iQOO flagship devices have finally received the GPU driver update. According to a report, users in China have downloaded the GPU drivers via the official app store.
A report by ITHome says that iQOO 3 and iQOO 5 now support GPU driver update via the respective App Store. With this, the company follows Xioami, and OPPO who have already delivered the feature to their flagships earlier. That said, the report also quotes iQOO product manager Ge Lan V saying the updates are supported only from Snapdragon 865/865+ and 765/765G. And not 855 from 2018.
This is true, as Qualcomm announced the feature during the launch of Snapdragon 865 flagship SoC. It basically follows Google’s Project Mainline like process where Users can update their GPU drivers via the official App Store. Previously, GPU drivers were patched along with System files that gets routed via carriers.
However, you can now download the GPU drivers separately and update them. This quickly enables games to adapt to the latest driver features thereby improving performance, and stability. As you can see in the screenshot below, the version is currently spotted by Chinese users. And hence, we will have to wait and see if it arrives in the other regions as well.
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Simply put, updateable GPU drivers opens a new world where features of OpenGL or Vulkan API can be delivered swiftly to users. Apart from Qualcomm, ARM is another company who also announced GPU drivers support.
Last week, Counterpoint Research released its report on the China Smartphone Market Q3 2020. Now, a week later, IDC (International Data Corporation) publishes its own report. According to the firm, brands shipped 84.8 million units and the entire market witnessed 14.3% YoY decline. The drop in shipments was due to soft demand, Huawei’s supply constraints, and delayed flagship launches from both Apple and Huawei.
Despite supply issues, Huawei maintained its lead in the third quarter of 2020 with 35.1 million units in shipments and 41.4% market share. The company managed to do it by lowering the production of some popular models like the Mate30 series.
In the second place, vivo shipped 15 million units garnering 17.8% share. The company focussed across different price segments with 5G-enabled Y series in the sub-$300 category as well as S7, iQOO 5, and X series of phones in the mid-range and high-end segments.
Whereas, OPPO focussed more in the $200-$400 5G handset segment by shipping less sub-$150 phones. The brand came third with 16.6% share and 14.1 millions units in shipments.
Further, Xiaomi shipped 11 million units gaining a 13% market share. Nevertheless, it was the only brand in the top 5 list to achieve a 13.4% YoY while others declined by up to 16.9%. The company’s Redmi 9 and Redmi K30 series performed well in Q3.
Lastly, Apple stood at the fifth place with an 8.3% market share and 7 million units in shipments. The American tech giant’s iPhone 11 continued to sell well in both offline and online channels.
Having said that, the report also mentions that China has so far shipped a total of 117 million units of 5G smartphones since 2019. Out of this figure, a whopping 49.7 million units shipped in Q3 2020 itself. Huawei also led this segment, followed by OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, and realme respectively.
Xiaomi‘s ecological chain company Roidmi has released a new flagship product. The next-generation wireless vacuum cleaner dubbed Roidmi NEX2 Plus has a brand-new integrated vacuum cleaner design. It carries an original price tag of 2,599 yuan (~$392) but will be sold for 1799 yuan (~$271) on November 11.
Roidmi’s new NEX2 Plus vacuum cleaner is a successor to the NEX2 and NEX2 Pro vacuum cleaners released in April this year. It integrates an electric mop and a cordless vacuum cleaner, which can be used wet or dry. The machine can be used for dual purposes both for suction of dirt and for mopping and both can be performed simultaneously. You can switch between vacuuming and floor cleaning modes with just plugging and unplugging the dedicated head. The device is equivalent to having a high-performance wireless vacuum cleaner and wireless floor scrubber at the same time.
As a vacuum cleaner, the Roidmi NEX2 Plus is equipped with a 120,000 rpm brushless digital motor, 150W suction power, and Engine-X 2.0 optimized system, which greatly improves the energy efficiency ratio. It is equipped with 8-cone cyclone dust-gas separation technology to avoid clogging of the air ducts and drop in suction.
The new product is also upgraded to create the NEX-V all-round roller brush, no need to change different roller brushes according to the carpet, floor, and floor tiles. NEX-V uses nano-level hydrophobic fibers, waterproof and anti-fouling, and V-shaped anti-winding structure, which is 30% higher than NEX’s anti-winding effect.
In addition, Roidmi NEX2 Plus achieves a battery life of up to 80 minutes. It only needs to be charged once to clean a 450 square meters room. At the same time, it continues the classic magnetic wireless charging that Roidmi’s vacuum cleaners are known for.
At the same time, NEX2 Plus adopts electronically controlled micro-penetration technology, that is, wipe quickly and dry without damaging the solid wood floor. The powerful double wheels with a speed of up to 200 rpm, high-speed strong wiping, and strong torque bring a cleaner cleaning effect than manual wiping.
