Chinese Tech

Motorola is said to have a new premium phone in the works with the code-name "Nio". It also has a rumored model number (XT2125), which has shown up on the Federal Communications Commission, (FCC) website. This new leak may thus confirm the device will launch soon with a 20 watt (W) power brick and a 5000mAh battery.

TCL's new product launches are mainly display-centric; however, it has also announced the expansion of its smart device ecosystem at CES 2021. They include the new Wearable Display, a name the OEM has seen fit to give its first pair of smart glasses. They are joined here by other devices such as the hybrid ANC-enhanced MOVEAUDIO S600 earbuds, the MOVETRACK PetTracker and the LINKHUB 4G/LTE Outdoor CPE.

TCL's latest generation of mini-LED panel is called OD Zero, ostensibly as the OEM claims to have reduced the distance between the backlight and diffuser layers in these panels to "zero millimeters". This could improve on luminance and color-depth for the devices based on it, not to mention their form-factor. TCL has also announced that its 2021 smart TVs will launch with Google's new UI.

Lenovo has launched the ThinkBook 13x today at CES 2021, a lightweight ultraportable business machine that shares the new display aspect that Lenovo is transitioning products to this year. It is also compatible with Lenovo's new wireless laptop Charging Mat.

Lenovo has announced a refresh to its Legion 5 15 and Legion 5 17 laptops to bring the latest AMD Ryzen Mobile CPU and Nvidia GeForce GPU options to consumers. Both offer good higher framerate displays with the 15.3-inch reportedly having a sub-3ms response time.

The TCL 20 SE is a low-cost smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, four rear cameras, and a 6.8-inch screen and a 5,000mAh battery. It will be available for purchase worldwide in late January 2021 for €149 (US$181).

TCL has launched a new low-cost 5G smartphone called the TCL 20 5G. It comes with a 6.6-inch FHD IPS LCD panel, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chipset, 6GB of RAM, three rear cameras and a 4,500mAh battery that can be charged at 18W. The smartphone is up for sale in Italy for €299 (US$363) and will be available in other regions soon.

After releasing the Motorola Edge and Motorola Edge+ last year, it appears Motorola is already gearing up for the next device in the series. The phone in question is tipped to be the Motorola Edge S and is supposedly set for imminent launch.

TCL's display-development subsidiary CSOT has prepared 2 of its flexible prototypes that can function when paired to rollers for display at CES 2021. One is the extendable AMOLED panel that may have been seen as part of a concept smartphone before. The other is a 17-inch piece of OLED that may show what the OEM can offer the makers of devices such as transparent TVs.

TCL has just launched its first ever NXTPAPER tablet at CES 2021. It is built around the OEM's recently-developed e-ink competitor, and is slated to deliver a "paper-like" viewing experience. It is joined at the virtual show by the new TAB 10s slate.

The Amazfit GTR 2e and Amazfit GTS 2e smartwatches from Huami have now officially become available to customers in North America. Both watches are priced at US$139.99, with the main differences between them being design and battery life. The Amazfit GTR 2e and Amazfit GTS 2e come with a data sensor for blood-oxygen saturation measurement.

Honor may be free of Huawei, but it appears to be still using the designs of its former parent company. The Honor V40 will arrive in China on January 18, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Huawei Nova 8 Pro. Honor's first smartphone without Huawei may reprise Google Mobile Services, though.

The Redmi K40 series is on the way, and it will come with all the features required to make it a certified flagship killer. Xiaomi has now confirmed a February launch, what will almost definitely be a 120 Hz AMOLED, and a Snapdragon 888 for the Redmi K40 Pro.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite appears to be getting closer to an official announcement as a smartphone believed to be this device has turned up on both the FCC and BIS. In addition, a new specs leak relating to the presumed Mi 11 Lite suggests it will sport an AMOLED screen and will be powered by an SM7150 platform chipset from Qualcomm.

Xiaomi has announced that it has shipped 20 million units of devices in the Redmi Note 9 series globally. That's an amazing number, especially since it was done in just four months, placing Redmi Note 9 sales well ahead of that of the already impressive Redmi Note 8 series.

OPPO released a Lite version of its Find X2 flagship in 2020. Now, Evan Blass asserts that this phone is getting a successor. However, fans of the OEM might find it eerily familiar on its launch, as it will not be a brand-new device, but a renamed Reno5 5G.

Xiaomi is billed to launched the Mi 11 Pro soon and a new report has now tipped the upcoming flagship to make at least one major improvement over the Mi 11 that was released last week. Yes, the Mi 11 Pro is expected to ditch the 108 MP on the Mi 11 in favor of a more sophisticated sensor.

