Morning Brief

1. iQOO releases the iQOO Z11 Turbo smartphone
2. DJI releases the DJI RS 5 lightweight commercial gimbal
3. MediaTek announces the Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500 chips
4. The Philippines grants visa-free entry to Chinese travelers
5. Qwen announces the launch of AI-powered lifestyle shopping features
6. Apple announces Apple Pay support for Visa cards
7. Google Gemini now rolls out “Personal Intelligence”
8. Microsoft to remove the Collections feature from Microsoft Edge

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iQOO releases the iQOO Z11 Turbo smartphone

On January 15, iQOO officially unveiled the iQOO Z11 Turbo smartphone, with a starting price of RMB 2,699, or RMB 2,039.15 after national subsidies.

In terms of display, the iQOO Z11 Turbo features a 6.59-inch flat OLED screen with a resolution of 2750 × 1260 and a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz. The panel uses TCL CSOT C9+ luminous material, reaching a local peak brightness of up to 5,000 nits and a minimum brightness of around 1 nit. For dimming, it supports DC-like dimming as well as high-frequency PWM dimming up to 4,320 Hz, with DC-like dimming available across the full brightness range. The display also offers up to 3,200 Hz instantaneous touch sampling and 300 Hz ten-finger touch sampling, supports 1.07 billion colors, and is protected by Schott Diamond Shield glass.

In terms of performance, the iQOO Z11 Turbo is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor and is paired with a self-developed auxiliary chip, Q2, dedicated to gaming performance scheduling and display optimization. The device uses LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage, along with a large-area VC liquid-cooling system. Official benchmark scores exceed 3.59 million points. In gaming tests, mainstream open-world mobile games achieve an average frame rate of around 60 fps, with overall power consumption controlled at approximately 4.54 W.

For battery life, the new model is equipped with a 7,600 mAh battery using a second-generation semi-solid-state design. According to iQOO, the battery maintains relatively stable discharge performance in both high- and low-temperature environments. Charging-wise, the iQOO Z11 Turbo supports 100 W wired fast charging and offers a direct power supply mode for gaming while charging. The cooling system uses a multi-layer heat-dissipation structure to lower core temperatures and improve heat distribution under heavy loads.

In imaging, the iQOO Z11 Turbo is the first in the Z series to feature a 200-megapixel main camera, supporting 4× lossless zoom and covering commonly used portrait focal lengths such as 50 mm and 85 mm, as well as multi-focal-length Live Photo shooting. The front camera is 32 megapixels and supports 0.8× wide-angle capture.

In terms of appearance and design, the iQOO Z11 Turbo is available in four colors: Canglang Floating Light, Halo Pink, Sky White, and Polar Night Black. The Polar Night Black version uses a fiberglass back, while the other colors use glass backs. The phone adopts an aluminum alloy frame, measures about 74.42 mm in width and 7.9 mm in thickness, weighs around 202 g, and supports IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance.

For connectivity and software, the device integrates a multi-antenna design to improve connection stability in complex network environments. On the software side, the iQOO Z11 Turbo comes preinstalled with OriginOS 6, introducing new smoothness optimizations and animation effects, along with multiple AI features for everyday scenarios such as search and sharing. Source

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DJI releases the DJI RS 5 lightweight commercial gimbal

DJI today officially unveiled its new lightweight commercial gimbal, the DJI RS 5, priced at RMB 3,099 for the standard version and RMB 3,899 for the combo kit.

According to DJI, the RS 5 introduces a brand-new RS Enhanced Intelligent Tracking Module, expanding tracking subjects from people to multiple categories such as vehicles and pets. DJI claims the maximum recognition distance for human tracking reaches up to 10 meters, and the system can re-lock onto the subject even if it briefly leaves the frame. The module attaches magnetically and supports tap-to-select or box-select tracking on the touchscreen. Combined with assisted composition, it significantly lowers the barrier for complex camera movements.

In terms of stabilization and power, the DJI RS 5 delivers up to a 50% increase in peak motor torque compared to the previous generation. Together with the fifth-generation RS stabilization algorithm, it provides more stable footage during fast rotations, motion shooting, and vertical filming scenarios. On the control side, the new model supports a native electronic control handle adapter, making one-handed and low-angle shooting easier, and adds a Z-axis stabilization indicator to provide real-time feedback on vertical shake to help users adjust their walking pace.

Battery life and body design have also been enhanced. Charging speed is increased by 60%, allowing a full charge in about one hour. The standard battery offers around 14 hours of runtime, which can be extended to up to 30 hours with the BG70 high-capacity battery grip. The gimbal weighs approximately 1.46 kg, supports third-generation native horizontal/vertical switching, and has a maximum payload of 3 kg, covering most mainstream mirrorless camera and lens combinations.

