MediaTek’s new budget 5G chipsets reported to use 10/12nm process

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Jan 26, 2021

MediaTek’s latest chipsets, the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100, are both 6nm chipsets but its upcoming budget 5G chipsets under the Dimensity 700 and Dimensity 800 series may be built on larger node size.

Latest news says that the Taiwanese semiconductor company is planning to announce a new Dimensity 700 processor in the second quarter of the year while a new Dimensity 800 processor will be announced later at MWC 2021 which is scheduled for late June.

News of new chipsets should definitely sound exciting but that may not be the case for these new SoCs as it has been reported by Digitimes that they may be built using TSMC’s more mature 10nm or 12nm process. That sure sounds like the manufacturer is regressing seeing as the Dimensity 700 and Dimensity 800 chipsets are fabbed on TSMC’s 7nm node.

Sources have said that the focus for these new chips will be power-efficiency, sub-6GHz support, and multimedia and gaming performance. Our guess is that the chipsets will feature a CPU configuration with four Cortex-A55 cores and two Cortex-A76 cores. Differences between the chipsets should include CPU clock speed, maximum resolution display support, and number of GPU cores and clock speed.

These chipsets will go head-to-head against Qualcomm’s own Snapdragon 480 5G processor which has been released for entry-level and budget 5G smartphones.

RELATED:

TSMC reportedly planning to increase automotive chips pricing by 15%

By

Jeet

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Jan 26, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the supply chain for several technology companies and has created a shortage of key components. With the production impacted, manufacturers are looking to raise pricing.

TSMC, the world’s leading contract manufacturer for chipsets, is expected to do the same for its new automotive chips unit, for which the company is likely to cite the global shortage of components as the reason.

As per the report, Advanced Integrated Circuits (VIS), the automotive chipset unit or subsidiary of TSMC is considering increasing pricing by up to 15 percent while other foundries are also looking to do the same.

If the companies decide to increase the pricing, it will be the second round of price increase since last fall. Reports indicate that the price rise could take effect sometime at the end of February or early March.

With the increase in pricing for key components such as chipsets, the overall price of the Smart Car could also get increased, which can slow down the pace of adoption of electric vehicles, which is now gaining momentum globally.

Meanwhile, Samsung has partnered with Telsa to work on developing a new 5nm EUV chip for autonomous driving, which is currently said to be in the Research & Development stage but we should know more about it in the coming months.

RELATED:

Samsung and Tesla partners to make 5nm chip for autonomous driving

By

Jeet

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Jan 26, 2021

Samsung has been trying to become a leader in the chipset market and seems to be slowly progressing towards that. With Huawei out of the market, at least for the time being, the South Korean company has an opportunity to make its mark and it seems to be doing that.

As per the latest report coming from Korea, Samsung and Tesla are joining hands to make chips using the 5nm manufacturing process for autonomous driving. With the ongoing expansion and increased adoption of electric vehicles and the shortage of chipsets in the market because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korean giant saw the opportunity and has expanded its semiconductor business into automobiles.

The chipset is being reported to be in Research & Development (R&D) stage at the Samsung Foundry Division and it will be mounted on Tesla’s autonomous vehicles. As said, it is being made using a 5nm Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) process, which only a couple of companies can do — Samsung and TSMC.

Samsung is already a partner of Tesla for producing the company’s current self-driving chips for hardware 3.0 computer. But the chip currently being used is manufactured using a bit older 14nm technology.

The South Korean giant recently reorganized its organizational structure and relocated some manpower in the Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) which is focusing on autonomous driving technology. If this new development of Samsung and Tesla works out, then Samsung could post a great threat to TSMC, which also entered into this sector last year with a 7nm chip.

RELATED:

Samsung targets shipping 26 million units of Galaxy S21 series smartphones

By

Jeet

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Jan 26, 2021

Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, the company’s last year’s flagship smartphone didn’t perform well in the market in terms of sales. That is said to be one of the reasons why the South Korean giant launched its successor, Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, a few weeks earlier.

