Top stories of 2022: Q2
Welcome to our recap of the top news articles of 2022. We will now be looking back on the most popular stories from the secod quarter of the year with each subsequent quarter getting its own story.
There was a heap of announcements in Q2. We got a pair of foldables – the vivo X Fold and the Huawei Mate Xs 2. We also got the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which was 10% faster, and 30% more efficient than the SD 8 Gen 1.
The vivo X80 and X80 Pro arrived with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and Dimensity 9000, respectively.
The Nothing phone (1) started leaking and Nothing started its very successful teaser campaign. Google also teased the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, as well as the Pixel Watch, and Pixel Tablet, revealing their design. Google also launched the Pixel 6a for $449 – the phone would prove to be a big hit!
Apple announced the M2 chipset with an 18% faster processor and 35% faster graphics over the M1. The first laptop to get the new silicon was the MacBook Air M2, which also got a new thinner design with a bigger 13.6-inch Retina display with thin bezels.
Sony announced the WH-1000XM5 wireless noise-canceling headphones, the Xperia 10 IV with a bigger battery in a smaller battery, and the Xperia 1 IV with a unique zoom camera.
Speaking of unique cameras, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra debuted with a 35mm main camera, offering a tighter perspective that we just loved here at the office. It’s now an all-time favorite among us.
Other key announcements were the OnePlus 10R, the Poco F4 GT, the Poco M4 5, the REalme Narzo 50i Prime, the Infinix Note 12 VIP (which turned out to be more of a showcase for Infinix’s 120W charging tech), and the Realme 9.
Those are just some of the highlights of Q2, you can find the full list of top stories below.
It’s expected to launch next week.
It will be available for open sale from June 27 via AliExpress.
There is also the Infinix Note 12 (G96), which is a refresh of the original Note 12 with a new chipset (you guessed it, it’s the Helio G96).
The X80 Pro+ will come in later this year at its own event.
The NFC model tags along.
The X30 launched in China, the X9 in Malaysia, the Magic4 Lite is going to France. Also, the Honor Play 6T series will be unveiled tomorrow.
The 4G version of the Realme 9 has a better camera and build quality than the 5G model, arguably a better display too.
The X4 GT is the first Poco with a 144Hz display. The F4 is the first to have optical stabilization on its main camera.
And the 6.7″ 120 Hz AMOLED display, though it loses some goodies like OIS and an in-display fingerprint reader.
It supports up to 168Hz refresh rate, 4K HDR video capture, AV1 hardware decoding.
The vivo X Fold is going on sale in China and it’s cheaper than a Galaxy Z Fold3.
The vivo X Note has a 21:10 display with 120 Hz refresh rate on the front and a quad camera with ZEISS lenses on the back.
These include six H series chips and two U series chips – all Zen 3+.
The same SoC that’s already powering the Galaxy A33, A53 and M33.
The OnePlus 10R comes in two versions – one with 150W charging and another with 80W.
The Watch GT 3 Pro has three versions: 46 mm titanium, 43 mm ceramic and a Porsche Design model.
It will go on sale next week.
The Ultra uses two custom IMX787 sensors for the main and ultra wide cameras and a periscope for the telephoto module.
Includes the RX 6950XT, RX 6750XT, and the RX 6650XT.
Like the previous GT, this one has shoulder triggers for gaming and an advanced cooling solution.
Mate Xs 2 offers a 120Hz OLED panel, 50MP main cam and works with Huawei’s M-Pen 2s stylus.
The Watch GT 3 Pro has three versions: 46 mm titanium, 43 mm ceramic and a Porsche Design model.
Open sales start on May 4.
It will go on sale next week.
Includes the RX 6950XT, RX 6750XT, and the RX 6650XT.
The outward design of the phone may look mostly the same, but Sony also upgraded the screen, speakers and the other cameras on the Mark 4.
The new device gets a Snapdragon 695 and a 5,000 mAh battery.
Features a dual camera system and 5G connectivity.
Feature improved noise-canceling, new design, and a higher price.
It has a Snapdragon 695 chipset with 5G connectivity.
Two new 5G midrangers powered by MediaTek Dimensity chipsets.
The new 4nm chipset promises a 20% GPU increase over the Snapdragon 778G.
Also reveals new motherboard chipsets and features.
Reno8 Pro and Pro+ get the same 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor and MariSilicon X NPU as on the Find X5 Pro.
Along with 50MP ultra wide, 8MP tele (3x) and 50MP selfie cameras. Also, charging speed increased to 100W and gets to 100% in half an hour.
Notifications, Messages, Wallet, Maps, News, and CarPlay got updates.
It’s built on a more advanced 5nm process, and comes with two extra GPU cores.
Note that this is the 5G version with Snapdragon 865 and is available only on KT and LG Uplus in Korea for now.
It will be launched next month.
The phones and smartwatch are coming this fall, the tablet next year.
The device is also coming with the “industry’s slimmest bezel” at 0.98 mm.
The phone looks a lot like the OnePlus 10R renders.
Don’t expect huge changes compared to the last generation devices.
Not as transparent as we thought it would be.
Open sales in China start on April 26.
The A Series is mostly to blame.
Plenty of “Awesome” chants ensue.
Open sales in China start on May 31.
All three are scheduled to go on open sale in China on May 31.
This will be a major upgrade over the regular Note 12 that launched last week. It had a 50MP main camera and supported 33W charging.
It’s built around a 90Hz screen.
And a dual 50MP camera on the back, similar to the one in the Edge 30 Pro. The phone costs about half as much as the Pro, however.
Demand for the S22 in South Korea has reportedly decreased after the throttling scandal. Carriers are increasing subsidies to increase demand.
It’s already on open sale in the Philippines.
A direct successor to the Xiaomi Civi that launched last year.
The F21 Pro comes in a special Fiberglass-leather version.
The K10 5G is largely different from the standard K10 introduced earlier.
The new chip keeps the hardware effectively the same, but the new 4nm process allowed for higher clock speeds and lower power draw.