In terms of expandability, the DJI RS 5 natively supports the Focus Pro motor and the DJI SDR video transmission system, features a built-in RSA communication interface, and is compatible with a wide range of official and third-party accessories. DJI also opens up the DJI RS SDK, allowing developers to customize additional professional features. Source

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MediaTek announces the Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500 chips

On January 15, MediaTek announced the Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500 chipsets. Both chips are deeply optimized at the hardware level for generative inference and multimodal models, with native support for major global large language models (LLMs / MLLMs) and Stable Diffusion image generation models. They also introduce AI-powered ultra-clear telephoto algorithms, the Dimensity AI semantic segmentation engine, and AI reflection and flare removal technology. In addition, the chips support on-device AI enhancements for Live Photos and photo editing, as well as AI-powered summaries for calls, meetings, and document content based on local AI computing capabilities.

The Dimensity 9500s is built on TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process, integrating more than 29 billion transistors. It features a flagship all–big-core CPU architecture and includes a Cortex-X925 ultra-big core. MediaTek states that, combined with the second-generation Dimensity scheduling engine and advanced memory compression technology, the chip delivers significant improvements in performance scheduling efficiency and app launch speeds. The Dimensity 9500s also supports ray tracing, 8K HDR video, on-device AI computing, as well as 5G and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity.

Targeting the “light flagship” segment, the Dimensity 8500 also adopts a second-generation all–big-core CPU architecture and is manufactured using TSMC’s N4P process. CPU performance is up 7% over the previous generation, GPU performance is improved by 25%, and it comes with a quad-channel memory configuration. The Dimensity 8500 likewise supports ray tracing and further enhances AI capabilities for voice and imaging. Source

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The Philippines grants visa-free entry to Chinese travelers

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has announced a visa-free policy for Chinese citizens. Starting from January 16, 2026, Chinese passport holders will be allowed to enter the Philippines without a visa for stays of up to 14 days. This policy applies only to tourists entering through Manila and Cebu airports, and the 14-day stay period is non-extendable. Source

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Qwen announces the launch of AI-powered lifestyle shopping features

On January 15, the Qwen app announced full integration with Alibaba ecosystem services including Taobao, Alipay, and Taobao Instant Delivery, opening beta access to AI-powered shopping and lifestyle services for all users.

According to the official introduction, the Qwen app now enables unified operations such as ordering food delivery, AI-assisted shopping, and booking flights directly within the chat interface. More than 400 new features have been launched, with deep integration into Alipay’s government services and Fliggy’s travel services, along with the release of a complete feature list. A new “Task Assistant” feature has also been added to support intelligent planning and execution of multi-step complex tasks. Source

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Apple announces Apple Pay support for Visa cards

On January 15, Apple announced the expansion of Apple Pay’s cross-border payment support. When traveling abroad, users in mainland China can use locally issued Visa credit and debit cards to make payments at offline merchants and online scenarios that support contactless payments.

At present, Visa credit cards issued by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, China CITIC Bank, Ping An Bank, and Industrial Bank, as well as Visa debit cards issued by China CITIC Bank, already support this feature. After adding these cards to the Apple Wallet app, users can make cross-border payments via Apple Pay.

In addition, Visa credit cards issued by institutions such as Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China Construction Bank, China Minsheng Bank, and China Everbright Bank are expected to join the list of supported cards in the coming months. Mastercard has also stated that it plans to enable Apple Pay support for Chinese cardholders of some issuing banks in the coming months. Source

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Google Gemini now rolls out “Personal Intelligence”

On January 14, Google announced that a new feature called “Personal Intelligence” has been opened for testing to individual accounts. This feature can integrate information from apps such as Gmail and Google Photos, helping Gemini understand contextual relationships without explicit instructions, enabling the chatbot to comprehend user data across apps and provide responses that better match personal situations.

The feature will be rolled out first to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the United States, and will later be added to Google Search’s AI Mode. To reduce potential risks, “Personal Intelligence” is turned off by default.

Josh Woodward, Vice President of Google Labs and the Gemini app, said that the test version may still produce judgment errors and encouraged users to actively provide feedback. In scenarios involving changes in relationships or complex personal interests, Gemini may still struggle to accurately grasp timing and context. In sensitive areas such as health, Gemini will not make proactive inferences and will only discuss based on existing data when users explicitly ask questions.

In addition, Google stated that it will not directly use users’ Gmail content or photo libraries to train models. Only some interaction data, such as user prompts and model responses, will be used to gradually optimize feature performance. Source

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Microsoft to remove the Collections feature from Microsoft Edge

Microsoft recently notified users in the latest Microsoft Edge Dev build that it plans to remove the “Collections” feature from the browser. After the change is implemented, users will no longer be able to add new content to Collections.

For existing data, Microsoft is offering limited migration options. Users can move all web pages saved in Collections to Favorites (bookmarks), but this method will only preserve the page links and will not migrate any images or notes previously added. To fully retain images and notes, users must manually export their Collections data as a CSV file for offline storage. Microsoft warns that if the export is not completed in advance, the related data will be removed from user accounts later and may be permanently lost.

According to public information, the Edge Collections feature was first introduced in 2020, allowing users to save web pages, images, and notes in one place, commonly used for travel planning, research organization, and shopping lists. At present, Microsoft has not issued an official announcement regarding the removal of this feature. However, as the notice has already appeared in the Dev version, users are advised to back up their data as soon as possible to prepare for potential future product changes. Source