Huawei recently started selling its first foldable smartphone Huawei Mate X after delaying the launch by a few months to make sure the device is durable. The company will also be launching an upgraded Mate Xs in the coming months and later the second-generation Mate X2 is expected to get launched.
Now, a video of the Huawei Mate X smartphone has surfaced online which shows the device with a broken screen. However, it is not yet known what happened to the smartphone or whether it was due to user’s fault or some issues with the device.
As said, we have not idea what has happened to this broken unit of the Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone. The phone could have fallen down or maybe exposed to a sharp object and these are just assumptions as we have no idea what has caused this.
Given that we have not heard or come across reports related to the display issue on the Huawei Mate X smartphone, it seems likely that the unit shown in the video has its display broken because of the user’s fault and the device.
However, the smartphone could be blamed for the design as the outward folding design has a major drawback that the screen is exposed all the time. So there’s a significant risk if the phone drops from your hand.
Earlier, Samsung had to postpone the launch of its first foldable smartphone — Samsung Galaxy Fold after the review units started experiencing issues with the display and many criticised the build quality. Eventually, the company postponed the launch of Galaxy Fold and made changes to the phone’s design before it started selling them in the market.
Android is the most widely used mobile Operating System followed by iOS at present. But there are certain limitations that have been continuing to exist on this platform for years. One of which is not able to record videos in size more than 4GB. Yes, you heard it right, your Android smartphone can record videos only up to 4GB in size. But thankfully, this limitation will be eroded out in the next release Android which will be simply called Android 11.
Today’s Android smartphones can do lots of things but still can record videos only up to 4GB in size. Once your recording hits 4GB size limit, it will get stored without your consent but the recording will continue by splitting into consequent 4GB files depending on how long you record. Which means your gallery will be filled with a number of videos instead of a one single piece video. Although you can mux the independent video files into a single video as you intended to be while recording, it is not the ideal way to go.
This limitation was first introduced by Google in 2014 when 4K video recording on smartphones just started popping up. So, it makes sense back then when smartphones had lower internal storage and almost all of them could only record videos up to 1080p. But now, it is a silly drawback that should have been reverted at least a couple of years back since even budget smartphones these days can record 4K videos.
Now as new phones from Samsung and Xiaomi are expected to feature 8K video recording, Google is finally removing the 4GB limitation after years of requests from developers. This change was spotted by XDA Developers in a description of a new commit in the AOSP Gerrit. During testing, the developers have managed to store a video of 32GB and even filled the entire internal storage of a phone with a single recording.
Anyways, this commit has not been merged but if it does, this feature will most likely debut on Android 11 beta which could be released in March like Android Q.
Samsung had launched the Galaxy A30s in September in India. The South Korean company had launched the smartphone with 64 GB of internal storage. The handset is currently available in the country a price tag of Rs. 14,999 (~$210). A fresh report on 91mobiles has launched a new variant of the phone that comes with a massive storage of 128 GB. The pricing of the new model has also been revealed.
The 64 GB storage variant of the Galaxy A30s featured 4 GB of RAM and the newly introduced 128 GB model also features the same amount of RAM. The price tag of the new variant is set at Rs. 15,999 (~$225). The publication has claimed that the variant is available for purchase in the offline markets across India. Samsung’s online store and third party retailers are yet to list the 128 GB edition of the Galaxy A30s. The new model can be bought in colors like Prism Crush White, Prism Crush Violet, and Prism Crush Black.
Samsung is yet to release an official statement on the arrival of the 128 GB edition of the Galaxy A30s. Talking about the 64 GB variant, it had cost Rs. 16,999 (~$238) at launch. However, its pricing has been now reduced to Rs. 14,999 (~$210).
The Galaxy A30s is fitted with 6.4-inch S-AMOLED display with Infinity-V notch. It offers HD+ resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels. The screen is integrated with a fingerprint sensor.
The Exynos 7904 powers the smartphone along with 4 GB of RAM. The 64 GB / 128 GB editions of the phone offers a dedicated microSD card slot for expanding its storage. The device is backed by a 4,000mAh battery that supports 15W fast charging. The Android 9 Pie OS comes preloaded on the Galaxy A30s. The handset will be soon treated with One UI 2.0 based Android 10 OS ugrade.
