Apple’s iPhone models might not be equipped with the company’s own 5G modem until 2026.
So, it looks like Apple might not hit the bullseye with its plan to create a modem for the iPhone, which would have replaced a crucial part currently supplied by Qualcomm. Word on the street is that they were aiming to roll out their own modem chip for iPhones in the next couple of years, but now there’s buzz that it could be pushed back by a year.
Reportedly, Apple’s been grinding away at this project since 2018, but their alternative to Qualcomm’s modem seems like it’s still a few years down the road.
According to insiders at Apple spilled the beans to Bloomberg, and they’re saying that Apple might miss the mark on developing their own modem chip by early 2025. The latest scoop suggests it might not see the light of day until the end of that year or even early 2026. Just a while back, Apple and Qualcomm shook hands on a deal to keep using Qualcomm’s modems for upcoming iPhone models.
Back in 2020, Apple’s Johny Srouji excitedly shared that they were cooking up a new modem chip for iPhones. But, surprise, surprise, it’s been a bumpy ride with some unexpected hurdles, even though they forked out a cool $1 billion to snag Intel’s modem unit in 2019.
The original game plan to include their own 5G modem in an iPhone by next year got a reality check, and now the latest word is it won’t be on the scene until 2026, right around when Apple’s Qualcomm deal is supposed to wrap up.
The report further adds that when the company finally launches its own 5G modem, it cannot necessarily claim an equal performance to other phones already fitted with Qualcomm’s modems. However, among the versions of Apple being produced there is one which is devoid of support of the short distance mmwave bands which can be described as the highest 5G data speeds in specific conditions. Secondly, Apple would also ensure that no technology that is enabled by the chip violates the patents held by Qualcomm.
Apple stands to gain an advantage over its competitors if this endeavour is successful. After all, the company creates its own mobile chips to power iPhones, iPads, Macs, watches, and even cars. Nevertheless, the report proposes that the firm may hit a snag during the creation of this part, which may even see the introduction of the piece on its most affordable hand-held gadget (allegedly, a substitute for the iPhone SE (2022).
A report predicts that when Apple eventually releases its own 5G modem, it will probably not compete equally well with smartphones using Qualcomm’s modems. However, one of such models proposed by Apple lacks support for short-distance mmwaves which can yield unbelievably massive 5G data transfer rates in some instances. Furthermore, Apple must make sure that any of the technologies used on the chip does not violate Qualcomm’s patents.
Such would enable apple to gain edge on other manufactures-apple already makes its proprietary mobile processors for iPhones, iPads, computers, wearables, among many others. Nonetheless, the report argues that while developing the component, Apple encountered some obstacles but will eventually launch the chip in its lowest priced smartphone—iPhone SE 2022.
The latest version of the custom skin is a global launch, that’s Color OS 14 for Oppo phones. Its Aquamorphic design is in line with the new colorOs version based on android 14. A brand-new Trinity Engine in the ColorOS 14 ensures that RAM utilization as well as storage space is more efficient now. The new UI layer has a number of AI-based features and new privacy capabilities. In a days time, there, Oppo announces ColorOS 14 worldwide beta-version devices names. Last october, several public betas of the latest version have already been sent out among the models like Oppo Find X5 series, Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G and Oppo A77.
On the official announcement on Thursday, Oppo announced the launch of the global ColorOS 14 version built upon the latest Android 14. New Aquamorphic UI layer that contains AI smart features, advanced tools to maintain security and privacy and inspired by nature water.
The latest version of Oppo’s colorOS, called colorOS 14 and has now become a global custom skin. The lastest Aquamorphic desing based on ColorOS androin 14. With the help of ColorOS 14, there is an introduction of a new engine dubbed Trinity that boosts RAM and storage optimisation. Several new UI layer’s elements such as AI-powered features and new privacy functions are incorporated. Just within a few days, Oppo has announced the models of handsets with the global beta of the Colors OS 14. In fact, the public beta for the new OS was released for some models as early as in October including the Oppo Find X5 series, Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G, and Oppo A77.
On the occasion of Thursday, Oppo declared general availability of the ColorOS 14 world edition on basis of Android 14. It provides a unique Water-inspired Aquamorphic UI layer with AI-powered smart functionality and a new safety and privacy control tool.
ColorOS 14 introduces a fresh take on ringtones with aquamorphic themes for calls, alarms, and notifications. There are also seven new global UI sound designs to enhance the overall audio experience. The Aqua Dynamics design is a standout feature, incorporating everyday interactions into visually appealing bubbles, capsules, and panels that seamlessly present information, extending from the status bar.
