Week 1 in review: A host of new releases in the low-to-midrange, Galaxy S21 launch nearing

Welcome to another week’s recap. With the approaching announcement of the Galaxy S21 family, there were inevitably a bunch of stories related to that. A set of case renders attempted to answer how the S Pen will attach to the S21 Ultra, raising more questions in the process, while a leaked infographic detailed the new cameras. A source claimed there won’t be a microSD slot on the non-Ultras, another unfortunate development. Most importantly, however, Samsung set the Unpacked date, officially.

The high-end Galaxies are yet to go live, but we did get a bunch of new announcements this week to get 2021 going. Samsung itself had the Galaxy M02s launch in India to battle it out with the Realmes and Redmis in the entry-level segment.

Speaking of, there was a Realme and a Redmi too. The Realme V15 5G is so far China only and comes with a 6.4-inch AMOLED, a 64MP camera, and the Dimensity 800U chipset. The Redmi Note 9 5G, on the other hand, just escaped China adopting a T to set itself apart – known as the Redmi Note 9T 5G for the world, it sports a 6.53-inch LCD, a 48MP main camera (no ultra wide though), and a 5000mAh battery. The Mi 10i, meanwhile, is here to shuffle things up in the midrange with a Snapdragon 750G, a 108MP main camera, and a 120Hz LCD.

For all the announcements and Galaxy anticipation, the most popular story turned out to be about the new WhatApp privacy policy, according to which it will start sharing user data with other Facebook companies (not in the EU, though, yay!).

On the hardware front, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 480 chipset – the first SoC in the lower tier 400-series with 5G capability. A certification document out of China revealed that Huawei’s got a 135W charger in the works, rated at up to 20V/6.75A – a bit excessive for a phone, we reckon, and maybe a laptop adapter?

You can read the details on the these, as well as some other top stories by following the links below.

WhatsApp introduces new privacy policy, will share your data with Facebook

For non-EU users, it is either this or deleting your account.


Samsung makes January 14 Unpacked event official, welcome to the Everyday Epic

Samsung’s huge Galaxy S21 event will go live on January 14, 16:00 CET.


Samsung releases another teaser for the Galaxy S21 series

It’s the longer version of the first video teaser from the end of last year.


Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra cameras detailed in leaked infographics

It’s more of the same for the S21 and S21+ while the S21 Ultra is the getting a longer periscope lens and an extra telephoto module.


Galaxy S21 Ultra to have a microSD card slot, S21 and S21+ to miss out

The Galaxy S21 series is scheduled to be announced next week on January 14.


New leak shows Galaxy S21 Ultra case designed specifically for the S Pen

The stylus will be available as a separate purchase – by itself or bundled with a case. And you’ll want the case if you don’t want to lose the S Pen.


Xiaomi Mi 10i debuts with Snapdragon 750G, 120Hz LCD and 108MP camera

First sales start on Friday, January 8.


Samsung Galaxy M02s is official with big battery and aggressive price

The phone is powered by the dated Snapdragon 450 chipset.


Realme V15 5G announced: Dimensity 800U, 64MP triple camera, and 50W charging

It packs a 6.4″ AMOLED screen and ships with a 65W charger.


Xiaomi goes global with the Redmi Note 9T 5G

A revamped Redmi Note 9 5G for the markets outside China.


OnePlus teases smartband, design and specs leak in full

It’s expected to go toe to toe with Xiaomi’s Mi Band line and will reporetedly launch in a week’s time.


Samsung Galaxy A72 case mold reveals design

This is what case makers will use to design their products for the upcoming Galaxy A-series member.


Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been suspended and faces permanent ban

@realDonaldTrump must remove three offending videos or face permanent ban.


Snapdragon 480 is the first 4-series 5G chipset from Qualcomm

It will power the budget 5G Androids of 2021.


Oppo Find X3 sets new AnTuTu record

The Oppo PEEM00 phone reached 771,491 points on the benchmarking platform.


Huawei 135W charger certified in China

Huawei is looking to up its charging game.


OnePlus releases Oxygen 11 OS list of eligible devices

All devices from the past three years will get the new interface.


Dell announces new Latitude 9000, 7000 and 5000 laptops

Improved for working and studying from home.


Antutu posts its December rankings: Xiaomi Mi 11 on top

It helps when you have the only device with the most powerful chipset.


Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite stars in major leak - Snapdragon 732G SoC to run the show

It will use a 120Hz IPS display.


Eight smartphones get CES 2021 Innovation Awards

Three Samsung devices, two LGs, one Asus, one TCL, and the OnePlus 8 Pro made the list.


Ericsson’s CEO petitions Swedish Minister of Foreign Trade to overturn Huawei and ZTE ban in Sweden

The executive sent the Minister text messages to protest the decision of the ban.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *