It would have sounded unthinkable just a couple years ago, but long-time Apple frenemy Samsung has announced that its Smart TVs will offer iTunes Movies and TV Shows and Apple AirPlay 2 support.
Support will be baked into the new 2019 models, and made available to 2018 models via a firmware update.
Prepare your news feeds for an avalanche of gadget announcements.
CES 2019 — the biggest electronics trade show in the world — is set to kick off in Las Vegas next week where nearly every tech company on the planet (except Apple) will be showing off their latest wares. Even though Apple won’t officially be at the event, dozens of its employees will be roaming the show floor observing how the competition is trying to catch up.
While you won’t see any new Apple products at CES the company’s presence will certainly be felt from smart homes to self-driving car tech. Here’s what we’re looking forward to most at this year’s show.
Samsung has a number of new monitors lined up for CES 2019, including one that’s perfect for Mac mini owners with small desks. It’s called the Samsung Space Monitor — and it’s a beauty.
Not only does the Space Monitor sport a super-slim design, but it can be clamped to the edge of your desk, negating the need for a large foot that takes up precious space.
Huawei has demoted two employees over a Twitter update sent from an iPhone.
The New Year message, which has since been deleted, was mocked for being published “via Twitter for iPhone.” But Huawei isn’t the only smartphone maker that’s been caught using a rival’s devices.
Samsung has been getting a lot stick lately for posting tweets from an iPhone, but it turns out it’s not the only company that sometimes uses a competitor’s devices. Apple is guilty of it, too.
The official Apple Music account recently published a tweet using an Android device.
A 2019 iPhone model reportedly will sport a display made by Samsung that has the touch panel integrated into the OLED, rather than layered on top.
If true, the technology will make one of next year’s iOS handsets thinner and lighter, but not all of them.
Samsung uses an image taken by a professional photographer to show off the capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy A8 Star. That wouldn’t be a problem except the picture was taken with a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, not the phone Samsung is pretending it came from.
If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s not the first time something like this has happened.
The iPhone turned in a “flat” third quarter while Chinese brands Huawei and Xiaomi droves sales in their home country to grow their shares of the global smartphone market.
The smartphone market grew by 1.4 percent to reach 389 units. Take Huawei and Xiaomi out of the equation, and global sales would have declined by 5.2 percent, according to the research firm Gartner, Inc.
Samsung has been caught tweeting from an iPhone … again.
The South Korean company used an Apple device to publish a message promoting the Galaxy Note 9’s edge-to-edge display. The monumental gaffe led to the temporary but complete deactivation of the Samsung Mobile Nigeria account.
Google and Samsung have smartphones many critics say are as good or better than the latest iPhones.
But making a device to rival Apple’s isn’t the hard part. Getting iPhone users to switch is.
Google acknowledges this in a series of video ads launched this week to convince brand loyalists to switch to its newest and well-reviewed flagship, the Pixel 3.
The iPhone is set to get some huge competition from Apple’s biggest rival in 2019.
Samsung is reportedly planning to unleash its biggest phone ever for the 10th anniversary of the Galaxy lineup. If the report is accurate, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 will pack two times as many camera lenses as the iPhone XS Max and come with an even bigger display.
The foldable future of smartphones has officially arrived.
Just one day after we saw the first folding smartphone hit the market, Samsung took the wraps off of its new Galaxy X smartphone that packs a folding display that allows it to also be used as a tablet.
Apple has poured a lot of money into trying to capture a big chunk of the growing smartphone market in India. But the average resident doesn’t have a lot of money to buy an iPhone.
A report by Counterpoint Research shows iPhone sales are falling in what is seen as Apple’s first decline in four years.
The future’s promise to give us folding smartphone-tablet hybrids like the ones found on Westworld has already arrived.
Apple fans will have to wait until 2020 at the earliest for a folding iPhone, but an Android manufacturer called Royole just debuted its folding smartphone and while it doesn’t look that incredible, it’s an amazing sign that the sci-fi tech might finally be ready for mass-market devices.
Take a look:
Apple’s cheapest iPhone of 2018 is just as fast as Samsung’s most expensive smartphone.