Xiaomi‘s first curved display, Mi Surface 34-inch Gaming Display Monitor has gone back to the original price. The reason for this reportedly is the swap of companies for the display panels.
Mi Surface gaming monitor
A Report on ITHome says that according to its source, Xiaomi was able to sell it at the reduced price because of Samsung. Apparently, it procured the panels from the Samsung LCD business so far with special support. Now, after Samsung Display exited the LCD business in China, it is left with no choice but to search for a panel supplier elsewhere.
This leaves Xiaomi with two major players in the Chinese market -BOE, and CSOT. And as the company’s 34-inch Monitor specifications match only with TCL CSOT panels, it has sought after the company. However, CSOT’s display panels reportedly cost at least $15 more than Samsung, and hence, the price has changed for the monitor, says the report.
That said, we looked up the new prices of the Mi Surface 34-inch Gaming Display Monitor. Do note that it launched for 2499yuan($378.22) but was available for 1999($302.54) yuan before the change. You can take a look at them across different websites below:
The MiSurface Display 34-inch comes with a 34-inch large curved screen that has a brightness of 300 nits, resolutions of 3440 x 1440 pixels. It is a 21:9 aspect ratio screen, and also supports 144Hz refresh rate, 1500R curvature.
The display supports 121% of sRGB, 85% NTSC color gamut, and also gets AMD Freesync and low Blu-ray modes. It comes with a bracket that is magnetically attached to the display and it supports adjustments. Other features include 2 x HDMI 2.0 ports, 2 x DP1.4, and an audio port.
IDC (International Data Corporation) has released its report on India Smartphone Market Q3 2020. According to it, companies shipped 54.3 million units garnering 17% YoY growth. Online channels’ share reached an all-time high of 48% with 24% YoY growth, whereas the offline channels only witnessed 11% YoY growth. Interestingly, even without the 5G infrastructure, a million 5G smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2020 in India.
The ASP (Average Selling Price) of the Indian smartphone market was $156 with a 2% YoY decline. A whopping 84% of shipments consisted of sub-$200 devices, out of which 29% of handsets cost below $100. Sales were mostly due to e-learning requirements as smartphones are the only affordable medium for internet access in the country.
On the other hand, shipments of mid-range ($200 < $500) devices declined YoY, however, the premium segment ($500+) grew 91% YoY with Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus being the top brands.
Further, shipments of feature phones declined by 30% YoY with 25 million units. Therefore, feature phones only accounted for 31% of the entire mobile phone market in Q3 2020 whose overall shipments dropped by 4% YoY.
Talking about brands, Xiaomi led the market with 13.5 million units in shipments and 7% YoY growth. Redmi 8A Dual, Redmi 8, and Redmi Note 9 were the top three best-sellers. The company also led the online smartphone market with a 35% share and its POCO brand shipped more than 1 million units.
In the second place, Samsung shipped 12.1 million units and online channels accounted for 43% of its entire shipments. India became the South Korean tech giant’s largest market in Q3 with 15% of its global shipment. The Galaxy M21 and Galaxy M31 were the company’s best-performing models online.
Then, vivo came third with 9 million units and 27% YoY growth. The brand stood first in the offline channels with a 29% market share, followed by Samsung. Then, realme acquired fourth place with 19% YoY growth by shipping 8 million smartphones. It was the second-largest brand online, followed by Samsung, and realme C11 was its best-selling model online.
Last but not least, OPPO stood at the fifth position 6.1 million units in shipments and 11% YoY growth. It was the third-largest brand offline and A12, A53, and A11K were its most shipped devices.
Oxford Economics has released a report today bearing the title “The Economic Impact of Huawei”. The report which we can’t verify if it wasn’t sponsored by Huawei, gives an insight into the brand’s contribution to the European economy in terms of job creation and revenue generation. Huawei is found to have contributed a staggering EUR16.4 billion to Europe’s GDP in 2019 alone.
In addition, the company’s growing presence in Europe led to the creation of 224,300 jobs within the same period. Huawei also generated EUR6.6 billion in tax revenues for European authorities last year.
In addition, the report reveals that Huawei has equally played an active role in R&D across Europe. Huawei is ranked as the world’s fifth-largest R&D investor by the 2019 EU Industrial Investment Scoreboard. Further, the Chinese tech giant is also ranked as the number one brand in terms of patent applications in 2019 by the European Patent Office. “Investment in R&D—like that undertaken by Huawei—is crucial to a general increase in the productive capabilities in the European economy,” said Pete Collings, Director of Europe and Middle East Economic Impact Consulting at Oxford Economics.
