Week 40 in review: Google Pixel 4 leaks, Mate 30 loses Google apps, Microsoft event
Another week came and went and with it came the usual stories, rumors and leaks. And none of those are more frequent these days than the Pixel 4-themed ones.
This week we got a full specs sheet for both the 5.7-inch Pixel 4 and 6.3-inch Pixel 4 XL, as well as official press renders of each color of the phones – Just Black, Clearly White and Oh So Orange. Specs-wise the Pixel 4 duo will have a Snapdragon 855 (non-Plus) with a new Pixel Neural Core, which is the likely replacement to the Pixel Visual Core, 6GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of storage and a dual camera with a 12MP main and 16MP telephoto.
One bad news is the battery size – the smaller Pixel 4 has a 2,800mAh juice pack, which is smaller than the 2,915mAh of the Pixel 3, despite the fact that the new phone gains a bigger screen with higher refresh rate. The Pixel 4 XL will have a 3,700mAh battery.
Microsoft held a special hardware event at which it revealed the Surface Duo, which is a foldable Android phone with two screens, the Surface Neo, which is a foldable tablet with two bigger screens, the Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X, and finally the truly wireless Surface Earbuds.
A Xiaomi official stated only the Mi Mix Alpha is on its way, meaning no Mi Mix 4, but later “clarified” that he isn’t saying if there is or isn’t a Mi Mix 4 in development – glad we straightened that out.
Meanwhile the method that allowed people to install Google apps on the new Huawei Mate 30 Pro was disabled, leaving potential outside-of-China buyers facing a much tougher purchasing decision.
Realme is on a high this week as it managed to become the top smartphone brand on Flipkart in June, July and August, shipping 41.5% of all phones. The Oppo sub-brand celebrated with a “Festive Days” promotion that reportedly led to more than 1 million sold devices.
Realme is still in need of a proper flagship device and is reportedly ready to launch one soon. The Realme X2 Pro will ship with a Snapdragon 855+, 64MP camera and 50W charging.
Just a week after the OnePlus 7T was announced, the first OnePlus 8 renders came out, showing a phone with curved screen sides and a selfie punch hole camera.
Apple will reportedly launch an iPhone SE successor in Q1 of 2020 with an A13 Bionic chipset and iPhone 8 design. The current lineup of iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are enjoying a great reception in India, bringing back the glory days of the iPhone 6.
Those were the main stories of the week. See you next one!
The phone offers several upgrades over the Redmi 8A – things like a depth sensor and fingerprint reader on the back.
The company is offering discounts for #realmeFestiveDays and essentially free insurance for your new phone.
This lines up with a previous report about the same device, but we’ve been hearing this for a while now.