The rumored Motorola Razr Ultra appears to have leaked, and in vibrant red color we’ve never seen from the series. Fans of the classic clamshell should be excited, as these latest leaks also showcase the software as well as a substantial, immersive cover display.

From the leaked images, we see a device that looks very much like, well, the current Motorola Razr 2022, albeit with some obvious advancements. The cover screen is much larger – interrupted only by the main camera.  the software also looks a little different – taking advantage of that larger outer display, with new clock faces and themes that complement the color of the device’s bodywork – a ruby red, going off what we see.

These new leaks come from Evan Blass – a tipster popularly known as 'Evleaks' via a private Twitter account. They follow other leaked renders and news of Motorola’s plans for the expected Motorola Razr 2023, which claim there could be as many as two new foldables coming. Blass also claims that Motorola will not be launching a Motorola Razr Lite this year. Rather, it will be calling the smaller phone simply the ‘Motorola Razr’. According to reports, this one is expected to arrive in the US, unlike last year’s Razr, which saw a limited rollout, internationally.

 Bigger displays proliferate

Clamshell foldables continue to fill a market need for larger displays with smaller footprints. The external cover screens started out as being only suitable for notifications and small widgets, but growing them out means that these newer foldables can do more.

In our Oppo Find N2 Flip review (the clamshell foldable that currently holds the largest cover display on the market), we found its cover screen had potential, but felt restricted by developer uptake. Could Motorola have more luck in this arena? It remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure, the more clamshell foldables there are, the more the chances that developers are going to take the form factor as a valid target, granting even more functionality to those cover displays.

Motorola has some time before its biggest competition gets its act together. According to rumors, the company is launching these foldables at the start of June, while Samsung will be preparing the Galaxy Z Flip 5 with a larger display for the end of July.

Motorola is reportedly launching a new stylus-packing budget phone – the Moto G Stylus – in a matter of days, and new leaks shed light on the possible color options.

Leaked renders show off the G Stylus in blue and pink – or ‘Glam Pink’ as Motorola is apparently calling the shade, along with the titular stylus.

The leaks come from reliable Twitter tipster Snoopy Tech,  Based on the renders, this is a typical Motorola phone with a large, mostly unbroken display, slightly squared-off sides, and a dimple on the rear for the Motorola logo.

Moto G-series handsets have, in the past, been some of the best cheap phones you can buy, and their specs tend to reflect their pricing. The Moto G Stylus is expected to be powered by the modest MediaTek Helio G88 chipset, paired with 4GB of RAM. 64GB of expandable storage should suffice for all your media, and there’s said to be a 6.5-inch 720p display with a 120Hz refresh rate to consume all that media on (and use the stylus with).

The images show a dual-camera setup, with at least one of the sensors according to Snoopy Tech – being a 50MP unit. All of this will apparently be kept chugging along by a 5,000mAh battery – which you’d better hope lasts through the day, as charging is rumored to be capped at a measly 10W. Lastly, the phone is said to come running Android 13, which we hope is the case, as Google has already started rolling out Android 14 beta previews.

 Hitting a niche 

Stylii have always been sought-after productivity tools, even if no one could figure out how to use them to drive a phone brand till Samsung introduced the world to the Galaxy Note. Motorola dipped its toes in the water with the original Moto G Stylus, and has apparently found enough success to continue pushing product out year after year (with 2021's Moto G Stylus 5G). The Moto G Stylus isn‘t going to rival the S23 Ultra; Motorola uses its premium branded phones like the Edge 40 Pro for that. Instead, what the G Stylus line does is provide a cheap, inexpensive, accessible stylus option to those who want it.

We compared Motorola’s stylus with Samsung’s S Pen when the G Stylus line debuted a few years ago, and there’s no reason to expect our conclusions to change just yet. It would be nice to see a premium Motorola Edge or Razr with a stylus option, though. Maybe next year.

Motorola is reported to be releasing two Razr-branded foldables this year, and a new rumor suggests that both phones could be coming to the US.

The Moto Razr Pro and Moto Razr Lite had previously been spotted in certification bodies over the year, but if this latest rumor is accurate Motorola could be launching them both in the US after a two-year hiatus from the region.  

