Week 38 in review: Asus ROG Phone 6D announced, Pixel 7 series pre-order date confirmed
Welcome to our recap of the biggest headlines from week 38.
The Apple iPhone 14 fever is still here – we saw the regular iPhone 14 pass a durability test where it fared quite well. The 14 Pro models had their shaky camera problem ironed out with its latest iOS 16.0.2 update.
In semi-related news, Android makers such as Xiaomi and Realme are preparing to implement Dynamic Island-type notification systems to their upcoming devices – can’t say we didn’t see that coming. Xiaomi is set to launch its Civi 2 smartphone on Tuesday, September 27 with a centered pill-shaped cutout on its screen.
Google’s Pixel 7 series marketing campaign is in full force as we got a new teaser for the phones and the Pixel Watch ahead of the October 6 launch event. Pre-orders for the Pixel 7 series start on the same date as the announcement.
Asus debuted its ROG Phone 6D duo consisting of the ROG Phone 6D and ROG Phone 6D Ultimate. Both phones share nearly identical specs to the ROG Phone 6 lineup with the big change being the Dimensity 9000+ chipset which replaces the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The vanilla 6D start at £799 in the UK while the Ultimate alteration asks at least £1,199. Asus also launched a Batman edition ROG Phone 6 which goes for €1,199.
Nvidia announced its RTX 40-series graphics cards with a claimed 2-4x performance boost and DLSS 3. The baseline 12GB RTX 4080 starts at $899 while the top-of-the-line RTX 4090 will go for a cool $1,599. Official sales for the RTX 4090 start on October 12 while the RTX 4080 will be available from November.
The big rumors of the week include Samsung continuing to use Exynos chipsets for the Galaxy S23 series and Apple finally bringing 8K video to next year’s iPhone 15 Ultra. We also got some details for the upcoming OnePlus 11 Pro which should be bring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip alongside 100W charging.
These were the biggest headlines for this week. See you next time.
Apple’s best iPhone yet.
“Wait, there’s a watch?”
Xiaomi President Lu Weibing asked Weibo users if they would like to see a Dynamic Island implementation.
The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate comes bundled with an AeroActive attachment.
This affects the two Pro models when users open third-party apps that use the camera. Apple’s own camera app is not affected.
Reports suggest internal conflicts over the use of the in-house chipset.
No huge surprises here, it’s in line with other smartwatches.
The 8K video may be exclusive to the Ultra. However, all four models are expected to have USB-C ports and Dynamic Islands.
It’s coming on September 27.
Prices start at $899.
It looks just like the Redmi Note 10 Pro, except that one had the more powerful Snapdragon 732G chipset.
The US/Canada models will get the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset while other regions will boast the Dimensity 9000+ SoC.
That’s at least going to be the case in the US, according to a new leak.
This trio launched in the distant 2015, over 7 years ago. In related news, the more recent Galaxy A40 is getting a security patch.
As smartphone camera scores with DxOMark plateau, brands seem to be giving the scores less relevance for marketing.
It’s essentially an iPhone 13 some improved internals and an easier-to-repair back plate.
Will be the first mainline Pixel phone to launch in India since the Pixel 3.
The camera island design strongly resembles the 12 series.
The front display can extend horizontally on demand, but when closed the extra part is a secondary rear display.
We’re looking at you, Samsung.
You can look at it from practically all angles with this new hype-building effort from the company.
It will ditch the previously expected Dimensity 8200.
It will come with up to 16GB RAM.
And we still haven’t seen the X80 Pro+.
