Certification reveals Lenovo Tab M11 specs, launch imminent

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Lenovo is readying a new budget Android tablet, the Tab M11. It should arrive as the successor to the Tab M10 launched in July this year. While there is no timeline available for the launch of the upcoming model, it has just surfaced on the Google Play Console website. The listing confirmed some of its rumored specifications.

Google Play Console sheds more light on the Lenovo Tab M11

In October, the Lenovo Tab M11 was leaked in several high-quality renders, revealing its design. The leak also gave us key specifications of the device. The tablet has since been spotted on the FCC and TUV Rheinland certification websites. Most recently, MySmartPrice found it on the Google Play Console with the model number TB330FU, hinting at a nearing launch.

As usual, the Google Play Console listing revealed the display, processor, and RAM information of the device. The new budget Android tablet from Lenovo will feature a 1200×1920 pixels resolution display with 240 dpi screen density. The previous leak by WindowsReport said it is an 11-inch LCD panel. We might get a 90Hz refresh rate here.

While leaks have mentioned a MediaTek G88 octa-core processor for the Lenovo Tab M11, the latest certification listing shows it is powered by MediaTek’s MT8766A quad-core chipset with all four Cortex-A53 CPUs operating at 2.0GHz. This chipset is specifically designed for low-power tablets and integrates Imagination Tech’s PowerVR GE8300 GPU clocked at 660MHz.

We can see that the base version of this tablet has 4GB of RAM. Lenovo may offer 64GB of internal storage space. Other memory and storage configurations may include 4GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB. We are expecting a microSD card slot for storage expansion by up to another 1TB. Other rumored specs include a 6,820mAh battery, 8MP front camera, 8MP rear camera, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, 3.5mm audio jack, and Android 13-based software.

Lenovo Tab M11 leak

This tablet won’t cost you a fortune

Lenovo is one of the very few firms that make good Android tablets, with Samsung being the other big name. The Lenovo Tab Extreme is an excellent flagship offering from the company. It justifies its $1,000+ price tag. However, the Tab M11 sits on the other end of the price spectrum and won’t cost you a fortune. The Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen), for example, was selling for as low as $140 during the Black Friday sales. The new model may not start so low but it should be fairly affordable. We will let you know when Lenovo announces the Tab M11.


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ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra is coming, possibly a larger flagship

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ASUS has been sticking with compact flagship smartphones for years now. I’m talking about the company’s main series of phones, not the ROG gaming ones. Well, the ASUS ZenFone 11 moniker has been confirmed, which suggests a larger flagship could be on the way.

The ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra seems to be coming, as its name just got confirmed

The phone appeared on Bluetooth SIG, along with two ASUS ROG Phone 8 devices, the vanilla one, and the ‘Pro’ one. The ROG phones we expected, the ZenFone 11 Ultra, not so much.

We do know that the phone will ship with Bluetooth 5.4 support. It will also include a Snapdragon processor, it would seem. The phone appeared under the model number ASUS_AI2401_H. Everything else is a mystery at this point.

What’s odd is that this model number is in line with the company’s ROG phones. That is a bit confusing. Will ASUS rebrand one of the ROG Phones into a ZenFone 11 Ultra? That doesn’t make all that much sense to us from the design perspective, but the timing and the model number do point in that direction.

Does this mean we won’t get a new compact ZenFone flagship?

The question is, when is this phone coming, and what does that mean for the company’s compact lineup? If we had to guess, we’d say that ASUS will release both the ZenFone 11 and ZenFone 11 Ultra.

The ZenFone 10 did launch back in June, though, so we’re about half a year from the arrival of its successor. Well, unless ASUS plans to announce a mid-cycle upgrade, which is always a possibility, but it’s not as likely.

ASUS will likely stick with its release cycle

If the company ends up sticking with this release cycle, we’ll have to wait for quite a bit of time. We’re hoping that the compact line isn’t going anywhere, and that the ‘Ultra’ will only be a larger option of the ZenFone 11.

