Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones News - Page 1

Samsung has absolutely dominated the foldable smartphone market, with competitor Google and its purported foldable smartphone still waiting in the wings... nowhere to be seen, and now reportedly delayed.

Google was expected to unveil its new foldable products at its recent Google I/O 2022 conference, but it didn't happen. The Elec reports: "Google has postponed the launch of its first foldable smartphone again". Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) has now tweeted: "Hearing from multiple sources in their supply chain that the Google foldable launch was delayed till next spring..."

We don't exactly know why the foldable Pixel was delayed, but rumor has it Google isn't happy with the design of its foldable. Especially in the fact of Samsung and its now third-gen foldable Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable smartphones.

Heading toward the iPhone 15, Apple was rumored to switch its stance on its charging ports for devices, going from the current Lighting Port to USB-C.

Now those rumors appear to have taken a turn as reports indicate that Apple is planning on rolling out Lighting Ports for its AirPods Pro 2 charging case, a switch that will swap out USB-C for Lighting. The news comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who explained in several tweets that the upcoming next-generation AirPods will launch sometime during the second half of 2022, and will feature a Lightning Port.

Previous rumors have indicated that Apple is closing out the Lighting Port on its devices and will switch to USB-C for future iPhones and accessories. However, these are just rumors, and nothing has been confirmed nor denied by Apple. In other AirPods-related news, a 12-year-old boy's eardrums were allegedly ruptured after an amber alert was triggered. More on that story can be found below.

Google has taken to its blog to announce that it's Street View's 15th birthday, and with its birthday comes some new upgrades for users and Street View's camera.

Google explains that Street View originally started as a "far fetched idea" from Google co-founder Larry Page, but now the application is comprised of more than 220 billion images from over 100 countries and territories, which makes up the world's largest 360-degree map. Even though Google Maps and Street View have come further than Google could have imagined when the ideas were first conceived, the company states that it's still planning improvements.

Street View will be getting a new camera system that will allow Street View to keep up with the extremely fast pace the world changes. The camera will weigh less than 15 pounds, be customizable, features lidar, laser scanners, and more. Additionally, the new camera will also be able to fit onto any car, making it easier for Google's partners around the world. Lastly, Google states that the new camera will appear on iconic Street View cars next year.

Motorola has some new smartphones in the works and has recently taken to a Chinese website to tease some of their upcoming hardware.

Operating under Lenovo, Motorola has teased via Weibo some new details about its smartphones while also confirming when one of the devices will be launching. According to the first post by Motorola, one of its upcoming smartphones will be a foldable device that will feature a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Notably, this device will be launching sometime in July 2022.

Furthermore, the company teased another device which is depicted as foldable in the graphic and will also feature a 200 megapixel (MP) camera. According to Engadget, rumors have previously pointed toward Motorola's upcoming 200MP device being called the "Frontier," that's expected to sport 125-watt fast-charging and a 6.67-inch OLED display at a refresh rate of 144Hz. It should be noted that these are just rumors for the time being and that ahead of its launch in July, Motorola is expected to announce official details.

Huawei has just announced its new foldable smartphone is available, introducing the new Mate Xs 2 foldable smartphone with its huge 7.8-inch OLED display.

The new Huawei Mate Xs 2 foldable smartphone rocks a 7.8-inch OLED with a 2480 x 2200 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Huawei announced the new Mate Xs 2 foldable phone earlier this year, but now it's available in China starting now... and then Europe and other western markets.

What makes the Huawei Mate Xs 2 different to the leader of the foldable smartphone race: Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3 -- is that the Chinese manufacturer uses a foldable panel that folds outwards. Samsung, and others, have their displays fold in... keeping the internal (the larger) display protected when closed and in your pocket.

A team of researchers out of Germany has provided evidence of iPhones still being hackable even when powered off.

The researchers come from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany and have been able to identify an exploit that came with a new feature in iOS 15. The new feature allows for the iPhone's "Find My" application to continue running for a few hours after the phone is powered off, which is very helpful for users who have had their device stolen.

The continued tracking is done through the phone's Bluetooth, NFC, and ultra-wideband chips, as all three maintain a lower-power mode despite the phone appearing off. The researchers were able to find an exploit in the Bluetooth firmware that they say could be modified to run malware. However, the conditions for this exploit to present itself need to be favorable, as explained by security researcher Ryan Duff who spoke to Motherboard about the researcher's recently released paper.

However, USB-C ports won't be seen on any iPhone models released later this year and will instead be coming in 2023 at the earliest.

The move is likely due at least in part to looming regulations by the European Union that would mandate tech companies like Apple to adopt USB-C as a standard charging port for portable electronics, benefiting consumers and the environment.

"Mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld video-game consoles and portable speakers, rechargeable via a wired cable, would have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port, regardless of the manufacturer," the recent European Union legislation reads.

The last time that I was reporting on Google's next-gen Android-powered slate: Pixel C, was all the way back in 2015. Well, Google isn't finished with the tablet market... and they're not afraid to show it.

Google has just given the world a sneak peek at their "upcoming Pixel tablet", which is a next-generation Android-based tablet "powered by Google Tensor" and "designed to complement your Pixel phone". Interesting. We should see Google unleash their second-generation Tensor chip inside of the upcoming Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones, and now the upcoming Google Pixel tablet.

It looks like Google will be using a single camera sensor on the back, and a selfie camera up front. There are no more details on the camera sensors, but we're also a year away from launch. I'm sure things are going to change radically between now and then, and Google won't want to show off too much.

Apple has taken to its Newsroom to announce that it will be discontinuing the device that sparked mainstream portable music listening - the iPod.

Original iPod, released October 23, 2001.

The first version of the iPod was released on October 23, 2001, which was only eight and a half months after iTunes was released. In the first fiscal year of the release of the first iPod, Apple sold 376,000 units, which was followed by a steady increase to 937,000 in 2003, then 4.4 million in 2004, and finally 22.4 million units in 2005. The progression of the iPod's unit sales represents the true impact the product had on the market and culture.

Now, Apple has announced that it will be discontinuing its iPod brand after 20 years, which makes the 'iPod' brand the oldest product line to be discontinued by Apple. The tech giant states in its Newsroom article that the "spirit" of the iPod will live on throughout the company's other products, such as the iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, iPad, HomePod mini, and more. Furthermore, Apple states that iPods will remain available while stocks last.

A 17-year-old's movements around Walt Disney World in Florida were tracked by an unknown Apple AirTag that caused panic for the family.

Madison Gaston and her mother, Jennifer Gaston, discovered the presence of the unwanted AirTag when Madison received a notification that informed her that she was being tracked on their way back to their car. The notification said that Maddison had been tracked over the course of four hours, 7.09pm to 11.33pm, and showcased all of the locations she went across the park.

Notably, AirTag's have a feature that is designed to stop "unwarranted tracking", and that feature is alerting a nearby iPhone that the AirTag is nearby/with them. Once Maddison and her mother arrived at their car, they looked for the AirTag on their person and inside the car. After failing to find the AirTag, the two locked their car doors and drove away. Maddison refreshed the tracking and saw that Apple's "helpful" tracking device remained in the parking lot where they were previously parked.