Samsung has been in the news for the much-anticipated launch of the Galaxy S9 and S9+. While the marquee launch has grabbed everyone’s attention, a new Galaxy device, the Galaxy C10 Plus has started doing the rounds on the internet. Samsung and its Galaxy C series have seen a bit of success in the India market. The Galaxy C7 Pro was a good device and a lot is expected from its successor.
A few days ago, the Galaxy C10 Plus showed up, revealing a few key specifications. The smartphone in question carries the model number SM-C9150. According to the listing, the alleged Galaxy C10 Plus will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset. Along with 660 chipset, it will have 6GB of RAM and run Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
Now, a few concept renders of the Galaxy C10 Plus have been released. The design of the Galaxy C10 Plus stunning and different from what we’ve usually seen from Galaxy smartphones. The smartphone has the shape of an old Galaxy smartphone but, the edge-to-edge display makes it look modern. The very thin bottom bezel also houses a very small home button that will have a fingerprint sensor in it.
To the back of the smartphone is a vertically placed dual-camera along with an LED flash. Unlike a lot of other OEMs, Samsung will not follow Apple’s footsteps when it comes to the positioning of rear-facing dual cameras. Just like the Galaxy Note8, and upcoming Galaxy S9+, the dual-cameras are positioned in the middle of the device. The antenna lines are very similar to the Galaxy C7 Pro.
Galaxy C7 Pro
In the previous leak, the Galaxy C10 Plus was running Android 7 Nougat. This hints at a possible early launch, right after the Galaxy S9 launch. Samsung is expected to launch all smartphones running Android 8 Oreo post the Galaxy S9 launch. For the Galaxy C10 Plus to still run Android 7 Nougat means the launch of the device might be on the fore.
Samsung will launch the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ at MWC 2018. The press conference is set for the 25th of February and there is an obvious buzz around the devices. We have seen enough leaks and renders of the smartphones to tell us that they won’t look too different from their predecessors. But, we finally have an official image of the upcoming flagship smartphone.
A banner advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy S9+ was recently leaked, which reveals the front of the smartphone. As expected, the Galaxy S9+ will have top and bottom bezels similar to the Galaxy S8+. However, the size of the bezels will be slightly smaller which means it will have a better screen-to-body ratio. Since there is no image of the back, it is impossible to tell what colour variant this is.
Apart from that, the image has some text written in Chinese. The text reveals that one of the variants of the Galaxy S9+ will have 128GB of onboard storage. This was also revealed a few weeks. A Chinese tipster, citing a company insider, had posted on the Chinese social media, Weibo that the Galaxy S9 will be offered in two options, 4GB RAM/64GB storage and 4GB RAM/128GB storage. The bigger sibling of the two, the Samsung Galaxy S9+ will be available in 6GB RAM/64GB storage, 6GB RAM/128GB storage and 6GB RAM/256GB models in major markets across the world.
Rumour Roundup:
The smaller sibling will have a 5.8 inch Super AMOLED display while the Galaxy S9+ will have a 6.2 inch display. Both the devices will have a 2960 x 1440 px resolution.
Case Renders
Similar to its predecessor, the Galaxy S9 will have a single 12MP SuperSpeed Dual Pixel camera. This time around, however, the camera will have an f/1.5 aperture and record super slow motion videos at 480fps. The Samsung Galaxy S9+ will become the second phone from Samsung to feature a dual-camera setup on the back after the Galaxy Note8. The Galaxy S9+ will have a 12MP camera with an f/1.4 aperture along with another 12MP camera with an f/2.5 aperture
Owing to the launch of the Samsung flagship phones, a lot of companies have restrained from making significant announcements. It was recently revealed that Xiaomi could skip the Mi 7 launch at MWC as well, similar to what Huawei and HTC will do. The Galaxy S9 will be priced at Rs. 69000 in India.
Xiaomi is expected to put up an impressive showing at MWC 2018. Along with smartphones, the company could also unveil the Surge S2, its second custom chipset after the Surge S1. The confusion arises when we look at what Xiaomi could unveil and what the rumours point at. A month ago, there was barely any chatter about the Mi Mix 2S to ever be launched.