The Galaxy A30s has a triple camera system on its back. It comprises of a 25-megapixel main lens, a 5-megapixel depth sensor and an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor along with LED flash. It has a front-facing camera of 16-megapixel. The smartphone comes with connectivity features like dual SIM support, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC and USB-C.
On Jan. 7, Realme will be unleashing the Realme X50 as its first 5G smartphone. Ahead of the launch, the company has revealed the rear design of the smartphone. Couple of real-life images of the Realme X50 smartphone have appeared on Weibo. Also, the purported X50 has received approval from the 3C authority of China.
The new images show the Polar White edition variant of the Realme X50 phone in real. The left edge of the phone can be seen sporting buttons for volume up and down. The upper-left corner of the glass back of the Realme X50 has a vertical quad camera setup that is assisted by an LED flash. The rear design of the X50 has a different positioned LED flash compared to the Realme XT and Realme X2 smartphones.
The right side of the Realme X50 phone and its connectivity ports are not visible in the new images. However, the official render of the phone has confirmed that it is equipped with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. It could be integrated with the power button of the phone.
A new Realme phone that has model number variants such as RMX2051 and RMX2025 has received certification from China’s 3C authority. The RMX2051 / RMX2025 is a 5G ready smartphone which suggests that it could be the upcoming Realme X50 5G phone. The 3C certification has revealed that the device may ship with a charger that supports up to 30W charging.
Realme had recently confirmed that the Realme X50 5G will be arriving with support for enhanced edition of its VOOC 4.0 40W charging technology. With improved charging, the Realme X50 will be able to gain 70 percent battery power by charging for only 30 minutes. However, the battery size of the smartphone is currently under the wraps.
Reports surrounding the Realme X50 have revealed that it could be coming with a 6.6-inch IPS LCD display with dual punch-hole design. The Snapdragon 765G with dual-mode 5G support will fuel the smartphone. Its rear-facing quad camera setup could be featuring the Sony IMX686 64-megapixel primary lens. It could be featuring 32-megapixel + 8-megapixel dual front-facing cameras.
The Redmi K30 5G will be soon hitting the Chinese markets as the cheapest 5G phone as it is priced at 1,999 Yuan (~$280). The Realme X50 5G appears to be a good rival for the Redmi K30 5G. It remains to be seen whether it manages to snatch the cheapest 5G phone title from the Redmi smartphone.
Wearables are getting more and more popular thanks to the innovative products and unique use cases offered by companies. Now, according to a report from market research firm IDC, Chinese market witnessed shipments of 27.15 million units for wearable devices in the third quarter of this year.
The shipments for the Q3 2019 represents a growth of 45.2 percent compared to the shipments of 20.97 million units during the same period in the previous year. Further, the report also predicts the market to reach 200 million units in 2023.
The report shows that shipments of basic wearable devices (wearable devices that do not support third-party applications) were 20.97 million units, representing a year-on-year increase of 38.2 percent while the shipments of smart wearable devices were 6.18 million units, a year-on-year increase of 75.5 percent.
Coming to the companies, the report shows that Xiaomi is leading the wearables market and the report is attributing this to the Mi Band 4 fitness tracker and its aggressive pricing leading to high-scale shipments. Xiaomi holds 25 percent market share while Huawei and Apple have grabbed 20.7 percent and 13 percent market share respectively.
As for the growth, Huawei saw its shipments almost double as the company’s market share has reached from 10.7 percent in the third quarter of 2018 to 20.7 percent in the third quarter of 2019.
Yet another chapter is being added to the Huawei vs US saga, this time courtesy of WSJ. According to them, Huawei’s rise to the top of global telecommunications was fueled by tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance from the Chinese government, a scale of support that in key measures dwarfed what its closest rivals got from their governments.
In fact, according to the piece published by WSJ, Huawei reportedly had “access to as much as $75 billion in state support.” That massive figure is culled from poring over various forms, including grants and tax breaks.
Huawei Technologies said on Thursday that its relationship with the Chinese government was “no different” from any other private company operating in China. This should be no surprise as Huawei has long denied close links with the Chinese government and maintained that Washington has no evidence to support accusations of spying.
Huawei also disputes The Wall Street Journal allegation that it had received as much as 75 billion dollars in assistance from the Chinese government. The article says state support helped Huawei “undercut rivals,” but says nothing about tax breaks for U.S. tech companies. Amazon, for example, is paying zero taxes for a second consecutive year.
