Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones News - Page 8

There's a lot expected to happen within the next few weeks with new iPads and accessories set to be announced in May. There have been a ton of leaks relating to the iPads in particular, but the latest appears to have details about one of the best iPad accessories as well.

That accessory is of course the Apple Pencil, with the third-gen stylus expected to be announced alongside the new tablets. Not an awful lot is known about that Apple Pencil 3, but a new report appears to have added some additional context to rumors of a squeeze gesture coming to the device.

According to a 9to5Mac report based on information found in the latest iPadOS 17.5 beta, the Apple Pencil 3 will offer a squeeze gesture as had been reported previously while new LongSqueeze and DoubleSqueeze gestures also found. The current Apple Pencil 2 only currently supports a double-tap gesture for switching tools and whatnot, but there is no pressure sensitivity available. That now seems to be set to change when the new Apple Pencil arrives.

You don't need to have been following along with the iPhone rumor mill too much to know that Apple is strongly expected to launch a new iOS 18 software update this fall and it's anticipated that it'll bring with it some big new AI features. The software isn't expected to be announced for a while yet, but we're seeing more and more leaks the closer we get to the big date.

The latest of those leaks comes in the form of back-end code that has been discovered and found to reference an unknown Safari browsing assistant feature. It isn't yet known exactly what that feature will do, although the name might suggest a ChatGPT 4-like ability to have AI search the internet and then collect information and present data based on the results.

The same person who shared the details of the Safari browsing assistant feature also shared that Encrypted Visual Search is part of the back-end code, but again it isn't clear what that does. it's possible that it will be an expansion on the existing Visual Search feature that allows people to get information about the content of their photos.

If you want to get yourself a new iPhone but don't want to choose an older model to save money or spend new iPhone cash on something like the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro, the upcoming iPhone SE 4 could be the answer. While Apple has yet to officially confirm what that model will have to offer or when it will go on sale, a new leak claims to have detailed all of the specs ahead of time.

According to the leak, via Nguyen Phi Hung on the X social network and then picked up by WCCFTech, the iPhone SE 4 will have plenty to offer for those who want to get a budget iPhone while enjoying a modern iPhone look and feel.

According to the leak, the iPhone SE 4 will feature a design that is similar to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 including the Face ID notch at the top of the device/ That means that there will be no Home button for the first time on an iPhone SE. We're also told to expect a single camera around the back and a construction made from 7,000-series aluminum alloy.

It doesn't take too much imagination to assume that Apple is getting ready to announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this year and we've been hearing various leaks on and off for months now. The latest centers around the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, with Apple reportedly ready to up the ante in terms of the color options that will be available to buyers.

According to leaker Fixed focus digital on the Weibo social network, a post that was picked up by MacRumors, Apple will increase the number of colors this year to seven - up from the five of the year before. That means that iPhone 16 buyers will have two extra colors to choose from, assuming this leak is accurate.

Interestingly, the leak itself mentioned the iPhone 16 Plus specifically, although we suspect that the iPhone 16 will also be included in this expansion of color options. Historically, the two devices have both been identical in every way beyond the size of display and we see little reason for that not to be the case this time, too.

We've been hearing rumors of a number of new iPad updates happening within the next few weeks of late, and May is now expected to be the timeframe that Apple will finally share details about the new tablets. There are expected to be updated iPad Pro and refreshed iPad Air models unveiled, and the former may have now leaked ahead of time. What's more, that leak appears to have come via Apple itself.

Specifically, a new 9to5Mac report says that the new iPads have appeared as references in the latest iPadOS 17.5 beta which has been made available to developers. According to the report, references to the iPad16,3, iPad16,4, iPad16,5, and iPad16,6 can all be found. More interesting is the fact that these references are all related to new display firmware which appears to add credence to reports that the new models will all switch to OLED displays for the first time.

It's believed that the four models cover both the Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the 11-inch iPad Pro as well as the same Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the 12,9-inch iPad Pro. The firmware also appears to suggest that the new iPad displays will be produced by two different companies.

