OPPO R9 has been selling very well for the company. In fact, it is said that the production capacity of the R9 is around 2 million per month, which is almost twice (updated production capacity) of the Mi 5 and much more than Huawei Mate 8’s 800,000 per month. We had heard about an FC Barcelona special edition version of this popular model, and now, the phone has been leaked in pictures.
The new leaked images reveal that the OPPO R9 FC Barcelona Edition will come in Red and Grey variants. The phones will have FC Barcelona’s logo at the back with the words “FCBarcelona” Official Partner. Design wise, rest of the looks remain the same as the regular version.
However, OPPO had revealed earlier that the FC Barcelona edition will come with specialized ringtones and UI tweaks to match the theme. Further, these limited edition models will be reportedly signed by FC Barcelona players, adding further value. Finally, OPPO had also revealed that the phone will be quite affordable. But at this moment, we don’t have information on the pricing of the device.
Expect the specs to be the same as the regular version. So, the OPPO R9 FC Barcelona Edition will come with a 5.2-inch FHD 1080p display with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage on board. Inside, the phone will be powered by the Helio P10 MT6755 octa-core chip. At the back, the phone sports a 13MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture, while up front, you get an even better 16MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture. As for the battery, you get a 2850mAh capacity one with fast charging that charges from 0 to 75 percent in just 30 minutes.
OPPO is yet to reveal an exact date for the release of this special edition, but we can expect more details pretty soon.
LeEco unveiled three new smartphones in April, namely Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2. All three phones offered best bang for your buck, which meant that everyone is patiently waiting for the phones to be available in the international markets. Now, LeEco (formerly known as LeTV) has started sending out media invites for an event on June 8 and it is safe to assume that it should be for the India launch of the three new smartphones from the company. While the invite doesn’t say anything about the launch of these three models, the timing is ideal for the new phones to be launched in the market.
LeEco phones are extremely popular in China as well as India, selling out within minutes. In the first sale of the three phones, over a million units were sold out within a matter of two hours in China. That’s pretty impressive! Now, it looks like the company is all set to unveil these three power phones in India and expect a pretty good response for them in the country.
To recap, all these three phones ditch the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack and instead uses a CDLA standard that works with the phone’s USB Type-C slot. Why this change you ask? Well, LeEco believes USB Type-C powered headphones are the future, and it wants to be the first one to make the jump. And guess what, iPhone 7 is rumored to ditch the standard slot as well!
Specs wise, the Le Max 2 stands on top of the lineup, featuring the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chip with 4GB / 6GB RAM options and 32GB / 64GB storage variants. There will be a 5.7-inch QHD display on board with a 21MP rear camera and 8MP front shooter. You can read more about the specs of the three devices from our launch coverage.
We are not quite sure whether we’ll see all the three smartphones and their versions launched in India, but let’s wait for more details.
While Xiaomi makes one of the best value for money smartphones in the market right now, the company is currently facing one major issue — timely supply of its orders. The demand for its products, especially smartphones are much more than its supply, which means there are many disappointed Mi fans in the market who are left without their favorite devices. We have seen Xiaomi Mi 5 selling out in seconds, even in the third and fourth flash sales. This is mainly because, the company is reportedly manufacturing only around 700,000 units of the Mi 5 per month, lower than its demand. But, now that Lei Jun has personally taken charge of the company’s supply, we should soon see an improvement in the shipments.
Now, a new report from China states that Inventec has increased its production capacity to boost the shipments of the Xiaomi Mi 5. In fact, it is said that the total production of the Mi 5 has just been increased to 1 million per month from just 700,000 before. Earlier, an industry analyst, Sun Changxu, revealed that Xiaomi Mi 5’s production was not adequate because of the limited supply of the in-demand Snapdragon 820 chips. But that doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore.
It is further said that Inventec has increased its production capacity utilization ratio of its Nanjing plant to 90 percent recently. Also, to meet the increasing demand, Inventec is working on its Nanjin Phase II project which comprises of 27,000 acres and six floors, which will further boost up its production capacity.
With Lei Jun taking charge of the company’s supply, and Inventec increasing its production capacity, looks like Mi 5’s flow of shipments should be steady very soon.
Definitely good news, but do you think it’s too late?
