Brands like Tecno and Motorola have significantly lowered the price barrier when it comes to flip foldable phones around the world and now Samsung wants to enter that space, too. While the specifications of the device have already been leaked once earlier this year, rumours about the Z Flip FE have resurfaced.
Korean blogger yeux1122 has suggested that Samsung will launch a Galaxy Z Flip FE in 2025, and would be a “simultaneous release” alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 7. Samsung has changed the launch window for its foldables since past two years from August to July, which means the Galaxy Z Flip FE may launch alongside the Z Flip 7 in 2026 in July.
Samsung has already hinted towards the existence of a Fan Edition Flip smartphone in one of its recent earnings call, where an executive said (via), “We are considering ways to lower entry barriers so that more customers can actually experience foldable products, given the high satisfaction among existing foldable users.”
“We are also preparing new form factors to deliver a more powerful and innovative mobile experience. We will bring products to the market once they achieve a level of quality and experience that satisfies customers in real-life use environments,” the company added.
How the company plans to make a cheaper foldable is still a mystery. In other words, it’s unclear what the tradeoffs over the regular foldables from Samsung would be. However, the specs leak from earlier this year suggests the Flip FE could employ the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, which could be one of the major downgrades over the flagship processors used in regular Samsung foldables. While a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip FE may be on the cards, recent reports suggest a Galaxy Z Fold FE isn’t.
OnePlus debuted the OnePlus 13 5G a couple of days back, shortly after iQOO also announced its iQOO 13 5G in China and both of them enjoy a strong userbase in their home countries. Both the devices are set for global launch and iQOO has even confirmed the iQOO 13 arrival in India, and if rumours are to be believed, OnePlus is planning to launch the OnePlus 13 in India early next year. Considering they’ll retain the specifications of their chinese counterparts, here’s comparison between the OnePlus 13 5G and the iQOO 13 5G.
Display
The OnePlus 13 5G sports a 6.82-inch QHD+ (3168 x 1440 pixels) 120Hz 3D AMOLED LTPO display. Furthermore, there is 4500 nits of peak brightness, adaptive refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, 93.5% screen-to-body ratio, Dolby Vision support and Crystal Shield ultra-ceramic glass protection.
The iQOO 13 5G sports a 6.82-inch 2K 8T LTPO OLED flat display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 1800 nits brightness in HBM mode and 4500 nits peak brightness, 2592Hz PWM dimming, and OLED circular polarized light eye protection technology.
While both of them have an equally strong display, the one on the iQOO 13 takes the lead due to a higher 144Hz Refresh Rate support. Keeping that aside, they are equally bright, have a QHD resolution, and support LTPO technology for adaptive refresh rate as well.
Software & Performance
Both the iQOO 13 5G and the OnePlus 13 5G are powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, and get up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. However, OnePlus offers a model with 24GB of RAM while iQOO 13 maxes out at 16GB, due to which OnePlus 13 wins in this round. As for software, they come with Android 15-based skins out of the box and because we haven’t used the devices personally, we won’t comment on which software skin is better out of the two.
Cameras & Battery
The iQOO 13 features a triple-cam setup on the back, including an OIS-assisted 50MP f/1.88 Sony IMX921 primary camera, a 50MP f/2.0 Samsung JN1 ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 50MP f/1.85 Sony IMX816 2x telephoto sensor with OIS. A 32MP f/2.45 sensor handles the selfies and video calls on the device.
The OnePlus handset has a triple camera setup at the rear including a 50MP f/1.6 Sony LYT-808 primary sensor with two-axis OIS, 50MP f/2.0 Samsung JN5 ultra-wide angle sensor, and a 50MP f/2.6 Sony LYT-600 periscope telephoto camera with OIS, 3x Optical Zoom support and 120x Digital Zoom support. On the front, there is a 32MP f/2.4 Sony IMX615 sensor for selfies and video calls.
While the types of Sensors in use are identical, on paper, the OnePlus 13 seems to have been using superior sensors over iQOO 13’s. But, that’s just on paper and in real world, the results might surprise so we won’t declare the better smartphone in this segment either.
As for the battery, the iQOO 13 draws power from a huge 6150 mAh battery with 120W fast wired charging. The OnePlus 13 is backed by a 6000mAh battery that supports 100W SuperVOOC fast wired charging, 50W wireless charging, 10W reverse wireless charging, and 5W reverse wired charging.
