IPhone

With the launch of iOS 18 this fall, the iPhone will support RCS for meaningfully improved messaging experience with Android users, and Google today released an ad to highlight that.

Google’s Gemini has been available on iPhone for months now, but it’s not super easy to access since it’s hidden under a few clicks in the main Google app. Now, though, there’s a super easy way to access Gemini from your iPhone’s homescreen or using the Action Button.

Google made a big commitment with the Pixel 8 last year with the promise of 7 years of software updates and, now, Apple has confirmed that that’s more than an iPhone will be guaranteed.

In recent weeks, GIFs sent by iPhone users to Android devices running Google Messages have turned into distorted still images with missing dots/pixels throughout. 

The iPhone is the best-selling smartphone on the planet and, in the US especially, it’s clearly a dominant force. I’m an Android person by choice, but once in a while, I spend time with the latest iPhone to take a peek inside of Apple’s garden, trying not to get trapped within its walls. Over the past several months, I’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro off and on and, well, I’ve got thoughts.

Video quality on Android has, unarguably, fallen behind Apple’s iPhone for a while now, and that’s not changing anytime soon. With Video Boost on the Pixel 8 Pro, though, Google is giving its latest flagship a better chance to compete. How does it compare? Let’s take a look.

It’s still almost impossible to believe, but Apple is adopting RCS on the iPhone next year. While there’s a ton we don’t know, it’s a big deal that very much opens the door to big changes in the Android vs iPhone debate. However, my big question is if it will be enough to change the ongoing Android vs iPhone peer pressure that often turns into actual bullying.

It’s not hard to find out what search queries are trending on Google, but it’s rare we get a peek into what searches drive the most ad dollars. Coming out from the ongoing antitrust trial, new documents have unveiled some of the highest-revenue search queries on Google, and a lot of them are about the iPhone.

Google’s Pixel phones still largely make up a small portion of the smartphone market, but slowly the devices are growing in popularity. A new report details that Google Pixel phones continue to grow in Japan, and have been taking market share from the iPhone.

Apple ditched leather accessories with its latest lineup and instead moved to a new “FineWoven” fabric material for iPhone 15. But, after some time using it, FineWoven just reminds me how good Google’s old fabric cases for Pixel were.

For the last decade, I’ve been a diehard Android user, with the only iOS device really in my personal lineup being an iPad Pro. But, this week, I took delivery of an iPhone 15 Pro, and after a day using it, I’ve got… well, a whole lot of thoughts.

Android smartphones have enjoyed the ability for years now to use a USB-C cable to charge other devices using the battery on their own phone, something that’s handy in a pinch. And, thanks to the iPhone 15 series finally adopting USB-C, Android phones and iPhones will finally be able to share their power with one another.

USB-C in smartphones is nothing new, with Android devices having used the port for the better part of a decade now. But, despite all of that time on Android, it’s the iPhone 15’s switch to USB-C that might finally fix the biggest problem with Android accessories, and Android users will be able to enjoy those benefits while some existing iPhone owners take issue with the change.

Google Maps is said to be working on support for iOS’s Live Activities feature, just in time for the iPhone 15’s expansion of the Dynamic Island.

For those that have a hard time imagining, Samsung is updating an existing app called “Try Galaxy” to simulate a Galaxy Z Fold screen using two iPhones stuck together.