The month of March is getting more exciting for all smartphone enthusiasts with so many notable smartphone launches lined up in the next couple of days. Among the sea of upcoming smartphones, here are some of the key devices which you absolutely shouldn’t miss out on!
March 10th – ASUS ROG Phone 5
This year’s ASUS ROG Phone 5 will be slightly more unique. There will be a premium model that comes with a secondary dot-matrix display at the rear side (shown in the render below) – a feature which sets the phone apart from its predecessors.
Like the majority of the flagship phones launched this year, the ROG Phone 5 is also powered by the latest Snapdragon 888 mobile platform. However, what differentiate the device from other flagship phones is the presence of a hefty 18GB RAM in its memory department which was recently revealed via its Geekbench lisiting.
So far, the ROG Phone 5 is also the best performing flagship phone on popular Chinese benchmarking platform known Master Lu benchmark which hints that the device could potentially be the most powerful smartphone at launch.
Furthermore, the ROG Phone 5 is also currently sitting at the top of DxOMark’s smartphone audio chart.
March 11th – OPPO Find X3 Series
During the March 11th’s launch event, OPPO is expected to launch at least two smartphone devices including the vanilla OPPO Find X3 and Find X3 Pro.
As usual, the OPPO Find X3 and Find X3 Pro will have some notable differences among them. For instance, the higher-end OPPO Find X3 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset while the vanilla Find X3 is expected to be coming with Snapdragon 870 chip according to its recent Geekbench listing.
Likewise, the “Pro” variant is tipped to bring along a groundbreaking camera system which will reportedly be headlined by a pair of unannounced 50 megapixels Sony IMX766 imaging sensors for its primary shooter and ultra-wide camera, as well as a 13 megapixels telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom and a 5 megapixels microlens.
Based on earlier reports, its microlens is expected to be one of the headlining feature which has a “flash ring” enclosing the lens to provide illumination for close-up subjects. Likewise, there’s also a 32 megapixels camera at the front for selfie and video-calling purposes.
Besides having an advanced camera system, the Find X3 Pro’s front display is expected to be phenomenal as well. It will be a 6.7-inches display that offers a rich 1440 x 3216 pixels screen resolution and carries support for 10-bit color depth. It also features an advanced adaptatively refresh rate which will automatically switch between 10Hz to 120Hz based on the onscreen contents to lengthen battery life.
Although it was previously speculated that the OPPO Find X3 Pro could be equipped with the company’s next generation 125W flash charging technology, but recent reports suggested the device is likely to settle with the same 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging which we saw in the current Find X2 Pro. To make up for that, the Find X3 Pro may actually debut with the latest AirVOOC wireless charging solution for an ultra-fast wireless charging.
March 22nd – Vivo X60 Series
The Vivo X60 series was first launched in the Chinese market back in December last year. After months of anticipation, the company is finally bringing the X60 series smartphones to the global market on March 22nd.
Although the global variants of the Vivo X60 series smartphones are expected to share largely the same specs as those which were launched in the Chinese market, but Vivo had recently confirmed that the Vivo X60 and X60 Pro will be powered by Snapdragon 870 instead of the Exynos 1080 chipset that was used in the Chinese variants.
Currently, there’s a total of three different models within the X60 series lineup including the Vivo X60, X60 Pro and X60 Pro+. If you’re interested, you can learn more about the Vivo X60 and X60 Pro from our previous coverage here, as well as the Vivo X60 Pro+ here.
March 23rd – OnePlus 9 Series
Last but not the least, we also have the highly anticipated OnePlus 9 series smartphones on March 23rd. Unlike any of its predecessors, the upcoming OnePlus 9 series camera system is jointly developed between OnePlus and Swedish photography giant Hasselblad which may potentially put the phones on par with other heavyweights in the market like the Samsung Galaxy S series and Huawei P series smartphones.
According to OnePlus, the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro will be equipped with the custom Sony IMX789 sensor for the main camera which is said to be “the largest and most advanced main camera sensor ever on a OnePlus device”.
Furthermore, the custom sensor is also able to support 12-bit RAW images which are able to deliver “more dynamic and vibrant colors in pictures and giving professional photographers more room for additional post editing”.
Some other notable highlights of its camera system also include a “panoramic camera with a 140-degree field of view, T-lens technology for lightning-fast focus in the front-facing camera, and a freeform lens (for its ultra-wide camera)”.
For videography, OnePlus also claimed that the “Hasselblad Camera for Mobile will also offer improved HDR video recording, as well as support for capturing 4K 120FPS and 8K 30FPS video”.
