If you thought the smartphone launch calendar for 2020 was over, we’ve got news for you: there are still quite a few handsets still coming in the closing days of the year.
While the Christmas break has begun for many of us in one form or another, there are still a good few launch events coming up, and we’ve listed them below so you know what to expect.
All of the following launch events are happening in China, and we’ve only featured devices which we either expect to get a global launch, or which are of interest to a wider audience. The releases are listed in the order they’re happening – and the first is very soon.
Oppo Reno 5 Pro Plus
The Oppo Reno 5 series of smartphones launched in early December 2020, but the top handset of the line, the Reno 5 Pro Plus, was only teased briefly. It’s getting a full unveiling on December 24.
We’re expecting the phone to be quite similar to the Oppo Reno 5 Pro, which has a 6.55-inch AMOLED 90Hz display and glass body, but we’ve heard some information about the Pro Plus already – it’s set to use the Snapdragon 888 chipset and have a 50MP main camera.
Still, there’s more we’ve yet to hear about the new phone. The Reno 5 Pro Plus release is China-only for now, but we could see the phone roll out in Australia alongside the rest of the series. Oppo confirmed the Reno 5 line isn’t coming to Europe though, and it doesn’t release its phones in the US, so we won’t see this new handset everywhere.
Xiaomi Mi 11
Perhaps the biggest launch still coming in 2020 is the Xiaomi Mi 11, the next flagship from popular brand Xiaomi. While this hasn’t been confirmed by the company, many leaks and rumors are now pointing to a December 29 launch for the new phone, so we’re fairly certain we’ll see it then.
We’ve been hearing lots of Xiaomi Mi 11 rumors, many of which contradict, so it’s hard to get a clear picture of what the new handset will be like, but based on precedent there’s likely to be a Mi 11 Lite and Mi 11 Pro as well as the standard device.
The Xiaomi Mi 11 could end up being one of the biggest phones of 2021, so its launch is highly anticipated. It’s worth pointing out that if a December 29 launch event does happen, it’ll probably be China-only – Xiaomi typically launches its devices there first before hosting global launches in the following weeks.
So while it’s highly unlikely we’ll see an official global price or release date on December 29, we’ll still get all the information on the phone itself, and we’ll be covering the launch event to bring you all the details.
Vivo X60
Another big smartphone coming on December 29 is the Vivo X60, the next generation of Vivo phone following the Vivo X51 and some others. Vivo is still quite a new name in the west, but we’ve been fairly impressed by what we’ve seen so far, and this new phone could see a global launch at some point too.
The Vivo X60 is confirmed to be coming on December 29, although we don’t know how many phones we’ll see. Rumors suggest a Pro and Pro Plus model, although this information is pretty tenuous; and even if multiple models launch, we might only see one or two launched in Europe or Australia (Vivo is another brand that doesn’t release its phones in the US).
If you’re in the UK Vivo X60 launch is quite late on December 29, so you likely won’t see much about it until the following day – and if and when the phone is confirmed for a global launch we’ll bring you all the information you need to know.
Honor V40
Remember when Honor phone launches were big events? They might not be any more, but it’s worth knowing that the Honor V40 is rumored to be on its way very soon. It could arrive by the end of the year, according to early rumors, although one leaker suggests it’s actually coming in early 2021.
Even if you’re not looking to buy the Honor V40 – or Honor View 40, as it’ll likely be called when it launches globally – it might be worth tuning in just out of interest. Huawei, which owned Honor, recently sold its sub-brand, so this could be the last Honor smartphone to share Huawei DNA.
The Honor View 30 had quite spotty availability across Europe and Australia, and with a new company in charge this could change, for better or worse. There’s a lot of uncertainty around Honor’s future, so who knows if we’ll ever see the Honor V40 or View 40 outside China.
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