The iPhones have always delivered strong performance and great cameras, but they have never been known to have an amazing battery life. While your iPhone 13 or iPhone 14 will get you through the day, it won't be enough to last more than that, especially if you're a heavy user. But that could soon change with the upcoming iPhone 15 series as Apple is reportedly planning to increase the battery sizes in all models of its iPhone 15 lineup. So, if you've been planning to purchase the iPhone 15 upon launch, Apple might have given you one more reason to go for it.
iPhone 15 battery boost
According to a report by Macrumors, a Foxconn worker spoke to ITHome and revealed that the iPhone 15 series is set to get a battery boost as Apple is planning to increase the capacity of its batteries. The standard iPhone 15 will reportedly feature an 18% larger battery. Both the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro could get a 14% increase in battery capacity while the top-end iPhone 15 Pro Max will have a 12% bigger battery.
In terms of proper numbers, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus could have 3,877mAh and 4,912mAh batteries respectively. The iPhone 15 Pro will reportedly get a 3,650mAh battery while the iPhone 15 Pro Max will have the second largest capacity in the iPhone 15 lineup with a 4,852mAh battery powering the device. It should be known that Apple does not officially share its battery capacity, so it is hard to state how much of a jump it is likely to be.
MacRumors further reports that while there is no track record of this source, it corroborates a previous report which claimed that this year's iPhones could get thicker, and that would allow Apple to fit larger batteries inside. Moreover, Apple's 17 Bionic is expected to be the first 3nm SoC which could further boost not only the performance but also the energy efficiency of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
It should be noted that this news is based on an unofficial report and should be taken with a pinch of salt until there is an official confirmation from Apple, which is expected to come at Apple's Fall event where it will unveil the iPhone 15 series.
4th of July has almost arrived! Independence Day celebrations in America will be in full swing and notably, there will be a number of sales with amazing discounts on offer on several e-commerce sites. In fact, 4th of July sales are now live on popular online retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and many others. For those, who can't wait until the Amazon Prime Day sale, this is an amazing chance to seize some of the summer's finest deals. If you are planning to shop, this can translate into huge savings for you. Today, we've curated the list of the best 4th of July deals for you – from iPhone 14 Plus, Galaxy S23 Ultra, MacBook Air, and more.
Best 4th of July deals 2023
iPhone 14 Plus
This iPhone deal will save you a hefty amount! Verizon has a deal that lets you use iPhone 14 Plus for free. However, here is a catch! You will need to pay for the eligible 5G unlimited data plan and a one-time activation fee of $35.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
If you are not a fan of the iPhone, then this premium top-end Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra deal is what you must check. Samsung Store US is offering the 512GB storage variant at the cost of 256GB. Plus, you can get up to $750 instant credit when you trade-in your old smartphones.
MacBook Air 2020
During the 4th of July sale, Amazon is offering a flat $199 discount from its retail price of $1178 as per the listed price. That means with a discount, the Apple MacBook Air 2020 will cost you $978.99. This 2020 model of MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch IPS LED display with 400 nits of brightness. It is powered by an Apple M1 chip.
Amazon Fire TV 43-inch 4K UHD smart TV
If you are planning to upgrade your smartTV, then this deal lets you save a flat 24 percent. Amazon is offering a Fire TV 43-inch 4K UHD smart TV for just $355.48 against $464.98. It supports vivid 4K Ultra HD, HDR 10, HLG, and Dolby Digital Plus, and controls the TV hands-free with Alexa.
Apple iPad 2021
Apple iPad 2021 with WiFi is now available at a price of $348 against the earlier price of $398 for a 64GB storage variant. It features a 10.2-inch Retina display and an 8MP Wide back camera, along with a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage. It is powered by an A13 Bionic chip.
Apple’s fingerprint scanner has been missing from flagship iPhones ever since the launch of the iPhone X back in 2017. The argument was that because Apple had developed Face ID, which was touted as being significantly more secure, then Touch ID was totally unnecessary. It’s also speculated that it saves space inside the phone, which can be used for other things.
But even as phone makers transitioned towards more streamlined fingerprint scanners, hiding them under the display or in the power button, the iPhone has stubbornly gone without. The iPhone 15 will apparently be no exception to this, and that’s a very disappointing turn of events.
