LG patents a rollable smartphone with a secondary display

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Feb 9, 2021

Recently, LG has on multiple occasions teased its rollable smartphone that has been under development. And now, a new patent has just surfaced that reveals that the company could possibly working on another rollable smartphone with a secondary display on the back.

According to a LetsGoDigital report, the South Korean tech giant filed a new design patent with the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration). The patent was for a rollable smartphone and featured 26 patent sketches as well, showcasing the device from different angles. The dual display smartphone features a large flexible display on the front, which can be extended from one side. This raises its overall size by about 40 percent compared to its compact form. On the rear, a smaller secondary display can be found below the camera module.

In other words, the user can pull the primary display to extend it from one side, while the smaller secondary screen might offer functions related to photography, since there is no front camera visible on the front. Notably, the device is also devoid of any ports, seams or even buttons. So it could also be a button less handset. Furthermore, it is unclear if the company is actually working on such a device.

Previously we had reported on the company possible selling its mobile division, due to poor performance in recent times. Its latest launches including the LG Velvet and Wing had also sold poorly with demand that was below company expectations. So, a rollable handset with two displays might be rather expensive to build and even more difficult to sell.

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OPPO F19 Pro+ moniker appears in Google ARCore supported device list

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Feb 9, 2021

An early leak had claimed that OPPO will be launching the OPPO F19 series in India in February. However, it was recently revealed that the OPPO F19 lineup will debut in early March. Fresh information reveals that the series may include a third device named the OPPO F19 Pro+.

According to a recent report by My Smart Price, three monikers of upcoming OPPO phones have appeared in the Google ARCore supported devices list. As can be seen in the screengrab shared by the publication, the Find X3, Find X3 Pro, and F19 Pro+ are the monikers of three upcoming OPPO smartphones.

The F19 lineup is expected to debut in early March in India. However, it is unclear whether the company will be announcing the F19, F19 Pro, and F19 Pro+ smartphones at the same event. Unfortunately, there is no information available on the specifications of the next-generation F-series phones from OPPO.

The F19 series is rumored to arrive with a sleeker design as compared to the existing F17 models. Hopefully, the rumor mill will spill more information on the F19 lineup before its official announcement.

Recent reports have revealed that the Find X3 Pro will debut along with Find X3 Neo and Find X3 Lite phones in global markets in March. Leaks have not revealed specification information on the Find X3. Hence, it was not clear whether the company has plans to launch the Find X3. The appearance of the vanilla X3 at Google ARCore is a good hint that it may also go official in the near future. In related news, the company is also expected to launch the F21 lineup in the second half of the year.

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LG Display raises Vietnam factory investment from $750 million to $3.25 billion

By

Sean

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Feb 9, 2021

Vietnam has recently awarded a license to LG Display that would enable it to raise the investment for the factory that it has set up in the nation’s northern port city of Haiphong. The company aims on raising investment from 750 million US Dollars to 3.25 billion US Dollars.

According to a Reuters report, local media outlets reported on this news and even added that the additional investment will help the South Korean tech giant in expanding its production capacity. This would help bump production units in the city, with the plans of expansion slated to be completed by May 2021. Furthermore, the rise in investment will also allow for the creation of 5,000 new jobs, as per Vietnam Finance.

This sizeable expenditure will allow LG Display to boost its project in the Vietnamese port city, allowing it to set up more OLED production facilities in the region by the next month at the earliest. The company had began its Vietnamese OLED module plant in 2016, so it expanding on its prior investment understandable, especially considering it is the world’s largest OLED TV panel maker.

At the moment, LG has yet to respond or comment on the matter. Unfortunately, this is all the information we have to go for now. So stay tuned for more, as we will be providing updates when additional information is available.

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POCO X3 Pro bags BIS and SIRM certifications

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Feb 9, 2021

Last year, POCO announced the POCO X3 NFC for global markets and it unveiled the POCO X3 in India. Both smartphones differed in departments like NFC connectivity and battery size. A recent report revealed the existence of a handset named POCO X3 Pro. Fresh information reveals that the phone has approval from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) authority of India (via) and the Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) regulatory body of Malaysia.

