We now know when the OPPO Find X6 Pro flagship will launch. The company announced that the phone will become official on March 21. Do note that this info comes from OPPO China, and this is a China launch event.
The OPPO Find X6 Pro gets a launch date, it’ll arrive on March 21
The Find X6 Pro is not the only device that will launch during that event, though. The OPPO Find X6 is also expected, and the same goes for the OPPO Pad 2 tablet which has been rumored lately.
Some recent reports suggested that the OPPO Find X6 Pro won’t launch globally at all. We do hope that’s not true, as it does seem to be very promising. We’ll have to wait and see, though.
What we know about the device thus far, is that it will offer the brightest display on the market. Its brightness will max out at 2,400 or 2,500 nits, depending on which source you end up believing. The device also surfaced in real-life images not long ago, if you’d like to check those out.
Hasselblad will be a part of the package, as it will likely color-tune the phone’s cameras. The device itself looks very promising, based on the information that leaked out thus far.
It will offer truly powerful specs, including a 1-inch camera sensor
The phone will, allegedly, feature a 6.82-inch QHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC will fuel the phone, while you can expect plenty of RAM too. The device will likely offer up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. UFS 4.0 flash storage is also expected.
A 5,000mAh battery was also mentioned, and the phone will allegedly support 100W wired charging. On top of that, 50W wireless charging will also be supported, it seems.
This will be OPPO’s first smartphone with a 1-inch camera sensor. A 50.3-megapixel main camera (Sony’s IMX989) is tipped. A 50-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 50-megapixel telephoto camera have also been mentioned.
We’ll know a lot more once the phone launches on March 21, so stay tuned for that.
Samsung will reportedly invest a whopping $230 billion in the semiconductor business over the next 20 years. The company will build the world’s largest semiconductor hub in its homeland South Korea. The investment is part of the local government’s latest push to boost the national tech industry.
According to a Reuters report, Samsung will erect five new chip factories in South Korea over the next two decades. This will open up new opportunities for hundreds of “materials, parts and equipment makers, fabless chipmakers, and semiconductor research-and-development organizations”. Many of them could shift their base or expand near the capital city of Seoul to take advantage of Samsung’s expansion.
Separately, Samsung will also invest more than KRW 60 trillion (roughly $45 billion) in the next ten years in regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area. This is a joint investment by Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, and Samsung SDI to boost the chip packaging, displays, and battery technology. Note that the Koren conglomerate has multiple business units that operate independently of each other.
Samsung is pushing South Korea’s semiconductor industry forward
Samsung is one of the biggest players in the tech industry globally. The company leads the industry in several fonts. Most notably, it is the largest smartphone and TV brand and is also the biggest memory chip maker.
SK Hynix, which is second to Samsung in the memory chip business, is also a South Korean company. The local government is looking to take advantage of these two companies’ global presence in pushing the domestic tech industry forward, offering incentives and tax benefits to companies that invest big.
Earlier today, the South Korean government unveiled a KRW 550 trillion (~$417 billion) private-sector investment plan with a vision to boost local production of memory and non-memory chips, displays, and batteries. The government also allocated KRW 25 trillion for R&D in strategic technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) over the next five years.
A separate KRW 360 billion (~$270 million) will go into chip packaging technologies. Lastly, South Korea has announced a budget of about KRW 100 billion (~$75 million) in electricity and water infrastructure for industrial complexes this year.
“The economic battlefield, which recently began with chips, has expanded … countries are providing large-scale subsidies and tax support,” said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. “[We] must support private investments to ensure further growth … the government must provide the location, R&D, manpower, and tax support”.
This comes after a proposal to raise the tax deduction rate for “facility investments in chips and other strategic technologies” in January. South Korea is reportedly looking to raise the tax deduction rate from 8% to 15% for large corporations.
