Your weekly look at the world of smartphones and mobile technology, this is the Phone Buzz on Friday 18th June 2021.

This Week’s Top Story

• The UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a study in the mobile market space, looking specifically at Apple and Google’s ecosystems of operating systems, app stores, and web browsers and the impact of this potential duopoly on consumer interests (Gov.uk).

Apple Headlines

• A number of new iMac owners have discovered their Apple Silicon powered desktops are a little bit squint. Time to get out the rulers to check if your screen is titled to one side. no doubt Apple will be having a quiet word with the supplier’s QA teams (Forbes).
• Apple may be bringing iOS 15 to its older devices – right back to the iPhone 6S – not every feature will be appearing on the older phones. The cut-off point looks to be the launch of the A12 Bionic chip. Any handset with an earlier processor will be limited… and every handset that is not part of the iPhone 12 family will not be picking up enhanced 5G, 5G/Wifi priority settings, or the new panoramic picture settings (9to5Mac).
• The same restrictions are going to come with MacOS as well, although the delineation here looks more to do with the move away from Intel to ARM for the desk-bound computers. Older owners are going to miss out on  (9to5Mac).
• It’s not just in software where people feel something has been lost. Reviewing the new iMac, Geoffrey Fowler notes that Apple’s obsession with thinness has mean the new M1 powered iMac has lost a lot of useful functionality and been forced to make some awkward trade-offs (Washington Post).
• Although many have been hand-coded, iOS and iPadOS develoePrs can now add Apple’s own ‘virtual Game Controller’ over their apps with a few lines of code. While you will be locked in to Apple’s vision of a ‘perfect’ controller, the consistency of use could be welcomed by gamers, assuming there is a large enough adoption of the UI (MacRumors).
• Kevin Lynch, Apple’s VP of Technology, talks about the plans for Apple’s Health App, how the Apple Watches need for a medical data store kicked it all off, user feedback in deciding new functions, and how it is contributing to medical research (TechCrunch).
• Is the EU Competition Authority getting ready to demand a second App Store not run by Apple be allowed on the iPhone? Speaking to the NYT’s Kara Swisher, EU Competition Chief Margarethe Vestager notes that “…once you have an iPhone, they hold a de facto monopoly of you getting apps on your phone. And of course, it’s really important, because it’s a case about what should be the acceptable de facto monopoly behavior in these markets.” (via Patently Apple).
• What happen when you replace the iPhone’s SIM card reader with the dual-SIM card reader that is designed exclusively for the Chinese market? Other ’switched out’ components are ‘failed’ by iOS when the handsets power back up… but in this case iOS reconfigures itself to support two physical SIMs. The bigger question is why this functionality is not available to consumers (YouTube).

Android Headlines

• If you want another sign that Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 is nearing release, then the discontinuation of Galaxy Z Fold 2 sales on its US stied is probably one of the clearest that the South Korean company could make (9to5Google).
• Honor announced a new handset family this week – the Honor 50, Honor 50 Pro, and Honor 50 SE – but more importantly for the company’s future, at least in Western Europe and North America – is the option to ship the handsets with Google Mobile Services and the Google Play Store (The Verge).
• Following last week’s launch of the Nord CE 5G, here’s my review of the ‘Core Edition’ handset from OnePlus, bringing 5G and the Nord experience to the £299 price point (Forbes).
• Although they share the same parent company in BBK Electronics and a certain synergy in suppliers, OnePlus and Oppo have generally been run as separate entities. That has changed, with OnePlus’ Pete Lau confirming that “we’ve decided to further integrate our organization with Oppo.” The brands will stay separate but expect more software and hardware similarities over the next few handset releases (Android Authority).
• Following Apple’s move to restrict smartphone user tracking over apps, Google’s plans to ditch third-party cookie in Chrome is have an impact on the advertising world, as Ryan Browne discovers (CNBC).
• Google has announced a number of new features for Android, all of which should be rolling out this summer. These include the global rollout of Android’s Earthquake Alerts System, starred messages in the Messaging app, and increased support for voice activated zoos (Google’s Keyword Blog).
• Amazon is cutting the share it takes of developer income from its App Store to 20 percent on the first million of revenue as well as including AWS credits. The program has echos of a similar strategy from Apple for smaller developers (Amazon Blog).
• Motorola was brought back the ‘Defy’ branding last used in 2010’s Motorola Defy, a ruggedised small smartphone that was one of the first with an IP67 rating, and extra physical protection. 2021’s namesake follows the same principles, with IP68 and MIL-STD-810H ratings all in a dual-layer case; if damage gets through one layer it has to do it all over again  (Digital Trends).

Mobile Tech Headlines

• Next week’s Microsoft event for the presumptive launch of Windows 11 is going to impact pretty much everyone in the tech space… from ‘why has the taskbar changed’, through the impact on workflow for individuals and businesses, to the developers who’ll need to deal with the new platform. Ahead of that, here’s a look at the potential UI changes (The Verge).
• Krafton, the company behind the absolutely huge PUBG mobile game, has filed for its IPO in South Korea. Looking to raise up to $5 billion, investors will likely have one big question. Is PUBG all you can do, or are there more apps in the tank? (Bloomberg).

And Finally…

• This week’s mystery…. why has Apple removed the announcement videos of the Mac Pro (2019) and Pro Display XDR from its YouTube channel? (Reddit).

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.