The American obsession with the iPhone is complicated, as most love-hate relationships are. It sometimes seems like a talisman so magically powerful that we can't fathom living without it. The iPhone, and its smartphone brethren, enable pictures that can almost instantly be posted on social media, play a video game, watch a video, listen to music, send a text, check email, surf the internet, catch up on on the news, get directions, tap to pay at the checkout stand. Oh — and, every once in a while, it can even make or answer a phone call. At other times, it seems like a drug-dealing pusher preying on our weaknesses and worst impulses while deepening our addiction.
Samsung is saying goodbye its namesake texting app. According to an end of service announcement published on the tech giant's U.S. support website, Samsung Messages will be discontinued in July. Impacted owners of Samsung smartphones and other gadgets are being asked to switch to Google Messages as their default in the meantime. The company says this will help maintain a consistent messaging experience on Android. All Samsung Galaxy phones run on Google's Android operating system. Users of older Android operating systems (dating back to Android 11 or older) will not be impacted.The Associated Press
Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphones, which boast an even bigger toolbox of artificial intelligence technology than the previous two generations and introduce a new privacy shield that blocks snoopy bystanders from sneaking a peek at the display screen. The upgrades on the Galaxy S26 lineup, coming to stores March 11. will also include price increases of 10% to 13% on the basic and mid-tier models while the Ultra device will cost the same as last year's version. Samsung also is dangling another reason to pony up for its most expensive Galaxy S26 with a new feature called "Privacy Display" that will only be available on the Ultra.
Britain's antitrust watchdog has targeted Google and Apple for their "strategic" roles in mobile ecosystems, opening the door for regulators to impose changes to their business practices to improve competition. The Competition and Markets Authority escalated scrutiny of the two U.S. tech companies on Wednesday by labeling them with "strategic market status." It follows separate investigations that the CMA opened at the start of the year into Google's Android and Apple's iOS using newly acquired digital market regulations designed to protect consumers and businesses from unfair practices by Big Tech companies. Google called the decision "disappointing."
