Android

Qualcomm is allegedly working on yet another mid-range Snapdragon 732G SoC. It is billed to come with two Kyro 430 Gold and six Kyro 470 Silver cores clocked at 2.3GHz and 1.8 GHz, respectively. The chip will reportedly make its debut alongside a ~US$300 smartphone this September.

Android 10 has reached the Xiaomi Redmi 8 in Europe after similar rollouts for the global edition of the device. The Redmi Note 7 has received the same upgrade in Russia too, while MIUI 12 has been re-released for the Redmi Note 9 globally.

The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition will allegedly come in two variants. The information comes from a Geekbench listing that shows the phone running an Exynos 990 SoC. Much like the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Note 20 series, the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition's global variants will likely come with an Exynos chip.

Two months after unveiling the U20 5G and Desire 20 Pro, HTC has finally released the Desire 20 Pro. The mid-range phone is now available for purchase in Europe and is priced below the Pixel 4a and Xperia 10 II, although it has to be said that it's also a lot less impressive than those two.

The Poco F2 Pro received the stable MIUI 12 update a few weeks ago, and it appears the update broke an important feature. Owners of the Poco F2 Pro running the build "MIUI 12.0.1.0" have complained about the lack of Widevine DRM L1 support, with their phone now unable to stream HD content from platforms like Netflix.

Following Microsoft’s official launch of the Surface Duo, the company has updated its product page with its specification details. For a device starting from US$1,399 it has certainly got the blogosphere abuzz with what it has and doesn’t have at the price.

Huawei has updated its EMUI 10.1 upgrade plans in seven regions. The Android 10-based OS should now have now reached almost-all eligible devices in Central Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Japan and Russia.

Xiaomi has unveiled MIUI 12 for India. Announced in a livestream, the company has confirmed that it will start by upgrading 7 devices to its latest OS in the country. It seems to have forgotten that it began rolling out MIUI 12 to handsets in India months ago, though.

Apple and Samsung have secured first and second positions in terms of smartphones shipped in the US for the second quarter of 2020, with Apple doing especially well by shipping a domestic record of 15 million iPhones. However, around 70% of the total smartphones shipped in the US in that quarter were made in China.

The Realme X50 was one of the first phones to rock the Snapdragon 765G, thus also making it among the first 5G phones of 2020. Now, there is evidence that a version of the same without this connectivity may launch in Singapore. This is in accordance with a new leak from Twitter.

BMW is lending its name to the first iQOO phone to feature this OEM's latest, 120 watt (W) form of charging. At least, this is the impression given by a new poster alleged to be an official teaser for its upcoming launch event. The 2 brands are also now partners in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) racing series.

While the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite belongs to the mid-range segment, it offers features that are almost identical to those on the high-end model Mi Note 10. We tested the device and summarized our findings below.

A Weibo tipster claims that Huawei’s “Tashan” semiconductor project will start all the way at the top with experimental 45nm silicon, built using fully indigenous technology. The post indicates that a 45nm Huawei part, likely built in collaboration with a Chinese fab, will be ready within one year.

Xiaomi has expanded the release of its latest OS for the Poco F2 Pro and Redmi Note 9. MIUI 12 has now reached the Redmi Note 9 in India and is available for more POCO F2 Pro handsets in Indonesia. The two devices have already received MIUI 12 in other regions, too.

Move over, punch-holes, under-display cameras may be here soon. However, they are not to be premiered by OPPO or Huawei as previously thought, but by another smartphone OEM: ZTE. Its CEO has just revealed that it will be first to this tech, although no specific date for this event was mentioned.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 Ultra features is the first to feature Samsung Display's 'Adaptive Frequency' technology. The company's display division revealed the details as it moved to make the tech available to other OEMs.

Microsoft's Surface Duo has officially been launched after first being unveiled late last year. The dual-screen device is priced at a sky-high $1,399 which will certainly test the market, particularly given the general downturn in smartphone sales in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A report from a South Korean news outlet suggests that Samsung has teamed up with ARM. Both companies are reportedly developing custom CPU cores based on ARM's Cortex-X1 super core. It will likely debut on the upcoming Exynos 1000 chip alongside an AMD Radeon GPU.

The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is living up to its hype by immediately going to the top of the DxOMark charts. The device has hit the number one position for both its still camera performance and its video performance.

Xiaomi has made the MIUI 12 Global stable ROM for the Redmi Note 8 Pro available as part of a wider rollout. The software update for the Global variant of the Redmi Note 8 Pro had already been partially rolled out but now everyone with this particular model should soon find an update notification awaiting them.

After the release of the 65-inch Mi TV Master Series last month, Xiaomi is back with its second OLED TV yet. The new Mi TV Lux OLED Transparent Edition is, well, transparent, and probably does a great job of looking really cool. If you can afford the US$7,200 MSRP, that is.

Xiaomi has officially announced that a new MIUI 12 beta stable update has started being pushed out for the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro and Redmi K20 Pro testers in Europe. The software version is V12.0.2.0.QFKEUXM and will only be available to users who have been assigned with testing duties.

The Mate X and Mate Xs may stand out from the crowd, but rumour has it that Huawei has scrapped their outwards folding design for this year's model. Instead, the Mate X2 will feature an inwards folding display like Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G. The Mate X2 will have a second screen too, along with a huge battery, four cameras, 65 W charging and multiple storage configurations.

Xiaomi has now launched its newest value champion. The Redmi K30 Ultra offers an excellent display, performance, and all-round impressive specifications and features at an unbeatable price point of under US$300 in China.

Xiaomi has started issuing the Android 10 update to some Redmi Note 7 Pro handsets in India. The update is based on MIUI 11 rather than MIUI 12 and contains the July security patch. The rollout of MIUI 12 has been expanded for the Mi Note 10 and Redmi Note 8 Pro, though.

