Week 7 in review: Galaxy S20 and Xiaomi Mi 10 announced, MWC cancelled

This week we got the first big-name flagships of 2020 from Samsung and Xiaomi.

Samsung unpacked its Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra, as well as its second foldable phone in the Galaxy Z Flip. The same global event saw the unveil of the Galaxy Buds+.

The new Galaxies all feature either the Snapdragon 865 or the in-house Exynos 990 chipset, 120Hz AMOLED screens and bigger batteries as well as an assortment of cameras. The Galaxy S20 and S20+ received a bump in the main camera, the new telephoto and the ultrawide over the Galaxy Note10+. But the Galaxy S20 Ultra saw the biggest improvement in camera specs, featuring the new Nonacell 108MP sensor with 12MP 9-in-1 binned stills and 8K video, a new 5x optical 48MP periscope zoom camera and a new 40MP selfie snapper.

The Galaxy Z Flip is quite remarkable in that it actually has a foldable glass screen.

Xiaomi’s Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro became official in China. Both have 108MP f/1.7 main cameras, 6.67-inch Super AMOLED screens with 90Hz refresh rate, Snapdragon 865 chipsets, 30W wireless charging and run Android 10 under MIUI 11.

The Mi 10 Pro is the more impressive phone with two telephoto cameras (2x and 5x), while the Mi 10 misses out on those but has a slightly larger 4,780mAh battery. The Mi 10 Pro’s 4,500mAh unit does 50W, though, while the vanilla 10 only goes up to 30W.

The week was soured by the news that the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has been cancelled. Makers announced one by one that they would forgo their events at the congress (or the week before it) due to Coronavirus concerns and finally GSMA, the congress organizer, decided to cancell the show altogether. The MWC has been taking place every year since 2006. GSMA is hopeful that MWC 2021 in Barcelona will go on as planned, though.

Those were the biggest stories of the week. See you next one!

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro arrive with 108MP camera, Snapdragon 865
The two are built around 6.67″ AMOLED panels.


Samsung Galaxy M31 launches on February 25 with 64 MP quad rear camera, 6,000 mAh battery
The company is officially teasing the device on its website.


Breaking: MWC 2020 has been canceled because of the coronavirus
After many past reassurances that it would take place, the organizers decided to pull the plug.


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip announced with UTG screen and Snapdragon 855+
It also has a secondary display on the back for notifications.


The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 108MP main camera and a 48MP periscope zoom camera
Both can do pixel binning to improve the image quality. And so can the 40MP selfie camera.


Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ come with 120Hz screens, 8K-capable 64MP camera
Interestingly, it’s the telephoto camera that is tasked with recording 8K video. It can also deliver 3x hybrid optical zoom.


Samsung unveils Galaxy Buds+ with 2-way speakers, better battery life
The woofer + tweeter combo will improve the audio quality compared to the previous generation. There’s also an extra mic, but no ANC.


Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, Z Flip pricing and availability details
Pre-orders are out in the UK and EU, the Z Flip will be out before the S20 models.


Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro tops DxOMark camera chart
Xiaomi’s new flagship reigns supreme in DxO’s camera and video rankings.


Rumor: Sony Xperia 1.1 to shoot 8K HDR video, Xperia 9 leaked
Latest rumor suggests the Xperia 1.1 will match the Galaxy S20+ in camera specs.


OnePlus 8 with Snapdragon 865 runs Geekbench
Last month, the OnePlus 8 Pro did the same using same Qualcomm chipset (though it did have more RAM).


Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e get $150 price cuts
This is not a limited time deal, but a permanent price cut, influenced by the launch of the S20 family.


Samsung Galaxy A50s starts getting Android 10 with One UI 2.0
This is the first phone of the 2019 Galaxy A lineup to receive the software update.


Recording 8K video with a Galaxy S20 will take a toll on storage, but not as much as you think
All three of the new Samsung flagships support 8K. You can upload the videos to YouTube, stream them to a QLED TV or pull 33MP stills from them.


Essential is dead, no more updates for the PH-1
The weird elongated Project GEM phone won’t get to become a shipping product.


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