Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones News - Page 39

Apple's new FineWoven material was supposed to be a high-quality alternative to the leather options that it is no longer making. Instead, they're turning into something of a laughing stock with early buyers reporting that they stain and mark easily while also feeling low quality given their premium $59 price. Now, Apple appears to be trying to coach retail employees with any blowback that they might receive from disgruntled case buyers.

in a new memo sent to retail employees, Apple tells them that they might get questions about the appearance of the new FineWoven material. Those questions might include how it will wear over time, the memo says, while also touching on how the material should be maintained.

The memo, which was reported by 9to5Mac, explains that employees should tell customers that the FineWoven material is made from a "luxurious microtwill" and that it has a soft yet durable suede-like texture.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have both been on sale for less than a week but some people are already reporting an issue that only affects those two specific models - the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus aren't affected.

That issue is that the new best iPhones are reportedly getting a bit warm during use, although not everyone appears to be experiencing the issue. The fact that it's only impacting the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max has led some people to point the finger at the new A17 Pro chip that powers them, especially considering the iPhones heat up when placed under heavy load. However, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the issue isn't specifically the chip or its 3nm fabrication by TSMC.

Instead, Kuo believes that the real issue is that Apple made compromises when designing the new titanium iPhones to make them as light as possible. With that in mind, Kuo believes that these changes will have negatively impacted the thermal properties of the device itself, making it get too warm during heavy usage like playing games.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro might only have been on sale for a few days but the rumors mill has already turned its attention to what comes next. And what comes next is the iPhone 16.

While the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max both have the new Action button in place of the familiar mute switch, it seems that Apple isn't yet done with the idea of moving buttons around. In fact, it's going to add an entirely new button and move another component to the other side of the iPhone to make space according to a new report.

That report comes out of MacRumors which claims that the iPhone 16 will include a new capacitive 'Capture Button," something that is currently being developed under the codename Project Nova. The report goes on to say that it is likely that the new Capture Button will be a main selling point of the new iPhone, although it then goes on to say that it isn't currently known what the button will actually be used for.

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max earlier this month it was confirmed that only the latter model would feature the new tetraprism lens that allows for an improved 5x optical zoom feature. But that will all change in 2024 with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

That's according to a new report by the well-connected supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who says that the next Pro iPhone will benefit from the same tetraprism lens despite the fact that it wasn't part of the iPhone 15 Pro setup this year.

Writing in a lengthy Medium post discussing Apple and its supplier plans moving forward, Kup said that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will both feature a tetraprism telephoto camera lens. He expects the current specifications to remain to ensure camera performance, with the number of tetraprism-enabled iPhone shipments expected to increase by around 100% as a result.

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro it made a very big deal about the fact that it intended to ditch leather for good, making the move to a more environmentally friendly material instead. The new FineWoven cases are joined by Apple Watch bands, but it's the cases that are capturing the most attention right now. And none of that attention is positive.

If there's one complaint that has so far been repeatedly leveled at the micro twill FineWoven iPhone cases, it's that they easily mark and scratch. And a new photo of an iPhone 15 case display in an Apple Store just drives the point home. And it makes for poor viewing if you're planning on picking one of these new cases up.

The photo shows a number of FineWoven cases on display, many of which have what appear to be permanent scratches caused by fingernails. People have have already taken delivery of such cases have said that they easily mark and cannot be repaired or buffed to make them look better. Apple Stores have only had their cases on display for a limited time and they're already starting to look pretty grim indeed.

Apple might be ready to announce a new iPad mini before the end of the year, according to a new report. That's despite a report by a well-connected supply chain analyst who claimed that there would be no new tablets before 2024.

This latest report comes via the supply chain watchers at DigiTimes and claims that there have been orders for a new small-size iPad for the fourth quarter of this year. That would presumably be the seventh-generation iPad mini, with the last model having been released way back in 2021.

Little is known about the new tablet and it wasn't even expected to be in the cards for a 2023 unveiling. While Bloomberg's Mark Gurman had suggested that it wasn't out of the question that there would be a new iPad mini this year, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo poured cold water on that idea by saying that there would be no new iPad mini until 2024. In fact, Kuo said that he didn't believe that there would be any new iPad models at all this year.

After Apple announced the iPhone 15 Pro and said that it would be able to run a console port of Resident Evil Village, that's something that a ton of gamers have been waiting for. The new iPhones went up for sale on September 22 and now we also know when they will get their flagship new game, too.

It's now been confirmed that Resident Evil Village will come to the App Store on October 30, complete with the Winters' Expansion. It'll be available to play on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max as well as the iPad Air and iPad Pro so long as yours happens to have the M1 chip or later inside.

The new game will be a free download in the App Store, but that'll only act as a demo version of sorts. If you want to play the full game that's going to cost you. With this being a console game, it's perhaps no surprise that its pricing also reflects that. The Resident Evil Village game will set gamers back $40, while the Winters' Expansion DLC will go for another $20.

Apple's iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models are now available to buy and people have been doing that since the September 22 launch last week. Those who got their preorders in quickly will already have their new phone in their pockets. And it turns out that there's one person picking up Apple's latest phone that you might have heard of.

The new models are the best iPhones that Apple has ever sold and now it appears that the owner of X, the social network previously familiar to us all as Twitter, would agree. Elon Musk took to Twitter to confirm that yes, he is picking up a new iPhone this year.

Musk was replying to a tweet by Apple CEO Tim Cook who was saying that the new iPhones were officially on sale on Friday alongside the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch Series 9, and updated USB-C AirPods Pro 2. Musk replied to say that he's buying one and we have to imagine it's that fancy new iPhone that he was talking about.

With Google's big Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro unveiling now just a week or so away there is more attention than ever on what the company will announce in terms of features and specifications. We can surely expect some big camera upgrades and Google's use of AI tools should make for an interesting list of features. But how much will all of the new hotness cost when it becomes official?

That's a question that we might now be able to answer after a leak of what appears to be a Google pricing chart appeared on X, the social network previously known to the world as Twitter. That post comes via leaker Kamila Wojciechowska and seems to have all of the information we could possibly want to know - including further confirmation of specifications across both devices.

Starting with those all-important prices, the leak suggests that the Pixel 8 will start at $699 this year, an increase of $100 over the current Pixel 7 price of $599. That'll get you a Tesnor G3 chip, just like the Pixel 8 Pro. The difference is that the Pixel 8 comes with 8GB of RAM while the Pixel 8 Pro has an upgraded chip with an extra 50% memory, taking it to 12GB.

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are set to be announced very soon indeed but we might not need to wait all that long to know what the new models will offer in terms of cameras. A new leak claims to have outed all of the new specifications a week or so ahead of time.

With all of the attention now on Apple and its recent iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro releases it's leaks like this that continue to remind everyone that there are now Google phones just around the corner. Apple might have launched four new handsets but Google is being much more conservative with just two new models on the horizon; the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8 Pro.

This new camera leak comes courtesy of the folks at 91mobiles and tipster Kamila Wojciechowska. According to them, there are a few things that buyers of the new models should be looking forward to.