Samsung trademarks hint at new zoom cameras for Galaxy S24

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Samsung trademarks hint at new zoom cameras for Galaxy S24
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Samsung is rumored to be working on a variable zoom camera with plans to debut it with the Galaxy S24 Ultra early next year. The 2024 flagship will reportedly offer optical zoom at all magnification levels between 3X and 10X. Amid these rumors, the company has applied for trademarks for a couple of new camera sensors: ISOCELL Zoom and ISOCELL Zoom Pro. These appear to be new types of zoom cameras that we haven’t seen before from the Korean firm.

Samsung may be readying advanced smartphone zoom cameras

Samsung filed these trademark applications with the UK Intellectual Property Office on April 26. Spotted by GalaxyClub, the documents describe the products as camera sensors. The ISOCELL branding is already enough to tell that anyways. However, the use of “Zoom” and “Pro” as suffixes to ISOCELL is fascinating. The Korean behemoth never named its cameras that way. ISOCELL is usually followed by sensor identifiers such as HP2 (Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200MP camera) and GN3 (Galaxy Z Fold 4’s 50MP camera).

This suggests Samsung is readying something new here. The ISOCELL Zoom and ISOCELL Zoom Pro could be advanced zoom cameras for upcoming Galaxy smartphones. In September last year, a patent application from the company described a zoom lens with sensor-shift stabilization. However, Samsung continued to rely on OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) in the Galaxy S23 series. The ISOCELL Zoom or ISOCELL Zoom Pro could bring sensor-shift stabilization to the Galaxy S24 series next year.

Unfortunately, that’s just speculation for now. As said earlier, Samsung is also expected to offer variable zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It currently uses Sony sensors for zoom cameras on its flagships. The company may now be looking to switch to an in-house ISOCELL lens as it upgrades to variable zoom. The ISOCELL Zoom or ISOCELL Zoom Pro could be that lens. Samsung’s compatriot LG also recently announced a smartphone camera with continuous optical zoom capabilities between 4X and 9X magnification levels.

Samsung usually doesn’t use its latest camera innovations in Galaxy devices. It sells first-gen solutions to other brands and takes time to improve the sensor before shipping it to Galaxy customers. Time will tell whether the company continues this practice with these mysterious “zoom” cameras that it has filed trademarks for. In that case, the ISOCELL Zoom or ISOCELL Zoom Pro or both should debut inside non-Samsung phones ahead of the Galaxy S24 series. The next-gen Samsung flagships will arrive in the first quarter of 2024.


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Numerous Vulnerabilities Spotted In Intel TDX

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Numerous Vulnerabilities Spotted In Intel TDX
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Researchers highlighted numerous security vulnerabilities affecting the Intel Trust Domain Extensions (TDX). Exploiting these vulnerabilities could result in various impacts, ranging from remote code execution to denial of service.

About A Dozen Vulnerabilities Found During Intel TDX Audit

Google has recently shared a detailed audit report highlighting ten different vulnerabilities in Intel Trust Domain Extensions (TDX).

Intel TDX is a dedicated computing environment that separates virtual machines (VMs) from the VM manager or hosting environments to secure trusted domains (TDs). These TDs include Secure-Arbitration Mode (SEAM), Shared bit in GPA, Physical-address-metadata table (PAMT), Secure EPT, Intel® Total Memory Encryption-Multi Key (Intel TME-MK) engine, and Remote attestation for the evidence of TD execution on genuine Intel TDX system. It is available in

Specifically, the researchers found ten issues in Intel TDX while reviewing it for security. Also, they identified 81 potential attack vectors and 5 defense in depth changes.

As mentioned in the report, another intention behind auditing TDX was to know the potential threats for TDX and identify design limitations. Google confirmed conducting this security review in collaboration with Intel researchers, and the entire review feedback was shared with Intel for remediation.

Currently, Intel TDX is limitedly available in 4th generation Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, with an expected general availability in future. It means any vulnerability in TDX presently affects the 4th gen. Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs.

