Category: MOBILE

12.2 million smartphones were shipped in the Middle East (excluding Turkey) in the final quarter of 2023 – that is a 24% increase compared to the same period of the year before, according to research published by Canalys. 2023 as a whole brought an 11% increase in shipments compared to 2022 for a total of 42.5 million.

Samsung maintains its position as the #1 vendor, though it is no longer as dominant as it was in previous years. Transsion (Tecno, Infinix, iTel), Xiaomi (including Redmi and Poco) and Apple had very similar volumes in Q4 and we may see some reshuffling.

Canalys credits end-of-season sales events like the Dubai Shopping Festival, plus Black Friday and Yellow Friday from Amazon and Noon. The UAE showed a healthy 22% growth, which is actually on the smaller end of the scale.

Xiaomi has been expanding its presence in brick and mortar stores in the UAE. For example, Xiaomi phones are now offered in twelve Sharaf DG, up from four. Models like the Redmi 12C proved particularly popular.

Iraq saw a massive 86% surge in shipments as Transsion and Xiaomi ran marketing campaigns aimed at a younger audience. Honor’s Xa and Xb series, along with flagships like the Magic 5 Pro are bringing more and more attention to the new brand in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

While Motorola didn’t make the Top 5, the company saw an impressive 49% growth in the region. Moto phones are available in several countries in the Middle East and Africa, but the company is looking to expand to over 10 new oens.

Looking forward, Canalys’ prognosis for 2024 is a positive one. The analysts also see the thriving tourism section as a driver for growth: “In the long-term, the imminent introduction of a unified GCC tourist visa, likely to occur in 2024 or 2025, is expected to boost visitors, potentially benefiting various sectors, particularly tourism-related services. A surge in tourism could create demand for the latest devices and technology,” said Canalys Senior Consultant Manish Pravinkumar.

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Apple has launched its last affordable iPhone SE in 2022, and the previous one before that in 2020, but it looks like the company will skip a year this time around and release the next one in 2025. That’s what a new report from Korea reiterates today.

When it does launch, the next iPhone SE will have a feature previously unseen in this affordable range: an OLED screen. All of the previous iPhone SE models were fitted with LCD panels instead, but now the cheapest iPhone will finally be making the jump.

The report claims three display makers are currently fighting for Apple’s orders for the next iPhone SE, with Samsung offering (perhaps surprisingly) the lowest price per panel of $30, BOE offering a price of $35, while Tianma went with $40. None have won the contract yet, as Apple has reportedly countered by offering just $20 per panel, so negotiations are still ongoing.

The panels to be used in the next SE will be similar to those seen in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14. So we should expect the 2025 iPhone SE to have a 6.1-inch screen with 1170×2532 resolution, 1,200-nit peak brightness, and maybe even Ceramic Shield glass on top (though that’s not confirmed and could be skipped to save some money on the full package).

Today’s Korean report says both Samsung Display and BOE have secured good yields for these panels, while Tianma is not likely to be a serious contender as its tech lags behind the competition. Samsung’s advantage (and probably the reason it offered the cheapest price) is that it was making the iPhone 14 panels so it can use all of the tooling for that, or even existing panel inventory if there is any.

Samsung can also afford to go low for the SE in a bid to snub BOE since it can make more profits off of the panels for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 series. Meanwhile, BOE needs all the additional orders it can get, since last year it lost a good opportunity to increase its OLED panel production capacity when it faced difficulties making iPhone 15 panels, thus giving away more orders to Samsung Display.

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In an official statement from Nothing, the company clarified that the upcoming midranger, Nothing Phone (2a), won’t be coming to the US. At least not to regular consumers, similarly to the Nothing Phone (1). But at least the latter was available for purchase as part of a wider beta program.

Now, Nothing plans to release the Phone (2a) only to certain developers working on the recently announced Glyph Developer Kit. This means that you won’t be able to buy it from Amazon, Best Buy, etc.