But, it is becoming increasingly possible that the Chinese smartphone maker could announce the Mi Mix 2S and not the Mi 7. After a few sketchy leaks, the Mi Mix 2S has shown up in an official Xiaomi banner which states the important specifications and the official design of the device. The first thing that grabs your attention is the design of the Mi Mix 2S and it will surely turn a few heads at its launch.
The back of the Mi Mix 2S is expected to be the same as the Mi Mix 2. It will be made of ceramic which means it’ll be a fingerprint magnet. However, that is a price you have to pay for a device that looks as premium as the Mi Mix 2S. The significant change will be in the camera department. This time around, the Mi Mix 2S will have a dual-camera setup, which could be similar to the one found on the Mi A1, albeit of better quality.
On the front is where Xiaomi will look to one-up the much-famed Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. The leaked image confirms that the Mi Mix 2S will have a different take on the “notch.” The bezels all around the display will be uniform but, the top right corner will protrude a bit and that will house the front-facing camera.
What’s missing in the render is a fingerprint sensor. This means that Xiaomi could be the second company to launch a smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor. This would also mean that Xiaomi will use an OLED panel for the upcoming device as opposed to the IPS LCD panel used on the Mi Mix 2.
Mi Mix 2s Renders
As we all know, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+won’t look very different from their predecessors. This means that design-wise, Samsung won’t have much to show, and that is where the Mi Mix 2S could excel. A lot of smartphone makers will skip MWC because of the popularity of the Galaxy S devices but, Xiaomi could grab a lot of eyeballs with the launch of this smartphone.
Apart from the design, the image also reveals that the Mi Mix 2S will be powered by the latest and greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset coupled with 8GB of RAM and 256GB onboard storage.
A few days ago, a part of the iOS source code was posted online. It has now been revealed that apparently, it was an ex-Apple intern that leaked the source code.
According to a report, the intern stole the code to help out his group of friends in the iOS jailbreaking community. He did that in order to help them with their ongoing efforts to find a way around Apple’s locked down iOS. According to one of his friend, he took “all sorts of Apple internal tools and whatnot.” This included additional source code that was not included in the initial leak.
The source code was taken down
The report claims that the initial plan was to make sure the source code never left the group of five friends. However, that did not hold up for too long as the code spread beyond the original group sometime last year. Eventually, the source code made its way to Reddit but, apparently, the post was initially deleted by a moderation bot automatically.
That is not where the circulation of the source code and eventually made its way to GitHub this week. Since then, Apple has ordered GitHub to remove the code. According to a source at Apple, the company already knew about the leak. This does make sense since the source code was generously circulated in the jailbreaking community. Someone from Apple was bound to come across this source code just roaming about on the internet.
The leak of the source code was considered to be a security concern in the beginning. The leak could allow hackers to discover iOS vulnerabilities more easily and make creating iPhone jailbreaks simpler. At the time, Apple’s lawyers described the leak as a “reproduction of Apple’s ‘iBoot’ source code, which is responsible for ensuring trusted boot operation of Apple’s iOS software.”
Since then, Apple has seem unfazed about the potential security issues. Apple claims that the code is already three years old and that the security of its products doesn’t depend on the secrecy of their source code.
Ever since Facebook gained the kind of popularity it possesses right now, the call for a ‘dislike’button was the loudest. Initially, Facebook said that it would steer clear of a ‘dislike’ button as it could add negativity. However, the company went ahead and added various reactions. One of them is an “angry” reaction which could be substituted as ‘dislike’ button.
The social networking site is now testing a downvote button that would work similarly to how downvotes are on Reddit and other sites. So far, only a few users in the United States can use this feature. And right now it is in a testing phase for now. However, the downvote button works differently than the dislike button.
