US-bound Huawei Mate 10 Pro will support VoLTE on T-Mobile and AT&T

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro was recently announced for the US market at CES. However, it wasn't the news that we were expecting as AT&T, the carrier that was supposed to launch the phone in the US, dropped out of the deal. Senior XDA-Developers member duraaraa confirms that the Huawei Mate 10 Pro (and Porsche Design Mate 10 Pro) specific to the United States will support VoLTE on T-Mobile and AT&T, both major GSM carriers in the States. The models coming to the US have a model number of BLA-A09, which matched the unreleased AT&T firmware for the Mate 10 Pro. This suggests that the incoming...

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Samsung will officially unveil the Galaxy S9 on February 25

Well, here we are. Another year later and another Samsung flagship to be announced. If we're honest, we really thought for a second that Samsung was going to push the Galaxy S9 announcement up to CES. These were nothing more than swirling rumors. Invitations were sent to the media to attend Samsung's Press event in Barcelona, where the South Korean phone maker will announce its newest flagship: the Samsung Galaxy S9 (and S9+). The invitation itself offers only a number 9 and the words: "The Camera. Reimagined". So it's safe to say we'll be expecting some serious upping of Samsung's...

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As iPhone X demand declines, J.P. Morgan holds back forecasts

A new report from CNBC outlines some new information from J.P. Morgan about expected iPhone sales in 2018. An analyst from the firm, Bill Peterson, explains that its research partners in Asia have reduced their estimates for iPhones being built in Q1 and Q2. Taking in account our new expectations for smartphone demand, we take down our March quarter, June quarter and full year estimates for wireless companies under coverage. As a result, the Asian supply chain analysts lowered their iPhone X production forecasts to 55 million from 60 million for Q1, and 45 million from 50 million in Q2....

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ZUK Z2 Pro receives Android Oreo update in China

Lenovo's ZUK experiment may be over, but the company's once thriving online-only arm hasn't forgotten about the people who have purchased its devices. Case in point: the update to Android Oreo is now available for the ZUK Z2 Pro. This is a smartphone that launched in 2016 running Marshmallow, and was updated to Nougat last year. And now it starts 2018 with the latest tasty treat from Google, though modified by ZUK and infused with ZUI 3.5, the newest version of its overlay. The Oreo update is only available in China at the moment, and the stable release follows a beta testing phase...

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Pink (Raspberry Rose) LG G6 gets pictured

Just a few hours ago we let you know that LG dropped a hint that it might be working on a Raspberry Rose color version for the G6 as well, after having recently launched the V30 clad in that paint job. And now we have a few images of a pink LG G6 to look at, though it's unclear if these are leaked press renders or simply concepts drawn up by fans eagerly awaiting the new color to look at. LG G6 in pink As you can see, the front of the phone is black, while everything else is, well, pink-ish. The source of these shots isn't sure whether the hue will be named Raspberry Rose as...

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Xiaomi Mi 6X allegedly leaks in hands-on photos

Xiaomi is apparently working on a successor to last year's Mi 5X, which will unsurprisingly be called Mi 6X. This model is allegedly pictured in the hands-on images you can see below, which come from two different sources. Although overall the design seems similar between the gold and black units depicted, don't take any of this for granted just yet. The Mi 6X is going with an iPhone X lookalike vertical dual rear camera arrangement, whereas its predecessor 'emulated' the design of the iPhone 7 Plus in this regard. The phone obviously sports an 18:9 touchscreen, possibly a 5.99"...

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Non-Android One Moto X4 starts receiving Oreo update in the US

Motorola pushed Oreo update to Moto X4 last month - both the Android One version and the standard model got the system update. According to support specialist from Lenovo forums, the new Android should be already be hitting retail units in the US that are not part of the Android One program. The deployment to retail Moto X4 units may have started, but owners should be patient. According to the Senior MotoAgent, OTA updates depend on model, country, and carrier. Still, keep an eye on your notification area in case the update prompt appears. Source

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iOS 11.3 will let you disable battery-related throttling

This spring iPhone 6 (and later) users will regain control over the performance of their phone. iOS 11.3 will add more detailed info on the battery's health and whether or not the chipset is throttled. If it is, there will be an option to return it to full speed. This new version of iOS came out in beta today, but the battery toggle has not been implemented yet. It will be added in a later beta release. Some of the other additions in iOS 11.3 are available, though. New animojis for one: dragon, bear, skull and lion bring the total of available characters to 16. Business Chat will...

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Vivo X20 Plus UD with under-display fingerprint scanner is official

After numerous leaks and demoing the phone at CES 2018, vivo finally officially announced the X20 Plus UD. The launch marks the arrival of the first smartphone with fingerprint scanner under the display. The phone has an AMOLED display that allows the Clear ID 9500 sensor to work, while the rest of the specs match the already available vivo X20 Plus. The phone arrives with a 6.43" screen of 18:9 ratio and FullHD+ resolution (2160 x 1080 pixels). The RAM on board is 4 GB, while the storage is 128 GB and it can be expanded through the hybrid slot if you don't need a second...