This claim comes via a tweet from tipster Max Jambor and a follow-up from Android tech blog, Android Authority. Jambor claims that Motorola will be announce the Moto Razr Pro and Moto Razr Lite (though the names may vary depending on market) – on June 1, and that the launch will happen in Spain for European markets, and in New York for the US. 

The Razr Pro, the more premium of the duo, is expected to follow the Oppo Find N2 Flip in having a larger cover display than the current crop of foldables – including the Motorola Razr 2022 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 – and be designed to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series.

While the Flip 5 is also rumored to have a larger cover display, with the Razr Pro’s launch expected to take place first, Motorola has the potential to gobble up market share that might have otherwise gone to Samsung.

Bringing some high-tech goodness to an underserved table  

Though Motorola is regarded a US phone brand rather than a Chinese one, it's a subsidiary of Lenovo, which is an American-Chinese company. This means that while the US market may miss out on innovation from bigger, more recognizably Chinese brands like Oppo, Xiaomi, and Huawei, the influence of Chinese smartphone makers can still trickle down in Motorola devices.

Consider our recent Motorola Edge 40 Pro review. Though the camera was not as good as the Google Pixel 7 Pro’s, it offered a long-lasting battery, incredibly fast charging, a bright display with a high refresh rate, and other features that are par for the course on many devices from Chinese phone makers, like the Xiaomi 13 or Oppo Find X6; even if they’re far from the norm on the best phones you can buy from Apple or Google. 

If Motorola can deliver a worthwhile experience with its upcoming Razr phones (as well as further lowering the price of entry), the brand may find itself poised for a stronger resurgence in the mainstream than any number of Moto G phones could create.

Apple is expected to enable app sideloading, allowing iPhone users to install apps from sources outside of the official App Store in iOS 17 – according to a new report. This follows the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which requires that platform operators allow apps from third-party developers.

The report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, writing in the latest PowerOn Newsletter. Gurman noted that “Apple is working to overhaul the software to open up the iPhone to sideloading – the downloading of apps outside of its official store – to comply with new European regulations by next year.”

Android – iOS’s only viable competitor – already allows users to install apps from third-party stores with only a few taps. Though Gurman does not share the specifics of Apple’s plans, it’s likely that it would implement a similar policy. 

Other features claimed to be coming with iOS 17 include updates to services including CarPlay, Siri, and Messages. Other changes are said to bring improvements specifically to newer iPhones – such as the iPhone 14 Pro and its Dynamic Island – and enable rumored new camera features on the upcoming iPhone 15 handsets.  

 If EU say so 

The move comes as Apple is expected to shift its iPhones from using its proprietary Lightning cable to USB-C. The EU has made several regulatory moves that – though aimed at technology manufacturers in general – particularly affect Apple, due to hardware and software choices the company has made over the years, especially with regards to iOS and iPadOS. 

If these various rumors pan out, not only will the iPhone 15 range use the same connector as every modern Android phone or Windows laptop, users will also be able to download apps from non-Apple websites, or even a rival app store.

These changes would make Apple’s 2023 iPhones markedly different beasts from their 2022 predecessors. With choice in the Android phone market dwindling – as some big Chinese brands begin to opt for China-only launches (like the Oppo Find X6 series) – Apple may be positioned to attract customers who would otherwise contemplate buying one of the best Android phones instead of the best iPhone.

Fresh leaked case renders serve up more clues as to what the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro could look like when they launch, most likely in October, based on previous Pixels' release schedule.

These new renders come from MySmartPrice and showcase protective cases for the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. Starting with the Pixel 8 case, it points to a design not much different to that of the current Google Pixel 7. There’s one pill-shaped hole in the case for the wide and ultrawide cameras, and slits on both sides for the power and volume buttons. The Pixel 8 is expected to be a little smaller than the Pixel 7, with a 6.16 or 6.2-inch display, meaning it wouldn't fit the Pixel 7, despite their similar designs and dimensions.