However, it seems that the company is keeping its hopes in check and its estimates for the sales of the Galaxy S21 5G lingers on the conservative side. As per the report, Samsung is estimating to ship around 26 million units of the Galaxy S21 series for the year, which is the same as the Galaxy S20 5G.

Based on these expected numbers from Samsung for the flagship lineup, it could be the least popular Galaxy S-series lineup ever. The company is estimating sales of 10 million units for the S21, while the S21 Plus and S21 Ultra are expected at eight million each.

It looks like the company is estimating the sales of this new flagship lineup based on the performance of its predecessor in the market. For the Galaxy S20 lineup, Samsung had originally targeted sales of 35 million units but managed to sell 26 million units.

Samsung may adjust the estimated shipping numbers for the Galaxy S21 series smartphones as the first quarter ends, which should provide a more clear picture of where the company stands as far the demand for its flagship devices is concerned. For what it’s worth, the company is likely to surpass the currently estimated shipment of 26 million as several analysts hinting a realistic target of over 30 million units.

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Xiaomi Mi 10’s new variant with Snapdragon 870 rumored to be in works

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jan 26, 2021

The Xiaomi Mi 10 series includes a couple of smartphones such as Xiaomi Mi 10, Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G, Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra 5G, Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G, Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G, Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G, and Xiaomi Mi 10i 5G. While the Chinese manufacturer has recently launched the Xiaomi Mi 11 5G flagship smartphone, a new leak claims that the company is working on a new Mi 10 series handset for China. This handset is likely to be driven by the recently announced Snapdragon 870 mobile platform.

Unfortunately, the moniker of the Snapdragon 870 powered Mi 10 series phone is under wraps. Apart from the inclusion of the SD870 chip, its other specs could be identical to the original Mi 10 handset. The leak also states that the handset could be priced around 3,500 Yuan (~$541). It is unclear whether the device will be heading to markets outside China.

Except for the Mi 10T Lite and Mi 10i, all the other Mi 10 models are powered by the Snapdragon 865 that offers clocking speeds of up to 2.84GHz. The Snapdragon 865+ went official as its overclocked version delivered up to 3.1GHz clocking speeds. The recently unveiled Snapdragon 870 mobile platform promises up to 3.2GHz processing speeds.

The Motorola Edge S launching today in China will be the world’s first phone featuring the SD870 chip. Rumors are rife brands like OPPO, Vivo, and OnePlus are also gearing up to launch SD870 powered phones in the coming days.

Xiaomi Mi 10 5G specifications

The Xiaomi Mi 10 5G has a 6.67-inch S-AMOLED display that supports a 90Hz refresh rate and a Full HD+ resolution. The SD865 powered phone has LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.0 storage. It has a 20-megapixel front camera and 108-megapixel + 13-megapixel (ultrawide) + 2-megapixel (macro) + 2-megapixel (depth) quad-camera system. The phone carries support for 30W fast charging and 30W wireless charging for its 4,780mAh battery.

RELATED:

Motorola Edge S could be called Moto G100 outside China

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jan 26, 2021

Rumors have revealed a lot of information on an upcoming Motorola phone that is codenamed as Nio. It is being said that the device will be launching as the Motorola Edge S this evening in China. Recent reports have claimed that it will be breaking cover as a G-series smartphone in markets outside of China. Reliable tipsters have now revealed the moniker that the handset will be carrying in the global markets.

It is now known that the Motorola Nio phone will be heading to markets outside of China as Motorola Moto G100. The Capri and Capri Plus phones that have been in the rumors are expected to hit the markets as Moto G10 and Moto G30, respectively.

Coming back to the Moto G100, it will be a flagship-grade device powered by the newly introduced Snapdragon 870 mobile platform. In an image shared by reliable tipster Evan Blass, the Moto G100 can be seen docked in an HMDI cradle, which allows it to offer users with desktop PC experience like Samsung DeX. The said feature was recently teased by Motorola China recently for the Edge S as Multi-Screen Collaboration mode.

