Samsung partners with MrBeast to promote Galaxy phones

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The YouTuber MrBeast has turned to Samsung Galaxy devices for vlogging. He’s among the most popular YouTubers ever, with over 185 million subscribers. From now on, MrBeast will use Galaxy phones as an official mobile vlog device.

Smartphone manufacturers usually partner with Hollywood celebrities and influencers to promote their products. Samsung also has a long history of collaborating with celebrities, including Beyoncé, Jay Z, BTS, and Black Pink.

This time, the Korean OEM is partnering with a well-known YouTuber whose videos get millions of views. According to the company’s announcement, the Galaxy devices on MrBeast vlog-style shots will be used when “real” cameras aren’t convenient. Samsung aims to show “what’s possible with a Galaxy smartphone for aspiring and professional creators.”

MrBeast will use Samsung Galaxy phones as official mobile vlog device

Samsung also added MrBeast will use the Galaxy S series, Galaxy Z Flip5, and Z Fold5 as official vlogging devices. MrBeast’s first video with Samsung devices included the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip5. The video reviewed a selection of cars from $1 to $100,000,000, and so far, it has received over 110 million views on YouTube. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200MP primary camera is accompanied by a 12MP ultra-wide lens and two 10MP telephoto sensors.

Janet Lee, senior vice president of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics America, said, “We want to empower creators of all kinds, and show them what’s possible with a Galaxy device in their hands. Together with MrBeast, we hope to inspire others to get out there, create, and uplift.”

Professional YouTubers and filmmakers usually employ DSLR cameras for producing content. However, smartphone cameras in recent years have caught the eyes of professional vloggers thanks to their fantastic quality and adaptive features for vlogging.

Moreover, the mobility of smartphone cameras allows vloggers to be more creative and flexible with their content. They’re light, easy to use, and packed with other features that make vlogging even more convenient. Additionally, vloggers can edit content on the phone and share it directly to social platforms.


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Yelp asks judge to remove Google’s lawyers from antitrust case

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As many of you know, Google and the DoJ (Department of Justice) are in the middle of an antitrust case in the US. In the latest turn of events, Yelp and a coalition of news organizations have asked the judge to remove Google’s lawyers from the antitrust case.

Yelp wants judge to remove Google’s lawyers from the ongoing antitrust case

What exactly happened? Well, to be more accurate, Yelp asked for an entire US law firm to be removed from the case. Yelp and the coalition claim that the firm has a conflict of interest, as it was previously their advocate on matters related to the case.

This request refers to the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. It’s also worth noting that both Yelp and News/Media Alliance are the targets of Google’s subpoenas, not defendants in the case.

Why are they even there? Well, Google is trying to prove that it didn’t abuse its market dominance when it comes to web advertising. Yelp is a site you’ve probably heard of, it’s a service-recommendation site. Many of you have probably used it thus far.

Spokesperson for Paul Weiss disagrees with Yelp

Having said that, a spokesperson for Paul Weiss disagrees with Yelp. They see their presence as completely appropriate, or “appropriate in all respects”, as he put it. Neither Google nor Yelp had any further comments.

For the purposes of the trial, Google wants specific information from Yelp. The company wants Yelp to share information about its advertising technology business, and some other topics. The company is also requesting Yelp’s engagement letters, invoices, and bills related to its Paul Weiss ties, for the purpose of fighting Yelp’s request to get the firm removed from the case.

This antitrust case started about two weeks ago, and it’s all over the place. Google is trying to prove that it did not abuse its market dominance, while the DoJ is on the opposite side. The trial is set to last for about two months, by the way.


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Threat Actors Using Management Tools to Deploy Ransomware

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The threat actors have been spotted increasingly depending on Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) tools, which resulted in a relatively botched Hive ransomware distribution. 

The original payload consisted of an executable file disguised as a legitimate document. 

According to Huntress, this campaign was most likely distributed by email, with a link that, when clicked, downloaded the executable.