Abraham Liu, Huawei’s Chief Representative to the EU Institutions equally disclosed that in 2019, the brand’s operations generated a direct contribution of EUR2.8 billion to European GDP, an average growth of 11.4% annually over the past five years. “In this unconventional year, Huawei has ensured stable, secure network operations to help people work and learn online. Huawei has operated in Europe for 20 years and has worked hard to deeply integrate into local communities to jointly promote industry development. In the future, we will continue to work with our partners to overcome new challenges and create more value,” he added.
The report comes at a time more European countries are starting to bow to pressure from the US authorities to ban Huawei from providing their 5G infrastructure, the latest being Sweden.
November 11th (11.11) is considered a special day according to the Chinese and is celebrated in full stride. The holiday is observed as Singles’ Day, where people commemorate the occasion by treating themselves to gifts and presents. This occasion goes on to being one of the largest online shopping days globally. Taking advantage of this factor, Gearbest is offering huge discounts on Xiaomi products across various product categories. One can enjoy up to 50% off on these products at Gearbest till November 11th.
The varied product categories range from smartphones to security cameras and SmartLife gadgets. Below mentioned are some of the best deals Xiaomi is offering on Gearbest. Note that you can access all these deals from the link above.
Smartphones
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro- After the discount, you can get it for$229.99.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9- The Price has gone down to $159.99 for a limited period.
Xiaomi Redmi 9C- It costs just $109.
Xiaomi Redmi 9A- You can get it for $88.99 right now.
Best Deals (Mix Category)
Xiaomi Airdots Pro 2 Air 2 Headsets- You can get it for $28.99.
Xiaoda UVC Germicidal Ozone Sterilization Lamp- A discount of 50% puts it at $19.99.
Haylou LS02 Smartwatch (Global Version)- A slight discount brings its price down to $32.99.
MIJIA 10 13.5-inch LCD Blackboard- Gets a 28% off and is available for just $15.99.
Mija Electric Smart Inflator Pump- 25% off reduces its price to $48.87.
Yeelight YILAI YlXD05Yl Smart Ceiling Light- A slight discountputs it at $64.99.
Wireless Routers
Xiaomi Router 4A Gigabit Version- Available for $70.
Xiaomi Mi 4C Wireless Router- Can be purchased for just $34.29.
Xiaomi Redmi AX5 Wireless Router- Up for sale for just $97.35.
Xiaomi AC2350 Mi AloT Wireless Router- A 36% off brings its price down to $72.61.
Wireless Headsets
Xiaomi Redmi Airdots S- Get a few dollars off for a price of $21.99.
QCY M10 TWS Headset- The current price is$24.99.
Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Headset Earphones- Available for just $40.68.
Xiaomi Mi LYEJ02LM Bluetooth Headset- Can be purchased for $19.21 only.
Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Over Ear Foldable Headset- Up for sale for just $111.58.
Vacuum Cleaners
VIOMI V3 LDS (Global Version)- 17% off for makes it available for just $499.99.
VIOMI V2 Pro- Gets a 20% off, bringing its price down to $399.99.
Roborock S5 Max Robot- The price is down to $399.99.
Roborock S5 Max Laser Navigation Robot- Available for just $743.31.
MIJIA 1C Wireless Vacuum Cleaner- Available at 49% off, reducing its price to $219.99.
Smartwatches
Haylou Solar Smartwatch (Global Version)- Has a 46% off and available for just $29.99.
Haylou LS02 (Global Version)- 34% off brings its price down to $32.99.
AMAZFIT Verge- Can be purchased at just $272.
Amazfit Stratos 3- Available for just $374.87.
Amazfit T-Rex- Gets a 50% off, bringing its price down to just $124.99.
AMAZFIT GTR- Discount of 48% makes it available for $129.99 only.
AMAZFIT GTS- A slight discount brings it down to $139.99 internationally.
Xiaomi Mi Smartwatch- 40% off brings its price to just $142.99.
Home Security
Xiaomi Smart Camera- 40%discount makes it available for $19.99.
Aqara G2H Smart Camera- Can be purchased at $91.99 only.
Aqara G2 Surveillance Camera- Has a $20%off, making it available for just $39.99.
Xiaomi Mijia Honeywell Fire Alarm Detector- 25% off brings its price down to $26.55.
Xiaomi Smart Door Sensor and Security Equipment- Up for sale for just $17.28.
Aqara N100 Smart Door Lock- Can be brought for just $239.99.
Aqara N200 Smart Door Lock- Available for $356.30.
Xiaoda UVC Germicidal Ozone Sterilization Lamp (1st Gen)- 56% off reduces its price to $21.99.
Xiaoda UVC Germicidal Ozone Sterilization Lamp (2nd Gen)- A discount of 50% makes it available for just $19.99.