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Instagram now supports GIF stickers in story

Instagram has added support for GIF stickers for the story mode. Users will now be able to add animated GIF stickers to their photos and videos. You can select one from the available options or search for something new. All the stickers have their background cropped out so they blend in better with your image or video. You can add as many stickers as you like on one image. On a more important note, Instagram will soon allow uploading images in any aspect ratio to your story. While uploading, just pinch out so you upload the entire image and not just a vertical crop and...

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Canalys: Xiaomi pips Samsung for first place in India

There has been a change in leadership in the smartphone market in India - Xiaomi is now on top with a 27% share. This means it toppled Samsung, which shipped 25% of smartphones in India during the final quarter of 2017. In concrete numbers, Xiaomi shipped 8.2 million units while Samsung managed 7.3 million. That represents a solid 17% year on year growth for Samsung, but it wasn't enough (the market in general grew 6%). Canalys attributes Xiaomi's success to the autonomy of its Indian branch, which determines its own strategy, marketing and product lineup. 2018 won't be smooth sailing...

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Qualcomm fined €1 billion by the EU for paying off Apple

Qualcomm was slapped with a €997 million ($1.2 billion) fine by the EU. The chipset company paid Apple to shun competitors between 2011 and 2016. According to the European Court, "billions of dollars" were involved in the deal for the 4G chips in iPhones and iPads. Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, said the deal meant that "no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were". The agreement between Qualcomm and Apple shut out mostly Intel, who supply iDevices since the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Vestager...

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Google I/O to be held in early May, but you have to solve a puzzle for the specifics

Every year Google announces the dates for its I/O developer conference with a puzzle. This year, you get to go on an adventure, Street View style. You roam around Google Building 1300 in Mountain View and quickly run into a locked door. You need to answer a riddle to unlock this door, gather additional clues and unlock more doors. If you're feeling up to the task, go here to start exploring. It's dangerous to go alone, so here's a Discord group dedicated to solving the puzzles. Spoiler warning: Google I/O 2018 will start on May 8 and last until the 10th. The conference will be held at...

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Helio P70 chipset arrives on AnTuTu, scores 156,906

MediaTek is preparing to launch the Helio P40 and Helio P70 midrange chipsets in the upcoming weeks, and the latter just popped on AnTuTu. The SoC scored 156,906, which is higher than the Helio X30, Snapdragon 660 and Exynos 7872. The chipset that is expected to be unveiled at MWC 2018 scored 73,969 in CPU, which is above its upper mid-range competitors, but GPU result was 30,737, which is falling behind both the SD660 and Helio X30. UX score of the upcoming midranger is 41,089, outperformed only by the flagship Helio X30 but at least it is leading the SoC race in RAM with...

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ZTE Axon 9 coming this year, CEO confirms

The Axon 7 and Axon 7s were a lot of phone for not a lot of money and ZTE's pivot to a close to stock Android made us wish for a successor. Well, in an interview ZTE CEO Cheng Lixin talked about the foldable Axon M, but also announced that the company will launch a new device in the line. It will be called ZTE Axon 9. The number 8 is getting skipped over, reportedly because of how it sounds in Chinese - "axon" sounds like "sky machine", but add the 8 and it starts sounding like "mess up". Whatever the name, ZTE wants to boost its market presence - mostly in China as the company is...

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Huawei will unveil the P11 after the MWC, insiders claim

About a year ago, Huawei unveiled the P10 at the MWC - a popular venue to debut flagship phones. Not so much this year, however. Anonymous sources claim that the company will push back the launch of the Huawei P11 from the MWC to a dedicated European event in April. Polishing the hardware (like the triple camera) and ensuring steady supply of chipsets are quoted as further reasons to delay. Huawei's difficulties in entering the US market allegedly also played a role in this decision. LG will not be unveiling its next flagship at the MWC either - instead, we're getting a revamped LG...

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LG G6 could arrive in Raspberry Rose in February

LG announced the V30 in Raspberry Rose back at the beginning of the month. Today the new version went on sale in South Korea and the company used the occasion to hint that the LG G6 might also get an "eye-catching and romance-inspiring" variant. It is expected to be launched in February, right in time for Valentine's Day. Soon with 100% more Raspberry Rose The Raspberry Rose variant will be the sixth color option for LG G6 after Mystic White, Astro Black, Ice Platinum, Terra Gold and Marine Blue. Although it will first arrive in LG's home country, the pink G6 should later hit key...

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Samsung delivers official PyeongChang 2018 app

Samsung announced the official app for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics next month. It will offer live updates of sports venues, information about athletes, records and medal standings. In the two weeks before the Games actually begin, the app will offer news about upcoming events and the latest from the Torch Relay. PyeongChang 2018 Screenshots The app will give the ability to every user to customize the news feed and the push notifications. You can highlight athletes, sports, and even whole countries. There will be photo and video highlights. Although the Games...

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Sleep issue with Nexus Player's remote has been fixed

Last week, Google confirmed that it has identified a fix for the problem that's causing the Nexus Player's remote to sleep after 5-10 minutes of inactivity, and the solution is being tested internally. Well, good news is the solution is now live. A Google employee updated the issue tracker thread discussing the problem, saying the server-side fix went live yesterday. Following is what else they said: Please make sure your Google Play services is up-to-date to receive the fix. You would also need to have a Google account logged-in on your Android TV to receive this fix (without an...

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