Samsung $1,400 Galaxy Z Flip rumors: Foldable hinge phone takes aim at Motorola Razr - CNET

Samsung officially announces its phone at the Oscars.

Screenshot by Jason Hiner/CNET

Two days before Samsung's Unpacked event is set to kick off on Feb. 11, the company teased its upcoming foldable flip phone in an ad that ran during the Oscars. The Z Flip, as the device is known to be called, marks the company doubling down on foldable phones. We've known since October that a foldable clamshell design is coming and for months, rumors, leaks and good old-fashioned speculation have formed a compelling look at the phone, possibly code named Galaxy Bloom. And as the days get closer to Samsung's event, the rumors and renders get juicier. See: a rumored fashion partnership and a $5,000 case. (Here's how to watch Samsung's Unpacked when it kicks off.)

The Galaxy Z Flip is likely to go down in history as the first foldable phone to introduce an ultra-thin glass screen that bends in half, a design element that promises to fix nearly every problem that befell early review units of the Galaxy Fold.

Any glass that tops a foldable phone has to be thin enough to bend without breaking, but strong enough to protect the electronic display underneath. Ultrathin glass that measures as thick as a strand of human hair is likely to be the first to come to market, with other possibilities down the line, like a foldable glass made of diamond crystal.

This render imagines how the Galaxy Z Flip phone's hinge might look with the foldable phone opened up.

Lets Go Digital

With this smaller, and likely cheaper, flip model, Samsung has another chance to hook people who are interested in foldable phones. It also gives the brand an opportunity to prove that it can make a successful foldable phone.

The Galaxy Flip is expected to be smaller than Samsung's Galaxy Fold from 2019 and rival the Motorola Razr flip phone, which went on sale Feb. 6 and failed CNET's folding test. The Galaxy Z Flip could unfold into a 6.7-inch screen, unlike the Galaxy Fold, which has a 7.3-inch screen that bends in half to open like a book. 

After only three significant devices in 2019, foldable phones still teeter on the edge of futuristic fancy and reality. Done right, they could double your usable screen space while still closing into a small enough rectangle to carry around. Done poorly, these expensive science experiments could confirm that ever-larger phones are the right way to make a phone.

Read on for everything we know and don't know about Samsung's next foldable phone.

Now playing: Watch this: Details about Samsung's next foldable phone pop up everywhere

4:03

Latest rumored specs

These speculated features are gathered from a variety of sources, including WinFuture, Max Weinbach of XDA Developers, Twitter leaker Evan Blass and LetsGoDigital. 

• 6.7-inch vertically folding display, possibly with bendable ultrathin glass and 2,636x1,080-pixel screen resolution
• 1.06-inch external display with 300x116-pixel resolution
• Two 12-megapixel rear cameras (one main, one ultrawide)10-megapixel front-facing camera with auto-focus
• Two batteries, one with 900-mAh capacity (other unknown)
• "Hideaway Hinge" that could help keep our dust and crumbs
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset
• 8GB RAM, 256GB on-board storage
• 3,300-mAh battery
• Wireless charging
• $1,400 price (about $1,070 or AU$2,080) with a Feb. 14 sale date 
• 4G only; no 5G
• Android 10 with Samsung One UI 2Colors: Black, purple

Could the Galaxy Z Flip stand up at a 90-degree angle?

WinFuture

It could be an AT&T exclusive in the US

The Galaxy Z Flip is said to go on sale Feb. 14 for $1,400, according to Weinbach. In the US, it might sell exclusively through AT&T, at least for a limited period of time. The foldable flip phone will also sell unlocked.

An AT&T exclusive or limited-time exclusive would give both Samsung and the carrier ammunition against the Motorola Razr, which sells exclusively with Verizon's service in the US.

In addition, Samsung is rumored to partner with New York-based fashion designer Thom Browne to release a special edition Z Flip, according to leaked ad images. The ad shows a red, white and blue striped design along with other accessories like earbuds and a smartwatch band.

Just head from a new source:
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip will likely launch on February 14th. It retails at $1400. It's possible it is an AT&T exclusive again, but this time it might be a timed exclusive. It will also be available unlocked.

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) January 27, 2020

The Z Flip would be long and tall when fully opened.

WinFuture

Galaxy Z Flip price: $1,400 makes sense

If the Galaxy Z Flip sells for $1,400 (about 1,500 euros), Samsung will have effectively undercut the Motorola Razr's $1,499 retail price with a phone that delivers a more comprehensive bundle of specs. 

