Month: July 2022

Shortly after Apple launched the iPhone 13 in September, I wrote about why the iPhone 11 was (and is) still a great deal at $500. It has Face ID, a sharp dual camera system and a large screen for $300 less than the iPhone 13. What’s not to like?

There’s only one setback that gives me some pause when recommending the iPhone 11: It doesn’t have 5G. A few years ago, 5G was just a buzzword that tech giants used to get customers excited about new products. Companies like Samsung charged a premium for 5G phones back in 2019, even though 5G networks were in the early stages then.

In 2022, you can get by just fine without a 5G phone. But now that 5G has become standard in most moderately priced phones, there’s little reason not to buy one if you’re already upgrading. Unless you’re an Apple fan that doesn’t want to spend more than $500, that is.

Many US shoppers likely aren’t paying that price all at once since carriers offer monthly installment plans. Most carriers also promote deals to subsidize upgrades, but those discounts usually require conditions like opening a new line or choosing a pricier plan.

Apple launched the $429 iPhone SE in March to provide a wallet-friendly 5G option. But with its small 4.7-inch screen and single camera, it’s not for everyone. At the same time, companies like Samsung and Google have been releasing promising 5G phones with many of the same qualities found on more expensive models, like the Galaxy A53 and Pixel 6A.

All of Apple’s flagship phones come with 5G, starting with 2020’s iPhone 12. But compared to Android, Apple doesn’t offer many options when it comes to affordable 5G devices. That could change in the coming months when the iPhone 14 is expected to launch, and I’m hoping it does.

Do I really need 5G in my next phone?
The answer is complicated. In many everyday scenarios, you probably won’t notice the difference between 4G and 5G. And 4G networks aren’t turning off anytime soon, so you don’t need to worry about a 4G phone becoming obsolete.

But if you’re buying a new phone, it’s best to go with a 5G-enabled device if you can afford one. Carriers are expanding their midband 5G networks, which provide speedier performance than 4G LTE, and low-band 5G can function at longer distances than the super fast (but severely limited) millimeter-wave 5G.

If you want a phone that will last for the next three to five years, I’d recommend buying a 5G phone so that you don’t miss out on speedier midband networks as they continue to expand. If you think you’ll be upgrading again in the next year or two, it’s fine to buy a 4G phone.

The iPhone SE is Apple’s only sub-$500 5G phone… for now

With eight iPhones on the market, Apple certainly provides a lot of choice. However, the 2022 iPhone SE is the only 5G option under $500.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like about the iPhone SE. It runs on the same processor as the iPhone 13, which means it has fast performance for the price. The camera takes great photos, and its battery life is longer than the previous iPhone SE’s. But it also comes with a lot of limitations.

The iPhone SE only has one rear camera even though most modern phones have at least two. That camera lacks night mode — another feature found on most phones released in 2019 or later. The iPhone SE also has the same design as the nearly 5-year-old iPhone 8, which means it has a small display and old-fashioned bezels above and below the screen. That can make it feel dated compared to many newer devices, like the Pixel 6A. It’s also not very different from the $400 iPhone SE that launched in 2020, aside from the new model’s 5G support and newer chip.

If you want 5G and more modern features like Face ID, a camera with wide and ultra-wide lenses, improved durability and a larger 5.4-inch screen, your closest option is the $600 iPhone 12 Mini. It’s more affordable than other devices in Apple’s lineup, like the $700 iPhone 13 Mini, $700 iPhone 12 and $800 iPhone 13. But it’s nearly two years old and is out of budget for anyone with a $500 limit.

While Apple’s sub-$500 5G options are limited right now, that might not be the case for much longer. Apple traditionally lowers the prices of its older iPhones when releasing new models, as it did with the iPhone 11 last year. If Apple follows the same pattern, the 5G-enabled iPhone 12 and 12 Mini could see another price drop that brings the Mini down to $500 this fall.

There’s also another possibility. Before Apple launched the iPhone SE in March, rumors suggested Apple was working on a cheaper iPhone with the same design as the iPhone 11. This rumored device has been referred to as the iPhone SE Plus.

Now that the iPhone SE is becoming a more regular part of Apple’s iPhone lineup, there’s a chance Apple could use this rumored iPhone 11-inspired design for the next-generation model. That would certainly address many of the iPhone SE’s current limitations, particularly its small screen and single camera.

