It's been quite a busy week, and as we're now approaching the end of September, the calm and quiet of summer is truly behind us. Tech is in full swing again! So let's recap the past seven days. Qualcomm unveiled its latest flagship chipsets – the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6.

Both are built on TSMC's 2nm process and bring upgraded Oryon CPU cores, Adreno GPUs, and improved AI capabilities. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is the more powerful of the two, while the regular Elite Gen 6 is aimed at a broader range of flagship phones. The first devices powered by the new chips are expected to arrive later this year.

Xiaomi unveiled the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max with 6.4-inch and 6.9-inch OLED displays, respectively, complete with hardware-level privacy protection and secondary 2.7-inch and 2.9-inch rear screens. Both phones feature dual 200MP Leica cameras, while the Pro packs a 7,000mAh battery and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, and the Pro Max gets an 8,500mAh cell and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. The Xiaomi 18 Pro starts at CNY 5,999 ($840), while the Pro Max starts at CNY 6,999 ($980) in China.

Both are already on sale there, and Xiaomi confirmed the 18 Pro series will launch globally later this year. The vivo X500 series is also official, with three models – the X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max. The X500 and Pro use MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600, while the Pro Max steps up to the Dimensity 9600+ and brings the most capable camera setup of the trio.

All three phones feature large batteries, Zeiss-branded cameras, and Origin OS 7. The vivo X500 series launches first in China, with sales starting on September 30; global availability is marked for October 27. Realme introduced the 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition, featuring a themed design and the company’s (and the world's first) Quadra Light-Sensing Color-Changing technology, allowing the Hogwarts crest on the back of the phone to take the four houses' respective colors.

It also comes with Harry Potter-themed UI elements, packaging, and accessories.