Xiaomi has launched the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, both featuring two 200MP Leica sensors alongside a 50MP ultrawide camera. The Pro Max runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 with an 8,500mAh battery, while the Pro uses the standard 8 Elite Gen 6 chip with a 7,000mAh battery. Both models add a hardware privacy screen, a functional rear display, UWB support, IP69 water resistance, and a customizable AI button.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-23
Xiaomi launched the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China, adding a hardware-based privacy display that can be set to trigger by app, location or via selfie-camera detection of onlookers. Both phones keep the rear secondary screen from last year's models, pack two 200-megapixel cameras, and use Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips, with the Pro Max getting the higher-end Extreme variant and a larger 8,500mAh battery. Xiaomi says a global release will follow later this year.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-23
OPPO has launched the Find X10 Pro Max in China, becoming the first smartphone to pack three separate 200MP camera sensors—a main, ultrawide, and periscope telephoto lens, all with Hasselblad tuning. The phone runs on MediaTek's new Dimensity 9600 Pro chip and houses an 8,000mAh silicon-carbon battery with 80W wired and 50W wireless charging. Pre-orders are open in China now, with a global release planned later in 2026.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-22
Apple deployed 14 iPhone 18 Pro Max devices among 30 total cameras to capture Friday's Apple TV Plus broadcast of the Dodgers versus Giants game at Dodger Stadium, marking the first live sports broadcast using the new iPhones without dedicated sports lenses. The phones were mounted on tripods, tucked into padded cushions near home plate and the backstop, and placed in dugouts, bullpens, and on a gimbal above the outfield wall.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-22
Ahead of its launch, Xiaomi detailed the dual 200MP camera system on its upcoming Xiaomi 18 Pro and Pro Max, revealing that the primary sensor measures 1/1.28-inch, slightly larger than the ISOCELL HP2 used in Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra. The phones also feature a Leica-backed camera setup wrapped around a secondary rear display, in a design reminiscent of the iPhone 17 Pro's camera island but repurposed for screen functionality.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-22
Testing by Bilibili channel Homolab found that the 1TB iPhone 18 Pro Max, which uses QLC NAND, suffers major performance drops compared to the 512GB TLC-based iPhone 18 Pro. Once its SLC and secondary TLC caches are exhausted, sustained writes fall to about 79.4 MB/s and can dip as low as 25.6 MB/s, worsening to just 1.1 MB/s once the drive is 60% full.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-21
Some iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max users are reporting that their phones freeze and reboot when a Face ID scan fails while unlocking app-level protections like Passwords or private Safari tabs. 9to5Mac says it reproduced the issue on a European unit, though the bug doesn't appear to affect every device or trigger from the standard lock screen.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-21
Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station claims Apple's iPhone 20 Pro and Pro Max, expected next year for the anniversary refresh, will feature bigger displays than the iPhone 18 Pro line—6.41 inches and 6.96 inches respectively. The leak also describes a borderless quad-curved glass design with a hole-punch cutout and a smaller Dynamic Island, echoing earlier Bloomberg reporting on a glass-front-and-back build with a metal band.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-21
Vivo has unveiled its X500, X500 Pro, and X500 Pro Max smartphones in China, with the Pro Max model built around a 200MP ZEISS telephoto camera that can attach to a 400mm-equivalent extender. The phone also supports 17EV dynamic range video capture and 4K recording at 240 frames per second, positioning it as a tool for serious mobile filmmakers. Chinese sales start September 24, though international pricing and release plans haven't been announced yet.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-21
Vivo has launched its X500 series in China, led by the new X500 Pro Max flagship, which uses Sony's Lytia L910 sensor with LOFIC technology to claim 17 stops of dynamic range. The Pro and Pro Max models also debut MediaTek's Dimensity 9600 Pro chip, enabling 4K 240fps slow-motion capture, 10-bit Log recording, and new cinematic styles, while the base X500 uses the 9600M variant.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-21
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Max ships with a battery-firmware lock that caps capacity below the 20Wh threshold that triggers international shipping restrictions on single-cell batteries. Once a customer activates the phone for the first time, the lock lifts automatically, restoring the battery to its full rated capacity of roughly 21-22Wh depending on the model. A 'Prepare to Ship' setting can reimpose the cap, limiting charging to 80 percent over 14 days, for anyone sending the device in for repair or resale.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-21
Apple has built a 'Prepare to Ship' firmware feature into the iPhone 18 Pro Max that temporarily caps its battery below the 20Wh transport limit enforced in the US, EU and other regions. Once the device is activated by a customer, the cap lifts and the phone's full 5,391mAh capacity becomes available. The same toggle can be re-enabled manually when shipping a device for repair, trade-in or resale.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-21
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