The ASUS ZenFone 9 and ZenFone 10 ended up being great devices. They’re also representing compact flagships in the market, and there are not many of those around. So… it would be nice to see the lineup stick around.


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X CEO boasts 10 million sign-ups in December… so far

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X, formerly Twitter, continues making the headlines despite facing challenges. In recent weeks, the platform has launched several new features, including GrokAI (currently available to Premium subscribers). However, the company also faces significant financial pressure, with major advertisers pausing campaigns due to concerns about disinformation and hate speech. Despite these troubles, Reuters reports (via Economic Times) that X CEO, Linda Yaccarino, confirmed more than 10 million X sign-ups in December.

X CEO confirms more than 10 million sign-ups

While X, provides a glimpse into its engagement through metrics like visits and impressions, it keeps its user data tightly under wraps. The exact number of people actively using the platform remains a closely guarded secret.

Despite the lack of official figures, some estimates exist. In July 2023, then-CEO and owner Elon Musk posted that X hosted roughly 540 million monthly users. Now, CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed via a post on X that December has seen more than 10 million signs up so far. One user in the same post highlighted, that it translates to an “average of 61,000 signs-ups per hour.”

Advertisers have a different story to share

Just recently, several companies including Apple, Disney, IBM, Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Paramount Global halted ads on X citing concerns. IBM, in one such statement, told the Financial Times (via The Verge): “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination,” and affirmed to investigate the whole situation.

One major incident involved Elon Musk agreeing with a user who made false and inflammatory statements about Jewish people. Additionally, a report from Media Matters found ads from major brands appearing next to posts that endorsed Nazism. In response to the report, the platform filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, accusing them of defamation. However, the controversy and the exodus of advertisers have cast a shadow on the platform’s future financial stability. Additionally, Elon Musk launched verbal attacks against major brands that withdrew advertising from his social media platform, X.

This wave of major brands pausing ads on the platform threatens to cost the company an arm and a leg. It is estimated to be about $75 million in advertising revenue by year-end, according to the New York Times report. Notably, Twitter / X’s net valuation has declined strategically.


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AH Reader’s Choice Awards: Best Budget Phone of 2023

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The Google Pixel 7a made us fall in love with it, and it looks like our readers feel the same way

It’s the end of the year, and it’s time to do a wrap on some of the best phones we’ve seen these past 365 days. There were a ton of amazing affordable phones that came out over 2023, but one phone seemed to resonate the most with our readers, and that’s the Google Pixel 7a.

Many of our readers most likely purchased this phone when it launched earlier this year. If you’re looking to pick up a Pixel 7a for yourself, you won’t be sorry. This handset was able to bring the best Pixel experience for its price, and it definitely outshined other phones in the same bracket.

The thing that makes this phone incredible is the attention and care that Google had put into this phone to give you the best Pixel experience at $500. Both the hardware and software are developed by Google, so you know that it’s designed to work seamlessly and smoothly. It uses the same hardware powering the amazing Pixel 7 Pro, and it’s in a $500 phone!

This means that it’s going to be incredibly powerful, as we’re talking about flagship-level hardware. Not only that, but Google is a huge AI company. The Pixel 7 Pro was one of the smartest phones on the market because of the powerful artificial intelligence that comes on the chip. Well, you’re getting that same chip this time around.

We can’t forget about that screen

This phone has a screen that’s comfortably small, but it’s still able to give you a top-notch viewing experience. Google gave this one of its amazing screens. Google used the same screen in this phone that it used with the Pixel 7. However, it just won’t be as silky smooth. Anyway, this screen is still beautiful. Whatever you’re watching on this phone will pop. It doesn’t matter if you’re watching movies, TV shows, or videos, you’re going to have a great time. Google calibrated the display to be one to beat.

What’s a Pixel if not a great camera phone?

We can’t talk about the Pixel 7a without talking about the amazing camera experience. Pixel phones are known for their superior cameras, and this phone is no exception. No doubt, the Pixel 7a has one of the best cameras of any phone of this price, if not the best.

