Leaks / Rumors

Lu Weibing, Redmi's general manager, has reportedly teased the brand's upcoming Note 8 by using it in the creation of a message about it on Weibo. The device tag for this post is allegedly "Note8Android". Its actual content is made of praise for a device with a possibly improved camera and screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 phones were released almost two weeks ago but before then, they were preceded by an incessant in-flow of leaks and rumors. Here. we review those leaks to see which ones turned out to be true or, well, utter tripe.

The Ryzen 5 3550U may be another mobile Ryzen 3000 series APU, but not all is as it seems. A recent Geekbench listing shows that the processor is capable of even outscoring the Ryzen 7 3750H in multicore tasks. However, it appears that AMD is still incapable of narrowing the gap to Intel's Whiskey Lake generation, putting somewhat of a dampener on the Ryzen 5 3550U.

Realme's 5 Pro has just been confirmed by Flipkart as an upcoming release in August 2019. A model number that may conform to this phone has surfaced on Geekbench. It shows that it is powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 710 SoC and has 8GB of RAM.

Motorola is now linked to a new phone called the One Zoom. The latter part of this name may stem from its quad cameras with a 48MP main sensor. Prominent leakers also assert that it will have a light-up logo on the back, and may or may not be called the One Pro in some markets.

OPPO has sent press invites out to Indian outlets to the launch of its Reno 2. This phone will apparently double its hybrid zoom compared to its predecessor. However, it will retain the shark-fin-style pop-up camera from earlier this year.

For the first time in its history, the Xiaomi custom MIUI Android skin has implemented 2-factor authentication (or 2FA) for this OEM's software ecosystem. So far, it works to send notifications to all devices connected to a single applicable account in the event of unfamiliar logins. However, there is no SMS-based verification as yet.

If the device that has just been spotted live turns out to be the upcoming Mate 30 Pro, some of the rumors that we heard so far were spot-on. The device sighted in the subway seems to feature a waterfall screen and a square or round main camera setup that was covered by the case — apparently custom-made to hide some key features.

The tech world has largely been operating on the theory that the next generation of Apple smartphones will be called something along the lines of 'iPhone 11' for some time now. A French blog claims to have caught a leak from a casemaker that disseminates this in more detail. However, it is not for those without patience with modern-day product-name convolutions.

Realme is now connected to the launch of a new phone, provisionally called the RMX1911 - although it may be named the 5 on release. Geekbench scores with this model number show that it has 4GB of RAM and the same SoC as the Xiaomi Mi CC9e/Mi A3. This phone has also been certified with Thai and Malaysian authorities.

Fitbit has been linked to a second generation of its popular Versa smartwatch for some time now. Recently, rumors about it have started up again in light of new leaks. They claim to show the wearable's official packaging, as well as an image from its manual hinting at new smart assistant features.

Purported details of the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 processor have been posted on Twitter. The Ryzen 3000 series chip has not been officially announced yet, but it seems this particular SKU could be a 65-W TDP variant as opposed to the Ryzen 9 3900X with its 105 W TDP. The latest chip is expected to have 12 cores and 24 threads.

It has been a few months since there were rumblings online about AMD integrating a new Radeon RX Vega GPU on an upcoming Ryzen 3000 series APU. Now, reliable leaker @TUM_APISAK has spotted a Geekbench listing confirming the existence of an RX Vega 8 with 9 compute units, ergo an RX Vega 9. The upcoming integrated GPU looks mighty powerful, with it even having an edge of some dedicated cards.

The Ryzen Zen 2 series may currently be the order of the day, but AMD has something even bigger around the corner. What may prove to be the upper-tier of the next-generation Threadripper series has reared its head on Geekbench in two listings to deliver multi-core scores that are nigh on unbelievable, obliterating

A phone called the Vivo V1916A has appeared on the Geekbench database. This model number has been linked to the upcoming iQOO Pro 5G, which is slated to come with the updated Snapdragon 855+ processor. Its scores match well with those of the second-gen ASUS ROG Phone, which also launched with this SoC.

Tumblr is a blogging platform that has been part of Yahoo (or Oath, as it is now) since 2013. However, the parent company in this case - Verizon - has reportedly been trying to palm it off for some time. It has now successfully found a buyer: Automattic Inc, the same company behind WordPress.

Are you tired of the limited battery capacities of modern smartphones? Well, Samsung has a plan to revolutionise smartphone battery technology as early as next year, according to Evan Blass. Do not hold out for a graphene powered Galaxy S11, but that does leave the throne open to its successors to be crowned the first smartphone with a graphene battery.