The case renders for the Pixel 8 Pro, meanwhile, suggest a design similar to the Pixel 7 Pro. The two Pros are expected to share similar dimensions, so it’s not surprising that the case designs would be broadly similar too. It too has a pill-shaped hole for the camera, albeit a wider one compared to the one shown in the Pixel 8 case renders, because Google’s Pro Pixels have an additional telephoto camera. The Pixel 8 Pro is expected to follow suit, although its camera bar is rumored to be getting an additional backup sensor.

 An iconic design

If – as these renders suggest – Google is sticking with the distinctive camera bar on its new phones, it wouldn’t come as a surprise. Much like the iPhone's home button in the past, the camera bar is a feature that makes Pixel phones immediately recognizable, and retaining it would help to keep the brand distinct in the minds of buyers.

Though we rate the Pixels as some of the best Android phones out there, and as some of the best phones outright, Google has yet to win substantial market share anywhere. Things are going in the right direction, though, based on research from Kantar, published around the time of the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro's launch. Google is, no doubt, hoping that this trend continues with the Pixel 8 and Pixel Pro 8, but regardless, you can't deny that its phones are hard to miss.

Details of Samsung's next foldable phones – the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 – are leaking with increasing regularity, ahead of their expected August launch, and a new leak backs up previous rumors that suggest the biggest change will be to the cover screen of the Z Flip 5.

The latest leaks come via reliable Samsung tipster Ice Universe on Twitter, and includes reference to the foldables' screen sizes and weights. This report is light on details, but remains congruent with previous leaks received over the past few months.

If those sizes are correct, it would mean that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will sport a much larger cover display than the 1.9-inch outer screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 4. And, if true, will make interacting with apps and widgets a far easier and more enjoyable experience than it currently is on the Z Flip 4's relatively petite display.

This latest leak also adds that both of Samsung's big 2023 foldables are expected to weigh 254g and 187g respectively. If accurate, that would mean the Galaxy Z Fold 5 would be a little lighter, compared to the 263g Galaxy Z Fold 4 (actually making Samsung's lightest Fold yet), while the Z Flip 5 will weigh the same as its predecessor.

Subtle changes to a not-so-subtle form factor

When it comes to foldables, every little change matters. Folding phones may have been around for a few years at this point, but they have yet to achieve the critical mass required to really shake up the mobile market, which remains largely dominated by more conventional designs. As such, it makes sense that manufacturers keep refining their designs in a bid to create devices with truly mainstream appeal.

The Galaxy Z Fold line's form factor is often compared to something like the Oppo Find N, as is the Z Flip to the Oppo Find N2 Flip. Smaller, squarer form factors mean the weight distribution is different, and larger cover screens mean you can do a lot more on that outer display without needing to open the phone. While it doesn’t look like we’ll see much of a difference between the Z Fold 5 and its predecessor, the rumored much larger cover screen on the Z Flip 5 is going to make a lot of difference in day-to-day use.

If Samsung can deliver a better, more powerful experience (paired with Android 14's currently hinted-at foldable form-factor adaptations), then it could be a big step towards foldable phones becoming the go-to handsets for a growing number of consumers.

Both devices are expected to launch at or around the same time, with an announcement at Samsung's annual August Unpacked event likely, not to mention a spot amidst our rundown of the best Samsung phones and best foldable phones, if all goes well.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 are still a few months from launching, but new leaks have given us us more hints about their appearance. A new render – which corroborates previous leaks – shows how the larger cover screen could look, while a reliable analyst has shared details of the colors Samsung is reportedly planning for its new foldables.

That latter leak comes from Ross Young, a display analyst, who claims the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will come in beige, gray, light green, and light pink, while the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will have beige, black, and light blue options. Samsung rarely sticks to plain names though, so expect these to be dubbed Awesome Black, Overly Obsidian, or something similar upon release.

As for the cover screen, that was leaked by SamMobile with an accompanying render. It shows a fairly large outer display, similar to the one on the Oppo Find N2 Flip, and we can see it being put to good use – maybe not quite for gaming, but certainly for replying to messages, reading emails, checking the weather, and the like.