Industry watchers agree that going with a clamshell style is one of the best ways to make these foldable phones cheaper, and therefore more likely for regular people to buy, not just those with $2,000 laying around.

$1,400 is a far cry from an earlier report by The Korea Herald that Samsung's foldable flipper could cost $850, according to its sources. But it would still be well under the Galaxy Fold's $1,980 price. If you're looking to spend more (because why not), a Russian jeweler is releasing a special-edition case for the Z Flip that costs $5,000.

The Z Flip could have two cameras on the back and one on the front.

Giuseppe Spinelli/LetsGoDigital

Feb. 11 launch date likely, same as the Galaxy S20

In addition to unveiling the Galaxy S20, industry watchers also believe Samsung will use its spotlight to unveil this second foldable phone, which makes sense for two simple reasons. The first is that the unveiling would follow Samsung's pattern from last year, where it introduced the Galaxy Fold alongside the Galaxy S10. 

The second reason we think we'll see it Feb. 11 and not, say, at Mobile World Congress (MWC) two weeks later, is because it's cheaper and easier to plan one big announcement event than two. It's possible, however, that Samsung will go over the basics at Unpacked and save the details for MWC, the world's largest mobile devices show.

Name: Galaxy Z Flip, not Galaxy Bloom after all

Speculation is settling on the Galaxy Z Flip as a more likely name for the new foldable phone than the Galaxy Bloom and especially the Galaxy Fold 2. Here's one good reason to expect that Fold 2 isn't in the works: The Korea Herald reports that there will be a Galaxy Fold successor (the Fold 2?) in August.

Even without those rumors, it's clear that Samsung wouldn't want to make a foldable flip phone part of the Fold family -- not when the Galaxy Fold represents a luxury device with an enormous screen. This foldable clamshell phone will have a much narrower display.

During its annual developer conference in October, Samsung discussed two ways a phone could fold.

James Martin/CNET

It's suggested that the Galaxy Z Flip will unfold into a tall, slim 6.7-inch display, larger than the Motorola Razr's 6.2-inch screen. Remember that screen dimensions are measured at the diagonal, but they don't tell the whole story. The Razr's usable screen space feels a lot smaller than the Galaxy Fold, and minute compared with the 8-inch Huawei Mate X.

Can the Galaxy Z Flip avoid the Galaxy Fold's fatal screen flaws?

One thing that isn't clear in the leaked photos is what kind of design enhancements Samsung has made to sidestep the Fold's design flaws.

For its second attempt at the Galaxy Fold (the design that eventually went on sale), Samsung used plastic end caps to shrink a gap that could let in dust and debris. It also reinforced internal support for the delicate plastic display, among a few other fixes.

We'll still need to keep a close eye on this unnamed foldable phone's screen and hinge to see if there are any potential gaps.

Two cameras on the back and one inside

The Galaxy Fold has a total of six cameras: There are two on the outer "cover" display, one on the inside for video chats and selfies and three on the back. The Galaxy Z Flip could cut the total camera share in half, following a supposed leak from frequent phone leaker Ice Universe (originally from Chinese social media platform Weibo).

Along with some pixelated images, we have seen a more recent video posted by YouTuber and serial leaker Ben Geskin that shows the phone with a clear central hole-punch camera. Photos and the video also show two cameras on the front cover. These would take selfies when the phone is closed, and also serve as your main camera when it's open.

A smaller screen crease could help fix one Galaxy Fold annoyance

Before all its screen damage overtook headlines, the biggest concern lobbed at the Galaxy Fold was about the center crease where the phone folds in half. Would it ruin the experience, how bad would it look, would it worsen over time?

One of the advantages of a vertical fold like the Motorola Razr is that the part where the screen creases is much smaller than on the Fold. There's just less screen width to bend with this design.

Support for 8K video capture

8K video capture is a rumor that applies to both the Galaxy S20/Galaxy S11 and the new foldable phone. That's a potential resolution of 7,680x4,320 pixels for a total of 33,177,600 pixels, or 16 times the number of pixels in a 1080p resolution. There's good reason to believe this one, too. 

In December, we saw how Qualcomm's new Snapdragon processors can support 8K video, and how 5G data can help you edit these massive videos online. We're seeing 8K TVs out now, but the videos to watch on them are more limited. 8K phones, 8K YouTube streaming and 8K screens could converge to help make these superhigh-resolution videos more prevalent. 

