The ongoing Mobile World Congress 2022 holding in Barcelona, Spain has seen several key announcements from various manufacturers. One of the big announcements from Korean tech powerhouse Samsung is that the Galaxy Note will now come out as the Galaxy Ultra, according to its smartphone chief.

Roh-Taemoon, Samsung’s smartphone arm’s executive indicates that the Galaxy S22 Ultra will suffice for this current iteration unlike previously when a Galaxy Note will have to be thrown into the mix. The last Galaxy Note released was in 2020 when the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra came on board. The integrated Stylus design present in the Galaxy S22 Ultra flagship seems a reflection of everything that we may have expected of a Galaxy Note. This convergence may be a business decision to shore up resources and sales, as the Galaxy Note lineup has had a turbulent trajectory since they berthed in 2011.

The advent of foldable displays which Samsung also played a pioneering part via the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3, has further restricted the utility of the Galaxy Note lineup, as users prefer more compact and versatile displays.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra will continue to appease the desire of Galaxy Note addicts as a more-than-worthy successor, and we expect more note-like offerings from Samsung going forward, according to Taemoon. So we can start viewing current Galaxy Note models as collector items.

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Xiaomi Malaysia has today disclosed that the brand emerged as the best-selling smartphone brand both in the country and also in entire southeast Asia during the Double 12 sales campaign. The feat was achieved on the two top e-commerce platforms Lazada and Shopee.

The data released shows that the recently launched POCO M3 was Xiaomi’s top-selling smartphone model on Lazada. The company raked in a cool 25,000 units in sales during the campaign.

On Lazada, Xiaomi ranked number one followed by Samsung and then Infinix, a Transsion Holding brand. The fourth spot is occupied by Realme, with OPPO completing the top 5 spots.

Xiaomi still topped the chart on Shopee with Samsung following closely. Realme was ranked as number three while OPPO and Vivo completed the top 5.

The Double 12 record for Southeast Asia is a continuation of where the Chinese brand left off during the 11.11 sales festival. From November 1st to 11th, Xiaomi was able to set a number of new records. Xiaomi’s mobile phones, smart TV, and other categories emerged as the top-sellers on multiple platforms such as JD.com, Tmall, and Suning. Among them, Xiaomi smart TV brand ranked as number one on the TV category in both JD.com and Suning Tesco both ranked first in sales.

For this year’s Double 11, Xiaomi distributed 1 billion yuan in subsidies across all platforms which includes Xiaomi Mall, Xiaomi Home, Xiaomi Youpin, Tmall, JD.com, Suning, and others. The subsidies and discounts cover all major Xiaomi product brands including smart TV, notebooks, and AIoT products, covering all major brands under Xiaomi Category.

It is worthy of note that Xiaomi has been the top brand on Tmall’s singles’ day sales for seven consecutive years, that is since 2013.

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(via)

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The race is on for the OEM that will be the first to launch a Snapdragon 888-powered flagship. Xiaomi had earlier hinted that it would be the first to launch a phone bearing the latest Qualcomm flagship chip. The race is apparently for the swift as Samsung has also hinted that it will announce the Galaxy S21 in January 2021. This has just been confirmed by TM Roh, the President and Head of Samsung’s mobile division.

The Samsung mobile division head wrote a blog post which among other things outlined with admiration what the company accomplished in 2020. He also rolled out the tech giant’s plans for next year. Apart from the Galaxy S21 launch date, the Samsung chief also confirmed that the device will come with S Pen support, something that is associated with the Note series in the past.

Find some important quotes from the post below:

“Thank you to everyone who supported us in 2020. I look forward to sharing more in January!” concludes the post, shortly after this promise: “We’ve also been paying attention to people’s favorite aspects of the Galaxy Note experience and are excited to add some of its most well-loved features to other devices in our lineup.”

While the S Pen support will be one of the features, it will most likely be limited to the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Samsung may also extend it to the foldable Galaxy Z-series but that wasn’t stated.

Further, Roh disclosed that the company will expand its portfolio of foldable smartphones since the Note series will be rested. He hinted that foldables will become more accessible, which seems to affirm rumors that there will be four Galaxy Z foldable smartphones next year.

“Be on the lookout for super-intelligent, pro-grade camera and video capabilities in 2021,” Roh added. There are rumors that the Galaxy S21 Ultra will use a next-generation 108 MP main sensor and will have up to 10x periscopic zoom capability.

“It’s going to be an epic new year,” says Roh.

You can read the full post from here.

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(via)

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Samsung is expected to hold the global launch event for the Galaxy S21 series in mid-January. Ahead of it, these smartphones have leaked multiple times in the form of renders. live image, promotional videos, and whatnot. Now, a new leak reveals their availability and price for India.