 Taking time to fix flaws

The early Galaxy Z Flip handsets were criticized for having tiny, and essentially useless, cover screens. With the Flip 3 and Flip 4, Samsung went a long way towards fixing that by making the screens larger, but they’re still not as large as the screens on foldables from rivals Oppo, Motorola, and Huawei. Of course, despite these companies making some of the best foldables, these are only rivals in the technical sense. They compete, but Samsung is comfortably ahead.

As such, the gap between Samsung and the others in both mindshare and marketshare, means the company can afford to take its time fixing these flaws without being penalized for it. If Samsung's Z Flip 6 or 7 `arrived with a lesser cover screen, cameras, or charging speed than competing devices -- who's going to notice? You can't buy them anyway.

OnePlus has announced its mysterious Jupiter-themed OnePlus 11 variant, and it turns out that the teaser image the brand shared a few days ago was a little more literal than we'd initially assumed. The new phone is dubbed the OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock edition, and it takes its design cues from the eponymous celestial body. 

As for the material used, it's not exactly marble, as some had theorized. Rather, OnePlus says it's a new material that it's developed called '3D microcrystalline rock'. OnePlus has experimented with various materials in the past, including wood grain and sandstone, and this looks like a return to form for a company that's been seen as playing it too safe with recent releases.  

Disappointingly, though, the phone has only been launched in China with an expected expansion to India, and it seems unlikely that it'll be released in Western markets any time soon.

Announcing the new phone on Chinese social-networking side Weibo, OnePlus China head Li Jie posted (machine-translated to English): "It is a material that has never been used in the mobile phone industry. It is a 'no man's land' and requires a lot of time and cost to explore".

"This is a very excellent material. It is derived from the combination of nature and technology. It has a unique texture and a tight texture. When you hold it in your hand, you can feel an unprecedented wonderful feeling. It seems like jade that has been washed by water for thousands of years."

Li added that the material would be resistant to fingerprints, wear, and bacteria. Due to the nature of the materials and processes used, he said the OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock edition would be unique to each buyer.

Materials matter 

It's always good to see companies break free of the metal and glass sandwich archetype – companies like Oppo have experimented with ceramic on the Oppo Find X5 Pro, while Huawei has used vegan leather, and Motorola actual leather. OnePlus says it's gone to great efforts to develop its new material, including creating entirely new tooling processes. 

"The OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited edition took a whole year from the start of the project to the mass production," Li Jie wrote in another Weibo post. "We have developed the entire mass production process line, including nine complex processes, and pioneered the 'natural graining process'."

Of course, how much effort a company puts into making a product isn't relevant if the product itself isn't good, but in our OnePlus 11 review we awarded the phone four stars, and this new design looks genuinely interesting. 

It's a shame the company hasn't announced plans to release the phone outside of India or China where it's priced at 4,899 yuan (that's about £580 / $700 / AU$1,050), as it would certainly add a dash of style to the mobile market. 

Vivo is expected to launch a new foldable phone soon – according to a report from tipster Snoopy Tech – rumored to be a flip-style or clamshell foldable, akin to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Motorola Razr 2022.  

According to Snoopy, the phone is to be branded the Vivo X Flip and is already receiving Google Play certification, with a launch to follow shortly. Vivo has not yet announced any upcoming events as of time of writing. The company had previously launched an Vivo X Fold – its take on a Galaxy Z Fold-style foldable in 2022 – along with a successor later that same year, called the X Fold Plus. Neither has officially been made available globally, as of yet.  

The launch of a potential new Vivo foldable comes at an interesting time for parent company BBK Electronics. Even if reports of sister companies Oppo and OnePlus pulling out of Europe proved to be grossly exaggerated (i.e. false), Vivo's foldable strategy to date does suggest that the X Flip may not see a release outside of China and other Asian markets. This leaves Oppo's first internationally-available foldable (read our Oppo Find N2 Flip review for more on that) and OnePlus' forthcoming foldable to operate in those markets in its stead.

A growing form factor 

With the advent of smartphones, angrily ending a phone call by pressing a button lacks the gravitas you'd get from slamming a phone down or snapping a clamshell shut. Clamshell-style foldables solve that problem among others, and we're always happy to see more of them. Here at TechRadar, we favor clamshell foldables; with the top two entries in our best foldable phone roundup currently sporting that more compact form-factor. 

