Kalakshar US

Apple introduced two new wireless chips in the iPhone Air, a preview of a world where all the key components of the company’s products are custom-designed. The C1X and N1 chips enable wireless features like 5G connectivity and Wi-Fi 7, building on the original C1 modem the company introduced in the iPhone 16e.

At least one reason Apple was able to pull off the thin design of the iPhone Air was the power-efficiency these new chips offer. The C1X modem supports sub-6Ghz 5G and 4G LTE and is up to two times faster than the C1 modem, according to Apple. It’s also faster than the Qualcomm-designed modem in the iPhone 16 Pro “for the same cellular technologies.” Apple says the chip is able to achieve these performance improvements while “using 30 percent less energy overall,” which seems key for a phone with a smaller battery than normal.

Whereas the C1 on the iPhone 16e also enabled Wi-Fi 6, Apple’s offloaded Wi-Fi support to the new N1 chip on the iPhone Air. The N1 chip enables Bluetooth 6 for connecting to accessories, Wi-Fi 7 and Thread for controlling your smart home. Both these chips combine with the new A19 Pro, which has a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine, to give the iPhone Air pro-level power in a thinner profile.

While Apple is using these new components to pull off a radical redesign this year, all-custom-everything is also where the company is headed overall, Bloomberg reported in 2024. That’s both to avoid paying Qualcomm for components, and to enable new features and efficiencies in its products. Apple would even like to combine its modem and processor into a single chip at some point, though that’s reportedly still a few years off.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apples-new-wireless-chips-give-it-even-more-control-of-the-iphone-194820274.html?src=rss 

There’s a marketing practice called Anchoring, where a mediocre product is offered at a similar price to the one the manufacturer actually wants to sell. Sure, you can buy the base model but the next model up, for just $50 more, offers so much more that buying the cheaper one feels like a bad deal. Apple is no stranger to this practice, but I do think that the iPhone Air is a fairly extreme example of it.

Apple’s iPhone strategy has, in recent years, centered on four models: That year’s model, its Pro sibling, and then larger-screened variants of both. This year, the Plus size version of the base model was ditched in favor of the iPhone Air. It’s a dramatically thinner phone, coming in at 5.64mm deep compared to the regular iPhone 17’s 7.95mm. It has a more powerful chip, packing Apple’s flagship A19 Pro compared to the regular iPhone 17’s A19. Oh, and it has a 6.5-inch display, slightly bigger than the 17’s 6.3-inch panel. But those are its only advantages.

Phones have been getting larger and larger for well over a decade and every time, consumers have bought them. The demise of the iPhone SE killed the idea a large number of people were clamoring for a handset smaller than five inches. But I’ve never heard anyone grouse about the thickness of their handset, given these objects also need to be held comfortably in the hand. Consequently, the Air’s main reason for existing is, fundamentally, one that offers a bunch of compromises to reach a target no-one asked it to.

In fact, it becomes embarrassing when you put the Air in a side-by-side comparison with the base model iPhone 17. The handset has a slightly smaller screen and is “only” using the regular A19 chip but, in every other metric, it’s a far better phone. It has a bigger battery and a longer promised runtime, dual 48-megapixel cameras over the Air’s single lens. But while the Air retails from $999, you can pick up an iPhone 17 for $799 with 256GB storage, which I think is a steal. In any logical world, the iPhone Air wouldn’t even get a second glance with 99 percent of buyers.

Of course, much like the MacBook Air this is going to be the shape of iPhones to come. You can already see Apple’s desire to slim down the form factor and ditch legacy technologies like physical SIM cards. It won’t be long before these changes come across to the rest of the iPhone line as users acquiesce to Apple’s desire to trim things down. It’s doubly obvious the Air is laying the groundwork for any planned Apple foldable, too, given that Samsung and Honor are releasing foldables that measure 9mm thick when closed.

But I’d urge everyone else to restrain the desire to spend $999 of their hard-earned to be a beta tester for Apple’s hardware roadmap. Sure, I’ll probably buy the iPhone Air 5 (or 22) but probably only because I don’t have any other choice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-air-is-a-great-advertisement-for-the-iphone-17-201318112.html?src=rss 

The announcement of the iPhone Air surprised exactly nobody during today’s Apple “Awe dropping” event. As we finally get officiall details about this lightweight smartphone model, one of the biggest questions is about the battery. Thin devices mean thinner batteries, so we’ve been curious to see how the iPhone Air will stack up. One thing we now know is that it’s less beefy than standard smartphones when it comes to wireless charging.

According to the tech specs provided by Apple on its website, the iPhone Air charges at 20W on both MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging, whereas the other iPhones announced today charge a little faster at 25W. Apple also shared fast-charging capabilities for the iPhone Air: “Up to 50 percent charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher (available separately) paired with USB‑C charging cable, or 30W adapter or higher paired with MagSafe Charger (both available separately).”