The most serious security lapse existed in the Authenticated Code Module (ACM) due to incorrectly handling interrupts when transitioning from a privileged execution context to an untrusted one. Exploiting this issue could allow an adversary to execute remote codes with privileged access.

The report details the major TDX components and their relevant security issues. Google confirmed that Intel patched all the issues in the pre-release code before shipping the 4th gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Hence, the subsequent devices carrying these processors will remain unaffected by these bugs.


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Galaxy S22 phones on Verizon get Image Clipper with April update

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Galaxy S22 phones on Verizon get Image Clipper with April update
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More Galaxy S22 users in the US are getting Samsung‘s April update. The company recently releases this month’s security patch for carrier-locked units on Verizon. Along with a host of security enhancements, the update also brings its Image Clipper feature.

Samsung has been pushing the April SMR (Security Maintenance Release) to the Galaxy S22 series in the US since early this month. The 2022 flagships were among the first to get the new security patch, stateside or otherwise. But the rollout has come in batches. It initially only covered factory-unlocked units. After a couple of weeks of waiting, the company started updating carrier-locked variants to the new SMR in mid-April.

However, Samsung still didn’t cover all eligible units of the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra. Users on Verizon’s network were among those kept waiting for longer. The company has finally released the April SMR for them as well. According to SamMobile, which first reported this rollout, the update comes with the firmware build number S90*USQU2CWCE. It should be available for all users across the nation.

Galaxy S22 users on Verizon’s network get Image Clipper with the latest update

As said earlier, the April update for the Galaxy S22 series on Verizon’s network brings the Image Clipper feature. It’s a new Gallery feature that Samsung introduced with the Galaxy S23 series a couple of months back. It lets you tap and hold on to a subject in any image to instantly crop it out. You can save it as a separate image or paste it elsewhere. The feature doesn’t work in third-party image viewer apps, though.

Samsung has been pushing Image Clipper to older Galaxy devices with the April update. Some mid-range models also got it. But unlocked Galaxy S22 users in the US received the April SMR without the new feature. Perhaps the April update came too soon for them. The company has baked the feature into the April patch for carrier-locked Galaxy S22 units. Unlocked users will probably receive it with the May update.

Speaking of the May update, Samsung has already started pushing next month’s security patch to its devices. So it’s just a matter of time before the Galaxy S22 series gets it. In the meantime, Verizon customers in the US can install the April SMR and take advantage of Image Clipper. This month’s security patch also contains fixes for more than 70 vulnerabilities, including at least five critical fixes.


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The Pixel 7a leaks in Coral, and it looks pretty dang good

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The Pixel 7a leaks in Coral, and it looks pretty dang good
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The Pixel 7a has leaked in Coral, which as of right now seems to be the fourth color of the phone. If there only end up being four colors of the device, then all of them have leaked at this point. And just a couple of weeks prior to the phone’s suspected announcement at Google I/O on May 10 no less. The other remaining colors include a blue, black, and white. Google usually does a black and white, and then two others tend to be some form of brightly colored or muted subtle hue.

Though, Google hasn’t done a phone color this bright since the Pixel 4 with the Oh So Orange. Which just so happened to be a fan favorite. Which makes us think the Coral color of the Pixel 7a might be quite popular.

The Pixel 7a in Coral definitely makes sense

Pixel 7a Coral

Google likes to keep things uniform with their product color schemes. Or at least, as uniform as possible. Case in point, a few of Google’s other products already come in Coral. The Pixel Buds Pro come in Coral, the 2nd Gen Nest Mini comes in Coral, and just recently a Coral version of the upcoming Pixel Tablet leaked in Coral.

Even one of Google’s Pixel Watch bands has Coral coloring. So really, Google is just keeping with the theme here with the Pixel 7a. Though no one necessarily predicted that Coral would be one of the color options. Either way, it definitely stands out. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see this color fly off the shelves once the phone launches.

The photo, which you can see above, comes courtesy of Evan Blass on Twitter. And looks to be a press render of the device that’s not unlike the others which have leaked already. So this is probably an image we’ll see in some of Google’s marketing material down the line.


