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A new report outlines Facebook’s struggles to develop its own hardware - The Verge

Many companies set up their own, secretive divisions to develop new devices and technologies. There’s Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks division, which produced the U-2 spy plane and the SR-71 Blackbird. Apple assembled a secret working to develop the iPhone. Facebook set up its own division as it delved into hardware in recent years. A new report from CNBC outlines the drama behind the company’s secretive hardware division, Building 8, and how it struggled to develop its own hardware to compete with the likes of Amazon and Google.

Building 8 is the division where Facebook has worked on some of its outlandish ideas, like a system that would allow users to type using their thoughts, modular smartphones, and ultimately, a video-calling device that would eventually become the Portal. In 2015, Facebook brought in former DARPA and Google technologist Regina Dugan to run the division, but she ended up leaving after only 18 months on the job. Facebook ultimately Facebook disbanded the hardware group in a year later in December 2018, and shifted its personnel and projects to other parts of the company.

CNBC’s report takes a look at the rise and fall of Building 8, the challenges that it brought to Facebook, and why the company split up, revealing some interesting details about it along the way.

Facebook initially became interested in a home assistant-type device shortly after Amazon launched its Echo speakers, and Dugan was brought onboard to help the company realize some of its hardware ideas. One of the projects a predecessor to the Portal called “Little Foot”, an iPad that moved towards a person in a room. As Facebook increasingly looked towards video, the Building 8 team began developing it as a video chat device. CNBC says that they experimented with a variety of sizes, including ones the size of a large television, and that “the ideal experience would be a wall-to-ceiling product.”

The report notes that Building 8’s secretive nature caused some resentment between it and other divisions within the company. It had an enormous budget, and when select Facebook staff members were invited to visit, to look at early prototypes, like the Portal, its brain-reading devices, and an AR project called Project Sequoia (which resembled “the hologram-like computers in ‘Iron Man’ movies), they were assigned an escort. Those visitors were invited to Building 8 with a slab of metal — which was machined on-site into a bottle opener when they arrived. They were then handed a bottle of beer.

Other issues apparently arose with the timeline Facebook reportedly set for some hardware devices: the company apparently wanted Building 8 to ship its first product in a year, something that Facebook disputed to CNBC. That seems to be the reason for Dugan’s exit from the company, and when Facebook placed Andrew “Boz” Bosworth in charge of its hardware efforts, she left months later.

The problems didn’t stop there. Former employees told CNBC that “when it came to technological decisions, Bosworth offered little direction.” On top of that, Facebook was rocked by a privacy scandal in March 2018, which prompted him to delay the Portal’s release, and “rethink the design.” The device ultimately ended up being announced last October, and was released in November. In December, the Building 8 team was renamed and its projects moved to other divisions.

Despite that turmoil, Facebook is currently still working on a variety of devices. It’s apparently working on a new version of the Portal — including one rumored device code-named “Ripley”, which is apparently a camera that can be mounted on a television, turning it into the larger Portal devices that the company initially thought about. The company is rumored to be speaking with streaming services like Disney and Netflix about bundling their services with the device.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/3/20753041/facebook-building-8-portal-device-hardware-report

2019-08-03 19:01:41Z
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E3 Expo Leaks The Personal Information Of Over 2,000 Journalists - Kotaku

Illustration for article titled E3 Expo Leaks The Personal Information Of Over 2,000 Journalists — Photo: E3 2019

A spreadsheet containing the contact information and personal addresses of over 2,000 games journalists, editors, and other content creators was recently found to have been published and publicly accessible on the website of the E3 Expo.

The Entertainment Software Association, the organization that runs E3, has since removed the link to the file, as well as the file itself, but the information has continued to be disseminated online in various gaming forums. While many of the individuals listed in the documents provided their work addresses and phone numbers when they registered for E3, many others, especially freelance content creators, seem to have used their home addresses and personal cell phones, which have now been publicized. This leak makes it possible for bad actors to misuse this information to harass journalists. Two people who say their private information appeared in the leak have informed Kotaku that they have already received crank phone calls since the list was publicized.

The existence of this document was first publicized in a YouTube video that journalist Sophia Narwitz posted to her personal channel on Friday night. (Narwitz has not yet responded to Kotaku’s request for more details about the discovery of this document.) In her video, Narwitz described how the file could be accessed: “On the public E3 website was a web page that carried a link simply titled ‘Registered Media List.’ Upon clicking the link, a spreadsheet was downloaded that included the names, addresses, phone numbers, and publications of over 2,000 members of the press who attended E3 this past year.”

Again, the E3 website has since been updated to remove this link, but cached versions of the site do indeed show that a link titled “Registered Media List” used to appear on a “Helpful Links” page. For some time yesterday, even after this page was removed, clicking on the link in the easily-accessible Google cached version of the page would download the spreadsheet from the E3 website’s servers.

“Before even considering making this story public, I contacted the ESA via phone within 30 minutes of having this information,” Narwitz continued in her video. “Worried that might not be enough, I also shot off an email not too long after. On top of that, I reached out to a number of journalists to make them aware of this.”

One reporter who asked to remain anonymous told Kotaku that he had been one of the people Narwitz contacted before publishing her YouTube video. That reporter says that Narwitz told him she had first learned of the document’s existence because someone had emailed her anonymously to say that they had discovered it and downloaded the information. After receiving this email, Narwitz purportedly then confirmed the file’s existence herself. The reporter who says Narwitz contacted him told Kotaku that he had cautioned Narwitz against publicizing any information about this spreadsheet until after it had been removed by the ESA. That reporter then contacted an ESA representative himself. After that, the direct link to the file was removed from the website. Unfortunately, the file itself was still accessible to anyone who knew the link or could find the Google cached version of the page.

After the page containing the link to the file was removed, Narwitz published her YouTube video about the leaks, seemingly believing that the file was no longer accessible. Soon after that, users noted on social media that although the link to the file had been removed, the spreadsheet file itself was still accessible. The anonymous reporter told Kotaku that he then contacted the ESA a second time and, at that point, the ESA deleted the file from its website. However, Narwitz’s video had already unwittingly publicized the existence and continued availability of the file, the contents of which continue to be shared online.

The ESA provided Kotaku with a statement about the leak. “ESA was made aware of a website vulnerability that led to the contact list of registered journalists attending E3 being made public,” it wrote. “Once notified, we immediately took steps to protect that data and shut down the site, which is no longer available. We regret this occurrence and have put measures in place to ensure it will not occur again.”

The ESA representative declined to respond to Kotaku’s other questions about why the file was not properly password-protected, how long the file had been available to the public, and whether this was the way that journalists’ personal data had been treated by the organization in past years.

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https://kotaku.com/e3-expo-leaks-the-personal-information-of-over-2-000-jo-1836936908

2019-08-03 16:30:00Z
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The Roomba i7+ is a step forward for home robots - Engadget

The 2018 release of the Roomba i7+ marked a turning point for iRobot. Finally, the company offered a feature they'd long requested: A vacuum capable of emptying itself without intervention from its human owner. The i7+ also provided users like reviewer Devindra Hardawar with quieter, yet still exceptional cleaning performance and accurate room mapping software. However, these sought-after features came with a premium price tag of $1,100, dropping the vacuum's Engadget score to 87. User reviewers, who tend to judge more harshly, gave the Roomba i7+ an average score of 77.

Clean Base Dock

The major highlight of the i7+ model is the aforementioned self-emptying feature, which redirects a full Roomba back to its Clean Base dock to connect and automatically empty the bin. Though it took Devindra a few attempts to find the best spot for the 19-by-15-inch dock, no one else reported having issues placing the Roomba's base. Jerry said finding a "three foot space for it to dock at was easy."

iRobot Roomba i7+

The self-emptying capability, to no surprise, was a huge hit with users. Matt said the feature made the i7+ "a game changer," while Michael called it "heaven!" Jeff thinks it's super cool that his i7+ will empty itself when full and then resume where it left off, and Uribees simply said it was awesome.

Bag Hacks

The Clean Base holds proprietary bags that iRobot claims will hold up to 30 Roomba bins' worth of dirt. Once it's full, it still requires a human to open the base and throw the bag in the trash. And, as those proprietary bags cost $15 for a pack of three, they can really add up. At least two users reported that they had found workarounds to offset the expense. (Note: These are not techniques that Engadget has tried or that we recommend.)

Jerry said "one of the major cost saving things we did was to cut open the dust bag and sew Velcro strips and we can empty the bags. This gets us about 100 cleanings; it works well, we're still on our first bag." Dave went a different route, recommending to use "your existing upright vacuum to suck debris out of the Clean Base bag. Not really pretty, but very effective. I can make a $15 Roomba bag last for months."

iRobot Roomba i7+

Cleaning capability

All the bells and whistles in the world won't make up for a vacuum that can't perform its basic cleaning functions, and here the i7+ received mixed reviews. Michael said it "has great suction" and "cleans bare floors as good as carpet," and Matt was "surprised at how much dirt it picks up from seemingly clean floors." Emily's schedule for her i7+ "does a fantastic job on all terrain. I no longer fear mutant dust bunnies." And, despite owning two large dogs, Alex said he hasn't found a single hair in the rollers in two weeks.

Speaking of those rollers, Matt said he had little difficulty removing and cleaning the brushes, as they "appear built for heavy duty use and easy repair or maintenance." Lougan agreed, saying he has to clean the rollers on his i7+ every week -- but he doesn't mind because it's "so much easier to clean than the previous generations. You just pop a latch, pull it off, pull the fur ball off the side and pop it back in."

iRobot Roomba i7+

However, other users were less impressed. Michael's i7+ gets "stuck when the little people in our house leave socks or toys on the floor" and sometimes "will close itself into a room as well." Christopher said "hands down, the i7 does not clean as well or effectively as the Roomba 890 I had prior," as his i7+ leaves clothing threads on the rug. Michellette said after three generations of Roombas, she doesn't feel that "the cleaning mechanism has improved any in the past few years."

Mapping

When it came to the Roomba's ability to map and navigate a home, many users were pleased. Matt said his Roomba did a "great job of mapping floors after a few hours of training runs." Dave agreed that it was "truly magnificent. It only took three learning runs and had it figured out." Scott appreciated that he no longer needed to have a "bunch of 'lighthouses' to section off rooms or areas. The virtual walls in the app work great." And Lougan was able to "map areas right in front of the litter box so it actually cleans that two additional times a day." However, Christopher was less successful, as there were "three rooms the i7 refuses to map. Hopefully the firmware will fix that."

iRobot Roomba floormap

Smartphone app

The iRobot mobile app lets Roomba owners perform a variety of tasks from keeping an eye on the battery level to scheduling, mapping or receiving push notifications. Many users thought it was helpful; Uribees found the app easy with some pretty handy features.

Meanwhile, Jay liked that the "app will notify me if there is a problem, such as if it sucked up a toy and needs intervention." Scott thought the app was "excellent" and appreciated how easily it integrated with his Google home and phone.

Smart assistant integration

The mobile app is just one way to get the i7+ started; because it can integrate with a home assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant, owners can verbally order the vacuum to start cleaning. Sounds good in theory, but how does it work in practice? Matt said it was great and had "fun seeing the robot take off to a room after asking Alexa to have it clean." He wishes they would add other voice commands like battery status.

Jerry thought the "integration with Alexa is actually not bad. We can stop it, pause it or tell it to go clean a specific room." Lougan was more critical about his experience. "You have to be super specific when asking it to do something. You can't just say, Alexa clean the living room. You have to say, Alexa, tell Roomba to tell Billy to clean the living room. It's kind of a pain. When it does work though, it really impresses your friends."

iRobot Roomba i7+

Pets

A majority of our user reviews came from pet owners, who are clearly a target market for automated cleaners. Lougan, who had mapped his i7+ to run in front of the litter box, said it blew his mind how much the vacuum picked up every day. He also mentioned that if the i7+ "can survive eating a cat hairball, I think they're going to last." Emily who has "multiple heavy shedding indoor pets," said she highly recommends the i7+ for animal lovers.

However, Scott found himself pre-vacuuming to collect the bulk of his St. Bernard's hair before running the i7+ as a "finishing touch." And Michellette said that no Roomba has ever been able to clean the fur from her German Shepherd off the carpet or area rugs. "It simply leaves countless clumps of hair for you to pick up all over the place. Your house actually looks worse after this finishes."

Wrap-up

Despite the stringent scoring, most reviewers had positive recommendations for the i7+: Jerry said he'd award it five stars, Jay was "super happy," and Michael said it "is the best investment we have made and we'll be purchasing another for our basement in the near future." He also appreciates that the i7+ gives back the time that he used to spend vacuuming. Lougan declared it "an amazing piece of technology" and that "iRobot has really outdone itself." Alex was effusive, stating that iRobot should "keep up the great work" as they've made his family very happy with the i7+, as it's "finally a real cleaning solution."

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/03/roomba-i7plus-user-review-roundup/

2019-08-03 15:00:24Z
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Samsung Galaxy Note 10 rumors: what to expect from the Unpacked event - Circuit Breaker

We’re just a few days away from Samsung’s big Galaxy Note 10 event, and the rumors and leaks are in full form, teasing details of Samsung’s latest super-sized flagship. Or rather, flagships, plural, with Samsung expected to take a page from its own Galaxy S line’s playbook and release multiple sizes of the Note 10.

We already know some of the news, with Samsung announcing some of its smaller summer products — like the Galaxy Watch Active 2 and the Galaxy Tab S6 — ahead of the big Unpacked event, presumably leaving more time for the good stuff.

And while Samsung isn’t officially announcing the Note 10 until Wednesday, the usual flood of leaks means we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect when the company takes the stage at the Barclays Center at 4PM ET that day. Here’s everything we know so far:

Galaxy Note 10 (and friends)

The star of the show is expected to be the Galaxy Note 10, the latest in Samsung’s line of big-screened, stylus-equipped devices. If the Galaxy S line is the company’s mainstream device, the Note is for true Samsung aficionados, often offering cutting edge features and bizarre experiments before any of its other hardware.

Two (or four) Notes: Samsung is rumored to have two models of Note 10 this year: a smaller 6.3-inch Note 10, and a souped-up Note 10 Plus with a massive 6.8-inch display. For comparison, the S10 has a 6.1-inch screen, and the S10 Plus offers a 6.4-inch panel, meaning that standard Note 10 will be smaller than both the larger S10 Plus and last year’s Note 9, which also had a 6.4-inch screen. Both Notes will feature Samsung’s Infinity-O displays, too, with razor-thin top bezels achieved by putting a single hole-punch camera directly in the middle of the top of the display.

The difference between the two Note 10s isn’t just screen size, though. While both Notes will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor, the bigger Note 10 Plus will have improved hardware in a few key respects. According to reliable leaks from WinFuture, the Note 10 is said to have a 3,500 mAh battery, 12W wireless charging, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage — with no microSD card slot to expand it. The Note 10 Plus, however, will reportedly have a massive 4,300 mAh battery, 20W wireless charging, up to 45W charging speeds for USB-C charging, 12GB of RAM, and the same 256 GB storage, but with a microSD slot added.

The Note 10 Plus is also said to have an additional ToF (time-of-flight) sensor on the back, which could enable better portrait mode depth effects and augmented reality, although we’ll have to wait to see what Samsung intends to use it for to know for sure.

Upgraded S Pen

It wouldn’t be a Note without an S Pen, and the Note 10’s stylus is apparently getting a few new tricks up its sleeve. This year, the big addition is said to be some kind of motion gestures, that will let you control the phone through the S Pen by moving it around, but without actually directly touching the display. It’s not totally clear how the new S Pen will achieve this (or how useful it’ll be), but expect Samsung to have a demo or two showcasing the feature.

Cameras

Both models of Note 10 are expected to get an updated triple-camera system, with three lenses on the back: a 12-megapixel main lens that can adjust from f/1.5 to f/2.4, a 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide lens, and a 12-megapixel f/2.1 telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom. And as mentioned before, the Note 10 Plus is expected to have an extra time-of-flight camera, for a total of four rear lenses.

Both phones will have just a single 10 megapixel front-facing camera (unlike the Galaxy S10 Plus, which had two for its hole-punch camera).

5G?

Of course, why stop at two Notes? Samsung is an early adopter for 5G, with the S10 5G model already out and a planned 5G version of the delayed Galaxy Fold. According to the rumors, Samsung might have 5G models of both Note 10 sizes, for a total of four Note 10 variants (which, if true, probably won’t confuse anyone at all.)

RIP, headphone jack

The Note 10 will become the first mainstream Samsung phone to kill the headphone jack —which means that the company’s future phones likely won’t be getting the port, either. It’s the end of an era in many ways... but at least Samsung has a dongle ready to go.

Galaxy Home

Samsung announced the Galaxy Home on August 9th, 2018, alongside the Galaxy Note 9. A full year later, and we still haven’t gotten a price or release date for the long-delayed speaker, which has missed several release dates. The latest word from Samsung co-CEO Hyun-suk Kim was a planned Q3 2019 release. If Samsung does plan to hit that date, an update at the Note 10 event might be a good time to do it.

There’s also rumors of a smaller Galaxy Home device — the Echo Dot to the Galaxy Home’s full sized Echo, if you will — that leaked via the FCC earlier this year, which could show up too.

Galaxy Fold

The Galaxy Note 10 is expected to take up most of Samsung’s event, but it’s not Samsung’s most exciting phone of 2019. That honor still goes to the foldable Galaxy Fold, which was delayed at the last minute ahead of its planned spring release after early reviewers (including The Verge’s Dieter Bohn) discovered critical problems with the device. Samsung says that it’s fixed the issues and plans to release the Fold in September, which means this Unpacked event could be the perfect time to announce a proper release date.

Galaxy Book S

A fresh leak ahead of the event is a new laptop, the Galaxy Book S, which appears to be heavily inspired by Microsoft’s own Surface Laptop. Details are slim, although some rumors suggest that it could be powered by a Snapdragon 855 processor with 8GB of RAM. It would be a little odd for a laptop to show up at what’s typically been a mobile-focused event, though.

Surprises?

As mentioned before, the event is likely to focus on the Note 10, but there’s always the chance for a surprise or two. Out-of-the-blue partnerships? Wild OLED panels? Smart refrigerators? Anything’s possible when Samsung takes the stage.

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/8/3/20752011/samsung-galaxy-note-10-unpacked-rumors-leaks-event-date-time-2019

2019-08-03 14:00:00Z
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The Galaxy Fold was ruined by rumor culture and you're to blame - CNET

samsung-galaxy-fold-55 — The Galaxy Fold is the latest example of how companies need to wait to launch products until they are absolutely ready.
Angela Lang/CNET

If you don't quite remember what was happening on April 26 of this year, I don't blame you -- it was a pretty long time ago. To jog your memory, it was Arbor Day, National Pretzel Day, Good Friday and the end of Passover. Avengers: Endgame opened in theaters. Joe Biden announced his candidacy for president and Taylor Swift released her single ME! The hyped-up Galaxy Fold was supposed to go on sale that day. But after some journalists discovered problems with the phone's folding screen in their pre-production models, Samsung delayed its launch.

Samsung was wise to do this because it would have been a disaster if consumers got their hands on the Galaxy Fold before it was ready. I would be angry and frustrated had I paid $1,980 for a phone only to have it break a couple of weeks later. All in all, it took Samsung three months to fix and improve the Fold. To be exact it was 89 days from when it was supposed to go on sale to when Samsung announced that consumers will be able to get one sometime in September.

But the Galaxy Fold wasn't the only gadget to be rescinded by a major company this year. On March 29, about a month before Samsung delayed the Fold, Apple put the kibosh on its much hyped AirPower wireless charging mat. Apple first teased the charging pad during the launch of the iPhone X all the way back in September 2017 and slated it to go on sale by the end of 2018. But that didn't happen and the company decided to cancel the product altogether. For a company known for its meticulousness, the media was quick to describe this blunder as "embarrassing" and "unprecedented." Even CNET identified the incident as one of Apple's worst failures of all time".

"After much effort, we've concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards, and we have cancelled the project," said Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a statement.

Apple

Samsung and Apple are both guilty of generating Kickstarter-style hype to sell us on a product before they can actually sell the product. While I can't begin to imagine the complex engineering and problem-solving required to get a phone screen to fold without breaking, or design an efficient charging pad that can juice up different devices all at the same time, I had to believe that if any companies could do that it'd be Samsung and Apple, respectively. For starters, these aren't obscure startups looking for funding -- they are multi-billion dollar companies with tons of resources and a history of successful products. Heck, Apple has more money than the US Treasury. And second, I believed them because they told us they were going to make these products.

True, there are some differences between what Samsung and Apple did. Apple teased a product and put a red circle on the calendar when it thought the product would be ready. It was disappointing when it was canceled because people were genuinely excited about it. An excitement, I should point out again, that was whipped up because Apple teased the product before it was ready.

But Samsung did something much worse. It put the Galaxy Fold in the hands of reviewers before it was ready and began pre-orders for consumers. But it wasn't before it was willing to take two grand from some eager early adopters -- which it eventually had to return -- that Samsung announced that the Fold would be delayed. Either Samsung knew it was rushing the Galaxy Fold out the door, or that the company thought the phone was ready to go only to discover it had some serious flaws. It is particularly alarming if the latter is true because only a few years ago Samsung recalled all Galaxy Note 7 phones over batteries that failed and caught on fire. At least Apple had the foresight or conservatism to cancel AirPower altogether instead of shipping a faulty product.

Now playing: Watch this: People try the Galaxy Fold for the first time

5:50

This problem certainly extends beyond Samsung and Apple, but they are the most egregious and high-profile examples of how companies are happy to sell us an idea before it's fully baked, inevitably causing more headaches for users when the idea backfires. I review phones, and I can't tell you how many times I had a phone with software that wasn't fully ready for review.

Crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo are happily building momentum around vaporware, or products that have no guarantee of coming to light. Consumers are basically placing hope and good faith on an idea. Catchy promo videos and 3D renderings get us excited about the possibilities which, in turn, makes us open our wallets and put down cash. In reality, it's all a gamble and it's a shame when what was promised isn't delivered.

Consequently, a culture has formed where selling consumers on an idea is often prioritized over the fit and finish of the final product. Samsung's initial plan to launch the Galaxy Fold in April would have shown consumers and the world that it's possible to make a high end phone with a folding screen. As my colleague, Jessica Dolcourt wrote in her in-depth review of the Galaxy Fold, "The world doesn't need foldable phones. We can get along perfectly fine without them. But we should want them -- not as the Fold is now, but as it could be."

But companies aren't the only ones who should bear all the responsibility for shipping products before they're ready. News publications, and in this particular case tech news outlets including CNET, relish every leak and rumor about a new product like Nicolas Cage scouring the back of the Declaration of Independence in National Treasure. While I'm genuinely excited about the next Galaxy Note and the next iPhone, I don't need to see every account of a random tweet posted that shows off a poorly-lit photo (likely fake) of the Galaxy Note 10 or the iPhone 11. Heck, there are rumors already circling about the 2020 iPhone.

This cycle of hyping up every rumor and leak makes it nearly impossible for companies to truly surprise us with an innovative, polished product out of the box. Google tried to break that cycle by confirming the leaks and rumors around its next phone and sharing a photo of the Pixel 4 four months before its expected launch date.

As consumers, we are enthusiastically hungry to know about the smallest details about the next big thing. This puts companies like Samsung and Apple in a position where they can either lead that excitement or watch a competitor do so. Companies feed the hype, tech news outlets report that hype to consumers who then, in turn, open their wallets.

Samsung and Apple are ultimately responsible for the products they make, but we must share some of the blame for participating in a culture where Samsung felt it needed to push the Galaxy Fold out before it was absolutely ready for consumers. Not every product is going to be the "next iPhone" and revolutionize the world and that's fine.

What's interesting is that Samsung now has a second chance to launch the Galaxy Fold. I hope the money and time Samsung spent reworking the Galaxy Fold will serve as a reminder to value its own products over being first to deliver some novel technology. I genuinely hope the Galaxy Fold is a success. But I want Samsung and Apple, as well as any other company working on a "revolutionary" product, to make sure that the product is ready and polished before getting people's hopes up, putting it into their hands and taking their money.

Originally published July 29 at 3:30 a.m. PT

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https://www.cnet.com/news/the-galaxy-fold-was-ruined-by-rumor-culture-and-youre-to-blame/

2019-08-03 12:30:01Z
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Dear Apple and Samsung, $1,000 is way too much for a smartphone, consumers say - USA TODAY

Jefferson Graham USA TODAY

Published 7:18 AM EDT Aug 3, 2019

For Bill Wilson, it's simple. He won't pay $1,000 for a smartphone. Period.

"I'll be hanging onto my iPhone 6 Plus until grim death," says the radio production manager from Gainesville, Georgia. One grand "is just too much money for what you get."

Wilson is in ample company. This week's earnings reports for Apple and Samsung both showed a clear trend: consumer resistance to the ever-growing high prices of premium smartphones.

The iPhone line now starts at $449, versus $350 in 2018, and topped at $1,100, while Samsung's premium Galaxy phones are near the $1,000 mark as well. A new model, the Fold, will break all pricing records when it's released in September at close to $2,000.

In quarterly earnings announced this week, Apple's iPhone revenue declined 12% to $26 billion from $29 billion in the year-ago quarter, while Samsung blamed "weak sales momentum" for the Galaxy S10. Angelo Zino, an analyst with CFRA Research, says Apple iPhone sales will tumble 15% in the current fiscal year.

On Wednesday, Samsung is set to unveil its latest smartphone, a new edition of the Note, which currently sells for between $799 and $999.

So good luck with that, Samsung.

Apple got additional bad news this week when President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on China imports that would include the iPhone since it's assembled in China with mostly Chinese parts. This would add $75 to $100 to the price of an iPhone, predicts Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.

Ouch.

So why have premium smartphones stumbled? Consider a variety of factors:

—$1,000 is a massive stop sign.

—The new features introduced over the last few years haven't been game-changing. Consumers really don't care about facial recognition, augmented reality, faster processor enough to pony up the big bucks.

—The older phones work great and don't fall apart. Sure, the batteries deteriorate, but you can get a new one for under $50 to $70. And if you crack a screen, which is likely, the cost is $150 to $200 for an older iPhone or Galaxy. So if you have, say, an older iPhone 7, and you replace those items, you're looking at around $200 or so to upgrade. That's a lot less than $1,000 for a new phone.

—We like the new and improved cameras, but for the majority of the world, selfies and food shots taken on an iPhone 6 won't look that much different from those snapped on an iPhone XS. The software update tools Apple releases every year make the cameras and photo management in general better, and the update is free. Apple is expected to release the latest update, iOS 13, in September.

Wilson will find himself in ample company, then as when the iOS 13 update is released, as it will only work with phones from the 6S (first introduced in 2015) and up. Sure, the 6 Plus phone will still function, but it won't get software updates or the new features Apple will be introducing for iPhone users, like Dark Mode, an all-new look to Maps and improved photo management.

Apple hopes Wilson will be so inspired by the new features, he'll run out and buy a new edition iPhone. Apple is expected to release three new models in September, all at the same price points as the 2018 editions, $749, $999 and $1,099, according to analysts.

The best deals, however, are for used (or, as Amazon now calls the category, "Renewed") editions. An Apple iPhone 8, first released in 2017, sells in the $250 to $300 range on various websites. Add the new battery, and you can get a fast phone, with a great camera and the latest software, for a steal.

The Galaxy phones from just a few months ago have already seen a big price drop, at $549 (down $200) for the S10e. Better yet, pick up the S8, also from 2017, also in the $300 range, and you get a fast phone with an expandable memory slot, which also negates one of the reasons people ditch their phones. They ran out of room. Pick up a hefty 32 GB memory card for $20, and you're set.

Of course, more consumers than not were happy to pay the big bucks and get the latest and greatest. Ross Kestin of Manhattan Beach, California recently formed over a grand for a Samsung Note 9 "and so far I think I'm getting my moneys worth. This Galaxy Note 9 is phenomenal."

New or used? I'd love to hear from you. Please join the discussion on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham.

In other tech news this week

Another week, another massive data breach. This week, it was Capital One bank, and just, 100 million accounts. ICYMI, here's how to protect your data.

Sonos and IKEA teamed up for a new product line of stylish speakers and a lamp that doubles as a stereo. We took both out for a test spin this week.

Ancestry.com introduced new tools to find relatives who were displaced in the Holocaust.

This week's Talking Tech podcasts

e-Scooters have got to go.

Remembering CD-Rs

Credit Hack - what to do?

The Hack Attack

Trump tariffs and added cost to iPhones

Subscribe to the Talking Tech newsletter, http://technewsletter.usatodsay.com, listen to the daily Talking Tech podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and follow me (@jeffersongraham) on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/08/03/consumers-tell-apple-and-samsung-no-thanks-to-1000-dollar-smartphones/1900716001/

2019-08-03 11:16:00Z
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