Using Google’s amazing image processing capabilities, this phone produces results that will impress anyone. It’s truly a fantastic camera for both well-lit and low-light shots. If you’re a person who wants a powerful camera experience in your phone, then the Pixel 7a’s camera is for you.

Take those aspects and bundle them with great speakers and battery performance, and you have the best phone that you can get for only $500. This is why the Pixel 7a won the AH Reader’s Choice Award.


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YouTube introduced a new video-level comment pause feature

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YouTube has introduced a new video-level comment moderation tool. It lets creators pause comments on their videos, temporarily blocking viewers from posting comments. Existing comments are preserved and visible to all viewers. Creators can allow viewers to create new comments whenever they want.

YouTube now lets creators pause comments

Until now, YouTube creators had only two ways to moderate comments. They could either completely disable comments on their channels or hold comments for review before publishing them. The new Pause tool gives them more control over comments with video-level settings. Creators can pause comments at the video level rather than across the channel.

YouTube has been testing the new tool among a select group of creators and moderators for a while now. The company found that creators use the pause comments option to “gain more flexibility over how they manage their comments.” The tool also helps them “take a break from managing comments if they become overwhelming, without having to turn them off completely.”

The new moderation tool is available in the video-level comment settings. Creators can click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the comments panel on the watch page to access it. The tool can be accessed directly from the YouTube app or YouTube Studio on desktop and mobile. It is unclear whether YouTube plans to add a pause option for comments for the entire channel. Disabling comments hides existing comments too.

“We’re excited to offer you more choice and flexibility when it comes to how you manage comments on your videos,” YouTube said in a blog post on Thursday. “We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below,” it added. Unsurprisingly, everyone loves the new moderation tool.

YouTube also renamed some of the existing moderation settings

As part of the latest update for comment moderation tools, YouTube renamed some of the existing settings. When comments are enabled, creators have four additional options to choose from. “None” doesn’t hold any comments for review, “Basic” holds potentially inappropriate comments for review, “Strict” holds a broader range of potentially inappropriate comments for review, and “Hold All” requires all comments to be reviewed before publishing them.

YouTube says the new comment moderation tool is rolling out widely to everyone. All creators should have access to video-level pause settings within the next few days. We will let you know if YouTube introduces a channel-level setting to pause comments without hiding existing ones.

YouTube new comment moderation tool pause


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Best Camera Smartphone of 2023 – Google Pixel 8 Pro

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Android Headlines readers have spoken! The Google Pixel 8 Pro is the best camera smartphone of 2023.

Last week, we published our choice for the best smartphone camera of 2023, and our readers have not spoken as well. We chose the Google Pixel 8 Pro, Google’s latest flagship, and our readers seem to agree with our choice. Based on the results of a poll that we published on X (formerly known as Twitter), the Pixel 8 Pro is the winner. That phone won 51.4% of the votes, and is a clear winner in this race. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is second-placed with 39.2% of the votes. The OnePlus Open ended up in third place with 6.8% of the votes, while the OPPO Find X6 Pro is fourth-placed with 2.7% of the votes. We’ve seen many great camera smartphones this year, but our readers seem to prefer what Google is offering.

Powerful camera hardware backed by outstanding camera software

The Pixel 8 Pro has a really compelling camera setup, no doubt about it. A 50-megapixel main camera used on this phone includes a newer sensor, which is quite capable. We’re looking at an f/1.68 aperture lens here, and a 1.2um pixel size, not to mention OIS and EIS are supported. The phone’s ultrawide camera is also quite compelling. Google opted for a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit with a 125.5-degree FOV. The third, and last camera on the back, is a 48-megapixel telephoto unit with a 5x optical zoom, and Super Res Zoom of up to 30x. Even the phone’s 10.5-megapixel selfie camera is quite capable.