In a nod to environmental consciousness, ColorOS 14 offers a Go Green Always-On Display, designed to raise awareness about climate change and environmental protection. This includes three sets of Environment Vision pages, featuring five environment-related animations on each page that dynamically change based on the user’s daily step count.
The update includes the AI-powered Smart Touch feature, allowing users to easily select and collect text, images, and videos from both system and third-party apps. These can be organized on the File Dock or consolidated into a single note using intuitive selecting and dragging gestures. The new File Dock on the Smart Sidebar facilitates quick content sharing across apps through split-screen, floating windows, or the Dock itself.
ColorOS 14 introduces the Smart Image Matting feature, enabling users to crop multiple subjects such as people and animals from a single image or paused video. To enhance memory and storage capabilities, Oppo has integrated the Trinity Engine, which includes the ROM Vitalization feature. This feature can save up to 20GB of storage space by compressing app and file data through App Compression and File Compression in the Phone Manager setting. The RAM Vitalization functionality boosts multi-app efficiency and keeps more applications running in the background. The CPU Vitalization feature manages power consumption without compromising performance.
In terms of battery management, ColorOS 14 incorporates an AI algorithm called Smart Charging. This intelligent feature automatically adjusts the charging current based on the smartphone’s usage status, helping to prevent unnecessary battery wear. Picture Keeper, a new privacy feature, ensures that apps cannot misuse permissions for photos or videos, adding an extra layer of security for user data.
ColorOS 14 release timeline, supported phones…….
ColorOS 14 was released for Oppo’s Find X5, and Find X5 Pro flagship phones, along with the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, Oppo A77 and Reno 8 Pro 5G phones in October. The Oppo Find X2 series, more Reno 10 series, and the Reno 8 series will get the update in November, followed by older Oppo phones in December and early next year.
Here is the list of smartphones that will be updated to beta ColorOS 14 along with their scheduled rollout timeline.
The Qi2 charging standard was announced earlier this year at CES 2023.
Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) introduced Qi2 charging standard, also known as Chi Two, early this year. Following it is the Qi wireless charging standard, that is almost identical to Apple’s MagSafe technology, which was launched together with the iPhone 12, possesses a coil for wireless charging as well as a magnetic system. WPC affirmed that the objective was building an unified system which is anticipated of operating on iphoses and android phones alike. Nonetheless, it has a novel functionality dubbed the Magnetic Power Profile that ensures that devices such as phones are placed precisely for efficient and faster charging. Such brand compatibility is also meant in case of certified devices.
According to WPC, the first Qi2 productions are “completing” certification testing. That means we can expect the first Qi2 charging devices, which should mark an official start of this technology, to come out soon. Among the first to hit the market would include Qi2-enabled devices by Anker, Belkin, as well as many other accessories brands. Similarly, the WPC said, there are over a hundred devices in the process of Qi2 testing including those still waiting for certification.
According to the press release, one of the first smartphones using this new wireless charging technology would be that of the iPhone 15 series. At the moment, the only known items that belong under qi2 products are chargers and battery packs, except for i-phone 15 line of smartphones. Additionally, it is uncertain whether older MagSafe-supported iPhones use this standard.
WPC had previously announced their own charging standard known as Qi2 which is pronounced “chi two”. It follows Qi wireless charging standard, like Apple’s MagSafe technology that was introduced with iPhone 12 and utilizes magnetic coil for wireless charging as well. It said the objective is to evolve a single integrated solution which is anticipated to work with both iOS and Android smartphones. However, it has an additional feature called the Magnetic Power Profile to ensure that phones and other devices are placed accurately for maximum charging effectiveness and rate. Brand compatibility of certified devices will also be ensured by it.
According to WPC, the first Qi2 productions have been “completing” the certification tests currently. This means that the initial Qi2 charging devices are likely going to be available in a matter of weeks, thus becoming the debut of the technology. The first few devices for the Qi2 charging technology will come from Anker, Belkin, and other accessories brands. WPC also noted that there were over 100 devices in the process of undergoing Qi2 testing or being certified.
The press release announced that one of the first phones to utilize this new wireless charging technology would likely be in the new iPhone 15 collection. Currently, only chargers and battery packs are known to be Qi2 products except for iPhone 15 series phones. The compatibility of such a standard for old MagSafe-supported iPhones is also doubtful.
There’s buzz about the upcoming Google Pixel 9 series possibly being among the first Android phones to embrace Qi2 wireless charging technology. A recent blog post by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), noticed by The Verge, points out that Liyu Yang, a senior hardware engineer at Google, has joined the consortium’s board. Yang, who’s been involved in developing wireless charging systems for Pixel phones since 2017, is now heading the research and development for the next-gen wireless charging technologies in the upcoming Pixel products.