Introduced last year, Snapchat’s Family Center was one of Snap’s most important steps toward allowing parents to control the accounts of their offspring. Today, the social app announced more improvements are coming to Family Center, which includes additional controls for parents who aren’t content with what they received in 2022.Suggestively dubbed “Content Controls,” the latest feature for Family Center allows parents to limit the type of content their children can watch on Snapchat. It’s surprising that this wasn’t available when Family Center was launched last year, but at least the feature if finally here.
Particularly, the newly added controls enable parents to filter out Stories from publishers and creators that they feel are not a good match for their kids. Either they’re creating sensitive, suggestive content, or their views are in contradiction with what parents believe about a particular topic, it’s now possible to filter out Stories based on who creates them.
Snap’s policies are designed to prevent “unvetted content from going viral,” so it’s harder for certain content that you can find on TikTok or other social networks to become widely shared on Snapchat. Not to mention that Snap moderates public-facing content from creators and Snapchatters before it’s eligible to get reach on Stories or Spotlight.
Of course, to take advantage of the latest feature for Family Center, you’ll need to have an account set up with your child. The Family Center account is free and can be created in just a few minutes.
In related news, Snap revealed plans to add even more new features to the Family Center. Some of these upcoming features will be built around My AI, Snap’s experimental chatbot, and are meant to provide parents with more visibility and control around their children’s usage of My AI. Other new features might be in the pipeline too, but these are the only ones we know of so far.
Samsung has responded to the recent controversy around the Galaxy S23 Ultra‘s Space Zoom feature. The company dismissed the accusations that its latest flagship captures “fake” photos of the Moon. It says the device uses AI-based scene optimization technology to enhance the details of the image. No image overlays are applied to the end result, an official statement from the Korean behemoth confirmed.
“Samsung is committed to delivering best-in-class photo experiences in any condition,” the Korean firm said in a statement to TomsGuide. “When a user takes a photo of the Moon, the AI-based scene optimization technology recognizes the Moon as the main object and takes multiple shots for multi-frame composition, after which AI enhances the details of the image quality and colors. It does not apply any image overlaying to the photo.”
The company added that disabling the AI-based Scene Optimizer will stop the Galaxy S23 Ultra from enhancing the details of the image. The end result will be just what the 200MP rear camera captures. The handset will not add any details to the photo.
“Users can deactivate the AI-based Scene Optimizer, which will disable automatic detail enhancements to the photo taken by the user,” the statement further read. Note that scene optimization also helps improve the quality of regular images and not just Moon photos.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra created non-existent details on a Moon photo
The controversy around the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Space Zoom began after a Redditor discovered that the device creates non-existent details on Moon photos. Redditor ibreakphotos used a setup that involved a blurry image of the Moon, a monitor, and the new Samsung flagship. They opened the blurry image with no details on the monitor (showing at 170×170 pixels), moved across the room, turned off all lights, and captured the Moon’s image on the monitor using a Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Despite the original image lacking details, the Samsung flagship identified it as a Moon and artificially added details to the photo it captured. The Galaxy S23 Ultra essentially upscaled a blurry image. Since this doesn’t happen with other blurry photos, the Redditor branded the phone’s Moon shots as “fake”.
They are technically correct too. The device artificially applied details to the photo even if it couldn’t capture any details. But Samsung contends that it is using AI to do that and that the results you get aren’t overlayed images.
Some might still call it false advertising. However, Samsung’s point isn’t wrong either. It has trained the Galaxy S23 Ultra to fill in details that its camera can’t capture when taking photos of the Moon. After all, the 200MP camera on its back is still too tiny to see everything on the Moon’s surface.
However, the device isn’t producing the photos itself. It just uses AI to enhance the details. It’s now up to you whether you accept AI enhancements of Moon photos or you’ll sit on the other side and call Samsung fake.
