Cheap plastic perfection: An ode to the MacBook that started it all

The original polycarbonate white Macbook in a coffee shop circa 2008. Waring Abbott/Getty Images

If you went to any Starbucks between 2006 and 2011, chances are you’d see some a sticker-covered MacBook propped open beside a textbook, while a disheveled student typed away on a term paper. Teen indie pop leaked out of their white earbuds, while a grande soy latte with an extra shot was close at hand.

Who is today’s Mac user? Well, the MacBook Pro is still a favorite among creative professionals, and the MacBook Air is the go-to company-issued MacOS laptop, so those are the people we see behind those matte-aluminum displays. Professionals, YouTube stars, anyone with over $2,000 to spare on a premium laptop. That wasn’t always the case, Apple products have always been expensive, but there’s less room on the entry-level side of Apple’s current lineup for that disheveled college student.

It could just be nostalgia talking, but a quick look at the current lineup of MacBooks doesn’t inspire the same kind of fondness that the older, white MacBook era did. There’s a reason for that.

The original white MacBook (2006) was the first to feature the iconic Apple logo that would light up while the device was booting up. Nate Barrett/Digital Trends

An inspired design

Back in 2006, the icons of the glowing Apple logo, bright white cables, and friendly, rounded corners were more than just design features. They were a statement. The MacBook established a clear delineation in Apple’s laptop lineup — a focus point for bringing new, young buyers into the Apple ecosystem.

When you walked into an Apple Store back then, you knew exactly what your options were. The spendy, silver MacBook Pro or the entry-level MacBook. Unless you were professional photo or video editor, it was probably the MacBook.

Riley Young/Digital Trends and Nate Barrett/Digital Trends

And it was white — yes, white! That might not seem important, but in a time when laptops were uniformly gray or beige, the glossy white MacBook was playful and youthful in contrast. Again, this was a laptop meant to match the iPod and those trendy white headphones in all the commercials. It needed to be designed less for the office and more for the café or student union building.

“[The MacBook] was one of the first notebooks that didn’t have a latch,” Twelve South co-founder and creative director Andrew Green points out. “Back then everything had some dumb latch, but the MacBook was one of the first laptops that closed firmly without one.”

The white MacBook was a blank canvas, inviting us to make it our own.

A magnetic latch wasn’t a world-changing innovation, but it was the kind of thoughtful design that informed that period in Apple’s history. Back then, accessories for laptops were few and far between, and almost none of them were designed with Macs or MacBooks in mind. Twelve South was one of a few companies founded to fill that gap.

“People bought a $200 iPod as their first Apple product, and it had all these amazing accessories, and then they went and bought a MacBook and there weren’t any accessories for it, or they were just PC accessories painted white,” Green recalls.

It’s important to point out, this cottage industry was sprung up not to produce products that simply protected the MacBook — like a case for your iPhone. These were products that were designed to speak the same aesthetic language as the MacBook. That was unprecedented. Laptop accessories at existed for years, but no one cared much what they looked like, just so long as they did the job.

The release of the white Macbook, with it’s focus on design and aesthetics, jumpstarted an accessory movement that emphasized style as much as functionality. TwelveSouth

The MacBook’s elegant design made users want to buy accessories to personalize it, but not just any accessories. The white MacBook was a blank canvas for its users, and it was rare to see one in the wild that wasn’t adorned with stickers, wrist pads, or other aftermarket accessories.

“We started Twelve South with the notion that the Mac platform should have accessories worthy and exclusive to the Mac,” Green said. “Macs are used for creative output, so we felt very strongly that the tools to help users do that should be as elegant as their machines.”

Apple launched the “Get a Mac” campaign to coincide with its shift in marketing strategy (toward young adults and college students) following the released of it’s white Macbook.

Somehow, the MacBook became the must-have tool for wannabe creatives and students — the “crazy ones” who were set out to think differently and change the world. Apple called it a “superfast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box” laptop.

That kind of marketing caught on with a specific generation of new laptop buyers. As a laptop that started at $1,100, it wasn’t just a cheaper version of the MacBook Pro. The size of the device and the durability of the plastic chassis made it ideal for packing from class to class, and surviving dorm life.

It was built for a different set of demands than more premium machines and, most importantly, it was designed with entry-level or budget-conscious users in mind.

A new breed of Apple laptop

The MacBook didn’t appear out of thin air. Its predecessor, the iBook, first introduced the all-white look to Apple laptops. But there were some significant differences in the MacBook that established its own identity.

Riley Young/Digital Trends and Nate Barrett/Digital Trends

The MacBook ditched the removable keyboard the iBook featured, making it not just slimmer, but simpler. Corners became more rounded, the hinge design changed, the frontal latch was replaced by a magnetic closing mechanism. It was a refinement on the overall design, one that mirrored the iPod and made them an almost inseparable pair.

Even now looking at the white MacBook’s design, feeling how well it’s held up over the years, it’s easy to see why it was such an iconic device. The white MacBook might not have been everyone’s first laptop, but it’s often one of the most memorable. Like a spiral notebook from college, covered in stickers and doodles in ball-point-pen, the white MacBook was a device that invited users to customize it — and not just on the outside.

The white MacBook was built to be user serviceable and Apple even provided do-it-yourself guides offering step-by-step instructions.

It wasn’t just a coat of paint that made the MacBook stand apart from its predecessors. An entirely new internal design philosophy was on display, too. The iBook, for instance, was a pain to open. Just to replace the hard drive, you needed to almost completely disassemble the chassis. So, if you picked up the cheapest iBook to get you through your first semester away from home, you’d need some serious technical skills once you scratched together enough work study cash to upgrade it. It wasn’t exactly an inviting hardware experience.

The white MacBook, on the other hand, designed with students and budget-minded customers in mind, was built from the ground up to be user serviceable. Apple even provided a set of do-it-yourself guides offering step-by-step instructions on how you could open it up to replace or upgrade components on your own. It held your hand and gave you the confidence to tinker with it.

In that way, it was an investment in Apple’s ecosystem. A student might buy the laptop they could afford, with an eye toward upgrading it over time, rather than buying a new system in the next year or two. That support for expansion over time meant the white MacBook had a much longer shelf-life than an average laptop. Pairing robust Apple-exclusive build quality with the ability to upgrade the hardware as you went led some of these MacBooks to live surprisingly long lives.

Over time, though, expandability vanished from Apple’s laptops — that’s part of the reason it’s so hard to find a laptop today that has so much as a user-replaceable battery. Apple came to believe its customers would still buy a new MacBook every couple years, even if they couldn’t upgrade it on their own. That change in philosophy is exemplified by the product that choked the life out of the white MacBook. The MacBook Air.

