(Update: Kirin 960 too) Huawei Mate 9 report: dual camera, 4x optical zoom, $1300 price tag

Update, Oct 27th:

Huawei has just pretty much confirmed that its new Kirin 960 processor will be powering the Mate 9. The company sent out a tweet, accompanied by a short video boasting about its new processor, using the same #aStepAhead hashtag that Huawei has been using to tweet about the upcoming November 3rd launch event, where we will learn all about the Mate 9. 

Introducing the Kirin960… A new level of innovation coming to a pocket near you. #aStepAhead http://pic.twitter.com/plxXJqwAEg

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) October 26, 2016

Huawei's HiSilicon launched the octa-core Kirin 960 just over a week ago, which comes equipped with the latest Cortex-A73 CPU cores and a Mali-G71 MP8 GPU from ARM, so we're looking at some notable performance upgrade with this new chip. Specifically, the vidoe mentions an 18 percent boost to CPU performance, a leap of 180 percent for GPU performance compared with the Kirin 950, and twice the data transfer speeds thanks to the chip's upgrade to UFS 2.1 flash storage over eMMC 5.1.

For more details about what the Kirin 960 has to offer, check out our coverage of the SoC's launch here.

Original, Oct 24th: 

Huawei is almost ready to release not one but two new high-end smartphones on November 3rd, and today we have a few more confirmed and rumors details about the Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro.

According to a leaked manual for the Huawei Mate 9, we can indeed see that the phone is set to arrive with a dual rear camera configuration. This is tipped to be the same dual-lens Leica Summarit H 1:2.2/27 ASPH camera array found on the Huawei P9. This setup uses one color and one monochrome sensor two improve the dynamic range of pictures. Specifications for the rear camera setup are said to be set at one 20 megapixel sensor and one 12 megapixel sensor.

The manual (right) also confirms that the Mate 9 will come with a dual tone LED flash, a USB Type-C port, and a microSD card slot for those who require additional internal storage.

While we're on the topic of cameras, Evan Blass has returned with another titbit to digest. Apparently, both models of the Huawei Mate 9 will feature a 4 times optical zoom, which goes above the 2x zoom included in the new iPhone 7 Plus. Again, it's the dual cameras that are responsible for enabling this optical zoom-like technology to function in an ultra-compact form factor.

Snap (no pun intended): Mate 9/Pro feature 4x optical zoom. But pricing on a spec'ed out Pro is enough to give you a heart attack: $1300.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 23, 2016

The tweet also alleges that the top of the line Huawei Mate 9 Pro model is going to set customers back a gargantuan $1300, or equivalent. Customers will rightfully expect an awful lot of bang for all those bucks, and there's a fair bit of top-notch technology anticipated to be packed into the Pro model.

For starters, the phone looks set to feature a 5.9-inch curved edge display, like the Samsung Galaxy edge range, which will boast an improved QHD resolution over the flat 1080p panel of the regular Mate 9. There's also the company's new powerful Kirin 960 processor on board, an upgrade to 6GB of RAM (probably fast LPDDR4) rather than 4GB, and 256GB of flash storage at the top end.

See also: Huawei introduces next-generation Kirin 960 chipset78

Of course there will be cheaper models in the series, and these still look set to come with the dual rear camera configuration, an 8 megapixel front camera, a fingerprint scanner, 3.5mm audio jack, 'SuperCharge' fast battery charging, Android 7.0 Nougat on board coated with Emotion UI 5 on top, and support for Google's Daydream VR platform.

With the Galaxy Note 7 now out of the running and the Huawei Mate 9 Pro packing in plenty of cutting edge technology, there's likely to be plenty of demand for Huawei's phablet range this year. Although we hope that the pricing for the smaller memory Mate 9 Pro models is a little more reasonable.

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The Note 7 wiped out Samsung mobile’s profit in Q3

Samsung Electronics announced its financial results for Q3 2016 and they are just as lousy as anticipated.

What should've been a bonanza turned into famine, as Samsung's mobile division struggled to contain the fallout caused by the Note 7 cancellation. Samsung barely avoided recording a loss in its IT & Mobile unit, posting 100 billion won ($87 million) in operating profit.

