Last week was quite busy. It was not only the first week of 2022 but also the week of CES 2022. For the unaware, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is probably the biggest tech event of the year. Hence, we witnessed multiple announcements from a wide variety of companies from around the world. At the same time, several Chinese OEMs unveiled a bunch of new smartphones, in addition to handsets from HMD Global and Samsung.
As there were many interesting announcements at CES, we have categorized them separately from the smartphone launches. That said, we have only selected a few stories, which we deem to be more important than others. Your opinions may vary, and therefore, we would like to hear them in the comment section below.
Top Stories from Last Week
CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2022
Televisions
Unsurprisingly, the 2022 edition of CES was a conference of TVs, just like every year. Some companies even debuted next-gen technologies.
For instance, Sony announced the world’s first QD-OLED TV called Sony Bravia XR A95K. This new TV uses Quantum Dot OLED panels from Samsung Display, which offer improvements in brightness and color reproduction than the regular OLED panels from LG Display.
For the unaware, it was actually Samsung that was rumored to unveil QD-OLED TVs. However, the company merely updated its existing Neo and The Frame Lineup of televisions with improved specs and for some reason, NFTs. The Samsung SolarCell Remote also got an updated model with support for radio wave charging.
LG, on the other hand, announced its largest and smallest OLED TVs to date. The latter is well-suited for gaming. Then, there’s Hisense, which not only updated its existing lineup with new models but also switched to Google TV.
Monitors
Just like televisions, there were multiple monitors from different companies. However, we found only three of them to be interesting as they are the first of their kind.
The first two monitors are none other than Samsung Odyssey Ark and Samsung Odyssey Neo 8. The former is a crescent-shaped monitor, while the latter is a 4K mini LED monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate and a 1000R curvature.
The third model is MSI MEG 271Q Mini LED. It is the world’s first 27-inch IPS mini LED monitor with a 300Hz refresh rate.
Laptops
As usual, there were many laptops but only a few were compelling. The first and foremost is ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold. This foldable computer can be used as a laptop, tablet, or even a desktop. On paper, it seems to be a better option than Lenovo ThinkBook X1 Fold, which is yet to get a successor. AUSU also updated its Zephyrus G14 and Zephyrus G15 family of gaming laptops.
Further, Dell announced a bizarre minimalist laptop called Dell XPS 13 Plus. It features a spaceless keyboard, an invisible haptic touchpad, and a capacitive function key row. It is bold of Dell to introduce such a radical design on its flagship lineup.
Lenovo announced ThinkBook Plus Gen3 with a 17-inch main display and an 8-inch secondary display on the deck. The latter is basically a tablet on a laptop. The company also introduced ThinkPad Z13 and ThinkPad Z16 with a reverse notch.
Lastly, TCL entered the laptop market with the announcement of TCL Book Go. It is a budget ARM laptop with a Snapdragon 7c chipset and Windows 11.
Processors and GPUs
Both Intel and AMD announced their new generation of processors, namely the Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake and AMD Ryzen 6000 series.
NVIDIA also unveiled three new GPUs, such as RTX 3050, RTX 3070 Ti, and RTX 3080 Ti. You will most likely not be able to grab the former graphic card or laptops housing the latter two GPUs when they go on sale.
Miscellaneous
Out of nowhere, ASUS debuted the world’s most powerful gaming tablet called ASUS ROG Flow Z13. Whereas, TP-Link announced a prototype router dubbed Archer AXE200 Omni, which can adjust its antennas by itself to provide a better WiFi signal.
BMW demonstrated a color-changing electric car called BMW iX Flow utilizing E Ink technology. Lastly, Samsung Display showcased many foldable concepts like Flex S, Flex G, Flex Note, and Flex Slidable.
Smartphones from Chinese OEMs
Vivo
Vivo launched around three smartphones last week. The Vivo V23 series comprising of Vivo V23 and Vivo V23 Pro finally went official in India after numerous leaks. The main highlights of these lifestyle smartphones are their dual selfie cameras with dual LED flashlights and the color-changing rear panel on the Pro model.
Apart from the aforementioned premium mid-rangers, Vivo also debuted a different Vivo Y21T in India than the one released in Indonesia. Both these phones are based on yet another device called Vivo Y32, which is sold in China.
iQOO
iQOO unveiled its flagship iQOO 9 series in China. The lineup includes three models, namely iQOO 9, iQOO 9 Pro, and iQOO 9 Pro BMW M Motorsport Edition. All of them are powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and have support for 120W fast charging.
These premium phones were accompanied by Vivo Watch 2 iQOO Limited Edition along with three exclusive straps.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi introduced the Redmi Note 11 Pro and Redmi Note 11 Pro+ outside mainland China as Xiaomi 11i and Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge respectively in India. The latter became the fastest charging smartphone (120W charging) in India with its announcement in the country.
The company also teased yet another 120W fast-charging smartphone dubbed as ‘The HyperPhone’. Earlier today, we learned that it is nothing but the Xiaomi 11T Pro and it will be launched in the country on January 19.
OPPO
OPPO unveiled an intriguing budget 5G smartphone called OPPO A96 5G in China. It features design elements like camera LED rings from the latest OPPO Reno7 series.
Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, it offers an OLED display, a dual-camera setup, and more for under ¥2,000 (~$315).
Other Smartphones
Samsung
Samsung finally debuted the long-awaited Galaxy S21 FE at CES 2022. Unlike its predecessor, it comes in a single 5G variant but features two different chipsets (Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100) depending on the region.
Though Galaxy S22 is expected to go official next, this one starts at $699 when the vanilla Galaxy S21 from last year is available at this very same price in most markets.
HMD Global
HMD Global, the licensee of Nokia-branded smartphones announced a total of four unimpressive handsets. These devices are officially called Nokia C100, Nokia C200, Nokia G100, and Noia G400.
Despite featuring double zeros in the name, they don’t bring anything new to call them updated devices. In fact, they are powered by years-old chipsets from Qualcomm and MediaTek.
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