The Galaxy M40 is the most expensive member of the Galaxy M lineup available right now, but it will get a more powerful — and pricy — sibling before the end of the year. According to an exclusive report, Samsung will launch the Galaxy M90 in India in the fourth quarter, but there is no technical information to talk about yet.

Launched at Computex 2019, the Core i9-9900KS is a 5 GHz all-core variant of the Core i9-9900K that also has a 4 GHz base clock. Sounds great for gamers, right? Well, a recent 3DMark Fire Strike posting suggests otherwise, with the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X enjoying a healthy lead over the upcoming Coffee Lake chip. Clearly, clock speed isn't everything.

The next generation Intel mini PCs will purportedly drop Kaby Lake-G and Radeon graphics in favor of 9th gen Coffee Lake-H, Tiger Lake-U, and dedicated Nvidia Turing graphics with a custom vapor chamber cooling solution. The non-gaming Frost Canyon and Quartz Canyon NUCs are expected to launch in between the gaming NUCs.

AMD is reportedly prepping Navi 23 to be a flagship GPU and is internally referring to it as the 'NVIDIA Killer' according to RedGamingTech's source. The specifications of Navi 23 are still unclear, but the source claims that AMD plans to release the new cards, which are likely to be based on RDNA 2.0 with ray tracing support, sometime in the mid-2020.

LG has allegedly patented a next-generation phone design in which the device in question has 3 separate segments that fold into a more conventional brick-like form factor. This is not completely unheard of; however, this patent also apparently covers a complete lack of ports for charging or other uses.

After no less than four different Samsung handsets that use the Exynos 7885, it seems there is room for at least one more. The Galaxy M10S has just surfaced on Geekbench with this processor inside, 3 GB of memory, and Android 9.0 Pie-based software. Unfortunately, this handset has no official launch date yet.

A new Geekbench database entry apparently corresponds to one of Nokia's reported upcoming round-camera phones, the 7.2. It refers to a device with 6GB of RAM and running an unnamed SoC at 1.84GHz. Its scores are not far off those of the pre-existing Nokia 7 Plus.

Shortly after the Xiaomi device with model number M1908F1XE was received its 3C certification, China Unicom revealed a list of 5G phones available and to be launched soon. This list includes a few handsets that have not been released yet and the Xiaomi Mi 9S is one of them. Sadly, we have no official confirmation of the fact that the M1908F1XE is the Mi 9S yet.

The Galaxy A70 is one of Samsung's low-to-mid tier devices for 2019. Some members of its series have gained actual or rumored alternative versions with the suffix 's'. Now, new Geekbench listings suggest that the A70 is also getting one - with the exact same specs.

A listing for an unknown Qualcomm SoC has appeared on Geekbench, codenamed Kona. The possible successor to the Snapdragon 855 scored 19% more than the current flagship SoC in the single-core benchmark and 18% more in the multi-core equivalent. It even outperformed the Snapdragon 855+ by a sizeable margin too. If this proves to be the Snapdragon 865, then expect to see this performance coming to smartphones in early 2020 with a formal announcement towards the end of this year.

A prominent Google-news blog claims to have heard from its sources that the Pixel series will be upgraded to 6GB of RAM in 2019. The 2 upcoming phones are also now slated to feature 90-hertz refresh rates, a feature that is to be termed "Smooth Display". Finally, the devices will stick with the memory SKUs from last year.

A tech blog claims to have dug up a new patent for a phone that looks suspiciously like a POCO F1, albeit with more cameras and a punch-hole display. As this design is indeed attributed to the OEM Xiaomi, it may just be possible that the cost-effective flagship-killing brand is not dead after all.

Nintendo has reportedly picked up IGZO technology for its upcoming 2019 Switch models. This type of backing for IPS-LCD screens has resulted in positive reviews for other OEMs in the past, as it can conserve power while offering a high contrast ratio. The IGZO panels now linked to this new console are to come from Sharp.

The Gemini Lake Refresh series will feature at least six processors, all of which will be substantially higher clocked versions of the 14 nm Goldmont Plus chips that preceded them. The 6-10 W processors arrive in Q1 2020 at the earliest.

The Legion Y9000X looks to be one interesting laptop. The 15.6-inch device may end up being another China-only release, but its Core i9-9980HK processor, 32 GB of RAM, 4K 100% AdobeRGB coverage and a four-fan solution has us intrigued.

A survey carried out by the German tech site CHIP.de has revealed just how much people are willing to shell out on the upcoming PlayStation 5 console. Clearly, respondents have taken into account the high-end hardware that the PS5 will employ, with a somewhat heady figure of €600 (~US$672, £553) being deemed as an acceptable maximum amount.

