Android

The Xiaomi 12S series looks set to launch soon as Xiaomi's mid-gen refresh of the Xiaomi 12 series—at least in China. The Xiaomi 12S has now appeared in the flesh as well, and with Leica branding on its camera module merely days after Xiaomi announced a partnership with the German camera company.

Xiaomi has unveiled the Redmi Note 11 SE in China, where it retails for at least CNY 1,099 (~US$165). However, it seems that Xiaomi has taken the POCO M3 Pro 5G and slapped a Redmi logo on the back, with the pair even sharing identical designs.

Xiaomi has announced the Redmi Note 11T Pro Plus, a follow-up to last year's Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus. While the Redmi Note 11T Pro Plus is a mid-generation refresh, Xiaomi has included several upgrades, including a more powerful chipset and a faster display.

Xiaomi has now officially taken the wraps off the Redmi Note 11T Pro in China. The mid-range phone debuts in the pursuit of performance thanks to a MediaTek Dimensity 8100, LPDDR5 RAM, and UFS 3.1 storage. Camera hardware suffers as a result, however.

The Xiaomi 13 series will be Xiaomi's mainstream flagship lineup next year and the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro have now made their first appearances on Xiaomi's IMEI database. As it appears, both phones may debut ahead of typical schedule as well.

Poco is yet to even mention the Poco F4 Pro officially but it appears the phone's parts are already on sale in China, with a leaked image showing a stack of what appears to be Poco F4 Pro rear covers.

Google has rolled out two major changes for Wear OS, months before the Pixel Watch's launch. Now, it is possible to stream music over LTE or Wi-Fi via YouTube Music, a feature that has been missing since the service's introduction last year on Wear OS. Also, the next-generation version of Google Assistant has finally landed, but only for the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic for the moment.

OnePlus has announced OxygenOS C.60 for the OnePlus 9 series. The OxygenOS 12-based update adds a few new features and is rolling out now for the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro.

According to reports, Samsung will begin offering the Galaxy A13 5G soon in Europe. For some reason, the company will introduce more colour options and memory configurations than it currently offers in North America. While the Galaxy A13 5G tops out at 64 GB of storage, a 128 GB option will be available in Europe, as will a cheaper 32 GB model that also has less RAM.

OPPO has launched a new Air variant of its Android tablet today (May 23, 2022). It has debuted alongside new Enco R TWS earbuds. The former looks a lot like its Pad forebear, although it, like the Rs, is clearly pitched at a much lower tier than their respective predecessors.

OPPO's latest mid-range Android smartphone event is the culmination of a considerable sequence of leaks and rumors concerning their design, internals and special features. Its top-end variant is the 8 Pro Plus (or Pro+) rather than the Pro, yet does indeed rock an in-house MariSilicon X image signal processor (ISP) on top of its new MediaTek SoC. Nevertheless, the OEM has managed to throw some curve-balls in the course of this launch.

Motorola has finally acknowledged rumors that it would launch a new Android smartphone with a main rear camera of a ground-breaking 200 megapixels (MP) in resolution. Its first poster indicating the same has sparked rumors that it will also be the OEM's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1-powered flagship. In any case, the first-gen Motorola 200MP device is now slated to be here in the second half of 2022.

Google's French subsidiary has showcased the Pixel 6a, a handset that will not start shipping until July. While Google France has since taken down its video, its contents remain watchable elsewhere. Not only does the video highlight the Pixel 6a, but also its new fingerprint scanner.

While a US$9.99 monthly Photoshop subscription is almost nothing for a professional studio spending thousands on expensive camera gear, a lot of people only do photography as a hobby and don't want to pay a monthly fee for editing software they may use every few weeks. Fortunately, there are free options out there that are very capable of editing both the shots you took on your morning walk and your landscape shots from your most recent camping trip.

Xiaomi has now officially announced its partnership with German camera giants, Leica, on an upcoming smartphone. While the smartphone isn't named, it's almost definitely the Xiaomi 12 Ultra and has now also been confirmed to debut in July.

Alongside the Xiaomi Band 7 and Redmi Note 11T series, Xiaomi will also launch new TWS earbuds on May 24 in China. The Redmi Buds 4 Pro are on the way, and they're set to land with better noise reduction and Bluetooth 5.3 support.

