Xiaomi is announcing the international version of its Mi 11 flagship phone today after an earlier release in China. No wild waterfall displays or sci-fi wireless charging here — this device is very much in keeping with the Mi series’ MO of offering high specs at a competitive price.
The Mi 11 has a Snapdragon 888 processor, making it the first phone to launch with Qualcomm’s latest high-end chip (though Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series beat it to market outside China). The 888 has 5G connectivity built in, of course, and the phone has 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.
The screen appears to be the same panel — or very similar — to what’s found in the Galaxy S21 Ultra. It’s a slightly curved 6.8-inch 1440p OLED with a refresh rate of 120Hz and peak brightness of 1,500 nits, matching Samsung’s phone spec-for-spec. I don’t have the S21 Ultra to compare side-by-side, but I can tell you that the Mi 11’s screen is extremely good.
The Mi 11 has a 108-megapixel primary camera backed by a 13-megapixel ultrawide and a 5-megapixel “telemacro” camera. The selfie camera is 20 megapixels and tucked inside a small holepunch cutout at the top left of the screen.
The battery is 4,600mAh and can be charged at up to 55W with a cable and up to 50W wirelessly. The Mi 11 also features reverse wireless charging at up to 10W. It runs MIUI 12, based on Android 11.
Xiaomi hasn’t provided a full list of regions or launch dates just yet, but says the Mi 11 will be priced at €749 (~$900) for the 8GB/128GB model. XDA Developers notes the 8GB/256GB model will retail for €799 (~$960). Stay tuned for a full review.
(Pocket-lint) – For as long as the modern smartphone era has been around, Samsung and Apple have offered flagships phones that seem to be the two default choices for so many buyers. Right now, those two phones are the Galaxy S21 and the iPhone 12.
Design
iPhone: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.4 mm
Galaxy: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
Both: IP68 water and dust resistant
iPhone: Glass and aluminium build
Galaxy: Plastic, aluminium and glass
If there’s one area these two phones differ the most, it’s in design. Whether you look at them from the front, the side, or the back, there’s no way you’d get them confused with each other. In fact, even if you held them in your hand, they feel nothing alike.
Featuring a frosted plastic back, the Samsung immediately feels warmer and and softer in the hand. That’s further aided by the rounded edges. That makes it the more tactile of the two devices.
For some, featuring plastic on a flagship device is unacceptable, but the way Samsung has utilised the plastic – and the finish it’s achieved with the frosted translucent panel letting through light from the reflective layer beneath – actually looks and feels great.
As for looks, there’s no doubt that the iPhone has that premium appeal. The flat edges and clean lines give it that purposeful look, and the build materials of glass and aluminium in a minimalist blend will appeal to a lot of people. It looks great.
On a more practical note, it feels a lot more solid and durable too. The frame feels practically unbendable, and even after nearly 6 months with it, there’s barely a scratch on the glass. Both phones feature IP68 water and dust resistance, so will survive if you accidentally drop them in the sink or get caught in the rain.
From the front, Samsung seems to make better use of space, by filling as much of it as possible with display. Apple’s notch cuts in considerably at the top, while Samsung only has that tiny hole punch getting in the way. In actual fact, once you load some games and apps – especially in landscape – Samsung tends to black out a portion of it and make an artificial bezel anyway, so the difference once you’re actually doing something, is minimal.
Saying that, Samsung’s bezels do seem a bit skinnier around the sides and at the top. Apple, however, kept them uniform all the way around, avoiding that tiny chin look that Samsung has.
Displays
iPhone: 6.1-inch, 1170 x 2532 resolution OLED display
Galaxy: 6.2-inch, 1080 x 2400 resolution AMOLED display
iPhone: HDR10 and up to 60Hz refresh
Galaxy: HDR10+ and up to 120Hz adaptive refresh
iPhone: 1200 nits peak brightness
Galaxy: 1300 nits peak brightness
Unlike last year, Apple’s is the one with the sharper screen here. Samsung downgraded from QHD to FHD, and while it’s 6.2-inches versus Apple’s 6.1-inches, it packs in fewer pixels than the iPhone. Not that you’d particularly notice.
Both push pixel density past the 400ppi mark, and both seem sharp and clear in daily use. Both even feature similar peak brightness: it’s 1200nits for Apple versus 1300 nits for Samsung. Both are OLED based, and that means you get vivid colours and great contrast regardless of which you go for.
Perhaps the one big difference is Samsung’s adaptive frame rate technology. It goes all the way up to 120Hz when the content on screen requires it. Some will notice it more than others, but it makes general interaction and animation seem really smooth.
Watch the same video or look at the same photo side by side, and you’ll spot other differences too. Even in its ‘natural’ mode, Samsung’s screen seems to boost pink/red/orange colours. White skin tones look a bit pinker, and oranges are fiercer. iPhone is a little bit more muted, but other colours are similar on both. That said, Samsung seems to make stuff look sharper because it boosts contrast.
On the one hand, it’s great because it’s sharp and bright during video, but on the other, there’s the red saturation makes things look less balanced.
The other plus side for Samsung is that you can tune it to your liking if you want to. Using the Vivid mode you can adjust the colour temperature. Whereas Apple likes it a certain way, and that’s pretty much it. Although you can enable True Tone to get it to adjust its white balance to suit the ambient lighting.
In performance and battery just reading the specs would be useless, because comparing those is like comparing Apples with Orang-Utangs.
The real thing to note here is that in every day, day-to-day use, both phones give you fast and reliable performance. Whether you’re loading the latest graphically intense games, browsing the internet or catching up on social media. They’re fast and smooth.
It’s the same with battery life. With our own personal use, using either phone as a daily device – with a 2-3 hours of screen time playing games or watching movies – we’d get to the end of the day with about 40 per cent left over. Not quite two-day batteries, but not far off either.
Both have 5G, wireless charging and fast charging, but neither ships with a charger in the box anymore.
Cameras
iPhone: Dual camera
12MP primary f/1.6 wide camera
12MP f/2.4 ultrawide
4K video up to 60fps
Galaxy: Triple camera
12MP primary f/1.8 camera
12MP f/2.2 ultrawide
64MP f/2.0 telephoto 3x hybrid zoom
8K video at 24fps and 4K up to 60fps
In the camera department, Samsung does have at least one advantage over the iPhone. It’s got three lenses on the back, and that gives you more flexibility when it comes to focal lengths. As well as your primary and ultra-wide lenses – which the iPhone has – Samsung gives you a telephoto zoom lens, with 3x hybrid zoom.
It achieves that partly because that telephoto lens has a 64MP sensor, giving you the ability to crop without losing tonnes of detail. If you want to, you can zoom digitally all the way up to 30x on the Samsung, giving you huge range, even if some of those results at the upper end of the scale are quite ropey.
iPhone will let you do up to 5x zoom, but it uses the primary sensor and uses a digital zoom, losing a bit of detail when it does. Still, results from both cameras are good.