But based on Apple’s release schedule, we probably won’t see a new iPhone SE until March or April 2024. So if you’re looking for a cheaper 5G iPhone in the near term, the current iPhone SE or a discounted older model will be your best bet.

The Android competition is moving ahead of Apple

The Android landscape looks vastly different than Apple’s. There are plenty of choices for those who don’t want to spend more than $500 on a new phone yet still want 5G connectivity. The $450 Google Pixel 6A is probably the best option right now, thanks to its great camera, large screen, eye-catching design and early access to Android updates.

The Pixel 6A isn’t alone. There’s a growing selection of 5G Android phones that cost $500 or less but have features that once demanded a premium price. Samsung, for example, sells the $450 Galaxy A53 5G and $400 Galaxy A42 5G, both of which have large screens, on-screen fingerprint sensors and multi-lens cameras. The iPhone SE doesn’t have any of those features, although it is the only current iPhone with a physical home button and fingerprint sensor.

Motorola’s $500 Moto G Stylus 5G has a spacious 6.8-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and four times as much storage as the base iPhone SE model. Although it’s not available in the US, the recently launched Nothing 1 phone is another example of an affordable 5G Android phone. For a price that translates to roughly $480, you get a large 6.55-inch OLED screen, a dual camera with a 50-megapixel main sensor and 128GB of storage. You can even find 5G phones for under $300, like the $250 Samsung Galaxy A13, although phones in the $400 to $500 range offer a better balance between features, speed and affordability.

These Android phones offer a lot of value compared to the iPhone SE. But it’s important to acknowledge where they fall short. The Pixel 6A is only guaranteed to get three years of major Android version updates, while Apple’s upcoming iOS 16 software will run on iPhones that are nearly five years old. Apple also supports phones for much longer than Motorola, which only promises one software upgrade. Unlike the iPhone SE, Samsung Galaxy A53 5G doesn’t run on the same processor as the company’s flagship phones. During my time testing the Galaxy A53, I experienced occasional software lag and performance hiccups — an issue that hasn’t come up with the iPhone SE.

For those who just want a basic inexpensive iPhone to stay connected to Apple’s apps and services, the iPhone SE is probably enough. But Android phone makers are proving that the list of compromises you need to make when spending $500 or less on a new phone is getting shorter. Now it’s time for Apple to catch up.

Amazon and Apple posted better than expected sales, reassuring investors that the tech giants will be able to weather slowdowns in global economies.

Amazon forecast in a trading update that higher fees for its Prime membership would boost its bottom line, while Apple said demand for its all important iPhone remained strong.

Both firms said they were making progress controlling running costs, despite prices rising at rapid rates.

The updates sent shares soaring.

The quarterly updates from Apple and Amazon are closely watched as indicators of how customers are reacting to the economic climate.

On Thursday, official figures revealed the US economy shrunk for the second quarter in a row, a milestone that in many countries would be considered an economic recession, but not in the US, which uses additional data to make that call.

“Our June quarter results continued to demonstrate our ability to manage our business effectively despite the challenging operating environment,” said Apple’s chief operating officer Luca Maestri, adding the company expected growth to pick up again in the months ahead.

However, both companies have seen sales growth slow sharply from last year and profits fall.

Apple’s profits dropped almost 11% from a year ago to $19.4bn (£15.9bn), as it wrestled with Covid-19 lockdowns in China, while Amazon lost $2bn, hit by changes to the value of its investment in electric carmaker Rivian Automotive.

Apple boss Tim Cook said the company was seeing a “mixed bag” of economic signals, with iPhone demand holding steady but areas like digital advertising slipping.

“When you think about the number of challenges in the quarter, we feel really good about the growth that we put up,” he said.

Overall, sales of Apple products and services rose 2% year-on-year between April and June to $83bn. Sales of iPhones continued to power the company’s gains, as supply constraints held back sales of other products.

Its services business, which includes Apple Pay and its streaming music and television services, also grew 12%.

Meanwhile, Amazon said its revenues were up 7% to $121.2bn, despite its e-commerce business being hit in recent months. Online sales shrank 4%, the second quarter in a row of decline.

But the company continues to be shielded by the strength of its clouding computing division, AWS, which saw sales soar by 33%.

In spring Amazon spooked investors, as its online sales softened and it warned it had spent too heavily to hire and add warehouses in a bet that pandemic-era shopping patterns would continue.

But it provided a more optimistic outlook this time.

