Tech News

A new analysis from Counterpoint reveals the free fall of the Indian smartphone market might be coming to an end. Overall shipments dropped just 3% compared to Q1, which is less than analysts expected. Counterpoint researchers believe that the improving market conditions and declining inflation had a good impact on sales. In fact, the premium smartphone segment saw a whipping 112% growth year-over-year. That seems to be in line with previous analysis claiming that the maturing Indian market is slowly shifting towards more expensive smartphones. That's part of the reason why Xiaomi is...

You’d think that the bendy display is the hardest part about making a foldable phone, but OLED panels have been built on flexible plastic substrates for years now. The part that is actually hard is the hinge – Samsung took five generations to get it right. The new Flex Hinge allows the Galaxy Z Fold5 to close flat – the gap between the two halves was among the things that caused the most complaints on previous Z generations. Aesthetically it looks better as it makes the phone symmetrical, but it has practical advantages too. The gap added to the closed thickness, pushing the Z Fold4...

The Poco M5 was a 4G-only phone in all of its incarnations, including the M5s. The upcoming Poco M6 will gain support for 5G – this is coming straight from Himanhsu Tandon, the Country Head of Poco and Xiaomi. This won’t be the first 5G phones in the series. In fact, the M5 was something of an exception as both the M3 and M4 series had 5G models in their ranks. There’s no word on what chipset will bring the next-gen connectivity, however. Details like that will be released closer to launch day. For now we can only note the dual camera setup on a flat camera island that is closer to the...

The gaming sub-brand of nubia called Red Magic is best known for its smartphones, but lately branched into gaming monitors and various peripherals. It delivered its first TWS earphones in 2020 and now it's following up with a more upscale model dubbed Cyberbuds Dao TWS. These gaming earphone are hitting international markets today with the latest Qualcomm Bluetooth technology, long battery life and RGB light effects. These wireless earphones have the latest Qualcomm S5 chip for sound over Bluetooth, which supports lossless and high-res music, Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) audio,...

If you missed the pre-registration bonus, you still have a chance to pick up a $50 discount on both the Flip and the Z Fold5. Note that the discount is applied directly at checkout and is available only through the following links to the Samsung US online store: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 You might not want to wait too long as the shipping dates for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 in the US have already started to slip back – the phone is set to release on August 11 and you can still get the Graphite and Lavender colorways on that date. However, all the others are...

With the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 and Z Flip5 already announced, it’s time to turn our attention to the next big launch from Samsung’s camp – the Galaxy S24 series. A new series of listings for the Galaxy S24+ (SM-S926) and S24 Ultra (SM-S928) are revealing some key details about the upcoming devices. Samsung Galaxy S24+ (SM-926) Geekbench scorecard The Geekbench listing for the S24+ shows the device is equipped with a chipset codenamed “pineapple” which is speculated to be the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The listing reports a prime core clocked @ 3.3GHz alongside 3x cores clocked @...

Samsung announced its latest foldables this week, but it's the old mid-ranger that returns to the top of our trending chart. The Galaxy A54 forms a familiar pairing with Galaxy S23 Ultra in the lead. The Redmi Note 12 and its Pro sibling follow in third and fourth positions, meaning the best placed of the newly announced phones is fifth. That's the Galaxy Z Flip5, which just edged the Redmi 12. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max is best placed among phones not made by Samsung or Xiaomi, coming in seventh. Realme C53 is eight, while the Galaxy A34 slipped to ninth. That means the other...

Samsung unveiled its new flagship foldables, smartwatches, and tablets this week. It happens to be the earliest unveil of a Galaxy Z Fold ever by nearly a month. The Galaxy Z Fold5 finally removes the gap and closes flat. Otherwise, it's a rather tame update mostly focused around the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and the new hinge design. The displays have the main characteristics, although the big display is 30% brighter, the cameras are the same, and so is the battery size and charging speed. Price-wise, the Galaxy Z Fold5's 12/256GB version is €1,900/£1,749/$1,800, 12/512GB costs...

Honor's Magic V2 foldable has just launched in China and the company shared the rather interesting design story behind the device. The centerpiece element of the design process is portability and it shows. The handset is considerably thinner and lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 (10.1 mm vs. 13.4 mm when unfolded and 231 g vs. 253 g). Honor argues that according to their market research, consumers have portability at top of their priority list. Let's start with the innovative hinge design. It uses titanium elements, which boast higher rigidity, lower weight and anti-corrosion...

Samsung unveiled its 5th generation foldable phones this week and they went on pre-order. There are some great deals in some regions and not-so-great deals in other regions. We also look at possible alternatives to the Galaxy Z foldables. USA The UK Germany India USA Samsung US is offering some killer trade-in deals. For example, if you send in your old Galaxy Z Flip4, you can get the new Z Flip5 for just $100 (assuming it’s in a good condition, if your old Flip has screen damage you will have to pay $300 instead). $100 to get the new hinge and cover display,...

Sony has put a lot of effort into making pro-grade content-creation apps for its flagship Xperia phones. The latest Xperia 1 V has a trio of those - Photo Pro, Video Pro, and Cinema Pro - that unlock the potential of the phone's imaging system. You can access tech straight out of Sony's dedicated camera division like the advanced burst shooting with subject tracking and advanced autofocus. In video, you can choose Sony's flatter Cinetone profile, which can be tuned to your specific style. We delve deep into all three apps and what's possible with them and the Xperia 1 V combination....

Samsung's next generation foldables are almost here - they are already on pre-order and will start shipping in a couple of weeks time. But the market they enter is more heavily contested than ever. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is no longer the only horizontal foldable in North America, following the launch of the Google Pixel Fold. The Fold may not have the best chipset in the world, but it has a very similar inner display, an IPX8 water resistance rating and, perhaps, better cameras. You can check out the photos we took with the Z Fold5 in Seoul - it's too early to discuss quality...

The Honor Pad X9 unveiled earlier this month is up for pre-orders in India through Amazon.in. It comes in a single 4GB/128GB configuration and is listed on Amazon.in for INR14,499 ($175/€160) as a part of a deal, with the MRP being INR25,999 ($315/€285). Honor's Indian branch hasn't made any announcement about the Pad X9 on its social media handles yet, but Amazon says the tablet will be released on August 2 and come with a free Honor Flip Cover. The Honor Pad X9 has a metal unibody design. It is 6.9mm thin, weighs 495 g, and packs an 11.5" 120Hz LCD with a resolution of 2,000x1,200...

After the June software update, users are reporting that 8K video recording using the high bitrate mode is no longer available. The option in the camera menu is still there, but the toggle is grayed out. There's no mention in the changelog nor an explanation from Samsung. Some believe that the high bitrate option was disabled due to stability issues. Users reported that sometimes recording 8K videos would result in stuttering and videos appear choppy. Perhaps that's why Samsung decided to disable the feature until it finds a way to resolve the issue. Either way, it would have been...

Xiaomi's Poco has announced its entry into the AIoT space in India with the launch of Poco Pods TWS earphones in the Asian country. The Poco Pods are budget wireless earphones that pack a 12mm driver in each bud and have an IPX4 rating. The Poco Pods have Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, support Google Fast Pair, and are advertised with a latency of up to 60ms. The earphones come with Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) and only support SBC audio codec. The Poco Pods also support touch controls, allowing users to control their calls and music playback. You can answer the call and...

There's been a rumor doing rounds for the past year or so that Samsung is preparing a new smart wearable - a ring, possibly called Galaxy Ring. It's a fairly untapped smart wearable market, so it makes sense for Samsung to explore it. According to The Elec, the company has already finished the development process and will likely kickstart production next month. The Korean tech giant has reportedly secured its sourcing of the needed hardware and it just needs to decide when to start mass production. Although production is near, the release won't happen until 2024. Aside from the...

The Sony Xperia I V, which was unveiled in May and was up for pre-orders in the US until now, is finally shipping in the States. It's priced at $1,400 in the US and comes in a single 12GB/256GB configuration. You can purchase it from Sony's official website or Amazon. The Sony Xperia I V is built around a 6.5" 120Hz OLED having 3,840x1,644-pixel resolution and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. It's powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and runs Android 13 out of the box. Sony Xperia I V The Xperia I V features four cameras - 48MP primary (with OIS), 12MP telephoto (with OIS),...

AMD today announced the Radeon RX 7900 GRE desktop graphics. Although announced first in China, it seems the card will also be available globally. The RX 7900 GRE (which stands for Golden Rabbit Edition) is a cut-down version of the RX 7900 XT with some minor reductions to the GPU and significant reductions to the memory. Compared to the 7900 XT's 84 compute units, the 7900 GRE has 80. The game clock drops from 2000MHz to 1880MHz. The 20GB 20Gbps 320-bit memory drops down to 16GB 18Gbps 256-bit, which causes the memory bandwidth to drop from 800GB/s to 576GB/s. The Infinity...

Recently, TM Roh, the head of Samsung’s mobile division, revealed that the company sold just under 10 million foldable phones last year (60% of which were Galaxy Z Flip4s, 40% Z Fold4s). For 2023 the company expects to sell 50% more than that. This means that the target is around 15 million sales, which will keep Samsung the dominant player in the foldable market. Some analysts (Trendforce) are predicting that 18 million foldables will be shipped this year, others (IDC) are saying that the number will be above 20 million. That will mean that three quarters of all foldables sold in 2023...

Global smartphone shipments during the April, May and June months totaled 258.2 million units as per the latest Canalys Smartphone Market Pulse report. The figure represents a 10% decline compared to the same period last year. Despite the sixth straight quarter of negative growth, global smartphone demand is slowly rebounding thanks to industry-wide inventory reductions and rising regional market demand. Samsung was once again the leading smartphone brand in terms of shipments for the quarter with 53 million shipments and a 21% market share. Apple came in second with 43 million...

A couple of days ago the metal mid-frame of the Huawei Mate 60 leaked, showing that the phone will have a circular camera island. Now Digital Chat Station has shared a render of the phone that offers a better look at said island – it reminds us of the Mate 40 series, except the circle is bigger. Three cameras are visible, though the only details we have so far is that Huawei is bringing new sensors and a periscope lens that has been optimized for low-light shooting. Also, the XMAGE label indicates that the image processing will be done by Huawei’s in-house tech. Huawei Mate 60...

Samsung's Summer Unpacked is behind us and we're left with a couple of foldable Galaxies to review. But since reviewing takes place in Headquarters, and the phones are still in Seoul, we figured we'd fill our time with a photo walk around town with the Galaxy Z Flip5. The Z Flip5's camera system is mostly unchanged compared to the previous generation. Short of a small tweak with the selfie camera's lens aperture (the internal one), the rest remains the same in terms of specs. There's a 12MP primary camera with a 1/1.76" sensor and a 24mm-equivalent lens with an f/1.8 aperture. Also...

Sony has announced it has reached the milestone of selling more than 40 million PlayStation 5 units globally (as of July 16, 2023) since it was unveiled in 2020. Sony sold its 25 millionth PS5 unit in the fiscal quarter ending on September 30, 2022, meaning it took the Japanese company just a little over nine months to sell another 15 million PS5 consoles, which is impressive. In a blog post announcing this milestone, Jim Ryan, President & CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), said the brand faced supply chain issues earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making keeping the PS5...

Honor’s latest X-series smartphone is now available in the UK with the Honor X6a. The device is a direct successor to the Honor X6 which launched back in September and it brings a higher refresh rate screen, larger battery and faster charging. Honor X6a Honor X6a is built around a 6.56-inch TFT LCD with 720 x 1,612px resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. The device is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G36 chipset paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. Storage is expandable via the microSD card slot and the device also sports a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s a 50MP main cam with an...

