Apple compromised on its principles by partnering with Taboola, a veritable fount of scammy and untrustworthy ads, and Apple's consumers are now having to contend with the result: a deluge of shoddy advertisements on Apple News. Apple News ads appear to be deteriorating by the day in terms of quality The veteran tech journalist, Kirk McElhearn, has just penned an interesting post, titled "I Now Assume that All Ads on Apple News Are Scams." For the benefit of those who might not be aware, Apple struck a deal with Taboola, one of the largest ad-tech companies in the world, back […]

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The Galaxy Ring has remained a subject of consternation for Samsung ever since a user's device swelled up on his finger just before he boarded a flight. Now, another Galaxy Ring has swelled up over a period of time, but here the South Korean behemoth does not appear to be at fault. A Galaxy Ring owner complains of the device's battery swelling up discreetly months after it became defunct A Redditor who goes by the username u/MaybeNotThrowing recently detailed his harrowing Galaxy Ring experience, one that could have resulted in an injury. Basically, our protagonist purchased the Galaxy Ring as […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/a-samsung-galaxy-rings-long-dead-battery-swells-up-discreetly-and-turns-into-a-ticking-time-bomb/

In what might appear counterintuitive to most people, Apple TV does not actually let you own the movies that you've bought, with most purchases remaining locked to a given region, as illustrated by a Redditor's recent plight. Apple TV's content licensing policies leave much to be desired A Redditor who goes by the username u/AlpacAKEK recently penned an interesting post, explaining the pitfalls associated with purchasing movies from Apple TV. The user maintained a "small movie library" populated with titles purchased from the Apple TV. However, the Redditor lost access to all but three movies upon changing his Apple ID […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-tv-just-gave-a-redditor-the-shock-of-his-life-after-he-changed-his-apple-id-region/

With just around two weeks until Samsung officially unveils its Galaxy S26 series, we are now getting extremely detailed renders of the Galaxy S26 Ultra, those too in the stunning cobalt violet color. Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra looks stunning in the cobalt violet color The famous tipster, Evan Blass, first leaked these renders earlier today. However, Samsung soon forced him to take down those images. Fortunately for us, Android Headlines was still able to publish these stunning renders of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. As we noted recently in a dedicated post, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to sport a […]

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One of the biggest attractions of the upcoming Apple iPhone 17e was supposed to center around its adoption of the Dynamic Island. However, a new report now wants you to perish that thought, and abandon any similar design change hopes for the base iPad as well. Apple won't bring any design-related changes to the iPhone 17e and the base iPad According to a new report from MacOtakara, Apple will retain the existing design language for the iPhone 17e and the base iPad. Specifically, the report notes that Apple won't bring the Dynamic Island to the iPhone 17e, opting to retain […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/abandon-your-hopes-of-a-design-change-for-the-apple-iphone-17e-and-the-base-ipad-claims-a-contrary-report/

It has been only a few days since Apple's new AirTag 2 hit the store shelves. Yet, iFixIt is now out with a teardown of the device, revealing interesting insights about the coin-like tracker. iFixIt: Apple AirTag 2 still does not sport "tamper proof" speakers iFixIt's teardown of the AirTag 2 has revealed a few interesting aspects about the new device: For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the new AirTag's key specs include: The new AirTag is available at the same $29 price point. You can also buy a bundle of 4 for $99.

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-airtag-2-speakers-still-not-tamper-proof-as-per-an-ifixit-teardown/

Google wowed tech enthusiasts back in late 2025 when it made the Quick Share function for Pixel 10 devices compatible with Apple's AirDrop, allowing seamless file transfers between Android and iOS ecosystems. Now, as per the comments from a Google bigwig, that seamless interplay is coming to a lot more devices in 2026. Google is bringing the seamless interplay between Quick Share and Apple's AirDrop to a lot more Android devices this year We noted back in November 2025 that Google reverse-engineered AirDrop without any apparent input from Apple, essentially finding a workaround for seamless file transfers between Pixel 10 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/google-confirms-compatibility-with-apples-airdrop-coming-to-android-phones-other-than-pixels/

Apple might release the iPhone 17e in a matter of days, if the latest rumors from the Cupertino giant's labyrinthine supply chain are anything to go by. Apple iPhone 17e reportedly launching on February 19 According to the rumors circulating within Apple's case and accessory manufacturing circles, the Cupertino giant might launch the iPhone 17e via a press release on Thursday, February 19. Do note that Apple typically launches new products on Mondays or Tuesdays, with Wednesdays also seeing occasional launches. As such, a Thursday launch is quite aberrant for Apple. It is for this reason that we would urge […]

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Apple's upcoming low-cost MacBook is one of the year's most anticipated consumer devices. And, in what constitutes a nod to the ongoing memory crisis, the device will feature reduced RAM to preserve its low retail price. Apple's low-cost MacBook to retail at between $699 and $799 As per the reporting by Taiwan's Mirror Daily, Apple's upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to sport the A18 Pro chip, the same SoC that powers the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, and remains comparable to the M1 chip in performance. Surprisingly, and in what likely constitutes a nod to the constrained memory supply, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apples-low-cost-macbook-to-sport-a-reduced-8gb-ram-as-memory-crisis-bites-and-a-price-of-between-699-and-799/

