A tweet by the official MIUI account today announced that Android 11 Beta 1 will be available for the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. Shortly afterward, the POCO global Twitter account also announced that the POCO F2 Pro will get Android 11 Beta 1 too. Of course, it will arrive with MIUI on both devices but we can’t say if it will be based on MIUI 11 or the new MIUI 12
Unlike OPPO that promised this month, Xiaomi and POCO didn’t say when users should expect it. Also, seeing as the POCO F2 Pro will be getting Android 11 Beta 1, we expect the Redmi K30 Pro should get it too.
There are still a number of manufacturers we expect to make their own announcements such as OnePlus and Vivo. We hope they do so before the end of the week.
Do you own any of the phones above? Will you give Android 11 beta a spin when it becomes available for your device? Let us know in the comment box.
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi officially took the wraps off the much-anticipated Mi Band 5 in China earlier today (June 11). The Mi Band 5 is the successor to the popular Mi Band 4 which raked in a lot of sales for the tech giant.
As an upgrade, you may like to know all the new features that the new smart wearable brings with it. Here is a Xiaomi Mi Band 5 vs Mi Band 4 comparison table which outlines all the differences between both smart bands and the new features onboard the Mi Band 5.
The most conspicuous difference between the Mi Band 5 and Mi Band 4 is the display size. The new fitness band sports a bigger 1.1-inch AMOLED dynamic color display as against 0.95-inch AMOLED screen on the Band 4. The number of exercise modes is also upgraded from just 6 on the Band 4 to 11 on the Mi Band 5. The new additional models include cycling, jump rope, yoga, elliptical and rowing machine.
The Mi Band 5 also comes with over 100 theme sets while on the previous model there is an equally impressive 77 sets of themes. Both smart bands share the same ATM5 water resistance which means they can withstand being kept underwater up to a depth of 50m.
Sadly, the standard Mi Band 5 version doesn’t support NFC. Just like the Mi Band 4, there is an NFC version which costs more than the standard version. The NFC version retains the same attributes as the Mi Band 4 NFC but it now gets support for UnionPay payment in addition to the others. There were rumours of the global variant coming with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Pay. We’ll have to wait for the global launch event to find out about that.
For the new features, the Mi Band 5 comes with pressure assessment, breathing training, PAI index (Personal Activity Intelligence), women’s health tracking and remote shutter control. These features are all absent on the Mi Band 4 and are tailored towards improving our health and lifestyle. In addition, the new wrist band now supports 24-hour sleep monitoring and REM (Rapid eye movements) detection.
Xiaomi’s Mi Band 4
Finally, the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 utilises a new magnetic snap-on charger as against the problematic charging dock that was used on the Mi Band 4.
The Mi Band 5, which will likely launch as Mi Smart Band 5 outside China, will be available at 189 yuan (~$27) while the NFC version retails for 229 yuan (~$32). It will go on sale in China on June 18, 2020.
Light is the company behind the penta-camera setup on Nokia 9 PureView. The firm came into the spotlight when it launched its L16 camera in 2015. It entered the smartphone segment during the development of HMD Global’s 2019 flagship. Now, in 2020, Light has revealed Android Authority that it has quit this industry.
The camera tech firm’s L16 camera was not much of success just like the Nokia 9 PureView. But soon after the launch of the handset, Light announced a separate partnership with Xiaomi and Sony respectively.
With Xiaomi, it was supposed to develop camera tech for smartphones. Whereas with Sony, it had plans to work with its mobile camera sensors.
But now, as the company has announced to exit the smartphone industry, it is not sure if the above-mentioned partnerships will be continued. Light is yet to give an official statement on the same.
Light had great ambitions for smartphones but its execution was not good enough and thus received poor reviews from media as well as end-users. In fact, the Finnish phone brand has still not released a successor to its last flagship smartphone.
Xiaomi announced the Mi Band 5 earlier today and it is its best smartband it has made, at least based on its specs and design. With a price tag of ¥189/~$27 (¥229/~$32 for the NFC version), it is also pretty affordable. However, if your budget is a bit lower, you can grab the Mi Band 4 which has now received an official price cut.
Starting today, the Mi Band 4 standard edition will sell for ¥149 (~$21) while the NFC version will sell for ¥179 (~$25). Both used to sell for ¥169 (~$24) and ¥229 (~$32) respectively. Of course, these are the official prices, so third-party sellers may not cut down theirs immediately.
