Reports from China claim Qualcomm has obtained license to sell chips to Huawei

Huawei is currently unable to manufacture its HiSilicon chips and the company has to look to other providers such as Mediatek. Today a report from China claimed Qualcomm has already received a license to supply Huawei, too, increasing its options. According to the report, Qualcomm will manage to match Huawei’s demand only if the Honor brand is off the shoulders of the Chinese company - currently, San Diego does not have the capacity to add the second biggest smartphone manufacturer to its portfolio. However, with Honor’s reported sale to Digital China for CNY100 billion ($15...

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Realme V5 5G may launch globally as Realme 7 5G

The Realme 7 series currently consists of the vanilla 7, 7 Pro and 7i. Now it appears a fourth one called Realme 7 5G will soon join the lineup as it has been certified by Thailand's NBTC. However, the Realme 7 5G won't be an entirely new smartphone. NBTC revealed it sports model designation RMX2111, which was previously associated with the Realme V5 5G that was unveiled in August and is currently only available in China. The certifying authority doesn't reveal any specs of the Realme 7 5G, but if it is indeed a rebranded V5 5G for the global market, then you can expect it to come...

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Google offers free Stadia Premiere Edition bundle to YouTube Premium subscribers in US and UK

As the first wave of gamers get delivery of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Sony’s PlayStation 5, Google scrambles to get more users on its own gaming platform. Almost one year ago this month, Google launched Stadia: its game streaming platform that lets you play games using its Stadia Controller. The latest move from Google pushes to get more Stadia controllers into players’ hands. As first reported by Android Police, YouTube Premium subscribers in the US and the UK are eligible to receive a free Stadia bundle that includes a Stadia Controller, Chromecast Ultra 4K, and one month of...

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Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G in for review

The newest phone to arrive at GSMArena’s doorstep is the Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G. Not to be confused with the Oppo Reno4 Pro, the 5G variant comes with a Snapdragon 765G processor, 65W Super VOOC 2.0 charging, and up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at the highest configurations. The camera setup is tweaked from the Reno4 Pro. On the Reno4 Pro 5G there’s an 8MP camera with OIS, and a dedicated video camera in the form of a 12MP ultra-wide camera with 1.4µm pixels. There’s also a 13MP dedicated telephoto camera with 2X optical zoom. All of these cameras are capable of autofocus. One of...

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There's a purple Sony Xperia 5 II in Japan

Sony's Xperia 5 II is theoretically available in four colors across the globe: black, grey, blue, and pink. That said, not all of those are necessarily up for grabs in all markets. And to make things even more interesting, there's actually a fifth hue in which Sony is offering the Xperia 5 II, but only in Japan. Meet the purple Xperia 5 II for Docomo, Japan's biggest carrier. It sits calmly in its roster alongside the four other colorways, looking pretty while it's at it (although the grey fingerprint sensor does stand out in a rather weird way). As you might have guessed, on the...

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macOS Big Sur to be available starting November 12

At its event today Apple announced that the next generation of its desktop operating system — macOS Big Sur — will be available this Thursday on November 12. Big Sur is the next major release for macOS and it's especially a big one this year as it enables support for the Apple Silicon based Macs, including the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini that were announced today with the new Apple M1 chip. It will include support for universal apps, which are apps designed to run on the new Apple Silicon as well as Intel x86 based Macs. It will also include Rosetta 2, which...

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The new Mac Mini gets M1 chipset: much faster than the old Intel version, $100 cheaper

This was unexpected – leading up to this event everyone was talking about new MacBooks, but Apple snuck in a new Mac Mini completely unnoticed. It has been two years since the Mini was last updated. That’s not too long ago, but those 8th generation Intel Core processors do feel quite old already. But there are no Intels anymore, Apple’s petite computer is now powered by its own silicon. Yes, the new Apple M1 chipset that is also at the heart of the new MacBook Air and Pro. Apple’s testing shows that the CPU delivers 3x the CPU performance of those old Intels. And those old chips...