Since the debut of the Vivo XPlay 5, the world’s first 6GB RAM smartphone, we have seen a couple of other Chinese manufacturers enter the 6GB RAM market. ZUK is one of these companies and its ZUK Z2 Pro smartphone went on sale today for an amazing price tag of 2699 Yuan which comes to just $412. This makes it one of the cheapest 6GB RAM phones in the market right now. So naturally, when the phone was made available for purchase earlier today, there were lots of buyers interested in the device.
Within a few minutes of the sale, which started at 10:00 AM today, the phone was sold out. Today, the ZUK Z2 Pro White Ceramic version was made available for buyers with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The company now reveals that this top-end version was sold out within 5 minutes. To be exact, it was out of stock in just 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Unfortunately, the company did not reveal how many total units were offered for sale today.
As for the specs, the ZUK Z2 Pro comes with the Snapdragon 820 chipset with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The phone features a 3D glass body and comes with ultra-narrow 1.41mm bezels which makes the display stand out. There are a lot of unique features of the Z2 Pro, which you can read from here. If you are interested in the full specs and features of the device, check out our launch article from here.
The next flash sale is exactly a week away, i.e. on May 31 and along with this top-end model, the 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM version will also be made available for sale that day. Interestingly, ZUK is yet to reveal a price tag for this version and the company has asked its fans to guess the right price. The company will reveal the price on May 31 and those who get it right will get some discount vouchers.
Xiaomi is all set to unveil its first drone tomorrow at 7PM in Beijing. The company has been teasing the new device for the past few days, revealing some features as well. Now, the latest teaser for the Xiaomi drone reveals another important feature of the device — portability.
The teaser shows that the Xiaomi drone can be carried around inside a regular backpack, which means the product’s form factor would be compact. This is definitely good news since carrying around a large drone can be a hassle and it is always better if you can fit it inside your everyday backpack while travelling.
In case you remember, the earlier teasers had confirmed that the new drone will come with a four-rotor design and a rotating camera. The drone is said to support 4K video capture at 30 fps. As for the pricing, it is said that the new drone will be priced at around 3999 Yuan ($610) which will be great considering that this will be a high-end drone comparable with market leaders.
Xiaomi has a tradition of disrupting the existing market leaders and looks like it is all set to do this in the UAV market as well. At present, the popular DJI is known for its Phantom and Inspire series drones, but these are costly products and out of the reach of many everyday drone lovers. Xiaomi’s new offering could be a potential solution to such buyers, who want to get the best out of their new drone without having to empty their pockets.
It is said that Xiaomi won’t be manufacturing the new drone, instead has given this to a third party manufacturer. We will get more details during the launch tomorrow, so stay tuned for more details.
We haven’t reviewed any phones made by Vernee and it will be interesting to see what kind of devices this company has to offer. Today we have a Vernee Thor in our review labs. The phone costs around $120 and it has some decent specs. Learn more in our full review.
The phone comes with all the usual stuff. One thing worth mentioning is that the phone ships with a fast charger.
Vernee Thor Review: DESIGN
We are looking at quite a compact phone due to its 5″ 720p display (covered with Gorilla Glass 3), which is actually very nice to look at. It is quite sharp, vivid and it is a decent HD panel overall.
We have a 5MP selfie camera and non-backlit capacitive buttons. However, there is no LED notification light.
The phone is made of plastic but it does not feel cheap at all. In fact, it sports a soft “baby skin” coating and it makes the phone feel very nice in the hand. Also, rounded edges help with the grip and thus the phone is very comfortable to hold.
The phone sports a 13MP camera with a single LED flash. Just below the camera we can find a fingerprint scanner. We found this security option to be fast, accurate and it works straight from the standby mode. However, the display could light up a little bit faster after the fingerprint has been recognized.
On the bottom there is a loudspeaker, which is pretty good but, as usual to budget phones, the sound could have more depth.
The backplate can be removed and underneath it you can find 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot for storage expansion. A 2800mAh non-removable battery powers up the device.
Vernee Thor has some pretty good specs for the price. It sports an MTK6753 chip (1.3GHz,) 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
The phone handles 3D gaming very well. I was surprised that Asphalt 8 ran with no lag or stutter even on highest graphics (see a video review for gaming performance).
Vernee Thor Review: UI
Vernee Thor is also a great performer on a daily use. Almost stock looking Android 6.0 based user interface does not have many features but it is very fast and responsive even after installing lots of apps.
