The first half of this year may likely see Xiaomi release a good number of smartphones and other gadgets. Already, we are expecting the Snapdragon 835-powered Mi 6 to be launched any moment from now. Another smartphone that will likely hit the market within the first half of the year is the second-generation Xiaomi Mi Max 2.

The Xiaomi Mi Max 2 is expected this year as a replacement for the Mi Max which was released last year and is even off the shelf on Xiaomi Mall presently. Latest details about the Mi Max 2 has emerged and there are indications that the next-gen Xiaomi smartphone will not use the yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 660 chipset, as rumoured and purportedly spotted on benchmark, but will feature a Snapdragon 626 processor instead. The Snapdragon 626 chip is said to be the successor to the Snapdragon 625 and comes with an increase of about 10% in performance over the SD 625. The new SD 626 also has support for dual cameras while also retaining the qualities of the SD 625 in terms of power and battery life advantages.

In addition, the Mi Max 2’s camera is said to be another area of major upgrade. It is tipped to come with the same setup as used on the Mi 5S, which is a 12MP Sony IMX378 sensor but with a larger aperture in order to get better camera effect. On the other hand, the front selfie shooter will have a 5MP  sensor. Earlier on, the Xiaomi Mi Max 2 was rumoured to come with the same 6.44-inch display with 1080p resolution.  The device is tipped to run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat with MIUI 8 and with an increase in the battery capacity to 5000mAh. An earlier rumour also tips the Mi Max 2 as packing a Snapdragon 660 chip backed by 6GB of RAM and 4GB RAM on the standard version.

Read Also: Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Spotted On GFXBench, Likely Sporting the Unannounced Snapdragon 660

As for the price, the source of the latest leaked details hints that the Mi Max 2 price may be adjusted slightly but will still fall between 1499 Yuan and 1699 Yuan. Of course, nothing is certain until Xiaomi goes official with the next-gen phablet.

(via)

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BlackBerry has a new phone codenamed Mercury it plans to release soon. The device which has the same physical keyboard + touch screen design like the BlackBerry Priv was privately unveiled at this year’s edition of CES, but won’t launch until next month at MWC.

Ever since news of the device surfaced there have been speculations of its internal specifications, none of which have been confirmed by BlackBerry. New details that have emerged are related to the camera. The info released by Roland Quandt (@rquandt), says the BlackBerry Mercury sports the same camera sensors present in the Google Pixel phones.

If you remember, the Pixel and Pixel XL sport a 12.3MP f/2.0 Sony IMX378 rear camera and results have shown that the Pixel and Pixel XL take fantastic pictures. The front facing camera on the Mercury according to @rquandt is an 8MP Samsung S5K4H8 or an OmniVision OV8856.

Even if the camera turns out to be the same, they might not produce the same results as the Pixels have software enhancements and ‘additional sensor hardware’.

READ MORE: TCL Gets License to Produce and Sell BlackBerry Phones Globally

The Blackberry Mercury is rumored to have a 4.5-inch display with a 1080 x 1680 resolution. There will be 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 821 SoC. It will also have a 3400mAh battery and run a near-stock version of Android 7.0 out of the box.

These specs have actually not been confirmed by BlackBerry, so we advise you take them with a pinch of salt.

(Source)

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Xiaomi‘s co-founder/ VP Li Wanqiang, yesterday at the Geek Park Innovation conference revealed some more details about the company’s upcoming product which is definitely the Mi 6. The VP hinted that his company will release a surprise in March this year. Though he left off short of naming the surprise product, it is likely he was talking about the Mi 6.

The Xiaomi Mi 6 is expected to bring in some surprises in its specs lineup, according to previous rumors. The Xioami VP also seem to suggest that even the price would follow the Xiaomi tradition, which pitches it in the region of 1,999 yuan. Now, more details about the Mi 6 have been leaked online, stating among other things that the device will have a metal body, will continue the Underglass Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor featured on the Mi 5S. The source also hinted that because production of the smartphone has not been concluded, a February release is likely not feasible.

Read More: Xiaomi Mi 6 Benchmark Score Leaks, So Fast & Furious!

In addition, the Mi 6 flagship is said to have an upgrade in its camera but the new sensor model is not yet disclosed. It is however said to be far better than the Sony IMX378 sensor. The display is also said to have two versions; one is a straight or flat screen display, while the other is a curved display. While the straight screen version will be priced around 1999 yuan, the curved screen version will fall around 2499 yuan. Another gladsome news, and it better be true, is that there will be adequate supply of the device when it launches.

Furthermore, the Xiaomi Mi 6 is said to come equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset which would be backed by 4GB of RAM on the straight screen version and 6GB of RAM on the curved screen verson. Both versions will cram 3,000mAh battery under the hood and would run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. There is also two storage versions of 128Gb and 256GB respectively.

(source)

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