Apple will begin replacing its mobile devices' displays with its in-house screen technology as soon as next year, according to Bloomberg. The tech giant will reportedly start with its highest-end Apple Watches in late 2024 and will swap the devices' current OLED screens with its own microLED technology. Bloomberg says Apple's homegrown display tech will also make its way to its other devices, including the iPhone. The new display is brighter with more vibrant colors and will reportedly make it seem as if watchfaces and other content are painted on top of the glass. Plus, it can be viewed better at an angle.

The publication first reported about Apple's efforts to develop its own display way back in 2018. Apparently, Apple was originally working to introduce its technology in 2020, but it was hampered by the costs and technical challenges associated with the development. Those same concerns also prevented the company from including larger displays in its plans and had prompted it to focus on making the Watch the first device with its in-house screen. 

Despite the delay and potential future delays — Apple might push back the display's debut to 2025, Bloomberg's sources said — the technology is one of the company's most critical projects. The tech giant has reportedly spent several billion dollars on its development and is already testing the new screen on an update to the Apple Watch Ultra. It's also test manufacturing the screens in its facility in Santa Clara, California, though it may ultimately outsource its mass production.

As Bloomberg notes, Apple's shift to its own displays could be a big blow to its suppliers, mainly Samsung and LG. But the manufacturers may have been bracing for it for quite some time now: After all, it's no secret that Apple has been developing its own components in a bid to lessen reliance on third-party companies. It had previously moved away from Intel processors to its own chips for Mac computers and its reportedly planning to use its own wireless chipsets in iPhones by 2025.

Apple's long-rumored plans to use its own wireless chipsets in iPhones may be solidifying. Bloombergsources claim Apple is not only prepping its first cellular modem (now slated for late 2024 or early 2025), but is working on a combination Bluetooth and WiFi chip to replace the Broadcom chip that handles those duties. That part would arrive in 2025, according to the tipsters.

The company is also said to be working on a follow-up that would combine the Bluetooth, cellular and WiFi functionality in a single design. A move like this could both simplify production and save space in the iPhone's tightly packed chassis.

Apple and Qualcomm have already declined to comment. We've asked Broadcom for comment. Qualcomm said in November that it would supply the clear majority of iPhone cellular modems for 2023 models, but that it expected a "minimal contribution" from Apple hardware in its fiscal 2025. Broadcom chief Hock Tan, meanwhile, said in December that he believed Apple would continue to use his firm's components.

While the exact reasoning for the transition wasn't mentioned, it's no secret that Apple started designing its own silicon to have more control over its products and reduce dependence on companies that might not always be on friendly terms. The tech behemoth notably got into a bitter royalty dispute with Qualcomm that led to a costly settlement, and Broadcom is known to strike hard bargains. Apple-made parts wouldn't completely avoid problems like these, but they could reduce the chances of third parties effectively holding Apple captive.

There's still no guarantee things will go according to plan, provided the rumor is accurate. Earlier scoops suggested Apple could switch to its own cellular chips as soon as 2023, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple cancelled a fourth-gen iPhone SE that would use the company's first internally-designed modem in 2024. If there are development troubles, Apple may have to lean on Broadcom and Qualcomm for a while yet.

YouTube's long-awaited revenue-sharing program for Shorts creators is nearly ready. Starting today, the company is rolling out a new Partner Program agreement ahead of February 1st, when creators can begin earning ad share revenue on their Shorts views. Creators have until July 10th to accept YouTube's new Partner Program terms. As part of the change, the company is introducing new "Monetization Modules" to give creators more flexibility over how they earn money on YouTube — though the company recommends accepting all of them to unlock your full earning potential on the platform. As previously announced, creators with at least 1,000 subscribers and more than 10 million views on Shorts over a 90-day period can apply for the Partner Program. They then need to accept the new "Shorts Monetization Module."

