Xiaomi may follow Apple's footsteps and ditch the fingerprint sensor in its upcoming flagship device, the Mi 7. According to a report by My Drivers, Xiaomi may use 3D face unlock technology, similar to FaceID on the iPhone X.

This new report contradicts earlier rumours about Xiaomi using an under-display fingerprint sensor to minimise the bezels on the device. The company was expected to use Synaptics' recently announced under-display fingerprint sensor.

• Face ID vs Iris Scanner: Is iPhone X more secure than Galaxy S8?

Xiaomi to take the iPhone X route?

Incidentally, the in-display fingerprint sensor were supported by renders published by GizChina. The renders revealed both the front and back of the device showing features like dual cameras and an 18:9 display with minimal bezels. The edge-to-edge bezel-less display makes the device look similar to the Mi Mix 2.

Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun had earlier confirmed that the Mi 7 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. But not much is known about the device yet.

Earlier this year, Qualcomm and Vivo had demonstrated the in-display fingerprint sensor – even though the demonstration was on a prototype device, the technology seemed impressive, albeit a little slow. The slow response times could have pushed Xiaomi to change its plans and ditch the fingerprint sensor for its next flagship device, taking the iPhone X route.

• Best deals on Xiaomi phones in India

Apple today released a letter explaining that it’s very, very sorry for that whole bit about forcing older iPhones to slow down in order to preserve their batteries.

As a way of attempting to make up for what it calls the “misunderstanding,” the company is now letting anyone who has an iPhone 6 or later iPhone to come in and replace their batteries for just $29, which represents an impressive discount over the $80 Apple usually charges.

The company also states that the batteries are “consumable components,” and that wording will likely lead to renewed criticisms that Apple should allow us to replace our batteries ourselves.

Unfortunately, the offer is only in place through from January through December of 2018, but Apple also claims that it will also introduce new elements to a future iOS 11 update that give a little more information about your battery’s health. As part of that effort, Apple also introduced a lengthy new support document covering “iPhone Battery and Performance.”

Power failure

Many iPhone owners have believed that Apple has been intentionally slowing down their devices or years, usually with the assumption that Apple was trying to get people to keep buying newer phones than the ones they had.

The truth, according to Apple's letter, is that it’s a little more complex than that. As the newer iPhones since the iPhone 6 age, their batteries don’t remain strong enough to properly power the processor, and so Apple slows them down a bit so as to keep the processors functional.

As we mentioned in our previous coverage, Apple already essentially announced that it was doing this with the release of iOS 10.2.1, which was meant to stop some iPhone 6 units from unexpectedly shutting down. 

All that the patch notes said at the time, though, was that 10.2.1 "improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone." And that improvement worked, and it worked quickly.

Unfortunately, the true nature of that fix wasn’t revealed by Apple itself; instead, it came from independent researchers such as Geekbench's John Poole who showed how Apple was significantly throttling the iPhone 6 and other phones, leading to accusations of betrayal of trust, lawsuits, and general anger.

Hopefully cheaper battery replacements turn out to be a big step in restoring that trust, but considering that there was already a cynical belief that Apple was mishandling its customers in place, the aftershocks might be felt for a while yet.

• Check out our list of the year's best power banks

After Apple admitted to slowing down older iPhones with software patches due to some misbehaving batteries, it’s only natural to wonder if other smartphone manufacturers do the same. It can’t be just Apple, right? 

It’s too early to come to a definitive conclusion, but the list of potential perpetrators got a little shorter today, according to The Verge. Both Moto and HTC have provided comment on the matter, each coming right out and saying that those types of practices are not employed on their respective phones.

On HTC’s end, a spokesperson stated that working in this gradual slowing of its phones’ CPU speed is “not something we do". Moto’s comment is similar but more to-the-point: “We do not throttle CPU performance based on older batteries.”

What about Samsung, Google and others? 

Putting aside the controversial aspect of Apple’s secrecy in deploying software that slowed down the performance of certain iPhone models, it’s admittedly a clever method to ensure that its large batch of phones remain looped in with major updates years from their original release.

Compare this to how things typically work on Android. Pushing these major updates through the pipeline can take quite a long time. Over a year, at times. Much to the chagrin of Android fans, the wait is inevitable. 

Historically, this is due to the long, arduous process of each manufacturer optimizing their respective hardware and software layers to get things running smoothly, a process that Google claims to be making easier and faster with Project Treble.