“Like other tech companies that operate in China, including those from abroad, Huawei receives some policy support from the Chinese government,” Karl Song, vice-president of the company’s corporate communications department, said in a statement. “But we have never received any additional or special treatment.”
In the statement on Thursday, Song said the company’s working capital primarily comes from its own business operations – which make up 90 per cent of its working capital – and external financing rather than government subsidies. “Huawei’s external financing follows all market rules, and our cost of debt aligns with market standards,” Song added.
This year, Xiaomi had launched the Xiaomi Mi 9 series in February. Hence, the rumor mill is speculating that the Chinese firm may unveil the Xiaomi Mi 10 series in February in the coming year. The series may include Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro smartphones. According to a reliable tipster from China, the top version of the Mi 10 lineup which could be the Xiaomi Mi Pro will be able to charge completely in around 35 minutes.
In the above shown Weibo post, the tipster has claimed that the fast charging feature on the Mi 10 top series version has been greatly improved. In test, the device could be completely in charged in nearly 35 minutes. Xiaomi’s 50W wireless charging is not completely ready yet. It is unlikely to be made available to the users in the first half of 2020.
Around a month ago, two new Xiaomi devices with 5G capabilities had surfaced on the database of China’s 3C authority. Foxconn insiders have revealed that J1 and J2 are the codenames of the Xiaomi Mi 10 series smartphones. The J1 phone could be the 3C certified M2001J1E/C 5G phone that was seen with MDY-11-EB charger that supports 66W fast charging. This device could be the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro. The said moniker has already been confirmed by Xiaomi President Lin Bin.
The 3C certification of the M2001J2E/C 5G smartphone had revealed that it could be shipped with an MDY-11-EF charger that supports 30W fast charging. This handset could be the Xiaomi Mi 10. The MDY-11-EF is the same charger that ships with Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro / Mi Note 10. The exact size of the batteries of both phones are not known yet. The Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro 5G phone that gone official in September this year had arrived with a 4,000mAh battery. The Chinese manufacturer may pack the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro phones with larger batteries.
Being flagship devices, both smartphones are expected to be driven by the Snapdragon 865 mobile platform. The presence of the SD865 will bring support for dual-mode 5G connectivity on the Mi 10 series. It remains to be seen whether the Mi 10 devices sport 108-megapixel camera. The MI 10 series could be coming with LPDDR5 RAM. Also, the smartphone could be equipped with a 90Hz or 120Hz display. The rumor mill is expected to actively reveal more information on the Mi 10 lineup starting from the coming year.
Apple AirPods true-wireless earbuds have been well-received in the market and are currently the best-selling TWS Earbuds worldwide. The newly launched AirPods Pro are so popular that the company had to increase its production.
The US-based company reportedly turned towards Luxshare-ICT to double the production of the AirPods Pro earphones at its Chinese facility. The production units will see an increase to 2 million units a month. Furthermore, the company has also asked another Chinese company GoerTek to boost production at their Vietnam-based factories for the base AirPods variant.
Now, it is being reported that both Goertek and Luxshare are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars to grow AirPods and AirPods Pro production. This is in part to diversify Apple’s supply chain as well as to shift manufacturing outside of China, in case the trade deal collapses and tariffs are reinstated.
In July, Goertek began manufacturing of Apple’s AirPods began on a trial basis and Apple had asked components suppliers to support Goertek’s efforts, even though initial production runs were small. Now, it is reported that assembly of the AirPods would increase following the trial run. The report notes that components sourced in China are easy to ship to Vietnam, and Vietnam’s labor costs are about one-third of China’s.
Analysts believe that the AirPods are headed towards mass-market domination, which could soon result in quarterly revenue over $4 billion during the holiday season. Industry analyst Asymco believes that Apple will witness 50% YoY growth for wearables.
According to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, Apple sold $6 billion worth of AirPods this year and is set to rake in $15 billion in revenue from the true wireless earbuds in 2020. It is said that Apple could sell as many as 85 million AirPods next year, making AirPods the company’s third-largest business after iPhones and iPads by 2021.
