Honor is working on a new smartphone with model number LGE-AN00 and the device has now passed through the 3C certification process in China which has revealed some information related to the phone.
The 3C certification process has revealed that the smartphone, which will have 5G communication support, will come equipped with 66W charger.
The certificate listing confirms Honor as the manufacturer of the upcoming smartphone as well as applicant for the process and reveals LGE-AN00 as the model number but the name of the device remains unknown.
It remains to be see which smartphone this new model ends up being after the Honor 60 series, Honor X30, and the Honor Magic V foldable smartphone, all of which have been launched in the past few months.
Recently, another Honor smartphone with model number GIA-AN00 appeared on Geekbench, which is believed to the upcoming Honor 60 SE but similar to this new model getting 3C certified, not much is known about this phone as well.
The company has confirmed that it will be attending the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain and is hosting Honor Global Product Launch event on 28th February to unveil Magic series devices for the global markets.
Xiaomi‘s sub-brand Redmi is preparing to launch its upcoming flagship devices dubbed the Redmi K50 series. The K50 series is rumored to debut with four devices- the Redmi K50, the K50 Pro, the K50 Pro+ and the K50 Gaming. They are powered by Dimensity 8000, Snapdragon 870, Dimensity 9000, and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, respectively.
And now, a new report from SparrosNews has revealed that the K50 Pro+ will be released after the K50 Gaming edition.
Redmi GM Lu Weibing took to Weibo to tease the upcoming press conference at which the company is poised to launch its next flagship line of devices. Under his blogpost, a Weibo user asked when the company will release the Dimensity 9000 variant of the smartphone to which Lu Weibing replied that it will be released “A little later than Snapdragon 8.” A recent leak has revealed that the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition will be coming with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset while the Redmi K50 Pro+ will feature the unreleased MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC.
So it appears that the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition will indeed debut before the Redmi K50 Pro+. And as per a previous leak, the device might even be the first phone to be released in the K50 lineup.
Redmi K50 Gaming Edition specs (rumored)
So far, leaks have revealed that the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition will measure 162 x 76.8 x 8.45mm and weigh 210 grams. It houses a 6.67-inch display, which appears to be an OLED curved edge panel that supports a Full HD+ resolution. The screen will have Gorilla Glass Victus protection.
For photography, it will feature a 16-megapixel front camera and a 64-megapixel (main) + 13-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera unit.
The device will feature a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC with dual VC liquid cooling which is a premium heat-dissipation system to help keep the temperatures down during intensive gaming. It is also expected to feature a 4,700mAh battery with 120W fast charging which can fill up the battery in just 17 minutes. Additionally, the device will also come equipped with gaming shoulder trigger keys and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Redmi has already announced that the K50 series will debut in February 2022. And going by Lu Weibing’s recent Weibo post, we can expect the launch to occur in the second week of February.
OnePlus recently unveiled the OnePlus 10 Pro in China with the global launch still in the loop. While that is yet to happen, there are already rumors of a OnePlus 10 Ultra which is expected to have a spectacular camera setup.
We may have just spotted a sketch of the 10 Ultra via a recent patent which the Chinese company secured in September 2021. The device bears a close semblance with the OnePlus 10 Pro but the camera layout is noticeably different.
OnePlus Technology did patent this Design in September 2021. This Phone looks a lot like the OnePlus 10 Pro, but the Camera Layout is different. pic.twitter.com/cS3qyhk6rX
The patent image which was spotted by tipster @TechInsider shows a rectangular camera that indicates a mirror-aided periscope camera. This will be a first in the OnePlus lineup if it pans out as the patent suggests. That is because the company had only used telephoto lenses on previous models but since its merger with OPPO, we expect such radical changes. It was recently rumored that the company was planning to merge the OxygenOS and HydrogenOS custom ROM to one known as H2OOS.
The OnePls 10 Ultra is also expected to come with a few other changes from the 10 Pro, one of which could be an in-house MariSilicon NPU that will further improve the imaging capabilities of the phone’s camera.
The 10 Ultra is tipped to arrive in the second half of the year which is still a long time away. Thus, we expect further details to emerge before then.
Virtual learning and work-from-home situations caused by the ongoing pandemic have massively benefited the Chromebook segment as an easy choice for online classes and work. The devices saw a 13.5% increase in total shipping volume, with 37 million Chromebook shipments in 2021. However, it looks like this rapid growth might now be on a decline.
