Apple Launches Repair Program For Unresponding IPhone 11 Displays

9to5Mac reports that Apple announced a repair program for “a small percentage” of iPhone 11s manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020 where the display stops responding to touch:
The replacement program is exclusive to the regular iPhone 11 model and does not apply to the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max. Users can check the Apple Support website to…

New Benchmark Shows iPhones Throttle So Hard They Lose Their Edge Over Android

MojoKid writes: Apple has repeatedly asserted its dominance in terms of performance versus competitive mobile platforms. And it has been historically true that, in cross-platform benchmarks, iPhones generally can beat out Android phones in both CPU and GPU (graphics) performance. However, a new benchmark recently released from trusted benchmark suite developer UL Benchmarks sheds light on what could be the iPhone’s…

The Fairphone 3+ Is a Repairable Dream That Takes Beautiful Photos

The Fairphone 3+ is a $550 phone with modular parts that can easily be swapped out by users themselves. “In many ways, a Fairphone is the antithesis of the iPhone,” writes Catie Keck via Gizmodo. “It doesn’t benefit most retailers to allow you to easily repair your own stuff, meaning that a lot of gizmos these days — particularly higher-end electronics…

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 5 Can Get a Phone To 50 Percent Battery in Five Minutes

Qualcomm is giving its Quick Charge technology a sizeable boost, one that the company claims will be able to plug in and get a device with a 4,500mAh battery from 0 to 50% in five minutes and from empty to 100% in 15 minutes. From a report: The new technology — which will make its first appearance in devices during the…

Why You Shouldn’t Make a Habit of Force-Quitting iOS Apps or Restarting iOS Devices

Adam Engst, writing for TidBITS: Because force-quitting apps and restarting or shutting down devices are necessary only to fix unanticipated problems, there are two notable downsides to engaging in such behavior as a matter of habit: reduced battery life and wasted time. Why would these behaviors reduce battery life? Remember, iOS is a modern operating system that’s built on top of…

Apple Plans iPad-Like Design for Next iPhone, Smaller HomePod

Apple is preparing a redesign of its top-tier iPhones, borrowing cues from the latest iPads, as part of a major fall refresh that will see 5G added to as many as four new handset models and the release of two key new accessories, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the plans. From the report: This year’s successors to the iPhone…

Apple Announces a New iPad Pro and Signals the End is Coming For Laptops

Despite COVID-19 forcing Apple to close down all retail stores outside of China indefinitely, the company just announced a new 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (starting at $799 and $949, respectively). From a report: Last refreshed in 2018, the new iPad Pros come with a faster A12Z Bionic chip equipped with an 8-core CPU and GPU, a new ultra-wide camera and…

The FBI Can Unlock Florida Terrorist’s iPhones Without Apple

The FBI is pressing Apple to help it break into a terrorist’s iPhones, but the government can hack into the devices without the technology giant, according to experts in cybersecurity and digital forensics. From a report: Investigators can exploit a range of security vulnerabilities — available directly or through providers such as Cellebrite and Grayshift — to break into the phones,…

Less Than 10 Percent of Americans Are Buying $1,000 Smartphones, Report Says

According to a new report from research firm NPD, less than 10% of Americans are actually spending $1,000 or more on a smartphone. 9to5Google reports: The report was produced by research firm NPD and shows that while the media and brand focus is on the flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy S10, and iPhone 11 Pro, everyday Americans…

The iPhone 11 Pro’s Location Data Puzzler

Brian Krebs: One of the more curious behaviors of Apple’s new iPhone 11 Pro is that it intermittently seeks the user’s location information even when all applications and system services on the phone are individually set to never request this data. Apple says this is by design, but that response seems at odds with the company’s own privacy policy. The privacy…