That seems like a lot of money, until you look at the same figure in previous quarters. Samsung Mobile made 4.32 trillion won in Q2 and 3.89 trillion won in Q1. Year on year, Q3 brought a 95% drop.

Fortunately for Samsung, its other units fared much better, which allowed it to post 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in overall operating profit. That's a big drop compared to previous quarters, but still far from a catastrophe. The component and display businesses in particular did very well.

The Note 7 fallout will extend in the next quarter, but Samsung says it "will strive to achieve comparable YOY earnings." The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, as well as new models in the mid to low-end segment are expected to drive Samsung's profit in Q4.

Samsung said it anticipates a turnaround next year thanks to the launch of new flagships. The company has already teased the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, promising it would make them available at reduced prices to Note 7 users who choose to remain loyal to Samsung.

Regarding the mobile business, the company will focus on expanding sales of new flagship products with differentiated design and innovative features, as well as regaining consumers' confidence. Samsung will concentrate on strengthening its competitiveness by continuously enhancing solution capabilities such as KNOX, Samsung Pay and cloud-related and artificial intelligence-related services.

Samsung also said it's taking steps to avoid another Note 7-style fiasco:

Going forward, the Company will make significant changes in the quality assurance processes in its commitment to providing safe and reliable products and regaining customers' confidence.

Let us know your thoughts!

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LG Mobile posts worst quarterly loss ever on the back of the LG G5

We all knew this day was coming: LG Mobile has posted its worst-ever quarterly loss thanks to the failure of the modular LG G5. Q3, 2016 represents the sixth straight quarterly loss for LG Mobile, even as LG's TV division posted a record profit.

See also: Report: LG G6 will ditch the modular accessories found on the G543

LG Electronics announced quarterly revenue of $11.8 billion and an operating income of $252.7 million. That's a decrease of 5.7 percent and 3.7 percent respectively, compared to the same time last year.

LG Mobile sales dropped 23 percent from the same period in 2015, with "lower sales of premium devices and expenses related to business structure improvement activities" contributing to a record $389.4 million loss on $2.3 billion in revenue.

LG Mobile sales dropped 23 percent from the same period in 2015, contributing to a record $389.4 million loss.

Despite the dismal figures, LG still managed to ship 13.5 million devices in the quarter and saw shipments grow in North America by 14 percent compared to the previous quarter. The LG V20 will be a redemptive force in the final quarter of the year, along with mass-tier K and X series sales.

Fortunately, LG Mobile's dramatic losses were offset by the particularly strong television unit. Against this dismal backdrop, LG Home Entertainment recorded its highest-ever profit with $3.7 billion in sales generating $340.4 million in operating profit.

Nevertheless, LG expects fourth quarter profit to be even weaker than the current quarter, due to high promotional expenses and the typical end-of-year weakness for home appliance sales.

Do these figures surprise you? Do you think the V20 is good enough to turn things around?

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T-Mobile CEO teases big Pixel-related announcement for today

Google's Pixel and Pixel XL phones may no longer be exclusive to Verizon subscribers soon, after John Legere hinted at the Google Pixel phones coming to T-Mobile.

See also: Google Pixel XL initial review: first 48 hours171

The Un-carrier's CEO posted a photo of the Google Pixel handset on Twitter along with an announcement of "BIG news", which is set to happen today.

Tomorrow I have BIG news about @TMobile + @Google Pixel. Hint: it works great on our network!! I love it!! http://pic.twitter.com/VE62neWsgf

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) October 27, 2016

Legere's announcement could mean the magenta carrier will offer Pixel financing options for its customers. After all, Google has reiterated that Verizon will exclusively carry the phones. However, the Mountain View giant also said the unlocked version of the phone will work fine on all US carriers and that it will be available with financing through some channels.

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  Google Pixel XL Internationa...
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  Google Pixel International G...

T-Mobile has been known to pull some marketing stunts to persuade more consumers to switch to its network. Well, this could be one of those stunts, aided in no small way by the pricing of the Google Pixel phones. Seeing that a majority of mobile users are reluctant to shell out upwards of $800 outright, T-Mobile would do well to help consumers grab the phone.

It's a huge pain point that T-Mobile could be trying to eliminate. We'll keep you posted once we learn more about Legere's plan. Thoughts on the Google Pixel coming to T-Mobile? Leave us a comment below!