Now playing: Watch this: Motorola Razr vs. Galaxy Fold: Foldable phone specs compared

11:13

Can the Galaxy Z Flip avoid the Galaxy Fold's fatal screen flaws?

One thing that isn't clear in the leaked photos is what kind of design enhancements Samsung has made to sidestep the Fold's design flaws.

For its second attempt at the Galaxy Fold (the design that eventually went on sale), Samsung used plastic end caps to shrink a gap that could let in dust and debris. It also reinforced internal support for the delicate plastic display, among a few other fixes.

We'll still need to keep a close eye on this unnamed foldable phone's screen and hinge to see if there are any potential gaps.

No headphone jack is likely, so are Android 10 and One UI 2

Samsung officially ditched the headphone jack. The Note 10 phones didn't have them at all, and neither does the Galaxy Fold. There is, however, a USB-C charger port. It's also all but guaranteed to work with Android 10 and Samsung's One UI 2 software layer that rides on top of the Android OS.

Keep checking back for more details as they surface. In the meantime, brush up on all your Galaxy S20 rumors and leaks.

Published in December and periodically updated with new information.

WinFuture

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2020-02-11 13:30:00Z
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Xbox Series X: Microsoft Has "Bold" Ideas To Compete With PS5 - GameSpot

Part of the reason why Microsoft revealed the Xbox Series X in December during The Game Awards was because Xbox lost considerable ground to Sony in the current console generation, and the company wanted to start doing things differently to win back its market position for next-gen. Xbox boss Phil Spencer spoke about Microsoft's plans recently, saying he was originally hesitant about revealing the Xbox Series X so early. However, thanks to a persistent marketing boss, he came around to the idea.

Looking ahead, Spencer said on the Gamertag Radio podcast that you can expect Microsoft to launch "bold" strategies to promote the Xbox Series X as it attempts to win back marketshare from PlayStation.

"We made the decision ... the decision was actually really pushed forward by one of our marketing leads, and she's awesome, and she just stood up in a room and she said, 'We should go do something bold. Something we've never done before,'" Spencer said about the Xbox Series X reveal.

"Let's face it, we're not in the market position we wanted to be in this last generation. I don't think we're going to get to disrupt and grow our business just doing what we've always done. Let's go try to do new things," he added. "And when she first brought the idea to me ... honestly, I wasn't the biggest fan. I was like, 'Well, there's going to be a lot of other games there...'"

Spencer said he has been impressed by The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley's strategy and vision that has spawned a can't-miss event that draws millions of viewers each year. As such, Spencer came around to the idea of announcing the Xbox Series X during someone else's event. Historically, Microsoft has announced new consoles during its own news briefings so it can control the messaging more directly.

In addition to the Xbox Series X, Microsoft announced Hellblade 2 during The Game Awards. The trailers for the game and the console "played well," Spencer said. Now that he's had some time to look back and reflect, Spencer said he's happy with how things played out, but it wasn't always a sure thing.

"It was cool to do it," he said. "And the response has been great. But to be completely honest with you, I could be sitting here today and it could have been a disaster."

Looking ahead to the Xbox Series X, Microsoft is no doubt planning numerous campaigns to promote the console ahead of its release this holiday. Spencer didn't share any specifics, but he teased that Microsoft is aiming to "think about things in a different way" with regards to its marketing and promotion of the console.

"I like trying something bold. I'm really happy with the way it played out and the response from the fans," he said of the Xbox Series X reveal during The Game Awards. "But every decision we make between now and launch, we're trying to think about things in a different way. Some of them we'll get right. Some of them we won't. But we're definitely not going to be meek. We're going to bold in what we're trying to go do."

Microsoft has yet to share many of the key specifics around the Xbox Series X like its release date, price, and launch title lineup. Halo Infinite is a launch title, but it remains to be seen what other new games may be available on day one. As announced previously, the Xbox Series X will play Xbox One games, as well as Xbox 360 and Original Xbox games. Spencer recently spoke about how "tons" of backwards compatibility games are always playable on Xbox Series X.

The Xbox Series X may be just one of Microsoft's next-generation consoles. "Series X" is the model name of the next-generation console platform, which is known simply called "Xbox."