Last month, Xiaomi launched the Mi CC9 Pro smartphone in its home market China, making it the first commercially available smartphone to feature 108-megapixel primary camera sensor. The smartphone was launched in three variants — 6GB + 128GB, 8GB + 128GB, and 8GB + 256GB Premium Edition, costing 2,799 Yuan (~$399), 3,099 Yuan (~$442), and 3,499 Yuan (~$499) respectively.
Now, Xiaomi has announced a price cut on the Mi CC9 Pro in China, bringing down the cost of the base model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage to 2,599 Yuan (~$371) while the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage model is now priced at 2,799 Yuan (~$400).
The Mi CC9 Pro Premium Edition smartphone that packs 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage is now available for purchase in China for 3,199 Yuan (~$457). The smartphone comes in three color options — Magic Green, Ice and Snow Aurora, and Phantom Black.
The smartphone features a waterdrop notch enabled edge-to-edge curved AMOLED display of 6.47 inches. It delivers 1080 x 2340 pixels full HD+ resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio with 400000:1 contrast ratio, HDR, 600-nits brightness and DCI-P3 wide color gamut.
Under the hood, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor. The smartphone draws power from a humungous 5,260mAh battery and the company has also added support for 30W fast charging, allowing the phone to completely charge in 65 minutes.
It comes with 108-megapixel penta-lens camera system. The first lens in the rear-facing camera system of the phone is a 4-axis OIS assisted 5-megapixel super telephoto lens that supports 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x hybrid zoom. Next is a 12-megapixel portrait sensor with a pixel size of 1.4micon. The third sensor is the Samsung-made 108-megapixel main sensor with f/1.7 aperture and 4-axis OIS. The regular edition has 7P lens, but the Premium Edition has 8P lens.
Next comes a 20-megapixel ultrawide lens with 117-degree field-of-view. The fifth one is a 2-megapixel macro lens with a focal length of 1.5cm. Assisting the five cameras are the pair of dual LED flash units (one is hard light and the other one fires soft light). On the front side, the device comes with f/2.0 aperture 32-megapixel selfie camera.
Connectivity options on the device include Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, multi-functional NFC, GPS, IR blaster, USB-C and 3.5mm headphone jack. The Android 9 Pie OS flavored with MIUI 11 skin runs the phone and comes with Game Turbo 2.0 technology onboard for accelerated GPU performance while gaming.
Vivo, which planned to launch its new JoviOS custom user interface for the company’s smartphones dropped the plan and instead launched a new version of its existing FunTouch custom UI, dubbed FunTouch OS 10.
Now, Xiao Zhuge, Project Manager for the Vivo FunTouch OS has revealed that the team is currently working on a new weather-related feature for the custom operating system — Earthquake Warning.
He has also revealed that the feature, which is currently under development, will undergo internal testing at the company in a couple of weeks. This hints that the official rollout of the said feature isn’t very far away and could be rolled out soon if the internal testing gets passed successfully. However, no specific date for the rollout of this ‘Earthquake Warning’ feature has been revealed yet.
Further, he added that the FunTouch OS 10 introduces positioning areas which can provide forecast every minute for the next two hours and with the “distant love” feature, it can display the time and weather of two different places at the same time.
This new feature from Vivo is similar to the Earthquake Warning feature that Xiaomi rolled out with its latest MIUI 11 custom user interface. Xiaomi had said that the smartphones running MIUI 11 and even Mi TVs could be notified “seconds to tens of seconds” before the earthquake hits the place.
The idea is to give users a few seconds of head-start in order to better protect themselves before the actual earthquake. Also, the alert could also provide information about the nearest emergency shelter, emergency contact details, medical contacts, and the rescue information to help in a critical situation.
The latest FunTouch OS 10 from Vivo comes with a minimal user interface and is based on the concept of “Original Design”. Apart from offering minimal UI, the company has also added new desktop icons. There’s a new off-screen clock and Vivo has added new live wallpapers too. It also brings changes to Jovi virtual assistant which can now provide users with a variety of thoughtful services, help users manage their smart devices, and more.
Realme will be announcing the Realme X50 smartphone on Jan. 7 in China. The Realme Buds Air will also get unleashed in the country on the same day. The Chinese firm has started teasing on the specs, features and design of the Realme X50. The company has recently shared some posters to reveal the rear appeal of the phone. The posters shown below showcases the Polar White edition of the Realme X50. The images confirm the presence of quad camera system and a side-facing fingerprint sensor on the device.
