Chinese Tech

The project made $10000 USD in 10 minutes. The manufacturer is promising an E-Ink Android tablet that can do it all including note-taking, web browsing, e-reading, and more for a price of $400.

Huawei also introduced some new products to complement its latest flagships, the P30 and P30 Pro. They include the FreeLaces, a pair of 'neckbuds' with an innovative design. The OEM also now offers a power bank with its SuperCharge technology, which can charge at 40 watts: enough for laptops as well as smartphones.

OnePlus is among the latest smartphone makers to adopt the pop-up selfie cam design for its upcoming flagship model. The latest leaked renders also show the rear triple-cam setup and three gradient color options, while the rumored specs include a Snapdragon 855 SoC coupled with up to 12 GB RAM, up to 256 GB storage and a thin bezel 6.5-inch AMOLED display.

A year after the P20 Pro stunned the world with its cameras and snatched the top place on DxOMark's leaderboards, Huawei is back with a successor. The P30 Pro is better than all other smartphones in the still photography department, and holds an almost ridiculous advantage in zoom quality due to its 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, and 50x digital zoom. Selfies also see a huge improvement.

Huawei also revealed the existence of some new wearables at its early-2019 launch event in Paris. The least expected of these are the new 'smart' glasses the OEM has developed with the eyewear company Gentle Monster. Their main function is in fact to deliver audio via Bluetooth, and also charge via a new and interesting route.

Huawei has just released its new P30 flagship series in Paris. Its specs line up pretty well with the various leaks that have already been spilled about the 2 phones in question. They are available from today (March 26, 2019) and start at €799 (about US$900).

The Mi 9 SE has been spotted on Xiaomi's Global Compliance page, which alludes heavily to the device being set for a global launch. On the flip side, Redmi has confirmed that the Redmi Note 7 Pro will not join the regular Redmi Note 7 on the global stage, and will instead remain exclusive to India and China.

Lenovo has surprisingly announced that the Z6 Pro device will be revealed on March 27. Few confirmed details are known about the upcoming flagship smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer, although it apparently features a HyperVision camera for creating Hyper Videos. It is also expected to come with 5G capability.

Although it might take a while for it to hit the market, Xiaomi's latest battery charging tech — dubbed "Super Charge Turbo" — puts all other fast charging solutions currently available to shame. In a Weibo video shared by Xiaomi's co-founder Lin Bin, this 100 W charging solution is shown fully charging a 4,000 mAh battery in just 17 minutes.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625-powered Motorola One is now finally reaching India alongside the Moto G7, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 inside. Both handsets have been around for a while in other areas, but Indian customers now get both of them running Android Pie out of the box.

Vivo has announced that it will partner with Tencent Games in order to sponsor the annual PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019. This involves competitive battles of the game in question in 10 regions worldwide for an ultimate prize of US$2.5 million. These players will be provided with Vivo hardware in order to play in this tournament.

Codenamed Robusta2 and also known as the Motorola P40 in China, the upcoming — but yet to be confirmed — Motorola One Vision was recently spotted on Geekbench with Exynos 9610 onboard and loaded with Android Pie. Now, what appears to be the first press render is out, and it suggests that the handset will launch in April.

The Honor 8X was released last year on Android Oreo but is now receiving the stable Pie update. The update weighs in at a humongous 3.14 GB and is one that takes the device's software to Huawei's EMUI 9.0 skin.

Xiaomi’s official Chinese Weibo account has issued a teaser indicating that it is prepping an update to its 12.5-inch Mi Notebook Air. The teaser shows a scale with the current weight of the device at 1.07 kg hinting at either a refresh or that the company is targeting a sub 1 kg weight target.

Apple's market share in China has reportedly fallen by 26.6% in 2018. Unsurprisingly, the culprits are more 'local' OEMs such as Huawei and Xiaomi, who offer more innovative features in premium handsets that go for less than those from the Cupertino company.

Last year, we reported on rumors that Huawei was working on its first smart TV. Now, a Chinese news outlet claims that its sources have told it these products are nearly ready for release. These products are apparently to be released in 55- or 65-inch variants.

HMD Global has come up with an official response on the issue of its devices sending sensitive user data to Chinese servers. While the company's reasoning appears sound, it's still a tad appalling that something of this sort is associated with the Nokia brand, especially considering the hardware and software issues the company's devices have been accused of having over the past year.