Realme is gearing up to launch its latest GT5 smartphone and we got official confirmation from the brand’s Weibo profile as well as our first look at the device thanks to a leaked spy shot. Realme confirmed the GT5 name yesterday and we now get even more info thanks to reliable tipster Digital Chat Station. Realme GT5 Realme GT5 will sport a 6.67-inch OLED display with 1.5K resolution (1,240 x 2,772px) and a rumored 144Hz refresh rate. The device will sport a centered punch-hole cutout on the top for its front facing camera. We don’t get to see the actual design since the phone is...

Realme unveiled the GT3 in February, and we recently heard that it will be succeeded by the GT5. Those rumors have turned out to be true since Realme has officially confirmed the GT5 moniker as it set up a booth at the China Joy 2023 exhibition in China, confirming the existence of GT5. The brand also confirmed that the GT5 will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. While we await more details from Realme about the GT5 series, leakster OnLeaks claims the GT Neo 6 will be marketed as GT5, presumably outside China. That's hardly a surprise since the Realme GT3 is a rebadged GT Neo 5...

Following yesterday’s big Unpacked event, Samsung published its financial report for Q2 2023. The results are on par with the previously posted guidance and show yet another gradual decline compared to the values from a year ago. Revenues for the April, May and June months totaled KRW 60.01 trillion ($46.89 billion) which is a 22% decrease compared to Q2 2022. Operating profit for Q2 2023 was KRW 0.67 trillion ($523.52 million) which is a 95% drop from last year’s KRW 14.12 trillion. Samsung’s press release states that declining smartphone shipments were the main reason behind the...

Xiaomi confirmed earlier this month that Mix Fold 3 will arrive in August and will be the first device, built on a new manufacturing line with improved design to ensure the strength of the foldable's body. Today, the official Weibo profile of the company confirmed the report once again, and added that Xiaomi and Leica developed a new solution for an "optical full-focus quad-cam setup". This means that the Mix Fold 3 will have four shooters instead of three seen in both its predecessors. Currently, only vivo and Huawei have foldables with four cameras on the back, and both have the...

Rumors about Apple’s potential switch to solid-state buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro series have been spiraling up and down for the past several months. The most recent ones claim that Cupertino will skip the project for at least another year however a new deep dive in the iOS 17 beta 4 code revealed some interesting details. iPhone 15 Pro render showcasing the solid-state buttons • Action Button is on the right above the volume controls Based on previous reports, Apple wants to replace all the physical buttons on its iPhones with solid state ones and the iconic mute switch with a new...

Durability has always been a key concern when it comes to foldables, so Samsung uses a fleet of robots to ensure that everything works as expected – it did it last year and again this year for the new Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5. It starts with the open and close test, putting the phones through 200,000 cycles (as verified by Bureau Veritas). Then comes the tumble test – the new Flex Hinge design includes a dual rail structure, which helps dissipate the force of an impact. Next up, the water resistance trials – Samsung tests both IPX8 (submersion up to 1.5m/5ft for 30 minutes) and IPX4...

Samsung launched the Z Fold5 and Z Flip5 smartphones yesterday, and now all the eyes are on the next big thing. While some might think this is the S24 flagship series, we are actually first expecting the Galaxy S23 FE, as it was certified by WPC (Wireless Power Consortium) with a live photo of its front panel. Meanwhile Justin Hume, VP of Mobile at Samsung South Africa, spoke to Android Authority confirming the phone is "imminently coming". The executive admitted there is an FE-sized gap in the company's portfolio between the Galaxy A54 and the Galaxy S23. The phone is expected to...

Pre-orders for the 5th generation of Galaxy Z foldables are now live, here is a quick look at the prices. The Galaxy Z Fold5 got pricier in some regions, while the Z Flip5 is actually a bit cheaper in places. As usual, there are pre-order perks to entice new and existing customers to pick up a Z foldable. US Galaxy Z Flip5 Galaxy Z Flip4 Galaxy Z Fold5 Galaxy Z Fold4 8/128GB N/A $1,000 - - 8/256GB $1,000 $1,100 - - 8/512GB $1,120 $1,180 - - ...