“Despite continued inflationary pressures in fuel, energy, and transportation costs, we’re making progress on the more controllable costs we referenced last quarter, particularly improving the productivity of our fulfilment network,” said chief executive Andy Jassy.

Amazon said its e-commerce sales were poised to look especially weak because Prime Day, when discounts typically drive a surge of buying, was moved from June to July.

‘Mixed bag’
“Big tech’s been a mixed bag this earnings season, but Amazon proved that the strong can survive even the toughest environments,” said Laura Hoy, equity analyst from Hargreaves Lansdown.

Apple and Amazon are too big not to be affected by signs of slowdown in the global economy, said Scott Kessler, global sector lead at Third Bridge.

But their size gives them somewhat unique power to navigate those challenges, particularly when it comes to negotiating prices.

“Apple’s done an excellent job of managing those costs – it doesn’t hurt that they’re typically one of the biggest purchasers,” he said.

The new developer beta for iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 will include features like unsending text messages.

The fourth developer beta for iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and MacOS Ventura is out now, and there will be some major changes Apple users will want to take note of.

One of the biggest updates to be included in the upcoming release of iOS 16 for iPhones is that in iMessage you’ll be able to edit messages after you send them. You’ll also be able to unsend them.

Some other features getting updates are the lock screen, which will now be customizable, as well as improvements to Photos, SharePlay and Apple Pay Later.

Developers who want to download and try out the latest public beta versions when they become available can apply for Apple’s Beta Software Program.

Final versions of all the updates are expected to be released by the fall.

Read also: iOS 16 Compatibility List: All the iPhones That Will (And Won’t) Work

Here are more details about the new developer beta for iOS 16 and iPadOS 16:

Messages
Users can unsend a message for up to two minutes after sending it.
Messages can be edited up to 15 minutes after sending.
Users can make up to five edits to a given message, and recipients will be able to see a record of edits made to the message.
Mail
Undo Send preference setting: Users can choose to turn Undo Send on or off.
Undo Send preference setting: Users can select the duration of time in which an email can be recalled.
Follow Up preference setting: Users can turn the Follow Up feature on or off.
Live Activities API
Gives developers the ability to add support for Live Activities so users can follow an ongoing sports game or track the progress of a ride or order with just a glance.

The expanded app completes its rollout two months after it was announced at Google I/O.

Google users should have access to the new Google Wallet app, after the search giant reportedly completed its rollout on Monday. If you live in the US, you should now have a new Google Wallet App next to your Google Pay app. The former offers digital wallet functionality, while the latter acts primarily as a personal payment app like Venmo.

Google Wallet, announced in May during Google I/O, is Google’s effort at a more inclusive wallet app, which holds credit and debit cards in digital form, along with tickets, loyalty cards and vaccination cards.

Google rolled out the app to Android users in 39 countries last week, according to The Verge. In the US and Singapore, Google Wallet and Pay will remain two distinct apps.

But people in Europe and the rest of the word will get one unified app. They will see the Google Pay app change on their devices, with an updated title of Wallet, the new logo, and new options for adding passes like public transit and gift cards within it. For most, Google Wallet will simply replace the Google Pay app, with no need to manually transfer over. In India, new functionalities will stay under the Google Pay name.

In the long term, Google hopes to add identification cards like driver’s licenses and student IDs to Wallet’s capabilities, something Apple Wallet began offering in Arizona in March.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

You may see those precious 5G bars on your mobile device, but you might still have to wait to sign up for home broadband service.

I have to confess: Sometimes 5G still baffles me. One of the questions I’m often asked is, “I can get 5G on my phone at home, but I can’t get my provider’s 5G home internet product. Why is that?”

I ran up against this myself when I switched carriers earlier this year. I went from AT&T to T-Mobile and was immediately impressed with its 5G performance on my phone. But even though I got T-Mobile 5G cell service at home, my address wasn’t eligible for its Home Internet service. My immediate reaction: What gives?

It’s not just T-Mobile. The same applies to Verizon, too. Its 5G home internet product is also not categorically available at all addresses covered by the company’s own 5G coverage map. Even if you’ve got Verizon’s Ultra Wideband service in your neighborhood, it’s not a sure thing that you’ll be able to sign up for Verizon 5G Home Internet.