Motorola Moto G100 desktop mode — Motorola Moto G100 can be seen in a dock for a desktop PC-like experience

Also, the HDMI cradle has a rotating/swiveling that makes it possible to use the rear-facing cameras for split-screen teleconferencing. The tipster claimed that the color variant of the G100 which can be seen in the image will be called Iridescent Ocean.

Past reports have revealed that the smartphone will be coming with a 6.7-inch FHD+ display, a 16-megapixel + 8-megapixel dual selfie camera setup, a 64-megapixel quad-camera system, a 5,000mAh battery, and Android 11 OS. It may arrive in RAM variants like 8 GB and 12 GB along with storage options such as 128 GB and 256 GB.

(source 1, 2)

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No periscope camera for the OnePlus 9 series says leaker

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jan 26, 2021

The periscope camera has become a common sight on a number of flagships lately. The lens allows you to capture close up objects from a much farther distance, as they offer a longer range of zoom than a typical telephoto camera. OnePlus is yet to announce a phone with a periscope camera, and now a leaker has revealed that the OnePlus 9 series will also be missing out on the future.

OnePlus’s sister company, OPPO, is one of the first manufacturers in the industry to launch a phone with a periscope camera. Actually, it was the first manufacturer to even show off the technology for mobile phones but Huawei launched the first commercially available phone with the feature. So you would think OnePlus will also be one of the early adopters but that has not been the case.

If you want to know if the 9 or 9 Pro have a periscope cam: they do not have one https://t.co/Aewn1uK8h2

— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) January 25, 2021

According to Max Jambor, OnePlus’s upcoming flagship phones, the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro do not have a periscope camera. That must be disappointing for fans of the brand that have hoped that the new flagships or at least the pro model will have a periscope camera.

In case you did not understand the hints 😉

"Clock is ticking" ⌚, "it will be worth the Shot" 📸 https://t.co/p5pT57hFji

— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) January 23, 2021

Despite the missing periscope camera, the OnePlus 9 series is expected to have better cameras than its predecessor. The same leaker had said, albeit indirectly, in a tweet a few days ago that the OnePlus 9’s camera will be “worth the shot”.

The OnePlus 9 series will have three models – the OnePlus 9 Lite which should come with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 870 processor and the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro which will have the more powerful Snapdragon 888 processor.

Apart from the difference in processors, the three phones are expected to have different display sizes and resolutions It has been reported in a leak that the OnePlus 9 Pro will have a curved screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a QHD+ resolution. The other two models should have flat displays with an FHD+ resolution and high refresh rates. Other areas where they will differ are cameras, battery capacity, and fast charging technology.

OnePlus is expected to announce the OnePlus 9 series in March alongside other products including its very first smartwatch which will launch as the OnePlus Watch.

RELATED:

Apple issues warning about the iPhone 12 & Magsafe magnets interfering with pacemakers

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jan 25, 2021

Apple has consistently disclosed the possibility of the iPhone 12 to cause electromagnetic interference with medical devices such as the pacemaker and defibrillators right from when the models were launched in October last year. This warning applies to most electronic gadgets with radio properties but Apple is sending out an additional warning due to the release of the Magsafe charger.

Apple recently updated a support document on the subject matter, adding the following;

“Medical devices such as implanted pacemakers and defibrillators might contain sensors that respond to magnets and radios when in close contact. To avoid any potential interactions with these devices, keep your iPhone and MagSafe accessories a safe distance away from your device (more than 6 inches / 15 cm apart or more than 12 inches / 30 cm apart if wirelessly charging). But consult with your physician and your device manufacturer for specific guidelines.”

Apple also specifically warned about accessories like the MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger, stating that it may also interfere with medical devices:

“All MagSafe accessories (each sold separately) also contain magnets—and MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger contain radios. These magnets and electromagnetic fields might interfere with medical devices.”

Despite the warnings, Apple insists that even though all iPhone 12 models contain more magnets than prior iPhone models, they are “not expected to pose a greater risk of magnetic interference to medical devices than prior iPhone models.”

Independent research findings published earlier this month in the Heart Rhythm Journal (via) indicated that iPhone 12 models can “potentially inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient” due to magnetic interference with implantable medical devices. Three Michigan-based doctors tested this interaction by holding an iPhone 12 near a patient’s implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. The article shows that the device immediately went into a “suspended” state for the duration of the test.

