2021 Winners and Losers: Realme

Realme had a strong year where we saw plenty of devices in all prices and categories. There were gaming handsets, capable upper mid-rangers with top-tier chipsets, and the usual legion of phone taking on the overly competitive midrange market. As the year is rounding to an end, we decided to look at Realme’s successes and failures, and with such a wide portfolio, it wasn’t hard to find plenty of products to put on both sides of the fence. Winner: Realme GT Neo2 This phone arrived late in the year but quickly managed to steal our hearts. It is, by far, the best "flagship killer" on...

Nokia G50 gets Android 12 update

HMD Global recently rolled out Android 12 update for the Nokia X10 and X20, and now it's the Nokia G50 that's getting a taste of the latest version of Android. HMD hasn't officially announced the Android 12 rollout at the time of writing this, so we don't know which countries will get the update in the first wave. However, multiple reports reveal that the Nokia G50 has received Android 12 in Finland and some European nations. The Nokia G50's Android 12 update requires a download of 2.09GB. It has version number V2.160 and comes with the November 2021 Android security...

Xiaomi 12 Pro torn down and reassembled on video

Xiaomi recently unveiled the 12 and 12 Pro in China with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets and the new flagship is featured in a teardown video posted by WekiHome on YouTube. The teardown reveals that the 12 Pro’s build is very much “glass sandwich” structurally. After breaking through the adhesive seal around the rear panel of the glass, we can see the layout of a main board and camera cluster towards the top, battery in the center, and the daughterboard at the bottom housing the charging part, speakers, and haptic motor. Many of the connectors, modules, cameras, and links to the...

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G gets Android 12-based One UI 4 stable update, S21 series receiving it in China

Samsung recently rolled out the Android 12-based One UI 4 stable update for the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+, and now it's the Galaxy S10 5G's turn to receive the One UI 4 upgrade. The update comes with firmware version G977BXXUBGULB and the usual Android 12 and One UI 4 goodies. It also bumps up the Android security patch level on the Galaxy S10 5G to December 2021. Samsung Galaxy S10 5G The One UI 4 stable build is currently seeding in Switzerland and should reach all the units in the European country in a week or two. But if you can't wait for the update notification to pop up on...

GSMArena's 2021 in numbers

.big-heading { color: #d50000 !important; font-size: 3em !important; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 1; ``` padding-top: 0.4em !important; padding-bottom: 0 !important; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; ``` } .sub-big-heading { text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 10px; letter-spacing: 15px; } #content .sub-big-heading { font-size: 12px; } In the final moments of the year 2021 we decided to have a look back at the past 365 days and have some fun with flags numbers. We’d like you to join us and take a look at our year in numbers...

Telegram adds reactions, spoilers, and message translation

Telegram is ending the year with a bang. The latest update comes with a bunch of new features for both Android and iOS. Reactions are now part of the app - and if you've ever used Facebook Messenger you know how these work. The difference is that in Telegram you press and hold on iOS for the reaction emoji picker, and tap once on Android. On both platforms, double tapping a message sends a quick thumbs-up reaction. You can change the default double-tap reaction to something else in Settings. Reactions are always on in private chats, while in groups and channels it's up to admins whether...

Samsung to unveil the Exynos 2200 on January 11

The Exynos 2200 is coming sooner than expected – the new flagship chipset with AMD graphics will debut on January 11. This is the week after CES and the rumored date for the Galaxy S21 FE launch. Of course, the FE will use the older Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 chipsets, depending on the market (more specs here). This new chipset will be reserved for the upcoming Galaxy S22 series, which are expected to arrive in February. #PlaytimeIsOver. The gaming marketplace is about to get serious. Stay tuned for the next #Exynos with the new GPU born from RDNA 2. January 11, 2022....

iQOO 9 Pro to bring Samsung E5 LTPO AMOLED, ultrasonic fingerprint scanner

The latest iQOO 9 Pro teasers are in and they are all about the upcoming flagship’s display. The phone will come with a curved Samsung E5 AMOLED panel of the LTPO 2.0 variety refreshing at up to 120Hz and with a 1,000Hz touch sampling rate. The teasers also confirm a 2K resolution which is a marketing term used to describe QHD+ panels in China. The panel will bring a 517 PPI count and will reportedly crank out up to 1,500 nits peak brightness. iQOO 9 Pro display and fingerprint scanner official teasers In addition, iQOO 9 Pro will offer an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner...

