Your weekly look at the world of smartphones and mobile technology, this is the Phone Buzz on Friday 19th February 2021.

This Week’s Top Story

• Ben Thompson takes a look at audio online, and the impact of Clubhouse. Will it do to podcasting what Twitter and Facebook did to blogging? (Stratechery).

Apple Headlines

• Max Weinbach brings together the latest rumors and leaks around the iPhone 13, which currently include the long-awaited 120mHaz refreshing display, a reworking of the MagSafe attachments, and the expected improvements to the camera system (EverythingApplePro).
• Tim Hardwick looks at the potential for the iPhone 13 family to have a ‘Mini’ device, although the old-timer in me still raises an eyebrow at a 5.4 inch screen being mini. Anyway, there’s a good chance that Family 13 will retain the smaller size even if sales of the 2020 Mini have been poor. If there’s no iPhone SE update in 2021 (something strongly suggested by Jon Prosser), then the 13 Mini might be in a better place to gather up the ’small iPhone’ crowd than last year’s 12 mini (MacRumors).
• Google’s short pause on proving app updates for its iOS clients – which many believe was in response to Apple’s requirements to disclose what personal details are collected for it’s ’Privacy Nutrition Tables’ – with YouTube for iOS and iPadOS bumping up to version 15.49.6.  (Google App Store).
• Any new mobile hardware has a habit of showing up on the benchmarking. Last year saw Apple’s ARM-based M1 processor online before the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and macMini update arrived. The industry is expecting an uprated M1 chip this year, potentially in a new MacBook Pro… and the M1X has shown up on benchmarking as if by magic (CPU Monkey).
• Microsoft’s Office is now available as a single unified app on iPadOS, echoing a similar move on iOS earlier this year. The functionality of Word, PowerPoint, Excell, and OneNote can now be found within ‘Office’ (MacRumors).
• Epic Games has filed an Anti-Trust case with the European Commission against Apple. This follows similar legal moves in the US in regards to the App Store and Epic’s view that Apple has constrained both the distribution of apps and the payment systems that can be used (FT).
• The installer for MacOS Big Sur has picked up a delightful fix this week. Build 11.2.1 now checks if there is enough storage space to update the operating system. I can’t think why this bit of defensive programming wasn’t already in the code (9to5Mac).
• WatchOS  picks up a minor update to 7.3.1, with some charging issues around Power Reserve mode on the Series 5 and SE models addressed (Apple Support).
• As for iOS, beta 14.5 brings us lots of… new emoji! (Emojipedia). There’s also some code that points to a new ‘Mobile Charge Mode’, with many assuming that a MagSafe battery pack is on its way (Apple Insider).

Android Headlines

• A new Galaxy Note for 2021 could make a surprising appearance later this year. The teams at Let’s Go Digital and Snoreyn have taken the latest leaks and design cues to put together a concept of Samsung’s potential ‘Fan Edition’ of a Galaxy Note 21 (Let’s Go Digital),
• Samsung’s ’two processor approach to the Galaxy S21 family, with its own Exynos chip in some territories and Qualcomm’s SnapDragon in others, leads to some great control comparisons thanks to the commonality of other components. This week there’s a head to head on the battery, with differences in peak performance, idle power, and other areas all having an impact on the Galaxy S21 battery life (GSM Arena).
• Staying with the comparisons, here’s a more traditional head-to-head with the cameras of the Galaxy S21 and Google’s Pixel 5 (Android Authority).
• Carl Pei, formerly OnePlus’ directory, has launched a new ‘lifestyle brand’ with the curiously ambitious name of Nothing. It’s made news this week through the purchase of the Intellectual Property of the Essential brand – the lifestyle brand launched by Andy Rubin in 2015 which closed in early 2020. Presumably Essential’s work on voice recognition lies behind the purchase, but many will be wondering if Pei will return to the smartphone space (9to5Google).
• Following last week’s early look at some Android 12 screenshots, the team at XDA Develoeprs have more details on the next version of Android and its UI. This could be more than a slight tweak, with 12 being the start of the process away from the ‘Material’ UI system to ‘Material Next’  (XDA Develoeprs).

Mobile Tech Headlines

• Gamesbeat’s Dean Takahashi interviews Unity CFO Kim Jabal on its quarterly earnings. The company’s gaming engine has more than a fifty percent share of use in gamies compared to the competition from Cocos and Unreal. Its push for market share over profit is a familiar one to Investors, but given how much income is derived from advertising, Apple’s push for privacy will have an impact. On the other side, everyone has been gaming a lot more in lockdown! (VentureBeat).
• With Hyundai out of the picture, the next hat in the Apple Car ring is VW, who are ’not afraid’ of the project in a rather public advance towards Tim Cook (Autocar).
• Microsoft is testing a ‘Kids Mode’ for its Edge web browser. Currently in the Development and Insider channels. It sets many features such as strict restrictions on tracking, SafeSearch in Bing, and the ability to whitelist sites by the password-holding responsible adult (Windows Central).
• Apple’s subscription service AppleTV+ is now available on the latest Chromecast for Google TV; just in time for this weekend’s debut of ‘For All Mankind’s’ second season (Google).

And Finally…

• We might be getting desserts back this year, with Android 12 going by the name Snow Cone (Pocket Lint).

Ewan Spence

Ewan is the editor at Phone Buzz News. For over 30 years he has been covering the worlds of media and technology, from the early days of the first smartphone through to their essential role in today's society.