Android

According to a new report, Microsoft has ceased developing a Surface Duo 2 successor. While the design of the Surface Duo 3 had been finalised, Microsoft has now moved away from the dual-screen format of the Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2. Instead, it seems that Microsoft is headed down the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Oppo Find N2 route. A conventional candybar smartphone could be in the offing, too.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has been widely reported to feature a display with specs identical to the Galaxy S22 Ultra's. This likely guarantees that the S23 Ultra will not offer the best smartphone display on the market, with the company reportedly prioritizing AP and camera hardware in the face of budget constraints.

Reputedly, Xiaomi is planning to bring the Redmi 12C and POCO C55 to global audiences, despite the latter being a re-brand of the former. The POCO C55 should offer the same hardware as the Redmi 12C but without NFC capabilities.

Lenovo may have cancelled the Legion Play, but prototypes are selling in China. The leak confirms Lenovo Legion Play specifications and that prototype units were in a near retail state.

The iQOO 11 has landed on Indian shores to introduce up-to-144Hz mobile gaming driven by Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset to the market. It also packs the new top-end standard combo of LPDDRX5 RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage, for potentially faster app launching and overall performance. It will start at under US$800 to its new audience.

It looks like Xiaomi is preparing to expand the Xiaomi 13 series with another model. Based on a recent Google Play Console listing, Xiaomi has created the Xiaomi 13 Lite, although the company already sells the device by a different name in China.

Although there are no numbers mentioned, one Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra teaser that surfaced in China reveals that the next-gen device will come with "megapixels that'll make you say wooow" and highlighted the fact that a "wow resolution is coming." Another warm-up video revealed that "Stunning night photos are coming" as well.

Apple is aiming to be the first to release 3 nm mobile processors later this year, despite the high production costs imposed by TSMC. Other SoC producers such as Qualcomm and MediaTek have not yet confirmed any 3 nm products for this year, and insider sources suggest that the increased manufacturing costs could prevent them to adopt 3 nm tech this year.

Xiaomi has confirmed that it will be attending MWC 2023 between February 27 and March 2, having skipped CES 2023 in Las Vegas. Billed as an opportunity to 'experience new Xiaomi technology', rumours suggest that Xiaomi will leverage MWC 2023 to bring not only the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro to global audiences, but also the Xiaomi 13S Ultra.

Xiaomi is now recruiting beta testers who want to try MIUI 14 early. Available on the Xiaomi 12 Lite, MIUI 14 Beta is open to devices enrolled on MIUI's Global and Indian branches. The update is based on Android 13 and should contain several changes from the MIUI 13 with which the Xiaomi 12 Lite ships.

The OnePlus 11 debuted recently and is already proving to be a sales success, with the flagship outselling other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones like the Xiaomi 13 and Vivo X90 series in China. Despite that success, however, OnePlus has also confirmed that it has no plans to debut a OnePlus 11 Pro.

Although the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 is a mid-range mobile chip with a few highlights such as support for 200 MP cameras, Doogee goes all the way up with the battery of the upcoming V Max. Weighing four times as much as an average smartphone, this rugged handset promises up to 10 days of battery life in regular use thanks to the 22,000 mAh power pack.

The "Ace 2" Android smartphone is tipped to launch soon as a better deal on new OnePlus hardware, albeit with a lower-end screen and slightly older SoC. Now, a new Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (or MIIT) registration has sparked further speculation that this device will launch soon, following the brand's top-end 11 onto the market with very similar looks.

Qualcomm's next flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, will supposedly score 1,800 and 6,500 points in Geekbench's single and multi-core tests. It will be manufactured on TSMC's N4P process, and not N3E as proclaimed by some rumours.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 have now been put through Golden Reviewer's popular Genshin Impact test. Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset puts up a supremely impressive performance that sees it outperform Apple's A16 Bionic on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Tecno has been accounted a Top 10 Smartphone Brand worldwide for 2022 and 2023 at the latest major CES conference. The OEM attributes this award to the innovation and design it has striven for in producing devices such as the Phantom X2 Pro, the world's first handset with a retractable zoom lens.

Google is now issuing its January 2023 round of updates for recent Pixel smartphones. While this month's patch is available from the Pixel 4a onwards, it mainly brings improvements to the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.

