Mobile Devices - Page 3

Apple's new iPhone 17 Pro Max comes with 256GB of storage on its base model, but the upgrade to the flagship 2TB storage costs $800... unless you have precise machinery, and steady hands like this modder.

YouTuber "DirectorFeng" has modded his iPhone 17 Pro which has 256GB of NAND flash made by Toshiba with part number "K5A4", saying that physically formatting the flash drive preparing for the 2TB upgrade is impossible without using machines, and even then, you'll need specific gear and years of knowledge to do so.

The 1TB and 2TB NAND flash modules are the same length, but they're not the same thickness or width, making the upgrading process of an iPhone 17 Pro Max not so easy. But, it seems that the dimension change hasn't caused a problem for the modder, as he soldered the Toshiba "K6B3" 2TB NAND flash module to the logic board of the iPhone 17 Pro Max using tin planting, followed by fuming with resin, and then installing the beefier NAND flash module.

Apple's purported 18-inch foldable iPad plans are "now in flux" according to the latest reports, with the foldable iPad postponed with a release in 2029 "at the earliest".

In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that Apple is preparing a slew of new products that would be the "most compelling" in its history, including the first foldable iPhone, a revamped iPhone Pro smartphone for the device's huge 20-year anniversary, new smart glasses, a tabletop robot, and other home tech.

One of those exciting devices was meant to be an 18-inch foldable iPad, but Gurman writes that unfortunately, "this device is suffering some hiccups". Apple reportedly had plans -- just like the last 6+ months of rumors have teased -- to release the foldable 18-inch iPad sometime in 2028, but the company has "run into challenges tied to the weight of the prototypes and the ultra-advanced folding OLED panel".

Apple's next-gen M6 processor will be even more powerful, and an even bigger thermal problem for a new iPad, with rumors suggesting the company will deploy a vapor chamber cooler to stop thermal throttling.

Apple recently unleashed its new M5 processor for its new MacBook Pro and iPad Pro products, but the new M5 MacBook Pro has been suffering from thermal throttling inside, with its M5 chip hitting 99C under load. To avoid any thermal throttling issues on the next-gen M6 iPad Pro, it looks like the company will be adopting the use of vapor chamber cooling, just like its recently-launched iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max smartphones.

In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman writes that Apple will reportedly use a vapor chamber cooler inside of its next-gen M6 iPad Pro. The new M5 iPad Pro that Apple just launched features a graphene sheet to transfer heat, with the aluminum chassis acting as a heatsink.

Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone might not release in 2026 and could be delayed according to Mizuho Securities, citing issues with key design elements of the phone including the complex hinge system and flexible OLED display.

The analysts also said that the estimated flexible OLED panel production has been reduced from 13 million units to around 9 million units, a huge adjustment that hints at slower early-stage manufacturing. We could expect Apple to still launch its foldable iPhone in 2026, but internal testing standards from the company could push the release out considerably.

We were to expect Apple to unveil the foldable iPhone -- rumored as the iPhone Ultra -- alongside its next-gen iPhone 18 family of smartphones in 2026. Apple as a company is perfectionistic, where it won't release a product, especially something totally new for the company, unless it is as close to perfect as possible.

If you have a smartphone, you have received a scam text, and if your information has been shared around online, you probably get scam texts several times a week. While most people ignore these texts as they are obviously nefarious, they generate more than $1 billion per year.

It's an unfortunate thought to know that scammers are taking hard-earned money from everyday people that think they are paying for things such as US Postal Service fees, unpaid traffic violations, or a toll payment that is overdue. These are just some of the texts that US residents are receiving on a daily basis, and according to officials criminal organizations operating out of China are responsible for at least the toll and postage messages.

With just those two messages, the organized crime groups have generated more than $1 billion over the last three years, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Officials state that behind these text messages are criminal networks that are being connected to server farms, which then send a flurry of text messages to potential victims.

Apple has launched its new M5-powered iPad Pro, calling it "the most powerful and intelligent iPad ever" which also features Apple's new in-house C1X and N1 processors. Check it out:

The new M5 iPad Pro has been rumored for a while now, launching with a refined minimalist design language, and is now the thinnest product in its lineup. The new 11-inch M5 iPad Pro is only 5.3mm thick, while the bigger 12.9-inch version is just 5.1mm thick, with both of the new iPad Pros feeling sturdier through the use of precision aluminum machining.

We've also got the new Ultra Retina HDR display with tandem OLED technology for deeper blacks, more brightness, and improved HDR. Inside, Apple's new M5 processor is at the heart of the new iPad Pro, with up to 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, with each of them featuring a Neural Processor for improved AI and gaming performance.

A Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold has exploded in the hands of a hardware reviewer who says the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the weakest foldable smartphone they have ever tested, and they have tested every mainstream smartphone released over the last ten years.

The king of smartphone durability tests, JerryRigEverything, has got his hands on a Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and as with every smartphone the hardware reviewer has put under the spotlight, he ran it through his suite of durability tests. However, when it was time to do the iconic bend test, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold failed catastrophically, bending at the antenna line, and making the 10 Pro Fold unusable.

