Chinese Tech

Huawei has commenced rollout of Android 9 Pie-based EMUI 9.0 to older flagships such as the Mate 9 series along with the Nova 2S in China. The rollout is happening as per expected timelines and should hit users in China this week followed by a global rollout shortly. Alongside the Mate 9 series, the Huawei Nova 2S, the Honor V9, and the Honor 9 are also getting their taste of Android Pie.

Nokia just released its model 9 Pureview smartphone with 5 rear cameras and it looks like the number is about to double soon. Xiaomi and Light are working on smartphone camera arrays that could integrate upward of 10 cameras, and the plan is to integrate them in both affordable models and premium ones.

Xiaomi's Redmi sub-brand, today, launched its new mid-range phone. The Redmi Note 7 Pro features a dual rear camera setup, with the main sensor being Sony's 48 MP IMX586—also seen on the Honor View 20 and Mi 9; Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 675; and a 4000 mAh battery.

According to OnePlus CEO Pete Lau, wireless charging is considerably slower than Dash Charge, and the company will not be implementing it on its smartphones. Prospective buyers who need wireless charging will have to look past the upcoming OnePlus 7.

The Google Home app can act as a one-stop shop for all your smart-home appliance control needs. Its latest update also adds the ability to tune the color of connected bulbs or lamps. This is opposed to the simple on-off switch found in previous versions.

Meizu's next flagship smartphone, projected to be called the 16s, is linked to new images posted on SlashLeaks. They show a phone with a traditionally-placed selfie camera, but in an ultra-low-profile forehead. The bezels on this device are also minimal, so as to create a decent illusion of a full-screen display.

Huawei’s keynote at MWC 2019 was all about the ultra high-end Mate X foldable smartphone. However, its next, far more accessible flagships, the P30 and P30 Pro are coming soon and have now been revealed in full.

For those parents desperate to find a new catchy song to entertain children bored of watching “Baby Shark”, look no further. Not only is “Huawei Beauty” sung by a bunch of cute kids, the video also features a nifty dance routine and gives some handy advice about what brand smartphone you should own. Just try to ignore the unsubtle propaganda and occasional iffy imagery.

Although Motorola has not introduced its foldable phone at MWC, the company's VP of Global Product has just confirmed that the upcoming handset — rumored to bring back the legendary RAZR family — has been in development for a long time and will hit the market about the same time as the other such devices that have been recently unveiled by Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and others.

Vivo launched the V15 Pro mid-ranger just a week ago, however, the company is ready to announce another mid-ranger, this time for the X-series. Compared to the V15 Pro, the upcoming X27 would get a few upgrades like the 8 GB of RAM, a slightly better 13 MP wide angle camera on the back, and a bigger 3,920 mAh battery, but would also feature a slightly slower Snapdragon 710 SoC and only a 16 MP selfie cam.

Chuwi's latest copycat laptop has an 80 percent screen-to-body ratio, an aluminum-magnesium chassis, and a weight of just 1.25 kg. Prices and launch dates are still unknown for now as the system is only at its fundraising stage.

There is a new alternative to the foldable phone already. Nubia has unveiled the Alpha, a device with a screen that curves along a wide watch-like form factor. This display is 4 inches long, and operates using the Snapdragon 2100 wearables processor.

The Redmi Note 7 is a phone that is sold at US$150, yet has a 48MP camera to sweeten its budget deal. It arrived in the JerryRigEverything YouTube studio to undergo the by-now famous durability test. Unfortunately, the Redmi device fell at the final hurdle.

The trade war between the U.S. and China may soon end, as president Trump believes that the negotiations are going well and is now determined to delay the increased tariffs for China as a gesture of good will. As a direct consequence, the Chinese Shanghai Composite index spiked by 5% and we could be looking at a price reset for the overpriced computer hardware in the next few months.

Guo Ping, Hauwei's current chairperson, has appeared on stage as part of a conference at MWC19. He asserted that the company is not involved in activities that amount to cyber-spying on behalf of the Chinese govermment, as the U.S. has alleged. Guo also called for improved regulation and assignation of responsibility in the coming global 5G infrastructure roll-out.

Some time ago, the Android OEM OnePlus committed itsefl to provide an update to Android 9.0 (Pie) for its 2016 flagships, the 3 and 3T. However, it may have fallen behind in these plans recently. Now, a potentially important piece of evidence that the company has at least started on this project has surfaced.

