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Asus ROG Phone 3 expected to launch in Q3 of 2020, may feature Snapdragon 865 Plus

According to a new report, the third quarter is going to be a launch period for Asus. In Q3 of 2020, the ROG Gaming Phone 3 is expected to launch, which has also been speculated to feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 SoC series.

As it stands right now, mobile gaming is cemented as one of the fastest growing industries within the smartphone world. OEMs have started offering special gaming lineups. One of the most recognizable if the ROG (Republic of Gaming) sub brand by Asus. Although the gaming smartphone lineup from Asus is seeing impressive growth and popularity, its overall smartphone operations have been taking a hit.

ASUS ROG Phone 2 Gaming Phone
ASUS ROG Phone 2 Gaming Phone

Previous reports have estimated that the company’s smartphone business has lost about a $10 billion NT or roughly 333 million US Dollars. The losses have caused the company to go through internal restructuring. This has led to a particular press conference being held, in which the company announced two new products like the ZenPhone 7 and ROG Phone 3.

This arrives just prior to Qualcomm’s 5G conference, but both smartphones are likely to feature the chipmaker giant’s Snapdragon 865 5G SoC. However, due to the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic, the launch of these handsets have been postponed to the third quarter of 2020.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Soc
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC

Notably, this is the same time frame in which the Snapdragon 865 Plus will be launched. For those unaware, the Plus variants are merely a slightly better performing and overclocked version of the base. Hence, making it better suited for gaming. Thus, the Snapdragon 865 Plus may be the right choice for Asus ROG Phone 3.

The device will also be one of the first devices to feature the new flagship processor if it does ship with the higher clocked variant. It is still speculation on our end, but since the ROG Phone 2 feature the Snapdragon 855 Plus, the possibility is still there. So stay tuned for more updates.

 

(Via)

Alleged Honor 30 5G phone 3C certified

A new Huawei / Honor smartphone that has a model number of BMH-AN10 has received approval from the 3C authority of China. A Chinese tipster claims that it could be the Honor 30 series smartphone. The handset is expected to rival with the OnePlus 8 series smartphone that is expected to break cover in the second week of April.

The 3C certification of the BMH-AN10 smartphone reveals that it is a 5G-ready phone. The listing does not reveal any details on the specs of the phone. However, it does reveal that the phone may ship with a charger that offers a maximum charging speed of 40W. Various variants of the smartphone have already bagged approval from the Bluetooth SIG body in the recent past. The Bluetooth certification is a good hint that its arrival could be close at hand.

The Honor V30 series that debuted at the end of 2019 had OXF-XXXX model number where “OXF” referred to the “Oxford” codename of the smartphone. The Chinese media is speculating that the codenamed of the Honor 30 phone could be “Birmingham” because of which its model number is BMH-XXXX.

Reliable tipster with @Rodent950 Twitter account had claimed that the Honor 30 series will be made official in April. If this turns out to be true, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro may fierce competition from Honor 30 series that may include Honor 30 and Honor 30 Pro smartphones. There could be a mid-range Honor 30 phone to rival with the OnePlus 8 Lite phone. The Honor 30 will also be a good rival for the Redmi K30 Pro phone that will debut this month.

At present, there is no information available on the specifications of the Honor 30 series. It is likely that the Honor 30 may come with up to 90Hz refresh rate screen and it could be fueled by Kirin 990 5G chipset. Like the predecessor Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro, their successor is expected to offer stellar photography experience.

 

 

Samsung and MediaTek have made the World’s First 8K Wi-Fi 6 TV

Samsung and MediaTek have just introduced the world’s first 8K QLED TV which also supports Wi-Fi 6 standards, earlier today (9th March 2020). The Samsung 8K QLED Y20 model (Q950, Q900) supports the new Wi-Fi standard and is equipped with MediaTek’s custom Wi-Fi 6 chipset.

The TV is the latest flagship from the South Korean tech giant and is currently the only globally available Wi-Fi 6 connectivity supporting TV. In other words, the Samsung 8K QLED Y20 could potentially offer a better view of multimedia consumption through better connectivity, offering a smoother experience overall.

Samsung 8K QLED TV
Samsung 8K QLED TV

For those unaware, Wi-Fi 6 is the latest standard in the wireless fidelity area. Its improvements over previous generations offer higher transmission speeds while saving on power. In other words, the technology is essential in making 8K streaming experience a lot more seamless. Just for the large bit rate, one would require an improved receiver apart from just a fast internet, this is where Wi-Fi 6 comes in.