While a dislike button is used to express displeasure or anger towards a post or comment, the downvote button will be different. The downvote button won’t be available for every post, it is designed for comments on posts from public pages. The downvote button would help hide offensive, abusive, or inappropriate comments. Using the downvote button won’t affect the entire post.
On a lot of websites, a number of downvotes make that particular comment hidden or deleted. Something similar will be implemented on Facebook.
A Facebook spokesperson has stated that the social network is simply testing this downvote feature so that users can provide feedback about comments on various posts from public pages.
In a debate of Android vs iOS, Android loses out when it comes to software support. The argument holds true that slightly older Android phones do not get the kind of software support older iPhones get. Samsung appears to be changing that with its line of flagship smartphones. A day after it started rolling out Android 8 Oreo update for the Galaxy S8 and S8+, it appears that even its 2015 flagship devices will get Android 8 Oreo update.
Now, when the smartphones will get this update is anyone’s guess as of now. The Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, and Galaxy Note5 will be the 2015 devices that will get the Android Oreo update. Manufacturer Development pages for these devices on T-Mobile’s official website say the carrier “and the device manufacturer have agreed to support a new software update.” This new software update will be Android 8 Oreo!
It looks like a lot of Samsung smartphones will receive Android 8 Oreo update this year. Recently, a few users in Vietnam received the Oreo update even though there were no prior beta programs or an announcement of any sorts. That looks like an error but, it does prove that the smartphone will eventually get Android 8 Oreo update.
A few weeks ago, a Samsung customer rep accidentally let slip that the Galaxy S6 will get Android 8 Oreo update in January or February. If true, the software update should not be far away.
2017 was a great year for smartphones. The bezels shrunk, dual cameras became a norm, and AI gained a few strides. 2018 promises to be another great year for a smartphone enthusiast and the early leaks and rumours are very promising. Let’s take a look at the top five upcoming smartphones of 2018:
Samsung Galaxy S9/Galaxy S9+
The first big launch of 2018 will be that of the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+. The smartphones will be launched at MWC 2018 and will possibly be the first to run on the Snapdragon 845 chipset. After weeks of renders and leaks, Samsung will finally unveil two of the most anticipated smartphones of 2018.
Design wise, the two phones won’t look different than their predecessors which is not a bad thing. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are still two of the most stunning devices on the market. The top and bottom bezels will be slightly thinner and the fingerprint sensor will be repositioned. Unlike last year’s, the fingerprint sensor will now be placed below the camera module instead of next to it. That is a great design change which was called for by many Galaxy S8 and Note8 users.
To compete with Apple’s Face ID, Samsung is rumoured to introduce Smart Scan as well. Apparently, the new feature is a combination of face and iris scanning. This extra layer will improve accuracy and security of the system in extremely dark or lit up environments. These are the situations where iris scanning and facial recognition systems fail. There have been reports that suggest the Samsung Galaxy S9 devices might have a 3D sensor equipped front-camera for improved biometrics.
There are no rumours or leaks about an upcoming Xiaomi Mi A2 or Mi A1(2018). However, considering the popularity of the Mi A1 in India, the company will be hard-pressed to launch a successor in 2018. The Mi A1 had a more 2016 design with thick bezels but, with budget smartphones also moving on to an 18:9 aspect ratio, the Mi A2 will also have a modern design.
The Xiaomi Mi A1 was launched as the Mi 5X in China and the Mi 6X could be the Mi A2 in India. So far, there have been a few leaks pertaining to the Xiaomi Mi 6X. According to leaked images, the Mi 6X will have an iPhone X-like vertically placed dual-camera setup along with fingerprint sensor and an aluminium unibody build.
Up until the Xiaomi Mi A1 was launched, Motorola’s Moto G5 Plus and G5s Plus had the best cameras in the segment. However, the Xiaomi Mi A1 had a great dual-camera setup as well and the Mi A2, in order to sway customers will have to have a great camera performance as well. The Xiaomi Mi A2 is expected to have the same “wide-angle and telephoto lens” combination for the primary cameras. The dual-camera setup on the front is becoming popular as well, meaning the Xiaomi Mi A2 could also have a dual-camera setup on the front as well.
