Leaks & Rumors

iPhone 12 Pro, Apple Watch Series 6, iPad Air 4 – Latest Leaks & Rumors!

We haven’t made a Leaks & Rumors episode since July. This is mostly because I like to wait until we get a few more things to talk about and we haven’t really had a good amount of new leaks, until now.

We finally have some major updates on the iPhone 12 Pro, the Apple Watch Series 6, which is apparently launching next week, as well as the iPad Air 4 and the upcoming Apple Event. So, without any further ado, get those snacks ready, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

iPhone 12 Pro 

In terms of the iPhone 12, you might remember the large number of leaks that we got suggesting the Frame was going to be squared-off, the Notch was going to be smaller and that the Triple Camera Module would now be a Quad-Camera Module with one of the Modules being that LiDAR Sensor. Even though these were “meh” changes, I would’ve loved to see the Notch be made even smaller or even removed entirely. Jon Prosser posted a CAD drawing of the iPhone 12’s Notch back in May, which appeared to show the Speaker Grill moving into the Bezel, making the Notch a bit smaller this way. 

This our idea of what the iPhone 12 will look like, check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS’ for more.

This our idea of what the iPhone 12 will look like, check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS’ for more.

Another leaker (@Choco_bit) posted an image of the iPhone 12 Pro, showing the smaller Notch, the Quad-Camera Module on the back (again with a LiDAR Sensor) and we also saw the iOS 14 Widgets. We did get the Widgets, but the other two changes would not be happening anymore. Jon Prosser posted, on August 26th, saying that the Notch is staying the same and the Bezels are getting noticeably thinner, so at least there’s that. The Notch will appear smaller on the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max as the Display itself will be bigger. Jon also mentioned that FaceID will work from wider angles, even flat on the table, so that is indeed a nice improvement. 

The sides are flat, like we’ve seen in all the leaks. We’re going to get that iPhone 4 & iPhone 5 style Body, while the Glass will indeed have a slight curve, which will make it easier to use when it comes to Gestures. Jon is also saying that the entire Camera Module would now be 10% larger. I’m assuming that he’s referring to the big square housing for the Modules. In terms of that Back Camera Array, we’ve had a bunch of recent leaks. These are Case leaks that mostly show a Triple Camera Module Array, instead of the Quad that we’ve seen leaked before as the LiDAR Module would now be positioned in a very similar manner to how the Flash is. I think that’s a worse approach. Also, the LiDAR Module on the iPad Pro 2020 is quite a bit larger than the one on these iPhone 12 leaks. Maybe Apple can pull this off and compact it a bit more to make it smaller but in my opinion, I still think it would look nicer with a Quad-Camera Module Array.

It looks like the Triple-Camera Array is staying for the iPhone 12.

It looks like the Triple-Camera Array is staying for the iPhone 12.

So, no smaller Notch or Quad-Camera Module Array, any other updates? Well, we still don’t know for sure what is happening with the high Refresh Rate Display. We’ve had countless leaks saying that it will happen and countless leaks saying that it won’t. But luckily, it seems like there is some hope. Jon Prosser posted a bunch of photos and even a full hands-on video of an iPhone 12 Pro PVT unit. These are the Production Validation Test units and they’re basically tested by Apple employees in order to ensure that they’re working correctly. They need to undergo a bunch of tests and if they pass all tests correctly, these are the units that will be mass produced. In most cases, these are exactly what the retail units would look like.

Interestingly enough, there is actually a toggle in the Settings to enable High Refresh Rate on these, but there is also a note telling employees to check if their PVT unit supports high Refresh Rate. It seems that Apple has manufactured some units with 120Hz, and others without. Display Analyst Ross Young reports that, based on his sources, it is way more likely for Apple to release the iPhone 12 Pro with just a 60Hz Panel. It looks like Apple has managed to get the 120Hz Panels in the end, but not the 120Hz Driver.

So, we’ll have to wait and see what happens but in my opinion, a high Refresh Rate on the iPhone 12 Pro is a must. We’ve had high Refresh Rate Smartphones since 2017. The first Phone to come with it was the Razer Phone, which featured a 120Hz Panel. Since then, more and more Smartphones have started including this to the point where even mid-range Smartphones in 2020, such as the OnePlus Nord, come with a 90Hz Panel.

Apple is late to the party with higher Refresh Rate Displays.

Apple is late to the party with higher Refresh Rate Displays.

I know that Apple wants to wait until they get it working properly. They want to use an LTPO Panel so that they can adjust the Refresh Rate from 120Hz, all the way down to 1Hz, just like the iPad Pro’s ProMotion Display does. That is an LCD Display, rather than an OLED. The only Smartphones out right now with an LTPO Display, are Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra and Z Fold 2. That’s it. Samsung has already made it clear to Apple that they would not be able to provide them with an LTPO Panel in 2020. It seems like that has changed, or at least Apple has found a different solution for that. Judging from the PVT units, it seems like they can only switch between the 60Hz and a 120Hz Refresh Rate, which could point towards this not being an LTPO Panel, but rather a standard 120Hz Panel like we’ve seen on most 2019 and 2020 Smartphones. On those Phones, you can indeed switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, but nothing more than that. Anyway, if this iPhone doesn’t have 120Hz, then it would be a major disappointment in my eyes. 

Camera-wise, we haven’t really had any massive leaks aside from a new Sensor that Apple will be using to enable better Low-Light Performance, as well as Night Mode with the Ultra-Wide Angle Module. Aside from that, Jon Prosser showed us that the Camera will indeed support 4K120 as well as 4K240, both of which are likely to be used in slow-motion, or at least the 4K240 mode will as that’s listed as Slow-Mo. That’s pretty nuts for a Phone. There’s no other Phone, other than the iPhone 11 Pro, that can shoot 4K60 and all Lenses. Now, the iPhone 12 Pro will bump that up to 4K120 and even 4K240. It’s pretty nuts what Apple’s Processor is capable of. But that’s mostly it.

There will be no Charger in the box, that’s already confirmed. ‘LoveToDream’ reported that the Lightning Cable will now be braided, so at least there’s that.

In terms of the Release Date, Jon Prosser has posted the timeline for Apple’s upcoming releases. Do keep in mind that Jon has been 100% accurate in the past, in terms of actual Release Dates. According to Jon, Apple will launch the new Apple Watch next week, followed by a new iPad. Then the iPhone 12 event will be in mid-October, followed by the iPhone 12 release on October 19th, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro release sometime in November. 

Apple Watch Series 6

What about the Apple Watch Series 6? If you’re enjoying this, we have some really awesome content coming in the next few days so it would be great if you could Subscribe so you don’t miss out, it’s free to do so. 

Well, my top request would be for Apple to redesign the entire Watch and make it into a Circular Design, or at least offer a Circular Design as well. That’s my personal request and I would love to see that happen. Unfortunately, it will not happen this year. The Series 6 would look identical to the Series 5. There will only be one major improvement, the addition of a Blood Oxygen Level Meter. This will show you the saturation of Oxygen in your blood. If it’s between 95% and 100%, then that’s all good. Anything lower and you might want to go and see a Doctor. Also, COVID does affect the Oxygen level in your blood so the Series 6 might even be able to give you a notification in case you have signs that could point to you having COVID. So, that’s the main feature.

The Circular Design may come one day, but not this time.

The Circular Design may come one day, but not this time.

The Battery is getting larger, but only from 296mAh, to 303.8mAh. The Performance is going to be improved thanks to the Apple Watch S6 Processor. I am hoping that the Battery Life will be improved quite substantially because the Series 5 was actually a downgrade over the Series 4. The Series 4 could easily last me two days, whereas the Series 5 has even died on me mid-day when I was cycling for like four hours with GPS enabled and Cellular enabled. Workouts kill off the Battery like crazy. Now that Sleep Tracking has been added in watchOS 7, Battery Life is more important than ever.

We’ve also seen reports that Apple is working on an Apple Watch SE, essentially updating the Apple Watch Series 3 with a more recent Processor and selling that for around $200. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg has reported on this as well. Overall, it seems like they’re just making as few small changes as they can until they can really re-design this thing. The Series 4 was really the big change, back in 2018. The Series 5 only added a Display Controller, which in combination with the LTPO Panel, which the Series 4 also had, allowed it to have an Always-On Display. The Series 4 could’ve easily had it as well, it only needed that tiny Display Controller.

It seems like the Series 6 will be another minor upgrade, with the biggest change just being the Oxygen Level Meter, which could’ve been easily added to the Series 5 and even the Series 4.

New iPad 

Finally, it seems like there is also a brand new iPad that Apple will be launching as early as next week, according to Jon Prosser. But which iPad is this? Is it a new iPad Pro, or a new iPad Air or a new entry-level iPad? Well, it’s definitely not a new iPad Pro as we just got one earlier this year.

It will either be a new iPad Air (the iPad Air 4) or a new entry level iPad, (the iPad 8th Generation), ‘mydrivers.com', which has a mixed track record, reports that this will come with an 11” Display, an A14 Processor and 128GB of Baseline Storage. Essentially, identical to the 2018 iPad Pro in terms of Design, just with a more powerful Processor. ‘91mobiles’ posted a few schematics of this new iPad, showing some slightly thicker Bezels than on the iPad Pro and a slightly smaller 10.8” Display. 

We don’t know exactly which iPad this will be, just that it won’t be new ‘Pro’ model.

We don’t know exactly which iPad this will be, just that it won’t be new ‘Pro’ model.

FaceID will be included, as opposed to just TouchID on the Power Button, which a leaked manual was apparently showing. A Smart Connector does appear to be present on these schematics, which would allow support for Apple’s Magic Keyboard.

Mark Gurman and Debby Wu of Bloomberg have both written a fairly comprehensive report outlining Apple’s plans for this quarter and according to them, this iPad would indeed be a brand new iPad Air with pretty much the same Design style as the iPad Pro. It would make sense for the Display to indeed be an 11” Panel, rather than something smaller with slightly thicker Bezels just to make the iPad Pro look a bit better.

I have to say, I am a bit unsure in terms of the Processor. Some reports are saying that it will come with an Apple A14X Chip, while some are saying that this will be an A14 Chip. The A14 would make sense but only if Apple also updates the 2020 iPad Pro with the A14X. Otherwise, it would just be weird having an A14 in this new iPad Air and a slower A12Z, at least slower on the CPU side, on the iPad Pro. That just wouldn’t make that much sense. That’s my personal prediction, a CPU update for the 2020 iPad Pro with the A14X.

AirPods Studio

The New AirPods Studio could be right around the corner.

The New AirPods Studio could be right around the corner.

Now, here’s a bonus item. A brand new pair of AirPods. Mark Gurman and Debby Wu also report that Apple is preparing a new pair of AirPods, those AirPods Studio that we’ve been hearing about for a few months now. The leaker ‘Komiya’ reports that the AIrPods Studio will come in White and Space Grey. The Audio Quality and Active Noise Cancelling would be “very high”, according to Komiya.

Apparently, they will also come with Apple’s new H1X Chip, some new Equaliser Settings and Ear Detection, so just like the regular AirPods. They may have some sort of Hand Gesture, like the HomePod does.

The Price will be $350, likely £350 in the UK, and they will ship in September/October and announced via a press release on Apple’s website. From the looks of it, it seems like these could be announced next week when Apple also launches the Apple Watch Series 6 and the new iPad Air 4. Jon Prosser even posted the time of the release, which according to him would be on Tuesday, September 8th between 9-12 EST when Apple will be holding *something* on their website.

The Future of the MacBook Pro (2020 & Beyond)

The MacBooks are changing. Apple is on the verge of completely revolutionising the computing industry, not just in terms of the Macs, but also in terms of CPU Design.

We made a video back in June in which I talked about the switch to ARM in detail, so definitely give that video a watch if you want to learn more about the CPU itself. But here, I’ll be focusing on the future of the MacBook & MacBook Pro. We’ve had a ton of recent leaks that give us a glimpse at what Apple is aiming for with these devices, so without any further ado, here is The Future of the MacBook Pro (2020 and Beyond).

As most of you probably know already, Apple is ditching Intel in favour of their own Processors. Apple are already using their own Chips in the iPhones and the iPads so it makes a ton of sense to also use their Processors in the Macs, as that way they will have an entirely unified system.

So, what benefits will we get from this transition and how will these affect future Macs?

Performance

The most recent iPad Pro has shown us what Apple’s Chips are capable of.

The most recent iPad Pro has shown us what Apple’s Chips are capable of.

The biggest improvement that we’ll see is when it comes to the Performance. Apple’s A12X Processor, the one that’s inside the 2018 iPad Pro, is already more powerful than the 2020 MacBook Air and the baseline MacBook Pro. In fact, we even did a full video comparing the 2018 iPad Pro with the 2020 (high-end) 13” MacBook Pro in real-world tests such as Video Editing. The MacBook Pro exported a five minute, 4K60 timeline in 7 minutes and 27 seconds, while the iPad Pro only took 2 minutes and 52 seconds. Now, keep in mind that this was on a Tablet that was using a two year old Processor and didn’t even have a Fan. It was passively cooled and yet it was significantly thinner than the MacBook Pro, which had a Fan and was using Intel’s latest 10th Generation Processor. 

By Apple using a modern and more powerful A-series Chip, specifically designed for the Mac, they could significantly improve their Performance over even the iPad Pro. 

GPU and Memory

The use of SoC’s in Apple’s smaller devices greatly reduces latency between the separate components.

The use of SoC’s in Apple’s smaller devices greatly reduces latency between the separate components.

The second change would be when it comes to the GPU and of course, the Memory. 

On regular computers, such as a Desktop PC or a Laptop, the CPU, GPU and RAM (or the Memory) are all separate Components which are slotted into the Motherboard. The GPU, for example, uses a PCIe Interface to communicate with the CPU. The only problem here is that there is quite a bit of Latency when it comes to the CPU accessing the data from the GPU, which is determined by the speed of the PCIe Slot. Smartphone Processors, since there’s not that much room inside, actually combine all of these Components onto one single Chip, which is called a ‘System On a Chip’ (SoC). 

This is what Apple is using in their iPhones and iPads. Since the CPU now has direct access to the Memory and the GPU, the Latency is greatly reduced and therefore the overall Performance is greatly increased. I’ve had a look through Apple’s developer presentations for their upcoming transition to Apple Silicon and there was no mention of the GPU. In fact, Apple was even talking about how much they can improve the Performance by building an SoC inside their Macs. What this means is that we would not be getting any separate GPU options inside future MacBooks. This makes me wonder…what about the different SKU’s?

SKU’s 

Well, if we take a look at the Macs, there are many different CPU models that you can choose from. The MacBook Air has three CPU options: an i3,  i5 and an i7. But, the MacBook Pro has four options with the first two being Intel’s 8th Generation Chips, while the last two are Intel’s 10th Generation Chips. So, how many SKU’s will Apple have, when it comes to the next-gen Macs? If we take a look at the iPhone, Apple only releases one CPU model every year and all iPhones have that exact CPU model.

On the iPad side, we do have the X variant, which does pack more GPU power than the non-X variant that we get inside the iPhones. The last X variant that we got was back in 2018, so these do take a while to make and we only get those on the iPad Pro’s as the regular iPads still use the exact same Chips as the iPhones do. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that for the MacBooks at least, Apple will either have one SKU or two, at most.

The use of SoC’s will limit the amount of SKU’s and likely follow a pattern similar to the current iPad Pro’s.

The use of SoC’s will limit the amount of SKU’s and likely follow a pattern similar to the current iPad Pro’s.

My prediction is that the MacBook Air would be using the exact same Chip that the iPhones use, the Apple A14, and whatever comes next. While the MacBook Pros will be using a more powerful version of that to give them the “Pro’ name. Not only that, but I predict that the 13” and the 16” MacBook Pro would be identical in terms of the performance and the only advantage that the 16” model will have, would be when it comes to its Display Size, just like we have on the iPad Pro’s right now. We have two models, the 11” and 12.9”, both with the same Performance and the only difference being the Display size.

So, what about the RAM? Well, since the CPU would now be an SoC, it would be very difficult for Apple to give us multiple RAM options when we configure our MacBooks, like we get now. I believe that the MacBook Air would come with, like I said, an A14 Processor but more RAM than the iPhones do. Possibly 16GB of RAM, while the MacBook Pro’s would come with more than that. Maybe the 16” would come with 64GB of RAM by default and the 13’ would come with 32GB, that would be the one and only RAM option. As we know from the iPhone and the iPads, Apple’s Processors are extremely efficient in terms of Memory, and so is iOS, so you won’t need as much RAM as we have on the Intel Macs now. 

Design Changes

The next big change that this transition would bring, is when it comes to the Design. As Apple’s Processors are an entire SoC, you’re saving up a ton of space inside as there’s no need for a separate GPU and Memory. Not only that, but Apple’s Processors are also Fan-less. While Apple might add a Fan to some of their Macs to increase the Performance even further, by overclocking the Processors, the idea here is that they don’t necessarily require a Fan. Instead, they can use that extra internal space for a bigger Battery or a slimmer Chassis.

We sat down and brainstormed how Apple could design such a MacBook from scratch. This is our vision as to how we think Apple could realistically design a future MacBook now that they’ve made the transition to their own Processors.

We’ve modelled our own Concept of what we think these new MacBook Pro’s will look like.

We’ve modelled our own Concept of what we think these new MacBook Pro’s will look like.

We’ve designed the Display so that it matches the aesthetic of the iPad Pro. This means a uniform Bezel that also features curved corners which actually match the Design style of the upcoming macOS Big Sur. We’ve also made the Bezels a bit thinner than on the iPad Pro as we do think that those are indeed a bit too thick. This new MacBook Pro Design is finally in line with the modern 2020 Laptop Designs. The Aspect Ratio is still 16:10 and we’ve also added FaceID into the top Bezel as this has been recently leaked to be coming in all next-gen Macs moving forward. FaceID on a Mac makes so much more sense than having a TouchID Sensor. 

Now onto the Body. You can probably tell that this looks incredibly thin and that’s because we’ve actually used the same Body size as the iPad Pro. That means a thickness of only 5.9mm and a chassis that’s symmetrical and flat, so no more wedge shape MacBook Air style Design. We’ve added a USB Type C Port on each side and in case you’re wondering, these are indeed Thunderbolt 3 Ports, which are supported by the new USB 4 standard. So, Apple would not be losing Thunderbolt 3 by switching to their own Chips. We’ve also added two Speaker Grills on each side, with the same Design style as on the iPad Pro. 