Stick to the standard focal lengths and the two phones will both get you good results, and both offer effective night modes. iPhone’s results seemed cleaner, brighter and sharper than Samsung’s using night mode, like it did a better job of stabilising the image. Samsung’s by comparison was a tiny bit blurrier and didn’t seem to draw in as much light.
In day time there were some differences. iPhone pictures on the whole seemed to up the contrast and saturation by default. Sometimes that means a lovely vibrant and rich picture that looked sharp, with Samsung looking a bit over exposed in the highlights by comparison. Other times, for landscapes, iPhone seemed maybe a tad too dark, with the Samsung offering the better picture without over egging the blue skies and darkening the shadows too much.
The colour difference between the main and ulrawide cameras was noticeable though. As for selfies, yet again, Samsung seemed to do a better job of a natural look. iPhone went a bit aggressive on the HDR completely washing out faces one second, and the next when switched to portrait selfie making it too dark and saturated.
And then there’s the fact that Samsung offers so many additional shooting modes to choose from, if you have the time, that’s a lot of fun to play with.
Both do 4K video at 60fps, with the Galaxy also capable of shooting 8K at 24fps. Samsung looking a little over sharpened, but both are great quality, and offer effective stabilisation.
Price and Conclusion
iPhone: from £799/$799
Galaxy: from £769/$799
In the end, both of these phones offer a great all-round experience and choosing one over the other might just come down to having premium build and a better display, in which case I think the iPhone is the better choice. Or if you’re all about cameras, Samsung has a lot going for it there. But even in that department, it’s not a clear winner. Both have strengths and weaknesses.
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As for software, iPhones benefit is that you get updates as soon as they’re available and will likely be supported for a good number of years before it no longer gets them. Samsung is getting better in that regard – in terms of long term support – but you do have to wait until Samsung tests and releases its own versions of major Android updates.
Xiaomi has announced its latest phone concept: a “quad-curved waterfall display.” This means that the unnamed phone’s screen not only has deep 88-degree “waterfall” curves on the left and right sides, but on the top and bottom as well, leaving no room for ports or buttons. Xiaomi says this is intended to “extend the limits of the display to infinity” and enable “a true, port-free unibody design.”
The obvious question is how that could possibly work at the screen’s corners, and based on the promotional imagery it looks like Xiaomi is simply leaving them blank with small, rounded cutouts. Not quite infinity, then, but still a neat trick — although for people who already don’t like the comparatively modest curved displays on phones like the Galaxy S21 Ultra, this sounds like their nightmare.
Announcing a concept device entirely through renders doesn’t quite have the impact of showing it off in person, as was common pre-COVID. A Xiaomi representative tells The Verge that this phone does actually exist and that they’ve used it themselves, for what that’s worth. The display is the result of “countless breakthroughs in glass bending and laminating technology,” according to Xiaomi, and “represents the sum of 46 groundbreaking patents.”
This concept phone follows last week’s announcement of seemingly outlandish Xiaomi tech, its “Mi Air Charge” truly wireless charging system. And back in 2019, Xiaomi revealed the Mi Mix Alpha phone, which featured a display that wrapped around almost the entire device, though it ultimately never went on sale. This latest concept may well never make it into a commercially available device.
Xiaomi will announce global availability for its considerably more conventional Mi 11 flagship phone at an event next Monday, February 8th.
Google is adding heart and respiratory rate monitors to the Fit app on Pixel phones this month, and it plans to add them to other Android phones in the future. Both features rely on the smartphone camera: it measures respiratory rate by monitoring the rise and fall of a user’s chest, and heart rate by tracking color change as blood moves through the fingertip.
The features are only intended to let users track overall wellness and cannot evaluate or diagnose medical conditions, the company said.
To measure respiratory rate (the number of breaths someone takes per minute) using the app, users point the phone’s front-facing camera at their head and chest. To measure heart rate, they place their finger over the rear-facing camera.
Pixel users can measure their respiratory rate.Image: Google
A doctor counts a patient’s respiratory rate by watching their chest rise and fall, and the Google feature mimics that procedure, said Jack Po, a product manager at Google Health, in a press briefing. “The machine learning technique that we leverage basically tries to emulate that,” he said.
Google’s heart rate monitor is similar to a feature that Samsung includedon a number of older model Galaxy smartphones, including the Galaxy S10. The company removed the feature for the S10E, S20, and later phones.
Heart rate data from Google’s app will be less comprehensive than the types of readings someone could get from a wearable device, which can continuously monitor something like heart rate as someone goes through their daily life. But an at-home feature that can check in on these metrics on demand is still a useful tool, Po said in the briefing. Anything that increases the number of measurements someone has of their heart or breathing rate is important — doctors, for example, usually only get a measurement at most every few months as someone comes into an office, he said.
“If users were to take their heart rate once a week, they would actually get a lot of value,” Po said. “They’ll get a lot of value in tracking whether their heart rate might be improving, if exercise is paying off.”
GIF: Google
Google chose to incorporate these functions into the smartphone in order to make it accessible to the widest number of people, Po said. “A lot of people, especially in disadvantaged economic classes right now, don’t have things like wearables, but would still really benefit from the ability to be able to track their breathing rate, heart rate, et cetera.”
Internal studies on Pixel phones showed that the respiratory rate feature was accurate within one breath per minute both for people with and without health conditions, said Jiening Zhan, a technical lead at Google Health, during the press briefing. The heart rate feature was accurate within 2 percent. That feature was tested on people with a range of skin tones, and it had a similar accuracy for light and dark skin, she said. The team plans to publish a scientific paper with the data from its evaluations.
The team will study how well the features work on other phones before making them available outside of the Pixel. “We want to make sure that you know, the rigorous testing is done before it’s released to other devices,” Zhan said.
Right now, the features are described as tools that can be used for general wellness. Google isn’t claiming that they can perform a medical function — which is why it doesn’t need clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add them to the app.
Eventually, they might take the app down that road, Po indicated. The tests done on the features show that they’re consistent with clinical products, he said, so it’s a possibility in the future. “Frankly, we haven’t done enough testing and validation to say that it can definitely work for those use cases yet, but it’s definitely something we’re exploring,” Po said.
Microsoft is updating its OneDrive app for Android this week with a new home screen, Samsung Motion Photos support, and the ability to play 8K videos. The new home screen includes quick access to recent files, offline files, and the “On This Day” feature of OneDrive that reminds you of your old photos.
Samsung Motion Photos support is also included in this update, allowing owners of Samsung phones to play back photos captured with motion in the OneDrive app or online. These photos work like Apple’s Live Photos and capture a still image alongside several seconds of video and sound before the capture. Microsoft says Samsung Motion Photos playback is rolling out worldwide and will require Android version 6 or above.
