Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones News - Page 1

Apple's iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro have been on sale for a few months at this point but we're all already starting to turn our attention to what will come next. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models as soon as September, which means that we will only have to wait a few short months to see what Apple has been cooking up. But as the leaks continue to arrive, we might not have to wait that long even.

The latest leak comes via the X leaker Maijin Bu in the form of a photo of what appears to be new iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max dummy units. The units are all placed face down but appear to match what we've been told to expect so far in terms of size and dimensions - although it's always difficult to know for sure from this kind of photo.

The new iPhones are all expected to be similar to the ones that shipped last year with a couple of differences. The iPhone 15 Pro's Action button is now expected to come to all of the new iPhones this time out, while there is also an expectation of a new Capture button being added to the mix. Also set to come to all four models, the Capture button is expected to act as a quick way for people to capture photos and videos, although it remains to be seen what its full functionality will be. The button is also expected to be capacitive and flush with the edge of the iPhone, unlike all other buttons.

If you're an iPhone owner in the European Union, there's a new alternative app store now available for download. The AltStore PAL store is a version of the popular AltStore and is now available for download.

AltStore PAL is an open source app that will give developers a way to allow users to download their apps without having to deal with Apple's App Store rules, although there will still be requirements. Apple was forced to allow third-party app marketplaces in the EU following the implementation of the Digital Markets Act in March, and this store is one that people have been waiting on for some time.

The new store is not like the App Store however, with no repository available which means that developers will need to promote their apps via their websites and then link to the relevant app page within AltStore PAL. Developers will also be able to monetize their apps using built-in Patreon support, too.

You don't need to have been following along too closely to know that Apple regularly releases big new software updates for its many different product lineups. The iPhone is at the top of that list of course, with iOS 18 expected to be announced later this year - if it sticks to its usual release schedule we expect that to happen in September. We've been seeing reports of various new features coming to that iOS 18 update, and now we're starting to learn even more, too.

Apple is yet to officially confirm the new iOS 18 update of course, but a new leak suggests that the Notes app in particular will benefit from some new capabilities. According to the report, coming out of AppleInsider, the Notes app is going to get some new features that will take an already popular note-taking app and improve it with a couple of particular features; a new audio note feature, and upgrades to the way Notes deals with math.

According to the report, Apple's Notes app will support audio messages being embedded directly into a note, allowing them to be placed alongside other content including photos and text. AppleInsider gives an example of a student taking a class and adding a recording of the audio alongside their own notes and a photo of the whiteboard. That does sound like a feature that a ton of people will make use of including people in business meetings and beyond.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models might have only been on sale for a few months and the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro handsets are still months away, but some people are already starting to turn their attention to what comes next and one of those people is Ross Young. Young is a display analyst who has his finger on the pulse of the companies within Apple's supply chain. And according to him, Apple might have something of a surprise in store for the iPhone 17 Plus.

Young was writing in a paywalled post on the X social network, picked up by 9to5Mac when he said that he had heard suggestions that the iPhone 17 Plus will actually have a smaller display than previous Plus models. As a refresher, the iPhone 15 Plus has a 6.7-inch display and all of the rumors have so far suggested that the iPhone 16 Plus will also sport the same 6.7-inch display. But according to Young, things will change when the iPhone 17 Plus rolls into town.

Young says that the iPhone 17 Plus will shrink, although he didn't share specific details on what that will actually mean in terms of measurements. He did note that it will sit between the iPhone 17/iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max, so we can expect something between 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches or thereabouts.

Samsung has issued a press release informing Galaxy users that its Galaxy AI feature will be available on older devices.

Samsung Electronics has announced today that One UI 6.1, which includes Galaxy AI features will be coming to even more Galaxy smartphones and tablets. According to the press release Galaxy AI that was recently introduced in Galaxy S24 series will be making its way to the Galaxy S22 series, the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Flip4 foldable phones, along with the Galaxy Tab S8 series tablets.

The update will enable more Samsung users to use Galaxy AI features such as: "Circle to Search with Google, Chat Assist, Interpreter, Live Translate, Note Assist, Transcript Assist, Browsing Assist, Generative Edit, Edit Suggestion and AI-Generated Wallpaper." There is currently no word on whether Samsung will roll out these features for the Galaxy S21 series. Furthermore, it appears the only feature that isn't making its way over to the Galaxy S22 series is instant slow motion.

