Heena Sharma Blog

  Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday released its new top-tier smartphone chip aimed at premium-priced Android phones with features like sharper photos and graphics than handsets using chips from rivals. The San Diego, California-based company is the biggest supplier of the chips at the heart of many Android phones, competing against rivals such as Taiwan's MediaTek Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which uses Qualcomm chips in some of its phones but self-supplies chips for some models. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip released Tuesday will have similar computing cores to rivals like MediaTek, which this month announced a chip aimed at premium phones. But almost every other part of the chip are custom designed by Qualcomm, including those playing a role in the visual quality of photos and graphics-intensive apps like games. Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile, compute and infrastructure for Qualcomm, said the company has been crafting software that will l

  Some of the world’s largest technology companies are complaining to US antitrust regulators about Nvidia Corp’s acquisition of Arm because the deal will harm competition in an area of the industry that is vital to their businesses. Alphabet Inc’s Google, Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. are among companies worried about the $40 billion deal and are urging antitrust officials to intervene, said people familiar with the process who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly. At least one of the companies wants the deal killed. Nvidia shares fell as much as 3.1 per cent in New York trading on Friday. The acquisition would give Nvidia control over a critical supplier that licenses essential chip technology to the likes of Apple, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Amazon.com and China’s Huawei. UK-based Arm is known as the Switzerland of the industry because it licenses chip designs and related software code to all comers, rather than competing against sem

  Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has unveiled its flagship smartphone " Mi 11 " in the global market through a virtual event that features Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G mobile platform, making it one of the first smartphones to come with this processor. The smartphone comes in two storage variants -- 8GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB at Euro 749 and Euro 799, respectively -- and it will be available from March. Xiaomi Mi 11 features 6.81-inch AMOLED panel with WQHD+ resolution, a 120Hz maximum refresh rate and 1500 nits maximum brightness. It supports HDR10+ and 100 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. The display is housed in a minimal-bezel chassis with a 91.4 per cent screen to body ratio and protected by the toughest Gorilla Glass Victus. Snapdragon 888 5G mobile platform offers significant improvements in performance per watt, AI acceleration, 5G support, computational photography, gaming performance, wi-fi speed and photo security, ZDnet reported on Monday. The Mi 11 has

  Vivo on Monday launched the Vivo Y51A in India at Rs 17,990. The smartphone boasts 48-megapixel based triple camera set-up on the back, 5,000 mAh battery with 18W fast charge and reverse wired charging support, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor. The Vivo Y51A sports a 6.58-inch screen of fullHD+ (2408×1080) resolution. It comes with side fingerprint sensor for screen unlock. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 6-series processor, the Y51A is the first Vivo smartphone to boot Android 11 operating system based Funtouch OS 11 user interface. Imaging is covered by a triple camera array on the back, featuring a 48MP primary sensor with Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) technology for ultra-stable video. The other two cameras are an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens and 2MP macro lens. On the front, the smartphone has 16MP camera for selfies. It also has super night camera capabilities for both front and rear for low light photography. Read More

  Chinese technology company Xiaomi on Tuesday launched in India the Mi 10i 5G smartphone . The Mi 10i will be available in Pacific Sunrise, Midnight Black, and Atlantic Blue colour variants. The smartphones comes in 6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB RAM and on-board storage variants priced at Rs 20,099, Rs 21,999, and Rs 23,999, respectively. While the 6GB+64GB variant will be available for sale on later dates, the 6GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB variants will be available on the Mi online portal, Mi Homes, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios from 07 January 2021. As for the launch offers, the Mi 10i will be available with up to Rs 2,000 cashback offer on the ICICI bank credit/debit cards. Besides, the phone will be available for up to 12 months no-interest equated monthly instalment offer. Mi 10i specifications The Mi 10i sports a 6.67-inch IPS LCD display of fullHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The phone supports adaptive sync refresh rate, which automatically switches the refre

  Mobile chipset company Qualcomm on Tuesday said 5G is redefining premium experiences as it provides virtually unlimited storage and cloud processing, and is fuelling the rise of more powerful services. Speaking at Snapdragon Tech Summit Digital, Qualcomm Incorporated President Cristiano Amon said innovation in the premium tier and advanced connectivity has allowed mobile phones to replace many of people's favourite devices. "In the 4G era, broadband internet and mobile computing transformed user expectations...today's smartphone is the platform for many of the services we depend on every day...We felt the shift as image sharing and music streaming cemented the smartphone's roles in our lives," he said. Amon noted that while "premium redefines the experience, 5G is redefining premium". Read More

Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek on Tuesday launched a new gaming-focused chipset for premium 4G smartphones. Named the MediaTek Helio G95 , it is the latest addition to the MediaTek Helio G Series family aimed at gaming-centric smartphones. "MediaTek continues to enhance its G series gaming chips to deliver robust performance and MediaTek Helio G95 is our most powerful gaming chip to date," Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager, Wireless Communications Business Unit, MediaTek, said in a statement. The new chipset features enhanced MediaTek HyperEngine game technology, multi-camera support, unrivalled connectivity, and AI Super-Resolution for video streams. It aims to offer gaming enthusiasts faster performance and high-end features like advanced multi-camera photography (up to 4 cameras) with an inbuilt AI processing unit (APU). Read More                    

