Research: Foldable phones need more than just flexible displays to impress users

According to a research carried out by the Display Supply Chain Consultant, next year's smartphones with flexible displays will ship 3.1 million units. That's just going to be the tip of the iceberg though, as the report estimates that in 2022, the number will grow to a whopping 63 million units generating revenue of $8.9 billion. That's a pretty big jump from zero phones in 2018. But it all makes sense if more OEMs adopt the technology and offer better and more affordable smartphones in the niche. It all depends on the competition and the maturity of the technology, which are the main...

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Xiaomi has sold six million Mi 8 units in four months

Xiaomi founder, chairman and CEO Lei Jun has announced an important milestone for his company on Weibo today. According to him, Xiaomi has already sold more than 6 million Mi 8 units. This covers all of the different members of the Mi 8 family: the Mi 8 itself, the Mi 8 Pro, Mi 8 Lite, and Mi 8 SE. Still, it's only been a little bit over four months since the introduction of the first one in the line, the Mi 8, so this achievement is nothing to be ashamed of. It means the Mi 8 series is very much loved by consumers across the world. With the Mi 8 Pro and Mi 8 Lite only hitting the...

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Android 9 Pie beta is now out for the Nokia 6.1 Plus

Today Nokia has made the first beta of Android 9 Pie available for the 6.1 Plus. This has been officially announced on Twitter by Juho Sarvikas, HMD Global's Chief Product Officer. Hungry for pie? 🥧 If you're a Nokia 6.1 Plus user, you'll be happy to know that Android 9 is now available to test in #Nokiamobilebetalabs. https://t.co/siaoX5xEmR #Nokiamobile #Android9 pic.twitter.com/0oiLr0NI09— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) October 9, 2018 If you want to give it a try, you'll need to head to Nokia Beta Labs and grab the update from there. Obviously since this is a beta you should...

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Asus ROG Phone is priced from $899, pre-orders start in the US on October 18

Asus took the wraps off its ROG Phone at Computex in June, and since then all we've seen about it were some rumors. Today the company finally unveiled the gaming device's pricing. It will start at $899 in the US, with 128GB of internal storage. If you want the model with 512GB, you'll have to shell out $1,099. The ROG Mobile Desktop Dock costs $229.99, the ROG TwinView Dock is priced at $399.99, the ROG Gamevice Controller will go for $89.99, the ROG WiGig Dock will set you back $329.99, the ROG Professional Dock is $119.99, and finally the ROG Phone Case is going to cost...

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OnePlus 6T to launch in India first, followed by China and Europe

While we'll have to wait until the end of the month for the OnePlus 6T to go official, it won't be much longer after that until we can actually buy one. As we reported earlier, the phone will hit China on November 5 and now we have the launch dates for Europe and India too. India will get it first - Amazon will kick the sales off on November 2 at 12:00pm local time. You can grab an INR 1,000 gift card as a sort of pre-order and you'll get free Bullet Type-C headphones and INR 500 cashback. Next up is the European mainland where sales will commence on November 6 at 8:00am GMT,...

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Google Pixel Slate hands-on review

It's been a while since Google last released a tablet - the Pixel C came three years ago. The company has completely changed the formula this time around and we have Intel processors driving Chrome OS, rather than ARM-powered Android. The Google Pixel Slate is built around a 12.3" IPS screen with a resolution of 3000x2000 pixels and weighs 721g. You get a couple of 8MP cameras - one on each side, which are meant to serve for video calling rather than turn the tablet into your camera of choice. The tablet packs two USB-C ports, Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, but not Cellular...

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Pixel Stand hands-on: doing what Home Hub does with your Pixel 3

The Google Home Hub adds a smart screen to your smart home. But if you're going to buy a Pixel 3 or 3 XL, you might want to just grab the Pixel Stand instead - that's Google's official wireless charger. The Pixel 3 and 3 XL have a custom UI for the Pixel Stand • Only for the Always On screen, though It can push out 10W of power, so it's not the fastest. But think of it this way, it's as fast as the wired charger of the Pixel 2 generation (which was capped at 10.5W). And it has no problems charging the phone inside a case. However, it's the software features that make this stand...

