Mobile Devices - Page 31

If you wrote a check for $4.01 in 1976 it would probably still be worth the same amount in 2023. But the same can't be said for anything with Steve Jobs' signature on it with this check now being sold for a huge sum of money.

All kinds of Steve Jobs and early Apple memorabilia have been sold over the years much of it bringing in huge amounts of money for those lucky enough to own them. This check is a prime example of that after it sold at auction for a whopping $46,063. The check itself was issued by Apple Computer Company in 1976 and was made out to RadioShack. The timing of the check fits in with when Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak were working on the Apple-1 computer, but it isn't known what the check actually bought for the company.

The check lists a Palo Alto address for an answering service and mail drop-off point that Jobs was known to have used when Apple was still being run out of his garage, MacRumors notes, and these details have appeared on other Apple memorabilia previously.

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro it was confirmed that both phones will support the Qi2 wireless charging standard. Similar to MagSafe, the new standard allows for magnetic charging with speeds of up to 15W. However, it wasn't confirmed at the time that we should expect the iPhone to also charge that fast using those chargers. To date, iPhones have only charged at 15W when using MagSafe, limiting standard Qi chargers to just 7.5W. However, there's good news.

Apple's upcoming iOS 17.2 update is set to bring Qi2 support to the older iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 families of devices which had people wondering what that meant for charging speeds. Would all of these devices top out at 15W, or would Apple limit people to a lower charging speed if they didn't choose an official MagSafe charger?

Now, we appear to have had an answer. Speaking with The Verge, Anker an Anker spokesperson confirmed that its MagGo products will indeed charge at 15W when used on compatible iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and iPhone 15 devices with Qi2 support. The one difference will be the iPhone 12 mini which will continue to max out at 12W, just as it does when paired with one of Apple's own MagSafe chargers. It's thought that's down to the smaller size and the inability to properly dissipate the heat generated by 15W charging.

There have been rumors of Apple launching the iPhone SE 4 for some time now, with most of those rumors suggesting that it will be the first iPhone to use Apple's own in-house 5G modem. But as it becomes increasingly clear that Apple is struggling to make that modem work in the sizes that are required to fit into a phone, it now looks increasingly likely that a Qualcomm modem will be used. What's more, it now looks like Apple is going to reuse another part from an old iPhone, too.

That part, according to a new MacRumors report, will be the battery taken out of an iPhone 14. That battery will have a capacity of 3279mAh which is considerably bigger than the 2018 mAh capacity of the battery currently sold inside the iPhone SE 3. If that's the case, we can likely expect a significant battery life improvement from the new iPhone.

MacRumors says that the new iPhone SE 4 is currently being developed under the device identifier D59 and that it will now use the iPhone 14's battery with partially assembled models now using that part.

When Apple updates the iPad Pro with a new OLED display and the M3 chip next year, it will also launch a new Magic Keyboard and a new Apple Pencil. That's according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman was writing as part of a larger piece discussing Apple's plans to arrest a decline in sales across the tablet and laptop lineups.

To arrest that line Apple is set to launch the updated iPad Pros while two new iPad Airs are also expected to be unveiled. Those two tablets will ship in March, Gurman believes, with the main news being the addition of a new model with a display of somewhere around the 13-inch mark. Beyond that, no new design changes are expected at this point.

As for the accessories, Gurman says that Apple is already testing a pair of new Magic Keyboards under the codenames R418 and R428, likely in 11-inch and 12.9-inch configurations. The new keyboards are expected to be sturdier than any of the keyboards that have so far shipped for use with the iPad Pro, with an aluminum construction ditching the fabric and plastic of previous models. That could help Apple convince people that the iPad Pro can truly be the tablet replacement that they want it to be.

When Apple announced iOS 17 it brought with it a new feature called NameDrop. That feature makes it easier for people to share their contact details with others by moving two iPhones close to each other and then simply tapping a button. Now, it seems that the same interface and sharing experience is going to come to the Wallet app.

That's according to a MacRumors report that says the upcoming iOS 17.2 update is going to bring a NameDrop-like experience to the iPhone, but this time it will allow people to quickly and easily share things like tickets, passes, and more. The use will be similar in that users will be able to open the wallet app and select the pass that they want to share before moving their iPhone close to that of the recipient. A new Share button will appear and once tapped the item will be automatically shared via AirDrop.

For this to work both iPhones will fo course need to have the iOS 17.2 update installed, and Apple hasn't yet said when that will drop. However, it made the first release candidate version available to developers earlier this week so we can likely expect the update to land on iPhones around the world as soon as next week. Apple is expected to want to get iOS 17.2 into the hands of users before the Christmas holidays.

