Samsung first announced the Odyssey Ark back in January during CES 2022. The massive display offered an experience like no other, mainly due to its 55-inch size paired with a 1000R curvature. The display can now be reserved through Samsung’s website before its eventual release sometime in September.
The 55-inch 4K display has a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, a response time of 1ms with support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and an impressive 165Hz refresh rate. The Odyssey Ark uses Samsung’s Quantum Matrix Mini LED Technology and offers support for HDR. As you might expect from a display of this caliber, the picture quality is top-end and can even take lower resolution sources, process them with AI, and upscale them to crispy 4K. To provide the best possible viewing experience, the company also leverages its Matte Display technology, which offers anti-glare and anti-reflective properties.
The display also packs great sound, thanks to Samsung’s Sound Dome Tech featuring AI Sound Booster and Dolby Atmos. The sound is pumped through four speakers, one located at each corner, providing good separation and can also provide deep bass with its two central woofers. The new 55-inch display is a monster but is also quite nimble thanks to its ability to go into “Cockpit Mode.” The screen can rotate vertically and horizontally with its height adjustable stand and can even tilt and pivot for the best viewing experience.
Of course, the Odyssey Ark also supports Samsung Gaming Hub, giving users access to multiple game streaming services. Samsung Gaming Hub has partnered with several services, including Xbox, Nvidia, Google, Utomik, and more recently, Amazon Luna. The Odyssey Ark also comes with a controller, giving users the best way to customize their experience. The Ark Dial is a solar-powered remote that will never have to be charged. The remote offers easy access to a variety of settings.
As you might expect, this technology doesn’t come cheap, with the Samsung Odyssey Ark coming in at $3,499.99. Those that reserve the display can receive a $100 discount, with pre-orders getting an additional $200 0ff, for a total of $300 off when it is released. If interested, take advantage of the early discount by reserving using the link.
Intel’s long-awaited Arc GPUs are finally here but along with it some news for fans of older games. It looks like Intel will no longer be natively supporting DirectX 9 (DX9) on Arc and Xe dedicated GPUs and integrated graphics on 12th Gen processors.
As reported by The Verge, Intel has quietly announced that it’s switching from hardware support for DX9 on Arc and Xe to emulation courtesy of DirectX 12 (DX12).
12th generation Intel processor’s integrated GPU and Arc discrete GPU no longer support D3D9 natively. Applications and games based on DirectX 9 can still work through Microsoft* D3D9On12 interface.
What does that actually mean? In theory, nothing, at least for the moment. What it does is immediately shift responsibility for DX9 support from Intel over to Microsoft, and as such, any support issues. D3D9On12 is listed on GitHub for those who want to find out more about it. There won’t be dedicated driver support for the remaining popular DX9 games, of which there are quite a few, though not a huge number that relies entirely on DX9. But Intel doesn’t currently envisage any issues for folks to play those titles using Arc or Xe graphics.
It’s important to also point out this only affects the Arc line of GPUs and 12th Gen processors with Xe integrated graphics. 11th Gen Intel chips have native support for DX9 and that isn’t going away. Intel does point out, though, that when paired with an Arc GPU, you will lose that support unless you tell your system to use the integrated graphics instead.
The integrated GPU on 11th generation and older Intel processors supports DX9 natively, but they can be combined with Arc graphics cards. If so, rendering is likely to be handled by the card and not the iGPU (unless the card is disabled). Thus, the system will be using DX9On12 instead of DX9.
All fingers crossed that things continue to operate as planned.
Apple is famous for the high-end products it sells. The company offers premium hardware that it pairs with optimized software. Whether you buy a new iPhone, versatile iPad, or great Mac — these devices usually remain supported and last for many years. This makes what the Cupertino firm sells stand out in the tech industry. Though, typically, when users spend hundreds of dollars on a product, they expect to see ads minimally. After all, a comfortable experience should accompany high price tags. For the longest time, Apple has refrained from aggressively pushing ads on its users. Unfortunately for all of us, though, it appears that this is bound to change.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple could start showing its users more ads across its apps. The company currently shows prominent advertisements in the News, Stocks, and App Store apps. That’s not to mention that it recently started adding more advertising slots across different App Store sections.
Inside the ads group, Teresi has talked up expanding the business significantly. It’s generating about $4 billion in revenue annually, and he wants to increase that to the double digits. That means Apple needs to crank up its efforts.
The report indicates that Apple ads could expand to Maps, Books, Podcasts, and other built-in apps that the company provides. This would give companies and creators the opportunity to surface their offerings in more places for users to see. Apple allows users to turn off Personalized Ads in privacy settings. However, this toggle only affects the relevance of the advertisements — not their quantity. It’s yet to be seen whether these potential ad changes will impact future iPhone sales or not.
Would you still buy Apple products if the company starts showing more ads across its systems? Let us know in the comments section below.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro launch could be less than a month away! We’re expecting Apple to reveal these high-end smartphones — along with the Apple Watch Series 8 and other products — during an event in September. While it has been a long wait, rumors have been sharing what we might see in a few weeks. For starters, we’re confident that the regular and Pro iPhone 14 models will have their own distinctive characteristics. The cheaper variants could stick to the current design and chipset of the iPhone 13 series. On the other hand, the Pro and Pro Max editions might ditch the notch, get an upgraded camera system, and support the always on display (AOD) feature. In a fresh leak, LeaksApplePro has shared even more details on Twitter. They highlight some of the potential iPhone 14 Pro specifications.