Vodafone and Three are bringing back EU roaming charges along with EE in 2022

It’s not just EE, the other two major British carriers will also reinstate roaming fees for those who travel in the EU – there will be £2 a day fee if they want to make calls and use data. This will apply to new customers and those upgrading their plan. Vodafone is set to start collecting the fee from January, EE was also looking at the first month of 2022, but pushed that back to March. Three will add back the fee in late May. The EU dropped roaming charges within the Union back in 2017, but UK carriers are no longer subject to that after Brexit. Both EE and Vodafone will allow...

Vivo Y21T full specs sheet leaks, confirms resemblance to Y33s

The vivo Y21T is expected to launch on January 3 with a Snapdragon 680 chipset. We suspected it is not an entirely new handset, and we were right - it is indeed the vivo Y33s with a Qualcomm chipset and some other minor changes. The full features list of the Y21T appeared online, revealing the company changed the selfie camera and the SoC and slapped a new name. The vivo Y21T will have a 6.58” LCD with Full HD+ resolution. There is a waterdrop notch for the 8 MP selfie camera, unlike the 16 MP sensor in the vivo Y33s. The trio of cameras on the back is the same, thought - 50 MP f/1.8...

Samsung Galaxy Fold and Note 10 series also receiving stable One UI 4

Samsung is continuing to seed its stable One UI 4 update to more of its devices and the latest ones on the list are the first-gen Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Note 10 series in both its 4G and 5G trims. Samsung’s firsts foldable gets the F900FXXU6GUL9 update build which is reported by users in France and also comes with the December 2021 security patch. The 4G variants of the Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ get the N97xFXXU7GULD update builds as spotted by users in Switzerland while the 5G models receive version N976BXXU7GULD alongside the January 2022 security patch. One UI 4 and Android 12 will...

OnePlus 10 Pro benchmarked with 12GB RAM

The OnePlus 10 Pro launch is just around the corner, and the phone is already seemingly getting benchmarked. A phone from the brand, model-numbered NE2210, was spotted on Geekbench, and tipsters claim it is indeed the Pro variant. The device will have 12 GB RAM, Android 12 out of the gate, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset - none of these specs are surprising. What surprised us is the actual score this OnePlus phone yielded - 976 for a single core and 3,469 for multiple cores. These results are nowhere near the 1,100+ and 3,600+ we got for the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro back in...

LG’s OLED EX TVs produce 30% more brightness and thinner bezels than conventional OLEDs

LG is introducing its next generation of TV panels called OLED EX. These new panels can output up to 30% more brightness while reducing the size of the bezels needed around a TV. Based on a 65-inch TV, the bezel has been reduced from 6mm down to 4mm thin. The “EX” bit comes from “Evolution” and “eXperience” which is a cute acronym for LG, but what does that really mean aside from marketing speak? The improvements come from deuterium, one of the two stable isotopes of hydrogen. LG Display has figured out how to extract deuterium (also known as ‘heavy hydrogen’) from water to...

Tecno Spark 8 Pro announced with 6.8” LCD, Helio G85 chipset

Tecno’s Spark 8 Pro was quietly announced earlier today as expected and it brings a large 6.8-inch screen with MediaTek’s midrange Helio G85 chipset and a decently sized 5,000mAh battery. Spark 8 Pro’s display outputs FHD+ resolution and comes with a punch-hole cutout for its 8MP selfie cam. The back features a ridged design and triple camera setup with a 48MP primary camera next to a 2MP depth cam and a third unspecified module. The phone also houses a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and comes with a headphone jack and 33W charging. The software side is covered by Android 11 with...

