HTC Making Earbuds That Look Just Like AirPods

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HTC is working on new "HTC U Ear" earbuds that look like they took some design cues from Apple's AirPods. Photos of the upcoming earbuds were found in regulatory documents by Android Police (via The Verge).


Design wise, the U Ear earbuds from HTC could be mistaken for black AirPods, featuring the same general design for the in-ear portion and a stem that hangs outside of the ear. The earbuds do have one major difference though - there are charging pins on the front.


The charging case looks similar to the AirPods Charging Case as well, though not identical, and it does open up length wise like the Powerbeats Pro case rather than at the top like the AirPods case. It also appears to come with a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging purposes.


Since Apple launched the AirPods in 2016, almost all major tech companies have come out with their own wire-free earbuds, but most have unique designs and don't look close to identical to the super popular AirPods.

Tag: HTC

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Resolutions and Features of All-OLED iPhone 12 Lineup Detailed in New Report

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Apple's upcoming iPhones will all use flexible OLEDs sourced from either Samsung, BOE, and LG Display, with some new features like 10-bit color expected, according to a report from display analyst Ross Young.


On his site Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), Young details "corrections and confirmations" on what we can expect from Apple's upcoming 2020 iPhone lineup, which will consist of four new smartphones.

Some of these are rumors that we've heard before, while other information, mostly specific to displays, is new.

5.4-inch iPhone 12

Young says that the iPhone 12 will feature a flexible OLED display from Samsung Display, with Y-OCTA integrated touch. Y-OCTA is Samsung flexible display technology where the touch sensor is placed directly on the OLED panel without the need for a separate touch layer.

The 5.4-inch iPhone will feature a 2340 x 1080 resolution and 475 PPI.

6.1-inch iPhone 12 Max

The 6.1-inch "iPhone 12 Max" as Young calls it is expected to feature a flexible OLED sourced from BOE and LG Display with an add-on touch sensor and a resolution of 2532 x 1170 and 460 PPI.

6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro

The higher-end Pro version of the 6.1-inch iPhone coming in 2020 will feature a Samsung Display flexible OLED, and Young says it will be one of the first smartphones with 10-bits of color, for more vibrant, true-to-life colors and a richer variety of color gradations.

The 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro is not expected to have Y-OCTA technology and it will feature the same resolution as the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 at 2532 x 1170 and 460 PPI.

Young says that Apple may be bringing extreme dynamic range (XDR) to its iPhone lineup, which is specified as 1,000 nits of full screen brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness. Samsung displays can't hit this level, though, and thus if Apple does use XDR, XDR specifications will need to be tweaked.

Apple is rumored to be linking XDR (extreme dynamic range) compatibility to the iPhone 12 series. XDR performance on its monitors is specified by Apple as 1000 nits of full screen brightness, 1600 nits of peak brightness, 1M:1 contrast, 10-bits of color and ~100% P3 wide color gamut. To date, Samsung Display has only achieved 1342 nits of peak brightness and full screen brightness of 828 nits on smartphones, so if Apple does use XDR, the XDR specifications for brightness will need to change. Given the lower black levels in its OLED smartphones vs. its XDR monitor, contrast should actually be higher on its smartphones, in fact, DisplayMate measures the latest Samsung Display OLED contrast ratios as infinite in low ambient light.

Young also reiterates details he's previously shared about rumors suggesting Apple will bring 120Hz ProMotion displays to the iPhone 12 lineup.

Apple's iPhone 12 is not expected to use low-power LTPO technology, a feature Young believes is necessary for a fully functional 120Hz display given the power saving capabilities of LTPO technology.

Without LTPO, 120Hz is still possible, but it could be limited to non-native resolutions or it will be a significant power drain.

6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max

The largest iPhone 12 Pro model that Apple plans to release in 2020 will feature a 6.68-inch display with a resolution of 2778 x 1284 at 458 PPI.

Young believes this model will have Y-OCTA support, 10-bit color, and will be XDR capable. Like the iPhone 12 Pro, it could also have a 120Hz refresh rate, but again, without LTPO.

Production

According to Young, panel production on components for the new 2020 iPhones will start approximately six weeks late, which means it will begin at the end of July. Young believes that this implies a delay in the iPhone 12 launch from September to October. There have been other rumors suggesting a possible delay, and Apple did stagger the launches of the iPhone XS and XR in 2018, so we could see a similar situation this year.

This year's iPhones are expected to feature OLED across the board, smaller notches for the front-facing camera, 5G for all models, and more, with full details on what to expect available in our iPhone 12 roundup.

Related Roundup: iPhone 12

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Apple Seeds tvOS 13.4.5 GM Update to Developers

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Apple today seeded the golden master version of an upcoming tvOS 13.4.5 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the fourth beta and more than a month after releasing tvOS 13.4.


Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 13.4.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌‌‌‌‌Apple TV‌‌‌‌‌ via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

tvOS updates are typically minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than major outward-facing changes. There's no word yet on what's included in tvOS 13.4.5, and we saw no new features in the first four betas.