OneDrive’s new home screen on Android.Image: Microsoft
The final addition is 8K video playback for compatible Samsung phones like the new Galaxy S21 or last year’s S20. While you’ve always been able to store 8K videos on OneDrive, the service now supports playback on compatible screens and devices. This could tempt more to store 8K video on Microsoft’s cloud storage service, particularly when OneDrive now supports up to 250GB files.
This latest Android update for OneDrive focuses a lot on Samsung’s phones and is an example of the ongoing partnership between Microsoft Samsung. Both companies are working on a variety of ways to integrate Microsoft’s software and services into Samsung Android phones, and there’s even a partnership for cloud gaming through xCloud.
(Pocket-lint) – For years Google Wear OS watches have been round in shape. That traditional watch look has been a big draw for smartwatch buyers, particularly with fashion watch brands (mostly from Fossil Group) building watches that look and feel just like watches should.
Despite that, round screens don’t necessarily make the best platform for apps and text fields that appear on screen. After all, it’s harder to get a lot of information on a display that gets narrower at the top and bottom, and so a square screen actually makes a lot more sense from that point of view.
The Oppo Watch is one such square-screened device. The question, then, is whether being this different shape acts as enough of a draw?
Familiar looks
Dimensions (46mm model): 46 x 39 x 11.35mm
Weighs 40g minus the strap
Ceramic & plastic underside
Aluminium alloy case
Fluororubber strap
Getting the elephant out of the room as quickly as possible: yes, the Oppo Watch looks a lot like a certain Apple-branded series of smart wrist wear. Of course, it’s not exactly the same, but if you glance at the Oppo from a distance then you’d likely assume it was an Apple Watch. Even some of the watchfaces are strikingly similar.
There are of course differences to point out. For instance, the glass on the front of the Oppo slopes down towards the left and right edges more noticeably – so it doesn’t have the completely even rounding around all four sides. It’s quite a long/tall display too, which means this 46mm model is going to be too big for smaller wrists.
Just like an Oppo phone the Watch also has very slim and long buttons on the side – with one of these featuring the company’s trademark green accent. These buttons are housed in the side of a very glossy metal case, which in this instance is a midnight blue colour, complimenting the black glass on the front and the matte black silicone strap.
The top button launches your apps screen when on the watch face – press it anywhere else in navigation and it’s a ‘back to watch face’ button. Or press-and-hold it to launch Google Assistant. The bottom button launches an activity by default – or, rather, launches the screen that lets you choose to start a workout. Press-and-hold it and you’ll launch the power/shutdown menu.
The watch itself is comfortable to wear for long periods, thanks to being quite lightweight, and the silicone band has just the right amount of stretch and grip to keep it in place without needing to be over tightened.
On the underside you’ll find Oppo’s take on heart rate monitoring. It’s an attractive setup, with five sensors/LEDs arranged symmetrically inside a glossy dome, with four contact points for the charging base underneath that. You also get a pill-shaped button on the top and bottom sides for releasing the strap.
It’s a little fiddly to get the strap halves removed, but it’s a method that makes a lot of sense from a visual perspective. It gives the strap the look of being a deliberate, seamless part of the watch’s design. With the button pressed in, you simply pull the corresponding strap half off the case to conveniently reveal the two catches that hold it in place.
But it’s also hugely inconvenient, purely because actually getting hold of additional band styles or new straps with this proprietary connection point is not the easiest of tasks. Oppo’s UK store doesn’t even seem to have additional first-party bands to choose from. And looking for third-party options usually leads to inexpensive unofficial ones from stores that we don’t necessarily have huge confidence in.
We think if Oppo is has gone to the trouble of creating this strap removal system, which is quick and easy, then the company also needs to give an appealing reason for customers to want to do that. And the only way to do it is to offer multiple materials and finishes of bands to go with the watch, which in the Western market don’t seem to exist.
Wear OS, but with Oppo flavour
Wear OS platform
Additional Oppo layers
With its own take on Google’s Wear OS platform, Oppo has full taken advantage of the additional screen space offered by its square panel. For instance, launching the apps screen reveals a 3×3 grid of small round icons, which you can scroll up and down through. That means nine app icons fit in one screen at a time without the awkward, curved list of maybe three or four that you get on round screens.
Similarly, dropping down the settings tiles from the top of the screen gives you nine easy icons with tap-to-activate features such as torch, do not disturb mode, Google Pay, find my phone, or access to other everyday settings.
Of course, it’s still very much Wear OS platform, so swiping left on the home watch face goes to your full screen widgets for tracking things like your heart rate, daily activity, or sleep. Swiping right goes to your Google Home Screen with useful shortcuts and updates. Swiping up goes to your notification – and, again, because it’s a square screen, you can see more text and more notifications clearly.
Want to install wearable apps? Easy. Just tap the Google Play Store icon in the apps list and you can find anything in there. Which – when it comes to fitness and health (which we’ll get to it in a bit) – is kind of necessary. There’s even NFC and support for Google Pay, which is accepted in a lot of retail locations and supported by a good number of banks these days.
All of this is displayed on a 1.9-inch curved AMOLED panel which is bright and vivid. It’s worth noting that the smaller 41mm model has a flat 1.6-inch display. Either choice is easy to see outdoors in daylight, while the always-on feature means you can glance and see the time whenever you like. The always-on display option does drain more battery, and switches off your tilt-to-wake functionality, but it gives a more natural watch-like experience.
Fitness and health
Oppo HeyTap Health + Google Fit installed
All day heart rate and sleep tracking
Step counter + GPS
Modern smartwatches are essentially fitness trackers with fancy screens, in the form of a watch. It’s the fitness and daily activity tracking element that makes one a worthwhile investment. It’s where a number of Wear OS manufacturers fall down, though, and why having an ecosystem of third-party apps is needed.
Oppo has built its own fitness tracking platform, however, which does offer all the essentials. It’s called HeyTap Health and it collects information from you including daily steps, estimated calories burned, your daily heart rate averages, and can show you how you slept the night before (providing you wore the watch to bed).
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It’s quite basic in terms of how it displays the data though. There’s not a lot you can dive into, although if you’re tracking a run with it, you do get to see useful metrics like distance, pace, heart rate, elevation and cadence. And it does seem pretty much on par with our other trackers in terms of location and data consistency.
If you’re into anything other than running, walking, cycling or swimming, you’ll not be served at all by Oppo’s fitness tracking options. Those are the only four workouts you can utilise, and so you’ll need to look at a different watch if that’s what you need.
There’s also Google’s own fitness tracking, Google Fit, which can also track the basics throughout the day. It’s neatly organised to show you how you’re doing versus your heart points and steps goals, while also showing easy-to-understand graphics for any workouts you’ve done. Run sessions, as an example, show up in the smartphone companion app as a neat map graphic with the route lined in blue. You also get to see your heart rate, weight and sleep duration in compact cards.
