Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones News - Page 1

Apple's currently testing the iOS 17.5 software update ahead of what is likely to be a release to the public within the next few weeks. It's already been testing the update for some time now, but the latest beta release brings a new feature that we didn't see coming and can make a big difference to the way people enjoy the News app.

According to a new report, the iOS 17.5 Release Candidate build that was made available to developers recently includes a new feature that will allow people to use the News app when they don't have an internet connection.

As 9to5Mac notes, Apple News currently stops working when there is no internet connection unless a user intentionally makes specific stories available for offline viewing. However, the iOS 17.5 update looks set to change that by offering the full news experience even when no connection is available.

If you're an Apple Card owner who also happened to have asked for one of those titanium cards to go with it, you're probably starting to notice that it's getting ready to expire. The Apple Card launched back in 2019 in the United States and remains only available in that country. Now, the first cards are starting to expire and Apple is ready to ship new ones. But it isn't as easy as just cutting up your old one and getting on with your day.

Apple has started to contact Apple Card owners to alert them that they will need a new physical card. The company says that it will send a replacement card to billing addresses within the next couple of weeks. But those cards will also come with a prepaid shipping label so that customers can send their old Apple Card back to be recycled. As it turns out, having titanium recycled isn't as easy as you might think.

Apple has confirmed that the previous card will stop working at its expiry date while the new card can be activated as soon as it arrives.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been Apple CEO since 2011 when then-CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs stood aside as a result of the ill health that would ultimately kill him. Since then Apple has seen unprecedented success including huge iPhone sales, the entry into new markets like the Apple Watch and now Apple Vision Pro, and more. But it's a fact that Tim Cook won't be able to stick around forever and Apple is likely already starting to look at who could be a likely replacement. According to one report, there's one man in particular that seems most likely to take over.

Writing for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman suggests that while any imminent change could see the arrival of Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams in the top job, Apple is making plans beyond then - and it doesn't expect that Cook is going away any time soon.

Gurman says that Apple does have Jeff Williams in line should Cook step aside sooner rather than later, citing people familiar with Apple's inner workings. However, Williams is 61 this year which means that he isn't all that much younger than Cook who turns 64 later in 2024. That means that Williams is unlikely to be a long-term replacement for Cook, which means that Apple will have plans for a more permanent solution.

Back when Apple started to use the Air name with the MacBook Air and original iPad Air, it was used as a way to symbolize just how thin and light the devices were. It made a ton of sense and it's remained that way for years. However, as the rest of Apple's tablet and laptop lineups have continued to also shrink in size and weight, things have started to get a little more complicated. Now, the release of the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air have proved that point once more.

As noticed by MacRumors, the new M4 iPad Pro is actually lighter than the M2 iPad Air, something that seems strange when you remember that the iPad Air is supposed to be the thin and light tablet of the two.

To put things into perspective, the 13-inch iPad Pro weighs just 1.28 points or 579 grams whereas the 13-inch iPad Air comes in at 1.36 pounds or 617 grams. Those who prefer their tablets to be a little on the smaller side will notice that the 11-inch iPad Pro weighs just 0.98 pounds or 444 grams, while the 11-inch iPad Air measures 1.02 pounds or 462 grabs.

When Apple announced the new M4 iPad Air and a revamped M2 iPad Air, including the all-new 13-inch display option, the company didn't make a big deal about the battery life that buyers can expect from either one. Apple did however note that the M4 chip is more power efficient than the previous-generation M-series chips, but that was as far as things got. So it's perhaps interesting that Apple's published battery life for the new iPads is essentially the same as it has been for years.

As MacRumors points out, Apple says that the new iPads both manage the same 10 hours of battery life that the company has been advertising for years, and that's notable given the fact that both of these tablets now have better, more power-efficient chips than the models that they replaced. It's notable that the new chips are also faster of course, so there's a trade-off to be made there.

The new M4 chip is built on a second-generation 3nm manufacturing process which means that it's more power efficient than even the M3 that came before it. It also has six efficiency cores which is two more than the M2 that was in the 2022 iPad Pro that this new model replaces. The tandem OLED display is also thought to be more energy efficient, all things that might have been expected to allow Apple to save some battery life and increase performance.

The new M4 iPad Pro and a refreshed M2 iPad Air are now available for preorder after they were announced during the Let Loose event yesterday. The event was a big one despite its relatively short length, unveiling not only the new tablets but also a new Apple Pencil Pro and a refreshed Magic Keyboard. All of those new things are now available for preorder and they'll officially go on sale on May 15. But those who choose to pick up a new iPad Pro or iPad Air won't get something that Apple device buyers have become so used to.