A source has had hands-on time with iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max.
(Thread)
-The new pill+hole doesn’t add anything new. It looks different, but it pretty much works like the notch. Once you get used to it it’s “gone”.
-It’s thick. The Pro Max feels like a brick (as usual).
The pill and hole design might not offer any UI-related advantages.
Under good lighting conditions, the upgraded (and massive) 48MP camera sensor could result in excellent output. However, the company is seemingly facing quality challenges when it comes to low-light photography.
The battery life might increase by a few hours.
In the speakers department, we’re hearing about more base and a clearer overall audio quality.
The display resolution could be similar to that of the iPhone 13 lineup.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro launch could potentially be less than a month away. Despite that, there’s always room for last-minute rumors and leaks. At this point, though, we already have a pretty clear idea regarding the possible designs and internals of these upcoming phones.
Do you plan on buying an iPhone this fall? If so, which model? Let us know in the comments section below.
Unique color-changing design, superb camera, and powerful performance – here is all you need to know about the stylish vivo V25 series ahead of its global launch.
The new vivo V25 series is slated for global release this month, debuting the V25 and V25 Pro models. These devices will bring upgrades across the board, improving on an already impressive reputation that the V series has earned. Expect new unique color-changing designs, incredible photography capabilities, and top-tier performance. With a superb rear and front camera setup and innovative features inside and out, the V25 and V25 Pro are crafted to encourage users to create, have fun, and explore. Here is everything that you need to know about these phones, ahead of their global launch.
With enhanced autofocus capabilities, the V25 and V25 Pro keep your selfies clear even when you’re in motion.
Creative Imaging Tools for Stunning Results
vivo has always used the V series to create an excellent camera experience for varioustypesof photography scenarios. Both the V25 and V25 Pro continue to bring that experience to a new level, allowing people to showcase their creativity and individuality. People can take advantage of the robust hardware and software built into the devices to showcase their creativity in a way that yields flagship-level results. With the benefit of vivo’s proven expertise in imaging R&D to reproduce natural colors, you can easily capture pure, high-quality images and videos and then use a host of creative tools to edit and publish your content.
The rear camera setup is one of the main attractions, boasting a 64MP ultra-sensing camera with upgraded OIS and EIS capabilities. For wide shots, the 8MP super wide-angle camera is able to capture stunning photos and stable video. When ready for your selfie, the V25 and V25 Pro treat you to a superb experience, offering 50MP and 32MP front-facing cameras, respectively. The front-facing cameras on both models have integrated skin enhancement software functions and autofocus that will keep your selfies clear even when you’re in motion.
Shot on V25 Pro using Real-Time Extreme Night Vision.
Currently, vivo is getting a lot of recognition for its strong night photography solutions, with its top phones setting the bar very high. These night photography capabilities make their way into the V25 series, enabling ultra-sensing night portraits, night photo and video modes, and more. A collection of features will help to accurately restore colors and brightness in low-light conditions.
As a way of ensuring that users can effortlessly capture and publish creative video content, vivo has added a Vlog Movie function to the V series. This feature offers preset video templates that will teach you how to enhance the video experience. You’ll be able to create videos that document your day-to-day life, a special vacation, or just a holiday family reunion, and produce content that is ready to publish to your social media.
Express your Style with New Designs
The vivo V25 series continues to carry the signature V series colorful design that exudes fun and expressive aesthetics. The iconic looks of the V25 and V25 Pro come from the new bright eye-catching colorways. The light and slim devices are encased in the revolutionary color-changing Fluorite AG glass that allows the back panel of the devices to shift color when exposed to UV light.
Aiming to inspire creativity, the vivo V25 series comes in a variety of colors ranging from shades of blue to gold, and there is a classic black option for those who enjoy minimalist designs.
Upgraded Performance for Smooth Experience
The hardware was designed to provide and support consistent and robust performance in every aspect. New features are included with a specific focus on enhancing your gaming experience, along with media consumption, web browsing, and app performance.
The vivo V25 will include the MediaTek Dimensity 900 with 8GB/12GB RAM + 8GB Extended RAM. The vivo V25 Pro is equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 1300 which is paired with 8GB/12GB RAM + 8GB Extended RAM. Both models also come with 5G capabilities to ensure the fastest connection speeds.
Both phones have a fast-charging battery, a large AMOLED screen, a reliable cooling system, and the Funtouch OS 12 software based on Android 12. We will learn more details about these features during the global launch.
A Phone for Self-Expression
Everything that we know about the vivo V25 series points to a lineup that embraces the idea of using your phone to express yourself. The bright color-changing designs that interact with your environment let you pick a phone that matches your aesthetic, while the powerful photo and video capabilities allow you to capture life in your own style.
Stay tuned for the official launch of these two exciting new phones, where you’ll learn more about the specs, pricing, and availability.
We thank vivo for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.
If you’re looking for a gaming laptop on the cheap, the HP Victus 15 is something that’s certainly worth taking a look at. It’s an entry-level gaming PC, meaning that you’re not going to see any RGB lighting, 360Hz displays, or high-end RTX graphics. What you will get is a lot of bang for your buck.
