Week 30 in review: Zenfone 9 and MatePad Pro 11 official, Pixel 7 leaks

Another week down, let's recap it. The most popular story of the week concerned the camera sensors on the upcoming Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro phones. They'll have the same Samsung GN1 sensor in the main, and Sony IMX381 in the ultrawide camera as the current Pixel 6/6 Pro. But both 7-series Pixels will get bumped to a new autofocusing 11MP Samsung 3J1 selfie module, while the Pixel 7 Pro will upgrade its zoom camera's sensor from the IMX586 to the GM1.

The Asus Zenfone 9 is official. It's deliciously compact, but that doesn't impede its performance or its battery endurance. The phone has a 5.9-inch Super AMOLED of 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip with up to 16GB of RAM, and a 4,300mAh battery. Camera-wise, the Zenfone 9 has a 50MP main camera with gimbal OIS, and a 12MP ultrawide without autofocus. The Asus Zenfone 9 will start at €800 for the 8/128GB model (exact pricing depends on local VAT).

Huawei held an event, at which it announced global availability details about the MateBook X Pro 2022, the Freebuds Pro 2 earbuds, talked-up HarmonyOS 3, which it will unveil in full this Fall, and announced the MatePad Pro 11.

Huawei advertises MatePad Pro 11 as the world’s thinnest and lightest 11” tablet, measuring just 5.9mm and weighing 449g. The Huawei MatePad Pro 11” features a 120Hz OLED display with 2,560 x 1,600px resolution (16:10, 274ppi). This 10-bit panel has perfect color calibration (deltaE < 1) and 1,440Hz high frequency PWM dimming. In the announcement, CEO Richard Yu mentioned a 5nm Snapdragon chipset. However, the spec sheet on the official site lists two models – one has the Snapdragon 888 (indeed a 5nm chip), the other uses a Snapdragon 870 (7nm).

The tablet runs on an 8,300mAh battery, large enough for 11.5 hours of (local) video playback. The 888-powered model supports Huawei’s 66W SuperCharge, but ships with a 40W charger. The 870 one tops out at 40W charging and comes with a 22.5W adapter.

The Huawei MatePad Pro 11 will be available globally soon. The base 8/128GB model will cost CNY 3,300/€481. The fully-loaded 12/512GB model with an M-Pencil and keyboard will sell on Vmall for CNY 7,700 (the 512GB model will not be available globally, however).

Finally, a word on the Galaxy S23 series. First, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will likely keep the 10MP 10x periscope module from the S21 Ultra and S22 Ultra. Second, Qualcomm all but confirmed that the Galaxy S23 series will use only Snapdragon chipsets. Well, what was said was that currently, about 75% of the Galaxy S22 series are powered by Snapdragon chips, and that next year that ratio will get wider.

Check out the full list of hot topics from the week below!