Last week, we witnessed the launch of new models in one of the best-selling budget smartphone series worldwide. Further, we learned that the global smartphone market grew for the first time in four years. Then, out of nowhere, two brands released shameless iPhone clones. At the same time, another company launched a Galaxy S21 Ultra-lookalike phone. All this and more happened in the last few days. Let’s take a look at them one by one in no particular order.

Before proceeding, we would like to let you know that the top stories listed here are based on our opinion. As your choices may vary, we would like to know your picks in the comment section below.

Top Stories from Last Week

New Redmi Note 11 series for international markets

After debuting the Redmi Note 11 lineup in China in November, Xiaomi finally brought the family to international on January 26. However, the series for global markets include totally different devices, namely Redmi Note 11, Redmi Note 11S, Redmi Note 11 Pro, and Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G.

Out of these four, the Redmi Note 11S offers the best value for its asking price. Although it looks and has the same display as the vanilla model, its specs are more comparable to the Pros.

The entire series comes with features like a high-refresh display, dual stereo speakers, IR blaster, MUI 13, a 5,000mAh battery, and more. You can learn more about them by visiting this link.

Smartphone market observed multiple records

The global smartphone market grew for the first time in 2021 since 2017. Counterpoint Research revealed that the shipments reached 1.39 billion units by growing 4% YoY.

The Indian smartphone, in particular, grew 12%YoY last year by registering 162 million units in shipment. On the other hand, the Chinese market shipped 333 million units and incremented by only 1%.

Finally, pivoting to the budget segment at the right time (ahead of LG’s demise), OnePlus saw an insane 524% YoY growth in the US in Q4 2021.

iPhone clones from Gionee and Blackview

Gionee 13 Pro went official last week with an uncanny iPhone 13 resemblance and HarmonyOS. However, it has entry-level specs like an HD+ display (LCD) and a UNISOC T310 chipset. For just  ¥529 (483), it doesn’t sound like a bad deal after all.

At around the same time, Blackview A95 also got announced with an iPhone 13 Pro-like design. Its main highlights other than design include a MediaTek Helio P70 SoC, 6.5-inch HD+ display (LCD), and a 4,380mAh battery.

Face ID now works with a mask 

After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, iPhones can be finally unlocked with masks on. However, this feature is currently only available in the beta channel. Also, it requires iPhone 12 or newer models.

Additionally, Apple is working on a new feature that will turn iPhones into POS machines. This feature will be reportedly useful for micro-merchants.

MediaTek Kompanio 1380 is a new chip for Chromebooks

MediaTek announced a new SoC called Komapnio 1380 for premium Chromebooks on January 26. This 6m chip arrives with an octa-core CPU consisting of four ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at up to 3GHz and a five-core ARM Mali-G57 GPU.

It supports up to 4K 60Hz display, AV1 decoding, WiFi 6//6E, and Bluetooth 5. The chipset will make its global debut inside the Acer Chromebook Spin 513, which is scheduled to hit the shelves in June.

HUAWEI P50 Pocket reaches global markets alongside HUAWEI P50 Pro

On January 26, Huawei announced the arrival of HUAWEI P50 Pro and HUAWEI P50 Pocket to multiple international markets like Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South America.

The 4G-only premium handsets from the once world’s largest smartphone brand sport the same set of features as the variant sold in China, except for software. The global editions of these devices run EMUI 12 without GMS (Google Mobile Services) instead of HarmonyOS.

Despite their shortcomings in terms of software, Huawei is charging a whopping €1,199 for the HUAWEI P50 Pro (8GB + 256GB) and €1,299 for the HUAWEI P50 Pocket (8GB + 256GB). There’s also a Premium Edition of the latter phone with a unique design and 12GB + 512GB memory configuration for €1,599.

JioPhone 5G could be Jio’s first 5G smartphone

A report on January 25 disclosed that the Indian carrier Jio is working on its first 5G smartphone called JioPhone 5G. This device is expected to go official in June with much better specs than the poorly received JioPhone Next.

The handset is said to come with a 6.5-inch HD+ display (HD+), 13MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) dual camera setup, 8MP selfie camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 SoC, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, 5,000mAh battery, and 18W fast charging.

OnePlus phones might run H₂OOS in the near future

On January 27, popular Indian tech influencer Mukul Sharma tweeted that the unified operating system of OPPO and OnePlus could be called H₂OOS. Since his claim is based on a trademark filing by OnePlus, he could be wrong.

Anyway, the H₂OOS (Water OS) trademark is interesting as it combines the names of OxygenOS (O₂) and the discontinued HydrogenOS (H₂OS). The name has no mention of ColorOS, which the software will be actually based on.

Furthermore, a couple of days before this tweet, a tipster stated that the OnePlus 10 Ultra could debut in H2 2022 as the brand’s first superphone or ultra-premium smartphone. The device is said to house OPPO’s MariSilicon NPU.

HONOR to showcase new products at MWC 2022

HONOR has confirmed to attend MWC 2022. The company has scheduled a launch conference for February 28. The event will kickstart at 1 PM CET.

The brand is teasing the launch of the new Magic series with a quote ‘The Power of Magic’. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the upcoming lineup of handsets.

Micromax IN Note 2 and vivo Y75 5G  debut in India

Micromax launched the IN Note 2 on January 25 as the successor of IN Note 1 for ₹13,490 (4GB + 64GB). The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra-lookalike phone arrives with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, MediaTek Helio G95 chipset, 48MP (wide) + 5MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) quad-camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, side-mounte fingerprint sensor, Android 11, 5,000mAh battery, and 30W fast charging.

Chinese handset maker vivo debuted a new budget 5G smartphone called vivo Y75 5G in India on January 27. For ₹21,990 (8GB  +128GB), the phone offers a 6.58-inch FHD+ display (LCD), MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, 50MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) triple camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Android 12, 5,000mAh battery, and 18W fast charging.

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• Samsung records all-time high $232.43 billion revenue in 2021
• Upcoming Smartphones: OPPO Reno7 series heading to India

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