The Mi Band 4 is still a good buy if you want an inexpensive fitness tracker. It has a 0.95-inch AMOLED display with a 240 x 120 resolution. The screen is covered with 2.5D glass and there are dozens of watch faces to choose from. The band is water-resistant up to 50 meters, has a heart rate sensor and supports 6 sports modes.
Other features include notification alerts, sedentary reminders, music playback control, and the ability to unlock your Windows computer. You can read our review to know how well it works.
Nokia is bringing a new feature phone in India. The Nokia 5310 from HMD Global will be launched on 16th June 2020, with the announcement being made through the company’s official Twitter handle.
The mobile phone is a refreshed version of the classic Nokia 5130 Xpress Music. In other words, the model had previously launched back in 2007. It features a multi color design and a physical playback button on the side. The device features all the functions from the classic model and arrives in three color variants, including White/ Red, and Black/ Red.
The Nokia 5310 sports a 2.4 inch QVGA colored display, with a twin front facing speaker system. It runs Nokia Series 30+ software and also includes the typical physical keypad. The phone is powered by a MediaTek MT6260A SoC and houses 8MB of RAM, with an internal storage of 16MB, which can expanded to up to 32GB via a microSD card.
On the rear, the Nokia 5310 houses a single VGA camera with a flash. Under the hood, a 1,200mAh battery pack can be found, which offers an impressive standby time of up to 30 days. Similar to its predecessor, it has an MP3 player, and FM Radio functionality is also present in the device. Nokia used to be a dominating figure during the reign of feature phones, and this device is another throwback to those times.
The Oppo Reno Ace launched last year was the first in the series, which was spun-off into a separate series by removing the Reno branding in April with the launch of Ace 2. Now, this handset is on sale on Jingdong (JD.com) with 700 Yuan ($99) discount on all the storage variants for a limited time. That means people in China can grab the original Oppo Ace for as low as 1,999 Yuan ($283).
The new limited-time deal on Oppo Reno Ace on the occasion of 618 sales is valid from June 11 till 13. During these 3 days, interested individuals can buy the 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 256GB storage variant of the device for 1,999 Yuan ($283), 2,199 Yuan ($311), and 2,499 Yuan ($353) respectively.
Oppo Reno Ace is marketed as a gaming smartphone with 6.5-inch 90Hz AMOLED display and 65W fast charging. The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus paired with up to 12GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 internal storage.
It features a quad-camera setup that includes a 48MP primary sensor, a 13MP telephoto shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide snapper, and a 2MP monochrome sensor. As for selfies, there is a 16MP camera housed in the dew-drop notch at the front.
The handset nails all the basics with 4G, WiFi, GPS, NFC, 3.5mm headphone jack, dual stereo speakers, USB Type-C, in-display fingerprint sensor, 4,000 mAh battery, and 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging.
Huawei is apparently struggling with its process to shift crucial parts of its production to China. According to a new report, a few of its suppliers are reluctant to shift operations, especially with uncertainty clouding the semiconductor industry.
The Chinese tech giant has been actively working to get more of its supply chains into China. This arrives after the company faces increasing scrutiny from the US government, which recently cut off its smartphones’ chip supply from TSMC. The shift would, therefore, ease its process of sourcing and help keep US pressure away, although, the same idea might not be welcomed by a few of its key suppliers.
At the moment, one of the most important supply aspect Huawei is focusing on is its chip supply, with the chip packaging and testing being the last step in manufacturing semiconductor components. In other words, the company wanted its chip suppliers to shift the base of operations to China to avoid future US sanctions against it. Furthermore, Huawei is also bringing on board second tier domestic suppliers to boost localization efforts to develop the semiconductor industry in China.
Notably, the company is only accepting new suppliers if their production sites are in China. Unfortunately, this shift may be easier said than done due to various key factors. The Coronavirus pandemic is one such important reason, since avoiding bold moves at this point, and building a strong base is a safer move for suppliers. Similarly, the shift may also involve certain geopolitical risks as well.
According to a source, “the global pandemic which already hit demand as well as the U.S. strong hostility against Huawei have weakened suppliers’ incentive to swiftly address the Chinese company’s push.” Additionally, “there are suppliers who also need to address their U.S. semiconductor clients’ requests to produce outside of China over security reasons, so they chose not to expand their Chinese capacity.” So, while the move would be beneficial for Huawei, the process is complex and could negatively impact the suppliers.
Earlier today (11th June 2020), LG Display announced that it plans on developing stretchable displays by 2023. So, we can expect to see the new technology to soon become a reality within the next few years.
The South Korean tech giant made the announcement after it was tasked to develop the futuristic technology for a national R&D project. This project will be a cooperative effort with over 20 companies, institutions, and universities. The goal for LG Display is to develop a display product that can be stretched by up to 20 percent. In other words, we may soon see more robust displays that can be stretched and folded in the near future.
This technology also has great potential in terms of its possible application. It could be seen in small consumer electronics gadgets like smartphones, or even in commercial spheres in billboards. A notable example of its use was within an aircraft cabin display for the passengers.
Foldable or flexible panels are already a reality, despite sounding far fetched quite recently. This is indicative of the technological advancements and immense innovation within different fields. Display technology is all around us and plays an integral part in our digital world. So let us know about the interesting ways you think this technology could impact our lives in the comments section down below.
Huawei launched its P40 series of flagship smartphones in March this year in China and started selling the P40 Pro+ model last week. Now, the company is all set to bring the smartphone to the European market on 25th June.
The Chinese giant has announced that the Huawei P40 Pro+ will be available for purchase in the UK as well as Europe from 25th June. As for the pricing, the device is priced at £1,299 in the UK and €1,399 in the European market.
Huawei P40 Pro Plus comes with a 6.58-inch 19.8:9 aspect ratio display with 2640 x 1200 pixels screen resolution and 441 PPI and a 90Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, the device is powered by the flagship Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G processor, coupled with 8GB of RAM.
In the camera department, the phone features a 40MP f/1.8 Ultra Wide Cine Lens, an upgraded 50MP RYYB f/1.9 sensor with OIS, an 8MP f/2.4 Optical Super Periscope Telephoto camera, an 8MP f/2.4 Optical Periscope camera with OIS, and ToF depth sensor.
It is capable of capturing 10x optical zoom, 20x Hybrid zoom, and up to 100x digital zoom. On the front side, the device is equipped with a dual 32MP selfie shooter and an IR depth sensor, capable of capturing 4K selfie videos.
The smartphone comes with Wi-Fi 6 Plus support with transfer speeds up to 2600Mbps. It runs the latest EMUI 10.1 user interface out-of-the-box, based on Android 10 operating system. Instead of Google services, the device comes with the company’s own Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and its own AppGallery App Store.
The Huawei P40 Pro+ is powered by a decent 4,200mAh battery and comes with support for 40W fast charging technology. It also comes with the world’s fastest 40W wireless charging support as well as reverse wireless charging.
Samsung is raining budget smartphones this year and it is a good move given the current situation. Last year, the brand discontinued Galaxy J series and replaced it with new Galaxy M and revamped Galaxy A series. The former is priced aggressively as it is mostly available exclusively online. Now, according to Geekbench listings, the brand may soon unveil Galaxy M51, which has been under the leak radar since December 2019.
The Galaxy M series helped Samsung gain market share in the Indian online smartphone market, which is primarily dominated by Xiaomi. This series has been doing well with a better price to performance ratio than previous devices from the brand.
Unfortunately, the recently launched Galaxy M11 is the most underwhelming handset in the series till date. But the company could uplift its image with the upcoming Galaxy M51 as the specs seem interesting, at least on paper.
The handset was benchmarked multiple times on Geekbench. In the test, we attached above, the Galaxy M51 scores 546 and 1784 points for single-core and multi-core respectively.
According to the listing, the phone will come with model number SM-M515F and will run Android 10. The motherboard mentioned is sm6150, which is the port number of Qualcomm Snapdragon 675. Lastly, it will feature 8GB RAM.
As per the previous leak, the phone will sport a quad-camera setup consisting of 64MP ISOCELL Bright GW1 primary sensor. It will also have a 128GB variant and is expected to launch in late June or early July.
The Xiaomi Youpin platform has just launched a new HIMO K1 series bike helmet. The product was launched earlier today (11th June 2020) and features an ABS hardshell body and a windshield protective cover as well.