A POCO smartphone with model number M2102J20SG was recently approved by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) in Russia, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore, and TUV Rheinland authorities. The letter ‘G’ at the end of the model number indicates that it is a global edition. It was revealed through the IMEI database that the M2102J20SG model number belongs to the upcoming POCO X3 Pro handset.

The M2102J20SG model has also passed SIRIM certification. The FCC certification revealed that the phone will come with MIUI 12, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE, and NFC. The other certifications have anything concrete about the smartphone. The variant of the POCO X3 Pro that received BIS certification has revealed that its model number is M2102J20SI, where I refer to the Indian edition.

A recent report by XDA Developers revealed that ‘vayu’ and ‘bhima’ codenames belong to the different variants of the same base model of POCO X3 Pro. The publication claimed that the device could be equipped with an sm8150 chip and it could be featuring a 48-megapixel main camera. The quad-camera setup of the phone may include a main wide-angle lens, an ultrawide lens, a macro shooter, and a depth sensor.

The sm8150 chip belongs to the Snapdragon 855 family, which includes Snapdragon 855, Snapdragon 855+, and the rumored Snapdragon 860. Nothing else is known about the specifications of the POCO X3 Pro.

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Apple warned to ‘play fair’ by EU antitrust chief, ahead of its new ad tracking feature

By

Sean

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Feb 9, 2021

Apple is set to launch its new ad tracking transparency feature some time in early spring. But before its official launch, it has already faced backlash for the new privacy changes, especially from social media giant Facebook. Now, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager has also warned the company to play fair.

According to a 9To5Mac report, the EU antitrust chief said that the new ad tracking feature does fall in with some of the proposed legislation in Europe. She even added that she has yet to receive any official complaints regarding these upcoming ad tracking transparency changes, which will essentially notify iPad and iPhone users when the apps and websites are tracking them and even offer an easy opt out option. Vestager said that the feature is actually in line with the recently proposed EU Digital Services/Markets Act legislation.

She added that “It is a very good thing to have a clear opt-out option. If you look at the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, these are some of the solutions we are looking at there.” However, the EU antitrust chief still warned that the feature could go beyond privacy focus and might border on anticompetitive practices as well. In an interview earlier this week, Vestager stated that ‘It can be competition if it is shown that Apple is not treating its own apps in the same way.”

As mentioned prior, Facebook is one of the biggest critic of this and is filing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over ATT feature. Notably, Apple has also claimed that this feature would also be applicable on itself along with third party developers. So it remains to be seen how the lawsuit plays out regarding the ad tracking feature.

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realme Buds Q2, Buds Air 2, C21, and narzo 30A have received SIRIM certifications

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Feb 9, 2021

Chinese smartphone maker realme is expected to release a plethora of new products in global markets in the coming days. Some of these devices have been now certified by SIRIM. Hence, they could launch in Malaysia like most realme products.

The devices that have received certifications from the Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) include two handsets and two pairs of wireless earphones. These products are as listed below.

realme C21 (RMX3201)
realme narzo 30A (RMX3171)
realme Buds Q2 (RMA2008)
realme Buds Air 2 (RMA2003)

The certifications do not reveal anything about these devices except for their product category. The phones are listed with support for 4G connectivity, while the two models of realme Buds TWS are certified as wireless earphones.

Talking about the smartphones first, there’s nothing much known about the realme C21 and realme narzo 30A although both of them have bagged multiple certifications. However, realme India has begun to promote the vanilla realme narzo 30 in India. This phone is also a mystery.

On the other hand, some details of the realme Buds Q2 are out, thanks to FCC. It is expected to feature a similar design as the original model, MicroUSB port, 40mAh battery for buds, 400mAh battery for the charging case, and at least two colors (Black, Green).

Lastly, just like the handsets, nothing is known about the realme Buds Air 2.

Redmi’s new teaser strongly hints at Note 10 series launch in India with High Refresh rate display

By

Balaji S

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Feb 9, 2021

Redmi is riding high with the success of selling 200 million Note Series devices Globally. As guessed before, the company has now officially started teasing its next Redmi Note 10 series launch in India.