According to a press release from MediaTek, “Samsung is a long-standing strategic partner of MediaTek, and its consistent drive to innovate has allowed MediaTek to continue to bring industry-leading IC solutions, like our Wi-Fi 6 family to market. Samsung is driving growth of the premium smart TV segment and collaborating with them on Wi-Fi 6 and 8K is just the start of a strong global demand for advanced connectivity and Wi-Fi 6 solutions.”

MediaTek Logo

Simply put, the known chipmaker’s collaboration with the consumer electronics giant is striving to bring a new standard of media consumption. The former is known for its Wi-Fi 6 chips being found in smart TVs and routers, in which holds the number 1 market share. Thus, we can expect it to collaborate further with the latter for more such TV, for which Samsung is known for.

 

(Source)

Nubia Red Magic 5G color variants appear in official poster

On March 12, Nubia will be unveiling the Nubia Red Magic 5G smartphone. The launch event will be held at 7 PM (local time) in China. Today, the company shared a poster of the smartphone on Weibo to reveal its front and rear design.

As it can be seen, the Red Magic 5G phone will be arriving in at least two color options in the Chinese market. The first one has a red-blue colored rear whereas the other one is a black model with red accents. The phone could be also coming in other color options.

As far as the front of the phone is concerned, the Red Magic 5G phone can be seen flaunting a notch-less display. The side bezels of the phone are quite thin while the upper and lower ones are symmetrical.

Red magic 5G color variants

The Nubia Red Magic 5G phone was recently spotted on TENAA. The listing of the phone only revealed its images and a few specs. The entire specifications of the phone are yet to appear on the certification platform. The device measures 168.56 x 78 x 9.75mm and it houses a 6.65-inch display and a 4,400mAh minimum rated battery. The phone will arrive with support for 55W fast charging technology.

The Red Magic 5G phone will be fueled by the Snapdragon 865 mobile platform. The screen of the device will support up to 144Hz refresh rate. The handset may come with up to 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It could be equipped with up to 256 GB of UFS 3.0 storage.

For enhanced gaming, the Red Magic 5G could be equipped with an air-cool liquid cooling technology. The phone has a 64-megapixel triple camera setup on its back. The camera setup includes the Sony IMX686 sensor as the primary lens. Last week, the company released some camera samples to show the photography prowess of the Red Magic 5G phone. It is also expected to arrive with support for Wi-Fi 6. The company is also expected to release a transparent edition of the smartphone.

 

 

Redmi successfully puts an In Display Fingerprint scanner under an LCD screen: Lu Weibing

Earlier today (9th March 2020), Lu Weibing, Xiaomi Vice President/Redmi General Manager, announced a notable breakthrough that the company’s research and development team had achieved. The Chinese tech giant has managed to include an in display fingerprint scanner right under an LCD screen. Currently, this technology is only available in OLED displays so this news arrives as a notable advancement in this field.

Ever since the displays on the front of the smartphone grew while the bezels diminished, manufacturers had to work on innovative ways to still provide the crucial fingerprint scanner biometric security feature. Some included it in the sides while a majority took to the rear. Apple, on the other hand, went full speed ahead with facial recognition, but the Android industry had already moved on to under screen display at this point.

Redmi

Smartphones now arrived with fingerprint scanners right under the OLED panels. So, a large shift was seen in the display market with LED manufacturing pioneers like LG and Samsung seeing sizeable growth in customers while selling their LCD businesses entirely. This even led to a fall in the LCD industry. But now, the inclusion of the fingerprint scanner under an LCD screen implies that budget smartphones might now even be able to feature this technology as well.

Back in 2018, one of the biggest trends at the time was the in display fingerprint scanner, which is still a common feature in the most upper mid range and flagship smartphones. Unfortunately, due to the thin nature of the OLED panels which allowed for better light transmission, the LCD screen was overlooked in most regards. But today, the Redmi senior executive has announced the inclusion of the under screen fingerprint scanners on LCDs.

According to the Weibo post, the company achieved this by using infrared through high transmittance film materials. This greatly improved the permeation of light and allowed it to pass through the screen, allowing the fingerprint sensor to read one’s fingers. Previously, BOE had announced that it had achieved the same feat, but it is unknown if the brand also had a hand in Redmi’s success as well.