The DFIR reports that the initial access method needed the end user to be a local Administrator, as less privileged users would cause the installation to fail.

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How the Attack is Carried Out?

The threat actor launched discovery commands through ScreenConnect around an hour after execution, utilizing basic Windows tools such as system info, ipconfig, and net. 

After a few minutes, the threat actor executed a BITS transfer task to deploy a Cobalt Strike beacon.

The threat actor utilized ScreenConnect to download additional binary after being idle for an hour. This new file contained a trojanized ApacheBench executable with Metasploit shellcode hidden inside it. 

The shellcode would start a Meterpreter command and control channel when it was run. The threat actor launched a new command and control channel and then transitioned to lateral movement by launching PowerShell and MSI installers for Atera and Splashtop on a server via remote services. 

The Execution Process

More BITS transfers were seen to create more Cobalt Strike footholds. Reports say the threat actor executed a batch file that used PowerShell’s built-in tools to retrieve Active Directory data.  The threat actor examined file shares and backups on the network using these RDP connections.

The threat actor launched the Hive ransomware as the first step in their ultimate operation. They altered the administrator’s password before manually running the ransomware on many important servers. 

To perform domain-wide encryption, the threat actor placed the ransomware binary on a network share. Then he built a new domain-wide GPO with a scheduled job to execute the ransomware binary on each domain-joined machine.

Deploy a Group Policy Object

Also, the threat actor then tried to encrypt the whole domain after these manual ransomware operations.

Researchers say the time to ransomware (TTR) from initial access was 61 hours. The threat actor erased beneficial artifacts during their attack to hide their presence. According to the research, attackers used remote services for lateral movement.

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Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design spearheads new series of devices

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Huawei recently announced the Huawei Mate 60, Mate 60 Pro, and the Mate 60 Pro+. Well, another ‘Mate 60’ phone just got announced, the Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design.

The Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design is here, Huawei’s ultra premium phone

This is the first ‘Ultimate Design’ smartphone that the company announced. It’s basically a new high-end smartphone series or brand, whatever you want to call it. It’s supposed to sit at the very top of the food chain.

Huawei Ultimate Design brand image 1

Huawei plans to use top-of-the-line materials, design choices, and specifications for this smartphone series. The company says that this is a culmination of ultimate aesthetics, ultimate craftmanship, and extreme innovation.

The Huawei Watch Ultimate Gold Edition is also a part of the series

Huawei did just present this series of devices, even though the Huawei Watch Ultimate Gold Edition was the first member of it. That smartwatch arrived quite recently, and it’s basically the Huawei Watch Ultimate with the addition of gold.

Similar to that, the Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Edition is the Mate 60 Pro+, but with a different design. The specifications remain the same, which is not surprising. This series is more or less here to replace the ‘Porsche Design’ lineup that Huawei used to release.

As you can see, the Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design has an octagonal shape for its camera island. It looks entirely different than the Mate 60 Pro+ from the back. The front side is pretty much the same.

This phone has a ceramic backplate

It has a star diamond pattern on the back, and a ceramic backplate. That’s also different compared to its sibling. The second-gen Kunlun glass has proven to be quite tough in some Mate 60 series drop tests. The thing is, the edition used here is supposed to be even tougher, as it’s Xuanwu tempered Kunlun glass.

When it comes to specs, you get a 6.82-inch 2720 x 1260 display here. That’s a quad-curved OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It is an LTPO display (1-120Hz), and it has a 300Hz touch sampling rate.

The Kirin 9000s fuels it, while 88W wired, and 50W wireless charging is supported

The Kirin 9000s processor fuels this smartphone, Huawei’s new SoC. The phone comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB of storage. A 5,000mAh battery is included, while the device supports 88W wired charging, and 50W wireless charging. 20W reverse wireless charging is also supported.