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra dummy pictured in the wild, 1TB variant is coming

Yet another round of images of the upcoming Galaxy S22 Ultra in the wild has arrived. As before, this isn't a real phone but rather a dummy, but it nonetheless serves the purpose of illustrating what the phone would look like. It would be nice to see a set of images of the real Galaxy S22 Ultra, only to see the proper cameras in their place. Still, here's a look at the Silver variant of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, alongside the Black one. The S Pen is also present in its in-body holster. Samsung Galaxy S22 dummy, source: @hypark22 In related news, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will have...

vivo Y21T to launch on January 3 with Snapdragon 680

The vivo Y21 launched in India back in August, and now it will get a mightier sibling, called vivo Y21T. According to sources, it will come on January 3 with a triple 50MP camera and a Snapdragon 680 chipset with LTE-only connectivity. Looking at the leaked specs, the Y21T could very well be the vivo Y21s (or the vivo Y33s), but with a Qualcomm chipset instead of the Helio G80. vivo Y33s According to the leak, a 5,000 mAh battery powering the vivo Y21T supports 18W fast charging, most likely through a USB-C port. The phone will have one memory option - 4/128GB and a trio of...

Xiaomi reveals stable MIUI 13 update roadmap

Xiaomi held a big conference yesterday where it announced a bunch of new hardware but it also brought a new user interface for its device portfolio with MIUI 13 for phones, tablets, smart devices and TVs. A day after the big event we get our first list of Xiaomi devices in line for the update. The improvements brought to the new version of MIUI for phones include enhanced security with electronic fraud protection, new privacy controls, revamped widgets, wallpapers and a new Mi Sans font. Global users of the following Xiaomi phones should expect MIUI 13 from Q1 2022. The list includes...

Asus Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip receiving Android 12 stable update

Asus has been testing Android 12 on the Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip for a few months now, and as promised, the Taiwanese tech company has released the Android 12 stable update for both smartphones before the year ends. The firmware for the Zenfone 8 comes with version number 31.1004.0404.73 and the Zenfone 8 Flip with 31.1004.0404.61. But do note that the update is currently only seeding for the Zenfone 8 sporting model designation ZS590KS and the Zenfone 8 Flip having model code ZS672KS. Besides, your device should be running the latest Android 11 firmware rolled out by Asus to...

Redmi Note 11S incoming, multiple certifications confirm

Xiaomi launched three phones under the Redmi Note 11 family, followed by a Redmi Note 11T, and now another one is joining - Redmi Note 11S. The phone with model number 2201117SG appeared on multiple certification websites, including the NBTC in Singapore, BIS in India, and the Eurasian Economic Area (EEC). There are no less than four more variations of the model number, which are likely for the different carrier configurations, as well as multiple storage options. Sadly, the listings give zero information on any actual specs, launch date, or pricing whatsoever. The Redmi Note 10S...

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 getting One UI 4 in the US

The stable OneUI 4 launch for Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 users did not get off to a good start earlier this month and was actually suspended for a while as Samsung had to iron out a bevy of bugs. It seems all is well now and owners of the two foldables in the US are now getting the new update. Users on Verizon are reportedly first in line while those on other networks should receive the update later on. Galaxy Z Fold3 gets the F926USQS1BUL6 update build while the Z Flip3’s bears the F711USQS2BUL6 identifier. The new updates also bring the December 2021 security patch. Via

Beats unveils limited-edition Studio Buds for the Chinese Year of the Tiger

Beats by Dre has announced a new limited-edition variant of the Beats Studio Buds earbuds to commemorate the 2022 Year of the Tiger in China. The new limited-edition model features aesthetic differences to the standard model. It comes in a red color with golden tiger stripes on the case as well as the earbuds. Aside from that, these are pretty much identical to the standard Beats Studio Buds, which are a pair of truly wireless earbuds with active noise-canceling and 8-hours of listening time. They also retail for the same RMB 1099 as the other color variants. The...