Wait, start at the beginning. T-Mobile and Verizon are offering 5G home internet?
Yes. T-Mobile and Verizon are each using cellular airwaves to offer dedicated 5G home internet plans. Each provider’s plan features straightforward, all-inclusive pricing that ditches equipment fees, data caps, term agreements and other added hassles often associated with internet service providers.

T-Mobile Home Internet features one plan for $50 per month ($30 for eligible Magenta Max customers). Verizon offers two plans — Verizon 5G Home ($50 a month) and Verizon 5G Home Plus ($70 a month). Qualifying Verizon Unlimited mobile plans can also knock 50% off the price of either plan. Simplicity and a straightforward approach seem to be key for both companies.

At present, AT&T doesn’t have a 5G home internet offering.

Is the home broadband business just a side hustle for these carriers?
I was tempted to think that getting into the ISP game was simply a lark for these companies, but telecom insider Jeff Moore, principal of Wave7 Research, sees more at play.

“Mobility is the core business for T-Mobile, and for the most part, it’s the core business for Verizon,” said Moore. “But T-Mobile, in particular, is telling Wall Street that in addition to selling [home internet] services to businesses, it’s also saying it’s increasingly pushing into rural America. I don’t think it’s just a PR stunt.”

Some of the early numbers support Moore’s assessment. In mid-April, T-Mobile proudly announced it had reached 1 million customers in just a year after the product’s nationwide launch. T-Mobile Home Internet is available to over 40 million households, and, per T-Mobile, a third of those homes are in rural communities and small towns.

Overall, T-Mobile has been quite aggressive in its pitch to customers. In May, it began its Internet Freedom push, which leans into Americans’ dissatisfaction with ISPs and encourages consumers to “break up with Big Internet” by trying T-Mobile Home Internet. To lure customers, it’s offering a free, 15-day test drive (so you can try it without having to change your current provider), a price lock guarantee (you pay $50 per month for as long as you remain a customer, with no lingering fears of price increases after a year, as is the case with many internet service providers), and additional savings of $20 per month with eligible Magenta Max mobile plans.

Verizon has also been ambitious with its offers but is ringing less of an “ISPs are evil” note. That’s probably because Verizon Fios — the company’s fiber-optic internet service — is an ISP and one of the few that’s regularly high-rated. In their case, 5G home internet seems less of a blow against “Big Internet” and more of a play to extend the Verizon home internet game beyond the Northeast (Verizon Fios’ playground) and out to the rest of the country.

If T-Mobile and Verizon are serious about home internet, why is it still not as widely available as their overall 5G coverage?
When my colleague Eli Blumenthal tested Verizon 5G Home, he noted that the 5G connection on his iPhone was better than the one for his 5G Home hub.

A Verizon spokesperson told me via email that it designed its network with its mobile customers in mind. “We continue to allocate spectrum to ensure our mobile customers have the reliability they’ve come to expect from Verizon,” they said. “As we deploy more spectrum — in excess of what our models show we need for the highest reliability for our mobile customers — we are able to offer 5G Home service as well.”

5G allows for a greater connection density — approximately 1 million devices per square kilometer — than previous generations of cellular connectivity. Is that a lot? Yes, it’s about 100 times better than 4G, but it’s not limitless. Because a home internet product puts a heavy capacity usage on a mobile network, Moore believes T-Mobile has also been judicious about how it’s selling home internet.

He pointed me to a recent YouTube interview given by Kendra Lord, T-Mobile’s director of geospatial engineering and analytics, where she likened 5G home internet availability to the number of seats on a plane.

“It’s not only the number of households that we believe could get [T-Mobile Home Internet],” she said, “but how many within a given sector we could say yes to.”

When I reached out to T-Mobile for further insight, a spokesperson corroborated that mindset. “There are still many households that do not qualify for Home Internet yet, even though they may get 5G on their mobile device — and that’s intentional,” they told me via email.

“Our fixed wireless Home Internet runs on the extra capacity on our wireless network. In some areas, we have extra capacity on the network, but in others, we don’t. So, we allocate access to Home Internet on a sector-by-sector, home-by-home basis.”

In other words, it’s entirely possible that I could get 5G cellular service in my home, and my next-door neighbor might even have T-Mobile Home Internet, but my address still might not be serviceable for that home internet product due to the capacity limits for my area’s cellular coverage.

So the next time you ask, “Why can’t I get 5G home internet even though I have 5G on my phone at home?” I advise you to hang tight — both carriers are actively working on optimizing their networks for mobile first, home internet second, in a dynamic process that changes month to month.