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Facebook Messenger will now keep track of PayPal payments in US

Shutterstock

PayPal may have horrendous foreign exchange rates, but everyone has used it at some point in their lives. In fact, millennials use it almost every day without even knowing it: surprise, surprise, Venmo is owned by PayPal! Well, the company just announced the extension of its relationship with Facebook, so it seems like PayPal is well on its way to becoming truly omnipresent.

See also: Android Pay vs Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay Overview79

The mobile commerce giant is working with Facebook to bring its services to the Messenger app. These features include:

• In the U.S., PayPal will start to roll out as a payment option across more of Facebook's commerce experiences, including Messenger commerce.
• It will be easy for PayPal customers to link their PayPal accounts to Facebook and Messenger at PayPal checkout.
• PayPal customers in the U.S. will also be able to get notifications in Messenger, first starting with making it easier to manage receipts for PayPal transactions neatly in one place.

Although the PayPal integrations will be initially limited to select users, the company says it will eventually roll out to all Messenger users in the US. At this time, it is not clear whether PayPal has any specific plans for international expansions, but we will be sure to keep you updated.

At this time, it is not clear whether PayPal has any specific plans for international expansions.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time that the two companies have partnered up on payment initiatives. Just last year, Facebook announced the option to summon an Uber ride using its Messenger app, which was facilitated primarily by its partnership with Braintree, a division of PayPal. With mobile payments increasingly dominating how we make transactions, I'm curious to see how the two companies' partnership will pan out.

Currently, PayPal and PayPal-owned services take the lead, but once other platforms gain traction – in particular, Facebook Messenger's very own P2P payment system that was introduced in early 2015 – perhaps whatever PayPal and Facebook have right now will be no more.

Do you think PayPal integrations into the Messenger app will be useful? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

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Zombie Anarchy from Gameloft lets you fight off the undead for free

Zombie Anarchy is the latest free-to-play game from publisher Gameloft. After a soft launch in a few countries, the game is now available worldwide in the Google Play Store.

See also: Best Android survival games18

Yes, this may be another zombie game among many you can play, but Gameloft has a history of making high-quality mobile titles that have some twists. In this case, Zombie Anarchy is all about survival. Your objective is to find normal humans in the midst of this massive undead apocalypse and have them help out against the zombie hoard.

Each human survivor has his or her own special ability, and you can also build up your living space with lots of special weapons and defenses to keep out the flesh eating creatures. You can even issue commands to the other human survivors and go out on raids to zombie infested areas to collect food and other resources. Unfortunately, the zombies also have some special creatures with unique talents of their own. The game also features online multiplayer, as you combat other players around the world to take their resources and build up your own army.

Zombie Anarchy has a cartoony art style, which helps make looking at all of the blood and gore easier. If you have downloaded the game, what are your impressions of Gameloft's entry in both the zombie and survival game genres?

Get it at Google Play

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Leak: ZTE Axon 7 MAX render reveals 6-inch display, dual-camera setup and more

ZTE's Axon 7 quickly won us over thanks to its impressive build quality, smooth user experience and great camera. If you've been waiting for a beefier version of the Axon 7, your wait might be over soon.

A fresh set of renders made the rounds in the internet today, showing a massive 6-inch handset along with a few marketing tools for the upcoming ZTE Axon 7 MAX. Another eye-catching feature in the leak is the dual-camera setup on the back of the phone, which will supposedly boast a 13MP resolution with Sony-built sensors.

The press renders also reveal a few nifty features like a fingerprint scanner, dual-tone LED setup, and laser autofocus window. The phone is also rumored to sport a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. It is also said to run Android 7.0 Nougat.

To compare, its predecessor Axon 7 sports a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, features a 20MP rear shooter and packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC. Check out our review below for a detailed recap of the flagship.

See also: ZTE Axon 7 review298

According to the leak, the Snapdragon 625 on the Axon 7 MAX works on a 14nm architecture that should provide for more power efficiency.

Of course, we'll let you know more about the phone once it sees the light of day, which might take place in China tomorrow, October 27. While we wait for the official announcement, let us know your thoughts on this new leak in the comments below!

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