Ming-Chi Kuo Expects Upgraded AirPods to Launch in Mid to Late 2018

Apple will release an upgraded version of AirPods in the second half of 2018, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

An excerpt from Kuo’s latest research note, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors:

Media reports over the past few days on brisk AirPods demand and Apple struggling to keep up with holiday season demand align with our findings and positive predictions on AirPods in several previous reports. […]

In 2018, we predict AirPods shipments will grow 100% YoY to 26-28mn units. We forecast the ASP of RFPCB for upgraded AirPods in 2H18 may increase, further benefiting business momentum of Unitech and Compeq.

Kuo said one internal change on the second-generation AirPods will include a “smaller quartz component,” but he didn’t provide any further details about new outward-facing features or improvements to expect.

Kuo said the new AirPods will continue to be assembled by Taiwanese manufacturer Inventec, with individual components supplied by fellow Taiwanese companies such as Unitech, Compeq, TXC, and HLJ.

Apple will also be releasing a new inductive AirPods charging case that will enable the wireless earphones to be charged with its new AirPower charging mat, which it said launches at some point in 2018.

Apple teased the AirPower mat at its iPhone X event back in September. It will be able to charge the Apple Watch Series 3, an iPhone X or iPhone 8 model, and AirPods inside the new charging case simultaneously.

As for the current AirPods, Kuo said Apple’s suppliers are unable to make them quick enough to fully satisfy what he believes is robust holiday season demand, which likely explains why AirPods are sold out until January.

Kuo, who keeps a close eye on Apple’s supply chain in Asia, said Apple has recruited Luxshare to help make AirPods, but RF printed-circuit boards for AirPods batteries are proving to be a key production bottleneck.

Kuo also reiterated his estimate that AirPods shipments will double in 2018 to 26-28 million units on a year-over-year basis, suggesting Apple will have sold around 13-14 million AirPods worldwide by the end of this year.

Tags: KGI Securities, Ming-Chi Kuo, AirPods
Discuss this article in our forums

Samsung’s awesome 2018 Galaxy A8 even has a dual-lens camera on the front

Samsung has launched 2018 versions of the Galaxy A8, a name it has used at least once before, this time bringing some of the best Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 features together in a single device, but in an unexpected fashion. The 2018 Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8 Plus are two of the most intriguing phones we’ve seen from Samsung in a while.

The new Galaxy A8 has a 5.6-inch Super AMOLED screen on the front, with the same 18.5:9 aspect ration as its larger brethren, and a 1,080 x 2,220 pixel resolution. The Galaxy A8 Plus has a 6-inch screen. Look closely at the images of the phone and you can see small bezels above and below it, along wth very minimal bezels at the side. It may not be quite so large or bezel-free as the S8 or Note 8, but it’s close enough that Samsung still uses the “Infinity Display” name to describe it.

Above the screen are two camera lenses for the ultimate selfie experience. The dual-lens camera has two sensors — 16 megapixels and 8 megapixels, both with an f/1.9 aperture — and Samsung’s Live Focus feature, a favorite from the Galaxy Note 8, where it’s part of the rear camera. This feature adds the blurred background effect to your selfies, while the two lenses can take close-ups or wider portrait shots. The selfie cam also has a beauty mode, filters, and stickers. The rear camera has a single 16-megapixel lens, and a low f/1.7 aperture for great lowlight shots.

If the Galaxy A8 already sounds good, then you’re going to like it even more as we continue. The body has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, for peace of mind, and it’s the first A-Series Samsung phone that’s compatible with the Gear VR virtual reality headset. Previously, you had to splash out on an S-Series or Note phone to enjoy Samsung’s VR experience. An octa-core processor with 4GB of RAM powers the A8, plus there is 32GB of memory, a fingerprint sensor, a MicroSD card slot, and NFC for Samsung Pay.

The Galaxy A8 Plus has a 3,500mAh battery compared to the 3,000mAh cell inside the A8, and both come with fast charging. Despite being phones launched next year, both have Android 7.1 Nougat installed, and not Android 8.0 Oreo.

Samsung has announced the Galaxy A8 models for release in January 2018, with countries still to be confirmed, in  a choice of gold, blue, black, or grey colors. It appears only the Galaxy A8 will go on sale in the U.K., but that won’t be until April 2018, and it hasn’t given a price either. We don’t expect it to be cheap, but it will be less than the S8, and with a specification and feature list like this, it’s shaping up to be a very desirable phone.

The Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus will likely be shown off at the CES 2018 technology show in January, when we may also get news about a U.S. release. We’ll keep you updated.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Samsung Galaxy S8 Active review
• Here is everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy S9
• iPhone 8 Plus vs. Galaxy S8 Plus: Which massive smartphone reigns supreme?
• Razer Phone vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 8: A new challenger approaches
• Apple iPhone 8 vs. Samsung Galaxy S8: A classic tale of Android vs. iOS

Honor 7X and EMUI 5.1: Tips and tricks for getting the most out of your new phone

With flagship-level build quality and an 18:9 display for just $200, the Honor 7X is bound to be a popular choice in the budget space. Many buyers will already be familiar with the included EMUI 5.1 software interface, but for first-time Honor users, it can feel like a completely new experience. Luckily, while EMUI is full of long lists of options and settings, it’s easy to master the important parts.

That’s why we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite ways to get the most out of your new Honor 7X.

Customize the home screen

The home screen is one of the most personal parts of a phone, and one of the first things you’ll want to familiarize yourself with. There are plenty of ways to customize the EMUI home screen, but before you start rearranging apps and adding widgets, you should decide whether or not you want an app drawer by going to Settings > Home screen style. Not only will this affect the way you use your home screen, but the software remembers different layouts with and without the app drawer, so if you change your mind later you’ll have to reorganize everything.

Once you’ve made your decision, jump back to the home screen and long press on an empty area (or pinch in with two fingers) to access some other quick home screen options. You can set a new wallpaper (for both the home and lock screens), add widgets, change the transition animation when scrolling through pages, or open the rest of the home screen settings.

From the Settings option, you can adjust the home layout grid (options include 4×5, 4×6, 5×5, and 5×6), toggle quick alignment options, set up notification badges, enable app suggestions, and toggle home screen looping and rotation.

Make use of Smart Assistance

Smart Assistance offers a number of useful options to get even more functionality out of the Honor 7X. From Settings > Smart Assistance, the floating dock option makes one-handed operation much easier by adding a transparent circle to the side of the screen that, when tapped, fans out into five shortcuts: the back/home/recents navigation buttons, a button to lock the screen, and the cleanup option from the Phone Manager app.

You’re also able to enable motion controls, including flipping the phone to mute alarms and phone calls, and double-tap to wake the display. One-handed UI allows you to swipe over on the navigation bar to shrink the display, and offers a similar feature for the keyboard. There are also options for voice control, headset controls, and even scheduling the phone to turn itself on and off at set times.

About that dual SIM tray

Dual SIM phones are great for international travelers and employees who don’t want to carry a personal phone and work phone. The Honor 7X is equipped with a dual SIM tray, and supports bands for most GSM carriers, but that’s not all it can do. The second SIM slot on the tray doubles as a microSD slot, meaning that you can expand the 32 or 64GB of onboard storage if you only need one SIM card.

Try out the pre-installed apps

For a lot of us, it’s easy to ignore the OEM-made apps that come pre-installed on new phones, but EMUI actually has a decent selection of useful apps. SwiftKey, the default keyboard, is one of the most popular keyboards on the Play Store. HiCare is also a great way to find manuals and additional support for the Honor 7X, and the Recorder app is a simple and convenient way to log audio memos.

In addition, Phone Manager is a centralized hub for quick optimizations, allowing you to free up RAM, turn on data saver mode, check battery performance, and even view phone calls and text messages from blocked numbers. You can also perform virus scans, and set up PIN security for certain apps.

The Optimize button performs multiple tasks at once to best improve your phone’s performance, while the percentage above it shows how well-optimized your Honor 7X is.

Adjust the display

With a great LCD panel and a new 18:9 aspect ratio, there’s a lot to customize with the Honor 7X’s display. Visit Settings > Display to begin tweaking the different options. Of course, the standard settings (wallpaper, view mode, text size, auto-rotate, etc.) all act as they would on any other phone, but EMUI 5.1 has some unique options that allow for a more personalized experience. Full screen display lets you choose which apps scale to fill the entire display, which is particularly useful with apps that haven’t yet been updated to support taller aspect ratios, though stretching can occur in certain apps — I’ve left Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp at 16:9 to avoid the elongated look.

Eye comfort is yet another implementation of the popular blue light filter that shifts the display to show warmer tones to help prevent irregular sleep cycles and other negative effects of prolonged viewing of blue light. You can switch it on or off at any time, schedule it to come on automatically, or adjust the intensity of the effect.