Xiaomi will debut the Xiaomi Band 7 alongside the Redmi Note 11T series on May 24 in China. Ahead of that date, the smart band's box has now leaked revealing details and features of the incredibly popular Mi Band 6's successor.

The Snapdragon 8 Plus (or 8+) Gen 1 chipset has just launched in conjunction with initial benchmarks purporting to establish the potential for seven-figure AnTuTu scores in the newly refreshed flagship. However, according to a new set of results, it can go even further than that, easily cracking 1.1 million in combination with Android 12 and some of the best RAM, storage and display specs available.

Google has shot into the top 5 among smartphone brands active in the North American market, with an impressive growth of nearly 400% year-on-year (YoY) for 2022's first quarter (1Q2022). Then again, Apple still reigns supreme, having shipped just over half of all smartphones recently sold in the region, although Samsung, Motorola and TCL maintained their positions thanks to a combination of attractive new devices and carrier partnerships.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro will succeed last year's 11T Pro later in the year and will be one of Xiaomi's few Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-powered devices this year, and could be the only one to be sold outside China. According the other reports, launch is imminent as well.

Motorola has just released another new poster touting its upcoming Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship smartphone. This one comes with strong hints that the device in question will be foldable, leading to speculation that the successor to the Razr 5G will launch powered by the updated top-end processor. If so, this might represent a significant coup for the resurrected flip-phone series.

Samsung has unleashed the Galaxy Buds2 in 2 limited-edition co-branded forms on its home market of South Korea. One is a Pokémon-themed bundle that could go with a matching Galaxy Z Flip3 from an earlier event, whereas the other is one for fans of soft drinks. They both largely entail a new carrying-case for the TWS accessories in question.

New specifications for the upcoming Google Pixel Watch have been shared, including that it will apparently feature a co-processor to help out the Exynos 9110 with certain tasks. In addition, the Pixel Watch is expected to come with more RAM than the Galaxy Watch4 and support blood oxygen (SpO2) measurement.

The Realme Pad X will makes its debut on May 26 in China and Realme has begun ramping up its marketing campaign for the tablet, with images of the device and its stylus, the Realme Pen, now revealed in new leaks.

Honor has confirmed that it will launch the 70 series of premium mid-range Android smartphones later in May 2022. However, its 2 variants, the 70 and 70 Pro, have been snapped from all angles in a physical store ahead of this event. This leak has a strong chance of being genuine, as it is also now echoed by one posted to the OEM's very own webstore in advance.

The Redmi Note 11T Pro+ has become the first smartphone with an LCD display to receive a DisplayMate A+ rating. Xiaomi's upcoming smartphone does not use PWM to modulate display brightness, all but eliminating headache-inducing flickering. The panel has a 144 Hz refresh rate too, along with Dolby Vision support.

Android OEMs have already confirmed their intention to equip upcoming flagship smartphones with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. Not only has OnePlus confirmed a launch window for the rumoured OnePlus 10 Ultra, benchmark data for the unreleased Realme GT2 Master Explorer Edition has leaked.

Qualcomm has officially launched the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform — an incremental upgrade over the 8 Gen 1 targeted at premium Android smartphone experiences. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 comes with increased CPU and GPU performance along with improvements to power efficiency. Qualcomm's reference numbers show good gains over the 8 Gen 1 and comparable performance to a reference MediaTek Dimensity 9000.

Qualcomm has lifted the covers off its first mid-range chipset of 2022. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 packs four Cortex-A710 cores, four Cortex-A510 cores, and an Adreno 662 GPU. It is expected to make its debut alongside an Oppo phone in the coming weeks.

It seems that the Galaxy Z Flip4 will offer significantly better battery life than its predecessor. Not only will Samsung's next-generation foldable rely on the more efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform, but the CCC in China also appears to have confirmed a notable uplift in battery capacity from the Galaxy Z Flip3.

A new leak has now revealed tentative details of one of Poco's next devices, the Poco X4 GT. The Poco X4 GT will be a performance-centric phone as is usual with the company's "GT" models, and will offer excellent performance thanks to a MediaTek Dimensity 8100.

Just as promised, the MediaTek Helio G96-powered Doogee S98 Pro rugged handset will launch in June. The accurate date is June 6, and those interested can already place their orders and take advantage of an excellent early bird discount that takes the regular price of US$439.99 down to just US$299.99.