With Shorts revenue sharing rolling out, YouTube notes its $100 million creator fund is going away. However, the company expects most fund recipients to earn more through revenue sharing than they did through the fund. The formula YouTube has devised for determining how much each creator will make for their Shorts is complicated due to the involvement of music licensing. As YouTube users watch Shorts, the company will display ads between clips in the Shorts Feed. YouTube says the money generated by those ads will go towards paying music licensing companies and creators through a shared pool the company will divvy out at the end of each month. How much money ends up going to the creator pool will depend on the number of musical tracks creators feature in their Shorts. If you upload a clip with no music, then all the revenue associated with that video will go toward the creator pool. Conversely, when it comes to a Short with a single song, one-third of the related revenue will go toward paying for licensing. In a Short with two songs, two-thirds will go toward licensing. 

Once that's all sorted out, YouTube will determine how to distribute the creator fund. The company will dole out the fund based on a creator's share of total Shorts views. So say your videos accounted for 5 percent of all eligible Shorts views in your country for the month of February, you would then get 5 percent of the money in the fund, whether you used licensed music in your Shorts or not. YouTube then takes its 55 percent revenue cut, leaving you with 45 percent of what's left. If your contribution to the Creator Pool was $1,000 one month, you would get $450 once everything is said and done.

After years of development, Apple’s long-rumored augmented and virtual reality headset is nearly ready. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company plans to announce the device sometime this spring ahead of its annual WWDC conference in June. In a sign that a launch is finally on the horizon, Apple has reportedly shared the headset with a handful of high-profile software developers, giving them a first look at its new “xrOS” software. After announcing "Reality Pro" in the spring, Gurman expects Apple to release the device in the fall.

The final sprint to get the headset out the door will impact the rest of Apple’s 2023 product lineup. On the software front, the next version of the company’s iOS operating system is likely to ship with “fewer major changes than originally planned” due to Apple reassigning software engineers to the xrOS team. “The same goes for macOS 14,” Gurman adds. Apple’s hardware plans are even less thrilling. The company has no updates of “of note” planned for its iPad, Apple Watch and audio lines. Gurman says new iPad Pro models with OLED displays are on the way, but those likely won’t arrive until 2024. He warns the upcoming Apple Silicon MacPro will be “another disappointment.” The forthcoming desktop will reportedly feature the same design as its 2019 predecessor, and you won’t be able to upgrade the computer’s RAM on your own due to the architecture of Apple’s M-series chipsets.

The only bright spots in an otherwise dull release schedule could be a new 15-inch MacBook Air and the iPhone 15. Of the latter, Gurman says the entire iPhone 15 line will feature Apple’s new Dynamic Island feature and USB-C charging. The Pro models will also include new titanium frames and haptic volume buttons.

Apple has reportedly canceled the development of a new iPhone SE. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company recently told suppliers it would not release a fourth-generation SE model sometime in 2024. In a Medium post spotted by MacRumors, Kuo said the device would have been the debut of Apple’s first in-house 5G modem, adding that the company had planned to test and fine-tune the chip on the SE before rolling it out more broadly to the iPhone 16 and beyond. Instead, Kuo suggests Apple is now more likely to continue using Qualcomm modems through 2024.

Kuo doesn’t say why Apple shelved the fourth-generation iPhone SE or if the performance of its own 5G chip had anything to do with the decision. For the better part of a decade, Apple has tried to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. In 2019, the two ended their bitter patent feud and signed a “multiyear” wireless chip supply deal. Months later, however, Apple bought the majority of Intel’s mobile modem business. Then, at the end of 2020, the company disclosed it was working on its own cellular chipset. There’s been little news about the project since.

We’ve seen a handful of companies attempt to make dual-screen laptops a thing – from Dell’s Concept Duet back in 2020 to more recent systems like ASUS’ line of ZenBook Duo notebooks. But with the YogaBook 9i at CES 2023, Lenovo is pushing the idea of a true two-screen laptop further than ever before.

From the outside, the YogaBook 9i doesn’t look much different from a typical laptop. But when you open it up, you’re greeted by two 13.3-inch 2.8K OLED displays that dominates the inside of the device. That means unlike ASUS’ rivals, there’s no room for a physical keyboard – at least not on the body of the device. However, to support all sorts of setups and use cases, Lenovo also provides a range of bundled accessories including a folding kickstand, a detachable Bluetooth keyboard and a stylus. And it’s this combination of peripherals that really elevates the YogaBook 9i into something more than a simple clamshell.