But looking at Apple’s dicey solution to quickly disperse a quick fix, waiting might be the only thing we can do to guarantee that no performance is lost in smartphones that we’ve paid a lot for.

It’s encouraging to hear that Moto and HTC don’t participate in slowing their older smartphones. However, we’re still waiting to hear from some even bigger manufacturers, like Samsung, Google, Huawei, LG and Sony.

After launching its budget smartphone Nokia 2, HMD Global led Nokia is apparently gearing up to launch an entry-level smartphone, dubbed the Nokia 1. The highlight of the device is that it is rumoured to be a part of the Android Go Program. Some specifications of the device were leaked by Eldar Murtazin, a Russian blogger.

Google had announced the Android Go program back in May, which aims to provide improved user experience for entry-level devices. Android Go is designed for devices with up to 1GB of RAM and comes with lighter apps, an optimised Google assistant and faster load times.

Nokia 1 Rumored Specifications

The Nokia 1 is expected to feature a 5-inch HD IPS LCD display and come with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. It is expected to run on Android Oreo (Go Edition) with lighter versions of Google's usual apps, like Maps Go, Files Go and YouTube Go.

There is no information about the optics of the device, however, it is expected to come with a similar camera setup like the Nokia 2, which had an 8MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary camera. It was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 processor and the Nokia 1 may be powered by the same chipset.

The Nokia 2 has a 4,100mAh battery and runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The device went on sale in India in November, with a price tag of Rs. 6,999. Nokia has promised that the device will soon be upgraded to Android 8.0 Oreo.

It's been quite a year for HTC, what with price drops for the HTC Vive, the launch of the HTC U11 flagship phone, and the sale of a big chunk of its smartphone operations to Google. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Google sale, we're going to see fewer HTC phones in 2018 according to reports.

According to DigiTimes, which has a fairly good record in terms of knowing what's coming in the Asian phone supply chain, HTC is going to focus its resources on just a couple of phone launches in 2018.

The first will be the HTC U11 Plus, which we already know a lot about, except when it's actually going to go on sale. The bigger, longer-lasting version of the original U11 should be heading out to selected markets early in the New Year (January 2018, if sources speaking to DigiTimes are to be believed).

Turn it up to 12

The second phone launch HTC has pencilled in for next year is of course the HTC U12, its flagship model for 2018. If it's going to follow the pattern of this year and the HTC U11, we can expect to see the phone make an appearance in May or thereabouts.

It sounds as though the HTC U12 is going to come with a Snapdragon 845 processor, a 4K screen, and a dual-sensor rear camera, according to DigiTimes sources, so it should be able to hold its own against the big boys, on paper at least. Whether it's enough to keep HTC in the smartphone business remains to be seen.

After 2018, who knows? HTC has made some fine phones down the years but has struggled to make a significant dent in terms of market share despite the quality of its handsets. Perhaps focusing on a smaller number of devices will see a change in fortunes.

• HTC will start making dual-camera phones again next year

Via Phandroid

Update: Samsung has given us an official line, which we've included below.

Some owners of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 are reporting that their handset is dying once it reaches a 0 percent charge and won't come back to life - not ideal if you're Samsung and you had to recall the Note 8's predecessor last year for an overheating problem.

For the time being the issue doesn't seem to be too widespread, and only appears to be affecting users in the US for the most part, but SamMobile has pulled together numerous forum posts and complaints that suggest this is more than just one or two isolated incidents we're dealing with.

Of course Samsung will swiftly replace your faulty Note 8 if it's still under warranty, but considering the company was at great pains to emphasize just how much testing the Note 8 battery went through, this is a blip that it could do without.

For the time being, Samsung seems to be in fact-finding mode. "We have yet to get any official report for this matter and are unable to comment until we obtain more specific information of the device," reads a statement the company sent us. "Any customers with a similar matter are encouraged to contact Samsung."

From hero to zero

Samsung will certainly be hoping it's a blip - right now it's not clear whether the problem lies with the hardware or the software of the Note 8. If it's the latter, then a fix could be rolled out via a software update. 

Based on posts from users, some people do genuinely seem to have an issue, while others can get their Note 8 devices working fine even after going right down to a 0 percent battery charge. For the time being at least, it's probably wise not to let your own handset do the same.

In fact, that's good battery practice in general - whether you're using a Note 8 or an iPhone X, gadgets don't really like having their batteries fully drained, though it certainly shouldn't kill them completely.

