We have just a few weeks left before the end of the year and while other industries are shutting down for the holidays, that is not the case in the tech industry as everywhere is still abuzz with activities. If you missed last week’s major announcements and happenings in the industry, then you should bring yourself up to speed with this roundup.
Vivo partners with ZEISS on smartphone cameras; OnePlus goes with Leica
The cameras on phones from Chinese manufacturers, Vivo and OnePlus, are about to get better. The former has confirmed it has signed a partnership with ZEISS to use its lens technology in its phones, beginning with the Vivo X60 series scheduled to launch by the end of December.
OnePlus, on the other hand, has been reported to have entered into a partnership with the German company, Leica, to co-develop the cameras of the OnePlus 9 series that will be announced in 2021.
Benchmarking the Snapdragon 888, unveiling the Snapdragon 678
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 888 processor earlier this month. The chipset will power the flagships of 2021 and is expected to make its debut after this month in the Xiaomi Mi 11. If you want to know how well the chipset fares in benchmark tests, then Qualcomm has got you covered as it has released a video showing just that. The chipset shows its prowess on the popular benchmark apps such as AnTuTu, GFXBench, Geekbench, and AIMark.
The San Diego semiconductor company also announced a new mid-range processor last week. The Snapdragon 678, as it is called, is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 675 announced in October 2018.
EDITOR’S PICK: Google Stadia is now available for iOS devices in beta
DJI gets a US ban too
DJI, the leader in consumer drone technology was added to the US Government’s entity list along with three others as they “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance”.
A new OnePlus backpack but nowhere to go
OnePlus is known for its phones but its product portfolio also includes lifestyle products such as backpacks. Last week, it announced a new one dubbed the OnePlus Urban Traveler that is scheduled to go on sale in early January. With countries going into a second round of lockdown, buying a backpack knowing you will be indoors for the unforeseeable future doesn’t seem like the wise thing to do.
An expensive Flex
Samsung’s Galaxy Book Flex got a second-generation model last week and it comes with all the bells and whistles of a premium computer. You get a QLED touch display, Intel’s 11th Gen processor, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, and an S Pen stylus. It also costs over $2500 and has a 5G model too.
A colorful galaxy!
The Galaxy S21 leaks were fully turned on last week. We got to see the colorful lineup of the standard model along with renders of the Galaxy S21 Ultra. There is also a leak that tells us how much the series will cost in Europe.
UP NEXT: Next Week in Tech: A new realme smartwatch, an e-reader with 5G, Nova 8, and a new Huawei smart screen
