Launch

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.

Oukitel has launched its latest Android phone as WP17. The OEM defines it as its first phone with "esthetic design", which translates to a device with 'rugged' features, albeit one that looks more like a "normal" phone compared to most in this category. Nevertheless, it still has "work-" and "outdoor" functions, most notably a rear camera with night vision.

Apple also introduced the 16-inch MacBook Pro alongside the 14-inch MacBook Pro variant. Both devices share largely identical specifications, though the 16-inch variant offers a direct configuration with the M1 Max in addition to two M1 Pro options. Apple claims that a fully maxed-out MacBook Pro 16 outperforms laptops powered by Quadro RTX 6000 and RTX A5000 GPUs.

Apple has announced upgrades to its M1 custom silicon in the form of the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The M1 Pro and M1 Max will feature in the new MacBook Pros and claim to offer performance that rivals current top-end x86 hardware. The M1 Max also seems to be nearly 1.6x larger than a Rocket Lake-S desktop die by some rough estimates making it one of the largest SoCs to power a laptop.

Apple's new M1 Max CPU in the 2021 MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 has expectedly achieved formidable multi-core scores in Geekbench, and is very close to the performance of a desktop workstation like the Mac Pro that is equipped with Intel Xeon processors.

With a relatively simple but faked YouTube livestream for Apple's MacBook Pro launch event, ruthless crypto scammers targeted impatient Apple fans and their valuable bitcoins.

The Apple HomePod Mini speakers are now available in a total of five colourways, namely space grey, white, yellow, orange, and blue. The company has also unveiled the new Apple Music Voice plan that is tailor-made for Siri. It will cost US$4.99 per month and will be available in select regions later this year.

ViewSonic has announced availability of the Elite XG320U gaming monitor that was first revealed back in August. The XG320U is a 32-inch 4K 144 Hz gaming monitor targeted at Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC gamers. The display supports HDMI 2.1, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and a 1 ms MPRT.

Anker's popular personal audio brand Soundcore has gotten into the audio glasses game with its first-gen Frames. This modern-day pair of shades sets itself apart in that the user can remove the speaker-enabled components and attach them to an entirely new set of lenses. This makes the spectacles interchangeable in terms of style, although this does come at an additional cost.

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.

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.

Dell has announced the Latitude 5430 Rugged, a 14-inch semi-rugged laptop designed for working in harsh environments. The Latitude 5430 Rugged offers several Intel Tiger Lake choices along with optional Nvidia Quadro T500 graphics. The laptop also offers 5G connectivity and is FirstNet Ready for connectivity during emergencies.

Acer's new L811 laser-powered device is directed at those wishing to project their own 4K HDR10-compatible movies at home. For those who would prefer a monitor that could also support some image-editing work, there is the 27-inch CB273U IPS monitor. For more "serious" display needs, however, the OEM has now also announced pricing and availability for the Nitro XV272U KF.

Dell has announced the Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme, which it claims to be the smallest 13-inch rugged laptop with 5G connectivity. The Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme is powered by Intel Tiger Lake processors and is meant for the toughest jobs in harsh environments. The device is IP65-rated and tested to match MIL-STD-810H specifications.

Acer has announced the Predator Orion 7000 desktop PC aimed at enthusiast gamers. The Predator Orion 7000 features Intel 12th gen Alder Lake processors, DDR5-4000 RAM, and a choice of Nvidia RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 GPUs. Acer said the Predator Orion 7000 offers vastly improved thermals with AIO cooling along with a host of connectivity options.

Acer has unveiled the Predator GD711 as its new "smart projector" for gaming. It is rated to throw HDR10 content at "high dynamic contrast" and a wide color gamut, at a brightness of up to 4,000 LED lumens. The projector is compatible with PCs or consoles, offering a high refresh rate on either platform.

The Acer Aspire Vero laptop's price and availability in Europe have been revealed. It will be available for purchase in November 2021 for EUR 799. Its key specs include a 15.6-inch IPS LCD panel, 11th-generation Intel Tiger Lake processors, 16GB RAM and Wi-Fi 6.

