News

HONOR reveals 1st images of Magic8 Pro, introduces new AI technologies

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered flagship launching in China next month

Published

September 28, 2025

GadgetMatch

HONOR has revealed the first few images of the HONOR Magic8 Pro, which will launch next month in China.

The device comes in a light teal colorway that is somehow reminiscent of the Jade Cyan tone on the HONOR X9c.

In addition, the phone has a more squared look, especially its frame, with rounded corners. Meanwhile, the camera bump at the back is still very HONOR-looking.

But very noticeable is an extra button on the right side, which is reminiscent of the camera control button first introduced on the iPhone 16 series.

The HONOR Magic8 series will be powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform.

The phone will debut new groundbreaking on-device AI innovations, including Low-bit Quantization Technology for AI Models and Next-Generation Hybrid Retrieval Technology.

HONOR’s agentic AI capabilities and Qualcomm’s mobile platforms will make it possible for the upcoming phone to be even more efficient and packed with computing power. These advancements will also be available on the HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro.

High-efficiency on-device AI modeling

The Low-Bit Quantization Technology addresses computing power, memory, and energy consumption, which HONOR believes are the three biggest challenges of on-device AI.

Thanks to the new Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, this technology will help the HONOR Magic8 series deliver up to a 15% increase in modeling computing, 20% lower model consumption, and 30% less storage space compared to the previous HONOR device.

On top of that, Next-Generation Hybrid Retrieval Technology is designed to dramatically improve the way devices process and surface information.

By encoding text, images, and audio/video data into dense vectors and constructing high-efficiency semantic-level indexes, the system achieves millisecond-level similarity matching and boosts retrieval performance by up to 400%.

The breakthrough not only accelerates multimodal semantic search but also strengthens the foundation for intelligent agents. In turn, responses across a wide-range of real-world scenarios become faster and more accurate.

Magic Color

At the 2025 Snapdragon Summit China, HONOR also unveiled the first agent-powered Magic Color.

This innovation allows users to transform and restyle images or videos with simplicity, completing tasks such as locating an image, extracting key color tones, and applying those tones to a new target.

All the steps in the process are done through intuitive, one-sentence commands. That’s as Magic Color combines efficient on-device AI models and advanced semantic understanding to lower the barriers to complex image editing.

This shall enable everyday users and creators to achieve professional-grade results with ease. Looking ahead, HONOR plans to extend agent-driven capabilities across more than 200 vertical scenarios and 3,000 general scenarios, covering the top 100 applications.

AI Super Sampling for Gaming

Lastly, HONOR introduced its industry-leading Hyper-Fusion Core Architecture in collaboration with Qualcomm.

This deeply integrates HONOR Turbo X’s multiple core performance engines with Qualcomm Oryon CPU architecture.

By dynamically scheduling resources across cores, this architecture maximizes energy efficiency and performance for smoother and more responsive user experiences.

Along with this is the first GPU-NPU Heterogeneous AI Super Sampling Technology based on Snapdragon platforms.

This is designed to transform low-resolution, low-frame rate gameplay into high-resolution, high-frame rate experiences.

Similar to DLSS technology on PC, it leverages AI to reconstruct details, motion features, and lighting effects in real-time.

In practice, this enables demanding open-world titles to achieve 1080p at 120fps from 60fps, delivering both super-resolution and ultra-high frame rates.

Compared to traditional GPU-based upscaling, the combination of GPU-NPU computing reduces latency and jitter.

All the aforementioned advancements highlight HONOR’s vision for the Dual-Engine Era, where AI agent and performance optimizations converge to redefine the user experience and accelerate the arrival of general-purpose intelligent agent era.

Gaming

Call of Duty drops the PlayStation 4 starting with its next game

Is this the beginning of the end for the PlayStation 4?

Published

May 8, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

When can we declare that a console is officially dead? Is it as soon as the launch of the next generation? Is it when games no longer come out on the console? Recently, Call of Duty has confirmed that the next game will not be available anymore on the PlayStation 4, which presents an important question: Is the PlayStation 4 officially dead?

Call of Duty is one of the most persistent gaming franchises today. The last entry, Black Ops 7, is still available for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Both consoles were launched over twelve years ago. (If that doesn’t make you old, the current generation was launched almost six years ago.)