HarmonyOS 4.0 comes pre-installed here, while there are two SIM card slots included. The device does have a set of stereo speakers, and it is IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. It does have facial scanning support too, advanced facial scanning.

It has a powerful camera system with variable aperture

A 58-megapixel ultra-spot main camera (f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture, OIS) is included here. A 40-megapixel ultrawide camera (f/2.2 aperture) also sits on the back, as does a 48-megapixel telephoto unit (3.5x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom, OIS, f/3.0 aperture, super macro).

The Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design comes in Xuan black and Rui red color options. The device’s pricing starts at CNY11,999 ($1,641) in China. We’re not sure if this device will make it to more markets.


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7 Things an Android phone lets you do that an iPhone doesn’t

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The Android vs. iPhone debate is seemingly an endless showdown. Each side races ferociously to close existing gaps and get ahead. Still, they persistently provide unique strengths that call for sacrifices whenever you pick sides. This piece covers eight essential freedoms an Android offers you won’t enjoy on an iPhone.

Replace the Launcher and Customize the Home Screen

Android devices allow many tweaks, from customizing icons to installing entirely different launchers. Some brands — like Oppo, Vivo, Asus, and Realme — even include pre-installed theme apps that let you change your phone’s theme, fonts, and icons under one roof.

These launchers allow you to customize how you interact with your phone, increasing productivity and boosting visual appearance. They can closely resemble the stock launcher or be more complicated or minimalistic. What’s more, you can always return to the stock launcher or install another one.

Apple tried to catch up by allowing the addition of widgets to the home screen and the use of custom icons on iOS 14 going forward. However, The iOS process is complicated and often results in lag because the customized icons are only shortcuts to the actual apps’ shortcuts.

Apple is loosening its restricting grip on customization options, but Android remains miles ahead.

Root Access and Custom ROM Installation

Root access is the epitome of Android’s open nature. It gives you absolute control over your phone, allowing you to install various customization mods. For example, you can overclock the CPU to boost performance or underclock it to improve battery life. You could also extend your RAM to include some of your phone’s internal storage.

On the flip side, the closest you can get to rooting an iPhone is jailbreaking, a much more complex process that doesn’t match the level of access its counterpart provides. Additionally, jailbreaking doesn’t work for recent iPhones.

Another of Android’s liberties is the installation of custom ROMs, which you can perform after rooting your device. Custom ROMs are modified Android versions that may give you better functionality and open up more customization possibilities. For example, you could get a different UI, an up-to-date Android version, and extra features.

Run Multiple Apps in Split Screen Mode

Android phones give you excellent multitasking, thanks to the split screen feature introduced on Android 7.0 back in 2016. Additionally, Android 12 made the multi-window mode default for all apps, making it much easier to multitask on all subsequent Android phones.

This feature works better on larger screens, and that’s probably why Apple only has it on iPads. Galaxy Z Fold 5 even allows up to three apps in split-screen mode. Still, the feature presents many multitasking opportunities on any screen size.

For example, it’s possible to have a messaging app on one side and a browser on the other, allowing one to keep up with chats while playing free online casino games between replies, or perform calculations and easily refer to a spreadsheet by running Google Sheets and a calculator app concurrently. The possibilities are endless.

Upgrade Your Storage

One of the most significant advantages of Android phones over iPhones is the memory expansion slot that almost all carry. Our storages run out fast as our phones become integral to everyday life. From shooting high-quality pictures and videos to storing our favorite songs and movies, the need for more space is always imminent. Fortunately, you can always add a micro SD to your Android phone.

Apple has consistently restricted the amount of space you get. Sure, they provide several options, from 64GB to ProRaw’s 1TB. Still, each upgrade attracts a steep price difference that you can easily avoid by purchasing a lower storage device with room for expansion. Remember, MicroSDs are more affordable than internal storage.

