Samsung Pushes More Smartphone Prices Up

Following other manufacturers, Samsung is raising the prices on some of its smartphones. The recent launch of the Galaxy S26 family apparently had these rises baked in, but now the impact of the memory and storage shortage, alongside the constriction on raw materials through the Straits of Hormuz, is being passed down to subsequent releases. Forbes’ Janhoi McGregor picks out the changes to the Z Fold series:

"Samsung has raised the price of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 1TB to $2,499.99 from $2,419.99 in the U.S., an $80 jump... The 512GB model has also gone up by $80 to $2,199.99, while the entry-level 256GB remains at $1,999.99.

Oppo’s Mini Android Tablet Is Coming

Next week will see the launch of the Oppo Find X9 Pro and the Oppo Pad Mini. The company has confirmed the launch date as April 21st alongside a steady stream of social media teaser images of the two products. The mini-tablet is catching a lot of attention for both its size and high specifications. Sambit Saha reports for NotebookCheck:

“...s likely to feature an 8.8-inch display with an aspect ratio of 3:2. The OLED panel will almost certainly boast high refresh-rate capabilities, rumored to be 144 Hz. The compact tablet is expected to weigh in at just 279 grams, boasting an enclosure that is likely to be only 5.39 mm thin."

A Wider Launch For Oppo’s Flagship Family

Oppo is also advancing its flagship smartphone. Following the confirmed details around the launch of the Find X9 family in China, the company has confirmed not only the SKUs of the family but also the international launch of the Find X9 Pro. GSM Arena breaks it down:

"Last week, Oppo announced that it would unveil the Find X9 Ultra and Find X9s Pro on April 21 in China, while confirming that the Find X9 Ultra will also be launched in international markets. Now, Oppo has confirmed that the Find X9s Pro will also make its global debut on April 21 at an event in China at 7 PM local time. Additionally, Oppo is taking pre-orders for the Find X9s Pro through its Chinese website, which confirmed the smartphone's design, colors, and memory options."

The Honor 600’s New Animation Tool

Previews of the Honor 600 hardware are putting the new AI tools through their paces. This includes updates to its Image-to-Video AI tool: taking a prompt alongside a picture and offering a video clip. Ahead of the full launch, this has ledJason England to ask a philosophical question:

“...you take your pictures, throw them into a multi-modal video generation model with a prompt and the picture is turned into a small clip up to 8 seconds long. And after testing this feature for myself, it’s fair to say the second generation of this model vastly improves the contextual understanding of vague prompts, and made me ask a question: what even is a photo anymore in 2026? Not in a bad way…let me explain."

OnePlus Prepares New Pro Tablet

Following some teasing of a new tablet on OnePlus India’s X.com account as “Exceptional Power, Coming Soon," more details on the presumptively-named OnePlus Pad 3 Pro have emerged. They all suggest the device will offer the power and flexibility of a flagship. Notebookcheck’s Abdul Haddi runs down the numbers:

"In terms of performance, the tablet is said to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of storage. Battery details are still unclear, but the leak mentioned a “massive battery.” For now, OnePlus hasn’t shared any official specs or launch date. But with the teaser already out, we can expect more details to arrive soon."

Outlook Lite To Shut Down

Microsoft currently supports two of its own email applications on Android, Outlook and Outlook Lite. While the former will continue to receive that support, the latter will become unsupported at the end of May. The application has been removed from distribution for the past six months, and Outlook offers an alternative, but the change will disrupt users of the lightweight app. Neowin’s Paul Hill has more:

"After that date, the Outlook Lite app will still open but mailbox access will be disabled and in-app navigation and functionality won’t work. The retirement shouldn’t affect too many users because Microsoft has purposefully prevented users downloading this app since October 6, 2025. If you do still have it, you should definitely migrate to Outlook Mobile so that you aren’t cut off in late May."

And Finally...

Popular one-handed launch Niagara (soon to be seen powering the Clicks Communicator) has a new update introducing Theme Studio for building and sharing owners’ custom looks. What was once a solo developer app has grown to a substantive team, and alongside the Niagara launcher, the team is launching as a Development Studio, ready for the software challenges of the coming year:

“To reflect how the project and the team have evolved, we’re introducing a new brand name behind Niagara Launcher: **Mellowdrop Studio**. The new name represents the spirit we want to carry forward: young, independent, creative, and full of energy. After nearly a decade, it also felt like the right time to refresh our visual identity.

Android Circuit rounds up the news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course, read the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!