Last week was filled with some really important announcements, some of which will play a key role in how things turn out in the mobile industry this year. Here is a recap of the major stories from the previous week:
Qualcomm and Mediatek release new chipsets for flagship killers
The two top mobile chipset manufacturers announced a total of three chipsets last week. Qualcomm’s new system-on-chip is the Snapdragon 870 Mobile Platform which is a slightly faster version of the Snapdragon 865 Plus. It will power a number of smartphones from manufacturers such as Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, iQOO, and Xiaomi.
MediaTek announced two new processors that will power affordable flagship phones this year. The first is the Dimensity 1200, a 6nm chipset with the same Cortex-A78 CPU cores found in the Exynos 2100 and Snapdragon 888. It packs some pretty cool features including ray tracing in mobile games and AR. The Dimensity 1200 will power phones from realme, Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO. It will also power Redmi’s first gaming smartphone.
The other MediaTek chipset is the Dimensity 1100 which is a less-powerful version of the Dimensity 1200. It also has the same type and number of CPU cores as its sibling but in a different arrangement.
EDITOR’S PICK: Chip Battle: Snapdragon 870 5G vs Dimensity 1200, which flagship killer chipset is better?
Vivo X60 Pro+ – A camera beast
The Vivo X50 Pro+ is among the top ten phones with the best camera performance according to DxOMark. Last week, it got a successor. The Vivo X60 Pro+ will challenge not only the current champions which are phones from last year but it will also slug it out with this year’s phones.
Boasting two main rear cameras – a 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor and a 48MP Sony IMX598 sensor – along with a 32MP 50mm portrait camera, and an 8MP periscope telephoto lens, the Vivo X60 Pro should be able to rank much higher than its predecessor which sits at the 8th spot. The phone is not just a camera beast. It also packs an impressive display, Qualcomm’s most powerful processor, and a battery that charges really fast.
Honor V40 – Honor’s first phone post-independence
Honor announced its first phone since it split from its parent company, Huawei, last year. The Honor V40 is a flagship phone that boasts a curved OLED display with a high refresh rate, a 50MP triple rear camera, 66W fast wired charging, and 50W wireless fast charging. The good news is that the phone should get a global launch as the Honor View40 and with Google Mobile Services.
Google bursts its internet balloon
Google has announced it is shutting down its internet providing service for remote regions. Loon (formerly Project Loon), provided internet service to large areas of remote parts of the world including Kenya where internet infrastructure doesn’t exist using specially designed balloons.
The main reason cited by Google for shutting down the service is the high cost and the difficulty in making it commercially viable.
LG Mobile – Life is not good
LG may be exiting the mobile business after years of consecutive losses. The manufacturer said in a memo to employees that it is ”open to all possibilities” and one of such possibilities is the sale of its mobile phone business. There are reports that the company has already received offers including one from Vietnam’s VinGroup which not only makes its own phones but is also an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) for LG phones.
UP NEXT: Next Week in Tech: Motorola Edge S is coming, Carl Pei to unveil new company