Vivo's next product launch is slated to be a 5G-capable smartphone that may also be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC. This device, which will go under the OEM's new sub-brand iQOO, has reportedly been photographed in the hands of a conference attendee. It appears to have fairly standard-issue styling for a 2019 flagship.

A new leak has surfaced, claiming that at least one of the Galaxy Note 10 phones will feature a 90 Hz display. The OnePlus 7 Pro was the first phone to bring that feature to the mainstream market, and it would seem that Samsung has also adopted it.

Although the name of the upcoming Sony Xperia 2 is not set in stone yet, the Japanese company has recently trademarked one of its features, namely S-Cinetone. While this name suggests a photo- or video-related function, there are no technical details to talk about. However, the trademark documents reveal that Sony's next-gen devices will use a 21:9 display.

The next-gen modular, ethical — built using conflict-free tin, tungsten and tantalum and fair trade gold — Fairphone handset has just been spotted on Bluetooth SIG. Sadly, all that we know for sure is that the Fairphone 3 comes with Bluetooth 5 connectivity and its other specs should make it superior to its Snapdragon 801-powered predecessor.

According to reports from China, Apple will start mass-producing displays with an in-screen Touch ID sensor that will complement Face ID in anticipation of their inclusion in the 2021 iPhone series. The upcoming displays will likely have a custom Qualcomm ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which will have a larger recognition area than comparable sensors found in current flagships like the Mate 20 Pro, P30 Pro and Galaxy S10 series.

Samsung unveiled its 64 MP sensor a while ago but it hasn't been adopted by any OEM yet. That will change this week, though, as word on the grapevine claims Xiaomi will release a new smartphone with that sensor on August 7. Even more interesting is the theory that it could be the Redmi Note 8.

Huawei will announce EMUI 10, its custom version of Android Q, on August 9 at its 2019 Developer Conference in Dongguan City, China. However, several promotional images have appeared on Weibo, the Chinese social media giant, which hint at a holistic GUI redesign and some new features.

Gaming smartphones are about to get a lot more serious in a couple of years. Samsung has confirmed that its first AMD-powered SoCs are tentatively planned for a 2021 reveal. A potential Galaxy smartphone with Radeon graphics could give it a huge performance edge against competitors.

A new patent, allegedly found on the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Design Database, has led to speculation that Xiaomi is working on a phone with an array of solar-conversion cells on its rear panel. However, its apparent design suggests other uses for this component.

Huawei will launch the Mate 30 phones in the coming months and a new leak touts the Mate 30 Pro to continue the trend of pushing the envelope with progressively impressive camera hardware. Apparently, the Mate 30 Pro will feature two massive 40 MP sensors alongside a 5X optical zoom telephoto lens.

Samsung has confirmed that it will release a new SoC on August 7, alongside the Galaxy Note 10 phones. That SoC is expected to be the Exynos 9825 and will power the upcoming flagships. New information also claims that the regular Note 10 could be cheaper than the S10+.

Xiaomi has been showing off the Mi Gaming Laptop 2019 at ChinaJoy 2019, with Xiaomi insider xiaomishka publishing some photos of the device ahead of its unveiling tomorrow. Early pricing has appeared online too, with the series expected to start at 7,499 CNY (~US$1,086).

OPPO has allegedly registered a new phone design with the World Intellectual Property Office. As with the Find X, this device hides its front-facing sensors behind an edge-to-edge screen. Unlike the existing flagship, however, this part of the phone involves a discrete part of the rear panel that slides upwards.

Huawei's flagship phones have tended to go by names along the lines of Px0 in the past. However, the OEM's latest European trademarking applications appear to indicate that this may change in the future. For a start, these alleged filings suggest that the P30's successor will not be called the P40.

UPDATE 8/2: Intel has responded with a clarification of Raja Koduri's statement. See below. In a recent interview with a Russian YouTube tech channel, Raja Koduri (chief architect at Intel) stated that Intel's upcoming Xe GPU will start at a competitive $200 and that at least some models will use HBM. While it's unlikely that the $200 entry-level Xe GPUs will have HBM (due to the high cost of HBM), the GPUs are looking more competitive than ever.

Samsung has generally offered its flagships in two flavors: Snapdragon in North America, Latin America, and China, and Exynos for the rest of the world. The Note 10 could see a paradigm shift, as word on the grapevine claims all Note 10 models, bar the Verizon ones, will be powered by an Exynos SoC, likely the Exynos 9825.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10s are not likely to be far from launch now. A new report indicates that both Notes will be sold in India via Flipkart. They are rumored to be offered in a total of 4 new colors, and with internal storage SKUs of either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB.