Person taking a picture using a phone. Photo by Martin Courreges via Unsplash
The tech world has been buzzing lately. Within this last week, rumors surrounding the release of the next iPhone and the debut of Samsung’s Galaxy Note9 have surfaced. So here’s what’s new with these phones.
Samsung Galaxy Note9
Samsung is upping the ante in the cell phone industry. Just a few days ago they debuted their newest phone, the Galaxy Note9. The Note series is pretty well known for its phablet (phone-tablet) appearance. But it’s definitely living up to its phablet reputation now with its storage space—the internal storage options are set at either 128 GB and 512 GB and has an option to slip in a microSD card. It also has 8 GB of RAM, so it’s essentially a more portable laptop.
And it can be used as a laptop. All you would need is ro buy an USB-C to HDMI adapter to turn it into a working computer. The battery on this phone is actually gigantic. Samsung claims you can use this phone all day and still have battery life.
A real game changer in the cell phone game—the Galaxy Note9 is priced at $1000 which is the same price as the iPhone X. A statement that many of these companies are trying to make is that we as consumers have become so reliant on our phones that we are willing to drop a grand on our cellular devices.
Next iPhone
There hasn’t been as much as a peep as to when the next installment of the iPhone series will be. But with Apple’s pattern, most are predicting a September announcement.
However with the iOS 12 updates, Apple has been less mysterious. Although originally, it was said that group facetime would (finally) be a thing, the company postponed that feature to an update after the initial release. But the new iOS has other features such as creating an animated emoji of yourself, called a Memoji. This new feature took the Animoji, a feature where users could create an animated emoji of different animals, and created a human version of it. Think of it as the Apple version of Bitmoji, only it also moves!
Samsung is meeting Apple at its level with the hefty $1000 price tag for the Galaxy Note9. It hasn’t always been a given that consumers need to drop a grand to get their hands on an Apple product. Now people are speculating whether or not Apple will ever ease up on their loyal customers’ pocketbooks. There’s a possibility of Apple lowering the price for the next iPhone, but there is no solid evidence. It’s all rumor-based at this point in time.
It’s next to impossible to survive in modern times without a cellphone. They’ve become essential lifelines for accessing services across every level of society no matter if you’re a CEO of a major company or living in a community homeless shelter. And with cell phone makers knowing that what’s in your pocket says so much about where you fit in, it’s no accident that the prices of the most in demand models are creeping up.