Xiaomi Watch S1 debuts alongside TWS Earphones 3

Xiaomi’s 12 series phones are official but they weren’t the only new gadgets announced on stage. We got a new Xiaomi Watch S1 smartwatch as well as all-new Xiaomi TWS Earphones 3. Watch S1 is Xiaomi’s most premium watch to date with its stainless steel construction, sapphire glass-protected 1,43-inch AMOLED display and third-party app support. Xiaomi Watch S1 in its three leather strap variants It can track over 117 sports modes and is also 5ATM waterproof. There’s an onboard NFC module for payments as well as a microphone and speaker for calls via your paired phone. There...

Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro debut with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets, Xiaomi 12X comes with SD870

After months of leaks and rumors, Xiaomi’s 12 series is now official with three entries - Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro and Xiaomi 12X. The vanilla model takes a more compact approach with its 6.28-inch screen while still fitting the very best Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The 12 Pro bumps up the size to 6.73-inches and also boasts the same SoC but it also adds an LTPO AMOLED display, bigger battery, faster charging and more capable camera hardware. The more budget-oriented Xiaomi 12X comes with the Snapdragon 870 SoC and similar size and specs to the Xiaomi 12. Xiaomi 12 Xiaomi 12 comes...

Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro debut with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets, 50MP main cams

After months of leaks and rumors, Xiaomi’s 12 series is now official with three entries - Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro and Xiaomi 12X. The vanilla model takes a more compact approach with its 6.28-inch screen while still fitting the very best Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The 12 Pro bumps up the size to 6.73-inches and also boasts the same SoC but it also adds an LTPO AMOLED display, bigger battery, faster charging and more capable camera hardware. The more budget-oriented Xiaomi 12X comes with the Snapdragon 870 SoC and similar size and specs to the Xiaomi 12. Xiaomi 12 Xiaomi 12 comes...

Xiaomi introduces MIUI 13 with enhanced security and privacy

Xiaomi had a big event today, filled with many announcements. Lei Jun, CEO and co-founder of the company, has opened the stage with the revealing of MIUI 13 - the latest user interface which will have improved privacy featured and enhanced security. It will also allow multiple Xiaomi devices in one network to cooperate like never before, including phones, tablets, TV, smart wearables, smart home devices, and the XiaoAI voice assistant. Privacy is a crucial concern for smartphone users, so Xiaomi implemented a three-step verification process, although it sounds like it could work in...

Microsoft patent reveals possible tri-fold Surface phone

A new patent from Microsoft may have just revealed an early look into the company’s “multi-panel device” which boasts a tri-fold design. The patent was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week and shows a sketch of a device with two hinges that opens up to reveal one massive screen made up of three distinct sections. When folded back up the device can serve as a traditional smartphone and looks to be in the Surface Duo mold with a wide profile. Microsoft “multi-panel device” (image: USPTO) There aren’t any further spec details from Microsoft nor...

DIZO Watch R and Buds Z Pro launching on January 5

Realme TechLife brand DIZO is gearing up to announce a set of new smart accessories on January 5 with the Watch R smartwatch and Buds Z Pro TWS earphones. The Watch R looks a lot like the Realme Watch T1 with a round 1.3-inch AMOLED display, 5ATM waterproofing, continuous heart rate monitoring. It’s also confirmed to feature SpO2 meter, over 100 sports modes and a battery life rated at 12 days of contentious usage. DIZO Watch R and Buds Z Pro (images: DIZO) DIZO Buds Z Pro are said to feature 10mm drives, ANC and up to 25 hours of playback with the included charging case. The...

Oppo certifies three phone designs with rear displays

Oppo finally received a patent for a phone with an under-display camera, and now the company secured the rights on three more designs. All of them have one thing in common: a rear display within the camera island. It is highly unlikely these solutions will be part of the Find X5 series, but we would love to see a revolution in the way we use smartphones, and hopefully, Oppo could lead it. A display on the back is nothing new - Meizu Pro 7 series brought a tall 2” Super AMOLED screen, while the Mi 11 Ultra reused a 1.1” Mi Band 5 panel. And let’s not forget the vivo NEX Dual Display...

