TECH THAT...
A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST NEWS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
XIAOMI ARRIVES IN THE UK
IT’S the fourth-biggest phone maker in the world, behind only Samsung, Huawei, and Apple. But you’ve probably never heard of it.
Xiaomi is a huge Chinese electronics company, and a name you’re set to become much more familiar with. It just started selling devices in the UK.
And its unique selling point? Price. It purports to make high-end phones for knock-down prices, and is doing pretty well at it.
Its flagship phone is the Mi 8, which looks almost exactly like an iphone XS, but runs the latest version of Android and packs quite a punch hardware-wise.
It’s fast, has a bright 7.2in AMOLED screen, and sports a dual-lens 12MP AI rear camera.
There’s a front camera, that can be used to unlock the phone, too. And yet... it costs just £459. The slightly pricer Mi 8 Pro adds £40 to the cost, and comes with a unique see-through back and a fingerprint sensor under the screen.
Expect to see these phones in a lot of people’s hands very soon.
SAMSUNG’S FOLDABLE PHONE
THE world’s worst-kept secret slipped almost fully into the daylight this week – Samsung says it’s making a phone with a foldable screen.
Details of the device, which was shown off at Samsung’s developer conference, are scant – no name has been confirmed, no price, and no release date.
The phone looked like a thick smartphone with a screen on the outside.
Once opened, it revealed another folded screen on the inside. It’ll run a version of Android.
It’s widely believed the device will be called the Galaxy F and will receive a proper introduction in March of next year.
Guesses at pricing are predictably high with some suggesting it could cost as much as £1,700, which might be decent value if it can work both as a phone and a tablet.