LG G7 might come with an advanced iris scanner

An unearthed patent by LG revealed that the Korean company is preparing an advanced iris scanner that might arrive just in time for the next flagship the LG G7. It will not only unlock the device, but also help you make protect sensitive information.

    
Figures from the LG patent listing

The iris scanner checks the biometric characteristics of the eye and sets up with a light screen and a dark screen, since the iris changes in size, depending on how much light gets to it. Then the sensor will check what are you looking at and if you are the owner of the phone, the sensitive app will be available for opening.

Iris Scanner usually works with infrared light, but LG has developed a camera which can switch from infrared to a regular one. This might mean fewer cameras and sensors on the front, which also will lead to a smaller top bezel.

Via (in Dutch)

Rumored Snapdragon 845 specs point to next-gen Kryo cores, but old process

Qualcomm should announce the Snapdragon 845 chipset by the end of the year but some unconfirmed info is making the rounds.

The new flagship chip will be built on a 10nm Low Power Early process (from TSMC rather than Samsung). So we can’t expect performance gains due to the process.

Gains will be had, however, as new chip will use 3rd gen Kryo cores – four of them, based on Cortex-A75. Those will be paired with four A53 cores for efficiency. The graphics will be upgraded to Adreno 630, though little is known about it beyond further AR and VR optimizations.

The Snapdragon 845 will allegedly support dual cameras up to 25MP both on the front and back (four total). No word on 2160p @ 60fps video recording, however.

The new X20 modem will push theoretical download speeds up to 1.2Gbps, up from the 1Gbps speeds we saw demoed earlier this year with the 835 chip (X16 modem).

Makers are already lining up for the Snapdragon 845. Samsung reportedly bought up the initial supply for the Galaxy S9 (and will also use the 10nm Low Power Plus for Exynos 9810). Xiaomi also wants to use the new chip in the Mi 7. LG may adopt a two-tier approach with both Snapdragon 845 and 835.

Source

KGI: Apple to use Qualcomm modems for some 2018 iPhones

Earlier this month w KGI said that Apple is preparing three phones for 2018, two of them with an OLED screen. Latest information from KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is that at least one of the phones might have an X20 modem by Qualcomm, despite the mountain of lawsuits between the two companies.

Source: KGI

In the latest note to investors, Kuo predicts Intel will provide 70-80% of the modems, the rest of the production going to Qualcomm. The baseband chips will offer better LTE transmission speed due to the 4x4 MIMO antenna design support.

2018 iPhones are also expected to have DSDS (dual-SIM dual standby) and dual LTE connections. These are features seen in dual-SIM smartphones, so we might see the first iPhone with a dual-SIM card slot. We might also see a single SIM slot with the other card being eSIM.

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Microsoft is developing a foldable tablet running Windows 10 on ARM

Back in 2009 and 2010, many rumors told us Microsoft was working on a folding tablet called Courier. In the end, that never saw the light of day, and Apple's iPads became the kings of that market.

Intriguingly though, Microsoft is now said to be developing another device that is similar, at least in concept, to the canceled Courier. It's codenamed Andromeda, and will be a folding tablet that will run Windows 10 on ARM.

Microsoft Courier

It will come with telephony capabilities, but won't be a smartphone - although, when folded, it's allegedly "pocketable". That said, the main selling points of this device will be centered around pen input and inking. For example, there's a notebook app built-in that mimics writing in a real notebook, with virtual pages spreading across the foldable device.

Expect to see the latest Snapdragon SoC powering Andromeda. Microsoft will not position this against any Android or iOS-running competitors, but instead it will try to create its own niche. A 'digital journal' is what it may be called. The company has in fact already admitted that if it ever makes a mobile product again, it will be a new kind of device, and not a smartphone. All of that fits perfectly with what we're now hearing about Andromeda.

It could be Surface-branded when (or if) it launches, something like Surface Note or Surface Journal. Microsoft's hardware partners might choose to create similar devices if it takes off, but this is just speculation for now. Unfortunately no specs have leaked for Andromeda yet, so we don't even know if it will have one folding screen or two separate displays separated by a hinge.

Anyway, if it is to ever become reality, don't expect Andromeda in stores earlier than next year.