Redmi Note 9S Featured — Representative image: Redmi Note 9S

Global VP of Xiaomi and MD, Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain, and a lot of other Redmi employees have posted teasing the launch of Redmi Note 10 in India. Every video of them includes a #SM10THChallenge. In the video, he says the company will make an announcement on February 10 at 10:00 AM IST.

He also says in a tweet that a Smoothest Smartphone from Redmi India is coming. All this clearly hints that he is talking about the Redmi Note 10 launch in India. Earlier, tipster Ishan Agarwal had tipped that Xiaomi will bring the Redmi Note 10 series to the country this month.

Further, the “smoothest” keyword in every teaser suggests that the Note 10 series will finally bring displays having a high refresh rate. If you recall, all the POCO mid-range(POCO X2, X3) and Xiaomi’s newly launched Mi 10i support 120Hz displays.

Got the moves to be as smooth as the smoothest @RedmiIndia smartphone yet? 😎

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙸𝙶𝙶𝙴𝚂𝚃 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀-𝙁𝙄𝘾𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁 𝙸𝚂 𝙰𝙻𝙼𝙾𝚂𝚃 𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴! Unlock it with Me! ⚡️

Upload your dance move with #SM10THChallenge. 10 fans to win BIG!

I ❤️ #Redmi pic.twitter.com/BTgGe8cbDw

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) February 9, 2021

However, the yesteryear Redmi Note 9 series that launched in India back in March 2020, came with a 60Hz LCD. Although high refresh rate wasn’t really a trend back then, competitors like realme brought the realme 6 Pro with 90Hz panels. Still, Xiaomi managed to sell a good amount of Note 9 series in the country.

That said, we aren’t sure if the devices would have LCD or AMOLED but it’s most likely the former with a 120Hz panel. Anyway, Xiaomi is expected to launch two devices inside the Redmi Note 10 series- Redmi Note 10 (M2101K7AG) and a Redmi Note 10 Pro (M2101K6AG). The former will come in White, Green, or Grey colors while the latter will be available in Bronze, Blue, and Grey variants.

As for Specs, nothing concrete is known yet but the devices have already received India’s BIS certification. The ‘Pro’ variant might sport POCO X3’s design and a Snapdragon 732G chipset inside but it’s just a guess right now.

A recent tip also says that Redmi Note 10 will come in 4/6GB RAM, 64GB storage while the Note 10 Pro will have 6/8GB RAM, 64/128GB option.

RELATED:

Electronic Arts to acquire Glu Mobile with a $2.4 billion deal

By

Sean

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Feb 9, 2021

Electronic Arts has just announced that it is planning on acquiring another gaming studio. With a deal of 2.4 billion US Dollars, the company aims to acquire Glu Mobile by the second quarter of this year.

As per a VentureBeat report, the new deal marks the second major acquisition from EA in recent weeks, with it previously buying out publisher Codemasters. For those unaware, Glu is best known for a Kim Kardashian Hollywood game, along with other mobile games like Tap Sports Baseball, Dine Dash Adventures, and Disney Sorcerer’s Arena. The publisher is a known for mobiles titles with big budget that often include full 3D visuals. Despite this, it still offers its games as free to play titles that run for years and generate revenue through in app microtransactions.

Notably, this business model is what Electronic Arts wishes to switch towards in the future, and has even repeatedly informed its investors as well. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that “Our acquisition of Glu combines amazing teams and deeply-engaging products to create a mobile games leader with proven expertise across many fast-growing genres. Mobile continues to grow as the biggest gaming platform in the world, and with the addition of Glu’s games and talent, we’re doubling the size of our mobile business.”

Similarly, Nick early, Glu chief executive also added that “This transaction is the culmination of the tremendous work of the Glu team to deliver world-class interactive experiences for our players, while driving business momentum that has led to strong financial and operational results. It represents a terrific outcome for all of our stockholders and other key constituents. This transaction is the culmination of the tremendous work of the Glu team to deliver world-class interactive experiences for our players, while driving business momentum that has led to strong financial and operational results. It represents a terrific outcome for all of our stockholders and other key constituents.”

