Your weekly roundup of tech news, launches, and reviews

We’re now nearing the end of the March madness, and the week that just ended was truly a mad one. Packed with smartphone launches and news of tons of upcoming ones, this week saw a frenetic pace of work at 91mobiles’s virtual HQ, with our writers hunched over their laptops to churn out news, features, and reviews.

Manic Monday turned to Terrific Tuesday, as OnePlus took the covers off its new flagships, the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro. Proudly bearing Hasselblad logos on their camera modules to show off OnePlus’ new partnership with the iconic camera maker, the phones are the first ones in the country to come powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888. Apart from these, OnePlus also unveiled the OnePlus 9R and its very first smartwatch. While there’s still time for the 9R to land, the OnePlus 9 and the 9 Pro both went through our review grind. While reviewing the OnePlus 9, Kshitij says the phone is supremely powerful, but the Hasselblad partnership isn’t very apparent by looking at the low-light camera results. He also bemoans the relatively high pricing, along with the lack of features like wireless charging and IP rating. Prateek got to review the pricier OnePlus 9 Pro though, and he’s all praises for it… highlighting the gorgeous screen, the presence of all expected flagship features, and a decent set of cameras.

After OnePlus, it was Realme’s turn. Choosing Wonderful Wednesday to out its latest, Realme introduced the 8 Pro and the 8, with the former coming as one of the most affordable phones bearing a 108MP camera sensor. While it has the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max in its sights, the Realme 8 Pro does fall a bit short, as Nitansh notes in his review. As it turns out, the phone doesn’t impress much in aspects other than the camera. Its sibling, the Realme 8 also leaves a bit to be desired, since its only upgrade over the Realme 7 seems to be its AMOLED screen, as per Sanket.

Thoughtful Thursday saw Vivo launching its loaded X60 series, and it’s tough not to be enamoured by these sleek phones that come bearing powerful specs and cameras. Kshitij was quick to latch on to the X60 Pro, the phone that’s the first in the country to come powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset. Smooth, flagship-grade performance aside, the phone left him impressed with its camera capabilities. Kshitij, in fact, describes the phone as a real looker. He could be in love, but knowing him, it could just be another crush.

On the global stage, we saw phones like the POCO F3 and X3 Pro launching, along with a few others like Vivo Y72 5G, Realme C5, Moto G100, and Moto G50. And there’s news of more coming in as well. In the coming days, you can expect:

Next week, expect more on the POCO F3 and the X3 Pro, as the devices make their way to our shores. They do look special, packed to the brim with powerful specs. If POCO India can price them well, expect the duo to create waves.

POCO X3 Pro to mark a fitting end to the March madness: Your Friday briefing