According to WHO (World Health Organization), a simple helmet can reduce the risk of fatal injuries by 42 percent and head injuries alone by 69 percent. With E-bikes becoming more popular in China, the helmets have become increasingly crucial for a safer commute. The government has also enforced strict regulations for their use, so this might be a viable option if you’re looking for a new helmet.
The HIMO helmet is currently being crowdfunded on the Xiaomi Youpin platform and is offered in two variants, namely HIMO K1 and HIMO K1M. The former is priced at 99 Yuan while the latter is priced at 109 Yuan (roughly 14 and 16 US Dollars respectively). Both helmets have an outer layer made from ABS hardshell material, with inner linings made from imported EPS buffer materials that act as a sponge.
The only difference between the two models is that the more expensive K1M variant has a windshield protector on the front. This allows users to have a better and uninterrupted vision when riding their bikes. In other words, it offers a clear vision which can be crucial when one is on the road. This shield is also wear resistant and made from PC materials.
Xiaomi, the popular smartphone vendor, has just launched the second iteration of its Metal Carry-on Luggage 2 suitcase. The latest model also features the same aluminium-magnesium alloy as its predecessors. In other words, the material used is strong and light and is priced at 999 Yuan (roughly 141 US Dollars).
The successor of the original Xiaomi Metal Carry-on Luggage suitcase arrives nearly three years after the original, with 110 parts that have been carefully polished. Its external design resembles the original. The primary color follows a silver primary color with horizontal stripes on the body, which has rounded corners. This suitcase will launch on 15th June 2020, so, unfortunately, its finer details are currently unknown.
However, a few educated guesses can be made by looking at the original metal suitcase, which featured a strong and impact resistant body. It sported 4 wear resistant tires as well, and a handle that rose from the back. Looking at the teaser poster image, the latest generation of the Metal Carry-on Luggage suitcase will also sport the TSA lock mechanism for added security. At the moment, we don’t have much to go on, so stay tuned for the launch.
OnePlus started off with the “Never Settle” strategy and “Flagship Killer” smartphone that offered high-end specifications at an affordable price point. With time, the company kept adding premium features to its devices and kept increasing prices of its smartphones gradually, eventually becoming a premium brand.
But, the company is now going back to its roots. And not just that, the Chinese brand is now set to expand its product offerings and wants to create its own ecosystem. The company has already launched smartphones, earphones, and smart televisions.
When talking about the ecosystem, the company isn’t limiting itself to just product offerings and price segment but is also looking to develop an ecosystem with consistent design principles and customer experience.
Navnit Nakra, VP and Chief Strategy Officer of OnePlus India, in an interview with TechPP, said that the company has now decided to expand from just the premium and super-premium devices to the premium and accessible connected ecosystem in the country.
He also revealed two parts of the strategy — one focused on the consumers who value quality and great price point and another where the customers are looking at an ecosystem experience and not just a smartphone.
In line with its new strategy, the company is now set to launch its new affordable Smart TV lineup in the Indian market on 2nd July. OnePlus has also confirmed the starting price below ₹20,000 for the upcoming TVs. The company had launched the OnePlus TV Q1 and Q1 Pro exclusively in India last year at a premium price.
Apart from the smart TV, OnePlus is also set to launch a new mid-range smartphone in the market, years after its first such device, OnePlus X. The upcoming phone from the company is speculated to be named OnePlus Nord or OnePlus Z, which was earlier leaked as OnePlus 8 Lite and is set to go official in India next month.
A couple of years ago, Huami had launched the Huangshan No. 1 chipset, which was touted to be the world’s first artificial intelligence-powered wearable chipset. Now, the Chinese giant is gearing up to launch its successor.
Huami has announced its new AI Innovation Conference on June 15th in China where the company is expected to launch the next-generation wearable chipset. As the company mentions that Huangshan No. 1 was just a small experiment, we expect the upcoming chipset to be more powerful.
At this time, nothing about the upcoming wearable chipset from Huami is known, not even its name. But given that the event is scheduled for next week, it’s not a long wait for the official announcement to take place.
Huang Wang, CEO of Huami Technology says that the company plans to be self-reliant ever since the inception and the launch of its own wearable chipsets is a step forward in that direction. This comes at a time when the Chinese companies are under extreme pressure from the Western markets after the US-China trade war.