Apart from the above-mentioned pool of products, Xiaomi also has deals going on for categories like projectors, phone accessories, and the Xiaomi Smartlife range. It is a perfect opportunity to invest in various accessories and gadgets without shelling out a lot. The offer stands only till November 11th, so hurry and get your life tech-savvy.
To know about these deals and discover new products, interested readers can visit the Gearbest website by clicking the link below.
Apple‘s iPhone 12 Pro series have three rear-cameras along with a LiDAR Scanner. Among them, the ultra-wide lens is responsible for wider shots. We already know that the next iPhones(Tentative: iPhone 13) have started coming under the radar of leaks. Now, Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says their ultra-wide lens will get a significant upgrade.
As reported by MyFixGuide(via GSMArena), Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that the iPhone 13 will have four models like the iPhone 12 series. Accordingly, we can expect an iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max. But these names are our guesses and let’s wait for more leaks. He reportedly refers to the next iPhones belonging to H2 of 2021 which has been the case every year(Around Sep-Oct).
Upgrade in ultra-wide
Now, the interesting part is the camera details. He says that the Pro variants of the next iPhone 13 series will likely get an ultra-wide lens with f/1.8 aperture, 6P lens. And Auto Focus feature(AF). Currently, iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max has a 12MP ultra-wide with f/2.4 aperture. But only has FF(Fixed Focus), and a 5P lens.
Basically, P stands for plastic where more than one lens element are combined to offset dispersion. That said, we can expect improvements in ultra-wide features like Deep Fusion, Night Mode, and Lens Correction. Besides, Ming-Chi Kuo expects this lens to make its way to all the models(Tentative: iPhone 14) by 2022.
Furthermore, Taiwan’s Largan Precision Co Ltd. is likely to get about 70% of orders for the upgraded 6P ultra-wide lens on the iPhone 13 series. This is reportedly an upgrade over the 50% orders for iPhone 12 series. Additionally, Largan will also become the new supplier of VCM(Voice Coil Motor) for iPhones from 2021.
iPhone 13 series: Early guesses
Early reports of the iPhone 13 indicate that it will have a 120Hz refresh rate screen. It will reportedly adopt the LTPO(Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) display designed by Apple. Under the hood, it is likely to be powered by the Apple A15 Bionic manufactured by TSMC using a 5nm node. And tipster Jon Prosser has already hinted that future iPhones will have a 1TB storage option.
Since Apple released the AirPods Pro, almost every brand has decided to follow-up with its own wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation. Xiaomi also released one earlier this month, the Air 2 Pro. As a brand popular for bringing high-end features to the affordable market, can the Xiaomi Air 2 Pro replicate the success of its other products?
Let’s find out.
Xiaomi Air 2 Pro Review: Design
For design, the case of the Air 2 Pro has inherited a typical Xiaomi style as what we have seen on the previous Xiaomi earbuds products. It’s still shaped as a cuboid with rounded squares and can stay upright on a table. But the size is slightly bigger and it weighs a bit more, making it even larger than the Huawei FreeBuds Pro.
With this in your pocket, there wouldn’t be much space left as you still need to carry your phone. At the back, there is a lightning icon to remind you that it supports wireless charging. And considering the price tag, no doubt supporting wireless charging is a must. And the opening and closing experience of the case is much better than others as it also uses a magnetic design.
When we open the case, the build quality and matte finish of the earbuds are pretty impressive. And the fine ceramic touch panel on the surface of the earbuds really caught our eyes at first glance.
Ceramic Touch Panel attracts fingerprint
Since this ceramic panel is used for touch-interaction, it may start collecting a lot of fingerprints. But we have to give credit where it’s due – the design of the Air 2 Pro is pretty special, as it does not follow AirPods-style design like many rival brands.
Xiaomi Air 2 Pro Review: ANC Performance
Now let’s check out its performance of noise cancellation. In this round, we are gonna take the Huawei Freebuds Pro as a reference. Well, sorry to tell you that you get what you pay for. After we tested the earbuds under different environments including light noise areas like office and heavy-noise like roadside and school streets, our testers reached an agreement that the noise-canceling performance of the Air 2 Pro is a bit weaker than the Huawei Freebuds Pro, and they estimated that it could reach only 80% of the Freebuds Pro’s performance. The Air 2 Pro also didn’t handle wind noise well. When you are walking on a windy day with the Air 2 Pro in your ears, the wind noise can come in between your listening experience. Even though you try to keep the earbuds firm in your ears, it only reaches around 60% of the Freebuds Pro’s anti-wind-noise effect.
But on the other hand, we have noticed that the Air 2 Pro is around 50 bucks cheaper than the Freebuds Pro, so actually, it still lived up to our expectations. And about wearing experience, the testers felt that the Air 2 Pro handled ear pressure better than the Freebuds Pro when the noise canceling was turned on.