A recent International Data Corporation (IDC) report revealed the shipment volume of Chromebooks by the top five companies in which it was observed that the Year-0ver-Year growth was down by 63.6%.
Acer came out on top in Q4 2021 with 1.3 million shipments and enjoyed a 26.3% share of the Chromebook market. The brand however was down by 43.3% when compared to their 2.2 million Chromebook shippings in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Dell came in at second with 1 million shipments and commanded a 20.3% share in the Chromebook segment, however, the brand was down 63.6% compared to their 2.7 million Chromebook shipments in Q4 2020.
With a 16.1% market share, Lenovo secured the third position shipping 800,000 Chromebooks in Q4 2021. This is a 73.5% decline in shipments by the brand that shipped 2.7 million Chromebooks between October and December 2020.
In the fourth position, we have Samsung with 600,000 Chromebook shipments in Q4 2021. The brand was down by 22.4% compared to their Q4 2020 shipments.
Surprisingly, HP came in at fifth position with just 500,000 Chromebook shipments in Q4 2021 compared to their 3.5 million shipments in Q4 2020. This marked an 86.7% decrease in shipments year-over-year.
Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager with IDC stated that this drop in shipments of Chromebooks in Q4 2021 is due to “much of the initial demand for Chromebooks has been satiated in primary markets like the U.S. and Europe and this has led to a slowdown in overall shipments.”
He added, “Supply has also been unusually tight for Chromebooks as component shortages have led vendors to prioritize Windows machines due to their higher price tags, further suppressing Chromebook shipments on a global scale.”
Though Chromebook demand in emerging markets has seen continued growth in the past year and is expected to grow throughout the pandemic.
A couple of years back, circa 2017, MediaTek‘s chipsets were only fit for use on budget phones. The company could only manage to grab some shares in the midrange segment while its flagship Helio X30 processors were only utilized by Meizu on the Meizu Pro 7 High Edition which, unfortunately, couldn’t fly. The company went back to the drawing board and upped its game and today, it is a different story. MediaTek is now solidly rooted in the midrange and flagship segment and is apparently slowly edging Qualcomm out of the top seat. In China, the story is no different. Data released by Chinese research firm CINNO Research detailed the SoC sales ranking in the Chinese smartphone market in 2021. According to the published data, the top five on the list are MediaTek, Qualcomm, Apple, HiSilicon, and Unisoc.
Among them, MediaTek shipped 110 million units in 2021 as against 77 .4 million units shipped in 2020. This represents a year-on-year increase of 42.5%. Although Qualcomm surpassed its shipment for 2020 by 24.2%, its total estimate of 106 million units fell short of MediaTek’s estimate.
Apple shipped an estimated 50.4 million units in the year under review, ranking third in the Chinese market, with a year-on-year increase of 38.8%.
It is no surprise that Huawei’s Hisilicon, still stunted by the US ban only managed a total shipment of 30.2 million units which represents a year-on-year decrease of 68.6%. It is noteworthy that Huawei is the only company among the top 5 that recorded a decrease in its shipment YoY.
The top 5 is completed by Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer Unisoc with a total shipment of 8.8 million units which is a staggering 10,312.7% increase over its 2020 shipments.
Despite we are still in January, there are already a lot of 5G budget phones launched in 2022. It is very hard to find the best 5G phone in the midrange segment because there are several models to choose from, each with different specifications. Given that three of the main brands released a new device in the recent period, we decided to compare them in order to give you a complete panorama on three of the latest handsets out there. We are talking about the Motorola Moto G71 5G, the OPPO A96 5G, and the Vivo V23 5G.
Motorola Moto G71 5G vs OPPO A96 5G vs Vivo V23 5G
Motorola Moto G71 5G
OPPO A96 5G
Vivo V23 5G
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT
161.2 x 73.9 x 8.5 mm,
179 g
159.9 x 73.2 x 7.5 mm,
171 g
157.2 x 72.4 x 7.4 or 7.6 mm,
179 g
DISPLAY
6.4 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels (Full HD+), AMOLED
6.43 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels (Full HD+), AMOLED
6.44 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels (Full HD+), AMOLED
If your goal is to get the most attractive design, then you should go for the OPPO A96 5G. It comes with very elegant aesthetics reminding the design of the OPPO Reno7, with a thin and lightweight design as well as flat borders and a punch-hole display with a high screen to body ratio. But you should not underestimate the Vivo V23 5G: it has that big notch above the display, but it is the only mid-ranger with a color-changing design: it is able to change color if placed under sunlight. Further, it has a glass back and a very thin and lightweight body.
Display
On the paper, the most advanced display belongs to the Vivo V23 5G. First of all, it is the only device of this trio to support a 90 Hz refresh rate. Further, it has an AMOLED panel with brilliant colors and the HDR10+ certification. The OPPO A96 5G has an AMOLED panel as well with HDR, but it lacks a high refresh rate just like the Motorola Moto G71 5G. Note that Vivo V23 5G and OPPO A96 5G come with an in-display fingerprint reader, while the Motorola Moto G71 5G has a rear-mounted scanner.
Specs & Software
The OPPO A96 5G and the Motorola Moto G71 5G are powered by the new Snapdragon 695 5G chipset, while the Vivo V23 5G is fueled by the MediaTek Dimensity 920 platform. The Dimensity 920 is actually superior to the Snapdragon 695 thanks to higher CPU performance. Further, the Vivo V23 5G offers a higher amount of RAM: up to 12 GB of RAM paired with up to 256 GB of native storage. So the Vivo V23 5G wins the hardware comparison. It even runs Android 12, unlike the Motorola Moto G71 5G.
Camera
The best camera phone is again the Vivo V23 5G. First of all, it has a better 64 MP sensor on the rear side. Further, it comes with an amazing selfie camera department, maybe the best in the smartphone market. In that notch, there are two sensors: a 50 MP main selfie snapper and an 8 MP ultrawide camera, with the support for 4K video recording. The Motorola Moto G71 5G comes right after with a 50 MP triple camera and a 16 MP front camera.
The Motorola Moto G71 5G provides the longest battery life thanks to a big 5000 mAh battery, followed by the OPPO A96 5G and its 4500 mAh battery. The Vivo V23 5G has the smallest battery but features faster charging with a power of 44W.
Price
The Moto G71 5G starts from €202/$227 in India, you need about €280/$315 for the OPPO A96 5G and about €360/$405 for the Vivo V23 5G. The latter does not have the highest value for money, but it wins the comparison thanks to a better display, chipset, and cameras.
Motorola Moto G71 vs OPPO A96 5G vs Vivo V23 5G: PRO and CONS
The partner app for the Xiaomi smartwatches and fitness bands, the Mi Fit app now sports a redesigned home screen as per the latest update of the app. The Mi Fit provides a repository for loads of data on various body activities when using the Mi smart wearables. It shows a detailed overview of fitness activity, workout logs, important statistics from the various sensors, and sleep monitoring data, among many more. The Mi Fit is yet to receive a major UI upgrade, the latest update is quite eye-catching.
The new update brings a redesigned home screen and it is available on the Google Play Store with version number 5.6.0. The new updates now include a new landing page in addition to the other tabs featured previously. The layout will enhance navigation across all the features of the app, while also enhancing its visual appeal. There are some tweaking and rearrangements that will enhance the outlook of the Mi Fit app.
There are changes in the overall look of the app, so users will have to check more closely for their favorite workout feature. The home screen provides information on the battery level, which is shown on the top left corner of the app.
Samsung’s first software security update for February 2022 is for the Galaxy Note 20 series. Samsung continues to be consistent in the release of its monthly security patches and February 2022 will not be different. So the first February security update from Samsung will be for the Galaxy Note 20 lineup of smartphones. The new security patch is now available for Note 20 users to update their devices.
According to SamMobile, the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are the two devices whose security patches are now available. There will be a sequential regional rollout of the update, with Europe getting the first updates. It will begin with the Netherlands, then other parts of Europe, and then other global markets including the United States. Users of the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra can check for the update via their Settings menu. If the update is available, when the Software update option is picked, the user can then download it and provide added protection for the device. There is no added functionality in the current update but it is meant to patch some of the vulnerabilities and potential bugs in the architecture, hence the monthly updates are very important.
For now, Samsung has not revealed the full changelog for the February 2022 security update but this should be available later on via Samsung’s support page. It is also possible to manually download the update into your device, even if the automatic update has not berthed in the user’s region. The monthly update will extend to other younger models like the S21 series.