Despite packing less than half the RAM and $500 cheaper price tag, the iPhone XR matched Samsung’s Note 9 in a recent speed test by PhoneBuff. The new iPhone was even leading the Note 9 during some parts of the speed test, which shows how quickly the devices can open some of the biggest apps on iOS and Android.
Watch the battle:
Italy’s antitrust watchdog has fined Apple 10 million euros ($11.4 million) for slowing down iPhones with aging batteries. The country also hit Samsung with a fine of 5 million euros ($5.7 million) for issuing software updates to artificially slow down its mobile phones.
Apple’s got slapped with an extra 5 million euros for failing to give customers clear information about maintaining and replacing iPhone batteries.
Not even the fastest Android handset comes close to matching the performance of the iPhone.
The new Asus ROG Phone performs better than every other Android in early benchmark tests. It also scores higher than the latest iPad Pro lineup. When it comes to iPhone XS and XS Max, though, the gaming handset is way behind.
USB Type C — it’s no longer a novelty but an emerging connectivity standard for Apple products. As a newer, more powerful variation of the same USB we all know and love (well, kinda), USB-C features higher power and faster data transfer than its predecessors via a smaller connector.
While older USB Type A and B were a great gift for Mac users — few mourned the passing of ADB and SCSI — USB is often finicky. Just plugging in an old-school USB cable can prove challenging, since you must position the connector just so for it to slide smoothly into the port. That often means several tries to achieve the proper angle and orientation.
Those obstacles disappear with USB-C because, in addition to its smaller size, it is designed to be reversible — with no up or down orientation, just like a Lightning cable — and the cables can have the same type of connector on both ends.
Apple promises that the iPhone XS Max delivers better battery life than any other iPhone. It also lasts longer than rival devices in between charges, according to a new battery test.
Apple’s most expensive smartphone to date easily outpaces the Sony Xperia XZ3 and the new Google Pixel 3 XL. It even manages to last a little longer than the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 — but there is a catch.
There were howls of protest when Apple left the 3.5mm headphone jack out of the iPhone 7, but it was really just another example of the company being ahead of the competition. Arch-rival Samsung is reportedly going to be the next to eliminate this single-use port from its flagship phones next year.
Samsung is expecting to rake in record operating profits for the three months ending in September — and it owes Apple a debt of gratitude for helping.
The South Korean tech giant said on Friday that it’s expecting to pull in $15.6 billion in operating profits for the most recent quarter. This would be a jump of more than 20 percent compared to the same quarter in 2017, and Samsung’s highest ever quarterly earnings. They should send Tim Cook a bottle of champagne to thank him!
Apple has topped Interbrand’s annual list of the Best Global Brands for the sixth consecutive year.
The iPhone-maker, which has seen its brand value increase 16 percent this year, ranked highly in consistency, engagement, and differentiation. It is followed by Google, while Amazon has quickly climbed into third place after its brand value increased an impressive 56 percent.
The Appel community is all over Samsung these days. And, no, before you accuse us of failing to properly proofread these articles, we’re talking about Appel, a hamlet in the Netherlands with a population of just a few hundred residents.
In an effort to drum up a bit of publicity, Samsung recently handed out free Galaxy S9 handsets to people living in Appel as a marketing stunt. Because, you know, getting people who live in a town with a kinda similar name to that of your competition is totally the kind of thing that keeps Tim Cook up at night!
Korean electronic’s giant LG is teasing the rollout of a new smartphone with multiple cameras.
The LG V40 will feature three cameras on the back plus two front-facing cameras, joining Samsung and Huawei in what is shaping up to be a marketing war featuring the phone with the most cameras.
A number of Apple devices, including the iPhone X and iPad Pro, run the risk of being banned from South Korea, the home of Apple’s long-time frenemy Samsung.
The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy is currently investigating allegations that Apple has infringed on a patent belonging to KAIST, a public research university based in South Korea. The investigation period has already been extended twice, and BusinessKorea suggests that the regulatory commission is likely to make its “final determination” in favor of KAIST.