As such, the franchise is one of the last stalwarts keeping the past generation alive. This week, Call of Duty, via a post on X, confirmed that the next game will not arrive on the PlayStation 4. Presumably, this also means the Xbox One.

Not sure where this one started, but it’s not true. The next Call of Duty is not being developed for PS4.

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) May 4, 2026

Currently, we don’t have details about the upcoming game yet. But a new entry is confirmed to arrive later this year.

With the departure of the Call of Duty franchise, it’s fair to ask what will become of the old generation moving forward. Over the years, developers have started shying away from the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Since the franchise still maintains a steady fan base today, a lot of PlayStation 4 users might be forced to make an upgrade to play the latest entry.

News

TCL CSOT Unveils ‘APEX Pixel’ innovations at SID Display Week 2026

Breakthroughs in display technologies

Published

May 7, 2026

GadgetMatch

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Pushing the boundaries of display physics, TCL CSOT has officially launched its APEX Pixel framework at SID Display Week 2026.

This unified innovation path targets the microscopic architecture of pixels across FMM OLED, Inkjet-printed (IJP) OLED, and LCD panels to redefine clarity, power efficiency, and color volume.

The Super Pixel revolution

The highlight of the showcase is the Super Pixel technology for mobile FMM OLEDs.

By increasing sub-pixel density by roughly 1.8%, TCL CSOT has achieved sharpness comparable to WQHD standards while slashing power consumption by 25%.

Key mobile prototypes on display include:

6.9-inch Ultra-Clarity Display: Features a 2608×1200 resolution with a 0.5mm top bezel
165Hz High-Refresh Panel: Utilizes a Real RGB layout to boost motion smoothness by 40% over standard 120Hz screens
Ultra-Low Power 8T LTPO: A 420PPI powerhouse that reduces SoC power draw by a quarter.

IJP OLED and the Tri-Fold Future

TCL CSOT continues to lead the transition toward Inkjet-printed (IJP) OLED.

By utilizing the world’s first 8.6-generation IJP line, the company has debuted a 28-inch Foldable and Portable IJP OLED Monitor.

This “Real Stripe” RGB display features a tri-fold design that expands from a 16-inch footprint to a 28-inch workspace.

IJP OLED allows for larger light-emitting areas, occupying 50% to 60% of the pixel. This leads to a significantly enhanced luminous efficiency compared to traditional evaporation methods.

RGBC: The New Standard for LCD

For large-scale cinema experiences, TCL CSOT introduced RGBC Four-Color Technology.

By adding a Cyan sub-pixel to the traditional RGB matrix, the 85-inch WHVA Ultra LCD TV achieves a staggering 131% of the BT.2020 color gamut.

This hardware-level shift allows for more saturated hues and finer resolution rendering that traditional three-color pixels cannot replicate.

Through APEX Pixel, TCL CSOT is no longer just chasing size, but perfecting the very atoms of the digital image.

News

iPhone 17 is the best-selling phone of 2026 so far

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 series didn’t make the top ten list.

Published

May 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

With more than a quarter of the year done and dusted, it’s time to figure out which smartphone has taken the early lead in the charts. According to the numbers, it can’t get any clearer. The iPhone 17 is currently dominating the charts.

According to Counterpoint Research, the bestselling smartphone in the world as of the first quarter is the base iPhone 17. The model took 6 percent of the global share in unit sales. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Pro took the second and third spots, respectively. Only a bit surprisingly, Apple rounded out its quarter with the iPhone 16 taking the number 6 slot.

The stranger thing is Samsung’s presence on this list. The South Korean brand took five spots on the top 10 list. However, none of them are of the Galaxy S26 series. All of them are from the Galaxy A series: in order, Galaxy A07 4G, A17 5G, A56, A36, and A17 4G. (The Galaxy S26 series narrowly missed the top 10.)

That makes nine. The final spot was taken by the Xiaomi Redmi A5.

Going only by the last two paragraphs, you’ll likely assume that the midrange market is rightfully dominating the charts in the months following the Christmas season. However, the iPhone 17’s dominance confirms that Apple has not lost its stride.

Plus, with the iPhone 17e only just having launched, Apple might continue its run well into 2026.