Tech News

Samsung is expecting to sell around 260 million smartphones this year and aims to sell about 270 million units in 2023, according to a new report out of its home of Korea. The company's device sales peaked back in 2017 at 320 million units, and it's not gone over 300 million ever since. The current estimate of 260 million units sold in 2022 is about 10 million more than last year, and the company wants to grow that by 10 million again next year. In order to do this, it will reportedly focus a lot on foldables, which can help it grow its profitability rather than sheer sales volumes...

Both of Google's newest Pixel smartphones have now passed through our labs and been put through the paces of our testing procedures. Last week, we outed the video review for the Pixel 7 Pro, and today it's time to do the same for its smaller sibling, the Pixel 7. Following up our comprehensive, in-depth written review, is, as usual, our concise video review, in which we try to condense all of the essential information about the device in a sweet and short ten-minute video. If that sounds enticing to you, and we obviously think it should, then check it out below. As always,...

The latest addition in Huawei’s budget nova lineup is here with the nova Y61. The device is listed on Huawei’s global website complete with its key specs. Huawei nova Y61 brings a 6.52-inch IPS LCD with HD+ resolution and a standard 60Hz refresh rate. The 5MP selfie cam is housed in a waterdrop notch cutout. Nova Y61 brings a 50MP main camera with an F1.8 aperture alongside a 2MP macro cam and a depth module. The phone is equipped with an unnamed octa-core chipset alongside 4/6GB RAM and 64GB storage. The software side is covered by EMUI 12 while the 5,000 mAh battery features...

Realme has teased its upcoming Realme 10 series for a while now and earlier today the brand finally confirmed its plans to announce the new devices on Wednesday, November 9 at 2PM China time (6AM UTC). The Realme 10 series is expected to arrive in both 4G and 5G trims. Realme 10 4G will bring a 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a punch-hole cutout. The device is confirmed to launch with the Helio G99 SoC with 4/8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128/256GB storage. The back will feature a 50MP main camera alongside a 2MP depth helper. The software side will be covered by...

An early AnTuTu benchmark score showed that the upcoming MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chipset will bring an impressive improvement to graphics performance thanks to the switch to ARM’s new Immortalis-G715, its first ray tracing capable GPU. Now a couple of GFXBench results have surfaced and make the upcoming chip even more impressive as its scores top any current chipset. This includes Apple’s latest A16 Bionic, though cross-platform comparisons are not always accurate even with the same benchmark. Also, we don’t know what device is using the Dimensity 9200, but it seems that it is running...

Introduction Last year, Google and Samsung joined forces to release a unified version of Wear OS, one that's more capable, polished, and one that would remain exclusive to Samsung Watch devices for almost a year. Now, with just a handful of smartwatches running Wear OS 3.5, Google's Pixel Watch will be regarded as the golden standard for Wear OS smartwatches. The Google Pixel Watch is Google's first Pixel wearable offering, promising a smooth, polished experience and hoping to be regarded as "the Apple Watch of Androids". The Pixel Watch also carries the future of Wear OS as a...

It's a proper Redmi invasion in our trending chart, the newly announced 12 series occupying the first four spots and ending Google Pixel 7 Pro's three-week reign. The Redmi 12 Pro+ ended up on top, followed by the 12 Pro and the 12 Explorer. The vanilla Redmi 12 saw the least love, but still enough to make the top 4. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra placed best of the rest in fifth, ahead of the former leader Google Pixel 7 Pro. Apple's iPhone 14 Pro Max is down in seventh and just ahead of its iPhone XR stablemate. The Xiaomi 12T Pro finds itself ninth, while the Samsung Galaxy A53...

vivo hosted its first-ever Tech Day event in India recently at the National Stadium, New Delhi, where it talked about 5G, its collaboration with ZEISS for the X80 series, and the V1+ imaging chip. The company also showcased pattern-creating and dual-color changing design technologies that haven't been launched in the market yet. While not quite new, one of the devices at the vivo Tech Day was the vivo X Fold, which was unveiled in April and is still only available in China. We had the chance to attend the event and spend some time with the vivo X Fold, so here are some impressions of vivo's...