Realme GT 2 series boasts Samsung Display LTPO screen with A+ DisplayMate rating

Realme is all set to introduce its GT 2 series on January 4 and as we inch closer to said date we get more details. Just a few days ago we got to see the GT 2 Pro Master Edition’s display in a teaser video and today we get plenty of details about the panel’s specs. Realme GT 2 series display specs (images: Weibo) Realme GT 2 series will bring a 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with 3216 × 1440px resolution and up to 120Hz refresh rate. The screen already received an A+ rating from DisplayMate and is will be protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus. Realme GT 2 series...

Oneplus 10 Pro appears in retailer listings, could launch on January 4

OnePlus 10 Pro was confirmed to arrive in January 2022, and the phone is already up for reservations, which is just a feature to notify users when the product arrives. A listing on JD.com said the pre-order is scheduled for January 4, and we think this is also the launch date in China. Smartphone companies usually put their phones up for pre-order when the device is launched, but OnePlus is not a typical maker, since it is as popular overseas as it is at home. We would not be surprised to see a simple teaser on January 4 with some of the key features of the phone, like a Snapdragon 8...

MIUI 13, Watch S1 will arrive alongside Xiaomi 12 series

Xiaomi will introduce the 12 series tomorrow, December 28. In a series of posts on Weibo the brand also confirmed the new MIUI 13 will debut alongside the flagships, as well as a new high-end smartwatch for business professionals, called Xiaomi Watch S1. Xiaomi Watch S1, MIUI 13 Pad, MIUI 13 teasers MIUI 13 will have a separate version for tablets, and unsurprisingly will be called MIUI 13 Pad. It will allow multitasking for more than two apps - one on big background, and at least two more in floating windows. The regular-sized MIUI 13 is expected to be a slight upgrade over the...

Tecno will bring Spark 8 Pro on December 29 with 33W fast charging

Tecno Spark 8 arrived back in August, and now the brand revealed a Pro sibling is on its way. The Tecno Spark 8 Pro will be launched on December 29 and will charge at 33W, the fastest ever in the Spark portfolio. The Twitter account of Tecno India posted the teaser, suggesting the “super-fast charger” will fill the battery from 0 to 85% in just one hour, which is a massive improvement over the 18W standard in the Spark 6 (quickest one so far) and 10W disappointment in the regular Spark 8. We don’t know much about specs, but we can assume the screen will be LCD from the image, given...

Honor Magic V teaser highlights gapless design

Honor’s first foldable smartphone will be announced soon and we’ve already got reports that it will debut with a horizontal fold design and Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Today, Honor posted a short video teaser highlighting the phone’s design and we finally got to see its cover screen alongside glimpses of the primary large screen, hinge mechanism and the device’s bottom. The main screen appears to have an interrupted appearance with no visible camera cutout. It remains to be seen if Honor completely omitted a selfie cam on the inward panel or went with an...

Winners and losers: Xiaomi

It has been a productive year for Xiaomi – it launched over 50 devices and that is just counting the phones. It also did a bit of rebranding by dropping the ‘Mi’ from its premium devices – starting in the second half of this year, the company goes with just “Xiaomi” + model number, just as it has always done in China. The year isn’t over yet, the company plans to unveil one of the first phones with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 – the Xiaomi 12 series – which will probably arrive with the stable MIUI 13 (a beta version is already undergoing tests). Winner: Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra It’s...

Top 10 trending phones of week 51

Oppo's Find N foldable phone did stay long in the spotlight and after being the most popular smartphone in our database last week didn't even make the top 10 this time around. Instead all eyes are on the Xiaomi 12, which is due to be announced in two days. It leads from the Redmi Note 11 Pro and Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G, which have been in these positions for three weeks now. In fourth place we have another upcoming phone - the vivo V23 Pro, which just edged out the newly introduced Huawei P50 Pocket foldable. That pushes the iPhone 13 Pro Max to sixth, just ahead of another new...

