Chinese Tech

A reliable Weibo leaker now claims that OPPO will hold a "blockbuster" launch event before the end of 2021, and that its inaugural foldable smartphone is likely to be the star of this show. The device is painted as a bona fide rival for flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 or Huawei Mate X2 based on its rumored specs.

Vivo has made the latest member of its more affordable Y series of smartphones official. The Y71t has an FHD+ 6.44-inch AMOLED display and a Dimensity 810 SoC. However, it seems the next device to launch from this OEM with the same display size might be much higher-end, although the two might have the same battery capacity.

Xiaomi has now released some important details of its upcoming smartwatch, the Redmi Watch 2, in teasers ahead of launch. The smartwatch will feature an AMOLED display with thinner bezels, as well as a "built-in massive dial".

Huawei has unveiled the Watch FIT Mini, a smaller successor to last year's Watch FIT. The Watch FIT Mini has a 1.47-inch AMOLED display, numerous health features and retails for €99.

Xiaomi has issued MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition to the Redmi 9 and Redmi Note 9 for global Mi Pilot testers. Both updates also contain the October 2021 Android security patch, with V12.5.2.0.RJOMIXM for the Redmi Note 9 bringing over two-dozen bug fixes and optimisations, too.

Huawei has presented the Watch GT 3, a step-up from the ageing Watch GT 2. The Watch GT 3 is available in two sizes, six styles and will ship in mid-November. The smartwatch starts at £209.99 or €229 for 42 mm models.

Xiaomi has begun rolling out its latest OS to the Mi 10T Lite on MIUI's global channel. MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition arrives as V12.5.3.0.RJSMIXM and should reach all handsets within the next week or so.

China's plan to crash the Bitcoin value appears to have backfired as the crypto coin is back to its values recorded before the crypto mining ban. On top of that, most of the Bitcoin hashing power was relocated from China to other states, helping the U.S. become the leading hashrate provider. The Chinese authorities are now issuing a call for public comments on the decision to add crypto mining to the list of "phased-out" industries.

Xiaomi has confirmed yet more information about the Redmi Note 11, Redmi Note 11 Pro and Redmi Note 11 Pro+. Also, a leaker has revealed nearly all specifications for the three devices, including their possible prices.

Xiaomi has finally brought the Mi Smart Band 6 NFC to market in Europe. The NFC-enabled fitness tracker supports Mastercard card payments and is available for €54.99, €15 more than the non-NFC model.

Recently, render images have purported to reveal the possible design of the Xiaomi 12, based on a design patent filed by Xiaomi last year. A product manager at Redmi now has dismissed the design out of hand, though. Unusually, the Redmi representative went as far as remarking that the design is 'unbearably ugly'.

Huawei's latest Nova-series phones are veritable unicorns in the smartphone industry, having launched in China with a 4G/LTE-only version of the Snapdragon 778G. Now, some new leaks allege that they are coming to Europe, bringing this chipset with them. However, it already seems it is lacking in areas besides connectivity.

A Lenovo representative has announced that the OEM will hold a major product event for later in 2021. A new tablet, the Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6, is confirmed as one of the stars of this show. However, there may be others, and they may be new PCs of the Yoga line.

Vivo launched its first-gen smartwatch in 2020. Now, a device that might prove to be its successor has been certified in China. It is rumored to uphold its series' trend of high-end specs such as a round AMOLED display, and add some of its own such as standalone connectivity.

Xiaomi continues to tease the Redmi Note 11 series before next week's announcement. Now, the company has confirmed that the series will arrive as the Redmi Note 11, Redmi Note 11 Pro and Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus. Memory configurations and colour options have been revealed, too.

Realme launched the Realme Pad last month in India as an affordable but capable tablet. Apparently, the Realme Pad is set to make the trip over to Europe and a new leak has now provided information on the tablet's pricing for that market.

A new electric vehicle player has entered the fray, and it is none other than Apple's iPhone manufacturer Foxconn with an electric SUV, sedan, and bus models trio.

OPPO, the world's fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer, is set to jump on the custom silicon bandwagon. According to Nikkei, OPPO will use TSMC's 3 nm process to develop custom SoCs for use in its 2023 or 2024 flagship.