A lot has happened in the last couple of years and it has made the market more price sensitive, so finding a good deal is more important than ever. And while we can’t help you navigate the housing market, we can help you find a cool new phone on the cheap. Below are the best deals that we have found this week. If you want more, you can check out our Daily deals page, which is kept up to date and offers info like a price history so that you can see whether something is a true discount or just the price fluctuating up and down. The at-a-glance info we have compiled below has quick links to...

Another week down, let's recap. The Redmi Note 12 series was the biggest story this week. It features the Redmi Note 12, the Redmi Note 12 Pro, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+, and the Redmi Note 12 Explorer. The 12 Pro, Pro+ and Explorer all pack MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chips, while the vanilla 12 relies on a Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. All four have 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED displays. All four except the Explorer have 5,000mAh batteries. Charging varies between phones, the 12 supports 33W, the 12 Pro 67W, the Pro+ 120W, while the Explorer recharges its 4,300mAh battery in just 9 minutes (advertised) at...

The browser wars of the 90s and 2000s saw the dominant player - Microsoft's Internet Explorer - locked in a David and Goliath battle against Firefox, an open-source browser that was spun off from work at Netscape. A decade later another software war began - Microsoft was involved again with Windows Mobile, but the Goliath in this case was Symbian lead by Nokia. You should be familiar with the two Davids that took it on - Apple's iPhone and Google's Android project. However, today's story is about Firefox OS, which was developed by Mozilla, the same community that had been working on the...

The new 2022 iPads went on sale this week, but most of our readers will not be picking one up. The opinions in last week’s poll were against the new Apple slates and with the same reasoning too – higher price, not enough upgrades to entice would-be buyers. In the case of the iPad Pro 11 (2022) and iPad Pro 12.9 (2022), a MacBook Air is seen as a better tool for getting some work done on the go. macOS has always been geared towards work and creativity and has only gotten better over the years. Is iPadOS finally ready to let you harness the full power of the Apple M2 chipset? Well,...

Motorola made the foldable Razr 2022 global this week and it's now arrived in HQ to take its place in the review queue. It comes with the flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, a 1080p foldable OLED with 144Hz refresh rate and a dual camera on the outside. We cannot wait to put it to our tests and go through the review process, but first here’s what impressed us when taking it out of the box. The package lid opens to reveal the phone itself, unfolded. Underneath we find the 30W charger, a USB-C to USB-C cable and some reading material about warranty and safety. The box itself closes...

Google has been doing quiet Chrome OS releases in the past couple of months but the latest version 107 seems to be a bigger deal than usual as it brings a couple of new features. More precisely, expands the currently available ones. The biggest new addition is the ability to save Desks. You can "Save desk for later" from the Overview screen with just a click of a button. You can assign a name, see the creation date and have a quick glance at the icons. New Desks features Closing open desks from the Overview menu is now easier and a brief "Undo" prompt pops-up in case you closed...

The Chinese smartphone market is the biggest one in the world and according to IDathe steady decline trend continues throughout Q3 this year. Total shipments fell 11% year-over-year with 71.3 million units sold. However, the premium segment sees a modest 1.9% increase for the same period, taking a 22.4% share. The top five companies selling smartphones in the country are vivo, Honor, Oppo, Apple and Xiaomi. As you can see, Apple is the only non-Chinese company on the list. But despite vivo's impressive performance, the company's sales are down more than 20% year-over-year. Vivo's...

The Realme 10 is coming soon, and Realme has announced that the smartphone will be powered by MediaTek's Helio G99 SoC, corroborating rumors of the Realme 10 (4G model) having the Helio G99 chip at the helm. Realme hasn't divulged anything else about the Realme 10 yet, but the 10 series is expected to include the Realme 10 4G (RMX3630), Realme 10 5G (RMX3663), and Realme 10 Pro+ (RMX3687). 📢 Shout out to the upcoming #realme10 that powered by the best-in-class G99 chipset! Describe your excitement with one emoji below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0FxRetukYW— realme (@realmeglobal) October 28,...

