Apple was the only major smartphone OEM to record a meaningful year-over-year growth in China-related sales for the month of January 2026, with the rest of the OEMs having to contend with a veritable bevy of adverse base effects. Counterpoint Research: Apple recorded a year-over-year sales growth of 8 percent in China for January 2026, while other major OEMs recorded a double-digit percent decline As is evident from the above tabulation by Counterpoint Research, Apple recorded year-over-year sales growth of 8 percent in China for January 2026. However, all other major Chinese smartphone OEMs recorded double-digit-percent declines, largely due to […]

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T-Mobile has just taken a significant step towards rolling out AI-powered services on its network, starting with a Live Translation feature with support for over 50 languages. T-Mobile is now embedding real-time AI services into its network, starting with a Live Translation feature for phone calls T-Mobile appears to be taking a lead in rolling out AI-powered services on its network, as illustrated by its just-announced Live Translation feature for phone calls. T-Mobile intends to officially launch this service in the spring of 2026 and is currently accepting registrations for the beta service from its postpaid members. Critically, T-Mobile notes […]

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The Dimensity 9600 chip, which is MediaTek's next flagship offering, is not expected to see the light of day until the third quarter of 2026. Even so, given the chip's near-apex credentials that are capable of giving Qualcomm's top-of-the-line Snapdragon variant a run for its money, the Dimensity 9600 SoC continues to attract quite a bit of attention and interest from tech enthusiasts and prosumers alike. Dimensity 9600 chip's architecture TSMC's process node Unlike Apple's A20 chip, which is expected to leverage TSMC's N2 process, MediaTek is likely to opt for the Taiwanese fab giant's relatively more costly N2P process […]

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First, Apple scaled back its World Knowledge Answers AI project, as well as an AI-driven overhaul of the Safari browser and the Apple Health app. Now, it seems the Cupertino giant is rolling back the launch of the new Gemini-backed Siri, resorting to a gradual feature drop approach instead. Apple's launch of the new Gemini-backed Siri hits roadblocks As we've been noting ad nauseum over the past couple of weeks, Apple has formally selected Google's Gemini to power the next generation of its on-device Foundation Models as well as a revamped version of Siri, which would bring the much-delayed in-app […]

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Apple has just opened the proverbial floodgates by officially releasing the iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, watchOS 26.3, tvOS 26.3, visionOS 26.3, HomePod Software 26.3, and macOS Tahoe 26.3 software updates. Apple iOS 26.3 goes official, along with software updates for a wide range of Apple devices The iOS 26.3 software update includes the following changes, as gleaned from the recent beta updates: Limit Precise Location Apple has added a new "limit precise location" feature, which limits carrier visibility to the neighborhood instead of the more precise street level. The following carriers will support this feature for now: Do note that this […]

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Verizon is showcasing its data throughput prowess this week after the Sunday's Super Bowl LX match in San Francisco, where the carrier says that it provided median download speeds of 2.16 Gbps at the height of the action. Verizon claims the data throughput it offered during this year's Super Bowl Sunday was the result of "nearly 200 individual network projects across the Bay Area" Verizon has just given a snapshot of the data throughput it powered via its dense network in the Bay Area: Do note that Verizon is the official 5G network of the NFL. As such, the network […]

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In what is nothing short of a huge shocker, TrendForce has just reported that memory costs continue to escalate rapidly, and currently constitute nearly half of a given smartphone's Bill of Materials (BOM). In this melee, Apple remains relatively insulated for now after having instituted a series of cost management steps. TrendForce: "Memory, which historically accounted for around 10–15% of a smartphone’s BOM, has now surged to 30–40%" In a hard-hitting report, TrendForce has just reported that the cost of a typical 8GB+256GB memory configuration has surged by nearly 200 percent year-over-year in Q1 2026, roughly tripling from the same […]

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Apple has managed to use its considerable market heft to aggressively manage the cost of various key components, allowing the base storage variants of the upcoming iPhone 18 lineup to launch at the same price points as their iPhone 17 counterparts, as per a fresh supply chain analysis. Jeff Pu: Apple’s goal is to keep starting selling prices of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max "unchanged or at a similar level" to those of their iPhone 17 counterparts TF International Securities analyst, Ming Chi-Kuo, noted towards the end of January that Apple was working round the clock to prevent […]

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There are some truths and judgements that should not be viewed via a political lens. And, Trump Mobile's T1 phone constitutes one such occasion, where irrespective of the inherent political bias, the beholder is forced to concede that the device is an extremely tacky imitation of what a sleek smartphone looks like. The T1 Phone is a device that is all show, and retains an empty void for a soul; cheap, gaudy, garish, and an abomination of the device's original promise. Trump Mobile's T1 Phone has now surfaced in its final form, and we can't help but cringe at the […]

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