In case you are outside of the US and you are excited about the March 5 release, the tipster Yogesh Brar shared some key specs.

The handset will feature a 6.7-inch OLED panel, Dimensity 7200 Ultra SoC, 50MP main camera joined by a 50MP ultrawide camera and a 32MP selfie shooter. It will boot Nothing OS 2.5 on top of Android 14 out of the box and support 45W of fast charging.

The rumored launch price in India is INR 30,000 (~$360) but it remains to be seen how much it will cost in Europe, for example.

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Google released the Reading mode app back in 2020 and with the latest update, the company made the app a whole lot more useful. The app now works in Gmail, Threads and X. It also works with other social media and email apps.

Ever since Google ruined Assistant’s “Read aloud” functionality a few weeks ago, I switched to their Reading Mode app and have been very happy with it. It’s even better than Assistant.

You swipe up from the bottom with two fingers to instantly activate it. Brilliant.

I recorded… pic.twitter.com/gwd21XLhhO

— Artem Russakovskii (@ArtemR) December 1, 2023

For those unaware, Reading mode turns every page you view into plain text, making it much easier to read and without distractions. So, Reading mode supporting Gmail and social media apps is a big step in the right direction.

However, developers note that the app may not work well with all social media and email apps, but it will probably get the job done. Additionally, the app can read it out loud, if you are on the go and listening is the better option.

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The Galaxy S24 family is here, and if you ask us, each device of the trio has its own spot under the sun. Traditionally, the Plus model tends to get the least attention from buyers, and honestly, we don’t expect things to be any different this year. However, as we’ve already said on a few occasions this year, the S24+ is arguably closer to the Ultra than even in terms of features. A large QHD display and an almost identical-size 4,900 mAh battery sound pretty enticing. All the while, the S24+ is still quite a bit cheaper than the S24 Ultra, while the upsell from a vanilla S24 to an S24+ isn’t quite as bad.

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Still, the Galaxy S24 maintains its clear advantage if you are after a compact flagship device. And even if you don’t mind a bigger device, the S24 is still the cheapest way to get into the shiny new S24 family with its Galaxy AI and seven years of software updates. Let’s do a bit of a comparison for anyone out there wondering between the Galaxy S24 and the S24+.

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the text further down below.

Size comparison

Samsung didn’t substantially change the footprint of either the S24 or the S24+ compared to last year. The Korean giant managed to fit slightly larger displays (6.2-inch and 6.7-inch, respectively), mostly thanks to the space savings afforded by LTPO tech.

The difference in size between the pair is pretty substantial. The Vanilla Galaxy S24 remains one of the few compact modern flagships on the market. All the while, the S24+ has a display almost the size of that of the S24 Ultra. The S24 is both thinner and shorter than the S24+. They are about the same in terms of thickness, and the difference in weight between the two is about 30 grams. Speaking of which, it is perhaps interesting to note that the S24 Ultra weighs a whopping 232 grams, which is a good 36 grams more than the S24+, making the S24+ a good option for a large-display Samsung flagship that saves on both weight and size.

The styling is identical between the vanilla S24 and the S24+. Other than the size difference, the two are externally identical. They even have the same color options: Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet, Amber Yellow, Jade Green, Sandstone Orange and Sapphire Blue. Some of these are only available straight from Samsung’s store.

This year’s new design detail, shared between the S24 and S24+, is the matte finish. It is particularly visible on the middle frame of the phone.

Speaking of the middle frame, its material has been upgraded from the S23 generation and is now Armor aluminum 2. It is supposed to improve both drop and scratch resistance. Besides that, you still get the excellent Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protective glass on both the phones’ front and back. The new Gorilla Glass Armor remains exclusive to the S24 Ultra this year. Both phones also enjoy a full IP68 ingress protection rating.

Display comparison

Both the S24 and S24+ have excellent Samsung-made, Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels. Both are from the same generation and advertise a whopping 2,600 nits of maximum brightness.

