Alle Artikel über Smartphones

Supposed further specs for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 have revealed some final key details about the foldable phone. Apparently there will be at least two RAM + storage configurations, possible IP certification, camera housing design based on that of the Galaxy S21, and 15 W wireless charging. But all these improvements over the Z Flip 5G will come at a high price.

The POCO M3 is the global version of the impressively successful Redmi Note 9 4G/LTE that launched in China in 2020. Now, it is finally coming to India, and in its 6GB RAM flavor no less, whereas it sells as a 4GB phone in some other markets. It will launch via Flipkart in February 2020.

LG had nominated only 1 phone to upgrade to Android 11 in 2021: the 2020 sort-of-mid-ranger Velvet. This has at least allowed it to get the device's new UI out of beta and into a stable channel, according to a user on Reddit at least. However, the update only seems to be available in South Korea at the moment.

Samsung's Display division recently held its earnings call for the last quarter of 2020 (4Q2020), which apparently involved profits that grew nearly 800% year-on-year and revenues equivalent to about US$8.9 billion. It also announced that it would indeed get into emerging panel types, including rollable ones, so as to stay competitive in 2021 and beyond.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has only just begun to validate hardware with the newest 6E wireless-data standard. This is good news for MediaTek, which has had its latest access point and client-side wireless solutions picked up for use in this official body's new test bed. Therefore, the company might now find it easier to pitch these components to OEMs who make routers, broadband equipment or PCs.

The tipster WHYLAB now claims that the newly-hyped ZTE Axon 30 Pro will launch with a new image sensor called the S5KGND. This, apparently, is Samsung's rumored new 200MP sensor, possibly the most powerful of 2021. It is projected to support 16K recording, dual pixel-binning modes and dual native ISO.

Xiaomi has lodged a complaint with a US court against the same country's government for placing it on an investment blacklist earlier in 2021. The company asserts that the action against it is unwarranted, as it is based on an association with the Chinese military which (according to Xiaomi) does not in fact exist. This, in turn, has apparently affected its ability to do business in the electronics market as usual.

The specifications of Samsung's next folding smartphone have been finalised, so claim leakers from South Korea. Apparently, a launch date by May, or a release alongside the Galaxy Z Fold3 this summer, is likely.

The new US administration has only been in office for nine days, but it is apparently already reconsidering Huawei's position on its economic blacklist. The Chinese company may still be prevented from accessing US telecommunications networks, though.

Xiaomi has already made over US$600 million from Mi 11 sales, and that was just from sales in its home market of China. Now, Xiaomi has announced when the Mi 11 will make its global debut, but it seems that the Mi 11 Pro will not be in attendance.

Huawei has updated its EMUI 11 update plans globally. Not only has the Chinese company finished delivering the OS update to more devices across multiple regions, but it is now more precise in when every eligible handset should receive EMUI 11.

Meizu is expected to launch smartphones with the Snapdragon 888 flagship-grade processor soon. A new leak purports to show one of them (possibly the 18, 18 Pro or 18 Max) with a completely edge-to-edge screen. This suggests it will join the currently very exclusive under-display camera club in 2021.

Sony may well compare the Xperia 1 II's cameras with its Alpha cameras, but that does not necessarily make it the best camera smartphone on the market. According to some camera experts, the Xperia 1 II's cameras fall short of even the Apple iPhone 11 and Google Pixel 4.

Xiaomi has just gone public with its working prototype of groundbreaking over-the-air (or remote) wireless charging. However, it seems Motorola is hot on its heels with its own take on this "Mi Air Charge". A YouTube demonstration appears to show it working with 2 modified smartphones placed at 0.8 and 1 meter away from a single transmitter.

Apple ended 2020 on a historic high by shipping over 90 million smartphones in the quarter. That achievement—an all-time record—saw the American company overthrow Samsung to become the number one smartphone maker in the world across the quarter.

Xiaomi has (perhaps prematurely) announced Mi Air Charge technology which delivers 5 W remote wireless charging to devices within several meters of its base station. Although the announcement is exciting, it is currently only vaporware, with no devices shipping from the company in 2021 and no details about when it will hit the market.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra may be cheaper than its predecessor, but it remains an expensive smartphone by contemporary standards. Nonetheless, if you want to spend a little more on a Galaxy S21 Ultra, then Caviar has introduced a whole range of limited edition models. The range includes the 'Golden 21' edition, which costs more than US$75,000.