The legacy and the return of the MacBook

Today, Apple’s lineup feels like it’s missing something. The MacBook Air has started to show its age, having been neglected for years now. The price point is no longer competitive for the hardware and performance it offers, and even the novelty of its ultra-light design has worn thin.

The white MacBook proved that high-quality budget machines can take on a life of their own and become cultural icons.

You might point to the 12-inch MacBook, which comes available in a dazzling array of colors, is a gorgeous, well-built machine, was perhaps meant to replace the MacBook Air. There’s a problem, though. It starts at $1,300 — no less than the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The two devices step on each other’s toes, trying to fill the same niche in two different ways. It’s a mess.

Our hopes are high headed into WWDC of this year. Rumors have been percolating about some kind of a new MacBook or MacBook Air, creating a clear price and performance progression like Apple used to offer. It would make sense of things. It would bring order to Apple’s current lineup. And it could usher in a new era for Mac users — just like the original white MacBook did. But the most recent rumors says Apple’s plans have been delayed.

It’s a shame, because laptops like the inexpensive, durable white MacBook prove that high-quality budget machines can take on a life of their own and become cultural icons. As a testament to that enduring legacy, it turns out one of our photographers, Bill Roberson, still owns a fully operational white MacBook.

The white Macbook (2006) on top of a Macbook Pro (late-2013) and below a Macbook Air (2017). Nate Barrett/Digital Trends

“Oh yeah, I’ve got one, when do you need it?” he asked, when we were trying to locate still functioning MacBooks for this piece. “It still works just fine, upgraded it enough that my son can use it to play games.”

Over the years he’s upgraded the hardware and built it into a surprisingly robust machine. He’s since handed off to his son — who uses it to play Minecraft. “Heirloom-quality” isn’t the kind of longevity most manufacturers have in mind when designing laptops, at least not anymore, and that’s a shame.

Here’s to hoping Apple restores some of what made its entry-level MacBooks in the past so fondly remembered.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Moto G6 and G6 Play launch in India: Here’s everything you need to know

The Moto G6 faces stiff competition in the budget segment.

Motorola unveiled the Moto G6 series back in April, and the Moto G6 and the G6 Play have made their debut in India. There’s no mention of whether the Moto G6 Plus will make its way to the country, but it’s unlikely as the Moto X4 offers similar specs.

For now, it looks like the standard Moto G6 and the G6 Play will carry the Moto G brand this year. That’s a huge ask considering just how competitive the budget segment has become in recent months, thanks to devices like the Redmi Note 5 Pro and more recently the ZenFone Max Pro M1, both of which feature the Snapdragon 636 chipset.

By contrast, the Moto G6 is powered by a Snapdragon 450, so it doesn’t look like the device will be able to compete when it comes to sheer numbers. So let’s see what else is on offer with the latest iteration of the Moto G series.

Moto G6 and G6 Play: Specs

Operating System	Android 8.0 Oreo	Android 8.0 Oreo
Display	5.7-inch IPS LCD 1440×720	5.7-inch IPS LCD 2160×1080
Processor	Snapdragon 427 1.4GHz octa-coreAdreno 308 GPU	Snapdragon 450 1.8GHz octa-coreAdreno 506 GPU
RAM	3GB	3GB/4GB
Storage	32GB	32GB/64GB
Expandable	microSD card up to 128GB	microSD card up to 128GB
Rear Camera – Main	13MP, ƒ/2.0	12MP, ƒ/1.8
Rear Camera – Secondary	N/A	5MP RGB (for depth)
Video	1080p @ 30 fps	1080p @ 60fps
Front Camera	8MP front-facing flash	8MP front-facing flash
Connectivity	802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz Bluetooth 4.2	802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz Bluetooth 4.2
Battery	4000mAhNon-removable	3000mAhNon-removable
Charging	Micro-USB10W rapid charger	USB-C15W TurboPower charger
Water resistance	Water-repellant nano-coating	Water-repellant nano-coating
Security	Fingerprint sensor (rear)	Fingerprint sensor (front) Face unlock
Dimensions	154.4 x 72.2 x 9 mm	153.8 x 72.3 x 8.3 mm
Weight	175g	167 g

Both phones have 18:9 displays and glass backs

With the Moto G6 series, Motorola lavished the same amount of attention it reserves to its mid-range phones. The Moto G6 and G6 Play feature glass-backed designs that look nearly identical to what we’ve seen last year on the Moto X4.

The glass design certainly makes both devices feel upmarket. Another change for 2018 is the switch to the 18:9 form factor. The Moto G6 Play has a 5.7-inch HD+ (1440×720) display whereas the Moto G6 has a 5.7-inch Full HD+ (2160×1080) panel.

The Moto G6 comes with dual rear cameras

The main differentiator with the Moto G6 is the dual rear cameras at the back, with the secondary sensor enabling portrait mode. The primary camera doesn’t have the Dual Pixels feature from last year, and overall image quality is about the same as that of the Moto G5 Plus.

Moto G6 review: Finding success in compromise

There’s a huge 4000mAh battery on the Moto G6 Play

The Moto G6 has a 3000mAh battery, but the Moto G6 Play comes with a 4000mAh battery that’s easily good for two days’ worth of use from a full charge.

The larger battery combined with the HD+ panel makes the G6 Play one of the best devices in the budget segment when it comes to battery life.

The Moto G6 costs about the same as the Redmi Note 5 Pro

The 3GB/32GB variant of the Moto G6 costs ₹13,999 ($215) in India, whereas the 4GB/64GB version retails for ₹15,999 ($245).

The Moto G6 Play is available in a single 3GB/32GB edition, and is available for ₹11,999 ($185). The Moto G6 is exclusive to Amazon, while the G6 Play will be sold exclusively via Flipkart.

The Moto G5 is going up against the likes of the Redmi Note 5 Pro, and Motorola’s recent stance with updates combined with the underwhelming hardware makes the Moto G6 a tough recommendation.

I’ll take a look at how the camera on the Moto G6 compares to the Redmi Note 5 Pro early next week, but for now, you’re better off buying a phone with beefier hardware.

See at Amazon

Honor 10 review: Iridescent, incredible, imperfect

The Honor 10 delivers incredible value for under $500.

Flagships from the likes of Samsung and LG are inching closer to the $1,000 figure, and in recent years we’ve seen the rise of the “affordable flagships,” devices that offer similar specs with a few feature omissions at around the $500 mark.

Honor has fared very well in this arena in the past with the likes of the Honor 9 and the View 10, and its latest device is one of the most compelling options available in this category.

With the Honor 10, the company is focusing on two pillars — design and AI — to differentiate the device from the multitude of other phones available in this category.