The Qi2 platform, aside from enhancing safety features to prevent device damage and battery wear, supports faster 15W charging and comes with foreign object identification capabilities. According to WPC, devices adopting the new Qi v2.0 Extended Power Profile (EPP) without magnets won’t showcase the new Qi2 emblem, making the inclusion of magnets the most noticeable change for consumers. This suggests that the Pixel 9 lineup might bring not only improved wireless charging but also a feature set that aligns with the latest advancements in wireless charging technology.
Millions of Australians were left without mobile and internet after a network failure at telecoms firm Optus.
At some point in history, a huge cyberattack paralyzed the state’s financial and telecommunications systems.
According to Optus, a country’s second biggest telecommunications player, over ten million people as well as numerous companies are being impacted.
Service was restored after approximately 12 hours of disruption or downtime. Optus claimed that there was no sign of a cyber attack.
The company admitted that there was a “technical network glitch” and promised to take additional time to discover the origin of the issue.
Wednesday’s disruption was reported around 04: 00 (17:00 GMT). It took until around 18: This means that to recover or get services online once again, users must provide a password with zero leading zeros.
Kelly Bayer Rosman, the chief executive of the corporation, stated that they did not know what happened yet.
It rendered many Australians without access to call emergency services or any critical helpline numbers. Temporary disruption was experienced for all train services in Victoria.
This made transport delays, cut hospital telephone lines, and disable the payment system.
According to estimates by Optus, Australia’s second largest supplier, this affected more than ten million people as well as thousands of businesses.
Within about twelve hours of being down, services resumed. Optus stated that there was nothing that clearly pointed out to a cyber attack.
The company attributed it to “a technical fault within their network”, adding that an internal review was underway to determine why.
Wednesday’s disruption was reported around 04: 00 (17:00 GMT). It took until around 18: In order to have the services come back online, a user should dial 00.
The company’s CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, said there was nothing apparent about what went wrong.
The country was unable to make calls to emergency services and life-saving phone lines in Australia. The train services in the State of Victoria were also put out of gear, temporarily.
These losses also spread to all the others who utilize the Optus network such as Amaysim, Aussie Broadband, Moose Mobile ,and so on.
A report in Australia’s ABC by one Optus customer said she could not have vital messages on her dad’s medical condition anymore.
“All I am doing is waiting for some results that I cannot even achieve,” says Danielle Hopwood.
Yet another client called Annie revealed that she discovered the upset through her cat’s auto feeder whose wi-fi worked automatically.
Ms Rosmarin apologised for the network failure, telling ABC News: We only give the partial information as we have not carried out an extensive, deep-rooted cause analysis.
As far as I can say, it turned out to be a technical problem in a network, and our teams put every effort to restore services as soon as possible.
She also dismissed claims made by unions, which blamed the part of 600 job cuts on the other.
“Not at all,” she replied. For sure, it’s very sad for us that it happened. We’ll certainly make use of all the learnings here!
Cyber attack led to what looked like Australia’s worst data breach in history.
Additionally, the failures affected other service providers operating on Optus’ network such as Amayssim, MooMoov, Aussie Broadband, and many others.
According to one Optus customer, the incident had made it impossible for her to access vital information regarding the cancer treatment being received by her ailing father.
Danielle Hopwood went further saying, “I am waiting for a result that i cannot even be able to do.”
Annie said it was her feline’s fault and she got this information from a local radio station.
Ms Rosmarin apologised for the network failure, telling ABC News: We’ll need to wait until carrying out a detailed and comprehensive root -cause analysis for giving more details on this matter.
“All I can say about this is that it involved some kind of network problem. However, my company’s engineers devoted all their efforts for the fastest possible restoration.”
She also denied the accusation of unions that the job cuts for at least 600 was part of the reason.
“I do not believe that has anything to do with him,” she said. “Sorry it happened, learned lots and lessons.”
Last year the company experienced what is arguably the largest Australian data breach due to a cyber attack.
It’s never easy to get everyone looking just right when taking a group photograph.(BBC News)
what it means to photograph reality.
Google’s latest smartphones released last week, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, go a step further than devices from other companies. They are using AI to help alter people’s expressions in photographs.
It’s an experience we’ve all had: one person in a group shot looks away from the camera or fails to smile. Google’s phones can now look through your photos to mix and match from past expressions, using machine learning to put a smile from a different photo of them into the picture. Google calls it Best Take.