This is the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 and it's a bit better and smarter, but generally more of a refinement piece, rather than an overhaul. Which is probably not a bad thing, considering that the predecessor was the best-selling large foldable globally. Samsung addressed the main complaint with the Galaxy Z Fold4 - the Galaxy Z Fold5 now closes fully flat, thanks to a new hinge design. Samsung calls it the Flex Hinge, and it's a dual rail structure, which diffuses external impacts. The new hinge enables a more flexible Flex mode - you'll be able to set the phone at just about any angle...

Apple has just started seeding the second developer beta version of visionOS but there's a catch. Since the company still hasn't provided hardware kits for the Apple Vision Pro, the vast majority of developers will have to install the new version of visionOS on their Macs. Apple is supposed to send out the hardware pretty soon, but until it does, the company advises developers to run the new OS in Xcode. The update itself is 6.72GB big and carries a build number 21N5207f. The applications for the developer kit for the Vision Pro are now open, but the physical hardware will be...

Last year Oppo unveiled and affordable 5G phone dubbed the Oppo A58. Now the company has released a 4G variant, which changes the chipset (of course), as well as swaps out the screen for a bigger, better panel. The new Oppo A58 4G appeared in Indonesia and is already on available for IDR 2,500,000 ($165/€150/₹13,500). Deliveries will start on July 28 (Friday). The phone comes in Dazzling Green and Glowing Black and the overall design is unchanged, although you may notice that the 8MP selfie camera (80° f/2.0 lens) now lives in a punch hole rather than a notch. Oppo A58 4G in...

The Council of the European Union approved a regulation to strengthen Europe’s presence in the world of semiconductors, better known as “Chips Act”. The legislation aims to create better conditions for European countries to get into semiconductor manufacturing, attract investments, promote research and innovation and prepare the continent for any future supply chain crisis. Why does the EU need the Chips Act? Once the program kicks in, it will see €43 total investments, €3.3B of which will be donated directly from the EU budget, and the aim is the global market share to double...

Tomorrow is the day that Samsung introduces the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Galaxy Z Fold5 to the world, alongside the new Galaxy Tab S9 slates and Galaxy Watch6 series. This also means that today is your last chance to score $50 Samsung Credit by reserving a unit (or units) – there are less than 24 hours left on the countdown clock. The phones, tablets and watches still aren’t official, of course, but this isn’t really a pre-order – you just sign up on Samsung US with your name and email. Then if you decide to go through with the purchase, you will get the $50 credit. If not, just ignore the...

Apple is reportedly asking its OLED suppliers Samsung Display and LG Display to develop OLED panels without any bezels. The move is two-pronged - initially, Apple wants to reduce the bezels on this year's iPhone 15 Pro models - then, likely a few years down the line, Apple is looking to adopt full display. That means no camera cutout and as thin a bezel as possible. That word possible is the key. At this time there are a few critical obstacles in front of Apple's bezel-less plans. One is the under-panel camera (UPC) - currently the outer film layer isn't as thin as it needs to be to...

Samsung unveiled the Exynos 1380-powered Galaxy F54 last month, and today, the company announced it will launch the Galaxy F34 in India soon. The Korean company didn't detail the Galaxy F34's specs sheet but confirmed the smartphone would pack a 120Hz Super AMOLED notched display with 1,000 nits peak brightness. The Samsung Galaxy F34 will feature a triple camera setup on its rear, headlined by a 50MP camera with OIS. Samsung said the F34 will come with a Fun Mode having 16 different in-built lens effects. It will also come with the Single Take camera feature that captures up to four...

The Apple Watch Ultra is Cupertino’s biggest (49mm casing) and heaviest (61.3 grams) smartwatch to date towering over its Apple Watch brethren and most competitors. It seems that Apple will offer a weight reduction with the next generation Watch Ultra as per a new tip from China. While we don’t get specific values, the tipster suggests that the lighter casing will be a key feature on the upcoming Watch Ultra. Apple Watch Ultra is 14.4mm thick and weighs 61.3 grams A recent report suggests Apple will use 3D printed parts for its upcoming Watch Ultra which could help with the weight...