Face ID is way more awkward than a fingerprint scanner
I’m not a regular iPhone user, and admit that quite regularly, but I’ve still had plenty of experience with Apple’s flagship phones. To put it bluntly, I do not like Face ID and much prefer the convenience of a fingerprint scanner.
That may sound strange, considering Face ID only needs you to look at your iPhone screen and swipe up. But I always find it awkward, and slow, especially since Face ID is designed to only work when you’re actively looking at the phone. Close your eyes, look away from the screen, or display any level of inattentiveness and your phone won’t unlock.
I can see the appeal of this, particularly since it stops people from unlocking your phone while you sleep. But I’ve found that the in-display fingerprint scanner on my Pixel 6 Pro is a heck a lot more convenient. In fact, a combination of familiarity and muscle memory means I can unlock the phone without even looking at it — which ensures the screen is unlocked and ready to go as soon as I need it.
The lack of Touch ID isn’t one of the things preventing me from switching away from Android, as there are other issues I’d rather see Apple deal with first. But the lack of what feels like such a basic feature would make me hesitate, especially since there’s no practical reason why it couldn’t be included.
Touch ID and Face ID can coexist
Touch ID on an iPad
Face ID launched at a time when in-display fingerprint sensors were a nice idea limited to concept phones, rather than mass-produced devices you could buy. But that was almost six years ago, and things have changed a lot since then. Not only are in-display fingerprint sensors available on virtually every premium smartphone, there’s been a rise in the number of physical sensors stored in other buttons — notably the power button.
The latter of which has even been adopted by Apple for various iPad models. Face ID is exclusive to the iPad Pro series, and the old-school home button has been slowly dying off for the past few years. So the cheaper iPad models arrived with Touch ID home buttons.
But there’s no reason why iPhones couldn’t offer both options. Especially now that Apple launched Dynamic Island and showed the display notch can be used for something other than housing camera sensors.
In the past Apple was very much a “you’ll have what we give you” type of company, but that’s softened up in recent years — especially where user personalization is involved. There’s no reason why it couldn’t go a step further and let users decide whether they want to use Face ID, Touch ID or disable biometric security altogether.
Die hard Apple users, and indeed Apple itself, will likely produce statistics about Face ID and how much more secure it is than Touch ID ever was. I can't argue with that, although even the level of security afforded by Face ID is dependent on how secure your device’s passcode is. All the best biometric security in the world can’t change the fact that both Face ID and Touch ID could be overridden by a braindead user that uses the passcode “1234” — or worse.
Bottom line
Apple has long been a company that does its own thing, provided it works, regardless of whatever anyone else is doing. That’s no doubt why Lightning stuck around for so long during the rise of USB-C, and presumably this is why Touch ID has been absent from the iPhone for so long.
There’s clearly some demand for Touch ID to make a comeback, otherwise we wouldn’t hear rumors about its possible comeback every darn year. But whether Apple cares is another matter, particularly since Face ID has been doing a pretty reasonable job over the past several years. We can certainly hope that Apple caves and decides people should be able to decide what kind of security their phone has to offer, but for now I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath.
But who knows, maybe Apple will surprise us at the Apple September event, when the iPhone 15 series is finally unveiled. It wouldn’t be the first time the company pulled a fast one on us.
Yes, WhatsApp videos are quite popular. WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging apps globally, with billions of users. It allows users to send not only text messages but also various forms of media, including photos, audio messages, and videos. While there are multiple reasons, WhatsApp’s easy-to-use interface and the ability to share videos quickly with contacts or groups have contributed majorly to its ever-growing popularity. Additionally, WhatsApp also supports features like video calling, which allows users to have face-to-face conversations with friends and family through video. The chat app now plans to take things up a notch by introducing HD videos sharing to the platform.
WhatsApp recently introduced HD photos for beta testers and now a new report from WaBetaInfo suggests that chat app is working on HD videos sharing ability. Going by the report, WhatsApp beta for iOS 23.13.0.76 update which is available on the Testflight app, some users are seeing the option to send WhatsApp videos in HD quality.
The reports suggests that when you share videos on this platform, there is now an option to choose a higher quality version. However, even with this option, some compression is still applied to the video to reduce its file size for fast transfer of videos. This means that the original video quality cannot be preserved entirely. However, the high-quality option does improve the overall video quality compared to the standard option. By default, the platform always uses the standard quality option for videos. So, if you want to share a video with improved quality, you will have to manually select the high-quality option each time.