If Xiaomi does launch the Mi A2 or Mi A1 (2018) in India, it is expected to do well, considering budget smartphones from Honor will have EMUI and a lot of consumers still prefer stock Android OS.
The OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T saw a rise in price which many people weren’t happy about. There was also no water resistance even though OnePlus decided to increase the price of its new flagship considerably. However, early rumours of the OnePlus 6 are in and it appears that the company will be refreshing its smartphone lineup earlier than expected. A report from Android Marvel claims that the OnePlus 6 will be launched in March of 2018 and have a few new features which the OnePlus 5T is missing.
Inspired by Face ID, the OnePlus 6 will also have its own version of facial recognition. The OnePlus 6 is expected to have a camera hardware setup similar to the iPhone X, complete with a 3D camera module that will use infrared light to measure depth. However, the OnePlus 6 will not have an iPhone X-like notch. Instead, the handset is expected to have a full top bezel where the extra sensors should be found.
The OnePlus 6 is expected to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset under the hood along with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. Storage options will most probably be the same with 64GB or 128Gb variants of the phone. OnePlus has shown its tendency to launch limited edition variants of its devices and it is fair to assume that the company will do something similar with the OnePlus 6 and possibly, the OnePlus 6T.
Apple iPhone X Plus
2018 Apple iPhone lineup
It’s tentative but, we might see a bigger version of the iPhone X in September of 2018. The iPhone X, launched in September 2017 saw a radical shift from the traditional iPhone design we were accustomed to, since the launch of the iPhone 6. While the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were similar to their predecessors, the iPhone X was the special 10th-anniversary device, billed as the true successor to the original iPhone which was launched back in 2007.
Early reports claim that Apple will continue the trend and launch three new iPhones in 2018. While two of them will continue to have an OLED display, the smallest of the three iPhones will be cheaper thanks to the LCD display. However, the design of all the three iPhones will be similar to the iPhone X with the notch at the top of the display and vertically placed dual cameras.
Under the hood, an upgraded A12 (tentatively named) chipset is expected which will, as always, perform better than the previous generation and go toe-to-toe with the Snapdragon 845 chipset.
Apple made it clear that it will emphasise a lot on the use of AI and machine learning with the introduction of ARKit. This is expected to be taken a notch higher with the next generation iPhones. What will be interesting to see is the nomenclature of all the three iPhones.
Google Pixel 3/Pixel 3 XL
The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL launched amidst a lot of anticipation. Google was expected to deliver two of the best Android phones of the year and while the software and AI integration of the two phones was commendable, Google lost the race in the hardware department.
In 2018, especially after having the HTC smartphone personnel on board, Google will be expected to rectify those mistakes and deliver great Android devices which will compete with the likes of the Galaxy S9 and the OnePlus 6.
Similar to the Pixel 2, the Pixel 3 and its bigger sibling will focus a lot on AI and machine learning, and deliver smooth software experience thanks to the stock Android OS. 2018 will see the launch of Android P and the Pixel 3 devices will be the first Android phones on the planet to run o the new Android OS.
The Pixel 2 smartphones had the best camera on smartphones and achieved dual-camera capable features on their single camera setup thanks to Google’s incredible machine learning and AI implementation. We expect similar results from the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.
Ever since 2018 rolled around, the density of smartphones with an iPhone X-like notch has been increasing. From Chinese smartphone makers like Doogee to established companies like Huawei, many devices are expected to be launched in 2018 with a notch. A few weeks ago, images of the Sharp Aquos S3 surfaced and new images of the device confirm the design’s inspiration from the iPhone X.
Leaked in live images, the Sharp Aquos S3 has an iPhone X style notch on top which probably doesn’t house a bunch of 3D sensors. In the images, it visible that the notch houses a front-facing camera along with an earpiece. Also, unlike the iPhone X, the notch is much smaller which gives the phone an odd look.