AnTuTu’s price-performance charts for December make for good reading for Xiaomi. The new Mi 11 tops the most-expensive smartphone table while sub-brand Redmi has the top spot in the three cheapest charts. However, the Realme X50 Pro 5G prevents Xiaomi from commanding all five charts by heading up the 3,000-4,499 yuan list.

After having tasted good success in the Chinese market, the Redmi Note 9 4G is now available in Europe as the Redmi 9T. The Redmi 9T is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC and features a 48 MP quad-camera setup along with a 6,000 mAh battery that supports 18 W fast charging. Pricing in Germany starts from €169.90

The Motorola One 5G Ace, aka the Moto G 5G, has been launched in the United States. It features a 6.7-inch LTPS IPS LCD panel, three rear cameras, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. The device will be available for purchase starting January 14 and retail for US$399.

SlashLeaks now claims that an OPPO device newly discovered on Geekbench 5 is the upcoming Find X3 flagship. This is most likely because of the Snapdragon 888 SoC that it, according to this new listing, runs on. Then again, its reportedly stellar performance on AnTuTu has not exactly been replicated here.

The Moto G Power (2021) and Moto G Play (2021) are Motorola's newest low-cost offerings. Both phones come with entry-level specs and are priced accordingly. The former costs US$199 for the base variant with 3GM of RAM and 32GB of storage, while the latter will set you back by US$169.

A successor to the original Moto G Stylus is finally here. Dubbed as the Moto G Stylus (2021), the smartphone comes with a 6.8-inch FHD IPS LCD screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, four rear cameras and a 4,000mAh battery. It costs US$299 and will be available for sale starting January 13.

Apple proved that ARM's cores can easily compete with the mobile CPUs from Intel and AMD, and we see more and more companies jumping on the custom ARM-based CPU bandwagon, including processor maker Phytium ready to release its own octa-core chip for the Chinese market in the coming months.

Xiaomi has released the global variant of the Note 9 5G — Note 9T. The Note 9T aims to make 5G affordable thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 800U SoC. The Note 9T also offers dual 5G standby, a 48 MP triple-camera setup, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 18 W fast charge. Early bird customers in Germany get to avail the base variant of the Note 9T at €30 discount.

Realme has now launched its newest device, the Realme V15 5G, in China. The Realme V15 5G offers an AMOLED display and a MediaTek Dimensity 800U under the hood, with the entire package bearing a resemblance to the Redmi Note 9 5G that was launched last month.

In an interview with news outlet MyDrivers, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has stated that the company has shifted its research and development efforts towards camera improvements. Lau aims to bring OnePlus' cameras on par with the likes of Huawei. Hence, the company is working closely with Leica.

While the Intel and AMD models share many of the same features, Lenovo uses the thermal headroom in the 16-inch IdeaPad 5 Pro to pair next-generation Ryzen and RTX chips. Users can switch between 60 Hz or higher 90 Hz (14-inch) and 120 Hz (16-inch) refresh rates on these 16:10 (2560 x 1600) displays.

An owner of a Xiaomi Mi Band 5 fitness tracker has taken to Reddit to report about the gadget exploding while it was being charged. Apparently, it was the global version of the Mi Band 5 wearable and was not a copy or mishandled in any way. Issues likes this have been frequently reported in regard to smartphones, such as the notorious Samsung Galaxy Note 7 episode.

An AMD Ryzen 9 5900H APU has been tested on various synthetic benchmarks as part of a Mechrevo gaming laptop that also comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 GPU. The results for the Zen 3 Ryzen 9 5900H chip in Cinebench showed welcome generational performance improvements over fellow 8-core chips Ryzen 9 4900HS and Intel Core i7-10875H.

Quite unexpectedly, Xiaomi has now started the Android 11 rollout for the Redmi Note 8. The rollout is still in its infancy, however, as it's only being sent out to enrolled beta testers in China, but it's something nonetheless and the myriad of Redmi Note 8 owners now have something to look forward to.

The iQOO 7 is an upcoming Android flagship reported to have blown past the Huawei Mate 40 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 11 on benchmarks ahead of its launch. Its brand has been on Weibo to hype it up again, this time with details on its audio system, which has apparently been developed in conjunction with Monster. This teaser may also hint at a BMW Special Edition for the phone.

Honor's first phone of 2021 is said to be powered by a MediaTek chipset. However, according to a new report, its next launch after that may feature a Snapdragon processor instead. Now that it is out from under the Huawei umbrella, it can partner with Qualcomm to make "normal" Android phones again.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 has only just been launched; however, other members of its series are hot on its heels, according to recent rumors. The latest tip comes from a Vietnamese YouTube channel that asserts the 11 Lite is coming with a design similar to the vanilla model. However, it will have a mid-range Qualcomm processor and 6GB of RAM.