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Huawei Founder hopes Biden administration will bring an ‘open policy’

By

Sean

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Feb 9, 2021

Huawei Technologies Founder, Ren Zhengfei, stated earlier today (9th February 2021) that it will be “extremely difficult” for the US to reverse its sanctions against the company, but he hopes the new Biden administration will bring a more “open policy.”

According to a Reuters report, the senior executive of the Chinese tech giant said that he hoped the new US President, Joe Biden, would keep the US business interests in mind while making new policies. The founder believes that it is “conducive” to the financial performance of US based companies that supply to Chinese corporations. Despite its struggling smartphone operations, Huawei still managed to see positive growth last year for both revenue and net profit.

Ren further added that “We hope the new administration will harbor an open policy for the benefit of the American firms and also the economic development of the US.” Furthermore, he said that he would also welcome a call from Biden. For those unaware, the previous US President, Donald Trump, added Huawei to the US trade blacklist, over national security concerns. Additional sanctions thereafter effectively hampered the company’s smartphone unit as well.

Due to the blacklist, the company could no longer procure goods or technology from US based firms. In other words, it now faced issues sourcing crucial components, especially after being cut off from its primary chip supplier TSMC. Ren believes it would still be “extremely difficult” for the brand to be taken off the entity list, but he continues to hope to buy “large volumes” of US made equipment and materials if the Biden administration allows it.

RELATED:

Redmi Note series has exceeded 200 million units in global shipments

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Feb 9, 2021

Although Xiaomi sells expensive smartphones, the company’s cheaper handsets are popular worldwide. In fact, in India. Xiaomi is known as Redmi among commoners, thanks to value for money phones like Redmi A series, Redmi number series, and Redmi Note series. The latter series has now achieved a huge milestone, as per Xiaomi.

Yesterday, ahead of the Mi 11 global launch event, Xiaomi India announced a brag-worthy achievement on its various social media handles.

The Chinese smartphone maker revealed that it has shipped over 200 million units of Redmi Note series phones globally to date. This data is sourced from the firm’s own ‘Xiaomi Data Center’.

It is not surprising to learn that the global shipments of the Redmi Note series have exceeded 200 million units since its inception. This series has been the heart of Xiaomi’s product lineup ever since it was introduced.

Redmi Notes have been unbeatable in their price segment for a very long time. However, that began to change when realme entered the scene. But being an established product lineup, they are still as popular as they were before.

That said, Xiaomi is known for announcing its milestones ahead of releasing new devices. Hence, we think the Redmi Note 10 series is just around the corner. The upcoming series is reported to include two models, namely Redmi Note 10 and Redmi Note 10 Pro. As of now, we are only aware of the storage configurations and color variants of these handsets.

China smartphone shipments recover to pre-COVID levels in January: Report

By

Sean

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Feb 9, 2021

The smartphone shipments in China have recovered to a level that is similar to the one before the Coronavirus pandemic caused a market slump. A new Government report has revealed that smartphone shipments in China have nearly doubled this January, over the same month last year.

According to a Reuters report, shipments in the region has surged significantly by 94.3 percent annually, reaching 39.6 million units in January 2021. The information was published by the China Academy of Information and Communications (CAICT). Back in January 2020, smartphone shipments only reached 20.4 million units, which is lower than the 32.1 million units shipped in January 2019. In other words, the first month of this year has already outperformed the year before COVID-19 hit and even managed to show a sizeable recovery over last year.

Furthermore, the supply chain complications and reduced consumer spending due to the pandemic also caused the decline of industry as a whole. Although now, the segment has recovered along with the local economy. Experts project that shipments and sales in China will mostly recover this year, however, the nation’s top OEM, Huawei, is still weighed by the US sanctions that have hampered its smartphone business.

Huawei’s shipments have fell by 44 percent year on year in the final quarter of last year. Other vendors have since taken advantage of this, like Apple, which has seen a bump in its smartphone sales after the launch of its latest iPhone 12 lineup. Similarly, Xiaomi also registered impressive growth during this period as well, filling up the void left by Huawei.

RELATED:

Realme GT could be next Realme flagship for India

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Feb 9, 2021

Yesterday, the Realme Race smartphone (RMX2202 model number) appeared in the database of China’s TENAA authority. The listing only revealed the images of the device. A careful look at the rear shell of the Race’s back revealed the presence of “GT” branding at the bottom-right corner. Fresh information reveals that the handset could be heading to India as a Realme GT series phone.