RedMagic has sent out a survey to gauge the interest of its fans in its hardware, its growing line of PC gaming hardware as well as its flagship Android smartphones included. The Nubia subsidiary may have let a clue as to a new addition to the former slip in the process: a first-gen TV. It may or may not be joined by new peripherals from the brand.

A poster from what is likely Samsung Colombia's official website confirms Galaxy Unpacked will happen on February 1. The event is expected to take place in San Francisco and will primarily be centred around the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Realme has officially revealed that the GT Neo 5 will be its first ever Android smartphone to launch with market-ready 240 watt (W) charging. The unprecedented spec is achieved with a heavily optimized arsenal of cutting-edge battery, charger and power brick technology touted to focus on stability and safety as well as lightning-fast power delivery.

Google has started rolling out a new version of Android Auto, originally codenamed Coolwalk. Announced last year at Google I/O 2022, the update brings several new features to the company's car entertainment interface, as well as a UI overhaul.

Skyworth's bendable OLED TV is on display during CES 2023, alongside other TVs with tech such as mini-LED backlighting. The OEM is also demonstrating its own in-house OS as an alternative to the Google TV of its upcoming outdoor screen at the major Las Vegas conference.

Qualcomm has announced that satellite-based connectivity is coming to Android smartphones, starting with those powered by its latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The OEM has partnered with Iridium to deliver the first-gen system, and intends for it to be available worldwide and, eventually, to devices besides smartphones.

Samsung hypes its latest addition to the Galaxy F series of Android smartphones as "F for Fast" (amid other things beginning with F). However, it is hard to see how it will live up to this hype with its well-worn ultra-budget specs. Then again, it now starts for under US$100 in India.

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is expected to launch in a few months as Xiaomi's main, and most ambitious, mainstream smartphone for the year. According to a new leak, however, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra will retain the same 50 MP sensor used on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.

Lenovo has announced the Smart Paper, just over a month after releasing the YOGA Paper in China. Equipped with a 10.3-inch E-Ink display, the Lenovo Smart Paper also runs Android, has 4 GB of RAM and has a large enough battery to last for up 170 hours of note-taking.

Lenovo has presented the Tab Extreme during its CES 2023 showcase, although the tablet will not be available until the summer in Europe. To be offered as an alternative to the iPad Pro 12.9 and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, the Lenovo Tab Extreme has a 14.5-inch and 120 Hz OLED display, plus a flagship chipset and a 12,300 mAh battery.

Motorola has teased the ThinkPhone ahead of the device's official introduction. Launching as the ThinkPhone by Motorola, the device will contain several nods to the ThinkPad family and should be available with powerful hardware like the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset.

The Pixel 7a is expected to debut later in the year. Months ahead of that, however, the mid-range phone has now made its first live appearance in the wild, following in the footsteps of recent Google devices.

Samsung has revealed the Galaxy A14 5G smartphone as part of its CES 2023 event activities. The budget phone packs a lot of punch for its price, which has been revealed as US$199 for the US market and €229 for some European markets, such as Spain. The Samsung Galaxy A14 sports a Dimensity 700 or Exynos 1330 SoC, depending on the region.

OnePlus has debuted its second-gen Buds Pro today (January 4, 2023) as TWS earbuds that step up to spatial audio and Dynaudio co-branding for the first time. They also have active noise cancellation (ANC) touted as significantly improved compared to that of their predecessors, not to mention Bluetooth 5.3 and up to 39 hours of battery life. However, it is possible that one might need to pair them with a new 11 flagship smartphone to get the best out of the new TWS earbuds.

OnePlus has made the 11 official in China, with an international debut on the way in early 2023. Its potential global fans can expect an "elegant" flagship Android smartphone with an OIS-enhanced 50MP main rear camera and a 6.7-inch OLED display with updated LTPO technology. It starts at under US$600 for a 12GB LPDDR5X RAM base model.

OnePlus still has until tomorrow (January 4, 2022) to unleash the 11 as its first top-end Android smartphone of the year. However, it has chosen to reveal its triple rear camera set-up in advance of this event. The brand asserts that each shooter is of "flagship" quality - however, a certain on-trend, cutting-edge attribute many fans may have wished to see has officially been left out.

