⚡ Welcome back to another edition of The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority newsletter that casts an eye back across the top Android and tech news from the week.

🐰 Tristan Rayner here casting an eye over all things technology during this Easter, Passover, and Holi break.

Xiaomi:

• A big week for Xiaomi, with a new flagship, new mid-range line, new foldable, new logo (sort of), and a new commitment to electric vehicles (EVs).
• The biggest announcement for the consumer tech world was the Mi 11 Ultra — a top-of-the-line smartphone with almost everything you could ask for in a 2021 ultra-premium flagship. Snapdragon 888 SoC, 6.81-inch 120Hz QHD+ OLED screen with Dolby Vision, IP68 rating, 67W wired and wireless charging, Harman Kardon-tuned speakers, and a ceramic body. Then the cameras, housed in a mighty bump with a big-size sensor via the new 50MP Samsung GN2, which is a 1/1.12-inch sensor. Add a 48MP ultra-wide snapper and a 48MP periscope lens and you can see why it’s an “Ultra” model retailing from €1,300 (~$1,526). Reviews coming soon.
• Xiaomi’s first foldable was also a notable reveal but as a China-only release it’s a little underwhelming. The Mi Mix Fold, goes for the Samsung-style of a thick phone with a 6.5-inch panel on the exterior that opens out to a tablet-sized 8.01-inch OLED display. It has all the specs you could want too: Snapdragon 888 SoC, up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, 5,020mAh total battery across two battery packs, and a camera system featuring a liquid lens with Xiaomi’s own chip doing the image processing work.
• Also: Mi 11 Pro but you can’t get it outside of China, and the Mi 11i which is effectively a Redmi K40 Pro Plus with a new name (starting at €649). Add in the Mi 11 Lite range in 4G and 5G options, the Xiaomi Mi Band 6, and that new rounded Mi logo, too.
• Oh, and don’t forget Xiaomi also announced a big investment in EVs, with a ~$1.5 billion initial investment, joining rumored and reported moves by Apple, Huawei, and others.
• Xiaomi is clearly gunning for the premium segment — its flagship plays are no longer branding explorations, and what has opened the door here is Huawei’s decline.

Google might really have a chipset?

• This is big enough for its own bullet point. A report out of 9to5Google very strongly suggests the Google Pixel 6 and 5a might really use Google’s own silicon, codenamed ‘Whitechapel’, model “GS101.”
• We’ve known about this for some time but detail that it may actually come to the Pixel line, ahead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 780 (or similar SoCs) makes things wildly intriguing.
• 9to5Google suggests its deeply connected to Samsung and its Exynos expertise, it seems.
• Stay tuned!

Elsewhere:

• Sony set up an April 14th launch. Expect the next major Xperia devices including the Xperia 1 III, Xperia 10 III, and possibly the Xperia 5 III. I’m excited to see if Sony can keep maturing its flagship Xperia 1 series after the II was so well received.
• LG Mobile might be gone as soon as April 5. Sad. Read this Weekly for my thoughts on poor (but not actually poor) LG.
• Casio unveiled its first G-Shock smartwatch with Wear OS. $700 is a big ask, but it’s a classic brawny guy with a titanium back for extra durability, water-resistance down to 200 meters, always-on LCD, and sensors galore. No exact availability date, unfortunately.
• Hints that Samsung has a Galaxy Buds successor in the works.
• Niantic Labs CEO posted a teaser image of some AR glasses. Could be fun if they’re actually good.
• OnePlus Nord SE reportedly canceled — and this might be the pretty cool retail package the phone would’ve come in.
• Apple announced WWDC 2021 as an online event again (9to5Mac), while this week the in-person MWC 2021 lost Google. That’s the biggest name so far, with Nokia, Ericsson, Sony, and Oracle already out (The Verge).

• Huawei Mate X2 review: “The Huawei Mate X2 is poisoned perfection. Hardware heaven in a software purgatory.” Kris sure likes this foldable.
• OnePlus 9 Pro review second opinion: In more ways than one, the OnePlus 9 Pro is nearly caught up with the competition.
• Poco F3 review: Killer hardware brought down by sub-par software and an average camera.
• Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) review: Cheaper and sounds better than the original. The novel sleep function is interesting but will cost an unknown amount in 2022.

Features

• “If I never see a phone with a mirror back again it will be too soon“. Agreed! Fun to look at for five seconds, then a smudge factory.
• OnePlus 9 vs older OnePlus phones: Should you upgrade?
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 5 things we want to see
• What is SpO2? And why should you care? Good overview of blood oxygen saturation from the fittest Android Authority member.
• The foundations of AI are riddled with errors: AI learns what you tell it. But what if lots and lots of images were labeled wrongly? (Wired).

• April 6: Intel’s “How Wonderful Gets Done 2021” launch
• April 12: Nvidia GTC conference
• April 14: Sony Xperia launch

Tech Tweet of the Week

My fav April Fools’ joke::

All the best,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.