The Honor 10 shares a lot of elements with the Huawei P20 Pro, including the Kirin 970 chipset. The main difference is that the Honor 10 costs £399, or roughly half that of the £799 P20 Pro. Sure, it’s missing a few features, but you’re getting a comparable experience at half the price, and that’s amazing.

About this review

I (Harish Jonnalagadda) am writing this review after using the Phantom Blue Honor 10 for two weeks in Hyderabad, India. The phone was connected to Jio’s 4G network, and was on build number 8.1.0.100 for the entirety of the review period. The unit was provided to Android Central by Honor India.

Design and display

Last year’s Honor 9 featured a reflective pattern at the back that was made up of 15 layers of glass, and the Honor 10 outmatches that with its Aurora Glass design. The phone comes with a “nano-scale optical coating” with the Phantom Blue and Phantom Green color options that consists of 15 layers of shimmering color, and the result is breathtaking.

The design alternates between various hues of blue and purple depending on how light strikes the back panel, and the iridescent pattern makes the Honor 10 stand out. If you’re not a fan of the shimmering effect, the Honor 10 is also available in black and grey color options.

The Honor 10 is perfectly proportioned, with curving sides that extend out to meet the mid-frame. It fits comfortably in-hand, and the rounded edges and curved back make it more ergonomic. The downside of a glass back — particularly one this glossy — is that it is prone to smudges, and the device is also very slippery.

You’ll find a 3.5mm jack, USB-C port, and a single speaker at the bottom, power and volume buttons on the right, and an IR blaster up top. Honor has switched to on-screen keys, but you do get an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the bottom bezel.

The sensor is housed underneath the glass, and while it’s not quite as fast as some of the other, more traditional ones I’ve used this year, it does a great job authenticating your fingerprints when they’re wet. The phone itself isn’t rated for water resistance, however — more on that later.

You won’t find many phones that look better than the Honor 10.

The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor itself doesn’t pose any problems, but its placement is less than ideal. It’s unclear if, as with the P20 series, Huawei required such a large chin below the display to accommodate electronics underneath, adding a front fingerprint sensor in the process, or if the fingerprint sensor was the cause of the chin. Either way, its presence nullifies the effect of the notch — which is designed to maximize screen space.

Therefore, the notch doesn’t add any value to the device, and it’s easy to see that Honor included it just because everyone else is doing the same. It’s the one aspect of the Honor 10 that I don’t find myself onboard with, but it looks like Android manufacturers will continue to offer the notch for a few generations. Like the P20 Pro, there is an option to disable it in the software settings, which merely blacks the display parallel to the cutoff.

As for the display itself, the 5.84-inch IPS LCD Full HD+ (2280×1080) panel is one of the best in this category. Colors are punchy, contrast levels are great, and it gets sufficiently bright that it wasn’t an issue reading the contents of the screen under direct sunlight.

Honor offers a wealth of customization options for the display: you can tweak the color mode (it’s set to Vivid by default), and adjust the color temperature to warmer or cooler colors. Like most devices, the Honor 10 comes with a blue light filter, and you can set the intensity and schedule it to kick in from sunset to sunrise.

You can also change the display scaling and font size options, and lower the screen resolution to HD+ (1520×720) to conserve battery life.

Hardware

Screen	5.84-inch IPS LCD
SoC	HiSilicon Kirin 970
RAM	4GB/6GB
Storage	128GB
Camera 1	16MP, ƒ/1.8
Camera 2	24MP Monochrome
Battery	3400mAh
Connectivity	Wi-Fi ac, BT5.0
Security	Fingerprint, face unlock
Dimensions	149.6 x 71.2 x 7.7mm
Weight	153 grams
Colors	Phantom Blue, Phantom Green, Midnight Black, Glacier Grey
Price	£399, ₹32,999

The Honor 10 is the fourth device to feature HiSilicon’s latest 10nm chipset, the Kirin 970. Unveiled last October, the Kirin 970 offers performance on par with Qualcomm’s flagship SoCs, and there’s also a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that enables AI capabilities on phones like the Honor 10.

The chipset itself continues to be one of the fastest around, and I haven’t noticed any slowdowns in the two weeks I used the Honor 10. The phone comes with 4GB of RAM (6GB in India) and 128GB of storage as standard, and it’s easy to see that Honor is dominating the value game.

The Honor 10 inherits the same AI-assisted camera feature as its more expensive siblings, but it’s missing the Night Mode that we saw on the P20 Pro.

Like the rest of the devices in this category, the Honor 10 offers a face unlock feature. There isn’t a dedicated sensor to authenticate your irises — like the Galaxy S9 — but Honor is relying on software algorithms to identify your facial patterns.

The Honor 10 is the most affordable phone yet to feature the Kirin 970.

There’s no microSD slot, but you do get a dual SIM card tray with both SIMs able to connect to 4G networks. And yes, there’s dual VoLTE. The single speaker at the bottom was one of the louder units I’ve seen in recent months, and while it isn’t as loud as a stereo setup, it doesn’t distort at high volumes. Thankfully, the Honor 10 retains the 3.5mm jack, and EMUI offers an equalizer that lets you tweak the sound profile.

When it comes to battery life, the 3400mAh battery was able to deliver a day’s worth of usage consistently. There were times when the battery level fell to 10% before 10 p.m., but that was on days when I used 4G connectivity exclusively and used navigation for several hours.

In general use, I averaged anywhere between four and five hours of screen-on-time over the course of the day.

Wi-Fi performance was adequate, and the Honor 10 consistently managed speeds in the vicinity of 150Mbps. That was roughly half that of the speeds I routinely saw on the OnePlus 6, with both devices next to each other.

EMUI has a Wi-Fi+ feature that automatically switches to mobile data if it detects that the Wi-Fi signal is too low or if a network is no longer connected to the internet. It also automatically turns Wi-Fi on and connects to a saved network as soon as it’s in range.

Call quality was great as well, and I had zero issues hearing the person on the other side of the line — even where there was a lot of ambient noise around.

For a device that is feature-rich in most areas, a glaring omission is the lack of water resistance. The Honor 10 isn’t rated for any form of water ingress or dust protection, so you’re better off not taking the device anywhere near a pool.

Software

The Honor 10 comes with the latest iteration of EMUI, which is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. Huawei undertook several design changes to make EMUI much more palatable to a Western audience, and while there are some lingering issues, EMUI 8.1 is usable for the most part.

There’s even an app drawer now, although it isn’t enabled by default — you’ll have to go into the settings and toggle it. A better alternative is to just use a third-party launcher, as that alleviates most of the issues still present in EMUI. I immediately installed Nova Launcher after setting up the phone — as well as a custom icon pack — and it has been an enjoyable experience.

Talking about setting up the phone, Honor has a convoluted method to restore data from another device. It’s called Phone Clone, and you have to install it on your previous device to restore all your apps, settings, messages, and other data to the Honor 10.