Apple is rumoured to announce the third-generation of the iPhone SE in a few months, with April targeted as a release date for the budget handset. Concept renders have shown what the device might look like too, but only if Apple decides to give an affordable iPhone a modern design.

Samsung may have committed to delivering three OS updates to its smartphones and tablets, but it remains conservative in other areas regarding Android updates. The Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy S21 Ultra are the latest Samsung smartphones that do not support A/B seamless system updates, which has become standard among competitors. There is an advantage to not adopting seamless Android updates, though.

A Chinese retailer has hinted that the Xiaomi Redmi K40 series will be purchasable from the middle of next month. We may only be two weeks from the Redmi K40 series' debut though, which may coincide with New Year's Eve in China. Supposed hands-on images of the Redmi K40 Pro have appeared online too, but we are doubtful of their authenticity.

Earlier, the YouTuber Frankie Tech tested the Xiaomi Mi 11 and iQOO 7 - the only phones with the latest Snapdragon 888 processor at the time - in terms of their AnTuTu benchmarking performance, and found that both phones seemed to overheat in response. Now, the vlogger has pitted the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra against the Mi 11 in the same way, with interesting results.

Realme is mostly known for its phones and audio devices; however, like Xiaomi and Huawei before it, it is now rumored to get into the laptop game as well. According to a well-known leaker, the first of these new products will debut in June 2021. Meanwhile, the OEM has teased a new initiative called TechLife, which will launch in February.

MediaTek invented a whole new tier of its high-end mobile chipsets with the introduction of the Dimensity 1100 alongside its outright flagship counterpart the 1200. A new leak indicates that Vivo has a device with this new premium-ish mid-range processor in the works. It is to have 12GB of RAM and an FHD+ display.

The OEM ZTE had a landmark 2020 in that it was first to launch a smartphone with a cutting-edge under-display selfie camera. Now, it has confirmed the existence of a phone with a name that not only sounds like a next generation for the Axon 20, but is a Pro variant as well. It is being hyped as a device with industry-leading cameras.

Thanks to prolific leaker @OnLeaks, we have our first look at Sony's upcoming Xperia 1 III flagship smartphone. It features three rear cameras; one of which is a periscope lens. A side-mounted fingerprint sensor, an all-glass body and a programmable button are also included.

The Redmi K40 series has been all but confirmed to ship without a charger by default and it appears the Redmi Note 10 series could also tow that path. Redmi executive Lu Weibing has now heavily hinted as much, which could pave the way for budget and mid-range phones to also not ship without a charging brick.

Micron has launched its latest form of DRAM, which is also now in volume production. It is based on the company's 1-alpha (1α, or fourth-generation) 10 nanometer (nm) node, and also incorporates 176-layer NAND for the first time. Micron asserts that has up to 40% more memory cells, and is up to 15% more power-efficient, than its predecessor.

The tipster Digital Chat Station claims to have found new premium phones from Meizu on the 3C regulatory website. One might be called the 18 and support 30-watt (W) charging, while the other might be a 40W 18 Pro. However, despite these specs, it is said that the company will follow Apple and Samsung's example in leaving the necessary power bricks out of their retail boxes.

Shortly after its release, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has landed in Jerry's hands for the usual torture session. Thankfully for the OEM and its fans, the new handset lives up to the expectations overall, although its durability alone does not justify the quite painful price of US$1,200.

The Sony Xperia 10 II is finally receiving the Android 11 update. Its version number is 59.1.A.0.485, and it is approximately 1GB in size. Apart from the usual Android 11 features, the update also adds a new Battery Care feature.

A new Xiaomi patent for an “electronic device” has given an idea of what the heir apparent to the stalled Mi Mix line could look like or what it could feature. The potential Xiaomi Mi Mix smartphone in this patent has a slider mechanism that can be voice activated, and it has a display that wraps over the bottom edge and onto the rear side.

LG has added more features to the Wing with its latest software update. Currently rolling out in South Korea, V11b-Jan-19-2021 adds dedicated scroll functionality to the second screen's touchpad, among other changes.

