Xiaomi announced two new products and its latest MIUI 9 ROM at its Beijing news conference earlier today with all products holding some form of interesting features. The MIUI 9 brings a refreshed look and some innovative features like the Picture-In-Picture and split-screen features, while the Mi 5X comes with a “flagship killer” design and price tag. On its part, the Mi AI Speaker ushers in a whole new era of artificial intelligence from China’s Apple.
As a parting shot, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun disclosed a cheering news that the company would finally be releasing the silver variant of its Mi 6 flagship on August 3. The Xiaomi Mi 6 Silver edition is equipped with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and would carry a lofty price tag of 3,999 Yuan (~$592), a thousand yuan higher than its black coloured contemporary. Quite sadly, Lei Jun did reveal that only 100 units of the model would be up for grabs on August 3. This is attributed to the low yield of the production process.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 Silver Edition comes with a special design which like the others is made of stainless steel but its own glass covering is a special ultra-reflective mirror finish. The Silver edition is said to come with a different feel from the other variants. The body is electroplated using a special electroplating process which is done in a vacuum chamber as just one speck of dust during the process renders the entire batch useless. As a matter of fact, Lei Jun says the yield is just 6%. Mind you, fragility may likely be another issue that users will have to contend with. Chances are that this variant won’t be available in large quantity soon and Xiaomi may likely jettison the cumbersome production process after a while and move on to other things.
Google‘s upcoming Android version which is known by the code-name Android O is expected to be officially launched in the third quarter of the year which means it will drop any moment from now. But the actual name of Android O still remains a controversy that has persisted for a while now. The meaning has hovered between Oatmeal Cookies and Oreo for a long time now but Google’s VP Hiroshi Lockheimer seems to have hinted at another name entirely for the new Android version.
The Google senior VP who oversees Platforms and Ecosystem, including Android, shared a photo on Twitter which seems to suggest that the O on Android O may stand for Orangina. The photo contains a number of names including Onion and olive but Orangina is very much prominent than the others and is really the only sweet thing on the list. In case you don’t know, Orangina is a sweet carbonated orange drink found in France. The Google Exec didn’t disclose any thing else so we can’t be so sure about this. But if it eventually turns out to be true, this will be the first time Google’s naming convention would deviate from desserts and candies in the naming of Android. However, Oreo seems likely to be the name of the new Android OS, as the same VP had teased Oreo in the past. Google recently teamed up with Oreo to launched an Oreo minigame and also recently, Oreo cookies were laid out for the press at this year’s Google I/O event.
Google has already confirmed that Android O will be available for AOSP and ecosystem releases in the third quarter of this year after the Fourth and final Developer Preview has rolled out. Although there is no specific release date yet, a number of sources are pointing to a release in August this year. Android 8.0 is expected to come with a number of new features, including support for picture-in-picture, application badges, notification dots, support for automatic filling, higher text selection, a substantial improvement of the notification system. There are also some changes seen in the Developer Preview already, such a new media notification, new icon and clock.
Xiaomi is starting to make it an habit to launch one product no one knew off before hand at its event. Last year, it pulled off the stunt with the announcement of the Mi MIX at the Mi Note 2’s launch event. Today it announced the Mi AI Speaker, at the launch of MIUI 9 and the Xiaomi Mi 5X.
It was only a matter of time before Xiaomi joined the growing list of manufacturers with a smart speaker. Xiaomi is not new to speakers as it has a number of internet connected speakers.
Mi AI Speaker Design
If you think the Mi AI Speaker looks like a small Mi Air Purifier 2, you won’t be chastised. The speaker does look a lot like the purifier with its rounded corners and speaker grille. There is a multi-color LED ring at the top that lights up when the speaker is on. You also have the controls sitting within the LED ring.
MI AI Speaker Functions
The Mi AI Speaker is designed to work with every member of the family irrespective of age. It will wake you up in the morning, read off your schedule to you, take notes, tell you about the weather and read your pre-configured news broadcast.