There’s a good reason you shouldn’t install the utility, as Google’s default restore apps feature does a similar function, but on the Honor 10, it kicks in after setup is complete. Once you head to the home screen for the first time, you’ll see a popup that says Google is restoring your apps and settings from a previous device.

So save yourself the hassle, select “Start from scratch” during initial configuration, and let Google do its thing once you boot into the home screen.

EMUI offers a ton of features, but there’s plenty of bloatware too.

As for EMUI itself, there’s plenty to like in the latest version. The notification pane has a two-stage action and supports actionable notifications as well as in-line replies. The multitasking menu is near-identical to pure Android, and you can easily set up multi-window mode from the same menu.

There’s no shortage of customization options, and it’ll take the better part of an afternoon to get EMUI set up the way you want. There is also a lot of crud that comes pre-installed in EMUI, but thankfully you’ll be able to uninstall or disable it.

Honor devices have always been well-regarded by the modding community as they were easy to unlock, but that is changing soon. Honor/Huawei has announced that it will no longer provide bootloader unlock codes for new devices, and that existing phones in the market will be cut out after 60 days.

Granted, the move won’t affect a majority of customers looking to pick up the Honor 10, but for those that were eyeing the device as a potential candidate for LineageOS or other custom ROMs, that is no longer an option. That’s a shame, because the Honor 10 has some of the best hardware available in this category.

Another reason why there’s no dearth of custom ROMs for Honor devices is that the brand isn’t exactly known for its timely updates. EMUI 8.1 is based on Android 8.1 Oreo, but it remains to be seen if the brand can deliver the Android P update on time once it becomes available later this year.

Camera

Like most devices available today, the Honor 10 comes with dual rear cameras. Unlike the P20 Pro, the lenses aren’t tuned by Leica, but you still get a lot of features that are common between the two devices.

The primary 16MP f/1.8 sensor is a noticeable improvement over the Honor 9, and the secondary 24MP module is a monochrome sensor. The camera uses both sensors when you’re taking a photo, and uses the information from the monochrome sensor to add more detail to the resultant image.

The AI-assisted feature is great at detecting the ideal shooting mode.

There’s a pro mode that lets you adjust the exposure, white balance, shutter speed, and set manual focus. You can also select various lighting effects — and adjust the intensity of the beautify filter — in portrait mode. There are five effects to choose from: soft lighting, butterfly lighting, split lighting, stage lighting, and classic lighting. The feature works with both the rear and front cameras, and you can change the lighting mode after taking a photo as well.

Then there’s the AI mode, which automatically selects the shooting mode by analyzing a subject. You can toggle the AI mode through a dedicated button in the camera interface. If you’re taking a photo outdoors and there’s a lot of trees around, it switches to the Greenery mode to make the greens come alive. It can select 22 scenes in total, and it only needs a few seconds to detect the ideal scene for a particular subject.

Honor 10 AI mode (greenery) on the left, standard image on the right.

You also get a “moving pictures” option, which is similar to motion photos on the Pixel 2. The camera essentially records a short video for a few seconds before you press the shutter, and you’ll be able to view the results in the gallery.

Overall, the camera offers plenty of features, and it takes great photos in daylight conditions. There’s no Optical Image Stabilization, however, and you start to notice a lot of grain in low-light images. The Honor 10 takes decent images in artificial or low-light scenarios, but OIS would have made a noticeable difference.

As for video, you do get the ability to shoot 4K video, but the lack of OIS is a drawback here as well.

Should you buy it? Of course

Honor has rolled out a series of great phones in the past, and the Honor 10 is its strongest showing yet. The phone nails the basics, and there really isn’t a device that offers quite as much value at this price point. The phone may not have the same camera capabilities as the P20 Pro, and while OIS would have made it an all-rounder, it still offers one of the better shooters in this segment.

Like the Huawei P20 Pro, the Honor 10 won’t be releasing in North American markets, but the phone is now up for sale in the UK and India. The UK version comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and will set you back £399 ($530), and the Indian variant features 6GB of RAM as standard along with 128GB of storage, and retails for ₹32,999 ($490).

The Good

• Exquisite design
• Insane value for money
• Powerful hardware

The Bad

• Notch
• Not rated for water resistance
• No OIS

4
out of 5

The Honor 10 combines a breathtaking design with top-notch internals, delivering incredible value in this category.

See at Flipkart (India)

See at Amazon (UK)

How to completely disable Bixby

Get rid of the Galaxy S9’s most disappointing feature.

Ever since Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 with its onboard assistant, Bixby, people have been asking for ways to disable it and forget the button ever existed in the first place. With the Galaxy S9, that chorus is even louder.

While the hardware’s not going anywhere, we can definitely do something about the software. Here’s how to get rid of Bixby Voice and, if you’re using Samsung’s launcher, Bixby Home.

Why do you want to disable Bixby?

One of the biggest frustrations with the Bixby button is its placement; the button is right under the volume keys and nearly directly opposite the power buttons. On larger phones like the Galaxy S9+ and Note 8, this often leads to accidental presses and unintended Bixby launches, especially when double-pressing the power button to launch the camera.

The Bixby button is also not mappable to another action; Samsung wants you to use it for Bixby, or not at all. This isn’t ideal, so many people will inevitably choose to just forget it exists and move on.

How to disable Bixby Voice

Bixby is divided into two distinct categories: Bixby Voice and Bixby Home. Voice is the feature that lets you get stuff done by holding down the Bixby button for a moment, walkie-talkie-style. It’s useful but can get frustrating when it doesn’t work, so you’re going to want to turn it off before you disable Bixby Home (which is accessed by short-pressing the Bixby button).

While on the Samsung home screen, swipe right until you get to Bixby Home.

• Alternatively, press the Bixby button on the left side of the phone, right under the volume rocker.

On the top menu bar, tap the three vertical dots.
Tap Settings.
Uncheck Bixby Voice.

That’s it! Now Bixby Voice won’t bug you when you accidentally hold down your finger on the Bixby button. Next, we have to prevent the Bixby button from accessing Bixby Home.

How to disable the Bixby button

Now that Bixby Voice has been disabled, we have to disable Bixby Home from popping up whenever we accidentally press the side button.

Press the Bixby button on the left side of the phone, right under the volume rocker.
In the top menu bar, tap the Settings button (looks like three cogs).
Uncheck Bixby Key.

That’s it! Now when you press the Bixby button once, it won’t open the Bixby Home

How to disable Bixby Home from the home screen

Now, the final step to disabling Bixby entirely is to disable Bixby Home access from the home screen which, by default, puts it on the left-most panel.

From the home screen, hold down on empty space until the menu appears.
Swipe to the right to reach the left home panel.
Disable Bixby Home.

