Cellular World Congress was held this week, and if you happen to’re an Apple fan, there was a flurry of attention-grabbing tales that you simply most likely missed. MWC is principally an Android present, however there are nonetheless some releases and bulletins that will likely be of curiosity to iPhone customers. We’ve boiled every week’s value of occasions down to simply 5 bulletins that Apple followers have to know:
Actuality Professional is already altering AR
One of many greatest surprises of the present occurred on day one. Android telephone maker Xiaomi revealed a prototype for a pair of AR sensible glasses with hand gestures, “retina-level” screens, and a totally wi-fi design. If it appears like Apple’s rumored Actuality Professional AR headset, you’re proper. Whereas the design is actually an acquired style and it’s solely a prototype, it’s clear that Apple’s headset is already impacting the AR panorama–and it hasn’t even arrived but.
Xiaomi
MagSafe is about to get higher
Following the announcement at CES that the Q12 commonplace could be primarily based on Apple’s “magnetic energy profile,” the Wi-fi Energy Consortium confirmed off the primary Qi2 magnetic chargers for Android telephones at MWC, and lo and behold, they’re rather a lot like MagSafe. A lot in order that they work with iPhones out of the field. Since Apple has sort of let MagSafe languish over the previous two years, possibly we’ll lastly get some nice third-party equipment.
Apple is dumping Qualcomm
You’d be hard-pressed to search out an iPhone on the MWC flooring, however that doesn’t imply folks weren’t speaking about it. And Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon had rather a lot to say, particularly in regards to the modem it makes for the iPhone: “We’re making no plans for 2024, my planning assumption is we’re not offering [Apple] a modem in ’24, but it surely’s their resolution to make.” So it appears as if the upcoming iPhone 15 will likely be the final to make use of Qualcomm’s modem, which is similar 5G modem that Android telephones have had for a few years. That most likely doesn’t imply a lot for customers, but it surely’s yet one more piece of the iPhone that Apple controls.
Nothing is coming for iPhone
One of many hottest Android telephones of 2022 was Nothing Cellphone, which featured a novel light-up again, strong specs, and an aggressive value. The one catch is it wasn’t out there within the U.S. CEO Carl Pei introduced at MWC that Nothing Cellphone 2 is coming this yr and will likely be out there within the States. Pei has beforehand talked in-depth about eager to tackle Apple’s dominance, so meaning the iPhone 15 could have a bit of extra competitors this yr–not that it’ll matter a lot.
Foundry
iSIM is the following eSIM
Apple shocked us final yr by making the iPhone 14 absolutely eSIM within the U.S. After some early complications, it turned out to be nice for everybody–a lot in order that many Android telephones are following the development. And the following era of SIM is already right here: iSIM. Qualcomm unveiled a modified model of its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset for high-end Android telephones with a SIM that’s built-in straight into the chip, making it even smaller and extra power-efficient than eSIM. We haven’t heard any rumors about Apple utilizing iSIM with the brand new A17 chip, but it surely actually sounds just like the sort of technological development Apple would shortly leap on.