Notably, the YouTuber is challenging Google's claim that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is "Extremely Durable," and that it's "dustproof," which was proven not to be the case after dirt was sprinkled over the hinge, and then heard cracking under the pressure of the device folding open and closed. As for the exploding battery, the YouTuber explained the lithium battery is made up of long sheets of foil that are wrapped around each other, and the electrodes are separated so the battery doesn't short out.

Samsung will be unveiling its new tri-fold smartphone in the coming weeks, which should be called the Galaxy Z TriFold, with new reports suggesting it'll feature not one, not two, but three batteries inside.

The new Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold smartphone has been revealed in some new patent images, showing the triple-folding smartphone will feature three batteries, and unfold into an ultra-thin smartphone when it's completely unfolded into a tablet.

GalaxyClub has the new patent images that Samsung filed in South Korea, giving us a look at the innards of the tri-fold smartphone. One of the images shows there are two hinge mechanisms to keep all three pieces of the phone together, while also keeping the foldable smartphone properly folded without leaving a gap between the panels.

Jefferies analyst Edison Lee says that Apple's much-hyped foldable iPhone could disappoint, with all of the hype leading to excessive expectations.

The Wall Street analyst said that Apple's new foldable iPhone will probably fail to meet the current hype, saying "the better performance of the base iPhone 17 has led to excessive expectations on 18 Fold" where he expects to see around 12.5 million foldable iPhones sold in 2026.

In previous reports from June 2025, we've heard that Apple was planning to produce a much smaller amount of foldable iPhones than any of the iPhone 17 family: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple's move is to challenge the foldable dominance away from its main US and global competitor -- Samsung -- while flicking shade at Huawei and its Mate XT foldable smartphone.

Instagram's CEO Adam Mosseri has posted a video allegedly "debunking" the myth that Instagram uses smartphone microphones to listen to user conversations, and then serve advertisements based on what it hears.

Many people, including myself, have experienced having a conversation with someone, say about blue drink bottles, and then the next time they open up their Instagram timeline they see an advertisement for a blue drink bottle. While many tech companies have rigorously denied they use smartphone microphones to collect data that is then used to curate advertisements that appear on social media timelines, this phenomenon still appears to be happening. But is it a phenomenon? Or is it just coincidence?

Apple's upcoming iPad Pro with an M5 chip has been unboxed before the company has even announced it, and if you expected any significant changes, you will be disappointed, as it looks exactly the same as the current iPad Pro model.

The unboxing and hands-on comes from Russian tech YouTuber Wylascom, who unboxed the M4 MacBook Pro in October 2024, weeks before Apple officially announced the device. That hands-on video proved to be legitimate following the official announcement from Apple, leading us to suspect that Wylascom's recent video on the M5 iPad Pro is also legitimate.

One of the first things Wylascom mentions after opening the M5 iPad Pro is how it looks exactly the same as the M4 generation, meaning it uses the exact same chassis, and simply has a processor that's approximately 15% faster than its predecessor. Notably, Apple is yet to even announce the M5 processor, meaning this is the first look at the upcoming next-generation silicon, and it's within a completed product, which also hasn't even been announced. A double exclusive for Wylascom.

Apple is set to launch its new cheaper iPhone 17e smartphone in the first half of 2026, but it won't make the same mistake it did with the iPhone 16e, but why? Let's dive in.

The launch of the iPhone 16e was an important step for Apple as it was the first use of its new in-house C1 5G modem at the time, with its new ultra-thin iPhone Air sporting its new second-gen C1X 5G modem. The iPhone 16e was meant to be a cheaper, cut-down version of the iPhone 16 base model, but it was a little too powerful and specced well against the more expensive base iPhone 16.

Apple's iPhone 16e was an iPhone 14-inspired handset with thin bezels, a 6.1-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display, a smaller notch that featured the front-facing camera and Face ID technology, which was a departure from Touch ID that was in previous iPhones.

Apple's new iPhone Air is finally here, shipping in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB variants but if you purchased a 256GB model and wanted to mod it to 512GB or 1TB... well, it's not going to work, and here's why:

The company is severely limiting storage upgrades to the iPhone Air with modder DirectorFong trying to upgrade his new ultra-thin iPhone Air 256GB smartphone to a larger 1TB of storage using intricate soldering methods. Once he disassembled the iPhone Air and got to the logic board, the modder found the storage chip features a serial number beginning with "2NB", noting he's not noticed this configuration on previous iPhones.

The modder says that the NAND flash modules weren't sourced from the usual suspects in Samsung, SK hynix, Toshiba, or Sandisk, noting that Apple could be using leftover inventory from YMTC since that company isn't a supplier anymore because of US trade restrictions.

Now that Qualcomm's officially unveiled its new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile processor, we will see next-gen Android smartphones hit the market powered by the new flagship chip, one of which is the new OnePlus 15 smartphone.

