Android

Xiaomi has announced its indigenously developed Hyper OS will power the Xiaomi 14 series. It will be available globally and eventually replace MIUI on new and existing devices.

Realme's first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered smartphone is tipped to launch as the GT5 Pro. It is thought to ditch its existing vanilla sibling's look for one associated more with super-flagships such as the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. Its camera hump is said to be packed with the latest lenses for 2024 devices, and its display an upgrade on its predecessor.

Nubia is making progress with its next-gen flagship Android smartphones from its mobile gaming brand RedMagic, according to a new leak. It comes courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which has cleared two new devices from the OEM to use fast wireless connectivity. The standards specified hint at a class-leading SoC in the rumored 9 series.

According to a report from a typically reliable leaker, OnePlus is developing the OnePlus 12 with a new display. If correct, it would see the OnePlus 12 overtaking the Pixel 8 Pro as the brightest flagship smartphone with global availability.

OUKITEL has begun selling the WP23 Pro, a rugged smartphone based around a 10,600 mAh battery, a 6.52-inch display and a UNISOC Tiger T606 chipset. Available in three colours, the OUKITEL WP23 Pro also runs Android 13 and costs less than US$170 at launch.

Reportedly, Samsung has chosen the location for its next Galaxy Unpacked launch event. While unconfirmed for now, the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Ultra are all rumoured to debut in the vicinity of Apple's headquarters.

Oukitel has reportedly showcased its latest smartphone as the first of its line to debut with the same ultra-fast-charging technology as some much higher-end Android devices. The WP30 Pro is also touted to sport a rear-mounted display as well as its main 120Hz screen, and to have a primary camera with a resolution that is also in triple figures.

Samsung is now slated to have a new option in the mid-range Android smartphone market for 2024 or possibly even late 2023: the Galaxy M44. It has been identified as a 5G device in a new tip, which also confirms its model number and Bluetooth specs. Based on the latter alone, it is shaping up to be an affordable enough new handset on its release.

Google has lifted the block it placed on the ability for users to freely install benchmarking apps on its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones. The block had been in place during the review embargo period but extended past the on sale period where customers purchasing the devices couldn’t install benchmarks on their new Pixels either.

The Teclast M50 Pro surprised us in our tests with its solid specs. Although the 10.1-inch Android tablet costs less than US$200, it cuts a good figure as a surfing and multimedia tablet and combines this with 4 speakers, dual-SIM and an IPS display in 16:10 format.

Keeping with its predecessors, the Google Pixel 8 Pro seemingly does not aspire to greater performance heights. The new Google flagship phone fails to match its competitors in the GPU performance department, effectively only delivering graphical prowess on par with flagship chipsets released two years ago.

Even if Samsung does many things right with the Galaxy Tab S9+, the middle model of the series, we still find several places where it could use some optimization. We summarize our test results for you here.

The Galaxy A05s is one of the newest and also cheapest Android smartphones from Samsung around. Now, it is reportedly on the way to India with a launch event scheduled for later in October 2023. Its RAM options for this country have leaked out in advance, however, which explains the attractive feature mentioned in its first official poster for its new market.

OnePlus has confirmed that its first ever foldable Android device will also be its first smartphone to use a Sony LYTIA camera sensor. It is touted to have a cutting-edge double-stacked structure and to be tuned by Hasselblad for "exceptional imaging". The brand-first main shooter is also tipped to be joined by a new zoom lens also thought to feature in the successor to the conventional flagship OnePlus 11.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro impressed us in our test with its powerful performance and very good Leica main camera. In comparison to the predecessor generation, lots has been improved on, meaning its many new features should make themselves well known in everyday use.

The Pixel 8 Pro's Tensor G3 averaged an average of 33.5 FPS in Genshin Impact at High Settings. The phone also heats up a lot, with its surface temperature hovering at around 42 degrees Celcius.

Compared to the leaks from the last few weeks before the launch of the Pixel 8, some features did not make it into the final version of Android 14 or into the new Google apps. For example, the desktop mode in the style of Samsung's DeX stands out, but a camera feature heavily advertised by Samsung is only likely to appear in the Pixel 9 in 2024.

Google has taken the extraordinary step to block reviewers from being able to download popular chip testing benchmarks directly through its Play Store, surprising reviewers of its latest Pixel 8 series smartphones. Incredibly, the company has extended this block to include all new customers of its Pixel 8 phones following the launch, in attempt to suppress the widespread distribution of results.

Samsung has upgraded its top tablets, namely its Galaxy Tab S9 series, which comes in three sizes. The 11-inch screen of the regular Galaxy Tab S9 comes in OLED for the first time and impresses with blazing-fast system performance.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy's Adreno GPU managed to outperform the Exynos 2400's Xclipse 940 in Geekbench's Vulkan and OpenCL benchmarks.

The GSM Association's latest study on mobile internet use worldwide has concluded that over half of the global population now has at least one smartphone. Four billion of those people are estimated to use mobile data on those devices, although hundreds of millions still use alternative mobile devices. The number of people without access to mobile connectivity has also been found to have dropped precipitously since 2015.

According to separate reports, Xiaomi is working to deliver the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro before the end of October. Allegedly, Qualcomm will reference Xiaomi's next flagships during this year's Snapdragon Summit, during which it will also present the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

The Google Pixel 8 Pro has now been subjected to a series of torture tests. Unlike the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro before it, the Pixel 8 Pro manages to survive being bent, scratched and burnt without too much trouble.