The interesting function of the Mi AI Speaker is its ability to control other Mi Home devices such as the Mi Kettle, smart plugs, lamps, and rice cooker to name a few. It will even call up the Mi Robot Vacuum when you leave the house to clean up after you and turn on the Xiaoyi security camera(s). If you have been stalling on buying Xiaomi’s smart home products, this may be the push you need.
You can have regular conversations with it, ask it questions, and even have it serve as a tutor for your kids.
Mi AI Speaker Specifications
The speaker has 6 omni-directional microphones at the top that pick up sounds up to 16 meters away. There are three speakers in all. One is a 360° speaker at the base and there are a speaker on two of the four sides. You can connect to the speaker via Bluetooth, DLNA, or WiFi.
There is also a skill center that allows third party functions to be added by developers, letting your speaker learn new tricks.
Xiaomi has officially launched the Mi 5X with a top notch design, decent specs line up and as an icing on the cake, the device comes with a pocket-friendly price tag. The Xiaomi Mi 5X was launched along with MIUI 9 at the event today.
Design & Specification – Xiaomi Mi 5X
The Xiaomi Mi 5X has a dual camera setup at the rear which is similar in configuration to that of the Mi 6, a 12MP main sensor paired with a 12MP telephoto lens. We really can’t say if the camera will be as powerful as that of the Mi 6 as the Mi 5X comes with a less powerful Snapdragon 625 instead of SD835 on the Mi 6. But the camera also features a similar 2X lossless zoom and a Portrait mode which were all available in the Mi 6. Thus, we can safely say Xiaomi installed same camera sensors as the Xiaomi Mi 6 on this cheap model.
The device features a metal unibody with well-chamfered edges and fused antenna band design at the top and bottom edges. As far as other specifications go, the Xiaomi Mi 5X is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor backed by 4GB of RAM while there is 64GB of storage onboard. The mid-range device sports a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080pixels. There is an average 3,080mAh battery crammed inside for long operational duration and standby time. The Mi 5X runs on Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 9 which was launched in the same event, making it the first Xiaomi model to run MIUI 9 out of the box. There is also a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor on the Mi 5X and an improved audio system.
Pricing & Availability
Talking about the price, the Mi 5X will be sold for just 1,499 Yuan (~$220) and buyers will have the option of choosing from a Black, Gold and Rose Pink color variants. The device will go on sale in China in the coming weeks and with the price tag and design, this will be one hot-selling product.
Xiaomi seems to be trying hard to grab sales right off OPPO and Vivo in the mid-range segment with this new model but it has to make enough stocks available. Don’t expect this to roll out outside China soon but if it does, India will likely be its first port of call. As regards to when that will happen, we can’t say.
Xiaomi kicked off today’s event with the official launch of MIUI 9, the latest version of its custom ROM. Before the announcement, Xiaomi took the time to list off the achievements of the ROM.
MIUI 9 has been in the making for about a year now and now it is finally official. A majority of the new features are system optimizations which should result in a smoother experience, though there are also some visual changes. Lets run through some of the key ones.
System Optimization
Xiaomi has worked hard on making MIUI 9 as smooth as possible when it comes to performance. MIUI will never be stock android but that doesn’t men it can’t be optimized to be equally fast and responsive even with its advanced customization features.
App launch has been improved by the addition of Dynamic Resource Allocation. What this does is use critical thinking to give your favorite apps priority when it comes to CPU allocation. This way your most used apps open up faster.
Haptic feedback has also been improved and there is an automatic cleaning process
Smart Assistant
MIUI 9 comes with a smart assistant that lets you search for almost anything within your device. If you are looking for that text from a particular day or picture from a particular event on your phone, the assistant is your best help at finding it fast. All you need is a bit of information such as the date, location, and even expression when it comes to images.
