Samsung has made much ado of the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s enormous camera array, but just what’s in there that requires a conspicuous hump on the back of the phone? You don’t have to wonder. iFixit has posted a teardown of the range-topping beast, and it’s clear Samsung really didn’t have much choice. The 108-megapixel primary camera by itself is huge — the sensor covers twice the surface area of the 12-megapixel unit in the iPhone 11 series. The periscope-like zoom camera, meanwhile, needs a lot of space for its unusual lateral design, including optical image stabilization just for the prism.
Tech
Galaxy S20 Ultra teardown shows what's inside that giant camera bump – Engadget
The disassembly also shows just how little space there is for the actual chipsets once you rule out the cameras and the giant 5,000mAh battery. The spider-like circuit boards are stuffed to the gills with components, including the Snapdragon 865 processor and X55 5G modem. That might partly explain why there’s no headphone jack, although that won’t be much consolation to fans of wired audio.
You probably won’t be fixing it yourself, at any rate. You’ll have to unglue the rear cover just to poke inside, while the display and battery are particularly difficult to replace. Samsung built the S20 Ultra to make the most use of its cavernous dimensions, and repair definitely wasn’t the highest priority.
Tech
Apple announces Worldwide Developers Conference dates, in-person event – CityNews Toronto
Apple has announced their annual developers conference will take place June 10 through June 14.
The big summer event will be live-streamed, but some select developers have been invited to attend in-person events at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California, on June 10.
The company typically showcases their latest software and product updates — including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AppleTV and Vision Pro headset — during a keynote address on the first day.
Contributing to a drop in Apple’s stock price this year is concern it lags behind Microsoft and Google in the push to develop products powered by artificial intelligence technology. While Apple tends to keep its product development close to the vest, CEO Tim Cook signaled at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in February that it has been making big investments in generative AI and plans to disclose more later this year.
The week-long conference will have opportunities for developers to connect with Apple designers and engineers to gain insight into new tools, frameworks and features, according to the company’s announcement.
The Associated Press
Tech
iPhone 16 Rumors Point to Action Button and New, Vertical Camera Layout – CNET
The upcoming iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are still months away from their expected launch this fall, but a new set of images published online may give us a better sense of their potential features. Among the revelations, the iPhone 16 may include an action button, similar to the one on last year’s iPhone 15 Pro, and it may have redesigned cameras in a vertical stack.
AppleInsider published a series of photos it says show dummy 3D prints of the upcoming iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro from an unnamed leaker. Aside from the action button and reworked cameras on the iPhone 16, AppleInsider also said its source found the iPhone 16 Pro to be “slightly larger” than its predecessor. Analysts had earlier said they expect the Pro model screens will grow somewhat.
Read more: iPhone 16: All the Major Rumors on Apple’s Next iPhone
The new details suggest that a series of expected hardware updates are likely for this year’s new iPhones. Apple typically announces new iPhones around September, and the company tends to offer incremental upgrades to each new phone, introducing, over the period of several years, better cameras, screens and battery life, features that end up seeming like major upgrades when people get around to buying a new phone.
Last year, Apple added a new titanium frame, action button and USB-C charging to its iPhone 15 Pro, which starts at $999. For its entry-level iPhone, Apple followed its well-worn strategy of trickling pro features down to the mainstream, adding the iPhone 14 Pro’s well-received Dynamic Island to the $799 iPhone 15, along with USB-C charging.
AppleInsider didn’t indicate whether its leaker had divined a reason for the iPhone 16’s shifted camera placements, but the two lenses will now reportedly be stacked one on top of the other, instead of diagonally. Apple has previously said it uses stacked lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro for spatial video capture, a key new technology the company highlighted as part of its $3,499 Apple Vision Pro headset, released in February.
Though AppleInsider’s leaks appear to confirm many previous rumors, not all renders and 3D prints are accurate, something the rumor blog notes itself in its report. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the veracity of the leaks.
Watch this: What Google Gemini AI on the iPhone Could Look Like
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I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
Tech
Leaked iPhone 16 dummy units hint at larger sizes and new buttons
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(Image credit: Future)
We’re already counting down to the arrival of the iPhone 16 series – most probably sometime in September – and a leak showing dummy units of the upcoming phones has revealed a few of the changes we can expect to see later this year.
These dummy units are usually based on supply chain information, and have various business uses – like helping case manufacturers get their wares ready for new phones before they’re launched, for example. In this case, the images were posted to Chinese social network Weibo, as spotted by MacRumors.
Perhaps the most interesting reveal from these blocks of plastic and metal is that they show the previously rumored increase in size for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max displays – up to 6.3 inches (from 6.1 inches) and 6.9 inches (from 6.7 inches) respectively.
That’s not a huge jump of course, but it does mean more screen space for apps and media. The bezels are apparently shrinking down to accommodate the larger screens, which means the increase in the physical size of these handsets is only a slight one.
On the button
Further reveals from this leak match up with what we’ve heard before: that all four models are going to get the Action button that replaced the Ring/Silent switch on the 2023 Pro models, as well as a brand-new Capture button for getting more creative with photos.
Also of note is the redesigned rear camera module that we think is coming to the back of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. The new vertical, pill-shaped look has been leaked already, but this is more evidence that it’s on the way – taking us back to a design that’s more reminiscent of the iPhone 12, which came out in 2020.
As always with such rumors, be somewhat cautious about reading too much into the look of these dummy units. That said, as more and more similar leaks pile up, it becomes more likely that they’re based on accurate information.
The next big Apple date for your calendar is WWDC 2024 – its Worldwide Developers Conference starts on June 10, at which time we should hear much more about what’s coming this year with iOS 18 and Apple’s other software platforms.
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