Tang Mingfang was convicted in 2019 and served time in prison for his allegations against Amazon that it was involved in illegal child labor practices in China. Mingfang was released in September 2021 and the whistleblower is now calling on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to beam his searchlight on his case and help overturn his conviction.
After leaking seemingly incriminating documents alleging that Amazon China was engaged in illegal work practices, Tang Mingfang had a torrid time with the Chinese authorities from 2019 when he made the claim. He had leaked some compelling documents that the Foxconn factory in Hengyang, China that produces Amazon Echo and Kindle products was engaged in illegal labor practices by employing underage workers among other practices.
Tang said he was tortured by Chinese police before being jailed and has now penned a letter to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s executive chairman and founder to carry out its investigation on the incident. He is calling on Jeff Bezos to ask Hengyang Foxconn to face up to its won problems and tender an apology to him. He also requests that the company communicate with the local court so that his guilty verdict should be revoked.
While Amazon insists that it has put in place measures to prevent violations of its supply chain standards, it has continued to come hard on violations. There has not been any response from Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos on the request by Tang. Foxconn remained noncommittal to the issue. it continues to regularly assess suppliers using independent auditors. Foxconn has not had a response at this time.
In yet another remarkable life-saving feat of the Apple Watch, an Atlanta, US elderly man has been saved from death because his Apple Watch detected the fall and alerted emergency services. The news was first reported by the Atlanta CB546 News network and it happened on January 22.
The elderly man’s watch had detected the fall, and in the absence of a response from the device that he was fine, the watch alerted the Clayton County Emergency Communications Center.
According to Morrow City Fire Department Deputy Chief Jeff Moss, the first responders arrived at the scene with the Moro police but it was slightly different from the actual location of the man. The man was said to be semi-conscious and delirious, and it took just 12 minutes for him to be located from the time his Apple Watch called for help.
The man was taken to a health facility and treated. It is believed that his condition could have been worse if his Apple Watch was absent. The man’s name was not mentioned and his actual age was not stated.
Apple has racked up lots of life-saving stories relating to the Fall Detection feature in the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch continues to earn its stripes as a lifesaver in addition to its health and fitness functions.
Craob, a company that you haven’t probably heard of, is on its way to launching a concept laptop that may set standards in the future. Craob X is the company’s portless ultrabook offering that doesn’t have any ports, has a slim 7mm design, and has no bezels.
Craob X is the world’s first portless ultrabook
The Craob X is yet to officially arrive but ahead of its launch, MyLaptopGuide has revealed plenty of its details. The laptop comes with a 13.3-inch display sporting a 4k resolution. It has a punch-hole display with no visibility of thick bezels. As said earlier, it is claimed to be the world’s first portless laptop. But the question is how does it work? like practically?
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Well, the laptop has a wireless charger accessory that magnetically attaches to the laptop’s back. And, apart from its usual charging, it also has multiple ports on it. Having said that, it acts as a PortsHub(videocardz). It has a USB Type-A port, USB Type-C port a thunderbolt port, audio jack, and an SD card reader slot. So, while the charger is plugged, it can wirelessly charge as well as transfer and receive files.
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Apart from being a looker, it also has the latest internals. It is powered by the new 12th generation Intel Core i7-1280P processor and has Iris Xe graphics. It has up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and has 2TB of PCIe SSD. Wi-Fi 6E is one of its connectivity options.
It is 7mm in thickness, which does make the laptop look like a slim slate. It has a chiclet-style keyboard and a fairly sized trackpad.
Canadian smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry has sold its legacy patents covering mobile technologies to Catapult IP Innovations Inc. for $600 million. The company has disclosed that the sale consists of all its non-core patent assets.
According to a report by AppleInsider, this move from BlackBerry may spell trouble for other smartphone companies like Apple who may be subject to patent trolling in the future.
The concern arises as the Cupertino-based giant has been sued multiple times in the past for alleged BlackBerry patent infringements and the patents are now being sold to Catapult IP Innovations Inc. which could be considered a nonpracticing entity (NPE).
For those unaware, a patent troll is a derogatory term used to describe a business that utilizes patents and the court system to earn money. In other words, the company may use the patents it acquired from the deal with BlackBerry to demand royalties or outright sue other smartphone manufacturers for patent infringement.