The Trackpad is shorter now, as the Body is shorter as well, thanks to the Bezels being so thin now. This is how we designed it, but of course Apple could easily make the Display taller, maybe change the Aspect Ratio to a taller 3:2 Panel, just like on the Microsoft Surface Laptops, and have more room for the Trackpad in that case.

Colour-wise, we’ve kept Apple’s classic Space Grey and Silver colours but we’ve also added a brand new Matte Black colour, which I think looks amazing. I really hope that Apple gives us a darker colour option for this new generation as that’s definitely something that I would personally be going for.

For more Concepts and behind the scenes, be sure to check out our secondary ‘ZONEofCONCEPTS’ accounts on Instagram & Twitter.

For more Concepts and behind the scenes, be sure to check out our secondary ‘ZONEofCONCEPTS’ accounts on Instagram & Twitter.

When it comes to the Keyboard, obviously we have a Scissor Mechanism here but we have made the keys a bit thinner than on the current MacBooks, just to make it look better. Apple can easily keep the same thickness or just have the Keys deeper so that they travel more while also keeping this fairly thin Design, from the outside. The Touchbar is pretty much the same as before, so no changes here. The separate Escape Key is there, as well as an individual Backlight for each of the Keys. Apple, if you like what we’ve done, just get in touch.

Do let me know what do you guys think of our Design and if you want to see more of our concepts, it would be amazing if you could subscribe and also give us a follow on our ‘ZONEofCONCEPTS’ Instagram & Twitter pages. 

But, which MacBook is this? Is it the 12”, the Air or the Pro? Well, here’s what I’m thinking. Since Apple will have their own SoC now, and they’ll likely only have one or two SKU’s at most for these, they could unify the entire lineup, Design-wise. What I mean by this is that they could easily just call this the new MacBook, then have this in a 12” 14” and 16’ size, with the 14” and the 16” sizes being the MacBook Pro variant. These would also come with that more powerful A Series Processor that I mentioned, while the 12” would come with the same Chip that we have in the iPhones.

Personally, if I were Tim Cook, this is what I would do. I would create this beautiful singular Design, that would be instantly recognisable as a MacBook Design, and as use that for the entire lineup. Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are on this are. 

Battery Life

Another big improvement that the new MacBooks would feature thanks to the switch to Apple Silicon, is the Battery Life.

Battery Life is likely to get a huge bump in upcoming releases.

Battery Life is likely to get a huge bump in upcoming releases.

Most MacBooks from 2010 have claimed to offer a 10 hour Battery Life, which is exactly what the iPads have claimed since the original iPad came out in 2010 too. Personally, my iPad lasts me for about seven hours, while my MacBook Pro lasts me for around five hours. 

Apple leaker ‘KomiyaLeaks’ tweeted a few details about an upcoming 12” MacBook. I’ll get into these in just a bit, but probably the most surprising thing here is the Battery Life, which is now expected to be up to 20 hours. So, in real world usage, if we go by the iPad’s Battery Life, this should now translate into around 15 or so hours of actual usage, which is a pretty gigantic jump from the current five or so hours that I was personally getting. We’ve also had a leak on a supposed MacBook Air Battery, likely the new MacBook Air. This Battery is very similar to the one that we have on the current model, just with a brand new model number on it. 

Unified OS

Could a unified OS bring Touch Screen Support to future Macs?

Could a unified OS bring Touch Screen Support to future Macs?

The next big advantage of this transition, is a unified OS. Apple has already announced that iOS apps will now be able to be run natively, on the Mac. Meaning that you can run all of your favourite Apps, including ones that have zero optimisation, such as Instagram for example, directly on the Mac with no tweaking needed.

Apple has even demoed Final Cut Pro X and even Maya, running on a Mac Mini with an Apple A12Z Processor, the same Chip as in the 2020 iPad Pro, which is almost identical to the 2018 iPad Pro’s A12X Processor. This also means that iOS devices, such as the iPhone and the iPad, could easily run Mac software. Final Cut Pro X on the iPad is likely to be a possibility. In fact, Jon Prosser even stated a few months ago that XCode is actually coming to the iPad. This also makes me think that Apple could potentially add Touch-Screen support to the Mac, which would make a ton of sense as the iPad did get Mouse & Keyboard support. Also, macOS Big Sur does bring the Control Centre amongst other features, which are all Touch friendly. 

More Frequent Updates

I also expect to see more frequent updates to the Mac as Apple would not have to wait for Intel to release new Chips anymore. Instead, they can move the Macs to a yearly update cycle, just like they already do with the iPhones. 

Lower Prices 

Since Apple will be designing their own Chips, the prices of future Macs could in fact go down. ‘KomiyaLeaks’ reported that the new 12” MacBook would cost $800, making this the most affordable new MacBook that Apple has ever released. But at the same time, all the savings could go into Apple making these devices even better, so it’s not 100% guaranteed that the prices will indeed go down. 

In terms of what to expect in the near future, we’ve seen quite a few reports that we would see either a 12” MacBook or a new MacBook Air by the end of the year. Some reports even mention Apple releasing a 13” MacBook Pro with the same exact Design that we have now, just with an Apple Processor. Komiya reports that the Butterfly Keyboard will be coming back, which I personally don’t buy. He also reported that there is no Apple Event planned for October, which is where Apple would unveil these new Macs, so they could indeed be delayed until next year. What we do know for sure is that Apple is indeed planning some major redesigns with pretty much all of these upcoming Macs, including the iMac. 

PS5 vs Xbox Series X – The Complete Buyer’s Guide!

PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X? Which one is the better Console and which one should you guys get? Well, spoilers, they’re both very good Consoles. You’ll be extremely happy with either of these two.

But, there are quite a few differences that might make you pick one over the other. We did a similar comparison back in March, but that was before we knew the Design of the PS5, or even the Games and Graphics reveals, so there’s tons of new details in this video.

So, without any further ado, here is the ultimate PS5 vs Xbox Series X comparison, covering the Design, Specs, Games, Graphics, Special Features and finally…Price.

Design

Starting off with the Design, the PS5 and the Xbox Series X couldn’t have been more black and white, literally. The Xbox Series X has this very elegant and classy look in all Matte Black. It is bigger and fatter than the Xbox One X, but that’s because of the massive Cooling System that this Console needs. 

In terms of the Ports, we have three USB Type A Ports, all are USB 3.2. We have one on the front and the other two are on the back. In addition, we have a HDMI 2.1 Port, which supports 4K120 as well as 8K60, an Ethernet Port and a Kensington lock so that you can lock your Xbox in place. This is very useful for public spaces, as well as the Expansion Slot for the first party SSD Expansions, which I’ll be covering in just a second. 

The Digital-Only Version of the PS5 is definitely the better looking of the two.

The Digital-Only Version of the PS5 is definitely the better looking of the two.

The PS5 on the other hand, is completely different. First of all, it comes in this really nice Matte White colour, with Glossy Black accents and a blue LED strip which I’m assuming would change its colour based on the different states that your PlayStation can be in, such as Rest Mode, Sleep, Powered-On and so on. Size-wise, the PS5 is gigantic. It is much taller than even the Xbox Series X and also taller than pretty much any Console ever made. It is also said to be very heavy at 4.8kg, however, the PS5 is slimmer than the Xbox. 

When it comes to the Ports, the PS5 features one USB C Port on the front, as well as a USB Type A. We don’t really know any other details and Sony hasn’t shown us the back of the Console just yet. It is safe to assume that it will have an HDMI 2.1 Port, an Ethernet Port, a PSVR 1 Port and likely even a PSVR 2 Port, which will allow the External Receiver for that to be connected. The PSVR 2 will be a completely wireless Headset. Also, I do expect a few more USB A Ports on the back. 

Now, there will be two models of the PS5, a Regular Version and a Digital Only Version, which lacks the Blu-Ray Drive. This Digital Only Version looks much better as it’s perfectly uniform. The Disc Version looks like it has this tumour that grew on its side, it doesn’t look good at all and it’s pretty obvious that when Sony designed the PS5, they designed the Digital Version first as that’s really the future. Speaking of models, there is a rumoured second model of the Xbox Series X just around the corner, this is the Lockhart / Xbox Series S, with this possibly having a very square and boxy design. Personally, I really do like both but I am leaning more towards the Digital Version of the PS5’s Design. Something about it just makes it look more futuristic and high-tech, I’m really into that.

Specs

When it comes to the Specs, both of these Consoles feature an AMD CPU and GPU alongside hardware based Ray-Tracing and a very fast SSD. So, you would assume that these Consoles are identical in terms of the Performance, but that’s not really the case.

The Series X splits its RAM into two chunks, at different speeds.

The Series X splits its RAM into two chunks, at different speeds.

CPU-wise, both feature an AMD Ryzen Processor based on the Zen 2 Architecture. These are basically Desktop class CPU’s that you would find in AMD’s latest offering. They’re both 8-Core Processors, however, the Xbox Series X is clocked at 3.8GHz, while the PS5’s CPU is clocked at 3.5GHz. Not only that, but Sony has confirmed that the PS5’s CPU will be running at a Variable Frequency, meaning that while the Xbox will be running at a constant 3.8GHz, the PS5 can go up to 3.5GHz, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it would run this high all of the time. This was apparently done so that the PS5 has more power to divert to the GPU, when needed. Otherwise, the CPU might consume a ton of power even when the Game itself doesn’t actually require that much. 

On the GPU side, both GPU’s are based on AMD’s new Navi/RDNA 2.0 Architecture, which isn’t even out for PC yet. The Xbox GPU has 52 Compute Units, or “Cores” that each clocked at 1.825GHz, while the PS5 has 36 Compute Units, clocked at 2.23GHz. This translates to the Xbox having 12.15 TFLOPS of GPU Compute Power, while the PS5 has 10.28 TFLOPS. That’s a 1.87 TFLOP difference. Fun fact, the difference between the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X was 1.8 TFLOPS, so this is quite significant. 

RAM wise, both have 16GB of GDDR6 Memory, but they’re both using it in a fairly different way. For example, the PS5 has a 448GB/s Memory Bandwidth for the entire 16GB chunk. The Xbox, on the other hand, has 560GB/s but only for 10GB, while the other 6GB are running at a slower 336GB/s. 

At this point, it seems like the Xbox Series X is superior, Performance wise, to the PS5, which is indeed correct. However, the PS5 does have one big advantage when it comes to the Storage. Both Consoles now have a Flash Storage Module, or an SSD, compared to the mechanical HDD’s that the current-gen Consoles have.

Microsoft have Proprietary Drives, but the PS5 allows Third-Party Support.

Microsoft have Proprietary Drives, but the PS5 allows Third-Party Support.

The Xbox Series X comes with a 1TB SSD, while the PS5 comes with a 825GB SSD. But, while the Xbox’s SSD has a read speed of 2.4GB/s, almost 50 times faster than what the Xbox One, the PS5’s SSD has a read speed of 5.5GB/s, 110 times faster than the PS4 and Xbox One’s Drive. I’ll go into more detail about why this is important when we get to the Graphics section of this video.

Now, with both of these Consoles, you will be able to expand the Storage if you really need to. On the Xbox, Microsoft will be selling Drives that they’ve developed in partnership with Seagate, which will allow you to add one extra Terabyte to the Console. 

Sony won’t be selling any first party SSD, instead, you will be able to buy any third party m.2 Drive and replace the Internal Storage with that. However, it will need to have at least the speeds of the Internal Drive. As of right now, there are no Drives that even match that speed. 

You can indeed connect External HDD’s to both of these Consoles, but you would not be able to play any next-gen Games from those as they’re simply way too slow. You can store your current-gen Games on those, which will be playable on both of these Consoles. 

Games

But the specs really don’t mean anything if there are no great games to take full use of them. So, what games are we getting for each Console? Well, this is where the biggest differences between these two Consoles really show.

‘Horizon: Forbidden West’ is just one of the many AAA Exclusives that Sony will have before there are any on the Series X (Source: Sony).

‘Horizon: Forbidden West’ is just one of the many AAA Exclusives that Sony will have before there are any on the Series X (Source: Sony).

On the PS5, you will have Exclusive Games. So, just like with the PS4 now, all new games made by Sony studios will only work on the PS5. That means that the next ‘Spider-Man’, the next ‘Horizon’, the next ‘God of War ‘and so on. The good news is that those games will look absolutely incredible and truly next-gen. The bad news is that you need to buy a PS5.

When it comes to the Xbox, things are entirely different. Microsoft says that for the first two years, there will be no Exclusives at all on the Xbox Series X. This means that any new Game that you will buy for the Xbox will work on the Series X, the Xbox One X, the Xbox One S, the Xbox One as well as on any Windows PC. So, the great news here is that you don’t really have to buy the Xbox Series X to take advantage of the new Games. The bad news however, is that the Games will not look as good as the Exclusives will on the PS5. There’ll be more about that when it comes to the Graphics. 

Graphics

So now, which Console will have better Graphics? This is also really tricky.

If you’re into cross-platform Games, such as ‘Call of Duty’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Minecraft’, ‘Overwatch’, ‘Assassin’s Creed’ or basically anything that works on both Playstation and Xbox, those Games will run better on the Xbox. Most of these Developers have already confirmed that the Xbox Series X will run their Games at a higher Resolution and higher Frame-Rates. In fact, Microsoft is aiming for a full Native 4K experience at least 60 FPS, with some Games even targeting 120 FPS. 

Footage from ‘Halo Infinite’ did not showcase the best of what the Series X can offer (Source: Xbox).

Footage from ‘Halo Infinite’ did not showcase the best of what the Series X can offer (Source: Xbox).

Sony, on the other hand, hasn’t really confirmed that they’re even targeting 60 FPS. Insomniac Games for example, the Developer of the next ‘Spider-Man’ Game, have confirmed that ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ will have a 60 FPS Mode. But, their Tweet is a bit strange and it sort of implies that you’ll have to choose between 4K and 60 FPS or if you want 60 FPS, you’ll need to have some graphical options disabled. 

Since the PS5 will indeed have Exclusives at launch, these games will indeed look true next-gen, while the launch Games on the Xbox Series X, since these are cross platform/non-exclusives Games, will just look like the current-gen in higher Resolution and at a higher Frame Rate.

Take a look at ‘Halo Infinite’, which we just got a gameplay reveal for last week. The game looks decent, it runs in Native 4K60 but the Graphics themselves just look like current-gen. Take a look at the Grass and the Lighting, now compare it to, let’s say, ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ or ‘Ghost of Tsushima’. In these games, the Foliage Density is significantly higher. Not only that, but in ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’, you can even interact with the foliage to the point where you can bump into a Pine Tree and you’ll see the snow fall off of it. Also, pay attention to the Lighting and compare both of these to how it looks in Halo Infinite. Also, keep in mind that ’The Last of Us: Part 2’ and ‘Ghost of Tsushima’ are PS4 games, ‘Halo Infinite’ is a next-gen title.

Long story short, when you develop a Game, you have to develop it on the weakest common denominator and then let the more powerful hardware run that same Game at a higher Resolution and Frame-Rate.

Otherwise, if you develop the Lighting and the Physics on a higher-end Platform, porting that down is going to be incredibly difficult. For example, ‘Halo Infinite’ was developed on the Xbox One and then ported onto the Xbox One X, the Series X and then onto PC.

For a PS4 Game, ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ looked truly next-gen (Source: Sony).

For a PS4 Game, ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ looked truly next-gen (Source: Sony).

Luckily, Microsoft has also shown a few Games developed on the Series X, which would not work on the Xbox One at all, just the Series X and PC.  Those games were the new ‘Fable’, ‘State of Decay 3’, ‘Forza Motorsport 8’ and a few more. Finally, these definitely looked like next-gen Games.  Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn’t said when we’ll get these Games, but it seems like they will all come out after those first two years as again, these Games will now be “Exclusives” rather than Games that also work on the Xbox One series, in order to take full advantage of the hardware inside the Series X. 

So, at launch, cross platform Games will look better on the Xbox One X, while Exclusives will look better on the PS5 as the Xbox won’t actually have any until two years after launch. We don’t yet know to what extent cross platform Games run better on the Series X just yet, this is because the PS5 does indeed have that much faster SSD. If we take a look at ‘Star Citizen’, a Game that is actually a PC Exclusive, it has been fully optimised with SSD’s in mind and if you have an m.2 Flash Storage Module for example, that game can run at up to 20 FPS higher than if you were running the same Game, on the same platform, with the same specs, but on a HDD.

The speed difference between a HDD and a standard 2GB/s m.2 Flash Module is a factor of 40x. The speed difference between the PS5’s SSD and the Xbox SSD is only about 2x. This is not enough to give us 20 FPS or anything like that on the PS5, but likely something that can make this Performance gap between these two Consoles, look smaller.

Special Features

So what about the Special Features? Is there anything unique in terms of each Console that might make you pick one, over the other? Well, the Controllers are a pretty big difference here. 

The Xbox Series X Controller looks almost identical to the Xbox One X Controller, which is not necessarily a bad thing as that Controller was regarded by many as the best Controller on the market. This has been improved this time by adding a Dynamic Latency Input which is supposed to significantly reduce the Input Lag, making this Controller likely the best  choice if you’re into competitive gaming. 

Microsoft have very much taken the approach of ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’.

Microsoft have very much taken the approach of ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’.

However, the PS5’s Controller is a complete redesign. Not only that, but it also implements a Touch-Bar and Haptics Support similar to what we have on modern Smartphones, just on steroids. This will give you the ability to feel different surfaces in a Game, I’m really curious to see how well it works.

The Xbox Series X though, has a massive advantage in terms of Backwards Compatibility. It allows you to play Xbox One, Xbox 360 and even original Xbox Games, while the PS5 will only allow you to play PS4 games with the DualShock 4. Also, the Xbox does feature the Xbox Game Pass, which lets you play a selection of Games via a monthly subscription, which is pretty amazing if you just want to try some Games out. Sony does have PlayStation Now, which is also a monthly subscription, but this one streams Games rather than downloading them, so the quality is affected here. Some Games can indeed be downloaded though, but only a few. 

However, one big advantage to the PlayStation could be the new 3D Audio Engine. This is a hardware-based engine, which will immerse you significantly more into a Game by giving you 7.1 Surround Sound in all PS5 Games. 