That’s it! Now neither the Bixby button nor the Bixby Home screen will work and you can move on with your life, Bixby-free.

Should you want to access Bixby again, though, you’ll need to follow these steps in reverse, first enabling Bixby Home from the launcher and then the Bixby button from inside the menu.

Questions? Comments?

Got any questions about this process, or just want to share your sheer joy at being able to disable Bixby? Let us know in the comments below!

Update June 4, 2018: This article has been verified for accuracy and still shows the best ways to disable Bixby on your Galaxy S8, Note 8, and S9.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Best Cheap Android Phones in 2018

We’re a virtual company made up of tech experts from across the globe. We live and breathe Android phones, and use nearly every one to find the best budget picks for you.

The Motorola Moto G6 currently offers the best combination of performance, features, and value. It overshadows the competition with its wide availability, fast performance, and support for nearly every network in the world, beating out a number of rivals from Nokia and Honor.

Our Pick

Moto G6

Amazon — $235

• $235 from Amazon
• $249 from Motorola

The best budget Android phone for most people.

A winner in every respect, from the modern design to the dual camera setup and excellent performance, the Moto G6 represents the pinnacle of Motorola’s dominance in the budget phone space.

Who should buy this phone

Not everyone needs a big, expensive Android phone — especially if they’re looking to buy it outright. At $249 (or less from Amazon’s Prime Exclusive program), the Moto G6 provides 90% of what flagship devices offer at a third of the price. This phone is for anyone coming from an older budget phone, or just looking to simplify and downsize, without losing the core Android experience.

Read our full Moto G6 review to learn more about the phone!

Is it a good time to buy this phone?

Yes. As of June 2018, the Moto G6 is brand new and will continue to be supported and updated by Motorola for two years or more. And because it’s a budget phone already, the price is unlikely to drop dramatically over the course of its life, so anyone looking for an inexpensive Android phone, now is a great time to pick up the Moto G6.

7 reasons to buy

• Great build quality and design for the price
• Excellent main rear camera
• Good battery life
• Compatible with all major U.S. and international carriers
• Moto Display adds tremendous value
• USB-C fast charging
• Available as Amazon Prime exclusive

2 reasons not to buy

• Moto G line isn’t known for swift software updates
• Lacks NFC

Most people don’t need to spend a lot on a phone anymore

Flagship phones like the Pixel 2 and Galaxy S9 series can be up into the $700 or $800 range, and many of the features that come with them, like wireless charging or waterproofing, aren’t fundamental to a device’s enjoyment. They’re bonus features.

The best Android phones you can buy

Increasingly, you’re paying so much more for those bonus features that the Law of Diminishing Returns comes into play. At its core, the Moto G6 offers 90% of phones double and triple its cost. A few years ago, that delta would have been a lot more, but the prices of budget components have dropped so much, and retained so much of their more expensive counterparts’ characteristics, that it’s often not worth recommending those expensive flagships anymore.

The Moto G6 and its other budget counterparts on this list have awesome, high-resolution touchscreens, reliable software, and great cameras. Some features, like NFC, drive up manufacturing costs, so you have to weigh whether you need NFC-enabled features like mobile payments. And the Moto G6 also lacks the same graphical power as its more expensive competitors, but most games play without issue, even at medium or high settings, because Android games are designed to play on hardware of all sizes and prices.

The Moto G6 has all the major features you need from a modern smartphone, and the ones it lacks you can easily live without.

Motorola has had five years of practice making the Moto G line into a budget powerhouse; when it designed the first Moto G back in 2013, it eschewed expensive materials like metal and glass and focused instead on the core experience. Starting in 2016, Motorola began finding ways to add important features like fingerprint sensors, and last year, in 2017, the company transitioned the Moto G line to metal. With the sixth-gen lineup, that includes the cheaper Moto G6 Play and more expensive Moto G6 Plus, it’s back to a combination of plastic and glass, it’s a nice visual improvement over previous models.

At the same time, Motorola understands its audience, which is why it added a dual camera setup to the Moto G6. The second camera adds depth effects like portrait mode without sacrificing the excellent pedigree of the main 12MP sensor.

Finally, if you’re in the U.S., the Moto G6 is one of the few sub-$300 phones to work on all four U.S. carriers, and it’s even sold at directly at a couple of carriers, another advantage of Motorola’s long-standing relationship with companies like Verizon.

Alternatives to the Moto G6

Motorola isn’t the only player in town when it comes to cheap phones. In recent years, Honor, a subsidiary of Huawei, and HMD Global, which has reinvigorated the Nokia brand, have kept Motorola on its toes in the budget space. Then there’s Alcatel, which continues to bring down the cost of phone ownership with its new Android Go-powered devices.

Runner-up

Nokia 6.1

Nokia’s lineup of inexpensive Android phones has received an impressive refresh for 2018, and the $250-ish Nokia 6.1 is the best of the lot. It’s made of a single piece of Series 6 aluminum, which should hold up better than the Moto G6’s glass back, and its Snapdragon 630 processor is quite a bit more powerful. It also runs Android One, which means the updates come directly from Google, so they’ll be more timely, and the Nokia 6.1 will receive Android P before the Moto G6.

On the other hand, the phone only works on T-Mobile and AT&T in the U.S., and doesn’t have the same caliber of camera as the Moto G6. And given that it’s running Android One, it lacks some of the value-added software features like Moto Display that we love on the Moto G6.

See at Amazon

Everyone knows the Nokia brand, so we were cautiously optimistic when HMD Global, which is made up of a bunch of former Nokia engineers and executives, debuted a full line-up of Android-powered phones. With its second-generation lineup, which includes the inexpensive Nokia 2.1 and beautifully-designed Nokia 7 Plus, the company has hit it out of the park.

We love the Nokia 6.1 because it hits the right sweet spot between performance and value.

A battery that keeps going

Honor 7X

Another great option in the budget space is the Honor 7X, which features a beautiful, tall 5.93-inch 18:9 screen, a really powerful Kirin processor and, best of all, a 3,340mAh battery, all for $199.

Honor, which is owned by Huawei, is able to keep its costs low because it sells more phones than Motorola and Nokia combined. The Honor 7X lacks the nuanced software of either of the above recommendations, but its metal frame covers some really powerful internals.

See at Amazon

Honor is one of those companies that, because of Huawei’s problems in the U.S., hasn’t really received its fair share of coverage, and that’s a shame. The Honor 7X is a tremendous phone, especially for its $199 price, and there’s very little it does badly. In other markets, the more expensive Honor 10, takes everything we love about the Honor 7X and improves upon it, while U.S. customers can also enjoy the confusingly-named Honor View10, which shares a lot of the Honor 10’s best traits.