Creating your Bitcoin Cash (or BCH) can quickly be done in simple steps that we will check out in this blog post. By following the given steps, you can send, receive, and store your Bitcoin Cash easily without even relying on third-party services. Because there are many phony or fraudulent cryptos on the market, only use the most trusted platforms, such as the Chain Reaction trading. Here is a step-by-step process of how Bitcoin Cash works:
Mining: Bitcoin Cash generally operates on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The miners use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical equations that will help them verify the transactions on various networks. Once a miner solves this equation, the transaction is added to a blockchain, and the miner gets awarded the minted BCH coins.
Transactions: Transactions on the Bitcoin Cash network are pretty similar to Bitcoin. Users will be able to send & get BCH coins to one another. Transactions can be recorded on a blockchain, a public ledger for anybody to access. These transactions are confirmed by miners, which help in preventing double-spending.
Wallets: Users require a wallet to store the BCH coins. These wallets come in different forms, including hardware wallets, software wallets, and paper wallets. Hardware wallets are considered highly secure as they need to be better connected to the world wide web. The software wallets are simple to use as well as susceptible to hacking. You’ll need to download the Bitcoin Cash Core wallet, which can be found on the official website of Bitcoin Cash. It’s free, secure, and open-source software. After downloading and installing it on your device, you can create a Bitcoin Cash wallet by generating a unique 12-word passphrase. Ensure you keep the passphrase safe, as it is the only way to access the BTC Cash wallet.
Block limit: Next difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is its block size limit. There is no doubt BTC has a block size limit, say around 1MB, while Bitcoin Cash has a block limit of more than 32 MB. It means more and more transactions are processed on the Bitcoin Cash network, which helps reduce transaction times and fees. When you have this wallet adequately set up, it is essential to fund this with BCH. You can purchase them with cash or through exchanges online. That depends upon where you can buy them; transaction fees and processing time will vary. It is important to note that a few exchanges may need you to register the account before buying and selling BCH.
Once you’ve funded your Bitcoin Cash wallet, you must provide the wallet address you want to send BCH. To do this, go to the Receive tab and click the “Copy Address” button. This will provide you with the public address, which you can use to receive BCH from any sender. Make sure you verify the address with the sender before sending any funds.
Nodes: Nodes are the computers connected to the Bitcoin Cash network. These nodes help maintain the integrity of the network by verifying the transactions and blocks. Nodes are run by anybody and help to decentralize this network.
Forks: Bitcoin Cash was designed because of the hard fork in this Bitcoin blockchain. A hard fork is one significant change to blockchain protocol, which isn’t backward compatible. It means that the nodes that don’t upgrade to the new protocol are left behind.
Adoption: The adoption of Bitcoin Cash is now growing, with a lot of businesses and merchants accepting it as the payment method. BCH is used to pay for goods and services so that it can be exchanged for various other cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. The final step is to send Bitcoin Cash to another wallet. To do this, you’ll need to enter the public address of the receiver and the amount of BCH you wish to send. You can then confirm the transaction by double-checking the address and the amount before you proceed. Once it’s confirmed, your funds should be on the way and will reach the receiver within minutes.
In conclusion, Bitcoin Cash operates similarly to Bitcoin, but with a larger block size limit, which allows for faster and cheaper transactions. The network is decentralized and is maintained by nodes and miners. BCH can be stored in different types of wallets, and it is growing in popularity as a payment method.
If you use Google Play Games for PC, then there are some exciting games coming your way soon. According to Android Police, popular games like Angry Birds 2 and Garena are coming to Google Play Games for PC.
Back in 2021, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 would support Android apps. Well, not to be outdone, Google started testing a Google Play Games launcher for Windows PCs. This lets you install and play games available on the Play Store right on your computer.
Google has been working with different developers to make their games compatible with larger screens. Also, these games can be played with controllers/mouse and keyboards. This gives you a full PC gaming experience while playing the games.
At the moment, this is still in beta, and you can try it out for yourself. Google Play Games for PC is available in 13 markets including the US.