Samsung already released a stable version of One UI 5.0 based on Android 13 for most of its flagship phones, including the Galaxy S22 series, so it's only natural for the Galaxy S21 FE to get its fair share of software improvements. Not that anyone doubted that. Sure, the Galaxy S21 FE users didn't get the chance to try out the new software in beta testing, but Samsung has been working behind closed doors for a while now. Traces of the Galaxy S21 FE future One UI 5.0 build based on Android 13 were found on Samsung's servers and some suggest that the update itself would be released...

Realme has just recently confirmed that it's launching the 10 series in November, and today a new rumor claims the first sale will happen on the very first day of the month. Apparently, the Realme 10 4G will be available in "select markets" starting on November 1, in three storage options, with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, 8/128GB, and 8/256GB. Its price is expected to be around $190-210. The Realme 10 4G will allegedly be offered in pink, gray, and blue. The phone comes with a side-mounged fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button, a tiny left-aligned hole-punch selfie camera,...

The Motorola Moto X30 (which launched as the Edge 30 Pro globally after slight modifications) has a flat display, the Moto X30 Pro (aka Edge 30 Ultra) had a dual-curved display. Things may get curvier in the next generation as China’s MIIT just posted images of the XT2301-5, which some suspect is the Motorola Moto X40. Not the X40 Pro, the vanilla model. That said, the square camera island and curved display do make it look more like the current Pro. But notice the reflections, the display is actually curved on all four sides. The Chinese authorities have not published additional...

As expected, Apple released its Q4 earnings report for the fiscal quarter ending on September 24 and quarterly revenues sitting at an all-time high of $90.1 billion – an 8% increase compared to the same time last year. Yearly revenues are also up 8% YoY at $394.3 billion. Net income grew to $20.72 billion while earnings per share rose to $1.29 – a 4% increase compared to last year. Apple Q4 2022 earnings report Despite dwindling global smartphone shipments, iPhone revenue grew by 9.6% to 42.63 billion thanks to robust iPhone 14 series performance. The Services category accounted...

It seems that leakster Ice Universe has gotten his paws on a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra prototype and has shared a camera sample. Work on the phone is clearly not complete yet (it won’t launch for another few months), but the results are already promising. The S23 Ultra will be Samsung’s first 200MP phone, using a sensor developed by Samsung itself. However, it won’t be one of the 200MP ISOCELL sensors we have seen already (HP1 and HP3), but a new design (1/1.3”, 0.6µm, says the leakster). Also, it apparently will support a 50MP mode (instead of just 12.5MP and 200MP as originally claimed),...

The Realme GT2 Pro is the company's top-tier smartphone for global markets so it's normal to lead the Android 13 update charge. The reports of Android 13 being delivered to GT2 Pro are all from India for the time being, but it should arrive globally soon. The update itself weighs 5.5GB and brings a ton of new features and a new look that Realme calls Aquamorphic. It introduces new, more natural and pleasant animations, shadows, UI elements, etc. There are also improvements in terms of efficiency and usability, security and gaming. The latter comes in the form of HyperBoost GPA 4.0...

In the latest report on the global market in Q3, Omdia's numbers echo Canalys - shipments are better than in Q2 but worse than Q3 2021. In Q3, the market recorded a modest 2.5% increase over Q2 but a 7.6% decrease year over year. Samsung retained its top spot with a total of 64.1m units shipped - a 3% improvement over Q2 but a 7.4% dip compared to the same period last year. Apple was in second with 52.2m iPhones shipped - a modest 2.6% improvement on last year. Huawei was the only other maker that didn't suffer a decrease in shipments YoY. Chinese makers were hit the hardest....

The Chinese smartphone market did marginally better in Q3 than in Q2 with a total of 70 million phones shipped. But it still posted a yearly decline of 11%. The Mainland China market is nowhere near the level it was in 2021 not to mention pre-pandemic. vivo kept its number one spot with 14.1 million units shipped, but is still over 4 million fewer than in Q3 of 2021. Oppo (including OnePlus) was in second with 12.1 million units, down 27% YoY. Honor managed 12 million shipments for third, while Apple climbed to fourth with 11.3 million sales. Apple is the only vendor to record...