Redmi

The implications of this are huge as the LCD screen market might see a notable rise in the upcoming months or by next year. The lower mid range bracket to even budget smartphone might finally see the technology in its price ranges as well. Redmi even shared a video showcasing the technology in real life use, so you can check that out above.

 

ASUS ROG Phone II finally starts receiving Android 10 Update

Back in 2019, Asus revitalized its smartphone branch with very notable launches. This included its flagship Asus 6Z and the lucratively priced Asus ROG Phone II. Now, these premium grade smartphones are finally receiving the latest major update from Android as well, namely Android 10.

ASUS ROG Phone 2 Gaming Phone

The Asus ROG’s global Twitter account made the announcement for the major update. According to the tweet, the Android 10 update is live and should arrive on most Asus ROG Phone II units soon. Unfortunately, the tweet did not mention any specifics, like whether it arrives with a unique or new feature or security updates and more.

Previously, the Android 10 beta arrived with ZenUI 6, which had not featured any notable changes in its UI structure or format. So, a significant overhaul in the update will likely not be seen in the new update. Although the stable update should fix the numerous critical bugs that had many essential systems functions not working properly.

Asus ROG Phone 2
Asus ROG Phone 2

From what we know so far, the update should start rolling out today, 9th March 2020. The rollout for the same is expected to follow a staggered pattern, meaning some devices will receive the update prior to the vast majority. This gives the developers a cushion for day 1 fixes and also helps avoid other critical errors as well.

 

(Source)

Buy Magic-Ben MAG1 Pocket Laptop for Just $849.99 from GeekBuying [2% Off New User Coupon]

Leading device makers are coming up with compact 7-inch to 8.9-inch laptops, given that Windows OS-based pocket laptops are currently garnering huge popularity among consumers.

Magic-Ben MAG1

In an attempt to cash in on the skyrocketing popularity of compact or pocket laptops, Magic-Ben launched an  8.9-inch Windows 10 pocket laptop called the Magic-Ben MAG1 back on October 10th, 2019. Even months after hitting the store shelves, the Magic-Ben MAG1 Pocket Laptop continues to sell like hotcakes.

Considering the device’s undying demand and to make it available to those on a tight budget, Magic-Ben is now offering the MAG1 Pocket Laptop for a considerably lowered price of only $849.99 through GeekBuying. This is a 20 percent reduction in the laptop’s original asking price of $1059.99.
Magic-Ben MAG1 Mini LaptopAside from getting the discount, GeekBuying users can save more money simply by applying the 2% Off New User Coupon at the time of checking out. The noteworthy discount will be valid for the 16GB RAM+512GB Magic-Ben MAG1 Pocket Laptop Wi-Fi version.

The MAG1 Pocket Laptop sports an 8.9-inch touchscreen with a high resolution of 2560×1600 pixels, making it a great choice not only for everyday use but also for handling specialist workloads. It comes with fingerprint recognition for faster access, added security and convenience.

Moreover, the Magic-Ben MAG1 Pocket Laptop Wi-Fi version is powered by Intel Core m3-8100y Dual-Core, 1.10GHz~3.4GHz processor that offers enhanced performance, and ensures seamless advanced multitasking, gaming, and video watching experience. It is backed by a large 8100mAh capacity battery that lasts an entire day on one charge.

Magic-Ben MAG1 Mini Laptop

Furthermore, the Magic-Ben MAG1 Pocket Laptop runs the genuine Windows 10 operating system, which is integrated with the latest software updates. This black-tinted compact laptop supports Dual Band 2.4GHz / 5.0GHz WiFi, which means, you can connect to the web every time you are within range of an available wireless network.

To know more about the Magic-Ben MAG1 Pocket Laptop and to place your order, simply follow this link without wasting time. It is worth noting that the flash sale is slated to end in just 7 days.

The Gizmochina Coupons is a community that finds, reports and evaluates deals and coupons of Chinese products from online shops. Please visit it here to find more coupons to save money on mobiles and smart gadgets.

Infinix S5 Pro debuts with 6.53-inch notch-less screen, pop-up selfie camera for Rs. 9,999 (~$135)

On Friday, Infinix unveiled the Infinix S5 Pro smartphone in India as the new member of the company S5 series which includes other phones such as Infinix S5 and S5 Lite. With a price tag of Rs. 9,999 (~$135), it is the cheapest phone with pop-up selfie camera in the country. The phone also impresses with its big-sized notch-less display and its large battery.

