In the years since the Nintendo Switch reawakened the desire for a mobile gaming console, other devices have emerged to meet the demand of consumers. But the next one to come out – a joint project between Qualcomm and Razor – won’t even be sold to consumers. 

Instead, the Snapdragon G3x Handheld Developer Kit, as it's called, is a working console meant for developers to experiment with making mobile games beyond smartphones. It’s a pre-platform of sorts, meant to get developers (and potentially, game studios) used to a new class of console before they arrive on the market.

No, not pocket desktop consoles like the delayed Steam Deck – the Snapdragon G3X, as its title implies, runs the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1, the first of an entirely new line of Qualcomm chipsets dedicated to gaming (not coincidentally following the same naming convention as the just-announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 1). 

In other words, the consoles Qualcomm is priming the gaming industry to cater to would be focused on mobile gaming. Presumably, these consoles would run the same apps you’d find in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, but with souped-up specs and dedicated analog thumbsticks and buttons that would leave touch controls behind and displays unobstructed.

There have been plenty of false starts for mobile console gaming over the years, like the Nvidia Shield Portable system, and outside the Nintendo Switch, none have lasted long. This has partially been due to the ubiquity of smartphones, which have inadvertently lowered the bar: why spend a lot more money on something that plays the same games as the phone you already own? Why encumber yourself with another device that needs updating and charging?

To Qualcomm, this seems like a natural progression of mobile gaming, and the company has a vested interest in seeing a transition to dedicated consoles – namely, so its new Snapdragon G3x chipsets can power them. 

That’s the reason the chipmaker seemed so blasé when asked during a background briefing if the Snapdragon G3x would come to market. If a manufacturer came along wanting to take their fully-realized concept and make consumer devices, Qualcomm may be interested in collaborating – but even if a different console debuted first, the chipmaker is happy to sell them the silicon they’ve already tested and implemented in a finished device.

So what is the Snapdragon G3x Handheld?

The Snapdragon G3x Handheld Developer Kit is, essentially, a supercharged smartphone gaming platform with a dedicated controller built around it. 

This isn’t exactly a new concept given the all-in-one Steam Deck and Nvidia Shield Portable before it (among others) – it’s just applying those to mobile gaming. But unlike previous phone gaming setups that are either add-ons for specific models like the Kunai Gamepad for the Asus ROG 5 or wrap-around controllers like the Backbone and Razer Kishi, the Snapdragon G3x Handheld doesn’t serve as a phone at all. 

There’s a good amount of phone DNA in the Snapdragon G3x Handheld, though: a 6.65-inch Full HD Plus OLED display with 10-bit HDR and a 120Hz refresh rate, 5MP 1080p webcam, and Android operating system all feel inherited from phones. Plus, it has mobile connectivity, allowing players to take the console on the go and play anywhere they could with a phone.

But there are some novel things that Qualcomm is bringing from mobile gaming to consoles, too. While we don’t have much information on the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 chipset powering the G3x Handheld, the company claims the silicon will power advanced haptics and other extras – which should elevate the gaming experience on the console above how it feels to play on a phone.

Its Adreno GPU will also have updateable drivers – and while Qualcomm's flagship chips have been able to download updates from the Play Store to their Adreno GPUs since last year's flagship Snapdragon 865, per Android Authority, that required manufacturers to customize and publish the updates for their devices. A mobile gaming console manufacturer would conceivably get to these updates faster.

The hardware is more suited for gaming, too – which is likely all Razer’s influence, from the angled controller grips, buttons, and thumb sticks to the air-cooling system that intakes cool air from the console’s back and expels hot air out the top. (Ideally, this will keep the G3x Handheld from overheating and losing frames, which can happen with less powerful or poorly-cooled phones.)

Crucially, it also has a USB-C port at the top to output 4K HDR and up to 144Hz to a linked TV or monitor, allowing it to power play on a big screen a la the Nintendo Switch’s dock – but beating that console to the 4K punch. The port can also output to an ‘XR viewer’ (like augmented reality glasses), which Qualcomm believes will take off in the coming years.

The G3x Handheld also has 4-way speakers, a 1080p webcam for streaming, and mics at the center and top of the device. At least one version connects to sub-6 and mmWave 5G, too, allowing for the fastest possible mobile gaming, along with WiFi 6E.

This all makes the G3X sound like an impressive way to spruce up your mobile gaming for those who have extra cash to spare. What makes the console stand out above other peripherals is the software provided by AKSys Games Localization, which auto-maps on-screen controls to buttons and thumb sticks.

If you’ve played with phone gaming peripherals before, you know how audacious this claim is: no matter how slick your controller design, it’s worthless if you can’t get button presses to sync up with on-screen touch controls. If Qualcomm and Razer can pull this off, it could make the G3x Handheld and standalone mobile gaming consoles as a whole attractive enough to justify the expense and hassle.

Hope for a Snapdragon mobile console future

The Snapdragon G3x Handheld certainly seems like an odd device to announce publicly, but only from a consumer perspective. Qualcomm wants game developers and potential console producers to believe that this product niche is not just possible, but inevitable. The company is betting an entirely new chipset line on it.

So who would a mobile console be for? Qualcomm and Razer see modern gamers as nomadic, switching between platforms even to play the same games. The G3x Handheld serves gamers-on-the-go as it can play already-popular mobile games on the device, but also host games streamed from the cloud given its mobile connectivity. 

As a developer-focused device, the G3x Handheld has the freedom to offer plenty of features that might be trimmed away in a consumer-facing console – the aforementioned XR glasses compatibility is a good example given its sparse adoption thus far. 

But ultimately, the G3x Handheld is a harbinger, at least according to Qualcomm and Razer: mobile gaming made up 52% of the $175 billion made by the global gaming industry last year, and it’s only growing larger (by comparison, PC made up 21% and console 28%). Mobile gaming will continue to evolve, and the G3x Handheld is one way that device makers could introduce new ways to serve an ever-growing market. 

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy right now

We haven’t heard much about the Google Pixel 6a’s specs, but our first big leak at least suggests exactly what we’d hoped: that the next mid-range Google phone will have a Tensor chipset like those in the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro – potentially even the same one.

The details of the leak come from 9to5Google’s investigations in the Google Camera app, which contains reference to a device internally codenamed Bluejay, which supposedly refers to the Google Pixel 6a. The good news, of course, is that they’ve found evidence that the phone will have the same Google Tensor GS101 chipset as the Pixel 6 (and not a variant – more on that below). 

That could mean the Pixel 6a would inherit all the features only available to the Tensor-powered Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, including Live Translation performed on the device, Google Assistant voice typing, and more. By extension, it should also get any other Tensor phone-only advancements coming down in the line in future Android updates.

