Chinese Tech

Huawei launched the Mate 10 devices towards the end of 2017. While the Mate 10 Pro is being sold in the US officially, the base Mate 10 and Mate 10 Lite never made the trip over. The latter is currently listed on Amazon, though, with a US$310 price tag.

Since the Lenovo Tab 4 has been around for a while, the time seems right for a new Android slate from the Chinese brand. Sadly, the FCC arrival of the Dolby Atmos-certified Lenovo TB-8304F1 does not reveal anything else than its audio certification and the power input of just 5 V and 1 A, but many expect it to hit the market as the Lenovo Tab 5.

It's only been one week since Huawei's last promotion on the Mate 10 Pro and now the manufacturer is bringing it back but with a deeper $150 discount. The news follows on the footsteps of Best Buy's plan to drop all Huawei devices because of U.S. Intelligence intervention.

Xiaomi's last device with a MediaTek SoC was the Redmi Note 4. The MediaTek Redmi Note 4 never attained the critical acclaim of its Snapdragon sibling but it would seem the Chinese company is set to make a return to its old MediaTek ways.

Huawei has released its sales figures for 2017. The company's total revenue for the year stood at US$92.5 billion, a 15.7% rise from 2016. 153 million smartphone shipments accounted for US$36.4 billion of that number.

Although the sub-US$200 market sector is quite crowded these days and there are a few capable handsets even around US$100, the ZTE Tempo Go tries to fight them with a price tag of just US$79.99. Sadly, this is nothing new, since the Tempo Go is only a ZTE Tempo X — a handset that arrived in late September 2017 — with Android Go onboard and a slightly different name.

The new Huawei P20 and P20 Pro have been hailed as game-changing camera smartphones and are already in the running for best flagships of the year. The US, sadly, will never get to enjoy the devices, with Huawei apparently not ready to make another attempt at selling its smartphones in the US.

Dutch website LetsGoDigital has uncovered a patent for a foldable phone filed by Huawei in September 2017. The Chinese technology company seems to have developed a tablet-sized device which when folded would be the size of a regular smartphone. The central “gap” problem, created when a foldable dual-screen smartphone is opened up, has been addressed by making the device bendable.

A device that appears to be the Mi 6X has made a surprise appearance on TENAA. It isn’t a full listing, though, so all this tells us is that the device will sport a design similar to the Mi 5X's but with an 18:9 display and vertically aligned dual rear cameras.

Firefox has released an official extension designed to put a stop to Facebook's user-tracking. The extension puts all Facebook-related tabs into a sealed "container", preventing any tracking to be conducted beyond the site itself.

Huawei have officially unveiled the P20 and P20 Pro. Important specifications such as RAM and Storage were missing from the announcement, but the rumors are likely to be pretty reliable, based on the accuracy of the confirmed screen and camera specifications.

AMD GPU prices may finally be coming down, but will the company’s stock follow suit? According to analyst Christopher Rolland, that may indeed be the case. A new Ethereum ASIC miner from Bitmain may threaten Team Red’s financial outlook, as Ethereum mining is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of AMD’s sales.

The OnePlus 6 prototype that is featured in the GeekBench results is powered by the same Snapdragon 845 SoC that comes with the Galaxy S9+ (US version) and Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S and it also features the same 6 GB of RAM. Apparently, the OnePlus 6 prototype might be using an overclocked SoC or better memory, and the final product could end up even faster.

The Mi MIX 2S is powered by an overclocked Snapdragon 845 SOC coupled with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage, and the body/back plate will be made out of quad-layered ceramic material, which is more resistant to scratches. It will also feature a dual pixel 12 MP camera setup that is capable of recording slow motion videos @120 fps 720p, 30 fps 1080p or 30 fps 2160p.

The Huawei P20, P20 Pro, and P20 Lite are set to be launched tomorrow in Paris. Specifications and pricing details of the devices have leaked, with the P20 particularly looking like a fine balance of features and price.

OnePlus has announced that it will no longer sell the OnePlus 5T in North America. The 5T was released in November, just four months ago, so this could go down as the shortest sales cycle of any device ever. It, of course, also means that we’re close to the release of the OnePlus 6.

