Mobile Devices - Page 102

Apple's next generation iPhone X is expected to blow minds when it comes out, but now The Next Web is reporting that the new iPhone 8 (and I'm sure, iPhone X) will feature OLED displays - with Apple ordering a huge 160 million OLED displays... from its direct competitor.

Samsung has been tapped to supply OLED displays to Apple for its next-gen iPhone, according to South Korean outlet The Investor, which reports that Apple reached an agreement with Samsung's display division for 160 million OLED panels.

Apple had no chance but to go to Samsung, as the South Korean giant - and the maker of the upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, is producing around 95% of the total worldwide supply of OLED panels. LG has been ramping up, but won't come close to Samsung's mammoth numbers for quite a while.

Qualcomm might hold the record for the most powerful, tech-filled processor in the world with its upcoming Snapdragon 835 - but it only has 8 processing cores.

Not that it matters, but it's a great technological achievement to have more CPU cores in a system-on-chip (SoC), with Chinese smartphone maker Vernee teasing during CES 2017 last month tht they would have the first MediaTek Helio X30-powered smartphone that would be released in February.

Well, it's February now - and we're learning more information on the new smartphone. The Helio X30 itself is a 10-core smartphone, made on the 10nm process, featuring IMG 7XTP-Mt4 GPU which is powerful on its own. We should expect MediaTek's new Helio X30 to be just as good as the best chips from Qualcomm, Samsung, and Huawei.

The Nokia 6 proved to be a huge hit in China with devices selling out in record times.

But HMD has even bigger plans for Nokia's comeback. According to the new leak, the company plans to bring back the Nokia N-series. This is the same series that spawned the N95, N900, and N8 all of which were wildly successful devices globally and set the standard for smartphones today.

Read also: Gone in 60 seconds: Nokia 6 sells out in 2nd flash sale

After the Note7 fiasco, there was speculation of what will happen with the Note line and whether Samsung will discontinue it which would be a shame since the Note7 was a wonderful phone (apart from the exploding batteries).

Earlier this year, DJ Koh, Samsung's Mobile Chief, confirmed that the Note isn't dead and we will be seeing the Galaxy Note 8 later this year.

Read also: Samsung's Note line isn't dead: Note 8 is coming

After China, and the debut in Europe in the Netherlands, the Nokia 150 is now available in the UK as well.

The device is being sold by Carphone Warehouse at a price of £35 (around $49) SIM-free.

Carphone Warehouse MD Jeremy Fennell said in a statement:

We're getting to see more of Apple's hopefully revolutionary iPhone X, through a new patent application by Apple that uses a new material that's described as "deformable touch-sensitive quantum tunneling material", reports Patently Apple.

The new material could see Apple not using a physical Home button on the iPhone X, and it would allow the company to finally make a waterproof iPhone, something smartphone owners have been wanting for years.

Apple could also release a new 'Smart iPhone Case' which would feature touch-sensitive material, with the second layer "comprising a second touch-sensitive material disposed below the first layer. An electrical resistance of the first and second layers changes differently in response to application of a force to the first layer", reports Patently Apple.

Samsung is gearing up for the launch of its new flagship smartphone, with reports that there will be the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+, not the S8 edge like we've come to know and love from the two previous generation Galaxy smartphones.

But now a new report from The Wall Street Journal is teasing that Samsung will unleash its new Galaxy S8 in March, with an unveiling event in New York City on March 28. Samsung will have Galaxy S8 and S8+ units ready for April 21, which is perfect - my wife's birthday, and her S7 needs replacing.

We can expect Qualcomm's it-has-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink Snapdragon 835 processor, edged displays, 3.5mm headphone jack (because that's a thing now, you know), bezel free display, and a rear fingerprint sensor. A virtual assistant will also be included, in the form of something called S-Assistant.

The prices of the upcoming Moto G5 in Europe have leaked. Roland Quandt, a popular tipster, has leaked the pricing of the device in Europe and, if correct, we are looking at lower prices than those of the Moto G4.

According to the leak, the Moto G5 pricing will start at 189 euros (around $201). This is the price for the base model that is expected to come with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

The price for the 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage version is expected to be 209 euros (around $222). The price of the Moto G4 with the same amount of RAM and internal storage was 249 euros (around $265).

There were some arguments whether Samsung would name their next phone the Galaxy S8 Edge since both the S8 and the bigger version will have a curved display.

Now, Evan Blass has confirmed that we will not see a Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge this year. Instead, the company will go with a name Galaxy S8+. The company decided to put a plus sign in the name of the phone instead of naming it "Plus," as Apple does with its phones.

Read also: Galaxy S8 will have 3,000 mAh battery, S8 Edge 3,500 mAh

Lenovo is expected to announce the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus very soon, possibly in March.

Specs and images of the Moto G5 Plus have already leaked, and now a new image showed up on Weibo. The image shows the rear panel of the device and the design confirms what we have seen in the earlier photos.

The device will be bigger and more powerful than the G5. It should have a 5.5-inch display and a Snapdragon 625 processor. The phone will have 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. The camera should have 12MP, and the battery capacity is expected to be 3,000 mAh.