OPPO has made the latest addition to its 2021 K9 series official today (October 20, 2021). This new variant has a FHD+ 120Hz display, driven by one of the year's most prominent mid-range 5G processors with "7-layer" cooling. It starts at under US$250 for a 6GB RAM variant.

Xiaomi has brought the Mi 10 Lite and POCO F2 Pro onto MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition, its latest OS update. Additionally, the Redmi Note 10 5G and POCO M3 Pro 5G have received MIUI 12.5 globally, with MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition evading them for the time being.

iQOO has made its latest smartphone official today. This more affordable counterpart to the existing Z5 will stand out in its segment thanks to its processor and its rear camera system. The Dimensity 900 is not found on many other devices to date, not even in China; furthermore, the Z5x has only 2 rear cameras, although its main-sensor specs might yet cater to most user demands in 2021.

Xiaomi has had quite a busy year when it comes to electric and autonomous vehicles (AVs). Not only has it registered its electric vehicle division, but it has also invested in or acquired several AV-related startups. Now, it has confirmed to fans and investors when it will start mass-producing EVs, hinting at a release sometime this decade.

Xiaomi has now confirmed a launch date for the Redmi Note 11 series and its next-gen budget smartwatch, the Redmi Watch 2. The company has those devices penned down for an October 28 launch in China, with an international release expected to follow later.

The Yitian 710 is designed by Alibaba subsidiary T-Head and is currently the most advanced mass-production processor coming from China. It has more transistors than the Latest Apple M1 Max processor and integrates 128 ARM v9 5 nm cores clocked at up to 3.2 GHz.

Realme has launched its latest smartphones, the GT Neo2T and Q3s, in China today (October 19, 2021) as teased earlier. However, they are accompanied by a slightly less expected product: the Watch T1. It is a round-faced smartwatch with eerily familiar specs, albeit with new and exclusive bands.

Redmi is projected to launch the Note 11 series of mid-range smartphones soon. It has been said to consist of vanilla and Pro variants, with up to 67W fast charging. However, prominent Chinese leakers now assert there is a third option that will ship with support for the fastest power brick available to its Xiaomi-owned brand.

Xiaomi has brought another security patch update to the Mi A3, its last-supported Android One smartphone. V12.0.15.0.RFQMIXM is rolling out now to handsets on MIUI's global branch.

The World Intellectual Property Office has published a year-old patent submitted by Xiaomi. Seemingly, the design is of a flagship smartphone, with highly rounded corners, a curved display and large camera sensors. The Xiaomi 12 series is believed to be launching later this year.

Huawei has refreshed the MateBook X 2021, following in the steps of the MateBook X Pro 2021. The new MateBook X features a choice of one Tiger Lake processor, LPDDR4x RAM and is available in three colours. Huawei's ridiculously high pricing will put most people off, though.

iQOO has already launched the Z5; now, a new phone with a very similar name is coming. The brand has confirmed this device will launch in late 2021. It is destined for a MediaTek processor rather than the Qualcomm platform of the Z5; however, the upcoming variant will still have 5G.

The Honor 50 is a premium mid-range smartphone said to launch in Europe soon. Now, its maker is rumored to be preparing a 50 Lite to go along with it. It is said to have the exact same specs and looks as a device from Honor's former parent company Huawei - however, one version might have some crucial advantages over the other.

Xiaomi has sent out the MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition update to a number of its more expensive phone. The company is now setting its sights towards the mid-range segment, starting with the Redmi 9T—with its Global version now getting a MIUI 12.5 Enhanced update that also delivers Android 11.

OPPO has confirmed a launch for a new device for later in October 2021. It is quite like the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra-inspired K9 Pro in its looks, although it is slated to have the premium mid-tier Snapdragon 778G platform rather than the MediaTek flagship of the Pro. However, the K9s is said to retain its high display refresh rate, although other compromises might have been made for a more affordable price.

Motorola is slated to have the next round of its Moto G-series smartphones in the works. These rumors started with the G31; now, signs of what might be its higher-end siblings have emerged. The FCC may have approved one already, while Geekbench purports to have tested another.

Sony's Chinese division is reportedly in talks with Meizu to port features of the latter's Android skin, Flyme OS, to mobile devices from the former in that country. This may sound strange as Sony already develops its own apps for its phones; however, it may perceive the region-specific change as a better way to appeal to that market.

Realme has announced that it will hold a new product event on October 19, 2021. Now, it has confirmed the identity of 1 of the new devices to be unveiled on that date: the Q3s. This is currently slated to debut as a mid-ranger with a popular 5G processor.

OPPO is tipped to debut the Reno 7 series in November and a new leak has now revealed all major details of the cheapest phone in the series, the Reno 7. Provided specs include a MediaTek Dimensity 920 and hardware that will ensure it gets compared to the upcoming Redmi Note 11 Pro.

Canalys has now released a report on the smartphone market for the latest complete quarter, the third of 2021 (3Q2021). The group has concluded that its shipments have fallen by 6% year-on-year (YoY), and that this reduction can be attributed to the ongoing chipset shortage. However, this did not stop Samsung from staying at the top of the charts, as it did in 3Q2020.

Thunderbird is an augmented reality (AR) -focused start-up supported by the display-centric OEM TCL. Now, the two brands have unveiled something apparently three years in the making: the new Smart Glasses Pioneer Version, with a groundbreaking color micro-LED display geared toward an optimal AR experience.

The Xiaomi POCO M4 Pro 5G has stopped by the FCC on its way to market. The handset will launch in two memory configurations, topping out at 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The POCO M4 Pro 5G is expected to launch later this month with a MediaTek Dimensity SoC, NFC capabilities and 33 W charging.

The alleged prices and specs for the upcoming Redmi Note 11 and Redmi Note 11 Pro have been leaked on Chinese social media. It appears the smartphones, which will be powered by Dimensity chips from MediaTek, have been priced very competitively considering the key specifications. The Redmi Note 11 and Note 11 Pro are expected to be launched before November 11.

Xiaomi is expected to debut the Redmi Note 11 series in the near future. A new leak has now revealed details of the camera sensor expected to feature on the vanilla Redmi Note 11, and it looks to be an improvement over the Redmi Note 10's sensor.

Xiaomi will launch the Xiaomi 12 flagship series over the next few months and it seems the company is working on a special bit of hardware that could debut on the phones. According to new reports, Xiaomi is testing out 5-axis stabilization similar to what OPPO advertised a few months ago.

The Redmi K50 has turned up in some fan-made renders and a short video clip. The likely future POCO F4 looks very different to its predecessor Redmi K40 in the new images, with the camera housing style borrowing more from OnePlus than Xiaomi. The Redmi K50 is expected to be joined by a Redmi K50 Pro and Redmi K50 Pro+.

Xiaomi has finally revealed mid-cycle upgrades to its Black Shark Android gaming flagship lineup in the form of the Black Shark 4S and Black Shark 4S Pro. While the Black Shark 4S is essentially the same device as the Black Shark 4 launched earlier this year, the Black Shark 4S Pro gets an internal upgrade to the Snapdragon 888 Plus SoC, which shows its prowess in a leaked AnTuTu benchmark.

The Motorola Moto E40 is now touted as one of the most powerful devices in its segment on its inaugural sales platform Flipkart. Now, the online store has confirmed the date on which customers can start to order the new phone in India, as well as exactly which price-range it purports to lead.

The electronics OEM OPPO is currently projected to produce a rival for Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold3 that might launch in 2021. Now, a prominent leaker purports to flesh this rumor out with more concrete specs for this putative foldable-display device. Based on these claims, the company is shaping up to lead this emerging market on its first try.

The Mi 10T and Mi 10T Pro have received MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition in Europe. Previously, the pair were eligible for the update on Xiaomi's Mi Pilot program. V12.5.7.0.RJDEUXM is rolling out as a Stable Beta update with the September 2021 security patch.

OnePlus has now announced the launch of its only end-of-year premium phone, the OnePlus 9RT, in China. The OnePlus 9RT lands with a Snapdragon 888, a 50 MP main camera with OIS, and generally solid specs across the board. Pricing begins at the equivalent of right about US$500.

OPPO is set to launch the next iteration of phones in its most recognizable series, the OPPO Reno lineup. The OPPO Reno 7 phones are on their way and a new leak purports to reveal early details of the phones, with one notable takeaway being the presence of powerful chipsets across the board.