The T-Mobile merger with Sprint is complete, leaving John Legere has a lot more free time on his hands and subscribers awaiting the promised huge increase in 5G coverage. It brings to an end a protracted period of regulatory attention, controversy among consumer rights advocates, and big boasts from T-Mobile itself.
With the Huawei P40 series out of the bag, the next high-profile early 2020 flagship left is OnePlus'. Not unless HTC has a surprise waiting for its remaining fans. Like any other premium phone these days, the OnePlus 8 and its Pro sibling have all but been leaked entirely. That's not to say we know with absolute certainty that the phones will turn out like these but, judging from the sources and the consistency of information, this is pretty much what we can expect from the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro.
Xiaomi has revealed its latest flagship smartphones, with the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro joined by a Mi 10 Lite 5G with an unexpectedly low price tag. Unveiled via livestream today, the new trio will start to arrive in Europe from early April, with Xiaomi confirming pricing outside of China for the first time.
Smartphones today are not only becoming more powerful, they're also becoming slightly a bit eccentric in their appearance. Never mind the notches and punch-holes on the screen, their backs are becoming visually busier, courtesy of a growing number of cameras and sensors there. Not one to always jump on the latest fads, it seems that OnePlus is putting a bit of sanity to its design, with the OnePlus 8 Pro sporting something that is both familiar and also a bit less flashy.
When you pay nearly $2,000 for a phone, you can be forgiven for expecting to be given some special treatment. Especially if that phone is practically a show of faith and support in the expensive experiments of the company. Unfortunately, that was definitely not the case with Samsung's first foldable phone but, at long last, the Galaxy Fold is finally getting an overdue Android 10 update.
Although there were already signs that Apple's supplies would be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the general presumption has been that the company would push through with its scheduled product launch even if it meant starting off with limited supplies. Now the word from insiders in Apple's supply chain isn't exactly hopeful. Apple's first 5G-capable iPhone could be delayed beyond its initial September launch date and could extend even to 2021 at the extreme latest.
Even with all the uncertainty and chaos that the COVID-19 virus has caused all over the world, it's still business as usual for some phone makers, especially those that have yet to announce their 2020 contenders. OnePlus may be stepping up its schedule a month early if rumors are correct but, unsurprisingly, almost everything about the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro has become common knowledge by now. One last-minute arrival pretty much sums up what fans could expect from this year's more expensive flagship killer.
LG has been pretty silent in the mobile space save from a brief moment in the spotlight last month. It announced the LG V60 ThinQ, the only flagship phone it has so far for this half of 2020. People were expecting that, just like last year, it would unveil the LG G9 ThinQ beside it. It may still do so eventually but it will no longer be the high-end handset that LG's customers and fans have come to expect from that line.
5G may be all the rage but those pushing for its mass adoption aren't exactly making it easy to get. Never mind how limited the coverage of 5G networks continues to be, which will now go even slower thanks to a virus pandemic. While devices that do support 5G are growing in number, they are also growing in price. For 5G to truly become widely adopted, 5G phones need to be more accessible to consumers, which is exactly the proposition that ZTE is making with the Axon 11 5G, at least for those who can actually buy and use it.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, many businesses around the world still try to continue operating as normal. In the tech industry, that means still launching products on schedule whether or not people will be able to buy them immediately anyway. Given its pre-existing predicament, availability of Huawei's phones outside of China has always been a problem anyway but that clearly won't stop it from launching not two but three phones next week, including an oddly named new model.
The Nokia 8.3 5G was revealed in full today by the company with a set of specifications that appear to far outweigh its price. The Nokia 8.3 5G sports a nearly full-frontal coverage display with a bit of a chin and a punch-hole for its front-facing camera, and a circular camera array at the back. This device will be what Nokia describes as the "first truly global 5G smartphone."
The LG V60 ThinQ 5G has landed on US carriers, and the deals are impressive if you're looking for high-speed connectivity and some dual-screen action. Announced last month, the Android smartphone may be LG's 2020 flagship but it's not really priced that way, and the good news is that on some carriers the second screen attachment comes as standard.