Less exciting are the Pixel 6a camera details 9to5Google allegedly extracted – namely that it would miss out on the Pixel 6’s 50MP 1/1.31-inch main sensor and instead have the same 12.2MP 1/2.55-inch Sony IMX363 primary sensor that helmed the company’s phones from the Pixel 3 to the Pixel 5a. The smaller sensor means it will capture less light and may have more noise and take poorer night photos than the Pixel 6.

And fitting the recently-released Pixel 6a render leaks, the phone will retain the visor-like camera block of the Pixel 6 and likewise only have two rear cameras – the main and ultrawide. The new leak claims the latter will have the same IMX386 sensor as the ultrawide camera on the Pixel 6, and the same 8MP IMX355 front-facing camera. In short, ultrawide and selfie shots taken by the Pixel 6a could look similar to images taken by the Pixel 6.

Analysis: too Tensor, or not Tensor enough?

Google’s investment in improving software and machine learning over hardware has allowed its new features and perks to trickle down easily to older Pixel phones...until the Tensor chipset, which has on-device processing capabilities that enable the features we mentioned above, like Live Translation. 

But evidenced emerged earlier in November that Google was experimenting with installing Tensor chipsets (potentially earlier versions) on 2020’s Google Pixel 5, according to XDA Developers. A developer known as Freak07 tweeted findings from diving into the Pixel 6 source and found kernel files for variants of the Tensor chipset, referred to internally as GS101. 

The variants were referred to as GS101-b0, which purportedly refers to the Pixel 6’s eventual Tensor chipset, and GS101-a0, which was linked to a device with an internal codename Whitefin. That codename had come up before as XDA’s Mishaal Rahman tweeted in late October that the name could be a cute mash-up of Redfin (codename for Pixel 5) and Whitechapel (codename for Tensor SoC).

This could mean the Pixel 5 was originally meant to have Google’s in-house silicon, or that the company’s developers simply used the current flagship phone to refine Tensor’s integration to the Pixel platform while they were finishing the flagship Pixel 6. 

What does this have to do with the Pixel 6a? Thus far, we’ve only heard about one Tensor chipset, but news of the variants could suggest Google has experimented with multiple versions. That means the silicon that ends up in the next mid-range Pixel could have the same chipset as its flagship sibling and compete with it, much like the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 had such similar specs that we had a hard time recommending the pricier flagship. We’ll know more as further leaks give us a better idea of what’s coming with the Pixel 6a.

Via Droid Life

• The first Google Pixel 6a leaks are these unofficial renders and specs

If League of Legends fans enjoyed getting a mobile version of the game, Wild Rift, earlier this year, they’re probably overwhelmed by the explosion of new content following the release of the Netflix series Arcane (based in the same universe starring its most famous characters). Among them is Hextech Mayhem, a new game that’s available now on Nintendo Switch and PC – which is also coming to Netflix.

Hextech Mayhem is a bit of a hybrid: a side-scrolling runner featuring rhythm-like mechanics, which sees players jumping and diving to the beat of the soundtrack. The beat prompts, in whimsical League of Legends fashion, are explosions: players control the tiny but chaotic Ziggs as he bombs his way through the industrial city of Piltover while trying to evade the orderly and naysaying Heimerdinger. 

Both characters are among the hundred-plus champions in the original League of Legends, but take center stage in Hextech Mayhem, which is one of several spinoffs currently being produced by Riot Forge, the publishing arm of Riot Games. And while there’s no date set for its release on Netflix, Hextech Mayhem gives us an idea of what the streaming giant’s plans are for expanding into gaming. In short: what makes a Netflix Game?

The answer isn’t clear-cut, at least right now. Rather, it seems Hextech Mayhem has several qualities that ended up fitting Netflix Gaming’s appeal: it draws from the world of an already-established IP with a tie-in show on Netflix, and has casual gameplay that likely appeals to streaming service subscribers.

In other words, both giant companies are reaching to frontiers of entertainment that are new to them, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that their demographics overlap. Streaming content fans are also gamers – especially if the show they’re watching has a tie-in game playable without leaving the app.

Riot's publishing arm, a partner studio, and a less serious League of Legends

Riot Forge selected Choice Provisions for its project that would become Hextech Mayhem, noting the studio’s work on the BIT.TRIP series of lauded rhythm-based auto-runner games. While there’s clear influence of the latter in Hextech Mayhem’s gameplay, Riot Forge Creative Director Rowan Parker assured that the publisher worked with Choice Provisions but allowed the studio to find their own way to interpret League of Legends to its gameplay.

“The game wasn't decided when we first met though, it was after a long period of discovery that we eventually arrived at Hextech Mayhem, which translated perfectly to some good light-hearted fun,” Parker told TechRadar over email. “The result in Hextech Mayhem is something that stays true to League's universe and champions, but has the heart of a Choice Provisions game.”

That ‘heart’ involves taking simple core gameplay – auto-running and rhythm prompts – and making it compelling without making it more complex. The studio has “historically taken casual genres and ‘hardcored’ them,” as Choice Provisions Co-Founder and Design Director of Hextech Mayhem Alex Neuse put it. Over email to TechRadar, he and the studio’s other co-founder Mike Roush, Creative Director of Hextech Mayhem, explained what went into making the new game – including implementing some key parts of old games. The Quake III rocket jump, one of Roush’s favorite mechanics, inspired the bomb jump used by players to navigate and engage the rhythm system of Hextech Mayhem.

Not that Neuse would call Hextech Mayhem a rhythm game – it's more accurate to call it a 'Music Game' tying your inputs to the melody, verses, and more, as he explained in a featurette:

The studio also found their muses among League of Legends’ roster of colorful characters. While Netflix’s Arcane tells a more somber story rife with betrayals and tragic backstories, Choice Provisions pitted two of the sillier stars of Riot’s MOBA against each other for the right whimsical tone they wanted for their auto-runner...which is also the tone around Choice Provisions.

“Our studio also has an aesthetic that leans cute and wacky. Ziggs fit into this mold perfectly with his explosive nature and stunning personality. Heimerdinger is of course part of the package, being the antithesis of Ziggs,” Roush said. “Having Ziggs come up from Zaun to Piltover to basically troll Heimerdinger gave us a lot of opportunities to expand their relationship and I think fans are going to love it.”

“We also wanted to expand the League of Legends oeuvre to include forays into less serious territory. If we’re expanding the universe, let’s go where it has never gone before, you know?” Neuse said.

Riot’s multiplatform ambitions and Netflix’s gaming overlaps

A game like Hextech Mayhem seems like such an obvious fit for Netflix’s nascent gaming platform, which launched in early November, that it must have had the service in mind since its creation. But the game was already in development when discussions started with Netflix, according to Leanne Loombe, Head of Riot Forge – and talks started in the same way the studio began them with Microsoft, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo.