Although the iQOO 13 features a slightly larger battery and faster charging, the OnePlus 13 compensates by offering wireless charging, which the iQOO 13 lacks. As a result, we’d call this round a tie.
Conclusion
Both the smartphones are so identical in some aspects, that they make it quite difficult to pick one over the other. One of the major deciding factors would be price, and in India at least, we’ll have to wait for a while to make a choice between the two. In China, the iQOO 13 starts at CNY 3,999 (approx Rs 47,100) while the OnePlus handset begins at CNY 4,499 (approx Rs 53,000).
While the price gap isn’t that big, the iQOO 13 takes a lead here as well, especially if you want to buy it for gaming, as the 144Hz panel will account for a smoother experience than OnePlus’ 120Hz panel. However, if you want better cameras and a better multitasking experience, we feel the OnePlus 13 would serve you better based on the camera sensors it uses and the amount of RAM it offers.
In a development that might shock you, a report suggests that Samsung may drop the ‘Galaxy’ branding for its premium range of smartphones. Samsung Galaxy has become the brand’s identity as the company doesn’t launch phones without this branding, but as suggested, that could change soon.
The report from E-Today reveals that the Korean brand is exploring a new branding strategy where Samsung may drop the ‘Galaxy’ branding for its premium smartphones, so it could separate the company’s “innovative turning points.”
Earlier this year, Samsung’s Lee Young-hee acknowledged that “Galaxy has so many lineups that I understand people are expecting a new name when there is an innovative turning point.” Introducing a new brand for premium devices would create that distinction, similar to Hyundai’s Genesis brand for its premium vehicles.
This would be a huge change for Samsung and could potentially affect the company in a good manner, considering it plans to give the ultimate competition to brands like Apple, who also has the branding ‘iPhone’ in all its devices but none of them are considered budget. On the other hand, all of Samsung’s devices, including those that cost as low as Rs 10,000 and as high as Rs 2,00,000, have the ‘Galaxy’ branding in their model name.
Whatever the new branding is for Samsung’s flagship phones, we know its on the cards as Samsung executives have publicly acknowledged the need for it.
Meanwhile, in related news to Samsung, a recent report says the brand is developing a tri-fold smartphone with a screen that folds twice, similar to the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate. The company is reportedly aiming to launch this foldable next year, along with a new “flip-type” device. The report also highlights that Samsung’s display division has already completed the development of the necessary components for the tri-fold model, making it ready for release.
Google is working on the Pixel 9a, as has been suggested before through leaks and the latest leak details the Pixel 9a specifications in full. These leaked specs suggest that the Pixel 9a will pack some meaningful upgrades over its predecessor, such as a bigger battery, a new processor, and more.
The leak comes from Android Headlines, and as per the publication, the Pixel 9a will sport a 6.3-inch Actua OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This matches the panel size of the Pixel 9 and the Pixel 9 Pro from earlier this year. It is also bigger than Pixel 8a’s 6.1-inch display.
Same as the rest of the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel 9a will also be powered by the Tensor G4 chipset, paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. The device will also sport a 5,000mAh capacity battery, which is about 11% larger than the Pixel 8a that had a 4492mAh battery and is also bigger than Pixel 9 and 9 Pro’s 4700mAh cell.
Unfortunately, the charging speeds will remain the same as Pixel 8a, and that is 18 watts, which is kind of disappointing considering most other devices in the same range offer 67W or even higher speeds. Wireless charging support at 7.5W speeds will also be offered.
As for optics, Pixel 9a will sport a 48-megapixel primary camera and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, with the front-facing sensor also being 13-megapixels. While the leak doesn’t mention these Pixel 9a specifications, we also expect the device to be IP68 rated as well, along with features like stereo speakers, Android 15 out of the box with 7 years of OS updates, and more.
The Pixel 9a is expected to debut sometime during March of 2025, and at least in the US, it could retain the same price as Pixel 8a.
OnePlus Open 2 is shaping up to be a potentially near-perfect foldable smartphone considering the first-gen OnePlus Open got a lot of things right. The OnePlus Open’s successor could further build on the reputation, especially in one area, as the OnePlus Open 2 battery could seemingly be one of the largest ever we have seen in a foldable phone till now.
Tipster Digital Chat Station on Weibo reports that the upcoming sequel to the OnePlus Open (and the Oppo Find N3) will feature wireless charging support and that too while being extremely slim. In fact, the foldable is rumored to be thinner than the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and may even rival the ultra-slim Honor Magic V3.
