The Redmi Note 17 Pro comes with a promise of free battery replacement if battery health drops below 80% within four years.
Durability gets a boost too, with an IP69K rating for strong dust and high-pressure water resistance.
The Pro model also gets a refreshed look, featuring a more prominent dual-camera island than the standard Redmi Note 17.
Smartphone makers love to talk about bigger batteries, but Xiaomi is taking a different approach with the Redmi Note 17 Pro. The company promises to keep that battery healthy for years, and it's willing to replace it for free if it doesn't.
Xiaomi has confirmed a new battery guarantee for the Redmi Note 17 Pro ahead of the phone's July 14 debut in China. The battery is designed to retain at least 80 percent of its original capacity after four years of use. If it falls below that threshold during the coverage period, eligible users can receive a free replacement, Xiaomi Group President Lu Weibing revealed on Weibo (via Android Authority).
As people keep their phones longer, the health of the battery becomes a bigger concern. Most lithium-ion batteries lose capacity over time, after a number of charges, so Xiaomi’s promise is to ease one of the biggest long-term ownership concerns.
Xiaomi revealed much more than just the battery guarantee before its launch. The Redmi Note 17 Pro will pack a large 9,000mAh battery, per Xiaomi's separate Weibo post.
Leaks and official teasers are also starting to paint a clearer picture of the hardware. The Redmi Note 17 Pro is rumored to feature a Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 processor. Camera upgrades seem to be another major focus, with the Pro model tipped to carry a 200MP primary sensor, while the standard Redmi Note 17 is expected to stick with a 50MP main camera.
The design also keeps the two phones apart. Official images show the standard model with a less complicated rear camera arrangement, while the Pro sports a more pronounced dual-camera island.
Android Central's Take
Hopefully this is an indication of a wider change and not a one-off marketing stunt. Phone brands keep pushing for bigger batteries and faster charging, but none of that matters much if the battery dies long before I'm ready to replace the device. If Xiaomi is serious about this free replacement promise, it could save users some cash and make upgrading less of a necessity. Now the rest of the industry has to decide if they are going to follow suit or continue to pretend battery longevity isn’t a problem worth solving.
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Samsung has confirmed the Galaxy Z Fold 8 will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset.
The "for Galaxy" version means a custom-tuned Snapdragon processor, which has historically delivered slightly higher CPU and GPU performance than the standard chip.
Performance should get a meaningful boost for multitasking, gaming, and on-device AI, helping justify rumored price increases.
Recent rumors pointed to a major price hike for Samsung’s next wave of foldables. But hold your horses before you dismiss the upcoming lineup, because Samsung just confirmed a huge hardware upgrade that could actually make the extra cash worth it.
Samsung has now confirmed that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chip, solidifying its position on flagship processors for its high-end foldables. The confirmation comes ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on July 22, where the company is expected to launch the Galaxy Z Fold 8 along with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 8.
In a post on Weibo, the Korean tech giant revealed that the Fold 8 will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, the same silicon that powers the Galaxy S26 series. That might not be a huge surprise, but it settles weeks of speculation on whether Samsung would tap its own Exynos silicon in some markets.
No Exynos this time
Reports out earlier had already hinted that the U.S. model would stick with Qualcomm, but Samsung’s announcement makes it clear that Snapdragon will power the device worldwide.
It's a notable confirmation because Samsung didn’t just stop at the processor name. The company specifically noted the “Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy” branding, suggesting users should expect Samsung’s custom version of Qualcomm’s chip, not the standard version.
Historically, those “for Galaxy” editions have come with slightly higher CPU and GPU clock speeds, giving Samsung’s phones a modest performance edge over other Android flagships.
But the processor is not expected to be the only upgrade. Rumors suggest a wider, redesigned Fold 8 that will act more like a standard smartphone when closed, addressing one of the main complaints of previous Galaxy Fold models. Leaks have also hinted at improvements like a bigger battery and faster charging, though Samsung hasn’t confirmed those details yet.
Android Central's Take
I can't say I'm shocked that Samsung stuck with Snapdragon here — it would've been far riskier to gamble on anything else for a phone that will almost certainly cost well north of $1,800. The good news is that buyers should get the best performance Samsung has to offer for multitasking, gaming, and on-device AI. That said, I’d rather the company put as much energy into fixing the Fold’s long-standing pain points — like battery life, charging speed, and camera performance — as it does confirming the obvious.
