Mobile Devices - Page 21

You don't need to have been following along with the iPhone rumor mill too much to know that Apple is strongly expected to launch a new iOS 18 software update this fall and it's anticipated that it'll bring with it some big new AI features. The software isn't expected to be announced for a while yet, but we're seeing more and more leaks the closer we get to the big date.

The latest of those leaks comes in the form of back-end code that has been discovered and found to reference an unknown Safari browsing assistant feature. It isn't yet known exactly what that feature will do, although the name might suggest a ChatGPT 4-like ability to have AI search the internet and then collect information and present data based on the results.

The same person who shared the details of the Safari browsing assistant feature also shared that Encrypted Visual Search is part of the back-end code, but again it isn't clear what that does. it's possible that it will be an expansion on the existing Visual Search feature that allows people to get information about the content of their photos.

If you want to get yourself a new iPhone but don't want to choose an older model to save money or spend new iPhone cash on something like the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro, the upcoming iPhone SE 4 could be the answer. While Apple has yet to officially confirm what that model will have to offer or when it will go on sale, a new leak claims to have detailed all of the specs ahead of time.

According to the leak, via Nguyen Phi Hung on the X social network and then picked up by WCCFTech, the iPhone SE 4 will have plenty to offer for those who want to get a budget iPhone while enjoying a modern iPhone look and feel.

According to the leak, the iPhone SE 4 will feature a design that is similar to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 including the Face ID notch at the top of the device/ That means that there will be no Home button for the first time on an iPhone SE. We're also told to expect a single camera around the back and a construction made from 7,000-series aluminum alloy.

It doesn't take too much imagination to assume that Apple is getting ready to announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this year and we've been hearing various leaks on and off for months now. The latest centers around the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, with Apple reportedly ready to up the ante in terms of the color options that will be available to buyers.

According to leaker Fixed focus digital on the Weibo social network, a post that was picked up by MacRumors, Apple will increase the number of colors this year to seven - up from the five of the year before. That means that iPhone 16 buyers will have two extra colors to choose from, assuming this leak is accurate.

Interestingly, the leak itself mentioned the iPhone 16 Plus specifically, although we suspect that the iPhone 16 will also be included in this expansion of color options. Historically, the two devices have both been identical in every way beyond the size of display and we see little reason for that not to be the case this time, too.

We've been hearing rumors of a number of new iPad updates happening within the next few weeks of late, and May is now expected to be the timeframe that Apple will finally share details about the new tablets. There are expected to be updated iPad Pro and refreshed iPad Air models unveiled, and the former may have now leaked ahead of time. What's more, that leak appears to have come via Apple itself.

Specifically, a new 9to5Mac report says that the new iPads have appeared as references in the latest iPadOS 17.5 beta which has been made available to developers. According to the report, references to the iPad16,3, iPad16,4, iPad16,5, and iPad16,6 can all be found. More interesting is the fact that these references are all related to new display firmware which appears to add credence to reports that the new models will all switch to OLED displays for the first time.

It's believed that the four models cover both the Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the 11-inch iPad Pro as well as the same Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the 12,9-inch iPad Pro. The firmware also appears to suggest that the new iPad displays will be produced by two different companies.

Apple has developed something of a reputation for announcing a new iPhone color during the spring, alongside new cases and Apple Watch bands. It's been doing it on and off for a few years starting with 2017 with the iPhone 7 and the last time it happened was last year - the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus received a new yellow color to mark the spring refresh. The move is thought to be a way for Apple to regenerate interest in the new iPhones around six months after they went on sale. But it now looks increasingly likely that we shouldn't expect such a refresh to happen with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.

That's according to a new report by the Weibo leaker Instant Digital who says that there is no new spring color refresh in the cards for the iPhone 15 lineup of models. However, it isn't yet clear why Apple might have chosen to have taken this decision.