Microsoft will return to E3 2020 in June, and both the Xbox Series X and Halo Infinite are projected to feature in the event in a big way. Sony, which has its own next-generation console coming this year with the PS5, won't attend E3 2020.

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Now Playing: Xbox Series X Backwards Compatibility Is Being Tested By Phil Spencer Himself - GS News Update

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2020-02-11 13:14:00Z
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Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip phone needs to do way better than past foldables - The Verge

Later today, Samsung will officially announce a new folding phone, the Galaxy Z Flip. We know this because many, many details have leaked about it. Also because Samsung itself decided to just show off the whole damn phone and several details about its workings during the Academy Awards. It just up and aired a Galaxy Z Flip commercial before it even announced the phone

Samsung always goes hard at the Oscars, so it’s no surprise that it aired an ad this year. I was not expecting such a full reveal of its folding flip phone, though!

Expecting anyone to be surprised at a phone event is no longer a viable strategy, given how everything leaks. So Samsung just took a page out of Google’s 2019 playbook and started revealing details itself. But, as with Google’s coy photos leading up to the Pixel 4 unveil, Samsung’s decision to air an ad showing (though not naming) the Z Flip raises the stakes on a situation where the stakes were already pretty high.

This isn’t the first time Samsung has released a folding phone, you know? I mean I know, because I reviewed the Galaxy Fold not once, but twice. That’s because the first phone broke within a day of unboxing it — and not because I did anything wrong to it. Samsung cancelled the original launch, reworked the device, and released it later.

You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important news of the day from The Verge. This newsletter delivers about four times a week, at least a couple of which include longer essays. You can subscribe to Processor and learn more about it here. Processor is also a YouTube series with the same goal: providing smart and surprising analysis with a bit of humor. Subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here!

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That sort of thing can’t happen again to Samsung — or rather, it had better be damn sure it won’t. The stakes for Samsung are so obvious I hardly need to lay them out. It survived the reputational hit from the exploding Note 7 in 2016. It survived the less-dramatic but nevertheless very embarrassing Fold debacle. If it has a third high profile phone fiasco in five years, people might start noticing.

The Z Flip also might be one of the last chances folding phones are going to have to really prove they could be a mainstream product sometime soon and not just weird curios for the rich and tech-obsessed. That’s what the Galaxy Fold is and it’s increasingly obvious that’s what the Motorola Razr will be too.

Spoiler alert: I’m using a Razr and I can tell you that the state of folding phones right now is bumpy — literally, the screen is bumpy and Motorola says that this is normal. It also says the creaking noise the hinge makes is also normal. Here’s a statement on that from a Motorola spokesperson:

When folding and unfolding razr, you may hear a sound, which is intrinsic to the mechanical movement of the phone. razr has undergone rigorous durability testing, and the reported sounds in no way affect the quality of the product.

For the record, I think Motorola and I have different views on what should be included when considering the quality of the product.

Anyway, every folding phone I’ve used to date has shared the following qualities:

• A sky high price.
• Hinge design that could be problematic if you ever get any dirt in it, or grit, or whatever.
• A very fragile screen.
• Software that doesn’t quite work as well as it ought.
• Intriguing design that suggests you could have a different, healthier relationship with your phone

To be fair, there’s really only two in the US to even serve as examples of the above. The Z Flip is the third, and it needs to be the charm or else consumers will rightfully write off the whole category for awhile.

I don’t think that the Z Flip is going to have an answer for every single one of those bullet points. In fact I know it won’t. The price is rumored to be around $1400. The tease that Samsung dropped at the oscars showed a hinge design that looks similar to the Galaxy Fold’s hinge — including a gap when it’s closed.

But with the fragile screen, the rumor is Samsung has finally figured out a way to use glass instead of plastic. Likely it will need to be so thin and flexible that it won’t solve the durability problem in one fell swoop, but it should help some.

I’m also optimistic for the software on the Z Flip, if only because there’s less for Samsung to do. When it’s open, it’s just going to be an Android phone running Samsung’s very nice One UI 2 software. When it’s closed, there will just be a tiny little screen — literally not enough space to make major mistakes (I hope).

It is the last bullet that has me paying attention despite my deep skepticism of the price, value, and durability of foldables right now. The best part of using the Galaxy Fold was that it forced me to be more intentional with my phone usage. When it was folded out as a tablet, I used it like a tablet. When it was folded down into a phone, I used it as little as possible (because it was bad in that shape).