Apple might have only released the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models earlier this year but the company is already working on getting what comes next ready for primetime. That of course will be the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro and they are both expected to arrive next year. Now, a new report appears to suggest that all four new iPhones are going to have one big new feature that could improve Siri for those who use it. But if you're thinking that feature will be a ChatGPT-like large language model chatbot, you're sadly mistaken.

That's because Ming-Chi Kuo, a supply chain analyst who has proven to be well connected with these kinds of things int he past, says that Apple intends to release all four new iPhone 16 models with a significantly upgraded microphone setup. That setup will apparently allow for the iPhone to better hear when people talk to it - making it much better at understanding Siri commands and requests. The same speaker upgrade is also expected to offer additional water resistance, although that seems likely to be a happy accident rather than the main reason behind the change.

The report says that AAC and Goertek will be the two companies that benefit from the microphone upgrade, with the cost of each part set to be considerably higher than the microphones used in the iPhone 15 family of devices.

Ever since iOS 17 was released in the middle of September we've been hearing various reports of charging strangeness, especially when trying to wirelessly charge iPhones in a car. First, there was an issue that caused the NFC chip to stop working in iPhones that were charged in specific vehicles, including those from BMW and Toyota. Apple later fixed that problem with the iOS 17.1.1 update. But another issue remained.

That issue saw multiple iPhone 15 owners find that their device wouldn't properly charge when placed on their car's wireless charging pad. It wasn't clear why the problem had started, and sometimes the charging process would begin only for it to stop again. No amount of restarting iPhones seemed to fix things, leaving people to charge their iPhones using a cable or not at all.

Last month it was confirmed by General Motors that it was aware of an issue and that it was looking into it, and now MacRumors reports that the upcoming iOS 17.2 update is set to squash this particular bug for once and for all. The iOS 17.2 update is currently in the hands of beta testers and has been for a number of weeks.

With 2023 set to become the first year that Apple hasn't released a new iPad since the very first one, it should perhaps come as no surprise that there are multiple models getting close to a release. Now, a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that Apple has as many as four new iPads all chopping at the bit, and that they're going to be here soon.

Gurman suggests that we might see the new iPads arrive in March 2024, alongside a new MacBook Air, with two new iPad Air and two new iPad Pro models set to debut. The releases are going to be upgrades to the existing models, but there are some bug changes afoot including the addition of the biggest iPad Air yet.

Starting with the iPad Pro, Gurman says that there will be updated 11- and 12.9-inch versions that will feature the Apple M3 chip as well as a new OLED display. That display will offer improved color reproduction, among other things. This is the OLED technology currently used in the iPhone. In fact, the iPhone has been using OLED displays since 2017, but the 2024 iPad Pro will be the first to follow suit. The two new iPad Pro models will both come in Wi-Fi and cellular configurations.

If you look at your current iPhone, whether that's the latest and greatest flagship iPhone 15 Pro Max or something a little more modest, like the iPhone 13, you're probably already wondering the same thing - when will Apple get rid of that ugly area where the camera lives? On older iPhones that's a notch that houses the Face ID magic and selfie camera, and on the iPhone 15 family of devices, it's where the same tech lives but within the funky Dynamic Island. But in future iPhones there might be no camera holes whatsoever, leaving Apple with an all-screen display to do whatever it wants with.

That's after a new report by The Elec claimed that Apple's Korean display partners have already started to develop under-display cameras that will allow Apple to ditch the pill+hole arrangement of even its very best iPhones. The report claims that LG Innotek is the company that is pushing the development of technology that would allow the camera to sit beneath the display while still being capable of capturing whatever it's looking at.

There are already phones that have under-display cameras in the Android world, but the images taken by those cameras can be washed out at best. That happens because less light can reach the camera's sensor because, obviously enough, it's being blocked by the display. However, LG Innotek seems to have an answer for that in a new "freeform optic' lens system that helps to increase the amount of light that can be collected.

When Apple launched the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus they were the first non-Pro iPhones to sport the Dynamic Island. That meant that there were new requirements for the companies tasked with building those displays, and it seems that one of the companies that was expected to pick up a chunk of the slack has so far been unable to do so. And what's worse, there's no suggestion that things are going to improve any time soon.

That's according to a paywalled DigiTimes report that was picked up by MacRumors, anyway. BOE is a Chinese display manufacturer that was expected to produce some of the displays used in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. But it's been struggling with light leaks around the area where the hole-punch and pill arrangement makes up the Dynamic Island. It appears that light leaks through the holes, making the display look like something's broken.