It does still have a 16:9 display, and it’s reminiscent of older gaming laptops that sacrifice color gamut in favor of a higher refresh rate. But performance was a lot better than I expected, considering that HP sent me the base model with a Core i5, a GTX 1650, and 8GB RAM, which costs under $800.
I actually had a great time with it, and since games automatically adjust their graphics based on your hardware, I found that gameplay was actually smoother than on some high-end gaming laptops. For a casual gamer that’s looking for value, the Victus 15 is a good pick.
As an entry-level gaming laptop, the HP Victus 15 starts at $549.99, although the Intel model starts at $799.99
It’s available now, and it comes in Mica Silver, Ceramic White, and Performance Blue
Announced earlier this year, the HP Victus 15 is available now. You can get it in your choice of AMD Ryzen 5000 or Intel 12th-gen, although as usual, Intel’s processors come at a bit of a premium. The AMD Ryzen model starts at $549.99, while the Intel model will start at $799.99.
These base models come with either a Ryzen 5 5600H or a Core i5-12450H, either of which will be paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. On the higher end, it can come with RTX 3050 Ti or Radeon RX 6500M graphics.
It comes in three colors: Mica Silver, Ceramic White, and Performance Blue. For the most part, you’ll find the full array of colors at HP.com.
15.6″ diagonal, FHD (1920 x 1080), 144 Hz, 9 ms response time, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, 250 nits
RAM
8 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 X 4 GB)
Storage
512 GB PCIe NVMe TLC M.2 SSD (4×4 SSD)
Battery
3-cell, 52.5 Wh Lithium-ion prismatic Battery
Ports
1 SuperSpeed USB Type-C 5Gbps signaling rate (DisplayPort 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge)
1 SuperSpeed USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate (HP Sleep and Charge)
1 SuperSpeed USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate
1 HDMI 2.1
1 RJ-45
1 AC smart pin
1 headphone/microphone combo
1 multi-format SD media card reader
Webcam
HP Wide Vision 720p HD camera with temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones
Audio
Audio by B&O; Dual speakers; HP Audio Boost
Keyboard
Full-size, backlit, mica silver keyboard with numeric keypad
Precision Touchpad Support
Color
Mica Silver
OS
Windows 11 Home
Price
$799.99
Design: It’s designed for gaming without the bells and whistles
It has two USB Type-A ports, Ethernet, a full-size SD card slot, HDMI, and USB Type-C
Mica Silver is just black
The HP Victus 15 looks and feels like a gaming laptop, something that actually surprises me a bit. Given the entry-level nature of it, it can be assumed that customers who buy one will also be using it for something else, like school. They might also be doing some photo or video editing on it.
But like I said, you only need to take one look at the HP Victus 15 to know that it was made for gamers. It has the vents all across the back, and there are angled edges that elevate the bottom for better air flow. And of course, it’s got the Victus logo stamped in the lid, as opposed to an HP logo or an HP OMEN logo.
The color of the unit that HP sent me is called Mica Silver, which is similar to the Dark Ash Silver that the company used to use on its Spectre laptops. In other words, it’s not silver at all. It’s really just black, or maybe even a dark gray. It also comes in Ceramic White and Performance Blue, which is pretty neat for a laptop like this. It makes it more personal.
Now, let’s talk about ports, because the selection is interesting. First of all, I just want to say that I’m disappointed that none of them are on the rear of the laptop. By nature, a gaming laptop has things plugged into it while you’re using it; at the least, you’ll be connected to power. And when you have cables sticking out the sides of your laptop, they get in the way. This is even worse on a gaming laptop, because there’s only one power port.
Other than that, I like the port selection. On the left side, you’ll find the power port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB Type-A port, and a full-size SD card slot. That SD card slot is actually a pretty solid value indicator if you might also be using this laptop to edit photos and videos. Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like it’s just an entry-level gaming laptop.
On the right side, you’ll find HDMI, USB Type-A, USB Type-C, and Ethernet ports. Wired internet is another thing I wouldn’t expect to see from an entry-level laptop like this. Obviously, steadier connectivity means better gaming performance, faster downloads, and so on.
Unfortunately, all of the USB ports are USB 3.2 Gen 1, meaning that they offer 5Gbps data transfer speeds.
Display and keyboard: The screen is FHD at 144Hz, but that’s the whole story
There are only three display options, all of which are FHD
The model that HP sent me includes a 15.6-inch 1,920×1,080 display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Obviously, a 16:9 screen isn’t something we see too much of these days, with so many brands switching over to 16:10, but again, this is more entry-level. In fact, there are three options, all of which are FHD. The other two come in at 250-nit and 300-nit brightness.
Even the 144Hz refresh rate is something that’s aimed at the more casual gamer. If you’re a competitive gamer, you’re looking at QHD screens with 240Hz refresh rates or FHD screens with 360Hz refresh rates. Still, 144Hz is solid if you’re gaming more as a hobby, and I highly recommend it over the 60Hz options. It does make a difference in gameplay.
According to me testing, it supports 65% sRGB, 46% NTSC, 48% Adobe RGB, and 48% P3. These numbers aren’t particularly good. Historically, a lot of gaming laptops have sacrificed things like a wide color gamut in favor of refresh rate. In fact, the idea has been to sacrifice anything necessary for gaming performance. The gaming laptop market has gotten a lot better, but this laptop is still entry-level.
