This is an interesting article. Apple bought iPhone 7 modem chips from both Qualcomm and Intel. The Qualcomm chips went into Verizon and Sprint phones while the Intel went into AT&T and Tmobile phones. The Intel chips perform significantly worse than the new Qualcomm ones and in some cases perform slightly worse than the Qualcomm chips in the iPhone 6. The article also says that Ultra HD Voice features supported by Qualcomm were disabled on the iPhone 7 because the Intel chips did not support it. You got to wonder why they went with Intel at all. http://cellularinsights.com/iphone7/
It's a big conspiracy! Or it's just Apple trying to get price competition and flexibility in the supply chain. The other thing worth mentioning is that the test was specific to weak signal scenarios.
this is important to me because I get weak signal in the restroom at my workplace... if you know what I mean.
lol I gave my mom my iPhone 7 and she kept complaining about how it looks the same as her iPhone 6. I tried to explain about internal specs and camera, but she didn't care. I think companies are going to have a hard time managing consumer expectations going forward. Especially among the noob demographic. I don't care about a redesign as much. But I didn't find it worth the upgrade from my 6S, which is just fine with everything I've thrown at it. Didn't want to lose the headphone jack and physical home button. Don't like the feedback driven faux home button. Sucks as with no Note available I'm not sure what to use for the next year. Might dabble with the Pixel, but that lower bezel will keep me up at night.
The 7 looks underwhelming. I just had my 6 Plus replaced due a camera defect that is covered by warranty, so I basically have a new phone. I don't see myself upgrading to the 7. Just doesn't seem worth the money or effort to upgrade. I also don't like the new home button or loss of the headphone jack.
Scratch the Galaxy S8 off your list. No headphone jack! My prediction that the "controversy" would turn around completely in a year is already coming true. http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s8-no-headphone-jack-home-button-report-2016-12
Awesome. USB-C headphones, Lightning headphones, and 3.5mm headphones. I'll have to get me some kind of key-chain attachment for all the adapters. I used to have an LG Chocolate that needed one of these adapters. I thought the days of this tomfoolery were behind us.
One difference is that Samsung might put it back if customers complain enough. Apple will tell you to eat shit. Also, I'm not interested in phones getting any thinner. That's the only benefit for non-Apple OEMs. The most compelling argument I've heard against removing the headphone jack was reduced life on the thunderbolt port. Something about how the port may have X uses before it goes bad, and doubling as a headphone jack exponentially increases wear and tear. Not sure how true that is/will be. I found the virtual Home button a bigger issue, It feels like the original blackberry touchscreen where you pushed the whole screen down. I've always preferred a hardware button, it feels better to me. One of the reasons I stick with Apple and Samsung. I despise the move to on-screen buttons others have taken.
The virtual buttons are the route for getting rid of the bezels and increasing screen size in the same form factor. They're working on getting the fingerprint scanner into the screen itself.
LOL looks like Donald Trump of all people finally nailed them: " It looks like Apple is bringing back home nearly all of its $250 billion in foreign cash "Apple, already the largest US taxpayer, anticipates repatriation tax payments of approximately $38 billion as required by recent changes to the tax law. A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made," the company said in the release. Using the new 15.5 percent repatriation tax rate, the $38 billion tax payment disclosed by Apple means they are planning a $245 billion repatriation. The tax overhaul, which President Donald Trump signed into law last month, also lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent." https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/17/it-...arly-all-of-its-250-billion-foreign-cash.html
i've learned that if it's something that donald trump seemingly did well on, it's best to wait and see if something weird is attached to it.
Wouldn't surprise me if they simply forgot to exclude foreign income and this was an unintended positive side effect. Basically all US companies are now taxed on worldwide income, so there is no benefit to keeping it in offshore tax havens. That said there is supposedly over $3 trillion of this kind of money, so the economy is going to see a boost when it floods the US. It wouldn't be politically savvy to undo it, but who knows.