Android

Google has partnered with Xiaomi to make ARCore apps available on the Xiaomi App Store in China. Google has not revealed any further details but these apps will be first made available for Xiaomi's latest flagship, the Mi Mix 2S, with more devices to follow soon.

Official renders of the Motorola Moto Z3 Play have surfaced online. Perhaps even more interestingly, Motorola plans to release a 5G-capable Moto Mod that will upgrade it, and compatible Moto devices, from 4G to 5G cellular connectivity.

Announced for Japan back in March, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is finally available for Android and iOS smartphones in the US. This cult classic is more than 12 years old, but the mobile version has been refreshed with HD graphics, a wide voice cast, partial gamepad support, as well as save and autosave capabilities.

Although Andy Rubin's company is now up for sale and the chances to see a second Essential Phone reaching the market anytime soon have just evaporated, the company recently announced that its only device will get 2 years of updates and 3 years of security patches. Sadly, these timelines could change if Essential gets a new owner.

A report from a brand equity database shows that technology companies and tech-related brands currently dominate the ranking for top 10 most valuable global brands. At least eight out of the 10 brand names listed are directly involved in technology, with Google, Apple, and Amazon taking up the top three places, respectively. Chinese firm Tencent has also made a strong showing, coming in fifth position.

While a recent rumor claims that a top-of-the-line variant of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9 might hit the market with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage onboard, the Samsung SM-N960N model that has just surfaced on Geekbench only sports an Exynos 9810 processor and 6 GB RAM.

Lenovo Vice President Chang Cheng has, once again, teased the company's upcoming device on Weibo. This time, he clarifies that the device will be named the Lenovo Z5. The teaser paints the picture of a device with absolutely no bezels—and no notch.

Xiaomi's upcoming flagship, the Mi 7, has been spotted online. The device is expected to feature a Snapdragon 845, 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, 3D facial recognition, and wireless charging...and all of that could come with a US$450 price tag.

The Zenfone 5 Lite was launched a few months ago and has finally made its way to the US as the Zenfone 5Q. It's the only Zenfone 5 device to not sport a notch, and it features a Snapdragon 630, dual rear cameras, and a 20 MP selfie camera. Not a bad deal for US$300.

HTC has confirmed that its newly released U12+ flagship will not ship with a 3.5mm to Type-C adapter, and that is wrong for all sorts of reasons.

Maze was one of the upcoming smartphone companies in 2017. The company released devices like the Blade and Alpha and while both had their issues, they also offered great value for money. Sadly, it would seem that we won't be getting anything else from Maze, with the company appearing to have kicked the bucket.

According to reports, Valve Corporation’s new Steam Link app has been denied entry to the world of Apple. A review team at the Cupertino-based company apparently rejected the application on grounds of “business conflicts with app guidelines.” This has led to some speculation that Apple could be working on its own game-streaming service.

Huawei has announced its decision to end official support for bootloader unlocks. Devices released after May 24 will not be eligible for unlocks, while those already released will have that option closed to them in 60 days.

HTC's latest flagship, the U12+, made the trip over to DxOMark this week, with the device impressing—and earning a photo score that puts it above competitors like the Pixel 2 XL and Samsung Galaxy S9+.

The live image recently discovered by Evan Blass on the website of The Wireless Power Consortium reveals a handset without a notch that might feature front-facing stereo speakers. The latest rumors mention a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, dual 16 MP main camera, a 6-inch display, 6 GB RAM, and 64 GB internal storage.

After a history of more than 16 years, the popular content discovery and advertisement engine StumbleUpon is drawing its last breath. On June 30, all user accounts and content will move to Mix.com, a similar service that offers better compatibility with today's mobile platforms and web browsers.

He may be known as the "Father of Android," but that does not look to have saved Andy Rubin's Esssential. According to Bloomberg, Rubin is actively shopping around the company he founded less than two year's ago following lackluster sales of its Android-based Essential Phone PH-1.

A monthly worldwide digital games market report has been released by SuperData, and it appears to have been yet another spectacular month for Fortnite. Apparently, the battle royale title from Epic Games earned revenue of US$296 million in April, smashing March’s estimate of US$223 million. Other big winners for the month were God of War and Honour of Kings.

BlackBerry Mobile has released a new teaser clip for the KEY² smartphone. The brief video shows that the device will feature a dual-camera system and reveals a new button on the keyboard that has fuelled speculation in regard to its purpose. Full details about the KEYone’s successor are expected to be given at the June 7 launch event in New York.

Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor, has issued a press release to announce that the Honor 10 flagship smartphone has already managed one million sales. This is an impressive feat, considering the device was only released in China on April 27 and received a limited global launch on May 16. The Honor 10 has been praised for offering high-end features for a mid-range price.

MediaTek has unveiled its new SoC, the Helio P22. The chipset is built on a 12nm manufacturing process and will offer stiff resistance to SoCs like the Snapdragon 450 and Kirin 659.

HTC has finally unveiled its new device, the U12+. The flagship sports a 6-inch QHD+ Super LCD display, a Snapdragon 845, IP68 certification, a quad camera setup, and a host of other features that make it one of the most impressive devices so far this year—on paper at least.