OnePlus Camera APK reveals upcoming features including Moon mode and Tilt-shift mode

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jan 25, 2021

OnePlus phones or rather future OnePlus phones may be coming with some really interesting camera features based on details found in the latest version of the camera app.

A teardown of the new camera APK, which has version number 6.4.2.3 and was found in the OxygenOS Open Beta released for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series, was done by the folks at XDA Developers. The teardown revealed strings and codes relating to the new camera features which are expected to be released in the future. Below are the features:

Tilt-shift mode

A tilt-shift lens is a type of lens that can change its orientation and position with respect to the image sensor. In a typical camera, the lens and sensor are parallel to one another and on the same plane. If you use a tilt-shift lens, you can “tilt” or “shift” the position of the lens to a different direction thus changing the angle of the plane and one of the results you get is a miniature image. The screenshot (below) of the Tilt-shift mode for the OnePlus Camera shows how the feature works.

This feature sounds like one that will be based on hardware, so there is a chance it may not be available for certain devices.

Starburst

If you look at a light source and you can see star-like effects around it rather than a dot, then you have what is called starburst vision and you should see a doctor. However, starburst looks nice in photos and it appears OnePlus will allow you to be able to capture images of a light source with the effect.

Moon mode

Huawei can be said to be the manufacturer that made taking photos of the moon with your phone popular, and lately more manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon. OnePlus will be the latest to do so and they will even add different filters that allow you to change the color of the moon.

Hyperlapse

The OnePlus camera can take timelapse videos which is a sped-up video taken at a stationary point. OnePlus plans to add a dedicated Hyperlapse mode which will allow you to record sped-up videos over long distances. This should come in handy once the pandemic is over and folks can travel and visit places.

Focus peaking

Focus peaking is a feature that is found in a lot of cameras, and what it does is highlight the edges that are in focus for you. OnePlus seems to be bringing it to its phones.

We do not know when these features will be available and which phones will get them but our guess is that they may debut first on the OnePlus 9 series before rolling out to older eligible devices.

RELATED:

Xiaomi crowdfunds the Sunuo T11 Pro Smart Visual Ultrasonic Dental Scaler

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jan 25, 2021

Xiaomi has launched the Sunuo T11 Pro Smart Visual Ultrasonic Dental Scaler under crowdfunding on the Youpin platform. The product is a portable ultrasonic scaler that can be used right in the home without visiting the dental clinic.

The COVID 19 pandemic and resultant lockdown across different countries of the world has left several persons missing their dental check-ups. It is usually recommended that we visit the dental clinic twice yearly (every six months) and during such visits, the dentist or Hygienist usually carry out routine Scaling and Polishing. The procedure involves using the ultrasonic scaler to remove calculus and plaque from the tooth surfaces and under the gingivae (gum).

The new Sunuo T11 Pro Smart Visual Ultrasonic Dental Scaler makes it easy for families to carry out the procedure on their own right in the comfort of their home. It packs a 500W high-precision professional endoscopy camera which relays images of the oral cavity to a companion smartphone which can be paired with the device via WiFi. Ys, you heard it right, the portable scalercomes with WiFi support and can be paired with a smartphone. When that is done, the phone will give a clear view of the are of the mouth the device is pointed to. The scaler also has an LED light at the tip to illuminate the mouth.

The Ultrasonic scaler uses Ultrasonic transducer technology and is capable of 200W times/minutes real ultrasonic vibration frequency. It also comes with a smart safety audio-visual protection.

Further, the Sunuo T11 Pro Smart Visual Ultrasonic Dental Scaler comes with an IPX7 waterproof rating which ensures it can be used in a wet environment. You are guaranteed an extended usage period as the scaler comes with a 1200mAH battery which charges over a USB-C port.

The product is presently available on Xiaomi youpin for 199 yuan (~$30).