Apple is well aware that the latest iPhone sales start to slow down around the mid-cycle point and that's what makes launching a new color worthwhile. Early adopters are quick to buy the new iPhones within the first few months of their launch while sales slow as we get through the cycle. Towards the end of the cycle, Apple knows that people are then more likely to wait for whatever the next model will be, especially with the company known to favor a September launch. The closer we get to September, the more sense it makes for people to wait - either for the new model or to pick the slightly older model up and save some cash in the process.

If Apple follows the usual release schedule we can expect the company to announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro this coming September, and that means that won't have to wait all that much longer before Apple shares all of the details we're waiting for. But before that happens there will no doubt be plenty of leaks, with the latest being a post on the Weibo social network which claims to have information on the iPhone's battery statistics - including a bit of a shock.

The new statistics were shared by leaker OvO Baby Sauce OvO who has started to share details of this ilk of late. They don't yet have a track record for us to use as a basis for how reliable they are, but right now we can take the information on face value until told otherwise. And if the report is accurate, we can apparently expect all of the new iPhones' batteries to grow slightly in terms of battery capacity except one. According to the report, the iPhone 16 Plus will actually see its battery shrink.

According to the leak, the iPhone 16 will have a battery with a 3,561mAh capacity while the iPhone 16 Plus will have a capacity of 4,000mAh. The iPhone 16 Pro will have a capacity of 2,255mAh while the larger iPhone 16 Pro Max will have a capacity of 4,676mAh.

The rumors suggesting that Apple intends to announce a new OLED iPad Pro and refreshed iPad Air lineup soon have been circling for months now, and it looks increasingly likely that next month will be the big launch timeframe. But anyone expecting Apple to invite members of the press to Cupertino for a swanky unveiling could well be left disappointed, according to a new report.

The new tablets will not get a special event, DigiTimes warns, something that means that Apple will very likely choose to announce the new tablets via a series of press releases instead. It is an approach that Apple has taken in previous instances when there have not been big new features or notable redesigns of products, and that seems to be the case this time out. Apple announced the M3 MacBook Air via a press release earlier this year, for example.

The report hints that Apple has chosen to go the press release route this time out after the tablets had been delayed repeatedly in recent months. They're now expected to be announced in May, but there was originally a plan to have them ready for market in March before the delays started to creep in.

The new REDMAGIC 9 Pro smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's very latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, with Red Dead Redemption 2 running through an emulator at just 10FPS... unplayable but impressive nonetheless. Check it out:

Serg Pavlov used the REDMAGIC 9 Pro smartphone running a Windows emulator called "Mobox" and playing Rockstar's incredibly successful Red Dead Redemption 2. The game was running with an in-game resolution of 1280 x 720 (720p) with low graphics settings, which, through the emulator... pumped out 10FPS on Qualcomm's best Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC.

You have to remember that this isn't running natively; it's running through a Windows emulator, so performance falls off a cliff. But it's a promising tease into the future. If an emulated version of Red Dead Redemption 2 can run at 720p 10FPS, we can expect a few more years to pass before we get to a stable 30FPS in games like this.

Google hasn't yet officially announced the budget-oriented Pixel 8a but we know that it;'s coming. The Pixel 7a was a popular device, and we can be sure that the Pixel 8a will follow suit. And while Google is yet to officially announce the product we've started to see it leak here and there - and it's leaked once more in a post on the X social network.

The leak comes via images posted by the TechDroider account in which we appear to see a phone with a large display and a matte finish.

The display that is expected to be up front on the Pixel 8a is a 6.1-inch panel and the leak appears to show some fairly big bezels all around. It isn't bad by any stretch, and these bezels are no bigger than those that can be found on the Pixel 7a so that's a positive. That display is also expected to have a 120Hz refresh rate which means that it will offer a silly smooth experience.

If you're the owner of a Google Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro who finds that they are all too good at losing it, you're going to be in for a treat. Now, both of those phones can be located even when their batteries have run dry.

The new offline tracking feature is made possible thanks to an upgraded Find My Device network with Google saying that it's only made possible thanks to the Pixel hardware that is in its latest devices. There has so far been no information on what that exactly means, however. We can surely expect whatever magic chips are inside these devices to also make an appearance in the upcoming Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro models, not to mention the new Pixel Fold 2 -notably, the Pixel Fold isn't in on the new feature.

