Every week, there are tons of new gadgets and accessories that are launched globally. This week, we saw several launches ranging from much-awaited smartphones, to accessories, to smartphone chips, to even PC CPUs and mobile gaming processors. Several important product launches including the Redmi Note 10S, the Asus ZenFone 8 Series, Intel’s latest 11th Generation Core H Tiger Lake series, new controllers for the PlayStation 5, and more took place this week in India and abroad. MediaTek also launched its new chipset for mid-range smartphones named the MediaTek Dimensity 900 SoC. Let us take a look at all the tech launches that took place this week:
Editor’s note: The following list is not comprehensive, but includes a list of gadgets and products that were notably launched through the week, and would be of the most relevance for buyers to know.
1. Oppo Find X3 Pro Mars Exploration Edition
Oppo’s latest flagship, the Oppo Find X3 Pro got a new variant this week in the form of the Mars Exploration Edition. The Oppo Find X3 Pro Mars Exploration edition comes with a new Sky Rock Grey colour and is equipped with a custom OS theme. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. The smartphone features a quad rear camera setup that includes a 50-megapixel primary shooter, a 50-megapixel wide-angel shooter, 13-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 3-megapixel macro lens. Up front, the Oppo Find X3 Pro Mars Exploration Edition features a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.
2. ZTE Axon 30 Ultra
Chinese smartphone maker ZTE launched its latest offering, the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra in its home country this week. The ZTE Axon 30 Ultra comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. The smartphone has a 6.67-ich full-HD+ AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate. There is a quad rear camera setup on the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra that includes three 64-megapixel sensors and one 8-megapixel periscope lens. Up front, there is a 16-megapixel front camera on the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra.
3. New PlayStation 5 DualSense Controllers
Sony has announced two new colours for the DualSense controller including a Cosmic Red and a Midnight Black colourway. Sony will start selling the two new controllers globally starting next month. The new DualSense colours are inspired by the galaxy. Sony, in a blog post said that the Cosmic Red controller is inspired by the unique vivid shades of red found throughout the cosmos. The Midnight Black colourway, on the other hand, “reflects how we view space through the night sky.” The two new colours add to the default black and white colourway of the console. The new colours come with a matte finish and the white part of the standard DualSense controller has been replaced with red on the Cosmic Red and black on Midnight Black variants. The blue light around the touchpad remains the same.
4. Redmi Note 10S
Xiaomi also refreshed its Redmi Note 10 series with the new Redmi Note 10S. The Redmi Note 10S sports a 6.43-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) AMOLED hole-punch display with MediaTek Helio G95 chipset under the hood. It supports dual-SIM cards and runs on Android 11-based MIUI 12.5 out-of-the-box. Its quad rear camera setup includes a 64-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, 2-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. At the front, there’s a 13-megapixel shooter for selfie and video calling. The Redmi Note 10S will be available across Mi.com, Amazon, Mi Home, and Mi Studio stores from May 18 at Rs 14,999 for the base 6GB + 64GB storage variant. Its 6GB + 128GB storage model carries a price tag of Rs 15,999.
5. MediaTek Dimensity 900 SoC
Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek has launched a new 5G smartphone chipset named MediaTek Dimensity 900. The MediaTek Dimensity is based on a 6nm process similar to the Dimensity 1100 and Dimensity 1200. The new SoC is a quad-core chip with third-generation MediaTek APU AI. It has the integrated Arm Mali-G68 MC4 GPU for handling graphically intensive tasks. The MediaTek Dimensity 900 is a successor to the MediaTek Dimensity 820 SoC, which was built on a 7nm architecture and brings several improvements over the older chip. The chipset is designed for mid-range smartphones but there is no word on what will be the first smartphone to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 900 chipset.
6. Asus ZenFone 8 Series
Asus this week unveiled its ZenFone 8 series that includes two flagship-level smartphones which come with an affordable price tag. The Asus ZenFone 8 comes as a small flagship smartphone with a 5.9-inch display, making the smartphone one of the very few flagships that are available in a compact design. The Asus ZenFone 8 Flip, on the other hand is a refreshed version of the Asus ZenFone 7 Pro and comes with a ‘flip’ rear camera module that acts as both the rear and front shooter for the smartphone. The Asus ZenFone 8 has been priced at $599 (roughly Rs 44,100) onwards, and the Asus ZenFone 8 Flip has been priced at EUR 799 (roughly Rs 71,000) onwards. Both the smartphones come with flagship-level specifications including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. The Asus ZenFone 8 has a dual rear camera setup, while the ZenFone 8 Flip has a triple camera setup. The smartphone series was also set to launch in India on May 12, but in the light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in the country, Asus deferred the launch of the ZenFone 8 in India.
Other Launches
Apart from the Oppo Find X3 Mars Exploration Edition, Redmi Note 10S, Asus ZenFone 8 series, the new PlayStation 5 controllers, and the MediaTek Dimensity 900 chipset, other launches this week included Intel’s latest 11th Gen Tiger Lake H-series processors, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30 mobile GPU, in computer peripherals. In terms of smartphones, we saw launches of the Realme C20A, Infinix Hot 10, Tecno Camon 17 Pro, and the Lava Z2 Max. Further we also saw several laptop launches like the Asus Zephyrus M16 and Zephyrus S17, new Dell XPS 15 and XPS 17, Lenovo Legion 5i, Legion 5i Pro, and Lenovo Legion 7i, and Vaio SE14 and SX14. In terms of accessories, we saw the Redmi Watch and Xiaomi Flipbuds Pro break cover, along with HTC Vive Pro 2 and Focus 3.
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