Technology - Google News

iPhone 13 leak reveals huge display upgrade — watch out, OnePlus 9 Pro - Tom's Guide
OnePlus debuts its first Apple Watch competitor touting 2-week battery life and $159 price - 9to5Mac
Smart's airless bike tires use NASA tech to defeat punctures - Engadget

iPhone 13 leak reveals huge display upgrade — watch out, OnePlus 9 Pro - Tom's Guide

Posted: 24 Mar 2021 04:08 AM PDT

The iPhone 13's display is tipped to feature a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, just like the OnePlus 9 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S21. And in fact, it will be Samsung who's building it.

It's long been rumored that the next iPhone will get LTPO panel technology, which allows the screen to vary its refresh rate automatically based on what it's being used for. But the new report in The Elec goes a step further, claiming that the orders for the new panels have now been placed with Samsung Display, while another leak noted LTPO panel testing is already underway.

Samsung Display already has a production line dedicated to making screens for previous iPhones, such as the iPhone 12. However, The Elec's report states that this "A3" line will be converted from producing LTPS displays to making LTPO ones instead, with the change happening "within the first half of 2021." A production target of 70,000 substrates a month has reportedly been set.

LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) displays allow mobile devices to dynamically alter their refresh rate. This then results in a lower power draw, because the phone can drop the refresh rate down when the user won't see the benefit. We've seen this technology used on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Asus ROG Phone 5, and it works excellently, providing surprisingly lengthy battery life even with a phone running at 120Hz or higher.

Apple already uses LTPO panels on the Apple Watch 6, and offers 120Hz "ProMotion" refresh rates on the iPad Pro. We've yet to see Apple use both technologies together, but previous rumors have suggested that the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be the beneficiaries of these LTPO panels.

LG Display and BOE are also providing OLED displays for the iPhone 13, but according to The Elec, these will be less-advanced LTPS displays — presumably for use in the basic iPhone 13 models. This type of OLED display can still provide dynamic refresh rates, but it requires extra components that Apple may not be willing to use on its cheaper iPhones.

Testing is going ahead

If that wasn't enough, there is also a claim that Apple is testing these LTPO displays right now.

Leaker Digital Chat Station (via Mukul Sharma on Twitter) claimed Apple is currently trying out Samsung Display Co. (SDC) screens on the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max. These models have the codenames D63x and D64x according to DCS, so keep a look-out for these names in the future when we inevitably get more iPhone 13 leaks.

News of current testing is encouraging news that we'll get 120Hz iPhones this year. It was suggested early last year, that the iPhone 12 series, or at least the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, would get these displays. But a few months later, this rumor lost credibility, before finally being proved wrong at the phone's launch. It's still early in the year before the iPhone 13's expected September debut, but the rumors are, for now, encouraging.

Beyond its display, the iPhone 13 is also rumored to have a smaller notch than previous notched iPhones, letting you enjoy more of the display. Also be on the lookout for a new A15 chipset, and camera improvements in the form of new lenses, larger sensors and improved software.

We'd expect the iPhone 13 series to appear in September, the usual month for Apple's iPhone launches. There are a lot of excellent phones due to launch before then, but assuming Apple doesn't make any uncharacteristic slip-ups, the iPhone 13 will likely be one of the best phones released in 2021.

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OnePlus debuts its first Apple Watch competitor touting 2-week battery life and $159 price - 9to5Mac

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 10:12 AM PDT

OnePlus has unveiled its first smartwatch today and the wearable takes a lot of cues from Apple Watch. While that's no surprise and many Apple Watch clones have come before, OnePlus Watch looks to differentiate with a round design, 2-week battery life, and other high-end features at a budget price of just $159.

When it comes to Apple Watch inspired features, OnePlus Watch has most of the hits: the sport band (easily swappable), blood oxygen monitoring, tracking for over 100 workout types, over 50 watch faces, built-in GPS, "breathing exercise," heart rate tracking including HRV/stress monitoring, sleep tracking, sapphire glass display, and more.

But going beyond what Apple Watch Series 6 offers, OnePlus says its new watch will have a huge two-week battery life for regular use or one-week for heavy users and come at a fraction of the Apple Watch's price at $159. Another battery claim, OnePlus says the watch will be able to get one week of use from just 20 minutes on the charger.

Notably, the OnePlus Watch doesn't run Google's Wear OS and uses a custom RTOS build (similar to what Fitbit does) which will open the door to compatibility with iOS as well as Android. However, iOS support won't arrive at launch in April. OnePlus told our sister-site 9to5Google: "Compatibility with iOS will come at a later date and work with 10.0 or above."

OnePlus will also sell a special cobalt alloy edition of the watch. While the wearable sounds like it packs a lot, some major limitations include no cellular model and no app store for developers/third-party apps. So in reality, this will sit somewhere between basic fitness trackers and Apple Watch in true functionality.

OnePlus Watch is going up for sale on April 14 in the midnight black base variant.

Oh yeah, and one more thing OnePlus decided to copy was Apple's keynote design:

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Smart's airless bike tires use NASA tech to defeat punctures - Engadget

Posted: 24 Mar 2021 03:41 AM PDT

For more than 50 years, NASA has been channeling its advanced tech into everyday products. The space agency's materials have crept into everything from memory foam mattresses to smartphone and digital camera image sensors. So, it was only a matter of time before its breakthrough tire tech was added to the long list of so-called NASA spinoffs. A startup called Smart is using the airless shape memory alloy (SMA) tire technology — originally built for lunar and Mars rovers —for a bicycle tire called Metl.

Composed of interconnected springs that don't require inflation, Smart claims the superelastic tires are built like titanium to withstand rugged terrains without going flat. Essentially, it's hoping that the prospect of a puncture-free ride can lure in eco-conscious cyclists sick of tossing rubber tubes in the trash.

NASA's Glenn Research Center originally developed the SMA by modifying the typical elastic pneumatic tire material into memory alloys capable of withstanding severe reversible strain and deformation. To combat punctures, NASA engineers set out to create a tire that could flexibly adapt to uneven lunar and martian terrain and spring back into its original shape, while still boasting enhanced control. Naturally, all of those functions speak to off-road cycling.

As a NASA-approved startup, Smart has worked closely with the space agency on its Metl tire, which is set to make it to consumers early next year. It's already nabbed a partner in Spin, the Ford-owned e-scooter sharing company. Smart, which is co-founded by Survivor: Fiji champion Earl Cole and blockchain engineer Brian Yennie, also envisions its tires making their way to cars.

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