BlackBerry will get $450 million dollars in cash, a promissory note for $150 million as well as the license for using the patents. In return, Catapult IP Innovations Inc. will acquire BlackBerry’s patents related to mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking IPs. BlackBerry specifically says that the sale will not affect customers using its products or services.
The company says the deal will need to satisfy all regulatory conditions under the Hart–Scott–Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act in the United States and the Investment Canada Act, which could take up to 210 days.
Honor may be planning to release a new smartphone as an unannounced model with the model number GIA-AN00 has appeared on GeekBench. The model is believed to be the Honor 60 SE but little is known about the smartphone before now.
One important aspect that the GeekBench listing reveals is that the Honor 60 SE will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 900 processor with one of the memory configurations having 8GB of RAM. The Dimensity 900 SoC was first announced in May 2021 and it features an Octa-core architecture made up of two ARM Cortex A78 processors with a clock speed of up to 2.4GHz and six ARM Cortex A55 cores that can reach up to 2GHz.
The device will also ship with the Android 12 operating system out of the box which is one of the impressive things about the former Huawei brand. It isn’t bedeviled by Huawei’s problems since it was sold off.
Unfortunately, the GeekBench listing doesn’t reveal any further details of the upcoming premium mid-range smartphone. However, the listing is an indication that the device will launch in no distant time in China. The global launch will also likely follow thereafter.
Last week, we reported on rumors of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra deliveries being delayed up to 3 months due to high demand. But now, a new leak has surfaced stating that the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus will be the ones getting delayed.
According to analyst and tipster Jon Prosser, undisclosed sources have informed him that the Galaxy S22 and S22+ availability will be delayed till March 11th. Jon states that the pre-order of all the devices will commence on February 9th, however, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be made available from February 25th, following which, the Galaxy S22 and S22+ models will commence sales and delivery from March 11.
Netizens and Samsung fans have called out the move stating that it is a strategy from the South Korean company to push customers towards purchasing the higher-end model. For now, it remains unconfirmed whether the company will actually delay deliveries of the devices post their launch on February 9th at the Galaxy Unpacked event.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra specs (rumored)
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is rumored to feature a 6.8-inch Dynamic 2X AMOLED display that offers a Quad HD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 1,750 nits brightness. It will come preinstalled with One UI 4 based Android 12 OS.
On the front side, the S22 Ultra will feature a 40-megapixel selfie camera. Its rear camera setup may include a 108-megapixel main camera with an OIS support, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x zoom and OIS, a 10-megapixel periscope telephoto snapper with OIS, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera.
The S22 Ultra will come with 8 GB / 12 GB of RAM and 128 GB / 256 GB / 512 GB of storage. It may house a 5,000mAh battery, which will carry support for 45W fast charging. The device will include a dedicated slot for storing an S-Pen. It may come in colors like Phantom White, Phantom Black, Green, and Burgundy.
To know more about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup, check out our specs roundup of these smartphones.
The full measure of the US sanction regime against Huawei has been reflected in the latest shipment numbers for the company as shown by data released by Omdia. Huawei’s phone shipments for 2021 had declined to 35 million units, which is a massive 81.6% drop from its 2020 numbers, while its market share globally dropped from 15% in 2020 to just about 3% in 2021. Interestingly, however, Huawei’s former brand Honor sold about 40 million units, which placed it in 8th position globally ahead of Huawei.
Back in mid-2020 when the US embargo kicked in, Huawei was on the top echelon of the market, second only to Apple. It declined slightly at the end of 2020 to the third position, but its present 9th position indicates that the impact was massively felt in its smartphone segment. Huawei had been cut off from critical supplies for the software component of its smartphones and some hardware, especially important chips. Being put on the US Entity List was therefore a fundamental factor for Huawei’s steep decline. Huawei had continued to deny any ties with the Chinese military on the charge of being a security risk to the United States.
Samsung still maintains the lead in global smartphone shipments with 271.5 million units while Apple was second with 236.2 million units. Other strong performers were Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, and Motorola. In terms of Q4 2021 performance, Apple outshone Samsung with its 87 million iPhones shipped, compared to Samsung’s 69.1 million units.