Smart App Launcher
This uses an algorithm to suggest apps based on what’s on your screen. So don’t be surprised if you get suggestions to bring up the maps app or ride booking app when you are talking about going out.
When Apple iPhones arrived in China, the company started reigning on the number one spot and it remained like that for few years.
However, in 2016, iPhone lost the title of best-selling smartphone in China for the first time and the Cupertino company seems to continue its poor streak this year.
A recent market analysis by Canalys for the second quarter of 2017 has revealed that Apple is sitting on the fifth position in the Chinese smartphone market.
Here are the top 4 smartphone brands in China ranked by Canalys based on the number of phones they shipped:
Huawei: 23 million
OPPO: 21 million
Vivo: 16 million
Xiaomi: 15 million
Xiaomi has taken the fourth position and pushed Apple to the fifth spot. Samsung and Meizu are other popular brands that are present in the top 10 list of smartphone vendor in China. The top four brands constitute around 75 percent of 113 million smartphone shipments in the country.
Apple’s iPhone sales have declined by 14 percent year over year in the last quarter. By this rate, Apple is at risk of losing its fifth position in the Chinese market.
Apple is expected to see high profits margins in the last quarter of this year because of the highly anticipated the 10th anniversary iPhone dubbed as iPhone 8.
Apple’s sales are expected to grow to $9.96 billion in the last quarter and iPhone 8 can possibly turn Apple into a trillion-dollar company. The iPhone 8 is expected to revamp the influence of the Apple brand in China.
Recent information has revealed that the Cupertino company has started the trial production of the rumored iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus and iPhone 8.
Information coming from Zhengzhou Foxconn unit reveals that it is manufacturing around 200 units of upcoming iPhones on daily basis. It means the mass production of 2017 iPhones have not started yet.
The company is expected to increase the production by manufacturing hundreds of thousands of 2017 iPhones on daily basis in the coming weeks. Recent rumors had claimed that the production of iPhone 8 had been delayed, but newer information suggests that the production of iPhone 8 is well on track. However, Apple may produce lesser units of the iPhone 8 at launch.
LG did not release LG G Flex 3 after launching the LG G Flex 2 in 2014. The LG G Flex smartphones sported a curved display. The display was not curved on the sides unlike recent curved edge smartphones. However, it was curved at the top and bottom. The unique appeal that the LG G Flex series phones sported was because they were fitted with Plastic OLED (POLED) display panel. Fresh information suggests that we could more smartphones with POLED screens in the near future.
As the name goes, POLED screens have a plastic substrate instead of glass that is found in conventional OLED panels. One of the advantages of POLED panels is that since plastic is thinner in nature, it is more flexible compared to glass. However, there are not many smartphones after the LG G Flex phones that have made used of POLED panels. The other benefit of having POLED screen is that it is highly durable and can absorb more shock compared to glass OLED. So, the risk of cracking the POLED screen is very low.
POLED may soon appear on numerous smartphones in the near future because LG Display is heavily investing in additional production facilities that will be ready in the next two years. The recent earning report from LG Display reveals that it has increased monthly production of POLED by 30,000 input sheets. With its 6th generation line coming up in Gumi by third quarter of 2017 and in Paju by second half of 2018, LG Display would be able to produce a total of 65,000 input sheets per month. LG Display aims to produce a total of 120 million 6-inch POLED panels annually.
Since there is less demand for POLED panels with the clients and less number of production facilities at present, LG Display has held back its sales even though it is ready with enough stock to take on rivaling products that are available in the market. LG Display has already invested 7.8 trillion KRW and it is investing 5 trillion KRW in its 6th generation line in Paju. LG Display is making such huge investments in order to meet the expected market demand of 120 million POLED panels by next year and 370 million panels by 2020.