Acer has introduced the TravelMate Vero, a sustainable variant to the TravelMate business laptop segment. The TravelMate Vero is made of 30% PCR plastic and comes in a 100% recyclable packaging. The laptop is powered by Intel 11th gen Tiger Lake CPUs and will allow businesses to customize the boot up screen with their own corporate logos.

Acer's latest Chrome OS devices have arrived with 14- or 15-inch FHD displays, each with up-to-date processors and features. The higher-tier 515s come with Spin and Enterprise variants, whereas the new 514 and Spin 314 set themselves apart with a new MediaTek Kompanio platform and an "environmentally friendly" OceanGlass touchpad respectively.

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.

After launching in China last month, Realme has now announced the GT Neo 2 5G in India. The GT Neo 2 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 870 5G and uses a vapor chamber with diamond thermal gel for cooling the SoC. The device also features a 120 Hz E4 AMOLED display with a 600 Hz touch sampling rate and a 1,300-nit peak brightness.

Nokia has made the G300 official as a smartphone with a sizeable display and a generous battery. However, those specs are tempered by a distinctly budget-tier 5G processor and low-res triple cameras. It will be released via the TracFone Wireless and Straight Talk networks in the US later in October 2021.

Amazfit has now confirmed an upgrade for its line of GTS smartwatches as well as their round-faced counterparts. This new third-gen flagship has the same upgraded features as the GTR 3 and 3 Pro, albeit with a different screen type. It has 3 new colorways and may last for more than 10 days between charges.

The GTR 3 and its new Pro version are now the latest round-faced flagship smartwatches from Amazfit. The OEM touts them as the wearables with the largest circular AMOLED displays in the industry. They also boast an expanded panel of sports modes, not to mention the brand's newest health-tracking sensors and panel of workout modes.

Pre-orders for Apple's latest Watch have been open since October 8, 2021. The flagship wearable comes in a variety of case and band types, many of which began to exhibit shipping times dated November 2021 since their launch. In fact, one or two options are now completely unavailable for delivery.

The Lumix BS1H is Panasonic's latest cuboid-style digital cinema camera with a full-frame sensor. The OEM touts it as a particularly manageable entry into this level of videography, as it has crammed its up-to-date 6K specs into a particularly compact form-factor. It also supports a familiar range of outputs that include SD cards, HDMI and IP streaming.

Canon has announced the RF5.2mm f/2.8L, created with the dual fish-eye lenses needed to convert a single DSLR into a VR content-creation machine. This new binocular accessory is compatible with the EOS R5, and confers 180-degree 3-dimensional stereoscopic recording in up to 8K on the flagship camera.

The Motorola Moto E40 has been hyped in potentia as its series' very first high-refresh-rate smartphone; now, a new "Coming Soon" page on Flipkart has revealed that this is indeed the case. It seems the retail platform will be one of the first to list the probably super-budget phone later in October 2021.

The heretofore-rumored Moto G Pure has emerged as a reality today (October 7, 2021). The new Android 11 smartphone is touted to deliver "more of what you love", although in truth it seems to offer a profoundly essential Motorola experience. This involves a typically tall display, a large-ish battery with very standard charging and a reasonable starting price.

The easy operation and formidable printing size of Creality's new and affordable resin-based 3D printer is intended to meet the expectations of both private and professional users.

Instead of covering every aspect of the popular single-board computer on one singular website, the Raspberry Pi now has two separate websites that cover hardware, software and the educational activities of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Google has announced that its Play Movies & TV app on Android is to be reborn as Google TV with an upcoming update. This will bring the app's interface in line with that of the Mountain View giant's latest "one-stop shop" smart-screen UI, complete with its new trend-based content carousel and watchlist.

The SRS-NS7 is Sony's latest neck-band speaker. The Japanese giant touts this accessory as an alternative to headphones in a home-theater setting, with in-house speaker types and 360 Spatial Sound for immersive audio without the risk of headband fatigue. This latest offering also comes with a wireless transmitter for potentially reliable, low-latency connection to the TV in question.

Asus has announced that the VivoBook 15 OLED (or K513 OLED) is now available to Indian customers. It comes with a choice of 2 11th-gen Intel processors and either SSD or dual HDD/SSD storage. Its premium selling-point of a display is the FHD Pantone-validated panel with which it originally launched.