The Huangshan No. 1 (MHS001), announced in April 2018, comes integrated with AI neural network. It features four core artificial intelligence engines — cardiac biometrics engine, ECG, ECG Pro, and Hearth Rhythm Abnormality Monitoring Engine.
At the time of launch, the company had highlighted its three characteristics — it’s AI drive, provides lightning performance, and has minimal power consumption. It has Always-On functionality and the chipset AI is claimed to be better than the traditional AI.
It supports real-time movement tracking, real-time biometric identification, real-time warning, among a huge array of functions. We expect the upcoming chipset to continue supporting such functions, along with some new technologies and features.
Xiaomi’s best selling Mi Band lineup has got a new update today: the Mi Band 5. The new wearable brings significant upgrades to the company’s smart band family, including a new magnetic charging design, a larger dynamic OLED display, and new sports modes. The band also comes with a brighter display that goes up to 450 nits, improving its visibility outdoors.
Larger Display with 100+ Animated Watchfaces
The new Mi Band 5 retains the same pill-shaped design of the Mi Band 4 and has a variety of wristband colors. You can choose the TPU wristband in eight different colors which include – graphite black, deep space blue, dynamic orange, bronze purple, vibrant yellow, light green, dark cyan, and ivory.
The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 comes with a large 1.2-inch dynamic color AMOLED display, protected by a scratch-resistant 2.5D glass on top. This marks a significant increase in its screen size (more than 20%), allowing more information to be displayed at a glance. Another highlight of the new display is the support for new dynamic animated watchfaces. You get over 100 new animated watchfaces and there are some special ones based on characters from popular series’ like Neon Genesis Evangelion (EVA), Hatsune Miku, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Case Closed.
As mentioned above, Xiaomi has also increased the peak brightness of the Mi Band 5’s AMOLED panel, increasing it to 450 nits from 400 nits on its predecessor. You also get five levels of brightness adjustment.
Better Health Tracking
New Indoor Sports Modes
Considering the current situation across the globe where indoor / home exercises are gaining popularity, Xiaomi has added five new indoor modes for the newly launched Mi Band 5. This includes indoor machine and floor exercises like rowing machine, elliptical machine, skipping rope, yoga, and indoor cycling /spinning. This combined with the already available six exercise modes like swimming, walking, cycling, etc gives you a total of 11 specific tailor-made sports modes on the new wearable.
More Accurate Heart Rate and Sleep Tracking
The Mi Band 5 comes with a photoplethysmogram (PPG) biosensor for accurate 24 x 7 heart rate monitoring. Xiaomi claims that the new wearable increases the accuracy of irregular heart rate monitoring by up to 50%. Sleep tracking also gets an upgrade and its accuracy has gone up by 40%. It can also show you how many hours of REM sleep you’ve had every night, in addition to deep and light sleep.
Xiaomi Mi Band 5, for the first time, will also calculate your Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) score. PAI is calculated by monitoring your heart rate and gives you a fair idea of your physical activity every week. A PAI score of 100 or more in a week indicates that you have an active lifestyle.
Magnetic Charging solves the biggest Pain Point of its Predecessors
Each generation of the Mi Band has had at least 2 weeks of battery life. But charging the device was a painful process – you had to manually remove the device from the wristband and place it in the charging cradle. Plus, there were a lot of complaints regarding the charger’s design.
The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 finally solves this pain point by using a magnetic charger. The charger easily connects to the two charging pins on the device, so you no longer have to remove it from the wristband.
The new Mi Band comes with 14-day battery life, so you just have to do it once every two weeks. It’s also waterproof up to 50 meters – just like its predecessor.
Xiaomi Mi Band 5 Pricing & Availability
The Mi Band 5 comes in two variants – NFC and non-NFC. The NFC variant is slightly more expensive at 229 yuan (~$32) but the non-NFC variant is priced at just 189 yuan (~$27).
The Mi Band 5 will go on sale on June 18 at 10 AM in China.
Honestly, the new Mi Band 5 raises the bar for smartbands this year. With a larger display and better health tracking, you get a lot of features for its sub-$30 pricing!
Last year, there was a competition between Huawei and Samsung about who would be the first among them to launch a smartphone with a foldable display. Soon after Samsung Galaxy Fold was announced, Huawei announced its Mate X.