Source | Via

Google in talks to buy HTC's smartphone business

HTC hasn't been financially successful for awhile now and it seems it's now fully in danger of being consumed by a bigger company. In this case the rumors point to Google as the interested party.

Apparently talks are being held between Google and HTC about a possible acquisition of HTC's smartphone business (leaving the Vive VR business) but the information is strictly unofficial and there are no specific ammounts mentioned.

The news is made plausible for two reasons - Google needs a hardware manufacturing arm for its Pixel smartphones and HTC has just suffered its worst financial month in 13 years - August 2017 saw a year over year decline in revenue of 54% and a 51% decline over the previous month.

Rumor has it that Google got LG to make the Pixel XL 2, which would further decrease HTC's profits (HTC made the first generation Pixel phones).

It remains to be seen if Google is interested in buying HTC's smartphone business but the topic brings back flashbacks of the time Google paid big money for Motorola's smartphone business and sold it for much less just 2 years later.

Source | Via

Xiaomi to unveil one more device alongside Mi Mix 2

Xiaomi may unveil more than one device at its September 11 event. As you might already know, one of the devices is already confirmed to be the Mi Mix 2, but there's no information about the second one.

The Chinese company's president Lin Bin who dropped hints about a second product unveiling in a recent Weibo post.

The first-gen Mi Mix went official last October. Alongside it, the company also unveiled the Mi Note 2. So it's reasonable to assume that the second device that Xiaomi president is talking about could well be the Mi Note 3. Adding weight to this assumption are recent rumors that the Mi Note 3 may arrive sooner than expected.

Anyway, the wait isn't long - the suspense will be over in a less than a week. So moving on, the post also confirms the Mi Mix 2 will feature the already-rumored facial recognition feature.

Lin Bin also shared a teaser video for the Mi Mix 2. It's difficult to spot the exact design of the device, not only because the video is shot that way (it's a teaser), but the clip is blurry as well.

Take a look:

Source | Via

Qualcomm Snapdragon 836 doesn't and won't exist, rumor says

Last year's flagship smartphone chipset from Qualcomm was the Snapdragon 820, which arrived in the first half. But then in the second half of 2016 we got the Snapdragon 821, an ever so slight improvement upon the 820. Will the same happen this year to the already ubiquitous Snapdragon 835?

A new rumor comes and outright says no today. Apparently there is no 836 in development, so Google's 2017 Pixels simply can't have it inside. Quite a few rumors so far have talked about this chipset debuting in those devices, but if the newest report is true, then that won't happen.

The 836 was at one point said to power the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 as well, which is going to be made official on September 11. But in the meantime Qualcomm itself confirmed that it is in fact the 835 inside the next bezelless phone. Note that the information about the fact that the 836 doesn't actually exist is allegedly coming from an "extremely reliable source", for what it's worth.

Source

Xiaomi Mi 7 to arrive in Q1 2018 with Snapdragon 845

The Xiaomi Mi 6 is already a few months old and the manufacturer is allegedly already moving on to its Mi 7 successor. According to a Weibo leakster, the phone should have the Snapdragon 845 chipset. It also would update from an LCD, as seen on the Mi 6, to a Samsung-built AMOLED with a 6” diagonal.

All the rumored specs sound logical, but what is intriguing is the alleged announcement. The Xiaomi Mi 7 might appear in Q1 2018, making it the first smartphone with the newest Qualcomm chipset. Other sources suggest a 6 GB RAM and even a possibility of 8 gigs version.

Source (in Chinese)

Xiaomi Mi A1 shines on Geekbench

We’ve been hearing rumors from Indonesia about Xiaomi and Google working together to build an affordable Android One device that could be based on the dual-camera Xiaomi Mi 5X with the name Mi A1. Now benchmarks of the alleged device appeared, and some interesting results came out.

The single-core score of the phone listed as Xiaomi Mi A1 is 852, while the multi-core result is 3837. The listing also reveals the Android One phone will come with 4 GB RAM and Android 7.1.2 Nougat.

These numbers look similar to all the phones with Snapdragon 625 chipset, but the Mi 5X has a higher multi-core score. The phone that is closer to these results is the best-seller Redmi Note 4.

New smartphone series is always intriguing, so we will look carefully for any future tips and hints about what surprise is Xiaomi preparing for its fans.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S9 is rumored to debut in January

These days we're witnessing the proverbial calm before the storm in the mobile world, with the storm in this case being the iPhone 8 that Apple will unveil at its event on September 12. The tenth anniversary iPhone has the potential to once again shake up the space, despite its rumored hefty price tag.

