Category: MOBILE

Google surprised us all by announcing a Pixel event in August, instead of October. The Pixel 9 series, which will feature three phones for the first time, is coming on August 13!

The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is official. It packs a 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED, and the Snapdragon 695 SoC. The Nord CE4 Lite is equipped with a battery with 10% higher capacity, 5,500mAh. That is the capacity for the Indian model. The global version has a 5,110mAh battery instead (110mAh more than the CE 3 Lite). Either way, charging has been boosted a bit to 80W, so a full 100% still takes a reasonable amount of time – 52 minutes on the 5,500mAh variant. This is a very versatile phone. It has a microSD slot for extra storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo speakers with 300% Ultra Volume Mode. And you can share some of that large battery with the 5W reverse charging mode.

Pre-orders for the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite start today in Europe. The phone is available in one configuration (8/256GB) and costs €330. Make that €280 if you get the early bird deal. The situation in India is slightly different and the Nord CE4 Lite goes directly to open sales starting on June 27 (Thursday). The base 8/128GB model has an MSRP of ₹21,000.

Also official is the vivo Y28s. The smartphone is built around a 6.56″ HD+ 90Hz LCD with a Dimenisty 6300 SoC and 8GB of RAM. There’s a 5,000mAh battery and IP64 rating. The vivo Y28s 5G will be available in Mocha Brown and Twinkling Purple colors, but its pricing and availability are yet to be detailed.

And yet another phone arrived this week – the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro. Some of its highlights are the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, up to 24GB of RAM, and a potent 6,100mAh battery. OnePlus Ace 3 Pro comes in Porcelain White, Green Field and Titanium Silver colors. Pricing starts at CNY 3,199 ($440) for the 12/256GB model.

And would you believe it, another phone is official this week – the Motorola S50 Neo for China or G85 for Europe. Motorola unveiled the Razr 50 and Razr 50 Ultra and later made both official. The S50 Neo or G85 came alongside. It has a Snapdragon 6s Gen 3, a curved 6.7-inch pOLED display (FHD+ 120Hz), and a 5,000 mAh battery with 30W charging.

The Redmi Note 14 Pro may not have a 200MP camera. Instead, the phone will go with a 50MP sensor, hopefully a bigger one. The Redmi Note 14 Pro will also apparently have a “1.5K” resolution screen, just like the Note 13 Pro.

A pretty wild rumor out of Samsung’s home of Korea today claims the company is thinking about using MediaTek Dimensity chips for the Galaxy S25 family which is due to launch next year in January. Not just MediaTek chips, mind, but MediaTek Dimensity chips (presumably the Dimensity 9400) alongside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Samsung’s own Exynos 2500. So if this pans out (and that’s a huge if), then the next flagship family from the Korean brand could have three different SoCs in various markets.

On the metaphorical eve of the Galaxy Z Fold6 announcement (July 10), Samsung has released an infographic, dedicated to the progress of its Fold series.

It goes device by device, starting with the Galaxy Fold of 2019, and ending with the Galaxy Z Fold5. The theme of the infographic is the reduction of thickness and weight while retaining structural integrity.

The theme strongly suggests a thinner and lighter Galaxy Z Fold6 is coming in two weeks.

Rumors have suggested as much, and it’s logical to assume that Samsung will aim for a lower weight. Per reports, the Galaxy Z Fold6 will weight 239g – the same as the OnePlus Open.

Have a read through the full infographic in the link below.

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The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into effect back in May of 2023 targeting big tech companies including Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Google, Bytedance, Meta, and Microsoft. The EU Commission designated Apple as a gatekeeper under several core platform services including, operating systems (iOS and iPadOS), messaging platform (iMessage), and intermediation (App Store). The EU has now charged Apple with violating the DMA due to its anti-steering policies towards app developers.

AltStore PAL third-party iOS app store

As per the EU Commission’s press release, “Apple does not fully allow steering” which hinders developers from reaching iOS customers outside of the App Store. The EU is demanding Apple allow developers to steer consumers to alternative marketplaces outside the App Store without additional taxes.

We are concerned that Apple designed its new business model to discourage app developers and end users from taking advantage of the opportunities afforded to them by the DMA. The letter of the DMA is clear: gatekeepers have to allow for alternative app stores to establish themselves on their platforms; and for consumers to be fully informed about the offers available to them. So that they can freely choose where they want to source their apps, and at what conditions. – Margrethe Vestager (European Commissioner for Competition)

Apple opened up iOS and iPadOS to third party stores in the EU earlier this year but Cupertino still charges developers a core technology fee of €0.50 per download for apps that receive over 1 million downloads and an additional 3% fee for using Apple’s payment processor.

Apple has until March 2025 to comply with the DMA. Failure to do so will result in a 10% fine on Apple’s global revenue which would amount to $38 billion(€35.4B). Repeated violations will raise the fine to 20% of global revenues.

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Apple released its Final Cut Camera app for iOS on the App Store today offering precise manual control over video capture with ISO, shutter speed, white balance and manual focus. The free app lets users customize video resolution (720p, 1080p or 4K) and framerate (24fps, 30fps, and 60fps).

Final Cut Camera app for iOS

Final Cut Camera supports video recording in HEVC (H.265) and ProRes with Log color encoding with the latter limited to iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max devices. The user interface also shows your iPhone’s battery percentage and remaining storage.

Users who own an iPad and have an active Final Cut Pro for iPad subscription can also access Live Multicam, which lets you remote preview, control and sync up to four iPads and iPhones. You can then get a live preview and toggle all of the video shooting controls from your iPad while filming with your iPhone.

Final Cut Camera app

Apple revealed iOS 18 at the WWDC 2024 earlier this month, promising plenty of AI-infused features. The beta OS is already seeding to developers, and one of them decided to benchmark the CoreML engine, which is used for machine learning.

According to user @lafaiel on X, the machine learning score improved by 25% after an update to iOS 18.

The phone used was an iPhone 15 Pro Max that scored 6,249 in the Geekbench ML Score on iOS 17.5.1 and increased to 7,816 once the phone was updated to iOS 18. While the raw numbers do suggest a 25% increase, real-life improvements are not that easily quantifiable, though.

Nevertheless, these results clearly show improvement in machine learning, one of the tools needed to achieve the artificial intelligence that so many users and companies desire in their phones. The iPhone 16 series should arrive in September, alongside the stable iOS 18 for older iPhones.

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Father’s Day is this weekend and Samsung is celebrating with some interesting offers on phones, tablets, laptops and other gadgets. Here are the ones that caught our attention.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra gets a free storage upgrade, so the 512GB model costs what the 256GB one normally does – $1,300. And while we’ve seen better deals for a 512GB Ultra, Samsung has a generous trade-in program. An S23 Ultra is valued at $750 credit, the S23+ and the older S22 Ultra will fetch $600. Even an old Galaxy S21 Ultra or Note20 Ultra can turn into a $550 discount when traded in.

You can pair the purchase with a watch (up to $190 off a Galaxy Watch6, up to $240 off a Watch6 Classic) or earbuds ($130 off Galaxy Buds2 Pro). Note that the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event will likely bring new watches and buds. Still, with a higher than 50% discount, these could be great picks.

Then there are the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ and Tab S9 Ultra. We are waiting for the Tab S10 generation to be released in a couple of months, but the outgoing models are worth a look due to discounts and freebies.

The Tab S9+ and Tab S9 Ultra are $100 and $150 off, respectively, with up to $700 and $800 trade-in credit available. Even better, you get a free Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ (Wi-Fi, 64GB), which is normally worth around $200. Alternatively, you can get the same discounts on the Galaxy Watch6/Watch6 Classic or Galaxy Buds2 Pro.

We looked at a number of Copilot+ laptops with Snapdragon X chipsets recently. Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge uses the Snapdragon X Elite chip for both sizes, 14” and 16”. Both have 3K Dynamic AMOLED 2x displays (120Hz), a pair of USB-C 4.0 ports and one USB-A 3.2, an HDMI 2.1 and headphone/mic combo jack, plus a microSD slot.

If you pre-order now, you will get a 50” Crystal UHD DU7200 smart TV (Tizen), which usually goes for $380. This is a 4K TV, which can be paired with a Q-series or an S-series Samsung soundbar for better audio.

You may want to pair the laptop with something like the ViewFinity 4K monitor. It has a USB-C, so power and video are handled with a single cable. There is an Ethernet port and a few extra USB ports here too, for a really clean setup. A built-in KVM switch is available, so a second PC can be attached through a DisplayPort link. The stand is height adjustable, can tilt and swivel, it can even be rotated 90°.

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Oppo’s Reno12 and Reno12 Pro got official in China last month, and now it’s almost time for the global models to be unveiled as well. The grand event will take place in Ibiza, Spain, on June 18, and Oppo is inviting us to its “A.Island”. Get it? Ibiza is an island, and if you add the letter A to the world Island you get… AI!

So it’s pretty clear to us that AI will be a huge part of the unveiling event. The company’s teaser image below advertises AI Portrait and AI LinkBoost, but many more GenAI features are promised for these phones.

The global Reno12 and Reno12 Pro are launching in Europe first, with more markets to follow. They feature a “futuristic fluid” design, which blends “aesthetic appeal with technological innovation”, Oppo’s press release says.