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Another tipster hints at early launch of Galaxy Z Fold 5 & Flip 5

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Another tipster hints at early launch of Galaxy Z Fold 5 & Flip 5
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An early launch of Samsung‘s 2023 foldables Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 is looking more likely with each passing day. Noted industry insider Ross Young, who is also the CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), has obtained information suggesting this possibility. There have been a few similar reports earlier this week as well.

Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 may arrive early in the market

According to Young, Samsung’s production estimates for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 for July 2023 are “about double” that of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 during the same period last year. This suggests that the company will release the new foldables earlier than their predecessors. The source doesn’t mention the Galaxy Z Fold 5 but there’s no reason why the Korean firm would launch the two foldables separately.

Samsung launched its 2022 foldables on August 10, with general sales beginning on August 25. Hence a low production volume in July. But this year, it will reportedly produce twice as many Galax Z Flip 5 units in July. By the looks of it, the company is planning to release the new foldables in the market early in August. An earlier report suggested the same. It said the Korean firm is considering a late July date for its next Galaxy Unpacked event. Both new foldables would break cover in this event and go on sale a couple of weeks later.

Since Samsung usually holds its major launch events in the middle of the week, a date between July 25 and July 27 is quite likely. That would prepone things by about two weeks. It falls in line with another recent report that the company will push hinges for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 into mass production a few weeks earlier than last year. Long story short, all pieces of evidence are pointing towards an early launch of the 2023 Samsung foldables. But as things stand, all of this is just speculation with no official confirmation.

Growing competition in the foldable market could have triggered this change

Samsung’s past three generations of foldable smartphones debuted in August. So a July launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes as a surprise. However, the company may have thoughtfully made this change because of the growing competition in the market. Specifically, Google is planning to release its first-ever foldable Pixel Fold at the end of June. Samsung may be looking to launch its foldables early to ensure that the Pixel FOld doesn’t get much breathing space. Time will tell whether this plan pays off.


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MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ gets an official launch date

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MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ gets an official launch date
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MediaTek has announced the date for its next flagship chipset launch event. The Taiwanese semiconductor biggie will debut the Dimensity 9200+ on May 10. It has been in rumors for some time now.

MediaTek’s official announcement on Weibo didn’t reveal anything about the new chipset. However, if history is any indication, the Diemnsity 9200+ should be an iterative upgrade over the Dimensity 9200 launched in November last year. The company has done something similar in the past as well. It followed up the 2021 flagship Dimensity 9000 with the Dimensity 9000+ in June last year. The “Plus” version brought a minor frequency boost to the prime CPU core and the GPU.

It should be no different this time around. The Dimensity 9200+ should feature a slightly faster prime CPU core than last year’s Dimensity 9200. The latter has one ARM Cortex-X3 Prime core clocked at 3.05GHz. MediaTek may bump up the frequency by about five percent on the “Plus” version (up to around 3.2GHz). The rest of the CPU setup may remain unchanged. Meaning that we will get three Cortex-A715 performance cores clocked at 2.85GHz and four Cortex-A510 efficiency cores operating at 1.8GHz.

The ARM Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU should also get a similar speed boost on the Dimensity 9200+ (clocked at 981MHz on the Dimensity 9200). But everything else should carry over unchanged. The new MediaTek chipset will be fabricated on TSMC’s 4nm process node and support LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4.0 storage, 4K displays, three simultaneous cameras, Sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G networks, Wi-Fi 7, MediaTek HyperEngine 6.0, MediaTek APU 690, and MediaTek MiroVision 890.

ASUS and Vivo may be readying new phones with the Dimensity 9200+

This is the first official confirmation of the existence of the MediaTek 9200+. However, as said earlier, there have been several leaks and rumors about the new chipset in the past. We have even heard names of a few devices that could ship with the upcoming MediaTek processor. Those include the ASUS ROG Phone 7D and the Vivo X90S Pro. Vivo sub-brand iQOO may also be readying new devices with the Dimensity 9200+ under the hood.

