Technologies

Qualcomm Assumes iPhones Will Switch to Apple Modems in 2024

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC he assumes Apple won’t use its 5G modems in next year’s iPhones.

Qualcomm dropped a bit of an inside-baseball bombshell at Mobile World Congress on Wednesday: It isn’t planning on supplying Apple with modems for its 2024 iPhones. This aligns with an analyst prediction from earlier in the week that Apple intends to use its own in-house modems starting next year with the iPhone SE 4, its next affordable handset.

«We’re making no plans for 2024, my planning assumption is we’re not providing [Apple] a modem in ’24, but it’s their decision to make,» Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC at MWC in Barcelona.

Apple could change its mind about using Qualcomm chips, but this intel suggests that the tech giant is moving closer to a long-expected goal of using its own hardware to connect iPhones to mobile networks and satellites. Qualcomm’s comments put the ball in Apple’s court.

At the beginning of the year, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the company had canceled the fourth generation of its iPhone SE line. But now he believes the phone is back on track and may use the first of Apple’s internally developed modems, or 5G baseband chips, Kuo tweeted in a lengthy thread of predictions.

Rumors have swirled for years that Apple has wanted to build its own baseband chips, which handle the iPhone’s antenna functions. Back in 2021, Kuo predicted that Apple may stop using Qualcomm’s silicon in favor of its own baseband chips in as little as two years, though that effort seemingly stalled as Apple struggled to develop its own connectivity hardware.

Kuo’s newest prediction suggests Apple may have solved at least some of its issues with producing an in-house baseband chip, though he noted that it will only support sub-6 5G, the midband set of 5G frequencies that most carriers around the world use for their 5G networks.

But since it’s still unclear if Apple’s baseband chips will support the higher-speed millimeter-wave flavor of 5G or satellite communications for the Emergency SOS feature, Kuo doesn’t know whether the first flagship iPhones that could use the chips — the iPhone 16 series coming in 2024 — will have them.

If Apple starts producing baseband 5G chips for the iPhone SE 4 in the first half of 2024, then those chips could come to the iPad and Apple Watch next, Kuo said. That would mean much fewer orders for Qualcomm connectivity chips.

Aside from the new silicon, the iPhone SE 4 could pack an OLED display instead of an LCD screen, six years after the first flagship iPhone switched to an OLED display with the iPhone X in 2017.

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 23 #599

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 599.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be Halloween-themed, as the answers are all rather dangerous. Some of them are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Please don’t eat me!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Remember Mr. Yuk?

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

POND, NOON, NODE, BALE, SOCK, LOVE, LOCK, MOCK, LEER, REEL, GLOVE, DAIS, LEAN, LEAD, REEL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

AZALEA, HEMLOCK, FOXGLOVE, OLEANDER, BELLADONNA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is POISONOUS. To find it, look for the P that is the first letter on the far left of the top row, and wind down and across.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 23, #395

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 395.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has one of those crazy purple categories, where you wonder if anyone saw the connection, or if people just put that grouping together because only those four words were left. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Fan noise.

Green group hint: Strategies for hoops.

Blue group hint: Minor league.

Purple group hint: Look for a connection to hoops.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Sounds from the crowd.

Green group: Basketball offenses.

Blue group: Triple-A baseball teams.

Purple group: Ends with a basketball stat.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is sounds from the crowd. The four answers are boo, cheer, clap and whistle.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball offenses. The four answers are motion, pick and roll, Princeton and triangle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is triple-A baseball teams. The four answers are Aces, Jumbo Shrimp, Sounds and Storm Chasers.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends with a basketball stat. The four answers are afoul, bassist, counterpoint and sunblock.

Technologies

Amazon’s Delivery Drivers Will Soon Wear AI Smart Glasses to Work

The goal is to streamline the delivery process while keeping drivers safe.

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it is developing new AI-powered smart glasses to simplify the delivery experience for its drivers. CNET smart glasses expert Scott Stein mentioned this wearable rollout last month, and now the plan is in its final testing stages.

The goal is to simplify package delivery by reducing the need for drivers to look at their phones, the label on the package they’re delivering and their surroundings to find the correct address.

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A heads-up display will activate as soon as the driver parks, pointing out potential hazards and tasks that must be completed. From there, drivers can locate and scan packages, follow turn-by-turn directions and snap a photograph to prove delivery completion without needing to take out their phone.

The company is testing the glasses in select North American markets.

Watch: See our Instagram post with a video showing the glasses

A representative for Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

To fight battery drain, the glasses pair with a controller attached to the employee’s delivery vest, allowing them to replace depleted batteries and access operational controls. The glasses will support an employee’s eyeglass prescription. An emergency button will be within reach to ensure the driver’s safety.

Amazon is already planning future versions of the glasses, which will feature «real-time defect detection,» notifying the driver if a package was delivered to the incorrect address. They plan to add features to the glasses to detect if pets are in the yard and adjust to low light.