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The Android 11-based One UI update is finally making its way to some Samsung Galaxy A51 in Russia. It brings forth new features such as a new user interface, scopes storage, improved privacy and permission settings and chat bubbles.

This model will again be exclusive for the Indian markets, but, apparently, it is a rebranded Galaxy M62, which should launch in other regions too. It features quite a few improvements over the F41 model, including a slightly larger 6.7-inch sAMLOED screen, larger 7,000 mAh battery, an Exynos 9825 SoC upgrade and a quad-cam setup on the back.

A potential Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 or Mi Mix Fold with under-display camera technology could end up with a price tag of 10,000 yuan (US$1,548/€1,289). Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, has asked his followers on Weibo if they would be willing to buy a phone at that price and what it should feature. A Xiaomi foldable phone and a Mi Mix successor are expected to appear at some point this year.

After gracing the Redmi Note 9S with the Android 11 update days ago, Xiaomi has now set its sights towards the Mi 10T series, with the Mi 10T and Mi 10T Pro currently receiving the Android 11 update in India. The OTA is a 2.8 GB download and is being sent out randomly at the moment.

Someone has got their hands on the Pixel 2 XL 'muskie', the cancelled version of Google's flagship smartphone of 2017. Produced by HTC, the muskie went big on bezels, so it is no wonder that Google eventually went with LG for the Pixel 2 XL, instead.

Sony has released its financial performance report for October to December 2020. They show that the company shipped approximately 4.5 million PS5 units during that time, compared to about 1 million phones. It also posted 208% greater operating profits year-on-year (YoY), even though there were also 2% less sales for this quarter.

The upcoming Xperia 1 III can now be seen in a 360° video, thanks to OnLeaks. Sony's next flagship smartphone is expected to arrive in a few weeks with improved cameras than the Xperia 1 II, albeit with broadly the same design. Two other Xperia smartphones should launch simultaneously with the Xperia 1 III, too.

According to industry sources, ASUS plans to shake up its smartphone business this year to make the division profitable. The strategy change includes releasing a more expensive ROG Phone, the ROG Phone 5, and a ZenFone Mini.

HMD Global has unveiled the Nokia 1.3's successor, the Nokia 1.4. It comes with a 6.5-inch HD+ screen, two rear cameras, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 SoC, up to 3GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and a 4,000mAh battery. It will retail at €99 (US$119) and will be available for purchase globally soon.

The Dimensity 1100 is an SoC MediaTek has introduced as a one-step-down option from its new flagship, the 1200. The OEM Vivo is rumored to be one of the first, if not the first, to produce a phone based on it. According to a new leak, it is called the S9 and will debut on March 6, 2021.

Huawei may brag that HarmonyOS 2.0 is a 'brand-new distributed operating system', but Ars Technica has discovered that the company is telling porkies. Instead, HarmonyOS 2.0 is nothing more than a renamed EMUI 11, and one that Harmony requires a passport or a driving licence to try out.

Flagship iPhones have been unlockable through Face ID only since 2017. Now, however, there are hints that Apple might bring its only real alternative, Touch ID, back in 2021. It will apparently be an in-display version for the first time, with the company leaving the Home button in the dust with the putative new technology.

Sony loves its limited edition colourways of Xperia smartphones, as the Frost Black and Mirror Lake Green versions of the Xperia 1 II have shown. The company has now brought a pink version of the Xperia 5 II to Europe, which is available from €799. The smartphone comes with a pair of WF-1000XM3 earbuds, too.

The Exynos 2100 and the Snapdragon 888 are the two major Android flagship chipsets for this generation, and much has been said about Samsung's Exynos finally catching up to Qualcomm's best, especially after the debacle with the Exynos 990 last year. Reality, however, is often disappointing, as new SPECInt benchmark numbers will show.

According to Digital Chat Station, the Redmi K40 series will be launching this month as three models in China and India. Lu Weibing continues to hype the Redmi K40 series too, having now claimed that it will have the best flat screen of any smartphone released in 2021.

Sony decided to only update only a handful of devices to Android 11, including the Xperia 1, Xperia 5 and Xperia 5 II. The Android 11 upgrade has now spread to more countries, but there are multiple complaints from owners of bugs and of regressive changes that Sony has made from Android 10.

Digital Chat Station has lifted the lid on the Mi 11 Ultra, the successor to August's Mi 10 Ultra. Apparently, Xiaomi will equip the Mi 11 Ultra with a 2K and 120 Hz display, along with a much larger battery than it included in the Mi 10 Ultra. The Mi 11 Ultra will supposedly support up to 67 W wireless charging too.

The Galaxy A52 is a keenly-anticipated Samsung mid-ranger as it is projected to come with quad rear cameras and 4G/5G variants. Its launch has been set in stone as it has now been listed on the TENAA regulatory database. Meanwhile, the leaker Evan Blass now asserts that it will come in 4 "Awesome" colors.

The OPPO Find X3 Pro has allegedly been spotted tearing up benchmarks prior to its March 2021 launch. Its latest leak allegedly comes directly from a cloud-testing website belonging to its OEM. It seems to affirm the screen resolution, SoC, RAM and OS associated with this premium phone.

The brand POCO has certified a new device with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a number of other regulators. There is some evidence that this phone will be revealed as the Pro version of the X3 on its launch. To date, most of its specs remain a mystery, however, although its leaks point to NFC support, at least.

A few specifications of the upcoming Xiaomi Black Shark 4 and the Asus ROG Phone 4/5 have leaked online. While it is common knowledge that these gaming phones will be powered by the Snapdragon 888, we are now getting to know a few additional specs of these devices including the dimensions, battery capacity, fast charging, and display resolution.

90 Hz display, large battery, fast charging, stereo speakers: The OnePlus Nord N100 has a lot to offer. Nevertheless, OnePlus fans might be disappointed by the 200-Euro (~$241) smartphone...

The OnePlus Nord N1 5G is on its way, according to Max Jambor. The Nord N1 5G will succeed the Nord N10 5G, a device that OnePlus launched late last year. OnePlus is expected to release the OnePlus 9E this year too, which may leave no room for a follow-up to the OnePlus Nord.

A well-known Chinese leaker has ignited speculation about Xiaomi releasing a new mid-range smartphone with an unreleased Snapdragon 7 series chipset. Possibly the Mi 11 Lite 5G, the device is said to feature a Snapdragon 775G, along with an OLED screen, a 64 MP primary camera and a 5x zoom lens.

Not only will Xiaomi unveil the Mi 11 globally on February 8, but it will also reveal the latest version of MIUI. MIUI 12.5 should initially reach at least 28 devices across Xiaomi's Mi and Redmi series. Xiaomi promises that MIUI 12.5 will be faster and smoother than MIUI 12, too.

The Xiaomi Mi A2 has received another security patch update, bringing the Android One handset onto the January patch. The Mi A2 will remain on Android 10 indefinitely, but security patch updates should be headed its way until the summer.

After rolling out the Android 11 update to the Poco X2 and Mi Note 10 Lite last month, Xiaomi is now seeding a similar update to the popular Redmi Note 9S. The update is based on MIUI 12, as expected, and is slowly arriving for global versions of the phone.

Xiaomi has seeded a new update to the Mi A3, bringing the device onto the January security patch. The update, which the company has based on Android 11, also contains a working screen recorder. V12.0.4.0.RFQMIXM is rolling out as an OTA now for all devices on the global branch of Xiaomi's Android One program, including those that have already been upgraded to Android 11.

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.