Value pick

Alcatel 1X

No one thought it was possible, but you can now buy a great Android phone for just under $100. The Alcatel 1X is the latest in the company’s budget lineup, and it’s the first to run Android Oreo Go Edition, Google’s suite of apps and software optimizations to make Android run well on inexpensive hardware.

With the 1X, you lack a lot of the amenities of even the $250 Moto G6 — it’s all plastic, for starters, and only has 1GB of RAM — but if all you need is a basic smartphone to make calls, browse Instagram, and take a few photos, the Alcatel 1X is a fantastic option.

See at Amazon

Bottom line

There’s no shortage of awesome Android phones these days, whether you want to spend more than $700, less than $300, or even $100. The above phones represent the best of a set limitation — that of not wanting to overspend on a product that, inevitably, will need to be replaced in a couple of years.

But that’s the beauty of a device that costs a third of what you’d spend on a Galaxy S9 or Pixel 2. It offers 90% of what those phones cost and can be replaced more easily. While you may miss out on some of the more advanced features like waterproofing and wireless charging, and you may not receive as many updates, or for as long, these phones represent a new breed of budget devices you can feel confident in buying. The Moto G6 is the best of the bunch, but they are all great in different ways.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Andrew Martonik is the Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central. He has been a mobile enthusiast since the Windows Mobile days, and covering all things Android-related with a unique perspective at AC since 2012. For suggestions and updates, you can reach him at andrew.martonik@androidcentral.com or on Twitter at @andrewmartonik.

Jerry Hildenbrand is Mobile Nation’s Senior Editor and works from a Chromebook full time. Currently he is using Google’s Pixelbook but is always looking at new products and may have any Chromebook in his hands at any time. You’ll find him across the Mobile Nations network and you can hit him up on Twitter if you want to say hey.

Daniel Bader is the Managing Editor of Android Central. As he’s writing this, a mountain of old Android phones is about to fall on his head, but his Great Dane will protect him. He drinks way too much coffee and sleeps too little. He wonders if there’s a correlation.

ASUS ROG Phone specs: 90Hz AMOLED display, 512GB storage, Snapdragon 845, and RGB lighting!

The ASUS ROG Phone has an aggressive design and a unique cooling system.

ASUS is making its entry into the mobile gaming segment with the ROG Phone. Aimed at enthusiast gamers, the phone combines a very aggressive design with top-notch specs and a new cooling system to manage thermals.

Like most high-end phones this year, the ROG Phone is powered by the Snapdragon 845, but the clocks on the four performance cores have been bumped up to 2.96GHz, making it a powerhouse. To effectively dissipate heat, ASUS is introducing a 3D vapor-chamber cooling system. Here’s a quick look at what’s powering the ROG Phone.

ASUS ROG Phone specs

Operating System	Android 8.1 Oreo
Display	6.0-inch 18:9 AMOLED panelFHD+ (2160×1080), HDR90Hz refresh rate
Chipset	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845Four Kryo 385 cores up to 2.96GHzFour Kryo 385 cores at 1.70GHz10nm
GPU	Adreno 630
RAM	8GB
Storage	512GB
Expandable	No
Battery	4000mAh
Rear Camera	12MP (f/1.8, 1.4um) + 8MP (f/2.0, 1.12um)PDAF, gyro EIS
Front Camera	8MP (f/2.0, 1.12um)
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 ac 2×2 MIMONFC, LTE with VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BeiDou
Charging	USB-CQuick Charge 4.0, Hypercharge
Security	One-touch fingerprint sensor (back)
Water resistance	No

The ROG Phone has plenty of grunt when it comes to the hardware side of things, and it is running Android 8.1 Oreo on a custom version of ZenUI. The

For more on the ROG Phone, take a look at our detailed hands-on:

ASUS ROG Phone hands-on: A fantastic option for a particular kind of gamer

ASUS ROG Phone hands-on: A fantastic option for a particular kind of gamer

The ROG Phone is a promising device that caters to a very specific niche.

Mobile gaming is seeing a resurgence in 2018, and manufacturers are starting to cater to that market with specialized devices. With $46.1 billion in annual revenue, mobile gaming has outstripped PC gaming ($29.6 billion) and consoles ($33.5 billion), and recent launches like PUBG and Fortnite are catalyzing the market.

ASUS is making its foray into this segment with the ROG Phone, which has a bold design aesthetic that’s similar to the brand’s lineup of PC peripherals. The device also features the latest hardware available today, and has a few tricks up its sleeve that makes it the ideal phone for gamers.

If there’s one word to describe the design of the ROG Phone, it would be aggressive. ROG is known for its bold designs in the gaming PC segment, and it is bringing a similar design aesthetic to its phone. There’s a lot going on at the back of the device, with the camera module and the fingerprint sensor sporting a jagged design. The back itself is made out of glass, and it picks up smudges easily.

The angular motif continues across the back, and there’s a metal insert that conducts heat away from the device. Dubbed the ROG Aerodynamic System, it is designed to funnel air effectively to the phone’s innards via the cutouts next to the fingerprint sensor.

The look at the back is certainly a polarizing one, but if you’re one to pick up ASUS’ motherboards or the STRIX line of video cards, the design of the ROG Phone is right up your alley. And that’s the audience ASUS is targeting anyway. This isn’t a mainstream device like the Galaxy S9+ or the Pixel 2, but one that ties into the overarching gamer culture.

In recent years, the PC hardware industry has focused on adding RGB lighting to a variety of products. Companies like ASUS and Corsair have been putting RGB lighting into keyboards, mice, cases, and even PSUs, and now the ROG Phone is the first smartphone to pick up RGB lighting.

If you like RGB lights, you’ll love what the ROG Phone has to offer.

The ROG logo at the back of the device lights up whenever in game mode, or you can manually engage it by squeezing both sides of the device. The squeeze feature is similar to what you’d find on a Pixel 2, but here you turn on RGB lighting instead of invoking the Assistant.

The RGB lighting ties into the brand’s Aura Sync platform, and you can control the intensity of the lights, choose a lighting effect, select a particular color instead of cycling through all hues, and much more from the settings.

Every ROG Phone comes with an AeroActive Cooler that effectively acts as an external fan. The cooler hooks up to the phone via a side-mounted port located on the right side, and there’s a tiny fan inside the cooler that kicks in as soon as it’s connected.

The cooler has a 3.5mm jack and a USB-C connector, and you can hook up your audio gear or charge your phone directly via the ports when you’re in the middle of a game and not worry about cables coming in the way. Oh, and because the AeroActive Cooler covers the ROG logo on the phone, it has a logo of its own at the bottom. And yes, that has RGB lighting as well.

The phone itself has a USB-C charging port and a 3.5mm jack at the bottom, and stereo speakers up front. There wasn’t adequate time to take a look at the camera, but ASUS is using the same modules and dual 12MP + 8MP configuration as the ZenFone 5Z.

