Deals: iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max launch, Galaxy S26 and Pixel 11 series drop prices

Pre-orders for the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max started this Saturday. Premium Apple models rarely get discounts and never this early, so we’ll just list their prices here for the sake of comparison with flagship Androids that might lure you away from the siren call of a new iPhone. So, here are the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. They feature Apple’s first 2nm chip, the A20 Pro, which runs at close to 5GHz (it peaks at 4.93GHz) and posted massive Geekbench scores. Additionally, the new models promise longer battery life, especially the Pro Max. And they have a variable aperture for the...

vivo shows all colors of the X500 Pro Max

vivo is unveiling the X500 series in China on September 21, and ahead of that, a few days ago the company revealed the design of the X500 Pro Max. Today it's back with more official images, this time showing all four colors in which the phone will be available. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. vivo X500 Pro Max in all colors The X500 Pro Max is expected to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro SoC. It will have a main camera with a custom sensor co-developed with Sony which will offer 17EV of dynamic range. Its 200MP periscope telephoto camera will be the same...

OnePlus 16 may not launch in India

According to a new rumor from a tipster on X, OnePlus may not be launching the upcoming OnePlus 16 in India. Instead, the OnePlus 16R will be the brand's next flagship in the country. It will be followed by new Nord series and N series devices. In recent years, OnePlus has launched a new flagship number-series device as well as an R-series model, which uses a lesser chipset and comes with lesser cameras and a big battery. Now, if this rumor pans out, it means India will miss out on a OnePlus device powered by the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chipset, and will have to make do with the...

Fairphone's Fairbuds 2 earbuds leak in two colors

Fairphone launched its first pair of true wireless earbuds, aptly called the Fairbuds, in April of 2024. Now the company is almost ready to introduce the second generation - in fact, the Fairbuds 2 are coming in the fourth quarter of this year (between October and December). Today a new leak brings us a look at the new earbuds in green and black. Fairbuds 2 leaked images As you can see, the Fairbuds 2 have stems, while the originals didn't. Their case is also thicker than the original one, which makes us wonder whether Fairphone has managed to fit a larger battery inside than...

Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra now available in India as part of Certified Re-Newed program

Samsung today announced that the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra are now available in India through its Certified Re-Newed (CRN) program. Samsung claims that every CRN device is "inspected, cleaned, refurbished and tested through a Samsung-certified renewal process to meet Samsung’s standards for quality, performance and reliability." Each CRN device is reset to remove personal data and updated with the latest software before being sold to customers. It also packs a Samsung-certified battery, and where required, parts are replaced with genuine Samsung parts. The CRN Galaxy S26...

Xiaomi starts beta test recruitment for HyperOS 4

Xiaomi is now starting to recruit eager beta testers for its upcoming HyperOS 4 release for Global and EEA markets. If you want to give it a try, as always do keep in mind that beta software can have bugs and issues and is not recommended for your daily driver. If you want to go through with it even so, then you need to have a Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi, or Xiaomi 17. Then, head on over to the Xiaomi Community app, tap Me, then Beta testing, and then Recruiting test. There will be a questionnaire for you to fill out. Xiaomi notes that for certain beta versions,...

Qualcomm outlines the improvements in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro's new NPU

Qualcomm is introducing its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 SoC as well as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro at its annual Snapdragon Summit on September 22. Ahead of that event, today the company is teasing the improvements it's made to one of the chips' Hexagon NPU (presumably we're talking about the Hexagon NPU of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro). This is built for agentic AI, with a transformer-focused Element Accelerator and a 50% larger shared memory that "keeps frequently accessed model data close to the NPU" so that agents "can stay responsive as they juggle longer context, more...

Here are the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max Geekbench scores

Yesterday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, which are both powered by the new A20 Pro chip. As usual, the company has praised its latest and greatest SoC for being better than all of its predecessors, but how does it actually perform in a benchmark? Thankfully, we have a preliminary answer for that today, since two new iPhones identifying themselves as the iPhone 19,2 and iPhone 19,3 have just run Geekbench 6.7. Their single-core scores are 4,719 and 4,612, respectively, while their multi-core scores are 12,677 and 11,819, respectively. If we average the single-core...

Global Oppo A7 Pro and A7 Pro Max spotted on Geekbench

Oppo launched the A7 Pro Max in China in August and the A7 Pro yesterday, and it seems like both devices are headed to global markets as well. Both of them have now been spotted in the Geekbench online database, and there's some good news regarding the few specs that the benchmark reveals. It very well could be that both the A7 Pro and A7 Pro Max will be identical globally to their Chinese counterparts. The global A7 Pro, with the model number CPH2931, is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6360 Max SoC just like the Chinese model, and the global A7 Pro Max, with the model number CPH2909, is...

The Honor Magic9 Pro Max stars in a hands-on video before its official announcement

The Honor Magic9 series will be unveiled at the end of this month and we think that it will have three members – the Magic9, the 9 Pro and the Magic9 Pro Max. The latter, painted in the Moss Green color that we’ve seen in teasers, starred in an early unboxing and hands-on video. The video was posted on Weibo – you can watch it here. It starts by going over the exterior of the phone. The “Oreo” style camera island of the Magic8 series is replaced by a mix of round elements and a full-width rectangle. The Honor Magic9 Pro Max stars in a hands-on video before its official...

Sony Xperia 1 IX may get an exciting camera upgrade

Sony launched the Xperia 1 VIII, its latest flagship smartphone, back in May, and released it in June. Now we already have a rumor about its successor, which we assume will be called the Xperia 1 IX. [#InlinePriceWidget,14660,1#] This device will allegedly sport a main camera with a larger sensor than the Xperia 1 VIII's 1/1.35" type. Use of a larger sensor will necessitate more space, so the Xperia 1 IX will apparently have a redesigned camera island, with a larger square area than the Xperia 1 VIII's. Sony Xperia 1 VIII If this pans out, it would be the first time Sony changed...

The Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra are beating Galaxy Z Fold7's sales numbers in Europe

Back in August, Samsung revealed that pre-orders in Europe for the Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra and Z Flip8 were 20% higher than the pre-orders for the Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 last year. The new foldables have continued to gain momentum since then. Now, Samsung says that the combined Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra sales are 50% higher than the Z Fold7 last year (note that this stat doesn't include Z Flip sales, unlike the pre-order number). Okay, it’s two phones against one, but this shows that there was a wide foldable-shaped hole in Samsung’s Galaxy Z line-up. This conclusion is also...

Oppo A7 Pro is now official with an 8,000 mAh battery

Oppo's A7 Pro is finally joining the A7 Pro Max, which was launched back in August. The A7 Pro will become available in China on September 11, and ahead of that the company has started taking pre-orders for the device today, also revealing its specs and pricing in the process. The A7 Pro has a 6.57-inch flat OLED screen with 1080x2372 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 1,400-nit peak brightness, a 50MP main camera with f/1.9 aperture, an 8MP front camera with f/2.1 aperture, and an 8,000 mAh battery with support for 45W fast wired charging. Interestingly, Oppo promises that the...

We go hands-on with TCL P80 Pro's OLED-based NxtPaper display, TCL P80 also handled

TCL made a big jump with the P80 series of phones – these are the first to have NxtPaper displays based on OLED panels instead of LCD. The key benefits are the usual – higher brightness, greater contrast, punchier colors – but the company made sure that these advantages didn’t come at the cost of a reduced NxtPaper experience. The NxtPaper brand has been around for a few years now – it aims to give the display a paper-like feel and comfort when reading. Yes, e-ink displays exist and there are even some e-ink phones out there. However, despite years of improving frame rates and colors,...

MediaTek's Dimensity 9600 Pro SoC now has an official launch date

Today on X, MediaTek has revealed when it plans to unveil its next flagship Dimensity SoC: on September 15 at 2:30 PM in China. That's 2:30 AM in New York, 7:30 AM in London, 8:30 AM in Central Europe, 9:30 AM in Eastern Europe, and 12 PM in India. According to the post on X, the new product is a "pro chip", enabling a "pro experience", but it also comes with "pro efficiency" and "pro imaging", supporting 4k240fps slow-motion. "Pro gaming" hasn't been forgotten either, with the company promising "AI-enhanced graphics", an upgraded HyperEngine, and "immersive ray tracing". So it...

Apple wanted the iPhone Ultra to cost $1,999, new report says

Apple is holding its big annual iPhone launch event on September 9, and it's widely expected to unveil the iPhone Ultra on that day. This will be its first foldable smartphone, and it's been a very long time coming. According to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company has practically been working on it for a decade. Interestingly, Apple wanted the iPhone Ultra to cost $1,999, but it got hit by the memory chip shortage and insane price hikes, so now it's probably going to come out starting at $2,199. However, the top configuration (presumably with 1TB of storage) might go as...

Sony Xperia 1 VIII receives the Android 17 update, here's what's new

Sony launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 VIII, a few months ago running Android 16. In the meantime, Google has released Android 17, and now Sony seems to have started rolling out the update to the Xperia 1 VIII, according to reports from users on Reddit. [#InlinePriceWidget,14660,1#] The update arrives as a 1.2GB over-the-air download, and identifies itself as version 73.1.A.2.61. It seems to be available to some users in Europe for now, but it's undoubtedly going to spread to more regions in the coming days and weeks. Sony Xperia 1 VIII Android 17...

Huawei Mate XT 2 Ultimate Design is official with a Kirin 9050 Pro SoC, 5,600mAh battery

The Huawei Mate XT 2 Ultimate Design has been unveiled in China with a redesign and an inward-folding hinge design. It also features a privacy display, an all new Kirin 9050 Pro chipset, and runs HarmonyOS 7. Huawei’s latest tri-folding smartphone sports a 6.5-inch OLED LTPO cover display with a Full-HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and a 6,500 nits peak brightness. On the inside, it gets a 10.2-inch OLED 90Hz LTPO panel that has a 3K resolution and a 12.8:9 aspect ratio. The inner panel also features a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra-like hardware privacy-screen. The Mate XT 2...

Tecno unveils the Camon Slim 5G with a bunch of unique rear finishes

Today Tecno has taken the wraps off the Camon Slim 5G, a phone that does justice to its name by being 6.39mm thin. It's powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300e chipset, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128/256GB of storage. The phone sports a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with 1208x2644 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate, a 50MP main camera using Sony's Lytia 700C 1/1.56" type sensor with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide, a 32MP selfie camera, and a 6,000 mAh battery with support for 45W wired charging. Tecno Camon Slim 5G official images The phone runs HiOS 16 based on Android 16, and Tecno...

Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max is official with a 13.3-inch screen, Xring O3 SoC, and a 12,000 mAh battery

Alongside the 18 Fold, Xiaomi today also announced the Pad 9 Pro Max, which is the company's new flagship tablet. The device features a 13.3-inch LCD screen with 3408x2272 resolution, a 3:2 aspect ratio, a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 1,000-nit peak brightness. It's powered by Xiaomi's self-developed Xring O3 chip, just like the Xiaomi 18 Fold. This is paired with 8/12/16GB of RAM and 256GB/512GB/1TB of storage. On the rear there's a 50MP camera with OIS, while for selfies there's a 32MP front camera. The tablet has a 12,000 mAh battery with support for 120W wired charging, 27W...