The China arm of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has instituted a court proceeding against a social media influencer for allegedly disseminating false information about the Model 3. The influencer has more than 14 million followers and is alleged to have simulated the malfunction of the Model 3 EV, and then published false claims relating to the car.
The automotive influencer in question, Xiaogang Xuezhang is seen as a car expert in many quarters and has a very large followership. The legal charge put together by Tesla China’s legal department against the media influencer was defamation, as noted by an official release by Tesla China. The case is the culmination of an extensive campaign by Tesla to warm bloggers and social media influencers to desist from publishing damaging and false information about Tesla vehicles. Defaulting persons were advised to publicly denounce such false claims or await a lawsuit. Several bloggers later publicly admitted that their claims were misleading.
There had been a few lawsuits against some of the false accusers who refused to denounce their claims. The latest lawsuit against the influencer with huge followership is the biggest lawsuit yet. Xiaogang Xuezhang has made several videos about testing and tuning cars which are placed on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. He is alleged to have published two videos in April 2021 where he compared the automatic emergency braking system in the Tesla Model 3 with that of the XPeng P7, saying that the Tesla vehicle’s emergency braking system failed twice, which was a false claim.
Xuezhang’s claim has been challenged by some Tesla owners, stressing that the influencer may have stepped his foot on the accelerator deliberately. There are also claims that he was on a de-marketing campaign at the instance of Tesla’s competitors. It is unclear how the case will pan out but Tesla hopes it will serve as a further deterrent for persons who consistently make false claims against its vehicles.
Last week, we witnessed the launch of new models in one of the best-selling budget smartphone series worldwide. Further, we learned that the global smartphone market grew for the first time in four years. Then, out of nowhere, two brands released shameless iPhone clones. At the same time, another company launched a Galaxy S21 Ultra-lookalike phone. All this and more happened in the last few days. Let’s take a look at them one by one in no particular order.
Before proceeding, we would like to let you know that the top stories listed here are based on our opinion. As your choices may vary, we would like to know your picks in the comment section below.
1. New Redmi Note 11 series for international markets
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
After debuting the Redmi Note 11 lineup in China in November, Xiaomi finally brought the family to international on January 26. However, the series for global markets include totally different devices, namely Redmi Note 11, Redmi Note 11S, Redmi Note 11 Pro, and Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G.
Out of these four, the Redmi Note 11S offers the best value for its asking price. Although it looks and has the same display as the vanilla model, its specs are more comparable to the Pros.
The entire series comes with features like a high-refresh display, dual stereo speakers, IR blaster, MUI 13, a 5,000mAh battery, and more. You can learn more about them by visiting this link.
2. Smartphone market observed multiple records
OnePlus Nord N10 5G
The global smartphone market grew for the first time in 2021 since 2017. Counterpoint Research revealed that the shipments reached 1.39 billion units by growing 4% YoY.
The Indian smartphone, in particular, grew 12%YoY last year by registering 162 million units in shipment. On the other hand, the Chinese market shipped 333 million units and incremented by only 1%.
Finally, pivoting to the budget segment at the right time (ahead of LG’s demise), OnePlus saw an insane 524% YoY growth in the US in Q4 2021.
3. iPhone clones from Gionee and Blackview
Gionee 13 Pro
Gionee 13 Pro went official last week with an uncanny iPhone 13 resemblance and HarmonyOS. However, it has entry-level specs like an HD+ display (LCD) and a UNISOC T310 chipset. For just ¥529 (483), it doesn’t sound like a bad deal after all.
At around the same time, Blackview A95 also got announced with an iPhone 13 Pro-like design. Its main highlights other than design include a MediaTek Helio P70 SoC, 6.5-inch HD+ display (LCD), and a 4,380mAh battery.
4. Face ID now works with a mask
After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, iPhones can be finally unlocked with masks on. However, this feature is currently only available in the beta channel. Also, it requires iPhone 12 or newer models.
Additionally, Apple is working on a new feature that will turn iPhones into POS machines. This feature will be reportedly useful for micro-merchants.
5. MediaTek Kompanio 1380 is a new chip for Chromebooks
MediaTek announced a new SoC called Komapnio 1380 for premium Chromebooks on January 26. This 6m chip arrives with an octa-core CPU consisting of four ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at up to 3GHz and a five-core ARM Mali-G57 GPU.