Google Pixel 8 Pro Review AM AH 21
Google Pixel 8 Pro rear cameras

The Pixel 8 Pro provides that contrasty look that Pixel users are used to. It has an outstanding capability of balancing photos, and does a wonderful job in HDR conditions. This is a true point-and-shoot smartphone camera, though a Pro mode is also included, for those of you who like to tinker with your cameras. One of the Pixel 8 Pro’s main selling points, camera-wise, is its outstanding low-light performance. Google has been providing us with great camera smartphones for years now, and the Pixel 8 Pro is the creme of the crop. Getting great low-light photos is not a problem at all. 5x photos are great too, while you can even get some perfectly usable 10x shots from this smartphone.

AI plays a role here too

Google presented a number of AI features with the Pixel 8 series. Some of those are camera-related, and some are even exclusive to the ‘Pro’ model. Let’s start with ‘Best Take’. This feature will basically make sure that blinking during photo-taking never becomes a problem again. Google will do the heavy lifting for you. It will take a number of images when people are posing for a photo, and will suggest the best one for you, the one where nobody is keeping their eyes closed, and so on.

Google’s ‘Magic Editor’ is another feature worth noting. This is essentially a suite of features. You can use these tools to move people around in a photo, and Google will patch up the portion where they’ve been moved from. You can also change the sky to look completely different, and fix up imperfections in photos thanks to a number of options. Google also started rolling out the ‘Video Boost’ feature, which the company promised at launch. The company can basically upload your video to its servers, and process it in a way that it truly pops, every single frame of it.

Night Sight video is another feature that is supposed to improve your videos taken with the Google Pixel 8 Pro. This particular feature focuses on low light video, if that’s your thing. It’s supposed to boost details and dynamic range, while also reducing noise in low light situations.

Design, performance & more

Google Pixel 8 Pro Review AM AH 23
Google Pixel 8 Pro back side

The Pixel 8 Pro is a camera-focused device, but Google did pay attention to other aspects of the device, for sure. The phone is quite comfortable to hold and use, while the matte glass on the back is a great choice. The bezels are quite thin, and the camera visor on the back is a nice anchor for your index finger. The phone also offers good performance, despite the fact it doesn’t have the most powerful chip out there. Google did a great job optimizing this processor, and it works really well, as you can see in our Pixel 8 Pro review.

The battery life on the device is not bad either, not at all. You’re also getting wireless charging here, though the charger (wired or wireless) is not included in the retail box. Proper water and dust resistance is included, and the latest version of Android as well. It’s also worth noting that Google promised 7 years of software updates for the device. We’re talking about proper updates, not just security ones. This handset will get outstanding software support, it seems.


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AH Reader’s Choice Awards: Best Gaming Phone of 2023

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ASUS nailed it with the ROG Phone 7 this year

Gaming phones are a smaller niche category when it comes to the smartphone market but there is a market for them and surprisingly, more options in that segment than you’d think. Unsurprisingly, ASUS continues to be the top contender and this year it outdid itself with the ROG Phone 7 and ROG Phone 7 Ultimate.

Best-in-class thermal management for long-lasting gaming performance, a large, high refresh rate display, and functional features like the AirTriggers, you name it. Whatever you’d like a gaming phone to have, the ROG Phone 7 probably has it. That isn’t to say it’s perfect. It still didn’t offer wireless charging and while the camera was better than in previous years, it could still use some improvement to bring it forward with other high-end devices in its price range.

As a phone overall though aside from those two factors, the ROG Phone 7 is downright impressive. And as purely a device for mobile gaming, the ROG Phone 7 excels with ease. One of the bigger pain points with older models like the ROG Phone 2 and ROG Phone 5 was the excessive heat dispersal during heavy gaming loads. When you’d boot up a game like Genshin Impact and play for 30 minutes to an hour, the phone would get uncomfortably warm. Not enough to burn you, but warm enough that you would probably want to put the phone down for a bit. The ROG Phone 7 didn’t have this issue.

Sure, it got warm. Especially if you were playing something demanding for more than a couple of hours. But I was able to comfortably hold the phone and play for long sessions. And that is a huge accomplishment.