In addition, the OnePlus Open 2 battery size was also revealed, which is said to be 5700mAh. This is close to what the OnePlus 13 will offer, which is a 6000mAh cell. The OnePlus Open’s 4805mAh battery was already big enough for a foldable but OnePlus seems to be planning to push those boundaries further with the OnePlus Open 2. Also, the Open 2 battery size would match the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro’s battery if the rumour is correct.
Aside from these, the report adds that the OnePlus Open 2 would be powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite, offer a setup of three 50MP rear, and an alleged “customised” USB-C port, where as of now, we don’t know what “customised” is supposed to mean.
Meanwhile, some of the OnePlus 13 specs have also been leaked ahead of the phone’s official debut. The device may support 100W SuperVOOC charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. It could get a 6.82-inch QHD+ (3168 x 1440 pixels) 120Hz 3D AMOLED LTPO display. Furthermore, there is 6000 nits of peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, 93.5% screen-to-body ratio, Dolby Vision support and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection.
Xiaomi has announced the launch of Xiaomi 15 series and the Xiaomi Pad 7 series in China, comprising of the Xiaomi 15, Xiaomi 15 Pro, and Xiaomi Pad 7, Pad 7 Pro, respectively. The new Xiaomi 15 series comes powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, and is the first smartphone in the world to do so.
Xiaomi 15: Price, Specs
The Xiaomi 15 comes in Black, White, Asakusa Green, Lilac and Bright Silver colours and is priced starting at CNY 4499 (approx Rs 52,985). It also comes in a range of custom colours.
The Xiaomi 15 gets a 6.36-inch (2670 x 1200 pixels) 1.5K Resolution M9 12-bit OLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, LTPO technology for 1-120Hz variable refresh rate, up to 3200 nits peak brightness, 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, HDR10+ support, Dolby Vision, 1920Hz PWM Dimming, DC Dimming, and Xiaomi Ceramic Glass 2.0 protection.
It is powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The Xiaomi 15 gets a triple rear camera system, including a 50MP primary camera with f/1.62 Light Fusion 900 lens, Hyper OIS, LED flash, Leica Summilux lens, paired with a 50MP 115-degree Leica ultra-wide angle lens with f/2.2 aperture, ans a 50MP 2.6x 10cm Infinity Leica telephoto camera with f/2.0 Aperture and OIS. There’s a 32MP f/2.0 selfie snapper on the front.
The Xiaomi 15 series is equipped with Dolby Atmos dual stereo speakers and a 4-mic array capturing sound in 360 degrees while recording a video. As for the battery, the Xiaomi 14 has a 5400mAh battery with 90W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging.
It further has a customised high-vibration X-axis linear motor, USB-C 3.2 port, NFC, Bluetooth v5.4, 5G, Wi-Fi 7, an IR blaster, and Xiaomi’s latest HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15. The handset is also IP68 rated.
Xiaomi 15 Pro: Price, Specs
The Xiaomi 15 Pro comes in Rock ash, White, Spruce Green and Bright Silver colours and is priced at CNY 5,299 (approx Rs 62,410).
The Xiaomi 15 Pro sports a 6.7-inch display with a WQHD+ resolution, achieving a Pixel density of 522ppi. It utilises C8 light-emitting material co-developed by Xiaomi and CSOT, reaching a peak brightness of 3200 nits and supporting Dolby Vision HDR format. Furthermore, this display employs LTPO technology, enabling avariable Refresh Rate from 1-120 Hz, alongside DC dimming and 1920Hz PWM dimming. It also has DC Dimming and Xiaomi Ceramic Glass 2.0 protection.
The Xiaomi 15 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. The device gets up to 16GB LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage.
The Xiaomi 15 Pro has a triple rear camera system, including a Leica Summilux 50MP Light Fusion 900 f/1.44 primary sensor with OIS, a 50MP Samsung JN1 f/2.2 ultra-wide angle lens with a 115-degree FoV, and a 50MP Sony IMX858 OIS-enabled telephoto unit with an f/2.5 Aperture and 10x lossless zoom. There’s a 32MP f/2.0 selfie snapper on the front.
The Xiaomi 15 Pro is equipped with Dolby Atmos dual stereo speakers and a 4-mic array capturing sound in 360 degrees while recording a video. As for the battery, the Xiaomi 15 Pro packs a 6100mAh battery with 120W fast wired charging, 50W wireless charging with magnetic charging support, and 10W reverse wireless charging support as well.