New Xiaomi 14 Pro renders have shown up online. The flagship smartphone will feature a flat display and rearrange its camera modules. Otherwise, its design is largely the same as its predecessor.

OPPO and OnePlus have jointly confirmed that the Find N3 (or OnePlus Open for the global market) will launch soon as a new foldable Android smartphone. Now, a leaker has reportedly revealed more details on what it might be like to carry such a device around in the real world. The OEM is now tipped to have refined its weight compared to some other foldables, although it may still fail to match conventional flagships in this regard.

Vivo's somewhat global sub-brand iQOO is known for flagship smartphones with class-leading displays, internals and charging specs; however, they have tended to lag behind in terms of rear camera performance. That might change, as the upcoming 12 series is now projected to get the same high-res zoom lens as their OnePlus rival.

OPPO and its co-brand OnePlus has chosen to hype all the global versions of the new Android foldable smartphones they have at once today (October 12, 2023). The Find N3 Flip clamshell can be pre-ordered from now in India, whereas the company seeks to build anticipation for its 'full-sized' counterpart the OnePlus Open by announcing the early-bird offer phase of its pre-launch campaign.

The Honor Magic Vs2 has arrived as the company's cheaper alternative to the Magic V2. Available in Coral Purple, Glacier Blue and Velvet Black colour options, the Magic Vs2 is just 5.1 mm thick but still packs a pair of LTPO AMOLED displays and a 5,000 mAh battery, among other hardware.

The US variant of the Galaxy S24 Ultra scores 2,234 and 6,870 points in Geekbench's single and multi-core tests. The smartphone features 8 GB of RAM and runs Android 14.

It seems that Oppo has confirmed when OnePlus will release the OnePlus Open. While Oppo is just over a week from the global launch of its next foldable, a YouTuber has compared the Find N3 against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5.

Nothing has released Nothing OS 2.5 Beta for the Phone (2), its first Android 14-derived update. Not only does the first Nothing OS 2.5 Beta contain various features specific to Android 14, but it also includes some Nothing-specific changes that will be exclusive to the Phone (1) and Phone (2).

The first photos shot using Google's new Ultra HDR image format have been published online. Available to try out for the first time in Android 14 with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, the Ultra HDR image format adds an HDR gain map to a standard JPG image, which creates problems with incompatible systems for now.

Motorola launched two variants of the latest generation of its foldable Android smartphone for the first time in 2023. Now, the more vanilla version of the new Razr has finally joined its flagship counterpart on the United States market. It is touted to come in the same vibrant vegan leather color options, but makes some compromises for a more affordable price-point.

The Galaxy Z Fold5 is now available at a US$400 discount as part of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days discount. The promotion applies to Samsung's latest foldable in Cream and Icy Blue colourways, both with 256 GB of storage.

The K70 might be the vanilla version of Redmi's next high-end Android smartphone line-up, yet is thought to share in Pro-grade advantages such as new flat screen tech and premium build quality. It is also now tipped to have the same generational charging upgrade as the upcoming flagship Xiaomi 14.

Motorola has introduced its latest Edge smartphone for North America. The Motorola Edge 2023 is available for US$499.99 at launch or CAD$849.99 in Canada.

A teardown video of the Pixel 8 has highlighted the internal change that Google has made from the Pixel 7. Unfortunately, this year's smaller Pixel remains difficult to repair and appears to have a weaker cooling solution than the Pixel 8 Pro.

The 2025-bound Exynos 2500 will feature only one Cortex-X5 core instead of the four rumoured earlier. The remaining will be replaced with Cortex-A730 cores in a 1+3+2+4 layout.

A typically reliable leaker has detailed various camera upgrades that are headed to OnePlus' next flagship. Reputedly, the OnePlus 12 will feature the Sony IMX966 as its primary camera, a 50 MP sensor with a 1/1.4-inch optical format. New front-facing and telephoto sensors are rumoured to be heading to the OnePlus 11 successor, too.

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy S23 FE, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen or Exynos 2200 depending on regional models. It appears, however, that this Exynos 2200 on the S23 FE outperforms the Exynos 2200 on last year's Galaxy S22 lineup.

The Play 50 Plus is Honor's latest affordable-class Android smartphone, yet debuts with the OEM's latest design-language tweaks. It aims for a slim and sleek flat-edge look, yet packs a larger-than-average 6,000mAh battery. It goes well with a sizeable display, although it takes a spec hit to help it start at less than US$200.

The Xiaomi 13T has received its first discount. Available at an 18% reduction from Amazon UK, the Xiaomi 13T combines a 144 Hz AMOLED display with a 5,000 mAh battery, a Dimensity 8200 chipset and a 50 MP primary camera with OIS, among other features.

It appears that OnePlus is closing on launching the Open, the company's first foldable. Allegedly arriving before the end of October, the OnePlus Open is slated to undercut the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 by roughly US$100.

A benchmark listing for Honor's next foldable has appeared online ahead of the device's launch later this week. To be released as the Magic Vs2, the device will rely upon a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, 16 GB of RAM and Android 13.

OPPO has set the stage for the launch of the next major software upgrade for its Android smartphones during its Developers Conference of 2023. The event will also introduce the OEM's connected smart device ecosystem, not to mention its own generative AI model and latest development in health technology.

@OnLeaks has now shared renders of the Pixel 8a, likely Google's final member of the Pixel 8 series. Corroborating previous leaks, the Pixel 8a has a more curved design than the Pixel 7a and one that resembles the Pixel 8.