Performance and battery
430mAh battery – up to 30 hours smartwatch mode
Snapdragon Wear 3100 + 4G LTE
Ambiq Apollo3 Wireless SoC
Magnetic charging
On the whole, the Oppo Watch is a strong performer. We weren’t left waiting for ages for apps to download from the Play Store. Animations are relatively smooth and fluid, and apps load quickly enough.
The one area where improvements are needed – as with many smartwatches – is battery life. In our testing, with the always-on display switched on (showing a low power black and white watch face), and with the ’tilt-to-wake’ feature enabled (so we didn’t have to keep tapping the screen to wake it up properly), the watch gets through a full charge in less than two days. Realistically, then, that means charging it every night, which isn’t great – but then the Apple Watch is much the same.
It’s worth noting, this is without the 4G/LTE connection enabled, just using it as a regular smartwatch connected to our phone for notifications. Even on days where we didn’t do any workout tracking, it didn’t have enough juice left to make it through a full second day, which means sleep tracking being a feature is approaching pointless.
What is the Pocket-lint daily and how do you get it for free?
By Stuart Miles
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To charge it Oppo has designed a magnetic snap-on cradle which uses those four contact points for charging and not a wireless charging method. That’s both good and bad, like a few of Oppo’s choices on this watch. It’s good, because it’s quicker than typical wireless standards. It’s bad because the charging cradly is quite clunky and can be a inconvenient, if only because the plastic build is quite light and the magnets aren’t especially strong.
Practically speaking that sometimes means it’s tricky to get the watch lying on the cradle completely flat, but also that if it gets knocked it can detach quite easily. On the plus side, it does have some quite grippy silicon padding around the hole in the centre to help it not slip quite as easily once you do get it resting completely flat on a surface. But we often found ourselves double and triple checking it was stable and in position before leaving it to charge.
Verdict
With a few refinements and additional features the Oppo Watch could be a genuinely great smartwatch. It’s just a few tweaks short of getting it absolutely right. The lack of customisation choices from Oppo and the fitness features being a little light on data depth and quantity of workout types are the main downsides.
But it’s a good first go with a lot to like. Despite it’s Apple-a-like looks, there aren’t many other square Wear OS watches out there, and this does get all the basics right in terms of smartphone notifications and replying to messates on the fly. It also has Google Pay support and that display is bright and colourful. All for a fair price point indeed.
Also consider
Fossil Gen 5 Garrett
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For a classic watch look, full Wear OS feature list, and easy-swappable bands, there are few watches like the Gen 5 Garret. It looks like a watch should and offers pretty much anything you could need from a Wear OS smartwatch.
Read our review
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
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Samsung went all-out on fitness with the Watch 3 and now offers some pretty impressive running data and a bunch of other fitness-focused features without losing any of the smartwatch features we’ve come to expect in this day and age.
Caviar develops its very first smartphone. The Caviar Origin is a classic and luxurious phone model with traditional push buttons that runs on Android OS.
The Russian company Caviar is known for decorating and enriching existing Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphones with precious and durable materials. This time however, the company developed their own smartphone that runs on Android OS. Their new creation is called ‘Caviar Origin’, it’s a classic push-button phone made of luxury materials. The phone design is inspired on the luxurious Vertu push-button feature phones.
The Caviar Origin is designed for people that love a simple set of functions with personal data protection but with an exclusive and luxurious design. Thanks to Android OS, users will be able to install any desired app. In addition, Caviar will have WhatsApp pre-installed as this is one of the most used apps to send and receive messages to friends, colleagues and family.
Luxury and classic Android phone from Caviar
The new push-button phone is still under development. Currently the Caviar Origin is a working prototype with its own user interface, based on Android 11. The design of the feature phone is fixed, but the material of the body is not completely decided yet. Caviar wants to make this a luxury edition with gold, gems and other rare materials.
The expected release date is Q4 2021. The phone comes in a limited quantity. Prices of the Caviar original will start at $1,000 USD. The upper price limit will be determined by the clients’ preferences and the rich imagination of the designers.
Ilse is a Dutch journalist and joined LetsGoDigital more than 15 years ago. She is highly educated and speaks four languages. Ilse is a true tech-girl and loves to write about the future of consumer electronics. She has a special interest for smartphones, digital cameras, gaming and VR.
Huawei will announce a new flagship foldable phone later this month, according to a Weibo post on the company’s official page. Based on the name, the Mate X2 sounds like it should be a more substantial followup to the original Mate X than Huawei’s last foldable phone, the faster and slightly tweaked Mate XS.
Unless Huawei is being deliberately cryptic, the teaser image for the Mate X2 actually suggests that the phone could possibly switch to a different folding screen design with the flexible panel on the inside, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line. The previous Mate X phones had a single panel that wrapped around the outside when closed, like Royole’s Flexpai devices.
Otherwise, there’s not much in the way of details on the Mate X2 yet. It’s likely that it’ll have the same Kirin 9000 processor found in the Mate 40 Pro, and of course Huawei probably still won’t be able to include Google apps and services on board, limiting the device’s viability outside of China unless something changes unexpectedly quickly with the new Biden administration’s approach to sanctions. Huawei’s hardware is always worth paying attention to, though, so stay tuned for more news and details on February 22nd.
LG Wing and Pixel 5 owners have something to look forward to: the Federal Communications Commission has approved these devices to use faster C-band 5G frequencies, according to a PCMag tipster. The two phones have joined an exclusive company made up of some of the first devices approved to use the new frequencies. Samsung’s Galaxy S21 phones and the iPhone 12 lineup are the only others that currently offer support for these frequencies in the US.
C-band will deliver a much-needed speed boost to 5G in the US, particularly for Verizon and AT&T customers. Currently, their nationwide networks rely mostly on slower low-band spectrum. This swath of so-called mid-band frequencies went up for auction at the end of 2020, and US carriers bid a record $80.9 billion to secure blocks of spectrum for their use.
These frequencies won’t be available for use until late 2021 / early 2022, but LG and Google appear to be getting ahead of the curve. With this FCC approval, the companies can offer software updates to enable the use of C-band frequencies on these specific devices.
As things stand now, not every 5G phone works with every kind of 5G frequency. Some devices, particularly budget models, support only low- and mid-band. Others are also compatible with high-band like Verizon’s Ultra Wideband, which the carrier indicates by selling certain models branded as “UW.” C-band will complicate things even more; manufacturers need to get FCC approval to retroactively add support to their existing devices so they can take advantage of the new spectrum.
No doubt C-band will be a welcome addition to 5G networks in the US, but it’s one more thing to be aware of if you plan to buy a new phone this year. T-Mobile customers won’t need to worry as much since that carrier’s network already uses other mid-band frequencies. But if you’re on Verizon or AT&T and plan on hanging on to your phone for a few years, it’s worth getting a device that either supports C-band now or will in the future.