When propped up on the kickstand you can position the laptop’s displays in either side-by-side or stacked orientations, which provides tons of vertical screen real estate or more traditional dual displays depending on your needs. Then, all you have to do is slap the BT keyboard down on a table and suddenly you have a device that’s more like a portable all-in-one desktop.

Lenovo also has some software tricks to get the most out of the various display modes. For example, when the YogaBook 9i’s screens are stacked on top of each, you can tap five fingers against the screen to span a single window across both displays in what the company calls waterfall mode. Alternatively, when you want to move windows from one screen to another, you can simply flick your finger to send an app up or down. And similar to what we’ve seen on the ThinkPad X1 Fold, Lenovo has a variety of grid options so you can launch into dual, triple or quadruple app layouts to maximize your multitasking.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In addition to standard handwriting and stylus support, you can use the YogaBook’s stylus to capture screenshots and then press a button to automatically embed it in a new OneNote file. This makes the process of recording minutes or saving ideas from brainstorming sessions during meetings super simple.

And of course, when space is a concern, you can always use the YogaBook 9i in clamshell mode, either by using an on-screen virtual keyboard or simply dropping the BT keyboard on top of the lower display. I also really appreciate some of the small add-ons Lenovo included to support various typing layouts. By pushing the keyboard back towards the screen (both the physical or virtual keyboard via an eight-finger swiping motion), you can activate a virtual touchpad (albeit a somewhat small one). Or if you have an external mouse connected, you can pull the keyboard forward to reveal a row of widgets for stuff like weather, news and more.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As for specs, the YogaBook 9i is well equipped with 13th-gen Intel Core i7 CPUs, up to 16GB of DDR5 RAM, 512GB of storage and three USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. And despite being a relatively sleek system that measures just 0.63-inches thick, Lenovo managed to cram a large 80Whr battery inside. That’s important because those dual OLED displays are pretty power-hungry, with the company claiming the laptop will last around seven hours in dual-screen mode or closer to 14 hours when only using a single display.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That said, I do have a few concerns. First, some of the gesture controls and stylus input weren’t particularly responsive. The YogaBook even blue-screened a couple of times over the course of about an hour while I tested it. But that’s sort of to be expected when demoing pre-production devices. The bigger issue for me is that while I’m optimistic about the future of dual-screen laptops, typing on a touchscreen is still a challenge. I found that when I was in a groove, I could type nearly as fast as I can on a traditional physical keyboard. The problem is that when your fingers drift (and they will), typos start piling up in bunches, and there’s no good way of finding the home row again. That means you often have to look down to check the position of your hands, which is annoying for touch typists.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Finally, while I love that Lenovo puts the YogaBook’s kickstand, BT keyboard and stylus in the box for free, I really think the kickstand should be built-in to the device itself, like it is on convertibles like a Surface Pro. That’s because even though the kickstand turns into a folding cover of sorts, it feels like you spend a bit too much time keeping track of everything and practicing origami when moving between modes.

But in many respects, this is what you get when a company explores an untested design. And even with these concerns, I’m still incredibly excited to try out a final retail version of the YogaBook 9i when it comes out sometime in April for around $2,000.

Apple is the second tech giant today to receive a fine over personalized ads. France's National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) has issued an €8 million (roughly $8.5 million) penalty over allegations Apple automatically collected identifying data from App Store visitors using iOS 14.6 without their permission, helping the company target ads. The firm was profiting from violations of data protection law, according to officials.

You could turn off the ad targeting, but it was enabled by default and couldn't be disabled without wading through multiple menu levels, CNIL added. That reportedly made it impossible for users to give proper consent. Apple has since changed its practices, and CNIL said it conducted "several" checks between 2021 and 2022 to make sure the company was honoring data rules. France launched its investigation in March 2021.

We've asked Apple for comment. As 9to5Mac noted, Apple told Financial Times' Patrick McGee in a statement that it was "disappointed" with the decision and planned an appeal. The iPhone maker argued that its Search Ads system went "further" than any rival in offering choice over targeted ads, and didn't track user cross third-party apps or websites.