In our standardized testing, the S24 managed 785 nits on the slider and 1,401 nits in auto mode, while the S24+ did 781 nits on the slider and 1,452 nits in auto mode. Once we started to shrink the white patch, the brightness went north of 2,000 nits, so we have no doubt the advertised values are achievable.

Both phones also get LTPO tech this year, which not only helped Samsung fit slightly larger panels in what is basically the same footprint as the S23 and S23+ but also means better dynamic refresh rate control. Samsung’s LTPO tech is excellent, and so is the company’s refresh rate switching logic, even going as far as to match video playback framerate with the display refresh rate.

The only blemish on the otherwise excellent display record seems to be the fact that the S24 and S24+ still rely on 8-bit panels while many competitors have moved on to 10 or even 12-bit panels. But that’s honestly very hard to notice in practice.

Battery life

The Galaxy S24 and S24+ both have bigger batteries compared to the S23 generation. The vanilla S24 has a slight bump of 100 mAh, and its battery is now a nice round 4,000 mAh. The S24+ has added 200 mAh over its predecessor, and its battery pack is now 4,900 mAh. That’s almost as much as the 5,000 mAh of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Samsung didn’t really increase battery capacity this year to achieve better battery endurance, though, but rather to combat the seemingly higher power draw of the new generation of Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips.

Still, compared to the older S23, the vanilla S24 saw a slight bump in its Active Use Score. 12:06 hours out of such a compact phone is good.

As for the S24+, it only managed a slightly higher Active Use Score than the S24, clocking in at 12:30 hours. That might seem odd on the surface, but it starts to make sense once you consider the added strain of driving QHD resolution on a much bigger display.

Charging speed

Like previous generations, the vanilla S24 only gets Samsung’s 25W Super Fast Charging standard. The S24+ is rated for 45W Super Fast Charging, just like the S24 Ultra. In reality, the difference in charging speed between the two, while still notable, is not that dramatic.

In our testing the S24 unit got from zero to 29% in 15 minutes, then 59% in 30 minutes with a full charge taking 1:15 hours. All the while, we managed to charge our S24+ to 41% in 15 minutes, 74% in 30 minutes, and a full charge took 0:58 hours. Using a 25W power adapter with the S24+ will add 10-15 more minutes to the time needed for a full charge, and 30 minutes of charging will net you 60% of charge instead of 74%.

It is worth noting that while the Galaxy S24+ supports the faster 45W charging standard, the cable that comes with the phone is only rated for 3A and is not capable of such speeds. Then again, Samsung seems to sell all of its 45W chargers with an included 5A cable.

Also worth noting is that neither phone comes with a charger in the box, so unless you got one on some sort of promo from your retailer or carrier, you might have to go out and get one. Samsung’s Super Fast Charging is PD-based, so any good PD charger should work, but we would still recommend getting a Samsung one to ensure it has the correct PPS profiles.

Beyond wired charging, both the S24 and S24+ support 15W Qi/PMA wireless charging and 4.5W reverse charging.

Speaker test

Both the Galaxy S24 and S24+ have a hybrid stereo speaker setup with a dedicated bottom-firing speaker on one end and an amplified earpiece acting as the second speaker. Both phones managed a Very Good mark in our testing, which is notably better than the previous S23 generation.

Despite their difference in size, the S24 and S24+ have practically identical audio systems both in terms of loudness and actual sound quality.

You can compare how the two phones sound in controlled acoustic conditions with the samples below. Just make sure you have your headphones on and the volume is at max level.

Performance

After offering the S23 generation only with Qualcomm chips for better or worse, Samsung is now back to its two-chip solution for the S24 and S24+. The S24 Ultra still only gets a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But, depending on where you live, you might either end up with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or an Exynos 2400 inside your S24 or S24+. The latter is far more likely since just the USA, Canada and China get the Qualcomm variant.