Brightness maxxed out at 261.4 nits, exceeding the 250 nits that were promised, and contrast was a healthy 1,190:1. For an entry-level gaming laptop, the display is pretty good overall. It’s just not ideal for things that require color accuracy like photo and video editing, a shame considering that it has an SD card slot.
Sadly, the webcam is 720p. I know that 1080p webcams tend to be reserved for more premium devices, but I really don’t qualify that as an excuse. In this day and age of working from home, webcams are important. You can get a smartphone for half of the price of the Victus 15 base model that has a much better front camera than this webcam. The difference is that while selfies have been popular in mobile since day one, webcams on PCs really weren’t important at all until 2020.
The keyboard has standard Chiclet-style keys, and a white backlight. You won’t find any RGB lighting here, which is fine. HP went with its usual design of including all buttons as part of the keyboard, and that includes the power button. There’s also a dedicated button to launch OMEN Gaming Hub, which you can use to access your library of games, or to customize lighting if you have any HP RGB accessories.
Performance: It has Intel’s 12th-gen processors and mainstream Nvidia graphics
With a Core i5 and GTX 1650, gaming performance is surprisingly good
When companies send a laptop for review, the majority of the time, it comes with a Core i7, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. This time, HP sent over a base model with a Core i5-12450H, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650, 8GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. My first thought was, who can game with 8GB RAM?
It actually worked. I loaded up Forza Horizon 5 and played with the beautiful new Hot Wheels expansion pack. The default graphics setting was medium, and it played just fine. I also recently decided to once again play through all of the Halo campaigns as a means of testing a mix of native gaming and cloud gaming, so I played through a big chunk of Halo: Combat Evolved as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Victus 15. That ran great as well.
Obviously, most games will do their best to adjust their graphics to match your hardware. Some games have higher minimum requirements than what’s available here, and that’s to be expected too. If you want better performance, there’s still the RTX 3050 Ti model.
For benchmarks, I ran PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, Cinebench, CrossMark, and VRMark. The units I compared it to actually weren’t gaming laptops at all, but you can see by the scores that some are better at certain things.
For example, while the Pavilion Plus is a better laptop for photo editing with its OLED display, and the CPU scores are better than the rest, it doesn’t have the same graphics power, so there’s a big difference in the 3DMark result. The Acer Swift X gets better overall scores, but as tends to be the case with AMD Ryzen processors, single-core CPU scores can’t beat the competition.
Overall, performance on the HP Victus 15 was great, and exceeded my expectations. I thought the Core i5 and 8GB RAM would be real bottlenecks.
Should you buy the HP Victus 15?
The HP Victus 15 offers a lot of value for your money, but it’s not for everyone.
Who should buy the HP Victus 15:
Frugal gamers that are looking for a lot of value
Casual gamers that only play in their spare time
Who should not buy the HP Victus 15:
Creators that need color accuracy for photo or video editing workflows
Competitive gamers
The HP Victus 15 is an excellent entry-level gaming laptop, with a lot of value and a lot of power. However, you might need more power, or a better display, and there are higher end options for that. That’s why HP has its OMEN brand, for competitive, enthusiast gamers.
Samsung is the pioneer of foldable phones, and its inner folding design language laid the path on which all other Chinese foldables have followed. But a good case can be made that, in the last couple of years, foldables from brands like Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo have surpassed the Galaxy Z Fold series in pure hardware prowess. For example, the most prominent design improvement Samsung gave to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 this year is an improved hinge that no longer protrudes from the side as much in folded form. This drastically improves the in-hand feel, as the folded Fold 4 now feels more symmetrical in the hand, without a clear bulkier left side like in years past.
But this flatter hinge structure is not new. It was first seen in the 17-month-old Huawei Mate X2, and the Oppo Find N, Honor Magic V, and Vivo X Fold have since hit the market with a similar hinge. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is merely playing catch up in this particular area.
The Galaxy Z Fold 2’s hinge (right) protrudes from the side significantly compared to the Huawei Mate X2’s hinge (left). Samsung wouldn’t reduce hinge bulkiness until this year’s Z Fold 4.
While Samsung has introduced genuine hardware breakthroughs in foldable tech last year like official IP water resistance rating and stylus support, the company has also not addressed some glaring hardware flaws that have been the butt of jokes, like the hard screen crease and the fact the Fold still cannot fold entirely flat. These problems have long been solved in the Chinese foldable space.
Samsung’s Fold series all leave a gap when folded (left), while the Huawei Mate X2 can fold completely flat (right).
Samsung fans can argue that the Z Fold series is still the best overall foldable with the most polished software (and I’d agree with you!). But objectively speaking, a Galaxy Z Fold screen with a harsh crease is just not as nice to look at as recent Chinese foldable screens.
The crease in Chinese foldables like the Oppo Find N (left) is a lot harder to find than in Samsung’s Z Fold series (right).
And then there’s the Z Fold camera system: the first three Galaxy Z Fold phones had modest camera hardware that were several tiers below Samsung’s actual best camera offerings seen in its Ultra phones. No high megapixel count, no large sensor, and just a mediocre 2X zoom lens. The Z Fold 4 improves matters by upgrading to the Galaxy S22‘s camera system, with a 50MP main camera with a larger 1/1.56-inch image sensor, and a functional 3X telephoto zoom lens.