Though Samsung has a first-mover advantage, one thing we can expect Vivo to bring to the market is enhanced camera functionality. The Oppo Flip N2 series have what are currently the best cameras you'll find on a foldable; buoyed by Oppo's experience in making really good camera phones. We can expect the same from Vivo, who also place a heavy focus on camera capability on its phones. Faster charging than what Samsung offers, a bigger battery, and possibly a larger cover screen could make this an enticing purchase, should it come to the UK, Europe and beyond.   

LG has kept its promise to update its premium handsets despite shutting up shop a few years ago. The company is rolling out Android 13 to the LG V60 ThinQ on T-Mobile. It is expected to arrive on other carriers in the coming weeks.

According to a changelog shared on an LG V60 group on reddit, a recent software update includes Android 13, with accompanying bug fixes and security updates. 

Android 13 was very much a behind-the-scenes update for all but a few Android phones. Still, LG's customers on Reddit have reported increased performance, and those security updates are definitely going to be handy.

Upon shutting down its mobile division in 2021, LG shared that it would be updating select premium smartphones for up to three years after their release. This marks the third year for the LG V60 ThinQ, and therefore most likely its final update. 

The LG Wing phone, the last premium handset from LG’s phone division, got an Android 12 update in September, 2022, and hopefully that phone will be elligible for an Android 13 update. 

In all, LG said it would keep updating its G series, V series, VELVET, and Wing phones for three updates after it shut down its phones team in 2020. Certain 2020 models such as LG Stylo and K series were due for only two years of updates, so it is unlikely those phones will get a new Android system moving forward.

Promise kept

It's not often that Android manufacturers dish out timely updates to older flagships. It's even more heartening when a manufacturer that no longer sells phones keeps to its word with no easy marketing benefit. LG did well keeping its phones with Android 12 up to date, and while we doubted it would keep up with Android 13, the company has honored its promises so far.

It's worth noting that the LG V60 ThinQ will be getting Android 13 before more contemporary phones like the Motorola Edge 30. That says a lot about both companies involved.

Other than the LGV60, the LG Velvet is also expected to pick up Android 13 this year. That phone was the company's last Android flagship and received rave reviews.

If getting the latest software update is important to you, we can recommendmany of the best foldables and best Android phones that you can buy today, whichget great updates. LG's time was good, but even this update is a reminder that its time is over.

The Motorola Edge 40 and Edge 40 Pro have leaked, courtesy of MySmartPrice which cites a source with direct knowledge of the official specs. The Motorola Edge 40 Pro is expected to essentially be the same phone as the Moto X40, which has already launched in China, while the Motorola Edge 40 will be a brand-new device.

According to the rumor, the Edge 40 Pro will have a lot of the X40’s specs, which would mean a 6.7-inch OLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 paired with 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage. Cameras-wise, the Moto X40 packs three rear cameras; a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 12MP telephoto, plus a 60MP front-facing camera. All this is powered by a 4,600mAh battery, with 125W fast charging.

Since the Moto X40 is already out in the wild, the specs can be assumed to be more or less accurate, based in the notion that Motorola is essentially going to package this same device for international markets. 

The standard Edge 40, on the other hand, is expected to be an all-new phone – complete with an as-yet-unannounced MediaTek Dimensity 8020 chip – and is likely to be a step down from the Pro in all aspects. The display is said to be 6.55 inches, with a 144Hz refresh rate, while the rear camera setup is reportedly comprised of a 50MP main camera, accompanied by a 13MP ultrawide. According to the leak, it’ll have 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, with a 4,400mAh battery and 68W charging rounding out the specs. Of course, we’ll take all this all with a pinch of salt until the phones are officially announced.

Powerful hardware isn't Motorola's weakness

If these reports are true, Motorola looks set to continue its streak of putting out excellent hardware. We were impressed by last year’s Edge 30 Ultra – in our Motorola Edge 30 Ultra review we praised it as one of the best Android phones so far – and the clean Android user experience means that many people are going to be pleased with it.