Oppo unveiled its latest K-series phone in China with the Oppo K11. The device features a Snapdragon 782G chipset alongside up to 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. There’s a 6.7-inch OLED screen upfront with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The punch hole cutout at the top houses a 16MP front-facing camera. Hidden beneath the screen is a fingerprint scanner. The device also boasts dual speakers with Dolby Atmos. Oppo K11 in Moon Shadow Gray and Glacier Blue Around the back, Oppo K11 features a 50MP main cam (IMX890) alongside an 8MP ultrawide module and a 2MP macro cam. The...

Sony has the largest image sensor aimed at smartphones, the 1” IMX989, which has been used in multiple camera-focused phones. Size isn’t everything, though, and Sony’s next two sensors will go slightly smaller but will have clever designs, according to unofficial reports. The Sony IMX903 is allegedly a 1/1.14” sensor with 48MP resolution and 1.4µm pixels (compared to 1.6µm on the IMX989). It will support dual pixel autofocus, so each pixel will be made out of two photo diodes, each 0.7 x 1.4µm in size. The autofocus system will be able to quickly acquire and track focus on moving...

Realme has not realeased a fully-fledged flagship since January 2022, but such a device is in the works, said Digital Chat Station on their Weibo profile. The new top-tier smartphone will be called GT5 Pro and will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. There is also a vanilla GT5 in the works which will be official this year and will stick to the current best chip Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Realme’s current most powerful smartphone globally is the GT3 with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and 240W charging. However, at least on paper, its cameras and display are worse than the GT2 Pro. While the most...

We’ve seen tips about the upcoming OnePlus Ace 2 Pro’s fast charging solution but we now know it will support up to 150W speeds thanks to a listing on China’s 3C certification agency. The OnePlus Ace 2 Pro bears the same PJA110 identifier as seen in previous listings and comes bundled with the VCBEJACH model number power adapter which supports up to 150W charging speeds (11V/13.7A). OnePlus Ace 2 Pro (PJA110) listing on 3C database Based on a previous Geekbench listing, Ace 2 Pro will launch with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and is rumored to bring up to 24GB RAM and 1TB storage....

The Galaxy Unpacked event is in two days and Samsung is ramping up the promotion. Its “Join the flip side” campaign is has launched colorful outdoor ads in 13 of the most visited locations around the world, including: the Gangnam District, Seoul Tower and COEX in Seoul, Korea; Times Square in New York City, U.S.; Piccadilly Circus in London, U.K.; CentralWorld in Bangkok, Thailand; Tai Koo Li in Chengdu, China; and King Road Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "Join the flip side" outdoor advertising goes live around the world This year the Unpacked event will be held on Samsung’s home...

The Infinix GT 10 series will be available from Flipkart, the retailer already has a teaser page up and running. There should be two phones, the GT 10 Pro and GT 10 Pro+, both sporting the so-called Cyber Mecha design. This shouldn’t be confused with Tecno’s Turbo Mecha design, though like it this one includes a transparent back with some LED lighting as you can see in the short clip below. But there’s more. Time to choose the dark side, time to choose the newest supervillain in town! The Infinix GT 10 Pro is coming to redefine what a smartphone means.Launching soon. Stay tuned!#GT10Pro...

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 will be unveiled in Seoul on July 26. As usual, the company is keeping things close to the vest, but a series of leaks have given us a good idea of what to expect. Here is what we know as of July 24, just a few days before the big Galaxy Unpacked event. Do note that these details are based on leaks, so they may not be 100% accurate. In fact, some details were seemingly confirmed, only to be debunked by other sources later on. New hinge Let's start off with the design. The biggest complaint when it comes to the Galaxy Z Fold is the gap that's left when you...

Last year, Sony launched its Xperia 1 IV in September and we’re slowly reaching the one-year point mark which suggests we should be looking forward to the Xperia 5 V launch. Luckily for us, Reddit user JB2unique shared an official-looking promo video for the next-gen Xperia 5 phone. The video shows the Xperia 5 V's refreshed design which features a dual camera setup on the back. This likely means that the Xperia 5 V will boast a wide and ultrawide camera setup and will skip out on the telephoto module which was present on all four of its predecessors. Xperia 5 V...