Mobile Devices - Page 4

Apple has made its new ultra-thin iPhone Air official, unveiled during its recent iPhone 17 unveiling. The new iPhone Air features the company's new in-house A19 Pro processor, but also its new in-house C1X 5G modem, new N1 wireless chip, and more. Check it out:

First off, Apple's new iPhone Air is using Grade 5 titanium for the chassis, with Apple stating that the iPhone Air sports the most durable design even though it's just 5.6mm thick. The iPhone Air features a 6.5-inch display with ProMotion technology that drives 120Hz on the screen.

There's also the new "Always On" display, up to 3000 nits of peak outdoor brightness, and Ceramic Shield 2 technology on the front. This is the first time that Apple has used Ceramic Shield 2 on the back, which makes it up to 4x more scratch-resistant.

Lithium-ion portable battery banks are prone to being quite dangerous, and in the worst-case scenarios, they can burst into flames or even explode.

For example, there was a Delta Air Lines flight that had to make an emergency landing in Fort Myers, Florida, in July 2025, after a portable battery caught fire mid-flight. Lithium-ion batteries are cheap to manufacture, have quite a high energy density, meaning they can contain quite a lot of charge, and can charge quite quickly. But the cons are that the liquid electrolytes are flammable, and if the battery is damaged, overcharged, or shorted, the battery can overheat, swell, and, as we saw with the Delta Air Lines flight, catch fire.

The solution? A new battery technology. Introducing solid-state power banks. KUXIU has sent out its S2, a solid-state power bank that is designed to be much safer than its lithium-ion counterparts, and to demonstrate its safety, I used a hammer to puncture a hole directly in the center of the power bank. Solid-state power banks replace the flammable liquid within lithium-ion battery banks with a solid or gel substance, significantly improving thermal stability, reducing heat buildup, and increasing charging stability.

Apple's biggest form of revenue is the iPhone, and this year the company will be unveiling its new range, which will have the biggest redesign the iPhone has seen in half a decade.

On September 9, Apple will showcase its latest iPhone generation. As the company lags behind in AI-powered software, it's focusing on hardware changes in its latest devices as a major draw. The iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and Pro Max are all pegged to be redesigned devices, with the backs of each being overhauled with a new design that moves the cameras into a pill-shaped bar.

In addition to the redesigned traditional iPhone line-up, Apple will also be introducing what Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has been calling for quite some time, the iPhone 17 Air, an ultra-thin device that will replace the iPhone Plus. The iPhone 17 generation is just the first of Apple's three-year plan to redesign the iPhone, as there is currently a foldable iPhone in the works, along with a 20th anniversary iPhone pegged for 2027. The foldable iPhone is meant to be announced next year.

Samsung has just unveiled two new tablets, the Galaxy Tab S11 and the new flagship Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, which will compete against the Apple M4 iPad Pro.

The new Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra measures in just as thin as the 13-inch OLED iPad Pro powered by Apple's new in-house M4 processor, at just 5.1mm thick. Samsung packs in a bigger 14.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, with a smoother 120Hz refresh rate, an anti-reflective coating, and peak brightness of 1600 nits.

Inside, Samsung is powering its new Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra with a competitor's processor, not using an in-house Exynos processor. The new Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is powered by the Dimensity 9400+ chip joined by 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage, which is also upgradeable through a microSD card slot up to a bigger 2TB of storage.

Samsung will be testing the market with a limited quantity launch of its upcoming tri-fold smartphone with just 50,000 units, so that it doesn't take too much of the foldable success away from its Galaxy Z Fold 7, and that it keeps a confident glare at Apple which is preparing a foldable iPhone for 2026.

In a new report we're hearing that Samsung Electronics has decided on making over 50,000 of its new double-folding (tri-fold) smartphone, with mass production preparations using the related materials with component supplies. Samsung will unveil its new tri-fold smartphone -- rumored as the Galaxy G Fold -- as early as next month, with a launch in November.

50,000 isn't many at all, and if we rewind the clock back to Samsung's first foldable, the Galaxy Fold which released in 2019, the company made 500,000 units. It has been popular enough over the years leading up to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, selling millions and millions of foldable smartphones in that time.

Apple will reportedly not be using an under-display fingerprint sensor for its new foldable iPhone, and in its place the foldable iPhone will use a side-mounted Touch ID button.

In a new post by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has posted on X explaining: "Six months ago, I predicted the foldable iPhone would use side-button Touch ID. There are now market rumors that it will adopt an under-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, but I think that's unlikely. It's expected that Luxshare ICT will supply the side-button Touch ID module for the foldable iPhone".

This makes sense given that Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone will be exactly like Samsung's successful and multiple generations of foldable Galaxy smartphones -- the most recent being the Galaxy Z Fold 7 -- where the book-style foldable has not one, but two displays. This means that Apple would need under-display fingerprint sensors on both the outer display, and another under-display fingerprint sensor when the foldable iPhone is unfolded.