Where Motorola has floundered in the past is with software updates. The company has yet to roll out Android 13 to its flagships, even with the public beta of Android 14 due to roll out in the coming weeks. Whether that's good or bad is up to you.

Motorola is expected to release the Edge 40 and Edge 40 Pro sometime around April, with sales opening in May in Europe, based on the previous Edge 30 and Edge 30 Pro. A Moto Edge (2023) might also come to the U.S. around that time.  

Xiaomi subsidiary Redmi has just introduced the Note 12 Series; its latest flagship line of products. It’s not technically a true flagship tier of devices, but that’s what the latest Xiaomi 13 is for. Rather, the Note 12 series continues the brand's efforts to nail down the most important features of a smartphone while dialling down on unnecessary niceties.

The Redmi Note 12 series is made up of four phones: the Redmi Note 12, Redmi Note 12 5G, Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G, and Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G, with the Note 12, 12 5G and 12 Pro Plus 5G set to go on sale in the UK on March 24 (at retailers including Xiaomi, Argos, Very and Amazon UK), while the regional availability of the 12 Pro 5G is still to be confirmed.

Pricing starts at £219 (approximately $270 / AU$400) for the standard Note 12, £279 (approximately $345 / AU$510) for the baseline Note 12 5G, £339 (approximately $420 / AU$620) for the Note 12 Pro 5G and £449 (approximately $550 / AU$820) for the Note 12 Pro Plus 5G.

Though all four phones appear similar on the face of it, there are differences between them. All the phones sport the 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, with the differences showing beyond that. The Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus uses Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both sides, as does the Redmi Note 12 Pro. The Note 12 and 12 5G sport older Gorilla Glass 3, and only on the front.

Cameras and charging are two other points of focus for the lineup. Naturally, the Note 12 Pro and Pro Plus come in the lead here. The Pro Plus gets a 200MP primary camera while the Pro gets the same 50MP Sony IMX766 you’ll find in the phenomenal Oppo Find X5 Pro. The Redmi Note 12 and Note 12 5G also get 48MP and 50MP cameras, respectively but the company didn’t specify which particular sensors are at play. Tertiary cameras for all agree on an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. The front varies between 16MP for the Pro devices and 13MP for the non-Pro devices.

Charging-wise, the Redmi Note 12 Pro and Pro Plus take the lead on this, with a 5,000mAh battery and amazing 67W and 120W peak charging speeds, respectively. That’s not as fast as the Realme GT 3 (what is right now?), but they’ll certainly leave your iPhone or Samsung in the dust. The Note 12 and Note 12 5G aren’t quite as fast, but 33W should still be plenty for most people. At least they all come with in-box chargers.

It’s a mixed bag when it comes to the rest of it. The Pro Plus and Pro have powerful MediaTek 1080 processors paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage, while the Note 12 sports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 685 and the Note 12 5G rocks the chip maker’s latest Snapdragon 4 Gen 1; again with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage. The non-Pro models are also microSD expandable, up to 1TB.

They all have the latest MIUI 14 user experience, which would be a plus if all but the Redmi Note 12 weren’t based on Android 12 as opposed to the more recent Android 13. Vibrant finishes are here aplenty; with black, white, blue, and green colorways present, depending on which device you pick.

 A formidable lineup  

The Redmi Note 12 series continues the company’s goal of making powerful devices affordable. Certainly, the likes of Google’s Pixel 6a operates as one of the best cheap phones you can buy, but you can get a lot more from the (presumably) similarly-priced Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus.

A 120Hz display, for example, is still a flagship feature for the likes of Apple and Google, and neither company has gotten close to a 200MP sensor yet. There are many reasons why one would thumb their nose down at the somewhat unsophisticated, brute-force approach Redmi takes with its devices, but there’s no denying the brand has its finger on the pulse, and is incredibly responsive to the needs of the markets it serves, meaning these have to potential to find their way onto our list of the best Xiaomi phones, if all goes well during review.

The Redmi Note 12 and the Redmi Note 12 Pro may not be as good, but if you need a big screen, a fast-charging phone that lasts all day, and a decent camera that captures a lot of detail, there are few phones which look as good in this category.

A new version of the OnePlus 11 is on the way – and it’ll be built out of something other than glass or metal.