(Pocket-lint) – Samsung’s finally unveiled the Galaxy Note 20, the latest in its line of superb phablets, and once again it looks like a super-impressive device, and is one that costs a pretty penny.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 review: Is the smaller Note the bigger winner?
That means that when you pick up the new phone you’re likely to want a case to put it in as soon as possible, to make sure that nothing unfortunate happens before you can. We’ve rounded up the very best options available so far, for you to choose from. Check them out below.
Our pick of the best Note 20 cases to buy today
Caseology
Caseology Parallax
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We think this case from Caseology is remarkably nice to look at, especially given how reasonably it’s priced.
It means that you can get a lovely shade of green regardless of which model you actually pick up, and is really grippy and textured, too. A great bargain.
Spigen
Spigen Ultra Hybrid
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If you want a more toned-down look, this black case from Spigen is a great choice.
It’s also nicely priced, and has a really subtle texture that also makes it great for gripping compared to the naked phone, which is always important.
Mous
Mous
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Mous’ cases only seem to get better, and it’s always one of the first on the scene when a new phone launches. Its third-generation Limitless case is a really slim but hugely protective sleeve for your S20.
It’s got a classy finish in Aramid Fibre, and will protect your smartphone from drops and bumps really handily.
Gear4
Gear4 Battersea
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We really like how clean and simple this case from Gear4 is – with that tiny ribbon of orange on the outside to give it a sense of personality.
It’s protected for drops of up to 15 feet, which is pretty huge, and an anti-bacterial treatment also means it holds up to grime and dirt nicely.
ESR
ESR
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This glass case is about as minimalistic as you can get – it’s clear and glossy but will protect your phone from scratches and nicks.
We really like that it’s glass, not plastic like most wraparound cases in this area, and think that it might be the best way to preserve your Note 20’s looks.
Incipio
Incipio DualPro
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This sleek case has solid 10-foot drop protection and a clean design that comes in both red and grey.
It’s got a really nice look, and is nicely scratch-resistant, too, which should mean that it lasts a good amount of time. Raised bezels also mean that your screen benefits from protection, as well as the phone’s body.
Olixar
Olixar
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This metallic-style case from Olixar is a great choice if you want a more boardroom look for your phone. It’s got a carbon fibre design that looks really classy.
It’s also great for drop protection, needless to say, and cut-outs mean you have access to all the buttons and your S-Pen without any issues
(Pocket-lint) – Each year Xiaomi’s Redmi offshoot – known for its budget phones – updates its latest and greatest with a mid-cycle ‘T’ variant, adding a little more to proceedings. In the case of the Redmi Note 9T the goal was to step beyond the already impressive Note 9 – which we found to be a stellar affordable 5G phone.
Problem is, things don’t always go entirely to plan. When we first received the Note 9T it had a software version that we couldn’t then get to update after moving into the phone – which caused umpteen issues with disappearing apps, inability to Cast, intermittent Bluetooth connections, payment verification problems, and more.
But, fear not, it was resolvable. A hard reset later and after installing all relevant apps manually from the Google Play Store, the Redmi Note 9T – on MIUI version 12.0.4 – ironed out the most pertinent of those highlighted problems. But was that initial dark cloud a sign of what was to come, or has our week-long experience using the Note 9T been all sunny skies?
Design & Display
Finishes: Nightfall Black, Daybreak Purple
Build: Glass front panel, plastic rear & frame
Dimensions: 161.2 x 77.3 x 9.1mm / Weight: 199g
Side-positioned fingerprint scanner (in power button)
Display: 6.53-inch LCD, 1080 x 2340 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
It’s all too easy to forget that the Redmi Note 9T is a fairly budget phone. Because, ultimately, it doesn’t look like one. Xiaomi does a decent job in hiding away any real telling signs. No, you don’t get the premium glass rear or other flashy colours as you might further up various ranges, but that’s hardly a concern for a device that isn’t pretending to be a flagship.
Pocket-lint
Dressed in its ‘Nightfall Black’ finish here, the Redmi Note 9T is more than befitting of its price point. That plastic rear has a subtle texture that helps to hide fingerprinting, while the protruding circular camera unit – well, ‘designated area’ really, as the top and bottom of the actual protrusion are squared-off absentees – makes the rear panel look altogether more like a case (it’s not, though, as it’s not removable – and, no, don’t try and pull it really hard).
The 6.53-inch screen is the kind of scale that’s very current, delivering decent resolution too. Typically around this price point there’s a fall-out from Full HD to a lower density – look at the Moto G9 Power, for example – but the Redmi holds onto that Full HD+ resolution across its well-proportioned 19.5:9 aspect ratio panel. That’s as sharp as you need.
It’s not the very brightest or most colour-popping LCD panel ever, but you’d never notice that in isolation (as we have a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra running in tandem, however, it’s clear as day – but the Samsung is more than four times the price). Initially we had issues with the 9T’s auto-dimming being overzealous, which is particularly notable when ambient light is low. It’s a long-time issue for the series – and one that Motorola used to have, but since fixed – that we hope Xiaomi’s software will address in the future.
Pocket-lint
Rather than opting for an under-display fingerprint scanner sign-in method, the Note 9T has a side-positioned fingerprint scanner, which doubles-up as the power button. While this position has never been our favourite – largely because Android apps now present a massive ‘press here’-style fingerprint on the screen itself, so you’ll typically want to press the screen – it’s largely effective in this setup, responsive the majority of the time, and easy to reach.
Performance & Battery
MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor, 4GB RAM
64GB storage (128GB optional), microSD slot
5,000mAh battery, 18W fast-charging
MIUI 12 software
5G connectivity
Performance is a game of two halves though. That’s the one thing that gets us about the Redmi Note 9T. It always feels as though there’s some jostling between software – battery optimisations and specific permissions, for example – and the hardware on offer. Because MediaTek’s Dimensity 800 is no slouch – it’s a decent enough chipset designed to bring 5G connectivity to a wider audience.
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But the whole package doesn’t always play ball. There’s a lot of tinkering that you’ll need to do with this Redmi to get the most out of it. Whether that’s ensuring per-app permissions are setup to allow, say, Strava to keep tracking – it’s still hit-and-miss anyway – or for the vibration to just dang well stop (it’s on by default in silent mode, which is bananas if you ask us; plus there’s a separate treatment for touch vibration feedback hidden elsewhere in the menus), there’s a sense that Xiaomi’s MIUI software still isn’t quite simple and easy enough.
That was even telling after our first install, with version 12.0.1 fired up, and the numerous issues we had, as mentioned up top in this review. It goes to show just how incredibly important a smooth software experience is – and that’s what we’ve been saying these Redmi devices haven’t quite handled perfectly to date (Xiaomi’s Mi 10T Pro felt like a step down from the 9T Pro to us too). But if you’re OK with knowing what you’re getting then it’s not a big issue, per se, it’s just that competitors like Motorola do better by comparison – if you’re alright with getting a less powerful device for about the same cash, anyway.