Infinix S5 Pro price in India

The Infinix S5 Pro will be available for purchase for the first time in India on March 13 with a price tag of Rs. 9,999. The first sale will begin at 12PM (local time) on Flipkart on the said date. It can be bought in colors like Forest Green and Violet

Infinix S5 Pro specifications

The Infinix S5 Pro has a 6.53-inch notch-less IPS LCD display that bears full HD+ resolution which is overlaid with 2.5D glass. The display delivers 403ppi pixel density and 480nits of brightness. With slim bezels around the screen and a slightly thick chin, the phone promises a screen-to-body ratio of 91 percent.

The rear shell of the has a 3D glass finish. A fingerprint scanner and an LED flash assisted triple camera setup can be found on the backside of the device. It has a 48-megapixel primary lens, a 2-megapixel depth assist lens and a dedicated lens that allows the phone to capture brighter low-light shots.

Infinix S5 Pro
Infinix S5 Pro

The elevating selfie camera on the Infinix S5 Pro is of 16-megapixel. When the phone is dropped, its pop-up camera can automatically retract into its home.

The Infinix S5 Pro is driven by the MediaTek Helio P35 chipset that works at 2.34GHz. The SoC is coupled with 4 GB of RAM. The phone offers users with a native storage of 64 GB. There is a 4,000mAh battery inside the S5 Pro which lacks support for fast charging. The XOS 6.0 based Android 10 OS comes preloaded on the S5 Pro.

 

 

Motorola One Mid Geekbench listing emerge; Launch could be near

Motorola recently announced the Moto G8 smartphone. It is now part of the G8 series which includes other phones like Moto G8 Plus, Moto G8 Play and Moto G8 Power. The company is also rumored to be working on Moto G8 Power Lite. Apart from the G8 Power Lite, the Lenovo-owned company is expected to be working on two other handsets such as Motorola Edge+ flagship phone and Motorola One Mid. Plenty of details including the leaked shots of the Edge+ have surfaced in the recent reports. A recent leak had revealed the key specs of the One Mid handset. Today, the same handset has appeared on Geekbench to reveal some of its specs.

The Geekbench 4 appearance of the Motorola One Mid reveals that it scored 2534 and 6961 in the single-core and multi-core tests. Unfortunately, the Geekbench listing did not reveal the name of the processor that fuels the One Mid.

The listing states that the One Mid has a Qualcomm octa-core processor onboard that has a base frequency of 1.80GHz. The SoC is coupled with 6 GB of RAM. The smartphone is preloaded with Android 10 OS.

A previous report had revealed that the Motorola One End has a 6.53-inch screen that offers full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. After the Motorola One Hyper phone, the One Mid will be the second phone from the company to come with a pop-up selfie camera. This indicates that the One Mid will be arriving with a notch-less display.

It is speculated that the Motorola One Mid will be fueled by the Snapdragon 675 mobile platform. The leak did not reveal the RAM and storage capacity of the smartphone. The device is expected to house a 4,000mAh battery.

There is no word on the pricing of the Motorola One Mid. The Geekbench appearance of the smartphone suggests that the company could be internally testing the smartphone. Hence, it appears that its launch could be close at hand.

 

 

(source)

Sony & Samsung face new competition from S. Korea for their CMOS Image Sensor business

The world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, SK Hynix, will be strengthening its CMOS sensor business this year. This means the South Korean giant will join the likes of Sony and Samsung in the smartphone image sensor business in 2020 bringing more than four new CMOS image sensors for smartphones.

SK Hynix has rebranded its CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) business as ‘Black Pearl’. In the first half of 2020, the brand will focus on providing telephoto and wide-angle sensors for smartphones. So Black Pearl will directly take on Sony’s Exmor and Samsung’s ISOCELL image sensor brands. The company has already started shipping three new image sensors to smartphone manufacturers. The fourth image sensor will enter mass production this month.

SKHynix CIS
SK Hynix CIS
Source: SK Hynix

The company’s recent push into the CMOS image sensor business comes as a result of the increasing demand for camera sensors in smartphones. According to Strategy Analytics, the average number of cameras per smartphone increased from 2.2 in 2017 to 3.9 in 2020.