RELATED;

Blackview BL8000 smartphone coming with MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC and 12GB RAM

By

Simranpal Singh

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Jan 25, 2021

As promised a few weeks ago along with the launch of MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC, the Blackview is launching Blackview BL8000 soon. The company is known for its stellar rugged smartphones but it seems to change soon. Blackview is now entering the 5G rugged smartphone market with Blackview BL8000 smartphone. It will be a high-end rugged smartphone featuring Dimensity 1200 and that too at an attractive price.

Must See: Ulefone Armor 12 rugged phone with Dimensity 1200 5G SoC launching soon

Following its predecessor’s path, the new Blackview BL8000 will bring a state-of-art rugged design and technology. The presence of 6nm built MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G chipset will further enhance the connectivity and performance reliability. However, the 12 GB RAM will further improve multitasking.

MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC will aid a massive performance upgrade as it houses a single Cortex-A78 core clocked at 3GHz and 3x Cortex A78 cores at 2.6GHz and 4x A-55 cores at 2GHz for low-power tasks. It further offers support of up to 168hz display refresh rate. The Hyper Engine 3.0 further improves gaming performance.

Along with the pure 5G support, the SoC comes with WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band (L1+L5) GNSS, and much more. The chipset supports fast charging of up to 65W that can charge the whole device within few minutes.

Blackview BL8000 will be a game-changer in the rugged smartphone market as it will carry powerful specifications. The interested users can know more about the Blackview 5G technology by heading to the official website. In the meantime, you can win a Blackview A70 and A80 by entering the giveaway.

Related: Blackview BL6000 Pro 5G compact look isn’t compromising the rugged design; A70 launching soon

The Four-Year-Old Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ gets the latest security patch update

By

Balaji S

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Jan 25, 2021

Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ aren’t even running on 2019’s Android 10 OS. However, the company is not giving up on the Quarterly update cycle for the 2017 flagships. Accordingly, the devices have received a new update.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ with model numbers SM-G950F and SM-G955F respectively are getting a new update. As per the Sammobile report, the S8 is getting the firmware version G950FXXSBDUA3 and S8+ G955FXXSBDUA3 across Latin America(Exynos models).

Back in February 2019, Samsung rolled out the One UI update for the Galaxy S8-Series delivering the promise of extending the One UI to older Android versions(pie). However, they haven’t received any major updates after that. In fact, the company pushed them to the Quarterly cycle last year.

Considering it’s been four years since the official launch, it is appreciative of Samsung to at least roll out the security patches for those who are clinging on to their devices. Speaking of which, Samsung Galaxy S8’s IP68 and GPS locator have saved lives in the past. The devices, which were a solid offering of their time, might still be living to see another day for some even today.

Hence, if you are someone who is having one of these devices, we suggest you update it to the latest security patch ASAP(as soon as possible). You can do it by navigating to Settings->Software Update->Download and Install.

Coming back, the update doesn’t have any other changes apart from the January 2021 security patch. And this OTA(over-the-air) should extend to all the other regions and versions soon so if you haven’t received it yet, don’t panic.

RELATED:

Apple launches the Powerbeats Pro Wireless Headset Special Edition

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jan 25, 2021

Apple‘s brand Beats once again joined forces with the famous design brand Fragment Design to jointly release a special edition Powerbeats Pro wireless headset.

The design style of this headset pays tribute to the ideas and principles of Fragment founder and Japanese trend godfather Hiroshi Fujiwara. It is stylish and simple, with a pure single tone. The new edition is available in ivory white, navy blue, glacier blue, cloud pink, lava red, and black.

The classic double lightning logo is printed on one earplug of the headset, and the FRGMT brand is printed on the other earplug. The charging box also has a double flash logo and a set of stickers.

The Powerbeats Pro special edition earphones are ergonomically designed and internally based on the new Apple H1 earphones. The new acoustic structure can output powerful and balanced sound effects, reproduce pure sound quality, bring clearer sound, and enhance the dynamic range.

There are also adjustable non-slip ear hooks, four sizes of earplugs are available, the left and right earplugs are equipped with volume and song control buttons, the automatic play/pause sensor can detect whether the earplugs are in the ear, and it also supports receiving calls.