Now, the same type of competition is for under-display camera technology. Several companies are working on the tech and the likes of OPPO and Xiaomi have already showcased their prototype.
But, as per the reports coming from China, Huawei could be the first smartphone company to launch a device having an in-display camera sensor. Not just that, it seems that the Chinese giant could also monopolize the market.
Visionox, which is known for supplying display panels to smartphone makers, recently announced that it is ready for the mass production of its under-screen camera display and showcased a video of the same.
If the reports are to be believed, then it looks like Huawei is trying to get its hands on the panels exclusively for its devices. Also, the Honor Magic series is expected to be the first to adopt the new under-display camera technology this year.
Apparently, other smartphone manufacturers are not expected to launch their flagship smartphones with under-display front-facing camera sensors as the technology is not yet ready for this, at least that’s what the executives from Meizu and OPPO claim.
While Visionox will be providing the hardware part for the in-screen camera technology, there’s still another important part for it to work — software. The company is reportedly working with phone makers for a special algorithm that will handle glare, brightness, and eliminate the fogging effect.
It will be interesting to see the implementation of the under-display camera technology and see where this new tech leads the smartphone market. Soon after the launch of a Huawei smartphone with an in-screen camera, we expect other brands to follow the suit.
Xiaomi has just launched its first laptop series in India. The Mi Notebook lineup, which was previously rumored to be a rebranded RedmiBook, is a standalone series with distinct features that arrive with an aggressive pricing strategy the Chinese tech giant is known for.
Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition
The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition is the company’s entry into the popular light and portable ultrabook category. With work from home becoming a new norm in India’s professional sectors, Xiaomi has launched the product that will specifically cater to the large demand of portable personal computers. In other words, the new laptop boasts decent multitasking capabilities through its impressive specs within its thin and light form factor.
The Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition is built to be premium, with a compact and metallic design. It is light, weighing just 1.35 kilograms and has been made with ease of carrying in mind. As the name suggests, it sports a 14 inch FHD Horizon display, that has thin bezels on the sides and a high 91 percent screen to body ratio. The Mi Notebook features a scissor switch keyboard, stereo speakers, USB 3 ports and a multi touch trackpad.
Its display arrives with an anti glare coating for ease in use during night time and the laptop arrives in two variants. The higher end Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition features Intel’s Core i7 10th Gen processor, while the more affordable variant features the Core i5 10th Gen processor. According to Xiaomi, the laptop can last up to 10 hours on battery and the 65W charger can charge the device from 0 to 50 percent in just 35 minutes.
The latter houses a 512GB of SATA SSD storage and 8GB of RAM, while the premium version has a 512GB PCI Express Gen 3 NVMe SSD and 8GB of RAM as well. Impressively, both variants will also sport NVIDIA’s GeForce MX350 mobile graphics card, which will offer impressive gaming in the lightweight laptop. The laptops run on Windows 10 OS and come with one month free trial of Microsoft Office 365.
Mi Notebook 14
The base Mi Notebook is a more affordable laptop offering from Xiaomi. This version also sports the 14 inch Horizon display, with FHD resolution and a high 91 percent screen to body ratio. It arrives in three different models with the base version having 256GB of SATA SSD storage. The higher priced models include a 512GB SATA SSD storage variant. Both of these variants feature Intel’s UHD integrated graphics, while the entire lineup sports Intel’s 10th gen Core i5 processor.
The most premium version of the base Mi Notebook 14 includes 512GB SATA SSD storage along with an NVIDIA MX250 mobile graphics processor, which should offer decent gaming performance as well. All variants feature 8GB of RAM and also sport a Mi Webcam HD. Similar to the Horizon Edition, the base model also features a multi touch trackpad, scissor switch keyboard, and same ports like an HDMI and USB 3 port.
Pricing and Availability
Xiaomi has unveiled the pricing for its entire laptop lineup. The base Mi Notebook 14’s inaugural prices till 16th July 2020 are:
Mi Notebook 14 inch (256GB SATA SSD version) – 41,999 INR (roughly $554)
Mi Notebook 14 inch (512GB SATA SSD version) – 44,999 INR (roughly $593)
Mi Notebook 14 inch (512GB SATA SSD + NVIDIA MX250 GPU) – 47,999 INR (roughly $633)
For the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition:
Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition (512GB SATA SSD version) – 54,999 (roughly $725)
Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition (512GB PCI Express Gen 3 NVMe SSD version) – 59,999 (roughly $791)
The entire lineup will go on sale on 17th June 2020 and will be available through online retailers like Amazon, or the company’s official Mi.com website.