Realme has claimed that many times in the recent past that Race is just the codename of the device and its actual product name will be revealed later. Fresh information shared by popular tipster Mukul Sharma reveals that the Realme has trademarked the “Realme GT” moniker in India.

So yes, as I told yesterday, the Realme Race series could very well launch as the Realme GT series. The moniker has been trademarked in India.
Feel free to retweet.#Realme #RealmeRace #RealmeGT pic.twitter.com/itPGbpHYBc

— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) February 9, 2021

The Realme RMX2202 was recently certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) recently. It is likely that this device could be arriving in the Indian market with the Realme GT name.

Realme Race specifications (Rumored)

Leaked information that appeared in December revealed that the Realme Race will be fueled by the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform and 12 GB of RAM. The device may ship with 256 GB of internal storage. It is expected to come loaded with Realme UI 2.0 based Android 11 OS.

Realme Race RMX2202 — Realme Race’s TENAA images

Another leak that appeared a few days back claimed that there is a Realme Race Pro handset with a 160Hz 6.81-inch OLED screen with 3K resolution support, 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 512 GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 125W superfast charging support. The device could be featuring a 64-megapixel + 13-megapixel + 13-megapixel triple camera system.

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Android 12 screenshots leak showcases redesigned interface and new features

By

Jeet

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Feb 9, 2021

Google has been working on a newer version of the Android mobile operating system and is likely to get released this year in the fall if the company sticks to its usual schedule. Before the official rollout, there will be several beta versions.

However, ahead of all that, a few screenshots of the upcoming Android 12 have leaked online, which reveals that the operating system will have a newly redesigned user interface. The source of the leaked images is said to be a document from Google for summarizing the changes in the new version.

The company seems to have doubled-down the privacy-related features. From the leaked images, it appears that there will be a small icon in the top-right corner that will notify if the camera or microphone is being used. Tapping on that icon will reveal which application is what and there will be a quick way to disable the access.

It appears that new widgets are also coming with the newer version of Android. There’s a new Conversations widget, highlighting recent messages, missed calls, as well as activity statuses. The size of the widget is small and thus only one item shows up at a time. The quick access area now holds fewer icons, making them easier to access.

The upcoming Android 12 is expected to come with several features, including app pairs, a double-tap on the back panel to trigger an action, sharing Wi-Fi passwords, an improved theme engine, support for emojis decoupled from system updates, and an app hibernation feature, among others.

While the authenticity of the leaked screenshots has not been confirmed yet, folks at XDA-Developers claim to have seen the document from which the images have come. The first Developer Preview of Android 12 is expected to be available in a few weeks but to get to know the list of features, we will have to wait a bit longer.

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Redmi Note 10, Redmi Note 10 Pro, and POCO X3 Pro have been certified by Malaysia’s SIRIM

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Feb 9, 2021

Xiaomi is expected to launch the Redmi Note 10 series in the coming days. Similarly, POCO may also release POCO X3 Pro. Ahead of their official announcement, these smartphones are being certified by multiple organizations. Hence, they have now received SIRIM certification as well.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Redmi Note 9S Featured — Redmi Note 9 Pro (aka Redmi Note 9S)

For those unaware, SIRIM stands for Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia. The certification issued by this institution is a must for companies to import and sell their products in the country.

Hence, the upcoming Redmi Note 10 (M2101K7AG), Redmi Note 10 Pro (M2101K6AG), and POCO X3 Pro (M2102J20SG) from the house of Xiaomi may launch in Malaysia. Anyway, the exact release date of these handsets is a mystery just like their specs.

As of now, we are aware of the storage configurations and color variants of the Redmi Note 10 series for India. The vanilla Redmi Note 10 is reported to come in 4G + 64GB and 6GB + 64GB variants, whereas the Redmi Note 10 Pro is said to be available in 6GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB, and 8GB + 128GB versions.

Further, customers will be able to pick up the non-pro model in either White, Green, or Grey color options, while the Pro model will be sold in Bronze, Blue, and Grey color variants.

