Chinese Tech

The newest addition to Honor's Play series of smartphones is a markedly low-end entrant, starting at just 899 yuan (~US$139). That is not the only unusual thing about it, however, as the OEM has settled on a lesser-spotted Unisoc platform to power the device. It runs Android 10 using the Play 20's large 5,000mAh battery.

Xiaomi's 2022 flagship, presumably the Mi 12, could be the world's first smartphone to run a 200MP camera sensor. The unnamed sensor could be 1" in size. Samsung is likely to unveil it sometime in September this year.

A Chinese OEM has launched a somewhat unconventional motherboard for Chia miners. The Onda B365 D32-D4 Magic Edition is a regular B365 board with 32 SATA ports for enterprise-grade hard drives and six dedicated 6-pin connectors to power them.

Xiaomi Germany has apparently confirmed that there will be no global Mi Mix Fold, nearly a month after the device's announcement. It is unclear what has happened to the Mi Mix Fold Special Edition that Xiaomi teased for global audiences, though.

The Mi Band 6 launched as Xiaomi's latest fitness tracker in late March 2021, with a large AMOLED display, SpO2 tracking and even advanced sleep tracking. Now, the company's CEO, Lei Jun, has posted on Weibo to announce that 1 million units of this new wearable have shipped worldwide already.

The iQOO 7 launched as the cheapest phone with the top-end Snapdragon 888 SoC in its native China earlier in 2021. Now, it has finally scored a second regional debut, in India this time. It has been rebranded as the 7 Legend for its new market, and is accompanied by a new, even cheaper, variant that has a different Qualcomm chipset this time.

Xiaomi has introduced its most premium offering, the Mi QLED TV 75 smart TV in India recently. The QLED TV 75 offers the Android 10 smart TV platform with Google Assistant, Chromecast, and Alexa support. The TV also features wide color gamut support, a MediaTek MT9611 SoC, and the company's PatchWall content aggregation service that connects to more than 25 streaming services.

The entire Honor P50 Pro+ spec sheet has shown up online. It will reportedly pack a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen, six cameras in total, a 4,400mAh battery that supports 67W charging, and a Snapdragon 888 chipset.

Huawei launched its Mate X2 flagship in February 2021 with a new design and a sky-high price-tag, even for a foldable device. Its new refresh might be a slightly better deal, however. It has the exact same specs as before - except for its SoC, which is the Kirin 9000 without the usual 5G modem. Therefore, it might cost a little less on its release in China.

It could be said that Xiaomi's Mi Mix Fold is the best flexible-display device on the 2021 market thus far. However, it debuted as a Chinese-market exclusive. Then again, the tipster Mukul Sharma has uncovered evidence that could point to its first international release soon.

Xiaomi's Mi MIX Fold is quite resilient, as it lasted a little over a week in a torture test that had it fold and unfold itself over 400,000 times. It is quite an impressive feat, considering that Samsung's original Galaxy Fold lasted a little over 100,000 cycles before sustaining damage.

Asus' ROG Phone 5 and Lenovo's Legion Phone Duel 2 recently featured on JerryRigEverything in order to undergo this YouTube channel's famous bend test - which they both proceeded to fail miserably. Now, another 2021 Android gaming flagship, Xiaomi's Black Shark 4, has come to see if it can beat its rivals in running the same gauntlet.

Motorola is rumored to have what might be a 5G version of the Moto G Stylus (2021) in the works. It, like the rest of its series, allegedly goes by an internal code-name - Denver, in this case. The FCC has just registered a new device from its OEM, thereby possibly confirming its existence and impending launch.

Xiaomi is yet to start rolling out MIUI 12.5 globally, but it has issued its latest OS to seven more devices in China. Following on from the Mi 11, now the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Pro, Mi 11, Mi 10 Ultra, Mi 10 Pro, Mi 10 and even the Mi 9 SE are eligible for an MIUI 12.5 stable update.

Realme has launched the Q3 Pro as the brand's first ever phone with the new Dimensity 1100 SoC. It is joined by the vanilla Q3, powered by the Snapdragon 750G, and the Q3i, which has an older Dimensity 700 chipset. The latter starts at just 1000 yuan (~US$154).

The RedMagic Watch is one of the latest options on the global wearables market. It has a 1.39-inch AMOLED display, a blood-oxygen sensor and 24-hour heart-rate monitoring. It also now has a US$99 price-tag on the brand's international website.

