Your weekly look at the world of smartphones and mobile technology, this is the Phone Buzz on Friday 6th August 2021.

Ewan’s Thought For The Week

Next week will see Samsung’s ‘Galaxy Unpacked’ event, with new smartphones, peripherals, and other hardware on show. It’s an event that’s unlikely to have any surprises, due to the volume of leaks. but is Samsung missing a trick in keeping everything hush-hush until the 11th?

Contrast this with the approach of other manufacturers, who will talk about upcoming features on a smartphone, talk about some of the thinking behind key decisions, or release peripherals ahead of the main event. Rather than a one-and-done launch event that can easily be derailed by a single leak, any leaks build on the momentum.

While we await a number of launch events, manufacturers are already turning on the hype in various ways; such as Google detailing the advantages of its own Tensor system on chip that will be used in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro; Honor teasing the design of the Magic3 camera assembly; and the recent Nord 2 launch from OnePlus trailed by pre-event interviews and early feature announcements.

Launch events in the current climate are less about a big reveal of a surprise, they are more putting the final stamp on new hardware with spectacle and showmanship.

Apple Headlines

• Apple has announced the inclusion of “expanded protections for children” to most of its platforms (iOS, iPadOS,macoS, and watchOS). There’s a lot of discussion starting to take place, looking at issues from scanning of private images, wider privacy concerns on how this feature may be extended by governments around the world, Apple’s image as a privacy focused company, the pressure this will put on other manufacturers to include this system “because Apple does it”. (Ars Technica and others).
• With the iPhone 13 launch around five weeks away, Apple has started to build up supplies of the handsets ahead of a retail release nearer the end of September. It has also brought a new manufacturer into the process to assemble the new handsets. Given Apple has upped the order book on the iPhone, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise… assuming Tim Cook and his team have got the sales predictions right (Nikkei Asia).
• Last year saw the iPhone finally pick up 5G to improve the smartphone’s connectivity to the rest of the world.This year, the focus will be on closer connections, with the inclusion off Wi-Fi 6E – which should offer a more consistent experience. MacRumors’ Sam Fathi has an interview with the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Kevin Robinson to find out more (MacRumors).
• Alongside the iPhone 13 family, Apple’s traditional September even will see the launch of the third-generation AirPods. The earbuds are expected to support a wireless charging case and a more curved design. They were also expected to launch in April but supply issues hit the product. Presumably the longer lead time has allowed stocks to build up as required (Forbes via Dylandkt).
• Looking beyond the iPhone 13, Apple’s R&D team continues to work on minimising the impact of the notch that houses the selfie camera and FaceID technology. A new patent (via Patently Apple) describes sliding a portion of the display to cover the sensors when not in use.
• At WWDC 2020, Tim Cook announced that Apple would move the Mac platform completely over tot the ARM-powered Apple Silicon chipset. Now we have a better idea on the timescale from Mark Gurman. The M1X MacBook Pros in the next few months, a ‘high-end’ Mac Mini by the end of the year, and both the Mac Pro and the ‘high-end’ iMacs by the end of 2022 (via 9to5Mac).
• The TouchID enabled Magic keyboard that shipped with the iMac is now available to purchase separately. But before you all rush to but the keyboard that does the fingerprint thing, take note… the keyboard only works with Macs carrying Apple Silicon (The Verge).
• Also going on sale this week for Mac fans are three new high-end AMD GPUs for the Mac Pro, offering significantly more power than the current Vega II cards they are replacing. I wonder how these will fit in with the Apple Silicon ARM-based Mac Pros that will be launched before the end of 2022? (Tom’s Guide).
• Apple is currently running a customer survey asking about the size of the iPad Mini screen. It asks about thoughts on the size, which apps are used, and preferences to running in landscape or portrait. Many are remembering the survey where Apple asked about the inclusion of a USB charger in the iPhone retail packaging, and drawing their own conclusions about the potential of a new iPad Mini (iMore).
• Apple is set to adopt Integrated Passive Device (IPD) technology, which will allow for thinner components and more space inside the same physical structure. So, will Apple use this to increase the size of the battery, or make the iPhone even thinner? I know where my money is, and it’s not on trying to reach two days of power (Patently Apple).