If this feature sounds familiar, you probably already have an iPhone or something with a Samsung logo on the back. This technology isn't new, but this is the first time that it's been available to those who have Google's Pixel devices.

Apple's long been expected to launch new tablets within the next few weeks with a recent report pointing to the second week of May being a potential release timeframe. The 2024 iPad Pro is going to be the best iPad ever sold, but there have been some rumors that buyers will have to pay a pretty penny to get it. Now, a new report has further suggested that will indeed be the case.

That report comes via the normally well-connected Mark Gurman, writing in the weekly Power On newsletter. According to Gurman one of the drawbacks of upgrades that are coming to the new iPad Pro will mean a higher price point. The current iPad Pro starts at $799 for the 11-inch model, suggesting that buyers of the 2024 model can expect to pay at least $849 or likely more.

As for why the new tablets will cost so much, there are a couple of changes that will give these 2024 models a notable edge over the ones that are currently on sale. Those tablets launched in 2022 and are pretty solid options. But they're going to be eclipsed by what Apple has coming up.

There have been so many rumors of the 2024 launch of a new OLED iPad Pro and a refreshed iPad Air in recent months that, at this point, there is little doubt that such a launch is in the cards. We still don't know exactly when this will happen however, but as we get closer to the launch the window is starting to shrink. Now, a new report claims that we can expect the tablets in the second week of May.

That's according to a new report by Bloomgerg's Mark Gurman who, writing in the weekly Power On newsletter, says that the week of May 6 is likely to be the one that sees a new tablet launch.

Apple famously didn't launch any new tablets throughout the entire of 2023 which was the first time that had happened in the entire history of the iPad lineup. That hiatus is going to come to an end soon, however, with Gurman having said for some time that a May window was the most likely.

Making iMessage work on Android has been the holy grail for plenty of companies over the years with limited success. Sunbird was one company that seemed to have managed it, although there was some debate over how safe it actually was. However, Apple subsequently blocked Sunbird's route into iMessage but the company now says that it's back on track.

Sunbird's stability and security aside - it was found that the company's partnership with Nothing to bring iMessage to its phones was leaking data - it's easy to see why the idea was popular. Being able to use iMessage on an Android phone would be a big deal for those who don't want to use third-party apps like WhatsApp, and with Apple not set to support RCS until later this year, iMessage is still the best option around.

In a press release shared by Sunbird, we learned recently that the company is now starting to roll its iMessage features out in small phases with some able to try it out as of April 5. However, the press release hasn't explained what Sunbird has done to deal with the privacy issues that were highlighted last year before the service was taken down indefinitely. However, it has been confirmed that it now uses an updated AV2 architecture and those interested in the details can get them via that press release.

If you're in the market for a new, budget Android phone you might want to hold off making a purchase with Google thought to be working on a new Pixel 8a device. We know that it's in development and while we don't know when it will launch, it might not be all that far away if a new leak is what we think it might be.

With Google's new Pixel 8a on the way, a Google Fi Wireless ad appears to have potentially leaked it ahead of time. The ad shows two phones which don't seem to be anything that is already on the market.

First spotted by GSM Arena, the ad shows a phone that doesn't seem to be the Pixel 8 due to the lack of a microphone hole between the cameras and the LED on the back. And they don't appear to be Pixel 8 Pro models because of the matte frame, which suggests these phones might be an all-new model.

Amid ongoing rumors that Apple is getting ready to unveil some big new artificial intelligence technologies as part of the iOS 18 and macOS 15 software updates later this year, a new report suggests that the company has been using a popular image website as a way to train its AI.

It isn't yet clear what Apple's new AI functionality will offer, but a new Reuters report claims that Apple and other companies struck agreements with the stock image provider Shutterstock that would see them use millions of the service's images, videos, and music files as a source of training for AI. No source is given other than a person familiar with the arrangements.