 

 

Four Black Pearl Sensors in Q1: Two Telephoto & Two Ultra-Wide

SK Hynix will be shipping out four new sensors by the end of Q1 2020, this includes two telephoto sensors and two ultra-wide-angle sensors. All four sensors feature 1.0 µm pixels and 8MP to 20MP in resolution. They are likely aimed at mid-range to upper mid-range smartphones.

Hi-1634 and Hi-2021 are the two ultra-wide-angle camera sensors with 16MP and 20MP resolutions respectively. Both sensors support quad-pixel technology to combine four pixels into one to capture brighter, clearer pictures. The other two sensors are: Hi-847 and Hi-1337 with 8MP and 13MP resolutions respectively. These two are telephoto sensors offering up to 3x optical zoom.

SK Hynix also confirmed it will launch a 0.8um 48MP camera sensor in the second half of 2020.

ISOCELL Samsung
Samsung’s ISOCELL CIS brand ranks second after Sony

With another significant player in the market, the image sensor industry will be a lot more interesting in 2020. Unfortunately, we don’t know which brands are going to use the new Black Pearl image sensors. With the sensors already shipping to customers, hopefully, we’ll get more details very soon.

 

 

Xiaomi Mi TV 5 Pro 75-inch edition will go on sale on March 13 in China

In November 2019, Xiaomi had introduced the 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch Xiaomi Mi TV 5 models. On the same day, their Pro variants were also made official. While the 55-inch and 65-inch Mi TV 5 Pro and non-Pro models have been on sale in China, the company did not release the 75-inch Pro and non-Pro models in the market. Xiaomi today confirmed that the 75-inch Mi TV 5 and its Pro sibling will be made available for purchase for the first time from March 13 in China.

The above poster confirms that the 75-inch Xiaomi Mi TV 5 Pro and non-Pro edition will go on sale this Friday in the home market. The 75-inch Xiaomi Mi TV 5 is priced at 7,999 Yuan (~$1,153) and the 75-inch Mi TV 5 Pro costs 9,999 Yuan (~$1,440).

Xiaomi Mi TV 5 Pro 75-inch March 13 sale

The Xiaomi Mi TV Pro 75-inch edition features a 4K quantum dot screen with support for 106 percent NTSC color gamut. It can playback 8K content. The HDR10+ complaint is equipped with a MEMC chip and it has 4 GB of RAM and 65 GB of storage. The Pro model promises a screen-to-body ratio of 97 percent and it comes with a metal body that has a thickness of only 10.9mm.

The 12nm processor powers the Mi TV 5 Pro 75-inch model and it is equipped with far-field voice recognition along with support for Xiao AI voice assistant. The big TV can as a smart home control center and it features an AI driven PatchWall interface.

The 75-inch models will sell alongside the 55-inch and 65-inch Pro and non-Pro Xiaomi Mi TV 5 models. The 55-inch Mi TV 5 was introduced with a price tag of 2,999 Yuan (~$432) while its Pro version had a price tag of 3,699 Yuan (~$533) at launch. The 65-inch was made official with 3,999 Yuan (~$576) pricing and its 65-inch Mi TV 5 Pro costed 4,999 Yuan (~$720) at launch.

 

 

Chuwi Hi10X Tablet PC is now Available for a Lowered Price of Just $229.99 on Gearbest

Chuwi kicked off the New Year with a bang by taking the wraps off several new devices. The tech company listed a new tablet PC dubbed the Chuwi Hi10 X on their updated website earlier this year.

Chuwi Hi10X Tablet PC

Touted as the latest entrant in the Hi10 tablet series, the Chuwi Hi10 X tablet PC has been integrated with upgraded hardware, matching the latest standards. Much to the delight of those planning to get their hands on the Hi10X, the newfangled tablet PC is currently up for grabs carrying a reduced price tag through Gearbest.

Equipped with 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB eMMC SSD storage capacity, the Chuwi Hi10X would normally set you back $308.25; however, if you purchase the tablet PC from Gearbest, you’d receive a noteworthy 25 percent off. In short, the popular Chinese e-tailer is giving you a chance to buy the coveted tablet PC for a lowered price of just $229.99.