MediaTek has introduced a new addition to the Genio family of internet of things- (IoT) specific platform at CES 2023. The 700 is an octa-core chip rated to support FHD and 4K displays - both at the same time if necessary, in fact. It is also compatible with some of the most advanced interfaces typically available to IoT, and is touted to handle industrial-grade conditions with ease.

Signs of the Lenovo Legion Y700 8-inch Android gaming tablet receiving a global launch soon have grown stronger. Recent clues indicated that the Legion Y700 might escape its domestic borders of China and now there are more hints that a worldwide release for the potential Apple iPad Mini 6 rival is on the cards.

OnePlus is projected to launch an Android smartphone called the 11R that may have the same new premium design as the flagship 11, albeit with different specs. According to a well-known leaker, they may include the same main rear camera as the premium mid-range OPPO Reno9 Pro Plus. This might confer optical image stabilization (OIS) and phase-detect auto-focus (PDAF) on the device.

Xiaomi's main sub-brand Redmi has kicked the new year off with sales of the 12C in China. Its main features are far from anything new, although they come in an eye-catching new chassis in four potentially appealing colors. It starts at around US$100, albeit for lackluster specs, the best of which are a large battery, a 3.5mm jack and a 50MP main rear camera, and the worst of which one would not think would even have a place in 2023.

Ulefone describes its next upcoming IP68/IP69K/MIL-STD-810H-rated Android smartphone as a "5G mobile photography flagship", thanks to its 108MP main camera in addition to a 120Hz FHD+ display and a large 9,600mAh battery. It will also be a brand-first "instant thermometer" smartphone on its early 2023 release.

OnePlus has spilled some more specs and features for its upcoming Android flagship smartphone ahead of its launch. They include haptics apparently upgraded with the latest technology to rival those of other premium mobile devices, as well as new software-based frame-rate enhancements. They have been officially confirmed in advance, as well as a charging update for the imminent 11.

OPPO has reportedly succeeded in its aim to develop its own application processor for mobile devices. Therefore, the company may be ready to release smartphones with this first-party chipset in the next few years. The breakthrough would put the Android OEM on par with a handful of others such as Google with its Tensor silicon.

OnePlus launched an Android smartphone called the Ace in China that also debuted globally as the 10R in 2022. Now, the brand is expected to produce a second generation in the new year. More alleged clues as to its design and specs have now emerged, suggesting that it may have much more of a flagship look that its predecessor in 2023.

Recent reports claim Samsung may be gearing up to launch the Galaxy S22 FE after all. Those same sources, however, seem to indicate that the S22 FE will be the last Fan Edition phone, with the South Korean company reportedly having no plans to launch a Galaxy S23 FE in the future.

The OnePlus 11 be OnePlus's first smartphone of the year, and will make its debut in China next week. Ahead of that event, however, it appears its spec sheet has now surfaced in the wild, revealing its most important details.

Announced and also released in January, last year's Moto G Power Android smartphone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 inside and runs Android 10 out of the box. This 6.6-inch handset is now available with discounts that go as far as 48% (4/64 GB Gray), while the cheapest variant is now the 3/32 GB one, priced at US$109.

iQOO has made its last new smartphone of the year official today (December 29, 2022). The Neo7 Racing Edition adds the high-end ISOCELL GN5 sensor to its series, as well as the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 (8+ Gen 1) processor. It drives a large 6.78-ich 120Hz E5 AMOLED display in this device, which charges in as little as eight minutes thanks to its OEM's 120-watt (W) charging standard.

Realme has announced that it will reveal the final instalment of its fast-charging saga in January 2023. The smartphone brand asserts that it will "leapfrog" its competition to a leading position in this field with this "breakthrough". The first device to be equipped with it is now also thought to launch with a powerful chipset and a new high-end main rear camera.

LG Innotek has announced a new smartphone camera micro-component that can enable 4x-9x optical zoom without loss of quality and one that will alleviate the need for massive camera bumps. The company is partnering with Qualcomm to develop software for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to take advantage of the module's zoom actuator that can move in 1 µm increments.