This system, however, is still a level below the Galaxy S22 Ultra camera system; it also still lags behind the optics seen in the Huawei Mate X2 or Vivo X Fold, which packed a periscope zoom lens and main cameras that were on par with each brands’ best possible camera hardware at the time. If you have time, check out my Vivo X Fold review and see the photo samples vs the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Vivo’s camera system is objectively superior.
The Vivo X Fold (middle) with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 (left) and OPPO Find N (right).
But here’s the thing: I don’t think the Galaxy Z Fold series’ more modest hardware is due to a lack of technical ability on Samsung’s part. If Vivo engineers can cram a Periscope zoom lens and in-display fingerprint reader into a foldable, surely Samsung engineers can too.
Instead, I think Samsung is choosing not to pursue those things, because it would rather make the Fold series lighter and more affordable.
Samsung confirmed this direction two years ago when company representatives told South Korean news outlet The Elec that its goal is to make foldable phones “more mainstream” by going “lighter and thinner.” And Samsung is accomplishing this, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 was thinner and lighter than the Fold 2, and the Fold 4 further sheds weight from the Fold 3. Samsung also managed to lower the retail price of the Fold series these last two years. And while the price hasn’t changed this year, understand that the global economy and factors of production are not the same as last year, so that static price will very likely be translating into lowered net profit.
Most consumers don't need 10X zoom cameras. They'd rather have a lighter and cheaper phone
To focus on going mainstream is a very wise business move on Samsung’s part. While phone enthusiasts like me may be disappointed by the lack of new hardware push, the reality is that I am in the minority. Most consumers don’t need 10X zoom cameras. They’d rather have a lighter and cheaper phone.
Had Samsung put the Ultra camera system into the Fold 4, and pursued other breakthroughs like in-display fingerprint readers and perhaps a crease-less screen, it surely would have driven the price and weight up. Samsung decided not to do that in pursuit of mainstream consumers. It will probably succeed, with so many good deals for the Z Fold 4, the phone should sell quite well.
However, once Samsung has successfully made the foldable more mainstream (and it is well on its way: I am seeing far more Fold and Flips in 2022 than ever before), Samsung should consider making an Ultra version of the Fold, one that appeals to the enthusiasts like me who want the absolute best. This wouldn’t be any different from its current flagship slab phone strategy: Samsung makes three Galaxy phones a year, with the Ultra model clearly aimed at power users and enthusiasts, while the non-Ultra models are aimed at more casual consumers.
Samsung could release a Galaxy Z Fold 5 next year that continues the current trend, but also give us a Galaxy Z Fold 5 Ultra with all the latest bleeding-edge tech
Why not do this with the Fold? Samsung could release a Galaxy Z Fold 5 next year that continues this current direction of focusing on shedding weight and size. Maybe Samsung could even consider using a lower-tier Snapdragon 7 series SoC to get the pricing down by another couple hundred dollars.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 (left) brings an improved camera system, but it’s still no match for the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s epic optics (left).
At the same time, Samsung can push forward a Galaxy Z Fold 5 Ultra, one with Samsung’s best possible camera system, a superior crease-less display with an in-display scanner, and whatever breakthroughs Samsung may be working on. Heck, cram an integrated S-Pen in there. Sure, the phone would probably cost $2,500 and weigh north of 280g, but enthusiasts would buy it. I know I would.
Of course, the standard Fold model would outsell the Ultra model by a big margin, but this is already usually the case with most flagship smartphone series. The iPhone 13 far outsells the iPhone 13 Pro Max, and the Galaxy S21 outsold the Galaxy S21 Ultra. That’s how the pricing economics usually plays out, and companies are fully cognizant of these dynamics.
The only exception? This year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra became the only top-tier flagship phone to outsell a lower-tier variant in recent memory. Perhaps this is a sign to Samsung that its fans want an Ultra phone with all the latest tech breakthroughs. For now, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is looking like a really appealing mainstream foldable for the masses.
The fourth generation of Samsung's flagship folding phone brings subtle improvements that add up for a much more polished premium foldable. Pre-order a Galaxy Z Fold 4 or Galaxy Z Flip 4, and get up to $200 worth of extra benefits by clicking the button below!
Samsung seems to have made a lot of improvements with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, making it a solid successor to the last year’s clamshell foldable. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is now more compact, has slimmer bezels around the display, and is also more durable compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 3. It also has a strong specifications sheet with several new additions including the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, a slightly improved camera, and more. If you’re looking to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 4, you may be wondering whether a 3.5mm headphone jack is a part of its exhaustive specifications sheet. It does seem to have a lot of improvements, after all. The short answer, though, is no. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn’t have a headphone jack.
The fact that the Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn’t come with a headphone jack shouldn’t really be a surprise as the company stopped adding this port to a lot of its phones. The overall form factor of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is probably a huge contributing factor too as there’s not a lot of room for a headphone jack on this device. The real kicker, however, is the fact that the phone doesn’t come with a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box either, thereby rendering any of your 3.5mm headphones useless unless you’ve purchased an adapter separately. Samsung sells its adapter which you can purchase by clicking the link below:
If you don’t want to spend money on an adapter or don’t want to go through the hassle of carrying it around with you, then you can also consider buying a pair of wireless earbuds. The company also launched the new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro alongside the new foldable, and we think it’s worth checking out. Almost all the wireless earbuds out there will work with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, but the overall experience might not be as seamless.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, just like its predecessor, doesn't have a headphone jack. You'll have to rely on an adapter or buy a pair of TWS earbuds for music.