An absolute steal at this price, the Hi10X tablet PC sports a 10.1-inch touchscreen with a high resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. Moreover, it is powered by the Intel N4100 CPU, which is made using a 14nm process and delivers the top frequency of up to 2.4GHz. Aside from that, it packs the 9th Intel UHD Graphics 600 GPU for seamless 4K video decoding.
CHUWI Hi10X 10.1 inch Tablet PC

Furthermore, this gray-tinted Chuwi Hi10X runs the latest genuine Windows 10 operating, which is integrated with up to date software updates. The device draws its juices from a robust 3250mAh battery that delivers up to 260 hours of standby time, 8 hours of local video playback time and 6 hours of comprehensive usage time.

In the optics department, the Chuwi Hi10X houses a 5MP camera at the back and a 2MP front shooter for capturing photos and video calling. As far as connectivity is concerned, the tablet PC features a TF card slot, a Type-C slot, as well as a Micro HDMI slot.

With over 500 pieces sold at the time of writing, Gearbest’s Chuwi Hi10X tablet PC Flash Sale is slated to end in just 7 days. You can follow this link to place your order during this activity period.

The Gizmochina Coupons is a community that finds, reports and evaluates deals and coupons of Chinese products from online shops. Please visit it here to find more coupons to save money on mobiles and smart gadgets.

Realme X50 Pro 5G appears on TENAA ahead of launch on March 12

Realme recently launched its latest 5G flagship smartphone named Realme X50 Pro 5G. Now, the company’s smartphone with model number RMX2071 has appeared on TENAA, which is believed to the X50 Pro for the Chinese market.

The TENAA listing of the device reveals the smartphone’s specifications but the images of the device have not been updated. Although the phone’s name has not been mentioned, it is said to be the X50 Pro which is confirmed to launch on 12th March in China.

The top-end variant of the X50 Pro 5G in the Indian market packs 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. However, the top-enter variant of the smartphone in China will come with 12GB of RAM and 512GB internal storage.

The phone will also have options from 6GB and 8GB of RAM and 128GB as well as 256GB of internal storage. Under the hood, the device will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, clocked at 2.8GHz.

The smartphone features6.44-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate. It is HDR10 complaint screen which comes integrated with an in-display fingerprint reader for added security.

On the back of the phone, there’s a 64MP f/1.8 primary camera, a 12MP telephoto camera with 20X hybrid zoom, an 8MP 119° ultrawide lens, and a 2MP f/2.4 portrait lens. The selfie cameras are a 32MP sensor and an 8MP 105° ultrawide angle camera.

It comes with connectivity features like dual SIM support, the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, Bluetooth 5.0, dual frequency GPS, NFC and USB-C. The handset runs the latest Android 10 operating system with Realme UI on top and is powered by a 4,200mAh battery that supports 65W SuperDart fast charging technology.

(Source)

Samsung shifts its production from Korea to Vietnam amid Coronavirus outbreak

Coronavirus outbreak has affected operations and sales of several tech companies around the world, including Samsung. The virus, which began spreading from China, has now affected people in more than 50 countries.

Amid all this, Samsung Electronics, the leading smartphone maker in the world, is trying hard to diversify its production to minimise the fallout. As per the report, the company is now shutting down its production facility in South Korea.

As per the report, after reporting six confirmed COVID-19 infections at its smartphone plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, Samsung has decided to temporarily scale back operations on the Gumi line and shift the same to Vietnam.

The South Korean giant has been producing its latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S20 lineup as well as the foldable Galaxy Z Flip, in Gumi, for domestic consumers. Samsung said the decision to shift to Vietnam was made to ensure “stable production” of its high-end smartphones.

With more than 6,500 reported cases of coronavirus infections so far, South Korean is the worst-hit country outside of China. Samsung’s Gumi plant, which has about 10,000 workers, has been frequently shut down in the past weeks because many workers were quarantined amid increasing infections.

Because of the coronavirus, the world’s smartphone market is forecast to dip. Counterpoint Research reports that the global handset market is estimated to shrink 5 percent in the first quarter alone while Strategy Analytics says that the volume of phone shipments would decline 10 percent from its initial forecast, largely due to the COVID-19 scare.

(Via)

Buy Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 (WiFi 6) for a Lowered Price of Just $99 from Giztop

Just like 5G is touted as the new generation of network standards, Wi-Fi 6 can be described as the next-generation standard in Wi-Fi technology, upgrading from the 3.5Gbps speed offered by Wi-Fi 5 to a whopping 9.6Gbps.

Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 (WiFi 6)

Last month, Xiaomi announced the Mi AIoT Router AX3600, alongside the Mi 10 series of phones comprising the Mi 10 and its Pro variant. The recently unveiled Wi-Fi 6 router has gone up for sale bearing a lowered price of just $99 through Giztop. This is a noteworthy reduction in the device’s original asking price of $109.99.