The default ear tips of the Air 2 Pro do not really fit most ears well. Because most testers feel the fit to be a bit loose, it may also result in an insufficient noise canceling effect. But inside the box, Xiaomi provided 4 more pairs of silicone tips for replacement. So, we suggest using the largest one if you have a similar experience.
Xiaomi Air 2 Pro Review: Battery Life
And if you are a heavy earbuds user, battery life should be another important buying factor. The Air 2 Pro has excellent battery performance. In the noise-canceling mode, my colleague used it for 5 hours and the power dropped by only 50%, which is the best battery performance for an ANC earbud that we’ve tested so far. You should get around 7-8 hours of playback on a single charge.
Xiaomi Air 2 Pro Review: Operation
When connected to a Xiaomi device, you can change additional settings for Air 2 Pro in the official voice assistant App, XiaoAi. Or without the phone, you can have some default interaction with the earbuds.
For example, double-click the left earbud to wake the voice assistant; double click the right one to play and pause music or video, and long-press either one for 5 seconds to switch between noise-canceling mode and transparency mode. But switching modes over the earbuds is really annoying. For example, in order to turn on the Noise canceling mode from the transparent mode, I have to put my finger on the touch panel for at least 10 seconds. Because I need to press for 5 seconds to switch to the ‘Transparency Off’ first and then another 5 seconds for the noise-canceling to turn ON. It’s really not a smart design to let users wait over 10 seconds for a simple operation.
Xiaomi Mi Air 2 Pro ANC
Even if you are not using a Xiaomi phone, all the functions that we just mentioned are also accessible. All you need to do is to download the XiaoAi App. And then probably the only difference is that there is no pop-up window on non-Xiaomi devices. You have to manually connect it to the Bluetooth list. But note that, XiaoAi only supports the Chinese language. If you are not good at Chinese, the app will be a bit useless, although there were some interesting features and setups for the earbuds.
Otherwise, all the basic interaction and features can still work well without the app, including the same noise-canceling strength.
In the last part, let’s go check out the sound quality and latency of the Air 2 Pro. Well, it should be noted that the firmware we are using is 3.0.12. And the officials have promised that the lower-latency mode and new Bluetooth codec LHDC would come in the next few firmware updates. It means that under low-latency mode the earbuds will be better for gaming and video play, while with the new efficient LHDC codec, its sound quality will be improved.
Right now, the Air 2 Pro has a 0.6-second delay when playing games on Xiaomi phones, while on the other brands’ devices, the sound output is delayed for 0.8-second.
The Air 2 Pro’s mid and low frequencies sound excellent, with crisp output, which is even more impressive than what we have with the Huawei Freebuds Pro. But its high frequencies were not as outstanding as the lows, and it sounds pretty close to what we had on the Freebuds Pro.
Xiaomi Air 2 Pro Review: Verdict
In short, we can say that the Air 2 Pro’s active noise cancelation is still good enough to handle most conditions. However, if I’m not going to pay over 200 US dollars for earbuds, there are only a handful of options that provide excellent value for money. And the Air 2Pro is one of them. Although it can’t successfully challenge some more expensive earbuds in departments like noise-canceling and wearing comfort, the Air 2 Pro still has a unique appearance design, impressive battery life, and a really affordable price tag. And we’re really looking forward to its firmware update. If there are any new developments after the update, we’ll let you know.
Skullcandy is one of the popular audio brands in the market. The company has launched a new pair of truly wireless earphones in India called Skullcandy Spoke. The TWS carries an MRP (Maximum Retail Price) of ₹7,999 ($108), however, it is being sold at only ₹2,999 ($40) on the brand’s official website and even comes with a free 3-month Gaana Plus subscription.
Despite the Skullcandy branding, the Spoke TWS is just another cheap affordable truly wireless earphones. The features of this audio product pale in comparison with the products from competitors, at least on paper. However, how it sounds is more important than specifications. But as we haven’t tried it out, we cannot tell.
That said, the buds connect to devices via Bluetooth 5.0 and feature 8mm drivers. Their technical specs as mentioned on the official product page are as follows.
Impedance: 32 Ohms
THD (Total Harmonic Distortion): <3% at 1KHz
Sound Pressure Level: 96.5-98.4dB
Frequency Response: f20Hz – 20KHz
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Both the buds have LED indicators as well as a button to play/pause music, adjust volume levels, skip tracks, and accept/decline calls. They are also IPX4 splash-resistant.
Last but not least, the company claims its new TWS to offer up to 14 hours of battery life with the charging case, which charges via MicroUSB port and features LED indicators for battery level.
The LG VELVET was made official along with the LG Wing phone last week in India. At the launch, the company confirmed that the LG VELVET will be available from Oct. 30. Starting from today, the handset is up for pre-orders online through Flipkart.
