Over the past ten years, Apple’s iPhone has become the company’s most valuable —and recently, somewhat volatile— asset. Since its introduction in 2007, the iPhone helped to jumpstart the smartphone revolution, and with it came some big innovations. The App Store, touchscreen gaming, the mass adoption of social media, and protecting user data with biometrics. Its product lineup is enmeshed in Apple’s ecosystem, and the impact that it continues to have around the globe is vast.
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple’s first foldable will drop Face ID and add a Touch ID button instead, to help hit 4.5–4.8mm unfolded thickness (close to the 4.2mm world’s thinnest). He expects two rear cameras, a late 2026 launch, and a price tag north of $2,000. Just take it with a pinch of salt, as Kuo says Apple hasn’t finalized the specs yet — not to mention he’s been wrong about their foldables before.
As MacRumors points out, with today’s iPad announcements and the recent iPhone 16E launch, Apple no longer sells new iPhones or iPads with 64GB of base storage. Finally.
[macrumors.com]
Some Mint Mobile users on Reddit found that they can enable RCS on the second iOS 18.4 developer beta, Android Authority reports. Another Redditor says the beta could enable RCS for other T-Mobile MVNOs, too.
[androidauthority.com]
The team at iFixit has exposed the guts — and big battery — of Apple’s newly-launched iPhone 16E in a new video. The video also shows that Apple has brought over the iPhone 16’s electrically charged battery replacement process to its newest phone. And if you’d prefer to see the text teardown with photos, here’s a link to that.
Update: Added link to text teardown.
Two weeks after Apple announced its first 5G modem touting unmatched power efficiency in the iPhone 16E, its former supplier has announced its 8th gen 5G modem-to-antenna solution which includes mmWave support for gigabit throughput unlike Apple’s C1 modem. The Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF “sets new standards for 5G and gives connectivity leadership to the Android ecosystem.”
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The new row comes courtesy of Apple’s latest iOS 18.4 beta, but it only seems to show up on cars with larger displays. A welcome change while we wait for CarPlay 2 to arrive... someday.
The iOS 18.4 beta adds a new Ambient Music category to the Control Center, bringing Chill, Productivity, Sleep, and Wellbeing buttons that let you start an Apple Music playlist with a swipe and tap.
They’re linked to a playlist by default, but 9to5Mac reports you can customize them to kick off any playlist in your library and assign one to the Action Button.
“Ultimate TayTay,” your time has come.
Apple’s $19 screen-cleaning cloth is still a compatibility champion and perfectly capable of wiping your fingerprint smudges off of the newest iPhone.
While the phone supports wireless charging and is compatible with Qi chargers, per the iPhone 16E tech specs page, it apparently won’t magnetically snap into a MagSafe charger on its own or with one of Apple’s official cases.
The 2022 iPhone SE didn’t support MagSafe charging, either, but I was really hoping Apple would bring it to this new phone.
[apple.com]
9to5Mac spotted a Hackintosh Reddit community post in which user OceanDepth95028 showed off what they say is a near-total replacement of the 2013 Windows phone with the guts of a 3rd-gen iPhone SE.
They even preserved the iPhone’s Touch ID button (now on the back) and Lightning port (subbed for the Lumai’s Micro USB).
Apple Intelligence is to be powered primarily by Alibaba, with a few features — including Visual Intelligence — handled by Baidu, according to Bloomberg. Apple’s own software will handle on-device processing, with Alibaba and Baidu stepping in for server-side tasks, including censorship.
Apple is reportedly targeting a mid-year launch, but has regulatory hurdles to clear first.
The Google AI assistant’s Deep Research mode now works on both Android and iPhone, though is still exclusive to paying Gemini Advanced subscribers. The mode, which can produce relatively detailed research reports, launched as a web-only option in December. It expanded to Android last week and iOS yesterday.
ChatGPT has its own deep research feature, which we tested last week to mixed results.
[9to5google.com]