Angry Birds 2 and more games are coming to Play Games for PC
At the moment, the library of available games isn’t quite expansive, but more titles are being added as time goes on. Right now, there are 104 games available to install. This list includes games like Asphalt 9: Legends, Genshin Impact, Dragonball Legends, Rise of Empires, Zen Koi 2, GrimValor, and Summoner’s War: Chronicles. If you play them, you can expect a well-optimized gaming experience.
Now, there are some more titles coming to the game launcher. Firstly, what’s probably the most popular game on this list is Angry Birds 2. It’s the official sequel to the ever-popular Angry Birds.
Next, we have Gerena Free Fire. This is a multiplayer battler royale game similar to PUBg and Fortnite. You’re launched from a plane to the battlegrounds. You need to gather weapons and armor and fight your way through the competition. If you’re the last one standing, you win.
Ludo Kings takes the classic board game and brings it to the small screens. These are just some of the games that are coming to the platform. Keep an eye out for them. If you’re interested in trying out Google Play Games for PC, you can click here.
Development of the system of Finance is crucial for every country of the world. Regardless of the nation, you live in; you will find things sophisticated when modern technology is updated. So, when you are living in China and want to make sure that you are using the most technologically advanced option of Finance, you will go for the Digital yuan on the Yuan Pay Group. It is one of the crucial things you will use in the modern world of the Chinese government as it is a digital token launched by the central bank digital currency. You need to know that the Chinese government has launched it; therefore, it can provide many advantages that the Fiat money system cannot.
There are going to be plenty of things that are required to be kept in mind when you are willing to use the Digital yuan. Moreover, safety and security should be your priority when using the Digital yuan, which is why you need to understand how the wallets will work. Yes, there is a diversity of wallets you will find in the digital tokens market, and you have to pick the one that will be the most suitable for your digital tokens. Even though there are many options available, you will need help to pick the safest one. So, appropriate information about the types is crucial, and today, we will provide you with the information about the same.
Different types
When the digital tokens market was created, plenty of options were infused in the same, and you will see that many other choices are available. But, as long as there is going to be a lack of choices in your hands, you will find things to be complicated. But let us tell you that today, making money out of the Digital yuan will be sophisticated if you adopt the modern means of making money. So, if you wish to use the Digital yuan for generating income, use the best wallet we will define below.
One of the crucial types of wallet you are supposed to use in cryptocurrency trading or digital market trading is the best. Yes, you need to know the Digital yuan is a digital token that is required to be supported with the best level of safety and security, and it can be provided by the hardware wallet only. It is a device that will come along in the form of a small pen drive or something else, and you can use it wherever you want, regardless of any problem.
Website types of wallets are also reliable in the modern world. It is optional that you will have your digital hardware wallet when you are travelling or trading in digital tokens. In such a situation, going for the website wallet is also a good option. It is very easily accessible, and you must use the genuine one. The only problem is that you may need help to check the website’s originality; therefore, you can lose money on this one.
Software wallets are also popular in the market of digital tokens. Even though it is complicated to use this kind of wallet more than the other wallets, you will find these wallets provide you with the best quality of services available. But, yes, the more complications, the more difficult it will be to make money out of the digital tokens. So, to eliminate all the hurdles from your path of achieving success in digital tokens, make sure to use a software wallet.
You may also find paper wallets in the digital token market, but let us tell you that there are more reliable options than this. If you are willing to stay entirely with modern technology, you will not be willing to use this one. Moreover, it is always considered the most complicated type of digital wallet you will use because it is easy. You are going to find the Digital yuan very difficult to store in these wallets because it comes in the form of a QR code. Ultimately, these wallets are linked to a digital space, but you will use paper.
Last words
In the above points, we have provided you with some vital information associated with the wallet that you can use to store your Digital yuan. The digital token ecosystem is well developed everywhere in the world; therefore, regardless of location, you must be very well aware of them. So, if you have plans to use Digital yuan, make sure to go with the hardware wallet because it can provide you with the best security and some of the extraordinary features of digital yuan.