The videos shared in HD quality will be marked as a high-quality video in the conversation, and a new tag is automatically added to the message bubble to inform the receiver that the video was sent in HD quality. It is worth mentioning that this feature is not available when sharing videos on status updates. The feature is currently available to select audience but more people are expected to receive it over the coming days.
iOS 17 for iPhone not only includes a new default wallpaper for the iOS 17 homescreen, but also new wallpapers for CarPlay. While typically the CarPlay wallpapers are only visible when in CarPlay mode with an iPhone, you can grab those wallpapers now, without installing iOS 17 beta, and enjoy them on any device.
The images are available in 2048 × 2048 resolution, you can get the full resolution wallpaper by clicking a thumbnail below and saving that wallpaper to your computer or device.
Thanks to 9to5mac for extracting these wallpapers from the beta IPSW.
Planning a road trip? This iOS 16 feature can be your travel buddy even on a road trip that has plenty of detours. We are referring to the multiple stops feature on Apple Maps in a single trip. This feature allows you to plan your whole journey in a few simple steps. Resultantly, planning apart, it will even tell you the estimated time the whole journey will take and the duration of each stop too. However, do remember that you can add only up to 15 stops.
Before this feature came along, there was no way to add multiple stops in a journey on Apple Maps. This became possible after iOS 16 was rolled out. It overcomes the hassles of tracking each destination in a separate Apple Maps search. If you are wondering how to use it? Here is a step-by-step guide to adding multi-stop routing in Apple Maps.
How to add multi-stop routing in Apple Maps
Open Apple Maps on your iPhone and enter your destination in the search bar.
Tap the Directions button, which is usually indicated by an arrow or a car icon.
In the Directions panel, you will see the route to your destination. To add a stop along the way, tap the Add Stop option. This will allow you to search for and include a stop via the route to your destination.
Repeat the earlier step if you want to add multiple stops to your trip.
To rearrange the order of your stops, use the hamburger icons located beside each location name. Simply tap and hold the hamburger icon for a stop, then drag it up or down to the desired position in the list.
Finally, click on the Go button to start your journey. Apple Maps will provide you with turn-by-turn directions to your destination, including any stops you have added.
More tips for Apple Maps' multi-stop feature
While on your route, you can also remove any of the already-added stops. Just tap the route card at the bottom of the screen, then tap the Delete button denoted with a (-) sign next to the stop and it is done. Also, in case you are stopping for a quick break, you can pause the route and resume it when you are on the road.
Experiencing multiple spam calls throughout the day can be extremely irritating, especially when you're busy with important tasks. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence for many of us. However, if you happen to own an iPhone, we've got an awesome trick to help you in dealing with these bothersome calls or any unwanted callers with just a few simple steps. The best part is that you won't even need to download any third-party apps for this. And not only that, you can also know how to check your block list to unblock individuals. Know all about this cool iPhone trick below.
Blocking a number need not just be about annoyance. Many people suffer harassment by bad actors who repeatedly call people to threaten or bully them. Stalkers also try to harass women by calling them over and over. This can severely affect a person's mental health. And while informing the authorities is always the most important thing to do, you should also block the number so they cannot continuously reach out to you and bother you.
So, if you want to learn this useful trick, you do not have to do much. It's very simple, really. Check the steps below.
How to block a number on iPhone
1. Whether the person you're trying to block is added in your contacts or not, the method to block them is the same.
2. First, open the Dialer app and go to the number's profile by clicking the ‘i' icon on the right.
3. Then tap on the ‘Block this Caller' button which should pop up the ‘Block Contact' icon. Tap it to block the number.
4. Do note that if you're blocking contact with multiple numbers, then all of the numbers will get blocked.
How to check your blocked numbers and unblock them
1. Open settings.
2. Go to Phone, which should be in the fifth group of icons.
3. Scroll down to find ‘Blocked Contacts'.
4. You should be able to see all the numbers/contacts you have blocked. You can also add more by clicking ‘Add new'.
5. To remove someone from the block list, simply tap on ‘Edit' on the top right and press the unblock icon next to their name.