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M1-powered Apple MacBook Pro 13 has the longest battery life of any MacBook ever

The MacBook Pro 13 was the only so-called Pro machine to get the new Apple-designed M1 chip and it's used it to outperform its Intel-powered predecessor in more than a few tasks. The 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU Apple M1 helps the MacBook Pro 13 to build code in Xcode up to 2.8x faster than the Intel 13-inch Pro, also render a complex 3D title in Final Cut Pro up to 5.9x faster, perform ML tasks up to 11x faster and play full-quality 8K ProRes video in DaVinci Resolve without dropping a frame. Apple hasn't specified whether they compare to the quad-core or the dual-core 13-inch MacBook Pro -...

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The Apple M1 is the first ARM-based chipset for Macs with the fastest CPU cores and top iGPU

Apple’s first Mac chipset is now a reality – meet the Apple M1. The company claimed many superlatives including the world’s fastest CPU core, fastest integrated GPU and massive gains in energy efficiency. The M1 is a massive 5nm chip with a whopping 16 billion transistors. For comparison, the iPhone’s A14 chipset has 11.8 billion transistors, so this is beefed up noticeably. This chip is still similar to mobile chips (and console APUs) in that it has a unified memory architecture – this means that the same memory is accessible by the CPU, GPU, I/O controller and other components...

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MacBook Air with M1 gets official, boasts 18h of battery life

Apple's first Mac using its M1 chipset is the MacBook Air with M1. This probably shouldn't come as a huge surprise, as the MacBook Air is the most popular Mac and the world's best selling 13-inch notebook. The design seems to be unchanged from the previous generation, but it drops the Intel processors and jumps straight into M1 territory. This means you're getting a fanless, fully silent laptop, with what Apple claims is up to 3.5 times the CPU performance of the previous-gen Air and up to 5 times faster graphics. The SSDs are said to be two times faster too. Aside from the...

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Canalys: the iPhone 11 was the best-selling smartphone globally in Q3, SE a distant second

The two best-selling smartphones in the world during Q3 were iPhones, according to data by Canalys. The Top 10 chart also features five Samsung phones and three Xiaomi devices. None of them come close to the Apple iPhone 11, which is miles ahead of the competition with 16 million units sold. Its sibling, the iPhone SE (2020) is a distant second with around 10 million units. While the SE is the cheapest new iPhone, the better feature set created the perfect value for money offering. This is par for the course for these two – Canalys’ report for Q2 showed that the iPhone 11 made up...

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European Commission's preliminary findings suggest Amazon breached EU's antitrust rules

The European Commission launched an antitrust investigation against Amazon last year and today it published the preliminary findings. Amazon has breached EU antitrust rules “by distorting competition in online retail markets”. These findings relate specifically to Amazon’s activities in Germany and France. The core issue is Amazon’s dual nature – it’s a marketplace where other companies can sell their products, but it’s also a maker itself and has competing products. In its position as a marketplace, Amazon was able to collect statistics on how many items of a certain category were...

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Samsung Galaxy A52 5G appears on Geekbench with Snapdragon 750G

Originally launched in December of 2019, Samsung’s Galaxy A51 is one of the most popular phones of 2020 and was followed up with a 5G counterpart in April this year. Today, we have our first substantial leak of the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G which will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 750G chipset and 6GB RAM. Samsung Galaxy A52 5G Geekbench scorecard The phone was spotted bearing the SM-A526B model number and scored 298-points in the single-core department and 1,001-points on the multi-core test. These scores are noticeably lower than the Galaxy A51 5G which does around 700-points...

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Xor is the spiritual successor of Vertu, launching its first phone in Q1 2021

Vertu was the luxury phone brand that delivered hand-made bespoke phones for the few that could afford them before facing a sudden drop in consumer interest and eventually going under. The last time we heard about the brand, it had just launched its Aster P Android smartphone exclusively in China. Since then there has been little to come out about the luxury maker. Now, a group of former employees are aiming to revive the Vertu heritage under the Xor brand. Pronounced “Eggsor”, Xor is co-founded by Hutch Hutchison who was the former design chief at Vertu alongside several of his Vertu...

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Sony updates the Xperia 5 II, 10 II and L4: new security patches, some improvements

Sony is rolling out new updates to three of its phones – the Xperia 5 II, Xperia 10 II and Xperia L4. Unfortunately, it neglected to include a changelog, so it’s not 100% clear what changed besides the security patch. There do seem to be some fixes, though. New updates for Sony Xperia L4, Xperia 5 II and Xperia 10 II The Xperia 5 II was a bit behind the times, it was running an August patch until now. With this update it’s up to October 1, so still not caught up. People who received the update are reporting some improvements – faster fingerprint reader and better 4G reception. The...

