It was reported last week that Intel and Apple struck a deal for unknown chips. Now supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports Intel is manufacturing “low-end/legacy” chips for iPhones, iPads, and Macs, the majority for the phones. The scale is small though, with TSMC set to retain 90 percent of Apple’s chip supply.
President and COO Gwynne Shotwell took to X to comment on yesterday’s vague commitment by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to plug the long-standing gaps in rural US coverage, as frustrated residents adopt solutions from Starlink, Amazon, and AST SpaceMobile:
Weeeelllll, I guess @Starlink Mobile is doing something right! It’s David and Goliath (X3) all over again — I’m bettin’ on David :)
Although Shotwell’s SpaceX is hardly the underdog with over 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and the only company with a fleet of proven relaunch vehicles.
Honor says it’ll launch in Q3, meaning July-September, though we’re still expecting it to be a China exclusive. The news was announced at the Cannes Film Festival, where Honor celebrated its partnership with professional cinema camera manufacturer Arri. The Robot Phone will be the first to include “core elements of Arri image science.”
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Verge Score
Motorola’s first book-style foldable offers excellent battery life and middling everything else.
That’s the pitch for the 17 Max, a new phone Xiaomi is teasing on Weibo. It looks exactly like the regular Xiaomi 17, but has a 6.9-inch display — the same size as the 17 Pro Max and Ultra. That’s all we know so far, but it launches in China this month.
In case you missed it, yesterday’s Android Show stream included a brief list of every phone with current and confirmed plans for AirDrop support in Quick Share. Google also told The Verge that Xiaomi is planning support this year, though we don’t yet know to which phones.
It’s part of One UI 8.5, rolling out now in the US after the Korean rollout began last week. Along with AirDrop compatibility, the update brings other features that launched on the Galaxy S26, including an updated Bixby, AI call screening, and easier AI image editing in Creative Studio.
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Verge Score
While rivals push experimental telephotos, Vivo’s phone simply has three equally excellent cameras.
Samsung’s updated take on Android first appeared on its S26 phones back in February, but it’s taken until now to reach older hardware. Flagship phones and tablets from the last two generations or so are the first eligible for the update, which is rolling out now in Korea, with other countries to follow.
OpenAI may have pledged to cut back on “side quests,” but making its own phone doesn’t count. Right?
aprude:
No more “side quests” lol
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It was the top-selling phone in Q1 according to Counterpoint, with 6 percent of global sales. The 17 Pro and Pro Max weren’t far behind, with Samsung A series phones and the Xiaomi Redmi A5 also at the top. The Galaxy S26 Ultra just missed the cut, after launching in the middle of the quarter.
The hit DualShot Recorder app just switched from an increasingly rare one-time fee to a subscription-based model. The app’s developer — also a notable squirrel video creator — says he made the change to “support the long-term sustainability of the business.” Subscriptions come for us all, I guess.
Viral wildlife creator Derrick Downey Jr. vibe-coded his way to a hit app in DualShot Recorder.
Android Headlines shared leaked images of what appear to be the upcoming Razr 2026, the mid-range Razr Plus 2026, and the Razr Ultra 2026. We won’t have to wait much longer for an official look at these slick flip phones, as Razr teased a reveal on April 29th.
Droid Life reports that potential buyers who’d reserved the upcoming BlackBerry-ish Android phone were just told to expect the phone to ship in Q4 this year. First announced at CES, the Communicator is a fully-fledged phone with a physical keyboard, a big step up from Clicks’ current line of keyboard cases.
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Verge Score
The bloatware situation is more manageable, but this phone still feels $100 too expensive.
Microsoft’s new gaming boss said the “idea” isn’t dead, pointing onlookers to a legal brief it filed in a case. That case is Epic v. Google, and the brief is an argument that Judge Donato should stay the course and force Google to carry stores like Microsoft’s. There, Microsoft claims it’s put “significant efforts” behind “new consumer offerings” for Android.
Fairphone reports its smartphone shipments grew by 42 percent in 2025, no mean feat when the rest of the industry has been fairly flat. I thought last year’s Fairphone 6 was a huge step forward in quality, and it’s a good time for its efforts to expand into the US.
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Verge Score
The Find X9 Ultra has the best 10x telephoto lens yet, but would be a better phone without it.
Along with an upgraded Android CLI, Google is launching a new Android skills GitHub repository and an Android Knowledge base, which can provide AI agents with the information and resources they need to perform coding tasks.