The AeroActive cooler is meant to act as an auxiliary cooling solution to boost sustained performance. The bulk of the cooling is done by a new 3D vapor-chamber cooling system that has a carbon cooling pad and a heat spreader that effectively dissipates heat away from the PCB. With the new cooling tech and the add-on AeroActive cooler, ASUS is touting a 5x increase in sustained performance for the device.

Screen	6.0-inch 18:9 AMOLED
SoC	2.96GHz Snapdragon 845
RAM	8GB
Storage	512GB
Camera 1	12MP rear, ƒ/1.8, EIS
Camera 2	8MP rear, ƒ/2.0
Battery	4000mAh
Connectivity	Gigabit LTE
Security	Fingerprint
Cooling	3D vapor-chamber cooling system

ASUS had to introduce a new cooling system because the ROG Phone is powered by a higher-binned Snapdragon 845. Unlike the Galaxy S9+ or the OnePlus 6, which are clocked at 2.80GHz, the performance cores on the ROG Phone go up to 2.96GHz. ASUS says the ROG Phone is the first phone in the world to feature the higher-binned Snapdragon 845, and for now it rules the roost when it comes to benchmarks.

The Snapdragon 845 in and of itself has noticeable performance improvements over its predecessor, and the 2.96GHz clocked version definitely kicks things up a notch in this area. The phone also has 8GB of RAM as standard, and 512GB of internal storage. You’re not going to run out of space — or feel the phone slowing down — anytime soon.

Coming to the display, the ROG Phone has a 6.0-inch FHD+ (2160×1080) AMOLED panel, and like the Razer Phone, it offers a high refresh rate. The 90Hz refresh isn’t quite as high as the 120Hz on the Razer Phone, but ASUS is touting a lower response time of 1ms, calling it the world’s fastest AMOLED display. And the fact that it is an AMOLED panel should mean much better colors and better visibility in outdoor conditions, an area where the Razer Phone has struggled in the past.

The display on the ROG Phone is also certified for HDR and has the DCI-P3 color gamut. In the little time I used the phone, the screen felt vibrant and responsive, and it was a delight to play games thanks to the high refresh rate.

There’s a gaming-focused feature dubbed AirTriggers, which leverages the ultrasonic sensors present on either edge of the right side of the phone and allows them to be configured for in-game actions.

Essentially, the ROG Phone has pressure-sensitive edges, and you’ll be able to map them to control in-game buttons or actions, much like you would on a handheld console. The ROG Phone also has an “advanced” vibration motor for the haptic engine.

The ROG Phone comes with a 4000mAh battery that ASUS says is good for seven hours of continuous gaming and 11.5 hours of video playback over Wi-Fi. When you do need to top up, you’ll be able to use the HyperCharge tech to charge up to 60% of the battery capacity in just 33 minutes.

The HyperCharge tech is very similar to what we’ve seen with Dash Charge: the charging circuitry is offloaded to the wall charger, so the device doesn’t get hot when it’s charging. Moving the ICs to the charger also allows ASUS to charge at a higher amperage, which enables the battery to top up quickly.

In addition to HyperCharge, the ROG Phone is compatible with Quick Charge 4.0, Quick Charge 3.0, and USB-C PD.

On the software front, the ROG Phone is running ZenUI atop Android 8.1 Oreo. Because this is a device aimed at gamers, ASUS customized ZenUI with a black color scheme interlaced with red accents. The icons also have a red border, and as much as I like the external design, the UI feels tacky.

Hopefully there should be a way to dial back the customization and default to a standard ZenUI theme, because the red accents in the notification pane are overdone.

A gaming phone isn’t complete without accessories, and ASUS has a lot to offer on that front. There’s a Mobile Desktop Dock that lets you hook up the phone to a TV or monitor, a GameVice controller that turns the device into a wireless controller, and a TwinView Dock that turns the phone into a handheld console with two screens.

The Mobile Desktop Dock is an interesting add-on as it effectively emulates desktop gaming. You can slot your phone into the dock, connect a keyboard and mouse, and hook it up to a TV or monitor and play the game the same way you would on a console or a gaming rig.

The GameVice controller has a similar feature-set, with the accessory adding action buttons, an analog stick, direction pad, and trigger buttons to the device. You essentially slot the phone in the controller, and it streams the game to a TV over WiGig, facilitating wireless playback.

The TwinView Dock is the one I’m excited about, as it adds a second screen. The phone slots in at the bottom, and the dock has a screen up top that can be used as a secondary display. A possible use case would be running a messaging service on the secondary screen when you’re gaming with your friends, and ASUS has mentioned that it is talking to game publishers to enable second screen functionality to mobile games.

In addition to the docks, ASUS is rolling out a ROG Delta headset that connects over USB-C. The gaming headset features ESS Technologies’ 9218 Quad DAC, an insane 127-decibel signal-to-noise ratio, and like most other ROG products, it has RGB lighting.

The Delta has 16LEDs embedded in its design, and you’ll be able to control the lighting effects with Aura Sync. If you think the design is ostentatious, there’s a toggle at the back to disable the RGB lighting.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about the ROG Phone. The design is sure to turn heads, and it’s safe to say that this is one of the fastest phones around. ASUS has added a ton of features designed to maximize the performance, and the accessories add another dimension to the gaming experience.

The only unknown at this point is when and where you’ll be able to buy the ROG Phone, and for how much. With the phone slated for a launch sometime in Q3 2018, we’ll know more closer to launch.

In the meantime, what do you think of ASUS’ gaming phone?

What to look for in a used Chromebook

One of the best Chromebook features often gets overlooked: over six years of operating system support direct from Google. That means you get all the new features that come to Chrome OS (provided your hardware allows) as well as security fixes and those tiny updates that make things just work better. That means a Chromebook you buy today will still be supported in 2024, and a Chromebook that sold new in 2016 still has four years of updates ahead of it.

It also means that buying a used Chromebook can be an awesome idea as long as you know what to look for.

The obvious is obvious

You’ll, of course, want to make sure everything is in working order. If you’re buying through an individual seller, have him or her fire it up and let you give it a spin.

• Make sure ALL of the keys work (sticky drinks like soda can get under laptop keys and do bad things) including the shift functions.
• Check the display carefully. Things like cracks or scratches are easy to see, but also look for spots of “dead” pixels that don’t light up and spots of psychedelic colors where pressure was applied and broke a few diodes. Turning it at a bit of an angle can help here.
• Make sure you see it up and running without the power supply plugged in. And make sure the power supply is the right power supply — have the seller plug it in so you can see if it’s charging.
• Check all of the ports. Bring an SD card and a USB mouse with you if you can.