The Chinese tech giant’s Mi AIoT Router AX3600 flagship router packs a Qualcomm IPQ8071A chipset, which is paired with 512MB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage space. It delivers an impressive speed of up to 3 Gigabit. According to Xiaomi, the router can be connected to up to 248 devices.
Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 (WiFi 6)One of the router’s seven high-gain antennas is an IoT device antenna, two are 2.4GHz antennas, and the rest of the five are 5GHz antennas. Devices use 2.4GHz or 5GHz networks for connectivity. Xiaomi says the AIoT antenna offers dual-frequency support and delivers up to 150Mbps speeds for IoT devices.

Moreover, the Mi AIoT Router AX3600 with support for Wi-Fi 6 is 155 percent faster as compared to the Mi Router AC1200. On top of that, it adopts OFDMA technology (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access) that enables the dispatch of data to multiple terminal devices using just one transmission.

Routers that do not support OFDMA, on the other hand, use multiple transmissions for sending data, making them less efficient. Note that the terminal device must support OFDMA too.
xiaomi mi aIot router ax3600The Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 (WiFi 6) works with the easy-to-setup Mijia app. The device automatically detects IoT devices and offers a one-click configuration option for connectivity. Alternatively, you can use the upgraded WiFi App version 5.0 that boasts an array of new features including real-time notification every time device connects or disconnects from the network.

The router supports IPv6 and the WPA3 security protocol. It comes with four ethernet ports that are placed at the back and a 12V 2A power adapter. You can visit this link to purchase the Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 (WiFi 6) via Giztop and save $10.99.

The Gizmochina Coupons is a community that finds, reports and evaluates deals and coupons of Chinese products from online shops. Please visit it here to find more coupons to save money on mobiles and smart gadgets.

Samsung chip plant catches fire in Korea; production remains unaffected

Late Sunday night, a fire broke out at Samsung‘s chip plant in Hwaseong, South of Seoul. According to the fire authorities, the fire at the facility was completely exhausted by early Monday morning.

Now, the company has said that the fire at its semiconductor plant in South Korea will not affect its chip production. Samsung said that fire started at 11:18 pm on Sunday and was put out in two and a half hours.

Samsung Chip Factory Fire

Fortunately, the company has confirmed that there were no casualties, along with announcing that the production at the plant has not been affected.

As per Samsung, the fire broke out at a wastewater processing facility within the plant that is automated and away from production lines. It has said that the company will fully cooperate with fire authorities to examine the exact cause of the accident.

The accident happened at a time when Samsung is concerned because of the coronavirus outbreak. After another case of coronavirus was detected at its factory, the company decided to temporarily shift its production to Vietnam.

So far, a total of five Samsung employees have been confirmed to have contracted the virus. Last week, the company tightened coronavirus screening procedures for its chip plants in South Korea. It now requires employees to weekly answer self-examination questions regarding the outbreak.

(Source)

Huawei P40 Pro penta-lens camera configuration leaked

On March 26, Huawei will be announcing the Huawei P40 series of flagship phones. The recently announced Huawei P40 Lite and P40 Lite E also belong to the same family. The Huawei P40 series is expected to rival with the Galaxy S20 lineup of smartphones from Samsung. It is speculated that the Galaxy S20 Ultra which comes with 100x zoom supporting quad cameras will be rivaled by the Huawei P40 Pro smartphone. A popular tipster has shared some important details on the cameras of the Huawei P40 Pro.

A leaked render that had appeared few weeks ago had revealed that the Huawei P40 Pro will be equipped with as many as five cameras on its rear. At that time, the phone was dubbed as Huawei P40 Pro PE (Premium Edition). However, in the new leak, the handset is being called Huawei P40 Pro.

The major difference between the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro will be that the latter will include an advanced camera setup. The new leak reveals that the Huawei P40 Pro PE’s penta-lens camera system will comprise of the 1/1.28” Sony IMX700 52-megapixel Hexadeca Bayer RYYB lens, a 1/1.5” Sony IMX650 40-megapixel utlarwide Cine RGGB lens, a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, a dual prism periscope zoom lens with 10x optical zoom and a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor.