If you’re interested in buying the Galaxy Z Flip 4, then be sure to hit the link mentioned in the box above to find the best price of it online right now. Alternatively, you can visit our best Galaxy Z Flip 4 deals page to find out the best places to buy it. Also, don’t forget to check out our round-up of the best Galaxy Z Flip 4 cases if you want to protect your new phone.
Apple’s new MacBook Air is an amazing piece of computing engineering. When the company introduced the M1, it pretty much stuck it inside of old hardware that was designed for Intel chips. We started to see hardware that could take advantage of Arm silicon with the 24-inch iMac, the 2021 MacBook Pro, and the Mac Studio. Now, it’s time for a redesigned MacBook Air.
It is delightful. Thin, light, and yet powerful, it just doesn’t seem to get hot; in fact, it doesn’t even have a fan, so you won’t have to deal with that noise that we’re all too familiar with. On top of that, the webcam got a boost to 1080p, and it’s actually a really good webcam.
There’s one big, glaring problem, which is that like the M1, the M2 only supports one external monitor. That probably won’t be too big of a deal for most people buying this, but it should be. Remember, pretty much any Intel chip can handle three monitors, so multi-monitor support typically isn’t something that’s reserved for the high end.
But on its own, this is just a delightful laptop. Everything about it feels great to use, and of course, when you leave the house in the morning, you won’t have to feel like you need to bring a charger with you.
The MacBook Air with the M2 processor is available now and starts ay $1,199
It comes in Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, and Midnight
Apple’s new MacBook Air, along with the M2 chipset, was announced at WWDC, but it wasn’t released until July. It’s available now, but at the time of this writing, wait time is still a few weeks in most places.
The M2 MacBook Air starts at $1,199, which is a bit of an increase over previous generations. To make up for that, Apple is still selling the M1 model, but keep in mind, you’re not just missing out on the new chip – which is considerably better as we’ll cover later on – but you’re missing out on a much-improved webcam, a better screen, and an all-new design.
The 2022 MacBook Air comes in four colors, two of which are new: Space Gray, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight. Obviously, Space Gray and Silver have been around for ages. Starlight, the color we’ve chosen for review, is what we’ve already seen from new iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches. And of course, Midnight is basically a black aluminum laptop, like we’ve seen from Microsoft’s Surface Laptop for a few generations now.
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) specs
Processor
Apple M2 chip
8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
10-core GPU
16-core Neural Engine
100GB/s memory bandwidth
Display
Liquid Retina display
13.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology;1
2560-by-1664 native resolution at 224 pixels per inch with
support for 1 billion colors
500 nits brightness
Wide color (P3)
True Tone technology
Body
Height: 0.44 inch (1.13 cm)
Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
Depth: 8.46 inches (21.5 cm)
Weight: 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg)
Battery
Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Up to 15 hours wireless web
52.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
30W USB-C Power Adapter (included with M2 with 8-core GPU)
35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter (included with M2 with 10-core GPU and 512GB storage, configurable with M2 with 8-core GPU)
USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable
Fast-charge capable with 67W USB-C Power Adapter
Charging and expansion
MagSafe 3 charging port
3.5 mm headphone jack
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for:
Charging
DisplayPort
Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
Memory
16GB
Storage
512GB SSD
Keyboard and trackpad
Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
Touch ID
Ambient light sensor
Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures
Connectivity
Wi-Fi
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking
IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Camera
1080p
1080p FaceTime HD camera
Advanced image signal processor with computational video
Audio
Four-speaker sound system
Wide stereo sound
Support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos on built-in speakers
Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking when using AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max
Three-mic array with directional beamforming
3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones
Display support
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and:
One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
Thunderbolt 3 digital video output
Native DisplayPort output over USB-C
VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)
Material
Aluminum
Color
Starlight
Price
$1,699
Design: Good-bye wedge-shaped MacBooks
The design of the new MacBook Air is similar to the MacBook Pro, but smaller
It only has two USB ports, both of which are Thunderbolt
I really like the design of the MacBook Air, and as is the case with most Macs, I really didn’t think I’d like it at all. After all, it weighs in at 2.7 pounds, which is on the light side for an aluminum laptop, but there are far lighter laptops out there that are made with carbon fiber or magnesium alloy. Friends were impressed by the new Midnight color, and now that I’ve seen it in person, I can confirm that it looks no different than the Surface Laptop 4 looks, as long as you swap out the Microsoft logo for an Apple one.
But there really is something about it that’s just delightful. For one thing, Apple has done away with the wedge design, something that we’ve already seen this year from other companies like Lenovo. The weight is now evenly distributed, and the build quality feels solid. After all, while you can get a much lighter laptop that’s made out of magnesium, aluminum just feels premium.
And while I was unimpressed with Midnight, the color I picked for review was Starlight, the same color that I picked for my iPad Mini. Some have referred to it as gold, but I really don’t think that’s what it is. It’s much more pale than the Gold MacBooks and other products that we’ve seen in previous years. It’s a lot more subtle. Obviously, the Space Gray and Silver colors have been around the longest.