And Samsung knows this. As it should, being Apple's No.1 competitor in high-end smartphones (in terms of sales). Now a new report from the company's home of South Korea claims the iPhone 8 is actually influencing Samsung's development schedule for the Galaxy S9.

The S8 duo was announced in late March, going on sale around three weeks later. But if you expect similar dates to be valid for the S9 next year, you'd apparently be wrong. Instead, Samsung may unveil the S9 as soon as late January, with global sales starting in mid-February.

Samsung Galaxy S8

If this pans out, it means the S9 would be on the market more than two months earlier than its predecessor. The reason for this has to do with Samsung creating a strategy to defend its flagship line's sales against the iPhone 8, which is sure to suck all the air out of the mobile world in late 2017 and early 2018.

The speculation regarding Samsung's schedule for launching the S9 is based on the fact that Samsung Display will start to ship OLED panels for the phone in November. That's two months earlier than when the same thing happened for the S8, back in January of this year. Display panels are usually shipped before other parts such as camera modules and cases apparently. After the panel shipments, it takes about two to three months for the handset's entire assembly to take place.

The S9 should retain the elongated screen form factor of its predecessor, but sport Qualcomm's next-gen high-end chipset (for some markets), which may be called Snapdragon 845. It could also adopt a dual rear camera setup similar to the one employed by the Galaxy Note8 (as well as the iPhone 8).

Source | Via

iPhone 8: Gesture controls fully replace the home button, new report claims

The upcoming iPhone 8 (or iPhone X, or iPhone Edition) that Apple might unveil at a rumored event on September 12 will completely kill one of the most iconic features of all its predecessors: the home button. This has been a staple ever since the first iPhone launched ten years ago, but according to a new report the iPhone 8 will not have any semblance of such a button - not even a software-rendered one.

Instead, you'll use gestures to control the device and replace the multiple functions of the physical home button found on the other iPhones.

Alleged iPhone 8 dummy unit

A thin software bar will be found at the bottom of the screen. Dragging this up to the middle will unlock the phone. Inside an app, the same move opens the multitasking view, which has been redesigned "to appear like a series of standalone cards that can be swiped through, versus the stack of cards on current iPhones". If you continue the upwards drag motion past the middle of the display, the app you're in will close and you'll be taken back to the home screen. The animation that accompanies this reportedly "sucks the app back into its icon".

The home screen will show six vertical rows of four apps, for a total of 24 icons on each page. Below these you'll have the dock, a grey bar at the bottom that shows commonly used apps. The interface of the dock is similar to what we've seen in iOS 11 on iPads.

The notch area at the top of the screen, which houses the earpiece, front-facing camera, and various sensors, will not be 'hidden' in software by making the adjacent areas of the screen on its left and right black. As this is an OLED panel, using black there would have essentially made the notch disappear.

Instead, apps that have non-black backgrounds will use those 'ears', as some Apple employees reportedly call the left and right sides. The status bar will be split into left and right areas, with the former displaying the time while the latter houses the cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity indicators and remaining battery capacity. The status bar will change based on the task at hand.

This report confirms for the umpteenth time that the iPhone 8's display is flat and not curved like in Samsung's recent flagships. The handset's frame is said to be made from stainless steel, while the back will be glass just like the front. The steel frame has antenna bands on the corners for better wireless signal reception.

The iPhone 8's dimensions are allegedly very similar to those of the iPhone 7, but it sports a screen that's marginally bigger than the one in the iPhone 7 Plus thanks to the near-invisible bezels on three sides (left, right, and bottom). The power button living on the right side will be longer than in previous Apple phones, in order to make pressing it easier while holding the device in one hand.

Source | Via

Lenovo rumored to launch K8 and K8 Plus in India in September

Lenovo made the K8 Note official for India earlier this month, but that isn't the only member of the K8 series that the Chinese company has planned. In fact, the K8 Plus was spotted in a benchmark a few weeks back, but apparently there will be a third phone in this line too.

A new unconfirmed rumor says the Lenovo K8 and K8 Plus will both arrive in India at some point during the second half of September. That's the time frame for their actual availability - the launch event will reportedly take place "by mid-September", so it's only a matter of weeks now, at most.