Huawei P40 Pro PE render
Huawei P40 Pro PE render

As it can be seen in the image, the five cameras will be housed inside a rectangle-shaped camera module which also includes other components such as an LED flash, color temperature sensor and a microphone. There is no new information on the other specs of the smartphone.

The leaked render from the past suggest that it will be equipped with a display that is curved on all four sides. The display will have a pill-shaped cutout for its two front-facing cameras. It is expected to come in color editions such as Black, Blush Gold, Silver Frost, Deep Sea Blue and Ice White.

 

 

(source)

OPPO will release its own Smart TV lineup in the second half of 2020

OPPO is now one the leading smartphone brands in the world and in the past couple of months or so, the company has expanded its product offerings from smartphones. It now has launched mobile accessories with OPPO Enco Free TWS Earbuds and a few days ago, the OPPO Watch was launched.

Now, the company has hinted that OPPO will soon be launching its own Smart TV lineup. While the exact launch date for this has not been revealed, Liu Bo, VP of OPPO and President of Emerging Mobile Terminal Business for the company has confirmed that the lineup will go official in the second half of this year.

oppo logo

He stated that the company’s vision regarding Internet of Things (IoT) is to create a multi-terminal, cross-scenario smart life, products which focuses on four major scenarios — personal, family, travel and office. OPPO also wants to provide a rich catalogue of products under its brand in the connected devices category.

Apart from the fact that OPPO will launch its Smart TV lineup in the second half of this year, nothing much is known about this as of now. However, we expect to know more about this Smart TV range in the coming weeks of months.

With the launch of its own Smart TV lineup, OPPO will be joining the likes of Xiaomi, Huawei, Honor, OnePlus, Motorola, and Nokia, which already have their own range of Smart TVs. On the other hand, Realme, a smartphone brand backed by OPPO, is also set to enter this market.

Realme was set to announce its Realme TV during the Mobile World Congress 2020 last month. But as the event got cancelled, the company launched the Realme X50 Pro 5G smartphone through live stream but seems to be postponed the announcement related to the Realme Smart TV. We expect to know more about this in the coming days.

(Via)

Xiaomi to announce a new screen size for the Mi TV 5 Pro tomorrow

It is no news that Xiaomi makes smart TVs. The manufacturer’s Mi TV line is sold in various markets, including India where it has the largest market share. Last year, Xiaomi entered into the premium smart TV market when it announced the Mi TV 5 Pro series lat year. The Mi TV 5 Pro series packs a quantum dot QLED display, support for 8K decoding and more.

Announced in three sizes – 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch -, the Mi TV 5 will be getting a new screen size tomorrow according to a teaser posted on Weibo today.

Xiaomi Mi TV 5 new screen size

There are speculations the new screen size is 100-inches which will make it Xiaomi’s biggest TV ever.

The specs are expected to remain the same as that of the other screen sizes. So it should have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, an Amlogic T972 chipset, 8K video decoding, HDR10+, Dolby Audio, and Xiaomi’s PatchWall system. The 75-inch version sells for ¥9999 (~$1442), so expect the 100-inch model to sell for even more.

 

(Source)

Poll of The Week: Gaming Smartphone or “Regular” Flagship Smartphone?

Last week, Black Shark announced the Black Shark 3 and Black Shark 3 Pro, bringing the number of its gaming smartphones to 6 since it was founded in 2018. More gaming smartphones will launch in the coming months such as the Nubia Red Magic 5G which is scheduled for a March 12 release. We are also expecting the ROG Phone III and Lenovo’s first gaming smartphone which will launch under its Legion gaming brand.

Gaming smartphones pack the same hardware (read chipset) as regular flagship phones – so you get a largely similar performance between devices from the two categories.

Gaming Smartphone vs Regular Flagship

However, gaming smartphones have other features that are practically what gives them their name. Such as a display with a high refresh rate, a high touch sampling rate, a large battery capacity, faster charging, gaming-oriented optimized software, physical/capacitive shoulder buttons, superior cooling technology, and a matching design (color-changing LEDs, extra ports, etc.).

While a regular flagship doesn’t usually have all of the bells and whistles of a gaming smartphone, it will handle any of the games you throw at it with ease. You can also buy accessories that can improve the gaming experience such as a controller or a cooling fan.

For this week’s poll, we want to know which you actually prefer – a gaming smartphone or a regular flagship smartphone. So please take the poll and also drop a comment telling us why you prefer one over the other.

[yop_poll id=28]