Apple claims Qualcomm didn’t want to sell its chips for the current iPhones

According to Apple, the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max couldn't get Qualcomm chips because the chip maker wouldn't sell it to them

Qualcomm is currently on trial against the US Federal Trade Commission in California with the former facing charges that accuse them of engaging in monopolistic practices. At the trial, it’s being brought to light what happened between the chip maker and Apple. Apple’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said in a testimony to the US Federal Trade Commission that Qualcomm refused to sell them chips after Apple sued them over its licensing practices. At first glance, it seems Apple switched exclusively to Intel modems for competitive reasons—or even out of spite—but according to Williams’ testimony, there were plans to use both Qualcomm and Intel chips, but the former refused to sell to them. And we heard about how much Apple had to pay Qualcomm for its modems. According to Williams, it was US$7.50 per device, which is five times more than the $1.50 it wanted to pay. But Williams said they paid because they needed the chips and they “didn’t have a lot of options.”

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'Spider-Man: Far From Home' teaser-trailer gives us a glimpse of a post 'Avengers: Endgame' world

The latest teaser-trailer for Spider-Man Far From Home, which is the second Spider-Man movie in the MCU gives us a glimpse of a post Avengers: Endgame world. We see Peter Parker back in high school with his gang and about to go to a European tour. Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei, seems to be aware of his Spider-Man persona and we even get to see John Favreau as Happy Hogan.

Visibly absent is Tony Stark/Iron Man, whose fate is still to be determined. We do get a surprise visit from Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury.

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Secure search engine DuckDuckGo chooses Apple Maps for location results

DuckDuckGo is a privacy focused secure web search engine that does not track its users or where they are going in the web. The company just announced that it is using Apple Maps data.

"We're excited to announce that map and address-related searches on DuckDuckGo for mobile and desktop are now powered by Apple's MapKit JS framework, giving you a valuable combination of mapping and privacy. As one of the first global companies using Apple MapKit JS, we can now offer users improved address searches, additional visual features, enhanced satellite imagery, and continually updated maps already in use on billions of Apple devices worldwide," the company stated on their website. 

This vote of confidence in Apple Maps could lead to more companies adopting the MapKit JS in their apps and services to ensure security and privacy are protected. Privacy has become Apple's key focus. The company even went so far as to place a giant billboard in Las Vegas touting "What happens in your iPhone, stays in your iPhone," a dig at various competing products and services that either push user data to the cloud or sell user information for advertising and profit.

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Samsung’s 5G phone will reportedly be called Galaxy S10 X

And it’ll be one more device Samsung is set to launch in San Francisco on February 20. According to Korean publication ETNews, this first 5G-enabled phone will be called the Galaxy S10 X to mark the 10^th anniversary of the line as well as it standing for the words “experience” and “expand.” It’s going to be a sizable phone with some mean specs, at least according to rumours. It’ll reportedly have a 6.7-inch display with an in-display fingerprint reader, four cameras at the back, two in the front, and a big 5,000mAh battery. Memory configuration is supposed to be “more than” 10GB of RAM and 1TB storage (but as GSMArena points out, the latter could mean a 512GB internal + 512GB microSD configuration). If this report is to be believed, we’ll find out more when the phone launches next month.