The MacBook Air feels comfortable to carry and delightful to use.
I’m going to put it this way. I review a lot of laptops, and in fact, I have a rather large queue of devices to review right now. When I’m in that cycle, I’m using all of them for various things, but sometimes, I just grab a laptop to do something on the couch. That laptop ended up being the MacBook Air. There’s something about it that feels nice to carry and delightful to use.
Of course, it does suffer from a lack of ports, unfortunately. There are just two Thunderbolt 4 ports, along with a headphone jack and the MagSafe charging port. One particular pain point is that aside from the 3.5mm audio jack, they’re all on the left side of the laptop. Across the industry, it’s becoming more and more common to place USB Type-C ports on each side of the device, and that always makes things a bit easier. After all, if you use a mouse, you probably don’t want a charging cable sticking out on the side where you’re using it.
There’s another big problem, which is that the M2 processor, like the M1, only supports one external monitor. The one exception was the Mac Mini, which can support a second monitor via an HDMI port, so when there’s an M2 Mac Mini, that shouldn’t change. For most people buying a MacBook Air, they’re probably not going to need to connect two monitors. But it’s sort of an expectation to be able to, since even entry-level Intel chips offer support for three displays.
It also then begs the question of what the actual benefit of Thunderbolt 4 is. You do get 40Gbps data transfer speeds, but you can’t connect an external GPU like you could with an Intel-powered Mac. And as we just discussed, there’s only support for one external monitor. That external monitor can be up to 6K though, so that is one benefit. But whether the screen you connect is 720p or 6K, it’s only going to support one. If you want two external displays, you’ll need to look at DisplayLink adapters or go for an M1 Pro powered MacBook Pro. For more than two external displays, you’ll need an M1 Max or M1 Ultra.
As for the MagSafe charging port, I really couldn’t care less about it. I know that some people like it, so they can rejoice in its return. You can use the Thunderbolt ports for charging too if you’d like, and that’s what I do, since I’m already set up for USB Type-C charging. You might be too if you’ve got modern iPads lying around. The MagSafe cable does come in the box, along with either a 30W charger, a 35W Dual USB-C Port adapter, or a 67W charger, which gets you fast charging.
Display: The Liquid Retina display is bright and colorful
The screen is bigger and better
It has a notch, which houses a much-improved webcam
The new MacBook Air comes with a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display. Now, what does Liquid Retina mean? Retina has always meant that you shouldn’t be able to see any pixelation from a normal viewing angle, and on a MacBook Air, that’s apparently achieved with a 224ppi pixel density. Of course, Apple has broken up Retina into what seems like endless categories, and Liquid Retina is on the lower end of those. Honestly, Liquid Retina seems to be the evolution of regular Retina.
Still, this screen is beautiful, supporting over a billion colors. It just won’t get the 120Hz refresh rate that’s found on the MacBook Pro, or XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range).
It supports 100% sRGB, 85% NTSC, 87% Adobe RGB, and 98% P3, which is all very good. It’s not best-in-class, like you’d find on a Dell XPS laptop with an IPS display, or like you’d find on a number of OLED displays, but it’s still pretty far above average.
As we all know, there’s also a notch in the display. This was something that Apple first did with the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops, and now it’s making its way across the Mac lineup. It doesn’t obstruct anything, since it doesn’t go any deeper than the menu bar, and the menu does adjust to it.
It also leaves Apple room to put a better webcam in there. The camera is now 1080p instead of 720p, which is a big deal. That means you get about 2.1 million pixels instead of 0.9 million pixels. Also, the computational improvements are noticeable. When I have a virtual background set in a call, the MacBook Air webcam makes me feel like there’s a green screen behind me sometimes, as opposed to other laptops that seem sloppy in comparison.
In this day and age, this improved webcam provides a meaningful boost to the user experience.
Indeed, a good webcam is critical to any modern workflow. Whether you’re working from home, a student, or just someone that wants to FaceTime with friends and family, this is a big upgrade to the user experience.
Keyboard: The haptic touchpad is nice and big
The keyboard and trackpad are good, but really haven’t changed gen-over-gen
The keyboard and trackpad are really the only parts of this laptop that are mostly unchanged since the last generation. In fact, there’s not a whole lot to say. The keyboard is great, both comfortable and accurate.
Honestly, it’s really just important to note that the keyboard is good at all. If you’re replacing your laptop every three to five years, you might not even know that, because for a good long time, Apple unapologetically used awful keyboards in laptops.
There are a few things to note. One is an unsung feature of MacBook keyboards that I love, which is that the Caps Lock key is the least sensitive key on the keyboard. If you’ve ever used a Windows laptop, you’ve undoubtedly meant to hit the A key and accidentally hit Caps Lock as well. That problem has been solved on MacBooks, and it’s been solved for at least a decade, when I first used a MacBook. I have no idea why the Windows market hasn’t been able to emulate this.
It also has a fingerprint sensor for Touch ID, which to me, seems borderline useless. I have to say, macOS is terrible when it comes to dialog boxes. It asks permission for every little thing you can imagine. In fact, if you’re on a call and you go to share your screen for the first time, you’ll actually have to leave the call and restart the app before you can do it.