Real-world photos of the upcoming Huawei P30 Pro have been printed online by Digital Trends. The intriguing collection of images unfortunately does not include a shot of the front of the flagship smartphone as the device in question was an incomplete prototype. The P30 Pro in the photographs has a rear triple camera setup and there is no sign of a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Specifications for the Redmi Note 7 Pro from Xiaomi have been spotted on TENAA. The Chinese variant of the smartphone is expected to be released very soon with an Indian variant coming shortly after. Technology tipster Ishan Agarwal has shared some press renders of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro on his Twitter account.

TCL is one of a handful of companies to bring foldable technology prototypes to this year's MWC. Interestingly, this company's demo models include form-factors besides phone/tablets. However, their presentation was a little low on detail.

Huawei's first foldable phone, the Mate X, has been demonstrated to tech journalists in Barcelona as part of a preview event for the 2019 Mobile World Congress. The device has some similarities with the Samsung Galaxy Fold, but also has some unique features of its own.

At the Mobile World Congress currently underway in Barcelona, Xiaomi took to stage to unveil the upgraded Mi Mix 3. The new Mi Mix now features the flagship 7 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC and support for 5G connectivity via the Snapdragon X50 modem. The rest of the specifications are identical to the original version including the slider mechanism and ceramic build.

OnePlus' first 5G phone will be released in partnership with the carriers EE and Elisa in the second quarter of the year. They are located in the UK and Finland respectively, and are the only companies to be associated with the release of this phone so far. OnePlus' CEO has indicated that the device will cost under US$1000.

Meizu has announced that its Note 9 is to be launched on March 6, 2019. This phone will feature a Samsung GM1 48MP camera sensor. It may also have 6GB of RAM, a 6.2-inch FHD display and the Snapdragon 675 processor.

The CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, Richard Yu, has uploaded a photo of the moon to his Weibo account that was more than likely taken with a P30 Pro smartphone. Huawei has been busy promoting the zooming qualities of its upcoming P30 series on Twitter, but the zoom shot of the moon certainly takes some beating.

Lenovo could be joining Dell in offering Intel Ice Lake laptops as soon as June this year. Leaked datasheets for the ThinkPad X1 Yoga and ThinkPad X1 Carbon detail the inclusion of Core i5 and Core i7 Ice Lake processor options. The new models are slimmer and the transition to Ice Lake is expected to bring significant benefits to both compute and graphics performance.

A leaked image of a promotional banner has confirmed the name of the upcoming foldable 5G smartphone from Huawei: Mate X. The picture doesn’t reveal details about pricing or hardware, but it does show the foldable device in three different forms that give a clear idea of what the Huawei Mate X will look like.

One month after showing up at CES and snagging quite a few "Best of" awards, the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars is now launching worldwide. This gaming smartphone is available in two variants — Essential (6/64 GB) and Superior (8/128 GB) — and a third one that features 10 GB of memory and 256 GB of internal storage space is also coming soon.

It took TSMC a little over two weeks to fully assess the consequences of the Fab 14B incident. Apparently, the chemical contamination was triggered by an abnormal reaction in the photoresistant material that led to a polymer residue compromising up to 30,000 of 12 nm and 16 nm wafers. Total losses are estimated around US$550 million, but TSMC intends to ramp up production in Q2 to mitigate part of the losses.

Xiaomi has launched the Mi 9 SE in China alongside the flagship Mi 9. The Mi 9 SE is the world's first phone to be powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC and offers the same 48 MP camera and in-display fingerprint sensor as the Mi 9. While most other specs are on par, the battery capacity seems somewhat of a downer.

Featuring specs similar to Samsung's S10 lineup, the Mi 9 smashes the Korean competitor with halved starting prices. Some of the outstanding features coming with the Mi9 include the powerful Snapdragon 855 SoC, up to 12 GB of RAM, up to 256 GB of storage, a 6.39-inch AMOLED screen with in-display fingerprint sensor, a 20 MP selfie cam and an impressive 48 + 16 + 12 MP rear tri-cam.

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has launched its latest notchless all-display smartphone. The new Vivo V15 Pro has been unveiled in India and comes with an pop-up selfie camera and a triple rear camera set up.

The S90 is Doogee's first rugged smartphone that comes with a selection of modules similar to Motorola's mods. These include a high quality night vision camera, a 5,000 mAh powerbank, a walkie-talkie and a game controller. Additionally, the casing of the S90 is made of military grade metal and polycarbonate, so it can withstand extreme conditions.

The Mi 9 will offer a mouth-watering specifications sheet including an AMOLED display, IR blaster, triple rear cameras, a Snapdragon 855, and up to 12 GB of RAM. All of that comes with a caveat, though: Prices also see a massive hike.