Apple has had a contentious relationship with French regulators. In 2020, the country's competition authority issued a fine equivalent to $1.2 billion (now down to $364.6 million) for alleged antitrust abuses in its distribution chain. The company also received a $27.3 million fine over iPhone performance throttling that same year. While the French government defended Apple's iOS 14 anti-tracking measures against industry pressure, it's evident that the brand remains under close scrutiny.

ASUS is taking a stab at glasses-free 3D in 2023, starting with its new ProArt StudioBook laptop. It sports a 16-inch, 3.2K OLED panel that has the ability to flip into 3D at the touch of a button. This feature, which ASUS calls Spatial Vision, uses eye-tracking and a lenticular lens to deliver two separate images to your eyes. That lets you view things like 3D models and movies with the same amount of depth that you'd expect from a typical 3D screen with glasses.

Now this isn't exactly new — Acer has been hyping up its SpatialLabs technology for years, which was most recently featured in a gaming notebook. ASUS appears to be following a similar path by focusing on professional users first. Aside from the ProArt StudioBook 16 3D OLED, Spatial Vision will also make its way to a slightly less premium VivoBook Pro mode, which will hopefully cost less. Pricing details aren't available just yet, but you can expect to pay a great deal more than a typical 2D laptop.

Based on a brief demo with ASUS, Spatial Vision looked impressive on the StudioBook 16, though it took a few tries to get it working properly. It turns out ASUS's eye-tracking technology couldn't deal with a face mask easily, which makes me concerned about using this tech in a crowded office. Once I removed my mask though, I was able to view a variety of 3D models up close. When I moved my head side to side, the eye-tracking sensors rotated the models, almost as if they were physically in the room with me. I didn't get to try out any 3D gaming with the StudioBook, but it'll be interesting to see how shooters work with Spatial Vision.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Personally, I'm excited about the possibilities of glasses-free 3D while watching movies. I was able to see 3D cinema-like depth while viewing the trailer from Avatar: The Way of Water. It was a reminder that 3D can be more than a gimmick when done correctly. Unfortunately, Spatial Vision only supports one viewer at a time, but that's true of every glasses-free 3D solution. It's hard enough to track one person's eyes to keep perspective — adding more people is exponentially more difficult.

Beyond its 3D capabilities, the ASUS ProArt StudioBook 16 3D OLED looks like a premium workhorse laptop. It's powered by Intel's new 13th-gen HX CPUs, as well as NVIDIA's RTX 4000 graphics. It can fit up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM and 8TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, and thankfully there are two user-replaceable slots for memory and storage. The ProArt's OLED screen can also reach up to 120Hz, which makes it useful for late-night gaming together with its NVIDIA hardware.

Even though Spatial Vision looks cool, it's still unclear if people actually want glasses-free 3D. I've talked to 3D artists who prefer having a VR headset nearby to fully explore their models, they don't see much value in getting a bit of depth right on their screens. But I don't blame ASUS, Acer and other companies for exploring the possibilities of this technology — when it works well, it looks absolutely magical.

Microsoft's Bing search engine might soon become more attuned to users' needs and return results in a more human-like fashion. According to The Information, the tech giant is planning to incorporate the OpenAI software powering ChatGPT into Bing in hopes that it can help the company catch up to (or maybe even outshine) Google. Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI back in 2019, and more recent reports said it's in talks with the Elon Musk-founded startup for a follow-up investment. Now, The Information is reporting that Microsoft's initial investment included an agreement to incorporate some aspects of GPT into Bing.

OpenAI developed GPT as a language model that uses deep learning to generate human-like text responses. Late last year, it launched a program called ChatGPT that quickly skyrocketed in popularity due to its ability to return responses that seem like they were written by actual people. Educators raised concerns that it could easily be used for cheating, since those who tried the tool said they would've given its responses a good grade if a student claimed to have written them. ChatGPT is free for now, but OpenAI intends to charge for its use in the future. 

What GPT integration would mean for Bing isn't clear at this point. It doesn't have the capability to scrape the internet for results, so Microsoft will still use its own search engine technology. However, The Information said it could help Bing present results to users in a friendlier way. A source "familiar with Bing's systems" told the publication that Microsoft could use the technology to present search results as full sentence answers with the source for the information. If Bing suggests related queries to the original one, GPT could explain their relevance in a meaningful manner. The technology could help Bing suggest better keywords or key phrases to users, as well.