As far as competition is concerned, Qualcomm may soon launch the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2. It will be a similarly overclocked version of last year’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Both MediaTek and Qualcomm will introduce their 2023 flagships later in the year. Samsung is also expected to return to the flagship market with the Exynos 2400 this year. It didn’t launch a follow-up to the Exynos 2200 last year. The Exynos 2400 could power the Galaxy S24 in some markets.

MediaTek Dimensity 9200


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Pie Launcher is one of the most simplistic launchers for Android

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Pie Launcher is one of the most simplistic launchers for Android
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If you’re tired of cluttered Android launchers and are trying to find something truly simplistic, the Pie Launcher may be just right for you. This is one of the most simplistic Android launchers we’ve ever stumbled upon.

Pie Launcher is a truly simplistic launcher for Android

Once you install this app, it’ll ask you to disable battery optimizations for it, which is something you should do. At that point, you’ll just see a black screen. Only your wallpaper will be shown. Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong, the app didn’t crash.

Granted the developer should have included a tutorial for the launcher. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, the first usage can be rather odd. In fact, some users could even uninstall the app as it does seem like it crashes instantly.

That’s not the case, though. Once a black screen appears, all you need to do is tap and hold on the display to bring up a ring of your most used apps. It’ll appear wherever you press and hold. At that point, all you need to do is swipe in the direction of the app you’d like to open, while keeping your finger on the display.

You can access the app drawer, and quickly search for an app

If you tap on the display, instead of pressing and holding, you’ll bring up an app drawer. From there, you can either choose the app you’d like to run, or do a quick search, which is cued up instantly as you tap on the display.

Oh, and yes, you can edit the apps that pop up in that ring on the home screen. All you need to do is enter the app drawer, and press and hold on any app in there. From there, you’ll be able to edit the apps.

That’s basically it. That’s all the functionality and customization that this app offers. It’s truly simple, and some of you may be interested in something like that. If you are, we’ve included a link to the app below. An official video is embedded too, and some screenshots as well.


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Samsung still holds top spot, smartphone market contracting: Canalys

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Samsung still holds top spot, smartphone market contracting: Canalys
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Canalys has released a new report on the global smartphone market share. Samsung is still holding the top spot, but barely, while the global smartphone market is still contracting.

This is a report for the first quarter of the year, of course. Global smartphone shipments in the first quarter totaled 269.8 million units, in case you were wondering. That is about 13% lower than in the same period last year.

Samsung is still holding the top spot, but barely, while the smartphone market is still contracting

When it comes to shipments, Samsung is still holding the top spot, and the same goes for market share. Still, things are not as bright as they may seem, as the company’s annual growth has declined.

Samsung shipped out 60.3 million phones, while Apple is second placed with 58 million units shipped. Xiaomi is holding the third place with 30.5 million shipped units, and is followed by OPPO and Vivo who shipped 26.6 and 20.9 million units, respectively. All other OEMs shipped out 73.4 million phones.

When it comes to market share, Samsung is holding 22%, while Apple is a close second with 21%. Xiaomi is third-placed with 11%, while OPPO and Vivo hold 10% and 8%, respectively. That leaves 27% of the market for all other OEMs.

Apple is the only one that marked annual growth

What’s interesting is that the annual growth of all companies listed here declined, except for Apple. Apple has actually seen a 3% growth year-on-year. If this trend continues, Samsung won’t be able to hold onto the first place for long.

The report notes that the demand for the iPhone 14 Pro series is still strong. It remains to be seen how will the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 affect Samsung’s market share. We should also not forget that the new iPhones are coming in September.

Canalys global smartphone market Q1 2023


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Pre-order the OnePlus Pad today!

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Pre-order the OnePlus Pad today!
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OnePlus has been teasing its first tablet over the past couple of months, and it finally lifted the veil back in February. Now, you can pre-order the OnePlus Pad at its low price. What does this tablet have to offer, and should it be your next tablet? Let’s find out.

Specs and features

The tablet is constructed with a metal unibody that’s incorporated with a 2.5D round edge treatment. It has a sturdy build, and there’s an impressive 88% screen-to-body ratio.