Xiaomi has submitted another Redmi smartphone with the FCC, the EEC and the TKDN. This time, the M2101K7AG has been certified, which is believed to be the Redmi Note 10. The listings confirm that the M2101K7AG will receive a global launch. Meanwhile, the Redmi General Manager Lu Weibing has begun teasing the launch of the Redmi Note 10 series.

ZTE has launched a new low-cost 5G-ready smartphone. The ZTE Blade X1 5G features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC, four rear cameras, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, NFC, and a 4,000mAh battery. It is exclusive to Visible and costs US$384

Sony has finally announced the Xperia PRO's price, and it is absurd when compared to the going-rate of modern flagship smartphones. Comparing the Xperia PRO against professional-grade camera monitors puts the smartphone in a better light, but it is still effectively just an Xperia 1 II with an HDMI input.

Apple has updated some product safety material found in the Support section of its website to clarify the potential of its new MagSafe feature to interfere with pacemakers. It notes that, while the extra magnetism involved should not make the technology more dangerous than the average wireless-charging device or accessory, a user with a medical device should keep it a certain distance away from the relevant devices.

Wireless smart tags for possession-tracking seem to be one of the major trends for mobile device OEMs in 2021. According to a new patent application discovered on the CNIPA database, OPPO may be the next to jump onto this bandwagon. Its new Bluetooth tag looks much like that of Samsung's, although there are no indications as yet that the two would work in the exact same way.

Huawei has now blessed owners of the Mate 10 Pro with yet another update after the last one was sent out back in October. The update brings a security patch for some major vulnerabilities, which should gladden the hearts of Mate 20 Pro owners after their phones were delisted from Huawei's update schedule this month.

The DOOGEE S88 Pro stood out among toughphones with its 10,000mAh battery and the "robot-eye" LEDs in its rear panel. The new S88 Plus retains these, but also comes with 8GB of RAM, as opposed to 6GB in its predecessor. It also packs reverse wireless charging so as to share its giant capacity in an emergency, and has a special introductory price for its launch on AliExpress.

A few months after the latest reports concerning its arrival, the next-gen Samsung Galaxy XCover surfaces on Geekbench. The list of specs does not include 5G, or at least the 5G variant is not ready yet. The SM-G525F handset runs on Android 11 and is powered by Samsung's Exynos 850 processor, paired with 4 GB of memory.

The Samsung Health Monitor app has finally acquired the CE mark of approval in Europe. This means that the Galaxy Watch3 can finally use its electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood-pressure monitoring features, as can the Galaxy Watch Active2, across the European Economic Area (EEA). This is also true of the UK, UAE, Chilean and Indonesian markets.

Motorola's newest affordable flagship is finally here. The Motorola Edge S comes with an impressive spec sheet that includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset, a 6.7-inch LCD screen clocked at 90Hz, four rear cameras, two selfie cameras, and a 5,000mAh battery that supports fast charging at 20W. It has been launched in China for RMB 1,999 (US$310).

Well-known Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station says that Xiaomi will reportedly relaunch the Mi 10 soon. It will ship with Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon 870 SoC. The remaining Mi 10 specifications will remain identical. Xiaomi could launch the device alongside the Mi 11 Pro in February 2021.

An alleged live photo of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro has been shared on Chinese social media and has been met with something of a lukewarm response so far. The Snapdragon 888 phone has been called “ugly”, with the Mi 11 Pro having a large main camera system housing that stretches over a significant portion of the rear side.

A recent Cowen analysts' reports paints a rosy picture for Apple iPhone sales this year. The complete iPhone 12 lineup is expected to sell over 55 million units by the end of Q1 2021. The iPhone 12 Mini, however, Apple's budget play, continued to disappoint with lower-than-expected sales volume.

Samsung has partnered with Tesla to supply its cars with processors for their "auto-pilot" functions in the past, although the silicon in question has come from 14 nanometer (nm) process nodes. However, a Korean news outlet now asserts that these automotive SoCs are to evolve all the way to 5nm soon. They might control in-car entertainment as well as self-driving abilities in the future.

Blackview touted its Dimensity 800-powered BL6000 Pro as the "toughest 5G phone in the world" on its launch. Now, it has an upcoming successor, the BL8000, which upgrades to the Dimensity 1200 - MediaTek's new flagship SoC. This could make the impending device a very powerful rugged phone indeed.