Android

A new report indicates that Xiaomi could be prepping a special edition of the Redmi K50 for release. Hardware details are unclear but the phone looks set to bear the "Super Cup" suffix, which could translate into a phone branded as the Redmi K50 Ultra.

Redmi's General Manager has confirmed that the Redmi K50 series will feature handsets powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the Dimensity 9000. However, Dimensity 9000-powered models will arrive 'a little later' than their Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 counterparts, for some reason. The Redmi K50 series should start arriving later this month.

Reputedly, Samsung has postponed the date when it will begin shipping Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ handsets. While the Galaxy S22 Ultra remains on track for late February, the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ have slipped to almost the middle of March.

OnePlus is rumored to launch a new device called the Nord 2T in India sometime soon. Now, it is slated to starting at ~US$400 in this market, and to be joined there by the Nord 2 CE for even less. They might be accompanied by a third variant, which does not have a name, but does have an alleged budget price-range, to date.

RedMagic is rumored to break smartphone charging records with a new 165W standard in its 7 series. Now, a phone slated to be this flagship line's Pro variant has appeared on an official Chinese registration site ahead of its launch, in a leak that seems to confirm its new top-end charging spec.

Honor has already launched a number of phones that run on MediaTek's mid-range Dimensity 900 processor. However, according to a new Geekbench leak, it will release another with the same SoC soon. This tip has led to speculation that it will be the heretofore missing SE variant of the 60 series.

The Redmi 10A has appeared on the FCC and Geekbench, confirming multiple details about the upcoming smartphone. For some reason, Xiaomi is re-using several aspects of the Redmi 9A with its successor, including its MediaTek Helio G25 SoC. The Redmi 10A will improve upon the Redmi 9A in several areas though, such as a built-in fingerprint scanner.

Motorola is expected to launch the Moto Edge X30 globally as the Moto Edge 30 Pro. While the exact date isn't known, the smartphone is expected to hit shelves worldwide sometime in February 2022, according to information sourced by a reliable tipster.

Xiaomi's latest TV Stick is available, having been announced in December. The Xiaomi TV Stick 4K runs Android TV 11 in up to 4K and comes with a remote control that supports Google Assistant. The new TV Stick has access to thousands of apps through the Google Play Store too, and costs US$57.99.

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S22 flagship smartphone series is tipped to arrive with updated rear cameras, the output of which is projected to improve in turn thanks to the OEM's latest AI trickery. Now, a supposedly official slide that outlines how the new setting leads to photos that are more "real" than ever before has leaked out.

The Exynos 2200 made its debut nigh-on two weeks ago. Samsung has failed to provide any performance data on the chipset, however, instead choosing to focus on vague features and properties. While it's hardly earth-shattering, most would consider that a red flag.

Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event has leaked, with yet more details revealed about the Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8 Plus and the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. The trio will arrive on February 9 alongside the Galaxy S22 series, consisting of three devices. Only the Galaxy Tab S8+ and the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra will receive S Pen latency improvements, though.

The Alldocube Smile X is an affordable tablet with a 10.1-inch and 1200p display. The tablet also has 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and a microSD card reader, plus Android 11. The Alldocube Smile X retails for US$149.99 and is orderable now.

Android 12L will be the latest OS custom-designed for tablets from Google on its launch. Despite this, its latest beta version for Lenovo's high-end Tab P12 Pro is not rated for many new features. It has an upgraded security patch, albeit not one from 2022.

According to Counterpoint Research, the smartphone industry in the United States was relatively indifferent in terms of growth for the last quarter of 2021 (4Q2021). Nevertheless, the country's market did see some interesting and possibly unexpected shake-ups, such as the rise of OnePlus' sales over that of Google. Motorola also posted its best quarter on record, with 1 of the best-selling phones over the 3 months.

Samsung has not released much of a changelog for the latest update for its Galaxy Note 20 and 20 Ultra thus far. However, it has been reported to contain the February 2022 security patch, despite the fact it is still January. Therefore, some users in markets such as Europe can install this upgrade on their phablets in advance.

Lenovo has hyped its upcoming Legion-brand Android tablet through a potentially important aspect of its design: its cooling solution. The OEM has reassured its fans that the Y700 will be well-covered in this area, devoting much more internal surface area to thermal management than the average high-end smartphone.

