Phones

Android Headlines and leaker OnLeaks have shared CAD renders of next year’s affordable Pixel handset based on leaked info, and you’d be hard-pressed to spot the difference between it and this year’s 9A. Hopefully Google has some upgrades planned under the surface if the design really is going to change so little.

The oh-so-hip phone manufacturer will launch what it’s calling its “first entry-level smartphone” this Wednesday, the Phone 3A Lite. The teaser confirms the return of some form of Glyph lighting, but we don’t know much more than that. Expect it to cost less than the $379 / £329 Phone 3A, though I suspect a US launch is unlikely.

The issue is caused by a font in the latest update to the app (version 10.x) that’s only available through Google Play Services. As a result, it’s crashing or simply failing to launch on phones running GrapheneOS and other “de-Googled” versions of Android, reports Android Authority.

Frustrated that Xiaomi’s new flagships, with second screens on the back, aren’t launching in the US? Nuu Mobile says its B40 is the first US phone with a second screen, though at $299.99 this is no flagship. Its Dimensity 7050 chip is basic, and the 64-megapixel main camera is joined only by a macro.

Bloomberg reports Samsung is finally ready to show off its first trifold phone — well, nearly. It will apparently appear at the APEC summit at the end of the month to demonstrate South Korea’s technological prowess in front of a few world leaders. But will we see it first at next week’s XR headset event?

The GT 8 Pro launches in China next week, but we already know about its most unique new feature: interchangeable camera mounts, replaceable with just a couple of Torx screws. Realme shows off a lot of options in the teaser video, the question will be how many actually ever launch.

That’s what both Korean site Newspim and fansite SamMobile report. Rumors had claimed Samsung would swap the Plus for the Edge in next year’s S26 trio, but low sales for the first slim phone may have changed those plans, bringing the Plus back into the lineup.

Following in the footsteps of Xiaomi and Vivo, Nubia has revealed a set of camera accessories for its upcoming Z80 Ultra. It includes two detachable lenses — a telephoto and a portrait — plus a multi-part case that recreates the whole aesthetic (and a few controls) from a proper camera. The Z80 Ultra launches in China on October 22nd.

Apple’s thinnest iPhone is finally launching in China next week, with preorders this Friday. The eSIM-only phone’s launch was delayed a month ago over regulatory issues to do with the electronic SIM cards, which aren’t widely available in the country.

The company shared this teaser video to Weibo ahead of the Find X9’s October 16th launch. Tellingly, it looks incredibly similar to the OnePlus 15, with only small differences in the camera island — not least the inclusion of a Hasselblad logo.

Android Headlines and OnLeaks shared renders of the S26 Ultra created from leaks and... this sure is a Galaxy Ultra. The only real change is a camera island for the main three lenses. It should launch in January alongside the S26 Pro and S26 Edge — no base model this time.

Vivo has confirmed that the 2.35x detachable lens it introduced with this year’s X200 Ultra is returning in the X300 and X300 Pro, which launch in October. I tested the original, which looks silly but took some exceptional shots — but how will the X300 Ultra outdo it next year?

If you care about who makes the processors that MediaTek, Samsung, and more use in their smartphone chips, you’ll want to know that Arm has released new CPUs and GPUs named Lumex. It marks the end of its “Cortex” cores, which now get boring names like “C1-Ultra” and “C1-Pro.”

Unsure about the Air or put off by the Pro? Don’t worry: with double the storage, a 120Hz display, and its upgraded selfie camera, the regular iPhone 17 looks like the best of the bunch, and not for the first time.