At least you get a flagship chipset in both phones, which is arguably a lot more alluring in the smaller S24 since proper flagships in a compact form factor are so hard to come by. Our initial testing batch was done on European S24 and S24+ units running the Exynos 2400 chipset. For reference, our S24 review unit is the 8GB/256GB version, while our S24+ unit is rocking a 12GB/512GB configuration. We would advise you to avoid the base 128GB S24 since that uses slower UFS 3.1 storage.

We are yet to test the Snapdragon version of the S24 and S24+, but preliminary results do show that tis year, Samsung’s chipset seems to be very close in overall performance to Qualcomm’s flagship. Thermals might still be different across the chips, however. Samsung did say that it is upgrading its vapor chamber cooling solutions across the S24 lineup – possibly to account for the increased heat production by the new chipsets.

While the thermal-throttling behavior of the Exynos-equipped S24 and S24+ isn’t terrible by any means, we kind of expected a bit better on average. That being said, the surface of neither phone gets too hot to hold under load and out of the two, the bigger S24+ expectedly seems to handle heat slightly better. Not by a lot, though.

In terms of performance scores, the S24+ and S24 manage almost identical numbers, though the bigger S24+ does post slightly higher results on average. It doesn’t hurt that all Galaxy S24+ units come with 12GB of RAM, whereas the regular S24 is still stuck at 8GB (sans for a particular version in China).

Camera comparison

The Galaxy S24 and S24+ come with what appears to be unchanged camera hardware compared to last year’s models. That includes a somewhat pedestrian but still full-featured triple setup on the back, joined by a better-than-most selfie unit.

• Wide (main): 50MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)GN3, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, f/1.8, 24mm, PDAF, OIS; 4320p@30fps, 2160p@60fps
• Telephoto: 10MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)3K1, 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, f/2.4,67mm, PDAF, OIS; 2160p@60fps
• Ultrawide: 12MP, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, f/2.2, 13mm, fixed focus; 2160p@60fps
• Front camera: 12MP, 1/3.2″, 1.12µm, f/2.2, 26mm, PDAF; 2160p@60fps

It is worth pointing out that, yet again, Samsung refused to upgrade the ultrawide to an autofocusing unit that can double as a macro shooter. That remains an S24 Ultra feature.

Samsung galaxy S24 daylight samples: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x

Samsung galaxy S24+ daylight samples: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x

The S24 and S24+ expectedly capture pretty much identical photos across the board. Photos in broad daylight are hard to fault. They offer great detail, contrast and dynamic range. Colors are on the vibrant side but not off the charts – Samsung’s been done with that overly saturated look for a while now.

Compared to last year’s S23 generation, we would say that the S24 generation introduces a bit more contrasty images, but it’s not a huge difference.

Sharpening has been toned down from the previous generation, and detail has a more natural rendition. The more restrained processing this year has resulted in a bit of a grainier texture. We don’t mind a bit of that luminance noise when it means finer textures and a more organic presentation.

Samsung galaxy S24 low-light samples: 0.6x • 1x • Night mode • 3x

Samsung galaxy S24+ low-light samples: 0.6x • 1x • Night mode • 3x

Expectedly, the S24 and S24+ capture very good low-light images as well. Exposures are well judged, and the dynamic range is nicely wide – there’s no pronounced brightening of shadows or aggressive highlight preservation, but it’s not like there are large swaths of darkness or excessively blown-out highlights. We’d call it a balanced approach.

The grain we saw during the day is present at night as well, though the level of retained detail once again makes us appreciate the trade-off that Samsung’s gone with.

Verdict

The choice between a Galaxy S24 and an S24+ is kind of an odd one. In our experience, most users tend to have a size preference for their phones and the S24 duo is clearly meant to satisfy a different crowd in that regard. Chances are that if you make the wrong choice, you will either end up with a device that is way too small or way too big for you.

