An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Mac: A new survey suggests that Apple Intelligence matters to iPhone buyers, but the majority say that the initial features add little to no value. It remains to be seen whether Genmoji and ChatGPT integration will change that view. Things are even worse for Samsung smartphones, with an even greater majority of owners saying they can't see much point in the AI features offered A new survey by tech trade-in site SellCell found that AI is an important factor when choosing a new smartphone: "iPhone users showed relatively higher interest in mobile AI than Samsung users as almost half (47.6%) of iPhone users reported AI features as a 'very' or 'somewhat' important deciding factor when buying a new phone vs. 23.7% of Samsung users who said the same." "Smartphone users in general are unsatisfied with the existing AI features as the survey recorded 73% of Apple Intelligence users and 87% of Galaxy AI users stating the new features to be either 'not very valuable' or they 'add little to no value' to their smartphone experience," reports SellCell. According to the survey, these are the most popular Apple Intelligence features: - Writing Tools (72%) - Notification summaries (54%) - Priority Messages (44.5%) - Clean Up in Photos (29.1%) - Smart Reply in Mail and Messages (20.9%)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple is preparing a series of major design and format changes to its lineup of iPhones and potentially other products, according to WSJ, a bid to revive growth after years of offering largely incremental upgrades. From the report: Starting next year, Apple plans to introduce an iPhone that will be thinner than the approximately 8-millimeter profile of current models, said people familiar with the company's plans. The model is intended to be cheaper than Pro models, with a simplified camera system to reduce costs. The company is also planning two foldable devices, the people said. A larger device, intended to serve as a laptop, would have a screen that unfolds to be nearly as large as some desktop monitors, at about 19 inches. A smaller model would unfold to a display size that would be larger than an iPhone 16 Pro Max, intended to serve as a foldable iPhone, the people said. Both foldable designs have been in development for years, but some key parts weren't ready. Major challenges included improving the hinge, a mechanism that allows the device to fold and unfold, and the display cover, a flexible material protecting the foldable screen. Current foldable phones on the market aren't thin, light or energy-efficient enough to meet Apple's standards, which is why Apple has been slower to enter this segment, said Jeff Pu, an analyst with Hong Kong-based brokerage Haitong International Securities.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Contraint par la législation européenne, Apple s'apprête à retirer de la vente les iPhone 14 et iPhone SE dans le courant du mois de décembre. Il s'agit des derniers appareils dotés d'un port de Lightning, alors que l'UE imposera l'USB-C dans les produits en 2025.

Disponible au téléchargement depuis le 11 décembre, la mise à jour iOS 18.2 apporte de très nombreuses nouveautés liées à Apple Intelligence dans les pays anglophones. En attendant l’arrivée du service en Europe, les Français doivent se contenter de changements plus minimes.

Combien de temps pensez-vous qu'un iPhone peut rester dans l'eau avant de mourir ? Et si on vous dit qu'il est dans la vase, au fond d'un lac, à 12 mètres ? Sans le vouloir, un plongeur amateur a trouvé la réponse.

Dans le plus grand des secrets, Apple organise tous les ans une cérémonie pour récompenser les meilleurs logiciels et jeux des 12 derniers mois. L'édition 2024 des App Store Awards met à l'honneur 17 développeurs venus du monde entier, que Numerama a eu l'occasion de rencontrer pour discuter de l'avenir de leurs applications.

Le choix d'un iPhone est toujours un dilemme. Faut-il prendre le tout dernier avec les meilleures performances ou les anciennes générations pour éviter d'exploser son budget ? En fonction de votre usage, les deux choix se discutent. Pour vous faire une idée, voici notre sélection des iPhone qui sont, selon nous, de bonnes options en 2024.

Avec la mise à jour iOS 18, Apple a déployé la technologie RCS sur iPhone. Elle permet d'échanger des messages texte entre iOS et Android avec des photos/vidéos en haute définition, des indicateurs d'écriture et des accusés de réception, le tout avec le support des conversations de groupe. Pour l'instant, trois opérateurs sur quatre sont compatibles.

ENQUÊTE NUMERAMA — Sur les sites des opérateurs, des revendeurs (Fnac, Boulanger…) ou des grandes marques (Apple, Samsung…), des promotions encouragent à renvoyer son smartphone actuel en échange d'une réduction. Ces reprises, qui passent par des reconditionneurs professionnels comme Back Market, Recommerce ou Nest Green, s'accompagnent parfois de mauvaises surprises.

Après un mois rythmé par des avant-premières et une Black Week un peu prématurée, le Black Friday commence. Certains e-commercants dégainent leurs grosses offres. Voici le top des promotions déjà disponibles TV, Smartphones, laptop et bien d'autres en direct.

Après un mois rythmé par des avant-premières Black Friday, la Black Week a finalement commencé ce lundi avec toujours plus de promotions sur des tonnes de produits, TV, Smartphones, laptop et bien d'autres. Toutes les marques y passent, d'Apple à Samsung. On a fait le tour des sites pour vous dénicher les meilleures offres disponibles en ligne chez Amazon, Fnac, Boulanger et d'autres enseignes.