When the USB-IF announced plans for adding a Power Delivery profile for 240W charging we thought it was something for the future. The standard way of doing things may indeed be something for the future, but today brings us almost at that point with the new Redmi Note 12 Explorer. This phone is based on the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (which also debuts today), but ups the charging speed from 120W to 210W. The battery capacity does go down – from 5,000mAh to 4,300mAh – as Xiaomi had to build a battery to very exacting requirements. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Explorer sets a new benchmark for...

The Redmi Note line is now in its 12th iteration and it arrives in four tiers – a vanilla 12, a 12 Pro, a 12 Pro+ and the 12 Explorer Edition. We’ll cover the first three phones here while the Explorer Edition and its 210W charging will be covered in a separate post on our newsfeed. All three Pro models are equipped with MediaTek’s Dimensity 1080 chipset while the Redmi Note 12 5G gets Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 SoC instead. Redmi Note 12 Pro+ and 12 Pro The Redmi Note 12 Pro and Redmi Note 12 Pro+ models share a nearly identical specs sheet with 6.67-inch OLED displays of FHD+...

Huawei released a court notice about the infringement of its patent rights. The claim is against Amazon and e-ink display manufacturer Compal Electronics, as well as several of their subsidiaries. The claim is most likely to be about patents regarding the Kindle, a product Amazon revealed will be pulled out of China by the end of H1 2023. The actual infringing patents haven't been detailed as the official documents are yet to be published by the People’s Court of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. The trial will begin with hearings on December 8. Reportedly, Huawei sold over 110,000 units...

Samsung posted its Q3 earnings report today, and the numbers revealed the most revenue ever recorded for this three-month period. At KRW 76.78 trillion ($54 billion) it is 4% higher, compared with last year. The operating profit was not great though. The company made KRW10.85 trillion ($7.6 billion) between July and September, which is 23% less than in Q2, and 26% lower than in Q3 2021. The Mobile Experience business posted solid profitability, driven by the good sales of foldables such as Galaxy Z Flip4 and Galaxy Z Fold4, as well as the new wearables Galaxy Watch5 series and the...

Apple’s brand new M2 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the current screen size king from Cupertino’s tablet division but a new report from The Information suggests that we may see an even larger screen iPad next year. The new report suggests Apple is working on a 16-inch iPad Pro model with a mini-LED display which may launch in Q4 2023. The upcoming device will target creators such as graphic designers and artists who would have a larger canvas to work on their projects. The Information report also notes how a 16-inch iPad would literally blur the lines between laptops and tablets in Apple’s...

OnePlus already released a stable OxygenOS 13 update for the OnePlus 10 Pro and has several other models that are running beta versions in order to find and squash any bugs. Here is the official timeline for the beta releases, including ones that are already out. The OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro are already running the beta, as is the OnePlus 10R. Those updates arrived in September. Since then OnePlus has released yet more betas for the following models: 9RT, 9R, OnePlus 8, 8 Pro and 8T. Coming up next, a few more phones will get to join the beta trials before the end of this year: OnePlus...

Back in June luxury brand Montblanc unveiled its Summit 3 smartwatch with the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chipset, Google Wear OS 3.0 and a €1,250 price tag. We now get a Naruto edition of the same watch to commemorate the anime series’ 20-year anniversary. Montblanc Summit 3 Smartwatch x Naruto The Naruto Summit 3 smartwatch brings a redesigned casing with engravings around the buttons and the digital crown element. The watch leather band features an embossed Naruto symbols and a bright orange inside as well as orange stitching. You also get special Naruto watch faces. The rest of the...

The vivo X90 series will arrive in December, and the X90 Pro+ flagship will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and a top-notch camera. Today we learned more about the vanilla version as well - the basic vivo X90 will run on the Dimensity 9200 chipset and will support 120W charging. vivo X80 The rumored specs come from Digital Chat Station on Weibo, and they also revealed the screen will be 1.5K, which is how 1220p panels are often mislabelled. The vivo X90 will also be the first vanilla smartphone from the X series to be IP-rated, so far only the Pro models had water and dust...