“It’s very important to talk to the platform holders early and often so we can understand which platforms the games make sense to release on based on the type of players that play each type of game. Ultimately, our games will go wherever players are playing, including PC, Console and Mobile,” Loombe told TechRadar over email, noting that not every game would be released on all platforms. “We aim to ensure that each of our games is designed with the right platform in mind for the best possible player experience.”

The streaming platform has been in talks with Riot and Riot Forge over the past year, a Netflix spokesperson told TechRadar over email. The timing is auspicious: Netflix gaming launched with only five games, two of which are tie-ins to Stranger Things, one of the streaming platform’s most popular original series. It’s not clear when Hextech Mayhem will be added, but it’s the only other game we know is coming to Netflix Gaming.

Netflix did say that its gaming offerings won’t all be spinoffs of its popular shows, though they do hope to find more opportunities for fans to engage with content they love. Given Netflix Gaming is only available on Android (and soon iOS) phones and tablets, there’s little likelihood you’ll be able to play them via remotes on a smart TV or Apple TV. We can probably expect more games that play well on smaller screens with simple yet compelling mechanics, like Hextech Mayhem – and there are plenty of other Netflix shows we can imagine fans would love to explore in tie-in games.

• League of Legends movies could be on the way, as ex-Netflix exec joins Riot Games

Apple Arcade’s next exclusive game coming in December is a true novelty: a mobile battle arena like League of Legends but simplified like Pokémon Unite... and starring Disney and Pixar icons. 

Disney Melee Mania, produced by studio Mighty Bear Games, will join the Apple Arcade subscription service at an unspecified December date as a family-friendly MOBA that retains competitive combat, but with simplified gameplay, per the Apple news post. 

Unlike League of Legends, there are no lanes, towers, mobs, or bases; and unlike the streamlined Pokémon Unite, there aren’t items or in-match skill progression. There aren’t even super abilities, which are a mainstay for the genre. Instead, Disney Melee Mania preserves the core of the experience – team-based combat with players choosing among a roster of characters with different abilities to mix and match.

The game will launch with a roster of 12 characters, from headliners like Elsa (Frozen), Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story), and Mickey (Sorcerer’s Apprentice outfit) to Moana, Frozone (The Incredibles) and Eve (WALL-E), along with supporting characters like Timon (Lion King), the Manticore (Onward), and Bing Bong (Inside Out). It’s an eclectic mix, to be sure, but makes room for lesser-seen Disney and Pixar characters to shine. 

Mighty Bear Games promises more characters will come, including Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), as seen in the game’s promotional art above.

Analysis: sure, a Disney MOBA, why not?

A Disney-fied mobile battle arena wasn’t on my 2021 bingo card, but Disney Melee Mania is an intriguing game from several perspectives. It shrewdly fits Apple Arcade’s demographic of younger and more casual gamers, those who will enjoy playing Disney characters with fewer rules and systems to learn than in more complex games in the MOBA genre.

The mobile Wild Rift arrived early in 2021, but it took great care to preserve a lot of the complexity of the desktop League of Legends experience. Pokémon Unite launched earlier this year on the Nintendo Switch (and later, smartphones) with a similar idea: jettison the more complex MOBA mechanics in favor of a more streamlined game that caters to Pokemon fans, yet retains the core appeal of team-based combat. 

Disney Melee Mania takes that concept and simplifies it further: champions drop into short five-minute matches with three themed abilities (Elsa can summon her ice giant, Bing Bong drops healing candy). No items, no level-ups, no super skills, and only two modes: a team battle where each kill scores points, and a king-of-the-hill style mode where holding on to zones scores points. 

There’s no battle pass, since Apple Arcade doesn’t allow microtransactions, but there will be timed events where players can earn cosmetics for their characters, giving young players a safe way to try out modern competitive gaming before they dive into the free-to-play world.

In other words, Disney Melee Mania could be baby’s first MOBA that gets kids on the path to esports stardom. 

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now

The Google Pixel Fold may have died before it was even announced, as a new report suggests the foldable has been canceled for now – if not permanently. 

The hint comes from a report by Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants, who cited supply chain sources as saying Google has canceled part orders and abandoned plans to bring the foldable to market in 2021 or even in the first half of 2022. This could mean it’s not coming out until later, or it could mean the Google Pixel Fold has been abandoned entirely.

Why? The sources told DSCC that Google didn’t believe the Pixel Fold would compete well in its niche. Given the strong showing by the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 and Samsung Galaxy Flip 3 that launched back in August, we aren’t surprised to hear that reasoning. 

Analysis: a weak year for foldables – for everyone but Samsung

This year kicked off with some exciting concepts shown off at CES 2021, leading some at TechRadar (as in, this writer) to declare 2021 the year of the rollables. We know how that played out: the LG Rollable died when LG exited the smartphone business in April, and while TCL introduced the ambitious Fold N’ Roll that same month, we haven’t heard a peep about it since.

With LG’s exit, we have no more phones like the LG G8X and LG V60 that came with the Dual Screen peripheral, and news in June suggested the Motorola Razr 2021 was cancelled, too. The first Honor foldable could be launching soon, and Oppo has one reportedly coming in December, but with only a month left to go in the year, those launches could easily roll into 2022.

So while it looks like the Pixel was warned off by even less competition than there could have been with only the Samsung Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 coming out this year (and with limited availability, the Royole Flexpai 2), Google would have still had to outperform third-generation foldables released by the company most experienced in that phone niche. Combined with the ongoing supply chain issues, it’s not surprising that Google pressed pause on the Pixel Fold – if the company hasn’t quietly cancelled it entirely.

• Google Pixel 6 just got a new feature and might soon get another

The season of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals often include plenty of gadgets, which often get discounted by device manufacturers themselves. But one of the biggest names in phones, Apple, is rarely generous with its discounts this time of year – so we’ve put together a guide on what iPhone you should look for on Black Friday to get the best savings.

We’ll also clarify which iPhones you won’t be seeing heavily discounted. Don’t expect to see any significant price drops on the new iPhone 13 models, especially from Apple itself, which rarely participates in deals seasons. If there are any slight Black Friday deals on the latest iPhones, they’ll be from online retailers or carriers.

But to make room for the new phones, expect to see some Black Friday iPhone deals on last year’s flagships and older models. Given the small number of changes from the iPhone 12 line, we still recommend them as alternatives if the newest Apple phones are out of your budget. 

That goes for the iPhone 11, too – though they don’t have MagSafe or the neat flat-edged design of the newer iPhones, they’re still good quality, with ultra-wide cameras and enhanced night photography over their predecessors.