The handset further has a customised high-vibration X-axis linear motor, USB-C 3.2 Gen1 port, NFC, Bluetooth v5.4, 5G, Wi-Fi 7, an IR blaster, and Xiaomi’s latest HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15. It is also IP68 rated.
Xiaomi Pad 7 Series: Price, Specs
The Xiaomi Pad 7 and the Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro come in Black, Green and Sky Blue colours. The Pad 7 starts at CNY 1,999 (approx Rs 23,500) while the Pad 7 Pro begins at CNY 2,499 (approx Rs 29,400).
The Xiaomi Pad 7 series sports an 11.2-inch (3200 x 2136) 3:2 display with up to a 144hz variable refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, hardware-level blue light reduction, along with TÜV Rheinland hardware-level low blue light certification. The Pad 7 is powered by the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 4nm Processor while the Pad 7 Pro features Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.
They get up to 12GB LPDDR5X RAM with 128GB UFS 3.1, 256GB and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage options. For optics, the Pad 7 has a 13MP primary camera with 1/3.06″ sensor, f/2.2 aperture, on the back and an 8MP OV08D f/2.2 front-facing sensor. The Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro gets a 50MP 1/2.76″ sensor with f/1.8 aperture, PDAF, along with a 32MP OV32D f/2.2 selfie sensor.
Both of them pack an 8850mAh battery with 67W fast wired charging on the Pad 7 Pro and 45W fast wired charging on the Pad 7. Connectivity options on the two include Wi-Fi 7 802.11 ax, Bluetooth v5.4, and a USB Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 1 port. Along with that, they get Dolby Atmos-powered quad speaker system, paired with a 4-mic setup. In addition, they support the Xiaomi Keyboard and stylus as well, and run on HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15.
Apple unveiled the new M4 Mac Mini yesterday in a more compact form factor than before, powered by the M4 and M4 Pro processors, where we saw the former first in the new iPad Pro unveiled earlier this year. Here’s everything to know about the more smaller and powerful than ever — M4 Mac Mini.
M4 Mac Mini: India Price, Availability
Mac mini with M4 starts at Rs 59,900 and Rs 49,900 for education. Mac mini with M4 Pro starts at Rs 1,49,900 and Rs 1,39,900 for education. Customers can pre-order the new M4 Mac mini starting October 29, on the online Apple Store and in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will start arriving to customers, and in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers, beginning Friday, November 8.
M4 Mac Mini: Specs
The new Mac Mini footprint is less than half the size of the previous design at just 5 by 5 inches, so it takes up much less space on a desk. The super-compact system is enabled by a refreshed thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot.
“When compared to the best-selling PC desktop in its price range, Mac mini is up to 6x faster at one-twentieth the size,” said Apple. Mac Mini with M4 features a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and now starts with 16GB of unified memory. For users who want even more power, Mac Mini with M4 Pro features the world’s fastest CPU core. With up to 14 cores, including 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores, M4 Pro also provides enhanced multithreaded performance.
With up to 20 cores, the M4 Pro GPU is up to twice as powerful as the GPU in M4, and both chips bring hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the Mac Mini for the first time. The Neural Engine in M4 Pro is also over 3x faster than in Mac Mini with M1, enabling efficient and quick on-device Apple Intelligence features.
M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory and 273GB/s of memory Bandwidth — twice as much bandwidth as any AI PC chip — for accelerating AI workloads. And M4 Pro supports Thunderbolt 5, which delivers up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds on Mac Mini, and more than doubles the throughput of Thunderbolt 4.
As for connectivity, the M4 Mac Mini gets front-facing ports, including two USB-C ports that support USB 3, and an Audio Jack with support for high-impedance headphones. On the back, Mac Mini with M4 includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports, while Mac Mini with M4 Pro features three Thunderbolt 5 ports.
Mac Mini comes standard with Gigabit Ethernet, configurable up to 10Gb Ethernet for faster networking speeds, and an HDMI port for easy connection to a TV or HDMI display without an adapter. With M4, Mac Mini can support up to two 6K displays and up to one 5K display, and with M4 Pro, it can support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz for a total of over 60 million pixels. The new M4 Mac Mini runs on macOS Sequoia out of the box.
iQOO Neo 9 series from earlier this year was quite a powerful flagship and that too at a reasonable price. iQOO will spon follow it up with the iQOO Neo 10 series whose specifications have now been leaked, suggesting the devices will pack some major upgrades over their predecessors.