Though we don't often know what's new in tvOS during the beta testing process, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download it upon release.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 13

Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

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Apple Seeds GM Version of iOS and iPadOS 13.5 to Developers With Exposure Notification API, Face ID Mask Updates and More

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Apple today seeded golden master versions of upcoming iOS and iPadOS 13.5 updates to developers, one week after seeding the fourth betas and over a month after releasing iOS and iPadOS 13.4 with iCloud Folder Sharing, iPad trackpad support, and more. GM versions denote the final versions of the software that will be released to the public.


iOS and ‌‌‌iPadOS‌‌‌ 13.5 can be downloaded from the Apple Developer center or over the air after the proper developer profile has been installed.

iOS and ‌iPadOS‌ 13.5 introduce the exposure notification API designed by Apple and Google, which is designed to allow public health authorities to create COVID-19 contact tracing apps that are meant to slow the spread of the virus.

The API Apple has introduced is for health-related apps, but there is an Exposure Logging toggle in the Settings app that is designed to allow users to opt out of participating in COVID-19 exposure notifications if a COVID-19 app is installed.

Along with laying the ground work for the exposure notification API and accompanying apps, iOS 13.5 makes it easier to unlock an iPhone with a passcode when wearing a mask, as many people are wearing face coverings at the current time.


With the update, the passcode interface pops up more quickly when an ‌iPhone‌ detects that a mask is obscuring the face after a user swipes upward, so it's quicker to get into an ‌iPhone‌ using a passcode than before.

There's a tweak to Group FaceTime, with Apple introducing a new toggle to disable the feature that automatically enlarges the tile of the person who is speaking. By default, Group ‌FaceTime‌ has a dynamic view with a tile for each person, and the person speaking has a larger tile while other tiles fade into the background.


An "Automatic Prominence" section in the ‌FaceTime‌ portion of the Settings app allows this to be disabled, displaying all of the people using ‌FaceTime‌ in a grid with equal-sized windows regardless of who is talking. A tile can be enlarged with a tap.

Apple in iOS 13.5 is adding a new feature for sharing Medical ID information automatically with emergency dispatchers when placing emergency call. There's a toggle to enable this function, along with an option to share Medical ID info on the Lock screen when an ‌iPhone‌ is locked.


Earlier betas introduced a new Apple Music feature that allows ‌Apple Music‌ songs to be shared on Instagram Stories. Tapping the Share button on a song in ‌Apple Music‌ creates a story with a song title, album name, and animated background, but at this time there is no way to get to ‌Apple Music‌ from the shared information.


iOS 13.5 also patches two security vulnerabilities that affect the Mail app on the ‌iPhone‌ and the ‌iPad‌. One vulnerability allowed an attacker to remotely infect an iOS device by sending emails that consume a significant amount of memory, while another allowed remote code executions.

The update fixes a bug that could cause the ‌iPhone‌ to crash when a specific text string in the Sindhi language is shared. It may also address an issue with Personal Hotspot that prevents it from working for some people and it could also fix a VPN-related vulnerability, both of which are bugs that Apple has promised to address in upcoming iOS updates.

Related Roundups: iOS 13, iPadOS

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Portless iPhone 'will launch in 2021'

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RIP Lightning port, once we've got the 5G iPhone launch out of the way

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Smaller, Lower-Priced HomePod Appears Increasingly Closer to Launching

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Apple is rumored to have a smaller, lower-priced HomePod on deck for later this year, and there are increasing signs that the new model could be on the horizon.


In addition to Best Buy offering the HomePod on sale for $199.99 this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman notes that Apple employees are now able to purchase up to 10 HomePods at a 50 percent discount, up from a limit of two. The larger purchase limit could be part of Apple's efforts to clear out inventory of the current HomePod ahead of the new model.

Apple employees can also now buy up to 10 (up from 2) with their discount. These things are clearly on the way out. https://t.co/X0ey2QKbxC https://t.co/8sXDf6ifmr

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) May 18, 2020

In addition, the HomePod was listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the United States last week, although only briefly.

Over the last few years, Apple has been steadily making the HomePod more useful by adding features such as Handoff support, multi-user voice detection, ambient sounds, and multi-room audio, but Siri is still widely criticized. To that end, Gurman previously noted that the smaller HomePod will coincide with Siri improvements later this year.

At launch in 2018, the HomePod cost $349, but Apple reduced the price of the speaker to $299 in April 2019. Apple has never disclosed HomePod sales, instead grouping the speaker under its "Wearables, Home, and Accessories" category.

While the HomePod is positioned as a premium speaker, it has several low-priced competitors on the smart assistant front, including the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which can often be purchased for as little as $25. Apple's smaller HomePod will likely have two tweeters, down from seven in the current model, according to Gurman's previous reporting.

Related Roundup: HomePod

Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral)

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You can finally play Call of Duty Mobile on certain Chromebooks

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