Technology Guru

APPLE DESCRIBES ITS mobile devices as designed in California and assembled in China. You could also say they were made by the App Store, launched a decade ago next month, a year after the first iPhone. Inviting outsiders to craft useful, entertaining, or even puerile extensions to the iPhone’s capabilities transformed the device into the era-defining franchise that enabled Uber and Snapchat. Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software, is tasked with keeping that wellspring of new ideas flowing. One of his main strategies is to get more app developers to use artificial intelligence tools such as recognizing objects in front of an iPhone’s camera. The hope is that will spawn a new generation of ideas from Apple’s ecosystem of outsourced innovation. “We have such a vibrant community of developers,” Federighi says. “We saw that if we could give them a big leg up toward incorporating machine learning into their apps they would do some really interesting things.” He illustrates the point...

There is early excitement for the iPhones releasing in 2018 and Apple is likely to ditch Touch ID feature and move to Face ID, said reports. Despite initially believing Apple might re-adopt the fingerprint technology -- an identity sensor that makes it easy for the user to get access to the device -- it is now likely that all 2018 iPhones will move to Face ID, 9to5Mac reported. "3D sensing will be a 'key selling point' of all new 2018 iPhone models," Ming-Chi Kuo, KGI Securities analyst was quoted by 9to5Mac. Ming said although Apple currently faces manufacturing difficulties with 3D sensing, 'TrueDepth' cameras and Face ID will help Apple capitalise on its clear lead in 3D sensing design and production for smartphones. However, according to Ming's report in September the company had not entirely moved away from Touch ID. Meanwhile, the company's newly-launched iPhone 8 is facing the problem of swollen batteries and incidents have been reported from...

As Samsung plans to launch a bendable smartphone "Galaxy X" in 2018, Apple has reportedly begun work on a foldable iPhone with LG Display. According to a report in the Korean website The Investor, Apple has decided to go with LG and not Samsung (Samsung OLED displays are the best in the industry) owing to the fear that specifications could be leaked as Samsung is its arch rival. "According to The Bell, LG Display recently created a task force to develop a foldable OLED screen for the new iPhone model," the report said on Thursday. The foldable iPhone panel production could start from 2020. LG has reportedly completed its own foldable OLED panel prototype and has been upgrading the durability and the yield rate. The company recently started its first OLED production for phones at its E5 plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. Apple is also considering investing in LG to speed up OLED production. Meanwhile, Samsung is exclusively supplying panels ...

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL devices might lack the luster of flagship smartphones but they possess some major enhancements that not only give them an edge but also help them race past over the competitors in some of the departments. Notwithstanding absence of dual camera lens set-up, which has been a common feature followed by Apple and Samsung in their flagship iPhone 8 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note8,  both the handsets sport singular 12-megapixel shutter. The 12-megapixel camera in Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is one of the key feature among many others that has been getting a lot of attention. The camera not only outshines in terms of performance, it also takes away the title of ‘best camera in mobile phone’ from Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. According to DxO mark review, the Pixel 2 smartphones score an impressive 98 points out of 100, which is 9 points more than yesteryear’s Google Pixel and 4 points more than dual camera clad ...