Pocket-lint
But back to Redmi. The Note 9T has the guts inside to handle a variety of tasks, including gaming. But there are still bugs, especially when it comes to graphics. In South Park Phone Destroyer – yes, we’re a bit obsessed, it’s our standard benchmark for any mobile device review as a result – top layer graphics (i.e. the cards you play in the game) won’t display. Which is a massive problem that means the game is close to unplayable – we’ve only been able to continue on another device. Nothing to do with smoothness or frame-rate – that stuff’s all fine – just an experience with how this hardware and software combination doesn’t quite succeed.
However, get everything arranged as you like – there’s an app drawer or full screen icons options – and the experience is amenable. And it’ll last for a long time – as the 5,000mAh battery on board helps things last an age. We’ve been getting only about half way through the charge over the course of a single day, so two-day life really isn’t out of the question.
Pocket-lint
Software plays a major part in that longevity though. And it’s why you’ll need to tell certain apps through background settings that they’re allowed to run at all times, self launch, and do as they please. Which is rather reflective of the Redmi Note 9T experience.
Cameras
Triple rear camera system:
Main (26mm equivalent): 48-megapixel, 0.8µm pixel size, f/1.8 aperture
Macro: 2MP, f/2.4 / Depth: 2MP, f/2.4
Single punch-hole selfie camera (29mm equiv.)
13-megapixel, 1.12µm pixel size, f/2.3 aperture
Last up is the camera arrangement. It’s a triple rear unit – we know it looks like a quad arrangement, but the fourth is the LED light/flash – that, well, only really contains one camera of much use.
Pocket-lint
As is typical with budget phones these days there’s the sense that “more equals better”. We don’t think so, though, as it just makes for a more cumbersome looking rear unit, with the 2-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel depth sensors most likely never going to be used at all.
Which leaves the main 48-megapixel sensor to do the hard work. It uses pixel binning – that being it combines four into one – to squeeze more colour and detail out of a scene, rendering frames as 12-megapixels by default. But that’s still huge – it’s like a 4K TV with yet another half-a-4K-TV all pressed into the one image. So scale is no issue whatsoever.
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What’s more trying are certain shooting conditions. We got some decent shots in the late evening, with colours still popping nicely considering the lack of light. But there’s some visible grain that detracts from the detail.
The Note 9T’s main camera is perfectly good enough for a phone – results are even better in daylight – and it fits the bill of what to expect here. Just don’t forget to turn off the default watermark otherwise you’ll want to punch yourself after seeing it plastered over every image (why oh why it’s even an option we have no idea).
Pocket-lint
To the front is a punch-hole selfie camera, which cuts a circular opening through the screen. It’s a little large and almost casts a shadow onto content sometimes, which is odd, but it’s all par for the course these days. It’s 13-megapixels and can deliver selfies with usable results.
Overall, the Note 9T sounds like it’s got a grand selection of cameras, but it’s an oversell. Disregard the ‘triple’ on the rear – and it’s a bit of a shame there’s no ultra-wide to be found – and it’s got a workable main and selfie camera combination.
Verdict
The Redmi Note 9T represents great value for money. It’s got a big screen with ample resolution, it doesn’t look or feel like a budget phone – yet affordability is very much its key strength.
So what’s the catch? Well, there’s a bit of push and pull with the software. To get the most out of this phone you’ll need to tinker a bit to get some apps to function to their fullest. And while we’ve experienced some typical issues – excessive screen dimming on the software side, the cameras being an oversell on the hardware side – there’s also been some unexpected oddities, such as particular graphics not loading within games.
Given the context of its asking price, however, the Redmi Note 9T is a capable device that will deliver more core power and features than, say, a comparable Motorola device. But we feel there’s so much more just beneath the surface that’s desperate to get out.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Moto G 5G Plus
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It’s a spot more cash, but Moto’s software experience is just that much better out of the box. It suffers some similar hardware issues to the Redmi – the cameras being an oversell, there’s no under-display fingerprint scanner – but, for us, the user experience here is just a cut above.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Redmi Note 9
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Xiaomi is offering massive discounts on the already affordable ‘non-T’ version of the Redmi Note 9. If you can find it for a sub-£/€200 price point then it’s a no-brainer choice, even over the 9T!
Samsung patents a smartphone with a triple camera on the rear. The camera can rotate and enables users to use one of these cameras for taking selfies.
Like previous years Samsung is expected to release a wide variety of smartphones this year. The Galaxy S21 series has now been officially introduced, as has the cheap Galaxy A32. More mid-range A-series and budget M-series models will follow later this year, as well as several foldable smartphones. What can we expect in the field of camera design this year; Will new types of pop-up cameras be used in 2021 or will phone manufacturers prefer the cheaper and easier to implement punch-hole camera?
Samsung released the Galaxy A80 in mid-2019, this mobile phone was equipped with a rotating camera with which you can take selfies as well as regular photo and video recordings. It seems that Samsung intends to announce its successor this year, in the form of a Galaxy A82 5G.
For the time being, it remains unknown what kind of (selfie) camera the Galaxy A82 will have. Samsung may be considering implementing the following technology for its Galaxy A-series.
Samsung smartphone with rotating pop-up camera
In mid-2020, Samsung Electronics applied for a patent for an “Electronic device including camera module”. The 70-page documentation was published by the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) on January 14, 2021 and describes a Samsung smartphone with an ingenious pop-up camera that can be aimed both forwards and backwards, in order to take selfies and regular photos and videos. It is a fairly small, cylindrical shaped retractable camera. The pop-up system houses no less than 3 camera lenses.
By default, the triple camera will be aimed backwards, all three camera lenses are then visible. The camera will be completely stored in the housing. As soon as you want to take a selfie, the pop-up camera will be rotated and it will partly come out of the housing.
When taking selfies and making video calls, you only have one of the three cameras at your disposal. The two bottom cameras remain in the housing and are automatically deactivated.
The pop-up camera system works fully automatically. A motor is installed that supplies power. In addition, two gears and a long screw shaft are used to enable the rotation and the pop-up mechanism. Finally, a movable frame is built in. The flexible printed circuit board is stored in this frame, which moves up and down, along with the camera system.
This frame is located directly under the pop-up camera system. When the camera rises, an opening is created at the back, which is covered by the frame. Samsung can optionally design this in such a way that you can see the flexible circuit board through it, as described in the extensive documentation.
For a better visual representation of the patented technology, Jermaine Smit, aka Concept Creator, made a series of product images for LetsGoDigital illustrating this unique Samsung smartphone with rotating pop-up camera.
When taking selfies, you basically only have one lens at your disposal. Nevertheless, more options have been set out. Optionally, the camera can rise even further to expose a second camera lens, as described in the documentation.