Best phone speakers of 2021

What are the best-sounding smartphones to come out this year? Not the ones that are the loudest - that's settled by the numbers in our tests and we already covered it. No, we're talking about the phones that we can listen to with our own ears and truly like what we're hearing. And while some of the phones we've gathered here are objectively loud and that did help their cases, that's not what got them on this list in the first place. We introduced the current testing methodology in early 2020 to replace the old one in an attempt to offer a test that better reflects real-world usage of...

Huawei Watch GT3 review

Huawei has consistently delivered impressive smart wearables for the past few years and it's no wonder we welcomed the Watch GT3 with high expectations. Having spent the better part of a month putting it through its paces we are now ready to share our impressions with you. Spoiler alert: it's very good, an the 2021 smartwatch to have for many a user. Read on to find out if you are among them. Design and Build The Huawei Watch GT3 adopted the rotating top button from its more premium Watch 3 siblings, down to the neat detail with the engraverd brand name. The bezel has minute...

Week 51 in review: Galaxy S22 leaks aplenty, Huawei P50 Pocket is here

Another week down and only one left to go in 2021. It was business as usual, which means a lot of Galaxy S22 leaks. We saw official cases for the Galaxy S22 and S22 Ultra, as well as a look at the new S Pen. We saw the Galaxy S22 series dummies pictured side by side for scale, as well as a reported official poster for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. We learned that all three S22 models will have glass backs, as opposed to last year's series, where only the Ultra was all glass. Finally, the Galaxy S21 FE is expected to become official on January 3 and launch on the 11. The upcoming phone was...

My top 5 phones of 2021 - Kaloyan

We all know this year wasn't great as many things went from bad to worse. The mobile industry suffered from supply shortages that caused cancelled launches and premature discontinuations. But the year 2021 still gave us some incredibly good smartphones, beacons across a sea of incremental upgrades (or even downgrades). I have reviewed, helped review, or just used, a lot of phones this year and there are certainly a few that left their mark and became an instant recommendation to give to friends and family. Those are not necessarily flagships; they are just good smartphones for various...

Weekly poll results: Oppo Find N showered with love

Folding phones seem to have an ever-increasing fanbase and Oppo Find N is no exception despite its single-market availability. W loved our time spent with the compact foldable doing our full review and plenty of you are also fond of Oppo’s first folding phone. Last week’s poll was all about your opinion on the Find N and now that the votes are in, we have a clear majority that believes Oppo made the best foldable to date. And there’s good reason for all the positive feedback, Oppo really made a well-rounded device with a unique form factor that does not really have a direct competitor...

Best tablets of 2021

Working, studying and spending more time at home than ever before leads to some unexpected market trends. The tablet market was dormant for years with Apple having an unparalleled lead over competitors yet once 2020 rolled in things began to change. Android makers re-emphasized their efforts in the once-forgotten tablet sphere and we got plenty of interesting options in all price points over the past twelve months. Apple also kept improving its own iPads with its refreshed mini and high-end Pro models. We’ve gathered a bunch of our top picks for the best tablets of 2021 and are presenting...

Anker 547 USB-C charger provides up to 120W of power while teaching you math

Anker has launched a new multi-device charger featuring four USB-C ports. This charger is capable of providing up to 120W at the same time, provided you can do a bit of math. The way this works is that different ports on the charger have different outputs. One of the ports is capable of sending up to 100W of power by itself if it's the only one in use. Another one can do up to 60W and then the remaining two can do 20W each. Now, if you plug in two devices, the 100W port drops down to 90W if you use one of the two 20W ports or 60W if you use the 60W port. And if you're charging...

Apple iPhone 15 Pro to come without a SIM card slot

Apple unveiled the iPhone 13 lineup in September, and the iPhone 14 is still months away from the launch, but rumors around the iPhone 15 have already started doing rounds on the internet, with the latest one claiming Apple will ditch the physical SIM card slot beginning with the iPhone 15 series in 2023. Word comes from Brazilian publication Blog do iPhone, which says that the 2023's Pro models (tentatively called iPhone 15 Pro) will not have physical SIM card slots and will rely entirely on eSIM technology for connectivity. The source also claims that these iPhones will come with dual...

