Your weekly look at the world of smartphones and mobile technology, this is the Phone Buzz on Friday 30th July 2021.

Ewan’s Thought For The Week

The world’s chip shortage is starting to have a visible impact on the smartphone ecosystem this week. Apple, long seen as the champion of the supply chain, told investors on its earnings call that the iPhone and iPad will be constrained through to the end of the year. Samsung cites the slowdown as one of the reasons behind dropping the annual Galaxy Note update in August.

While Apple and Samsung have specifically cited the shortages, the impact can be seen directly and indirectly in other areas. Whether it is the presumptuous cancellation of the OnePlus 8T, the reduced availability of handsets from TCL and HMD Global, or even the controller chips in the miniLED screens bound for the new MacBook Pro laptops, the silicon shortage is having an impact.

Throw in the slow-down of the economy on top of the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s going to be a year of living in “interesting times” for the mobile and tech world.

Apple Headlines

• Apple has rushed out a point release for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS to address a zero-day exploit that would allow “arbitrary code to run with kernel privileges” (The Register). Given the renewed focus on Apple’s security in the light of last week’s discussions of the NSO Group’s ‘Pegasus’ software, the mythical power of Apple’s security is under the spotlight (Forbes).
• Apples third quarter results show revenue of $81.4 billion (up 36 percent YoY) with $21.7B of net income. Of note, services sales were $17.4B and iPhone sales were $39.6B (Apple Newsroom).
• Jason Snell has his customary charts of the quarterly results. The opening pie chart on where Apple’s revenue comes from shows the iPhone’s utter dominance, although at 49% it was not the majority source of revenue (Six Colors).
• The work from home boost to electronic sales continues, with both the iPad and Mac families breaking quarterly records. The former’s revenue is up 12 percent, while the latter is up 16 percent (Apple Insider).
• Disappointingly, as part of the earnings call, Apple’s CFO Luca Maestri warned that supply of Apple products – specifically the iPhone and iPad – would be constrained. Apple may have ordered 100 million units of the iPhone 13 family, but getting them fulfilled will be much harder. All that means we could see the new iPhone handsets in short supply at the end of the year (Forbes).
• For those who do get a hold of a handset, the expected updates feel more iterative rather than revolutionary, with some calling this an ’S’ year as a nod to the older iPhone 6 to iPhone 6S progression. Two big changes were highlighted this week; the first being the move to 1 TB of storage at the top tier Pro devices, the second is the move to bring the LiDAR depth sensor to the entire range of handsets (9to5Mac).
• The saga to bring ‘always -on’ screens to Apple continues. They have long been a stable on top-end Android devices, but Apple has never brought this useful feature to the iPhone. With a reported increase in battery size, and the switch to variable refreshing screens, is now the time? Only if you spend more to get one of the Pro devices (Power On).
• The upcoming refresh to the iPad Air will see Apple’s tablet pick up the new design seen in the iPad Pro, but anyone hoping for a refresh for the regular iPad or iPad Mini is going to have to keep waiting, they’re staying the same (MacRumors).
• At the launch of the Apple Silicon project at WWDC 2020, Tim Cook and his team said the entire platform would be running on ARM by the end of 2022. Which makes the multiple leaks around the Mac Pro – that it will be offered with Xeon W-3300 series CPUs – a curious one. Will Apple offer the Mac Pro with both flavours of processors, or has the industry at this premium level of hardware let it be known they won’t be ready to support an ARM Mac Pro at this time? (Apple Insider).
• Marc Gurman has been pondering when Apple will bring FaceID to the Mac platform. Although he’s talking about it in a theoretical sense, this week saw Apple winning a new patent for under-screen cameras for both mobile devices and desktop computers… which would come in handy (Patently Apple).
• And finally, Apple may have pushed one to many revolutionary ideas onto the geekerati. The reaction to the new tabbed experience in Safari has been loud enough that the UI changes have been downgraded to optional in the latest beta build. It’s a climbdown from a company that rarely does so in such a public manner (The Verge).