References to three new Xiaomi devices have been discovered, with two of them being bonafide Android One phones. We could be looking at the Mi A3, A3 Lite, and Mi 7X, perhaps? Interestingly, all three phones will have in-display fingerprint readers and massive 32 MP selfie cameras.

Arrested Huawei CFO and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng Wanzhou, has had further embarrassment heaped on her. As if getting arrested in Canada at the request of the US government on espionage charges isn’t enough, it has now been revealed that when arrested, Meng was in possession of several Apple products instead of Huawei equivalents.

A report out of Taiwan has stated that Huawei is planning on releasing the HiSilicon Kirin 985 SoC before the end of the year, and it could even find its way inside the expected Huawei Mate 30 smartphone. The chipset will apparently be manufactured on a 7nm+ process that involves TSMC’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology.

The 16s is Meizu's rumored 2019 flagship that is projected to dodge the notch trend with ultra-slim top and bottom bezels in its front panels. Some leaks attributed to the purported device have supported this theory. The latest one lends it further weight.

Huntkey, a company based in Shenzhen, has announced that it is currently producing a 90-watt wall-wart intended for mobile devices. This next-gen power-brick also has a USB type-C output, rather than type-A as normal. It supports various fast-charging profiles, in addition to USB Power Delivery and Qualcomm QuickCharge3.0+.

Some users of the Nokia 7 Plus have reported that their phones are sending data to Chinese servers without permission, a direct violation of GDPR laws. This data includes IMEI's, serial numbers, and location, all of which are considered personal data and can be used to track and identify users. HMD Global has confirmed the claims.

The transparent variant of the Xiaomi Mi 9 seems to be doing very well this year. Chinese blogs have reported that the OEM cannot keep it on shelves, despite its relatively high price tag. Perhaps this is why a new, cheaper variant with less RAM has just been announced.

OnePlus has reached an important stage in the development of Oxygen OS 9, which is based on Android Pie (9.0), for its former 3/3T flagships. It now has a closed beta of this build, which can be downloaded following a successful application to the program in question. Therefore, the general, stable release of this ROM is closer than ever.

Samsung released the S10 phones a few weeks ago and is hoping to use the devices as a tool in a bid to claw back its lost market share in China. It appears to be working, too, with sales said to be already twice that of the Galaxy S9 phones.

The next Huawei flagships are due to launch on March 26, 2019. However, a leaker claims to have gotten hold of genuine promotional images for the two phones ahead of this event. These posters are for the French market, and show what could be special launch-day offers for that region.

Xiaomi has a thriving presence in Ukraine, with numerous physical stores and online sales through partner websites. This now extends to the new Redmi 7, the second device line to be sold under the OEM's latest sub-brand. Its availability has been announced on Mi Ukraine's Facebook page.

The new hinge system for convertible laptops was presented by Compal at this year's IF World Design Guide competition and it could soon be implemented in HP and Dell models. Thanks to a special locking mechanism, the touchscreen can be placed to the right of the keyboard, improving workflow for content creators that need access to keyboard shortcuts.

The Huawei P30 phones are billed to be launched on March 26, next week, but a Norwegian retailer has revealed all we could hope to know about the P30 Pro. Notable features include a triple rear camera setup and a ToF sensor, a 4200 mAh battery, and a curved display.

The Moto Z3 was something of a flop last year, and Motorola will be hoping to make up for that with the Z4 this year. Renders of what appears to be the Moto Z4 have surfaced, showcasing the device with a waterdrop notch and, rather bizarrely, just one rear camera.

Telemedicine could enter a whole new phase thanks to advancements made possible by 5G. Doctors in China's Hainan province could successfully perform a robotic brain surgery on a patient 3,000 km away in Beijing with the help of China Mobile and Huawei's 5G network, according to local media. The low latency and high bandwidth of 5G could be extremely valuable in performing more such remote procedures in the days to come, saving a lot of time and effort for both patients and clinicians.

A phone that may be the next generation of the Meizu 16 line is yet again the subject of a post on SlashLeaks. This time, it is described as a case for this new phone. It indicates that the OEM will drop the usual central position for the rear cameras for a triple-sensor in one corner.