Most phones these days let you choose from a few different color profiles (standard, DCI-P3, RGB, etc.), but few give you the level of control that the Honor 7X offers with EMUI 5.1. By tapping color temperature in the display settings, you’re able to choose from default, warm, or cold presets, or fine-tune with an entire color wheel to get exactly the look you want.

Any others?

Got any other tips or tricks for fellow Honor 7X owners? Sound off in the comments below.

The Morning After: Tuesday, December 19th 2017

Good morning! This morning we wait with bated breath for a phone screen that will heal itself, test out Amazon’s adorable Echo Spot and kick off our year in review coverage.

Good riddance!
2017 year in review

Over the next two weeks, we’ll be looking back on the year that was, and sharing our hopes and predictions for 2018. Join us as we place our bets on AI, algorithms, social-media regulations, green tech, streaming services, robotics, self-driving cars and even space taxis. And, of course, since we’re Engadget, you can expect to hear about the upcoming products and games we’re most excited about.

Accidental.A new polymer could make phone-screen repairs a thing of the past

Researchers in Tokyo have discovered a new polymer that may actually heal itself, potentially leading the way to a future of self-healing phone screens. The research promises a unique hard glass-like polymer called polyether-thioureas, which can heal itself with only hand pressure. This makes it different to other materials that typically need high heat to repair cracks and breaks. The funny part? The special polymer was discovered by mistake by a graduate student, Yu Yanagisawa, who thought the material would become a type of glue.

This alarm clock’s tiny screen belies a big feature set.
Amazon Echo Spot review: as smart as it is cute

If you want Alexa in a device that looks like a cool alarm clock then the Echo Spot is it. Its touchscreen display is also pretty useful, as its adds additional context and visual information, and it’s great for video calls, too. It’s not perfect, especially when $20 more can get you the bigger Echo Show, which also has better audio skills. The Echo Spot is great, but we’d hold off a little for a price drop.

Our team’s choice cuts of long-form from the last 12 months.
The best Engadget stories of 2017

It’s been a long year, but beside all the phone reviews, social-media messes and the rest, Engadget has continued to tackle some of the more unusual parts of this tech world. Or just simply calling out political figures’ lack of science comprehension.

Nope, this wasn’t an official port.
There was a fake version of ‘Cuphead’ on the App Store

Early Monday, a fake version of Xbox indie hit Cuphead appeared on Apple’s iOS App Store, with a $4.99 price tag and, well, nothing to do with the actual game itself. Apple moved to take down the game before midday ET, but it demonstrates the struggle for both games developers and the iPhone maker when it comes to tackling fakes.

But wait, there’s more…

• What’s on TV this week: ‘Bright’ and the ‘Christopher Nolan 4K Collection’
• US officially blames North Korea for WannaCry outbreak
• China’s most popular game is about to launch in the US
• Kaspersky sues US government over federal software ban

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

FAA names seven nuclear research labs as no-drone zones

The FAA has granted DOE’s request to make seven of its facilities no-drone zones — and they’re all nuclear research laboratories. Starting on December 29th, you can no longer fly your UAVs within 400 feet of Hanford Site in Franklin County Washington, Pantex Site in Panhandle Texas, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Idaho National Laboratory, Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken South Carolina, Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Some of them are no longer operational — the Hanford site where plutonium was produced for the nuclear bomb detonated over Nagasaki, for instance, is now mostly decommissioned — but some are still active.

The agency didn’t reveal DOE’s explanation for the request, but it clarified that there are (a few) exceptions wherein drones will be permitted to fly near the facilities. Most likely, the FAA will approve requests to fly UAVs over the labs for inspection and the like — those who get caught flying over the sites without permission are subject to civil penalties and criminal charges.

Over the past few years, the FAA has prohibited drones from flying near numerous other locations, including military bases, Washington DC and 10 famous US landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty. If you’re keeping an eye on where you can fly your machine, take note that the list will just likely keep on growing: According to the FAA’s announcement, it’s currently considering more “no-drone zone” requests from federal security agencies.

Source: FAA

Apple’s Newest Mac Pro Turns Four Years Old Today

Today marks the fourth anniversary of Apple last updating the Mac Pro.

The second-generation Mac Pro was released on December 19, 2013 for $2,999 and up, and it remains the current model despite having at least four year old hardware.