Vernee Thor Review: CAMERA
The 13MP camera can take some good looking images in good light but since we are talking about $120 phone, they are not ideal. The main issue that I found is that the colors look a bit washed out in some of the shots.
When it comes to the low-light shots, they are not really impressive but this is what you have to expect from a phone at this price.
As for video, it could be less shaky and look a bit sharper. See a video review for a video sample.
A 5MP front camera does not impress. The pictures lack detail and sharpness but most importantly there are no wide-angle lens that we are used to.
I didn’t have any issues with this phone. Wifi, GPS and Bluetooth works fine and call quality is decent.
Vernee Thor Review: BATTERY LIFE
Speaking of the battery, it performs great. I could constantly get around 5 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use and if you need to re-charge it, a fast charger comes to help.
Vernee Thor Review: CONCLUSIONS
Vernee Thor is a pretty good offering for the price of $120. It has a decent design and build, the display is nice and the phone is a good performer both in terms of day-to-day use and gaming. Also, the device has a pretty good battery life.
However, the low-light camera performance is not impressive and a selfie camera is quite terrible.
Overall, the Vernee Thor is a decent phone for the price if you don’t mind a few shortcomings.
Coupon code for Vernee Thor at Oppomart: VENE20,$20 off.
Meizu seems to be on a roll the past few months. The company unveiled three new smartphones in three different lineups in April. While you may have thought that the company was going to be silent for the next few months, according to recent reports, that’s probably not going to be the case. Meizu is said to be preparing for the launch of another important flagship next month, and that is going to be none other than the rumored Meizu MX6 flagship.
Usually, MX series smartphones are released around June-July period. It looks like the company is going to continue the tradition this year as well, as the release is expected to be on June 20. If true, this would make nearly four smartphone launches, all in different lineups in a matter of 3 months. That’s pretty aggressive even for a Chinese smartphone maker.
As for the specs, earlier leaks have said that the phone will feature 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM variants. The former could start at $275 and the latter at around $305, which would put it in competition with the Xiaomi Mi 5. But inside, this device is said to feature Mediatek’s Helio X20 instead of X25 chip that powers the Pro 6 flagship.
Considering the rumored specs and pricing, the Meizu MX6 should comfortably sit between the top-end Pro 6 and the mid-range Meizu M3 Note. Further, it is said that apart from the MX6, there is at least one more device from Meizu in the works — a dual curved edged smartphone with Exynos 8890. That is sure one flagship that we would want to see, but expect a launch only by the end of the year.
UMi show an amazing performance between UMi Super and iPhone 6S Plus, UMi TOUCH by Recording the time about battery drained and auto off.
It’s good practice to show the battery level. iPhone 6s Plus first appeared low battery tips and drained, when 3.5 hours had been recorded video.Surprisingly, Super could be record 4 hours and 55 minutes in the end. 20mins more then UMi TOUCH.
According to official data,UMi super with SONY® 4000mAh battery could offer 15 days of 4G standby. Even though UMi TOUCH sharing the same battery capacity 4000mAh, because of the strong CPU with greater RAM, UMi Super has a lot of improvement in durability. Yet, UMi Super is equip with the PE+ Quick charge technology. With USB Type-C, UMi Super could charge up to 75% in 30 minutes. If you need a big battery to get through the day, UMi super will be good for you.
Price: $249.99, now available to get $70 off by subscribtion
The UMi Super arrives on the global market on May 25, including major online shops Aliexpress and Amazon. You can pre-order this new smartphone in gold or dark gray from May 25th, with a nice extra – free delivery. The UMI Super will be priced at just US$249.99.
Last year, OnePlus gave its fans an opportunity to experience the OnePlus office during the unveiling of its brand new flagship smartphone, the Oneplus 2. While the company’s VR event received a mixed response from viewers around the globe, the company will continue the tradition of a Virtual Reality (VR) launch for its next major flagship, the OnePlus 3. This time around, you won’t be experiencing the company’s office, instead, the launch will be at the company’s virtual space station called the Loop.
And to make things special this year, the company will be allowing users to directly purchase the OnePlus 3 flagship in the Loop, before anyone else, making it a first global VR shopping experience. For VR, you need a headset and in case you don’t have one, OnePlus will be giving away free 30,000 OnePlus Loop VR Headsets to its fans this year. The company has partnered with Ant VR to make this headset, which is much more sturdy and durable than the cardboard ones sent last year.