Xiaomi continues to roll out MIUI 13 to devices, this time for the Redmi Note 10 Pro 5G and the POCO X3 GT. MIUI 13 arrives as V13.0.2.0.SKPCNXM and also contains Android 12, but it is only intended for MIUI's Chinese branch.

A patent filing suggests that OnePlus could have another OnePlus 10 flagship in the works. Thought to be called the OnePlus 10 Ultra or the OnePlus 10 Pro Plus, the company’s patent shows a familiar-looking device with an important camera improvement over the OnePlus 10 Pro.

Leaked marketing material for the Samsung Galaxy S22 series has now confirmed regional availability for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200. Rumors claiming widespread Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 adoption look to have been off the mark, sadly.

After going on an Android tablet hiatus since 2015's Pixel C, Google appears keen to return to the tablet space, at least according to a recent job listing for the Senior Engineering Manager role. The listing is for Google's Android Tablets division and goes on to state that "tablets are the future of computing."

The latest Alpha update to the AetherSX2 emulator brings about significant performance improvements. Midrange Snapdragon 860 hardware now appears to have no trouble running intensive PlayStation 2 games like Metal Gear Solid 3.

Numerous details about the Sony Xperia 1 IV (Mark 4) flagship smartphone and a release date have turned up via a source on Chinese social media who has frequently posted leaks about Sony’s phones. According to the rumors, the Xperia 1 IV could sport a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, up to 16 GB RAM, and feature typical Xperia 1 camera equipment.

Google's latest gift sent to an official Pixel-series fan-club allegedly confirms that a mid-range version of its latest flagship smartphone is on the way. The material is reported to unambiguously reference its rumored product name, although an image to match is nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, this is one in a growing chain of leaks indicating the phone will indeed launch soon.

The upcoming RedMagic 7 flagship series will have a variant with an under-display camera, thereby becoming a world-first in its market in 2022 - if new hints dropped by the eminent leaker Digital Chat Station are anything to go by at least. This rumor may be corroborated by a new, strongly Chinese New Year-flavored teaser direct from the brand in question.

Xiaomi is expected to reveal the Redmi K50 series next month, which should include Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Dimensity 9000-powered variants. In the meantime, the camera housing of a purported Redmi K50 series model has leaked, consisting of three cameras and a circular housing. The smartphone in question has flat edges and a punch-hole front-facing camera, too.

Introduced as the most affordable 5G-capable handset exclusively available for Verizon customers, the sub-US$300 TCL 30 V 5G has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 chipset inside, a generous 6.67-inch FHD+ display, dual speakers, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack. It comes with a pre-installed 5G SIM and runs Android 11.

The Poco F4 GT is expected to be Poco's first high-profile release for the year, and could share a similar relationship with the Redmi K50 series as its predecessor did with the Redmi K40 Gaming. The phone has now been spotted on an IMEI database ahead of launch.

Honor has announced that it will attend MWC 2022 next month in Barcelona. While the company is light on details at the moment, it has teased that the global launch event will harness 'The Power of Magic'. Potentially, MWC 2022 could mark the Magic V's arrival, the company's first foldable smartphone.

According to reports, Samsung is to simplify how it distributes software updates. Starting in Europe, the company will release a single update across the region for a given device, rather than one per country. The simplification should also accelerate Android update rollouts, such as One UI 4.0.

Information on pricing of the Galaxy S22 series has leaned hard one way so far: that the phones will all launch with a US$100 premium over their predecessors. One particular leaker is sticking to their guns, though, and claims that the Galaxy S22 series will debut with the same prices as the Galaxy S21 lineup.

Google's Pixel devices are known for being some of the best Android phones on the market. They offer solid performance, great camera chops, and a fantastic user interface with regular Android updates and promised long term support - all at a reasonable price. This is, however, no longer unique to the Pixel line-up. Let's have a look at some of the Pixel 6's stiffest competition.

Nubia has now officially previewed the Z40 Pro, which will be this brand's 2022 flagship Android smartphone on its launch. This device is slated to be the world's first mobile device with a "35mm" lens, and will, according to its OEM, confer vast improvements on its photography. It is also slated to have a graphene-based cooling system for a "3000%" boost for its "heat dissipation coefficient".