Après un mois rythmé par des avant-premières Black Friday, la Black Week a finalement commencé ce lundi avec toujours plus de promotions sur des tonnes de produits, TV, Smartphones, laptop et bien d'autres. Toutes les marques y passent, d'Apple à Samsung. On a fait le tour des sites pour vous dénicher les meilleures offres disponibles en ligne chez Amazon, Fnac, Boulanger et d'autres enseignes.

Indonesia rejected Apple's $100 million investment proposal to build an accessory and component plant, stating it was insufficient to lift the current ban on iPhone 16 sales in the country. Indonesia banned sales of Apple's iPhone 16 last month after it failed to meet requirements that smartphones sold domestically should comprise at least 40% locally-made parts. Reuters reports: "We have done an assessment and this (proposal) has not met principles of fairness," Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita told a press conference, comparing the proposal to Apple's bigger investments in neighboring Vietnam and Thailand. Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, but has since 2018 set up application-developer academies, which Jakarta considers a way for the company to meet local content requirement for the sale of older iPhone models. Agus said Apple had an outstanding investment commitment of $10 million it should have carried out before 2023. He also wanted Apple to commit to new investment until 2026.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Depuis le début du mois de septembre, j'utilise quotidiennement le dernier smartphone haut de gamme d'Apple. Deux mois après la sortie du test, voici un avis avec plus de recul sur les nouveautés de l'iPhone 16 Pro Max.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Who up missing Musi?" a Reddit user posted in a community shocked by the free music streaming app's sudden removal from Apple's App Store in September. Apple kicked Musi out of the App Store after receiving several copyright complaints. Musi works by streaming music from YouTube -- seemingly avoiding paying to license songs -- and YouTube was unsurprisingly chief among those urging Apple to stop allowing the alleged infringement. Musi was previously only available through the App Store. Once Musi was removed from the App Store, anyone who downloaded Musi could continue using the app uninterrupted. But if the app was ever off-loaded during an update or if the user got a new phone, there would be no way to regain access to their Musi app or their playlists. Some Musi fans only learned that Apple booted Musi after they updated their phones, and the app got offloaded with no option to re-download. Panicked, these users turned to the Musi subreddit for answers, where Musi's support staff has consistently responded with reassurances that Musi is working to bring the app back to the App Store. For many Musi users learning from others' mistakes, the Reddit discussions leave them with no choice but to refuse to update their phones or risk losing their favorite app. The app may remain unavailable for several months as the litigation unfolds. "After Apple gave in to the pressure, Musi sued (PDF) in October, hoping to quickly secure an injunction that would force Apple to reinstate Musi in the App Store until the copyright allegations were decided," reports Ars. "But a hearing on that motion isn't scheduled until January, making it appear unlikely that Musi will be available again to download until sometime next year." Further reading: Google, Apple Drive 'Black Box' IP Policing with App Store Rules

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Les offres se multiplient depuis le lancement de la Black Friday Week et de nombreux smartphones sont proposés à des prix intéressants. C'est le moment idéal pour acheter un smartphone tout neuf avant Noël. Voici, les meilleures références actuellement en promotion pour ce Black Friday.

La 18 décembre, Apple mettra fin à la compatibilité des sauvegardes iCloud avec iOS 5, iOS 6, iOS 7 et iOS 8. Les iPhone 3GS et iPhone 4, qui ne sont pas compatibles avec une version ultérieure, perdront aussi la possibilité de sauvegarder leurs données.

Après avoir initialement réservé son application Gemini à Android, Google sort enfin un moyen d'accéder à ses derniers modèles sur iPhone. L'application Google Gemini pour iOS intègre le chatbot, mais aussi Gemini Live, l'assistant vocal avec conversation naturelle.

Android Authority's Rita El Khoury argues that the decline in punctuation use and capitalization in social media writing, especially among younger generations, can largely be attributed to the iPhone keyboard. "By hiding the comma and period behind a symbol switch, the iPhone keyboard encourages the biggest grammar fiends to be lazy and skip punctuation," writes El Khoury. She continues: Pundits will say that it's just an extra tap to add a period (double-tap the space bar) or a comma (switch to the characters layout and tap comma), but it's one extra tap too many. When you're firing off replies and messages at a rapid rate, the jarring pause while the keyboard switches to symbols and then switches back to letters is just too annoying, especially if you're doing it multiple times in one message. I hate pausing mid-sentence so much that I will sacrifice a comma at the altar of speed. [...] The real problem, at the end of the day, is that iPhones -- not Android phones -- are popular among Gen Z buyers, especially in the US -- a market with a huge online presence and influence. Add that most smartphone users tend to stick to default apps on their phones, so most of them end up with the default iPhone keyboard instead of looking at better (albeit often even slower) alternatives. And it's that same keyboard that's encouraging them to be lazy instead of making it easier to add punctuation. So yes, I blame the iPhone for killing the period and slaughtering the comma, and I think both of those are great offenders in the death of the capital letter. But trends are cyclical, and if the cassette player can make a comeback, so can the comma. Who knows, maybe in a year or two, writing like a five-year-old will be passe, too, and it'll be trendy to use proper grammar again.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

En attendant Apple Intelligence et le nouveau Siri, la concurrence s'active sur iPhone. Après ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude et Perplexity, Google ne devrait plus tarder à annoncer le lancement d'une application Gemini.