The LG G Flex phones did not receive good reception from the consumers probably because of the low display resolution. At that time, when other smartphones sported full HD resolution screens, the original LG G Flex’s screen produced HD resolution. When the LG Flex 2 came with a full HD screen, other flagships arrived with Quad HD screens. According to Android Authority, the prototype of a smartwatch and a smartphone with POLED screen appear like edge display technology from Samsung and carry support for full HD and Quad HD resolutions which shows that LG Display is able to manufacturer higher resolution plastic OLED panels without any problem.
LG Electronics will surely make use of POLED panels on future LG phones and Apple and Google are also expected to place huge orders for it with LG Display soon. There is a possibility that LG may resurrect the LG G Flex series by launching the POLED screen enabled LG G Flex 3 in the near future. Apart from smartphones and smartwatches, LG Display may also make its way in automotive industry in various departments ranging from dashboards to infotainment systems.
It is now very clear that Xiaomi will be launching the MIUI 9 along with the Mi 5X in only a matter of hours. What has also become certain is that the Chinese tech giant will be launching a new product from the Xiaomi Exploratory laboratory (Mi Lab) during the event.
Today, the Xiaomi Mi Lab Weibo page became busy with activity, teasing the launch event and what is likely a new product under the brand. The product wasn’t revealed but Xiaomi’s MI VR general manager took to Weibo to inform about the launch of a new product. The Xiaomi exec gave the idea that the product will be announced in the same iconic manner as Steve Jobs used to announce the last product during his Apple days using the “One More Thing” mantra. From the comments on his post, the product is likely a Smart Speaker just as we hinted.
If this is a Smart speaker, then we can also expect new Artificial Intelligent technology (AI) from Xiaomi. We don’t know the features of the Smart speaker but it is tipped as similar to Amazon’s Echo and other intelligent Voice assistants.
In the previous week, several owners of OnePlus 5 claimed that the smartphone automatically rebooting when they tried dialing emergency number like 911 in the U.S. or 999 in the U.K. All OnePlus 5 users did not complaint about facing the same problem, but many users were issue. Some even managed to capture the issue on a video. The issue has been resolved through a software update that was released last Friday.
It appeared like a serious problem as it prevented them from making calls to emergency numbers. OnePlus has now released an official statement on its forums to revealed what caused the issue and how it managed to fix it by working with Qualcomm.
According to OnePlus 5, the issue cropped up when users tried calling emergency numbers through Voice over LTE (VoLTE) which triggered OTDOA (Observed Time Difference of Arrival) protocol. The OTDOA connects with network signal towers and measures the time required for an LTE signal to reach a cellular tower. This allows the it to find out the exact location of the phone which is very important for the cops or other officials of that nature to find out the exact location of the caller. It only works when the emergency number is compatible with this system.
According to OnePlus, the rebooting issue while calling emergency numbers occurred randomly for users on VoLTE. The issue happened because of the problem with memory usage that was trigged from receiving and sending of OTDOA data. It meant that the problem was associated with the software as well as how it communicated with the cellular modem of the OnePlus 5.
As mentioned before, all the OnePlus 5 units were not affected by this problem. The reason behind it is that all the users do not make use of VoLTE to make phone calls and also not all the emergency numbers carry support for OTDOA. Since the issue was associated with the modem, OnePlus worked with Qualcomm to develop a software patch and it was quick enough to resolve the issue by releasing OxygenOS 4.5.6 and it seems to be in the process of reaching the global users of OnePlus 5. The size of the hotfix is 32 MB and its description reads: Fixed reboot caused by dialing 911 on certain OnePlus 5 units.
Have you faced this issue? Did you receive the software update that resolves the problem? Do let us know by adding your comments below.
In February, Nokia had released smartphones like Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 and soon it will launch it will be introducing its second batch of smartphones. Speculations have it that the forthcoming smartphones of Nokia are Nokia 8, Nokia 7 and Nokia 2. HMD Global has already confirmed that it would be debuting the Nokia 8 flagship phone on Aug. 16. It seems that the arrival of the Nokia 2 entry-level phone is approaching fast as its leaked render has appeared and it has been also spotted on Geekbench benchmarking site.