Huawei introduced the MateBook 16 as its first-ever 16-inch 3:2 display laptop in May 2021. However, it has only been available on the Chinese market since then. Now, however, the up-to-Ryzen 7 5800H device is now officially coming to Europe soon.

Today (October 5, 2021), ADATA has made its latest 15.6-inch XPG XENIA-series laptop official. The 15 KC upgrades to an 11th-gen Intel processor and RTX 3000 graphics. Being an XPG, it gets first-party "high-performance" DDR4 RAM and SSD storage.

Western Digital has released an affordable budget SSD that is mainly intended for content creators and other price sensitive users who do not need every last bit of performance in order to securely store their data.

Microsoft is preparing Microsoft 365 and Office 2021 for release on October 5 on Windows and macOS devices for business, personal and student customers. Office 2021 will inherit many of the existing components from Microsoft 365 subscription (formerly Office 365) and both will be updated with new features in time for Windows 11.

The company SmallRig has launched something that might be for those in need of something besides the typical tripod or gimbal for their mobile photography or videography. The Fold P10 is a collapsible smartphone clamp designed to support two-handed use during filming. It also has cold-shoe mounts for a larger-scale set-up with external lights or mics.

MediaTek has unveiled a new "high-performance" series dedicated to the latest standard of wireless connectivity. It now consists of the Filogic 830 and 630, the line's first examples of system-on-chips (SoCs) and network interface cards (NICs) respectively. They are slated to confer top-end Wi-Fi specs on devices such as PCs, smart TVs and peripherals.

Motorola's latest announcement is a rare one, as it is for a tablet rather than a phone. The new Moto Tab G20 is an 8-inch slate with an HD+ resolution and a budget-grade MediaTek processor. Nevertheless, its specs do not match those of another rumored tablet from the same brand.

OWC has announced a new kind of USB dock, rated to split 1 Thunderbolt feed between 2 monitors of (technically) up to 8K in resolution. It does so via the newer DisplayPort 1.4 standard, and is also rated to support HDR with compatible displays. OWC asserts that this new accessory can thus boost productivity, gaming or learning for a variety of users.

Sony has announced the WF-C500 as its latest affordable wireless earbuds. They feature many of the OEM's audio-enhancement properties and technologies, although active noise cancellation (ANC) is not among them. However, the new accessories do feature some official ingress-protection, fast-pairing and single-bud use.

The WH-XB910Ns are the latest wireless headphones from the audio giant Sony. They are also the newest accessories to bear the brand's EXTRA BASS trademark, rated for what it says on the tin. The new over-ears are also equipped with digital noise cancellation, 360 Reality Audio and voice assistant support.

The new PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSDs by Western Digital may not even remotely be the fastest storage solution on the market, but with their reasonable prices they should make reliable components for your NAS system at home.

Sharp has brought its ultra-high display refresh rate to another new phone in 2021. At 146g, this Aquos zero6 is also now touted as the lightest mobile device with 5G in existence. It has launched alongside the sense6 5G, probably the more affordable option of the two, and touted as slimmer than its predecessor.

Micron Technology released DRAM based on its latest 1-alpha (or 1α) 10 nanometer (nm) process for flagship-grade mobile devices earlier in 2021. Now, the resulting type of low-power DDR (LPDDR) is trickling down to lower-end smartphones. It is rated for increased memory density with reduced power consumption compared to its predecessor.

Samsung has launched its "meanest ever" 5G phone for the Indian market, the Galaxy M52, today (September 28, 2021). This event, held in conjunction with Amazon.in, has finally confirmed the device's 120Hz display size, RAM/storage configurations and pricing. The latter will be in effect from early October.

The display-centric tech website DisplayMate has tested the display of the iPhone 13 Pro Max and concluded that Apple's biggest and most expensive flagship smartphone has a record setting OLED display that supposedly is one of the best in the entire industry.

Xiaomi's Redmi 9 series is a head-scratcher, particularly as its members can be completely different from market to market. Now, the OEM has added to this confusion with the new India-specific 9 Activ variant. It has been unveiled alongside Sport versions of the 9A and 9i, which also might make one wonder why they exist in the first place.