Week 46 in review: Apple M1 and new MacBooks are here, Google Photos free backups axed
Welcome to another week’s recap. The biggest story came late in the week and it’s likely that you learned about it from your Google Photos app. Google will end the free tier of unlimited photo uploads after June 1, 2021. After that anything you upload will count against your free 15GB of storage. Naturally there are a lot of storage upgrade plans for people that find the 15GB insufficient – $2.99 a month buys you 200GB.
Apple held its final event of 2020 to announce the first Apple-developed ARM-based chip for OS X devices. The 5nm Apple M1 chip has an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU and promises a performance upgrade over previously-used Intel processors and a huge leap in efficiency.
To pioneer its new chip, Apple announced three devices – the Mac mini, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro 13. The latter is most impressive promising up to 20 hours battery life, which is by far the best ever on a Mac.
Apple’s M1-powered devices are already on pre-order and people will get to use them by the end of next week.
While on the topic of chipsets, Samsung announced its Exynos 1080 mid-range offering. While strictly aimed at sub-flagship devices, the 1080 is the first 5nm Exynos chipset. It has an 8-core CPU and the Mali-G78 MP10 GPU. The first devices with an Exynos 1080 are expected in early 2021, but they will come from vivo rather than Samsung itself.
Also in early 2021 the Galaxy S21 Ultra will bring a revolutionary new feature to the S series – S Pen support. The Galaxy S21 Ultra won’t have the S Pen embedded into its chassis like the Galaxy Note, but will support it as an accessory.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is also rumored to finally bring simultaneous QHD and 120Hz support (so far Samsung devices offer either 120Hz at 1080p or 60Hz at 1440p).
HMD unveiled the Nokia 63004G and 8000 4G – new takes on old classics. The Nokia 6300 4G is made out of plastic, unlike its metal-clad namesake, while the Nokia 8000 4G lacks the slide-out keypad of its predecessor. But at least the pair is priced quite low – the Nokia 6300 4G retails for €49, while the 8000 4G is set at €79.
This week a prototype of what HMD would have called the N95 successor was discovered in a video. The non-functioning prototype had almost nothing to do with the beloved classic, which could be the reason why HMD scrapped it.
Those were the biggest stories of the week. See you next one!
Google Photos will stop offering free photo backup on June 1, 2021
Any new files uploaded after that will count towards your 15GB base storage or Google One plan.
Huawei to launch first Harmony OS beta for mobile phones on December 18
The initial SDK will be available to developers, casual fans will be allowed to join the party in April 2021.
M1-powered Apple MacBook Pro 13 has the longest battery life of any MacBook ever
The Pro adds a few niceties over the Air for $300 more.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G appears on Geekbench with Snapdragon 750G
It’s also running on Android 11.
The Apple M1 is the first ARM-based chipset for Macs with the fastest CPU cores and top iGPU
A 5nm chip with 16 billion transistors, this chip has twice the CPU and GPU performance of the 10W chips that Apple used in older Macs.
Reborn Nokia N95 shown on video
A non-functioning prototype of what could have been.
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max first teardown confirms battery capacity
Apple flipped the internals and now the motherboard is on the left.
More Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra specs leak – WQHD LTPO 120Hz panel confirmed
Along with 45W charging and equal width bezels all round.
HMD Global announces Nokia 6300 4G and Nokia 8000 4G
A new take at two classics.
Reports from China claim Qualcomm has obtained license to sell chips to Huawei
The San Diego company won’t be able to supply Huawei’s entire portfolio though.
Samsung announces the Exynos 1080, its first 5nm chipset
The chipset is a successor to Exynos 980 and should offer an âunbelievable battery lifeâ.
The new Mac Mini gets M1 chipset: much faster than the old Intel version, $100 cheaper
The CPU performance is tripled, the GPU offers 6x boost in speed. You get great connectivity too, USB 4, Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and so on.
Huawei Mate 30 Pro gets EMUI 11 update
It’s the company’s latest software version with enhanced usability and a cleaner UI.
OnePlus Nord SE to come with 65W charging and Snapdragon 765G
It will launch shortly after the OnePlus 9, which is rumored to arrive in March 2021.
Oppo introduces Reno4 Mo Salah Edition
The device will be available in Egypt for EGP6,590 (thatâs around $420).
OnePlusâ newest Nord phones wonât be updated past Android 11
The phones come with Android 10 out of the box.
Google Pixel 4a does well in DxOMark review but canât compete with multi-cam setups
There’s only so much a single module can accomplish.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to support S Pen, tipster claims
It would be a monumental shift from the Galaxy Note to S-series.
MacBook Air with M1 gets official, boasts 18h of battery life
It will start at $999 (or $899 for educational customers).
Source: Gsmarena
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