Price 

And finally, let’s talk about the price. So the prices have not been revealed as of yet, which means that the prices that I’m going to give you are based on leaks from some reliable sources. 

The PS5 is said to start at $400 for the Digital Version and $500 for the Disk Version. The Xbox Series X is said to start at $500, but we’ve also seen reports that Microsoft will also launch another Xbox, the Xbox Series S, which would start at around $300. However, the Series S will be considerably less powerful than the Xbox Series X, whereas both versions of the PS5 are identical in Performance. 

Apple AR Glasses - The Future of Reality!

AR is the future and I’m so excited for it! 

Apple is currently the leader in terms of AR Tracking right now. We know that they’re working on their brand new AR Glasses, which we’ve done a number of videos on but you see, this video is quite a bit different, this is because I’ve sort of tried the Apple AR Glasses myself. Well, not the actual unit as no one outside of Apple really has access to those, but I have tried two devices which are essentially early prototypes of what the Apple AR Glasses will deliver, in terms of functionality.

So, without any further ado, get those snacks ready and let’s jump into some AR.

DreamGlass 4K

The first item that I have tried is called the DreamGlass 4K. This thing hasn’t fully launched just yet, it’s on Indiegogo, DreamGlass hasn’t sponsored this in any way, they have sent this over for us to check out. After checking it out, I honestly don’t recommend it but it does have some interesting features that do give us an early taste of what the Apple Glasses can do.

This is basically a Heads-On Display Headset, very similar to the Google Glass where you had this tiny Display in a corner of your field-of-view. That tiny Display would show you some info such as the Time, Date, Weather, Notifications and stuff like that. The first difference here is that the Display on these is Full-Screen, rather than it being a tiny window. Secondly, these Glasses are actually tethered to a Remote, which I’ll get to in just a second, meaning that they’re more like a home-experience device rather than something that you would take on the street or in public.

The way they work is that they have these two tiny Displays in each of the Lenses, which your eye then perceives as one Display. It’s fairly high-res, at least according to DreamGlass. They claim that this is a 4K Panel, but  I’m not so sure about that as the content that I was viewing on this was mostly 1080p. However, I can’t deny that the Display inside of this is pretty decent. You connect the Headset to a Remote, which runs Android. It has Bluetooth, WiFi and all of that, which means you can put movies and a few Apps on here, then preview those on the Headset itself. The reason why this isn’t AR is because the Display itself is fixed, it doesn’t move. If you move your head, it will move as well, just like the Google Glass did. 

The DreamGlass 4K is an early prototype with some flaws to iron out, but it has some promising features.

The DreamGlass 4K is an early prototype with some flaws to iron out, but it has some promising features.

Now, what’s cool about this is that the Remote itself also has a HDMI Port, meaning that you can connect this to a Console and play Console Games on your Headset without anyone even noticing. You can connect your Smartphone and play some movies directly or even stream content wirelessly, that’s doable as well. Plus, you can connect a Controller and basically have a gaming set-up on the go. However, my favourite feature is that you can also connect it to a Laptop and have a full Desktop UI, which you can then control with your Mouse & Keyboard and then when you remove the Glasses, the virtual set-up is all gone.

So, that’s what I really like about these, the fact that they give us a glimpse of what we could do with true AR Glasses in the future. If you’re ever played ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’, humans had these Chips that they would attach to their heads and they were able to see AR Elements in the real world, that’s how they were all using their computers. There were no Monitors, you would just sit on a desk, turn on your AR Chip or Headset and your computer will appear right in front of you. The DreamGlass is essentially an early look at that.

Unfortunately, it does have a lot of issues. For example, even-though DreamGlass says that this is 4K Display, on their Specs sheet they only list 2.5K, which I’m assuming is for each eye. But anyway, once I connected my Laptop to the Headset, the Laptop was only seeing this as a 1080p Display, rather than a 4K Display. Not only that, but there was a significant amount of ghosting and lag when using the Mouse. So, the Response Time on this is extremely high, making it unsuitable for almost anything other than watching movies really. Speaking of that, we tried manually putting some videos and Apps onto the Headset, but our computers just couldn’t see it. Not even a USB stick would work, through that single USB A Port. You can activate 3D Mode using a Button on the Remote, which actually works surprisingly well, that’s cool but realistically, I just cannot recommend this to anyone.

It costs $400 or £300, as much as a Console, but it’s nothing more than a Monitor that’s strapped to your head, which also needs another device to work properly. The DreamGlass isn’t really worth it, but at least we got a good idea of how the Apple Glasses could be used to interact with a virtual Mac.

Oculus Quest

Now, the second device that I have is a bit more special, this is the Oculus Quest. It is something that came out last year and we’ve even made a very detailed Review Video, which you can check out on the channel.

Now, as most of you might now, the Oculus Quest is a VR Headset, meaning that you’re fully immersed into the experience and you cannot see the real world at all. Something quite unique about the Oculus Quest is that it is a fully wireless VR experience so unlike the Smartphone VR systems, where you just slide in your Phone and you can just look around up, down, left or right, the Quest has the full Six Degrees of freedom. This means that you can even walk around your room and the Quest would be able to track that. It’s pretty much like the high-end VR systems, like the HTC Vive, except it’s fully wireless and it does all the tracking on its own, without the need to place large tracking Sensors in your room. In order to achieve this, it uses four Cameras, one in each corner that tracks the environment in 3D. 

A recent update for the Oculus Quest really ups it’s AR game, with features that Apple’s own device could implement.

A recent update for the Oculus Quest really ups it’s AR game, with features that Apple’s own device could implement.

But what has this got to do with the Apple AR Glasses, which are surely AR and not VR? Well, Oculus has actually released a recent update, which allows you to also use the Quest as an AR Headset. So, remember those Cameras that I mentioned that are used to map the environment in 3D? Well, with this recent update, you can actually replace the standard background in the Menus, with the video feed from the Cameras. Even-though this is just black and white, it perfectly matches the environment in real life and you now have all the Menu Elements appear on top of your real world. This is fully tracked, which is really what the Apple AR Glasses will be all about.

The only difference will be that Apple’s Glasses will be smaller and made so that they resemble actual Glasses. Plus, the AR Elements would be overlaid on top of your real-world view, rather than a Camera recording your real-world view and then overlaying the AR Clements on top of that video recording. Everything will be just as sharp and just as colourful as in real life.

This would be cool if you could just use your hands to control the UI. Well, it turns out you actually can! The Oculus Quest has full Hand-Tracking Support, meaning that I can just use my hands to navigate the UI. There are also a few Gestures that I can do to simulate a click or even move the UI around. I have to say, if you do have an Oculus Quest, you have to try this for yourself.

Firstly, you need to make sure that you have the latest updates installed, then go into ‘Settings’, ‘Experimental Features’ and turn on the new Beta HomeScreen UI. Once you’ve done that, the Headset will reboot. After that, you can go into ‘Settings’ again, select ‘Virtual Environments’, select ‘Passthrough’ and there you go, an early look at AR Glasses.

Apple AR Glasses

Ok, so now that I have talked about two pieces of tech that give us an idea of how Apple’s AR Glasses will work, how would they be any different from these two Headsets?

First of all, Apple will designing their AR Glasses to look like regular Glasses. We have heard some rumors that Apple is also working on a VR/AR Headset, which is said to look similar to the Oculus Quest and that one might launch earlier. The main AR Glasses Headset that we’re all waiting for, that would just look like a regular pair of Glasses.

The use of the LiDAR Sensor on the iPad Pro & iPhone 12 Pro’s may be a test-run for something much bigger.

The use of the LiDAR Sensor on the iPad Pro & iPhone 12 Pro’s may be a test-run for something much bigger.

The second difference, like I mentioned before, is that the AR Elements would be displayed on the actual Lenses of the Glasses, rather than those being displayed on a video-stream, like they are on the Oculus Quest. You will get to see the AR Elements projected right onto the real world, with the elements themselves being in 8K Resolution, according to the info that we’ve seen so far. Also, instead of using actual Cameras to map the environment, like the Oculus Quest, Apple is said to be using LiDAR Modules that they’re currently using in the 2020 iPad Pro (this is also what the iPhone 12 Pro’s will be using).

Not only that, but Jon Prosser said that this is Apple’s plan, to implement the LiDAR Module on their iPads and iPhones first so that users get to use it for a bit, then take all the AR data that they’ve gathered from those devices and improve on the AR experience for the Glasses. It seems like the only reason why the LiDAR Modules are there is to create the AR experience of a future product, Apple’s AR Glasses. 

In terms of interacting with the UI Elements, Siri will indeed be present. Just like with the AirPods and pretty much all of Apple’s devices today, you’ll be able to ask Siri different questions and requests certain actions. The interesting part is when it comes to touch interaction. We’ve seen some reports that Apple will have a Touch Panel built into the Frame. That may be the case for things such as Volume Control, but I think the main interaction would be done in a very similar way as to how it works on the Oculus Quest, which is by fully using your hands in the air, flicking and scrolling through the UI. 

In fact, a recent Patent Application found by ‘AppleInsider’ shows that Apple is looking into having interactive AR Elements appear on a real-world surface. What this means is that you would be able to have Buttons, Menus and even Apps on a flat surface, in the real world, and interact with them just by pressing the virtual Buttons. This will be sort of like having a virtual iPad that’s just sitting on a desk, that you can actually interact with. 

In fact, one MacRumors user, ‘AngerDanger’, claims that Apple could potentially use Thermal Imaging to detect hotspots left by finger-taps on surfaces, which they can then register as Touch Input. Not only that, but if you’ve been following Apple’s advancements in AR, with ARKit, you know that they managed to pull off things that were previously considered impossible. They managed to pull of AR Tracking with just a single Camera Lens. Normally, you would need at least two Cameras so you can compare the differences between the two and create a 3D shape. Apple managed to pull this off with just one Camera and by using the data from their built-in Gyroscope and Accelerometer. Not only that, but Apple has also managed to add real-time shadows onto the virtual AR objects. What this means is that, if you have a virtual object and in the real world and you have a light pointed in one direction, that virtual object would blend into the scene perfectly with the light casting a shadow on its other side.  Apple has also managed to pull this off with reflections. If you have a glossy virtual object, objects from the real world, this would actually cast reflections on it.

The bulkier headset that Mike Rockwell advocated for would need external hardware, something that Jony Ive and Tim Cook did not side with.

The bulkier headset that Mike Rockwell advocated for would need external hardware, something that Jony Ive and Tim Cook did not side with.

Apple’s AR glasses are said to be announced by the end of 2021, with a full release in 2022. This can of course be delayed, depending on how the project is going for Apple. Speaking of that, a report that came from Mark Gurman in June 2020 claims that there have been some serious internal debates between Jony Ive and Mike Rockwell, who leads Apple’s AR and VR development on how this Headset should work.

Jony wanted a fully wireless Headset that was thin and sleek, essentially, the Glasses. Mike, on the other hand, wanted something revolutionary in terms of Graphics and experience and because of that, the Headset ended up being bulky and needing an External Box, which would process all the data and then stream it wirelessly to the Headset. This Headset would’ve been an AR and VR Headset, again, very similar to the Oculus Quest. 

Tim Cook apparently sided with Jony on a Headset that doesn’t take people from the real world, but instead adds Elements onto the real world in order to improve it, which I fully agree with. I’m personally team Jony here but do let me know what do you guys think? Would you prefer that Apple develops the AR Glasses or an AR/VR Headset, like the Oculus Quest, instead?

PS5 – Major Controller Updates, Pre-Orders, Price & More!

We’ve had some major PS5 updates over the past week, ranging from the first hands-on video with the DualSense Controller, to Pre-Order Updates, Performance Updates, Games, Graphics and so much more. So, get those snacks ready and here’s everything new in terms of the PS5!

Pre-Orders 

First things first, there were a ton of rumors that the PS5 Pre-Orders would start as soon as possible. These were mostly coming from Twitter leaker ‘IronManPS5’, previously known as ‘PSERebus’, who’s actually been very accurate in the past. He started tweeting that the PS5 Pre-Orders would start on Monday, 13th July. This, unfortunately, did not happen.

We then heard the news that the PS5 Controller would get a hands-on look on Friday, 17th July, and that that would also be when the Pre-Orders would start. That did not happen either. But luckily, in that hands-on video/interview that Geoff Keighley had with Eric Lempel, the Global Head Marketing of PlayStation, Eric debunked those Pre-Order rumors as false. He said that Sony will let their customers know, ahead of time, when the Pre-Orders would start. They wouldn’t just start out of the blue and catch everyone by surprise, which is the good news.

A more strict & direct approach from Sony, with the Pre-Orders.

A more strict & direct approach from Sony, with the Pre-Orders.

The bad news, or maybe this is actually good news as well, is that we now have confirmation that you would only be allowed to buy one PS5 per household as the stock would be quite low at launch. This was found by a Reddit user who was browsing the web page source code on ‘direct.playstation.com'. It seems that when you’ll try to add another PS5, you’ll get an error message saying that you can only purchase one Console. Now, in that code, it is revealed that Sony will also be adding labels on certain PS4 products that would be PS5 compatible, this includes Games and likely some PS4 Accessories as well. 

Speaking of Labels, we actually got to see the PS5 label that would be on Game Cases, the top left label that we’ve had on PS4 & PS3 Game-Cases and so on. For the first time, with the PS5, the Label is black & white, so no more Blue PS5 Logo or anything like that. Sony seems to have fully embraced the white & black colour scheme that they’ve introduced on the PS5 Console and the PS5 Controller. I do love the minimalist look they’ve gone for.

Finally, seen as how we’re talking about Pre-Orders and Boxes, both Nikkei and Bloomberg report that Sony is increasing the PlayStation 5 manufacturing by around 50% with aims of reaching 10 million units by the end of 2020. Just to give you guys an idea, the PS4 sold 4.2 million units in 2013. The PS4 was released on November the 15th, which is around the same rumoured released date that the PS5 is said to come out. 

The Gaming Community has increased significantly since 2013 and considering the price of the PS5, I do expect loads of users wanting to upgrade to the new Console. I don’t see twice the number of units sold as launch, compared to the PS4, I think that’s a bit too optimistic. But, if Sony manages to manufacture 10 million units of the PS5, that would solve the entire stock issue at launch.

Price 

Now, let’s talk about the price, ‘IronManPS5’ tweeted the full prices for not just the PS5 itself, but also the prices for the Accessories. Even though he was wrong in terms of the Pre-Orders, he was right in the past, numerous times. So, even if his price leaks are not 100% correct, they should at least be very close to the final retail prices. 

He says that the PS5 will cost $500, €500 or £450 in the UK. The PS4 Pro was priced at $400, the PS4 was also priced at $400, whereas the PS3 was priced at $500. This might seem like a lot, But do keep in mind that unlike a Smartphone, which can cost way over $1,000 and only used for two years or so, you would actually end up using a Console for a lot longer. This will probably be around five years or even more, which means that the $500 would be split into something like $100 a year, compared to $500 a year, which is what a high-end Smartphone would cost you.

The Digital Only PS5 may only come in at £350.

The Digital Only PS5 may only come in at £350.

This $500 is just for the regular PS5, here will also be a ‘disk-less’ / Digital Only version of the PS5, which is said to cost $400, €400 or £350, the same price as the PS4. The only reason why you would get the more expensive PS5 is if you have any disk-based PS4 Games that you still want to play on the PS5. I do have a few disk Games, but I bought all of those when the PS4 came out, then I started moving towards Digital Games. Those old games that I got on disk can always just be bought again from the PlayStation Store as they’ve gotten so inexpensive now. I personally think that I would be going with the Digital Only version, especially since I really do prefer the way it looks.

The DualSense Controller is said to be $60, €60 or £55. The Charging Station for these Controller, which can charge two of them at the same time, that’s said to cost $30, €30 or £25. The PS5 Media Remote will also have the same price. The PS5 HD Camera is said to cost $60, €60 or £55 and finally, the Pulse 3D Wireless Headset will apparently cost $160, €180 or £130. I would say that these are some very good prices, for both the Consoles and the Accessories. 

Controller Update 

Now it’s time for the big one, the Controller.

As I mentioned before, Geoff Keighley, who’s pretty well known in the Gaming Industry, was the very first person outside of Sony themselves and the Developers, who has laid his hands on the PS5 Controller. The first thing I took from the full video and interview with PlayStation’s Eric Lempel, was the actual size of the Controller.

We’ve seen some alleged leaked images of the DualSense, where it looked gigantic, but now Geoff has showed us a side-by-side image against the PS4’s DualShock Controller. While the DualSense is indeed larger than the DualShock 4, it is not significantly larger. Realistically, the size and the weight should in fact make it more comfortable than the DualShock 4 was, at least this is what Sony is saying.

The first ‘hands-on’ clip with the DualSense revealed it’s not quite as unwieldy as we may have first thought.

The first ‘hands-on’ clip with the DualSense revealed it’s not quite as unwieldy as we may have first thought.

We also got to see the bottom of the Controller for the very first time, which was something that for some strange reason, Sony has avoided showing. This made me think that maybe it was because Sony added two customisable Buttons there, just like the Back-Button Attachment on the DualShock 4. But now that we finally got to see the bottom of it, there are no Buttons at all, just a sticker.

Geoff also mentioned that the Speaker on the DualSense had a wider range of sound, compared to the DualShock 4 Speaker and also the fact that the Controller had a nice hefty weight to it. The game that he got to test was Astro’s Playroom, which is a spin-off from the PSVR’s highly praised AstroBot VR game, just in non-VR this time. The game lets you fully explore the functionality of the Controller, test out the Haptic Feedback, the Touchpad, the Adaptive Triggers and so on. He mentioned how cool the Triggers felt now that the Game Developers could actually implement different levels of pressure in them so that when you draw a Bow, it would feel entirely different from when you would fire a Gun. I can’t wait to try this.

I was expecting Geoff to be blown away by the Haptics or at least talk more about them. He did mention how realistic the game feels but I was just expecting him to praise the Haptic Touch a bit more.

Speaking of Astro, I’m assuming that Geoff was indeed playing this on a PS5 unit, which means that he also got to experience the PS5 to some extent but he didn’t talk about that at all here. However, Eric, PlayStation’s Global Head of Marketing, did talk a bit about the PS5 itself. Aside from the Pre-Order news that I mentioned before, he did talk about how Sony believes in Console Generations and Console Exclusives.