In the past week, an image showing the frontside of the Nokia 2 placed alongside a drawing of Nokia 3 had appeared. It revealed that the shape and size of the smartphone is quite similar to the Nokia 3 phon. This suggested that the Nokia 2 would be featuring a 5-inch HD screen with on-screen buttons. Today, a new image of the Nokia 2 has appeared to reveal its frontside as well as backside of a light-blue colored variant
The Nokia 2 has rounded corners. Its bezels surrounding the display are thick. The top bezel has a selfie camera, an earpiece and a Nokia logo. The volume rocker and the Power key are placed on the right side of the phone. It seems that the handset is running on Android Nougat. There is no physical Home button below the display. The backside of the phone has single camera with its LED flash below it. A Nokia logo is placed at the center and an external speaker can be seen sitting at the bottom-left of the back panel. The image does not reveal the connectivity ports of the phone. However, it seems that it will be featuring a 3.5mm audio jack and a microUSB port.
The Nokia 2 handset has allegedly appeared as Unknown Heart phone on Geekbench to reveal some of its key specs. It confirms that the smartphone is running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. It is powered by a quad-core processor that clocks at 1.27 GHz which is coupled with 1 GB of RAM. The processor that is powering the Nokia 2 is speculated as Snapdragon 212. It has recorded a single-core score of 422 and a multi-core score of 1146. Rumors have revealed that some regions will be receiving Nokia 2 fueled with Snapdragon 212 whereas other regions will be getting MediaTek driven variant of the phone.
Motorola finally takes off the wraps on its latest flagship, the Moto Z2 Force. For starters, this is the successor to both the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force. So don’t expect a separate Moto Z2.
We have seen tons of images ahead of the official launch and by now we should all be familiar with the Moto Z2 Force. There have been slight modifications with respect to the design, but the overall look remains largely unchanged.
Moto Z2 Force Design: Keeping It Simple
The biggest changes in the overall design are at the back. Unlike the first gen model that has a glass back that doubles as a fingerprint magnet, the Moto Z2 Force ditches it for brushed metal.
Running around the metal back like a border line are the antenna lines in a lighter shade of black/ash. The Moto Mod connector pins have gotten a redesign too but they still work with the older mods.
The camera bump is still there but it now holds two sensors and dual LEDs for flash. The whole setup sort of looks like the face of a Rabbid.
The changes in the front are minimal. There is a redesigned home key/fingerprint scanner and the position and design of the LED flash has been changed.
Moto Z2 Force Specs
The Moto 2 Force has a 5.5-inch 2K POLED display with Shattershield protection. There is 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform. That memory configuration is for the US.
The rest of the world gets 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage while China gets 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage. All variants will have microSD card slots.
Depending on the market, you either get a single SIM slot or dual SIM slots but irrespective, it will be nano. There is dual band WiFi with MIMO; NFC; and Bluetooth 4.2 which Motorola says will become 5.0 after the Android O update and a whole bunch of sensors including an audio monitor.
The Moto Z2 Force doesn’t have an audio jack but you get a 3.5mm to USB type-C adapter.
Just like the Moto Z2 Play, the Moto Z2 Force also ditches its bigger 3500mAh battery in favor of a smaller 2730mAh one. The only plausible explanation behind this is to get you to buy the Moto Mod battery pack according to Evan Blass.
The Moto Z2 Force runs Android 7.1.1out of the box and comes with Motorola’s additional features like voice control and Moto gestures.
Moto Z2 Force Cameras: Mono + Color
Motorola has adopted the mocochrome + color format for the dual cameras on the Z2 Force. Both sensors are 12MP Sony IMX386 cameras with a f/2.0 aperture and a 1.25um pixel size.
There is laser autofocus, zero shutter lag and depth detection. You can take images with the depth of field effect or modify the “image background or foreground to black and white, while keeping the main subject in color mode”.
The front camera is a 5MP f/2.2 sensor with its own flash and pro mode.