Android Headlines

• Samsung’s third calendar quarter results are also in (Samsung Newsroom). With $55.2 billion in revenue,  profits of $10.8B are up 54 percent year-on-year. But looking at the breakdown, the semiconductor business covers almost half of those profits, and in a challenging 2020 mobile sales fell 7.4 percent (CNet).
• During Alphabet’s earnings call, CEO Sundar Pichai talked about what to expect from Google’s Android team later this year. The new take on the Android UI – Material You – is expected to debut in the Pixel 6 family before becoming widely available, while the same handsets should also be our first sight of Google’s own mobile processor under the mysterious Project Whitechapel banner (9to5Google).
• Samsung’s Head of Mobile Communications has set the scene for the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event, with the South Korean company expected to launch multiple mobile devices, peripherals and services. The Galaxy Z family is mentioned, so the expected updates to the Flip and Fold are on the way. One other device was highlighted, although the Galaxy Note was called out specifically because there will not be a Note at the event. Expectations… set… (Samsung Newsroom).
• HMD Global launched a ‘tough’ version of the Nokia X20 this week. Cunningly called the Nokia XR20 it offers IP68 and MIL-STD-810H protection, in exchange for specs that are slightly lower than the X20. That said, if you need dust, water, and impact protection, this handset stands out in the market and is worth a serious consideration. You can read my review here (Forbes).
• Huawei has launched its next flagship range, with the P50 and P50 Pro finally official. The Leica branded cameras are still there, with both models offering a periscope zoom lens. System on chip wise both models come with the Snapdragon 888, but the P50 Pro also has an option for the Kirin 9000. Curiously there’s no 5G support in the handsets, just 4G, even though the processor choices have 5G capability (GSM Arena).
• Did we see the Surface Duo 2 this week? Microsoft’s second dual-screened Android device is expected before the end of the year, and leaked photos show the same folding design but with a huge camera island that prevents the ‘close flat’ option of the first device. An early prototype? A way to improve the anaemic camera on the first Duo? A spoof leak? Take your pick – my money is on the second (9to5Google).
• While there’s no official word from HMD Global just yet, sharp eyes spotted Russian certification listings for a Nokia branded tablet earlier this month. a number of UK and UAE stores have listed a Nokia T20 tablet. Is HMD Global joining the uneven Android tablet market? Or is this a cricketing tie-in that will replace the endless hype around the ‘James Bond’ Nokia phone placement? (NokiaMob).
• Smartphone analysts Counterpoint Research has pegged OnePlus’ growth in the US market at a headline-making high of 428 percent over the last year, outpacing Motorola (83 percent), Apple (53 percent) and HMD Global (35 percent). It’s fair to say OnePlus, presumably with the Nord family, had a good year in America. Of course the one piece of data that would be needed for context is not the percentage, but the unit sales figures (Android Police).
• Staying with OnePlus, noted smartphone commentator Max Jabor stated on Twitter that there will be no OnePlus 9T this year. The ’T’ handsets have been six-monthly refreshes of the OnePlus hardware to keep the specs as high as possible. Now OnePlus has moved away from a single ‘current’ model to a wider range of phones, perhaps the ’T’ handset is no longer a priority? Or maybe it’s just the worldwide chip shortage keeping product lines lean (Android Headlines).
• Antivirus company AV-TEST has been looking at Google’s Play Protect service that offers user protection against malicious apps. Google’s solution picked up just over two thirds of the samples, while other services reached a 100 success rate on the provided samples (Bleeping Computer).
• And finally, has the confectionary based codename for Android 13 been revealed? Are we getting some ’T’iramisu? (XDA Developers).

Mobile Tech Headlines

• Following an upping of it’s pre-share price, Duolingo’s IPO closed up 36 percent on its Nasdaq debut, setting a market valuation of nearly $5 billion (Reuters).
• There’s a new 5G network on the way, and it’s already pitching higher than most. Satellite connectivity company Immarsat is preparing next generation 5G technologies through an orbital platform, with the first launches to orbit in 2026. This is not expected to be consumer focused, rather it is targeted governments, airline companies, and maritime operators (The Next Web).
• There’s a lot of third quarter results out this week; I’ll highlight those from Alphabet, Facebook, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Spotify, .

And Finally…

• Nothing launched this week. Specifically, the cutely named London based company Nothing – founded by Carl Pei, the co-founder of smartphone brand OnePlus – launched the Nothing Ear (1). The active noise-cancelling earbuds, offering 5.7 hours of use and 34 hours with the charging case, will go on limited sale this weekend for £99, with wider availability commencing August 17th (Nothing).

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.