Games 

This was in contrast to Microsoft, who will be enforcing Cross-Generation Compatibility for Games. So, any Games developed for the Xbox Series X, at least for the next two years, will also need to run on the Xbox One X as well as the Xbox One. I’ll talk about this more, in a separate video, so do Subscribe and enable Notifications for that. 

But until then, Eric made a good point here, saying that Games such as ‘Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart’, would not even be technically possible on previous Consoles at all. This is because in this game, which is a PS5 Exclusive, you can instantly travel through different dimensions and take the fights from one dimension to another, which is only achievable thanks to the PS5’s insanely fast SSD, which is more than 100 times faster than the PS4’s Hard-Drive. Making this game run on the PS4 would involve changing the Gameplay and the Story of the Game.

‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ was not fully developed on the PS5, which may explain some of the apparent compromises (Credit: PlayStation).

‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ was not fully developed on the PS5, which may explain some of the apparent compromises (Credit: PlayStation).

Not only that, but if you make the game for the PS4 first, which you would do in a down-up development cycle and is how most Games are made, you would not be able to implement such ground breaking features.  Again, more about this in a separate video, but Eric does have a very good point. This is why the next PlayStation exclusive games to launch, such as ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’, ‘Ratchet & Clank -  Rift Apart’, ‘Horizon: Forbidden West’ and many more will only run on the PS5.

Speaking of Games, Insomniac games have confirmed that ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ would run at 60FPS on the PS5, sort of. They said that you would get to choose between a 4K Mode and a Performance Mode with 60FPS.

So, here’s the thing, we were all hoping that this Console generation would finally be a 60FPS generation. Microsoft have already confirmed that their standard would be 60FPS for Games and even 120FPS in some cases. We’ve seen some rumors that Sony was planning to do the same in all of the Games to be released for the PS5. However, judging by what Insomniac has said, it seems like while you can indeed play Spider-Man Miles Morales in 60FPS, you would have to downgrade a few graphical settings and apparently, the Resolution too.

Now, we don’t really know what these downgrades would be as of yet, but I would say that in the best case scenario, we can turn off Ray-Tracing to enable 60FPS. In the worst case scenario, not only will Ray-Tracing be disabled for 60FPS, but the Resolution would also be dropped to 1440p, or even 1080p, and then dynamically upscaled to 4K. Judging from Insomniac’s message, it is looking quite likely that we will have some drop in Resolution as well. 

Now, the good news is that ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ wasn’t fully developed on the PS5. It’s still using the same engine as the 2018 ‘Spider-Man’, just modified to take better advantage of the PS5. It will be only when games such as ‘Horizon: Forbidden West’ or the next ‘God of War’ come out, games which have been fully developed on the PS5 from scratch, that we might see 60FPS as a default on the highest possible settings.

For a start, it seems that Sony would be focusing on the highest possible Graphics first, and then the Frame-Rate. To be honest, even-though I’m personally disappointed in this decision, games such as ‘Last of Us: Part 2’ look absolutely breath-taking on the PS4 Pro, it honestly looked as if I was playing a PS5 game, it looked that good. So, I cannot wait to see what Sony has in store next.

If you look closely, you can still see a little bit of blue on the left-hand image (Credit: PlayStation Lifestyle).

If you look closely, you can still see a little bit of blue on the left-hand image (Credit: PlayStation Lifestyle).

Speaking of that, we actually had a recent leak from what seems to be a retailer that was listing a few Sony products. One of those products is a Black PS5 and a Black Controller with both having a red LED light, as opposed to the standard blue LED light that the White PS5 has. Now, we have heard many rumors that Sony is indeed working on different colour schemes for the PS5, one of them being black, so this could indeed be the real thing. I would expect Sony to give us an update on the colours as the pre-orders open. 

Personally, I do think that this image is fake. It does look very photoshopped, not even to mention errors such as the back of the Controller still being white, or the red light still having a blue glow on the Console. This is definitely fake. Regardless of that being fake, we’ve actually modelled our very own concept of the PS5, in black, and I’m definitely team Matte Black. I would definitely go for this option, should Sony give us the option at launch.

You can of course change the colour of the LED bar on the PS4, kind of. This was done by the system itself, based on the games. I’m hoping that with the PS5, we would also have the option to have custom colours, that would be quite cool!

Pixel 5 - Google’s Making a MASSIVE Change!

What is happening with the Google Pixel 5? 

Google’s upcoming Smartphone for 2020 seems to have been completely forgotten, or so you would think, since we haven’t had any major leaks yet. By this time last year, Google themselves even tweeted the full Design of the Pixel 4 because of how many leaks we had at that point.

Not only that, but we even had full Review videos of the Pixel 4, months before the Phone was even announced. The Pixel 4 ended up being the most leaked Phone since the iPhone 4. Whether or not some of this was done on purpose, we cannot know for sure. But, what we do know is that the Pixel 5 is just three months away and we’ve barely heard anything about it. 

So, here’s everything that we do know about the Pixel 5, so far!

Design

Let’s be honest, Google has never had a good looking Pixel Phone. The Pixel 1 from 2016 looked just like the iPhone, which at that time had some gigantic Bezels. Not only that, but the fact that the Pixel also had the Android Navigation Bar made that chin look even more gigantic and the back just looked…weird.

The Pixel 2 from 2017 thinned out the Bezels considerably, but 2017 was when we got the iPhone X and the Samsung Galaxy S8, so we started getting Bezel-less Smartphones and Google was, once again, at least a year behind.

Then, the Pixel 3 from 2018 had that gigantic Notch, even bigger than on the iPhone, but that Notch didn’t have any 3D Facial Recognition Sensors, like on the iPhone. Instead, it only had a secondary Front Camera, which was a Wide Angle, but that was it. The back of the Pixel 3 was improved with the inclusion of Frosted Glass, which I absolutely loved.

The Pixel 4 in Orange was easily the best looking Phone in that line-up.

The Pixel 4 in Orange was easily the best looking Phone in that line-up.

Then in 2019, we had the Pixel 4 and instead of Google removing that gigantic Notch altogether, like what most of the competition was already doing, Google went back to the Pixel 2’s Design with thicker Bezels on the top and bottom. Now, we did get a 3D Depth Sensing Camera with the Pixel 4, just like the iPhone, but the Pixel 4 still looked very out-dated.

That’s the thing, when you build a Smartphone, you can indeed make it extremely exciting for us (the tech nerds) by adding Sensors that can sense your hand from 30cm away and cool stuff like that. But, the majority of people won’t care about that at all, they only care about how good the Phone looks and how much it costs. With the Pixel 5, it seems like Google will finally be focusing on these two things.

We’ve had a recent link from ‘xleaks7’ who, in partnership with ‘Pigtou’, shared some CAD Models and some renders of the Pixel 5. It seems that Google will finally bring a modern Display to the Pixel line by dropping the Notch and the Forehead altogether, going for an In-Display Camera Cutout. You know, just like what other manufacturers have been doing since early 2019. The Frame surrounding the Phone, the Bezel, is now thinner and seems to resemble the one that we have on the iPhone X. The sides are pretty much identical to the Pixel 4, with a coloured Power Button and a Volume Button on the right-hand side and nothing on the left, aside from the SIM Card Tray. The back is really where we might see some more changes. 

So, on the leaked CAD files, the Camera is just identical to the Pixel 4 one, at least when it comes to the number of Modules. This is very disappointing to see as most Smartphone manufacturers are moving towards four and even five Camera Modules, Google is still sticking with just two. Also, the Fingerprint Reader from the Pixel 3 is returning, at least according to the CAD Models.

I honestly don’t see this happening at all. Everyone has been using In-Display Fingerprint Readers for a few years now and I really don’t see Google going back in time and having a Fingerprint Reader on the back but it is Google, so anything’s possible. We’ve actually removed that from our Concept and we’ve obviously embedded that into the Display Assembly, we’ve also added one more Camera Module for a total of three.

Finally, when it comes to the colours, the Pixel 5 is rumoured to come in two colours, Black and White, but I would expect them to release at least one “special colour”, similar to the ones we’ve seen previously such as “Oh So Orange, “Purple-ish” and “Not Pink”. We haven’t had any leaks in terms of that, so we’ve created our own colour. We call this ‘Tasteful Turquoise’ and I think it just looks incredible, especially with that white Power Button. I would definitely buy this, should Google actually release this colour.

Display

We’re likely getting a smaller Display, with no improvements in terms of the Refresh Rate.

We’re likely getting a smaller Display, with no improvements in terms of the Refresh Rate.

That was the Design so, what about the Display? The Pixel 4 had a 90Hz Refresh Rate, so will we get anything crazy like 120Hz this year? According to all the leaks that we’ve seen, Google will be keeping the same 90Hz Refresh Rate as last year but the Display size is said to be getting smaller, from 6.3” to 5.78”, making it around the same size as the iPhone XS. This is still said to be an AMOLED Display, with a QHD Resolution.

However, this year it seems like we would also be getting the Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a XL. According to some code found by ‘9to5Google’ in the latest version of the Google Search app, Google would not have a Pixel 5 XL and instead, they would only have a Pixel 4a, 4a 5G and Pixel 5. 

Speaking of the Pixel 4a, the official render of the Pixel 4a has appeared on Google’s website and we even got to see a full billboard featuring the 4a, which matches with the Design of the Google website listing. It seems like the Pixel 4a’s launch is imminent and the Pixel 5 leaks seem to match up with the 4a’s front Design, so it is quite likely that Google would be announcing all of these, at the same time.

That’s also why there’s a lot of confusion when it comes to the Specs, as we’ve seen reports that Google would keep the Pixel 5 as a mid-range device this year, which I’ll cover more in just a second. 

Camera

With the Pixel’s Camera, Google’s Software was always key.

With the Pixel’s Camera, Google’s Software was always key.

In terms of the Camera, ‘OnLeaks’ has posted a schematic that shows not just all of the upcoming Pixel phones for 2020, but also their Camera Arrangement. He did mention that this is likely not 100% accurate, at least on the Pixel 5’s side, as we’re still awaiting on a lot of details to be confirmed. Nonetheless, that schematic does point to the Pixel 5 having a Triple Lens Camera Module, as opposed to the Dual on the 4a. But, one of these Modules would be the Flash, which would mean that the Pixel 5 only has two Cameras, the same as the Pixel 4. The Pixel 4a would only have one Camera.

The leaks are also saying that the Main Camera on the Pixel 4a would be identical to the Pixel 4’s, which was mostly identical to the Pixel 3’s Camera. We don’t know yet if that second Module on the Pixel 5 would be the same Telephoto that we had on the Pixel 4, or a new Ultra-Wide Angle Module. I’m really hoping that it’s an Ultra-Wide, or even better, a Triple Lens Camera with both a Telephoto and an Ultra-Wide Angle Module.

But the thing is, even-if the hardware remains the same, Google’s magic is all in Software. That is why the Pixel Phones have such a great Camera, because of that Google Image Processing. 

Performance

When it comes to the Performance, this is a bit of an odd one. We’ve seen many reports that Google would not be including a new flagship level Processor in the Pixel 5 this year, so no Snapdragon 865, but instead they would be using Qualcomm’s mid-range 765G Processor. This is a fairly decent Processor and also Qualcomm’s lowest-entry Chip that would give you 5G.

In terms of RAM, the Pixel has always fallen short of its flagship competitors.

In terms of RAM, the Pixel has always fallen short of its flagship competitors.

But, the problem here is that all the leaks are saying that both the Pixel 4a, the 4a XL and the Pixel 5 will all have this Chip. This begs the question…what will the Pixel 5 have over the 4a’s, aside from that extra Camera Lens? Also, why would Google make such a move?

Keep in mind that the Pixel Phones, as they were released in October, are quite late in terms of implementing a new Processor. Qualcomm announces their new Chips in December. So, just two months after the Pixel Phones launch, they would already be outclassed by a faster Processor. While Pixel Phones were very well optimised in the past, we haven’t really had any performance issues. RAM management issues were always a problem, as Pixel Phones only came with 4 or 6GB of RAM when other Smartphones already have 8GB, 12GB or even 16GB. The Pixel 5 is said to be sticking to 6GB of RAM. 

Special Features

When it comes to Special Features, Water Resistance and Wireless Charging will still be there, at least on the Pixel 5, but it seems like the 3D Facial Recognition Camera Array on the front is going away. 

While that is a bit of shame to see, as Google has even done a better job when it comes to Face-Unlock than even Apple, the majority of users would still pick a better looking Phone than a not so great looking Phone that comes with more features.

Battery 

In terms of Battery Life, the Pixel 4 had a fairly poor one. The 4 XL was better, but it still wasn’t great.

At the moment, we don’t have any leaks in terms of the Pixel 5’s Battery Life but from the looks of it, it would remain identical to the Pixel 4’s, or even getting a bit smaller due to the entire Device being smaller. Fast Charging is also expected to remain the same at 18W. 

Release Date

The Pixel 5 is likely to break away from the usual October launch.

The Pixel 5 is likely to break away from the usual October launch.

When are the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 going to be released? Well, the Pixel 4a’s launch seems to be imminent. Not just judging but the sheer number of leaks that we’ve had on it, but also by the leaked press image on Google’s website. Plus, the Pixel 4a has been long overdue, this was supposed to launch back in May. 

The Pixel 5 on the other hand, is a bit of a different story. You see, Pixel Phones have always launched around October, but we’ve also had a ton of leaks in the past, around this time. This means that Google could either delay the Pixel 5 until November, or even December, or they could be releasing the Pixel 5 alongside the 4a’s as a slightly higher-end version of it, rather than a true flagship Smartphone. I do think that this is what will happen. 

Price 

The problem with Pixel Phones has always been the fact that they were priced like flagship Smartphones, but they lacked a lot of features that the competition had. These were Features such as a modern Design, a high amount of RAM or a Dual/Triple Camera Module. Even the Processors were out of date two months after the Pixel Phones launched.

However, with Google marketing the Pixel 5 as a mid-range device rather than a flagship, they can still keep most of those features and they can cut back on the CPU Performance. This was already pretty good to be honest. All of this means that they can drop the price as a result. Therefore, the Pixel 4a is said to start at $350, while the Pixel 5 would be priced around $500-$700. However, the Pixel 5 would need to seriously outclass the 4a’s, if Google wants to charge this much for it. 

So, at the end of the day, there’s nothing really that points to the Pixel 5 being a revolutionary Smartphone at all, or even a Smartphone that competes with the flagships of today. Google has tried to compete with the flagships for so many years now and aside from the Camera, which was indeed flagship level, they have failed. They seemed to have just moved into another direction, focusing on the mid-range market instead.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra – Why Apple should be worried!

With a release date of mid-to-late August, the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 is just around the corner. Not only that, but the Note 20 is looking to be a true iPhone 12 killer. We know most of the details of both the iPhone 12 and the Note 20, so let’s take a closer look at the Note 20 and see how it stacks up against the iPhone 12!

Design

The Note 10+ from last year was one of my favourite Smartphones ever, in terms of the Design. Having that squared-off form-factor with almost no Bezels and a curved Display made the Phone look and feel like it was something straight from the future. The Camera was great, the S-Pen was always a nice touch and overall, I was a massive fan of the Note 10+.

When it comes to the Note 20, ‘OnLeaks’, who’s been incredibly accurate in the past when it came to his leaks, revealed the full Design of the Note 20 back in May. It looks like it is pretty much a Note 10+, with a few minor changes. The first change is that the edges are not as curved as they were on the Note 10+. In fact, they look to be almost entirely flat now, similar to what we got with the S20 Ultra. Personally, I have always preferred curved edges as they just look so futuristic and while accidental touches have been an issue in the past, with the S7, S8 and even the S9, I’ve never had that issue with my S10 or my Note 10. So, it’s a bit of a shame that Samsung got rid of those.

Check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS” on both Instagram & Twitter for more concepts like this one

Check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS” on both Instagram & Twitter for more concepts like this one

The second change is that the Front Camera Cutout is now smaller, it’s pretty much the same size as it was on the S20’s. The third, and final Design change is when it comes to the Camera Module on the back, which I’ll get to when I’m talking about the Camera Section. But, Design-wise at least, we do have these rings that actually match the colour of the Phone, which I think looks so good. I’m absolutely in love with the Note 20’s Design, even more so than with the Note 10+.

Moving on and just as we had last year, Samsung will be releasing two models of the Note 20. These will be the regular Note 20 and the Note 20 Plus, which might be called the Note 20 Ultra, which is how I’m going to refer to it throughout this video. We don’t really know much about the regular Note 20 aside from the fact that it will be smaller, with a lower Refresh Rate and a downgraded Camera. So, I won’t really be talking about the regular Note 20 from this point on as I’ll be focusing on the higher-end Note 20 Ultra model.

Speaking of that, we are expecting three colours: White, Black and this new Copper colour. We’ve actually had a recent leak of the new Copper Note 20 Ultra, which was posted on Samsung’s Russia website by…Samsung themselves. I’m not really sure if this is even a leak at this point but you can’t get more official than that. I have to say, the Note 20 Ultra looks absolutely gorgeous, even better than in our own concept. I love how the squared-off Camera matches the squared-off Body. The S-Pen also seems to perfectly match the Body of the Phone now, possibly even down to the actual material. 

Display

The Note 10+ came with a 6.8” Display with a 19:9 Aspect Ratio and a Resolution of 3040x1440. The Note 20 Ultra is said to be getting a larger 6.9” Display with a taller 20:9 Aspect Ratio and a Resolution of 3200x1440. Not only that, but Ross Young, a well known Display Analyst, says that the Note 20 Ultra will be Samsung’s first Smartphone to come with an LTPO Display.

The Note 20 Ultra is said to come with a Dynamic Refresh Rate, similar to the iPad Pro.

The Note 20 Ultra is said to come with a Dynamic Refresh Rate, similar to the iPad Pro.

Essentially, with the Galaxy S20’s earlier this year, we got a 120Hz Refresh Rate Display. However, we did not have a Variable Refresh Rate, meaning that you could either get 60Hz all the time, or 120Hz all the time. We didn’t have a dynamically adjustable Refresh Rate like on the iPad Pro for example, which can automatically adjust from 24Hz, all the way up to 120Hz, whenever it needs to. However, this will indeed be possible on the Note 20 Ultra, which will be able to dynamically adjust the Refresh Rate from 1Hz, all the way up to 120Hz. What this means is that we’ll see a much improved Battery Life over the S20 line and hopefully even 120Hz at Native Resolution, which on the S20’s is currently limited to 1080p.