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Huawei Watch GT to run custom software on an efficient Cortex-M4 CPU

Huawei's Mate 20 event is expected to bring a new smartwatch as well - the Huawei Watch GT. We saw a leaked render last week, but it was low resolution and it didn't do the phone justice. So, here's a much sharper version of the same image. It's a beaut, with a dive watch style bezel and two plungers. The case is made of black ceramic and stainless steel, it's a classic-looking watch. You can swap the 22mm watchbands to enhance the look. Huawei will reportedly offer the watch is Sport, Classic and Fashion versions. A common giveaway for smartwatches is that they tend to be chunky, but...

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Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL hands-on review

It's Fall 2018 and Google is the third big-name company to unveil its flagship phones to the public, after Apple's pair of XS' and LG's V40 ThinQ. We cannot act surprised with Google's Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL but we're sure excited nonetheless. And we cannot pretend to like them equally either - the Pixel 3 XL, its unseemly notch...

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Google Home Hub smart display, Pixel Stand wireless charger, new Chromecast get official too

Its phones and the new tablet weren't everything Google had prepared for its big hardware event today. Three more previously leaked devices made their official debut. Meet the Google Home Hub, the new Chromecast, and the Pixel Stand. Google Home Hub The Home Hub is a $149 (or £139) smart display that is on pre-order now. It will be available on October 22 in the US, UK, and Australia. If you buy one you will get six months of YouTube Premium for free. It is basically a Google Home smart speaker with a display attached to it. The touchscreen lets you interact more with the Google...

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The Pixel Slate Chrome OS tablet can multitask with a keyboard or with a stylus

Chrome OS has evolved, starting on laptops it has gotten on tablets too. After Acer's tab Google unveiled its own hardware - meet the Google Pixel Slate. The Slate has a 6MP screen with a sharp 293ppi pixel density. Google optimized the Chrome OS interface for a more desktop experience. It starts with a version of desktop Chrome, continues with the G Suite and, finally, split screen for better multitasking. Chrome OS • Multitasking • Desktop Chrome • Split screen The launcher uses Google smarts to predict which of these apps you'll want to launch and it brings their...

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Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL official: bigger screens, wireless charging, Pixel buds in the box

They're real - the new Pixels are just as rumors foretold. However, the devil is in the details. The Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are essentially the same phone, save for their displays and batteries. There's a lot to talk about, so buckle up. The screens Two tall OLED panels, the XL model has a 6.3" diagonal with 1,440 x 2,960px resolution (532ppi). Its 18.5:9 aspect ratio accommodates the largest bezel in the smartphone kingdom. The Pixel 3 is the same as as the Pixel 2, but it has more screen - the 5.5" 18:9 screen gives you about 10% more surface area. For real, though, there's...

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Watch the Pixel 3 and 3 XL event live

There are only two hours left until Google pulls the curtains on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL scheduled for today at 11 AM ET in New York. But with all the leaks lately, including full-fledged reviews, one begs the question, what else will Google unveil during its event? Well, aside from the phones, Google is gearing up to launch the Pixelbook, new Chromecast and probably other stuff as well. But is it all just an orchestrated marketing trick? According to this pretty strange teaser video, Google will have a "one more thing" type of announcement that may or may not involve a whole another...

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Huawei Mate 20 series get more video teasers, AnTuTu score pops up

Huawei just can't stop teasing the Mate 20-series and the last three videos focus on the brand new 7nm HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC that powers the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. Earlier, the company made a bold claim that its in-house chip is more powerful than Apple's A12 Bionic. And according to the leaked AnTuTu score sheet, it might be true. You can watch all the videos below but first, let's talk about the leaked AnTuTu benchmark score allegedly belonging to the Mate 20 Pro. The score is downright impressive - north of 310,000 - or 313,561 to be exact. In comparison, most Android handsets...

