Samsung is reportedly close to completing a deal to buy an Israeli optics company accusing Apple of stealing its patented dual-camera technology.

CorePhotonics most recently developed a periscope camera module with 5x telephoto for the Chinese smartphone maker Oppo.

This week on The CultCast: Why iPhone’s 3D Touch is probably dead; new reports say AirPods packed with health sensors are coming in 2019; the MacBook Pro “stage light” flaw affects all models built after 2016 — and could cost you $600 to fix. Plus, the wild saga of MoviePass … continues.

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The Chinese phone market cratered in the final quarter of 2018, but iPhone sales in the country did even worse.

This poor showing is primarily a result of the high prices Apple charges for its handsets, according to an industry analyst.

Apple is considering adding a poison gas sensor to its mobile products. This would enable your iPhone or Apple Watch to detect if you’re being exposed to carbon monoxide or another harmful chemicals.

Instead of you having to tell your HomeKit devices that they should work together, Apple wants its home-automation system to know when items are close to each other. The goal is to greatly simplify both setup and daily usage of HomeKit gear.

Apple’s Beats lineup of headphones could soon face some new competition from one of the HomePod’s biggest rivals.

Sonos is allegedly planning to create a set of premium headphones. Development for the over-the-ear buds is reportedly in the early stages, but they could launch by next year and offer some features rivals can’t.

“What’s the point of a foldable phone?” That’s the question the Cult of Mac team was asking when Samsung confirmed its first is coming this year. But after seeing Xiaomi’s impressive foldable phone prototype, I really, really want one.

Check out the teaser video below and try telling me it doesn’t look awesome.

Updated AirPods are supposedly on their way in the first half of 2019, possibly bringing new health-monitoring functions to Apple’s wildly popular Bluetooth earbuds. The upgraded AirPods’ impressive new features are “expected to receive enthusiastic market responses,” according to the report.

With other companies, such as Google and Amazon, supposedly launching rival wireless earbuds this year, the move could keep Apple ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation.

A three year battle over Apple Watch technology has been resolved with Apple and biometric sensor company Valencell reportedly coming to terms over a dispute.

Valencell sued Apple back in 2016 over the heart rate-sensing technology in the Apple Watch, which has gone on to become one of the device’s big selling points. The company claimed that Apple met with its executives prior to launching the Apple Watch, but ultimately failed to reach an agreement.

Apple is looking into making your iPhone smart enough to know you wanted to take a picture just because you aimed the camera at something.

And that’s not the only gesture it’s investigating. The company proposed a complex system to let users control their Apple Watch with wrist movements, with no need to touch the screen.