When it comes to short-form vertical video app TikTok, President Joe Biden’s administration sounds very much like the previous administration. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration is threatening TikTok’s owner that the app will be banned in the U.S. unless Chinese company ByteDance divests its interest in TikTok. The report said that The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, made the demand recently.
CFIUS investigates the possible risks to the U.S. when a transaction involving a stateside firm and a foreign company is made. TikTok says that forcing ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok will not affect the security risk that the Biden administration is worried about. 60% of ByteDance shares are owned by global investors with the remaining 40% owned 50%-50% by employees and the company’s founders.
TikTok parent ByteDance proposed spending $1.5 billion to keep user data out of the hands of the Chinese government
TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement, “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
Former President Donald Trump tried to get U.S. companies to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations
In order to please concerned administration officials, ByteDance said that it would spend $1.5 billion to prevent personal data and content from U.S. TikTok users from falling into the clutches of the Chinese government. Under this plan, ByteDance’s U.S. operations would be walled off from the rest of the firm and all data would be held in the U.S. The plan would give U.S. company Oracle access to inspect ByteDance’s algorithms for U.S. inspectors.
In 2020, then President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the U.S. unless its operations in the states were sold to American-owned firms. In September of that year, Trump claimed to have a deal in place to sell the U.S. operations of TikTok to Walmart and Oracle, but that transaction never closed. TikTok went to court to block a federal ban. Trump also dropped the matter so that he could focus on the upcoming election.
The concern is that TikTok has been accused of keeping user data from U.S. subscribers and uses its in-app keyboard (on the iOS app) to record keystrokes. In addition, in China, the law requires Chinese companies to turn over customer data if requested. As a result, critics of TikTok in the U.S. say that this plan doesn’t go far enough since it doesn’t address the possibility that the Chinese government could demand that ByteDance turn over data collected from U.S. TikTok users.
Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, refused to say whether Biden would ban TikTok if the bill passes and gives the president the ability to block the app in the U.S. The White House did say that it had “concerns with this particular app.” Ms. Jean-Pierre added, “We want to make sure that the digital products and services Americans use every day are safe and secure.”
Bipartisan legislation could allow U.S. Commerce Department to ban troubling foreign technology
Any resolution of this issue could still be months away and TikTok chief executive, Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee next week to answer questions from lawmakers. The main focus will be on the security issues that have the Biden administration anxious to ban TikTok in the U.S.
Bipartisan legislation proposed by Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator John Thune (R., S.D.), the Senate Republican whip,
would require the Commerce Department to create a process to potentially ban troubling technology from foreign countries. In a statement, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, “This legislation would empower the United States government to prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services operating in the United States in a way that poses risks to Americans’ sensitive data and our national security.”
Last month, in response to a question about TikTok by an interviewer, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said, “Our intelligence community has been very clear about China’s efforts and intention to mold the use of this technology using data in a worldview that is completely inconsistent with our own.”
Samsung is rolling out the March 2023 Android security patch to the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, and Galaxy Note 20 phones in the US. The former two lineups have already picked up the latest security update in some international markets but the rollout for the Note series is beginning stateside.
The March SMR (Security Maintenance Release) for the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra is widely available in the US. The update comes with the firmware build number S90*USQS2CWB7 for carrier-locked units and S90*U1UES2CWB7 for unlocked devices. Samsung has already released the patch for devices on most networks. The remaining few should also join the party soon. Don’t expect any new features, though. As the official changelog reveals, you’re only getting this month’s vulnerability fixes.
The story is pretty much the same for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra as well. Samsung is pushing the March SMR to its 2021 flagships in the US with firmware versions G99*USQS5EWB3 (carrier-locked) and G99*U1UES5EWB5 (unlocked). Once again, the rollout is widely available on most networks. And as you can see in the changelog here, there’s nothing much that the latest vulnerability fixes. The previous update (One UI 5.1) for the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S21 series contained plenty of goodies.
The Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are picking up the March update in the US ahead of all other markets. The new firmware version for the carrier-locked units is N98*USQS3HWB7, while that for the factory-unlocked devices is N98*U1UES3HWB7. And we’re repeating ourselves: there’s no new feature or user-facing change in tow here. Samsung is only pushing the latest security patch. Galaxy Note 20 users in other markets, including the US, should get this update in the coming days.
March update for Galaxy devices contains over 60 vulnerability patches
This month’s security update for Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets patches more than 60 vulnerabilities. Around 20 of those are Galaxy-specific flaws, including at least a couple of high-severity ones. The Korean firm patches issues with System UI, Exynos baseband, Galaxy Themes Service, Samsung Keyboard, Bluetooth, and more system components.
The remaining vulnerability patches this month address issues in Android OS and other partner components that make up Galaxy devices. At least five of those flaws were labeled “critical” by Google. Samsung will push these vulnerability fixes to more eligible Galaxy devices in the coming days, including the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 foldables. We will keep you posted on those releases.
The iPhone 14 has now been out for a few months, so it’s time to start turning our attention to the iPhone 15, even though we aren’t expecting to see it until September 2023. Leaks have already started for Apple’s newest iPhone, so here’s everything you need to know about the new iPhone 15.
In this preview, we are going to tell you everything we know about every aspect of the new iPhone 15. Including what models are coming, when it’s coming, specs, and so much more. We will be updating this as often as needed, leading up to the September 2023 launch date.
When will the iPhone 15 series be released?
While we don’t know for sure when the iPhone 15 will be announced, it is very likely to happen in the first half of September. Generally, the first full week of September, after Labor Day. Though in 2022, the iPhone 14 was announced two days after Labor Day, instead of the week after.
With pre-orders opening the following Friday, and it being available the Friday after.
So the short answer here is, September 2023.
What models are coming?
We likely won’t know for sure what models are coming until later in 2023, but we expect the lineup to be the same as the 14 series. That would include:
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
How much will the iPhone 15 cost?
In 2022, with the iPhone 14 series, prices did increase outside of the US. However, the US did keep the same prices. So if that continues for the iPhone 15 series, here’s how much the models would cost.
iPhone 15 – $799
iPhone 15 Plus – $899
iPhone 15 Pro – $999
iPhone 15 Pro Max – $1,099
What will the iPhone 15 look like?
The iPhone 15, specifically the Pro model, is set for a pretty big design change. Both are going to be getting rounded sides once again. Think back to the iPhone X, XS and 11 models. Which many people want to see make a comeback anyways. One thing that is very apparent here is that the sides will be a whole lot softer, compared to the iPhone 13 and 14 series.
The bezels on the iPhone 15 Pro models are set to be a whole lot thinner this year, which is resulting in the iPhone 15 Pro actually getting a larger display. Going from 6.1-inch to a 6.2-inch display. Not a huge difference, but by decreasing the bezels so much, it can keep the same physical size while increasing the actual display size.
The cameras on the iPhone 15 Pro are also getting another bump. From the CADs that we have seen so far, the iPhone 15 Pro is going to have a camera bump almost as thick as the actual phone itself. Which is rather crazy, but also expected, as there is a periscope camera being added this year.
Many are also speculating that the buttons will no longer be available on the iPhone, starting with the 15. In these CAD files, we see something there that looks like they could be solid stat buttons. But I’d venture to guess that the buttons are just missing. I don’t really think Apple would remove them just yet. There would be a whole lot of uproar if they removed the mute switch too.
What features will the iPhone 15 have?
The iPhone 15 is set to get a bunch of new features, and that’s not because Apple wanted to add them. A lot of changes are expected in 2023 for Apple, because of the EU. For example, the EU is forcing Apple to add USB-C to all iPhones sold in Europe by 2024. It is also forcing Apple to open the iPhone up a bit, and allow third-party app stores. Though that will be more of an iOS 17 feature vs an iPhone 15 feature.