The OnePlus Pad has an 11.61-inch display with a resolution of 2880 x 2000. It’s a pixel-dense OLED display with an impressive refresh rate of 144Hz. What’s notable about it is the unique 7:5 aspect ratio. This is what one plus is calling the ReadFit Screen. It’s much more square than other tablets, and the company says that it’s perfect for reading.

Moving on to the internals, this tablet is using the powerful MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC. This is MediaTek’s answer to the latest and most powerful Snapdragon processors on the market, so it’s pretty capable. This is backed up by 8GB of RAM (expandable to 12GB using storage) and 128GB of onboard storage.

OnePlus Pad announcement 8

Moving on to the battery, OnePlus fit a large 9510mAh battery into this tablet. The company claims that it can give you up to 12.4 hours of video watching and a month of standby time. If you need to top it up, the OnePlus Pad supports 67W SUPERVOOC charging. This could charge the tablet completely inonly 80 minutes.

You can pre-order the OnePlus Pad today

If you are excited about getting this tablet, you can put your pre-order in today! If you are in the United States, it will cost you $479 ($649 CAD). You can add some accessories as well. There are three that you can choose from. The OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard case will cost $149 ($209 CAD), the Stylus Pen will cost $99 ($139 CAD), and the folia case will cost $39 ($57 CAD).

OnePlus Pad announcement 5

Overall, OnePlus really put a lot into this tablet, and it hopes that this will lead to Future tablets from the company. You should stay tuned for Android Headlines’ review of this tablet coming soon. If you want to put in your order, follow the link below.

Pre-order the OnePlus Pad


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TikTok may soon offer generative AI avatars

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TikTok may soon offer generative AI avatars
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According to recent leaks, a certain TikTok Generative AI avatar feature might soon be available to users. This feature will use artificial intelligence capabilities to spice up the TikTok user experience. Users will be able to generate creative and beautiful avatars from their actual pictures for use within the platform.

This might be TikTok’s own effort to bring fun avatars to their video-sharing platform. TikTokers, on the other hand, will be able to use the generated photos of themselves as a profile photo or for posting on their story page. Some users have already been able to get their hands on this new feature and give it a try, revealing how impressive it is.

How this entire concept works is not new to the internet, as sometime last year, netizens played with something similar. To stand out with their AI avatars, TikTok brushes up a few elements, hence making the end product very impressive. Let’s now get to know a bit more about this new feature that might be hitting your TikTok app anytime.

A quick peek into how the TikTok Generative AI avatars feature works

If you remember the Lensa AI photo generator, then this feature won’t throw you off your feet. You might just be surprised as to how well TikTok’s AI nails the avatars. The entire concept of this Generative AI avatar feature is similar to that of Lensa except that it will be built into the TikTok app.

A TikTok user, Matt Navarra, took to his Twitter page to share what this AI feature can do. He did so by sharing a few screenshots and screen recordings of this cool feature in use. Just like Lensa, this generative AI feature creates avatars directly from the user’s pictures.

To create these cool avatars, TikTok will request that users provide 3 to 10 photos of themselves. Due to user data safety, TikTok says that they will delete all images users provide. Depending on the version of TikTok the user has, the deletion process is quite different.

The deletion process for TikTok Lite users’ occurs within a maximum of 5 minutes, while that for Plus users is immediate. Deletion kicks off once the user has accessed the generated AI images for use on the platform. The artificial intelligence model will generate up to 30 avatars for the user. It also requires well-lit images of the user to ensure the best results.

Users can also pick from different styles they like and feel will match their vibe. Once a user provides their photos and picks a style (minimum of 2 and maximum of 5) TikTok then gets to work. It will take the platform over 20 minutes to get the avatars ready and for some reason, users can only access this feature once a day.

Once the generated avatars are ready, users can scroll through the list of over 30 options to pick the ones they find interesting. These images can then be put to use in stories or profile avatars on the TikTok platform. There is no information on whether users can use these AI-generated avatars on other platforms.

For now, this is only a test feature, but it might be available for global usage soon. Testers in select regions have already started trying out this feature. Once the test is over, TikTok will roll this feature out for usage via an app update.


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