Of course, look at the whole package to see if there are any cracks, dents or other signs of damage. Chromebooks are designed to be portable and that means they often see some rough treatment banging around in a backpack or laptop bag. They’re usually pretty tough, but we all know people who get careless with their stuff and no amount of toughening can withstand abuse.

What’s not as obvious

Chromebooks see plenty of feature updates from Google over that long lifespan. You’ll want to make sure any Chromebook you are buying today has the hardware to take advantage of those features. Even if the next update introduces something your new gently-used Chromebook can’t support, you’ll still have plenty of fun with it before it’s reached the end.

• Check when it was originally released. Buying a Chromebook that came before the end of 2015 almost certainly means you will never see Android app support. You want Android apps on your Chromebook because they add over one million new things to install, and at least a few of them you’ll want to try.
• A touchscreen is a great thing to have on every Chromebook even if you never plan to use it. A big draw of Chromebooks is that they are a mobile device with a full keyboard, but there will be times when you want to tap or long press or two-finger-spin-around-gesture when you’re using Android apps.
• Check the camera. Don’t expect a professional grade portrait machine here, but Hangouts are pretty awesome on a Chromebook and you will want to make sure you don’t look like a potato.

Finally, think about the internal specs. They really don’t matter if you just want a light portable window to the internet and all your favorite services, because Chromebooks were designed to be incredibly efficient and run on hardware that’s worse than what’s probably inside your phone. But there are a few things you need to know.

• If you do buy a Chromebook that was released before the fourth quarter of 2015, you want to look for an Intel processor. ARM processors are used partly because they deliver exceptional battery life — a big plus for a Chromebook. But early models used ARM chips that were a bit anemic. You’ll still be able to do everything you want to do on the web or through any apps you install, but you’ll struggle when multi-tasking or having a bunch of browser tabs open. You don’t need to know any specifics here, just look for the word Intel. If the CPU isn’t from Intel, it’s an ARM chip.

• 2GB of RAM works fine, but 4GB of RAM is much better. Chrome OS uses a special method of RAM management that creates a virtual disk for caching data. 4GB of RAM means better caching performance as well as more free RAM for applications once the system is finished working. You’ll see a big difference here if you open an HD YouTube video then start opening other browser tabs or applications.

• Not every Chromebook supports Pen input. If you want to use a pen with your Chromebook for things like note taking (Google Keep on your lock screen is great for this) or drawing, make sure the model you’re looking at supports one.

• Preparing for the future. This is tough to do, but it never hurts to think about what might come next. At Google I/O 2018 we saw Google demonstrate a safe way to install and run Linux applications on the Pixelbook, and they told us that this feature will be coming to Chromebooks with Intel processors that can run 64-bit applications soon. We don’t know what might come next, but we do know that specs that seem to be overkill for a Chromebook can come in quite handy as exotic features are added.

See used Chromebooks at Swappa

Buying a used Chromebook is a great idea, especially when new models are hitting the shelves for the year. You can expect years of use from most used Chromebooks and a price that makes buying used an incredible value. Just know what to look for and why you’re looking so you know how it will fit into your life.

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Chromebooks in education: Everything you need to know
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Chromebook Buyers Guide
• Google Pixelbook review
• Join our Chromebook forums

Apple Music Embeddable Web Player Widget Updated to Let Subscribers Sign in and Play Full Tracks, Albums, and Playlists

Apple has updated its Apple Music tools website with a new interface that allows subscribers to sign in and play full songs, albums, and playlists within embeddable widgets, leading to speculation that the company could be about to introduce an Apple Music web client.

Signed into a widget on the Apple Music Tools site
Apple has been hosting the tools URL to let artists download Apple Music badges and generate embeddable widgets for promotional use on their own websites and blogs.

Previously it was only possible to play 30-90 second sample tracks in widgets. However, a Reddit user discovered that after logging in with their Apple Music credentials using a sign in button, they were able to search for and listen to full songs, albums, and playlists through the site, as well as add songs directly to their Apple Music library without being kicked out to another app.

The Apple Music web player, logged in via an iOS device
While it’s still not possible to browse your library, create playlists or see what friends are playing on the site, the change does suggest Apple could be preparing a full-fat Apple Music web client to compete with existing offerings from the likes of Spotify.

You can learn whether Apple announces that a web player is in the works today and keep abreast of all other Apple-related developments at WWDC right here at MacRumors.

We’ll be in attendance at the keynote, set to start at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and be sure to stay tuned to our @MacRumorsLive account on Twitter, with live coverage of the event beginning shortly after 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Tags: Apple Music, WWDC 2018
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Apple Set to Tighten Grip on MacBook Supply Chain and Cut Contractor Profits

Apple is set to tighten its control of its MacBook supply chain by directly negotiating prices with third-party suppliers of non-key parts such as screws and plastics, which are required by contract suppliers to produce major components.

According to a new report by DigiTimes, industry sources say the move by Apple will significantly reduce profit margins of its contracted supply partners, however Apple has neither confirmed nor denied the move.

The Taiwan-based website’s sources said that this will be the first time Apple has ever interfered with the procurement of non-crucial materials and parts by its contracted key component producers, who manufacture the processors, panels, batteries, chassis, and heat dissipation modules in Apple MacBooks.

Taiwan contracted supply partners of MacBooks were reportedly told of the new policy during a meeting they attended at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.

If enforced in time for MacBook models to be released this year, the policy could erase 10 to 15 percent of profits currently made by contracted producers from the purchases of materials, leaving them with only the contracted MacBook manufacturing fees.

Apple has reportedly decided to expand its centralized procurement coverage to include upstream materials such as copper and cobalt, and non-key parts and components from third-party suppliers. The electronics giant will reportedly directly set the prices and order volumes for such materials and minor parts and components, instead of only screening the name lists of qualified third-party suppliers proposed by contracted supply chain partners and inspecting their supply quality and shipment schedules.

The same industry sources predict that when the policy goes into effect, contracted supply chain players will have to boost their self-sufficiency for components or look to other markets like cloud, AI and automotive electronics applications to claw back profitability.

Apart from typical MacBook refreshes, former KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple is working on a “more affordable MacBook Air” set to be released at some point in 2018.

We’ve heard a similar rumor from DigiTimes, which says Apple is working on a new entry-level 13-inch MacBook in the second half of 2018, which would serve as a replacement for the MacBook Air, but we don’t expect it to surface during this year’s WWDC.

There are no details on what features an updated MacBook Air could include, but if Apple is aiming to keep costs down, it could receive minimal updates. The MacBook Air remains outdated and continues to use a processor from 2014, so an updated version could include a new processor and new graphics. Thunderbolt 3 could also be added, and it’s possible Apple will update the display.

Tag: digitimes.com
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