But here’s the features that are currently being rumored for the iPhone 15 series.
USB-C
When Apple confirmed to the WSJ a few months ago that its next iPhone would have USB-C, a lot of people were excited. Including yours truly. However, it’s not all good news. While Apple is being forced to USB-C, it’s not including the faster data speeds that typically come with USB-C. Instead, you’ll be stuck on USB 2.0 speeds, the same as the current Lightning port.
However, the “Pro” models will get “at least” USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Which is going to be yet another feature to differentiate the vanilla iPhone models from the Pro models.
While that is a bummer, how many people are actually transferring data via a cable on their iPhone everyday? Or even often at all? Likely not that many. So it’s likely not as big of a deal as the tech media makes it out to be.
More Dynamic Islands
In 2022, the iPhone 14 Pro came with a new “notch” which was a hole-punch display, sort of. It has a pill shape cut out because Face ID uses more sensors than facial recognition does on Android, making it more secure. But instead of just having it there, Apple decided to embrace it, and include software. Calling it the Dynamic Island. It also is incorporating Live Activities (announced with iOS 16 at WWDC), making it a pretty cool software feature.
Now, this was only available on the iPhone 14 Pro models. But with the iPhone 15 models, rumor has it that it will be available on all models. This rumor comes from Ross Young, who has been pretty spot on with these rumors.
Better cameras, somehow
The cameras on the iPhone 14 are already really good. But Apple is somehow going to improve them even more in 2023. That is likely due to both hardware and software upgrades actually. It’s expected that Apple will use a new imaging sensor from Sony. This will likely be reserved for the “Pro” models, just as the new 48-megapixel camera was in the iPhone 14 models.
But that’s not all, as Apple is also rumored o be adding a periscope lens to the iPhone 15 in 2023. This would be capable of 5x or 6x optical zoom. These folded zoom cameras have become quite popular on high-end Android flagships for a while. So it’ll be good to see this coming to the iPhone.
Still no Touch ID
Despite many leaks and rumors surrounding the iPhone 14, the iPhone 15 still won’t bring back Touch ID. Though the technology isn’t dead – since it is in the Magic Keyboard and iPad Air – it’s not going to be available on the iPhone 15.
iPhone 15 Ultra
There are some rumors coming out of Bloomberg this year, that Apple might replace the iPhone 15 Pro Max with an Ultra model. Which would make sense after releasing the Apple Watch Ultra in 2022.
This new iPhone 15 Ultra is set to be more than just a larger “Pro” iPhone. Instead, it would use a new titanium finish, and likely some upgraded internals as well. Which is going to make it a lot heavier, and more expensive. So be prepared for that.
New chipset and modem
The new iPhone 15 models could be the first ones to use a new A-series chipset built on TSMC’s next-generation 3-nanometer node. This new 3nm chipset is expected to increase processing performance by about 10-15%. While also reducing the power consumption by up to 30%. That’s going to help improve battery life, and where Apple typically puts in a larger battery every other year, the battery life on the iPhone 15’s could be pretty impressive.
Apple will be sticking with Qualcomm for its modem in the iPhone 15. It is expected to use the Qualcomm X70 modem. This has improved AI for faster processing speeds, a better coverage range, improved signal, lower latency and up to 60% improved power efficiency. Apple has been using Qualcomm’s modems off and on for the entire life of the iPhone. But since adding 5G with the iPhone 12, it has exclusively used Qualcomm.
Should you wait to buy the iPhone 15, or just get the iPhone 14?
Depending on when you are reading this, it might make more sense to wait for the iPhone 15, instead of getting an iPhone 14 model. If you’re reading this in the Summer of 2023, then it’s a good idea to wait. Even if you do get the iPhone 14, as the prices will drop once the iPhone 15 is announced.
However, if you need a new phone right away, then you shouldn’t wait. Just get an iPhone 14. It’s still a good phone and you won’t be disappointed by it.