SpaceX is fast becoming a pivotal cornerstone of Elon Musk's almost unbounded space-related ambitions. Just last week, the mega-billionaire effected the $250 billion acquisition of xAI by SpaceX, bestowing a valuation of $1 trillion on SpaceX in the process and unlocking the preliminary stages of AI datacenters in space. Yet, Elon Musk's ambitions vis-à-vis SpaceX continue to grow, and might soon encompass a dedicated Starlink phone. SpaceX might launch a dedicated Starlink phone to corner the market for satellite-connected devices As per a report from Reuters, SpaceX is mulling the launch of a dedicated Starlink phone, quoting three different sources […]

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Apple launched its Private Cloud Compute framework with much fanfare back in 2024, placing privacy front and center in its overarching AI strategy. However, this critical differentiating factor - one that clinched plaudits from consumers - is now seemingly under existential threat, as per the latest comments emerging from Google's earnings call today. The scope of Apple's Private Cloud Compute framework appears to be shrinking as Google becomes the iPhone maker's "preferred cloud provider" We already know that Apple is gearing up to launch a revamped version of Siri, likely with the upcoming iOS 26.4 update, bringing the much-delayed in-app actions, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/google-creates-a-privacy-conundrum-by-declaring-it-has-become-apples-preferred-cloud-provider/

After weeks of vacillation on the part of the tech-focused rumor mill between a February or March/April 2026 launch for the Pixel 10a, Google has just released official teasers of its new budget smartphone, announcing that the device will launch on February 18, 2026. Google releases official teasers for the Pixel 10a Google has just announced that pre-orders for the upcoming Pixel 10a will go live on February 18. Even so, in-store availability is not expected until March 05. As we noted in a dedicated post, Evan Blass, a known tipster, recently posted a screenshot of the Pixel 10a's certification […]

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CNET has now published the results of an interesting test where it pitted the battery life of 35 smartphones against each other and, unsurprisingly, the Apple iPhone 17 lineup has emerged as the victor of this relatively exhaustive test. Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max is at the top of the smartphone battery life leaderboard, the base iPhone 17 wins second place, along with the OnePlus 15 CNET ran two battery life tests on a total of 35 smartphones: a three-hour test where a video was streamed over WiFi with the screen at full brightness, and a 45-minute endurance test spanning […]

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With barely three weeks left until Samsung removes the wraps from this year's Galaxy S26 series, the South Korean tech behemoth is now entering its most aggressive marketing phase to build up excitement and buzz around the upcoming smartphones. To that end, Samsung has just dropped three short teaser videos that hint at the Galaxy S26 series' massively improved neural framing, low-light photography, and zoom capabilities. Samsung is teasing massive photography-related improvements for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series Last week, Samsung teased the Privacy Display feature of the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. The feature uses Flex Magic Pixel OLED technology that […]

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Samsung's Exynos 2600 chip is certainly shaping up to be one of the highest performing mobile-focused chips of 2026, especially in the graphics department, where its Xclipse 960 GPU is emerging as an absolute beast of a performer. Now, that same GPU has pushed the Exynos 2600 to the top of the Basemark Ray Tracing leaderboard. The Exynos 2600 SoC's Xclipse 960 GPU propels it to the top of the Basemark Ray Tracing leaderboard For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the Exynos 2600 is Samsung's first chip that leverages its 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process, which is a […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samsungs-exynos-2600-chip-takes-first-place-on-the-basemark-ray-tracing-leaderboard-after-beating-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-5/

Apple appears to be on the cusp of launching its first major products of the new year, namely, the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro devices, as two tantalizing signs beef up our confidence in this upbeat projection. Sign #1: The macOS 26.3 RC update and the connection to the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro devices Apple has just launched the 26.3 release candidate (RC) build for Xcode, allowing users to leverage OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Agent natively for coding-related tasks. So, why is this development a harbinger of sorts? Well, this suggests that the rest […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-might-be-days-or-even-hours-away-from-launching-the-m5-pro-and-m5-max-macbook-pro-devices-as-two-tantalizing-signs-lead-the-way/

Samsung's planned initial production runs for its upcoming devices are leading to aberrant outcomes this year, with the South Korean giant planning to produce a lot more Galaxy Z Fold 8 units than the cheaper Galaxy Z Flip 8 ones, while going all-in on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, to the detriment of its base and plus counterparts. Samsung to produce 3.5 million units of the Galaxy Fold 8 vs. just 2.5-3 million units of the Galaxy Z Flip 8 According to ET News, Samsung is planning to produce 3.5 million units of the Galaxy Fold 8 and between 2.5 million […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samsung-thinks-the-galaxy-z-fold-8-will-sell-better-than-the-cheaper-galaxy-z-flip-8-this-year/

Apple might have adopted a Google Gemini crutch to compensate for its own AI-related shortcomings, but that has not stopped the researchers at the Cupertino giant from trying to explore novel ways to make Siri noticeably better. Now, a new research paper from Apple researchers aims to unlock faster, more natural-sounding responses from Siri. Apple researchers figure out a viable path to elicit faster responses from Siri AI models typically generate speech based on tokens or short snippets of phonetic sounds, often spanning just milliseconds. The model then selects which phonetic sound (speech token) to use in its responses by […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-researchers-figure-out-a-way-to-unlock-faster-more-natural-sounding-conversations-with-siri/