2021 Winners and Losers: Realme

Realme had a strong year where we saw plenty of devices in all prices and categories. There were gaming handsets, capable upper mid-rangers with top-tier chipsets, and the usual legion of phone taking on the overly competitive midrange market. As the year is rounding to an end, we decided to look at Realme’s successes and failures, and with such a wide portfolio, it wasn’t hard to find plenty of products to put on both sides of the fence. Winner: Realme GT Neo2 This phone arrived late in the year but quickly managed to steal our hearts. It is, by far, the best "flagship killer" on...

Nokia G50 gets Android 12 update

HMD Global recently rolled out Android 12 update for the Nokia X10 and X20, and now it's the Nokia G50 that's getting a taste of the latest version of Android. HMD hasn't officially announced the Android 12 rollout at the time of writing this, so we don't know which countries will get the update in the first wave. However, multiple reports reveal that the Nokia G50 has received Android 12 in Finland and some European nations. The Nokia G50's Android 12 update requires a download of 2.09GB. It has version number V2.160 and comes with the November 2021 Android security...

Xiaomi 12 Pro torn down and reassembled on video

Xiaomi recently unveiled the 12 and 12 Pro in China with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets and the new flagship is featured in a teardown video posted by WekiHome on YouTube. The teardown reveals that the 12 Pro’s build is very much “glass sandwich” structurally. After breaking through the adhesive seal around the rear panel of the glass, we can see the layout of a main board and camera cluster towards the top, battery in the center, and the daughterboard at the bottom housing the charging part, speakers, and haptic motor. Many of the connectors, modules, cameras, and links to the...

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G gets Android 12-based One UI 4 stable update, S21 series receiving it in China

Samsung recently rolled out the Android 12-based One UI 4 stable update for the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+, and now it's the Galaxy S10 5G's turn to receive the One UI 4 upgrade. The update comes with firmware version G977BXXUBGULB and the usual Android 12 and One UI 4 goodies. It also bumps up the Android security patch level on the Galaxy S10 5G to December 2021. Samsung Galaxy S10 5G The One UI 4 stable build is currently seeding in Switzerland and should reach all the units in the European country in a week or two. But if you can't wait for the update notification to pop up on...

GSMArena's 2021 in numbers

.big-heading { color: #d50000 !important; font-size: 3em !important; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 1; ``` padding-top: 0.4em !important; padding-bottom: 0 !important; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; ``` } .sub-big-heading { text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 10px; letter-spacing: 15px; } #content .sub-big-heading { font-size: 12px; } In the final moments of the year 2021 we decided to have a look back at the past 365 days and have some fun with flags numbers. We’d like you to join us and take a look at our year in numbers...

Telegram adds reactions, spoilers, and message translation

Telegram is ending the year with a bang. The latest update comes with a bunch of new features for both Android and iOS. Reactions are now part of the app - and if you've ever used Facebook Messenger you know how these work. The difference is that in Telegram you press and hold on iOS for the reaction emoji picker, and tap once on Android. On both platforms, double tapping a message sends a quick thumbs-up reaction. You can change the default double-tap reaction to something else in Settings. Reactions are always on in private chats, while in groups and channels it's up to admins whether...

Top 10 most popular reviews of 2021: Q3

It's the end of the year, we are all feeling a bit nostalgic. Having gone throught the most popular reviews of Q1 and Q2 it's now time to recap what phones of the third quarter got your interest. If there is one thing that you, our audience, has made abundantly clear is that you really like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 family and particularly the Redmi Note 10 Pro, or Max, as it is known on some markets. Not only did its review top our Q1 chart and indeed the 2021 yearly popularity chart as a whole, but our long-term review coverage of the phone managed to snag the second spot in this...

Top stories of 2021: Q2

Welcome to our recap of the top news articles of 2021. This is Q2, you can also take a look at the top stories of Q1, Q3 and Q4. It's now time to look at the months April through June, which were defined by a myriad of phone announcements as well as looming phones from further down 2021. Sharp officially brought a 1-inch sensor to a phone with the Japan-exclusive Aquos R6. It had more going for it with a 240Hz refresh rate display, another first. But as with all of Sharp's innovations, this one never came out of Japan. Sony unveiled the Xperia 1 III, 5 III, and 10 III in Q2, all of...