Can the flip phone form factor do something similar? Will slapping the thing closed mean I’m less likely to check Instagram and Twitter so often? Will it stop feeling like an inviting, time-sucking television screen in my pocket and more like ...a phone?

I have no idea, but that’s why I’m looking forward to the launch. Samsung just needs to fix — or at minimum mitigate — some of the problems that have plagued previous foldables. Only then will we be able to find out if this flip phone thing actually is something we want.

Until then, there’s one thing I do think the form factor is good for: fitting in smaller pockets.

A programming note: I have referred to this newsletter as “mostly daily” from time to time and I apologize for unexpectedly making good on that joke last Friday. Going forward I’ll endeavor to at least send out the linklist after busy days — and over the next month or two we’ll bring on some guests to write from time to time.

---

Verge Deal of the day 

Google’s Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are $200 off at Amazon

Samsung is getting ready to unveil the Galaxy S20 lineup of phones, and they’ll likely be a bit pricey at launch. If you want to save some money (and are okay with settling for 2019’s Snapdragon 855 processor), you can save $200 on the Google Pixel 4 (now $599) or Pixel 4 XL (now $699). These phones take excellent photos, and are among the first to get the latest Android updates. We’ve seen this deal before, and we’ll see it again, but if you’ve been waiting for it to pop back up, now is your chance to strike.

More to expect at Samsung Unpacked

┏ Samsung Galaxy S20 event: what to expect from the February 11th event. Here’s a roundup of everything we think we’ll see today.

┏ Samsung Unpacked 2020 event: all of the latest rumors, news, and more. This is our Storystream for the whole event, and it will emphasize the big stories. If you only click one link after Samsung’s event, make it this one.

┏ Galaxy Buds Plus detailed in new hands-on video

┏ Galaxy Home Mini caught on video ahead of rumored Wednesday release. Why isn’t Samsung just briefly mentioning this with a press release on the launch day of its phones? If it’s trying to bury the speaker without actually killing it entirely, that’s how I’d do it. Releasing it a day after the Unpacked event is just weird. Then again, weird is how Samsung do.

┏ Fashion edition Galaxy Z Flip leaks in weirdo promo. I am not going to lie the first minute and 20 seconds of this video is extremely my shit, but then I go hard for brutalism, symmetry, and slightly off-putting depictions of the Kafkaesque nightmare that is modern life. Samsung and Thom Browne would like us all to think that a folding phone will get us out of all of that, but I doubt it.

┏ Samsung’s Galaxy S20 is a make-or-break moment for 5G. Chaim Gartenberg on what the Galaxy S20 needs to do to be successful. These are going to be the first widely-released, mainstream 5G phones. Samsung (and the carriers) best not screw it up or it will mark consumer’s attitude toward 5G for years to come.

The Motorola razr’s rough launch

Things have not been going well for the Motorola Razr. I have been using a Razr since Thursday — review coming this week. All I’ll say here is that if you have anything in particular you’d like to know, email me.

┏ Motorola Razr fold test shows it could fail in less than 12 months of regular use, but Motorola stands by it and created what it calls the ‘real’ flip test.

┏ Trying to buy the new Motorola Razr on its ‘release date’ was a frustrating failure. Both myself and Chris Welch spent much of the launch day trying to track one down (without preorders, which first shipped early then shipped delayed). We were unsuccessful. It is enough to make me wonder how real the Feb 6th launch date really was. Stores being out of stock is no big deal for a big launch, but Verizon employees at multiple stores clearly had not been giving any meaningful information about the phone.

┏ Motorola confirms a gold-colored Razr is coming this spring. They should have gone with pink!

┏ The Moto G Stylus and G Power make Motorola’s best budget phones even better. This isn’t a razr story, but instead a story of two other phones Motorola launched last week. Chaim Gartenberg and Becca Farsace trekked to Chicago for the launch and though we only have a day’s worth of knowledge, they both look good. Motorola has been almost exclusively making lower-end phones for awhile now and has gotten really skilled at it. It’s kind of a bummer that these two were overshadowed by the razr ridicule.

Coronavirus

┏ iPhone maker Foxconn tells Shenzhen staff not to return to work

┏ Handshake bans to stop the coronavirus might be overkill in most places

┏ Ericsson pulls out of Mobile World Congress over coronavirus concerns

┏ Sony and Amazon pull out of Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus risk

Phone news

┏ ZTE beats Samsung to announcing the first Snapdragon 865 phone. Looks pretty good, but call me when it ships.