So, the only way to end up in a conundrum between the S24 and S2+ seems to require absolutely no size concerns. Also, arriving at this particular choice likely means that you have also considered and rejected getting an older S23 generation device of any size since, at current pricing, you should be able to even pick up an S23 Ultra for as much as a vanilla Galaxy S24. If the S23 generation hasn’t crossed your mind, you should probably consider it first for a better value deal.

With all that out of the way, you may still want to get a Galaxy S24 of some sort. Perhaps the seven years of software support have you excited? Or the new, brighter LTPO displays? Or you can’t wait to experience Galaxy AI? Regardless of the reason, let’s look at your options.

The base 8/128GB Galaxy S24 will set you back about $800/€900/£800/. However, you probably don’t want to be stuck with the slower UFS 3.1 storage, so you might consider the 8/256GB one at $860/€960/£860.

At the same time, the base 12/256GB S24+ will set you back about $1,000/€1,150/£1,000. We are still talking about a serious difference of around 200 bucks.

If you can spare the extra cash, you might as well go for the arguably more futureproof S24+ with 12GB RAM and QHD display.

If saving some money is more important, then the S24 is the way to go. But again, you should probably consider the S23 generation first as it may provide a better value.

The free storage upgrade for the Galaxy S24 series from last week is no longer available. Amazon and Best Buy are still offering their gift cards, but you’re only getting half the storage. Also, the OnePlus 12 and 12R are still on pre-order, nothing has changed there. So, let’s look at some tablets this week instead.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ is a relative newcomer. It’s an entry-level slate, but it has an 11” IPS LCD, a 1,920 x 1,200px (16:10) panel running at 90Hz. It is powered by the Snapdragon 695, so there is a 5G option, but there is no discount on that one. As for the Wi-Fi only slate, you get a free storage upgrade to 128GB (it normally costs $50 more).

Note that the Tab A9+ has a microSD slot, so you can easily add more storage with cards like this one.

But hold on a second. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (the 2022 re-release) has been around for quite a while. It comes bundled with an S Pen for the 10.4” 2,000 x 1,200px LCD (15:9, 60Hz) and supports DeX. This one also has a microSD slot and os powered by a Snapdragon chip. The batteries are effectively the same with 7,040mAh capacity and 15W charging. The Tab A9+ has more speakers, though, four vs. two.

If instead you are on the Apple side of the fence, the Apple iPad (2022) has been discounted too. This one is no spring chicken either, but it does have a USB-C port like current iPhones. It is powered by the Apple A14 and has a 10.9” 60Hz IPS LCD.

You could also pick up a version with LTE connectivity, though that is a pricey upgrade, so make sure you really need it (you can always tether the tablet to your phone). Note that the 2022 iPad comes with two free years of AppleCare+.

But if $250 is what you have to spend and you don’t like the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, there’s always the 2021 Apple iPad. This one has the now-outdated Lightning connector and an older Apple A13 chip. Both this one and the 2022 slate support the original Apple Pencil.

The price of the older Sony WH-1000XM4 varies quite a bit – we’ve seen it as low as $230. However, right now it is $280 and you may as way pay up a bit and get the newer WH-1000XM5. $330 is about as low as they have ever been.

Finally, some tracking tags. For the Galaxy users among you, the SmartTag2 is your entry into the fast-growing SmartThings Find network. These work with Bluetooth and (if your device supports it) UWB.

For Apple users, the AirTag is the one to get. This one also has Bluetooth and UWB, but Apple has UWB support on more of its devices – iPhone 11 and newer (excluding the SE models) and even the Apple Watches Series 6 and newer. As for Samsung, UWB is available on Galaxy S+ and S Ultra and the Z Fold units, the small S and Z phones are left out.

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Each year, Fortune makes a list of the most admirable companies in the world, and Apple gets the top spot for 17 years in a row. The complete list consists of 1,500 companies, 1,000 of which are US-based and 500 of them are non-US firms. All companies have at least $10 billion in revenue.