Unfortunately that's all the new information we have right now. Pricing hasn't been leaked, nor any details about the K8 and K8 Plus. That said, through the latter's aforementioned benchmark run we found out it will be powered by the MediaTek Helio P25 chipset, aided by 3GB of RAM. It runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat.

Source

Apple iPhone 8 will come in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB flavors

The upcoming iPhone 8 will launch in three storage options - the base 64GB, a middle 256GB and a whopping 512GB one - and all three will have 3GB of RAM and the new Apple A11 chip.

This means Apple will doubles the available storage options compared to the iPhone 7 lineup (which has 32GB/128GB/256GB).

 
Alleged iPhone 8 storage

The information comes by way of a China leak showing the alleged 64GB storage chip, built by Sandisk. According to the source the 64GB and 256GB flash storage will be manufactured by Sandisk and Toshiba, while the 512GB unit by Samsung and Hynix.

We advise not to get your hopes too high until Apple confirms it officially though.

Source | Via

Google to bring the Chromebook Pixel back

It looks like Google is working on a successor to the Chromebook Pixel 2 and it could announce it at its Pixel 2 event this fall. The information was revealed to Android Police by a source close to Google.

Google pulled the plug on its Chromebook Pixel lineup at the beginning of this year despite rumors of it working on a Chromebook Pixel 3 running a Chrome OS and Android mashup called Andromeda.

That rumored convertible laptop was expected to rival the Apple Macbook directly with a 12.3-inch touch display with support for a Wacom stylus and a $799 price tag.

If such a device is indeed in the works we should expect it to be priced much higher.

On a side note Google is seemingly working on a smaller Google Home smart speaker to go head to head with Amazon's Echo Dot.

The device is said to be stripped down to the very basics in order to bring the size and price down.

If the rumors pan out then Google will have a hardware-rich fall event featuring the Chromebook Pixel 3, a smaller Google Home alongside the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones.

Source

Xiaomi working with Google on next Android One smartphone

Google’s project Android One is something that you might not even remember, but it's still alive. After the company launched the Sharp X1 exclusively for Japan, now there are rumors the company is working with Xiaomi to develop a stock Android Xiaomi Mi 5X version. The phone should arrive in Indonesia with a clean Android build instead of MIUI 9.

Xiaomi’s device will not be the first Indonesian Android One. Before the Mi 5X, devices like the Mito Impact, Evercross One X, and Nexian Journey One were on the market for around IDR1 million or $75. The Mi 5X current retail price is around $200, so it might aim a little higher than that.

Source (in Indonesian)

New report says LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 coming this September

There have already been reports suggesting the next Apple Watch - likely to be called Apple Watch Series 3 - will be officially unveiled alongside the iPhone 8 in September. And now, a new report from CNBC is also supporting the September launch time-frame for the wearable.

While we already know that this year's Apple Watch will be LTE-enabled - meaning the wearable won't require tethering to an iPhone for features like calls and texts - the report says the device will likely feature an embedded SIM rather than physical SIM card.

Previous info claims Apple has roped in Intel for LTE modem chips, and all of the Big Four US carriers will be offering the wearable, something which this new CNBC report corroborated. Analysts believe an LTE-enabled Apple Watch will be a hot seller.

Source

iPhone 8 to launch alongside the 7s in three colors with limited supplies, new rumor claims

While he previously believed the iPhone 8 would arrive in stores later than the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, KGI Securities analyst (and famed Apple rumor-monger) Ming-Chi Kuo has changed his mind. In a new investor note he shared today, Kuo claims all three models will be announced at the same time at an event in September.

That's also the month during which the trio should become available to buy, but the iPhone 8 will be in short supply at the beginning, with only 2-4 million units coming out by the end of September. Production of the handset will only pick up in the fourth quarter of 2017, but tight supply may persist until Q1 2018.

The iPhone 8, 7s, and 7s Plus will all support fast charging, but you may need to purchase a USB-C adapter for that to work. All of these phones are said to only be offered in three colors: black, silver, and gold. They could be depicted, for the iPhone 8, in the image you can see above - although that's more of a 'copper' or 'bronze' hue than gold to our eyes. Wireless charging will work on the new iPhones, but once again expect to pay extra: for a wireless charger in this case.