Camera

Samsung made some gigantic Camera improvements with the S20 line. Not only did we have a larger Image Sensor for the first time since 2016, but we also got 8K Video Recording and 30x Digital Zoom on the S20 & S20+.

Of course, we also had the big S20 Ultra, which added a 108MP Sensor, up from the 12MP Main Module that the other two S20’s had. It also added 100x Space Zoom, which could theoretically zoom in so much that you could even see the surface of the Moon. All of that sounded great on paper, but unfortunately the S20 Ultra’s camera was plagued with issues.

The Low-Light performance was severely impacted by how small the Pixels on the Sensors really were. Even with Samsung’s Pixel Binning technology, photos and videos in Low-Light looked like they were taken on a Phone from a few years ago. The Zoom functionality was actually very good, but only up to 10x. Once you got to 30x, or not even to mention 100x, you know the story. That’s not even to mention all of the Auto-Focusing issues that were still not fully resolved, even after Samsung issued a ton of software updates. The Image Processing had its own fair of issues, with photos being either overly exposed, under exposed and the HDR Processing was hit and miss.

The Laser Module enables precise Auto-Focus.

The Laser Module enables precise Auto-Focus.

So what about the Note 20 Ultra’s Camera then? Is it the same problematic Camera that the S20 Ultra had? Well…yes and no.

The Main Camera is said to be the same as on the S20 Ultra. That means we get a 108MP Sensor, with an f/1.8 Aperture and 0.8 µm Pixels. However, Samsung is said to be adding a new Laser Module to the right, the purpose of this new Module is to help the Main Camera focus faster. In theory, that should solve all the Focusing issues that the S20 Ultra had.

That 48MP, 100x Zoom Periscope Module that the S20 Ultra got is indeed said to be replaced with a 13MP Module that provides 5x Optical Zoom and around 50x Digital Zoom. This is compared to the 4x Optical Zoom, 10x Hybrid Zoom and 100x Digital Zoom that the S20 Ultra had. The quality at 50X, as this is quite a low Resolution Sensor, should be similar to the quality that the S20 Ultra had at 100x. But at 10x, it should be quite similar to the Ultra or even better, as we do have 5x Magnification on the Lens, so I’m definitely looking forward to trying that out.

Also, since we also get an f/3.4 Aperture, rather than the f/3.5 that the S20 Ultra got, alongside the much lower Resolution of 13MP, the Zoom Module should be much better in Low-Light than the S20 Ultra’s Camera was. 

Finally the third Module is said to be the same 12MP, f/2.2 Ultra-Wide Angle Module that we got with the S20 Ultra. Aside from this, the Front Camera is said to be the same one as on the S20 Ultra, which means that it would be a 40MP Sensor with an f/2.2 Aperture capable of recording 4K Video at 60 FPS. 8K Video Recording will be there as well, but that’s on the Back Camera. So, overall if Samsung can indeed fix the Auto-Focusing issues, the Zoom issues and of course the Image Processing issues that the S20 Ultra had, I do think that this would be a great Camera.

Performance

Performance wise, this is a bit of a tricky one. You see, the S20 Ultra actually had very good Performance. It came with 12GB or even 16GB of RAM, the Note 20 Ultra will pretty much be the same. The baseline Storage model is said to be bumped to 256GB, compared to 128GB on the S20 Ultra. That would be the one that would come with 12GB of RAM, as the 512GB model would come with 16GB of RAM. So, with regards to RAM and Storage, we’re all good.

The tricky part is when it comes to the Processor. The S20 Ultra came with two different Processors, based on where you bought it from. If you bought it from the US, Canada, China or even South Korea, it would come with the Snapdragon 865 Processor. However if you bought it from Europe and anywhere else, it would come with Samsung’s own Exynos 990 Processor. You would expect Samsung’s own CPU to be the better choice as this is a Samsung Smartphone, but it turns out that it was actually the other way around.

The S20’s RAM & Storage Specs.

The S20’s RAM & Storage Specs.

The Snapdragon Processor models ended up having better performance, cooler Operating Temperatures and even better Battery Life by a significant margin, when compared to the Exynos models. Also, keep in mind that Samsung was charging the same amount of money for both Phones. It was just that based on where you lived, you could be getting a noticeably inferior product. Samsung has received a ton of backlash for this to the point where Users even started a petition, which ended up getting over 44,000 signatures. This was for Samsung to stop using Exynos Processors in their Phones.

So now, what about the Note 20 Ultra? Well, all the rumors point towards Samsung still using Exynos Processors in some of the Note 20’s. However, I do have some good news here. A report from ZDNet Korea states that Samsung would be using a new Exynos 922 Processor inside the Note 20. This would be the world’s first Chip to be manufactured on a 6nm process and apparently Samsung is also trying to get this down to 5nm. Apple will be switching to 5nm in September 2020 with the introduction of the Apple A14 Chip, inside the iPhone 12. 

The reports are saying that this new Exynos 922 even outperforms the Snapdragon 865 but, to be honest, I just don’t believe that’s the case, considering that Samsung has been lacking behind Qualcomm for a number of years now. Even if the Exynos 922 outperforms the Snapdragon 865 in terms of raw Performance, Power Consumption and Heat are still two ongoing issues that would also need to be solved. But at the end of the day, the Exynos variant is still a good Phone, just not quite as good as the Snapdragon variant. 

Special Features

If you’re looking for the S-Pen, the Note 20 will be your only option.

If you’re looking for the S-Pen, the Note 20 will be your only option.

So what about Special Features? Is there anything that would make the Note 20 Ultra stand out from the rest?

Well, the main reason why anyone would be a Galaxy Note, rather than a Galaxy S, is because of that S-Pen. The S-Pen is said to be getting some more improvements this year, with the biggest one being a significantly improved experience, all thanks to that 120Hz Refresh Rate Display. This will make writing and drawing on that Display feel so much more natural and fluid than ever before.

Also, Ice Universe says that the Note 20 will have some new S-Pen features. We don’t really know what these features are, but I would say it would be quite safe to assume that most of these would be software features similar to what we got with the Note 10+. The S-Pen has already reached a point where it is quite difficult to improve anything in terms of the hardware as it’s already so advanced.  Aside from this, the surface area of the Ultrasonic Fingerprint Reader is also rumoured to be increased but..that’s pretty much it.

Battery

In terms of the Battery, the Note 10+ had a 4300mAh Battery. The Note 20+ is rumoured to have anywhere between a 4500mAh and a 5000mAh Battery. The S20 Ultra, for example, has a 5000mAh Battery, however, do keep in mind that the Note also needs some extra space inside for that S-Pen. My prediction would be around 4800mAh at the very best and likely somewhere around 4600mAh. 

Fast charging is said to stay the same as on the S20 Ultra and the Note 10+, so 25W with support of up to 45W (with a separate Charger). 

Release Date

When it comes to the Release Date, the event is said to be on August 5th, with the Note 20’s to be released on August 21st and fun fact, that’s just two days after my birthday so, that’s pretty exciting!

Price 

Price-wise, the Note 20 line is said to be the most expensive, non-folding, Smartphone from Samsung yet. Greek website ‘Techmaniacs’ claims that the Note 20 will start at 1,250 Euros, while the Note 20 Ultra will start at 1400 Euros.

It seems like the Note 20 Ultra would be about the same price that the S20 Ultra was, even though it does come with more features and that S-Pen. 

In conclusion, I’m pretty excited for the Note 20 Ultra but I’m personally more excited for that Galaxy Fold 2. Having used the Fold 1 as my daily driver for around two months, I just cannot be as excited for regular Smartphones. Folding Phones are the future and this is also the field where we’ll see the biggest improvements, year after year.

Unfortunately, even-though the Fold 2 would be a gigantic upgrade from the original Fold, it seems like it would actually not have an S-Pen in the end, despite many rumours saying that it will. This means that if you really want that S-Pen experience, the Galaxy Note 20 is pretty much your only option.

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iPhone 12 (2020) - Hands-On with Mockups!

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Here, we have something pretty special. These are the upcoming 2020 iPhones. The iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. So, wait a second Daniel, did Tim Cook send these to you? Do you actually have the new iPhones two months before release? Well…yes and no.

These are essentially non-functional models that are made for Case Manufacturers so that they can start working on their Cases. A massive thanks to Sonny Dickson for arranging these units too. Even though they are non-functional units, they do have the exact dimensions of the upcoming iPhones, which means that we can stack these up against other Smartphones and see how they compare.

So, without any further ado, here is an early look at the iPhone 12 line-up! 

iPhone 12

The regular iPhone 12 from the front.

The regular iPhone 12 from the front.

The first iPhone that we have right here would be the smallest of the bunch and also the most affordable one, the iPhone 12. This iPhone is actually smaller than the current iPhone 11 Pro or the iPhone XS or X,  which at the moment are the smallest notched iPhones that we have. Not only that, but the iPhone 12 is even smaller than the iPhone SE, 8, 7, 6s and even the 6, being just a tiny bit taller and wider than an iPhone 5. So if you’ve always wanted a flagship iPhone that was small and easy to use with one hand, that option is now finally back.

Now, something interesting about this iPhone is that it comes with a 5.4” Display, meaning that while the size of the Phone is smaller than an iPhone 6, the actual Display is noticeably bigger. Also, this is an OLED Display, just like on the iPhone X and newer. So, no more LCD Panels on any of the 2020 iPhones. Goodbye LCD, you won’t be missed.

Another big change to the iPhone 12 is that it now has a squared-off frame, very similar to the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4, which were my favourite iPhone designs ever. While having a squared-off frame isn’t as comfortable in the hand, as a wedge shape frame is, they do have way more grip and they won’t be as slippery because of that. As a bonus, you can even prop the Phones up which might not sound like a big deal for you guys, but for us, that’s pretty huge. It means that we don’t have to prop the Phones on something when we’re filming.

Taking a look at the Ports and the Buttons, on the bottom we have the Lightning Port as well as the Speaker and Microphone Grill. On the right, we have a massive Power Button. Nothing really on the top and finally on the left, we have the Mute Switch and the Volume Buttons. Finally, when it comes to the back and the Camera Module, we have a Dual Camera Module here, as opposed to the Triple Camera Module that we’ll see on the Pro models. This is pretty much the same arrangement as we got with the regular iPhone 11.

A top-down view of the back of the iPhone 12.

A top-down view of the back of the iPhone 12.

This means that we have the Main Module as well as an Ultra-Wide Angle Module. The Cameras on the iPhone 11’s were already pretty much the best in the industry, with 4K60 Video Support on all of the Lenses. These ones are said to be getting even better with support of possibly even 4K Video at 240 FPS.

We’re also getting an Apple A14 Processor, which would be manufactured on a new 5nm process so overall, the iPhone 12 is a pretty big upgrade in every single way and really the biggest upgrade that we got even since the iPhone X, in 2017.

There is one thing that isn’t fully known about these iPhones yet, that is the Notch. Since these models were made for Case Manufacturers, the Notch would not be 100% accurate. We’ve had many reports that the Notch would indeed be getting smaller, so I do expect this to look about the same as we’ve modelled it in our Concepts. This won’t really be that much of a change on the larger models of the iPhones, but it definitely will be on this 5.4” iPhone 12, where that Notch is already taking a considerable amount of space on this tiny Display.

Price wise, this iPhone is said to start at $650, $50 less than what the current iPhone 11 starts at. That is pretty awesome considering that you’re also getting an OLED Display, 5G and better Performance as well. 

iPhone 12 Max

The iPhone 12 Max has the exact same Camera cut-out as the regular 12.

The iPhone 12 Max has the exact same Camera cut-out as the regular 12.

The second 2020 iPhone would be the iPhone 12 Max. This one is basically the successor to the iPhone 11 as it has the exact same 6.1” Display size, only this time, it is an OLED Display. I really do like this size a lot, especially now that we have these flat sides. I can grip it perfectly and it is noticeably larger than the 5.4” iPhone 12.

On the back, we have the exact same Dual Camera Module setup as on the iPhone 12. The front would have the same Notch size as on the iPhone 12 which again, I do believe will be around the same size as we’ve modelled it in our concept, based on all the leaks that we’ve seen.

The iPhone 12 Max is rumoured to start at $750, or $50 more than the iPhone 11. But, we are getting an OLED Display, thinner Bezels, a new Design with a flat frame as well as 5G support.

iPhone 12 Pro

Then, we have the two Pro iPhones, starting with the iPhone 12 Pro. This one also has a 6.1” Display, the same as the iPhone 12 Max. This Display is very likely to be a 120Hz Panel, making everything far more fluid and responsive than on the non-pro iPhones. The frame, while still flat, will be made of out Stainless Steel, as opposed to the Aluminium on the non-pro models. Personally, I think I do prefer the Matte Black frame on the non-Pro iPhones. There’s something about that, that just takes me back to that iPhone 5 Design, which was by far my favourite.

The 12 Pro and the 12 Max will have the exact same dimensions.

The 12 Pro and the 12 Max will have the exact same dimensions.

Also, something to note here is that on the bottom left, we have this thing that looks like a Smart-Connector. Some of you might be thinking that this is the SIM Card Tray but, if you take a look at the previous unreleased iPhone models that we’ve shown you over the years, none of them had the SIM Card Tray on them. That was just on the final models, mostly because you don’t need access to the SIM Card like you do for the Buttons.

We do know that Apple plans on removing the Lightning Port entirely with the iPhone 13 next year and that the Charging will be done through a Magnetic Smart Connector or directly through Wireless Charging. But, Apple could already be including that Smart Connector on the iPhones this year just to get Users accustomed to charging with that Magnetic Connector already. Aside from this, this iPhone will also come with 6GB of RAM, compared to the 4GB that we have on the non-Pro iPhones.

The Cameras will be getting a pretty big improvement too. Not only will we be getting a Triple Lens Camera Module, we would also be getting that LiDAR Sensor that the 2020 iPad Pro got. This LiDAR module is not present on our models right here. This is, again, mostly because they’re for Case Manufacturers and as long as the size of the Camera Unit is correct, it doesn’t really matter what they have inside. Our concept is more accurate, so that would be closer to what the 2020 iPhones will look like, from the back.

The model we received had a White back, which is really clean (Centre-Top).

The model we received had a White back, which is really clean (Centre-Top).

Now, aside from that new LiDAR Module, which will allow you to scan objects and even the environment in 3D for a significantly improved AR experience, the three Main Cameras will also be getting some major upgrades. The rumors are saying that they’ll be getting higher quality optics, with a Seven-Element Lens system. We’ve also heard rumors of a 64MP Sensor, but those aren’t confirmed as of yet. All we know for now is that the Pro models will definitely be an upgrade over the current iPhone 11 Pro’s in terms of the Camera quality, we just don’t know how much as of yet.

The iPhone 12 Pro is said to start from the same $999 price-point that the iPhone 11 Pro started at. We do get a larger Display, better Performance, a LiDAR Scanner, improved Cameras, 5G support and possibly even a 120Hz Refresh Rate.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Finally, the last iPhone would be the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is the second iPhone out of the iPhone 12 line-up to get a change in terms of its size. But, unlike the regular iPhone 12, which is now smaller, the 12 Pro Max is bigger than ever before, coming in with a massive 6.7” Display. I have to say, while I absolutely love how this iPhone feels in the hand, it is just gigantic. The 11 Pro Max was always on the big side but this is just humongous. However, when we compare it to the Note 10+, which comes with a 6.8” Display, the iPhone is almost the same size, the Note is still bigger of course, but not by a lot. 

The iPhone 12 Pro Max, compared to the S20 Ultra.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max, compared to the S20 Ultra.

The same thing applies when we compare it to the S20 Ultra. But you see, while the Ultra is much taller, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is noticeably wider, making it feel far chunkier and more Tablet-like in the hand, than the S20 Ultra. The fact that we also don’t have a Notch at all gives us much more screen-real-estate, when compared to the iPhone.

Now, even-though I do like the look of this iPhone a lot, and the fact that it has such a massive Display, I still cannot use an iPhone for business, when I’m traveling. We still do not have side by side multitasking support on the iPhone at all. So, if I want to use two Apps at the same time, which I pretty much do all the time when I’m traveling as I need to look at my Calendar and schedule some events based on some emails or some notes, I cannot do that at all on the iPhone. I can only run one App at the same time. But, on a Samsung Galaxy Note for example, or any Android Phone really, you can in fact run two or more Apps at the same time, significantly improving the multi-tasking experience.

I think I might just go for the iPhone 12 Pro this year and of course, the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 as my Main or Secondary Phone, once that releases. 

Other than that, the 12 Pro Max would have the same Specs and Features that the 12 Pro has. This means 6GB of RAM, alongside that Triple Lens Camera Module on the back with the LiDAR Scanner included. Interestingly enough, if you take a look at the side of the 12 Pro Max, while on the left we do have that Smart Connector shape, on the right we have another Cutout which does resemble the Apple Pencil Connector on the iPad Pro. Also, this Connector is much larger than the single Connector on the 12 Pro. 

The range in sizes for this line-up is pretty significant.

The range in sizes for this line-up is pretty significant.

So..what could this be? My theory is that the Connector that’s on the right of the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the one that’s on the left side of the iPhone 12 Pro, will both be used for that new Magnetic Charger. It is a bit weird that they’re not on the same side and they also have different sizes, so I’m not fully sure what’s up with that, but I do believe that they’re both Magnetic Connectors.

When it comes to the second tiny Connector on the 12 Pro Max, I do think that this is actually the SIM Tray and for some reason it was modelled onto this iPhone, even-though it didn’t need to be. That’s my theory but do let me know what you guys think.

Something else that I want to mention here is that all of these iPhones feel considerably thinner than the 11 Pro’s. The 11 Pro’s measured in a 8.1mm thick and the 12 Pro’s are said to be getting thinner, at 7.4mm. As long as that doesn’t affect the Battery Life, that’s really nice. Finally, the 12 Pro Max is said to start at $1,100. For this, we’re getting a larger Display with possibly a 120Hz Refresh Rate, faster Performance, improved Cameras with that LiDAR Scanner, 5G and of course, that brand new Design.

Overall, the iPhone 12 line-up is looking to be very promising. Especially considering what Apple will be pricing these iPhones at. It will be like $750 for the 12 Max, which would have the most powerful Processor in any Smartphone and likely one of the best Cameras in a Phone, that’s an amazing deal.