The spec sheet also says that the iPhone Air on its own offers up to 27 hours of video playback or up to 22 hours of streaming video. When coupled with a dedicated iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack, those figures jump to up to 40 hours and up to 35 hours, respectively.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-airs-top-wireless-charging-speed-is-20w-201804255.html?src=rss 

Microsoft reportedly plans to begin using Anthropic’s latest Claude models to power some of the Copilot features in its Office 365 apps. In a report published Tuesday, The Information said the tech giant would announce the change “in the coming weeks.” Microsoft currently relies on OpenAI’s tech to power the majority of AI features found inside of Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

As an outsider looking in, Microsoft’s embrace of Anthropic’s models would appear to signal a deepening split between the company and OpenAI. Microsoft is the AI lab’s largest investor, and was integral to Sam Altman’s rehiring as CEO following his brief ouster in 2023. However, in recent months reports of a growing impasse between the two in negotiations over OpenAI’s plan to restructure its for-profit division as a public benefit corporation have bubbled up. 

For its part, Microsoft denied the move is motivated by animosity. “As we’ve said, OpenAI will continue to be our partner on frontier models and we remain committed to our long-term partnership,” a company spokesperson told The Information.

Still, the decision likely comes as unwelcome news for OpenAI. The Information reports Microsoft is at least partly motivated by the fact it believes Claude 4 Sonnet “performs better in subtle but important ways” than GPT-5. For example, The Information’s source said Anthropic’s model tends to generate “more aesthetically pleasing” PowerPoint presentations. Notably, that’s coming from an older model, and one that isn’t even Anthropic’s flagship offering. 

Anthropic did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. According to The Information, Microsoft does not plan to charge more for access to Anthropic models in Office 365, with Copilot pricing set to remain at $30 per user per month. That’s notable because the company will pay Amazon to access Claude Sonnet 4 through AWS, Anthropic’s primary cloud provider. As part of its investment in OpenAI, Microsoft can access the company’s models at no additional cost.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-reportedly-plans-to-start-using-anthropic-models-to-power-some-of-office-365s-copilot-features-202017205.html?src=rss 

Apple revealed a language translation feature for the upcoming AirPods 3 Pro earbuds at today’s iPhone event. Here’s some good news for those who don’t want to shell out $249 for some new and shiny in-ear headphones. The tool is also coming to the AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2 models. This requires the latest firmware and an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26 and later.

For the uninitiated, Live Translation is exactly what it sounds like. The software translates languages in real-time while wearing the earbuds. This allows for something resembling natural conversation when interacting with a person who speaks another language.

This feature will be available in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish at launch, with more languages coming by the end of the year. These include Italian, Japanese, Korean and simplified Chinese.

As for the AirPods Pro 3 earbuds, they cost $249 and are available to preorder right now. These new earbuds include a heart rate monitor, improved ANC, better battery life and the ability to play spatial audio.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apples-airpods-4-with-anc-and-airpods-pro-2-will-also-support-live-translation-184235997.html?src=rss 

Apple hosted its “Awe dropping” iPhone event today, but wearables also got their moment in the sun, including the announcement of the Apple Watch Series 11. In recent years, the company has made some big environmental claims around its smartwatches, but after facing some legal scrutiny overseas, the language for this new Apple Watch generation’s green cred is notably more muted.

Starting with the Apple Watch Series 9, the company claimed that select models of the watch could be carbon-neutral, and those calls were echoed in some branding for the Apple Watch 10. However, a regional court in Frankfurt, Germany, ruled last month that Apple could not call its smartwatch carbon-neutral because the carbon-offset program it was using was on land that it had only leased through 2029. Apple’s environmental plan didn’t account for how it would handle the carbon offsets after that date, meaning the ‘carbon-neutral’ claim was unfounded and violated competition laws, according to the ruling.

It seems like the sort of case Apple is likely to appeal, although we haven’t heard them make any announcement yet about possible next steps. But the action does seem to have influenced how the company is talking about its new Apple Watch Series 11. In the official press release about the Watch 11, the environmental impact section still notes some stats, but there’s no mention about carbon-neutrality for this particular wearable. Here’s what the company says instead:

“Apple Watch Series 11 is now made with 40 percent recycled content, which includes 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery, and 100 percent recycled titanium or aluminum in the case, and titanium cases are made using an innovative 3D printing process that uses just half the raw material as previous generations. It is manufactured with 100 percent renewable electricity, like wind and solar, across the supply chain.”

There could still be some skepticism about how accurate these claims are; Apple wouldn’t be the first or the only one to cherry-pick stats for marketing. And while it is no longer making the statement about the smartwatch, Apple does claim in the release that it “is carbon neutral for its global corporate operations.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-isnt-making-any-carbon-neutral-claims-with-its-series-11-smartwatch-190216278.html?src=rss 

Apple has taken the wraps off its latest crop of iPhones, introducing four devices in total: the standard iPhone 17, the high-end iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max and an all-new ultra-thin model called the iPhone Air. We have hands-on previews for the Air and Pro models already, but as always, most people should hold off on making a purchase until we can fully review the phones in the coming days. If you’re already sure you want to upgrade, however, we’ve broken down what you should know about each new iPhone before you pre-order.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-pre-order-the-iphone-air-iphone-17-and-iphone-17-pro-ahead-of-their-september-19-release-date-185943747.html?src=rss