Further, they allow a user to do away with a person or building among others in the picture, filling in the gaps using an element referred to as Magic Editor. This is called deep learning which is a type of artificial intelligence technique, whereby the algorithm predicts how the texture will be within gaps seen among the pixels based on the knowledge that it obtains from millions of other images.
Not necessarily are those photographs shot on the phone only. Applying the magic editor or best take on any of photos in your google photo library using your pixel 8 pro.
It is essential to recall that the application of AI in smartphone photography does not intend to produce photos similar to reality as claimed by professor Rafal Mantiuk, a specialist on graphics and displays at the University of Cambridge.
He says, “People do not wish to record reality.” Pictures look nice on their screens, but are not accurate representations of reality. That’s what it is all about for them.
Machine-based learning supplements missing data from smartphone’s photos because these gadgets possess certain physical limits.
It assists one to increase zoom, capture pictures at night, and in the case of Google’s magic editor mode, it adds additional objects into the photo that can be replaced by others.
Prof. Rafal Mantiuk, who is a specialist on graphics and display at University Cambridge said we should always acknowledge that it is not about making artificial photos appear as if they are true images.
”People do not want to record reality as it is”, he remarked. They are going for beautiful photos, and all smartphone photo pipe should make photographs look good — not realistic.
Smartphones use machine learning to supplement missing pieces of data in a photo, because of their limited physical capabilities.
This enhances their capacity for zooming, capturing in low-light settings and in magic editor mode where even Google swaps a smile for a frown.
Altering images should never surprise anyone because it started way back in the field. However, nothing else has ever been more feasible than enhancing actuality with the help of AI.
Several months ago, Samsung found itself at the centre of a storm over the techniques it employed for enhancing lunar pictorial effects via Deep Learning models._: No matter how poor images taken, it provided usable photos.
So what I mean is – your Moon picture was not necessarily a picture of the Moon that you were looking at.
The company recognized the criticism and stated they were trying “to lessen any possible confusion which can arise between capturing the real moon on camera and an image of the moon”.
Changing images is not a novelty – it’s as old as art. However, has it ever been easier for the fake to augment the real through the use of artificial intelligence?
In particular, earlier this year, Samsung was criticized for its use of deep learning algorithms to enhance photos of the Moon taken on its smartphones. You would get usable images no matter how bad of an image, to start within the tests they did.
Put simply – that wasn’t necessarily the Moon you were looking at in your Moon photo.
One statement by the company was as follows; “the company is striving to cut out any possible mix-ups between snapping a live moon or screen shots”.
According to Reynolds, Google includes metadata with their pictures by attaching a digital trail about an image or tagging them if artificial intelligence was employed.
This is something we will discuss within our team. And we’ve talked at length. Since we’ve been working on these things for years. He says, “It’s something that we have, an exchange with our users, listening to what they say.”
The fact that the AI-based features are central in Google’s marketing advertisement proves that it is confident the consumers will agree.
Then, where does Google draw the line in terms of image manipulation?
According to Mr Reynold, the discussion surrounding the use of artificial intelligence was too elaborate for one to draw a demarcation line that went beyond the boundary limit.
He states, “As you delve further in developing features one appreciates that a line is more or less of an overstating of the most complicated one-up of feature by feature choice.”
In addition, these new technologies increase ethical debate over what is and what isn’t reality.” However, we still have limited vision through our own eyes.”
He said: We are able to notice crisp color images since the brain has the ability to compute information and make inferences.
Therefore, if people argue that the camera does “false things”, they should be aware that the human brain does such things in a different manner.
Reynolds claims on Google’s new tech that the firm applies metadata to their images which are an indication of how to identify AI in a photo by means of an industry standard.
This is a sensitive question we speak of internally. And we’ve talked at length. Therefore, we have been busy with them for many years. He says, “It’s a discussion; we listen to each of our users.”
It is obvious that Google has complete confidence in the users’ consent and it uses the AI-centered advertisement campaign for its new phones.
Therefore, where does Google drawn the line in image editing?
A statement by Mr Reynolds would be that the debate on whether or not to use artificial intelligence is too complicated for one to just draw a line and say this is too far.|ilton, A. J., Gargano, M. A., & DeSario, R. A.
He explains that it dawns on him as he delves deeper into building features that a line is actually over simplifying what turns out to be a very complicated “feature by feature” decision.
Even as these new technologies bring up questions on what it really means by what’s real and what’s isn’t, Professor Mantiuk suggests that in consideration of the same issues, even our eyes may not always show everything.
He said: We see distinct and bright images since our brain can regenerate data and deduce or infer even what seems absent.
“Therefore, you can bitch-slap camera for “faking things”, whereas the human brain is not much different.”