• Here are all the Galaxy Note 8 tips and tricks you can possibly handle

Image credit: Energous

Wireless charging is a cool bit of technology as it is, but for the first time, the US Federal Communications Commission has just certified a "power-at-a-distance" charger that makes the current technology look as old-fashioned as sticking in a cord looks now.

The device is called the WattUp Mid Field transmitter, and Energous, the startup responsible for making it, claims it lets you charge multiple devices at once from a distance of around three feet. 

The intended device needs a special internal or external receiver for the WattUp transmitter to work, but apparently the receiver is small enough to fit into most phones, and it reportedly also works with waterproof devices. 

Unfortunately, a distance of three feet probably means the phone still needs to sit in a fixed spot, so you shouldn't get the impression that you can charge your phone in your pocket while strolling around the office. 

Even so, Energous' official announcement gives the example of "charging a fitness band even while wearing it," which appears to mean it may work if the transmitter is beaming the waves at you while you're on the treadmill.

Energous has also developed a version of the charger that works from 15 feet away, but for now only the three-foot version has been approved by the FCC. The company posted a video of the 15-foot transmission back in 2014 , which likely still gives a decent idea of how the FCC-certified version works. 

As that video and more recent videos show, the WattUp even has the power to let you prioritize specific devices with the WattUp. Notably, that feature isn't mentioned in the latest announcement.

Riding the airwaves

Current wireless charging technology relies on inductive charging coils that require the smartphone or other device to physically touch the charger, but the WattUp works by converting electricity into radio frequencies that are then beamed at the device. This means it works regardless of whether the device is physically touching the transmitter or if it's sitting a few feet away.

As a bonus, the WattUp transmitter can work with any device – think Wi-Fi – which means you won't have to worry about your Samsung phone being compatible with a transmitter that's hypothetically made by Apple. (This is especially remarkable as Energous was once rumored to be partnering with Apple for wireless charging, but that no longer seems to be the case.) 

Earlier this year we also heard about another form of "at-a-distance" wireless charging technology from a startup called Pi, but (as of yet) it hasn't been approved by the FCC. It's not really the same type of technology as the WattUp transmitter, though, as Pi's system still relies on a resonant induction.

Unfortunately, we can currently only take Engerous' word for how well the WattUp works, but the company will be showing off the technology at CES 2018 next month in Las Vegas. It'll be a technology to watch, as FCC certification means we may now see it in devices sooner than later.

A "Super Moderator" on the MIUI forum has revealed that Xiaomi has decided to drop the “Note” line from its budget offerings. The Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus will replace the Redmi Note 5 as the company’s budget offering with a big screen. The Redmi 5 Plus is a minor upgrade over the Redmi Note 4 and this may disappoint a lot of Xiaomi fans.

After the launch of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus in China earlier this month, a lot of Xiaomi fans were waiting for the launch of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5. However, a comment from a Super Moderator on the MIUI Forum reveals that the company will not launch the Redmi Note 4’s successor.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was launched in India in January this year. The device is powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset and has a 5.5-inch full HD display. It was one of the most popular budget devices in the country and the company had claimed it sold more than 5 million units of the device.

The Super Moderator has said, “The wait is finally over, Xiaomi has finally decided to release the Redmi Note 5, wait!!! I heard its called the Redmi 5 Plus? No kidding?? There was a name change? Well yes folks, the 2 new Redmi Note sized phones are named Redmi 5 for the 5.7" and Redmi 5 Plus for the 5.99".

Changing the branding here may actually be a good move from Xiaomi. The company's Note series has seen exceptional success in the market, but it also means Xiaomi maintains three different ranges. Dropping the Note range could allow it to streamline this by putting Mi phones as its premium devices, while the Redmi series caters to all budget offerings.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus Specifications

The Redmi 5 Plus comes with a 5.99-inch full HD+ IPS LCD display with 18:9 aspect ratio. It runs on Android 7.1.2 Nougat with MIUI 9 skinned on top.

In terms of performance, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC with 3GB/4GB RAM and 32GB/64GB internal storage, which is similar to the Redmi Note 4. The storage on the device can be further expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card.

Coming to the camera department, the Redmi 5 Plus comes with a 12MP primary camera with f/2.2 aperture and PDAF. On the front, the device sports a 5MP secondary camera with an LED flash. If we compare it with the Redmi Note 4, the major change that we notice is the addition of the front LED flash.

The Redmi 5 Plus is powered by a 4,000mAh battery. Connectivity options on the device include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, Infrared Port, microUSB 2.0 and a 3.5mm audio jack.