But getting hold of one could be a hassle. First of all, the link that Carl provided was for only US customers. So, initially, it was thought that the free Loop VR headsets were limited to US. Later, it was revealed that you have to change the country from the bottom right corner. The ideal solution was to enter your country code in between the link, e.g. www.oneplus.net/uk/oneplus-loop-vr. As for Indian OnePlus users, it looks like the Loop VR sale will be on Amazon. You can register for the sale from here.
USB Type-C is the future of smartphone ports, coming with increased transfer and charging speeds. Another important highlight of the new USB standard is the reversible nature of the port, which means you can insert the plug in any direction. Now, Xiaomi has listed three variants of a new USB Type-C cable for smartphones, tablets and laptops. Given that the company has a few devices with the new USB version, this particular cable can come in handy for consumers.
There are three different lengths available — 20cm, 60cm and 120cm. However, only the last two variants, i.e. the 60 cm and 120cm cables are listed on the website for sale at the moment. The 60cm cable comes for 34.9 Yuan ($5) while the larger 120cm variant comes for 39 Yuan ($6).
The company has used woven nylon for covering the wires inside. Also, the plugs are made out of aluminum-magnesium alloy. Inside, the wires use tin-plated oxygen free copper and aluminum foil. The Mi USB Type-C cable supports fast charging speeds of up to 5V / 2.1A and fast data transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps.
The USB Type-C cable will be available in gold and silver colors. The company reveals that it is compatible with devices using this USB specification, like Xiaomi Mi 4C, Mi 5, Mi Pad 2 and even Macbooks.
Chinese companies are increasingly getting out of their home market and expanding into newer markets like Europe. To increase their brand awareness, these companies sign up top celebrities in these regions, like how Huawei signed Lionel Messi and Nubia signed Cristiano Ronaldo. And once they sign such huge celebrities, it is not uncommon for these companies to release specialized flagship models. It looks like that’s going to be the case with Nubia as well.
The company confirmed today that they will announce the Nubia Z11 Max phablet on June 7 in Beijing. And it looks like we could see a limited edition Cristiano Ronaldo signed version of the model at the event. That would be a logical move by the company, since he is now the global brand ambassador for Nubia. In case you remember, Huawei also has a specialized limited edition Mate 8 version coming on May 24 reportedly signed by Messi. Another speculation is that Ronaldo will be present at the event. But nothing is confirmed so far.
Nubia’s GM Ni Fei has already confirmed that the Z11 Max will boast of 83.7 percent screen to body ratio, which is amazing. This means that the phone will be nearly bezel-less and the top and the bottom bezels too will have to be trimmed down to reach this level of screen percentage. What is also confirmed is that the phone will fature 2.5D glass up front, a smooth metal frame and speakers at the bottom along with USB Type-C.
As for the specs, the Nubia Z11 Max is said to come with Snapdragon 652 with a 6-inch 1080p display, 16MP rear camera, 8MP front shooter, 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The battery is expected to be of 4000mAh. You can read more details about specs and design from the phone’s TENAA listing.
Last year, Samsung aimed to create a revolution in the market with the entry of the Galaxy S6 Edge with dual edged screen. However, it took nearly one year for the trend to catch on, as now, multiple Chinese smartphone manufacturers are reported to be working on their own dual edged smartphones. Apart from the Galaxy S7 Edge, this year, we have one more dual edge screen smartphone in the market right now, the Vivo XPlay 5. But soon, we will be seeing a lot many such phones from noted phone makers like Meizu, Huawei, and even Xiaomi.
For the past few months, we have seen several reports which give us some insight on the curved smartphone from Xiaomi. Now, a new report claims to add more information, which is actually in line with what we heard earlier. Sources from Korea report that LG Display is entering the Dual edge curved OLED display market this year, which is currently led by Samsung, mainly because, it is the only big player in the market. With LG’s entry, things could get interesting soon, with different Chinese smartphone makers split between Samsung and LG for sourcing their curved displays for upcoming smartphones.