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Honor 10X Lite review

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Watch Apple’s “One more thing” event live here

Apple unveiled its quartet of phones last month but now we are getting a “One more thing”. The launch is scheduled for 10 AM PST/6 PM UTC and there’s a stream on YouTube to follow it live. We summed up what to expect - two new 13" MacBooks - one Pro and one Air. What is special about them are the chipsets - they are entirely designed by Apple which is a first for the Cupertino company. The new laptops are likely coming along with a macOS Big Sur and there are rumors a 16” MacBook might appear on stage as well. Rumors have also been pointing to wireless tags called AirTags and...

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Honor launches Black Friday deals, Honor 10X Lite global availability detailed

With another shopping holiday around the corner Honor jumps in to offer its head-turning devices for a discounted price once again. Alongside the offers in five European countries, the brand also announced details about the global arrival of its latest smartphone Honor 10X Lite - it will cost €229.90 and will also be bundled or discounted at the company’s online store. The phone comes with a 6.67” screen, 5,000 mAh battery, and Kirin 710A chipset. If the specs look familiar, that’s because the same phone (with a slightly different camera setup design) is sold also under the names...

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Samsung Galaxy S20 gets tons of bug fixes with the latest One UI 3.0 beta

Samsung has released a new One UI 3.0 beta update for the Galaxy S20 that squashes a lot of bugs and updates One UI Home and Samsung Internet. You can check out the screenshot below for a list of all the bugs that have been fixed. One UI 3.0 beta for Galaxy S20 The new beta firmware sports version number G98xxKSU1ZTK7 and is the third beta build for the S20 in the UK, fourth in South Korea, and fifth in Germany. If you are enrolled in the beta program, you will receive an OTA on your Galaxy S20 soon. Source | Via

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More Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra specs leak - WQHD LTPO 120Hz panel confirmed

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will be able to run its screen at both 1440p and 120Hz, thanks to a new LTPO-backed panel. The headliner of Samsung's January-inbound flagship line is said to have exclusive dibs on the 1440p/120Hz mode, reportedly leaving the Galaxy S21 and S21+ to run at either 1080p/120Hz or 1440p/60Hz. The other rumor comes up for the second time - the Galaxy S21 Ultra will use an updated 108MP HM3 sensor, which will reportedly be 12% more light sensitive. Samsung is said to be skipping the 3D Time of Flight sensor alongside the 108MP main camera and instead will use...

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Oppo Reno5 5G with 65W charger confirmed by 3C certification

After a detailed profile on China’s TENAA agency yesterday revealed most of the specs of Oppo’s upcoming Reno5 5G it was now spotted in 3C's database bearing the PEGM00 and PEGT00 model numbers. The listings confirm Oppo is bringing 65W charging which matches last year’s Reno4 5G. The phone is also expected to feature a 4,300mAh battery, a 6.43-inch OLED display and a 64MP primary camera. According to speculations, we'll see the upcoming Snapdragon 775G chipset at the helm. Oppo Reno5 listing on 3C database The phone is also touted to arrive with Android 11 out of the box which...

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Huawei to sell $15 billion Honor share to consortium led by Digital China

Last month there were speculations that Huawei is looking to sell part of its Honor sub-brand. The main reasoning behind the deal is to circumvent the multiple trade bans enforced by the US government. As per the latest Reuters report, Huawei is looking to sell off a $15 billion share of Honor to a consortium led by the Shenzhen government and IT service supplier Digital China. Previous reports speculated the deal to be in the $2.2 billion - $3.7 billion range. The new figures were disclosed by unnamed sources who claim the deal will be finalized as soon as this Sunday. Huawei will...

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Oppo tipped to launch tablets and notebooks next year

Oppo's current product lineup includes smartphones, smart wearables, wireless earphones, and smart TVs. And if Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station is to be believed, we'll see the company further diversify its portfolio with the launch of tablets and notebooks next year. The source doesn't provide any timeframe for the launch of Oppo's tablets and notebooks, and specifications about these products are a mystery right now. However, Oppo launching tablets might just make the table space a bit more interesting. And once Oppo launches tablets, chances are we'll see OnePlus and Realme...

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