Nothing announced its second audio product today with the Ear (stick) wireless earphones. These bring а half-in-ear design (i.e. no silicone tips), 12.6 mm drivers and up to 29 hours of battery life with the charging case. The cylindrical case design is inspired by lipstick silhouettes and is yet again transparent to showcase the buds when not in use. You open the case with a twist to get to the buds. There’s no active noise cancelation (ANC) on the Ear (stick) though you do get Clear Voice Technology which leverages the 3 microphones on each earbud for wind and crowd-proof calls. The...

Carl Pei’s brand Nothing is set to announce another TWS product - the Ear (stick). There will be a live stream, where the product will be revealed, and it is scheduled to begin at 3 PM BST / 4 PM CEST. According to Nothing, the Ear (stick) earbuds are “ergonomically molded to your ears” and will deliver “exceptional sound, powered by custom sound technology”, packed in a unique case that is advertised to also be lipstick. There were plenty of rumors and leaks about the upcoming audio wearables, but we have heard nothing on pricing. The Ear (stick) may be more expensive than the...

Google was slapped with a $113 million fine in India for anti-competitive practices. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) stated the US company used its dominant position to force app developers to use its in-app payment system instead of allowing third-party companies. The regulatory noted that this platform is the main way for developers to monetize their work from in-app sales. A Google spokesperson said that the company is reviewing the decision and evaluating the next steps, as the order can be appealed in an Indian tribunal. The company was also mandated to adopt 8...

Around this time last year a Dimensity-powered phone posted the first 1 million points result on AnTuTu. That was the then-new Dimensity 9000 chip and now its successor is on the horizon, which is tentatively known as the Dimensity 9200. AnTuTu score from the Dimensity 9200 With a total score of 1.26 million, the new chip promises a fairly impressive 26% generational improvement. MediaTek did announce a mid-season upgrade to the old chip, the Dimensity 9000+, which promised a 5% boost in CPU and 10% in GPU performance. In practice, the Plus chip scores the 1.13 million points, so...

Apple gave a direct confirmation that the iPhone is switching to USB-C. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple marketing lead Greg Joswiak said the company will replace the Lighting port even if his team is not happy with the change. The interview involved software VP Craig Federighi as well but none of them revealed when exactly the move will happen. The iPhone 14 series should be the last in the family with a Lightning port The Apple executives said “the Europeans are the ones dictating timing for European customers” which is a sophisticated way of saying nothing...

Windows for smartphones may be dead and buried, but its spirit haunts Android – Microsoft has leveraged Android 12L’s advanced theming system to make the interface look more like the Fluent UI that is used on Windows 11. This arrives as a common update for the Microsoft Surface Duo and the Surface Duo 2. The notification shade, Settings screen and the activity feed in the Microsoft launcher have been restyled to look like their Windows counterparts. This means that icons, colors and UI controls have been unified with the Windows style. Many areas of the interface also feature blur, which...

Yesterday we got a look at the specifications of the Realme 10 5G, now let’s look at its 4G sibling. As usual, there is more than just the chipset and connectivity features that separate these two models, in fact they have as many differences as they do similarities. As you can see in the renders below, they certainly look similar enough. But if you could put them side by side you would notice that the 4G model has a smaller 6.4” AMOLED display versus the 6.7” LCD of the 5G model (the previous generation had 6.4” AMOLED on the 4G and 6.6” LCD on the 5G models). Flip them around and you...

An upcoming stylus-equipped Motorola Edge model leaked today thanks to Evan Blass and 91mobiles and we get some basic specs as well as a good look at the phone ahead of its launch. The device codenamed Motorola Geneva and bearing the XT2315 identifier will reportedly be part of the Edge lineup of devices and is expected to be exclusive to the US market sometime next year. According to Bass, the phone will arrive in both 4G and 5G variants which suggest it won’t be a flagship offering. Motorola Geneva render The new leak suggest Moto Geneva will serve as a successor to the G Stylus...

vivo sells its smartphones with two different operating systems - OriginOS Ocean in China, and Funtouch around the world. Today the company confirmed its overseas devices will get Funtouch OS 13, based on Android 13. The eligibility list includes over 50 devices from both the vivo and iQOO brands. Major improvements include app pinning to prevent someone else to look at other apps, enhanced control through iManager and a new stabilizer ring in the viewfinder while taking photos. FunTouch provides additional ways to customize the home screen graphics, including icons matching the...