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There are three smart glass variants you can buy today: video glasses like the RayNeo Air models or Rokid Max 2 use Micro-OLED tech to project a large screen up to 200 inches, camera glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta and Rokid AI Glasses Style let you shoot photos and videos without reaching for your phone, and the latest category of glasses include LED waveguides that show heads-up notifications.
While I use the Rokid AI Glasses Style and Meta's Oakley Vanguard regularly, I'm most interested in glasses with waveguides. Even Realities' G2 is my favorite smart glasses of 2026, and its built-in waveguides along with unique navigation — via a smart ring — give it a lot of inherent advantages.
There's a new entrant in this category, and it's one that has a lot of potential. MemoMind is a new sub-brand by XGIMI — the Chinese projector brand behind the likes of the Horizon 20 Max and MoGo portable models — and it's aimed at delivering stylish glasses with built-in waveguides and no cameras.
I tested the MemoMind One, the camera-free smart glasses with dual Micro-LED waveguides, built-in audio, and AI integration (obviously). MemoMind plans to release other models later in the year, but it's now crowdsourcing the One, and if you like the look of the glasses, you can shell out $399 (a $200 discount) and await delivery sometime in August 2026. If you need prescription lenses, you'll need to pay $499, which is a 43% discount from the $879 tentative retail price. You can also get customized designs, with those starting at $449.
MemoMind is selling the One in three different styles: Nomad, Gotham, and Archive. I liked the look of the latter, and that's the model I've been using. I like the fit and finish better than the Even Realities G2, and they're comfortable to wear. Unlike camera glasses, the MemoMind One is designed to be worn all day, and at 46g, they're light enough to not be noticeable. The Even Realities G2 is even lighter at 37g, but it doesn't last as long as the MemoMind One, and the sound quality isn't anywhere as good.
The glasses do a good job mirroring notifications, and you can cycle through the other widgets: calendar, news, to-do lists, and an idea board that lets you dictate notes on the go. It has two features I like: audio recording, and real-time translations.
There's navigation as well, and you'll need to plug in the destination within the MemoMind app to surface turn-by-turn navigation. The only issue in this area is that it only works with walking and cycling.
The MemoMind One uses dual Micro-LED waveguides to project an image five meters in front of you, and I had no issues with readability even while outdoors. MemoMind says the projection goes up to 2000 nits, and the monochrome waveguide is easy to interact with. The projection gets brighter than the G2; I had issues viewing turn-by-turn navigation while using the G2 outdoors in Las Vegas, but that hasn't been a problem on the MemoMind One — even in India's harsh summer, I was able to view the waveguide projection outdoors.
Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android CentralApoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central
Oh, and there's built-in sound as well, and it's among the best of any smart glasses I used yet. The sound is tuned by Harman, and the glasses are ideal to listen to podcasts when you're doing chores around the house. They're good with music as well, and there isn't much in the way of sound leakage. MemoMind has dedicated glasses coming out that just include the speakers if you don't want the waveguides.
The waveguide tech in itself is interesting, but if you think the green projection is a bit basic, you'll want to wait until next year — we should get full-color waveguide projection sometime in 2027.
What I also like is that MemoMind doesn't gate key features behind a paywall. The basics, including AI translation, audio transcribing, navigation, calendar, subtitles, Memo AI, and idea notes will stay free, and there is a Memo+ tier that costs $19 a month that has a better AI engine, Moments (a customized illustrated journal), and to-do lists. Honestly, there's no reason to pay the additional fee if you just want the basics.
There's no doubt that the Even Realities G2 has more polished software. That said, MemoMind One shows a lot of promise, particularly for a product that's still in beta. I'll revisit the glasses closer to launch and see how they hold up, but MemoMind has already addressed a lot of the gremlins via software updates, and that is likely to continue over the coming months.
If anything, the biggest issue with the MemoMind One isn't the glasses itself, but the charging case. The case is small and easily portable, but it doesn't charge the glasses — there's a dedicated cable to do so. This wouldn't have been annoying in and of itself, but there's no room to put the cable inside the case (it just holds the glasses), and so you'll need to store the cable elsewhere. I just don't get why MemoMind couldn't have made a slightly bigger case to accommodate the cable, or include a case that charges the glasses automatically, like the Even Realities G2.