BOE was already in Apple's bad books after it conditionally approved mass production in March of 2023 only to find that by September BOE was still unable to meet its requirements. Apple subsequently ditched BOE as a supplier for the displays, but the company has continued to work to try and fix the problem so as to pick up future Apple business.

India has proposed a new law that will require that all phones sold in the country use USB-C ports, just like the European Union law that will require exactly the same thing starting from 2024. If India's law does arrive, it'll come into effect from 2025. But that's still worrying news for Apple and the company has already sought to push back on the plans.

While Apple switched the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro devices to USB-C this past September in an attempt to meet the EU's USB-C requirement, the situation in India is more complicated. With the Indian market preferring to spend less money and buy older models, Apple might find it difficult to sell devices if the Lightning port is effectively banned. The older iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 lineups would not be available, causing Apple problems in more ways than one.

While only offering expensive iPhone 15 models would affect Apple's ability to sell to Indian customers, another issue presents itself according to a Reuters report. Apple currently produces some iPhones in India as part of the country's production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. That scheme means that Apple gets financial incentives to produce iPhones in the country, but it says that it will struggle to meet the required quota if Indian customers aren't allowed to buy the Lightning-powered devices.

If you've been typing away on your iPhone only to find that you are no longer in the app that you thought you were in, you aren't alone. That's something that seems to have happened to an increasing number of people, according to a new report.

MacRumors says that people have started to complain of the bug across Apple's own forums as well as social media like Reddit. Some people have gone so far as to swap out their iPhones only to have the same issue all over again. The bug also doesn't appear linked to specific software versions and has happened on all updates from iOS 17 through the latest iOS 17.1.2. It seems particularly problematic when people are typing quickly, only to find that they have accidentally triggered the multitasking interface and have switched apps to something else entirely.

While Apple doesn't seem to have a proper fix just yet, nor is it clear if it's even working on one, MacRumors says that disabling the Reachability feature appears to be a temporary fix. Reachability allows users to invoke the feature to move the top of the screen downwards, making it easier to reach one-handed.

Apple has been releasing new iOS 17.2 beta for a few weeks now and is roundly expected to release the update to the public before Christmas time. But while previous betas included a pretty cool new Apple Music feature, this latest beta - beta 4 - has removed it, suggesting that it might not make the final iOS 17.2 release after all.

The beta was released to developers yesterday and has been put through its paces ever since. And as MacRumors notes, the collaborative Apple Music playlists feature has been removed, although it is always possible that it will make a triumphant return. However, whether that return will be in a future iOS 17.2 release or in a later iOS 17.x update, we'll have to wait and see.

Other changes included in this new beta include hints at the possible removal of the ability to buy TV shows and movies in the iTunes app. That content will need to be bought via the TV app in the future, although the change hasn't been made just yet.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is the first iPhone to feature a 5x telephoto lens and it manages that by using an all-new tetraprism lens that bends light to artificially elongate the distance between the main lens and the camera's sensor. But that isn't all that makes the new lens so impressive, with one analyst noting that a specific change is already starting to set a trend among other companies.

Writing in a longer Medium post about the plans of Apple and other phone companies, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Ming-Chi Ming-Chi Kuo says that the use of a special lens construction is what makes the tetraprism so notable. Normally the multiple lenses used within a phone camera would be made of plastic, with those lenses designed to reduce distortion in the resulting photo. However, Apple's tetraprism changes things up slightly, using one glass lens and three plastic.

The result of that unorthodox setup is that the iPhone 15 Pro Max benefits from the better clarity of a glass lens without dealing with the problems of using a full-glass construction. Those problems could be greater potential for breakage and increased costs, not to mention more complicated manufacturing, for example.

Apple's iPhones and iPads currently use modems designed by Qualcomm, a company that it has been trying to ditch for years. As part of that process, it bought Intel's modem business back in 2019, handing over a cool billion dollars in the process. It's been working on turning that acquisition into modems that could be used in its devices ever since, with no success. The result? A new report claims that the company has given up on the project entirely and is starting to wind it down.

However, that report comes via a source that has had a limited track record with such things and bases their leaks on supposed supply chain sources. In this instance, the leaker claims that their information came from a "related company's source," which doesn't really help us know whether it is more likely or not. But we'll tell you what they said and let you make up your own mind on whether this leak can be trusted.

The leak comes via a post on the Naver blogging platform by a user that goes by the yeux1122 username. According to them, Apple has entered the stage of liquidating its investment in the 5G modems it's been developing for years. The leak goes on to say that the plans to use Apple-designed modems in the future iPhone SE 4 appear to have failed, hinting that the phone will use Qualcomm from here on out.

