Week 12 of 2021 was one of the most action-packed in recent memory with two dozen smartphone announcement and a bunch of spicy leaks.
Poco brought its F3 flagship and X3 Pro mid-ranger, while OnePlus announced its most numerous flagship line to date with the 9R, 9 and 9 Pro.
Realme had its own announcement for the 8 series, while vivo started the global rollout of its X60 series.
Black Shark 4 series went official as well as the Motorola G50 and G100, while Qualcomm debuted a new platform – the 780G – combining upper mid-range performance with flaghsip modem.
The final major storyline was Xiaomi confirming its event for tomorrow, March 29 and giving a few clues as to what we might expect at it. The Mi 11 Pro, Ultra and Lite are coming alongside a new Mi Band and an in-house chip. The “mega launch” description by the company is certainly not an overstatement.
The full list of our best read stories is below – make sure you haven’t missed any. See you in a week!
The power cell will be silicon-oxygen, while the chip is likely an ISP for the liquid lens.
The P50 series will have a characteristic camera bump with two prominent circles – but what is inside those circles? These renders purport to show that.
Both phones come with 33W fast charging and the proprietary charger in the box.
That said, it’s not perfect, issues have been reported.
It uses all three states of the matter – solid, liquid and gas.
Just like everyone expected.
The 9R also boasts a vapor chamber to cool its chipset (it aspires to be a gaming phone), plus a 4,500 mAh battery with 65W fast charging support.
The 9 Pro flaunts a bespoke Sony sensor, Fluid Display 2.0 and support for the new Warp Charge 50 Wireless charger.
Could it be Xiaomi’s new foldable smartphone?
The vanilla version has a Snapdragon 870, the Pro goes for the flagship SD888.
It’s said to feature an SpO2 sensor for blood oxygen level measurement.
Also, the two Pro models will have upgraded OIS and Portrait mode (which will use LiDAR).
Huawei’s third generation foldable is with us.
It will be live-streamed on major social media platforms.
It should retail under INR 50,000 based on industry sources.
One rebranded Redmi K40 and one new phone are expected on stage.
The long-rumored mini LED iPad Pros are in for significant performance gains.
LG was reportedly talking to Vingroup and Volkswagen to offload the ailing mobile division, but negotiations seem to have failed.
The two phones are quite similar to the Realme 7 and 7 Pro. The 8 Pro has a far better camera, but little else has changed (not even the chipset).
The company increased revenue, profit and overseas presence, all with double-percentage points.
The vanilla version has a Snapdragon 870, the Pro goes for the flagship SD888.
Featuring Motorola’s “Ready For” platform and a 64MP quad-camera setup.
Just wait till you hear how much Motorola is going to charge for one of these.
It has a triple ISP and an NPU that is almost as fast as that in the 865/870. It features Kryo 670 CPU and Adreno 642 GPU.
First sales are scheduled to begin on April 14.