It is said that LG is already developing a double edge curved OLED panel and will be supplying it to Xiaomi later this year. So, what this means is that Xiaomi is sourcing its display from LG, instead of the market leader Samsung, which is exactly what we heard a few days back. In fact, earlier report had said that Xiaomi’s curved phone could be delayed to Spring of 2017 because LG’s curved display production capacity was limited in the short term.
In case you are wondering, Huawei’s curved display smartphone could be using Samsung’s display. Earlier reports have said that Samsung and Huawei seem to be working together for its new phone. However, the new report says that LG Display is also in negotiation with Huawei for supplying curved OLEDs to the company. At this moment, nothing is confirmed.
Considering the dual edge design of the upcoming Xiaomi phone, expect the specs to be high-end as well. We already have a basic idea about the phone’s specs thanks to a previous leak. This included Snapdragon 823 (which is still unannounced), 6GB of RAM and even dual cameras. You can read more about that from here.
The Joly Joy lamp may not be the only unique product of its kind but it is really cool for a few reasons. Learn more in our review.
UNBOXING
It all starts with a presentation that I’ve never seen before. You are actually getting an eye chart whether you need it or not. Besides that, there are some instruction manuals and USB cable for charging.
DESIGN, FEATURES, FUNCTIONALITY
When it comes to the lamp itself, it all starts with a great minimal Apple-like design and top-notch build quality.
The lamp uses anodised aluminum in its construction and a cool thing that actually reminds Apple products is a glowing Joly Joy logo and it indeed looks nice.
The base part is made of quality rubber, which is very flexible, so you can use the lamp on almost all occasions. However, the black rubber material attracts dust very quickly.
The key feature is that the lamp is wireless and it has a built-in rechargeable 2000mAh battery. The lamp is said to last you from 3 to 30 hours depending on usage. I could get way over 15 hours, which is great considering how sleek and portable this device is.
You can turn the lamp on by gently tapping the power on/off switch. On the front, there is a little touchpad, which lets you choose from 3 different light colours – warm, cool or neutral white. A 6-level dimmer lets you adjust the level of brightness.
CONCLUSIONS
I’ve been using this LED lamp for quite a while now and it’s been working absolutely fine, and it looks really awesome on the table. My only complaint would be that it could be slightly brighter as I also wanted to use it for filming but it’s not a deal breaker at all.
While it is neither the cheapest nor the only good option available, it is a product worth checking out if you are in the market of LED desk lamps.
Xiaomi has officially confirmed that the first drone from the company will be announced on May 25 at 7PM in Beijing, China. We have already got a glimpse of the device, revealing a powerful setup and now, the first teaser video of the drone has been released. The new teaser gives us a much better look of the device, including its rotors, and camera.
First of all, the Xiaomi drone will be using a four-rotor design, as mentioned earlier. Also, like expected, the camera on board will be a rotating one, which means you can capture images and videos with the help of the drone in flight from various angles.
Specs wise, we haven’t got much information, but it is said that the new drone will be able to capture 4K videos at 30 fps. Also, the company is reportedly trying to compete with established drone makers like DJI, which means we can expect a lot of high-end features on the upcoming device. What’s more, pricing is expected to be around 3000 Yuan ($610), which will be great, if it has half of the features of the 8999 Yuan ($1375) DJI Phantom, which is considered one of the best in its class.
A few days back, ZUK CEO Chang Cheng revealed via Weibo that he spent a day with the ZUK Z2 smartphone and Exynos 8890 inside the device felt good. Now, this should have been a confirmation that the upcoming smartphone was going to feature Samsung’s best chipset. But to make things confusing, ZUK has released the first teaser for the ZUK Z2 and guess what, it features a large Qualcomm Snapdragon logo up front. It is a clear indication that the upcoming smartphone is going to come with a Snapdragon chipset inside.
The poster also confirms a few things about the device. First of all, ZUK is marketing the phone as a small screen flagship. So unlike the ZUK Z2 Pro which comes with a 5.2-inch display, we can expect a screen lesser than 5-inches on this device. Second, the image confirms that the launch event will be on May 31 in Beijing, China.
Now, coming back to the confused part, the processor inside. It is said that the Z2 could come with either Snapdragon 820 or Snapdragon 652 chipset, the second one being more likely. This is because, CEO had already teased the presence of Exynos 8890 inside the phone, which means there could be a top-end ZUK Z2 model which will come with this Samsung Exynos chip. If that’s the case, then a Snapdragon 652 octa-core chip would be a better choice for the low-end model.