The earbuds come with Class 1 Bluetooth technology which has a wider coverage, less signal loss, supports Siri voice wake-up and can connect to the iPhone with one button.

The standard battery life is up to 9 hours but with the charging box, the power can go up to more than 24 hours. Also, charging the earbuds for 5 minutes can deliver up to 1.5 hours of playback while a 15-minute charge can last up to 4.5 hours.

The Powerbeats Pro special edition headset is priced at 1888 yuan (~$291) in China. It is expected to go on sale on January 29.

RELATED;

Xiaomi Mi Earbuds Basic 2 available via Giztop flash-sale for $9.99

By

Simranpal Singh

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Jan 25, 2021

Xiaomi often brings massive discounts on its variety of products. After bringing huge discounts on smartphones, the company is offering Mi Earbuds basic 2 for $9.9 via Giztop. The retailer is offering a 50% discount using coupon code XMEB2 on the actual retail price of $19.99. The flash sale is time-limited, so we suggest you grab the device as soon as possible.

Must See: There’s a major difference between the Redmi Earbuds 2C and Redmi Earbuds S

Xiaomi Mi Earbuds Basic 2 is affordable true wireless earbuds featuring some decent specifications. The device comes equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 chip for excellent connectivity. It carries technology which switches the sound between single-ear and double-ear. A 7.2mm audio unit is present with DSP noise cancellation technology.

It offers 12-hour long battery life with 300 mAh charging dock. It is built with ABS material and weighs 4.1 grams. Its round and smooth design enhance comfortability while using the device for extended periods of time.

You can grab the device from Giztop at just $9.99 using Coupon Code XMEB2.

Grab Now

Related: Redmi Earbuds S launches as a rebadged AirDots S in India for ₹1,799 ($24)

Realme laptops may hit the market as early as the middle of the year

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jan 25, 2021

A number of Chinese phone manufacturers have expanded their portfolio to include computers. The group which includes Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, and Redmi is about to get bigger with the addition of Realme.

Realme is one of the youngest phone brands in the industry but its product portfolio has expanded in the past year to include lifestyle products, smart TVs, and AIoT products. It has now been reported that it will be making its entry into the laptop business and we may even see the first models arrive by the middle of the year.

The info is from the popular leaker Mukul Sharma, and according to a tweet posted earlier today, he says Realme laptops are expected to launch in June of this year. Going by that date, we have about five months of waiting.

[Exclusive] if things go as planned, the Realme laptops are set for launch sometime during June 2021. #Realme #Realmelaptop

— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) January 25, 2021

Realme’s laptops will go head to head with those from its biggest rival Redmi/Xiaomi, so we expect them to be affordable and priced competitively. We do not know which markets will get the laptops but our guess is India and China are on the list.

The realme laptops will most likely be made by an ODM as none of Realme’s sister/parent companies produce laptops, so it can’t leverage their production lines. The laptops should run Windows 10 and be powered by Intel and or AMD processors. They should also be available in multiple RAM and storage configurations.

With Realme entering the laptop market, is this a sign that Vivo, OPPO, and OnePlus may also launch laptops in the future? Only time will tell.

RELATED:

Samsung planning to site a $10-billion 3nm chip factory in Austin, Texas

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jan 25, 2021

Global tech powerhouse, Samsung is planning to invest over $10 billion to build a new chip factory in Austin, Texas, as it pursues a massive expansion scheme to fill the manufacturing gap in demand for chips, which Samsung’s existing facility is unable to cope with. Some big customers of Samsung are Qualcomm, Intel, and Tesla, among others, and their demand quantum has increased in the past few months.

In addition, the new factory is expected to produce advanced chips like the 3nm within a short period, which would give Samsung some leverage as a global leader in mobile chip fabrication, as it seeks to upend its major competitor TSMC. Samsung got some boost after Qualcomm switched back to Samsung for the new Snapdragon 888, a sharp departure from the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 865 which were both manufactured by TSMC.

