Google

Ahead of the high-end Pixel 6 and 6 Pro launching this fall, Google today launched its latest entry-level smartphone with the Pixel 5a with 5G. The new iPhone SE competitor brings an all-metal body, high-capacity battery, headphone jack, and more alongside the next-gen cellular connectivity.

Samsung today unveiled the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, its partnership with Google to create an all-new Wear OS experience and finally introduce a competitor to the Apple Watch. Although it’s just a first step of hopeful years of collaboration, there are multiple ways in which Apple still appears to be at the top – but Samsung is gaining.

After taking a mid-range approach with the Pixel 5, Google has officially teased it’s ready to take on the high-end market and iPhone 13 and 13 Pro with its fall smartphone lineup. The Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro will come with a custom “Tensor” chip, all-new design, 120Hz display, in-screen fingerprint reader, 4x zoom lens, and more. Here’s what Google is up to with its re-entry into the high-end smartphone market.

Using the Google Pixel Buds A-Series with the iPhone has been a better experience than I expected, but it’s not as good as using AirPods. That should be expected given the fact that they are made by Apple’s biggest competitor. But Google’s Pixel Buds A are excellent wireless earbuds with great fit and decent sound. Long story short, they are an impeccable value over the standard AirPods even if you have to make some compromises. 

During Mobile World Congress 2021 today, Samsung gave a first look at its new Wear OS for smartwatches in partnership with Google. As it does with its smartphones, Samsung will add the One UI interface on its yet-to-be-announced watches.

Of all the features introduced today, the only one I think Apple should adopt is the customizable Watch Face feature, and here’s why.

Apple is facing yet another antitrust investigation, though this one seems odd: It’s an examination of the Apple/Google duopoly in the mobile operating system market.

Today’s report from Japan is very light on details …

On the day that the Apple/Epic case begins, a senior Google engineer has used a blog post to undermine a key part of the Cupertino company’s antitrust defense.

Apple denies that the iOS App Store amounts to a monopoly, for two reasons. First, it says that developers can create apps for other platforms, like Android and games consoles. Second, it argues that those who want to reach iPhone users can simply create web apps. It is this latter claim that has come under fire …

Google has copied Apple’s 15% commission level for smaller developers in the App Store, offering almost exactly the same deal in the Play Store.

However, the way Google has done it is actually fairer, and is how Apple should have implemented the program in the first place …

Google is slowly updating its many iOS applications with App Store privacy labels, detailing the type of data it collects from users. The Google and Chrome applications were recently updated with these new labels, and DuckDuckGo is already using them to its advantage.

A survey of 1,500 tech employees found that 77% of them think that Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have too much power. Only 8% disagreed.

Tech workers were also asked about a wide range of other tech issues, including working with law enforcement, China, and legislating AI…

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission wants to know the impact of Google being the predominant web search service on most devices, including on the iPhone and Safari browser. The press release sent today is seeking submissions from consumers and industry participants about choice screens.

Epic’s legal battle with Apple has hit a roadblock in the UK. Despite a mixed ruling on Epic’s right to sue Google, Justice Roth has ruled that a lawsuit against Apple doesn’t reach the UK court’s jurisdiction.

Apple and Google have both welcomed two executive orders on immigration signed by President Biden on his first day in office.

Biden wasted no time yesterday in getting down to work, signing no fewer than 17 executive orders. Many of these reversed decisions taken by Trump during his time in office, two of them concerning immigration …

Two weeks ago, a report from Fast Company highlighted that Google had suspiciously not updated the vast majority of its iOS apps since December 7, a day before Apple required developers to provide a privacy report for every app available on the App Store. Following that report, Google quickly fired back and said it would start updating its iOS apps with the privacy labels as soon as that same week, the week of January 4.

Two weeks later, Google still hasn’t updated the vast majority of its iOS applications with these privacy labels, including its popular apps such as Gmail and YouTube. Even if Google has no mal-intent, this scattershot approach is leaving users puzzled and concerned.

Earlier today, it was reported that Google hasn’t updated any of its iOS apps since December 7, a day before Apple required developers to provide a privacy report for every app available on the App Store. However, Google has now said it will update its iOS apps with privacy details beginning this week.

Apple officially rolled out its new App Privacy labels on the App Store last month, requiring developers to provide detailed privacy information about what data is collected from users. Interestingly, Fast Company has spotted that Google has not updated any of its iOS applications since the new App Privacy details became mandatory.

Update: Google says it will add these privacy labels as soon as this week.

Business Insider has an interesting look at the battle for web privacy — and how Apple is effectively keeping Google’s data-grabbing ambitions in check across the web as a whole.

New web standards are agreed by the World Wide Web Consortium, also known as the W3C. In theory, each member organization gets one vote, but the site’s Shona Ghosh argues that the reality is somewhat different…

Speculation about plans for an Apple search engine to compete with Google has been around for many years now, ever since the company was first seen to be using its own web crawler back in 2014. Apple confirmed the existence of the Applebot crawler in 2015.

A report in the Financial Times claims that Apple is now ‘stepping up’ efforts to create its own search engine as its lucrative deal with Google comes under threat …