Blackview is set to debut yet another battery monster in the P10000 Pro. The device will feature an 11000 mAh battery, USB Type-C, and 25W fast charge that’s said to charge the device full in slightly over two hours.

The latest leaked specs reveal that the OnePlus 6 will only have a few things in common with the Oppo R15. The high-end Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage, plus the 20 MP selfie cam and the 20 MP + 16 MP combo on the back should make the OnePlus 6 rival even the best models offered by Samsung.

With a price of around US$205, the new 6-inch ZTE Nubia V18 is powered by the ubiquitous Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 mid-range processor. It also features 4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and a 4,000 mAh battery. Sadly, it does not come with Oreo onboard, running Nougat with Nubia UI 5.1 on top instead.

The Huawei Honor 6X was released back in 2016 on Android Marshmallow. It received the update to Nougat a few months later and is set for one final blaze, with confirmation on Huawei's forums touting a May 2018 Oreo rollout for the device.

Best Buy has pulled out of its partnership with Huawei. This means that the Chinese OEM will no longer be able to sell its smartphones via the retail store. Best Buy was Huawei's major channel of selling smartphones in brick-and-mortar stores, so this kills the company's hopes of making any headway in the US.

Meizu has announced the release of the next device in its mid-range E-series. The E3 features a Snapdragon 636, a powerful dual rear camera setup, 6 GB of RAM, up to 128 GB of storage, and fast charging technology.

The Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro launched on Android Nougat, while its Chinese variant ran on Oreo out of the box. The latter enjoys Treble support, and a discovery has shown that users of the Indian model can flash the Chinese Oreo build on their devices with TWRP, granting them Treble superpowers.

It appears Huawei might be working on a smartphone that offers a whopping 512 GB of storage space. A recent online listing for a Huawei device offers specification details such as 6 GB RAM and 512 GB ROM. If the Chinese technology company is actually developing a handset with such an amount of storage, then it will be twice the size of the largest amount of storage the iPhone X currently offers.

There has been a report suggesting that Huawei Technologies is developing a smartphone that could utilize blockchain technology. Officials from the Chinese multinational have apparently been in talks with representatives from Sirin Labs, who created the Finney smartphone that features blockchain-based security. If Huawei goes ahead and create a “blockchain smartphone” then the company will be the first major smartphone manufacturer to deliver this particular technology to the masses.

Lenovo has announced the launch of its new mid-ranger, the S5. The S5 features a 5.7-inch FHD+ display, a 13 MP + 13 MP dual rear camera setup, a Snapdragon 625, 3000 mAh battery, and USB Type-C. All of that at a price point just above US$150 makes the device an extremely attractive proposition.

Although Xiaomi released Android 8.0 Oreo for the Mi A1 handset before the end of 2017 as they previously had promised, the first security patch of the new year arrives with a long delay. Even worse, the new firmware does not bring Android 8.1 or the latest security patch from Google, only packing last month's update and nothing else.

Huawei has launched the first of the P20 smartphones, the P20 Lite, in Europe and China with the Chinese variant being christened the Nova 3e. With a midrange Kirin 659 at the helm of affairs, the P20 Lite features a notched 19:9 display and retails from Euro 369.

Xiaomi has released an official teaser for the upcoming Mi Mix 2S. The device is showing sporting minimal bezels and no notch. All things considered, it looks exactly like the Mi Mix 2. The device will feature a Snapdragon 845 and could also sport some sort of iris scanning technology and also wireless charging.

OPPO has announced its two new devices, the R15 and R15 Dream Mirror, in China. If history's anything to go by, the upcoming OnePlus 6 will share a lot of similarities with these devices, including a notch and a 3.5mm jack.

Xiaomi has released Android 8.0 kernel sources for the Mi A1. The device's Nougat sources were released a few weeks ago, so this is rather unexpected from Xiaomi. A surprise, but a welcome one to be sure.

ZTE was hit with a massive US$892 million fine by the US government back in 2016, a fine that led to the company posting a massive US$377 million net loss for that year. All looks to be well with the Chinese electronics giant now, though.

Samsung has released kernel sources for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, just weeks after the devices were announced. The combination of kernel sources and Project Treble support should ensure that the devices get excellent community development.

The Honor 7X is currently receiving its first Oreo beta. The update brings a number of UI changes and the much-expected Project Treble support that will allow the device enjoy the community development it has lacked so far.