Install Apps from Other App Stores

Google doesn’t keep you on a short leash like Apple does. Your Android handset often gets Google Play Store by default. Still, other manufacturers like Samsung and Amazon can add their app stores. You can also install Android apps from unofficial sources, much like on a Windows P

However, Apple is notoriously selfish with its product line. You can only run apps from the Apple store on your iPhone, especially now that jailbreaks are no longer possible.

Admittedly, Apple’s restriction on sideloading is bound to change as the EU Digital Markets Act aims to limit the power of such large companies in multiple ways. For instance, Apple may be forced to accommodate third-party apps, but that’s just for the EU. We don’t know how these laws will affect the rest of the world.

Fold Your Device

The days when smartphones were dull solid slabs are over, but Apple is yet to join the new age. This should be no surprise, considering it has always struggled to catch up with exciting new smartphone ideas. Case and point: increased screen sizes, widgets, and other customization options mentioned before.

Fortunately, foldable smartphone pioneers such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z series and Motorola’s Razr have introduced us to broader utility and a more fun handset world. The Galaxy Z fold 4 and 5, for example, unfold into a 7.6-inch tablet. They make it easier to get stuff done on the go without dragging your laptop around.

Create Multiple Users and Guest Mode

Sharing your phone is easier and more stress-free on Androids than on iPhones, thanks to the possibility of multiple accounts. This feature first surfaced on Android 5.0 in 2014, but Apple has persistently ignored it.

A guest account allows you to share your phone with siblings or kids while limiting their access to your private stuff. For example, the guest may only be able to access default apps and cannot log into any of your accounts.

In Summary

iPhones have always played catch up with Android gadgets. For the longest time, you couldn’t use widgets, charge wirelessly, or set default apps on an iPhone. These features remain limited even after they were introduced on iPhones. Apple has breached the gaps for the most part. Still, Android phones continue to offer superior freedoms, flexibility, and innovativeness in crucial areas.


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Telegram brings a slew of new improvements to Stories, new features

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After celebrating 10 years last month, Telegram announced a bunch of new features and improvements for both regular and Premium users. Among the most important changes included in this update are the ability for channels to post stories and new reaction stickers that are now available in Stories.

Starting today, Telegram users can grant channels the ability to post stories by giving them boosts. However, only Telegram Premium users are getting one boost that can be assigned to any channel.

Each channel can level up once they gain more boosts and, more importantly, for each level Telegram users can post one additional story per day. It’s a rather complicated system meant to encourage people to pay for Premium if they want to boost their Stories.

Telegram also announced that channels can ask subscribers for boosts using a special link. The link can be generated by heading to Channel Info / More / Statistics / Boosts. Once a channel reaches level 10, it will get +15 resistance to trolls and unlocks unique admin skins, whatever that might mean.

Additionally, once a channel unlocks Stories, admins who have a Telegram Premium subscription will be able to post by tapping the plus icon on the Channel Info page.

Furthermore, the latest update introduces the ability to add reaction stickers to Stories. Each story posted by channels will now show reaction counters to allow users to see how many people chose each emotion. A new icon in the sticker panel is now available for those who wish to add a reaction sticker. Premium subscribers can use any of their custom emoji in addition to the regular stickers.

With the latest version of Telegram, users can use audio files from their devices in photo and video stories. Make sure to tap “Audio” from the sticker panel and select a file to be able to adjust the track if you want to select a specific part.

Finally, Telegram is getting new login alerts. The latest version of the app will send notifications to all your devices. The new logins will also display an alert at the top of the chat list.


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EvilBamboo Attacking Android & iOS Devices With Malware

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EvilBamboo, formerly known as “Evil Eye,” has been found to target Tibetan, Uyghur, and Taiwanese organizations and individuals. This threat actor was mentioned as conducting custom Android malware campaigns in September 2019.

In April 2020, EvilBamboo was discovered to be attacking iOS devices with a Safari exploit for infecting custom iOS malware to Uyghur users. However, recent reports suggest that this threat actor has been targeting Android users with fake websites and fake social media profiles that impersonate existing popular communities.