LG VELVET price in India and offers
The LG VELVET is priced at Rs 36,990 (~499). With the Dual Screen accessory, the phone can be availed for Rs 49,990 (~$674). It comes in two colors like Aurora Silver and Black.
The Flipkart listing mentions a couple of offers such as Rs 5,000 instant discount for America Express Card users, RBL Bank credit and debit card users, 10 percent discount of up to Rs 1,5000 for Federal Bank debit card users, 5 percent unlimited cash back on Flipkart Axis Bank credit card, Rs 5,000 additional discount on debit and credit card transactions, and no-cost EMI.
LG VELVET specifications
The LG VELVET has a 6.8-inch P-OLED FHD+ display integrated with a fingerprint sensor, Snapdragon 845 chipset, 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of internal storage, Android 10 OS, and 4.300mAh battery with 25W fast charging and 9W wireless charging support. It has a 16-megapixel selfie camera and a triple camera system with a 48-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor.
Honor 10X Lite has been officially announced in Russia. Ahead of the Global rollout on November 10, the device will be up for pre-orders starting today(November 6).
Honor 10X Lite
Honor 10X Lite Russia: Price, Availability, Offers
The Honor 10X Lite in Russia comes in a single 4GB RAM, 128GB storage variant. It is priced at RUB 16,990($219). And has Black, Green, and Purple color options. Although the sales officially begin November 20, users can pre-order it between November 6(Today) to 19. And they can do it on Honor’s Official Store and other partner websites.
Users can also avail of a discount of up to RUB 4,000($52) on getting a subscription on the official website and more than RUB 10,000 vis offline partners. Additionally, Honor is already running a giveaway contest where users need to login and spin a wheel.
If you are lucky, you can win one of the following: Honor 10X Lite, Honor Magic Earbuds, Honor Watch ES, 1xDiscount Coupon of RUB 500, 1xDiscount coupon of RUB 1,500, and Free shipping coupon. The giveaway runs till November 8, 2020. You can head over to the official website to check more details.
Honor 10X Lite Specifications
The Honor 10X Lite in Russia(via ferra.ru) features a 6.67-inches FHD+ TFT LCD display. The display has a resolution of 2400 × 1080 pixels and 394 PPI. However, under the hood, it is running Kirin 710A SoC. For cameras, you get a rear quad-camera setup.
There is a 48MP f/1.8 Main lens, 8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide, and two 2MP sensor. For selfies, you get a single 8MP lens at the front inside the centered punch-hole. The camera has features like autofocus(Main lens), front camera video up to 1080p, and more.
All this is backed up by a 5,000mAh battery with support for 22.5W fast charging. For connectivity, you get Bluetooth 5.1, MicroSD slot(up to 512GB), Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, GPS, GLONASS, and a USB Type-C port. The device runs Magic UI 3.1 based on Android 10 out of the box.
Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 9 as a rebranded Redmi 10X 4G in India in July. A month later in August, the company announced a new Onyx Black for select countries, Now, three months later in November, this color version of Redmi Note 9 debuts as Shadow Black in India.
The Redmi Note 9 initially launched in India in three colors namely Aqua Green, Arctic White, and Pebble Grey. Then, Xiaomi introduced the fourth color called Scarlet Red ahead of the Amazon India Prime Day sale. Now, the handset gets the fifth color called Shadow Black.
As mentioned in the beginning, this color is originally called Onyx Black in other markets like Europe. In fact, the Redmi Note 9 debuted in these regions first and only then, it got unveiled as Redmi 10X 4G in China. India was one of the last countries to get this smartphone but now after months from its launch, customers can pick it up in a total of 5 colors.
Having said that, the Shadow Black color variant of Redmi Note 9 is only available in 4GB + 64GB storage configuration in India as of now. This version of the handset is priced at ₹11,499 but it is currently on sale for a discounted price tag of ₹10,999.
We are not sure if it will be available in the other two storage configurations (4GB + 128 and 6GB + 128GB). Also, the new color variant is only listed on Mi.com just like the Scarlet Red version, which is no longer sold on Amazon India.
Recent reports have revealed that Redmi will launch the new Redmi Note series this month in China. While early rumors had dubbed it as Redmi Note 10, recent reports have claimed that it will be called Redmi Note 9. It is speculated that the 3C certified M2007J17C and M2007J22C Xiaomi phones could be arriving as Standard and High versions of the Redmi Note 9. The entire specs and images of both phones have now been revealed through their TENAA listings.
Redmi Note 9 5G specifications
The Redmi Note 9 5G (M2007J22C) measures 161.96 x 77.25 x 9.2mm and it weighs 200 grams. The device features a 6.53-inch IPS LCD FHD+ screen with a top-left corner punch-hole design and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The device houses a 4,900mAh battery (5,000mAh typical capacity). Its 3C certification revealed that it may ship with a 22.5W fast charger. The phone is loaded with Android 10 OS.
