Taking a look back at seven days of news and headlines across the world of Android, this week’s Android Circuit includes the final Galaxy Unpacked leaks, Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip prices, disappointing Galaxy S21 sales, Pixel 6 and Tensor chip news, Realme’s MagDart, Oppo’s under screen camera, Honor’s Earbuds 2 Lite, Google’s GIF keyboard, and the smartphone in the Olympic medal.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android in the last week (and you can find the weekly Apple news digest here).
New Galaxy Prices Revealed
Ahead of next week’s ‘Galaxy Unpacked’ launch event from Samsung, details on the Z Fold and Z Flip handsets, including the European pricing, have leaked:
"First off are the two foldables – Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3. The base variant Z Fold3 likely with 256GB storage is listed for €1,899 while the upper 512GB storage tier is €1,999. More impressively, the 128GB storage Z Flip3 starts at €1,099 while the 256GB model will go for €1,149. We still have to wait and see if these price rumors hold up but they certainly match previous rumors of a more affordable foldable duo."
(GSM Arena).
Weak Galaxy S21 Sales
It may have seen a promising rush of sales when launched, but Samsung’s Galaxy S21 is not proving to be as popular as the Galaxy S20, and that struggled compared to the Galaxy S10 before it. Has the Galaxy S stopped becoming the talk of the town?
“...according to Business Post citing Kiwoom Securities, Galaxy S21 sales figures after the first six months on the market are lower than last year and the year before. In other words, the Galaxy S21 is performing worse than the Galaxy S20 as well as the Galaxy S10. This is despite the fact that early Galaxy S21 domestic sales were up 30% compared to the Galaxy S20 lineup and despite the new flagship series reaching a four-year high in just one month on the market."
(SamMobile).
European Lead Belongs To Xiaomi
Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung to become the top vendor by shipments in Europe, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics. The Chinese company has a 25.3 percent marketshare over samsung’s 24 percent and Apple’s 19.2 percent. Oppo and Realme round out the top five. Overall the year on year growth for the second financial quarter is 14 percent, presumably recovering after the impact of the coronavirus lockdowns last year:
"The highlight of the quarter is Xiaomi emerging as Europe’s number one vendor by smartphone shipments for the first time ever. We estimate Xiaomi shipped a record 12.7 million units in Europe to overtake long-time leader Samsung. Xiaomi has seen high demand in Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere. European customers are eager for Xiaomi’s Mi and Redmi series of feature-rich, value smartphones.”
Not Launching The Pixel 6
While it wasn’t a full launch of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro this week, Google has previewed the handsets. The name is now definitely confirmed, as are a few key features. The biggie of course is the system on chip, with Google launching it’s own mobile variant of the Tensor chips used in its server farms. Built around machine learning and AI, expect this silicon to push the limits of what Android 12 will be able to do. I wonder if Google will sell the chip to any interested partners?
"AI is the future of our innovation work, but the problem is we’ve run into computing limitations that prevented us from fully pursuing our mission. So we set about building a technology platform built for mobile that enabled us to bring our most innovative AI and machine learning (ML) to our Pixel users. We set out to make our own System on a Chip (SoC) to power Pixel 6. And now, years later, it’s almost here."
(Google Blog).
More Magnetic Peripherals From RealMe
Realme has announced a new range of peripherals based around magnetic connection. Called MagDart - and no doubt drawing comparisons to Apple’s MagSafe line-up - it includes wireless chargers, power banks, wallets, camera lights, and more. Of course none of the current Reame handsets have the required magnets, so there\s a slip case with the required magnets and connections for the Realme GT, with other models sure to follow:
"The MagDart Beauty Light has as flip up ring flash with 60 LEDs The MagDart Beauty Light has as flip up ring flash with 60 LEDsThe MagDart Beauty Light has as flip up ring flash with 60 LEDs Yet another accessory is the MagDart Wallet. Like the power bank, this one is made out of vegan leather and aluminum. It can hold three credit cards and has a built-in kickstand, which can prop up the phone while you watch a movie or hop into a video call.”
(GSM Arena).
Hiding The Selfie Camera
Oppo has unveiled its next under-display camera. At the moment only sample images of the display and the resulting selfie images have been published, but the technology is expected to show up in various handsets over the next twelve months:
"Unlike earlier approaches that reduce pixel density in the portion of the screen that covers the camera in order to let more light pass through, Oppo is using smaller pixels to maintain the same 400-ppi sharpness as the rest of the OLED panel. The result, according to Oppo, is that users should notice “almost no visual difference between the [under-screen camera] area and the rest of the screen during everyday use, creating a much more immersive visual experience.”"
(The Verge).
Earbuds First, Phone Later
Honor is keeping its visibility high ahead of the Magic3 launch with the release of the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite. Of not is the inclusion of active noise cancelling, a low-latency mode for gaming, and a ten hour battery life with the buds (and another 22 hours with the charging case). They go on sale this weekend, prices start at 69 Euros (Honor)
"Equipped with two Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) silicon microphones, the HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite combine traditional wave noise reduction technology and a Deep Neural Network (DNN), alongside Dual Anti-Wind technology to extract the caller’s sound and optimize the voice calling experience.”
A New Way To GIF
In the quest to make a better on-screen keyboard, Google has made an interesting decision in the blatest beta of Gboard; the search option now bumped lower down the preferences to make more room for emojis, message stickers, and the all important meme GIF:
"“Emojis, Stickers & GIFs” replaces “Search” as the third to last item in Gboard settings. The first section deals with “Layout,” and all the controls here were previously housed in main “Preferences” or “Advanced.” That said, the descriptions are much easier to understand compared to before."
(9to5Google).
And Finally...
As the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games comes to a close, it’s worth highlighting the smartphone angle to the gold, silver, and bronze medals. Since 2017 the organising committee has been collecting “small electronic devices” to recycle, and many of the materials from the 78,985 tons of hardware have found their way into the medals:
"In the two years between April 2017 and March 2019, 100 percent of the metals required to manufacture the approximately 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals were extracted from small electronic devices contributed by people from all over Japan. Every single medal to be awarded to athletes during the Tokyo 2020 Games is made from recycled metals. "
(Olympics.com).
Android Circuit rounds up the news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course read the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!
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