Apple’s new iPhone software is here, and it may be the last one before iOS 16.

Apple released iOS 15.6 on July 20, which means you can now download the update to your iPhone. The new mobile operating system folds in bug fixes — including for an error that incorrectly showed phone storage as full — and a new feature for watching live sports in the TV app.

The TV app will now let people restart live sports games already in progress, as well as pause, rewind and fast forward. iOS 15.6 also includes a lengthy list of security updates for the iPhone.

Here are Apple’s release notes from Wednesday:

iOS 15.6 includes enhancements, bug fixes and security updates.

TV app adds the option to restart a live sports game already in-progress and pause, rewind, or fast-forward
Fixes an issue where Settings may continue to display that device storage is full even if it is available
Fixes an issue that may cause braille devices to slow down or stop responding when navigating text in Mail
Fixes an issue in Safari where a tab may revert back to a previous page
This may be the last update to iOS 15 before the company’s next mobile software, iOS 16, gets a wide release alongside the heavily rumored iPhone 14. The next version of iOS, which is available now in public beta, will bring several new features, including the ability to edit and unsend messages, a new customizable lock screen, changes to notifications, as well as updates to Wallet and Apple Pay.

Apple also released iPadOS 15.6, MacOS 12.5, WatchOS 8.7 and TVOS 15.6 on Wednesday. In addition to security updates, iPadOS 15.6 and MacOS 12.5 got the same TV app update for live sports as iOS 15.6, while WatchOS 8.7 brought bug fixes, and TVOS 15.6 got performance and stability improvements, according to Apple.

Apple has been hit with a lawsuit in the US over Apple Pay.

The tech giant is being accused of using its market power in the mobile phone industry to fend off competition from other payment card issuers.

The class-action complaint was filed in a federal court in California by Affinity Credit Union, an Iowa-based chartered credit union.

Apple did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

According to the complaint, Apple “coerces” consumers who use its smartphones, smart watches and tablets into using its own wallet for contactless payments, unlike makers of Android-based devices that let consumers choose wallets, such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

The complaint alleges that Apple prevents consumers from using competing mobile wallets capable of offering competing tap and pay solutions.

Iowa’s Affinity Credit Union said Apple’s anti-competitive conduct forced the more than 4,000 banks and credit unions that use Apple Pay to pay at least $1 billion in excess fees annually for the privilege.

It also said Apple’s conduct minimised the incentive for the California-based company to make Apple Pay work better and make it more resistant to security breaches.

“Apple’s conduct harms not only issuers, but also consumers and competition as a whole,” Affinity Credit Union said.

“If Apple faced competition, it could not sustain these substantial fees.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, and a halt to Apple’s alleged anti-competitive conduct.

Other legal battles
Apple already faces a possible heavy fine after European Union regulators on 2 May said it had abused its dominance in iOS devices and mobile wallets, by refusing to give payment rivals access to its technology.

According to the complaint, Apple charges issuers a 0.15% fee on credit transactions and a flat 0.5 cent fee on debit transactions using Apple Pay, while Android-based rivals charge nothing.

The plaintiff is represented by the law firms Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Sperling and Slater.

Last August, they helped obtain a $100 million settlement for smaller iOS developers which claimed Apple overcharged them on commissions.

In discussing the European Union’s probe of Apple’s mobile payment policies in May, the bloc’s digital chief Margrethe Vestager said Apple claimed it couldn’t provide access to NFC for security reasons.

In Europe, most payments in shops made with a mobile phone rely on a wireless technology called ‘Near Field Communication’ – NFC.

This functionality enables communication between a customer’s mobile phone and the shop’s payments terminal – allowing ‘tap and go’.

“Our investigation to date did not reveal any evidence that would point to such a higher security risk,” Vestager said on the EU’s website.

“On the contrary, evidence on our file indicates that Apple’s conduct cannot be justified by security concerns.”

Google too
Allegations that Google overcharged millions of app users in the UK are also set to go to trial.

The suit is being brought by a consumer affairs campaigner, Liz Coll, on behalf of almost 20 million British users of Google’s Play Store.

Her aim is to compensate UK Android smartphone and tablet users for years of alleged overcharging by Google and infringement of competition law.

She said: “We are confident our claim is a good one.