Motorola is preparing to bring the Moto G42 to market, another Moto G series refresh for 2022. Not only have marketing renders of the device leaked, but so have a few specifications. The Moto G42 will slot in below the Moto G52 and the upcoming Moto G62, but above the Moto G22.

Honor has now acknowledged rumors pointing to the launch of a 70, if not a 70 Pro, through the medium of a new video posted to Weibo. The clip hints at some advantages over their predecessors, not the least of which is what seems to be a whole new rear camera in at least 1 variant. Some design upgrades and a launch date also feature in this new official leak.

The Vivo S15 Pro has launched as the latest Dimensity 8100-powered smartphone with an additional discrete graphics co-processor; however, the base S15 might steal some attention for itself with a Snapdragon 870 platform with "enhancements" exclusive to its OEM. Then again, the Pro model also has the same customized 50MP main shooter as the X70 Pro. Both phones have launched with Android 12 out of the box and start at about US$400 in China.

Motorola has introduced the Moto G71s, seemingly another version of the Moto G82. With a Snapdragon 695 5G chipset and a 120 Hz AMOLED display, the Moto G71s packs plenty of decent features for its CNY 1,699 (~US$250) price tag.

OnePlus has announced the Nord CE 2 Lite for European markets. Launching for €299, the Nord CE 2 Lite has a 120 Hz display, a 64 MP primary camera and a 5,000 mAh battery, among other features. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite will be orderable from today and comes in two colour options.

OnePlus has introduced the Nord 2T, a mid-range smartphone that builds on the Nord 2. While the Nord 2T retains many of its predecessor's features, OnePlus has added a few new elements. The OnePlus Nord 2T is pre-orderable today from OnePlus, starting at €399 in Europe.

Xiaomi has now officially confirmed the Redmi Note 11T series for a May 24 launch in China. The company has revealed details of the range-topping Redmi Note 11T Pro+, and an image on Weibo also appears to leak some specs of the Redmi Note 11T Pro.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus has now made its first solid visit to Geekbench ahead of its grand debut tomorrow. The flagship chipset rides on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and posts numbers better than the SoC it replaces, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

The Realme Pad 5G will be Realme's most ambitious tablet yet, after the low-end Realme Pad and Realme Pad Mini. A new leak from China has now revealed when the tablet will make its debut, and it will do so alongside a new power bank.

A banner at a retail store in China has now proudly revealed the design of the upcoming OPPO Pad Air—or a part of it, at least. The tablet is displayed alongside the OPPO Reno8 and OPPO Enco R TWS earbuds, all three of which will debut on May 23.

The Xiaomi 12 Ultra appears to be set to launch soon, with a leaked poster seemingly making the rounds on Weibo revealing the phone's launch date. Some other listed features include an in-house ISP, CyperFocus, and Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus.

An image showcasing the Xiaomi 12 Ultra's rear design has leaked online. Supposedly the device's final design, the leak also contains a few camera specifications, although three rear-facing cameras are expected.

OPPO has set a date on which the new Reno8-series smartphones will make their debut. The devices are expected to emerge with a selection of new MediaTek or Qualcomm processors, AMOLED displays and possibly even highly customized rear cameras with their own co-processor. These shooters and their appearance are still being discussed on the leaks circuit.

The latest Infinix Android 12 smartphone, the Note 12 VIP, is also the world's latest 120W smartphone. Furthermore, the OEM touts it as the slimmest mobile device with this charging technology. It also has a 120Hz AMOLED display and a 108MP main rear camera and a reasonable price tag, if only because of its 4G/LTE-only MediaTek Helio chipset.

Samsung is reportedly working on a brand new chipset for Galaxy devices. Development will start in 2023 and the silicon will make its debut alongside the Galaxy S25 series in 2025.

Qualcomm has now officially announced an event scheduled for May 20. The company will launch new products at the Snapdragon-focused event, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus and Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 likely set to make their debuts there.

At its annual I/O event, Google revealed the new Pixel Buds Pro. Available for preorder this July, take a look at what Google’s high-end headphones offer for US$199. Are the Pixel Buds Pro an innovative leap forward or simply AirPods Pro with a whimsical paint job? Listen up! It’s the latter.

The second-gen Mix Fold flagship from Xiaomi has been tipped to outdo its predecessor in terms of design and pocketability. Now, according to a famous leaker, it will beat rivals such as the Galaxy Z Fold4 or OPPO Find N in this respect as well. The Mix Fold 2 is also now expected to offer improvements in other areas of its design.