Huawei has just put an end to all the rumors about the launch date and location of its next-gen flagships by posting a video teaser on Twitter. The video apparently focuses on the zoom capabilities of the upcoming flagship. The Huawei P30 will arrive during a special event that will take place on March 26 in Paris.

In the same Weibo post where he discussed the design features of the upcoming Mi 9 Explorer Edition, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun also delivered a rather startling morsel of information: The smartphone will feature 12 GB memory. This would put the device on the same RAM amount level as the top-end variant of the Samsung Galaxy S10+.

Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun has posted some very interesting images of the Mi 9 Explorer Edition on Weibo. Along with the pictures, there is some text describing the process of creating the flagship smartphone’s unique transparent look, which involves a 0.3-mm sheet of micro-carved aluminum being inserted underneath the device’s back glass cover.

Xiaomi is set to unveil its newest flagship, the Mi 9, in a few days. The Mi 9 is said to feature wireless charging—the first time a Mi flagship will have that honor—and will further take things up a notch with 20 W wireless charging support. Wired fast charge comes in at a massive 27 W.

The Redmi Note 7 Pro is expected to feature a Snapdragon 675 and Sony's 48 MP IMX586 sensor, the same module used on the Honor View 20. Initial reports claimed the Note 7 Pro would be launched in February but that's looking increasingly unlikely, and new information touts a March release instead.

The Android phone-maker OPPO had previously teased its new camera-tech breakthrough: 10x lossless zoom, facilitated by a prism and an extra series of lenses that can fit into a typical phone chassis. The OEM's vice president has announced that it is prepared to mass-produce these components. This should start by about June 2019.

Zotac has unveiled a new modified graphics card to its line-up: The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm. The Nvidia GeForce 2080 Ti-based GPU comes with a preinstalled ArcticStorm waterblock as part of a liquid cooling solution. The new card also comes with configurable lighting zones and can be fine-tuned with Zotac’s FireStorm utility software.

MyDrivers has reported that Xiaomi intends to announce a crowdfunding project for a new product: a smart sports watch. This device will apparently support real-time GPS tracking, so that a user can generate and maintain maps of their fitness-related activities (e.g. runing routes and so on).

The Realme 2 Pro is a phone directed at the younger market in a number of countries, including India. Here, the 2 Pro is available at Rs. 1000 (about US$14) less than usual. However, its better-spec'd SKUs are currently out of stock.

According to a review by Android Authority, the Honor View 20's main camera setup can provide excellent low-light performance, realistic colors, great image stabilization, as well as "amazing detail" but also lacks in the HDR area and its selfie shooter can be improved. The conclusion is that the View 20 beats the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

Xiaomi is now known as one of the very few Android OEMs who have released the most modern take on the slider phone. However, it also appears as though it wants to get into the pop-up camera game as well. A company executive has hinted that this may be the case should demand for that kind of device remain high.

The Pocophone F1 has been lauded for the high price to performance ratio it brings to the table. Sadly, Xiaomi's high-value magnum opus isn't sold officially in the US. ZTE's Nubia is now offering something almost as good, and it's actually available in the US.

According to new reports, Huawei's upcoming flagships, the P30 and P30 Pro will feature 1080p displays. Both devices are expected to have some impressive specifications sheets, and the listed display resolutions are somewhat disappointing.

Xiaomi has published pictures of the Mi 9 flagship smartphone on its community pages in three different colors. There’s the regulatory black, a shimmering blue, and a color that has already received several different descriptions and seems to offer a dash of purple and a smattering of pink. Xiaomi has asked tweeters to retweet its post if the latter color offers “major unicorn vibes.”

A report from CNET mentions that TCL Corporation could be busy working on up to five different foldable devices. It seems two of the devices are tablets, two are smartphones, and one appears to be a combination of a smartphone, smartwatch, and bracelet. The Chinese company is apparently planning to release a foldable device in 2020.

Xiaomi UK has revealed the full details of the Mi 9’s rear-facing triple camera setup. There will be a 48 MP main camera, a 12 MP telephoto camera, and a 16 MP wide-angle camera. The OEM tweeted a few photographs that had been taken with the Mi 9 AI triple cameras, and there’s no denying the results do look impressive.

It has been anticipated that the OPPO R17 would be replaced by the R19, a phone that may have a punch-hole selfie camera, in 2019. However, the vice president of the Android OEM, Shen Yiren, has taken to Weibo to disrupt this line of speculation.