Although handsets like the Oppo F11/F11 Pro and the RealMe 3 have been shipping with it onboard for a while, Android Pie-based Color OS 6 has finally received a proper official launch as well. This piece of code should be rolling out as an update for older Oppo handsets soon, but the roadmap is not available yet.

Motorola's One Vision smartphone appears to be the same as the previously leaked P40 model, which is intended for the Chinese market only. Surprisingly enough, Motorola chose to add a Samsung Exynos 9610 SoC and only 3/4 GB of RAM, with 32/64/128 GB storage options. The 6.2-display will get FHD+ resolution and a punch-hole selfie, while the rear dual cam setup will include a 48 MP sensor.

A new report has detailed Xiaomi's sales numbers for the fourth quarter of 2018. The company managed to beat its profit estimates for the quarter but also suffered from a heavy quarter-on-quarter drop in revenue from smartphone sales.

Blackview's latest offering is one for those looking for a cheap phone with decent software and adequate battery performance. The A60 features a 6-inch HD display, dual rear cameras, and a beefy 4080 mAh battery.

Xiaomi only released its first set of completely wireless headphones a few months ago, but it has now followed them up with the even more affordable Redmi AirDots. The headphones will be available in China from April 9 for CNY 99 (~ US$14.75) and look remarkably like the AirDots Youth Edition, which Xiaomi currently sells for CNY 199 (~ US$29.65).

Xiaomi's sub-brand, Redmi, yesterday, launched its latest device, the Redmi 7, in China. The budget phone features a 6.26-inch display, dual rear cameras, a Snapdragon 632, and a massive 4000 mAh battery. Prices start at US$105.

Vivo has announced its newest devices in a Chinese event today (March 19, 2019). They are the X27 and X27 Pro. The X27 has 2 variants with either the Snapdragon (SD) 675 or 710, although they both have the same screen and single pop-up selfie camera. The Pro version has a larger display, and a more novel wider pop-up module with a dedicated flash.

Already available in China, the Xiaomi Mi Pay mobile payments service has been tested in India in the second half of 2018. In the meantime, the Chinese company obtained the approval of the Reserve Bank of India, and Mi Pay is now ready to take on PayU, WhatsApp Pay, and the other similar services.

The Xiaomi Black Shark 2 has been launched today (March 18, 2019) in China. As expected, it is powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor, has a 6GB RAM base model and has a 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display. This panel has some interesting HDR features, touted to enhance gaming and media experiences.

Not long after the successful completion of the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign with twice the initial goal of US$100,000, the UMIDIGI S3 Pro is now available globally. The price tag has gone up to US$279.99, but this Helio P70-powered handset with a 48 MP main camera setup remains an attractive handset.

ZTE could be set to push the innovation envelope in the coming months. The company is said to be working on a flagship, the Axon S, which will feature 5G support, a side sliding mechanism, a 95% screen to body ratio, and five cameras in total.

A number of recent Geekbench listings alluded to the existence of two new Pocophone devices: The Poco F1 Lite and Poco F2. We were skeptical in our coverage of both stories and it turns out were right to be, as it was all just a ruse by the enthusiast community to see how the media would handle the false information.

A listing for the purported Xiaomi Poco F2 has surfaced on Geekbench and while we are expecting a Snapdragon 855-powered flagship killer from Xiaomi this year, the scores do not seem to reflect such high aspirations. Going by the RAM, SoC identifier, and the base clock, we feel this could be a mid-range variant of the Poco F2 or a renamed Poco F1 Lite... or even a fake leak.

Roland Quandt has posted a new article in which he claims to set out every detail on the upcoming Huawei P30 and P30 Pro prior to their launch. This includes nearly every major spec and detail of the phones, including their relative RAM capacities, camera counts, new color schemes and battery capacities.

There have always been rumors that Huawei was working on its own OS. Those have now been confirmed by the company, with Huawei CEO Richard Yu affirming that the Chinese monolith has a working mobile OS all geared up and ready to go, just in case.

A few days ago, a Geekbench listing showed what appeared to be a Poco F1 Lite running on Android Pie with 4 GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 660. We are leery of the whole thing, though.

Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X foldable phones may rightfully dominate the headlines but they come with the caveat of outrageous prices. Xiaomi is set to join the foldable race in the coming months and will, in typical fashion, offer a product that heavily undercuts the competition in price.