Winners and losers: Apple

It was a challenging year for all brands, but Apple ends up an absolute winner. Sure, it ended up a victim of the chip shortages as well and is still having trouble putting all of its devices on store shelves. But those devices are in high demand and when that's said for devices as expensive as Apple's are, you know they are pretty great. Apple grew its sales in much of 2021. Whether it was tablets, laptops, or phones, Apple either was the number one or in the top five among rivals. Couple that with Apple's unmatched high margins and it spells a superb 2021. But it wasn't all wins for...

Samsung Galaxy S20 will get Android 12-based One UI 4 stable update next, no more betas

Samsung's been testing the Android 12-based One UI 4 beta on the Galaxy S20 series for some time now, but the lineup won't get any more beta builds since the Korean tech giant has said that the S20 smartphones will receive the stable update next. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra This revelation comes from Samsung Korea's Beta Operations Manager, who said "there are currently no plans to open additional betas" and the company is "preparing to open the official version." While that's undoubtedly good news, the official didn't tell which S20 series smartphone will receive the stable One UI 4...

iQOO 9 and 9 Pro to debut on January 5, leaked poster reveals

vivo sub-brand iQOO is getting ready to unveil its next flagship smartphone duo, comprised of the iQOO 9 and the iQOO 9 Pro. According to a leaked poster that surfaced in China today, these will become official at an event on January 5. As you can see from the image below, the iQOO 9 has a racing stripe design and an unnecessarily huge camera island at the rear. It sports three sensors, and a lot of unused glass - maybe the other half can be used as a mirror? A usually reliable tipster has shared the following image that's said to be of the iQOO 9 Pro, and the design is very similar...

Motorola is working on a new foldable Razr

The foldable smartphone space is definitely heating up these days, with more and more companies announcing more and more such devices. Motorola was one of the pioneers of the space, with the original foldable Razr launched in 2019. The 5G followup a year later made much smaller waves, but the company is undeterred and in fact it's already working on the next generation Razr. This information comes straight from a Lenovo exec, posting on Weibo (Lenovo owns Motorola). He promises that the next Razr will be more advanced in terms of performance, and it will come with an improved UI....

The top stories of 2021: Q1

Welcome to our recap of the top news articles of 2021. We'll start with the main events of the first three months of the year and we'll cover the next quarters in the following episodes of the series. The first quarter of the year was transformative and shaped a lot of 2021. Qualcomm had just announced its Snapdragon 888 in the last month of 2020, and the first phones with the new flagship chipset came out at the turn of 2021. The Xiaomi Mi 11 pioneered the SD888, but notable phones with Qualcomm's new silicon included the Mi 11 Pro, the Redmi K40 Pro+, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, Mi Mix...

Lenovo Legion Y90 with 144Hz screen and dual-engine air-cooling is arriving on January 1

The first week of January 2022 is turning out to be busier than expected. We know Realme, vivo, and Xiaomi are hosting launch events on 4th, 5th, and 6th, respectively, to unveil their new smartphones. Now Lenovo has announced it will kick off the new year by unveiling a gaming smartphone on the first day of 2022. Lenovo's new gaming smartphone is called the Legion Y90, and while the company hasn't detailed its specs sheet yet, it did reveal a few specs of the phone's display. The Lenovo Legion Y90 will pack a 6.92" E4 AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling...

iQOO U5 announced with Snapdragon 695 SoC and 50MP camera

vivo sub-brand iQOO unveiled the iQOO Neo5 S and Neo5 SE earlier this week, and today the company further expanded its portfolio with the iQOO U5's announcement. The iQOO U5 is powered by the Snapdragon 695 SoC, runs Android 12-based OriginOS Ocean out of the box, and has three RAM options - 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB. It also comes with Memory Fusion 2.0, allowing virtual RAM expansion up to 4GB. The U5 has a single 128GB storage option, but you can still expand the storage (up to 256GB) via a microSD card. The Snapdragon 695-powered smartphone packs a 6.58" 120Hz FullHD+ LCD with a...