Chinese Tech

WinFuture has confirmed that Xiaomi will be launching distinct 4G and 5G versions of the Mi 11 Lite, the successor to last year's Mi 10 Lite 5G. The prices of both models have been revealed, too.

Xiaomi has confirmed rumours that the Mi 11 Pro and Mi 11 Ultra will feature Samsung's new ISOCELL GN2 camera sensor. The ISOCELL GN2 is, currently, the largest smartphone camera sensor, but we will not see what it is made of until Xiaomi launches the Mi 11 Pro and Mi 11 Ultra. Fittingly, Redmi General Manager Lu Weibing has drawn a comparison between the size of the ISOCELL GN2 and the Sony IMX689 found in the OnePlus 9.

Not long after dropping my own Mi 10T Pro in deep snow and fearing that might have led to water ingress, I discovered a series of tests that prove how resilient it is. Although not advertised as waterproof, it looks like the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro can even handle short immersions in shallow water alongside the usual splashes.

ZTE has confirmed that it will unveil its Watch GT smartwatch on March 30 in tandem with the ZTE S30 smartphone series. Now, the company has shared marketing renders ahead of next week's launch, revealing several aspects of the stylish-looking smartwatch.

The Honor Band 6 is available to buy from some online platforms, albeit as the Chinese variant with or without NFC. However, the new fitness tracker's global SKU is now slated to become available. This release will start with a listing on AliExpress from March 28, 2021, with those on the OEM's own regional stores to follow.

The North Edge Cross Fit2 combines a comparatively rugged design with a large display and a 320 mAh battery. The smartwatch also has a GPS module, is IP67 certified and supposedly features a heart rate monitor. The US$69.60 smartwatch is available to order from AliExpress.

Honor has presented the Pad 7, its latest mid-range tablet and the first since its departure from Huawei. The 10.1-inch tablet has an IPS display, a MediaTek Helio G80 SoC and 4 GB of RAM.

Xiaomi has confirmed that it will unveil the Mi 11 Pro and Mi 11 Ultra on March 29. The pair should have better cameras than the Mi 11 and innovations like a secondary display. At least one should be launching globally, too.

The Black Shark 4 and Black shark 4 Pro gaming smartphones have been launched with interesting specifications. Key specs include a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz, a 4,500mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging, pop-up mechanical triggers and more. Black Shark says that the phones will be launched globally soon.

After the Mi Watch Lite, we reviewed the Mi Watch. Its higher-quality features are likely to appeal to athletes in particular.

OnePlus launched the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro hours ago. Completing the OnePlus 9 series, however, is the OnePlus 9R, a performance-oriented, bang-for-buck device exclusive to the Indian market.

When updating from Android 10 to Android 11 but without moving to MIUI 12.5, some Mi 10T Pro users might find trouble. For me, this means fingerprint reader and touchscreen response issues, some random app crashes, and more. According to what others who got the update are saying, it doesn't stop here.

Those who simply cannot live with Xiaomi's MIUI interface on their Mi 10T and Mi 10T Pro devices are now finally receiving the first alternatives, although all are custom ROMs. Nusantara Project is one of the first such pieces of code to go live, comes from Indonesia, and is based on the Android Open Source Project.

Huawei has recently certified a monitor at the 3C, and now renders of it have started circulating online. The so-called Huawei MateView has slim bezels, a 3:2 aspect ratio, and a built-in wireless charging stand.

Lenovo introduces its third-gen 11.6-inch Windows machines for education as devices robust and versatile enough for any kind of learning situation the student might encounter. The 500w and 300w convertibles come in casings with the durability-focused designs schools might prefer to see, as does the 100w clamshell. The series incorporates the AMD 3015e platform, although there is the option of a Pentium chipset in the 500w.

Although the new software is not coming with MIUI 12.5 on top, various older Redmi devices are now being updated to Android 11. The list of handsets that receive the new firmware this week includes the Redmi Note 9 and Note 9 Pro, as well as the Redmi Note 10 and its Pro sibling, both released earlier this month.