We've heard plenty of rumors and leaks about the entire Galaxy S24 lineup over the last few weeks and months, and the new phones are all expected to be announced in January of 2024. That lineup will include the base model Galaxy S24, the larger Galaxy S24+, and then the range-topping Galaxy S24 Ultra. Understandably it's the latter that has caught the attention of most people and it's that model that's now been officially certified by the Korea Testing & Research Institute.

Every device that is sold in South Korea has to pass the certification so it's no surprise that the Galaxy S24 Ultra has also been put through its paces. SamMobile reports that the device that was tested was built at Samsung's Gumi manufacturing plant in Gyeongbuk and the Thai Nguyen plant in Vietnam.

This all of course now means that the Galaxy S24 Ultra - and indeed the other two models in the lineup - are now closer than ever to being announced. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is set to be the flagship of flagships thanks to a Samsung-specific Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and up to 16GB of RAM. Storage will come in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configuration options while other anticipated features include a 200-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with a 3x optical zoom. A final 50-megapixel telephoto camera will have a 5x optical zoom.

We already know that OnePlus is going to announce the OnePlus 12 flagship phone on December 5 which means that we don't have to wait all that long before it is shown off officially. But the unveiling of the phone for a global launch is likely to be a while away. Now, we might know exactly when that will be thanks to a leak by OnePlus itself.

This is all based on some sleuthing done by X user 1NormalUsername who spotted that a competition running on the OnePlus website appears to suggest that a OnePlus 12 launch event is set for January 26. Android Authority picked up what 1NormalUsername put down, noting that the terms and conditions for the competition in the United States say that the end date is January 23, 2024. However, the same page on the Indian website says that the end date of the competition is the day before the OnePlus 12 launch event.

With that in mind, it doesn't take too much guesswork to make the assumption that January 24, 2024 will be the date that the OnePlis 12 will be unveiled to its international audience, meaning that's when those in Europe and the United States can expect to learn more.

Apple has been testing the next big version of its iPhone software, iOS 17.2, for weeks now. Both developers and those who are on the public beta program have been able to put it through its paces and it's sure to be released to the public before Christmas. But you won't have to wait that long to get a new software update for your phone. In fact, you will only have to wait a matter of days according to a new report. However, it won't be iOS 17.2 that you receive.

That's according to MacRumors which says that there is mounting evidence that iOS 17.1.2 will be released to the public before the end of this week. The news outlet says that the software version has started to appear in its website analytics more and more over the last few days. That means that more people inside Apple are testing it which suggests that Apple is ramping up plans to roll it out to everyone.

The new update, which is unlikely to bring with it any new features unlike iOS 17.2, is set to focus on bug fixes. That wouldn't normally be all that exciting but there are a couple of bugs that have been particularly problematic to those who have suffered with them. For those people, fixing those bugs could be a game changer.

If you're waiting for more news on what is likely to be the last big flagship phone of 2023, you won't have to wait all that much longer. OnePlus is set to round the year out with its 10th-year anniversary and that's going to include the unveiling of a brand-new flagship device. After months of rumors and guesswork, the OnePlus 12 will be announced on December 5, 2023.

We finally know that for certain thanks to OnePlus president Li Jie who took to the Weibo Chinese social network to confirm the news in a longer post that details what we can expect and how impressive this new handset is going to be. He does seem very excited about the unveiling of this particular phone.

Writing on Weibo the executive says that the original plan for the OnePlus 12 was to be able to make it superior to all other flagship phones powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip from Qualcomm. At the time that chip hadn't been announced, but its existence was a given and OnePlus no doubt knew just what was coming down from Qualcomm's research and development labs. And given the other phones with that chip, OnePlus will have its work cut out. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will use a modified version of the same silicon if the rumors are true, as will some models of the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+.

Apparently keen to ensure that Apple doesn't turn into some sort of Succession spin-off, current CEO Tim Cook says that the company is already hard at work figuring out who will take his place when he calls time on his own career.

In a turn of events that we still can't quite get our heads around, Cook, CEO of one of the biggest companies on the planet, was being interviewed by singer Dua Lipa as part of a 45-minute chat for BBC Sounds. As you can imagine that chat covered a variety of things with Cook reflecting on his 25 years at the company. He then mentioned that Apple is a company that believes in working its succession plans to make sure that things are all set for when the time comes.

Predictably, Cook wouldn't say who was next in line for his job when he calls time on his career but he did say that Apple has plenty of options with several for the board to choose from. Cook also said that he really wanted the new CEO to come from within Apple, so that might give is an idea of who he might be thinking of. There are multiple options available, as Cook says, but we have to imagine that there are some that are higher up the pecking order than others.