According to Digital Chat Station, the OnePlus 10 Pro could have launched as the OnePlus 10, eschewing its Pro moniker. The true OnePlus 10 Pro will be the OnePlus 10 Ultra, also referred to as the OnePlus 10 Pro+. The unreleased flagship could debut in 2H 2022 with the SM8475, an updated version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

After stopping by at Indonesia's SPDDI, the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro have now also made the trip to FCC, with both phones running MIUI 13. Once again, however, the Xiaomi 12X is absent, encouraging rumors that the phone may not be launched globally.

Ricoh's Theta series is one of the best-known types of omnidirectional or 360-degree cameras out there. Its new X flagship may be its most versatile and user-friendly variants to date, being the first of its line to have a large color touchscreen, a microSD card in place of internal storage and a replaceable battery.

Apple has been found to have ended 2021 at the top of the smartphone market in China for the year's final quarter (4Q2021), outdoing local brands such as Vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi. The Cupertino giant has not been in this position since 2015, with its highest share of this market on record. By contrast, the Chinese market as a whole declined by nearly 10% compared to 4Q2020.

RedMagic has now confirmed that it will launch a 2022 flagship smartphone called the 7 soon. Now, it has hyped this device with 4 mystery numbers, one of which refer to its potential 7-figure AnTuTu Benchmark performance. According to the leaker Digital Chat Station, another could be explained by a new charging brick of unprecedented speed.

Xiaomi has unveiled MIUI 13 for global audiences, albeit without any notable changes from MIUI 12.5 and MIUI 12.5 Enhanced. MIUI 13 will arrive on 18 devices this quarter, but it will not introduce previously-announced features, such as MiSans font or Google's Material You design language.

After weeks of rumors, Xiaomi has now debuted the Redmi Note 11 series globally, with the Redmi Note 11 Pro and Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G sitting at the top of the range. Both phones share physical dimensions and specifications, but the 5G model trades the regular Redmi Note 11 Pro's MediaTek Helio G96 for a more powerful Snapdragon 695.

Xiaomi has unveiled the Redmi Note 11S globally, two weeks before the device's Indian launch. The Redmi Note 11S arrives with an AMOLED display, a MediaTek Helio G96 SoC and up to 8 GB of RAM. The smartphone has a 108 MP camera too, plus a 5,000 mAh battery. The Redmi Note 11S starts at US$249 and costs US$299 for the most expensive memory configuration.

Xiaomi has revealed the global version of the Redmi Note 11, a smartphone that launches with Android 11 and MIUI 13. The Redmi Note 11 also has a Snapdragon 680 SoC, a 50 MP primary camera and up to 128 GB of storage. The Redmi Note 11 starts at US$179 with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage.

The Legion Phone 3 series has leaked, comprising the Legion Phone 3 Elite and the Legion Phone 3 Pro. The pair will arrive with a 6.92-inch display, a 5,600 mAh battery and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. Both will also contain many gaming features, including four ultrasonic shoulder buttons.

Renowned leaker OnLeaks says that the OnePlus Nord 2T is in the pipeline with a 90Hz AMOLED screen, 4,500mAh battery with 80W fast charging support, 50MP triple rear cameras and a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chipset.

Samsung may not be launching the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ or the Galaxy S22 Ultra until February 9, but full specifications for all devices have already leaked. Likewise, numerous marketing product images have emerged, confirming that the trio will launch in Phantom Black, Green, Pink Gold and White.

MIUI 13 will debut globally today and Xiaomi already has builds ready for a number of its phones. After the Redmi Note 10 series, Poco X3 Pro, and Poco F3, the next phones on the list are the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE and the Redmi 10.

Weeks ago, Realme indicated that it would not send out the Android 12 update to its four-month-old tablet, the Realme Pad. It appears that the bad press from that choice has helped change Realme's stance on the matter, although the company's update policy on the Realme Pad remains unsatisfactory.

The Xiaomi 12U may replace the Xiaomi 12 Ultra as the top dog in the Xiaomi 12 series. New leaks essentially confirm the existence of such a device and tip it to be powered by a chipset that will likely debut as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. The 12U is expected to have better cameras than the Xiaomi 12 Pro and Xiaomi Mix as well.

Two POCO X4 devices have surfaced on certification agencies. While the standard POCO X4 could be an Indian exclusive, the POCO X4 5G will be its global equivalent. The POCO X4 5G should launch with NFC connectivity, too.