Google has made what's proving to be a controversial move with the imminent Pixel 10 range, confirming that the latest iterations of its smartphones will have the Battery Health Assistance feature enabled by default - with no way to turn it off.

In short, this feature - first introduced with the Google Pixel 6a - is going to be policing your battery whether you like it or not. And the news has certainly revealed how many would-be buyers of a Pixel 10 handset fall into the latter camp, after Google confirmed the feature will be compulsory to Android Authority.

The idea with Battery Health Assistance is to manage the power pack's long-term health and degradation rate.

Apple is scheduled to hold a new special event for its upcoming iPhone 17, with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a known Apple insider, sharing an image to his personal X account stating the event is set for September 9.

The iPhone 17 line-up of devices has long been rumored to be a dramatic shift for Apple and how future iPhone generations will be, as the company is pegged to showcase a redesigned iPhone, a new ultra-thin model purportedly called the iPhone 17 Air, and all-around visual design changes. Additionally, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the most powerful of the generation, is slated to have the biggest battery within an iPhone yet, and the Air is meant to be just 5.5mm in thickness, making it the thinnest iPhone ever made.

Gurman writes in a follow-up X post that the aesthetics of the September 9 event invitation aren't random, but hold some hints toward what we can expect to see during the event. The reporter adds that the orange in the Apple logo is a hint toward a new color for the Pro model devices, the light blue is for the iPhone Air, and the "Awe-dropping" slogan is a play on jaw-dropping for the "thin/light of the phone".

Samsung has lifted the lid on two new affordable products in its Galaxy range of devices and gear, the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite and Galaxy Buds3 FE. The Galaxy Tab S10 Lite is an affordable tablet with a 10.9-inch display with a 600-nit peak brightness. It also features an upgraded processor, a large 8000mAh battery with Super-Fast Charging, and comes with an S-Pen.

The inclusion of the S Pen alongside creative tools and AI features makes the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite a device that can support creators, students, and designers, and also serves as a portable entertainment hub. On the productivity side, users will be able to mark up and edit PDFs without the need to switch apps.

One of the tablet's Intelligent Features highlighted by Samsung is called Circle to Search, which lets you use the S-Pen to circle objects on the screen and then leverage Google to discover more or even translate text. Naturally, as a new Samsung Android tablet, it also comes equipped with a wide range of Galaxy apps and tools.

Google has announced its new Pixel 10 family of smartphones, including the new Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL handsets, along with a new flagship foldable Pixel 10 Pro Fold, all powered by its new in-house Tensor G5 processor fabbed at TSMC on its leading 3nm process node.

The new Pixel 10 smartphones and Tensor G5 processor weren't the only product announcements, but also a new Pixelsnap magnetic technology, Pixel Watch 4, Pixel Buds 2a, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 in Moonstone with new features coming soon.

Google's new Tensor G5 processor has been a long time in the making, designed for the Gemini AI era, ready to go on the new Pixel 10 smartphones. The new Tensor G5 chip enables a new feature dubbed "Magic Cue" which Google explains that it turns Gemini AI into a more proactive assistant, where it will provide information to you before you even ask it. If you've called the hotel you're staying at, Magic Cue will provide relevant details about your stay.

Apple will reportedly not release a regular iPhone 18 in 2026, rather the company will launch the normal iPhone 18 in 2027, with the change in release schedule being a result of the foldable iPhone launching next year.

In a new article from Korean media outlet ETnews picked up by @Jukanrosleve on X, we're hearing from industry sources that Apple plans to release both the budget e-series iPhone and the regular iPhone in the first half of the year moving forward, while unveiling four models including the foldable iPhone in the second half. Only next year's regular iPhone 18 will be affected, and not the iPhone 19, iPhone 20, etc.

The changes to the release schedule are because of the foldable iPhone coming in 2026, as the foldable iPhone -- rumored as the iPhone Ultra -- will be one of the four major releases in 2026.

Apple's new iPhone 17 Pro smartphone will reportedly start at $1049, an increase of $50 over the iPhone 16 Pro, but it will have double the base storage.

The new iPhone 17 Pro will start with 256GB of storage for $1049, versus the 128GB starting point at $999 for the iPhone 16 Pro. The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts with 256GB of storage at $1199, while both the Pro models sport up to 1TB of storage if you want to splash the cash.

The new 256GB base model of the iPhone 17 Pro ups the game, where pricing it at $1049 will replace the 128GB model at $999. Instead of a $50 price increase, consumers might see Apple's new pricing as a good proposition -- a faster iPhone with a newer chip, better cooling, double the base storage for just $50 more.

Apple's upcoming ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air smartphone won't just be the thinnest iPhone ever, it'll also have a binned A19 Pro chip inside, the same SoC inside the iPhone 17 Pro, but with less GPU cores.