Word of a device powered by a "Snapdragon 632" has surfaced again, and just like the first time out, we're leery. There doesn't look to be any such SoC in the works, and the source information is as wonky as it gets.

HTC may completely skip the U12 launch and release the U12+ flagship smartphone in mid Q2 this year. As a competitor for Samsung's Galaxy S9+, the U12+ comes with a WQHD+ LCD screen, top of the line Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6 GB RAM, 64/128 GB storage, plus dual front/back cams.

Although the Moto E4 has been around since last July and Verizon Wireless has been selling it ever since for just US$69.99, T-Mobile decided to add this 5-inch Android Nougat smartphone to its portfolio now instead of waiting for the Moto E5. However, the full retail price they charge is US$175. Fortunately, T-Mobile customers can also go with a US$7 down payment, followed by 24 monthly payments of US$7 each.

Shortly after seeing the Huawei Y9 (2018) launch in Thailand, an unofficial render of the next-gen Huawei Y7 surfaced online. This mid-range Android handset is rumored to feature a 5.5-inch display with 2,160 x 1,080 pixels, a single 13 MP photo shooter on the back, a fingerprint reader, and a traditional 3.5 mm audio jack. Its specs might also include 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, and a Snapdragon 435 processor (or similar).

Although the rest of the world has to wait for it, the 5.99-inch Honor 7C has just been introduced in China. The specs of this handset also include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 3 GB or 4 GB RAM, a dual camera setup on the back, as well as Android Oreo-based firmware with Huawei's EMUI 8.0 on top. Those interested can purchase it in China already, where the list of color choices includes blue, black, gold, and red.

OPPO F7, the successor of the OPPO F5 lineup, will be unveiled on March 26. Although most technical details are still to be revealed, we know of the 6.2-inch display with a rather strange resolution of 2,280 x 1,080 pixels and its notch similar to that of the Apple iPhone X. This phablet also comes with a 25 MP selfie shooter that features HDR and AR capabilities, as well as AI Beauty 2.0 beautification.

A while ago, a report by XDA-Developers detailed the Mi 7 using information gleaned from a new firmware file. According to a new report, though, the Mi 7 may have gone through significant changes over the past few weeks, with alterations to its battery capacity and a wild appearance of what seems to be a notch.

Huawei has released the Mate SE, a rebrand of the hugely popular Honor 7X. The Mate SE is identical to the Honor 7X but features a slightly tweaked camera design, an extra GB of RAM, and 32 more GBs of storage. It comes with a price tag of US$229.99.

Press renders and live images of the Huawei P20, P20 Lite, and P20 Pro have shown them all sporting vertically aligned rear cameras—tri-rear cameras in the case of the P20 Pro. This comes after a video by Huawei teased a horizontal alignment on the devices a week ago.

The new Huawei Y9 (2018) that was unveiled in Thailand shares many specs and features with the existing Mate 10 Lite and Honor 9 Lite. Its main selling points are the large 2:1 IPS display, the four cameras, and the capable HiSilicon Kirin 659 mid-range processor. Powered by a generous 4,000 mAh battery and loaded with Android 8.0 Oreo, the Y9 (2018) will hit the market in black, blue, and gold.

ASRock is more likely to produce MXM graphics cards for its own mini PC lineups rather than get into discrete gaming and mining card production. However, considering the AMD partnership and the current GPU crisis, ASRock could help ramp up the graphics card production and bring down GPU prices.

As revealed by the images that recently surfaced on Weibo, the upcoming ZTE Nubia N3 is a rather peculiar Android handset. Although it features a quite capable mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and a 5.99-inch display with a 2:1 aspect ratio, it comes with large bezels and only features a micro USB port for charging and data transfer. At last, we should also mention the stock Android 8.0 Oreo firmware.

Chuwi's upcoming Hi 9 Air will push the limits of the gaming tablet space, with the device to feature the deca-core Helio X20 SoC, Mali-T880 MP4 GPU, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage, all packed into a slim 8.2mm-thick frame.

Reports claim that the next batch of ZTE Nubia devices will ditch the company's Nubia UI for good and make the switch to stock Android. There's a chance both the Axon and Nubia lines share the same "Stock UI" that has been reported.