Moto Mods
Motorola also officially showed off the Moto 360 Camera mod. The 360 cam mod shoots in 4K with immersive audio. It has a 150° field of view and you can use it to live stream directly to your social media accounts. It has a price tag of $299.99.
The Moto Z2 Force will be available in Super Black, Fine Gold and Lunar Grey. All carriers in the US will have it but the grey model is a T-Mobile exclusive. It will also be sold by Motorola itself and Best Buy.
Price starts at $720 and it will go on sale on August 10 with a free Insta-Share Projector Moto Mod. Pre-orders begin today.
The Moto Z2 Force will also be launched in Brazil, Mexico, China, Europe, Middle East and Africa in coming weeks.
Samsung is very much focused on the mid-range segment in addition to its flagship Galaxy S and Note series. The company was recently rumoured as working on a mid-range Exynos 9610 processor which would take on the Snapdragon 660 chip. The Samsung Galaxy A-series is tipped to feature the chip first.
Right now, a GFXBench test result screenshot alleged to be that of the Exynos 9610 chip has leaked via Weibo. The benchmark result is listed for a Samsung device with model number SM-A730x which is believed to be the Galaxy A7 (2018). The device is listed to feature a 2.1GHz processor with Cortex-A53 core and Mali-G71 GPU which is consistent with those of the Exynos 9610, well except the GPU. Configuration wise, the Exynos 9610 is said to be manufactured using the 14nm LPP process and integrates the entire network baseband. The chip is made up of four Cortex -A73 cores and eight Cortex-A53 cores. The Exynos 9610 is also said to feature a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU which looks like a Nvidia GPU.
The smartphone on which it is featured, that is the SM-A730x model comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat with a Full HD display resolution. The device also packs 4GB of RAm and 32Gb of storage as well as 16MP cameras both at the front and rear. We really can’t be certain if this is the Exynos 9610 so, we’ll still have to wait for more details on it.
Chinese tech giant Meizu has a long-standing relationship with Samsung when it comes to the processors it uses on its smartphones. Meizu has for some time now been making use of Samsung’s Exynos chips on its flagship models, the last been on the Pro 6 Plus released last year and which really was a true flagship with an Exynos 8890 processor. Most fans were expecting the company to replicate that feat this year on its flagship model, with earlier rumours tipping the Meizu Pro 7 Plus of having an Exynos 8895 chip on board. That rumour has since been debunked to the disappointment of some fans who would have loved to see that happen.
That may not be the only disappointment that may be coming the way of Meizu/Exynos fans as a new rumour by well-known analyst Pan Jiutang has hinted that the Chinese company may actually be ditching Samsung’s chips on its flagship models in favour of MediaTek’s and Qualcomm’s chips. Already, the upcoming Meizu Pro 7 flagship will feature a MediaTek Helio P25 and X30 processors on different versions.
In a similar vein, Meizu and Qualcomm recently announced that they have settled the rift that has prevented Meizu from using Qualcomm chips on its smartphones. So, the next year could see the debut of Qualcomm chips on Meizu smartphones. It is even possible for Meizu to launch a mid-range Qualcomm-powered smartphone before the end of the year.
Earlier today, we posted an article that covered the spec leak of the Meizu Pro7. It turns out that was only half of the picture, literally and figuratively. The remaining half or rather, the whole picture which includes the specs of the Pro7 Plus have surfaced online.
The new image reveals there will be three Pro7 variants. Two (including the Pro7 Plus) of them will have the Helio X30 while the other Pro7 will get the Helio P25.
The Meizu Pro7 Plus will have the same 1.9-inch secondary display and a 5.7-inch 2K display. RAM is 6GB DDR4X but storage isn’t mentioned. Camera details are the same as that of the Pro7.
The other difference between the variants is the charging technology. The Pro7 Plus will have an insane 5V/5A mCharge fast charge. This is higher than OnePlus’ Dash Charge (5V/4A) and we expect it to be safe as well. Is this a toned down version of the Super mCharge unveiled at MWC 2017? Most likely.