┏ Microsoft’s Surface Duo appears in the wild in new video. I have to say, my main takeaway from this is that the design of it is going to feel less impressive in late 2020 than other phones. Sure, it will be elegant in some ways, but the bezels on it seem out of touch with what has been happening on mobile for some time now.

┏ Leaked images appear to show the LG V60 ThinQ’s four cameras and a big battery. LG apparently Last Guys to make a flagship phone with a headphone jack. LG has decided not to go to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, which is probably going to hurt this phone’s chances — and given the way LG’s mobile division has been performing lately, it can’t really afford that.

┏ Xiaomi shows off Mi 10 phone design, confirms February 13th launch date

More from The Verge

┏ Quibi continues attempt to explain what it does with series of Oscars ads. Julia Alexander pointed this out to me and now I can’t stop thinking about it: all these ads are actually about impending doom. The pitch, so far as I can tell, is that the cold embrace of death is coming for us all and quite soon, but you can pass the time with some short videos before oblivion envelops you - subscribe to Quibi.

┏ Taika Waititi slams Apple’s MacBook keyboards after winning first Oscar. I don’t know how many years it’s going to take Apple to recover its reputation for making quality laptops, but it’s going to take awhile. (Also, we must protect Waititi at all costs.)

┏ Microsoft’s new Edge browser is now available for the Surface Pro X. Disclosure: after telling everybody it’s not a great idea to spend a lot of money on a Surface Pro X just to use it as a Chromebook I have purchased a Surface Pro X and am just using it as a Chromebook. I stand by my advice but still just letting you know.

┏ Equifax was hacked by Chinese military officers, federal prosecutors say

It’s the second time the DOJ has indicted members of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in an economic espionage case. In 2014, the Obama administration announced 31 charges of economic espionage, trade secret theft, identity theft, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and other related crimes against five PLA officers. (China denied involvement.)

┏ Designing a more friendly Fortnite with food, puns, and no in-app purchases. My goal in life is now to make a “pun so powerful it derailed everything.”

...two days before CEO Simon Davis was set to fly to California to iron out the details [with Apple], someone on the team came up with a pun so powerful it derailed everything. That pun was “butter royale,” and it got the studio thinking about ways to make the ever-popular battle royale genre more approachable

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2020-02-11 12:00:00Z
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Galaxy S20 Ultra flaunts its massive camera bump in first real-world photos (Update: More pics) - Android Police

Last year, all smartphone manufacturers got into a single room and elected a unified rear-facing camera design for smartphones: a rectangular bump on the top left. That's the only logical explanation for the slew of similar-looking devices we've seen in recent months, be it the iPhone 11, Pixel 4, Galaxy Note10 and S10 Lite, or others. We've known for a while that Samsung's upcoming flagships will follow the same trend and now we're getting further proof thanks to real-life images of the S20 Ultra and S20+.

In the first leaked photo at the top of the post, you can find the S20 Ultra (left) and S20+ (right) sitting tightly next to each other. This isn't our first time seeing the S20+ live. We already spotted it last month and knew it'll have four rear-facing cameras (12MP primary, telephoto, wide-angle, and possibly macro) with an LED flash. The new image corroborates that camera layout, and is a relief considering early renders hinted at an ugly random alignment.

Galaxy S20 Ultra

The S20 Ultra, however, is making its photographic debut today. We were expecting a humongous protuberance on the phone's back, but it looks even more impressive in real pics compared to renders. About half of the phone's width is taken by this large module, which houses three cameras (likely a primary sensor, wide-angle, and macro), the LED flash, and a microphone hole in the top square, and adds a separate bottom element for the "100X space zoom" lens. According to leaks, this periscope sensor will be capable of 10x optical zoom, with an added 10x digital zoom, for a total of 100x zoom.

Unfortunately, the leaked images don't show much more, but they're enough to whet our appetites before the S20 series' official announcement on February 11. For more info about what we're expecting from Samsung's new flagship S20 devices, check Stephen's extensive rumor roundup.

More pics

As we approach the S20's official launch later today, more and more details have creeped up, the latest of which is a series of images shared by @Mr_TechTalkTV that show off the S20 Ultra from different angles. You can see the tiny front bezels, small front camera punch-hole, and the impressive cam setup on the back.