As for the specs, earlier rumors have said that the phone will come with a 4.7-inch 1080p display along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM. Up front, there will be an 8MP camera while at the back, there will be a 13MP sensor. The battery is said to be large, of 4100mAh capacity, which would be great considering its size.
This could be the ideal small screen flagship in the market for buyers, but we will have to wait for the announcement to confirm these specs. The CEO also released a render of the upcoming flagship recently. You can read more about that from here.
Stay tuned for more details.
Meanwhile, some alleged pictures of the ZUK Z2 have been leaked in white. Check them out from below.
ZTE’s Nubia smartphone division recently unveiled a brand new device, the Nubia Z11 Mini. But considering the specs of the device, it was no flagship. Since Nubia is known to release premium devices, this meant that we could expect more smartphone launches soon and one possible candidate was the next generation model the Z9 Max released last year, called as the Nubia Z11 Max. This particular model has always featured a large screen, which means most compact phone lovers usually don’t consider it. But what if the bezels on the side as well as the top are reduced, will such consumers still neglect a large screen smartphone?
Well, Nubia’s executive has already confirmed that the Nubia Z11 Max is coming and along with this information, he revealed that the model will come with an impressive 83.27% screen to body ratio. It becomes necessary for large-screen models to reduce the bezel size in order to make it a bit more compact than the competition. The usual screen to body ratio ranges anywhere from 75% to 80%, but this is just amazing. We can see in the render that the company seems to have trimmed down the bezels on the top, making it quite thin. On the sides, we don’t see any visible bezels, but we hope there are no thick black borders ruining the near bezel-less design.
The phone has already passed through TENAA, revealing some important information about the phone’s specs. First of all, the phone sports a 6-inch 1080p display and comes with an octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz (most likely Snapdragon 652). There’s 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable ROM and a 16MP rear snapper with an 8MP one up front. Other features includes a large 4000mAh battery, Android 5.1 OS and 4G LTE support.
The phone is made out of a metal body and looks quite attractive as well. So, while the Nubia Z11 Max may not be a Xiaomi Mi Max killer in terms of pricing, but its size and specs could very well take on the Mi phablet.
UHANS may not be as famous as UMi or Elephone, but the company has impressed us with its latest smartphone, the UHANS S1. The specs are much like any other mid-range smartphone that you would find in the market, however, the looks is where the company’s newest release, the S1 gets its edge. The use of simplistic design, 2.5D glass and visually pleasing colors seem to be what makes the phone look much more premium than its price.
The phone is already available for pre-sale via various retailers (like Antelife @ $139.99) and will start shipping very soon. In case you have been wondering how the phone looks in real life, here’s a great comparison released by the company. The UHANS S1 has been compared with the three popular flagships in the market right now, namely the Huawei P9, Samsung Galaxy S7 and the iPhone 6S. While specs wise, the phone is nowhere near these three devices, looks wise, it does a good job keeping up with them.
The UHANS S1 comes in a white body and rose gold metal frame, which along with the 2.5D glass design makes it look like a premium category device. The USB port and speakers are located at the bottom, the fingerprint sensor lies at the back and the overall design looks quite simple yet attractive. The phone is quite thin as well, coming with a 7.3mm body. Unlike the S7 and the iPhone 6S, the phone doesn’t have a bulging camera reveals the company. Well, you can check out all of these pictures below to see the overall design and finish of the device.
As for the specs, the UHANS S1 comes with the octa-core MT6753, with 3GB of RAM and 32GB ROM which is further expandable via MicroSD. There will be a 5-inch display with HD resolution. At the back, you get a Sony IMX214 camera, while up front, a 5MP shooter. The phone runs on Freeme OS 6.1 and comes with 4G LTE FDD-LTE Band 1/ 2/ 7/ 8/ 20 support.
Gartner recently revealed its new report for Smartphone Sales to End Users in Q1 2016 and the report gives us some interesting insights about the market status worldwide. So, unlike some other reports which gives us the shipment numbers, this is the actual number of units sold to end customers, which should give us a better picture of the market standings.
There are a few changes in the top smartphone vendors in the first quarter of this year, and it is not surprising that three Chinese smartphone manufacturers have got into the top 5 list, clearly showing their dominance in the market. Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO have made it to the list for first quarter, but what’s really surprising is that OPPO is now above Xiaomi in terms of smartphone sales worldwide.