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HMD promises a new product launch for October 11, could be the Nokia 7.1 Plus

HMD's October 4 event brought us the Nokia 7.1 (not Plus). There's another event upcoming (on October 11), which we initially thought was just the local launch of the same phone, but Juho Sarvikas is hinting at new product announcements. He should know, he's HMD's Chief Product Officer. His tweet is in response to a Nokia Mobile India tweet (the event on the 11th will be held in India), which has the tags #MegaLife and #GoBigGetBetter. Revealing the full picture soon. Stay tuned for the #MegaLife #GoBigGetBetter pic.twitter.com/kcYR9uymxi— Nokia Mobile India (@NokiamobileIN) October 9,...

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Google hints it may have a surprise at tonight's event

Google's new phones, the Pixel 3 XL especially, have leaked an unprecedented number of times and in amazing detail. Going into the event later today, people are feeling confident they've seen all there is to see. And yet Google posted a video called "So you think you know..." So you think you know. Tune in tomorrow to see for yourself. https://t.co/4zTwRXcn1x #madebygoogle pic.twitter.com/3IO3xaMaP8— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) October 8, 2018 It's a clip reel of various video reviews of the XL and concludes with this: Could the disastrous secrecy have been a smoke screen,...

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Realme 2 Pro, Realme 2 and C1 arrive in Indonesia, will go on sale next week

The new Realme trio has reached Indonesia as promised. The phones will be available for purchase from October 16 (starting at 11:00am local time). The Realme 2 Pro costs IDR 2,900,000 ($190), a stellar price for a Snapdragon 660 phone with a 6.3" 1080p+ screen (with a teardrop notch), a 16+2MP dual camera on the back, 16MP selfie cam and a 3,500mAh battery. This price is for the 4/64GB model. There's also a 6/64GB one for IDR 3,300,000 ($216) and an 8/128GB one for IDR 3,700,000 ($243). These prices exactly match the ones in India, Realme's first market. Realme 2 Pro • Realme...

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Poco says the Pocophone F1 light bleed is software-related

Amidst the Pocophone F1 light bleeding debacle, Poco India released a statement explaining how it will help solve the issue and what's causing it. There's a number of users complaining about a backlight bleeding issue on their handsets. It also appears to be pretty widespread and hence the statement below. So according to the read above, just 0.3% of the units are affected by the light bleed and Poco India is encouraging its customers to visit their nearest service center. As for the rest of the handsets, Poco claims it's a software issue - a gradient color that may look like...

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OnePlus 6T Chinese launch set for November 5

After finally announcing the release date of its upcoming flagship, OnePlus revealed that it will hold an event in China as well. It will be held a few days after the main one happening in New Delhi and New York - November 5. The Chinese OnePlus page greets you with the new slogan "Unlock The Speed" teasing the under-display fingerprint and announcing the arrival of the new OnePlus 6T on November 5 in Shenzhen at 14:00 local time. By that time, we will probably know almost everything about the phone but since the Chinese version of the phone comes with a different software suitable...

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Huawei teases Mate 20X gaming phone with better cooling and large battery

Huawei has a gaming phone in store for its Mate 20 event next week. What we previously believed to be an event for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, and a Mate 20 Porsche Design will likely swap the latter for a Mate 20X, focused on gaming. Huawei's first official teaser for the Mate 20X teases that it will be Cooler and allow for Longer gaming. In the heat of battle, stay cool with #HUAWEIMate20X. 16.10.18 #HigherIntelligence #UltimatePerformance pic.twitter.com/bZeRKhnOC3— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) October 8, 2018 That would suggest the Mate 20X will have improved cooling over...

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Honor teases the Magic 2, sets a release date for October 31

Arguably the most exciting part during Honor's IFA keynote this year was the announcement - or rather the teaser - of the upcoming Honor Magic 2 smartphone. We got to see an early prototype of the handset and a confirmation of a few key specs, but no solid announcement date. Well now we can add that last bit to the picture. When you enter the company's official Chinese website, a teaser poster pops up giving away the unveiling date - October 31. It's going to be one of the most anticipated announcements this year as the Magic 2 is set to have a super fast Magic fast charging tech,...

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