MemoMind ostensibly saved a few dollars in manufacturing costs by not including a charging case — just like the Rokid AI Glasses Style — and I want to see this shortcoming rectified with the next release. As it stands, it's easy to lose the charging cable, and it bothers me that I can't just put it in the case.
On the whole though, the MemoMind One is an exciting alternative to the Even Realities G2. I like the design better, and the built-in sound is much more detailed. The waveguides get brighter in outdoor use, the battery lasts longer, and you get a decent set of features out of the box.
The biggest advantage is the pricing; you can get the MemoMind One for as low as $399 now, and that's hard to beat considering the hardware on offer. The G2 and other waveguide-toting smart glasses start at $599, so if you're interested in camera-free smart glasses, the MemoMind One gets my recommendation.
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Good news, Samsung fans: Amazon just dropped some Galaxy S26 deals that are giving me serious Prime Day flashbacks. For a limited time, you can save up to $270 on these super-powered flagships when you buy unlocked, no trade-in required and no strings attached.
The Galaxy S26 lineup includes the base model S26, the balanced Galaxy S26 Plus, and the über-powerful Galaxy S26 Ultra. All three phones are powered by the efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and come with at least 12GB of RAM, a bunch of useful AI features, and seven years of software updates guaranteed. They're also pretty expensive, which is why the following S26 deals are so crucial.
The smallest of the three flagship phones, the Galaxy S26 boasts a stunning 6.3-inch AMOLED display with 256GB of storage and powerful performance that could compete with any Android phone on the market.
Right now, you can grab the Samsung flagship unlocked from Amazon and score a straight $100 off your purchase, totally offsetting that pesky price hike. The 512GB version of the phone is also $200 off as part of the sale (if you don't mind the White variant).
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus takes the foundation of the base model S26 and adds a larger 6.7-inch QHD+ display, a long-lasting 4,900mAh battery, and a small increase in charging speeds.
Amazon is currently selling the 256GB phone for $899.99, which is $200 off the retail price AND what you'd usually pay if you were buying the standard Galaxy S26. If you want a phone that offers bang for the buck, the Galaxy S26 Plus is it.
Easily one of the most powerful Android phones ever built, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra sports a generous 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display with an embedded S Pen stylus, a fast-charging 5,000mAh battery, and innovative features such as Privacy Display.
It's also quite expensive, which is why I'm excited to see Amazon carve a straight $270 off the 256GB configuration for a limited time. According to the retailer, this deal is selling out fast, so I wouldn't wait too long if you're interested.
Meta is rolling out a mandatory update that disables the camera entirely if the glasses' privacy light is tampered with or covered.
Earlier glasses only showed a prompt when the LED was covered, but users bypassed it by drilling holes or using mods.
Meta will also remove ads and posts promoting tampering services and take action against any accounts linked to them.
The change follows growing misuse of Meta's AI glasses and public backlash over the company ignoring the issue for so long.
Something that should've been here from day one has finally happened. Meta is rolling out an update that blocks users from recording with its smart glasses if they tamper with the privacy light.
Smart glasses are inherently a privacy nightmare. To this day, plenty of people don't realize that the glowing LED on Meta's AI glasses means they're being recorded, and Meta has finally taken a step to curb this creepy behavior.
The company has started rolling out a mandatory update for all Ray-Ban Meta and Meta's new glasses that will now disable the camera entirely if the privacy light is destroyed or tampered with.
Starting with its second-generation glasses, Meta tried to stop users from covering the LED with tape or other objects by showing a prompt asking them to uncover the recording light before continuing.
Tampering with the privacy light now kills the camera
(Image credit: Meta)
Even then, users found workarounds like drilling into the holes, and modders came up with more sophisticated methods, but that shouldn't be possible anymore.
In its latest FAQ, Meta explains that the camera will now be physically disabled if the glasses detect that the privacy light has been tampered with or covered.
The company also says it's working across its platforms to remove ads and posts advertising these kinds of tampering services, and that it will take action against any accounts tied to them.
There's been growing misuse of Meta's AI glasses, along with plenty of public backlash over the company failing to address this creepy behavior sooner. It seems Meta has finally listened, and this is an important privacy change.
It's also worth noting that the update will be mandatory for all Meta and Ray-Ban Meta users.
Android Central's Take
About time, honestly. Meta let this creepy behavior slide for far too long, and it took public backlash to force a fix. I'm glad it's here, but I can't help wondering why it wasn't baked in from the start.