On the other hand, POCO X3 Pro is a complete mystery. We are yet to learn anything about this smartphone. But we are certain that these three phones will run MIUI 12.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite bags Bluetooth SIG and SIRIM certifications

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Feb 9, 2021

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite is the name of an upcoming mid-range phone from Xiaomi. This moniker has previously appeared in the NBTC listing in Thailand and IMEI database. Today, the phone appeared in the database of Bluetooth SIG authority. At the same time, the handset has also appeared at Malaysia’s SIRIM regulatory body (via. Pricebaba).

At the SIRIM certification, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite has appeared with the M2101K9AG model number. The latter belongs to its global version. The SIRM listing reveals that it supports Wi-Fi 802.11ac, NFC, GPS, and VoLTE. On the other side, the Bluetooth certification revealed that the M2101K9AG model number is associated with Mi 11 Lite. It carries support for Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.

Before arriving at the above-mentioned certification sites, the Mi 11 dLite has receive certification from the FCC authority of the U.S, the EEC regulatory body of Russia, and Thailand’s NBTC. It was revealed only through the FCC certification that the Mi 11 Lite will be arriving with 6 GB of RAM and storage editions like 128 GB and 256 GB.

The Mi 11 Lite’s FCC filings had further revealed that it will run on MIUI 12 and will receive power from a 4,520mAh battery. The device is expected to arrive with support for 33W rapid charging.

An Indian version of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite with model number M2101K9AI was spotted at the BIS regulatory body. Hence, it appears that India will be one of the markets that will be treated with the Mi 11 Lite.

Other leaks have suggested that the Mi 11 Lite has a 120Hz LCD panel and could be equipped with a side-mounted fingerprint reader. The Snapdragon 732G SoC could power the Mi 11 Lite. Lastly, it has expected to feature a 64-megapixel as the primary lens in its triple camera system.

RELATED:

Tesla invests $1.5 billion in bitcoin; could soon start accepting cryptocurrency

By

Jeet

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Feb 9, 2021

Tesla, one of the leaders in the autonomous driving sector, has announced that it has invested around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Further, the company is also expected to start accepting payment for its cars and other products through Bitcoins in the near future.

Soon after the announcement, Bitcoin surged 14 percent, hitting a new record high above $44,000. Analysts believe that this latest move by Tesla, one of the world’s best-known companies, could prove to be a game-changer for bitcoin.

In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the electric carmaker stated “we expect to begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis.”

The company noted that it updated its investment policy to provide the company with more flexibility. This is to further diversify and maximize returns on its cash that isn’t required to maintain adequate operating liquidity.

RELATED:

Apple hardware chief Dan Riccio is now focusing on the company’s AR/VR device

By

Jeet

-

Feb 9, 2021

Apple recently announced that its longtime hardware engineering chief Dan Riccio will be stepping down to focus on a “new project” within the company. While the company has not revealed what that project is, a new report claims that it is the company’s upcoming augmented reality, virtual reality, or mixed reality headset.

Currently, Mike Rockwell is overseeing the development of an AR headset at Apple but things don’t seem to be going well. With Dan Riccio into the mix, Rockwell will handle the day-to-day work on the project while Riccio will have oversight over the efforts.

Riccio has already handed over top-level management of the Apple iPhone to John Ternus, who will also be the new head of hardware engineering. It has also been confirmed that Johny Srouji will handle the development of a new camera and display technology. He is the same executive that headed the design and engineering of Apple Silicon.

As per the reports, Apple is working on an ultra-high-end 8K VR headset that could possibly cost around $3,000. This is surprising given that so far, the company’s work has been on AR and not VR. The company has been building ARKit, which is a developer API enabling the creation of AR experiences using cameras and sensors of iPhones and iPads.

Based on the information available so far, it seems that the upcoming AR/VR device from Apple will primarily be focusing on the developers or creators and not the mass adoption. We expect to know more about this product in the coming months.

RELATED:

Apple dominates tablet market with 53.2 million shipments in 2020

By

Jeet

-

Feb 9, 2021

Last year witnessed growth in the computer market as well as tablets as people were stuck at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the latest report coming from IDC, the tablet market witnessed a growth of 13.6 percent in terms of sales in the year 2020.