The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted various economies and industries. The smartphone business is no exception with OEMs struggling to restart production in many parts of the globe, especially in India. Now, Xiaomi and Oppo are starting to import smartphones from their home country of China to meet the market demands as their Indian factories are still struggling to resume operations.
For those unaware, the Indian government had imposed a nationwide lockdown two months prior, which even saw factories being shut down due to the ongoing crisis. However, unlike with the case of China, smartphone vendors have been struggling with the resumption of operations in the region, with various resumed production sites being sites of confirmed COVID-19 infections, thus causing another closure.
Two of the most popular brands in the Indian market, Xiaomi and Oppo are also suffering from this issue. The latter’s plant in Great Noida also closed down last month, only to recently open but with a 30 percent capacity. Similarly, other vendors like OnePlus and Realme are also considering importing as an option during this time. Although, this move would have the companies facing a 22 percent import duty, which will inevitably raise their handset offerings’ prices.
Xiaomi India officials have recently stated that the company is currently at a 40-45 percent production capacity, with Vivo being at a similar level. Notably, the Chinese tech giant has already raised the cost of a few of its affordable low end smartphones in the market, and this trend could soon be reflected in its other offerings as well. Although, we will have to wait and see as to how the situation plays out in the near future as the Indian government is slowly easing its restrictions within the country.
Xiaomi announced MIUI 12 at the end of April in China. A separate global event was later held in mid-May. A few days back, the company rolled out a stable beta update to Mi 9 series and Redmi K20/Mi 9T series globally. Now, according to Chang Cheng, VP of Xiaomi, the stable update is also available for Mi 10/Mi 10 Pro, however, only in China.
MIUI 12 marks the 10th anniversary of MIUI as well as Xiaomi’s existence. It brings overhauled design focussed on privacy. To know more about it, do check our launch coverage.
Having said that, MIUI 12 stable update for Mi 10/Mi 10 Pro in Cina weighs only 820MB and comes with build number MIUI 12.0.1.0. Being the flagship product from the brand, it gets all the features that were announced including animated AOD+, Super Wallpapers, partial screenshot, new MIUI camera app, and more.
Anyway, we are not sure if it is really a stable build or a stable beta release that requires beta authorized Mi account. Either way, the rollout for global units is yet to be announced by Xiaomi.
But if you are a power user and have an unlocked bootloader, you can install MIUI 12 China Stable ROM on your global Mi 10/Mi 10 Pro via custom recoveries like TWRP. Unfortunately, we don’t have access to the download link yet.
The Huawei Mate 40 series arriving in the second half of the year is said to be powered by a new flagship chipset. Early rumors had dubbed it as Kirin 1020, but recent reports have claimed that it could be arriving as Kirin 1000. It was reported in the previous month that the latest sanctions by the U.S. Commerce Department will not affect orders that have been already placed by Huawei. Hence, the 5nm Kirin chipset that is rumored to power the Mate 40 is said to be on its track. Fresh information shared by an industry expert from China states that the Kirin 1000 powered Mate 40 series will debut in October.
Last year, Huawei launched the Kirin 990 5G chipset in September, and it announced the Mate 30 series later in the same month. According to the tipster, the Huawei Mate 40 is scheduled to go official in October featuring the all-new 5nm flagship chip. The tipster added that the company is expected to ship around 8 million Mate 40 units by the last quarter of this year.
Rumors surrounding the Kirin 1000 have revealed that it has a “Baltimore” codename. The 5nm SoC is being built by TSMC. It could be equipped with a Cortex-A78 CPU. The SoC may go official in September.
International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had revealed in April that the Mate 40 will be equipped with free-form lens design. Huawei will patent the design to ensure that it remains available exclusively on its devices. There is no word on the specifications of the Mate 40 series.
The Chinese manufacturer is reportedly working on the Huawei P50 series that is likely to go official in Q1 in the coming year. The P50 and P50 Pro could be also driven by the 5nm Kirin 1000 SoC. The camera-centric P50 series is expected to set a new DxOMark record.
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