The advanced technology and high-end 3nm chips could enhance overall performance by up to 35% performance increase, a massive 50% reduction in power consumption, and a 45% reduction in size, when compared with 7nm chips, according to Samsung.

A total of $116 billion is earmarked for the completion of the factory over the course of its operation as Samsung pursues its goal to become the biggest player in the chip-making segment of the tech ecosystem.

The chip manufacturing industry, last month experienced a huge disequilibrium in the demand-supply balance as most suppliers could not meet the demands of major customers, leading to the temporary closure of some car factories as a result of the absence of important chip components.

Therefore, Samsung’s plans for expansion would serve as a huge boost to the industry. Samsung is a global leader in telecommunications, home electronics, and various segments of the technological spectrum.

(source)

POCO M3 Officially teased to launch in India

By

Balaji S

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Jan 25, 2021

POCO M3 is a smartphone that is slowly crawling its way up to the other markets from Europe. Recently, the company launched it in Indonesia and Taiwan too. Finally, POCO has teased the arrival of the smartphone in India.

POCO India has posted a new YouTube video with the Title ” Watch at your own risk | #POCOM3″. The video begins with a guy dressed like a PUBG character asking opinions about the new device’s performance to a bunch of youngsters.

All of them are spotted playing a Battle Royale Game. In the video, the respondents quote words like “KILLER, OVER PERFORMER”, etc and we also get a glimpse of its gaming performance. Also, the presenter straight-up shows and confirms that all the color variants– Black, Blue, and Yellow will make it to India.

Although the video ends with a “COMING SOON” tag, rumors say that it could be very soon in February(maybe Feb. 2 or 4). If we recall, this Feb.4 is the same date when POCO India launched its first smartphone last year after becoming independent from Xiaomi. Anyway, this is just our guess and let’s wait for the final confirmation from the POCO team.

POCO M3 India- Specifications (Expected)

We can expect POCO M3 to be the same as Indonesian and European versions. Accordingly, it will feature the 6.53-inch FHD+ LCD display with Dot-drop notch, 2340x1080p resolution, 395 PPI, 19.5:9 aspect ratio with Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

Under the hood, Snapdragon 662 SoC will power the device paired with 4/6GB RAM, 64/128GB storage. You will also get a microSD card for storage expansion up to 512GB. For Cameras, the device will have the same 48MP f/1.79 main lens, two 2MP macro, and depth sensors.

Other features include an 8MP f/2.0 front camera, a 6,000mAh battery with 18W charging, Type-C, 3.5mm audio jack, dual-Speakers, dual-SIM 4G, Wi-Fi 5GHz, Bluetooth 5.0, FM Radio, GPS, and MIUI 12 based on Android 10.

RELATED:

Apple faces a new €60 million ($73 million) Class Action Lawsuit from Italy’s Altroconsumo

By

Balaji S

-

Jan 25, 2021

Apple is constantly in the news not only for its products and services but for facing lawsuits as well. A new lawsuit filed by an Italian Consumer Protection agency could cost the Cupertino giant up to 60 million euros if it loses.

Italy’s Altroconsumo has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple in the Court of Milan. It says that the company has deceived consumers with practices of “planned obsolescence”. That is, the lawsuit is for more than 1 million units of affected iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, and 6S Plus sold between 2014 and 2020.

It is referring to the performance throttling(“batterygate”) that Apple’s iPhone 6-series devices faced then. A similar issue made Apple pay a whopping $500 million back in March 2020. Also, this new lawsuit comes a month after the company was slapped with a 10 million euros fine in Italy over “misleading claims regarding water resistance”.

Anyway, Altroconsumo is asking for a compensation of about €60 million(~$73 million). It is trying to convey that Apple is using unfair practices to slow down the older iPhones through software updates which inturn degrades battery. To cover up the contested throttling issue, Apple had reportedly opened a “battery replacement campaign” at a reduced price(€29-€89).

While the earlier lawsuit in US-made Apple pay $25 to each affected consumer, this one would amount to about 60 euros per concerned person. Apple has been facing a lot of “batterygate” lawsuits in Europe lately. Italy is the latest to join the countries like Belgium and Spain which filed a similar one last month.

