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Xiaomi unveils new smartphone, appliance lines
Xiaomi has unveiled new lines of smartphones, wearables, and home devices at an event in Germany, as it seeks to court the international market and challenge companies like Samsung. The company’s 15T Series phones will include direct offline voice communication and three rear cameras. Xiaomi also revealed new robot vacuums, televisions, and smart watches, and said it will launch its Mijia appliances worldwide. “This launch marks a bold evolution of Xiaomi T Series from flagship photography and cutting-edge technology built for modern trendsetters to advanced mobile technology, elevated imagery and a refined design,” the company said of its 15T smartphones. “These new devices are designed to transform everyday life, spanning smart home cleaning, personal health monitoring, immersive audio, home security, and next-generation entertainment,” wrote Xiaomi. The company’s 15T phones succeed the Xiaomi 15 line, which was launched internationally earlier in 2025. A Xiaomi 17 smartphone series will be unveiled for the Chinese market later today. Redmi, Xiaomi’s entry-level device subsidiary, also unveiled a new line of tablets with a 12.1-inch display at the event. Xiaomi held a 14.4% share of the global smartphone market
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Apple unveils thinnest iPhone yet at awe-dropping event
Apple debuted its thinnest iPhone design yet, but failed to deliver on artificial intelligence (AI) advancements investors were seeking at its ‘awe-dropping’ event. Alongside the new iPhone 17, which is set to come with much greater battery function, Apple also unveiled the iPhone Air. Apple CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone Air the “biggest leap ever” for the iPhone as it sports a width of 5.6mm. The thinner iPhone is made of “spacecraft titanium”, has a 6.5-inch display and comes in a variety of colours that the company said “evokes lightness”. The iPhone Air will have a US$999 price tag, with pre-orders starting Friday and general availability on 19 September. Apple’s new AirPods Pro 3 will also be released on 19 September with a US$249 price tag, with an update to bring it in line with Google’s Pixel Buds. The new Apple Watch Series 11 was also announced with updated versions of the Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch SE. Despite this, the company glossed over what many investors wanted to hear about: Apple Intelligence, which was introduced at its annual WWDC developers conference last year. This places them behind competitors like Google, Samsung and Microsoft who have been quick to integrate AI into their
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Google Pixel 10 challenges rivals with AI features
Google launched its Pixel 10 smartphone family on Wednesday, betting heavily on artificial intelligence features as Apple struggles with delayed Siri improvements until 2026. The Mountain View company's latest lineup starts at US$799 for the base Pixel 10, matching Samsung's Galaxy S25 and Apple's iPhone 16 pricing exactly. The Pixel 10 Pro costs US$999, whilst the larger Pro XL reaches US$1,199. Google's innovative AI standout addition is Magic Cue, which proactively surfaces relevant information during phone calls and messages. When dialling an airline, the feature automatically displays flight details from your email. The new Camera Coach uses Gemini models to suggest better framing and composition, targeting photography beginners. Pro models feature Pro Res Zoom reaching 100x magnification through generative AI, though such extreme zoom claims often produce heavily processed results rather than genuine optical quality.Hardware specs lagDespite AI advances, the Pixel 10's hardware specifications trail competitors. Samsung's Galaxy S25 includes 12GB of RAM compared to the Pixel's likely 8GB, whilst the S25's Snapdragon 8 Elite processor outperforms older chips in benchmarks. Battery performance remains question
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Samsung gains US market share as Apple declines
Samsung's market share is surging, creating more competition between the tech giant and its biggest rival, Apple. In the second quarter of the fiscal year, Samsung’s market share rose from 23% in the prior period to 31%, according to Canalys, while Apple’s market share declined from 56% to 49%. During the second quarter of 2025, iPhone shipments declined by 2% to 44.8 million, while Samsung phone shipments rose 7% to 57.5 million. This came as Samsung launched its new foldable Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, with the devices receiving 60% higher pre-orders than their predecessors, becoming the most successful foldable launch in the United States. Apple still reported a 13% increase year-over-year in iPhone sales in its July earnings; however, consumers aren’t always rushing to purchase the newest model. According to Telemetry, 16.3% of all iPhone users are currently using iPhone 13s, despite the tech giant releasing a new model every year due to similarities between models. Another reason why Samsung is making headway is due to the wide range of products at various price points. “Samsung has refocused its strategy on ‘smart volume,’ aiming to profitably scale its mass market Galaxy A series while continui
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Oppo launches ultra-thin foldable phone Find N5
Oppo has launched its Find N5 smartphone, an ultra-thin foldable phone aiming to compete with Samsung, Google, and Huawei. The Find N5 is 4.21 millimetres thick when unfolded, and 8.93 mm when closed. It succeeds 2023’s foldable Oppo Find N3, also sold as the OnePlus Open under its OnePlus subsidiary. “Find N5 unlocks the potential of folding phones, putting tablet and laptop experiences in our hands. It's impossibly thin and light, and ColorOS 15 is precision-tuned to do more across two immersive displays, with AI-powered tools, and advanced integration with Macs,” said Oppo chief product officer Pete Lau. The smartphone includes a number of artificial intelligence features, such as a personal AI assistant that can summarise content and enhance images, similar to Samsung’s Galaxy AI and Google Gemini. According to Oppo, the Find N5 boasts “the best battery life of any folding phone”, with a 5600mAh dual-cell battery. It will also allow users to remotely control Mac computers. The Find N5 is available in Europe and Asia, but it is not scheduled to be released in the United States or Australia. It is priced from SG$2,499 (A$2,925), compared with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 from A$2,749 and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

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Trifold Huawei smart phone set to hit global market
Huawei has announced it will launch its trifold smartphone, the Mate XT, outside of China for the first time, seeing to make a comeback in international markets and compete with other big names. The announcement comes after years of the tech giant facing sanctions from the United States starting back in 2019, which cut off its access to advance chips and Google’s Android operating system, but ultimately did not prevent overall growth for the company. The IDC reported that Huawei's comeback began over the last couple of years after releasing a new smartphone, the Mate 60, containing a fairly advanced chip despite the sanctions, at the end of 2023. Subsequently their 2024 market share jumped up 5% from the previous year to 17%.Credit: IDCNow the Mate XT is poised to hit the global market, with a price tag of €3,499, (A$5751), nearly double that of their competitor's Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6, a bifold smart phone model. The Mate XT was first released exclusively in China at the end last year, gathering attention internationally as the first ever trifold phone. Normal foldable phones and devices can be folded once in half either vertically or horizontally, with the Mate XT taking it a step further and all 3 screens are
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Apple unveils latest in iPhone 16 range, the cheaper 16e
Apple has announced its latest iPhone 16e model, which is set to be the smaller, less expensive smartphone in the range to replace the 2022 iPhone SE - the last remaining model with a home button. The new phone will go on sale on 28 February and comes in black and white, with pricing starting at A$999 (US$599). After 18 years, Apple has officially discontinued the home button from its range, instead, the new iPhone 16e uses Apple’s FaceID scanner and sensor notch at the top of the screen. Apple said in a statement that the 16e utilises many of the unique features from the main range of iPhone 16 models, with the exception of a few features to provide a similar product for a much lower cost “[bringing] the iPhone experience to even more people.” The new low-cost iPhone comes as sales have been mixed in recent quarters, as the company seeks growth for its most important product category. In the last quarter, Apple’s overall iPhone sales were down 1% on an annual basis, while the company still sold more than US$69 billion of phones in the period alone. “iPhone 16e packs in the features our users love about the iPhone 16 lineup, including breakthrough battery life, fast performance powered by the latest-generat