But when it comes to Touch ID, macOS has this weird mix of things where it might ask for your MacBook password, your iCloud password, or it will let you use Touch ID. It’s sporadic enough that I find myself just typing my password all the time.
You also can’t use Touch ID to log in when you first boot up the PC. You have to enter your password, unlike on Windows where biometric authentication is a lot more common across the OS.
The haptic trackpad is nice and big, and that’s somewhat rare in a laptop that’s more mainstream. You see this more in 15- and 16-inch creator laptops, but it’s really nice to see on a 13.6-inch PC.
Performance: The M2 shows a bright future for Macs
Performance from the M2 processor is significantly better than the M1, and beats the competition in many areas
Battery life is so good that it’s an afterthought
The M2 is Apple’s second generation of its custom Arm silicon, and yes, the Cupertino firm is carving out its own path here. Unlike other Arm chip vendors like Qualcomm, it’s not relying on the Arm designs that are released every year. Apple is making its own.
There are some drawbacks to switching away from Intel, which the entire PC industry is built around. You can’t run Windows natively on a Mac anymore, as there’s no more Boot Camp; you have to run it in virtualization using something like Parallels. There’s also no more external GPU support.
By now, pretty much everything runs natively on Apple Silicon. When I first reviewed an M1 PC, it wasn’t long before I’d get that notification that it needed to install Rosetta – Apple’s translation layer – to run. I don’t think I even got that message with the new MacBook Air, which means that everything I use runs natively. If it doesn’t, I haven’t noticed.
The whole thing is pretty great, but make no mistake, this is a productivity machine. It might even be a photo editing machine. But it is not a video editing machine, and it is not a ‘pro’ machine. The M2 is not a ‘pro’ chip. While M2 replaces the M1, it’s absolutely not a replacement for the M1 Pro, M1 Max, or M1 Ultra.
The M2 processor is more than just an incremental spec bump.
For testing, I ran Geekbench, which is probably the most popular test to run on a Mac, since so few benchmarking apps actually are supported by macOS. Unfortunately, it tells such a small part of the story. I also ran CrossMark, Cinebench, and 3DMark: Wildlife Extreme. Then, I ran some video rendering tests. For comparison, I used a Lenovo Yoga 9i which has a 28W Intel Core i7-1260P, and a Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 which uses an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U.
There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, the M2 has the highest single-core score on Geekbench of any processor that exists right now. Geekbench only tells a small part of the story, only testing the CPU, but this is still a really big deal. Depending on your workload, that single-core score is probably the more important one. It also means that later on this year and next year, when we see an M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra, the multi-core performance on those will be off the charts (the single-core performance will probably be relatively unchanged).
There really aren’t any benchmarks on macOS that paint a full picture, although CrossMark is probably the closest. That’s why I also ran some video rendering tests. AMD Ryzen 6000 did the best with Adobe Premiere Pro, while the M2 smoked the competition when using DaVinci Resolve.
But most importantly, you should see that this is a remarkable improvement over the M1. The M2 chipset is setting a new standard for performance, and while this is a mainstream chip that’s competing with the U-series, higher-end processors like the M2 Pro and M2 Max are absolutely something to look forward to.
That’s not all though, because it does all of this with great battery life. That’s the real benefit of switching to an Arm processor. Normally, I work on a laptop until the battery runs out to get a proper idea of how long it lasts, but I wasn’t even able to do that with the MacBook Air. You can use it for a full workday without a problem.
Battery life is an afterthought, and I’ll put it this way. If I’m going to Starbucks with an Intel-powered laptop, and I’m planning to stay for a couple of hours, I bring a charger. most Intel-powered laptops get between four and six hours of battery life, but they’re often inconsistent, sometimes draining in just two hours. The point is, you don’t want to take your laptop and not bring a charger.
Say goodbye to worrying about carrying a charger.
That’s not the case with the MacBook Air. You just don’t have to think about charging with this laptop. Sure, if you’re going out and using it for 10 hours, have a charger on hand. If you’re using it for two hours on a train ride, you’ll find you won’t even think about it. It’s a different mindset, when you suddenly find yourself not thinking about bringing a charger.
That being said, the MacBook Air does support fast charging. While the base model comes with a 30W charger, there are two other options. There’s a 35W dual USB-C port charger, and a 67W charger. Obviously, the higher wattage is what you’ll need for faster charging.
In my testing, the 67W adapter charged the laptop to 100% in 85 minutes, and to 50% in 30 minutes. The 35W adapter charged it to 100% in 120 minutes, and to 50% in 55 minutes. When I attached an iPhone 13 Pro to the 35W charger, being that it has dual USB Type-C ports, charging speed slowed down significantly, charging to 100% in 220 minutes, and 50% in 105 minutes.
Should you buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022)?
The MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is an awesome PC, but Apple makes a range of MacBooks for a reason. No one model is for everyone.
You might connect your laptop to two external monitors in the lifetime of the device
You need more than two USB ports
I really think that the biggest issue is that you can’t connect dual monitors. My mother recently started having to work from home one day a week, and when I helped her set up her work computer, she had two monitors. So while you might not think you’ll ever need that many screens, let me just say that if my mother can end up with a dual monitor setup, so can you. It’s a weird limitation to have when you’re spending a minimum of $1,200 on a laptop.