That leaves the iPhone XS, iPhone X, and iPhone XR, which are both still respectable given their full-screen designs and upgrades to iOS 15. If you want to stay with the iPhone 8 or iPhone SE and their home button with Touch ID, there will be plenty of deals on those handsets, too.

Here’s our advice on what iPhone you should look for on Black Friday, and what to expect at each level.

• Black Friday iPhone deals: the best savings so far
• Cyber Monday iPhone deals: what we expect from the sales event

Black Friday iPhone 13 deals: what you should expect

• iPhone 13 review
• iPhone 13 mini review
• iPhone 13 Pro review
• iPhone 13 Pro Max review

As stated above, we don’t expect the iPhone 13 line to be discounted much at all during the Black Friday season. Given the phones launched in September, we expect Apple to keep them at full price. 

That said, some online retailers may offer slight discounts on the iPhone 13 line – we’d expect 5% to 10% off the list prices. Given the cheapest model in the range, the iPhone 13 mini, starts at $699 / £679 / AU$1,199, we could expect a 5% cut would knock around $35 / £26 / AU$48 off. It’s better than nothing, but we wouldn’t expect much more during Black Friday.

Carriers are another story, and regularly embrace deals seasons. They may augment their trade-in deals with a bit higher discounts over Black Friday, and we’d expect those to reach peak value on the day of and through Cyber Monday – but they’ll probably explain their offers ahead of time with dates when the deals kick in, so expect to have plenty of notice on what they’re offering. 

Keep in mind that these discounts may combine with price cuts when trading in an old phone, so take note of which deal conditions stack up to get the best price.

Black Friday iPhone 12 deals: what you should expect

• iPhone 12 review
• iPhone 12 mini review
• iPhone 12 Pro review
• iPhone 12 Pro Max review

Here’s where the deals really kick off. When Apple launched the iPhone 13 line in September, they immediately discounted the iPhone 12 range by $100 / £120 / AU$150, and we expect the prices to drop even more on Black Friday. Not on Apple’s website, of course, but retailers and carriers may introduce their own discounts.

These Black Friday iPhone 12 deals should be more substantial than those on the newest Apple phones. We wouldn’t expect these to get as heavily discounted as flagship Androids during Black Friday, but it should be a much-needed price drop – especially for those trying to decide between iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 12.

There’s not much difference between the two, but the newer iPhone 13 has a smaller selfie camera notch, a higher maximum brightness in the display, slightly improved camera hardware and software, and slightly better specs with larger baseline storage capacity, as well as a noticeably larger 3,240mAh battery over the iPhone 12’s 2,815mAh capacity one. 

We expect Black Friday iPhone 12 deals from retailers and carriers, especially with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max – both of which are no longer officially sold by Apple, which only keeps the latest extra-small and extra-large models in its official lineup. That means you’ll see them sold only by retailers and carriers, and probably at a discount. Expect around 10% discounts on current list prices, but not much better, as Apple phones still command a premium.

Black Friday iPhone 11 deals: what you should expect

• iPhone 11 review
• iPhone 11 Pro review
• iPhone 11 Pro Max review

The iPhone 11 range has had two notable price drops in as many years as it’s been superseded by newer iPhones. You can still buy the standard model from Apple, and for good reason: it’s still powerful and has big upgrades on its predecessors, including an ultra-wide camera and much-improved night photography. (The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are only sold by carriers and retailers.)

The standard iPhone 11 now costs $499 / £489 / AU$849, which is $200 / £240 / AU$350 lower than its launch price, but expect higher than 10% off discounts for Black Friday. 

Note the differences in iPhone 12 vs. iPhone 11. If you opt for the latter, you’ll miss out on the flat-edged redesign that makes the phone pack the same-size 6.1-inch display in smaller dimensions, an OLED display, the MagSafe wireless charging and magnetic accessory mount, slightly better specs, and night mode in all three cameras (including the selfie shooter). It’s not a monumental difference, but important to consider what you’re trading for value.

Black Friday iPhone SE, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and other iPhone deals

• iPhone 12 vs iPhone SE (2020): double the price, double the phone?
• iPhone SE (2020) vs iPhone XR: which of the cheaper Apple iPhones is for you?
• iPhone SE vs iPhone 7: a worthwhile like-for-like upgrade?

The remaining iPhones will all likely see good discounts during Black Friday, including popular handsets like the iPhone SE 2020, iPhone XR, and others. These aren’t the most advanced Apple handsets, but they’ll still serve as great phones – and should see big discounts during Black Friday.

Just note that older iPhones may not have many more years of software upgrades left. Apple has generously included the 2016 iPhone 6S as its oldest model getting iOS 15, but we have no idea if it will get iOS 16 next year. There’s no telling which phone Apple will set as the cutoff model, but we’re reasonably confident than the 2017 iPhone 7 and newer phones will get new versions of iOS for years to come.

That said, if you wanted to be safe, opt for the iPhone SE 2020 or the iPhone XR for your affordable phone choice. Curiously, we still see the iPhone XS and iPhone X priced high, but all should get decent Black Friday discounts. That leaves the iPhone 8 as the reliable middle-of-the-road, which should get discounted well – but if you want to future-proof your affordable Apple phone choice, we recommend the iPhone SE 2020.

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now

The season of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals often include plenty of gadgets, which often get discounted by device manufacturers themselves. But one of the biggest names in phones, Apple, is rarely generous with its discounts this time of year – so we’ve put together a guide on what iPhone you should look for on Black Friday to get the best savings.

We’ll also clarify which iPhones you won’t be seeing heavily discounted. Don’t expect to see any significant price drops on the new iPhone 13 models, especially from Apple itself, which rarely participates in deals seasons. If there are any slight Black Friday deals on the latest iPhones, they’ll be from online retailers or carriers.

But to make room for the new phones, expect to see some Black Friday iPhone deals on last year’s flagships and older models. Given the small number of changes from the iPhone 12 line, we still recommend them as alternatives if the newest Apple phones are out of your budget. 

That goes for the iPhone 11, too – though they don’t have MagSafe or the neat flat-edged design of the newer iPhones, they’re still good quality, with ultra-wide cameras and enhanced night photography over their predecessors.

That leaves the iPhone XS, iPhone X, and iPhone XR, which are both still respectable given their full-screen designs and upgrades to iOS 15. If you want to stay with the iPhone 8 or iPhone SE and their home button with Touch ID, there will be plenty of deals on those handsets, too.

Here’s our advice on what iPhone you should look for on Black Friday, and what to expect at each level.

• Black Friday iPhone deals: the best savings so far
• Cyber Monday iPhone deals: what we expect from the sales event

Black Friday iPhone 13 deals: what you should expect

• iPhone 13 review
• iPhone 13 mini review
• iPhone 13 Pro review
• iPhone 13 Pro Max review

As stated above, we don’t expect the iPhone 13 line to be discounted much at all during the Black Friday season. Given the phones launched in September, we expect Apple to keep them at full price. 