The Redmi Note 9 5G is fueled by Dimensity 800U, which is mentioned with its 2.4GHzz clocking speed at TENAA. The handset will come with 4 GB / 6 GB / 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB / 128 GB / 256 GB of storage. It has a round-shaped camera module that has a 48-megapixel triple camera system and it has a selfie camera of 13-megapixel.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G (or High Version) has 165.4 x 76.9 x 9mm and it weighs 214.5 grams. It is fitted with a 6.67-inch IPS LCD display that has a top-center selfie camera cutout. It also supports FHD+ resolution, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and up to 120Hz refresh rate. It draws power from a 4,720mAh rated battery (4,820mAh typical size). It was revealed through 3C listing that it may come with a 33W charger.
A 2.2GHz octa-core processor powers the Note 9 Pro 5G. Since it is a rebranded Mi 10T Lite with some tweaks, it could be powered by the Snapdragon 750G.TENAA reveals that the phone may arrive in 6 GB, 8 GB, and 12 GB RAM variants and 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB storage editions in the homeland. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel front camera.
Both phones are loaded with Android 10 OS, side-facing fingerprint readers, and have microSD card slots for more storage. These phones are expected to arrive in multiple colors like black, red, blue, pink, white, green, purple, and gray in China.
The ZTE Blade A7s 2020 has been in the news for the past few months. It appears that the smartphone has finally gone official as it is now listed on Amazon Germany. The smartphone comes with a waterdrop notch display, 16-megapixel triple cameras, a large-sized battery, and a Unisoc processor.
ZTE Blade A7s 2020 specifications and features
The ZTE Blade A7s 2020 features a 6.49-inch TFT display that offers an HD+ resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels. The handset is fueled by the Unisoc SC9863Av processor that includes a 1.6Hz octa-core processor. The SoC is coupled with 3 GB of RAM.
The Blade A7s 2020 is preinstalled with Android 10 OS. It comes with an internal storage of 64 GB and a hybrid SIM card slot for adding a microSD card. The device is backed by a 4,000mAh battery with 10W charging support.
The handset has a selfie camera of 8-megapixel. Its backside is fitted with a triple camera system that includes a 16-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens with 120-degree FOV, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Other features of the device include dual SIM support, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C, GPS, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. It measures 164.7 x 77.4 x 8.2mm and weighs 179 grams.
The ZTE Blade A7s 2020 price and availability
The ZTE Blade A7s 2020 has arrived in two colors such as Ocean Blue and Star Black in Germany. On Amazon Germany, it is listed only in Black color with a price tag of 149 euros (~$176). It is unclear which other markets will be receiving the Blade A7s 2020.
Apple launched the iPhone 12 series later than in previous years as a result of the global pandemic. The American tech giant is said to be facing supply chain issues for the new iPhones. Hence, the company is reported to have ordered more than 20 million units of older and cheaper iPhones.
According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Apple has asked its suppliers to prepare for more than 20 million iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone SE 2020 units from October till the end of the year. Because the company expects sales growth in the holiday season but it does not enough stock of the newer iPhone 12 series.
Another report by Bloomberg tells that Apple is facing a shortage of power management chips for the iPhone 12 series. This could be potentially the primary reason why the company is readying older models to fill the gap.
As per executive-level sources, the demand for iPhone 11 is still strong. Hence, Apple has ordered close to 10 million units each for iPhone 11 and iPhone SE 2020 respectively.
The figures for iPhone XR are unknown but since the company is reported to have ordered only more than 20 million total units, the orders for XR should be much lower than the other two phones.
Yesterday, it was reported that the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) allowed WhatsApp to begin its payment service in India using the multibank Unified Payment Interface (UPI) base. Today, WhatsApp released an official confirmation that its payment service is now rolling out to its users in India.
WhatsApp had been testing its payments service in India by making it available for limited users over the past 2 years. While the Indian payment market has plenty of popular services such as the homegrown Paytm, Google Pay, Phone Pe, Amazon Pay, and more, WhatsApp stands to rival the biggies with its 400 million user base in India.
WhatsApp has teamed up with well-known banks like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank to start its payment solution in India. In the beginning, it will be available for only 2 million users in the country. This could be in line with NCPI’s recent statement that does not allow third-party apps to process more than 30 percent of UP transactions in a month. This rule is expected to come into effect in January 2021.
How to activate WhatsApp Pay and carry out transactions
Users need to access Payments > Add Payment through the three-dotted available in the upper-right corner of WhatsApp’s interface. Users need to select a bank from the list of bank names that appear. The selected bank should be the one that is linked with the phone number of the user. Next, the app will ask the user to send a verification SMS. Once the verification process is over, the app will instruct the user to complete setting up the payment service.
