Apple introduced its Self Service Repair program in the US in April 2022, allowing users to order genuine parts and repair their devices. The company has now expanded the program to include the iPhone 17 series. If you’ve got an iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, or iPhone Air that needs a repair, you can now order parts and download repair manuals from Apple. However, it’s recommended to attempt the repair only if you know what you’re doing. While the manuals do provide detailed instructions, replacing components yourself can be challenging. [#InlinePriceWidget, 13964,...

Apple introduced its Self Service Repair program in the US in April 2022, allowing users to order genuine parts and repair their devices. The company has now expanded the program to include the iPhone 17 series. If you’ve got an iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, or iPhone Air that needs a repair, you can now order parts and download repair manuals from Apple. However, it’s recommended to attempt the repair only if you know what you’re doing. While the manuals do provide detailed instructions, replacing components yourself can be challenging. [#InlinePriceWidget, 13964,...

A new report by Omdia is out today and it crowns Samsung as the winner of the smartphone sales game in the third quarter (July to September). The Korean company shipped 60.6 million devices for a 19% market share, growing 6% over Q3 2024. Apple is second with 56.5 million shipments and 18% of the pie, growing 4% from the year-ago quarter. Xiaomi is in third with 43.4 million shipments, 14% market share, and a 1% growth year-on-year (YoY). Transsion (owner of Infinix, iTel, and Tecno) is in fourth with 28.6 million shipments, 9% market share, and the biggest YoY growth of the top five at...

Earlier this month, the Poco F8 Ultra got certified for sale in Thailand by NBTC, and today the same has happened to the Poco F8 Pro. This is rather interesting because the F7 Pro and F7 Ultra only launched in March, and we're barely seven months removed from that moment. And yet, these certifications came much earlier than they did for the F7 series, which strongly implies that we'll see the F8 Pro and F8 Ultra getting official way sooner than next March. And since they've been certified very close to each other, we're assuming they will launch together just like their predecessors did...

Quick question - which is safer? Android or iOS? A lot of people would instinctively pick the latter, and argue that it's Apple's 'walled garden' approach that makes it so - in fact, Apple itself keeps saying something like that every time the EU is trying to make it open up some other part of its ecosystem. But things are not always what they seem. And at least in one specific way, Android is actually safer than iOS. We're talking about protection from scams. A YouGov study says iOS users are 65% more likely than Android users to report receiving three or more scam texts in a week, while...

Today WhatsApp has announced that it's started supporting passkey-encrypted backups. What this means in practice is that you can use your fingerprint, face, or screen lock code to encrypt your WhatsApp chat backups, instead of having to resort to memorizing a password or a "cumbersome 64-digit encryption key", WhatsApp says. The company goes on to explain that "with just a tap or glance, the same security that protects your personal chats and calls on WhatsApp is applied to your chat backups", so they are always "safe, accessible, and private". The feature is expected to roll out...

Apple unveiled the M5-powered iPad Pro earlier this month, and now the folks over at iFixit have disassembled one in order to take a look at its insides and ascertain how repairable it actually is. It's the 13" model, by the way, which is just 5.1mm thick. That thinness in itself makes repairs harder, since every component needs to be insanely tightly packed, with the screen mounted flush against the internals. And the only way to get in is through the screen, unfortunately. Obviously, taking the screen off without cracking it isn't easy to do, but at least Apple is providing repair...