The bezels are thin but, the bottom bezel is thicker than the rest which has been a trend for a lot of smartphones. Even the leaked renders of the Huawei P11 Lite and Huawei P11 Plus reveal a thick bottom bezel. It will be interesting to see if a smartphone releasing in late-2018 will get rid of that odd thickness of the bottom bezel.
On the back of the smartphone is again, a familiar design language. The two cameras are placed vertically on the back and the positioning is very similar to the iPhone X. Where the Aquos S3 one-ups the iPhone X is in the fingerprint sensor department. Apple got rid of Touch ID in favour of Face ID and although Face ID has held up pretty well, a lot of people miss the fingerprint sensor.
Early Leaks
The Sharp Aquos S3 does not leave out the fingerprint sensor. 2018 will also see a lot of smartphones integrating a more secure form facial recognition which is more than just software based. Huawei already unveiled its technology in late-2017 and the Huawei P11 and P11 Plus are expected to have facial recognition which can be used for banking.
The Sharp Aquos S3 is expected to be unveiled at MWC 2018.
The build-up to Xiaomi’s event at MWC 2018 is very confusing. While companies like Samsung have confirmed the rumours and announced that the Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be launched at MWC, Xiaomi has been rather quiet about it. It was believed that the company would launch the Mi 7 at MWC but, recently, rumours about the Mi Mix 2S have picked up.
However, a new leak focuses on the next ‘Mi’ flagship device, the Mi 7. A screenshot, believed to be a Mi 7 device, reveals a few key specifications of the upcoming smartphone. It claims that the smartphone will have 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. Powering the device will be a massive 4480 mAh battery, a considerable upgrade over the Mi 6’s 3,350 mAh battery.
As expected, it runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset and will have an 18:9 aspect ratio. What is a bit disappointing is that it has a resolution of 2160 x 1080 px instead of 1880 x 1440 px. Considering the fact that it is a flagship phone, the company should be pushing higher resolution for the device.
Early Mi 7 Renders
On the OS front is where the things get a bit sketchy. Xiaomi recently rolled out MIUI 9 for devices that were launched over 4 years ago but, the Mi 7 in this screenshot still runs MIUI 8. While it could be possible that MIUI 8.1.30X means the build is 30th January, and not an old UI, nothing is certain for now. What is certain is that any Xiaomi smartphone launched in 2018 will run MIUI 9 and not an older version.
Motorola’s 2017 flagship, the Moto Z2 Force will launch in India on the 15th of February. The company has sent out press invites for the event in Delhi which doesn’t mention any pricing details. However, with the launch of the device happening so late in India, we expect the company to price it competitively.
The Moto Z2 Force was launched globally in July 2017 and its entry in India has been long overdue. The Moto Z2 Force could be priced in India to compete with the likes of the OnePlus 5T and LG V30+. To sweeten the deal, Motorola could add the Moto TurboPower mod as well.
Moto Z2 Force Overview
The Moto Z2 Force has a 5.5 inch P-OLED display with a 2560 x 1440 px resolution. The Moto Z2 Force does not have Corning Gorilla Glass on top, instead has a plastic shattershield coating on top. This means that the Moto Z2 Force will survive drops more than a regular device with Corning Gorilla Glass. However, thanks to the presence of a plastic coating, it would be more susceptible to smaller scratches.
Under the hood, the device has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The storage is expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the front of the smartphone as it retains the size and design of a ‘Moto Z’ device. This is done to maintain compatibility with Moto Mods.
Moto Mods Compatible With Moto Z2 Force
Powering the device is a 2730 mAh battery with support for QuickCharge. Out of the box, the smartphone will run Android 7 Nougat but, it is expected to get Android 8 Oreo update soon.
The smartphone has a dual 12MP f/2.0 camera setup on the back. One of them has an RGB sensor while the other one has a monochrome sensor. On the front of the smartphone is a 5MP camera with a dual-tone LED flash.
LG and its smartphone business, in particular, has been going through a rocky patch of late. The smartphone maker has been rumoured to take drastic steps in order to shake things up a bit and change the outlook of its smartphone portfolio. One such step was to not follow a launch pattern and bring in new versions of existing phones rather than new phones altogether.
