Welcome to your very own digest of the bigger tech stories of the past week.
Xiaomi took the wraps off a long-expected Mi A3. The Android One device is the first in its line to carry an AMOLED screen, which coupled with a Snapdragon 665 chipset and stock Android makes for a good proposition at 250. Then again, its resolution is 720p, so maybe not – you can share your thoughts here.
Xiaomi also launched the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro in India – both will go on sale locally from July 22.
Qualcomm announced its flagship chipset for the second half of the year – the Snapdragon 855 Plus. While sharing the same arcitecture as the non-plus version, the SD855+ promises a 4% faster CPU and 15% faster GPU thanks to higher clock speeds.
Asus was eager to point out that its ROG Phone II will be the first with the Snapdragon 855 Plus – we saw both live images of the highly-anticipated gaming phone and a Geekbench score of its chipset, which indeed posted a slightly better score than its SD855-powered peers.
In related news, Samsung’s answer to the Snapdragon 855 Plus – the 7nm Exynos 9825 that will premiere in the Galaxy Note10 early next month – also appeared on Geekbench. It recorded a higher single-core result than its Qualcomm rival but a lower multi-core one.
As usual the Galaxy Note10 was the reason for a lot of chatter during the week. First for its camera – the Note10 will reportedly be the last Samsung flagship to carry the popular 12MP 1/2.55 1.4μm camera (that’s been around for years) – and second for a rumor that all Chinese Galaxy Note10+ units will have 5G, 12GB of RAM and at least 512GB of storage.
In one final Samsung-related story we saw the Galaxy Tab S6 in new press renders. It’s expected to join the Galaxy Note10 at its August 7 event.
This week hosted Amazon’s Prime Day and for two days straight the internet was alight with tech deals. Some of us came out mostly unscathed but other’s, tragically, lost half their wallet’s girth. Well, who doesn’t love a good tech unboxing.
If 2019 was the year of the 48MP camera, 2020 may be the year of the 108MP one, says Twitter tipster IceUniverse. According to his rumor 10x optical zoom cameras will be all the rage in 2020 as well.
The Sony Xperia 1R may have a whopping 5K screen! That’s 5040x2160px compared to the Xperia 1’s 1644x3840px or 70% more pixels.
Amazfit unveiled the GTR smartwatch. It comes in 42mm or 47mm sizes and promises 24 days of battery life.
Another big story this week revolved around a trio of iPhone XI dummies. While obviously not the final products, they do add a face to the rumors.
Finally Realme introduced the Realme 3i and brought the Realme X to India.
See you in a week!
The Mi A3 is based on the CC9e without any upgrades to the hardware. There’s no “Mi A3 Pro”.
The Galaxy Note10 is set to be unveiled on August 7.
It’s based on the original S855 chipset, but runs the CPU and GPU at higher clock speeds. This chip targets gaming, AR/VR and AI-heavy applications.
Like the Amazfit Smart Watch 2, these feature a round OLED screen. No ECG version, but they do have heart rate sensors and GPS.
Deals, deals and even more deals.
That was shared by the usually reliable @IceUniverse. Qualcomm and Credit Suisse have made similar predictions.
It’s arriving on July 23 with the freshly announced Snapdragon 855+ SoC.
It’s expected to go official next month on August 7 alongside the Galaxy Note10 series.
It will use the same camera as the Galaxy S10+ but with a new feature.
The 4K screen on the Xperia 1 already has a higher pixel density than the HTC Vive Pro VR headset. The 1R will push further.
The vanilla Galaxy Note10 will have more memory than the global version as well.
The brands are direct competitors in India, so it’s not surprising that one of them would resort to such tactics.
The company is changing its strategy in the subcontinent, focusing less on volume and more on profits.
Honors next iteration of its budget flagship is arriving this month in two different versions.
Geekbench tests only the CPU, however, and we know that got only a relatively minor upgrade on the Plus.
The phone will have up to 8 GB RAM and 256 gigs of storage plus a micro SD slot.
Based on rumors and leaks, the only visual difference seems to be the square camera layout.
Both phones will go on sale in India from July 22.
Available starting July 23 for INR 7,999.
Haslinda has worked with some of the largest telcos in North America and Asia. She loves tech and doesn’t like iPhone
