What is variable aperture and why should you care?

The iPhone 18 Pro is the first iPhone model to feature a variable aperture, a headlining feature for this year's Pro models. An adjustable aperture has been an invaluable tool for photographers on professional and prosumer camera systems, and its absence from mobile cameras has become increasingly conspicuous as everything else on these devices has leveled up. There have been a handful of phones over the years that featured a variable aperture system for their main camera. However, the feature never stuck around long enough to enter the lexicon of the average smartphone user, as most...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/what_is_variable_aperture_and_why_should_you_care-news-75076.php

OnePlus 16 is official with 9,000mAh battery, Week 42 in review

The OnePlus 16 is official, with a mammoth 9,000mAh battery. The power plant supports 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. Elsewhere on the phone, there's the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (still can't cope with this name), a 6.78-inch LTPO OLED display that can go up to 185Hz in select games, and a triple camera, consisting of a 200MP wide-angle, a 50MP 3x telephoto, and a 50MP ultrawide. The OnePlus 16 is available in China, and it's exclusive to China. Sadly, it isn't getting a global version. Still, that doesn't matter as much when you sell 70 thousand units in the first...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_16_is_official_with_9000mah_battery_week_42_in_review-news-75092.php

Weekly poll results: the Galaxy Tab S12+ and Tab S12 Ultra make laptops look reasonably priced

One commenter under last week’s poll made an interesting point – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra starts at $1,400 for a 12/256GB model and this is without the keyboard, which is an extra $380. Why not get a MacBook instead? A 13” MacBook Air with an M5 chipset, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage costs $1,300. The 15” version is $1,500. So, you get a faster chipset, more RAM, more storage and a keyboard for around the same price as the Tab S12 Ultra – less, actually, if you need a keyboard. 13” MacBook Air for $1,300 or a 16” Galaxy Book6 for $1,450 Don’t want to deal with macOS? Why...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_results_the_galaxy_tab_s12_and_tab_s12_ultra_make_laptops_look_reasonably_priced-news-75069.php

vivo V80 in for review

This is the vivo V80, yes, the same V80 we handled earlier this month. Well, different unit; this one is Green (or is it Blue?). We're torn whether it's a green shade of blue or a blue shade of green. Either way, it's much nicer (and original) than the iPhone shade of orange we handled last time. This global model ships in a box with a transparent soft case, a 90W charger, and a USB-A to USB-C cable. Unboxing the vivo V80 Design-wise, the vivo V80 sits in the middle between its predecessor, the V70, and a recent iPhone Pro. It's built like the V70 with a matte metal frame...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/vivo_v80_in_for_review-news-75087.php

Deals: latest Galaxy foldables and Galaxy S26 series are on sale

Last week, we covered Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days and then the aftermath – some phones kept their promotional prices from the Prime sale even during the weekend, while others went back up. Checking back again on them this week, we see that all phones now cost more. That is on Amazon, anyway, so we went over to see what Walmart has to offer. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 is currently $1,700 on Amazon, while it was $1,650 last week (this is for a 12/256GB unit). Walmart has it at $1,640, though, so it’s not too late to pick one up. One recurring issue that we ran into with Walmart, however, is...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/deals_the_galaxy_z8_and_galaxy_s26_models_are_on_sale-news-75085.php

Qualcomm denies rumors about Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 overheating

Yesterday, a Korean news outlet shared some concerning news about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra. According to the report, Samsung is thinking about going all Exynos next year, as internal testing has shown that the newly released Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset is running too hot, resulting in thermal throttling. In contrast, the Exynos 2700 is doing just fine. But after the rumor did its rounds on the internet, Qualcomm's CMO responded to a thread on X saying that these rumors were inaccurate. Here's what he had to say: Recent reporting about thermal issues related...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/qualcomm_denies_rumors_about_snapdragon_8_elite_extreme_gen_6_overheating-news-75100.php