Less than a month since it surfaced with Android 8.0 Oreo onboard, the upcoming Samsung SM-T835 tablet hits the GFXBench database with Android 8.1. The graphics performance is slightly lower with the new software version, so it might take a while before they launch this 10.5-inch slate.

Available for phones and tablets that run at least iOS 9 or KitKat, Google Family Link allows parents to control the content available on their children's phones and tablets that run Nougat or later. Launched in the US back in September 2017, this service is now available in no less than 38 countries worldwide.

First shown as a futuristic concept phone, the Vivo APEX is officially launching on June 12. The device avoids a display notch by incorporating a retractable selfie-camera that pops out of its chassis when required.

Meizu is set to unveil its next device, the M6T, at an event in China, on May 29. The device will sport a dual rear camera setup and 18:9 device, and will go against Xiaomi's recently released Redmi S2.

CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, has announced that the company's Mi Max 3 will be unveiled in July. Details of the device remain unconfirmed but it's expected to be powered by a Snapdragon 660.

US customers not happy with the three color choices locally available for the Samsung Galaxy S9 lineup might want to wait for a little longer, because it looks like the Sunrise Gold option might reach them in the coming weeks. Even better, it is rumored that the Burgundy Red Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will land stateside as well.

LG has updated its popular Q6 with new Q7 models that the company is touting feature audio quality usually reserved for high-end devices, but at a mid-range price point. The new models retain the basic features of the 5.5-inch FullVision display Q6 design, but come with a number of tweaks.

The pre-launch event has proven successful in building even more hype surrounding the impending launch of the OnePlus 6. At least a couple hundred visitors were at the 4-hour event with many interested in purchasing the smartphone right away. For everyone else, the flagship phone will become available online starting May 22, 6 AM PST in two color options.

It appears the innovative RED Hydrogen One smartphone is to be made available through AT&T and Verizon. Pre-orders for the novel device that sports a holographic screen are no longer being accepted at RED’s website, whereas Verizon is allowing those interested to sign up for updates. AT&T is planning a demo for the RED Hydrogen One in Los Angeles, June 2-3.

Epic Games has published a news post announcing the company’s intention to offer US$100 million in prizes for Fortnite tournaments taking place over the 2018-2019 season. This is a massive boost to the burgeoning eSports sector, which has thoroughly embraced mobile gaming. Fortnite is expected to be released on Android in summer.

The Chinese branch of HMD Global reported that the entire stock of 700,000 Nokia X6 devices pre-sold in just 10 seconds. Another pre-sale is scheduled for May 31 and the stock is expected to be larger. Since the Nokia X6 already proved to be a hit in China, HMD Global now intends to bring it to the Western markets.

Major cities in the US and across the globe are testing 5G services throughout this year, and some areas might even get limited 5G connectivity in the second half of 2018. Tis has prompted some OEMs to pressure Qualcomm into allowing them to integrate the X50 5G modem and maybe even the upcoming Snapdragon 855 SoC in several smartphones that could launch by the end of 2018.

The rumored Samsung Galaxy S8 Lite is now official in China as the S Light Luxury. Its highlights include a 5.8-inch Infinity Display with 2,220 x 1,080 pixels, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and a 3,000 mAh battery. The phone has no dual camera setup and can be pre-ordered for the equivalent of US$578.

Chief Product Officer at HMD, Juho Sarvikas, has confirmed that the Nokia X6 will be launched for the global market soon. The device was released in China last week, and is likely to be sold as an Android One device when it makes its way outside the country—whenever that is.

According to data by Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi's Redmi 5A clinched top spot as the best-selling Android device in the world. The device, by its lonesome self, accounts for 1.8% of all smartphones sold in the world in March. This dominance extends all through Q1.

LG is apparently now selling its older devices like the G6 and V30 with a ThinQ branding. Quite amusingly, the ThinQ-branded devices are exactly the same as they were at launch—there is nothing to differentiate them from the regular model.

Semantic Machines Inc. is a Californian company based in Berkeley that will join Microsoft for an undisclosed amount. However, it has been revealed that the Redmond giant will establish a conversational AI center of excellence in Berkeley "to push forward the boundaries of what is possible in language interfaces."

The Huawei Y5 Prime (2018) is now listed on Huawei’s website, indicating that it might not be long until it hits store shelves. The older Y5 (2017) released in June of last year, so this timing would match. With 2 GB RAM / 16 GB storage, this is undoubtedly a budget phone, but the inclusion of three card slots (2 SIM and 1 MicroSD) will be highly attractive in some markets.

According to a report by OnPhones, Xiaomi may have been using fake camera samples for its Redmi Y2 promotional content. This wouldn't be the first an OEM does something of the sort.

The Asus Zenfone 5 has made its way over to DxOMark, with the camera evaluation platform placing it alongside devices like the iPhone 8 and HTC U11. That's quite impressive for a US$400 mid-ranger.

ZTE may have found a way out of its current troubles, as word claims that Samsung is willing to sell its Exynos SoCs to the company, in a bid to expand its ARM processor business.