Last week was a pretty interesting one. From Xiaomi becoming the second-largest phone manufacturer to Netflix’s entry into the game streaming market to a new handheld gaming console from Valve and new chipsets from MediaTek, here is a roundup of the top stories from last week:
Meizu is resurrecting its Blue Charm line
Redmi is to Xiaomi as Blue Charm is to Meizu. However, while Redmi has grown from being a line of smartphones to become a subsidiary, Meizu’s Blue Charm has been missing in action for a few years. Now, Meizu is bringing back the Blue Charm brand and it plans to launch a number of new products under the line including tablets, TVs, and smartwatches.
Netflix to challenge Xbox Cloud and Stadia with its own game streaming service
Netflix will be adding games to its streaming service starting next year, challenging the likes of Microsoft’s Cloud, Google’s Stadia, and Amazon’s Luna. The more interesting part is that this will be built into its current streaming service and not separated. It also won’t cost extra.
ColorOS-based OxygenOS will ship with the OnePlus Nord 2
OnePlus revealed a few weeks ago that OxygenOS will now share the same code-base as OPPO’s ColorOS. We didn’t expect it will happen so soon but it has been reported that the OnePlus Nord 2 launching this week will be the first OnePlus phone to ship with an updated version of OxygenOS that has the same codebase as ColorOS. In related news, OnePlus has also revealed the duration of software support that the Nord 2 will receive.
Zepp Health (Huami) announces a new wearable OS, chipset, earbuds, and MRI scanner
Zepp Health, the company formerly known as Huami, had a launch event in China during which it announced a new operating system that will power its future smartwatches as well as a new chipset. We’ve put together all there is to know about Zepp OS. You should also check out the new Amazfit earbuds that can measure your heart rate and other metrics while exercising as well as the upcoming world’s smallest MRI scanner.
Valve’s $399 Steam Deck is a portable handheld gaming PC
The handheld gaming market has been controlled by Nintendo with its Switch consoles but a new device from Valve is looking like a strong contender. The Steam Deck launched last week is a portable gaming PC that starts at $399. It boasts 16GB of RAM, an AMD APU with a quad-core Zen 2 CPU with 8 threads and an 8 RDNA 2 CUs GPU, and up to 512GB of storage. It will begin shipping this December.
Xiaomi now world’s no.2 smartphone company
For the first time since it was established, Xiaomi is now the world’s second largest smartphone company. The Chinese manufacturer attained this feat following the smartphone shipment report for Q2 2021. Xiaomi’s market share now sits at 17%, 2% less than Samsung which is still the market leader but 3% more than Apple!
MediaTek shows committment to 4G chips with two new processors
MediaTek has played a significant role in the availability of 5G devices with its 5G Dimensity chipsets but it has not abandoned the 4G market which still has billions of users. The semiconductor company’s new Helio G96 and Helio G88 chipsets will power future 4G smartphones with a focus on photography. We expect to see them appear in devices before the end of the year.
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