However, in order to achieve these prices, Apple had to remove the Charger and the Headphones from the box, so you will have to buy those separately now. Some people might be ok with that, some might not. I personally am, as long as the price gets decreased which unfortunately, for the iPhone 12 Pro’s, it has not.

PS5 (2020) - Everything You Need to Know!

So, just like that, Sony has showed us the actual design of the PS5, alongside a ton of games. Now that we know what it will look like, what games it will play and how well it would run those games, here are my thoughts on the PS5. This will be covering everything that Sony has talked about so far and why I’m really looking forward to the PS5.

Grab some snacks, and enjoy! 

PS5 Design

Number one probably sounds a bit lame because it is really the least important part of a Games Console, which is the Design.

Sony has had two major PS5 events, the first one being in March where Mark Cerny, the PS5’s Lead System Architect, talked about the specs and how the entire system was built. The second big event was just last week, when Sony revealed the full design of the PS5.

We’ve made a number of concepts of how we imagined the PS5 would look. We were also the first ones in the world to reveal an actual photo of the PS5’s DevKit, back in October 2019. I know that there are already a bunch of memes floating around but, I actually really like this Design. It kind of reminds me of Eve, from Wall-E. It’s got that very futuristic and minimalistic look to it, with that Glossy Black middle and then the two Matte White slabs surrounding it. You might remember me saying that the Panda Pixel 2 XL was my favourite colour scheme on any Smartphone and this is pretty much the same. You could say it’s the Playstation 5: Storm-Trooper Edition, I love it!

Compared to the Xbox Series X, the Xbox has a more mature and classic look, which some may prefer. I like both actually, but I just think that the PS5 would look a bit more interesting and futuristic in my Living-Room, whilst the Xbox would just blend in better. Also, a few people have calculated the actual size of the PS5, based on the Disk-Drive size and the USB Port, and it turns out that it’s actually massive. It dwarfs the PS4 Pro, the Xbox One X and even the Xbox Series X. This makes it, I believe, the tallest Games Console ever made.

This is how the PS5 stacks up to its predecessors & main competitor (Credit: The Verge).

This is how the PS5 stacks up to its predecessors & main competitor (Credit: The Verge).

Now, the Xbox is more of like a box, so it is fatter than the PS5, which is tall and thin. The good news is that you can indeed use the PS5 on its side as well, which would make it look even weirder. In a way it kind of resembles our latest concept, on its side. But you can use it in any Orientation that you wish, just like you can with the Xbox.

Something that I was really not expecting to see with the PS5, is more than one model. We’ve heard the rumors that Microsoft is planning at least two models of the Xbox Series X, with Lockhart and Scarlett, but unlike the Xbox, the PS5 will have two models that would have identical performance between them. The only difference is that the less expensive one does not have a Blu-Ray Drive in it, which in my opinion also makes it look so much better and so much more uniform.

Here’s something that I want to clarify, just because of how insanely fast that SSD is, you would not be playing any games from the Disk Drive. They would just be there for the sake of you not having to download the actual games. In some cases, maybe Game Developers would store some game assets there, but I don’t even see that being the case as the speed of the Blu-Ray Disk Drive is 27MB/s, compared to the 9000MB/s or so that the SSD inside the PS5 is said to be. So, in this case, the only reason why anyone should get the disk-version of the PS5 is if you really want to play your old PS4 games and you have those games on disk. That’s literally the only reason. 

Now, just a few more things that I want to cover here. I do love the blue LED light-strip that Sony has added towards the top of the PS5, I think it looks gorgeous and we can also see the Ports now. It seems like on the front we get a USB A and a USB C Port, alongside what looks to be two physical Buttons, likely the Power Button and the Disk-Eject Button, on the model that has a Disk Drive. The other one seems to be lacking this second Button. Unfortunately, Sony hasn’t showed us any photos of the sides or the back, so we don’t know what Ports we’ll have there, but at least when it comes to the front, easily accessible Ports, both USB C and USB A are there.

Sony has also released a teaser trailer of the PS5’s UI and they said that it will be completely re-imagined and that no single Pixel will be left untouched. I really do hope that they don’t change it too much as the PS4’s UI was already regarded as the very best. It was easy to navigate and very easy to understand. I just hope that they don’t ruin that for the sake of redesigning it. 

Controller

The second thing that I’m really looking forward to, is the brand new Controller.

You see, rather than Sony calling this the DualShock 5, they decided to go for a brand new name, the DualSense. There’s actually a very good reason for this name. The main feature of this new Controller, aside from the new Design that I’ll cover in just a minute, is that it has a full Haptic Engine built into it.

We can’t wait to get our hands on this… literally (Credit: PlayStation)

We can’t wait to get our hands on this… literally (Credit: PlayStation)

On high-end Smartphones, like the iPhone 11, Pixel 4, Galaxy S20’s and many more, you get a Haptic Engine which gives you the impression that the Buttons that you see on the screen are actual physical Buttons that you can actually feel. The new DualSense controller now does just that. It can apparently mimic the feel of sand, grass, water, dirt and more, immersing you so much more into the game. The Haptic Engine on Smartphones today are already incredible, so having an even better Haptic Engine in a device such as a game Controller should definitely be game-changing.

Sony also added Adaptive Triggers to this Controller, meaning that the Triggers would provide you with a different level of resistance based on what you’re doing in a game. This way, weapons in Modern Warfare for example, would actually feel very different and in combination with the Haptic Engine, they should feel closer to firing a real weapon.

We also have a USB C Port, which not only means that you can use any charger to charge this Controller, but you’ll also be able to use an external Battery Bank. We now have a built-in Microphone, so that you can chat with your friends without the need to plug in Headphones, which of course can still be plugged in using the dedicated 3.5mm Headphone Jack. We still have a built-in Speaker as well. We also have a brand new Magnetic Connector for adding Accessories, possibly that Back Button Attachment, which should be launching at some point.

Finally, there’s the Touchpad in the middle, pretty much the same Buttons as before, just renamed, and then the dual-tone black and white design, which resembles the Design of the actual PS5 Console.

Accessories

The next thing that I’m really looking forward to, are the Accessories.

Aside from the Console and the Controller, Sony has also teased a few of the Accessories that you can purchase to go with your PS5. There’s a DualSense Charging Station, which allows you to charge two DualSense Controllers at the same time using that proprietary Magnetic Charging Port on the bottom, so no need to fiddle around with cables.

3D Audio has been something that Sony has mentioned a lot with the PS5, so this headset will be the best way to experience it at launch. (Credit: PlayStation)

3D Audio has been something that Sony has mentioned a lot with the PS5, so this headset will be the best way to experience it at launch. (Credit: PlayStation)

We also have a brand new HD Camera, which interestingly enough does have two Camera Modules. This makes me think that this would be used for the PSVR Tracking as well, or at least for some 3D functionality to some extent.

We also have one new Wireless Headset, the Pulse 3D, which would be the best way for you to experience 3D Audio on the PS5. Up until now, Sony has had a few models of their own Playstation Headsets, this time it seems like they only want to have one model, which I’m totally for.

Sony is also adding a new Media Remote as an Accessory, which will allow you to control and use the PS5 just like you would use a Smart TV Box. From the looks of it, it seems that it has four Buttons that look like they can be remapped into possibly any App that you want, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime video and so on. 

I’m pretty sure that even more Accessories will be added in the near future. There’s a new PSVR coming out in 2021, which will be a pretty big deal and we’ll likely see more colours of the Controller and possibly even the PS5 itself, not too long into the distant future either. 

Specs

Right, now onto the good stuff, the Performance. The PS5 is a gigantic leap in Performance over the PS4 and even the PS4 Pro.

In terms of the CPU, it comes with a Desktop Class AMD Processor, based on the Zen2 Architecture. We have an Eight-Core CPU at 3.5GHz, which is just light-years more powerful than the old Jaguar Architecture that we got in the PS4.

With the GPU, we get AMD’s brand new Navi 2 Architecture, which isn’t even out for PC at the moment. The GPU offers 10.28 TFLOPS in GPU Compute Power, making it 5.58 times more powerful than the PS4’s GPU and 2.44 times more powerful than the PS4 Pro’s GPU. If those numbers don’t seem high enough, in reality they’re actually even higher as RDNA with ‘X’ amount of TFLOPS is actually significantly more powerful than what it would be on GCN, with that same amount of TFLOPS.

The SSD is sure to be one of the PS5’s biggest advantages over the Xbox Series X, those numbers are just ridiculous. (Credit: PlayStation)

The SSD is sure to be one of the PS5’s biggest advantages over the Xbox Series X, those numbers are just ridiculous. (Credit: PlayStation)

I’m not going to go into a super amount of detail into the specs as I’ve already covered those in a previous video, but what you need to know for now is that the CPU, in combination with the GPU, will give us true 4K gaming at 60FPS with support of up to 120FPS , as well as 8K support too. Not only that, but we’ll get things such as Ray Tracing support for extremely realistic shadows and insanely detailed 8K textures in games that would look like real-life photos. We’re also going to get 3D Audio on a hardware level, which when combined with that new Pulse 3D Headset, should give you the most immersive audio experience in gaming yet.

Epic Games has demoed their brand new Unreal Engine 5, running in real time on the PS5. Here we saw some of the most amazing graphics ever on a Console or even PC. However, this new Unreal Engine 5, which is launching in 2021, will also run on Xbox and PC as well. So, those graphics are coming to the other platforms, not just the PS5.

Performance-wise, the Xbox Series X is superior to the PS5, there’s been quite a few Developers that are currently working on games for both Consoles that have said that. However, the PS5 is much easier to develop games for and also has a much faster SSD with up to 9GB/s Compressed, when compared to 2.4GB/s that the Xbox Series X will have. The PS4 had a HDD with a Transfer Speed of around 50MB/s, so the SSD inside the PS5 is 180 times faster!

This allows for zero loading times in games and more importantly, the ability to change the game’s Design based on the SSD speed entirely. For example, in Spider-Man you have to take the Metro when you’re fast-traveling. On the PS5, that option could be removed entirely and you could also jump inside of buildings instantly, without having to transition to a loading screen just to load the assets. So, this is where the biggest advantages to the PS5 are, the SSD and the Controller.

And of course, there’s the games!

Games 

In terms of the games, what you need to know is that all of your PS4 games will work with the PS5.  If you do have the ‘Digital Only’ Version of the PS5, you might have to re-purchase the disk games that you had, Sony hasn’t confirmed this but it is very likely that this will be the case. However, if you have the Blu-Ray Disk Drive version of the PS5, you will be able to just slot in a PS4 disk and play it on the PS5.

Now, aside from just playing PS4 games, most of those PS4 games will also run much better as the PS5 will feature a Boost Mode. Essentially, the PS5’s GPU has a PS4 GPU built into it, this is how it can natively run PS4 games. However, it can also increase the clock-speeds of that GPU above of what the PS4 could do, which is what Boost Mode is. This means that you will get higher Frame-Rates as well as increased Resolution for your PS4 games. If Developers also release a patch, we would even get PS5 specific features that would take advantage of that SSD and that extra Performance.

Ok, but what about PS5 exclusive games? Well, unlike Microsoft, who will not have any exclusive games on the Xbox for at least the next two years, Sony will. In fact, most of the games that they have announced are PS5 exclusives and that’s actually a very good thing. It means that they are all fully optimised for the PS5’s hardware, rather than having to make compromises in order to support older systems as well. The first game that they showed was Gran Turismo 7, with full Ray-Tracing support and running in 4K at 60FPS. At least this is what the video itself was encoded at. The graphics looked good but I wouldn’t necessarily say that they looked completely mind blowing. Still, I’m pretty excited to see this game in person.

‘Horizon 2: Forbidden West’ & ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ were a couple of our personal favourites, although GTA V received a less than welcome reception. (Credit: PlayStation)

‘Horizon 2: Forbidden West’ & ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ were a couple of our personal favourites, although GTA V received a less than welcome reception. (Credit: PlayStation)

We then got a preview of the next Ratchet & Clank game, this looked like a Disney film, it looked like true next-gen. The unique thing about this game is that you can jump into a rift and get instantly teleported into a new world, a new dimension, with all assets being loaded instantly. There’s basically no loading time at all. This is why having this game run on the PS4 would be impossible without having to re-design the game-play element of it. The PS4 would not be able to load those assets that quickly.

GTA 5 was also announced and this seems to be a re-master of the PS4 re-master. The trailer has a ton of dislikes and I can definitely see why. This was already going to be supported on the PS5, thanks to Backwards Compatibility. All this is basically just a patch to increase the Resolution and Frame-Rate with a few high Resolution textures being added. However, it seems to be a much smaller change than what the PS4 version was to the PS3, as Rockstar hasn’t really shown us any side by side comparisons. The trailer that they uploaded was in 1080p, so I do understand why these dislikes are here.

There is a new Spider-Man game coming though, this is called ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’, which apparently is a standalone game and not an expansion. It is, however, in the same universe as the 2018 Spider-Man game and apparently this is coming out by the end of the year. It will be one of the first games to be released on the PS5. The graphics looked good but again, they didn’t look as good as the Unreal 5 Engine demo, they just looked to be at a higher Resolution with higher textures and effects quality. Also, for some reason, this trailer was in 4K but only at 30FPS, which I really hope isn’t the case for the final game. 60FPS is really the target for this generation of Consoles and if there’s a game that needs 60FPS a lot, that’s definitely Spider-Man.

Finally, the game that wowed me the most was definitely the new Horizon game - ‘Horizon 2: Forbidden West’ and this is where we can see true next-gen graphics on the PS5. It’s a pretty big leap over the already incredible looking Horizon Zero Dawn, but unfortunately we do not have a release date for that just yet.

Of course, these are just the very first games of this generation. Future games will utilise the hardware even better and they will deliver some even more outstanding graphics, these are very likely to include: GTA 6, Spider-Man 2, the next God of War and so on. 

The PS5 - Finally Revealed!

So…here it is.

We have finally got our first look at the PlayStation 5, nearly 6 months after Xbox first showed us the Xbox Series X at last years’ Game Awards. Sony has certainly kept us waiting and they left it right to the very end of their 75 minute showcase to reveal the final design, although there were a few teasers scattered between the Trailers.

We’ve linked the main event above but if you want to check out the entire livestream, check out the official PlayStation YouTube channel for Gameplay & Trailers for games including:

Screenshot 2020-06-12 at 14.37.50.png

  • GTA V - PS5 Edition

  • Spider-Man - Miles Morales

  • Gran Turismo 7

  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

  • Project Athia

  • Stray

  • Returnal

  • Sackboy

  • Destruction Allstars

  • Kena

  • Goodbye Volcano High

  • Oddworld: Soulstorm

  • Ghostwire Tokyo

  • JETT: The Far Shore

  • Godfall

  • Solar Ash

  • Astro’s Playroom

  • Bugsnax

  • Demon Souls

  • DEATHLOOP

  • Resident Evil 8: Village

  • Pragmata

  • Horizon: Forbidden West

We also saw two separate models of the PS5, a standard model with a 4K Blu-Ray Drive and a Digital Edition, without any form of Disk Drive at all. We still don’t have word on a price for either model or an exact release date, but one thing that we certainly know is that this is going to be big, in every sense of the word.

We’ll have a video up on the channel next week, so make sure you’re Subscribed and have that Notification Bell turned on so you don’t miss it!

iPhone 13 (2021), AirPods Studio, Apple Glass & more!

We don’t even have the iPhone 12 yet, but we already have some iPhone 13 leaks. Get those snacks ready as we’ll be covering the recent iPhone 13 Leaks, Apple Glasses updates, iPhone 12 updates, AirPods Studio Headphones and so much more!

iPhone 13

Another iPhone, another Camera Module

Another iPhone, another Camera Module

Starting off with the iPhone 13, Twitter leaker Fudge (@choco_bit), who’s been accurate in the past, claims that this is the supposed layout for the iPhone 13 (Right), which would be the 2021 iPhone. He did say that we should take this with a grain of salt, since these leaks are pre-event. So, this could indeed be something that Apple is considering for the iPhone 13 lineup, it’s just that it’s way too early to know for sure if Apple would indeed go down this route.

Regardless, this is our very first look into what could materialise into the iPhone 13 and as you can see, the back is quite a bit different now. We have four Camera Modules, compared to three on the iPhone 11/12. That LiDAR Sensor, from the iPhone 12, has now been moved underneath that four Camera Array. I would say that this does make a lot of sense. If Apple were to add another Module, they would preferably add it in that Triple Camera Array, where the LiDAR Module is currently sitting on the iPhone 12’s. This would be in order to have a consistent design, so the LiDAR Module would be moved somewhere outside of that Array.

Now, you’re probably wondering, what would that fourth Camera be for? Is it a Zoom Camera? Is it one of those strange Colour Filter Cameras that OnePlus added?

Well, it is way too early to know but my personal guess is that it is some sort of Periscope Telephoto Module, similar to what Huawei and Samsung have added. It may possibly be a 5x Optical Zoom Module or something along those lines.The likelihood with a Module like that, is that you can only go from 1x to 5x, anything in between would just be Digital Zoom. However, if you keep the 2x Module and then add a 5x Module, you still retain a sharp Zoom Level in between the two. This is what I believe Apple would do, judging from this design leak.

Speaking of the Cameras, Fudge also tweeted some details about the iPhone 13 Camera System and according to him, the iPhone 13’s model number is D6x and the Main Camera would be a 64MP Module with 6x Digital Zoom. Others have done this in the past. Samsung is a very good example, they added a very high Megapixel count to their Smartphones but as a result, Low-Light Performance was affected negatively. They started having Focusing issues so, as long as you have a tiny Smartphone Sensor, adding more Pixels would just make those Pixels smaller as there’s finite room inside the Smartphone Sensor. Because of this, they would capture less light. This is why Apple is one of the last Smartphone manufacturers that kept the (now) low-res 12MP Sensor, because the lower the MP count, the bigger the Pixels are and the better the Camera is in Low-Light. Anyway, that’s just the Main Module.

Then we would have a 40MP Ultra-Wide Angle Module and a 40MP Telephoto Module with 3-5x Optical Zoom, like I was assuming, with a 15-20x Digital Zoom. These are very likely possibilities. Probably not so much in terms of the the Ultra-Wide Module as it’s already pretty bad in Low-Light, an increase in Megapixel count would just make it worse. But the Telephoto Module would benefit a lot from an increased Megapixel count.