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2020-02-11 10:30:00Z
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Intel and Vivo join Sony and Amazon withdrawals from Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus risk - The Verge

Intel, Vivo, and NTT Docomo are joining Sony, Amazon, and others who have cancelled their presence at Mobile World Congress 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. LG, ZTE, Nvidia, and Ericsson have already cancelled various events that were set to take place at MWC in Barcelona, which is the biggest mobile technology trade show on the annual calendar. TCL also announced it would not be holding a press conference at the show, but the company still plans to attend.

“The safety and wellbeing of all our employees and partners is our top priority, and we have withdrawn from this year’s Mobile World Congress out of an abundance of caution,” said an Intel spokesperson in a statement published by Venturebeat. NTT similarly stressed the need to protect customers, partners, and staff, according to Reuters.

Vivo, citing concerns with the health and safety of its employees and the public, is withdrawing the debut of its new Apex 2020 concept phone from MWC. Revised plans will be issued soon, according to the company.

“Sony has been closely monitoring the evolving situation following the novel coronavirus outbreak, which was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization on January 30th, 2020,” Sony says in a statement posted to its website Monday. “As we place the utmost importance on the safety and wellbeing of our customers, partners, media and employees, we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain.”

Amazon, meanwhile, tells TechCrunch that “due to the outbreak and continued concerns about novel coronavirus, Amazon will withdraw from exhibiting and participating in Mobile World Congress 2020, scheduled for Feb. 24-27 in Barcelona, Spain.”

Amazon has not historically had a major consumer-focusing presence at MWC. Sony, on the other hand, often uses the show to reveal its most important mobile devices. Last year, for example, the company announced its Xperia 1 flagship phone at the show. Sony says it will instead make its announcements online through its Xperia YouTube channel this year.

In a statement, TCL said it had taken the decision to cancel its press event for MWC. However, it stressed that “this decision does not impact any other MWC 2020 activities planned by the company and TCL will still announce its latest mobile devices and showcase them at its booth.”

Yesterday the GSM Association, which organizes MWC, put out an updated statement detailing further countermeasures it is taking against the spread of the coronavirus. No travelers from China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak began, will be permitted access to the event, while anyone who’s visited other regions of China will need to prove that they have been out of the country for 14 days beforehand. With MWC set to start in two weeks today, that is likely to complicate the plans of several Chinese companies that were planning to attend.

Update February 10th, 9:40AM ET: Updated with information on TCL’s cancellation.

Update February 11th, 1:28AM ET: Updated with information from Intel and NTT Docomo.

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2020-02-11 08:15:00Z
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Amazon is still crushing Google and Apple in the smart speaker market - The Verge

Apple and Google are still struggling to come close to Amazon’s enormous share of the home smart speaker market, and that trend will continue through 2021, a new eMarketer report predicts. Some 70 percent of US smart speaker users will use an Amazon Echo in 2020, close to last year’s 72.9 percent. By next year, that number may drop slightly to about 68.2 percent, according to the report. So Amazon’s lead is slowly falling, but it still holds a dominant position.

In contrast, eMarketer says just 31.7 percent of smart speaker owners will use a Google device in 2020, and Apple’s home speaker products got lumped into the mixed “other” category, which is expected to barely crack 18 percent this year.

“We had previously expected Google and Apple to make more inroads in this market, but Amazon has remained aggressive,” says eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock.

Amazon has consistently released features that make its Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices more intuitive, eMarketer says. Opening Alexa devices to outside developers and making them compatible with third-party smart home devices also helped boost Amazon’s smart speaker position. Those things aren’t unique to Amazon, however, as smart speakers from both Google and Apple are also compatible with many smart home gadgets.

One area where eMarketer says Echo devices fall short of the competition is language support. Amazon’s products don’t support as many non-English languages as their competitors, the report finds.

Growth of smart speaker use in the US will slow in the coming years, eMarketer’s report finds, but the number of users will continue to increase as Alexa, Siri, and other voice assistants expand beyond just the home, and into cars and smart home appliances. The report estimates about 83.1 million people will use a smart speaker this year, a 13.7 percent uptick from last year.

“Over time, we’ll see slowing growth in the number of smart speakers as people turn to voice assistants built into other things within homes, vehicles and on-the-go,” Petrock says. “Amazon’s next challenge will be to maintain its dominance in these other environments as well.”

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2020-02-10 21:57:57Z
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