If you're on the lookout for a new Android phone over the next year or so and are the kind of person who finds themselves in situations where cell service might not be as strong as it could be, you might want to consider a phone that has satellite SOS communication features. And according to a new report, there could be two new phones with that characteristic towards the end of this year.

That report comes via leaker Kamila Wojciechowska, writing for Android Authority, and there are a number of details shared as part of the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro relations. One of those details includes the suggestion that Google will add a potentially life-saving feature to the phones. Emergency SOS features are vital and have been proven to save lives in the past, especially among iPhone owners, and the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro seem set to feature a T-Mobile and SpaceX-powered alternative.

The technology will reportedly be part of a special Satellite Gateway app that will allow satellite communications with emergency services via an Emergency SOS feature.

Apple continues to change the way that it works and produces its many different products, with the latest news being that it has started to expand its presence and operations in Vietnam. The move comes as Apple continues to work with its supply chain partners to reduce the company's reliance on China.

According to a press release shared by the company, Apple has announced it will increase spending on suppliers that are based in Vietnam as well as progress an initiative to support clean water for local schools. The company says that it first started to operate in Vietnam more than a decade ago and is currently supporting more than 200,000 jobs across the country. Not all of those people are employed by Apple directly, however, with Apple also including supply chains and iOS app developers in the figure.

9to5Mac notes that Foxconn already produces a number of Apple products in Vietnam including iPads and AirPods, while there is also talk of Mac production moving to the country as well. Foxconn isn't the only Apple supplier with a presence in Vietnam either, with the company's other AirPods suppliers having been told to move production out of China with Vietnam one likely destination.

If you're buying a new flagship smartphone and want to be able to boast the fastest 5G connection around, you probably don't want to rush out to buy an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro. That's the news after the speed test experts at Ookla shared details about the fastest 5G smartphone speeds achieved by users of its speed test service.

According to that report, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro have been bested by none other than its biggest rival, the Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup including the S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra models.

The stats were conducted across February 1 - March 24, 2024, with Ookla saying that the Samsung Galaxy S24 family showed a statistically significant lead for median 5G download speeds in seven out of 15 countries in which the study was conducted. The S24 family managed to record the lowest median 5G multi-server latency in 10 of 15 countries. That's particularly notable when you read that the iPhone 15 family of devices was only able to manage the highest median 5G latency in 10 markets.

Apple's iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models have now been on sale since September of 2023 and a new report suggests that they might not be selling all that well, especially compared to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro that came before them. According to that report, Apple has lost almost 10% of its global smartphone market share with some surprising companies picking up the slack.

That report comes via the analysts at IDC whose figures say that while global smartphone shipments increased 7.8% year over year to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024, Apple's iPhones weren't to thank for the boost. In fact, the iPhone went from a 20.7% market share in the first quarter of 2024 to just 17.3% this year, a fall that equates to a reduction in shipments of more than five million iPhones.

Samsung now sits at the very top of the smartphone market in terms of mart share, but it's actually Xiaomi and Transsion that benefited from Apple's fall from grace the most. Xiaomi saw its market share increase from 11.4% to 14.1% while Transsion's figures are even more impressive - up to 9,9% from just 5.7% a year ago.

Apple has long been rumored to have plans to preview a big new iOS 18 software upgrade during the WWDC on June 10, with many reports claiming that there will be a new AI focus for the iPhone update. What that will look like in terms of features and capabilities still isn't clear, but a new report now suggests that whatever Apple's software does, it won't use cloud servers to do it.

That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, writing via the paywalled version of his weekly Power On newsletter that was then reported on by MacRumors. According to Gurman, the first wave of new features will be limited to on-device processing rather than using server-side compute as is often the case. That's how generative AI apps like ChatGPT work, for example, but Gurman says that there will be no cloud server component for Appl'es fledgling large language model.

Apple had been rumored to be in discussion with OpenAI and Google about integrating their own services into iOS 18, but it now appears that such a feature will miss the iOS 18 release window. It isn't clear whether the integrations will still come further down the line, however.