Apple is the last major smartphone maker to not leap into the warm, embracing arms of wireless charging freedom - but it seems with its ambitious iPhone X smartphone, Apple will finally adopt wireless charging.

The new rumors are coming from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is normally pretty spot on with rumors, stating that all three new iPhone 8 models will have wireless charging tech. Apple adding wireless charging to the new fleet of phones will be expensive, but with rumors of the iPhone X costing over $1000 - wireless charging better be included - or else the expensive price begins to be scrutinized even more.

We should also expect an upgraded 3D Touch module that will add an "additional graphite sheet lamination" to the new iPhone, which will reportedly keep the new iPhone from overheating. Kuo said: "While we don't expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation; this is because FPCB is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D touch sensor in OLED iPhone".

Although we won't see the Galaxy S8 at this year's MWC, there are rumors that Samsung might show their foldable smartphone to their partners.

A new report says that Samsung might not launch the foldable smartphone until next year with the mass production starting in H2 2018.

The main reason for the delay is said to be technical issues involving the key component of foldable smartphones.

HMD Global has launched two Nokia-branded devices so far - the Nokia 150 and Nokia 6. Both devices were available only in China, until now.

The Nokia 150 is as of this week available in Netherlands for a price of 37 euros (around $39). This might not be the phone that the Dutch wanted, and they would probably be happier with the release of the first Nokia-branded Android smartphone, the Nokia 6, but it shows that Nokia does plan to expand outside of Asia.

The phone comes in two versions - Nokia 150 and Nokia 150 Dual SIM. Both phones have 2.4-inch QVGA screen with a resolution of just 320 x 240 pixels. They come with a built-in FM radio and MP3 player.

A new report from Samsung confirms the previous leaks by Evan Blass that the Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge will pack 3,000 mAh and 3,500 mAh battery.

This means that the S8 will have the same battery capacity as the Galaxy S7, while the S8 Edge will have a slightly smaller battery than the S7 edge which had 3,600 mAh.

Read also: Samsung Galaxy S8 looks amazing in the latest leak

While we are waiting for MWC and hopefully the announcement of the P10 and P10 Plus, Huawei has decided to unveil the Honor V9 a week before their Barcelona event.

According to a teaser, the device will be unveiled on February 21st. Previous leaks reveal that the Honor V9 will come with a 5.7-inch QHD display.

The device will be powered by an octa-core 2.4GHz processor, and it will come in variants with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of internal storage.

Apple's next generation iPhone is shaping up well, but we still have no idea what it'll be called - with two rumored names right now in iPhone 8 and iPhone X - I'd go with iPhone X, but hey - that's just me.

Now we have Fast Company reporting that the price being "very likely north of $1000" according to a "source with knowledge of Apple's plans". Apple is expected to leap into the arms of a 5.8-inch OLED display, and will "look something like a smooth black monolith, with few visual interruptions to its sleek design" says Fast Company.

Apple is expected to unveil successors to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in the form of the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus, its yearly tradition - with 4.7- and 5.5-inch displays, respectively. Apple will continue using LCD displays in the 7S and 7S Plus, but the new iPhone 8/X will use a spiffy new OLED display, like its competitors have been using... for years now.

Samsung will release the Galaxy S8 on March 29th, and a lot is already known about the upcoming flagship.

The latest leak shows a render from OnLeaks and GearIndia. Samsung will keep its glass-aluminum design for both devices. The Galaxy S8 will come with a 5.7-inch display while the S8 Edge will have a bigger 6.2-inch screen.

The fingerprint sensor is moving to the back of the phone and is now next to the camera. Both devices are rumored to have an iris scanner at the front, a security feature that the Note7 had.

At this year's CES, Xiaomi announced that the beautiful Mi MIX would soon come in a white color as well.

The day has arrived, and in the first flash sale the white Mi MIX sold out in under a minute. The device, with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, was selling for around $510. The 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage version is, for now, available only in black color.

The device comes with a 6.4-inch screen, 2040x1080 resolution, and an incredible 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio, which the company says is the world's 1st.

LG is set to unveil their latest flagship in Barcelona on February 26th. We've seen numerous leaks about the G6, so we are not expecting many surprises.

The device will come with a dual camera and a fingerprint sensor in the back. The G6 will have USB Type-C port like the G5 did. Other rumors also suggest that the G6 will have a 5.7-inch display and it will probably be water resistant, unlike the G5.

Unfortunately, the G6 won't feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 but instead, will have Snapdragon 821.

ASUS unveiled their two newest phones, the ZenFone AR and ZenFone 3 Zoom, just last month at CES, but it looks like the company could unveil another smartphone at MWC 2017.

The ZenFone 4 photos have already leaked, and although it was previously rumored for May, the latest reports say that ASUS could take the stage at MWC and unveil the device.

The smartphone is rumored to feature the Snapdragon 820, 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage, but it will probably come in other variants as well. The ZenFone 4 is expected to have a large 5.7-inch Quad HD display.