Finally, the fourth Module would actually not be a 2x Telephoto. According to Fudge, it would be a 64MP Anamorphic Lens. So, a 2.1:1 Aspect Ratio that would give you an incredibly wide and cinematic view, especially when shooting video. But, is there really any point in having that if we already have an Ultra-Wide Module? I would say no, and Fudge pretty much agrees. He does say that we should take this with a huge amount of salt. It’s extremely likely that his sources did tell him that these are things that Apple is currently considering doing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will definitely happen. We can’t be sure of that just yet. Also, it seems that Jon Prosser disagrees. He says that the Camera layout of the iPhone 13 would be identical to the iPhone 12, something that ‘LoveToDream’, another accurate leaker, disagrees with. From my understanding, both LovetoDream and Fudge get their info from a Supply Chain source, whereas Jon Prosser gets his info from Apple’s own team, this is the reason why we have some conflicts here.

Given Apples’s history with recycling old designs, we wouldn’t expect any massive changes in that single year.

Given Apples’s history with recycling old designs, we wouldn’t expect any massive changes in that single year.

Aside from that, another change that could be coming to the iPhone 13 is the Notch. As you probably all know by now, the iPhone 12 will still have the Notch. It’s just that it would be smaller, thanks to the repositioning of the Earpiece. We’ve heard some rumors that Apple could be removing the Notch from the iPhone 13 entirely, with them being in favour of a Full-Screen Display. But, knowing Apple and how they like to keep a certain design for as long as possible, I don’t see them giving up on the iPhone 12”s front design after just one year. It would be cool, but I don’t think that’s happening in 2021.

But something that is happening in 2021, is Apple finally dropping Lightning from the iPhone! However, we would not be getting USB C, which we’ve been wanting for so many years now, but instead, the iPhone 13 would have a complete Wireless Charging solution. This means that we would have no Ports on the 2021 iPhone. Instead, we would be getting something that looks like a Smart Connector, which would allow you to connect a Magnetic Charging Cable and charge the iPhone like that. This would be very similar to how the Apple Watch charges.

Now, while that is pretty neat, USB C Charging would still be preferred. Otherwise, this would still be another extra cable that you would have to carry with you, which would be just as inconvenient as it is to carry the Lightning Cable now, when all of your other devices are USB C. But the thing is, this is looking extremely likely to happen.

Fudge reported that this is indeed happening but that you would be expected to charge the iPhone wirelessly instead. Ming-Chi-Kuo has reported the exact same thing and Jon Prosser has also mentioned this as well. They are all saying that one Portless iPhone will be coming next year and that Apple will never add USB C to their iPhones. Bloomberg also reported a similar thing. That Apple will be removing the lighting connector from at least one of their iPhones, in 2021. These are four sources with a very good track-record, all reporting the exact same thing. So, it’s looking quite likely that at least one iPhone 13 would be going fully wireless next year.

So, there you go, that’s how the iPhone 13 is shaping up. This completely wireless iPhone with the same frame as the iPhone 12, possibly the same exact Notch and likely some Camera improvements, which will be focused on the Zoom functionality that is currently lacking.

iPhone 12

When it comes to this year’s iPhone, the iPhone 12, we do have some fresh updates. According to Ming-Chi-Kuo, the iPhone 12’s would not come with Headphones inside the box anymore, in order for Apple to sell more AirPods.

That does make a lot of sense, especially considering the price leaks that Jon Prosser has posted. According to Jon, the 5.4” iPhone 12, which would be the lowest-end model, would start from $650. It will come with an OLED Display, the new A14 Processor and a Dual Camera Module. That’s an insanely low price for new iPhones. The 6.1” iPhone 12 Max would cost $750, followed by the 6.1” iPhone 12 Pro, which could cost $1000, followed by the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max, which would cost $1100.

After the $400 iPhone SE, it seems that the base iPhone 12 is also on the more affordable side.

After the $400 iPhone SE, it seems that the base iPhone 12 is also on the more affordable side.

Aside from the Camera Modules and the Stainless Steel build, the regular iPhone 12’s would still come with all the features that the Pro models come with. Meaning that there hasn’t been a year when Apple had a better iPhone line-up. They obviously had to make some trade-offs to keep that price low and it seems like one of these would be not including Headphones. Unfortunately, one of the other trade-offs would be the lack of any high Refresh Rate Display.

There have been a ton of conflicting reports on this, with some saying that it would have a 120Hz Display, and some saying that it would not. Long story short, according to Display Analyst Ross Young, Apple wants to include an LTPO OLED Display on the iPhone 12’s so that they can dynamically adjust the Refresh Rate from 1Hz, all the way up to 120Hz. This is just like what they’re doing on the iPad Pro, but keep in mind that the iPad Pro has an LCD Display, not an OLED.

Samsung does have 120Hz Displays for Smartphones but the Refresh Rate is fixed. This is what Samsung has been using on their own S20 line and while they’re good, the Battery Life just isn’t that great, at least not on the Exynos models. Samsung will indeed have a 120Hz LTPO OLED Panel this year but according to Ross, they are reserving it for the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Fold 2.

Apple will only be allowed to use it next year, in 2021. Which means that this year, they will have to choose between a great Battery Life and a constant 120Hz Display, it seems like they’re not choosing the 120Hz at all this year. This is mostly everything new, when it comes to the iPhone 12. 

AirPods Studio

Next up, we have some quick updates on the next-gen AirPods.

So, Jon Prosser mentioned back in May that Apple will be releasing some new over-ear Headphones, just like the Beats Solo’s or Studio. However, rather than calling these the new Beats Studio, they will be marketing these as AirPods. Which means that we would now have three variants of the AirPods. The entry level models, the AirPods Pro and these new AirPods Studio, which are codenamed B515 and will start at $350, according to Jon

Be sure to check out our second Instagram account (@ZONEofCONCEPTS) for more concepts like this one!

Be sure to check out our second Instagram account (@ZONEofCONCEPTS) for more concepts like this one!

Mark Gurman from Bloomberg released a massive report, with a ton of inside details on the new AirPods studio. According to Mark, Apple is actually working on two AirPods Studio models, a premium version with leather-like fabrics and a fitness focused model that uses lighter, breathable materials. The headband is said to be very thin, with full metal arms. Not only that, but Mark says that the ear-pads would be magnetic and that you can indeed replace them with different designs when you wish. This design would allow you to go from fitness mode to ‘pro mode’ so to say, whenever you want. Now, I’m not sure to what extent these ear-cups would be modular, since they do have a lot of tech inside and you can just buy more of these, as it would be quite pricey. I think it’s just the material surrounding it that would be modular and replaceable. 

This is how we’ve modelled our concept (Above) and we decided to base these off of the leaked iOS 14 icon. We’ve made these gigantic ear-cups, held in place by a fairly thin headband. We do have invisible touch controllers on the sides, which would allow you to adjust the volume, skip to the next song, skip to the previous song as well as invoke Siri, which you can also do by saying the magic keyword command.

At a price point of $350, Apple seems to be competing directly with Sony, Microsoft and Bose, with their line of high-end, Noise Cancelling Headphones. Sony is currently the king in this department, with their WH-1000WM3’s and I’m really curious to see if Apple can actually beat them in terms of Sound Quality and of course, Noise Cancelling. 

Personally, I’m not really into over-ear Headphones. I always find them to be way too big. They’re perfect on a plane but, aside from that, I would never use them. I do prefer in-ear Headphones, like the AirPods Pro, so do let me know down below, which team are you?

Apple Glass

Finally, just some quick updates on the Apple AR Glasses. In a previous video, I talked about those massive leaks from Jon Prosser. 

Jon Prosser also said that Apple is working on a circular version of their Glasses, which would be called the “Steve Jobs Heritage Edition” and they would be more premium and likely more expensive than the usual model. However, Mark Gurman calls this, and all of the leaks that Jon Prosser covered, as complete fiction.

All the patents we’ve sen so far point to something similar to the Oculus Quest, which we absolutely loved.

All the patents we’ve sen so far point to something similar to the Oculus Quest, which we absolutely loved.

Mark Gurman said that there are two devices in the works right now, rather than just one, this is what I’ve personally heard as well. One device is the mixed AR and VR Headset, similar to the Oculus Quest. This is called N301 according to Mark Gurman, it could be announced as early as 2021 (matching Jon’s report) and released in 2022. The other model would be those pure AR Glasses (N421), which would not launch until the end of 2022 or even 2023.

Now, we have seen a ton of Apple patents on both of these designs, but most of the patents seemed to show the Oculus Quest style Headset, rather than the true AR Glasses design that we’re all looking forward to. My guess is that it’s somewhere in between. The AR/VR Headset would launch in late 2021, like Jon reported, and then the actual AR Glasses would launch in 2022. These ones will need more tweaks, especially considering the insanely high Resolution Displays. These would be 8K Displays in each eye, if we’re going by CNET’s 2018 report on this.

So, there you go! We still have quite some time to wait until any of these come out, so do let me know, which of these products are you excited for the most?

Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 - The iPhone 12 Killer?

As some of you might know, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has been a true game-changer for me. It has finally re-ignited my excitement for new Smartphones because, ever since the first iPhone, Smartphones haven’t really changed that much, aside from just getting larger Displays, thinner Bezels and better Cameras. The Fold finally delivered something new. An innovative experience unlike anything I’ve seen since 2008, when I got my iPhone 3G.

You can watch our full Review video on the Galaxy Fold, where I talk about how much this has changed the way I use a Smartphone. The Galaxy Fold is now my main Smartphone that I use, so this why I am so excited for the Fold 2. The improvements that we’re getting are gigantic in every single way, so without any further ado, here are all the latest Leaks & Rumors and everything we know so far, in terms of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2!

Design

Design wise, Max Weinbach reports that Samsung could release three models of the Galaxy Fold 2. This is just a rumour and not 100% confirmed. According to Max, one Fold 2 model would have an Ultra Thin Glass Display, so just like the Galaxy Z Flip, while the other two would be lower-end and would have the same plastic Display as the original Fold.   Apparently, the code-names for these are ‘Winner2’ and ‘Champ’.

Now, just to make it clear, the Z Flip did not have a regular Glass Display, ‘JerryRigEverything’ showed us that the Z Flip did have a plastic layer on top of that ultra-thin Glass Display and that plastic layer, if it was damaged, would render the Display useless. At the end of the day, they both break as easily so it doesn’t really matter if one’s plastic or if one has glass underneath that plastic layer. 

Max also says that Samsung could release a Fold 2e, priced at just $1100. That would be insane as this would be a Foldable Tablet, which is the way Foldables should be. There’s no point in folding a regular Smartphone other than to look cool. But anyway, having a Foldable Tablet, for just $1100, when the Fold 1 was $2000, would finally bring Foldable Smartphones to the every-day consumer, that’s so awesome! According to Max, Samsung will be making some tradeoffs, in terms of the number of Cameras and the Outer Display, which will either be smaller or even removed entirely.

Industry insider Ross Young tells a similar story. Samsung will be selling a Galaxy Fold at just $1100 but rather than this being the Fold Lite that Max talked about, this would be a Fold Special Edition, which will literally just be a Galaxy Fold 1 at a lower price. This is so Samsung could get rid of the remaining inventory. Now, both Ross and Max are very reliable sources, so I believe that they’re both correct and in that case, we would essentially get two models of the Fold 2, with that Fold 1 Special Edition as well.

The design of the original Fold was a breath of fresh air, but can it be better?

The design of the original Fold was a breath of fresh air, but can it be better?

Max Weinbach has also now reported a few more details about the Fold Lite recently, saying that it would be 4G only and that it would come with 256GB of Storage, rather than 512GB. He also said that it would come in two colours, Mirror Black and Mirror Purple. The Display would be just plastic, like previously reported, and Max also says that it would be equipped with a mix of 2018, 2019 and 2020 parts. It would also have a smaller Outer Display, similar to the one on the Z Flip. It will be available internationally and come with the Snapdragon 865 Processor, an Aluminium & Glass Enclosure (rather than Stainless Steel and Glass) and the price is again said to be $1100. So, we have both the Fold Lite and the Fold 1 Special Edition at $1100, which is a bit odd. I don’t really see Samsung selling both at the same price, but we’ll see. What’s definitely looking to be certain for now is that Samsung will indeed have at least one affordable Galaxy Fold 2 model at around that $1100 price point.

Now, what about the actual high-end Galaxy Fold 2? The one that likely has that ‘Champ’ codename. Well, design wise, my main complaint with the Fold 1 was that it was extremely think when closed. At 17.1mm at its thickest point, the Fold was almost as thick as a Nokia 3310, when closed.

However, if you take a look at the Hinge, you can probably tell that the Fold doesn’t actually close flat. Instead, the Hinge itself has this wedge shape, meaning that if the Fold were to close perfectly flat, it would be much thinner, at 15.7mm thick. The Galaxy Z Flip for example, which was released after the Galaxy Fold, does indeed use a brand new Hinge design, which not only closes almost flat but it also has these fibres inside that help keep dust out. Overall, they would add to the durability of the Fold significantly.

Now, my second complaint with the Fold 1 was that the Outer Display being way too small. The Bezels on that Outer Display are also just way too big. Luckily, this will also be improved with the Fold 2. According to Max Weinbach, the Fold 2 will have an Infinity V Display on the front, meaning that the Bezels would now be removed pretty much entirely. We’ll have a Full-Screen Display, which would only be interrupted by that single ‘V’-shaped Front-Facing Camera Cutout. That would be such a big change in just a year. The Display is also reported to be getting wider. Ross Young reports that the Main Display would now be a 7.59” Panel, up from the 7.3” Panel that we had before. So, the whole device is getting a bit wider.

In terms of the colours, Max Weinbach claims that it would come in Blue, Silver, Gold, Pink as well as Black, with both Ceramic and Stainless Steel finishes.  So, Samsung is definitely planning on making the Fold 2 a bit more fun and even more premium at the same time. 

Display

Right, let’s get into some juicy Display specifics.

We’ll get that 7.59” Panel on the inside with a 2213x1689 Resolution, again according to Ross Young, a well known Display Analyst. The PPI would be 372 and the Refresh Rate would be 120Hz, which is amazing.

120Hz on a Foldable Smartphone would be insane and not something that we would have expected on the second generation.

120Hz on a Foldable Smartphone would be insane and not something that we would have expected on the second generation.

Not only that, but it will also be an LTPO Panel, which will consume significantly less power and also allow for a Variable Refresh Rate, which the S20 line didn’t get. Interestingly enough, Ross Young also claims that the iPhone 12 won’t have LTPO, meaning that Samsung will have a big advantage with the Fold 2 and the Note 20, over the upcoming iPhones. We would be able to have any refresh rate from 1 - 120Hz, whenever we want. 

Aside from the larger Display, the higher Resolution, the 120Hz adjustable Refresh Rate and the UTG Panel, another big Display improvement is that we no longer get that massive Notch on the top right. Instead, we would have a single Camera Cutout, just like on the Galaxy S20’s. We don’t really know if this would be centred or to the side, but if I were to guess, I would say that it would very likely be to the side. As you know, the Fold would fold in the middle, so you cannot really have a Camera there. This is why we’ve modelled ours with the Punch-Hole Camera to the right.

When it comes to the Outer Display’s specifics, according to Ross Young, this would be a 6.23” Display. A massive size increase from the 4.6” Panel that we had on the original Fold. The Resolution is said to be 2267x819, another massive upgrade. However, the Refresh Rate will be 60Hz. 

So, some pretty big improvements when it comes to the Display and honestly, I wasn’t even asking for 120Hz, just a larger Outer Display. It’s pretty amazing to see that Samsung will be bringing such a massive upgrade to the Fold 2.

Camera

Moving on to the Camera, the Fold 1 had some pretty good Cameras. It had six Cameras: one front Camera on the Outer Display, two front Cameras on the Inner Display and then three more on the back. Now, these Cameras were exactly the same ones as we got in the Galaxy S10+, which were outstanding, but now we’re in 2020 and those Cameras are indeed a bit outdated.

So, as expected, the Fold 2  will come with the same Cameras that the S20 came with. Luckily, it won’t come with the S20 Ultra’s Cameras but instead, the S20+’s Cameras.  The S20 Ultra did have a ton of issues with the Camera, ranging from very poor Low-Light performance, especially when recording video, to focusing issues including blown out highlights and crushed shadows. I covered all of that in the full S20 Ultra Review, so make sure you check it out in case you missed it. But the Fold 2, just like the S20+, won’t have any of those issues.This means that, on the front, we would have the same 10MP, f/2.2 Module that is capable of recording in 4K60, just like on the S20 & S20+.

Don’t worry, we won’t be getting the S20 Ultra’s Camera system.

Don’t worry, we won’t be getting the S20 Ultra’s Camera system.

The same goes for the Inner Display. It’ll just be one Camera and no Notch with multiple Modules or anything like that. Finally, on the back, the Main Module would be a 12MP, f/1.8 Module with Dual Pixel Autofocus. Then, according to Ross, it seems like we’ll have a 16MP Ultra-Wide Module, as opposed to the 12MP Ultra-Wide Module on the S20’s. That Ultra-Wide Module is usually pretty bad in Low-Light, so a lower Megapixel count is actually preferred here.

Finally, the third Module would be the 64MP Telephoto Module with an f/2.0 Aperture. This is the same one that the S20 and S20+ featured, which will allow you to zoom-in digitally, up to 30x. Not only that, but you can use this Module to take some very high Resolution 64MP photos as well as record 8K video. 

So, from the looks of it, aside from that Ultra-Wide Angle Module, which looks to be identical to the one from the S10 and Galaxy Fold 1, we are getting the exact same Camera system as on the S20 & S20+.

Performance

In terms of the specs, the Fold 2 is said to come with the Snapdragon 865. Now, we don’t know if Samsung will also release another variant, with the Exynos 990 Processor, but I really hope they don’t.

The Snapdragon 865 variants of the S20’s have all significantly outperformed the Exynos 990 variants in both performance as well as Battery Life. Even when it came to heat management, the Snapdragon models were always on top. The Fold 1 only came with a Snapdragon Processor, so I really do hope that this is the case again with the Fold 2. With the RAM, we don’t have a confirmation on this just yet, but it’s likely going to be the same 12GB that we had on the Fold 1, possibly even with 16GB on the high-end model. Storage is expected to remain the same at 512GB, but the Fold Lite is said to come in 256GB as well.