Aside from the phones, expect next week’s event to also feature “a variety of IoT products, including wearables” and TWS earbuds.

The global Reno12 and Reno12 Pro seem to be slightly downgraded versions of their Chinese counterparts, according to recent leaks and rumors. The Pro is expected to be priced at around €600.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is set for June 10, and unsurprisingly, AI is going to be the theme of all of the announcements, which will include iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, and visionOS 2.

According to rumors, Apple will be redefining the AI acronym to stand for “Apple Intelligence” rather than “Artificial Intelligence”. As far as we know, AI tools will be coming to the iPhone, iPad and Mac, and these are likely to be powered by OpenAI and its ChatGPT models.

According to industry insiders, Apple’s initial wave of AI will use prioritize on-device processing and only rely on the cloud when necessary to minimize privacy issues. Many of the features will initially be released as opt-in beta programs and will require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer or an iPad/Mac with an M1 chip or newer.

Reportedly, the focus will be on convenience features to simplify and automate daily tasks rather than image and video generation. AI will thus be added to many of Apple own apps. Some highlights of alleged features include a summary feature for web pages, notes, messages and notifications, reply suggestions for emails and texts, automatic transcription, and potential generation of summaries for voice memos.

Siri is expected to get a lot smarter and have precise control over app features and actions. First-party apps will first, with some third-party app integration expected for next year. The Photos app is also expected to have enhanced editing features, including the removal of objects and people. AI-created emojis based on text on the fly will probably be a thing. And Xcode is likely to get some AI-powered code autocompletion features.

In no particular order, here are some other expected software upgrades outside of AI:

• iOS 18 Home Screen: Ability to freely place icons and change icon colors.
• Control Center: New interface for rearranging shortcut buttons and multiple pages, upgraded music widget, and smart home controls.
• Settings App: Better organization and navigation and more reliable search across iOS, iPadOs and macOS.
• Messages App: RCS support, scheduled messages, ability to trigger effects with individual words and colorful Tapback icons.
• Passwords App: A new password manager and autofill app to replace the iCloud Keychain feature.
• Calculator App: Finally coming to iPad and now with a new and unified look across devices.
• Calendar App: New data integration from the Reminders app.
• Health App: Better blood pressure data handling and possibly hypertension detection, hearing test support with AirPods and tailored features for pregnant users.
• WatchOS 11: New Siri interface with response formatting based on queries, major changes to key apps like Fitness.
• Safari on macOS 15: Minor changes including strengthened privacy measures.
• New Wallpaper Packs: With references to old icon versions and designs on both iOS and macOS.
• visionOS 2: The OS for the Vision Pro will be updated to include new environments, the Passwords app and some iPad versions of apps.

While we don’t expect any new hardware announcements at WWDC 24, there might be some teasers. To reiterate, WWDC 24 will run from June 10 to June 14, with the keynote set for 10 AM PDT on June 10.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch FE has been leaking a lot in the past few days, which may mean its official introduction will happen earlier than the initially anticipated announcement in July alongside the Galaxy Watch7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra.

Now Samsung itself has practically confirmed the existence of the Watch FE yet again, by offering an intriguing promo over in Belgium, through its official website over there. If you buy a Galaxy S24, S24+, or S24 Ultra until June 30, with a subscription plan from Orange or VOO, you will get a Galaxy Watch FE for free from Samsung.

The steps to take advantage of this offer are very simple. First buy the phone from a participating store on or before June 30, then register it on Samsung’s website until August 30, and you will get the free watch.

If you’re wondering what the participating stores are, these are Samsung.com itself, Samsung offline stores, Orange and VOO stores, and Carrefour stores. Notably, purchases made at Amazon, Bol.com, Gomibo, and Coolblue are not eligible.

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Right now, there is no Realme GT6, but in a few weeks’ time it looks like there will be two separate devices available, both called that, but not the same. Confused yet? The global version of the GT6 is due to be unveiled on June 20, as revealed last week by a Realme VP. This is rumored to be a rebranding of the Chinese Realme GT Neo6.

But there will also be a GT6 launching in China, with a higher-end SoC. And it is the specs of this one that got outed today. The Chinese GT6 is said to sport the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC (compared with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 for the global model).

Realme GT Neo6

It will also allegedly feature a “1.5K” flat OLED screen manufactured by BOE, a metal frame, and a 50 MP main rear camera. It will have a 6,000 mAh battery with support for 100W fast wired charging.

The Chinese GT6 is expected to make its debut either this month or in July, as apparently the device maker has moved up its launch due to the earlier than usual expected introduction of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in October.

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