Weekly Tech Wrap: OnePlus 15, Nothing Phone 3a Lite Launched, Instagram Watch History, WhatsApp Passkeys

This week saw the highly anticipated launch of OnePlus 15 in China, with an India release set for November. Among other devices that debuted globally were Nothing Phone 3a Lite and Oppo Find X9 series. In other news, Instagram added the watch history feature, Grammarly rebranded to Superhuman, WhatsApp introduced passkeys in chat backups, and Perplexity AI released Perplexity Patents.

Instagram rolled out a new tool letting users revisit Reels they’ve previously watched. Users can filter by specific dates or ranges and search for Reels from particular accounts. The feature is located in Settings under the Profile section — tap the three-line menu in the top-right corner, then go to Settings > Your activity > Watch history.

OnePlus launched the OnePlus 15 in China, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and featuring a triple 50MP rear camera system plus a 32MP front camera. The device packs a 7,300mAh battery with 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. It sports a 6.78-inch 1.5K BOE Flexible Amoled display with 165Hz refresh rate, 1,800 nits peak brightness, and 330Hz touch sampling.

Oppo unveiled the Find X9 and Find X9 Pro globally this week. Both run on MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 processor. The Pro model has a 6.78-inch 1.5K LTPO display, while the X9 uses a 6.59-inch 1.5K screen. The Find X9 includes a 50MP main, 50MP telephoto, 50MP ultrawide, and 32MP selfie camera. The Pro upgrades to a 200MP periscope telephoto and 50MP front camera. Battery sizes are 7,025mAh (Find X9) and 7,500mAh (Pro).

Nothing, founded by Carl Pei, introduced the Phone 3a Lite. It features a single Glyph Light, MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip, 50MP main camera, 16MP selfie cam, 6.77-inch Full HD+ Amoled screen, and a 5,000mAh battery.

YouTube is using AI to upscale videos under 1,080p for sharper viewing on TVs, web, and mobile. Senior product director Kurt Wilms announced the feature in a blog post, noting 4K upscaling support is coming soon. A Google spokesperson confirmed it will apply across all platforms.

Microsoft Azure’s global outage on Oct. 29 disrupted Microsoft 365, Xbox Live, Minecraft, Copilot, and other services. Issues reported by users included Outlook access, Minecraft logins, and Copilot functionality. Microsoft confirmed that impacts stemmed from the Azure disruption.

Grammarly’s parent company is now Superhuman, with the Grammarly writing tool remaining the core product. The rebrand includes AI platform Coda, Superhuman Mail, and new product Superhuman Go — an agentic, prompt-free AI assistant that works across devices and apps.

WhatsApp now supports passkey-encrypted backups for end-to-end encrypted chats. Users can secure backups with fingerprint, face ID, or screen lock — no passwords or 64-digit keys needed. The same biometric security used for chats now protects backups.

Perplexity AI has released Perplexity Patents, an AI-driven platform for patent search and analysis. CEO Aravind Srinivas introduced it as the “world’s first AI patent research agent,” now in global beta. Through Perplexity Patents, “anybody can access patent intelligence and get clear answers quickly, maintaining context across multiple questions,” the company said.