Of all 1,500 companies, Fortune filtered out only the top earners and narrowed down the list to 680. About 3,700 executives, directors and analysts were then asked to rate each company on the list in various categories – investment value, quality of management, social responsibility, etc.

Apple topped the charts once again with the most points in social responsibility, financial soundness, innovation and global competitiveness. The Cupertino-based tech giant is followed by Microsoft and Amazon. The former got up to second place this year with a top spot in the computer software industry, while Amazon dropped one place but still got excellent scores in internet services and retail.

Notably, although in first place, Apple’s 8.19 score was lower than last year’s 8.65.

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The Tecno Pova 5 Pro came out last August, and its successor is already on the way. According to Tecno itself, the Pova 6 Pro will be made official at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of next month.

It will be the first Tecno phone to come with support for Dolby Atmos, following Tecno and Dolby Laboratories signing a partnership deal for this exact purpose. It’s not just the Pova 6 Pro – other, yet-unnamed members of the upcoming Pova 6 series will get Dolby Atmos too, along with all future Camon and Phantom series devices.

Tecno says this will provide its users with “a breathtaking Dolby Atmos spatial sound experience that you can feel all around you – revealing depth, clarity, and details like never before”. You should expect “moving audio that flows above and all around you”. An “immersive sound experience” is delivered over stereo earbuds or headphones, or the phone’s built-in speakers.

And all of this, as you may already know, isn’t limited to Dolby Atmos content – Dolby Atmos on a phone impacts the sound of all music, games, movies, and shows, providing “a more natural listening experience with crisper dialogue, a more enveloping soundfield, greater subtlety and nuance, maximized loudness without distortion, and consistent playback volume for a variety of content”.

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We finally managed to get our hands on the new Galaxy S24+ and have brought it straight in for review.

Samsung packages just a USB-C cable with its Galaxy phones but some retailers will offer Samsung’s new, rather tiny 25W adapter. Not everyone offers this deal, but Samsung does give you a free upgrade from 256GB to 512GB during the pre-order period, as well as trade-in bonuses and discounts on Samsung services.

Unboxing the Galaxy S24+

The Galaxy S24+ feels like a completely new device – something we couldn’t have imagined saying a few weeks ago. For one, it’s fully matte on all sides. In addition to losing its gloss, the frame is now flatter, though it isn’t razor-sharp, it’s nicely contoured and very comfortable to the touch.

We got the Cobalt Violet and have to say it looks a more saturated purple in pictures than in real life. It’s a very subdued color – let’s call it refined.

The feel of the phone alone makes up perhaps 60% of the ‘new device feel’, it’s what’s inside that makes up the other 40%. The display is a higher resolution at 1440x3120px, and it’s finally an LTPO panel.

The other upgrade is the battery – now 200mAh bigger at 4,900mAh – nearly as big as the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s.

The Galaxy S24 shares the look of the Galaxy S24+ but has a lower-res display. It’s still an LTPO panel. That’s all we have right now, but we’ll bring you more Galaxy S24 content next week!

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ and the Galaxy S24

Today, the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R made their global debut. OnePlus has repeatedly talked about the OnePlus 12’s massive internal cooling system, and a new teardown video lets us see just how big it actually is.

Before we get to it, however, we first need to open up the phone somehow – and that’s done from the back, using a heat gun. This shows us the 50W wireless charger, which, interestingly, makes it the fastest wireless charging phone in North America. The bottom speaker and battery come out next, and then it’s time to gawk at the cooling system – after removing the screen.

It is indeed quite huge, and by “it” we mean them – there are actually two vapor chambers in there stacked on top of each other. This is the largest cooling system ever put in a OnePlus phone.

In the process of tearing the phone down, we also get to see the cameras, the fingerprint sensor, and a lot of interesting looking thermal paste.

At the end, the whole thing is put back together and the phone does turn on, but the screen was damaged in the process of its removal. It’s a worthy sacrifice for us to get to see those vapor chambers, right?