Microsoft could launch GPT integration as soon as this March, The Information says, so we might hear a confirmation of this report — along with more details, if it is indeed true — in the near future. 

Of all the new products HP is showing off at CES this year, arguably the most noteworthy is a pair of new Dragonfly laptops. Adapted from the enterprise-centric Elite Dragonfly series, the new Dragonfly Pro and Dragonfly Pro Chromebook are designed for consumers who are overwhelmed by specs. HP believes that for some people, having to choose from 30 different laptop configurations of RAM, storage and other options is a deterrent. For that reason, the Dragonfly Pro and Pro Chromebook come in preset configurations and you really only need to decide whether you want the Pro or the Chromebook (though for the Pro you can choose one of two preconfigured models).

Both notebooks have 14-inch screens, with the Chromebook for some reason featuring a higher resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. The Windows machine, meanwhile, runs at 1,920 x 1,200. Both systems are also fairly similar in size, measuring almost exactly the same, though the Chromebook is 0.2 pounds lighter.

Frankly, I was a little underwhelmed by the design of both new Dragonfly laptops. I’ve grown used to the sleek chassis, premium finishes and attractive design of the Elite Dragonfly series, and the consumer models are just a little less refined. Put it this way: If the Elite Dragonfly devices were Hermes bags, then the Dragonfly Pro and Pro Chromebook are Michael Kors purses. Still good-looking, but not quite as high-end.

The two machines are different in quirky ways. For example, the Chromebook has an 8-megapixel webcam and has an LCD that gets as bright as 1,200 nits, while the Windows version packs a 5MP IR camera with a shutter and only goes up to 400 nits. The Pro also has a haptic trackpad and a fingerprint scanner, as well as Gorilla Glass on its screen.

The Chromebook doesn’t have any of those, but it sports an RGB keyboard that offers customizable colors. Using HP’s software, I could pick any shade on a spectrum or use the rainbow template, which is the only way to get the keyboard to show more than one color simultaneously.

HP also collaborated with Google on the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook’s software to incorporate an element of the Material You UI from Android. Using the laptop’s specific software, you can pick one of a selection of wallpapers and have the system determine what the image’s dominant colors are. It will then generate some hues for you to set as the computer’s color scheme.

Sam Rutherford / Engadget

While the Pro Chromebook comes with a 12th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, the Windows version exclusively uses AMD processors. In fact, HP worked with AMD on a custom Ryzen 7 chip for the Dragonfly Pro, using the chip maker’s adaptive platform management framework to balance power consumption and speed boosts when necessary.

Possibly the most interesting feature of the Dragonfly Pro lies on its keyboard. Specifically, HP added a column of four hot keys to the right, offering shortcuts to a new control center, 24/7 dedicated tech support, camera settings and a programmable button. The control center is a portal containing various different settings that used to exist in separate HP apps, while the company is launching a support concierge service just for Dragonfly owners to answer questions specific to the series. These are staffed by actual people who HP says will have been trained on the Dragonfly Pro machines.

The camera settings button pulls up HP’s as-yet-unnamed app that offers system-level controls over the feed that apps like Zoom, Meet or Teams receive. I was able to use the app to tweak the intensity of the background blur, compensate for low light or backlighting or keep a subject in frame. I was particularly impressed by the key framing tool that basically acts like a green screen to remove parts of the background. Since the software at the demo wasn’t final, I can’t vouch for its performance, and I didn’t use it on an actual call.

Finally, the programmable key can be set up to launch an app like Excel or Outlook, or go straight to a website on the default browser or open a file or folder. There’s no option to stack actions at the moment, so the usefulness of this button feels fairly limited. Still, it’s nice to have an option for frequently used programs.

Both the Dragonfly Pro and Pro Chromebook's batteries should last up to 16 hours depending on how you use them, and support fast charge to get you to 50 percent in 30 minutes. The Dragonfly Pro and Pro Chromebook will be available this spring, and don't supplant the company's existing flagship Spectre series. HP hasn't shared pricing information yet, so we'll likely have to wait till closer to retail availability to find that out.