Our own write-ups of the latest Android phone news and reviews, sourced from the best in the industry.
At Design Miami Seoul, Samsung unveiled ‘Design is an Act of Love’, an exhibition where 14 Korean artists re‑imagined flagship products – from the Galaxy Z Fold 8 to the S95H OLED TV – using AI‑enhanced creativity.
Through its Generation 17 partnership with the UNDP, Samsung is supporting Soumda Dabriwal’s Baaba project, which has trained 4,500 local “Baala Bosses”, reached 1.8 million women and girls and distributed 5.1 million reusable period kits across India.
At Berlin’s IFA 2026, Samsung’s Bespoke AI lineup earned top honours in design and home‑appliance categories, showcasing AI‑driven comfort, sleek aesthetics and space‑saving engineering.
At Gamescom 2026 Samsung announced four new Odyssey displays for 2027, including a 49‑inch Dual‑QHD 360 Hz OLED, a 42‑inch curved OLED, a 32‑inch multi‑mode panel and a 27‑inch 1,100 Hz monitor. HDR10+ gaming will debut with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and over 20 AAA titles by mid‑2027.
Samsung’s CSR manager for Africa, Lefa Makgato, explains how programmes like the Solar‑Powered Internet School and Solve for Tomorrow are giving young Africans access to mobile‑first learning, shaping future innovators and reinforcing Samsung’s brand in emerging markets.
A post on Vodafone Egypt’s site hints at pricing for Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone Ultra and the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max. The Ultra may cost around $2,000, while the Pro models could be about 10% pricier than their 2025 predecessors – a potential shock for UK contract shoppers.
A Chinese source claims to have reverse‑engineered the upcoming Apple A20 Pro SoC, revealing a 2‑plus‑4 CPU layout, a larger L2 cache on the efficiency cores and a 7‑core GPU – details that could shape the iPhone 18 Pro and Ultra launch on 9 September.
Honor has published official repair pricing for the Robot Phone in China. Replacing the integrated gimbal camera costs CNY 3,079, while the motherboard can reach CNY 6,599. The phone starts at CNY 9,999.
Purported marketing slides for the Poco X8 and X8 Power have leaked on X, pointing to Redmi Note 17 Pro and Pro Max rebrands with large batteries, bright AMOLEDs and strong IP ratings. An India launch is rumoured by early September.
Leaks point to a 15 September India debut for Redmi Note 17 Pro and Pro Max. The Pro keeps a 9,000 mAh battery, while the Pro Max is tipped with a 10,000 mAh cell, Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 and a 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED. Pricing is rumoured to jump by at least INR 8,000.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €824.9m (~$966m) for automatically deactivating driver accounts without human review between 2018-2022, breaching GDPR. Uber has appealed the record penalty.
Android Pulse appeared as a Play Store update over the weekend. It is a first-party Google diagnostics service for anomaly detection in system resource use, already pre-installed on Pixels.
Meta has filed a patent for a hardware-only mute circuit for its AI glasses that would physically lock cameras and microphones, removing software control to prevent covert recording.
After years of resistance, Walmart will enable Apple Pay and Google Pay via Tap to Pay from 24 August. Rollout completes across US stores and Sam’s Club by end-2026, with fuel stations by mid-2027, alongside existing payment options.
Amazon has quietly increased prices across Echo, Fire TV, Kindle and eero lines, with the Echo Dot up 60% to $80. The company blames rising memory and storage component costs as chip shortages persist.
YouTube on Android Auto has been audio-only for most drivers. Google promised native video playback while parked with HD 60fps support and auto audio switching later this year, but Premium restrictions and limited controls still hold it back.
Pixel Watch 5 adds a Customize actions menu for double pinch, letting owners switch alarm snooze to dismiss, change media controls to skip, and adjust watch face notification behaviour. A small At a Glance tweak also appears.
The 4G version of vivo's V70 Lite has surfaced in Eurasian listings. It keeps the large 8,100mAh battery, IP69 protection and 6.83-inch 120Hz AMOLED, but uses a Unisoc T7300 chipset with OriginOS 6 on Android 16.
Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station says iQOO is working on an 8.8-inch compact tablet with ultra-high refresh rate, metal frame and cooling fan, powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro to rival RedMagic Astra 2.