The Payments page of WhatsApp will now show the registered bank of the user. The screen will show other details like UPI address, QR code, and payment history.
In order to initiate a transaction, users need to select the desired contact from the chat list and hit the attachment button. After selecting Payment, users can either select Send or Receive to carry out a transaction. To complete a transaction, users will be required to enter the UPI PIN. The other way to send money is to hit the three-dotted button on the main screen > Payments > New Payment.
Apple’s newly launched iPhone 12 series have become the hot-selling devices in the market. Given the increased demand for smartphones, the company has reportedly increased production orders by 2 million.
But, as per the report from Bloomberg, the company is also facing a supply chain problem. It indicates that Apple is struggling with a shortage of necessary chips for power consumption management on the iPhone.
The report further adds that because of this shortage of power chips, the company may not be able to meet the demand for the iPhone 12 models. But it is not yet clear how much impact this will have in terms of sales in this quarter.
It is believed that the reason behind the shortage is the supply chain disruption because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, as revealed by TSMC, 5G smartphones require around 30-40% more chip content than 4G, further complicating the process.
The Cupertino-based tech giant sources power management chips from multiple companies. For the iPhone 12 Pro, it uses components from Texas Instruments for controlling power to the camera module and a similar chip from STMicroelectronics NV and Qualcomm for the 5G modem.
An estimate released by Cinda Securities projects that the demand for the iPhone 12 series will likely reach 80-85 million units. It is also estimated that Apple will likely ship around 230-240 million units of the iPhone 12 models in 2021. If this happens, the iPhone 12 series will emerge as the US company’s best-selling phones ever. Currently, that record is held by the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with an estimated shipment of 224 million units.
Earlier this week, Xiaomi officially discontinued the Mi 10 Pro in China. Now, a few days later, even the standard Mi 10 is no longer in stock across multiple retail partners in the country. Currently, the company is only selling the base 8GB + 128GB variant on its official website.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Twilight Grey
Xiaomi launched the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro in February as its flagship smartphones for the first half of 2020 in China. Then, in August, the company unveiled Mi 10 Ultra as the flagship product for the second half of the year on the occasion of its 10th anniversary.
Since the Mi 10 Ultra is a better deal than the Mi 10 Pro at around the same price, the smartphone maker stopped restocking the latter device. And eventually, it even discontinued it a few days back by removing it from its official website.
Now, similarly, the mid (8GB + 256GB) and the high-end (12GB + 256GB) variants of the regular Mi 10 are no longer in stock across all the official retailers, including JD (Jingdong) and Xiaomi Youpin. However, interested customers can still buy the base 8GB +128GB variant in Twilight Grey from Mi.com. This version of the device currently sells for 3,499 yuan ($529).
We are not sure why Xiaomi has decided not to re-stock the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. The only possible reason we could think of is that the Mi 10 Ultra offers a better value and there are a couple of Snapdragon 865-equipped phones from Redmi at a cheaper price (Redmi K30 Pro and Redmi K30S Ultra).
Another possible reason is that Xiaomi could be readying to manufacture the Mi 11 series, which is reported to be the first Chinese smartphones to launch with Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 either at the end of January or in February.
Huawei recently launched its much-awaited Mate 40 series flagship smartphones in the marketing, which has seen a good response, especially for a company that is currently working out strategies to stay afloat.
Since the Chinese giant is facing several issues related to supply chain and production, it is struggling to meet the demand for the Huawei Mate 40 series smartphones. While the devices are currently out-of-stock, the company says they will soon be restocked.
However, the demand for Mate 40 Pro is quite high and the company may not be able to keep a steady flow of units in the market. This is mainly because of the chipset as the phone is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 9000 SoC.
Because of the sanctions imposed by the United States, Huawei cannot manufacture new Kirin 9000 chipsets. This means that the company has limited units of the chipsets available and once Huawei runs out of them, it won’t be able to make or procure more chipsets, halting the manufacturing of Mate 40 Pro and Pro Plus models.
The Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 9000 is an octa-core processor which comes with 24 core Mali-G78 GPU, alongside two Big and one Tiny core NPU. It also houses Huawei’s most advanced ISP technology to date.
It seems that until the company gets permission to manufacture chipsets or procure them from companies like Qualcomm, Samsung, or MediaTek, there won’t be Mate40 Pro or Pro Plus models in the market once the existing stock gets sold.
However, the United States is granting licenses to companies to continue doing business with Hauwei as long as the components are not used for the 5G business. Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek have also applied for a license, and if granted, we could see new flagship smartphones from the Chinese giant.
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