With that in mind, it was speculated that the company would launch the LG V30+ Alpha with AI capabilities at MWC 2018. However, a new report coming out of South Korea has claimed that the company would launch the LG V30s at MWC 2018. Along with that, it would also unveil the LG Lens. An AI camera app that will work similar to the Bixby camera and Google Lens.
The LG V30s will have 256GB of onboard storage and over the 64GB found in the regular LG V30. This will also be double the storage found in the LG V30+ which was launched in India in December. The price of the smartphone is expected a little over one million won (US$ 918). With an older chipset and LG’s custom skin, it might not be the best decision to increase the price of the device so much.
The LG Lens will be the marquee addition to the LG V30s over the previous versions. The LG Lens is expected to let users search and shop for items using the camera. Along with that, it will possess a language translation service and augmented reality functionality that uses both the camera and the phone’s GPS.
Google Lens
How much of an appeal the LG V30s will have over the Galaxy S9 and S9+ is yet to be seen. The Galaxy devices will have a newer chipset, design and in all probability, better cameras. The LG V30s is also expected to be priced higher than the previous variants although, it is cheaper than the LG V30 Signature.
It is becoming increasingly plausible that Xiaomi will announce the Mi Mix 2S at MWC 2018. A few renders have revealed a very interesting design of the Mi Mix 2S with a notch. A new leak has now shed some light on what could be possible design and specifications of the upcoming flagship smartphone from Xiaomi.
The leaked image shows off a similar odd placement of the front-facing camera. Also, the leak claims that the fingerprint sensor will be placed under the display which, seems a bit unlikely. The bezels are even around the display and the top bezel also houses a small earpiece. To the back, it will have a four-sided curved ceramic unibody.
The leak also reiterates that the Mi Mix 2S will be the first device to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. Even if the device does have the Snapdragon 845 chipset, it might not be the first one as Samsung will launch the Galaxy S9 and S9+ on the 25th of February. Along with the Snapdragon 845 chipset, it will have an 8GB LPDDR4X RAM along with 256GB of onboard storage.
Mi Mix 2s Render
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S
Even after all the leaks, it still looks like the smartphone could be a thing of imagination.
An earlier render of the Mi Mix 2s showing a notch on the display looked a photoshopped iPhone X photo.
Mi Mix 2s Early Renders
The image shows evenly trimmed bezels all around the display. The Mi Mix 2 had a small chin which housed the front-facing camera. The front facing camera here is placed in the top right corner. It is fitted awkwardly which results in a weird notch on the top right corner. Although this looks like a design prototype that would’ve been buried in the back burner, the design does look new and different.
Ever since then, there were have been more leaks that support this design with a weird notch on top. Xiaomi will be present at MWC 2018 and could announce the Mi Mix 2S right after the Galaxy S9 launch.
Huawei is expected to launch a few smartphones in the coming weeks. While there were reports that Huawei won’t be present at MWC 2018, the company has confirmed that it will indeed be there. This means that the company could launch the Huawei P20/P11 Plus Lite at MWC 2018 and save the marquee launch of Huawei P11 Plus for the March event.
We recently got a glimpse at what the P11 Plus Lite might look like. From the same source, we now have comprehensive renders of the Huawei P11 Plus/P20 which will be launch on the 27th of March. The renders of the smartphone look stunning and again, has a few interesting features. The build quality looks similar to the P11 Plus Lite, which means an all-glass build with a metal (possibly aluminium) frame.
On the front of the smartphone is the noticeable iPhone X-like notch. Now, Apple did not patent this sort of design but, it is the most popular smartphone right now that possesses a notch on the top. This means that every smartphone with a notch will be compared to the iPhone X and the functionality of the notch. The iPhone X houses all the hardware used for Face ID inside that notch.