That said, some online retailers may offer slight discounts on the iPhone 13 line – we’d expect 5% to 10% off the list prices. Given the cheapest model in the range, the iPhone 13 mini, starts at $699 / £679 / AU$1,199, we could expect a 5% cut would knock around $35 / £26 / AU$48 off. It’s better than nothing, but we wouldn’t expect much more during Black Friday.

Carriers are another story, and regularly embrace deals seasons. They may augment their trade-in deals with a bit higher discounts over Black Friday, and we’d expect those to reach peak value on the day of and through Cyber Monday – but they’ll probably explain their offers ahead of time with dates when the deals kick in, so expect to have plenty of notice on what they’re offering. 

Keep in mind that these discounts may combine with price cuts when trading in an old phone, so take note of which deal conditions stack up to get the best price.

Black Friday iPhone 12 deals: what you should expect

• iPhone 12 review
• iPhone 12 mini review
• iPhone 12 Pro review
• iPhone 12 Pro Max review

Here’s where the deals really kick off. When Apple launched the iPhone 13 line in September, they immediately discounted the iPhone 12 range by $100 / £120 / AU$150, and we expect the prices to drop even more on Black Friday. Not on Apple’s website, of course, but retailers and carriers may introduce their own discounts.

These Black Friday iPhone 12 deals should be more substantial than those on the newest Apple phones. We wouldn’t expect these to get as heavily discounted as flagship Androids during Black Friday, but it should be a much-needed price drop – especially for those trying to decide between iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 12.

There’s not much difference between the two, but the newer iPhone 13 has a smaller selfie camera notch, a higher maximum brightness in the display, slightly improved camera hardware and software, and slightly better specs with larger baseline storage capacity, as well as a noticeably larger 3,240mAh battery over the iPhone 12’s 2,815mAh capacity one. 

We expect Black Friday iPhone 12 deals from retailers and carriers, especially with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max – both of which are no longer officially sold by Apple, which only keeps the latest extra-small and extra-large models in its official lineup. That means you’ll see them sold only by retailers and carriers, and probably at a discount. Expect around 10% discounts on current list prices, but not much better, as Apple phones still command a premium.

Black Friday iPhone 11 deals: what you should expect

• iPhone 11 review
• iPhone 11 Pro review
• iPhone 11 Pro Max review

The iPhone 11 range has had two notable price drops in as many years as it’s been superseded by newer iPhones. You can still buy the standard model from Apple, and for good reason: it’s still powerful and has big upgrades on its predecessors, including an ultra-wide camera and much-improved night photography. (The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are only sold by carriers and retailers.)

The standard iPhone 11 now costs $499 / £489 / AU$849, which is $200 / £240 / AU$350 lower than its launch price, but expect higher than 10% off discounts for Black Friday. 

Note the differences in iPhone 12 vs. iPhone 11. If you opt for the latter, you’ll miss out on the flat-edged redesign that makes the phone pack the same-size 6.1-inch display in smaller dimensions, an OLED display, the MagSafe wireless charging and magnetic accessory mount, slightly better specs, and night mode in all three cameras (including the selfie shooter). It’s not a monumental difference, but important to consider what you’re trading for value.

Black Friday iPhone SE, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and other iPhone deals

• iPhone 12 vs iPhone SE (2020): double the price, double the phone?
• iPhone SE (2020) vs iPhone XR: which of the cheaper Apple iPhones is for you?
• iPhone SE vs iPhone 7: a worthwhile like-for-like upgrade?

The remaining iPhones will all likely see good discounts during Black Friday, including popular handsets like the iPhone SE 2020, iPhone XR, and others. These aren’t the most advanced Apple handsets, but they’ll still serve as great phones – and should see big discounts during Black Friday.

Just note that older iPhones may not have many more years of software upgrades left. Apple has generously included the 2016 iPhone 6S as its oldest model getting iOS 15, but we have no idea if it will get iOS 16 next year. There’s no telling which phone Apple will set as the cutoff model, but we’re reasonably confident than the 2017 iPhone 7 and newer phones will get new versions of iOS for years to come.

That said, if you wanted to be safe, opt for the iPhone SE 2020 or the iPhone XR for your affordable phone choice. Curiously, we still see the iPhone XS and iPhone X priced high, but all should get decent Black Friday discounts. That leaves the iPhone 8 as the reliable middle-of-the-road, which should get discounted well – but if you want to future-proof your affordable Apple phone choice, we recommend the iPhone SE 2020.

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now

While Black Friday deals drop prices on all manner of tech, Apple usually declines to participate, and keeps its products at full price on its website. But online retailers have all the discounts you need on AirPods, Apple Watches,  Apple Pencils, and other Apple accessories. (Not in the US? Scroll to the bottom for deals in your region.)

These are early Black Friday Apple deals, mind you, so expect the discounts to get better as we approach the day itself on November 26. The savings will last through the weekend and into the Cyber Monday deals on November 29, but if you wanted an early look at which Apple products are going to be discounted, here it is.

While the deals will undoubtedly be better on older devices, we still have some discounts for the new Apple Watch 7, Apple AirPods Max, Apple Pencil 2, and other best picks at the top of their category. 

And just to be clear, we do have some great Black Friday iPhone deals listed elsewhere, so check those out if you’re eager to buy an Apple handset – we’ve even got a deal or two on the new iPhone 13 range. The same goes for Black Friday MacBook Pro deals, which include the exciting new Apple MacBook Pro models with the M1 Max chipsets, and some Black Friday iPad deals to boot.

If you’re looking for Apple accessories that sync perfectly with those iPhones, Macs, and iPads, check below:

Apple Watches

Apple AirPods

Apple Pencil

Other Apple accessories

We would love to post deals for official Apple accessories like the AirTags, the MagSafe Battery Pack, or the newly recolored Apple HomePod Mini, but we haven't found deals on those yet – they're still full price everywhere. Rest assured, when we will, we'll share them with you!

Top Apple device deals

If you're not in the US, here are other deals in your region for the latest Apple gadgets:

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro may finally come out in the US, but under a different name. A report claims that TD Tech will release a virtually identical version of the phone with its own brand name stamped on the back – possibly as a way to sell units without running afoul of US sanctions against Huawei. 

This isn’t the first time TD Tech has sold rebadged Huawei phones. The brand, created by Huawei and Nokia as a joint venture in 2005, re-released the Huawei Nova 8 Pro as the TD Tech N8 Pro last week, per Huawei Central. 