That’s according to OnePlus China president Li Jie, who revealed the news on the social media site Weibo. "OnePlus 11 is about to launch a ‘special product’, which once again challenges the ‘impossible’ in the industry,” Jie said “It is built with unprecedented materials and craftsmanship, making each mobile phone unique and leading the flagship quality again."  

There were no further details as to exactly what the phone will be made from, but interestingly the post included an image of a OnePlus 11 superimposed over the planet Jupiter. Suffice to say, this doesn't look to be a market-ready version of the OnePlus 11 Concept phone we went hands-on with at MWC 2023, with integrated liquid cooling.

The OnePlus 11 is currently sold with a rear made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and a metal frame running its edge, much like the best Samsung phones are, and indeed as the likes of the Google Pixel 7 is. 

 So, why Jupiter? 

Assuming OnePlus isn't going to pull off a sci-fi feat and make a phone entirely out of gas (though some might find their marketing full of hot air), the question of the day is what the Jupiter reference indicates. And indeed, how that then tallies with the choice of material.

Glass, ceramic, metal, leather, vegan-leather, and polycarbonate are all options that have already been used by other phones – so it would be surprising if OnePlus chose any of those. A few people have suggested marble, based on the look of Jupiter. The planet, from a distance, does resemble marble, which isn't a far cry from ceramic – a material that parent company Oppo already uses.

A design similar to the signature brown of the Oppo Find X6 could find its way to global markets, after all, with this new material as its medium. A OnePlus 11 in marble would be rather marbellous (please clap) and something we haven't seen yet in a phone. Of course, there's also only a slight chance that it will come to Australian, European, and US markets anyway with a China-only rollout far more likely.

Fortunately, the company’s latest flagship is great even without fancy new materials. As our OnePlus 11 review makes clear, it has a powerful camera, fast charging, and excellent performance, and deserves its place in our list of the best phones currently available, as a result.  

Apple will debut iOS 17 in a few months to the not-quite-as-new-anymore iPhone 14 and select older phones. The update is expected to bring changes to Apple’s first-party apps and improve the operating system overall.

Though competitor Google has already released Android 14 for testing (and teased a little of what it’s going to be about), Apple typically keeps completely mum on what to expect from the newest iOS till its debut at WWDC (its annual developer conference), which often takes place in June each year. Select other features will be revealed with the launch of the iPhone 15, later this year, likely in September.

It’ll be a while until we get more details of iOS 17, but we do have some idea of what the next version of iOS could look like, and below you can read up on what we already know, as well as a brief wish list of what we’d love to see from the new update, when it does eventually break cover.

As more rumors and reports emerge with fleshed-out details, we’ll be updating this article, so make sure to check back for further details regularly. 

iOS 17: Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next big update for iOS – the iPhone's operating system
• When does it come out? Expected to drop in the middle of September
• How much does it cost? It'll be a free upgrade
• Which phones are supported? As yet unknown. Likely the iPhone XS and newer

iOS 17 release date

iOS 17 is expected to be released on or around the middle of September, to coincide with the expected iPhone 15 launch. Before that, Apple will unveil iOS 17 at WWDC in June. The dates for WWDC haven’t been released yet, but we assume the announcement will be made sometime in the next few weeks.

Shortly after WWDC, Apple will release two beta versions of iOS – a developer preview, and a public build. The public beta is often reliable enough to use on a daily phone about a month or two after the program starts.

iOS 17 expected features

When it comes to iOS 17’s features, one thing we can be reasonably sure about is that we won’t see a lot of big additions, like the lock screen or home screen widget upgrades that came with previous releases.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman – who’s a fairly reliable leaker of all things Apple – the company is allowing iOS and macOS to take a back seat this year, as it works on its new mixed-reality headset. This means that while there will be some new features, there won’t be as many as there might ordinarily be; with the company shifting focus to a new and potentially exciting product category. 

“Apple’s focus on the xrOS operating system – along with iOS 16 snags – has also cost it some new features in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, the next major iPhone and iPad software updates. That software, codenamed Dawn, may have fewer major changes than originally planned,” Gurman said in his Power On newsletter. 