Samsung to unveil the Exynos 2200 on January 11

The Exynos 2200 is coming sooner than expected – the new flagship chipset with AMD graphics will debut on January 11. This is the week after CES and the rumored date for the Galaxy S21 FE launch. Of course, the FE will use the older Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 chipsets, depending on the market (more specs here). This new chipset will be reserved for the upcoming Galaxy S22 series, which are expected to arrive in February. #PlaytimeIsOver. The gaming marketplace is about to get serious. Stay tuned for the next #Exynos with the new GPU born from RDNA 2. January 11, 2022....

iQOO 9 Pro to bring Samsung E5 LTPO AMOLED, ultrasonic fingerprint scanner

The latest iQOO 9 Pro teasers are in and they are all about the upcoming flagship’s display. The phone will come with a curved Samsung E5 AMOLED panel of the LTPO 2.0 variety refreshing at up to 120Hz and with a 1,000Hz touch sampling rate. The teasers also confirm a 2K resolution which is a marketing term used to describe QHD+ panels in China. The panel will bring a 517 PPI count and will reportedly crank out up to 1,500 nits peak brightness. iQOO 9 Pro display and fingerprint scanner official teasers In addition, iQOO 9 Pro will offer an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner...

Vodafone and Three are bringing back EU roaming charges along with EE in 2022

It’s not just EE, the other two major British carriers will also reinstate roaming fees for those who travel in the EU – there will be £2 a day fee if they want to make calls and use data. This will apply to new customers and those upgrading their plan. Vodafone is set to start collecting the fee from January, EE was also looking at the first month of 2022, but pushed that back to March. Three will add back the fee in late May. The EU dropped roaming charges within the Union back in 2017, but UK carriers are no longer subject to that after Brexit. Both EE and Vodafone will allow...

Vivo Y21T full specs sheet leaks, confirms resemblance to Y33s

The vivo Y21T is expected to launch on January 3 with a Snapdragon 680 chipset. We suspected it is not an entirely new handset, and we were right - it is indeed the vivo Y33s with a Qualcomm chipset and some other minor changes. The full features list of the Y21T appeared online, revealing the company changed the selfie camera and the SoC and slapped a new name. The vivo Y21T will have a 6.58” LCD with Full HD+ resolution. There is a waterdrop notch for the 8 MP selfie camera, unlike the 16 MP sensor in the vivo Y33s. The trio of cameras on the back is the same, thought - 50 MP f/1.8...

Samsung Galaxy Fold and Note 10 series also receiving stable One UI 4

Samsung is continuing to seed its stable One UI 4 update to more of its devices and the latest ones on the list are the first-gen Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Note 10 series in both its 4G and 5G trims. Samsung’s firsts foldable gets the F900FXXU6GUL9 update build which is reported by users in France and also comes with the December 2021 security patch. The 4G variants of the Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ get the N97xFXXU7GULD update builds as spotted by users in Switzerland while the 5G models receive version N976BXXU7GULD alongside the January 2022 security patch. One UI 4 and Android 12 will...

OnePlus 10 Pro benchmarked with 12GB RAM

The OnePlus 10 Pro launch is just around the corner, and the phone is already seemingly getting benchmarked. A phone from the brand, model-numbered NE2210, was spotted on Geekbench, and tipsters claim it is indeed the Pro variant. The device will have 12 GB RAM, Android 12 out of the gate, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset - none of these specs are surprising. What surprised us is the actual score this OnePlus phone yielded - 976 for a single core and 3,469 for multiple cores. These results are nowhere near the 1,100+ and 3,600+ we got for the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro back in...

Huawei Mate X2 Collector’s Edition goes on sale in China

Last month, Huawei announced a more premium version of its Mate X2 foldable phone featuring leather material on its back. The device dubbed Collector’s Edition comes in black, white and red colors and Huawei has now opened sales for the limited edition foldable in China. The phones come with 12GB RAM and 512GB as standard and retail for CNY 19,699 which converts to $3,090/€2,734. Apart from the premium back finish, Huawei is also using a nano-crystalline enforced glass material on the outer screen which should be more durable. The rest of the specs are in line with the regular Mate X2...

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra dummy pictured in the wild, 1TB variant is coming

Yet another round of images of the upcoming Galaxy S22 Ultra in the wild has arrived. As before, this isn't a real phone but rather a dummy, but it nonetheless serves the purpose of illustrating what the phone would look like. It would be nice to see a set of images of the real Galaxy S22 Ultra, only to see the proper cameras in their place. Still, here's a look at the Silver variant of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, alongside the Black one. The S Pen is also present in its in-body holster. Samsung Galaxy S22 dummy, source: @hypark22 In related news, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will have...

vivo Y21T to launch on January 3 with Snapdragon 680

The vivo Y21 launched in India back in August, and now it will get a mightier sibling, called vivo Y21T. According to sources, it will come on January 3 with a triple 50MP camera and a Snapdragon 680 chipset with LTE-only connectivity. Looking at the leaked specs, the Y21T could very well be the vivo Y21s (or the vivo Y33s), but with a Qualcomm chipset instead of the Helio G80. vivo Y33s According to the leak, a 5,000 mAh battery powering the vivo Y21T supports 18W fast charging, most likely through a USB-C port. The phone will have one memory option - 4/128GB and a trio of...