The Mate 40 Pro version to be sold by TD Tech doesn’t yet have an official name, but images shared by Weibo user @Ark show a device that looks remarkably similar to the Mate 40 Pro, though with the Huawei logo swapped with a TD Tech one and the Leica mention at the center of the camera block replaced by a benign ‘Ultra Vision Camera’ label.

The TD Tech version of the Mate 40 Pro received TENAA certification and, logos aside, has identical specs as the Huawei original – that includes a Kirin 9000 chipset, 6.7-inch display with 90Hz refresh rate, and 4,400mAh battery. The TD Tech version will have its own renamed EMUI, though it’s not clear whether it will support Google Mobile Services (GMS) and potentially Android, per Notebook Check.

Analysis: getting Huawei to US consumers

Huawei has had tough few years, going from nearly signing a deal with a US carrier to getting shut out of the US market thanks to aggressive sanctions. After subsequently getting shut out of GMS, meaning current Huawei phones don’t run the main version of Android, and selling its Honor brand, Huawei is far from poised to sell phones in the US.

Releasing its phones through the TD Tech brand seems like a reasonable workaround, but it still leaves big questions unanswered. First, we have no official indication that the TD Tech brand will be marketed outside China, where it received TENAA certification. More to the point, it’s unclear if the TD Tech Mate 40 Pro (or whatever it will be called) will run Huawei’s HarmonyOS or if it will be able to run Android along with GMS – which would be crucial to selling the phone in the US and elsewhere.

Via ITHome

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now

The Motorola Edge 30 Ultra may launch in January, according to a new leak, and pack a Snapdragon 898 chipset – potentially beating the Samsung Galaxy S22 to the market as the first Android flagship phone of 2022 powered by Qualcomm’s next top-level silicon.

We’ve heard rumors suggesting Motorola may be among the first to launch a Snapdragon 898-powered phone, but this new leak from TechnikNews’ Nils Ahrensmeier also includes a bunch of alleged specs along with a model name: the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, which presumably follows the Motorola Edge 20 Lite and Motorola Edge 20 Pro that came to scattered markets in 2021.

The leak cites an anonymous source claiming that the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra (model number “XT-2201” and internally codenamed “Rogue”) will pack a Snapdragon chipset with a model number of SM8540 – which correlates with the Snapdragon 898 silicon. To be clear, Qualcomm hasn’t officially named the chipset yet, so it could end up being named the Snapdragon 895, but it seems unlikely that the company would revert back to its number convention after switching to the Snapdragon 888 for 2021.

In any case, the leak claims plenty of other specs, including that two of the three rear shooters will be 50MP cameras (the main and ultrawide) along with a 2MP sensor; the front-facing camera will be 60MP.  It will also pack a speedy 68W charger and 5,000mAh battery.

The other revealed specs paint a picture of a phone that’s fast but not the most powerful handset on the market: either 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB or 256GB of storage, a 6.67-inch Full HD Plus display with 144Hz refresh rate, an IP 52 water- and dust-resistance rating and Android 12 out of the box. 

Analysis: beating Samsung to the flagship market?

Motorola has re-entered the flagship phone market with the Motorola Edge series of phones over the last few years, but hasn’t made much of an impact. Over the last year or so, its top-tier devices have come out at irregular intervals and not in all markets, leading to a fragmented release strategy scattering its phones across varying regions – and few globally-available handsets.

Further, Motorola has often made slight tweaks to its phones and releasing  them under new names in other markets. Those alterations are made to better appeal to local consumers, Motorola insists. Thus, we can’t predict where the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra named in the leak will be sold or if it will come out with these specs in every market.

But if it does come out around the same time as the Samsung Galaxy S22 (which a recent rumor claims will be launched in February), the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra could rival flagship Android phones with its cameras and fast recharging – both areas which have been lacking in the brand’s previous top phones. We’ll have to see if more info confirms these leaks as the launch window approaches – and given its overlap with CES 2022 in early January, we could see Motorola’s next flagship officially revealed at the big tech show. 

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy right now

The Sony Xperia Pro was released in January as a device for video professionals, and now a new version – the Sony Xperia Pro-I – has been announced as a phone that's custom-made for vloggers. The phone will be available for preorder starting October 28 and will be sold unlocked starting in December 2021 in the US, though availability in other regions hasn't been announced. 

The Xperia Pro-I (‘I’ for imaging) has nearly all the perks of its predecessor and a few improvements of its own at a lower price – $1,799 / £1,599 (around AU$2,400), compared to the staggering $2,500 (around £1,830 / AU$3,245) price tag of the Xperia Pro. The new Pro-I doesn’t have the HDMI port central to the Xperia Pro’s use as an external display for expensive professional cameras, so it’s more a general use phone built for videographers. 

The Xperia Pro-I does have an improved main camera with a 1-inch sensor. It’s one of the first mainstream phones to have a sensor of that size (and the first coming to the US), which enables better low-light performance, dynamic range, and more natural depth-of-field compared to the computational bokeh seen in phones with smaller sensors. The main camera's dual aperture lens, which lets you switch between f/2.0 and f/4.0, gives you added control over this background blur.

The megapixel count hasn’t changed from the Pro – all three rear cameras are 12MP, so the main, telephoto, and ultra-wide cameras aren’t improved in that regard. But the Xperia Pro-I has other improvements on the standard Pro, like having 315 points of autofocus (the green grid of boxes shown when taking photos) covering 90% of the viewfinder, compared to 247 points on the Xperia Pro covering 70% of the viewfinder. The phone can also take burst shots up to 20 frames per second with autofocus, as well as improved anti-distortion over earlier Xperia models.

Other than its rearranged rear camera block, the Xperia Pro-I is physically similar to the Xperia Pro, though it does bump the chipset up to the Snapdragon 888 found in this year’s flagship Android phones. It has the same 6.5-inch OLED display as the Xperia 1 III, though that should be fine for most smartphone owners – its 4K resolution (3840 x 1644) is rare among modern smartphones. 

It packs a 4,500mAh battery and 30W charger, as well as the Xperia I III’s front-facing speakers as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has a shortcut button that can be set to open any app, and the dedicated shutter button has the same shutter switch module as Sony's RX100 series compact cameras. There’s even a little hole to secure a wrist strap.

And, crucially, the Xperia Pro-I can record video – which the Xperia Pro couldn’t. But there’s more for the modern vlogger that Sony’s new phone can offer.

Xperia Pro-I: what’s here for video fans?

The Xperia Pro-I is dedicated to video recording, with some firsts in the world of smartphones: it’s the first to natively record 120fps – and saving every frame, unlike other phones that record at that speed, but save in 30 or 24fps to play back in slow motion at a specific speed. Saving every frame means users can choose whatever slow-mo rate they want.

