Hello, hello, let’s recap yet another week. Starting with a couple of chipset stories. Qualcomm and MediaTek both announced new products this week.
The 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 brought the fastest CPU core in the world with the 3.2GHz-capable Kryo 585. The Snapdragon 870 is built on the Snapdragon 865+ foundation and Motorola already confirmed its Edge S will premiere with the new chip on January 26.
MediaTek dropped the Dimensity 1100 and 1200 chipsets. Both are built on a 6nm process and both feature the new Cortex-A78 core. So far no phone has declared for the new chipsets and we expect the first ones to come out by the end of March.
We had a few phone announcements too this week. Honor unveiled its first phone since splitting up with Huawei. The Honor V40 for the Chinese market has a 50MP main camera, Dimensity 1000+ chipset, 8GB of RAM and a 6.72-inch AMOLED. The V40’s global variant, the Honor V40 View, is expected to support Google Mobile Services when it launches.
vivo introduced its best phone yet, albeit it’s limited to the Chinese market initially. The X60 Pro+ is decidedly great with a Snapdragon 888 chipset, new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 1/1.3″ sensor, 8MP 5x periscope, 32MP 2x telephoto and a 48MP ultrawide with second-generation gimbal stabilization.
The next Asus ROG Phone (tentatively named ROG Phone 5) featured in a hands-on video. The phone is styled very much like the previous two but for the addition of a tiny display on the rear that will reportedly show messages and notifications.
Okay, those were the top stories of the week. See you next one!
It is based on the S865, the plus version of which ran its prime core at 3.1 GHz. This also means that this is a 7 nm chip and uses an older architecture.
You’ll be hard pressed to notice any big design differences compared to its predecessor.
The Galaxy S series are responsible for the introduction of ISOCELL sensors, improved image processing and creative camera modes.
The next-gen ROG Phone will sport a small display on its back.
This is a regional variation – e.g. S21 phones in the US lack MST, ones in the UK do have it.
The country will also see the Mi 11 and Mi 11 Lite soon.
We’re expecting four iPhone 12S phones in the Fall.
Huawei recently sold its Honor smartphone brand off which dissociated it from the Chinese telecom giant.
The phone comes with 50W wireless charging and 66W over the wire.
The 1200 runs its Cortex-A78 core at 3.0 GHz, which promises a solid single-core performance upgrade over the Dimensity 1000+.
The update first went out last week in Germany, and now it’s crossed the big pond.
The phone also has two telephoto lenses – a 5x periscope and a 2x portrait lens. Also, new image processing algorithms to run on the S888 chipset.
Firmware for the upcoming phone has started to hit Sony servers.
The CEO Kwon Bong-seok sent an internal message, saying if the division folds, “employment will be maintained”.
Sadly, the new update is based on MIUI 12 rather than the shiny new MIUI 12.5.
The new Snapdragon 870 unsurprisingly edges out the SD 865 competition.
Well, the back is now made of plastic. At least the display is now easier to remove than on last year’s phone.
The first device so far to be announced with the new chipset.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology says the changes are not fair and acceptable.
The phone costs INR35,990 ($490/€405), the earphones go for INR9,990 ($135/€110).
The upcoming ROG Phone will sport 65W charging.