  Chinese electronics maker Lenovo-owned smartphone brand Motorola on Monday made a global debut of its Moto G9 smartphone from India. Touted to be made in India and for Indian consumers, the smartphone will be available will be available in deep sapphire blue and natural forest green colours from August 31, exclusively on Flipkart. Priced at Rs 11,499, the Moto G9 will be available in 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant. Moto G9 features and specifications The Moto G9 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 system-on-chip, paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The dualSIM phone has a storage expansion slot, which supports a microSD card of up to 512GB capacity. The phone has a 6.5-inch HD+ resolution screen of 20:9 aspect ratio. It ships with Android 10 operating system and a promise to get at least 1 OS upgrade and 2 years of security updates. The OS is mostly stock, and features moto actions and gestures. The phone features a dedicated Google Assistant Button l

OPPO Reno4 Pro is coming to India on July 31, announced the Chinese smartphone maker OPPO on Monday. Launched in China in June, the Reno4 Pro is a premium midrange smartphone with 5G network support, two-side curved AMOLED screen of 90Hz refresh rate, triple camera array on the back and 65W fast charging support. In India, the phone is expected to launch along with OPPO smartwatch. OPPO Reno 4 specifications The Oppo Reno 4 Pro sports a 6.5-inch fullHD+ AMOLED display of 90Hz refresh rate. It has a punch-hole on the top left corner accommodating phone’s front camera. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G system-on-chip, mated with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. It ships with Android 10 operating system-based ColorOS 7.2 user interface. Read More

Taiwanese electronics maker ASUS is gearing up to launch the third iteration of its gaming-centric ROG-series smartphone in India on July 22. Named ROG Phone 3 , the smartphone will debut with the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ system-on-chip, which brings up to 10 per cent improvement in computing and graphics performance over the predecessor. “ASUS is excited to once again offer users the best possible mobile gaming experience with the next-generation ROG Phone 3, which will be powered by the new Snapdragon 865 Plus Mobile Platform,” said Bryan Chang, general manager of smartphone business unit, ASUS. ASUS ROG Phone 3 launch in India The gaming smartphone will be launched in India through an online event on July 22 at 8:15 pm. ASUS India will livestream the event at its YouTube channel, and the link to the live feed shall be available before the launch. Like other ASUS smartphones, the ROG Phone 3 will be Flipkart-exclusive and the home-grown e-commerce plat

MediaTek on Tuesday expanded its G-series mobile processors with the launch of Helio G35 and Helio G25 system-on-chips. The SoCs feature MediaTek HyperEngine game technology for enhanced gaming performance without compromising on the power efficiency. Besides gaming-centric enhancements, the chipsets are touted to bring improvements with regard to imaging capabilities. Targeting the global smartphone user base, the new chips are designed for feature-rich smartphones in budget and midrange segment. “The MediaTek Helio G25 and G35 chips offer smartphone users premium features included in our other G-series family, including enhanced power efficiency, optimum performance, seamless gameplay, and enhanced photography,” said Dr Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager, Wireless Communications Business Unit, MediaTek. Read More

iQOO is the latest player in the Indian smartphone market, and it has started with a bang with its 5G smartphone iQoo 3 that sports a combination of powerful specifications and notable features that brings it in direct competition with OnePlus smartphones and Realme X50 Pro 5G. We got our hands on the device and here are the first impressions: Specifications The 5G version of iQoo 3 comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The key highlight of the phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset. This is an octa-core SoC manufactured using a 7nm process with Kryo 585 cores backed by Adreno 650 GPU. The smartphone also supports the latest UFS3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM. A simple glance at the specifications makes it clear that iQOO plans to make it big and better right from the start rather than aiming at the already cluttered mid-range segment. Read More

Chinese behemoth BBK Group's smartphone brand iQOO on Tuesday launched its first flagship smartphone iQOO 3 with 5G capabilities in India, starting from Rs 36,990. The smartphone will be available in three colour options and three variants -- Rs 36,990 (8+128GB 4G), Rs 39,990 (8+256GB 4G) and Rs 44,990 (12+256GB 5G). The device will go on sale starting from March 4 at 12 noon on Flipkart and iqoo.com, said the company. 'With iQOO 3, we have introduced industry's latest innovations like 5G enabled Snapdragon 865 processor for tech-savvy buyers. iQOO 3 offers highly personalized, cutting-edge and innovative solutions that make it easy for users to get the most out of their device,' said Gagan Arora, Director-Marketing, iQOO India. The smartphone is equipped with 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display with HDR 10+ standard certification which supports HDR high-dynamic range video-content playback. Read More

iQOO - a new smartphone brand from China - is set to enter the Indian market with the launch of its 5G phone next month, and will compete in the burgeoning premium category. iQOO is a sub-brand of Vivo in China but will operate in India as a separate entity. With this, the BBK Group now has five brands -- OnePlus, Vivo, OPPO, Realme and iQOO -- in India. "We have very bold plans for India. Our first device, which will be launched next month, will feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, is 5G-enabled and has a new battery technology. The device will be best-in-class premium segment and will be competitively priced," iQOO India Director-Marketing Gagan Arora told PTI. He added that the company aims to sell about one million devices over the next one year. "We see extreme potential in the premium segment smartphone market in India and have deep-dived to understand the gap that the consumers face in this segment. We understand very closely that there is an i