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A Tale of Three BAD Brothers

Further analysis revealed that EvilBamboo has been using at least three malware families: BADBAZAAR, BADSIGNAL, and BADSOLAR. All of this malware has a backdoor embedded inside a legitimate application.

CapabilityBADSOLARBADBAZAARBADSIGNAL
Deployed in two stagesXX
AndroRAT function namesX
Interacts with host app to exfiltrate dataX
Real-time SMS stealingX
GetOperatorName() and DeviceInfo() functionsXXX
SSL PinningX
C2 via RAW socketXX
C2 Via HTTP Rest APIX
Shared via TelegramXX
Has dedicated websiteXX
Suspected iOS variantX
Observed targetingTibetansUyghurs, Taiwanese, Tibetans & beyondUyghurs
Distinguishing malware families and capabilities (Source: Volexity)

These applications were distributed among users with supporting Telegram groups. These groups are often themed for a specific application, but at other times, they are kept around a category of applications. 

BADBAZAAR

This malware was distributed through multiple threads on a Taiwanese APK sharing forum apk[.]tw and had over 100,000 views.

The thread also claimed to be sharing a cracked, legitimate  Whoscall Android application used for identifying spam calls and messages. The post also included a link that is updated every time the app is released with a new version of the APK.

Taiwanese thread (Source: Volexity)

BADBAZAAR is capable of storing SMS on the terminal, getting call logs, taking photos, and gathering information about the device such as IMEI, timezone, Wi-Fi details, installed apps, contact lists, and location of the device.

BADSOLAR

This malware was distributed via “Tibetanphone” Telegram group, which also shared a link to ignitetibet[.]net. The request to this URL on port 9001 with jquery.min.js loads an obfuscated profiling script coined as JMASK. 

This malware is backdoored into another legitimate Android application with a C2 address as comeflxyr[.]com used for downloading a JAR file and a second-stage implant AndroRAT. Multiple method names were used in this malware, which had different functions.

FunctionDescription
AdvancedSystemInfoGet information on the terminal, such as battery details and device temperature.
CallLogListerGet the call history with the date, duration, and name associated with the caller.
ContactsListerGets contact information.
DeviceInfoGet device information, such as the MAC, operator, vendor, model, IMEI, IMSI, time zone, etc.
DirListerList the files on the device.
FileDownloaderUpload a file to the C2 server.
GetDeviceInfosGet the IMEI, SIM serial number, and phone number of the device.
GPSListenerGet the location.
PhotoTakerTake a picture.
SMSListerGet stored SMS messages.
UDPThreadCommunicate with UDP (port 137).
WifiUtilsGet the Wi-Fi details, such as the IP, SSID, BSSID, MAC, and DNS servers. The malware is also able to list the APR table by using ip neigh show.
SystemInfoExecute most of the functions listed in this table.
Different functions inside the malware (Source: Volexity)

BADSIGNAL

This is a backdoored version of the legitimate Signal app, which was distributed using the www.signalplus[.]org, www.flygram[.]org, and www.groupgram[.]org websites. This malware had two variants: the Telegram variant and the Signal variant. 

Signal One website (Source: Volexity)

On investigation further, several API endpoints configured by the threat actor revealed that they had an iOS version.

This malware does not download a second-stage payload as the main APK has all the capabilities. It was also discovered that this malware uses REST API on port 4432 as part of its C2 communication.

A complete report about this malware was published by Volexity that provides detailed information about the source code, distribution, and other information. 

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What does a car need to know about your sex life?

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This week on the Lock and Code podcast, we speak with Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included team about the invasive data collection practices of modern cars.

This week on the Lock and Code podcast…

When you think of the modern tools that most invade your privacy, what do you picture?

There’s the obvious answers, like social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram. There’s email and “everything” platforms like Google that can track your locations, your contacts, and, of course, your search history. There’s even the modern web itself, rife with third-party cookies that track your browsing activity across websites so your information can be bundled together into an ad-friendly profile. 