The new OnePlus 15 smartphone will feature the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and an ultra-smooth 165Hz display, capable of playing games at 165FPS thanks to Qualcomm's new chip. Geekerwan has deep-dived into the new OnePlus 15 and its gaming performance in a bunch of titles, with some rather interesting results.

Geekerwan tested the new OnePlus 15 smartphone against Apple's just-released iPhone 17 Pro Max in games like Honkai Impact 3rd, Wuthering Waves, Honor of Kings, and Delta Force.

You'd think with all of the hype and marketing for Samsung and its growing range of foldable smartphones that they'd be the dominant force in the foldable world of phones, but it's actually Huawei... by a long shot, too.

Overall, foldable smartphones account for between 1% and 1.5% of the global smartphone market, with Chinese manufacturer Huawei out on top with its range of foldable smartphones. Huawei controls a rather dominant 48% of the foldable phone market, with Samsung in second place with 20% in H1 2025, according to analyst firm Canalys.

This is a new dominance by Huawei because in 2024 it was Samsung who enjoyed 45% of the global foldable smartphone market, in 2023 the company had 57%, and in 2022 it enjoyed most of the foldable market with 78% leaving Huawei at the time with just 14%.

Google has announced in a new blog post that Android users will now be able to edit their images in Google Photos by simply using their words.

The company explains the feature was first introduced on the Pixel 10, but has now been rolled out to all Android users in the US. The idea is that users will now be able to make the edits they want without having to change between editing tools within Google Photos. Instead, users can simply describe the edits they want to make either through text via the chat box or with their voice, which will write out what they say in the chat box.

Here's how it works. Users can tap "Help me edit" and describe the change they want to make to their image, and after some processing time, Photos will attempt to make the requested changes through the power of Google's Gemini. Notably, users don't have to be super specific with their image-altering requests, as Google writes that a user can simply say, "Make it better," and the AI will do the rest.

Apple has released its latest generation of iPhone, and with the new devices making their way into the hands of users around the world, one has found a considerable issue worth pointing out.

YouTuber JerryRigEverything, known for his teardown videos and durability tests of the latest smartphone generations, has discovered a flaw in the design of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Apple has made many improvements to the 17th generation of iPhone, which includes scratch-resistant glass and a totally redesigned chassis. However, the redesigned chassis has a fatal flaw that will lead to scratching, which users won't be able to prevent unless they buy a case.

The flaw is located on the new camera plateau, specifically with the colorful exterior aluminum oxide layer, which is present on the majority of the iPhone 17 Pro chassis. JerryRigEverything explains that this aluminum oxide layer is a level nine on the hardness scale, second only to diamonds, which are a level ten.

Apple's new iPhone Air is finally in the wild and early users are reporting that they're seeing condensation forming inside of the camera lens, with fogged-up lenses within just a few hours of use.

YouTuber Luke Miana shared a photo of his brand-new iPhone Air with condensation inside of the camera on day one, with another X user "Dongle" sharing a number of images of his iPhone Air, saying: "my iPhone Air has condensation in the camera... maybe this is widespread". Meanwhile, another person posted on Reddit but deleted the image shortly after, with the same condensation issue on his new iPhone Air.

We don't know how widespread this issue is, but multiple people are reporting back on their new iPhone Air having condensation in the camera, which isn't some easy fix... and it shows that Apple could have some long-term issues with the iPhone Air in the weeks and months (and years) ahead.

Apple will celebrate its 20th anniversary of the iPhone in 2027, with the iPhone 20 breaking out of its usual mold acting similar to the iPhone X from 2017, with next-gen technologies, a new design, and more.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg contributor Mark Gurman explains that the 20th anniversary iPhone would use a design that sports curved glass edges "all around" that would command a higher price when it launches in 2027. We heard in previous rumors from a few months ago that the iPhone 20 would feature an all-screen design, zero bezels, and an under-display camera.

Gurman writes: "the iPhone 20 in 2027 is expected to bring more advancements - and they may not be cheap. It will be similar to the iPhone X in 2017, when next-generation technologies caused that device to shatter the $1,000 barrier for the first time. The 20th anniversary iPhone is expected to move to a design with curved glass edges all around, potentially commanding a higher price".

Samsung is reportedly preparing to expand its foldable smartphone family with a "wide fold" handset in 2026, putting additional pressure on Apple's foldable iPhone before it's even released.

The new "wide fold" should be shorter vertically when folded compared to existing foldables from Samsung, as well as being longer horizontally. Based on industry coverage, the goal for Samsung is to make a "wide-type" foldable smartphone with two 18:9 ratio screens that are joined, making the internal display almost square at an 18:18 ratio.

Korean outlet ETnews spoke with an industry insider familiar with Samsung's plans for its wide-fold smartphone, where they said: "Samsung has shared this development plan. Considering the timing of discussions, it is expected to debut alongside next year's foldable phone series in the second half (of 2026). Although the specific specifications have not yet been finalized, the details are expected to be determined by the end of this month or early next month".