The September 2018 Apple event is all about the iPhone X, as the company reveals not one, not two, but three versions of the smartphone-- the "standard" iPhone XS, ultra-large iPhone XS Max and the more affordable iPhone XR.

While more iterative than revolutionary, the three iPhone X models run on the A12 Bionic, the first Apple SoC built using a 7nm processor. It promises a 15% increase in speed when running CPU tasks over the A11 Bionic, a 50% boost in GPU tasks and 50% less power consumption. Also seeing an increase is the number of cores (from 2 to 8), with a "Neural Engine" allowing features such as smart HDR, expressive Memoji and front/rear camera AR experiences.

Gartner reports a smartphone market first-- Huawei beats Apple in terms of sales on Q2 2018, making it to 2nd place by selling 49.8 million handsets to end users in the quarter.

"Huawei’s smartphone sales grew 38.6% Y-o-Y in Q2 2018. Huawei continues to bring innovative features into its smartphones and expand its smartphone portfolio to cover larger consumer segments," the analyst says. "Its investment into channels, brand building and positioning of the Honor devices helped drive sales. Huawei is shipping its Honor smartphones into 70 markets worldwide and is emerging as Huawei’s key growth driver."

Xiaomi launches a budget-focused sub-brand dubbed Poco together with the F1-- a smartphone offering flagship specs, such as a Snapdragon 845 processor, with a mid-tier $300 pricetag.

Initially aimed at the Indian market, the F1 is clearly designed as a OnePlus 6 rival. It features a 6.18-inch 1080p display with an 18:7:9 aspect ratio, Qualcomm Adreno 630 GPU, 6/8GB RAM, 64/128/256GB storage, 20MP front-facing camera, rear-facing 12/5MP dual-camera array and a big 4000mAh battery, making it more advanced than other mid-tier Xiaomi devices such as the RedMi 6A.

The OS is Android 8.1 Oreo with a MIUI skin, and connectivity comes via USB-C port as well as wifi and Bluetooth 5.0. The body features water cooling, and Xiaomi includes a full complement of security features with a fingerprint sensor and face unlock.

Samsung uses the Unpacked 2018 event to launch the next flagship Note-- the Galaxy Note 9, offering what are arguably the best specs for an Android device yet, together with a bigger display and S Pen stylus.

As one might expect, the Galaxy Note 9 is an oversized device with a 6.4-inch SuperAMOLED 2960 x 1440 resolution display. It does not have a notch, since the front-facing 8MP camera resides within a traditional bezel. Inside are a Snapdragon 845 processor with an optimised GPU, 6/8GB RAM, 128/512GB storage (expandable via microSD slot), rear-facing 12MP dual-camera array and a 4000mAh battery Samsung claims allows for all-day use. The OS of choice is Android 8.1 Oreo with the usual selection of Samsung additions, such as Samsung Pay and the Bixby assistant.

Huawei plans to beat Samsung in launching the first foldable smartphone with a flexible display, Nikkei reports, thanks to an OLED display developed by obscure Chinese panel supplier BOE Technology Group.

Beijing Oriental Electronics (aka BOE) is a little known name outside of specialist Asian supply chain circles, but it is a good enough display maker to even hold some Apple iPhone LCD business. Currently it is pushing into more innovative territory, thus the deal with Huawei the production of a flexible smartphone. BOE has already shown off flexible display prototypes at tradeshows, including a tablet-size device one can fold into a smartphone.

A "person familiar with Huawei's plan" tells Nikkei the foldable device will probably be a luxury item, with initial planned volume of just 20000-30000 units (if not less) for a small section of the first-wave adopter market. As such, the device will be more of a technology demo in the name of attracting industry and media coverage towards Huawei.

Customers wanting a smartphone with the biggest possible screen-- something better described as a phablet-- get a Xiaomi option with the Mi Max 3, a handset with a 6.9-inch 18:9 aspect ratio display.

The big IPS LCD display handles 2160 x 1080 resolution and has slim bezels, making for a fairly slim device considering the size. Being a mid-range smartphone, the Mi Max 3 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 CPU, with 4/6GB RAM, 64/128GB storage (expandable via microSD card) and a hefty 5500mAh battery complete with QuickCharge 3.0 allowing it to charge from empty to 71% in an hour.

The mid-range Xperia XA2 Plus smartphone is "designed to entertain," Sony says-- specifically through a 6-inch 18:9 ratio "Full HD+" display and High-Resolution Audio technology.

As an update of the XA2, the XA2 Plus offers improved internals with a Snapdragon 630 processor, 4/6GB RAM, 32/64GB internal storage, 23MP rear-/8MP front-facing cameras and a 3580mAh battery. As for further entertainment-friendly features, the fact the handset retains the humble headphone jack should prove a relief to at least some customers.

Oppo takes on the true edge-to-edge smartphone display with the Find X-- a motorised mechanism slides the backside to reveal a 25MP front-facing camera and a rear-facing dual-camera array.

As a bezel-free flagship device the Find X lacks buttons or a fingerprint button. Instead, it uses the sliding mechanism to reveal the camera in order face unlock the device via iPhone X-style infrared depth detection. Dubbed "O-Face," the system promises to work in nearly all lighting conditions and allows for portrait lighting effects and "Omoji," the Oppo take on Animoji.