According to a leak by Digital Chat Station on Weibo, out of the iQOO Neo 10 series, the regular Neo 10 will feature a 6.78-inch 2D flat OLED 8T LTPO display with a 1.5K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset will be employed, paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage.
The device will likely have a 6,000mAh battery and support 120W fast charging. For the cameras, it will have a 16MP front camera and a dual rear camera setup including a 50MP primary camera and an 8MP secondary lens which will likely shoot ultra-wide angle photos.
The iQOO Neo 10 will run on Android 15 with OriginOS 5 skin on top in China, while if it launches in India, it will run on FunTouch OS 15. We assume the device will carry over some of the other prominent features of its predecessor, such as dual speakers, an in-display optical fingerprint reader, and an IR blaster, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, GPS, 5G, and more.
The Pro model will likely have a 2K OLED screen paired with an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. The device could be powered by the latest MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC, along wirh a 6500mAh battery and 120W fast wired charging.
In other related news to iQOO, the brand is gearing up to launch its 2024 flagship, the iQOO 13. The device’s design has already been revealed, and some specs have been confirmed too, such as the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 6.82-inch (3168×1440 pixels) 2K+ 144Hz flat display with narrow bezels, a 6150mAh third-generation silicon carbon battery with 120W fast wired charging, a multi-layer graphene, 7K ultra-large area VC cooling system, and a Proprietary gaming chip Q2.
Microsoft has simplified the chat and channels experience in Microsoft Teams as it has updated its video conferencing App with new features. According to the company, “This new experience is designed to help you collaborate more efficiently and effectively. It’s simple by default, enabling everyone to stay on top of what matters, and it’s powerful on demand, allowing you to organize information and communicate your way.”
Microsoft noted that the new chat and channels experience is coming to public preview in November. The company has redesigned the chat and channels experience to simplify your workspace by bringing chats, teams, and channels into one place under “Chat”. This integrates both chat and channels into your critical workflows, making it easier to access, triage, and organize your conversations.
It adds that users who prefer to keep chat and channels separate can easily do so during the onboarding process, or at any time later, without needing IT assistance. Next, there’ a new “@mentions” view that helps you quickly view messages directed at you in one place. You can get through your daily triage with the new filters that help you focus on what’s important now, like unread messages in chats or channels, without muted conversations or meeting chats getting in the way.
Next, you get new “custom sections”, where you can bring all relevant conversations on a project or topic together into one place, be it in chats, channels, meetings, including Teams bots or AI agents. The new “favorites” section is available for everyone by default, bringing together all your pinned chats and channels from the previous experience.
Then, you can now customize Teams chat and channels to align with your personal workflow and preferred information consumption style. With new controls, you can choose to view chat and channels separately, see message previews, or display all channels in a single list.
The new chat and channels experience in Microsoft Teams is coming to desktop, mobile, iOS, and Android. The company is beginning to test threaded conversations with customers this quarter and will expand testing in early 2025, with broad availability expected in mid-2025.
Redmi debuted the Note 14 series in China about a month ago in September and its India launch doesn’t seem far. The latest leak has seemingly tipped the Redmi Note 14 series India launch timeline and here’s what all you should know about it.
According to tipster Abhishek Yadav on X, the Redmi Note 14 series India launch will take place in the last week of December or in the first week of January, 2025, while sales of the devices will start sometime between or from 10th and 15th January in India. Moreover, Yadav said that the devices will have slightly different specifications compared to their Chinese counterparts.
Redmi Note 14 Pro+ Specifications
Speaking of the specs of the top-end device in the lineup, the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ sports a 6.67-inch 1.5K ResolutionAMOLED Display with a Refresh Rate of 120Hz, Dolby Vision, 12-bit colours, 3000 nits peak brightness, 240Hz touch sampling rate, 1920Hz PWM dimming, and HDR10+ support. It is protected with Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
The device is equipped with Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC under the hood, paired with 12GB LPDDR4X and 16GB LPDDR5 RAM with 256GB UFS 2.2 and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage.
The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ features a triple camera setup with a 50MP f/1.5 Light Fusion 800 primary sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 IMX355 ultra-wide angle sensor, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. The smartphone also has a 20MP selfie camera. The Note 14 Pro+ packs a 6,200mAh battery and comes with 90W Fast charging support.
Additional features include X-Axis Linear Haptics Motor, IR Blaster, and dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6, 5G, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, NFC and a USB-C port for charging. The device runs on Hyper OS based on Android 14. There’s an in-display optical fingerprint sensor for security while the handset is up to IP69 rated as well.