“Google Play Store’s imposition of a headline 30% charge on our digital purchases is unlawful and unjustifiable, and we look forward to arguing the case for UK consumers at trial.”

Google said it would defend the claim.

The answer depends on your budget, which carrier you have and how long you plan to hold onto your new phone.

Access to 5G used to come at a high cost just a few years ago. Now, the technology is standard in most new smartphones and is available in devices that can cost less than $300.

But there are times when you might be wonder whether 5G is a necessary feature in a phone. Maybe you’re getting a great deal on a refurbished device from a couple of years ago that doesn’t support 5G. Perhaps you’re eyeballing the iPhone 11, one of the cheapest phones Apple currently sells at $500 but that can’t connect to 5G.

For US shoppers, the answer largely depends on what carrier you have, how much you’re willing to spend and how long you’re planning to hold onto your next phone. Since 5G is available in just about every new phone at no additional cost, there are few reasons not to buy a 5G-enabled phone.

Combine that with the fact that carriers are building out their midband networks — which offer faster speeds than low-band 5G offerings as well as broader coverage than the fastest millimeter-wave networks — and the argument for buying a 5G phone is even stronger.

At the same time, it’s important to remember that 5G speeds and coverage will vary depending on your carrier. And 4G phones will continue to function for years to come.

“They’re not turning off those 4G networks anytime soon,” said Avi Greengart, president and lead analyst for research and advisory firm Techsponential. “Your phone will be dead before you need to worry about it.”

Understanding 5G
Figuring out whether you need 5G in your next phone starts with understanding the current state of 5G. All three major network providers in the US offer 5G, and there are three main flavors to be aware of.

There’s low-band 5G, which is available broadly but provides similar speeds as 4G LTE, and millimeter wave 5G, the super fast version that only operates at a short range. You likely won’t notice the difference between 4G and 5G when you’re on a low-band network. But millimeter-wave networks are so scarce you probably won’t find yourself near one on a regular basis unless you frequent busy venues like stadiums, arenas or airports. Even then, the coverage is often only in select locations.

The happy medium between both of these networks is midband 5G which provides faster speeds than 4G but can also cover much larger distances than millimeter wave. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are all at different phases of their midband deployment, with T-Mobile currently taking the lead. The carrier said in February that its Ultra Capacity network, which is mostly comprised of midband spectrum acquired from Sprint, reached 210 million people by the end of 2021. T-Mobile expects to reach 300 million people with its midband network, Ultra Capacity 5G, by the end of 2023.

Verizon, on the other hand, is aiming to cover 175 million people with its Ultra Wideband network, which uses millimeter wave and its midband spectrum, in 2022. AT&T plans to cover 200 million people with its own midband network by the end of the year.

All these technologies can work together to provide better coverage, speed and performance than 4G LTE.

“So we’re not just talking about cities, but a lot of the country where people live is covered by T-Mobile 5G,” said Greengart. “And so you’re going to want to buy a 5G phone both for coverage reasons and for speed.”

How much are you willing to spend?

The biggest factor in determining whether you should buy a 5G phone is how much you’re willing to spend. If you have less than $200 to spend on a new device, it might be difficult to find a worthwhile 5G phone.

If your budget allows for spending more than $400, there are several compelling 5G options like the $429 iPhone SE and $450 Galaxy A53 5G. The upcoming $450 Google Pixel 6A will also support 5G when it launches on July 28. That’s a significant departure compared to when the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G launched roughly three years ago for a sky high price of $1,300.

Cheaper phones may not support all flavors of 5G, namely the fastest millimeter-wave networks, but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for most people shopping today. With its benefits in speed and range, the three major networks have prioritized midband 5G deployments over the past year. As long as your new phone supports midband 5G, you should be able to connect to faster speeds in more places.

It’s important to consider what matters most to you in a phone and how long you’re planning to hold onto a device. If you’d rather have a larger screen, a more contemporary design, dual-cameras and are planning to upgrade your phone again in two years, the 4G-enabled $500 iPhone 11 might be a better choice than the $429 5G-capable iPhone SE.

But if you’re looking for a phone that can get you through the next three years or so, it’s probably best to look for a 5G device. Most Android phones in the $400-$500 range have 5G and modern features like multi-lens cameras and large screens.

The situation is different for Apple fans. The only 5G-enabled option under $600 is the 2022 iPhone SE, which has Apple’s latest smartphone chip but lacks other staples like a big screen and multiple cameras. That might change this fall when the rumored iPhone 14 launches and Apple drops the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini’s price accordingly.