Apple has developed something of a reputation for announcing a new iPhone color during the spring, alongside new cases and Apple Watch bands. It's been doing it on and off for a few years starting with 2017 with the iPhone 7 and the last time it happened was last year - the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus received a new yellow color to mark the spring refresh. The move is thought to be a way for Apple to regenerate interest in the new iPhones around six months after they went on sale. But it now looks increasingly likely that we shouldn't expect such a refresh to happen with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.

That's according to a new report by the Weibo leaker Instant Digital who says that there is no new spring color refresh in the cards for the iPhone 15 lineup of models. However, it isn't yet clear why Apple might have chosen to have taken this decision.

Apple is well aware that the latest iPhone sales start to slow down around the mid-cycle point and that's what makes launching a new color worthwhile. Early adopters are quick to buy the new iPhones within the first few months of their launch while sales slow as we get through the cycle. Towards the end of the cycle, Apple knows that people are then more likely to wait for whatever the next model will be, especially with the company known to favor a September launch. The closer we get to September, the more sense it makes for people to wait - either for the new model or to pick the slightly older model up and save some cash in the process.

If Apple follows the usual release schedule we can expect the company to announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro this coming September, and that means that won't have to wait all that much longer before Apple shares all of the details we're waiting for. But before that happens there will no doubt be plenty of leaks, with the latest being a post on the Weibo social network which claims to have information on the iPhone's battery statistics - including a bit of a shock.

The new statistics were shared by leaker OvO Baby Sauce OvO who has started to share details of this ilk of late. They don't yet have a track record for us to use as a basis for how reliable they are, but right now we can take the information on face value until told otherwise. And if the report is accurate, we can apparently expect all of the new iPhones' batteries to grow slightly in terms of battery capacity except one. According to the report, the iPhone 16 Plus will actually see its battery shrink.

According to the leak, the iPhone 16 will have a battery with a 3,561mAh capacity while the iPhone 16 Plus will have a capacity of 4,000mAh. The iPhone 16 Pro will have a capacity of 2,255mAh while the larger iPhone 16 Pro Max will have a capacity of 4,676mAh.

The rumors suggesting that Apple intends to announce a new OLED iPad Pro and refreshed iPad Air lineup soon have been circling for months now, and it looks increasingly likely that next month will be the big launch timeframe. But anyone expecting Apple to invite members of the press to Cupertino for a swanky unveiling could well be left disappointed, according to a new report.

The new tablets will not get a special event, DigiTimes warns, something that means that Apple will very likely choose to announce the new tablets via a series of press releases instead. It is an approach that Apple has taken in previous instances when there have not been big new features or notable redesigns of products, and that seems to be the case this time out. Apple announced the M3 MacBook Air via a press release earlier this year, for example.

The report hints that Apple has chosen to go the press release route this time out after the tablets had been delayed repeatedly in recent months. They're now expected to be announced in May, but there was originally a plan to have them ready for market in March before the delays started to creep in.

The new REDMAGIC 9 Pro smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's very latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, with Red Dead Redemption 2 running through an emulator at just 10FPS... unplayable but impressive nonetheless. Check it out:

Serg Pavlov used the REDMAGIC 9 Pro smartphone running a Windows emulator called "Mobox" and playing Rockstar's incredibly successful Red Dead Redemption 2. The game was running with an in-game resolution of 1280 x 720 (720p) with low graphics settings, which, through the emulator... pumped out 10FPS on Qualcomm's best Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC.

You have to remember that this isn't running natively; it's running through a Windows emulator, so performance falls off a cliff. But it's a promising tease into the future. If an emulated version of Red Dead Redemption 2 can run at 720p 10FPS, we can expect a few more years to pass before we get to a stable 30FPS in games like this.

Google hasn't yet officially announced the budget-oriented Pixel 8a but we know that it;'s coming. The Pixel 7a was a popular device, and we can be sure that the Pixel 8a will follow suit. And while Google is yet to officially announce the product we've started to see it leak here and there - and it's leaked once more in a post on the X social network.

The leak comes via images posted by the TechDroider account in which we appear to see a phone with a large display and a matte finish.

The display that is expected to be up front on the Pixel 8a is a 6.1-inch panel and the leak appears to show some fairly big bezels all around. It isn't bad by any stretch, and these bezels are no bigger than those that can be found on the Pixel 7a so that's a positive. That display is also expected to have a 120Hz refresh rate which means that it will offer a silly smooth experience.