There’s also new software, Video Pro, which offers a similar level of manual control and editing as Sony’s Cinema Pro app that came with the Xperia Pro. The phone’s wide 21:9 screen enables the phone to show the viewfinder in 16:9 with enough room on the side for manual video controls. With software called Optical Steadyshot and StableEye that stabilizes the footage and tracks moving subjects, the phone promises a lot for action videographers.

There’s also an optional $199 / £169 (around AU$265) Vlogging accessory – a 3.5-inch external display that can magnetically mount on the back of the Xperia Pro-I to show what’s recording from the rear cameras. And for those who want to protect their phone in style, a $90 (around £65 / AU$120) leather case.

Analysis: A significant moment for camera phones 

The Sony Xperia Pro-I has a few 'world first' claims, but perhaps the most significant is that Sony has officially called it a part of its camera lineup. Considering that lineup contains some of the world's best cameras, it's a symbolic moment for camera phones  – and for premium compact cameras, too.

That's because the Xperia Pro-I is effectively the phone equivalent of the Sony ZV-1 and Sony RX100 VII. Those two compact cameras are built on a similar 1-inch sensor and Bionz X processors. Until now, they've also held an advantage over the Xperia range (and most other smartphones) when it comes to sensor size and professional features.

The Xperia Pro-I sees Sony effectively abandon any concerns about cannibalization in favor of making a smartphone that can compete, on paper, with its best compact cameras for stills and video. It also sees Sony tread a very different path to its big camera phone rivals like Apple, Google and Samsung. While the latter are now largely focused on computational point-and-shoot photography, the Xperia Pro-I is a pro-focused camera that's built on Sony's more traditional advantages in sensors, lenses and real-time tracking autofocus.

Traditional cameras, like the Sony RX100 series, do still hold some advantages in areas like lenses. Despite the Xperia Pro-I's inclusion of a glass Zeiss Tessar lens, size constraints do still limit what's possible in a smartphone – so we'll have to see how that plays out in some real-world tests.

But there's no doubt that the Xperia Pro-I is a bold statement of intent from Sony, which is the only smartphone maker that also makes world-class standalone cameras. The question is how many people, other than Sony camera fans, want that type of experience in a phone, compared to the more beginner-friendly smarts of the best camera phones.

• Best camera phone 2021: our picks for the best smartphone cameras right now

The Google Pixel 6 has plenty of promising features, but one stuck with me more than others – mostly because it would have come in clutch when a massive thunderstorm grounded flights and stranded me in an airport with a perfect stranger.

I had been traveling through the South visiting family, and flew into Charlotte in the middle of North Carolina, hoping to board a plane to Raleigh, but the storm kept every plane out of the sky. I quickly coordinated with my family for alternative transport – a taxi to the train station – and was about to leave when someone handed me a phone.

The phone's owner didn’t speak English, but his contact did, and begged me to help the man get to the same city I was going; could he tag along on my planes, trains, and automobiles journey? Divided by a language barrier, we labored back-and-forth with the person on the other end of the call acting as intermediary. I managed to direct my fellow traveler through a US airport and got us safely on a train to our mutual destination, but it was a journey of faith and trust in strangers. 

It would have been a lot easier if my phone could bridge that language gap for us.

When Google introduced the Pixel 6, it showed off plenty of new software features made possible by the phone’s new secret weapon, the Tensor chipset. One of these was an enhanced version of Live Translation that lets folks use the phone as an intermediary that, well, translates spoken phrases into another language. 

Imagine how groundbreaking a Pixel 6 could’ve been in that situation! I could simply have held the phone between myself and the non-English-speaking stranger to hold a delayed but still direct conversation.

If you’ve ever had the uncommon experience of using someone on a speakerphone as an intermediary, you know how frustrating it is to lose crucial details over scratchy call quality, let alone the awkwardness of hovering over a phone hoping what you say is being conveyed to the other person.

Using a feature like the responsive Live Translation on the Pixel 6 in the moment seems like it would feel not just superior but a relief to both parties – it’s so much more dignified to look someone in the eye as you speak rather than belatedly wait for a third party or translation software to bridge the language gap over a speakerphone (subject to the usual pitfalls of calls, like audio dropout and lack of clarity). 

Which isn’t to say that the Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro will single-handedly break down language barriers; there are surely kinks to work out in its Tensor-enhanced version of Live Translation, and it’s limited by Google’s lineup of languages and dialects integrated into the service. 

But it’s a promising feature that could be a relieving safety net for travelers and others who regularly engage with folks who don’t speak their language. If it could’ve helped me connect with a stranger suddenly cast adrift in a foreign place who didn’t speak the local tongue, it would’ve been a port in an airplane-grounding storm. That’s what cutting-edge chipsets and tech should help with.

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now

In mid-October, Samsung held another Unpacked event that revealed new colors and special editions for previously-announced products…and no new devices. It seemed like something should have debuted at an event pitched to be ‘for the fans,’ and the best contender is probably the more affordable flagship ‘Fan Edition’ of the Galaxy S21. So where is the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE?

We’d been expecting the S21 FE to launch back in September, a year after its popular predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, was revealed at an August 2020 Unpacked event. But the month came and went. Now, in late October, rumors suggest the cheaper version of the Samsung S21 may launch in January – alongside or even stealing the launch slot for the Samsung Galaxy S22.

TechRadar reached out to Samsung to ask if the S21 FE was intended to launch at the October Unpacked event, and they declined to acknowledge that the phone was coming, or even admit its existence.

“We can’t comment on our product roadmap, but we’re focused on listening to consumer needs and providing options across our mobile portfolio for every price point,” a Samsung spokesperson told TechRadar over email. “We’re seeing a lot of demand and interest in both our current S series lineup and our latest foldable devices. To meet our customers’ needs, we’re prioritizing those devices right now.”

We’ve heard enough rumors and leaks to feel confident that the S21 FE exists – so what’s keeping the phone from being ready for release? 

As you might have suspected, it’s probably due to the supply chain issues that have kept everything from GPUs and PS5s to automobiles to dress shirts from reaching consumers – a continued effect of Covid’s impact on interrupting resource supply, production, shipping, local transport, and retail. Reports indicate the shortage could last into 2022, and will certainly impact stock for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Given the 10 million unit iPhone 13 production shortfall, it’s believable that shortages would apply to other phones, too. Here’s what analysts say about how phones like the S21 FE continue to be impacted – and why that phone seems to be delayed more than devices from other brands.

Smartphones, supply fiascos, and more

By April 2020, reports started coming out that Covid outbreaks in production facilities in China and elsewhere resulted in shutdowns and interruptions. This resulted in the global chip shortage that has affected so many industries, as Avi Greengart, founder of tech research and analysis firm Techsponential, told TechRadar over email.