Following Samsung and Apple's footsteps, Oppo seems to be working on object trackers. Leaked images from Weibo show that it packs a USB Type-C port for some reason. An ultra-wideband chip is thrown in, too.

Oppo is planning to release another Reno5 smartphone, this time a budget 'A' model. The Reno5 A will have a large display, a 64 MP primary camera and a capacitive fingerprint scanner, among other features.

After a buggy update from Android 10 to Android 11, the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro finally gets things right. The MIUI 12.1.5 update that includes last month's security patch feels snappier and some of the most annoying issues of its predecessor (fingerprint scanner response, overall lag) are now history.

In a new video posted earlier today, Eve claims that HDMI 2.1 on its Spectrum gaming monitor is now working. The video shows Spectrum connected to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 via an HDMI cable and running at 3840x2160 at 144 Hz, which is only possible on HDMI 2.1. The video noticeably does not show content or gaming at this resolution on Spectrum, and it should be noted that the video is limited to 1920x1080 at 30 Hz, making verification impossible. While many are skeptical of this achievement, it may be that Spectrum now supports HDMI 2.1.

Oppo has revealed the K9, a smartphone it claims will deliver 'Super Performance'. The Oppo K9 will launch on May 6 with a 64 MP primary camera and a slim design.

Xiaomi has confirmed that the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition will feature a MediaTek Dimensity 1200, an SoC that should compete with the Snapdragon 870 in the Redmi K40. The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition will have some exclusive features though, including several shoulder buttons and a lighting array on its camera housing.

The Legion Phone Duel 2 (or 2 Pro) launched with one of the most innovative and landscape-oriented designs of any Android device in 2021 thus far. Unfortunately, this also made it one of the most fragile phones this year. The OEM has started to respond to customer concerns with extended warranties.

Huawei's Director Xu Wenwei has announced that the company is developing several noteworthy health features for future smartwatches. Apparently, Huawei is testing background blood sugar and blood pressure monitors, along with sensors that can take ECGs without having an app open.

Xiaomi has unveiled seven TVs for 2022, although it will begin selling them on April 25. The Mi TV EA series starts at CNY 999 (~US$153) for the 32-inch model and is also available in 40-inch, 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch screen sizes.

Realme has announced that the Q3 smartphone (or possibly smartphones) will debut on April 22, 2021. The line has also been confirmed to be the OEM's first to feature the new MediaTek Dimensity 1100 SoC. Their maker has also strongly hinted that the new Q-series devices will have 120Hz displays, even though it might start at the ~US$150 level.

Xiaomi's official MIUI 12.5 device list is rather lacklustre; only eighteen devices are confirmed to receive the OS update so far. Reportedly, Xiaomi is testing MIUI 12.5 on over three dozen handsets, including the Mi 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro.

Xiaomi has updated the Mi A3 to the April 2021 security patch, a patch that addresses 18 critical or high CVEs for the Android One handset. However, V12.0.8.0.RFQMIXM also reportedly fixes a few bugs on the Mi A3, including DPI and charging status indicator issues.

Yet another device has gone up in flames. Again, it's a Xiaomi phone, this time the Poco X3. Supposedly, the device spontaneously combusted while charging, but Poco has claimed it was down to the customer puncturing the battery beforehand.

The iQOO 7 was the cheapest phone to launch with the top-end Snapdragon 888 SoC on its Chinese-market launch. Now, the OEM has announced that it will venture into its first international market soon. It will be joined by a "new" vanilla variant with a different processor in India later in April 2021.

OPPO will launch a new pair of audio devices called the Enco Buds soon, according to a new tip from the leaker Evan Blass. Their new alleged renders show a fairly standard TWS form-factor very similar to a product the OEM has already launched. However, the new versions apparently upgrade to Bluetooth 5.2.

The noted Chinese benchmark Master Lu has published a chart of what it considers to be the best mobile phone user interfaces for the first quarter of 2021. ColorOS from Oppo heads the table followed by Realme UI and Huawei’s EMUI. There is no space for MIUI from Xiaomi in the top 10 positions.