Bob O’Donnell, president and chief analyst for Technalysis Research, says 5G will likely feel more essential in early 2024. By then, carriers will have had more time to build out their midband networks.

“You will get faster speeds,” said O’Donnell. “Hopefully by then we’ll see some additional services and apps that take advantage of 5G.”

The bottom line

To decide whether you need 5G in your next phone, consider how much you’re willing to spend, how long you plan to hold onto your phone before upgrading and what type of coverage your carrier provides.

Investing in a new 5G phone is generally the best move if you can afford it since it ensures that your device will feel fast and relevant for years to come. But if your budget is limited, or the 5G phones available to you right now don’t fit your needs, you won’t be missing out on too much by opting for 4G instead.

“As a purely functional phone, you can’t go wrong with a good LTE phone,” said O’Donnell.

Apple’s iOS 16 is now available in a public beta, which means you can try the operating system’s new features on a compatible iPhone ahead of its public release in fall. Communication, personalization and privacy are the main focuses of iOS 16, which offers upgrades to your iPhone’s lock screen, Messages app and Wallet, just to name a few.

First previewed at the company’s annual WWDC keynote, iOS 16 should get a wide release alongside the heavily rumored iPhone 14. The new software will work on iPhone 8 models and newer.

Here’s every iOS 16 feature you should know about.

Edit and ‘unsend’ messages
“Embarrassing typos are a thing of the past,” Apple SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said as he introduced three of the most requested features for the Messages app.

First, in iOS 16 you’ll be able to edit sent messages. So if you notice a typo after a message, you’ll be able to edit the message after the fact. A tiny “edited” appears in the status under the message.

Next, and this might be my favorite new feature, you can immediately recall a sent message. If you accidentally send an unfinished message, you can use the Undo Send tool to prevent it from being read and hopefully look less chaotic to your friends and family.

Last, you can mark messages and threads as unread. This could be an excellent tool for when you don’t have time to respond to a message in the moment, but want to make sure you come back to it later.

A new customizable lock screen
One of the things you look at the most on your iPhone is the lock screen, especially if you have a Face ID-equipped iPhone. iOS 16 brings the most substantial update to the iPhone’s lock screen yet. Press and hold to edit your lock screen. You can swipe to try out several different styles. Each style changes the color filter for the background photo and the font on the lock screen so everything complements each other. This feels a bit like Apple’s take on Google’s Material You, which launched with Android 12.

You can also customize the fonts for the time and date, and add lock screen widgets like temperature, activity rings and a calendar. The widgets are akin to complications on the Apple Watch lock screen.

You can even set up multiple customized lock screens with different widgets and easily swipe to switch between them. There’s also a photo shuffle option that automatically changes the pictures on your lock screen.

One feature we hoped to see Apple add was an always-on display. It’s something nearly all Android phones have; even the Apple Watch does. There’s hope the iPhone 14 will have one.

Notifications and live activities
Sometimes notifications can cover up your lock screen’s photo, so iOS 16 moves notifications to the bottom of your display. As you receive them, instead of being compiled into a list, they appear like a vertical carousel. This not only looks better but should be a big help for one-handed use of your iPhone.

iOS 16 also aims to solve another notification problem. Sometimes you get a bunch of notifications in a row from one app, like the score of a basketball game. A new tool for developers called Live Activities makes it easier to stay on top of things happening in real time from your lock screen, instead of getting a series of interruptions.

Live Activities should make it easier to follow sporting events, workouts or even the progress of an Uber ride.

Skip CAPTCHAs using Private Access Tokens
The CAPTCHA — which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart — has been a necessary evil across the internet. CAPTCHAs are designed to make sure that a person is accessing a website or service, and not a bot. I find them annoying, as they often involve reading strangely written letters or having to find all the images that have a truck. With iOS 16, Apple plans to start replacing these awkward interactions with Private Access Tokens.

According to a video on Apple’s website demonstrating Private Access Tokens, websites that support the token will essentially log in and authenticate that you are indeed a human without your having to play any of the usual CAPTCHA games. Apple says in the video that the company is working with other companies to roll out support for this feature, so we can’t say the CAPTCHA will be dead after iOS 16 rolls out to the public. But the concept could provide some relief if it gets adopted.