Peak performance to ensure the best possible gaming experience

Lots of phones offer similar specs to what the ROG Phone 7 offers. But the hardware specs are only part of the picture. In addition to having a large storage capacity for all those games and everything else, the ROG Phone 7 has oodles of RAM. In addition to that it has a 165Hz refresh rate display and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Those are all great specs. But it’s those things plus the unique ASUS features that push the ROG Phone 7 to the top for peak performance in mobile gaming.

The AirTriggers are simply superb for games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, and The Division Resurgence. Another really awesome addition this year was the AeroActive Cooler 7. This time around it incorporated a Peltier cooling system that when attached to the phone, would open this little port on the back of it for more airflow. It also incorporated a small subwoofer to amplify the already great audio coming from the Dirac-tuned speakers.

Not to be forgotten was ASUS’s Armoury Crate app. Using this to manage all sorts of different stuff like the ROG Vision display and the different phone profiles was a breeze. Even better is the game genie, which you can use to manage refresh rate, do not disturb mode, AirTrigger configuration, and more.

Plus, it’s just designed in such a way that it’s more comfortable to hold than any other gaming phone I’ve ever used. ASUS has always nailed this part. And here’s to hoping it doesn’t stop. All of these reasons are why our readers have chosen the ROG Phone 7 for the Best Gaming Phone of 2023.


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The December Android update tackles four critical vulnerabilities

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The Android Security Bulletin just updated with the release notes for December. This resource is great for staying informed about the spectrum of issues, whether critical or low-impact, affecting Android devices. In this update, Android addressed over 80 vulnerabilities, with many being of critical severity.

If a software bug allows any of the following to occur, it is considered critical: arbitrary code execution, bypass of software mechanisms, remote access to sensitive credentials, remote bypass, remote persistent DoS, or remote secure boot bypass. The bulletin emphasizes, “The most severe vulnerability in this section could lead to remote escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.”

Google issues monthly updates for Android to ensure that devices stay protected against the latest threats. Using an outdated phone may not pose any major threats, but it represents a security risk that one can easily avoid. In the latest round of updates, Android dealt with over 80 threats; among these were 4 critical vulnerabilities.

The critical threats are tracked as CVE-2023-40077, CVE-2023-40088, CVE-2023-40076, and CVE-2023-45866. CVE stands for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures and functions as a naming convention to help security professionals track and refer to specific threats. We won’t get too technical breaking down these critical vulnerabilities, but let’s see what each one is.  

CVE-2023-40077 is a security issue within the MetaDataBase.cpp functions. This issue is a Use-After-Free (UAF) write vulnerability stemming from a race condition. In simpler terms, a race condition arises when software behavior hinges on the timing of events, introducing unpredictable outcomes.

Android critical vulnerabilities could lead to remote escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed

CVE-2023-40076 exposes an avenue for unauthorized access to credentials from other users. Moreover, the root cause lies in a permissions bypass that can potentially pave the way for local escalation of privileges.

CVE-2023-40088 is a zero-click RCE bug. This threat, if exploited, could allow unauthenticated remote users to execute code on a device.  CVE-2023-45866 poses a threat to Android, Linux, macOS, and iOS devices. This vulnerability allows for an authentication bypass, potentially leading to code execution on the victim’s end. The exploit uses a bug in the pairing mechanism in Bluetooth, tricking the target into accepting a connection with a Bluetooth keyboard.

The Android December update addressed 84 security vulnerabilities, with four of them (CVE-2023-40077, CVE-2023-40088, CVE-2023-40076, and CVE-2023-45866) being critical. 


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AH Reader’s Choice Awards: Best Battery Life Phone

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The Galaxy S23 Ultra has a battery that can outlast you

When it comes to smartphones there’s one universal trait that the majority of users want to know about and hold above all. The battery life. A great phone is no good to you if it’s dead. But to ensure it doesn’t die on you in the middle of the day it needs to have a large battery, an efficient power management system, or both.