“The initial shutdowns in China stopped smartphone production for a few weeks, but that wasn’t too problematic because there was also an initial drop in smartphone sales during the first round of lockdowns in the U.S. and Europe,” Greengart said. “After that, though, there was a massive surge in demand for electronics of all kinds, making it hard to source components for smartphones, GPUs, game consoles, PCs, home appliances, and cars.”

The impact of those shortages has been compounded by more Covid shutdowns, shipping and port jams, and natural disasters, Greengart added. “In my conversations with manufacturers, one constant is that there are breakdowns everywhere throughout the supply chain. Even if you switch to air freight for finished goods to get around the seaport jams, the raw materials and components coming into factories are stuck in the ports or in factories without enough truck drivers to move them to the next stop.”

But the smartphone industry has seen far less impact than others. Some phones have been in reduced supply, like the Samsung S21 line, but they aren’t nearly as scarce as PS5s and GPUs.

That’s largely because the phones industry has been growing as a whole for years in contrast to a PC and notebook industry that has plateaued or declined, according to Nabila Popal, mobile industry analyst at IDC. The firm expected the smartphone industry to grow in 2020, and thus were better able to absorb Covid’s shock to its system. 

“As far as the smartphone industry in 2020, the manufacturers and vendors were already expecting kind of a growth year, so the momentum and preparations had already been made,” Popal told TechRadar over the phone. “Of course [Covid] hit and then we had a six percent decline, but because of that anticipation, we were basically better prepared from all sides, be it accruement of materials needed, logistics, factory and capacity, or differences in value chain.”

“We shouldn’t look at the positive growth to say that there aren’t any issues there, because there are, but they’re not as compounded as they are in automotive and PC and notebooks,” Popal said.

There’s another reason the smartphone industry absorbed the interruption in the supply chain, Popal noted: the industry was in the process of switching from 4G to 5G, which requires entirely new chipsets and modems. This means smartphone manufacturers needed to set up their own new supply and production chains to make new silicon, which weren’t as affected by the global chip shortage. Instead, the smartphone industry was hit hard by components shortages, which ended up affecting 4G phones more than 5G devices – which constitute mainly flagship but more and more mid-range and budget phones in 2021.

So...what about the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE?

Popal couldn’t confirm or deny anything specifically on the potential delay of the S21 FE, but she did point to a particular strain on Samsung’s production in Q2 2021: Covid outbreaks in Vietnam that impacted the company’s production facilities. Despite previous containment, an outbreak in May threatened tech production, per Reuters, which led to Samsung shutting down factories in July to contain the virus, according to Nikkei Asia. 

The Korean phonemaker wasn’t the only one hit – Apple supplier Foxconn was ordered to temporarily shut its factories in August, per Bloomberg – but because half of Samsung’s smartphone production is in Vietnam, the shortages may have impacted Samsung’s current and upcoming lineup more than other companies’ releases. 

“For the S21, in Q2 [2021], the major issues that Samsung faced was their supply was constrained for many of the leading models because of the shutdowns in Vietnam, because of Covid,” Popal said, also affirming that supply issues ultimately led to the cancellation of the Samsung Galaxy Note 21. 

Even if we can’t get a straight answer from Samsung itself or analysts that supply shortages led to the delay of the S21 FE, given their impact on the availability of current phones and outright cancellation of another highly-anticipated Samsung device, it’s still the most likely reason we didn’t see the S21 FE launch at the October Samsung Unpacked, let alone in September when we expected it to be unveiled.

But the big phone companies are doing what they can to mitigate the effects, and they may not be felt by everyone. Despite a previous report that Apple might ship 10 million fewer iPhone 13 units, Popal told TechRadar that the company’s high-volume orders and dominance means it can remain at the top of the priority list in supply chains and expect component suppliers to make up shortfalls. Apple will in turn prioritize shipments to its biggest markets, like the US, Europe, and likely China, and have lower supply in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. 

It probably won’t be the last phone shortage we see, given how Covid’s initial impacts continue to domino into new crises. The latest are a series of regional planned blackouts in Chinese factories that are affecting phone production, and we can’t guess what the next might be. 

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 was shown off in a series of renders that gives us a possible first look at what the tablet’s final design might be, as well as a specs leak giving us details about the display, chipset, battery, and another claim that the tablet will release in January or February 2022. 

Noted leaker @OnLeaks tweeted out the purported Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 design via renders made by Zouton. The renders show a tablet with thinner bezels than its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, but largely the same flat-edged design.

The renders were also accompanied by a big specs leak, claiming the Tab S8 will have an 11-inch IPS LCD display with 2560 x 1600 resolution, which means it’ll retain the 16:10 ratio of its predecessors, resembling wider laptop screens rather than that of tablets. The alleged measurements of 253.75 x 165.30 x 6.24mm are virtually identical to those on the Tab S7, so the new tablet may be the same size (and fit the same cases and accessories). This flies in the face of what we’ve heard earlier, like the rumor suggesting a screen size over 12 inches for 2960 x 1848 resolution, so we’re unsure.

The leak claims the Tab S8 will get the Snapdragon 888 chipset found in most of 2021’s best phones not made by Apple, which suggests that Samsung either intended to launch the tablet this year or doesn’t care that its silicon will be slightly outdated by the time it potentially launches in January or February. Other leaks have suggested it will get the Snapdragon 898 chipset rumored to come in next year’s flagship Android phones, so we’re also unsure about this one. Then again, if the tablet was anticipated to come out in late 2021, the slightly older chipset makes sense.

The other alleged specs, like the 8,000mAh battery and 45W charging, are unchanged from the Tab 7, and the 128GB of storage may be inaccurate given last year’s tablet started with that level and went up to 256GB and 512GB – unless Samsung intends to shortchange its main tablet and preserve higher storage for the rumored Plus or Ultra versions.

Analysis: where’s the Galaxy Tab S8 been?

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 had launched in August 2020, so we naturally expected the Galaxy Tab S8 to arrive around the same time this year, but August came and went without the tablet arriving. Given the Samsung Galaxy Note 21, also expected in August, was officially canceled, we suspected the Tab S8 may have suffered the same fate.

But a January or February 2022 release date for the Tab S8, which we’ve heard from multiple rumors, aligns with the supposed launch of another Samsung device: the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, which we expected in September but still haven’t seen. Rumors suggest that phone is coming in January 2022 as well – and that it was delayed due to the global chip shortage.

The global chip shortage has affected much of the tech world (and many other industries reliant on chips, like automobiles), so we could guess that the S21 FE and Tab S8 suffered the same delays. Shortages on the iPhone 13 have suggested that even the biggest companies are feeling the impact, so the Tab S8 probably won’t be the last device we see getting later-than-expected releases – and a lower supply could seriously impact stock for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

• Best phone 2021: the top 15 smartphones you can buy in the US right now