According to the new report, OPPO now sits in the fourth position in terms to total smartphone sales in Q1 2016. The company sold 16,112,600 smartphones in the earlier quarter, which is comfortably higher than Xiaomi’s 15,048,000 units sold in the same time period. What’s really impressive is the company’s growth rate. Last year, in the same time period, OPPO had sold just 6,585,100 phones, which means this year it marked a growth of a staggering 144.6%! At a time, when smartphone vendors are struggling to increase sales and market share, this is a tremendous achievement.
On the other hand, Xiaomi’s growth has remained relatively stagnant. It managed to increase smartphone sales by just 2% as compared to the same quarter last year. This is the main reason why OPPO could overtake Xiaomi in the previous quarter.
The report also reveals that Huawei did pretty well in the first quarter of this year. With a market share of 8.3%, this Chinese giant is comfortably ahead of OPPO and Xiaomi. It sold 28,861,000 smartphones in the first quarter, which is much higher than what it sold in Q1 2015. The company is slowly reducing its gap with Apple and it looks like Huawei is on the path (although still a few years away) of reaching the top.
In case you remember, Huawei CEO, Richard Yu had revealed that the company aims to overtake both Apple and Samsung in the next five years, and if it manages to sustain such high growth, this doesn’t look so impossible now. But despite its growth at this level, there’s still a long way to go, since Samsung sold a good 81,186,900 units in the first quarter, which is nearly three times of what Huawei sold in the same period.
Another interesting piece of information revealed by the report is the increasing gap between Android and iOS. Android’s market share grew from 78.8% in Q1 2015 to 84.1% in Q1 2016. On the other hand, iOS lost its market share in the past one year, going down from 17.9% to 14.8%. Windows, Blackberry and other operating systems hardly get 1% share of the market all together. Clearly shows the dominance of Android, and Apple to a certain extent.
ASUS has already confirmed that it will launch its new ZenFone 3 smartphones at Computex, Taiwan starting May 30. The company seems to be launching three new smartphones in the series and we already have the three possible names for the same — ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Max. The company has already kind of confirmed the launch of the three handsets with its teaser video released a couple of days back. Now, it looks like one of these ZenFone models has been spotted in the wild in China.
The image isn’t very clear, which makes it hard for us to see what’s on the back panel. What we could make out was that the phone comes with rear placed volume buttons, just like its predecessor. The camera sensor along with some other tech is located on the top left corner. Another thing almost confirmed by this leak is that the phone will be made out of metal.
While this may not be so clear, what really helps us understand the design of the three ZenFone models is the basic renders of the devices that poped up on the internet. All the three smartphones seem to of different sizes, with the one that we saw in the above above probably the Max or Deluxe version with the largest form factor. The other two models come with a slightly different design, with the camera and the other sensor located near the center, above the physical home button. The speaker and USB ports are located at the bottom according to this render.
As mentioned above, the company had already released the first video teaser for the new ZenFone 3 series. You can check them out from below.
Meanwhile, the launch is just 10 days away. So stay tuned for more details in the next few days.
We have been hearing about Xiaomi’s first drone for the past few months, but, until this month, the company didn’t confirm the existence of this new product. However, earlier in May, Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s CEO revealed that the new drone from the company was real and it would be announced by the end of this month. Just as promised, the company has now officially confirmed the release of the Xiaomi drone next week.
Xiaomi’s official Weibo account released a new poster on its page revealing that that the company’s first drone will debut on May 25 at 19:00. The teaser also gives us a first glimpse of what the new UAV will look like. It seems that the drone will come equipped with a ball shaped camera (could be rotating) at the bottom and four rotors on top. The image does make it look a bit large, but in reality the size could be smaller.
Unlike earlier rumors, recent reports have said that Xiaomi’s first drone is actually going to be an high-end one. The new drone is said to be able to capture 4K videos at 30 fps and come with other top-end features to rival products from companies like DJI. On the other hand, the cost is said to be kept competitive, around $600 which would less than half of what you would usually have to shell out for a powerful camera drone like DJI Phantom.
Since there’s still a few days for the launch, expect Xiaomi to reveal more interesting details about its drone. So, stay tuned!
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
UHANS