Wallet and Apple Pay Later
ID cards from more states will be available in your Wallet app along with more security and privacy features. In iOS 16 you can also protect your identity and age. So rather than showing your exact birth date, the Wallet app will display your ID and that you’re over 21.

iOS 16 makes sharing keys easier with apps like Mail and Messages. When your friend receives the key, they can add it to the Wallet app on their iPhone. Apple said it’s working to make sure that shared keys are an industry standard and free for others.

Apple Pay will support new types of payments and adds a new feature called Apple Pay Later, a Klarna-like service that lets you split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees. Upcoming payments are managed through the Wallet app, making it easy to keep track of dates and payments.

But Apple Pay doesn’t stop there. A new feature will also help you track Apple Pay orders and lets merchants deliver detailed receipts and tracking information. This should make it easier to stay up to date on the status of all your orders.

Visual Lookup’s tap and drag for photos
In iOS 15, Visual Look Up analyzes your photos and can identify objects like plants, landmarks and pets. iOS 16 takes this to the next level. When you touch a photo’s subject like the dog in the image above, you can lift it away from the background and add it to apps like Messages. Essentially it’s a tap-and-hold tool that removes a photo’s background.

Apple sometimes overuses the word “magic,” but this feature truly seems like it.

SharePlay comes to Messages
SharePlay, which debuted in iOS 15, lets you have a shared experience while connecting with someone over FaceTime. You can watch TV shows, listen to music in sync and other things. iOS 16 adds the ability to discover more apps that support SharePlay from within FaceTime.

But perhaps one of the coolest things Apple did for SharePlay was to make it work within the Messages app. Apple said that this was one of the biggest requests from app developers. Now when you want to share a movie on Disney Plus, you can start SharePlay together with a friend while chatting in Messages.

Safety Check aims to help people in abusive relationships
Safety Check is a new feature intended to be helpful for people in abusive relationships. It lets you review and reset who has access to location information as well as passwords, messages and other apps on an iPhone.

Focus mode updates and Focus filters
Focus mode gets several updates. The first applies Focus behaviors to widgets and lock screen looks. So you could have one lock screen set for when your Work Focus is enabled and another for workouts.

Apple added specific Focus filters that apply your iPhone’s Focus mode within apps. For example, in Safari, you can limit what tabs are shown depending on what Focus mode you have active.

Apple Maps adds transit fare cards
Maps will get several updates. You’ll be able to plan trips with up to 15 different stops along the way. If you start planning a trip with the Maps app on your Mac, you’ll be able to share that to your iPhone.

And in something similar to what Google announced for Google Wallet in Android 13, you’ll be able to see transit fare estimates as well as add more money to a fare card from within Apple Maps.

iCloud family checklist
iCloud gets several new features. One of the more interesting ones is the option to quickly set up a new device for your child. When Quick Start appears, you have the option to pick a user for the new device and use all the existing parental controls you’ve previously selected and configured. However, this is not what many of us still want: the ability to set up separate users for the same device.

There’s a new family checklist with tips for updating settings for your kids as they get older, like a reminder to check location-sharing settings or share your iCloud Plus subscriptions.

With a faster chip, bigger screen, new design and better webcam, this new M2 MacBook from Apple is the biggest change to the Air line since its launch.

In the 14 years since the MacBook Air line launched, I’ve often described it as “the most universally useful laptop you can buy.” That’s because the Air has always attempted to hit a delicate balance between price, portability, ease of use and features. And since 2008, Apple has succeeded in nailing that formula more often than not.

Thanks to a new design, a larger display (13.6 inches versus the previous 13.3 inches), a faster M2 chip and a long-awaited upgrade to a higher-res webcam, I feel comfortable keeping that “universally useful” title for the new 2022 version of the MacBook Air, with one caveat. At $1,199, the $200 increase over the traditional $999 MacBook Air starting price is a disappointment. Note that we’re reviewing the step-up $1,499 configuration, which adds more GPU cores and more storage space (but still only includes 8GB of RAM).

The previous M1 Air, with an older design, remains available at $999, somewhat mitigating the price increase on the new version. But you’re inevitably going to be drawn to the new design and features. The latest MacBook Air represents the biggest overall change to the product line, arguably since 2008, but at least since 2018. That’s when the Air gained modern features like a higher-res screen and fingerprint reader. In 2020, the Air switched from Intel chips to Apple’s own M1 chips, but without a physical redesign.