A new size rumor about the potential Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 has once again demonstrated the Chinese OEM’s fondness for Apple products. It also seems that the iPad Pro mimic might be available sooner than expected, but it’s unlikely the Mi Pad 5 will get the sort of price tag that Xiaomi originally became noted for.

Xiaomi is yet to unveil Mi 11 Lite, and someone has already published an unboxing video of the Mi 11 Lite 4G on YouTube. So, Xiaomi may be planning to announce the device on March 29, but almost all its specifications have already been revealed.

Vivo's 2021 flagships have been unleashed as the X60 and X60 Pro 5G for the Malaysian market. As rumored, the phones are based on the Snapdragon 870 SoC in this country, and not the Exynos processor they have in China. The X60 Pro is graced with a main shooter with the OEM's Gimbal Stabilization 2.0, although both variants have Zeiss branding.

The POCO X3 Pro has arrived, and yes, it features the Snapdragon 855+ re-branded as the Snapdragon 860. Xiaomi has paired the two-year-old SoC with a 120 Hz display, LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. There is also a 5,160 mAh battery, five cameras and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The POCO X3 Pro will be available from €199 at launch in three colours.

The POCO F3 is here, although it is nothing but a Redmi K40 with POCO branding. The POCO F3 has the same 6.67-inch AMOLED screen as the Mi 11, along with a Snapdragon 870 SoC, LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The POCO F3 will start at €299 with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

Xiaomi will be launching the POCO F3 and POCO X3 Pro today, but multiple details about both devices have already flooded the internet. From marketing renders to the first stable MIUI build for the POCO F3, there is little left to reveal about Xiaomi's new POCO devices.

OnePlus released the OnePlus Nord N10 5G towards the end of last year, and the company is now set to deliver a successor. Expectant fans may be disappointed, however, as information about the upcoming mid-range devices paints an image of a mere incremental upgrade, at least in terms of design.

Xiaomi has started promoting an upcoming “Mega Launch” event that will take place at 19:30 GMT +8 on Monday March 29. The Chinese OEM has left it to fans to guess what will be unveiled, with the Xiaomi Mi Band 6, Mi 11 Pro, and Mi 11 Ultra already leading the speculation. It appears this will be a global product launch.

The display-standard specialist group TÜV Rheinland has announced its new Dynamic Privacy Filter certification, and that 2021's ThinkPads X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga are the first 2 devices to officially match up to it. The 2 business PCs have done so by passing a battery of tests on their ability to protect sensitive data under a variety of lighting conditions.

Motorola is now rumored to have a phone called the Moto G20 in the works. It seems the OEM has made some unusual choices for this device, as its SoC comes not from Qualcomm, or even MediaTek, but from Unisoc instead. According to a new Geekbench leak, it is an octa-core chipset clocked at 2.0GHz.

The upcoming Black Shark 4 Pro has been crowned the new smartphone audio champion in DXOMARK’s rankings, pushing the Xiaomi Mi 10S into second place. The Black Shark 4 Pro impressed with its clear playback and excellent trio of microphones. The gaming smartphone with Snapdragon 888 and 144 Hz AMOLED will be launched on March 23.

March seems to be the month of Android flagships thus far; however, iQOO's latest launch announcement might be for a more affordable device. The Z3 is slated to debut with a mid-tier processor, although whether it will come from MediaTek or Qualcomm is not clear at this point. However, all rumors do agree it will have 5G, not to mention fast 55W charging.

Huawei's supply chain issues have reportedly led to shortages of its bespoke high-end mobile CPUs for 2021. However, this has not stopped new rumors that it will soon have a new variant of its flagship Kirin 9000 SoC manufactured. Called the 9000L, it is painted as a throttled and cut-down version of the more premium processor.

A previous link hinted at an upcoming Motorola phone that, despite having otherwise affordable-class specs, has a 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor. Now, a new tip asserts that it will be called the Moto G60 at launch, and has some other potential advantages, not the least of which is a large 6,000mAh battery.

Xiaomi has once again teased its upcoming Mi Notebook Pro with the Chinese firm promoting its slender profile. A published patent has also shown that Xiaomi might be planning on giving the potential Mi Pad 5 its very own stylus. Unsurprisingly, there seem to be not-so-subtle nods given to the MacBook Air and Apple Pencil for inspiration.