American telecom equipment maker Qualcomm on Tuesday launched the Snapdragon 720G , Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460 mobile system-on-chip in India. The three new system-on-chips are budget and midrange mobile processors, aimed at enhancing user experiences across connectivity, gaming and entertainment. These new mobile platforms enable fast 4G connectivity speeds, deliver key Wi-Fi 6 features and offer integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio via the Qualcomm FastConnect 6-series subsystems. “ While we see a fast adoption of 5G across geographies globally, we do recognise the phenomenal boost that 4G has given towards enabling broadband connectivity for Indian consumers. 4G will continue to remain a focus area for Qualcomm Technologies for regions like India, where it will stay a key technology for connectivity,” said Rajen Vagadia, vice president and president, Qualcomm India. Read More

Chinese smartphone brand Realme on Thursday launched in India the Realme 5i . Priced at Rs 8,999, the smartphone comes in forest green and aqua blue colours. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 system-on-chip, mated with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The phone goes on sale from January 15, exclusively on Flipkart and Realme online portal. The Realme 5i has a 6.52-inch screen of HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels) resolution, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. The display has a dew drop-shaped notch on the top that accommodates the phone’s front camera. On the back, the phone has a polished textured design with glass-like reflective properties. Though the phone does not have any ingress protection, it boasts a splash-resistant design for protection against minor spillage. Powering the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC, paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The phone supports dualSIM and has a microSD card slot for storage expansion. It is powered by a 5,000 mAh

Realme today launched X2 Pro and Realme 5s in India today. Key highlights of the Realme X2 Pro include the Snapdragon 855+ SoC, 90Hz Fluid Display, quad camera setup with a 64-megapixel main shooter, and 50W Super VOOC fast charging technology. The Realme 5s, on the other hand, is loaded with a massive 5,000mAh battery and sport a quad camera setup with 48-megapixel main sensor. The company has launched Realme X2 Pro at Rs 29, 999 for 8GB + 128GB configuration while the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs, 33,999. Realme X2 Pro The Realme X2 Pro runs Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.1 on top and features a 6.5-inch full-HD+ (1080x2400 pixels) Super AMOLED Fluid display with 90Hz refresh rate, 135Hz touch sampling rate as Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ octa-core chipset, paired with RAM and storage of 6GB + 64GB, 8GB + 128 GB, and 12GB + 256 GB respectively. Read More

Chinese technology company Xiaomi -backed gaming smartphone brand Black Shark on July 31 announced the Black Shark 2 Pro edition. The smartphone is not a new launch, but an upgraded version of the Black Shark 2. The phone gets minor, but crucial design and hardware upgrades over its predecessor. Let’s take a look at what is new in the Black Shark 2 Pro edition: The Black Shark 2 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s recently announced gaming-centric Snapdragon 855+ system-on-chip. According to Qualcomm’s claims, this mobile processor delivers up to 15 per cent faster graphics rendering and 4 per cent uplift in CPU performance from the standard Snapdragon 855, which powers the Black Shark 2. The processor is mated with universal flash storage (UFS) 3.0 for faster transfer and read/write speeds. Powering the phone is a 4,000 mAh battery with 27W fast-charging support. The phone gets a multi-layered liquid cooling system, which can reduce the temperature of the core CPU by 14-degree – ac

Apple Inc. infringes a Qualcomm Inc. patent and some imported iPhones should be blocked from the U.S. as a result, a U.S. trade judge said in one of two cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission. ITC Judge MaryJoan McNamara said she would be recommending an import ban on certain model iPhones, which are made in China, according to a notice posted on the Washington agency’s electronic docket. The judge found no violation of two other Qualcomm patents in the case. The judge’s findings are subject to review by the full commission, which has the power to block imports of products that infringe U.S. patents. A final decision is expected by July. Qualcomm jumped as much as much as 2.6 percent in New York and were trading at $58.11 at 3 p.m. Apple pared gains and was down less than one percent. The judge’s full findings aren’t yet public, and won’t be until both sides get a chance to redact confidential information. The case is one of two that Qualcomm brought at the tr

Chip supplier Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday unveiled a new generation of mobile phone processor chips that will power 5G smartphones in the United States as soon as next year. The key feature of the Snapdragon 855 chip, launched at an event in Hawaii, is a so-called modem for phones to connect to 5G wireless data networks with mobile data speeds of up to 50 or 100 times faster than current 4G networks. Mobile carriers are investing in 5G networks and are eager to sell 5G phones and data plans to recoup investment costs. Qualcomm, the largest supplier of mobile phone chips, said Snapdragon 855 would power Samsung 5G smartphones that Verizon Communications Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday would be released in the United States in the first half of 2019. The modem would also enable "computer vision" to help phones recognise objects and faces, and support a new Qualcomm fingerprint sensor that can read a user's fingerprint through the glass