Mobile

The Xring 01 will launch this Thursday, May 22nd. It’s reportedly a 3nm flagship SoC, and leaked benchmarks put it on a par with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Google brought its gradient “G” logo to iPhones and Pixel devices earlier this week, but now it’s showing up more broadly across Android devices, as spotted by 9to5Google. The company still hasn’t officially acknowledged the change, but maybe it will give it a mention during I/O next week.

Alongside a shiny rebrand and airline integration, Google is expanding the range of trackers in its Find Hub network. But not with boring practicalities like better battery or more accurate tracking — no, we get Baby Yoda, thanks to a new set of Disney-themed tags from Pixbee.

You’ll be able to share the location of trackers in its Find Hub network (formerly Find My Device) with airline staff when you need to find lost luggage, just like you already can with Apple’s AirTags. Support won’t arrive until “early next year” though, and only on five airlines — while Apple supports over 15.

We’re expecting to see Google’s colorful new design language as part of the Android pre-I/O show. New colors are fun! Fun is good! But I’m not sure Google can show us something “cool” enough to win the hearts of iPhone-loving teenagers.

After spotting early code for the functionality in March, Android Authority has managed to get it working in the latest beta build of Google’s RCS messaging app. For now it’s not triggering any extra notifications for people who get tagged though. Google is yet to confirm it’s working on mentions, so we don’t know how long it’ll take to roll out for real.

The company is teasing its next launch, presumably the Xperia 1 VII, which it will reveal on May 13th (well, in Japan — it’ll be the evening of May 12th in the US). The teaser shows off a familiar design and some Alpha camera features.

Android whisperer Mishaal Rahman has a thorough writeup for Android Authority detailing some of the potential UI changes he’s found under the hood in Android 16’s beta releases. One that caught my eye: the ability to resize quick settings tiles and a new tile editor organized by category, which is all very iOS 18. There are other visual changes afoot too, like more use of background blur on screens like the app drawer and the multitasking view. No doubt we’ll find out more soon.

Despite rumors that Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro smartphones would feature an anti-glare display similar to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra / S25 Ultra, MacRumors is now pouring cold water on the possibility. Juli Clover reports that Apple has faced difficulties “scaling up the display coating process.” As a result, we’re not going to see this option for the iPhones 17 Pro.

The upcoming thin phone was included on a list of models eligible for a discount on Samsung Canada’s French site according to WinFuture journalist Roland Quandt. The CAD$1,678.99 price sits right in between the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, which suggests it’ll cost $1,100-1,200 in the US.

Following the launch of the Edge 60 Fusion earlier this month, Motorola is expanding its midrange Edge 60 series with two new smartphones launching in the UK and other countries — but probably not the US.