Okay, March was the month for the launch of budget phones like the iQOO Z9, Real B12+, 5G, and nothing. I mean literally nothing. Nothing. This joke never gets old. Now April will have fewer launches but more interesting ones. There are launches from OnePlus, Motorola, Samsung, and Xiaomi everywhere. Also, we might see an unexpected crossover between Apple and Google in AI, and Apple just got sued by the US government. Oh, I didn’t see that coming! Exactly. There’s Pixel Lake. Pixel just can’t stop leaking. This is going to be a really exciting article; let’s go!
First up is the OneNote Note CE4. In terms of specs, it will come with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. To clear up the confusion, because of Snapdragon’s weird naming scheme, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 and not the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2. So in simple words, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is a mid-range chip. It will come with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage and 100W of Superbook charging. I hope OnePlus just doesn’t mess up with the UFS storage typo this time. If you know, you know. Now, as per rumors, it will have a 50MP main camera, and the camera is where I feel OnePlus is generally lacking. Now, the price of the OnePlus Nord CE4 is rumored to be around $28,000. By the way, we did a Holi logo contest, and this was the winner, but these were the responses, and not only so many people participated, but the logos, use of AI, and creativity from the Team Techwizer community were bangers. And group hug everyone. Thank you. We’ll be doing more such contests later on, so we can share tech and creativity. Thank you once again. Next up, we have the Samsung M55. Now, in terms of specs, it is rumored to have a Snapdragon 7th Gen 1 processor, a 64MP main camera, a 6000mAh battery, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, and it will come with the latest Android 14 out of the box. There’s no leaks or rumors about the pricing as of now, but usually the M and F series is an affordable variant of the A series, so I’m expecting it to be somewhere around 30,000.
Next up, we have the Motorola Edge 50 Pro. Now, Motorola has teased the specs on its Twitter handle, and even their product page is live on Flipkart. So, if you see the product page, the Edge 50 Pro will be joining the AI bandwagon, and we’re all AI. It says that it has adaptive AI video stabilization, an AI photo enhancement engine, and that, as per Motorola, it’s the world’s first phone to have a Pantone-validated camera. Now, I have never heard of a Pantone-validated camera. So in simple words, Pantone is an organization that is basically a giant library, but for colors. I don’t know what that has to do with the camera, but just by having a look at the advertisement, it seems like the colors in the Motorola S50 Pro will be closer to natural. Now, we have seen some camera collabs that have stood out, like the Xiaomi Leica and Vivo Zeiss, and some that didn’t turn out to be that well, like the OnePlus Hasselblad. Now, if Pantone helps Motorola better their camera, we’ll see that’s the question we might have to answer, and we might or might not have the device with us. Subscribe to find out. Now, apart from the camera, the Edge 50 Pro will have the Snapdragon 7th Gen 3 processor, a Pantone-validated display, a 15MP main camera, and 125W fast charging. I don’t know where that ends. In terms of pricing, there is a lot of confusion about it, but I’m assuming the Moto Edge 50 Pro has to be a premium device and be priced around 35–40,000 rupees. Talking about confusion, let’s talk processors. If processor names weren’t confusing enough, we have a new processor: the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3. And if you see this leaked screenshot, it has scored around 18.5 lakhs, and to clear up the confusion here, the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 falls between the Snapdragon 8Gen 2 and 8Gen 3. Unlike the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the 8S Gen 3 is powerful enough to process AI features on the device. The way smartphone processors are named, I think they are inspired somewhere by Intel.
On a serious note, Xiaomi is using the chip on their upcoming CV4 Pro. Now this phone will come to India, maybe with the name Xiaomi 14 Lite. The name can be different, but it is definitely coming to India. In terms of specs, this will have the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3, a 1.5K 120Hz AMOLED display, Android 14 out of the box, and a metallic frame. Now the Xiaomi CV4 Pro has already been launched in China for around 35,000 rupees, but after customs duty and everything, I think in India it will come in at around 40–45,000 rupees. Next up, we have the Infinix Note 40 Pro series. It has already been launched in Malaysia, and it is expected to launch in India in the last week of April. Now, in terms of specs, it has the MediaTek Helio G99 Ultimate. These days, it has 70W wire charging and 20W of wireless Mac charging. Now, it has Infinix’s custom Cheetah X1 chip, which optimizes charging speed as per different scenarios, like gaming and all of that, to keep the temperature of the phone under control while charging. It has dual speakers by JBL and a 180MP OIS camera; now it might launch somewhere around $20,000–$25,000. It’s good to see wireless or MagSafe charging in the budget. Next up is the Google Pixel 8a. Pixel is the only phone that gets unboxed even before the release. Pre-boxing. Pre-boxing. Now the Pixel A series usually launches at Google I.O. events.
The Google I.O. event is officially happening on june 14, 2024. In terms of specs, the Pixel 8a is rumored to come with a Tensor G3 processor, and it will have an underclocked Tensor G3 processor to reduce the cost and justify the pricing. Now, in terms of display, it will have the same Full HD Plus display, but this time it will have a 120Hz refresh rate with 1400 nits of peak brightness. 64-megapixel main camera plus a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and it is said that the USB-C port on the Pixel 8a will also be a display-out port so you can connect a monitor or an external display. Maybe we see something like DeX in Android 15. Finally, there’s no leak about the pricing, but going as per Google’s past track record, the Pixel 8a should launch around 40–45 thousand now, coming to the most hot topic. Apple is in talks with Google about building AI on the next iPhone and iOS 8. Yes, you heard that right. Previously, Apple shut down its car division to redirect the entire team to work on AI. They have to shut down their cars to make AI. AI is taking jobs! Now, there are rumors that Apple is working on its own AI engine, the Apple MM1. For those of you who don’t know, AI engines are the backend of an AI website or chatbot. For instance, GPT-4 is the backend AI engine of ChatGPT. Now, as per multiple reports, Apple is seeking out Google’s Gemini, which will power the AI features in the upcoming iOS 80. Now, as we know, Gemini is capable of generating images, summarizing YouTube videos, fetching unread emails, and all of that on Android phones. In fact, most of Samsung’s AI features are powered by Google’s AI engine, Gemini. So if Apple Google Talks works out, then Siri might be equipped with Gemini features. And you know what that means. It’s crazy that I told you two years ago that you might see Google as a digital assistant on an iPhone.
You wouldn’t believe it. And talking about unbelievable things, after getting sued multiple times by the EU, Apple is now sued in its own country by the US Department of Justice for unfair competition. To put it into simple words, if I have an iPhone in the US, I can only do tap-to-pay via Apple Wallet. Other apps, like Google Pay, are not allowed to use the NFC for tap-to-pay or even simpler things. If I have a Sony headphone, I cannot pair it with the iPhone by just tapping it. So Apple makes it harder for the competition to make products that are compatible with iPhones, thus pushing the user to buy more products from Apple and just stay inside the ecosystem. So, this has been a very rough week for Apple. Let us know what you think about this walled garden issue. And I’m really excited about Apple integrating Gemini for AI; if that happens, will Siri be replaced with Google Assistant? I mean, I think I’m getting too ambitious about that.