The Pro7 Plus will also arrive with Flyme 6 OS on board.
The spec release changes everything we have previously heard about the pricing details. With three models in total, it will be interesting to see how Meizu handles the pricing.
Huawei released the Watch 2 and the Watch 2 Classic at MWC 2017 as successors to its first Android Wear smartwatch. Five months later, it has added a third variant called the Huawei Watch 2 Porsche Design.
If you do remember, this isn’t Huawei’s first partnership with Porsche Design. The 2016 Huawei Mate 9 also has a Porsche Design variant and just like it this one also has a high price tag.
The specs are the same with the standard variant but it has a different design. The display is a 1.2-inch AMOLED display with a 390 x 390 resolution and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 powers the device.
This model has LTE, a feature limited only to certain variants of the Watch 2. RAM is 768MB and there is 4GB of storage and 420mAh of battery. Huawei claims 48 hours of battery life with mixed usage. There is NFC, so you should have support for Android Pay. You also have Bluetooth 4.1, WiFi, GLONASS, A-GPS and IP68 protection.
In terms of looks, the Watch 2 Porsche Design is a stunner. It still has the tachymeter markings as the original but the area between 12 and 3 has Porsche Design written there. The case is stainless steel and the strap is a mixture of leather and rubber with red stitching and Porsche Design branding. There is also a watch face that has the Porsche Design logo beside the date.
September is promising to be a month of interesting events on the tech scene. First, Apple’s long-awaited iPhone 8 is expected to drop in the month of September. Now, industry source claims Huawei will start mass production of the Kirin 970 next-gen chip in September.
The Kirin 970 is expected to be produced based on TSMC 10nm process and was initially said to be experiencing yield problem. But that has been solved and will not delay the supply of the new SoC said to be Huawei’s first chip to use the 10nm process. The Kirin 970 is expected to pack an octa-core CPU with four ARM Cortex-A73 cores, and four ARM Cortex-A53 cores. There are talks of higher Cortex-A75 cores onboard the SoC. The next-gen flagship chipset is also revealed to have a maximum clock frequency of between 2.8GHz – 3.0GHz. In addition, the Kirin 970 will be equipped with Cat. 12 LTE baseband. The chip is also said to feature an unknown Heimdallr MP GPU with 12 core which should be ultra-powerful.
In addition, in line with Huawei’s tradition, the Kirin 970 is expected to debut onboard the Mate 10 which is tipped to launch in October. From earlier leaked details, the Mate 10 is expected to feature a 6-inch JDI display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and resolution of 2160 x 1080pixels. The Mate 10 is tipped to bring a visual effect that is even cooler than that of the Galaxy S8. The Huawei Mate 10 is also said to have two versions – Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, similar to the format the Mate 9 was launched. The man difference between both models will be the hardware.
The Meizu Pro7 and Pro7 Plus are expected to launch tomorrow. Yesterday, Mediatek revealed the processors that will power both phones and we were surprised to learn that only one of them will get the Helio X30 SoC. Today, an image revealing key specification details has been leaked online.
The selling point of the Meizu Pro7 is its secondary LCD display mounted on the back. The spec sheet says the display measures 1.9-inches while the primary display is 5.2-inches.
The Pro7 will have two variants. One with a Helio P25 SoC and the other will be powered by the Helio X30. They will both have 4GB of RAM but storage capacity will differ. We believe the Helio P25 model will have 64GB of storage and the X30 version will get 128GB of storage.
Meizu is also joining the dual-camera train with the Pro7. The cameras are positioned above the secondary display. Both are 12MP Sony sensors and there is a 16MP shooter for the front facing camera.
Other features mentioned include Meizu’s mCharge 24W fast charging technology and Flyme 6 based on Android 7.0.