Android Headlines

• Ahead of next week’s ‘Galaxy Unpacked’ launch event from Samsung, details on the Z Fold and Z Flip handsets, including the European pricing, have leaked (GSM Arena).
• It may have seen a promising rush of sales when launched, but Samsung’s Galaxy S21 is not proving to be as popular as the Galaxy S20, and that struggled compared to the Galaxy S10 before it. Has the Galaxy S stopped becoming the talk of the town? (SamMobile).
• Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung to become the top vendor by shipments in Europe, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics. The Chinese company has a 25.3 percent marketshare over samsung’s 24 percent and Apple’s 19.2 percent. Oppo and Realme round out the top five. Overall the year on year growth for the second financial quarter is 14 percent, presumably recovering after the impact of the coronavirus lockdowns last year (Strategy Analytics).
• While it wasn’t a full launch of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro this week, Google has previewed the handsets. The name is now definitely confirmed, as are a few key features. The biggie of course is the system on chip, with Google launching it’s own mobile variant of the Tensor chips used in its server farms. Built around machine learning and AI, expect this silicon to push the limits of what Android 12 will be able to do. I wonder if Google will sell the chip to any interested partners? (Google Blog).
• Realme has announced a new range of peripherals based around magnetic connection. Called MagDart – and no doubt drawing comparisons to Apple’s MagSafe line-up – it includes wireless chargers, power banks, wallets, camera lights, and more. Of course none of the current Reame handsets have the required magnets, so there’s a slip case with the required magnets and connections for the Realme GT, with other models sure to follow (GSM Arena).
• Oppo has unveiled its next under-display camera. At the moment only sample images of the display and the resulting selfie images have been published, but the technology is expected to show up in various handsets over the next twelve months (The Verge).
• Honor is keeping its visibility high ahead of the Magic3 launch with the release of the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite. Of not is the inclusion of active noise cancelling, a low-latency mode for gaming, and a ten hour battery life with the buds (and another 22 hours with the charging case). They go on sale this weekend with prices starting from 69 Euros (Honor).
• In the quest to make a better on-screen keyboard, Google has made an interesting decision in the latest beta of Gboard; the search option now bumped lower down the preferences to make more room for emojis, message stickers, and the all important meme Gif (9to5Google).

Mobile Tech Headlines

• Microsoft’s ‘Your PC in the Cloud’ service, Windows 365 Cloud PC, has now debuted. Pricing depends on the specs of the PC you are looking to emulate, with the entry level $20/month machine offering a single virtual core, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. Just don’t compare that to a regular PC, things are slightly different in this world, as Mary-Jo Foley explains  (ZDNet).
• WhatsApp has released its’ “view once’ feature, which will delete phots and videos once they have been viewed by the recipient (The Verge).
• Google has launched a new set of sign-on tools with the Google Identity Services API (Google Developer Blog).
• There’s going to be a ‘lite’ membership tier for YouTube, priced at $6.99 (compared to the currently $9.99 offering). No doubt accompanied by even… more… adverts… on YouTube for YouTube. Sigh. (Reddit).
• Emojipedia, the encyclopaedia of, err, emoji), has been purchased by Zedge for “an undisclosed sum” (Daring Fireball).
• Some more quarterly results of note; Alibaba, Electronic Arts, Square, Uber, and Roku.

And Finally…

• As the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games comes to a close, it’s worth highlighting the smartphone angle to the gold, silver, and bronze medals. Since 2017 the organising committee has been collecting “small electronic devices” to recycle, and many of the materials from the 78,985 tons of hardware have found their way into the medals (Olympics.com).

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.