Xiaomi 13 Ultra to India's First Apple Stores: A Recap of This Week's Technology News

Xiaomi 13 Ultra was launched in China earlier this week as Xiaomi's top-of-the-line flagship for the year. This handset features similar specifications to the Xiaomi 13 Pro that recently made its debut in India, with a few notable upgrades in the camera department. The smartphone is equipped with a 50-megapixel 1-inch primary camera sensor tuned by Leica with variable aperture support. Besides the launch of Xiaomi's flagship phone and Apple's new stores in Delhi and Mumbai, reports suggest that Apple's iPhone 15 series of smartphones won't feature solid state buttons after all, while Google could announce its first foldable device after its upcoming Google I/O event in May.

On this week's episode of the Gadgets 360 podcast Orbital, host Siddharth Suvarna talks to Senior Reviewer Sheldon Pinto and Reviewer Pranav Hegde about the top stories in technology this week. From rumours surrounding handsets that are yet to be announced — Apple's iPhone 15 series, the Pixel Fold, and Motorola's upcoming foldable phones for 2023 — it appears that there's a lot that technology enthusiasts can look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook inaugurated the first Apple stores in India. Located in Mumbai and Delhi, both venues drew large crowds and a warm reception on their first days. Customers have had access to third-party stores in India, but Apple stores have their own unique design and other city-specific elements. Cook also had a jam-packed week, meeting industry leaders and celebrities in India.

As usual, there's no word from Apple on the company's upcoming smartphone models, but recent reports suggest that the iPhone 15 Pro models will feature an improved camera setup with a periscope lens, but could miss out on the previously rumoured solid-state buttons. Other manufacturers have revealed concept phones with solid-state buttons, but there's no word on whether we'll see these buttons on an iPhone model this year.

Earlier this week, Xiaomi announced the launch of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra in China. This flagship phone from Xiaomi is equipped with a Leica-tuned quad-camera setup with high-end custom Summicron lenses. It also features a 50-megapixel 1-inch primary camera sensor with a variable aperture. There's no word on whether this high-end phone from Xiaomi will come to India, unlike the previous model, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.

Google has been tipped to launch its own foldable phone in the form of the Pixel Fold in June. This handset was previously expected to be unveiled at the company's Google I/O event in May. Google will face competition from Samsung's well established Z series of smartphones, or even Motorola's upcoming foldables that are confirmed to debut soon.

You can listen to all of that in detail and more in our episode by hitting the play button on the Spotify player embedded above.

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