It supports up to 4K 60Hz display, AV1 decoding, WiFi 6//6E, and Bluetooth 5. The chipset will make its global debut inside the Acer Chromebook Spin 513, which is scheduled to hit the shelves in June.
6. HUAWEI P50 Pocket reaches global markets alongside HUAWEI P50 Pro
HUAWEI P50 Pro and HUAWEI P50 Pocket
On January 26, Huawei announced the arrival of HUAWEI P50 Pro and HUAWEI P50 Pocket to multiple international markets like Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South America.
The 4G-only premium handsets from the once world’s largest smartphone brand sport the same set of features as the variant sold in China, except for software. The global editions of these devices run EMUI 12 without GMS (Google Mobile Services) instead of HarmonyOS.
Despite their shortcomings in terms of software, Huawei is charging a whopping €1,199 for the HUAWEI P50 Pro (8GB + 256GB) and €1,299 for the HUAWEI P50 Pocket (8GB + 256GB). There’s also a Premium Edition of the latter phone with a unique design and 12GB + 512GB memory configuration for €1,599.
7. JioPhone 5G could be Jio’s first 5G smartphone
JioPhone Next
A report on January 25 disclosed that the Indian carrier Jio is working on its first 5G smartphone called JioPhone 5G. This device is expected to go official in June with much better specs than the poorly received JioPhone Next.
The handset is said to come with a 6.5-inch HD+ display (HD+), 13MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) dual camera setup, 8MP selfie camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 SoC, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, 5,000mAh battery, and 18W fast charging.
8. OnePlus phones might run H₂OOS in the near future
OnePlus 10 Pro
On January 27, popular Indian tech influencer Mukul Sharma tweeted that the unified operating system of OPPO and OnePlus could be called H₂OOS. Since his claim is based on a trademark filing by OnePlus, he could be wrong.
Anyway, the H₂OOS (Water OS) trademark is interesting as it combines the names of OxygenOS (O₂) and the discontinued HydrogenOS (H₂OS). The name has no mention of ColorOS, which the software will be actually based on.
Furthermore, a couple of days before this tweet, a tipster stated that the OnePlus 10 Ultra could debut in H2 2022 as the brand’s first superphone or ultra-premium smartphone. The device is said to house OPPO’s MariSilicon NPU.
9. HONOR to showcase new products at MWC 2022
Honor Magic 3 Pro+
HONOR has confirmed to attend MWC 2022. The company has scheduled a launch conference for February 28. The event will kickstart at 1 PM CET.
The brand is teasing the launch of the new Magic series with a quote ‘The Power of Magic’. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the upcoming lineup of handsets.
10. Micromax IN Note 2 and vivo Y75 5G debut in India
Micromax IN Note 2
Micromax launched the IN Note 2 on January 25 as the successor of IN Note 1 for ₹13,490 (4GB + 64GB). The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra-lookalike phone arrives with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, MediaTek Helio G95 chipset, 48MP (wide) + 5MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) quad-camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, side-mounte fingerprint sensor, Android 11, 5,000mAh battery, and 30W fast charging.
Chinese handset maker vivo debuted a new budget 5G smartphone called vivo Y75 5G in India on January 27. For ₹21,990 (8GB +128GB), the phone offers a 6.58-inch FHD+ display (LCD), MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, 50MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) triple camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Android 12, 5,000mAh battery, and 18W fast charging.
Indian accessories manufacturer boAt has updated the Immortal gaming audio series with a new affordable model dubbed boAt Immortal 700 gaming headphones. The company first unveiled the Immortal gaming audio series last year pioneered by the Immortal 1000D and Immortal 200 headphones with the Immortal 1300 introduced later on. The new Immortal 700 is the fourth headset in the lineup and despite the affordable pricing, the hardware setup doesn’t disappoint.
The new boAt Immortal 700 is designed for gamers and features a huge 50mm audio driver that delivers powerful audio outputs. The headphones also feature 7.1 channel virtual surround sound support which delivers audio clarity.
It is also bundled with ENx Technology which ensures the user’s voice output is clear. There is also the liberty to customize the sound via the boAt Plugin Labz application. The device also features an in-line remote controller which allows users to adjust the volume and control the mic.
Further, the Immortal 700 headphones come with RGB LEDs with five different modes. It also comes with a USB braided cable for connectivity and the ear mufflers are comfortably padded.
