Apple is bumping up the energy density of the battery in its next iPhones, letting them last longer between charges, claims supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo notes that more density means more heat, so Apple is encasing them in stainless steel, which he says will also mean they’re easier to replace — something the EU now requires.

Google spit out a surprise Pixel 9 hardware event announcement last week. It’s set for August 13th, two months earlier than the October phone events it’s held in the last few years.

But why? AI reasons? Yeah, probably, as David Pierce and Nilay Patel discussed on The Vergecast.

Recently, Apple unceremoniously dropped Apple Pay Later, which already felt like an odd, risky choice for the brand, not even a year after launching the small loans program.

Why? Regulation, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman:

In May, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced increased scrutiny of “buy now, pay later” services, saying providers would need to follow the same regulations as credit card companies ... The increased regulation wasn’t something Apple wanted to deal with, I’m told ...

Images of what looks like a damaged Pixel 6-style Fold showed up on the XDA forums, in a May thread that quietly petered out.

The phone, which forum members assumed was fake, appears to be a legitimate prototype of a foldable that was once rumored for a 2021 reveal, according to Android Authority, citing an unnamed source within Google.

The announcement, made in a social media post by Nick Twork, Lucid Motors’ new head of communications, comes over a year after the company added CarPlay support to its vehicles.

In its quest to build a cheaper headset, Apple has asked manufacturers for technical details needed to develop 2-inch or 2.1-inch displays with a pixel density of 1,700ppi (or about half the Vision Pro’s 3,386ppi), according to an Elec report cited by UploadVR yesterday.

Assuming the same aspect ratio, the outlet pegs the resolution “somewhere around 2600 x 2300,” or just over two-thirds that of the current headset.

Streamers will be able to drop in on each other with Stream Together, clips are getting a more optimized creation flow, and the platform’s enhanced broadcasting feature will soon be available for all streamers to try, among other things.

Twitch is also making a “Streamer Achievement Program. Streamers will get statues after their channel reaches certain milestones for hours watched.

Good news for anyone who is tired of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s sharp corners digging into their palms: Samsung might round them off again for the S25 series.

That’s according to tipster Ice Universe, anyway, who posted the below about the change.

If you owned an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus between September 16th, 2016 and January 3rd, 2023 and met certain requirements, you may be eligible to claim part of a settlement after a class action lawsuit over issues with the Apple devices’ microphones.

The deadline was originally June 3rd, 2024, but it was extended earlier this month to July 3rd instead.

Bloomberg reports that Rain AI, which has OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as one of its backers, has hired Apple chip exec Jean-Didier Allegrucci to oversee the development of new AI processors that are supposed to reduce power consumption with “in-memory compute.”

Rain AI:

[Allegrucci] has worked and led silicon teams across a broad range of applications, including CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, ISPs, SoCs, and many others....At Apple, he oversaw the development of more than 30 SoCs used for flagship products, including iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watch, and many more.

The Japanese automaker’s joint venture in China is aiming to launch an EV with a driver assist that’s equivalent to Tesla’s controversial FSD, according to Reuters. That’s especially interesting considering Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus was the only company to pass the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety’s rigorous ADAS test. Not saying there’s a direct connection, but Toyota certainly has the chops.

Speaking to Android Authority, Qulacomm’s head of handsets, Chris Patrick, says that the company will make announcements later this year about how it plans to help “keep Android phones closer to up to date.”

While definitely improved in recent years, updates are still slow to come for some OEMs — and plenty of budget phones only see one or two OS updates. Say more, Qualcomm.

The Information reports the reversible adhesive could be tried on one iPhone 16 and potentially every iPhone 17, replacing the stretchy pull tabs seen in every teardown.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens called it a “cool idea,” even if we’ll need to see how it works in practice. Here’s a demo from adhesives giant Tesa, which is also developing approaches using lasers, heat, solvents, and magnets.