The latest leak regarding the Galaxy S21 series comes from a website called TechQuila. According to their sources, Samsung’s next flagship smartphones will be indeed unveiled internationally on January 14. However, these handsets will be launching in India only a few weeks later.

Hence, the next big thing from the South Korean tech giant may reach the Indian shores as early as late January 2021. What’s more interesting is the entire lineup is already up for blind pre-order at the Samsung Opera House, the company’s flagship retail store in India located in Bengaluru.

Interested customers need to only pay ₹2,000 to pre-book either of the three phones – Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra. As far as pricing is concerned, the trio is expected to retain its predecessor’s price tags. Therefore, they should cost between ₹60,000 and ₹1,00,000.

The upcoming Galaxy S21 series will be coming with a new design. As per leaks, these handsets will be a minor upgrade over the Galaxy S20 series.

UP NEXT: Samsung reveals One UI 3.0 (Android 11) update timeline for India

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Canalys has released a couple of report showing the performance of the key smartphone manufacturers in the European market. Of particular interest is the performance of Huawei. The Chinese phone maker had shifted focus to Europe after the US shut it off the North American market. However, the recent ban which prevented the company from using Google Services seems to have continued to take its toll as the report shows Huawei recorded up to 31% decline in its annual growth even though it still maintains the fourth position in the European market ranking.

Samsung maintains its lead in the market even though it recorded a slender 3% annual growth. The Korean tech giant commands a 34% share of the European smartphone market, according to the report. U.S tech giant Apple is in the second position with an estimated market share of 19% in Q3 2020.

Xiaomi maintains the number 3 spot with an estimated 19% share of the market, the same with Apple. Canalys reports that Xiaomi’s market share represents a staggering 91% annual growth. However, the biggest growth recorded in the report is OPPO’s ascent into the top 5 European smartphone vendors with a 3% share of the market. The performance represents a 396% annual growth for the Chinese phone maker.

In Western Europe, the chart remains essentially the same with that of the entire European market but most of OPPO’s sales seem to have come from Western Europe where it recorded an annual growth of 942%. 

However, Xiaomi emerges as the top smartphone vendor in Spain with a 34% share of the market. Samsung ranks second with 26% market share while Huawei’s 15% market share places it in the third position. OPPO jumps to the fourth position with an 8% market share while Apple drops to the fifth position with a 7% market share. Apple’s market share is expected to rebound post-iPhone 12 release in the fourth quarter.

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Fast charging got a big boost this year both in the wired and wireless categories. We now have commercially available phones that can charge at 65W (Reno Ace) and those that can charge wirelessly at 30W (Mi 9 Pro 5G). Samsung also boosted its fast charging game too; replacing its old 15W Adaptive Fast Charging with faster ones such as 25W (Galaxy Note10) and 45W (Galaxy Note10+) fast charging technologies.

With its phones now supporting faster charging technologies, Samsung is also following up with accessories that support these new fast-charging speeds. It has been reported that the FCC has certified a new power bank with model number EB-U3300. The power bank has support for wireless charging and 25W fast wired charging.

An image of the power bank shows that it doesn’t have a full-sized USB-A port but two USB Type-C ports instead. There are also five LEDs to indicate the battery level as well as the power button to the right of the ports. The top of the power bank is where the charging coil is.

There is no info at the power rating for wireless charging but it should remain 15W as previous models since that is what Samsung still uses.

The new power bank may launch before or alongside the Galaxy S20 series.

UP NEXT: Purported Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 live shots appear with a clamshell design

(Via)

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Samsung will launch the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ on February 25 at MWC 2018. The new flagships don’t look very different from their predecessors except on the rear but greatly differ with respect to internals. So how is Samsung going to get you to buy its new phones?

The cameras. The cameras on the Galaxy S9 will be the best ever on a Samsung phone and on many other devices. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ both have fantastic cameras but the S9 and S9+ are said to push the boundaries further than imagined.

Photo by S8 VS the "9" pic.twitter.com/nhtm7AlOTY

— 萌萌的电教 (@MMDDJ_) February 13, 2018

Ahead of the launch, a leaker has shared photos comparing the camera of the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S8 to give us a glimpse of the former’s performance. Though we should warn you that these are probably the worst comparison photos you may have come across.

The photos were shared on Twitter by @MMDDJ_, a popular leaker.

The pictures are daytime photos of some skyscrapers and apparently with the cameras at maximum zoom. The Galaxy S8 took the shot on the left while the one on the right is from the Galaxy S9.

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The differences are easy to spot. The S8′ is washed out and shows less detail than that of the Galaxy S9. You can make out the windows on the buildings in front and the roofs of the buildings at the back in the Galaxy S9’s photo.

This is the barest of all comparisons and we can’t wait to see a proper shootout when the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are officially launched.

(Source)

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