The boAt Immortal 700 gaming headphone is presently available on Amazon India for Rs. 2,499 (~$33). It will be available in a sole black and red color combination.
As we enter the third year of the ongoing global pandemic, tablets remain in high demand for work and school needs. The latest report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that although the fourth quarter of 2021 saw a decline in shipments of tablets by 11.9% when compared to Q4 2020, total shipments grew by 3.2% when accounted for the whole year.
So let’s take a look at the shipment numbers of top tablet and Chromebook manufacturers to figure out who came out on top in 2021.
Apple remains dominant in the tablet market with its iPad offerings. The Cupertino giant retains the top spot with 57.8 million units shipped in 2021. The brand enjoyed a 34.2% market share and experienced an 8.4% yearly growth. Apple also shipped the most tablets in Q4 2021 at 17.5 million, however, the brand experienced an 8.6% decline in shipments when compared to Q4 of 2020.
In the second spot, we have Samsung with 30.9 million tablet shipments in 2021. The South Korean giant commanded an 18.3% market share and enjoyed a 3.8% yearly growth in the tablet segment. Samsung shipped 7.3 million tablets in Q4 2021 which was a 21.6% decline compared to Q4 2020.
Lenovo came in third with 17.7 million tablets shipments in 2021, which amounted to a 19.2% yearly growth compared to 2020. The company shipped 4.6 million tablets in the last quarter of 2021 which was 1.6 million sell than the volume shipped by the brand in Q4 of 2020.
Amazon shipped 16.1 million Fire Tablets in 2021 giving it the fourth-largest tablet market share at 9.5%. The brand grew 15.1% compared to 2020 and even enjoyed a positive growth of 1.3% in Q4 shippings year-on-year.
On the fifth position, we have Huawei and Honor who suffered a 32.1% decline in shipments at 9.7 million units shipped in 2021. However, the initial decline in shipping volume somewhat stabilized in Q4 of 2021, with the brand shipping 2.5 million tablets compared to 2.9 million shipments in Q4 2020.
The sharp decrease in the yearly shipping numbers is most likely due to the recent sanctions by the U.S. which prevents the brand from doing business with any American companies like Qualcomm and even Taiwan’s TSMC, which is the leading contract manufacturer for chipsets in the world.
Despite the market moving past its peak demand for tablets, senior research analyst Anutoopa Nataraj has stated that the shipments will remain above pre-pandemic levels as virtual learning, remote work, and media consumption remain priorities for users.
Last week, renders of the upcoming Motorola Edge 30 Pro surfaced revealing an in-display fingerprint sensor. And now, a new report has popped up revealing the launch timeline of the Edge 30 Pro in Indian and global markets.
According to 91mobiles, noted tipster Mukul Sharma has stated that Motorola plans to launch the new smartphone in February 2022. The leakster did not provide any specific date but stated that the launch would occur in Indian and global markets. Sharma also hinted that the phone might come carrying a different moniker in India. Considering that February has all but begun, we should soon hear more details regarding the Moto Edge X30 rebrand launch across the globe.
Moto Edge 30 Pro specifications (rumored)
Being a rebadged version of the Moto Edge X30 which was released in China around the end of 2021, we expect the Edge 30 Pro to be mostly identical to the Chinese variant in terms of specs. However, the Moto Edge 30 Pro is said to come with an in-display fingerprint sensor and a slightly altered back design with the ‘M’ branding being on the bottom left of the phone’s rear panel.
image via MySmartPrice
The Moto Edge 30 Pro is expected to sport a 6.7 inch OLED FHD+ display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 576Hz touch sampling rate. The screen will offer 100 percent DCI P3 color gamut and HDR10+.
For photography, It is expected to come with a 50-megapixel (main) + 50-megapixel (ultrawide) + 2-megapixel (depth) triple camera unit. For selfies, it will come with a 60-megapixel front-facing camera.
Similar to the Edge X30, the Moto Edge 30 Pro will house a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip paired with up to 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It will run MYUX 3.0 based Android 12 OS out of the box. For power, the device may come with a 5,000mAh battery that supports 68W fast charging.
No details on the Indian or global pricing have surfaced as of yet. But with the rumored launch being just around the corner (February), we can expect more information to appear in the coming days, so stay tuned.
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