Huawei, being one of the biggest smartphone makers won’t just go ahead and imitate an iPhone feature. This means that the Huawei P11 Plus or P20 will have a Face ID like facial recognition system that might use two cameras. Hence, the presence of a notch would seem justifiable. Also, the company claimed that its facial recognition system is ten times better than Face ID, which means it is more than just a software gimmick.
On the back of the smartphone is where the most-anticipated feature lies. Similar to the iPhone X, it has slightly protruded dual-camera setup. However, just underneath the dual-camera setup is another camera, which means this smartphone will be the smartphone in the world to have a triple-camera setup on the back. This feature has been rumoured for a while and Huawei’s press invite also has a few hints regarding the feature.
The Huawei P11 Plus/ P20 will be powered by the HiSilicopn Kirin 970 chipset which means it will have all the AI functionalities like the Honor View10. More leaks will follow as we move closer to the launch date.
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 845 chipset in late-2017. The flagship chipset will power most of the flagship devices in 2018 but, the smartphone industry comprises a lot of budget smartphones. Hence, the onus is on Qualcomm to consistently produce great budget chipsets like the Snapdragon 625.
A couple of months ago, there were leaks surrounding the existence of Snapdragon 670 chipset. Now, a new leak has revealed all the specifications of the chipset. It is also expected to be announced at MWC 2018. The Snapdragon 670 will be a 10nm chipset that will not be based on the classic big.LITTLE architecture. Also, the chipset will comprise six low-end cores and two high-end cores. This is different from the usual four low-end and four high-end CPU cores.
Mi 6X Could Be Powered By The Snapdragon 670
The low-end cores, dubbed as Kryo 300 Silver will have a maximum clock speed of 2.6GHz. In a nutshell, the Kryo 300 Silver is just an adapted version of ARM Cortex A55. The high-end cores, called Kryo 300 Gold, is a custom version of ARM Cortex A75. The Kryo Gold will have a maximum processing speed of 1.7GHz.
Supporting the graphics will the Adreno 615 that works at 430MHz or 650MHz however, it can also reach 700MHz dynamically. The smartphones running on the Snapdragon 670 chipset will be expected to have top-notch performance. The Snapdragon 670 will support maximum download speeds of 1Gbps, thanks to the Snapdragon X2X modem. The chipset will offer support for UFS 2.1 and eMMC 5.1.
If the chipset is announced at MWC 2018, there are chances of OEMs adopting the chipset for their smartphones that are scheduled to launch in mid-2018 or later, like the Mi 6X.
Honor 7X was launched in India in December 2017 at a starting price of Rs. 12999. At the time of the launch, the Honor 7X was available in Blue, Black and Gold colour variants. Now, the company has launched a special edition red colour variant of the Honor 7X at the same price as the other variants.
While 2017 saw the trend of shrinking bezels and taller displays catch on, another trend seems to be egging on at this time. A lot of smartphone makers have launched a special edition red colour variant of their popular devices. Companies like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Apple have all released a limited edition variant of their devices and Honor is the next one on the list.
While many people anyway use a case to protect their phones, a different colour does make sense. Smartphones have become increasingly similar nowadays in terms of specifications and sometimes, a different colour option can sway a customer to your device. Honor seems to have done the same and the Honor 7X is also the cheapest smartphone in the market available in a red colour variant and has an 18:9 aspect ratio.
The Honor 7X has a 5.9 inch LTPS IPS LCD display with a 2160 x 1080 px display which translates into an 18:9 aspect ratio.
Under the hood, the Honor 7X has the HiSilicon Kirin 659 chipset, Mali-T830 MP2 GPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB onboard storage. The onboard storage is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. The device is powered by a 3340 mAh battery which charges via a micro USB slot. Since the device has thin bezels, the fingerprint sensor is placed at the back of the below the dual-camera setup.
The Honor 7X runs Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 6.0 on top which gives a user more options for customising their phones.
The smartphone has a dual camera setup at the back. One of the cameras is equipped with a 16MP sensor while the other one is a 2MP depth sensor. The camera setup at the back has PDAF and records 1080P videos at 30fps. On the front is an 8MP camera which also records 1080P videos.