Samsung has its hands in a lot of pies. The popular ones are its mobile phone division, display division and its semiconductor manufacturing division.
Apart from making its own Exynos chip, Samsung also takes contracts to manufacture chips for big clients like Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and Apple. In May of this year, the Korea based company made the decision to make the chip department a separate entity.
Even with the big clients, Samsung isn’t among the big three semiconductor foundries in the world. Taiwan’s TSMC still has the largest share of the market, followed by GlobalFoundries, and then UMC. Samsung is at number 5 behind SMIC.
With a new head, the plan is to change that in a span of five years. They have set a target to grab 25% of the market by adding new clients to their list. Samsung says it will try to win over both small and big clients to achieve this goal.
In terms of sales, it is already crushing it. A Q1 report puts it behind Intel at the number 2 spot, and projections say it will claim the top spot by the end of the year.
Samsung is already working hard at adopting new manufacturing technologies. It recently won the contract to make the processor for next year’s iPhone and it has confirmed that it will be able to make 7nm chips by H2 2018.
Xiaomi will be unveiling MIUI 9 and all its new features tomorrow with the beta testing program set to roll. The Xiaomi Mi 6, Redmi Note 4 and Redmi Note 4X have also been revealed to be the first batch of models that would get the custom ROM. This is in order to ensure MIUI 9 offers a great user experience in terms of stability, smoothness, and better battery backup.
After the Mi 6 and Redmi Note 4X models have gotten the update, the second batch of models was hitherto not revealed but words coming out from a tech blogger on Weibo is that the MIUI 9 second batch models to get the update will be just three. The three models are revealed to be the Xiaomi Mi 5, Mi Mix and Mi Note 2. Apart from that, the blogger revealed that MIUI 9 goes by the internal codename Lightning which is a good one. Xiaomi has revealed the light nature of the new ROM in size and the resultant speed so, the name fits the new interface.
The roll out date for the first batch of MIUI 9 Custom ROM is not known but should be anytime within August. In that case, second batch models would likely get updates around September. That means it is likely going to be a long wait for the new MIUI interface for many Xiaomi model users especially those with budget models. It won’t be a bad idea to join the Beta testing program if you are eager to get the ROM because the polished Custom ROM may not be hitting your model anytime soon.
Several Chinese smartphones including the ones from lesser known brands come with dual rear cameras. However, smartphone market leader, Samsung, is yet to debut a dual rear camera enabled phone. There are couple of forthcoming Samsung phones that are speculated to come with dual rear cameras this year. Fresh information suggests that after the arrival of dual rear cameras on the Galaxy Note 8, forthcoming flagships like Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ and Galaxy Note 9,
Kim Rok-ho, an analyst with Hana Financial has stated that the supplies of dual camera system for the upcoming flagship phone for Samsung will also result in the profits of Samsung Electro-Mechanics in 2018. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is the South Korean company’s wing that manufactures camera modules.
Recent rumors have revealed that the Galaxy Note 8 will be equipped with a horizontally arranged dual cameras on its backside. The duo camera system is expected to include a 13-megapixel wide-angle sensor and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens that will allow users to take advantage of various features such as amazing low-light photography and AR capabilities like 3D mapping and distance measurement. KGI Securities analysts, Ming-Chi Kuo has revealed that both the cameras will be equipped with optical image stabilization and 3x optical zoom. Hence, the Galaxy Note 8’s dual rear cameras is speculated to better than other smartphones with dual rear cameras.
According to an analyst named Park Hyug-woo from Shinhan Investment, Samsung Electro-Mechanics will continue to record more profits in the next two years. He added that the Galaxy S8 and Note 9 are likely to feature dual rear cameras. He added that the Samsung Electro-Mechanics may make a profit of $10 billion in 2019.
Many smartphone companies such as Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus and OPPO have managed to release smartphones with dual rear cameras, but Samsung has lagged behind. However, rumors are rife that at least four Samsung smartphones with dual rear cameras will break cover this year.
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