The Samsung Galaxy S22 series became the first to receive the stable version of One UI 5, many other Galaxy models will soon leave the beta stage and update to Android 13 as well. Here is the timeline for those updates – basically all eligible Galaxy S and Z devices (phones and tablets) will be updated by the end of this year, as will a good number of Galaxy A devices. Samsung One UI 5 update timeline This will leave some Tab A slates, lower end Galaxy A models and some rugged devices to update in the first two months of 2023. Note that this timeline comes from South Korea, the...

Nearly three months after its debut in China, the Moto Razr 2022 is finally getting an international release, starting with select European markets. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 clamshell foldable will retail for €1,200 for the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage model. Motorola is not ready to share the availability date for now, but we can expect that to be revealed soon enough. Moto Razr 2022 is still offered in a single Satin Black color. Razr 2022 brings a 6.7” OLED screen with FHD+ resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. There’s a redesigned hinge mechanism and the chin from the previous Razr...

The hours you spend watching YouTube videos are about to get a little more pleasant with the latest user interface improvements that are coming to mobile, desktop and TV. They make navigation easier and give you precise control over playback. Perhaps the most important new feature is Precise Seeking for mobile – you press and hold on the screen to see a visual timeline for the video, then you can seek forwards and back to find the precise moment you need (you can see this in action below). You can also double tap with two fingers to skip a chapter. Pinch to Zoom is another...

Yesterday Xiaomi confirmed its plans to launch the Redmi Note 12 series on October 27 and we now get more details about two of the three expected phones. Redmi Note 12 Pro+ will debut Samsung’s new 200 MP ISOCELL HPX sensor, which is essentially the ISOCELL HP3 announced earlier this year. Redmi Note 12 Pro+ will debut Samsung ISOCELL HPX sensor ISOCELL HPX features a 1/1.4-inch sensor size, 16-to-1 pixel binning and QPD autofocus. Images are set to 12.5MP resolution by default with a 2.24μm pitch though you can also take 50MP shots with 1.12μm pixels and even full 200MP images with...

The OnePlus Ace Pro is the company’s current flagship in China, and it's known overseas as the OnePlus 10T. Today it gets a new variant called Genshin Impact Limited Edition - it comes a new theme with custom-made animations and colors, as well as a new back panel, instead of the plain Black/Green. On the inside this OnePlus Ace Pro edition matches the top version of the regular phone - 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, and a 4,800 mAh battery with 150W charging. The retail box is much richer however, OnePlus packed a special case that is in line with the Genshin...

Sony has a Japan-exclusive series of phones, called Xperia Ace, which recently welcomed a new member, the Ace III. Now Sumaho Digest is reporting on the next model that will likely launch some time next year and details some of the specs (the info originally comes from Weibo sources). The Sony Xperia Ace IV will remain relatively tiny with a 5.5” display, however, it will feature and upgraded OLED panel with 1,080 x 2,520px resolution. For comparison, the Mark 3 had an LCD with HD+ resolution. The new generation will switch from the 19:9 aspect ratio to the Sony standard of...

Today Samsung began rolling out the stable release of One UI 5, starting with the Galaxy S22 series (at least the Exynos-powered versions of the phones). There is also a long list of Galaxy phones that are working through the beta program and squashing bugs before they get their own stable version of the new software. What is One UI 5 all about? The official introduction video is a 2 minute overview of what’s new in the latest version of Samsung’s custom user interface. The company added a ton of new customization features, both automatic and manual, to get your phone (and watch)...

vivo and Zeiss have been hard at work developing the camera technology for the upcoming X90 series of flagships. The system consists of several parts that are responsible for specific tasks. The end goal of the system is to create a digital image that perfectly matches what the human eyes sees in the scene. This generation focuses on two core scenes that are still tricky for smartphones – shooting portraits and shooting at night. Some of this technology was developed by vivo itself, some of it was developed in collaboration with its imaging partner Zeiss. It starts with the optical...