That hardware includes up to a 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, 64GB of ECC RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs, with prices topping out at $6,999.

The lack of a Mac Pro refresh in several years generated concerns that Apple was less focused on professional users, eventually prompting the company to respond.

Specifically, in April, Apple took the rare step of revealing it was working on an all-new Mac Pro with a modular design, while a high-end iMac Pro was released earlier this month.

Apple briefly reiterated that promise at the bottom of its press release about iMac Pro availability last week, noting that the new Mac Pro will be not only upgradeable, but also a high-performance, high-throughput system.

In addition to the new iMac Pro, Apple is working on a completely redesigned, next-generation Mac Pro architected for pro customers who need the highest performance, high-throughput system in a modular, upgradeable design, as well as a new high-end pro display.

Apple hasn’t provided any additional details, including tech specs or a release date, but fingers are crossed for a 2018 launch. As we discussed in our story last week, Apple could return to a similar design as the 2006 to 2012 tower Mac Pro, but its exact definition of modular remains to be seen.

Apple still hasn’t provided any word about when if ever we can expect a new Mac mini, which hasn’t been updated in over 1,150 days, according to the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide. The current Mac mini launched in October 2014.

Related Roundup: Mac ProBuyer’s Guide: Mac Pro (Caution)
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Appoints New Sales Lead in India Following iPhone Price Hike

Apple has appointed one of its longest serving executives as its new head of sales in India, as the company goes in search of a bigger share of the country’s massive smartphone market.

Michel Coulomb will replace Sanjay Kaul as lead of sales operations, according to Reuters. Coulomb has worked with Apple since 2003, and was most recently Apple’s managing director in South Asia, according to details available on his LinkedIn profile.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Economic Times reported that Kaul would be leaving after six years with Apple, citing people familiar with the matter.

Rumors of the new appointment followed news on Monday that Apple has increased retail prices for most of its iPhones in India, after the government last week raised taxes on imported phones in an effort to boost local manufacturing.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Made in India initiative, customs duty on phones increased to 15 percent from 10 percent. Apart from iPhone SE units which are assembled in Apple’s Bengaluru-based plant, the price of iPhone models rose by about 3.5 percent across the board. The most expensive model, a 256GB iPhone X, now costs 105,720 rupees ($1,646), up from 102,000 rupees ($1,593).

Apple has been pursuing a range of tax and policy changes in recent months to help build out its iPhone assembly infrastructure in India, as it seeks to grab a bigger share of the world’s third-largest smartphone market.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Apple had asked the Indian government to defer a planned increase in import taxes on mobile phone parts, in order to give the company time to expand its manufacturing in the country, but that plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Apple’s sales in India rose 17 percent to $1.81 billion in the fiscal year to March 2017, but that’s a lot slower than the 50 percent growth in the previous year. Apple’s market share in the country remains at around 2 percent.

Tag: India
Discuss this article in our forums

‘AutoSleep 5’ Brings Live Sleep Tracking to Apple Watch and iPhone X Support

Third party sleep tracking app AutoSleep reached version 5.0 on Tuesday, introducing a slew of new features and improvements, including iPhone X support and live sleep tracking on Apple Watch.

With later models of Apple Watch benefiting from major improvements in battery life, many Watch owners now wear their device to bed. Despite this, Apple still doesn’t provide a native sleep tracking feature in watchOS, which has allowed third-party apps like AutoSleep to step in and fill the void.

While AutoSleep can track sleep quality and duration using just an iPhone, one of the app’s biggest draws has been its Apple Watch component. Up until now, users had to sync the app to their iPhone to review calculated sleep metrics, but with AutoSleep 5, the Apple Watch app can now automatically track sleep without needing any help from an iPhone.

With sleep independently calculated on their wrist, users have the ability to scroll through sleep quality rings, deep sleep stats, and recharge summaries using the Digital Crown or by scrolling with a finger.

The Watch-based Lights Off feature, which lets users track how long it takes them to fall asleep, has also been rewritten. The progress display now has muted colors for viewing at night, and shows how much time the user has actually been asleep versus time spent just lying in bed.

Back on the iPhone app, sleep detection is now considerably faster, while motion detection has been discontinued for users who wear their Watch to sleep, but remains an option for non-Watch wearers.

The information screens have also been unified, so instead of metrics and graphs being on a separate tab, everything now appears on one scrollable screen. In addition, sleep quality rings have been redesigned and are now more clearly labeled, making key information more easily available at a glance.