Luckily, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra delivers on both of those fronts. It has a big battery at 5,000mAh and it’s so efficient with power management that it’ll outlast you daily. That isn’t a joke either. Even with heavy use chances are you’ll get tired before the battery in this phone dies. With more average use, you should expect 7-8 hours of screen-on time and around two days of use before the phone needs a recharge.

However, expect that to drop if you’re playing a lot of mobile games with demanding graphics. Such as Genshin Impact. Even if that were the case, the Galaxy S23 Ultra delivers impressive longevity with the battery and should last through the day. That brings us back to what the majority of users find the most important. Battery life. Samsung knows that users want a phone that will be able to stick with them for as long as possible. And that’s what the Galaxy S23 Ultra is.

Battery life isn’t the only important thing about a smartphone of course. It matters more than most factors these days. But there are lots of other things that the Galaxy S23 Ultra offers that make it an enticing device. So much so that AH readers chose it as the Best Smartphone of 2023.

Samsung didn’t stop at battery life as the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the complete package

Battery life is a major feature of this device but it’s hardly the only good thing about it. Samsung improved a lot this year on the camera to the point where it was almost as good as Google’s Pixel phones. That’s not an easy accomplishment given how good Google’s camera software is. Part of this is due to the 10x zoom but mostly due to the rich detail you get from the main sensor.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra also has an excellent display. Perhaps the best display of any smartphone this year. Then there’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that keeps the device at peak performance. All-in-all this is a device that has pretty much everything you could ever want. Like we said though, none of that other stuff matters if the battery life is terrible. Because you’ll be able to use the phone less and have to charge it more. And no one wants to do that if they can avoid it.

Thankfully the Galaxy S23 Ultra doesn’t make you choose between great battery life and other awesome features. It gives it all to you. With so many different smartphone options out there, outshining the competition on battery life is no easy task, but Samsung has managed it. And it’s for this reason that our readers chose the Galaxy S23 Ultra as the Best Battery Life Phone of 2023.


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Motorola announces special edition Razr 40 Ultra and Edge 40 Neo

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Motorola has launched a special edition of its Razr 40 Ultra/ Razr+ and Edge 40 Neo phones. Every year, the Lenovo-owned brand partners with Pantone to unveil smartphones featuring precise Pantone-validated colors. The Razr 40 Ultra/ Razr+ and the Edge 40 Neo now come in Pantone’s Color of the Year 2024, PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz colorway. This year, Motorola announced the Edge 30 Neo in Viva Magenta which is Pantone’s color of the year for 2023.

Motorola announces Razr 40 Ultra and Edge 40 Neo in Pantone’s designated color for 2024

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra/ Razr+ (review) is already available in Infinite Black, Glacier Blue, and Viva Magenta colors. On the other hand, the Edge 40 Neo comes in Caneel Bay, Soothing Sea, and Black Beauty options.

The Peach Fuzz color option with a vegan textured leather back panel of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra/Razr+ and Edge 40 Neo is now available. It has a cozy and tender essence that embodies feelings of togetherness, community, and collaboration. The rest of the design language and key specifications of both smartphones remain the same as other color variants. You can check the Razr 40 Ultra/Razr+ and Edge 40 Neo’s new color options in the official high-resolution images here.

The Peach Fuzz is Pantone’s designated color for 2024. The Pantone Color Institute is an educational program reflecting on the symbolic nature of color. Motorola’s Head of Customer Experience and Design Ruben Castano states that the Peach color serves as a tool for expression and meaningful interactions as technology becomes deeply integrated into human experiences. Furthermore, the executive mentions that Pantone Color of the Year seamlessly blends the virtual and real worlds. It aligns with Motorola’s vision of fostering deeper connections and well-being.

Motorola has revealed that there is no change in the pricing of the Razr 40 Ultra/Razr+ and Edge 40 Neo’s newly announced color variant. The smartphones are rolling out in select markets across the world with shipments set to commence from December 12.


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