The same report claims that the companies paid between $25 million and $50 million each. Shutterstock's Chief Financial Officer Jarrod Yahes told Reuters that the big tech companies have also been joined by other, smaller ones in the past few months. However, he wouldn't comment on individual contracts for obvious reasons - including the deal with Apple.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro devices later this year and we've been hearing that at least some of the models will feature ultra-thin bezels. While it's expected that the change will come to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, a new report on the subject simply says iPhone 16 - it isn't clear whether that's simply a misunderstanding or if all four new iPhones will benefit from the switch this year. Regardless the news for the new bezels as a whole isn't promising.

According to the report by The Elec, Apples supply chain is struggling with the new Border Reduction Struction, or BRS, technology that is used to shrink the bezels yet further. In fact, the report claims that no company has so far been able to produce the displays to Apple's satisfaction.

The new BRS technology makes the bottom bezel thin in particular. It does that by more tightly packing the circuitry beneath the display and bending some wiring in the process. It's that which is thought to be causing supply partners some issues, with LG Display and Samsung Display struggling currently. The two companies are familiar with Apple, the iPhone, and the standards required but have so far struggled to meet them.

With Apple now strongly rumored to be ready to announce multiple new iPads as soon as next month, a pair of new Apple tablets have appeared in an Indian regulatory database as the company gets its ducks in a row ahead of time.

The devices must go into the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) database before they can go on sale in the country and we'd already seen two tablets make their debut earlier this week. Now, MySmartPrice reports that an additional two tablets have been added carrying the model numbers A2898 and A2899. This comes after two models with the model numbers A2836 and A2837 had previously popped up.

Apple is expected to announce four new tablets next month. According to reports Apple will launch new OLED iPad Pros in 11-inch and 12.9-inch screen sizes while a refreshed 11-inch iPad Air will be joined by an all-new 12.9-inch iPad Air.

We're already expecting Apple to announce the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max later this year and while Apple has yet to confirm the devices - and likely won't until September - we've seen plenty of leaks. They started around the same time that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models were unveiled in September of last year, and now all four of the rumored handsets have appeared online in dummy unit form.

Dummy units are often used by accessory makers, like case companies, so that they can be sure that their products will fit with the new models. These companies normally get the exact dimensions of the new phones ahead of time, and it's thought that these dummy units have been manufactured based on those dimensions.

The dummy units were shared on the X social network by Sonny Dickson and match what we've been told to expect from previous leaks. The dummy units clearly show the rumored Capture Button on the right side of the iPhone, below the power button, and where the mmWave antenna would normally be.

If everything goes the way that we have come to expect, Apple will announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this year and we've been hearing all kinds of things about what Apple has been working on. The leaks began around the same time that the iPhone 15 models were announced in September 2023 and we're still seeing new leaks now. The latest of those comes via a Weibo post that was spotted by the X leaker ShrimpApplePro.

According to that leak, Apple could be about to bring the iPhone 15's color-infused back glass to the iPhone 16 Pro models this year, although that is obviously not something that Apple has confirmed so far.

The color-infused back glass was something that Apple made a big deal out of last year and uses a custom dual ion exchange process for the glass construction that creates a finish that is matte while the glass does indeed look like the color is deep within it. It's an interesting finish and one that stands out in a way no other iPhone's back glass has done to date, especially around the camera module.

There have been ongoing rumors that Apple intends to announce the Apple Pencil 3 alongside the updated iPad Air and new OLED iPad Pros within the next few weeks. Now, a new report has added further fuel to the fire following the discovery of code references to a new squeeze gesture.

MacRumors reports that the first iPadOS 17.5 beta includes references to a new V4 version of the Apple Pencil with additional code references that appear to suggest the Apple Pencil will gain a squeeze gesture for specific actions. There are currently no firm details about what that could be or how it might work, however. It's been suggested that users could squeeze the new stylus to quickly enter different modes or launch actions depending on the type of app that is being used at the time.

The Apple Pencil 3 is something that has been rumored for some time but details about what kinds of things that will be new tablet will have to offer.