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."
Apple on Monday charged into the artificial intelligence craze with a new iPhone lineup that marks the company's latest attempt to latch on a technology trend and transform it into a cultural phenomenon. The four different iPhone 16 models will all come equipped with a special chip needed to power an AI suite that Apple is hoping will reverse a recent slump sales. Among other things, Apple's AI features are designed to turn its often-blundering virtual assistant Siri into a smarter and more versatile sidekick. But the changes won't be available when the new iPhones hit the store September 20. Instead, they will come out in December as part of a free software update.
Apple jumped into the race to bring generative artificial intelligence to the masses during its World Wide Developers Conference Monday that spotlighted an onslaught of features designed to soup up the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Even as it tried to put its own stamp on the hottest area of technology, Apple tacitly acknowledged it needed help to catch up with companies like Microsoft and Google, who have emerged as the early leaders in the AI field. Apple is leaning on ChatGPT, made by the San Francisco startup OpenAI, to help make its often-bumbling virtual assistant Siri smarter and more helpful.