In the new images, the Realme X50 5G can be seen sporting a very attractive rear design. The top-left corner of the phone is fitted with a vertical quad camera system. At first the design will appear quite similar to the Realme XT and Realme X2v smartphones. However, a closer look reveals that there is a slight difference as the Realme X50 has the LED flash placed below the text besides the camera module. Also, the text that mentions that megapixel of the main lens that is encircled in yellow is also missing. Some reports have claimed that the Realme X50 has a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor as the main lens. However, there is no official confirmation on it yet.
All the Realme X-series phones that have launched so far are equipped with in-display fingerprint scanners and they are equipped with OLED displays. However, the right edge of the upcoming Realme X50 5G features a side-mounted fingerprint reader. This indicates that the company may have settled for an IPS LCD panel on the Realme X50. This will probably allow the company to sell the 5G-ready Realme at a cheaper price in the market.
The company has already revealed that the Realme X50 5G has a dual punch-hole display. The size of the screen could be 6.6-inch. While there is no official confirmation on the configurations of the front cameras of the Realme X50 5G, it speculated that the Realme X50 could be featuring a 32-megapixel + 8-megapixel dual selfie camera setup.
The Realme X50 5G appears like a real competitor for the Redmi K30 5G phone that has a price tag of 1,999 Yuan (~$285) in China. The pricing of the Realme X50 5G is currently under the wraps.
Vivo will be announcing the Vivo S1 Pro smartphone in India in January 2020. It will be the company’s second S-series handset after the Vivo S1 that had gone official in August. Vivo is yet to confirm on the arrival of the Vivo S1 Pro phone. A fresh report has revealed the pricing of the smartphone in India.
Vivo S1 Pro Price in India
Citing information from its retail sources, the publication has stated that the Vivo S1 Pro that will come with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage will carry a pricing of Rs. 19,990 (~$280). The report also claims that the Vivo S1 Pro will be also available in a 6 GB RAM edition. There is no confirmation on the internal storage of the Vivo S1 Pro’s rumored 6 GB RAM variant.
The Vivo S1 Pro is not an entirely new phone since it has already debuted in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. The smartphone features a 6.38-inch AMOLED display with waterdrop notch. It supports full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It is equipped with a front-facing camera of 32-megapixel. The rear side of the phone has a diamond-shaped camera module which includes a 48-megapixel main sensor, an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens, a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.
The Snapdragon 665 mobile platform drives the smartphone’s 6 GB and 8 GB RAM models. The phone receives power to perform from a 4,500mAh battery that carries support for 18W fast charging through USB-C.
Vivo V19 Series is Also Coming
The same publication has claimed that Vivo India will be bringing the Vivo V19 and Vivo V19 Pro smartphones to India in the first quarter of 2020. At present, there is no information on the specs of the Vivo V19 series. Vivo recently confirmed that it will be present at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020 tech trade in February. It is being speculated that it could be announcing a V-series device at the event.
What’s your opinion on the rumored pricing of the Vivo S1 Pro? Share us your thoughts by posting your comments below.
At the beginning of this year, Vivo had launched the Vivo V15 Pro smartphone in India. In October, the company had launched the Vivo V17 Pro phone and it was followed up by the Vivo V17 at the beginning of this month. A fresh report on 91mobiles has revealed that the company is already working on Vivo V19 series for India. It has claimed that the Vivo V19 and Vivo V19 Pro will break cover in Q1 2020.
According to the report, Vivo India will be promoting the Vivo V19 series during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament in India that will begin on March 23. Hence, the company is expected to unleash the Vivo V19 and Vivo V19 Pro before the said date. Unfortunately, the report has not revealed any details on the specifications of the Vivo V19 duo.
Recently, Vivo sent out invites for its upcoming event that will be held during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020 tech trade show in Barcelona, Spain. The invite featured the letter ‘V’ in the backdrop which suggested that the company may reveal a V series phone at the MWC 2020. It remains to be seen whether the company will really unveil the Vivo V19 series of smartphones or some other device at the event. It will be the first time to see the company take part in the MWC tech expo.