Xiaomi reveals stable MIUI 13 update roadmap

Xiaomi held a big conference yesterday where it announced a bunch of new hardware but it also brought a new user interface for its device portfolio with MIUI 13 for phones, tablets, smart devices and TVs. A day after the big event we get our first list of Xiaomi devices in line for the update. The improvements brought to the new version of MIUI for phones include enhanced security with electronic fraud protection, new privacy controls, revamped widgets, wallpapers and a new Mi Sans font. Global users of the following Xiaomi phones should expect MIUI 13 from Q1 2022. The list includes...

Asus Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip receiving Android 12 stable update

Asus has been testing Android 12 on the Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip for a few months now, and as promised, the Taiwanese tech company has released the Android 12 stable update for both smartphones before the year ends. The firmware for the Zenfone 8 comes with version number 31.1004.0404.73 and the Zenfone 8 Flip with 31.1004.0404.61. But do note that the update is currently only seeding for the Zenfone 8 sporting model designation ZS590KS and the Zenfone 8 Flip having model code ZS672KS. Besides, your device should be running the latest Android 11 firmware rolled out by Asus to...

Redmi Note 11S incoming, multiple certifications confirm

Xiaomi launched three phones under the Redmi Note 11 family, followed by a Redmi Note 11T, and now another one is joining - Redmi Note 11S. The phone with model number 2201117SG appeared on multiple certification websites, including the NBTC in Singapore, BIS in India, and the Eurasian Economic Area (EEC). There are no less than four more variations of the model number, which are likely for the different carrier configurations, as well as multiple storage options. Sadly, the listings give zero information on any actual specs, launch date, or pricing whatsoever. The Redmi Note 10S...

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 getting One UI 4 in the US

The stable OneUI 4 launch for Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 users did not get off to a good start earlier this month and was actually suspended for a while as Samsung had to iron out a bevy of bugs. It seems all is well now and owners of the two foldables in the US are now getting the new update. Users on Verizon are reportedly first in line while those on other networks should receive the update later on. Galaxy Z Fold3 gets the F926USQS1BUL6 update build while the Z Flip3’s bears the F711USQS2BUL6 identifier. The new updates also bring the December 2021 security patch. Via

Samsung Galaxy S10 series is receiving Android 12-based One UI 4 stable update

Yesterday Samsung began rolling out Android 12-based One UI 4's stable update for the Galaxy Z Fold2 and the Galaxy Note20 and Galaxy S20 lineups. Now it's the Galaxy S10 series that's getting Samsung's latest custom Android skin. The update is rolling out for the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+ with firmware version G97xFXXUEGULB. We don't have a detailed changelog yet, but we know the build comes with the December 2021 Android security patch, and you can also expect the usual Android 12 and One UI 4 goodies with it. Samsung Galaxy S10 The One UI 4 update is currently seeding in...

Beats unveils limited-edition Studio Buds for the Chinese Year of the Tiger

Beats by Dre has announced a new limited-edition variant of the Beats Studio Buds earbuds to commemorate the 2022 Year of the Tiger in China. The new limited-edition model features aesthetic differences to the standard model. It comes in a red color with golden tiger stripes on the case as well as the earbuds. Aside from that, these are pretty much identical to the standard Beats Studio Buds, which are a pair of truly wireless earbuds with active noise-canceling and 8-hours of listening time. They also retail for the same RMB 1099 as the other color variants. The...

Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro debut with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets, Xiaomi 12X comes with SD870

After months of leaks and rumors, Xiaomi’s 12 series is now official with three entries - Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro and Xiaomi 12X. The vanilla model takes a more compact approach with its 6.28-inch screen while still fitting the very best Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The 12 Pro bumps up the size to 6.73-inches and also boasts the same SoC but it also adds an LTPO AMOLED display, bigger battery, faster charging and more capable camera hardware. The more budget-oriented Xiaomi 12X comes with the Snapdragon 870 SoC and similar size and specs to the Xiaomi 12. Xiaomi 12 Xiaomi 12 comes...

Xiaomi Watch S1 debuts alongside TWS Earphones 3

Xiaomi’s 12 series phones are official but they weren’t the only new gadgets announced on stage. We got a new Xiaomi Watch S1 smartwatch as well as all-new Xiaomi TWS Earphones 3. Watch S1 is Xiaomi’s most premium watch to date with its stainless steel construction, sapphire glass-protected 1,43-inch AMOLED display and third-party app support. Xiaomi Watch S1 in its three leather strap variants It can track over 117 sports modes and is also 5ATM waterproof. There’s an onboard NFC module for payments as well as a microphone and speaker for calls via your paired phone. There...