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Rumors claim that Samsung's previously rumored open-ear or "clip-on" earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Able, have changed names to "Galaxy Buds On."
However, a leak from another source claims "Galaxy Able" might remain, as the title was discovered in the Wearable app's code with the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.
Earlier this year, Galaxy Buds Able were rumored to be earbuds that rely on bone conduction for producing sound with
Rumors have surfaced again about a set of "bone conduction" earbuds that Samsung is developing.
Tipster evowizz on X posted a short claim about a unique pair of earbuds Samsung allegedly has in the works (via SamMobile). Their post claims that the previously rumored "Galaxy Buds Able" title has been replaced with "Galaxy Buds On." The publication adds that they bear the model number SM-U600 internally for Samsung.
The number reportedly swaps "R" for "U," the latter of which is typically used to identify new earbuds from the brand.
The situation progresses with another round of leaks from SammyGuru. According to its post, the publication discovered "Galaxy Able" listed in Samsung's Wearables app code beneath the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. What's more, the post highlights a "samsung.accessory" string that may suggest full integration for the buds across Samsung's software. This has speculation leaning to one side, but nothing's confirmed yet.
Now and then, rumors will conflict like this. It's best to take what's been said here with a grain of salt for the time being.
Audio shifts
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
To make sense of this, we'll have to walk things back to April when rumors of "bone conduction" earbuds surfaced. At the time, the name "Galaxy Buds Able" led the way with an open-ear or "clip-on" design. It was said that these earbuds would clip onto a person's ear, sending vibrations through their bones to produce sound. Clearly, this is a departure from earbuds we're used to seeing and using that sit in-ear (or even traditional open-earbuds.
The model number that SamMobile mentioned in this recent leak was cited before. Prior reports added that the "U" is typically reserved for U.S. product releases, but this model number changes things. The vibrancy or richness of audio has also been called into question. If these buds rely on bone conduction and not more traditional methods, their bass could suffer as a result.
Android Central's Take
These buds already sounded interesting before, but the idea isn't that wild or unique to Samsung. Other brands have gone this route before, and could be seen as another earbud alternative, like anything else on the market. I'm still holding back, since there's nothing else about these buds. No hardware specifications, no charging case, nothing. For now, I'll wait.
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Samsung confirmed this evening that Galaxy Unpacked will take place on July 22 at 9 am ET/6 am PT in London, U.K.
The company brings its next foldables into the spotlight, stating a new era is coming for their intelligent capabilities and more, to make them feel personal.
Samsung's marketing campaign took over its Instagram, wiping all of its posts, as clues went up that users needed to decode.
The time has come. Samsung reveals the date for its summer Unpacked event and everything the keynote will discuss.
Samsung announced this evening that its 2026 summer Unpacked event will take place on July 22 in London, U.K. Interested parties can watch the event, which begins at 9 am ET/6 am PT, from Samsung's YouTube, Samsung.com, or its Newsroom. Of course, consumers are expecting to see what's next from the Korean OEM's many hardware series. Samsung states it will highlight the next era of its foldables.
It states these devices "combine intelligent capabilities and new form factors to deliver more personal, adaptive experiences and set a new standard for the AI era."
What's more, Samsung has kicked off its reserve program ahead of Unpacked, as usual. Consumers can "reserve to receive a $30 Samsung credit during pre-order for up to $1,230 in total savings. Customers can also enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win one of ten $500 Samsung.com gift cards."
Set a reminder (and get up early)
(Image credit: Samsung)
It goes without saying that Samsung is keeping things a little hush-hush. Its announcement places its foldables front and center, and that's not something we're surprised about. These are its phones, and we're expecting them every (mid) year. Teases started late June when Samsung kicked off a viral marketing campaign that wiped every Instagram post it had.
The company is looking forward to revealing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 to consumers, but it wants to tell a story along the way. On Instagram, Samsung's been posting images, which serve as clues that we must decode. There's nothing like a bit of hype, and that's what Samsung's trying to cultivate. There's more to Galaxy Unpacked than its foldables.
We're also looking forward to the Galaxy Watch 9. We know there are some new health features, but what else? All will be revealed in two weeks.
Android Central's Take
This is the Galaxy Unpacked waiting room, please take a seat. We're two weeks out, and Samsung building up to something interesting (we hope, right?). What else other than foldables could we see? Also, what about these foldables are going to keep me interested and make me think about laying down some cash? I've got a lot of questions, but I'm curious by nature.
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