Vivo V19 and Vivo V19 Pro are not the only smartphones that will be announced by Vivo India in Q1 2020. Recent reports have revealed that the company is also gearing up to launch the Vivo S1 Pro smartphone in the country in January. It is speculated to be the very same Vivo S1 Pro that had recently launched in Southeast Asian markets. It will be the second S-series Vivo phone to debut in India after the Vivo S1 that had launched in August this year.
The Vivo S1 Pro is expected to arrive with a 6.38-inch full HD+ punch-hole display that will be integrated with an in-screen fingerprint sensor. The Snapdragon 665 chipset will be powering the phone along with 8 GB of RAM. It will offer users with an internal storage of 128 GB.
It will be equipped with a 48-megapixel quad camera system on its back. On the front, it will be fitted with a 32-megapixel selfie camera. The phone will be housing a 4,500mAh battery that will carry support for 18W fast charging through USB-C. It could be priced under Rs. 20,000 (~$280) in India.
There were a lot of best-selling smartphone line-ups in the last years, but there were also a lot of flops. When smartphone series has a lot of success or when they do not have enough, often manufacturers decide to ax them. In the first case, we are talking about marketing strategies, while in the second it is a pretty obvious decision. In this post, we collected all the most important smartphone line-ups that were axed in 2019. We included all those line-ups which had at least a phone released in 2018 but they did not have a successor this year.
Smartphones line-ups that were axed in 2019
Asus Zenfone Max Pro
Despite the amazingly high value for money of the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 released in December 2018, Asus did not release a new device from the Zenfone Max Pro series this year. This left a lot of people disappointed since the Zenfone Max Pro M2 was one of the best battery phones and also one of the devices with the highest quality price ratio. This year, Asus upgraded the Zenfone Max line-up with two models: Zenfone Max Plus and Zenfone Max Shot, both with Snapdragon SiP processors and not as impressive as the Zenfone Max Pro M2.
Earlier this year, Xiaomi decided to discontinue the Mi Max smartphones line-up. It was the series with the biggest phablets from the company and it included all of its devices with a display diagonal closest to 7 inches. They were unique phones due to their huge display size and you can not currently find a lot of devices with so big screens. Yet the company decided to ax it and started focusing more on Redmi mid-range smartphones. Initially, the company was supposed to ax the Mi Note line-up as well, but then it came up with the Mi Note 10 which is currently one of the best camera phones out there.
Samsung decided to completely discontinue the Galaxy J series and replaced it with the Galaxy M lineup. The Galaxy J series included its most affordable phones and it ranged from entry-level to mid-range smartphones. The reason why it axed the J series was probably the need for increasing the competition with Chinese manufacturers by providing a more unique and advanced series of affordable devices. Even the Galaxy On series was axed: in case you never heard of it, Galaxy On was a successful series of smartphones only present in the Asian market.
BlackBerry
The Chinese giant TCL acquired BlackBerry a few years ago and started producing smartphones under its name. But after releasing the Key2 LE in 2018 with a physical QWERTY keyboard and midrange specifications, the company decided that it is not the case to go ahead. In October, TCL announced that it has no plans to release a 5G BlackBerry smartphone. Further, it did not release a BlackBerry-banded device this year.
Another interesting smartphone released in 2018 was the Lenovo S5 Pro GT: for less than €200, it offered a great Snapdragon 660 chipset, stereo speakers and a 3D facial recognition system, as well as a dual front camera and a telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom. But in 2019, we did not see any Lenovo S6 Pro. Fortunately, the company released Lenovo Z6 which offers an even higher value for money, but the S series contained even more affordable devices. That is why we hope it will come up again with a new device from this series next year.
Another smartphone missing among the most unique ones this year is a Compact flagship from the Sony Xperia series. In 2019 Sony revolutionized the naming scheme of its smartphones starting from Sony Xperia 1. The new line-up did not include an Xperia 1 Compact, but the company still launched a flagship with modest dimensions: Xperia 5. It offers the Snapdragon 855 chipset and a 6.1-inch display, but it is not the most compact phone out there.
Sadly, Motorola did not release any flagship smartphone this year. Motorola Moto Z3 was the last one and it came in August 2018. This year Moto Z4 debuted, but it is just a midrange phone. Instead, the company decided to release the Motorola Razr 2019: a revival of the iconic Razr feature phone which is also its first foldable phone. However, it is packed with midrange specifications, including a Snapdragon 710 chipset.