Apple’s iOS updates often feature improvements to first-party apps, including Music and Messages. The Messages app is reportedly in line for a redesign this year, but details are light, at present. As for big changes to things like notifications, the company doesn’t typically overhaul its interface in the same way Google does every few years, but there are still a few changes we’d like to see.  

iOS 17 feature wish list

Super Siri

ChatGPT is taking the world by storm, and Google and Microsoft have been quick to react. Apple set the world on fire with the launch of Siri, alongside the iPhone 4S, but the digital assistant still has yet to reach its full potential. As generative AI models grow in popularity, the large and very engaged iPhone user base would give Apple an advantage over its competitors, if it launched its own GPT-powered chatbot.

Improved notifications

This particular wish comes as standard – and goes ungranted – with every Apple update. The company has worked to slightly tweak iOS notifications every year, but they’re still horribly mediocre. There’s limited notification bundling or quick-reply support, and actionable notifications are still few and far between compared to Android.

Every year, we hope that Apple will bring Notification Center up to par – and every year Apple does the equivalent of placing a smiley band-aid on a gaping wound. Sometimes, Apple likes to do things its own way, and that’s fine; in this case, however, it's time for the company to swallow its pride and do the done thing.

RCS support 

RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is gaining popularity on Android phones. It essentially turns basic SMS messaging into the equivalent of more modern apps, like iMessage or Facebook Messenger. Now, it’s not necessary for Apple to make RCS work on iPhones, but it would be better than the plain old SMS we currently have.

You can see when someone's typing, get read receipts, send larger files and more. It’s an emerging standard – much like USB-C – and in countries where texting via the Messages app is more common than something like WhatsApp or Telegram, there’s no downside to upgrading the Messages experience for everyone, as iOS users who prefer not to enable iMessage for one reason or another will also to make use of RCS' additional functionality without compromise. 

Google’s Pixel Fold is set to be priced competitively compared to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series, according to a new leak. This follows earlier rumors that claimed the Pixel Fold would be priced at around $1,700 when it's announced in May at Google I/O 2023.

The same leaker also suggests that the Pixel 7a is likely to be the same price as the Pixel 6a (or a little higher.) 

The latest rumors come from Yogesh Brar, a notable tipster who’s proven fairly reliable over the years. Brar says the Pixel Fold will cost between $1,300 and $1,500 (so roughly £1,100 to £1,200 or AU$1,900 to AU$2,200), while the Pixel 7a will cost between $450 and $500 (that’s about £370 to £410 or AU$670 to AU$745).

The Pixel 6a launched at $450 / £399 / AU$749 (though you can find it for much cheaper now with some great deals), so the rumored price is in line with what we’d expect. That upper $500 limit would also make a bit of sense, as elsewhere we’ve heard that Google plans to improve the materials used in the phone, as well as upgrade the chip to the Tensor G2, and slotting in new camera sensors. 

The Pixel Fold price rumor is a lot more interesting. Though that price is certainly well north of a grand in both the US and UK, if we take this rumor at face value, it suggests the Fold’s price is being positioned to lower the prohibitive entry cost of foldables – in the US and Europe, at least, especially vertically-folding larger folding phones. 

 Lowering the barrier to entry 

While some clamshell foldables – think Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 or Oppo’s Flip N2 Flip – have cost around $1,000 / £800 or even less, Galaxy Fold-style foldables have been pitched closer to $2,000 / £1,700, although that price has been edging lower and lower as more companies enter the market.

The Honor Magic Vs costs $1,700, £1,400 / AU$2,500, according to quick Google conversions, while the Tecno Phantom V Fold will set you back around $1,100 / £900 / AU$1600. If Brar is on the mark, the Pixel Fold will fall somewhere in the middle of that range. 

Foldables as a category have been getting stronger year over year, with Google’s Android 12L and Android 13 improvements going a long way toward enhancing the foldable user experience. As Google prepares Android 14, to further improve on the OS’s foldable support, with tools for developers to build or improve existing apps to work better on foldables, the Pixel Fold will mark the company’s fully enthusiastic embrace of this form factor – and an accessible price point would be the icing on the cake.