That thing isn't something that's a big deal but it's something we're so familiar with. The thing? The familiar Apple stickers that have been included in boxes for decades at this point.

The news hasn't been confirmed by Apple but a 9to5Mac report based on a memo that has been distributed to Apple Store teams notes that there will be no stickers included in any of the new iPad boxes.

Apple announced the brand-new M4 iPad Pro yesterday and it brings with it some big upgrades, not least that superfast M4 chip that everyone's talking about. But the thing that most people will notice first is likely to be the new OLED display and it's something that Apple focused on heavily, too. But there's one feature that we would have liked to have seen arrive that was sadly missing - an always-on display like the iPhone 15 Pro.

An always-on display was never seriously rumored for the arrival of the new iPad Pro but the news that it would be using an OLED display similar to the iPhone had given some hope that Apple might spring a surprise. Now, Apple has published technical specifications for the new iPads and has confirmed that the new OLED display features a variable refresh rate that can go as high as 120Hz and fall to just 10Hz. And as impressive that is, and as much battery life it could help the iPad save, it doesn't go as low as the iPhone 15 Pro display's 1Hz. And it's that 1Hz refresh rate that is needed to offer an always-on display.

The iPad Pro has offered a 10Hz refresh rate since 2017 with the tablet fluctuating between 24Hz and 120Hz depending on what the device is being used for at the time. The high refresh rate is useful for high-speed on-screen content and fluid animations, but refreshing the display that many times per second can impact the battery life terribly. Moving to a 10Hz lower refresh rate will help Apple save battery life to be sure, but 1Hz would have been even better.

Apple announced the brand-new M4 iPad Pro yesterday alongside the new M2 iPad Air and the Apple Pencil Pro, not to mention the revamped Apple Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro. There was plenty announced during the event, but it's the M4 iPad Pro that's particularly notable. It's a hugely powerful tablet and one that comes with plenty of RAM and storage. But it turns out that if you pick two particular storage options you'll also get some other things thrown in for good measure, too.

Apple didn't make a big deal out of the news when it announced the M4 iPad Pro, but it's since been discovered that anyone who spends the extra $600 to upgrade from 256GB of storage to the 1TB model (or higher) will also get an additional CPU core and twice as much RAM.

Apple has historically not chosen to give details about what cores the iPad has and how much RAM is offered, but in the case of the M4 it turns out that the base model with 256GB of storage comes with an M4 chip that has a 9-core CPU. But if you then choose to buy a 1TB or 2TB storage option you'll actually get an M4 chip that has a 10-core CPU instead. You'll still get the same number of GPU cores so there is nothing of note there, but it's interesting that Apple is putting two versions of the same M4 chip into the same tablet here.

It's impossible to miss the fact that Apple announced the new M4 iPad and M2 iPad Air yesterday alongside a new Apple Pencil Pro and a refreshed Magic Keyboard, but did you know that Google also announced a new product? You probably didn't, because it chose to announce it on the same day that Apple sucked all the air out of the room. Which is a shame, because the phone is actually pretty good.

The Pixel 8a was a phone that we'd seen leaked here and there in recent weeks, a phone that offers people the chance to get their hands on a new phone with high-end features at a price that doesn't cost high-end figures. The Pixel 8a is sure to be a popular device, as well as it should because it has a ton of features that make for a great experience. And at $499, it's going to be hard to beat.

Google's Pixel 8a features a new Actua display that measures 6.1 inches. It has a high-speed 120Hz refresh rate and is 40% brighter than the display that was already a solid option in last year's Pixel 7a. The good news doesn't end there, either, with a new 256GB storage option available for those who want it.

Apple has unveiled the new iPad Pro line-up, powered by the company's new 3-nanometer M4 chip. Available in two sizes, 13-inch and 11-inch, both feature the company's new 6K resolution Ultra Retina XDR display built with OLED technology.

Each iPad Pro uses two OLED panels to combine the light to "phenomenal full-screen brightness." We're talking 1000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR content and 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR.

"Tandem OLED technology enables sub-millisecond control over the color and luminance of each pixel, taking XDR precision further than ever," Apple writes. "Specular highlights in photos and video appear even brighter, and there's more detail in shadows and low light than ever before on iPad - all while delivering even more responsiveness to content in motion."