After years of not releasing any flagship, Oppo came up with the Find X in 2018. It packed the most powerful Snapdragon chipset as well as a very revolutionary design including a motorized pop-up slider hiding all the cameras while closed. But in 2019 the Oppo Find X did not have a successor. Instead, the company launched a flagship under the Reno line-up: Reno 10x zoom. But Oppo already confirmed that Oppo Find X2 will debut in the first part of 2020, so stay tuned for more.
HTC is living a strong year over year decline in the smartphone sector, but this year it saw a slight growth. But it was not because of the sales of a flagship phone. Unlike the previous years, in 2019 HTC only released mid-range and entry-level devices. The latest flagship is the HTC U12+ launched in the middle of 2018. And despite it was an amazing flagship, it did not succeed. That is why it is easy to realize why it does not have a successor. We hope the company will try again next year with a 5G flagship.
In 2018 Xiaomi launched a new brand: Poco. It included one single device: the affordable flagship Pocophone F1 offering all the power of the Snapdragon 845 and a big battery for an incredible price. There was no Pocophone F2 this year, but a few days ago the company confirmed that we will hear more about Poco in 2020!
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is already available in multiple countries across the globe. Just last week we saw the Fold go out pre-order in Indonesia. Now we’re receiving fresh new reports that the Galaxy Fold will be making an appearance in another country soon. The infamous folding device will allegedly launch in Taiwan next, though we only have a vague January 2020 date to go off of.
Until recently, Samsung Galaxy Fold folding screen mobile phones have been listed and sold in mainland China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and other regions. While Samsung refuses to give us a solid number, it seems sales have been good enough for Samsung Taiwan to consider the value of launching the folding phone there.
According to Samsung’s official statement, the Galaxy Fold will be available in Taiwanese Samsung Experience Store, Samsung Smart Pavilion and Samsung Taiwan’s official website in January 2020. People who pre-order the device will get a leather case, alongside the goodies in the box. In addition, Samsung officially announced that the Galaxy Fold folding screen phone is priced at NT $ 68,888 ($2,289) in Taiwan.
While this is interesting, it’s worth noting that the next generation of the Galaxy Fold is expected to release in February 2020 at a cheaper price tag. So it remains to be seen if people are ready to shell out thousands of dollars for the current generation model, just a couple of months before its successor launches in the market.
The OPPO Reno3 5G is the first smartphone in the world to be powered by the Dimensity 1000L. While the MediaTek processor is expected to appear in more devices next year, we are more interested in its more powerful sibling, the Dimensity 1000. And now we know which manufacturer will use it first.
MediaTek Dimensity 1000
Digital Chat Station revealed in a Weibo post that OPPO will once again be the first manufacturer to announce a phone powered by the Dimensity 1000 next year. He doesn’t mention a date but it should be in January.
We currently can’t say which OPPO phone will come with the chipset but we believe it will be under the Reno series. The Reno 10x Zoom is expected to get a successor, so it may be the device with the Dimensity 1000 while the Snapdragon 865 will power the Find X2.
The Dimensity 1000 is an octa-core processor with 4 x Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.6GHz and 4 x Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.2GHz. It will also have the new Mali-G77 GPU. The chipset, just like the Dimensity 1000L, will support SA and NSA 5G networks and have downlink speeds up to 4.7Gbps. It also brings support for 5G dual-SIM that allows you to use two 5G SIM cards at the same time unlike other SoCs that only support the use of 5G in one SIM slot.
The current hot upcoming device is the Realme X50, and as such we’ve been seeing an unstoppable torrent of leaks about it. Today, CMO has gone straight to Weibo to give us a closer look at the Realme X50‘s box. The box continues Realme’s yellow boxes, with the model name emblazoned on the front. We assume the rest of the details are on the back.
On top of this, we also get a look at another teaser for the device, this time courtesy of China Mobile. This teaser actually reveals that the Realme X50 will in fact come with a pair of dual hole punch front cameras. Considering that the leaks were pretty accurate, it’s also quite likely that it’ll be a 32-megapixel + 8-megapixel dual front facing camera setup.
Other rumors indicate that the phone will be equipped with a 6.44-inch AMOLED display. It could be coming with Sony IMX686 60-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel quad rear cameras. The handset may come with up of 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. We expect Android 10-based custom ColorOS 7 running the smartphone.
Despite all these leaks, nothing is really set in stone regarding the new device. Realme has already confirmed that the launch event for the Realme X50 5G smartphone in China will be hosted on 7th January, which means we won’t have to wait much longer to see it. We’re hoping it lives up to all the hype Realme has been giving it.
According to a new report, Samsung is apparently looking into an early release of its Samsung Galaxy S11 series. Initially, there were many rumors regarding the release date being around the third week of February or even the 18th of February. However, it seems that 11th February is the date of the launch, according to an Israeli website.
Renders of Samsung’s upcoming flagship, Galaxy S11 (images via LetsGoDigital)
The South Korean tech giant is reportedly planning on holding the launch event in San Francisco, USA. It was also where the last year’s flagship series, the Galaxy S10, was unveiled. Galaxy S11 being launched in early February also allows the company to enjoy the attention to its premium handset before the arrival of MWC 2020; a conference where various OEMs showcase what their latest and upcoming products have to offer.
The extra time could lead to a healthy sales number globally and give the company some time to consider revealing other interesting devices during MWC. Notably, the Samsung Galaxy S11 will not be alone during the Unpacked event. The report has also suggested that the flagship series will share the stage with the Galaxy Fold 2. Again, similar to how the Galaxy S10 arrived with the Galaxy Fold earlier this year.
Reportedly: Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 with clamshell bending display
Unfortunately, these are just speculations and rumors so take them with a pinch of salt. However, if educated guesses can be made after seeing the company’s track records; it is still quite possible that Samsung might have an early flagship launch with the latest Galaxy Fold series.
Earlier this week, the Russian Government announced that it had conducted a series of tests that allowed the country to completely disconnect from the global internet. The test started out last week and went on for a couple of days and involved multiple local internet service providers and telecom companies alongside the Government.
The main objective of the long series of tests was to see if the RuNet system worked properly. It is a Russian internet infrastructure capable of functioning without access to the global DNS system or external internet. In other words, the RuNet from Russia network is the world’s largest intranet system.
Russia’s RuNet
Unfortunately, the Government did not reveal any technical or finer details regarding the tests and how they were carried out. The official spokesperson only mentioned that several disconnection scenarios were tested by the Russian Government. One of the scenarios even included a simulated cyber attack from a foreign country or any hostile entity.
In a press conference today (26th December 2019), Alexei Sokolov, the Deputy head of Ministry of Digital Development, stated that both “authorities and telecom operators are ready to effectively respond to possible risks and threats and ensure the functioning of the Internet and the unified telecommunication network in Russia.” He aso went on to mention that the test results will be presented to President Putin next year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
The initial testing of the RuNet systems was planned to take place back in April 2019 but had got delayed till now. It was delayed to give the Government time to pass supporting and supplementing laws in the country. This includes the “internet sovereignty” law, which grants the Russian Government power to disconnect the entire country from the rest of the world at will with little reasoning. The grounds on which this drastic measure will be undertaken is apparently for emergencies and “national security.”
OPPO announced the Reno3 and Reno3 5G a few hours ago. Now that some users have gotten their hands on the phones, more details are surfacing. A Weibo user has shared the AnTuTu results of both phones and the results are surprising.
Prior to the release of the phones, Master Lu shared benchmark results of the two phones, pitting the Snapdragon 765G against the Dimensity 1000L. In that comparison, the Snapdragon 765G-powered Reno3 Pro 5G came out on top. For AnTuTu, the reverse is the case.
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The Reno3 5G is the winner with a total score of 337,669 points as against the Reno3 Pro 5G’s score of 320,822 points.
A breakdown of the score shows the Dimensity 1000L-powered Reno3 5G recorded a CPU score of 126,692 points while the Reno3 Pro 5G scores 102,230 points.
Just like in the Master Lu benchmark results, the Dimensity 1000L also grabs the higher GPU score for AnTuTu as well. It scored 99,250 points as against the Snapdragon 765G’s 93,977 points. However, the Reno3 Pro 5G is the winner in the memory and UX categories.
Both the Reno3 and Reno3 Pro 5G support dual-mode 5G networks. However, the latter is more expensive, has a curved display, and comes with more camera features.
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