A first real image of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Band 6 has been spotted in EU Declaration of Conformity documents filed by Huami. Although the product is simply listed as a “Smart Band”, the file name, model name, and live image reveal the wearable as the Mi Band 6. Unfortunately, the photograph included in the filing only shows the band from the side.

The Lem X is a comparatively inexpensive smartwatch from Lemfo that packs a large display, an LTE modem and built-in GPS, among other features. The Lem X has 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, too.

According to a new rumour, Huawei plans to officially unveil the MatePad Pro 2 in a little over a month. The company's new iPad Pro competitor should go on sale shortly thereafter too, albeit only in China initially.

JerryRigEverything has already shown that Xiaomi's inexpensive plastic phones are not built to last, but the Redmi Note 10 has proven to be exceptionally weak. If you plan on picking up the Redmi Note 10, you may want to take some insurance out on it.

The new device sports a 10.1" HD display, an octa-core 2.3 GHz processor, and 32 GB of expandable storage. The tablet runs Android with plenty of Barnes & Noble apps pre-installed. However, the tablet looks very similar to the Lenovo Tab M10 Plus in practically every regard.

According to reports, Xiaomi has set a launch date for the Mi 11 Pro and Mi 11 Ultra. Reiterated by Ice Universe, the pair will supposedly debut in a few days with Samsung's new ISOCELL GN2 flagship camera sensor.

91Mobiles and Ishan Agarwal have leaked the first Mi 11 Lite marketing renders, along with specifications for the 4G and 5G models. According to the website, both models will be available in three colours.

The Xiaomi Mi A3 has received another update, this time on Xiaomi's EEA branch. V12.0.5.0.RFQEUXM is another security patch update for the Android One handset, but it addresses 38 high or critical CVEs that Google has identified. V12.0.5.0.RFQEUXM is rolling out now as an OTA download.

In an interview with News18, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the OnePlus 9R, an "affordable" gaming smartphone, will launch in India alongside the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. Lau stated that the 9R will be similar to the OnePlus Nord in terms of pricing but will aim to bring a flagship-level experience, particularly with regards to gaming, without breaking the bank.

Xiaomi's Black Shark premium gaming brand has announced that its new, Snapdragon 888-powered flagship is to launch on March 23, 2021 in China. The 4 is slated to have improved, "360-degree, 3D" cooling, triple rear cameras and the shoulder buttons from its 3 Pro forebear. The 2 phones are also likely to have very different designs.

Motorola is now said to have a phone with the new 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor on-board. Furthermore, the device is rumored to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732 SoC and up to 6GB of RAM, which might bring the high-end camera spec to a very affordable tier in the near future. It might launch in India soon.

Realme has officially announced that its first phone with the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 flagship processor will be the GT Neo, and that it will debut at the end of March 2021. The OEM has yet to tease any more of its specs, although it is possible it will launch with a curved screen and a 4,400mAh battery.

OxygenOS (OOS) is OnePlus' well-received Android-based ROM for the global units of its phones. It has a Chinese-market counterpart called HydrogenOS (H2OS). However, the OEM has reportedly informed its users that it is to be discontinued in favor of OPPO’s ColorOS instead.

The Redmi Smart TV X50, X55 and X65 have been unleashed onto the Indian market. Their 4K LED panels are enhanced with MEMC, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. The series also features dual 15W speakers, and will start at INR 32,999 (~US$455) on their March 26, 2021 release.

It seems that the Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro will follow the Mi 11 Ultra's footsteps and include a secondary screen next to its rear cameras. This could theoretically help users take selfies using the objectively more powerful rear camera modules, but the small screen is less than ideal as a viewfinder.

The S888 smartwatch supports 4G, GPS and runs Android 7.0 Nougat. The device is also IP65 rated, has a 1.88-inch touchscreen and has 32 GB of storage.

A foldable Mi Mix smartphone remains a hot topic, not least because photos of an alleged prototype have appeared online. Specifications for a Xiaomi ODIN have been published too, apparently having been seen in MIUI code. Some of its specifications include a 120 Hz AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 888 SoC and what may be an in-display fingerprint scanner.