The Galaxy M51 has appeared on a Samsung Russia support page ahead of its release. The device, which first leaked nearly five months ago, is rumoured to feature four cameras, a 6.5-inch display and upwards of a 7,000 mAh battery.

Samsung has launched a new feature called AltZLife that lets users run specific applications in 'Regular Mode' and 'Private Mode'. Switching from the former to the latter requires you to input a password every time. The feature is available on Galaxy A51 and Galaxy S71 handsets in India.

Xiaomi has now launched the new Mi 10 Ultra. The phone offers several improvements over the Mi 10 Pro, especially in the departments of display, cameras, charging speeds. In typical Xiaomi fashion, however, it's reasonably priced, starting under US$800 in China in spite of the premium hardware it offers.

The Pocophone F1 has started receiving MIUI 12, albeit on the Mi Pilot program. The update is available to the global version of the device and is rolling out in batches. According to Xiaomi, the global stable MIUI 12 update for the Pocophone F1 could arrive within a matter of days, contrary to previous information that the company provided.

Nreal has launched its Light AR glasses in Korea. Ostensibly looking like a pair of slightly oversize sunglasses, the Light can be pre-ordered now and bundled with either the LG Velvet or Samsung Galaxy Note 20.

Xiaomi has now started sending out the August security patch to its Android One phones, starting with the Mi A3. The update is seeding to global models of the device and weighs just 33 MB while promising to offer bug fixes.

Xiaomi's hotly-anticipated 10th-anniversary edition of the Mi 10 - or Mi 10 Ultra, according to the latest rumors - is expected to drop today (August 11, 2020). A down-to-the-wire leak purports to unbox this phone on camera beforehand, however. The video appears to confirm many primary specs of the impending super-flagship.

The yet-to-be-announced Google Pixel 5 has allegedly shown up on AI Benchmark. Test results indicate that the phone is running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC along with 8GB of RAM. Google is expected to unveil the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G later this year.

The MIUI 12 stable rollout for Xiaomi devices in China included in the third batch or phase of the company’s update roadmap could begin by October depending on how the second-batch rollout progresses. Smartphones that are part of the third batch include the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, Mi 8 SE, Redmi 7, and Redmi Note 8.

Leaked marketing renders have offered a closer look at the Surface Duo, Microsoft's long-awaited foldable device. While Microsoft exited the smartphone market four years ago, the bezels on the Surface Duo feel like the company never left. If that was not enough of a throwback, then the Surface Duo may be exclusive to AT&T in the US too.

Xiaomi has officially announced that a Redmi Note 8 Pro Special Edition smartphone is coming, no doubt to coincide with the Chinese company’s impending anniversary celebrations. Fans of the company have been asked to guess what color the special edition variant of the Redmi Note 8 Pro will come in.
The new color for the Redmi Note 8 Pro is Coral Orange.

The PowerCore Play 6K is a power bank specifically designed with smartphone gaming in mind. Not only does it has a controller-grip-style shape, it also packs a fan for active cooling. It is compatible with Android and Apple mobile devices, and is available on Amazon from now.

The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra flagship smartphone will soon be officially unveiled and yet another price leak concerning the high-end device has turned up online. A third-party retailer apparently has the Mi 10 Ultra prepared for sale at a price of 6,999 yuan (US$1,005), which points to a very high price tag if the smartphone is released outside of China.

The Huawei Mate 40 series will be the last devices to feature HiSilicon Kirin chipsets. Production will cease on September 15, effectively leaving Huawei without any chipsets going forwards. Qualcomm is lobbying the US government for a licence to supply chipsets to the Chinese company though, so all may not be lost for Huawei and its smartphone, tablet and wearable divisions just yet.

The Mi 10 Ultra has appeared on Geekbench before its release tomorrow. The device has been benchmarked with a Snapdragon 865 Plus and 8 GB of RAM, but Xiaomi is thought to equip the device with 12 GB and 16 GB of RAM too. Images of official-looking cases have leaked online too, as has a hands-on image that should raise eyebrows.

The Mi Mix 3 5G is finally receiving a new update after months out in the cold. The new OTA brings the update with build designation "MIUI V10.3.26.0.PEMEUVF", which denotes that it's for the Vodafone EU models. This update is the July security patch and is a 496 MB download.

Amidst rumors of the cancellation of Xiaomi's Android One Mi A-series, the company is still judiciously supporting its current Android One lineup. The Mi A2 Lite has now received the July update, with the 180 MB download promising to provide much-needed bug fixes.

The Mi 8 Pro is set to receive its inaugural MIUI 12 update this week, according to Xiaomi. The company has pulled back MIUI 12 for the Poco X2 because of bugs though and has suggested that the Pocophone F1 may not receive its latest OS until September at the earliest.

The Mi Mix series is a line of premium devices marked by experimental features in the works at the smartphone OEM Xiaomi. For example, its Alpha variant has a stand-out wrap-around display. However, the company's CEO, Lei Jun, has just dashed hopes of it ever coming to market, let alone any kind of new Mix generation in 2020.

Android 10 has reached the LG G7 ThinQ in Canada and Europe. The update is rolling out to devices now and is available to download either as an OTA or via the LG Bridge.

The Razer Kishi is a recently-launched smartphone accessory that snaps around a phone to give it physical in-game controls. Its controls include analog mechanical thumbsticks, which might be handy in the course, of, say, using Xbox Game Pass. Conveniently, the Kishi now works with this new cloud-gaming solution for Android.

New case leaks may reveal how a pair of Huawei phones called the Enjoy 20 and 20 Plus may look ahead of their launch. They may both have triple rear cameras, housed in a square module for the former and a round one for the latter. The Plus variant also has a feature that is getting rare in 2020: a motorized front-facing camera.