Source 1 | Source 2

LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 said to debut by the end of the year

A report from Bloomberg cited ”person/persons familiar with the matter” four times, so we will approach this story with the deserved amount of skepticism.

According to the report, Apple could be releasing an LTE-enabled Apple Watch alongside the iPhone 8 or toward the end of the year. But according to “another person familiar with the matter” (from the same report, mind you) it could be delayed well into 2018”. Do you see where the skepticism comes in?

Anyhow, Apple had reportedly delayed an LTE-enabled version of the Watch before the Series 2 launched but had to put it off because it needed more time to improve overall battery life over an LTE connection, which is limited by the battery’s relatively smaller size compared to a smartphone. Speaking of LTE, Intel is slated to provide the modem chips for LTE. Qualcomm was Apple’s main modem supplier but the two companies are in a bit of a legal bind at the moment.

Back to the report, Apple was said to have already been talking to US carriers about its connected wearable. Carrier support would be limited at launch, though the four major US carriers are all said to plan to sell the new Watch.

1st-gen Apple Watch

Here’s why we think it’s still too early for Apple to release a new watch: Apple’s first watch was released in April of 2015 and the new Series 2 came out alongside the iPhone 7 in September of 2016, about 1.5 years later. Following this timeframe (because this is all we have to go off of) it’s more likely that Apple would launch a Series 3 Watch in Q2 of 2018 to offset the launch of its iPhone 8, which is supposed to start at $850. Furthermore, Tim Cook said that the Apple Watch’s sales have grown 50% year over year and is the #1 selling smartwatch “by a very wide margin”.

If you had a product and it was selling increasingly well, you’d want to ride the wave as long as possible, right? Apple would be jumping the gun if it released the Series 3 next to the iPhone 8 in September. We are just speculating here since, for all we know, Apple could even release a new Apple Watch next to every iPhone from here on out. A more likely scenario is Apple releasing an LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 2 next to the iPhone 8.

This report is definitely one of the more obscure ones. So we personally won’t be holding our breaths for a new Apple Watch this September.

Source | Via

New iPhone SE is coming in early 2018, rumor says

The iPhone SE was launched in March of last year, so by now it's gotten pretty old. Thankfully though, Apple hasn't forgotten the smallest of its smartphones and is preparing a refresh of the model. According to the latest rumor on the matter, the new iPhone SE will hit the streets in the first quarter of next year (so before the end of March) - nearly two years after its predecessor.

The revamped model is said to keep the affordability of the original, but add the A10 chipset from the iPhone 7 to the mix. The screen size should be in the 4" to 4.2" neighborhood, while storage options will be 32GB and 128GB. The handset will naturally launch running iOS 11. It will feature a 1,700 mAh battery, ever so slightly larger than the 1,624 mAh cell of the first SE.

The new iPhone SE will be made in India by Wistron, a Taiwan-based contract electronics maker. It's already assembling the first generation model in the subcontinent since May, and will add a new production line for the next generation device. The new phone will launch in India first, interestingly, spreading to other places at some later point.

Source | Via

Nokia 8 rumor bonanza: engineering sample on sale, specs revealed by benchmarks

Here’s a detailed bundle of rumors for the Nokia 8. First, someone is selling an engineering sample on Taobao (China’s eBay), a gold copper unit. You can tell it’s an early prototype by the lack of a Zeiss logo next to the camera lenses.

   
Nokia 8 engineering sample

The seller did not confirm any of the specs, luckily a handful of benchmark results have that covered. GFXBench shows a 5.3” QHD screen fed by the powerful GPU of the Snapdragon 835 chipset. There’s 4GB of RAM (after some deliberation) and 64GB built-in storage (of which around 51GB available to the user).

The camera is interesting. Yes, there’s a 12MP dual camera on the back, Zeiss optics and all, but the selfie camera is a 12MP shooter as well and – get this – it shoots 4K video. Only two phones so far can match that – HTC Butterfly 3 and the Essential phone.

  
Nokia 8 specs by: GFXBench • Geekbench

Antutu concurs with these findings, though it labels both cameras 13MP. This is likely a rounding error, but it doesn’t matter much – 12MP is the new normal for flagships. The good news is that the Nokia 8 could cost closer to €500 than €600 as first rumored.

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