But here’s a surprise answer with just as much validity: Cars. 

A team of researchers at Mozilla which has reviewed the privacy and data collection policies of various product categories for several years now, named “Privacy Not Included,” recently turned their attention to modern-day vehicles, and what they found shocked them. Cars are, to put it shortly, a privacy nightmare

According to the team’s research, Nissan says it can collect “sexual activity” information about consumers. Kia says it can collect information about a consumer’s “sex life.” Subaru passengers allegedly consent to the collection of their data by simply being in the vehicle. Volkswagen says it collects data like a person’s age and gender and whether they’re using your seatbelt, and it can use that information for targeted marketing purposes. 

But those are just some of the highlights from the Privacy Not Included team. Explains Zoë MacDonald, content creator for the research team: 

“We were pretty surprised by the data points that the car companies say they can collect… including social security number, information about your religion, your marital status, genetic information, disability status… immigration status, race. And of course, as you said.. one of the most surprising ones for a lot of people who read our research is the sexual activity data.”

Today on the Lock and Code podcast with host David Ruiz, we speak with MacDonald and Jen Caltrider, Privacy Not Included team lead, about the data that cars can collect, how that data can be shared, how it can be used, and whether consumers have any choice in the matter.

We also explore the booming revenue stream that car manufacturers are tapping into by not only collecting people’s data, but also packaging it together for targeted advertising. With so many data pipelines being threaded together, Caltrider says the auto manufacturers can even make “inferences” about you.  

“What really creeps me out [is] they go on to say that they can take all the information they collect about you from the cars, the apps, the connected services, and everything they can gather about you from these third party sources,” Caltrider said, “and they can combine it into these things they call ‘inferences’ about you about things like your intelligence, your abilities, your predispositions, your characteristics.” 

Caltrider continued:

“And that’s where it gets really creepy because I just imagine a car company knowing so much about me that they’ve determined how smart I am.”

Tune in today for the full conversation. 

You can also find us on Apple PodcastsSpotify, and Google Podcasts, plus whatever preferred podcast platform you use.

Show notes and credits:

Intro Music: “Spellbound” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Outro Music: “Good God” by Wowa (unminus.com)


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iPhone 15 Pro Max Falls Behind in Repairability Score, iFixit Reveals

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iFixit has published its tear down of Apple’s latest iPhone 15 Pro Max, and it’s not as great as you might think. Apple has started to embrace the right to repair, and even made the back glass easier to repair than its predecessor – which might be why it breaks more easily. But, it turns out, it’s less repairable than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The video from iFixit ends with them giving the iPhone 15 Pro Max a 4 out of 10 for repairability. Which is lower than the 6 out of 10 that the iPhone 14 Pro Max received last year. So why is it lower? Well, the iPhone’s battery is actually pretty tough to get out. Even after removing the display, there’s still another ten screws that you need to remove to get to the battery.

On the flip side, the screws around the camera are now larger, and making them easier to take out. Which does help with repairability.

As always, if your iPhone is in need of repair, it’s a good idea to take it to a repair shop. Or if you have AppleCare, to take it to the Apple Store. Apple is generally really good about repairing or replacing its devices when something happens.

Teardown confirms iPhone 15 Pro series is using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 5G modem

The teardown also shows off a few internals that many were wondering about, but Apple never actually mentions. Like the modem that Apple is using. To no surprise, it’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 5G modem. This is what is resulting in some getting much faster speeds this year, compared to the iPhone 14 Pro series.

It also revealed the larger 4,422mAh capacity battery, or about 17.1Wh. Which is another spec that Apple doesn’t actually show off, so it’s good to see it confirmed here.

You can watch the full iFixit video below. Manuals and parts should be available in the coming weeks from Apple and iFixit, for doing repairs to your iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, yourself.


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