In practice, however, this appears to be a less solid and durable solution, all the more so because it is a fairly small pop-up system, which will then have to protrude quite far from the housing. This would make the camera system extra vulnerable.
Apart from the Galaxy S10 Plus, Samsung has integrated very few dual selfie cameras. For the renders, we therefore assumed that only one camera will come out of the housing – as the patent images also illustrate, by the way.
Smartphones with a pop-up selfie camera
A large number of phone models with a pop-up camera were introduced in 2019. Not only Samsung, also brands such as Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Motorola, Huawei, Honor and Xiaomi introduced several phone models with a pop-up selfie camera that year.
Such a camera system has several advantages. First of all, the use of a pop-up camera makes it possible to apply a larger screen area, without notches or screen holes. It gives the smartphone an extra modern and elegant look. Nevertheless, significantly fewer mobile phones with such a camera were introduced in 2020. This brings us to the disadvantages of an pop-up camera.
A common flaw is the durability. In practice, this is not too bad. Most retractable cameras used to date have been tested to last at least 200,000 times. This means that you can use the selfie camera no less than 100 times a day for 5 years. Another disadvantage is the waterproofness, because of the moving parts and the recess that is needed at the top of the frame, it is difficult to make the smartphone dust and waterproof.
Still, there’s a completely different problem that developers run into. The implementation of a pop-up camera requires a relatively large number of adjustments to the housing. Such a camera system also simply requires a lot more space, while the housing is already so small to accommodate all the necessary components.
In addition, other parts are also getting better, which often results into larger parts. Consider, for example, the battery, today’s 5G phones require an extra large battery capacity. The same also applies to heat dissipation, better and more complex systems are being devised for good heat dissipation. These parts also take up the necessary space.
In addition, the flexible circuit board must be able to move along, which makes it extra vulnerable. Competitor Xiaomi has recently come up with something ingenious for this: a smartphone with a pop-up camera that uses a reflective mirror.
By using a mirror, the flexible printed circuit board does not have to be attached to the camera system, which saves both costs and space in the housing. Moreover, with this solution it was also possible to use the camera in two directions.
All in all, it is certainly possible that pop-up camera smartphones will be introduced again in the future. It is not without reason that patents are still being applied for for such technology. Moreover, it simply appears to be the best selfie camera solution available to date.
In the background, manufacturers are working on the development of an under-display camera, which is expected to become the next selfie camera trend. Logically, however, not all smartphone models will immediately incorporate a camera under the screen.
It is possible that this pop-up camera can therefore offer a good alternative, all the more because manufacturers have been playing with the idea of using a single camera system for some time, with which you can take selfies as well as regular photo and video recordings. As a result, the number of cameras can be saved, which means that both costs and space can be saved without compromising image quality.
We do not expect that Samsung will opt for such a solution for its new flagship devices. On the other hand, it could be a nice addition to the Galaxy A series. The budget and mid-range smartphones of the company are housed within this series.
Samsung A series 2021 models
The A series is Samsung’s best-selling smartphone series. The Galaxy A51 and A71 were introduced exactly a year ago and were among the best-selling phones in Europe. Both the Samsung Galaxy A52 and the Galaxy A72 are expected soon. Both 5G phones will have a small punch-hole camera that is placed at the top center.
Earlier this month, the Galaxy A32 was already officially announced, this Samsung smartphone has a v-shaped notch. Just like the A42 also comes with a notch. The even cheaper A22 and A12 will most likely not get a pop-up camera either.
Thus, our thought quickly turns to the more expensive models within the Galaxy A series. The Samsung A82 is expected later this year, it would be a very suitable candidate to apply such a camera system. Just like its predecessor, the Samsung A80, also had a rotating camera. With the A80 however, you had to pay a relatively high amount for the camera system, possibly the new solution will be slightly more affordable.
View the documentation of the Samsung Galaxy smartphone with rotating pop-up camera here.
Note to editors:The concept renders and product video presented in this publication are made in collaboration with Jermaine Smit (aka Concept Creator). This product is not officially announced by Samsung. You are allowed to use the high-resolution images for free if you include a clickable source link into your publication. Thank you very much for understanding.
The iPhone 12s Pro gets a renewed screen with a smaller notch and an under-display Touch ID sensor. Renders show the new Apple smartphone in detail.
New Apple smartphones are being released every year around September. The iPhone 12 series was introduced last year. Relatively minor changes are expected in 2021, therefore Apple may decide not use the name “iPhone 13”, but will opt for “iPhone 12s” instead. Regardless of which model name Apple chooses, there seem to be four models in the planning. Just like last year, a mini, a base model, a Pro and a Pro Max is expected.
Although it will take several months before Apple will announce the new models, a lot of information has already appeared online about the iPhone 12s series. One of the most frequently heard changes compared to 2020; the notch finally seems to be getting smaller. In this publication we will limit ourselves to the Pro model.
iPhone 12s Pro with updated screen and Touch ID under the display
The design will remain almost identical, after all, the design of the iPhone 12 series has already been renewed. The display size of the iPhone 12s Pro will probably remain the same, however the 6.1-inch OLED display will be improved. The new Pro models will support a high 120 Hertz refresh rate for the first time. It is an LTPO display, which enables an adaptive refresh rate. This allows considerable savings on battery consumption.
Another important change from previous years; Apple will likely implement an under-display fingerprint sensor. The Touch ID functionality that Apple incorporated in the home button for years was praised for a long time. Afterwards, Apple started to focus on advanced 3D Face ID technology. As a result no iPhone models have been released with a fingerprint sensor since 2017 – except for the iPhone SE 2020.
The iPhone 12s Pro / Pro Max will likely be the first smartphones from the US manufacturer to feature a fingerprint sensor under the screen. Apple will probably use a sensor from chip manufacturer Qualcomm. The 5G modems that Apple uses also come from Qualcomm. The Face ID functionality will be maintained, which will simply give users additional options to secure and unlock their smartphone.
The Dutch designer Jermaine Smit, aka Concept Creator, has made a new YouTube video in collaboration with LetsGoDigital in which the expected iPhone 12s Pro can be seen from all sides. The product renders used for this publication are also designed by Jermaine.
Improved camera and new hardware
Apple also seems to make the necessary changes when it comes to the camera. Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported some time ago that the two Pro models will have a greatly improved ultra-wide angle lens (f / 1.8) with autofocus. In addition, Apple seems to want to use larger image sensors this time.
In terms of design, no major changes are expected, although the camera system may be slightly thicker. In addition, in contrary to last year Apple will not make any difference between the camera system of the iPhone 12s Pro and that of the Pro Max. Thus, these two models will mainly differ in display size and battery capacity.
It goes without saying that the new models will also be equipped with the latest hardware and software. The Silicon Valley company seems to integrate a 5nm A15 Bionic chipset this time that makes 5G and WiFi 6th support possible. The iPhone 12 models already offered 5G support, but WiFi 6E is new.
