The fall is a busy time for phone makers as Apple, Samsung, and Google usually launch new devices a couple of months before the holiday season hits. The coronavirus pandemic put these plans in question, as the many links in the manufacturing, assembly, and delivery supply chain were significantly weakened. Apple seems poised to recover quickly and may be able to deliver shipments of its next iPhone 12 sometime in September, according to an analyst note from Daniel Ives at Wedbush.
If any phone company has the leadership to handle this crisis, it’s Apple. While Steve Jobs was known as an innovator and creator, his successor Tim Cook previously led Apple’s tight supply chains and established Apple’s industry-leading distribution efficiency. Phones launching in the fall time frame should have been finalized and ready for manufacture by the early summer, so it is impressive to read reports in late June that Apple has managed to surmount the crisis that has been disrupting work for four months.
Rumors point to four separate iPhone models or SKUs, and the next iPhone will feature 5G technology, according to Wedbush. Only iPhones available on U.S. carriers will get the high-frequency mmWave 5G networking, currently in use primarily on Verizon. That makes sense because the rollout of mmWave networks has been very slow and highly localized to crowded spaces. Apple has been cautious in the past about adopting new network technology. The iPhone jumped onto 4G LTE networks after most other major manufacturer flagships were offering LTE support; Samsung sold LTE-capable Galaxy devices for almost a year before Apple’s iPhone supported the network.
Wedbush predicts a surge for Apple pushed along by “5G tailwinds.” Ives sees pent-up demand for an iPhone upgrade, and most of that demand will come from China. The Chinese market could account for 20% of the next round of iPhone upgrade customers. The company currently has a market cap value of $1.5 trillion, and it could be on track to become the first-ever $2 trillion company in 2021.
There is no date set for new Apple announcements, and Apple usually holds events in early September, after Samsung announces its fall lineup of Galaxy Note and Galaxy Fold devices.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.