Although Apple had denied a planned batterygate campaign, it has admitted in the past that the processor’s clock speeds will reduce if the battery degrades. Let’s see how it handles this one as Portugal prepares to join with its own lawsuit soon.

Ivo Tarantino, External Relations Manager of Altroconsumo says, “We hope this is the last step to remedy the damage caused to date by the company but it is also the first step towards greater fairness by Apple towards its consumers”.

RELATED:

(via)

Samsung Galaxy A72 4G Russia Official Support page is live; Could launch soon

By

Balaji S

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Jan 25, 2021

Samsung Galaxy A72’s official event could be just days away now. The handset has been appearing online lately in the run-up to the launch. However, the new info outrightly confirms its existence officially. Accordingly, a Samsung Russia page has now opened a support page for the device.

A new Samsung Russia Support page has now been opened courtesy of MySmartPrice. The model number of the device in question is SM-A725F/DS. If you recall, a similar device appeared on a Geekbench listing with Snapdragon 720G chipset. Hence, it could be the 4G variant of the Galaxy A72 smartphone.

That said, we don’t have information about the 5G variant’s chipset yet but some rumors say it as 5nm Exynos 1080. Besides, this same model number also appeared on TÜV Rheinland Certification. It showed that the device will have the same charging tech i.e., 25W charging as the predecessor(A71).

So far, 3D renders of the Galaxy A72 show that it will be just an enlarged version of the upcoming Galaxy A52. Measuring 165 x 77.4 x 8.1 mm, the device will reportedly sport a 6.7-inch sAMOLED FHD+ display. Additionally, the device will also have a quad-camera setup like the Galaxy A71 with a 64MP primary camera sensor.

Other expected features include a 4,500mAh battery, Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, four color options(Black, Blue, White, and Violet), Android 11(mostly One UI 3.1). Recently, the supposed European Prices of the Galaxy A72 4G variant has also been leaked.

The device will likely be priced at $546 for 6GB RAM, 128GB storage and $619 for the 8GB RAM, 256GB storage variants. Let’s wait for the official confirmation from Samsung which is mostly happening next month(February 2021).

RELATED:

ASUS Sky Selection 2 Gaming laptop with Ryzen 7, 240Hz refresh rate launched

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jan 25, 2021

Taiwanese tech giant ASUS has launched the Sky Selection 2 gaming laptop in China. The laptop is presently on pre-sale for 9299 yuan (~$1,435) via JD.com and the product will be officially released for sale on January 26.

The laptop is equipped with a new generation of AMD Ryzen R7-5800H processor, supplemented by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. The Ryzen 7 uses an Octa-cores 16 threads, based on Zen 3 architecture utilizing the 7nm process technology. The processor has a maximum acceleration frequency of 4.3GHz, while the TDP is 45W. The GPU supports the exclusive TX BOOST overclocking engine, and can automatically overclock in enhanced mode.

The laptop sports a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with an impressive 240Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB high color gamut. The display comes with a three-sided narrow bezel, Adaptive-Sync technology, DC dimming, and supports high frame rate gaming which can reduce screen freeze and tearing.

Further, the ASUS Sky Selection 2 gaming laptop is equipped with 16GB DDR4 3200MHz high-frequency memory and it supports up to 64GB of memory. In addition, it is equipped with a 512GB PCIe SSD with TLC particles, with a nominal continuous writing speed of 3000MB/sec and a reading speed of 3500MB/sec. In addition, an m.2 interface is reserved for users to expand the storage by themselves.

In terms of heat dissipation, the Sky Selection 2 uses four flat heat pipes inside the fuselage to increase the contact area. At the same time, it uses 0.1mm ultra-thin fins and double dust-free fans. The fan blades are upgraded to 83 pieces of LCP liquid crystal polymer material and provide three operating models of Silent, Performance, and Enhanced modes.

The laptop comes in two colors: magic blue and eclipse gray. It can realize dual 4K output through HDMI 2.0, USB 3.2 Type C, built-in 90Wh high-capacity fast charge battery.