In new leaks from Weibo-based tipster "Fixed Focus Digital", the new iPhone 17 Air is indeed powered by Apple's new in-house A19 Pro chip, but in "binned form". Binned chips are ones that have just barely missed silicon perfection, so they get cut down and used in different products down the stack. Intel, AMD, NVIDIA and many other chipmakers do this with their GPUs and CPUs during production.

This means that the A19 Pro destined for the iPhone 17 Air will feature a 5-core GPU, which is one less GPU core than the iPhone 17 Pro will house with the same A19 Pro chip. One less GPU core won't result in too much gaming performance lost on the iPhone 17 Air, but it will make it just slower than the slightly higher-end iPhone 17 Pro.

Apple's next-generation iPhone 18 will feature the company's next-gen in-house A20 processor, which is reportedly shifting from InFO to WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module) packaging.

The use of WMCM advanced packaging for the A20 chip will be done by TSMC, with WMCM using MUF (Molding Underfill) which integrates underfill and molding processes, reducing material consumption and process steps to improve yield and efficiency, explains insider Ming-Chi Kuo.

Eternal has "outcompeted" Japanese rivals Namics and Nagase to secure its first-ever contract as an advanced packaging materials supplier to TSMC, with mass production of the new A20 chips kicking off in 2026. This is an important step for Eternal, as meeting TSMC's stringent qualifications is no easy feat.

Apple is reportedly planning to unleash its next-gen iPhone 17 family of smartphones, including the new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, on September 9.

The company traditionally launches its new range of iPhones in September, with MacRumors reporting that this year will be no different for the iPhone 17. We are to expect the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Air, and flagship iPhone 17 Pro Max to be unveiled on September 9.

Apple will then open up pre-orders for the iPhone 17 on September 12, which will see Apple fans waiting around a week for pre-ordered iPhone 17 smartphones to reach them and get in-store. We should expect major markets like the US, Europe, China, Australia, and other countries to be included in that first week of iPhone 17 sales.

Samsung's upcoming tri-fold smartphone is no surprise, but now the company has confirmed it will be unveiling its new tri-fold smartphone, as well as its new XR headset in October 2025.

We've had a flood of rumors regarding the tri-fold handset from Samsung which will reportedly be called the Galaxy G Fold, which will join the company's successful foldable family of smartphones that has recently seen the launch of the latest Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 smartphones.

Tri-fold smartphones aren't completely new, with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei already on the market with its own tri-fold Mate XT smartphone, but Samsung will be the first to have an internationally-available tri-fold smartphone, versus Huawei's tri-fold Mate XT which is only available in China.

Apple's foldable iPhone is expected to launch in September 2026, with a price of $1999 and said to create a $65 billion market opportunity for the company.

In a new market research note to investors, banking firm JPMorgan supported recent rumors that Apple would be launching a new device in 2026, with Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 family of smartphones to offer a few different upgrades across the board, and the introduction of the iPhone 17 Slim, which has resulted in investors shifting their focus to Apple's 2026 product launches.

Apple's 2026 product launches will include the next-generation iPhone 18 family of smartphones, as well as the introduction of the company's first foldable iPhone.

Samsung is the foldable smartphone leader but Apple will have its foldable iPhone out next year and we can expect a lot of "magical" and "revolutionary" claims when it hits, underscored by recent rumors.

In a new report from TrendForce, we're hearing that Apple is moving into the foldable smartphone business and it is putting an extra emphasis on durability and the elimination of the crease on the display. Apple engineers are reportedly experimenting with advanced technologies including laser-drilled metal plates under the display to minimize creasing, which is an issue on all foldable smartphones.

Apple doesn't want to release a foldable iPhone without making it near-perfect, which is why we've been hearing rumors and reports about the company all but eliminating the crease on the foldable display. As for the specs, we should expect the foldable iPhone to be dubbed the iPhone Ultra, packing a 5.5-inch outer display that is good for those quick, one-handed operations like calls, text messaging, and checking your notifications.

Apple has announced a new option that consumers can take to get umbrella AppleCare coverage for multiple devices.

It's called AppleCare One and for a fee of $19.99 monthly, subscribers can have three Apple gadgets covered. If you want more than three pieces of hardware protected, you can elect to pay $5.99 per month for each extra device.

From today, you can sign up for AppleCare One on your Mac, iPhone or iPad, or get the plan from an Apple Store. It doesn't matter what devices you enroll in the scheme, the cost is the same.

Samsung expects to ship 2.4 million units of its flagship Galaxy Z Fold 7 and 2.3 million units of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 this year.

In a new report from TheElec, the total foldable smartphone production plan for Samsung was recently shared with its component partners for 2025 is 6.1 million units, the same goal for foldable production in 2024. The production plan model includes 2.4 million units of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, 2.3 million units of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, 700,000 units of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 SE, 100,000 units of its upcoming tri-fold phone, and 600,000 units of its legacy foldables.

Samsung has experienced double-digit global pre-orders for its new Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 foldables compared to the same period as last year, which is promising for the foldable phone leader.