Daily Authority: ???? Launch season again!

It’s launch season? At this time of year?!

• On Thursday, Dec. 23, Huawei will launch the Huawei P50 Pocket.
• The Xiaomi 12 series is coming next week on Dec. 28.
• The OnePlus 10 Pro is coming in January, months ahead of OnePlus’ usual schedule.
• Those are now all confirmed launches. 

Also:

• There’s also a Realme GT 2 series launch coming soon — Realme held an event just to talk about “new” technologies coming to that series (or just the Pro?), including a 150° ultra-wide camera and other bits and pieces.
• Plus, of course, coming sometime soon is the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, though maybe not until Feb. And as far as rumors go, multiple leaks point to the Galaxy S21 FE launch on Jan. 11th, which has been coming for months.

What chip shortage?

• With the launch of the Snapdragon Gen 1 freeing up Snapdragon 888 chips, and with smartphone makers adjusting to chip and component shortages, it’s possible that we’ll see less smartphone launch date slips, or just not launching at all.
• This list of smartphones we didn’t see in 2021 include devices from OnePlus, Google, and Realme, that just didn’t launch at all, some through major changes (LG quitting mobile, Samsung killing the Note), and shortages, like the Realme 9, and possibly the OnePlus 9T series, too.
• Add into the mix that Samsung is now trying in China again, after suffering absolutely dismal smartphone sales there for years. Next year’s smartphone scene will be a spicy one.
• Which comes in handy: 60% of you voted that you’re getting a new phone in 2022. It’s easier to vote yes than actually spend money, of course, but it’s a sign.

???? Google is turning off the controls for OnHub routers at the end of 2022 (The Verge).

• This random point in time shows searches for Gabby Petito, in less fun news, and in more fun, Squid Game, Battlefield 2042, and fired NFL coach Urban Meyer.

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor