iPhone 18 colors, Galaxy S27 Ultra camera detailed, Poco F9 series unveiled, Week 36 in review

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could get a completely refreshed color palette this year. A new leak claims Apple will offer the pair in Dark Cherry, Sky Blue, and Black, with Dark Cherry expected to replace Cosmic Orange as the headline finish. The wine-like red/purple shade has appeared repeatedly in previous leaks, while Sky Blue should be a much subtler, almost silvery option.

Perhaps more interestingly, the leak claims Silver won’t make the cut, despite earlier reports and leaked dummy units pointing to a silver version. Black, meanwhile, would make its return after being conspicuously absent from the iPhone 17 Pro lineup. There’s still disagreement among leakers over whether Black or Silver will ultimately be the third option, so we’ll have to wait for Apple’s September event for confirmation.

The Galaxy S27's zoom camera could be a 4x unit with a half-inch (1/1.9") sensor - a middle-ground between the current 3x + 5x, and one with a technically larger sensor than both. It's similar to the one on the iPhone 17 Pro models, though technically larger than that as well - 1/1.9"-1/2.0" > 1/2.55", at least size-wise (though in practice it's much closer).

Poco unveiled its new F9 Pro and F9 Ultra, and both are unapologetically spec-heavy. The pair gets 185Hz AMOLED displays, 200MP main cameras, 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, IP68 protection, and Bose-tuned stereo speakers. The F9 Pro uses the slightly cut-down Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V, while the Ultra gets the full Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and adds a dedicated rear subwoofer for a 2.1-channel speaker setup.

The Ultra is the real monster, pairing its chipset with a huge 8,050mAh battery, a 6.9-inch display and a camera system comprising the 200MP main, 50MP ultrawide and 50MP 5x periscope. The F9 Pro is smaller at 6.59 inches and 6,330mAh, and swaps those secondary cameras for a 50MP 2.5x telephoto and 8MP ultrawide. There's also some visual flair: the Ultra has a notification light around its rear speaker, while the Pro's Aurora Green finish can actually glow in the dark.

Pricing is considerably less "Poco" than it used to be. The F9 Pro starts at £799, while the F9 Ultra starts at £899, although early-bird pricing brings those down to £639 and £709, respectively.

Xiaomi gave us our first proper look at the Xiaomi 18 Fold ahead of its September 7 launch, first through official renders and then in the flesh at IFA 2026. The short-and-wide foldable has 5.38-inch cover and 7.58-inch inner displays, a striking red finish and a Leica-branded triple-camera setup.

More importantly, it will debut Xiaomi’s new 3nm XRing O3 chipset, paired with next-generation LPDDR6 memory from CXMT. Xiaomi hasn’t revealed the complete spec sheet yet, and global availability remains unknown, with the September 7 launch currently confirmed for China.

The vivo X500 Pro Max allegedly appeared in a photo and hands-on video, revealing an absolutely enormous circular camera island – even bigger than the already imposing one on the X300 Ultra. Intriguingly, the module appears to have a rotating outer ring with ISO-like markings, potentially offering physical camera controls.

The phone is expected to pack a 50MP 1/1.28" main camera, 200MP 1/1.4" telephoto and 50MP ultrawide, while vivo has already confirmed 4K video at 240fps for the Pro series.

The vivo T5 5G is now official with a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED, Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset and a hefty 7,000mAh battery with 90W charging. It also packs a 50MP main camera, IP65 protection and runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16.

The T5 5G starts at CNY 1,999 ($280) for the 8/256GB model and goes on sale in China on September 10.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra surfaced on Geekbench 7, confirming it will use MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 rather than a Snapdragon chip. The tested Wi-Fi model had 12GB of RAM and Android 17, scoring 2,760 single-core and 9,291 multi-core. This points to the chip being the standard DImensity 9500, not a Plus variant.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Tab S12 Ultra alongside the Tab S12+ later this month.

The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max appeared in leaked renders, showing a major redesign with a wide camera plateau stretching across the back, replacing Oppo’s familiar circular camera island. The renders show blue and white Hasselblad-branded finishes, with the latter sporting a distinctive two-tone look.

There could be serious hardware behind that huge camera bump too – rumors point to three 200MP rear cameras, alongside the upcoming Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset. The Find X10 series is expected to debut in China later this month.