X3 and X3 Pro. At the opposite end of its mobile-device spectrum, the A93 5G has debuted with Qualcomm's latest 5G-for-the-masses SoC. It offers decent specs, including 8GB of RAM and a headphone jack, for about US$310 in China.

The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling game console in the USA, Japan, UK, and Australia in 2020. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only arriving at the end of the year and then suffering from severe supply issues, sales of the Nintendo Switch ended on a high in December. Switch devices grabbed 87% of console sales in Japan in 2020.

The IdeaPad series is marketed as a mid-range offering to contrast to high-end Yoga series. Apparently, this also means that certain Yoga laptops with lesser Core i5 CPUs may slightly pull ahead of some IdeaPad laptops with the pricier Core i7.

NVIDIA has just unveiled a 12 GB version of the GeForce RTX 3060, which will be available sometime in February. However, a new EEC registration by Palit suggests that even more Ampere cards are on the way. Specifically, the board partner has registered multiple SKUs for the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti; both are rumoured to be arriving within the next few months.

NVIDIA has all but confirmed that the 2021 HP Omen 15 gaming laptop will be powered by RTX 3000-series graphics. According to a clearly premature sales listing on bestbuy.com, they will comprise the RTX 3070 Max-Q hinted at in previous tips. Its latest leak puts its starting price at US$1600.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra launched with a new 108MP main shooter, even though the OEM did not introduce it by name exactly during the show. However, it is apparent that it is called the ISOCELL HM3, the first of its kind to debut with nine-pixel binning and a 0.8 micron pixel size. Samsung asserts that it can enhance dynamic range, clarity and detail compared to its predecessors.

The new LG UltraWide 40WP95C is a monster of a monitor, with a 40-inch curved screen that operates natively at 5K. The nano IPS panel has a 21:9 aspect ratio, covers 98% of the DCI-P3 colour space and offers a peak refresh rate of 72 Hz. The 40WP95C supports Thunderbolt 4, too.

Escobar Inc has gone dark, just two months after it claimed to be suing Klarna for withholding funds from its smartphone sales. The company may be planning to release another device, but it has removed practically all evidence that it ever sold skinned smartphones produced by legitimate companies.

The AMD Ryzen 5 4500U-powered AYA NEO is coming to global audiences, and for as little as US$699. The Indiegogo campaign for the handheld console will begin as early as February, with device estimated to start shipping in April. Only Super Early Bird backers will be eligible to purchase the AYA NEO at US$699, though.

With Bob Swan gone, new Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has set out a bold aim for the chipmaker ahead of the beginning of his reign next month. Apparently, he wants Intel to build better chips than the Apple M1, which has impressed with its custom ARM cores' performance. Naturally, Gelsinger belittled Apple as a 'lifestyle company in Cupertino'.

The iQOO 7 is the world's second Snapdragon 888-based phone in the world, although it is only available to order in China at present. These sales kicked off today (January 15, 2021), an event its OEM now claims made it 200 million yuan (~US$30.86 million). Its new OS update also upgrades its touch-sampling rate to no less than 1000Hz.

A possible Snapdragon 870 processor has been spotted on Geekbench as part of a Vivo V2045 device. The recorded single-core and multi-core scores reveal decent gains of up to +18% over the Snapdragon 865. The “Snapdragon 870”, which might be basically an overclocked SD865, wasn’t too far behind the Snapdragon 888 on this benchmark.

A recent video from WindowsCentral's YouTube channel purports to demo the Windows 10X interface. The latest word on this version of the OS is that it will first arrive on devices that are single-screen, touchscreen-oriented or both. Its new leak seems to bear that impression out in detail.

Live images of a Xiaomi foldable smartphone have been shared online, indicating that the Chinese company seems to be almost ready to launch its first commercial foldable phone. The Xiaomi foldable device, which is clearly operating on MIUI 12, has a very noticeable crease running down the middle that will hopefully be less egregious in the final retail model.

Initially supposed to hit the market in mid-2020, the DisplayPort 2.0 monitors got delayed by the global pandemic and are now expected to become available in the second half of 2021. DP 2.0 is clearly superior to HDMI 2.0, as it offers an 80 Gbps bandwidth that can support 4K resolutions @240 Hz with uncompressed HDR color depth or 16K @60Hz with DSC.

Cyberport has revealed the price of what will probably be the flagship SKU of the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15, and it is expensive. At €2,799, the ROG Zephyrus G15 features an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS APU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q GPU a 165 Hz display with a native 1440p resolution. There is only one SO-DIMM slot though, with ASUS soldering 8 GB of RAM to the motherboard.

GPD has launched its latest handheld games console on Indiegogo, and it has already proven exceedingly popular with fans. The Tiger Lake-powered machine has raised over US$1.1 million from backers in less than a day. The GPD Win3 will begin shipping in May 2021 and is available to order with a Core i5-1135G7 or a Core i7-1165G7 processor. Both CPUs feature Intel's latest Iris Xe Graphics GPUs.

The Slimbook Titan offers an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H APU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 and a 165 Hz display with a native QHD resolution. The machine currently starts at €1,599 and is intended for Linux users, but you can also configure it with Windows 10 licenses. The inclusion of a 93.4 Wh battery should keep the Slimbook Titan ticking over, too.

ASUS recently announced the Fanless Chromebox, a small form-factor PC based on the ChromeOS platform, with a wide range of display outputs and great wireless connectivity.

Without warning, the US government has now slammed Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi with an American investment ban supposedly due to ties with the Chinese military. Xiaomi, in return, refutes those claims but that's unlikely to count for much.

Apple supply chain specialist Ming-chi Kuo has issued a new note to investors detailing some of the changes expected on the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. According to Kuo, the new models will drop in mid-2021 and will include minor design changes but will most notably drop the somewhat controversial OLED Touch Bar.

Ice Lake laptops had a lot of flak for launching at high prices, but these newer deals can be hard to pass for those who don't want to spend hundreds more for the latest 11th gen Intel processors.

After we recently took a look at the MagicBook 14 with AMD's Ryzen 5 4500U, it's now the MagicBook 15's turn. It reveals small and big improvements but also known weaknesses.