In total, 164.1 million tablets were shipped, which is more than 144.5 million devices shipped a year prior to that. Unsurprisingly, Apple was the market leader throughout the year in this segment.

The report claims that Apple managed to ship 19 million iPads in the four quarter of 2020 alone, showcasing its dominance in the market. In total, the Cupertino-based giant managed to ship 53.2 million units last year, covering 32.5 percent market.

Samsung came in at the second position with shipments of 10.1 million Galaxy Tabs in Q4 2020, which is a growth of 45 percent compared to the same period previous year. The company got a market share of 19.1 percent.

Despite struggling to keep its consumer electronics business afloat, Chinese giant Huawei managed to be in the top 5 tablet brands for the year 2020, thanks to the company’s shipment of 16 million units in the last year, getting 9.8 percent market share.

Lenovo, the China-based company, stood fourth with 5.6 million shipments in Q4 2020, up 2.5 million shipments in Q4 2019. In total, the company shipped 14.1 million units last year and managed to get 8.6 percent market share.

RELATED:

Redmi K40 launch date is February 25

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

-

Feb 9, 2021

In January, Redmi confirmed that it will be unleashing the Redmi K40 series in February. Today, the company released an official confirmation that the K40 launch event will be held on Feb. 25.

Redmi has promised to deliver a new design and a new experience through the Redmi K40 series. However, the launch poster has no information on the specs of the K40 models. Rumors surrounding the K40 series have revealed that it will be coming with a top-center positioned punch-hole display with support for a high refresh rate. A recent report claimed that the K40 series may flaunt the smallest punch-hole ever seen on a smartphone.

The Redmi K40 vanilla model could be featuring the upcoming Snapdragon 7-series SoC or Dimensity 1200 chip. The higher K40 Pro is most likely to feature the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform. The K40 retail box images that were shared by the company last month suggested that it may ship without a charger. The K40 models are also expected to arrive with stereo speakers.

It was revealed by the Chinese firm last month that the Redmi K40 series will offer users the most expensive flat display, Snapdragon 888 mobile platform, and a battery that is bigger than a 4,000mAh battery. The K40 Pro could be arriving in the Chinese market with a starting price of 2,999 Yuan (~$464).

It is speculated that the Redmi K40 has a mode number of M2012K11AC and the Redmi K40 Pro has a model number of M2012K11C. These phones were recently certified by the 3C authority of China. The 3C certification revealed that these are 5G-ready devices that may carry support for 33W fast charging. The other specs of the K40 models are currently under wraps.

At the Redmi K40 series launch event, the company may also announce the RedmiBook Pro 15 featuring the 11^th generation Intel processors.

RELATED:

Samsung Galaxy M30s starts receiving Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update

By

Jeet

-

Feb 9, 2021

Samsung has been actively trying to update its smartphones with the latest version of operating system and now it’s the turn of the Samsung Galaxy M30s. The smartphone has started receiving the Android 11 update with the One UI 3.0 custom user interface.

Along with the latest version of the Android operating system, the update also brings the February 2021 security patch. It comes with support for features like chat bubbles, prioritized notifications in the notification shade, and one-time permissions.

While the update is now being rolled out to the users, some may need to wait a bit longer compared to others given that the company is rolling out this new update in a phased manner, but it shouldn’t be more than a few days.

Coming to the specifications, the Samsung Galaxy M30s features a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Infinity-U Super AMOLED display with 2340 x 1080 pixels screen resolution. Under the hood, it is powered by Samsung Exynos 9611 10nm processor with Mali-G72MP3 GPU.

It comes packed with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage. There’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage capacity up to 512GB. As for the camera, the smartphone comes with a triple rear camera setup.

There’s a 48-megapixel primary sensor with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, Samsung GW2 sensor, a 5-megapixel depth sensor with f/2.2 aperture, and an 8-megapixel 123-degree ultra-wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture. On the front, there’s a 16-megapixel snapper for taking selfies.

Connectivity options on the device include Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, and USB Type-C port. When launched, the phone was running the Android 9 out-of-the-box. It is powered by a 6,000mAh battery and has support for 15W fast charging.

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