The recently introduced Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphones also support the new WiFi 6E technology. As with WiFi 6, this allows you to achieve higher performance, lower latency and faster data rates. The improved WiFi 6th variant uses the 6Ghz band, which offers more space than the existing 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency bands.
With the new 6Ghz band it is easier to send a lot of data in one go, but the range is more limited than with the already existing 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency bands. The latter bands also remain available with WiFi 6e.
Battery and MagSafe charging accessory
As for the battery, last year the Pro model was equipped with a 3,046mAh battery. This guarantees 17 hours of video watching or 11 hours of video streaming. The device supports 20W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. The 12s Pro will probably have similar battery specs.
It has long been rumored that Apple wants to introduce at least one phone model without a charging port. This device will only support wireless charging. This is where the new MagSafe charging system comes in handy, which was announced at the time of the iPhone 12 series. With this accessory you can charge the device wirelessly with a maximum charging power of 15W.
Incidentally, it recently became known that both the iPhone 12 smartphones and the MagSafe accessories can pose a danger to people with a pacemaker or other medical implants. The many magnets can create an electromagnetic field, which disrupts pacemakers and defibrillators.
Apple therefore advises to keep a minimum distance of 15 cm between the pacemaker and the mentioned Apple products at all times. A minimum distance of 30cm is recommended during wireless charging. Obviously, it is not only iPhones that suffer from this. Electronic products are increasingly fitted with magnets, all of which can pose a hazard to medical devices.
You will probably have heard that since the launch of the iPhone 12, Apple does not include a charger or EarPods in the sales package. Now that Samsung has also decided to no longer supply a charger or earplugs with the Galaxy S21 series, this trend seems to be continuing. Despite this decision, Apple can look back on a very successful launch, the sales numbers of the 12 series are significantly higher than in previous years.
Recently published quarterly figures show that the sales numbers of the 12 series are no less than 17% higher than those of the 11 series, in the same period a year earlier. Consumers have therefore not punished Apple for omitting the charger and earphones. In contrast, the addition of 5G seems to have been a reason for many to buy a new iPhone.
iPhone 13 or iPhone 12s series?
When it comes to the naming, earlier this month Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman reported that Apple is considering opting for an “s” upgrade this year as no major changes are being made. This is partly due to COVID-19, due to the continuing pandemic Apple engineers can only be found a few days a week, in limited numbers, at the Silicon Valley offices. This makes product development a lot more complicated.
Shortly after the publication of Gurman, Apple analyst Jon Prosser confirmed that this time the name will indeed be iPhone 12s. Obviously nothing has been confirmed yet, but it does not sound entirely unlikely. After all, Apple has used the addition “s” more often when it came to minor upgrades. Consider, for example, the iPhone 6s / 6s Plus and the more recently introduced iPhone Xs / Xs Max.
Jon Prosser also claims that Apple will probably never release an iPhone 13 series. Superstition would play an important role in this. Because “13” is an unlucky number in Western countries, Apple would immediately want to opt for iPhone 14 next year.
No concrete information is yet known about the price of the new iPhone models. The iPhone XS, the one year later announced iPhone 11 Pro and the even more recent iPhone 12 Pro all came at a starting price of € 1,160. With the latter model, the minimum storage capacity was doubled to 128GB.
The iPhone 12s Pro will probably have a similar suggested retail price and will also be offered in the same memory variants: 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. Apple is expected to announce the four new smartphone models in September 2021.
Note to editors : The product images in this publication are created in collaboration with Jermaine Smit, aka Concept Creator. These 3D renders are for illustrative purposes only. This product is not for sale, Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 2021 series in September. The images are copyright protected. Feel free to use these materials on your own website, please be so respectful to include a source link into your publication.
Apple’s rumoured plans to release its second-generation AirPods Pro by April have just gained significant traction, thanks to unnamed industry sources cited in a report from Taiwanese publication DigiTimes.
The report hones in on flash memory supplier Winbond, stating: “Winbond is also expected to be among the NOR flash suppliers for Apple’s next-generation AirPods Pro slated for launch later in the first half of this year… The Taiwan-based chipmaker will be running its NOR flash production lines at nearly full capacity utilisation during the six-month period.”
The news follows hot on the heels of a report from Japanese blog Mac Otakara that claimed the new AirPods Pro will be here by April. That particular bulletin offered little new information regarding the actual design of the headphones, but lets not forget, Bloomberg recently reported that the next AirPods Pro would be more compact than the current model, with no stems sticking out of the bottom of the earbuds. That might make the AirPods Pro 2 similar in shape to the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, Galaxy Buds Live or Amazon Echo Buds. Crucially, the report also mentioned a 2021 release date.
The original Apple AirPods Pro were introduced in November 2019, an in-ear design with slightly shorter stems than the second-generation AirPods, plus three sizes of soft, flexible silicone tips included. Of course, the AirPods Pro have several upgraded features over regular AirPods, the most notable of which is active noise cancellation.
Just before Christmas, a patent spotted by Patently Appleseemed to state that the new AirPods could feature “through-body” response technology, allowing users to control the next-generation Apple noise-cancelling wireless earbuds by touching their face, clicking their tongue or making in-air hand gestures.
Exciting stuff on the way, then. We’ll bring you updates as and when.
MORE:
AirPods Pro 2: all the news and rumours
Should you wait? Read Apple AirPods 2 vs AirPods Pro: which are better?
Or, see the best Apple AirPods alternatives 2021: budget to premium
In case you missed it, Netflix is testing Apple spatial audio support for AirPods Pro and Max
Samsung Electronics has reported its fourth-quarter earnings, confirming that the company made more money in 2020 than the year before despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating profit was up to 35.99 trillion won ($32.1 billion) off 236.81 trillion won ($211.5 billion) in revenue, increases of 29.6 percent and 2.78 percent respectively.
Samsung says its fourth-quarter results were helped by its “company-wide efforts to ensure a stable supply of products and services globally” in the pandemic environment. Quarterly profit was up 26.4 percent year-on-year, largely driven by the display and memory businesses, though the latter was down quarter to quarter.
Samsung’s display business had its highest ever quarterly earnings, which the company mainly attributes to high demand from major smartphone manufacturers. (Samsung doesn’t spell it out, but this was the quarter that Apple outfitted its entire new iPhone 12 lineup with OLED panels.) Samsung also reduced its losses from larger displays like TVs and monitors, and calls out a greater demand for contactless services as a contributing factor.
Samsung expects mobile profit to increase this quarter thanks to the launch of the Galaxy S21 series, and says it plans to expand its lineup of foldable devices. The display division, meanwhile, expects OLED penetration to continue to increase throughout the smartphone market and beyond, with wider applications in laptops, tablets, and cars. The company will also pursue growth with foldable and slidable displays.
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