The 732 MB package that has just begun to reach the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro worldwide comes with all the features of MIUI 12, the usual optimizations, and bug fixes. Unfortunately, the update for this handset that was introduced back in September 2018 is only based on Android 9 Pie.

Xiaomi has messed up another OS upgrade for the Mi A3. Now on its second and final OS upgrade, the Mi A3 will officially remain on Android 11 indefinitely. Xiaomi has begun rolling Android 11 to the device again now, but it did kill some Mi A3 units with its initial rollout.

Xiaomi blindsided us all by releasing the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G and its entourage instead of the Redmi Note 10 series last month. It appears that the company is working on the Redmi Note 10 lineup, though, as the Redmi Note 10 Pro 5G has been spotted online for the first time. Launch may also be closer than expected.

AnTuTu has published its midrange smartphone performance chart for December, and it is looking somewhat stale with the typical Dimensity (Redmi 10X) and Kirin (Huawei Nova 7) phones jostling for position. However, a potential Redmi K40 sporting a Snapdragon 7-series SoC could soon be in competition to be the fastest midrange smartphone.

The Redmi Note 8T was released as a variant of the Redmi Note 8, but with NFC support. Xiaomi is set to release the successor to that device, in the form of the Redmi Note 9T, and details of the phone have now surfaced ahead of launch.

OnePlus has made its newest batch of affordable smartphones available in the United States and Canada. The OnePlus Nord N10 5G will retail for US$299 and the OnePlus Nord N100 for US$179. Both phones can be purchased via T-Mobile and its subsidiary Metro in the coming days.

The leaker Ice Universe claims to have found new AnTuTu benchmarking scores for an unreleased OPPO device, said to be the upcoming Find X3 flagship. Should this be the case, it has beaten the current official #1 in these terms, the Xiaomi Mi 11, as well as the also-rumored fellow Snapdragon 888 phone the iQOO 7 - and by a good margin, too.

Huawei has refreshed its EMUI 11 upgrade plans globally. The OS update has only been delivered to a limited number of handsets so far, while India is yet to receive EMUI 11 at all. Huawei has provided the update to all users of a few devices in some regions, though.

The Honor V40 series of flagship smartphones was allegedly to debut on January 4, 2020. However, the OEM has obviously missed this date, and has instead now apparently set it to the 18th of this month instead. The devices may feature waterfall-style screens at this event - not to mention the Kirin 9000 SoC after all.

AnTuTu has published its December 2020 Android flagship smartphone performance chart and the Xiaomi Mi 11 with the Snapdragon 888 has managed to take the top spot away from the Huawei Mate 40 Pro+ with the Kirin 9000. The Snapdragon 888 vs Kirin 9000 results were very close, but the Mi 11’s 2K 120 Hz display tipped the difference.

OnePlus has started officially teasing its upcoming fitness tracker that will feature useful tools such as SpO2 blood saturation monitoring and real-time heart-rate tracker. The alleged OnePlus Band price in India and its launch date have also been leaked along with some key specifications. The OnePlus Band is expected to cost around ₹2,499 (US$34).

OnePlus has just posted an update about the status of its Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 update. Registrations for the OxygenOS 11 open beta will open up next week for the OnePlus Nord. The OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro will follow suit once OnePlus solves some problems with the OxygenOS 11 build for both devices.

Poco has teased what could be the long-awaited sequel to its flagship killing Pocophone F1. The “F2” is briefly mentioned in a video thanking fans for a successful 2020 suggesting that we could see a Pocophone F2 in 2021. Unfortunately, early indications are it won’t be quite the flagship killer that made the original famous.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 has already been selling by the truckload in China, where it is currently on sale from 3,999 yuan (€505/US$618/£452) for the 8 GB + 128 GB model. While the Chinese OEM has declared the Mi 11 will be going global soon, those eager to get their hands on one before then can preorder the smartphone from €579 (US$709/£519).

The Mi AX6000 router is a powerful new source of home Wi-Fi that Xiaomi will release for the first time on January 8, 2021. The OEM has hyped this cutting-edge product by seeing which device could use its up-to-800Mb/s signal first: an iPhone 12 Pro Max or a brand-new Mi 11.

Motorola is now said to have a second-gen Moto G Stylus in the works. All of its previous leaks have pointed to a chassis for this phablet with quad rear cameras in a vertical orientation. A new tip from OnLeaks contradicts this, however, although it leaves its putative updated screen intact.