The sleep analysis graph has been moved to just below the sleep clock, and reveals different data points such as sleep zones and heart rate as the user scrolls. Elsewhere, the configuration and troubleshooting sections of the app have been modified to be easier to use, and AutoSleep now has additional share options for sleep recording notetakers and social media users.

In addition to iPhone X layout optimization, several other improvements have been made under the hood, according to the developer. More information can be found in the release notes for AutoSleep 5, which costs $2.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, iPhone XTag: health and fitnessBuyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now), iPhone X (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Drone ban: FAA adds to the list of places where you can’t fly your bird

While it seems unlikely that everyday drone hobbyists would want to make a beeline for their nearest nuclear facility to grab some aerial shots, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has nevertheless announced a ban on drone flights over such locations in the U.S., namely:

• Hanford Site, Franklin County, WA
• Pantex Site, Panhandle, TX
• Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
• Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID
• Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC
• Y-12 National Security Site, Oak Ridge, TN
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN

As you can see, they’re mainly labs, while the Hanford Site, for example, is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex. Another of those listed, the Pantex Site, is an active nuclear weapons assembly and dismantlement plant. The restrictions, which come into force on December 29, have been put in place “to address concerns about unauthorized drone operations over seven Department of Energy (DOE) facilities,” the FAA confirmed on its website.

It added that “operators who violate the airspace restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges.”

The FAA’s ban follows others that have been put in place over the last year as the government plays catch-up with a technology that has become hugely popular with consumers over the last couple of years.

Following an FAA regulation earlier this year banning drone flights over 133 military facilities in the U.S., the Pentagon said over the summer that it would be OK for personnel at the facilities to destroy any drones flying into restricted areas if they were deemed a threat to security. In other words, they can shoot the flying machines down.

Continuing to gradually broaden the restrictions, the FAA then issued flight bans around 10 famous tourist sites, among them the Statue of Liberty in New York City, Hoover Dam in Nevada, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota.

Flights near locations such as airports, prisons, and sports stadiums are also off-limits for drone pilots.

Millions of people are likely to be firing up their very first drone over the holiday season, and the FAA is encouraging them to download its B4UFLY mobile app (iOS and Android), which offers information on safe flying as well as areas that are out of bounds for drone flights. The FAA also has a comprehensive FAQ page on its website offering advice for new and current drone owners.

Finally, if they haven’t already done so, drone owners need to register their details on a national database. The database has been in place for two years, but mandatory registration was paused in May over a legal issue. But since last week, it’s now necessary for anyone with a drone weighing between 0.55 pounds and 55 pounds to once again submit their details via the FAA’s registration page.

Editors’ Recommendations

• CNN can now fly its news drone over crowds in an industry first
• Planning to make a drone video of the Statue of Liberty? You’d better hurry
• A Phantom 4 drone hit a helicopter over New York and the drone came out worse
• Deliveries by drone come a big step closer with latest Trump initiative
• The drone database is back, and most owners must register their details

Alamo Drafthouse to open video rental store with rare VHS tapes

Do you miss the days when finding a movie to watch meant browsing the local video store, hoping that you’d stumble across some rare gem? Alamo Drafthouse sure does. After amassing collections from small shops, the enthusiast-driven theater chain is opening a “reimagining” of rental stores, Video Vortex, that will sit in the lobby of the company’s future Raleigh location. It’ll include Blu-ray and DVD titles, but the real highlight will be a “massive” selection of rare VHS tapes, some of which never made the leap to digital. Alamo will even rent you a VCR (complete with an RCA-to-HDMI adapter), since you probably don’t have one hooked up to your 4K TV.

You can also buy hand-picked Blu-ray titles, movie paraphernalia and Mondo releases. And the store will definitely live up to the “drafthouse” portion of Alamo Drafthouse — there will be a lounge with 40 local draft beers.

This would be an odd move for just about any other known theater, but it makes sense for Alamo. Video Vortex earns its name from a longstanding series that celebrates the heyday of straight-to-video releases. And even if you’re not familiar with Video Vortex, it’s no secret that Alamo is devoted to preserving and fostering not-so-mainstream movies. And that might prove crucial with VHS. Many of the companies from that era either no longer exist or have no interest in converting an old, neglected movie to a modern format. If there’s an obscure title you remember renting as a kid, this might be your only way of seeing it again.

Via: Variety

Source: Alamo Drafthouse