The HX68 is a new smartwatch from IWO, and is one that can make calls thanks to its built-in speaker. Its 1.72-inch display is rather large too, but it remains lightweight at 34 g. The IWO HX68 retails for US$26.99.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 may be a great smartphone, but it is not up there with the camera performance of other flagship smartphones released this year, Mi 11 Ultra included. Unfortunately, the Mi 11 cannot meet Xiaomi's marketing, even with its 108 MP camera.

The Realme executive Chase Yu has strongly hinted at a brand-new style for the OEM's upcoming Q3, a phone that might start as low as ~US$153 (or 1000 yuan). That would be an impressive feat, as the device is also rumored to run on the upper-mid-range-at-worst Dimensity 1100 SoC and to have a 120Hz display.

Loongson is the company behind the development of the "Loong Arch" instruction set - China's first domestic CPU instruction set. According to third-party IP evaluators, Loong Arch is completely original and does not conflict with other foreign IPs. It is still compatible with other mainstream architectures like x86, RISC-V and MIPS.

Netac has only been in the RAM market for a few years, but the Chinese company already intends to set itself apart and be the first to introduce DDR5 RAM modules overclocked to 10 GHz. This may take a while since 8.4 GHz DDR5 modules are supposed to launch next year.

The Mi Mix Fold is Xiaomi's first-gen foldable phablet, and thus offers an 8-inch main display in a book-like form-factor. It has just been released for sale in China, which, according to the OEM, has been a complete success. Xiaomi claims to have sold all stock of the device for ~US$61 million in just 1 minute.

Redmi has affirmed that it will launch its first "gaming phone" in 2021 - perhaps even this month, should the latest rumors prove true. As if to give this idea more weight, a device with its alleged model number is now approved for sale by the Chinese regulator 3C. Its new certificate also suggests it might launch with the same charging tech as the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra flagship.

Motorola will launch the Moto G60 soon. This phone is the OEM's 108MP mid-ranger for 2021 that will come with the Snapdragon 732G processor and a 120Hz screen. According to its latest tip, these specs will be joined by 6GB of RAM - or 4GB in the G40 Fusion. This secondary variant has a 64MP main sensor instead, but will be very similar to the G60 otherwise.

The Air 2S is the successor to the DJI Mavic Air 2, even if it has new and snappier branding. It also has a sensor of 1 inch in size, which outdoes its forebear by a good margin. The new CMOS supports up to 5.4K recording at up to 30fps, and allows for zooming while in flight. The DJI Air 2S starts for US$999 from now.

ZTE has debuted its 2021 flagship smartphone series with a launch for the Axon 30 Pro and 30 Ultra in China. The latter is the one with the OEM's intensely-hyped "Trinity" rear camera system. It also has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and, of course, that Snapdragon 888 SoC.

TCL has unveiled its latest flexible-display concept at its 2021 Display Your Greatness global product launch event. It combines folding and sliding technology into one chassis, meaning, as the OEM asserts, that it can be a smartphone, a phablet and a tablet in one. This new kind of convertible could well be part of the future of mobile tech.

TCL has launched new smartphones at its latest press conference. They include the 20 Pro 5G, which offers this brand's NXTVISION 2.0 screen optimizations and the Snapdragon 750G processor. However, the 20 L and 20 L+ also have an interesting new feature to introduce: a new TÜV Rheinland-certified polarizing treatment designed to make their displays easier to use while wearing sunglasses.

The manufacturer still hasn't revealed how much it will cost, but it promises coupon codes and a free carrying bag for early bird buyers.

Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 12.5 to the Mi 11, one of its latest flagship smartphones. The update includes not only bug fixes from MIUI 12, but also new features and noticeable performance improvements. MIUI 12.5 should reach other Xiaomi smartphones later this year.

Apple has just confirmed that its next Special Event will take place on April 20, 2021. Huawei has also gone ahead and scheduled a "new tablet debut" for the same day. This announcement, made through the OEM's official Japanese-language Twitter account, might lead to the unveiling of the MatePad Pro 2, a rumored iPad Pro competitor.

The new JiangXing X15 budget gaming laptop from Colorful comes with i5-10300H and i7-10870H processor options, which can be coupled with 8 or 16 GB of RAM (upgradable to 32 GB) and 512 GB SSD storage, plus an Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti dGPU. Even though these are sub-$1,000 models, Colorful still included high-quality 15.6-inch 1080p IPS displays with 144 Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB coverage.