Special Features

Moving on to the special features, there are a few things that I would’ve loved to see in the Fold 1, such as Water Resistance, Dust Resistance and an S-Pen. Samsung is actually bringing one of those to the Fold 2 and that is…the S-Pen!

The original Fold had very few short-comings but the ones it had, made it quite fragile.

The original Fold had very few short-comings but the ones it had, made it quite fragile.

According to Max Weinbach, the Fold 2 will actually come with an S-Pen, a new form of S-Pen that is. This makes me think that Samsung has come up with a softer S-Pen that won’t damage that thin plastic foil on the screen that’s required for the Fold 2 to work. This could be another reason why the Fold 2 is getting larger, to make room. This was also reported by Ross Young, so S-Pen support is looking very likely now.

Aside from this, unfortunately, we wouldn’t be getting any other massive changes. In fact, we might even see some accessories removed from the box, such as the USB C to USB C adapter and possibly even the GalaxyBuds. If not on the high-end model, definitely on the Lite. There’s still no Water Resistance, still no dust protection and still no microSD card. But, the Ceramic Frame should now make the Fold 2 look and feel even more premium than before.

Battery

In terms of the Battery, the Fold 1 came with a fairly small 4380mAh Battery, considering that it had a massive 7.3” Display on the inside. But, thanks to that Snapdragon, and not Exynos, Processor, the Fold actually lasted for pretty much an entire day of use, for me. This is pretty much on par with my iPhone 11 Pro Max so I don’t really have anything to complain about, in terms of that.

The Battery will be getting larger with the Fold 2. However, we don’t yet know the exact specifics. Considering that we’re also getting an S-Pen inside, I would be surprised if the Battery ends up being any bigger than 4800mAh.

Fast Charging will be improved from 15W to 25W, just like on the S20’s. It could even be 45W like the S20 Ultra, however the Charger that you’ll get inside the box would likely still be a 25W Charger. Wireless Charging is still there at 15W and Reverse Wireless Charging will still be at 9W, just like on the S20’s. 

Release Date

So, what about the release date? When is the Fold 2 coming out?

Well, according to Ross Young, the Fold 2 will be announced alongside the Galaxy Note 20 in August, which would make a lot of sense since the Fold 2 will also have an S-Pen, just like the Note line. In terms of when it would ship, this is set to be in September 2020. This way it would also compete with the new iPhone 12’s.

Price 

And finally, you’re all probably wondering, how much will the Fold 2 cost? The Fold 1 was already an extremely expensive device, at $1980.

Well, according to Ross Young, the price will be between $1780 and $1980, making it possibly $200 cheaper than the original Fold. That’s pretty nuts. We’re getting a larger Outer Display, thinner Bezels, a larger Inner Display, no Notch, a 120Hz Refresh Rate, improved Cameras, a faster Processor, an S-Pen and it’s cheaper? We love seeing that.

Also, we should not forget about the other two Folds. The Fold Lite and the Fold 1 at a new, lower price. The Fold Lite looks likely that it will be at that $1100 price-point. So, there you go, the era of Foldables is about to hit on a pretty big scale.

PS5 (2020) DualSense Controller - This Will Change Everything!

Sony has introduced their brand new PlayStation 5 Controller. However, it’s not actually called the DualShock 5, like we all expected, but instead it is called… the DualSense.

We got hundreds of requests to make a video covering it. So, here are not just my thoughts on the PS5 controller, but also how it compares against all the previous Controllers that Sony has ever released. Without any further ado, here is the history of the PlayStation Controller. 

PlayStation 1 Controller

Originally released back in 1994, the Playstation 1 Controller was the very first Gamepad that Sony ever released and they bundled this with the original PlayStation.

Something about this just doesn’t look right.

Something about this just doesn’t look right.

It was based on the Nintendo Super NES Controller’s design, featuring four Directional Buttons as well as four Action Buttons, but instead of Sony using letters for their Action Buttons, they decided to use shapes. The ‘X’ would represent a ‘Yes’, the ‘O’ would represent a ‘No’, The ‘Square’ would represent a sheet of paper and was originally designed for being the Info Button in games, and the ‘Triangle’ represented the Point of View (or Dialogue) Button. However, unlike Nintendo’s Super NES Controller, Sony decided to add a second pair of Shoulder Buttons (L1, L2, R1 & R2). Fun fact, the US variant of the PS1 Controller was 10% larger to account for the larger hands that the average American has, compared to the average Japanese person.

Dual Analog Controller

The Dual Analog Controller took the shape that were are all now very familiar with.

The Dual Analog Controller took the shape that were are all now very familiar with.

Now, you might have noticed that something was missing from the original PS1 Controller, those were the Joysticks. Well, they were actually only added in 1997, three years later, when Sony introduced the new Dual Analog Controller. This was, for a most part, just a PS1 Controller with Dual Joysticks added to it for “more refined controls in games”, according to Sony. The Shoulder Buttons were now larger, especially the R2 & L2 Buttons. More importantly, Sony also added an Analog Button, which was used to switch between different modes. 

There were three modes that this Controller had. There was Digital Mode, which disabled the Joysticks, Analog Mode, which enabled the Joysticks, and then finally we had the Analog Joystick Mode, which emulated Sony’s separate Analog ‘Flight-Stick’ accessory. The Dual Analog Controller was indeed a pretty big upgrade and really the first ever upgrade we got in a Sony Controller.

DualShock

The DualShock 1 added those famous Vibration Motors.

The DualShock 1 added those famous Vibration Motors.

In November of the same year, Sony released another Controller, which they called DualShock. The main change from the Dual Analog controller was the fact that Sony added Vibration Feedback in order to immerse you more into the game.

Now, each game had to support Vibration Feedback, things such as punching a character, or doing an action in a game like opening a door, would trigger this vibration. Nintendo already had this with the N64’s Rumble Pack, but Sony decided to step it up a notch by adding a Vibration Motor in each of the Hand-Grips, rather than just having one main Vibration Motor.

Not only that, but these two Motors didn’t require a separate Battery to work, like Nintendo’s Rumble Pack did. Instead, they just worked inside the Controller and they were powered by the Controllers cable. So, that was pretty big, games started implementing Vibration Support heavily and we all know how important this is today. The other change that the DualShock brought to the table was even bigger Shoulder Buttons, compared to the Dual Analog.

DualShock 2

Next up, we have the DualShock 2. Originally introduced in 2000, the DualShock 2 was launched alongside the PlayStation 2. 

Pressure Sensitive Buttons opened the door for developers to experiment with games even further.

Pressure Sensitive Buttons opened the door for developers to experiment with games even further.

The main change was that the entire Controller was now black, as opposed to the grey look that we’ve had since the original PS1 Controller. Aside from this, some users reported that the Vibration Motor felt stronger in the DualShock 2, although this was never confirmed. But what we did indeed get, were Pressure Sensitive Buttons.

Essentially, aside from the Joysticks and the Start, Select, Analog, L3 and R3, the rest of the buttons were all pressure sensitive. Meaning that rather than just registering a value of ‘1’ when pressed, it would register anything between ‘0’ and ‘1’ from the moment you rested your finger on it.  This was extremely useful in Racing games, where you could accelerate just a tiny bit by only lightly pressing the Shoulder Button.

Sixaxis Controller

In 2006, with the introduction of the PlayStation 3, Sony launched the DualShock 3. Actually, just kidding, it was the Sixaxis Controller that came first.

This was the first PlayStation Controller that was completely wireless.

This was the first PlayStation Controller that was completely wireless.

Design wise, it looked almost identical to the PS2 Controller, which was released six years prior. But, the biggest change here was that it was completely wireless. You still had a cable that you would use for charging and you could keep it connected if you wanted to do so, but the Controller itself could now be used without a cable at all. It would work just as well as before.

On top of this, Sony added 6-axis Motion-Sensing Technology, hence the name of their Sixaxis Controller. This meant that the Controller could feel Rotation and Translation across the X, Y & Z axis, allowing you to, for example, control a Car by just using the Controller as steering wheel, or control a Plane by using the controller like a Yoke. It was pretty cool! 

Unfortunately, the Sixaxis functionality didn’t end up being used as much as Sony had hoped. Even to this day, 14 years later, there are very few games that do make full use of it. Also, fun-fact, Sixaxis was a palindrome, meaning that if you reverse the word, it would still spell Sixaxis. Also, Sony removed the famous Vibration Motors entirely from the Sixaxis Controller, due to a patent dispute that Sony was having.

Aside from this, the Analog button was replaced by a ‘PlayStation’ Button, which would just take you Home. The Sixaxis also included finer Shoulder Button precision, compared to the DualShock 2 Controller. 

DualShock 3

Just some of the many different iterations of the DualShock 3.

Just some of the many different iterations of the DualShock 3.

Less than a year after the new Sixaxis Controller was launched, Sony had managed to settle the patent battle against Immersion (who sued them) and because of this, they could use Vibration Feedback once more.

So, Sony released the DualShock 3, which was really just a Sixaxis Controller with the added Vibration Feedback. Aside from that, it was pretty much identical to the Sixaxis. Sony did end up releasing new colours for the DualShock 3 Controller, including White, which looked absolutely stunning. This the very first time that Sony would release multiple colour variants of their Controllers.

DualShock 4

Then, in 2013, when Sony launched the PS4, they also launched the DualShock 4. Unlike all of the previous Controllers, which all looked pretty much identical, the DualShock 4 was actually the first major change for a PlayStation Controller.

The Handles were now more rounded, longer and overall, the entire Controller was much more comfortable to hold, compared to any of the previous ones. The Joysticks were now Concave, as opposed to Convex, like the previous ones were. Personally, I did find them way more comfortable compared to the DualShock 3 Controller for example.

But, as well as this, the DualShock 4 also had some other gigantic changes. It removed the Start & Select Buttons and added a massive Touchpad instead, which could recognise multiple fingers at the same time. This was a capacitive, rather than a resistive, touch surface. It was pressable as well, so it acted as an extra Button. 

Unfortunately, just like the Sixaxis Motion-Sensing technology, the Touchpad didn’t really get used by games at all, aside from some exclusive games such as ‘Little Big Planet’ and ‘Astrobot VR’. Most games use it as a Button for the Map or the Highscore, acting in the same way as the Tab Key on PCs.

Compared to previous generations, this was a huge design leap.

Compared to previous generations, this was a huge design leap.

The other big change was that the back of the Controller had a big LED Strip. The main purpose of this was that the PlayStation 4 Camera could track its movement, you could use it in games this way. Following the PlayStationVR’s release, the light was also used by the PlayStation 4’s Camera to track the moment of the Controller, in VR. Aside from this, the light would also change its colour based on certain events in a game. For example, if your Health would run low, the light would turn red, but if you were at Full Health, the light would be green. 

The PS4 controller, also added a Speaker for sound effects. It also added a proprietary Connector for connecting things such as a Keyboard Attachment or the new Back Button Attachment. It also added a 3.5mm Headphone Jack, which allowed you to connect any set of Headphones to it, you would hear the audio from the games directly from your Controller with no noticeable lag at all. That was incredible and definitely my favourite feature ever, in any Controller. We also got a new Options Button for bringing up the Options Menu in games, as well as a new Share Button for taking screenshots and video recordings of your Gameplay. We also got a microUSB Port, a change from the miniUSB Port that we had on the DualShock 3 Controller.

Sony also expanded on the success that the coloured versions of the DualShock 3 received by releasing even more colour options for the PS4 Controller. We also saw limited editions of the PS4 that also came bundled with a limited edition Controller.  All of these improvements made the PS4 Controller a massive technological leap, compared to its predecessors.

DualShock 4 Pro

The latest version that we can currently get our hands on. This was a small tweak to the existing design.

The latest version that we can currently get our hands on. This was a small tweak to the existing design.

When Sony launched the PS4 Pro in 2016, they also released an updated version of the DualShock 4. It was still called the DualShock 4, but this was the PS4 Pro version of it. This now reflected the Light-Bar onto the Touchpad as well, so that you could also see it more easily. It also included the ability to use it via a wired USB connection, with even lower Latency than when connected wirelessly, and it also featured an improved Battery Life.

DualSense

Finally, the latest Controller that Sony has unveiled, is the Playstation 5 Controller. Interestingly enough, rather than this being called the DualShock 5, it is called the DualSense.

Design wise, just like the DualShock 4, the DualSense embraces a completely fresh design style. This time, coming in a dual-tone colour scheme. The one that Sony has showed us came in White, with Black Accents, but we do expect Sony to launch even more colour options. There will very likely be a Black Controller with White Accents as well as a few more colour variants as well.

Aside from the colour scheme, the shape of the Controller is now very different as well. It resembles the Xbox One Controller much more than ever before. It is bigger, heavier and according to Sony, it feels more premium than ever before. We still have the same Buttons as before, but all those Buttons have a glass enclosure, which again is similar to how they look on the Xbox. So, gone are the coloured Action Buttons that we’ve seen for so many years now.

The ‘Options’ and ‘Share’ Buttons are still there. The ‘Share’ has been renamed into the ‘Create’ Button but it still acts the same way. They have also been rotated slightly to make room for the larger Touchpad. Which still has the built-in LED light, but it now surrounds the Touchpad rather than being underneath it. 

Something about the DualSense looks a little familiar.

Something about the DualSense looks a little familiar.

In case you’re wondering about that back LED light, that now seems to be gone entirely, which means that the PSVR 2 will very likely use a very different tracking technology. We’ve seen multiple patents on this before, where Sony would be using a laser-based tracking system for the PSVR 2. But anyway, that’s not said to be released until at least 2021.

Another change that the DualSense comes with is USB C Port, a change from the microUSB Connector, meaning that now you can use a Smartphone charger, a Laptop charger or pretty much anything, to charge the PS5 Controller. Battery Life has been improved significantly, according to Sony. They’ve also added on-board Microphones, meaning that you can now chat without having a Microphone plugged in. Of course, the 3.5mm Headphone Jack is still there, in case you do want to add some Headphones. 

Now, let’s talk about the big changes here, the ones that will affect your Gameplay. The first ones are the brand new ‘Adaptive Pressure Sensitive’ L2 & R2 Triggers. Just like pulling a Bow-String or an actual Gun Trigger, they will be harder to push, the further you push down. This does sound very similar to what Microsoft added in their Xbox One Controller.

The biggest change, and the reason why this is called DualSense, is that it features a full Haptic Engine all throughout the Controller. Ok, but what is this exactly? You know how on modern Smartphones, such as the iPhone 11, the Pixel 4, the Samsung Galaxy S20’s, the OnePlus 8 and many others, we have an improved Vibration Motor that gives you a tactile response, whenever you press a Menu or Action Button? It essentially gives you the impression that you pressed a physical Button. Well, the PS5’s Haptic Feedback would be similar, just on Steroids. According to Sony, the Haptic Feedback is so good that you’ll be able to feel the textures on different roads. You’ll be able to feel mud, asphalt, ice and more, or even feel how different Guns shoot. From what I’ve heard, this is an absolute game changer. 

So, there you go. This is how far we’ve come from the original PS1 Controller and I’m personally really looking forward to trying the PS5 Controller out!

iPhone 12 Pro & iOS 14 – Final Details Revealed?

We haven’t really made a Leaks & Rumors episode on the 2020 iPhones in more than a month now. Mostly because there wasn’t anything new to talk about. But, we’ve got a ton of fresh new leaks to talk about now, most of them from just the past week alone, coming from Jon Prosser from ‘FrontPageTech’. I don’t know how he did it but he’s pretty much the person with the highest amount of inside news on Apple at the moment.

So, here’s everything new in terms of the 2020 iPhones! 

iPhone SE (Second Generation) 

First things first, Apple has now unveiled what we thought was going to be the iPhone 9. This is the one we were talking about for so long, it is essentially the iPhone SE 2. Only, it isn’t called the iPhone 9 or the iPhone SE 2, but instead they called it the iPhone SE…Second Generation.

I personally think that iPhone 9 would’ve been the perfect name as this would be the last iPhone to feature the old pre-iPhone X design and Apple has yet to use the iPhone 9 naming scheme. But at the same time, calling this the iPhone SE means that Apple is not necessarily considering this inferior to the iPhone 11. They seemingly just consider it something different.

The iPhone 9, or the iPhone SE Second Generation as it is being called by Apple, is our first iPhone of 2020.

The iPhone 9, or the iPhone SE Second Generation as it is being called by Apple, is our first iPhone of 2020.

The iPhone SE Second Generation is essentially just an iPhone 8, but with upgraded internals. We have the same design on the front as the iPhone 8, 7, 6s & 6, so we’re getting a six year old design here. But, we are getting some very nice specs.

To start with, we’re getting Apple’s most powerful iPhone Chip, the Apple A11. The same CPU as found in the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro’s. We’re also getting an improved Camera, which looks to be the same Module as the Main on the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro. Don’t quote me on this because I do need to get it and test it to confirm that.

That’s pretty much it. Other than that, this is an iPhone 8. The only other difference being that this iPhone only costs $400 / £420 in the UK. The UK market is getting a slap in the face again. It is almost half the price of the iPhone 11, which starts at $700, so if you don’t care about having an outdated design and you just want a very affordable iPhone (price can actually go down further if you trade in your old phone) with the very best performance and almost the same quality Camera as on an iPhone 11 Pro, then this is a perfect deal.

We’ll be making a more in-depth video about the iPhone SE Second Generation, once we get it ourselves, so stay tuned for that. Subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss out. 

AirPower

Then, at number two, AirPower is apparently making a comeback. You know, the Wireless Charging Mat that Apple kept on postponing and then eventually cancelled? We may be seeing that after all.

Essentially, AirPower was a fairly revolutionary Wireless Charger. On pretty much every single Wireless Charger out there, you need to position your Smartphone on a specific spot because that’s where the Wireless Charging Coil is located. Apple, on the other hand, wanted you to be able to place your Smartphone, Apple Watch or even your AirPods literally anywhere on the Mat. In order for you to be able to do that, the Mat needed a ton of Charging Coils. I’m not talking about two, three or even five, the AirPower Mat was developed with over 20 different Coils in mind. But, these Coils generated a lot of heat, which made an AirPower Mat a safety hazard to use, so it got cancelled. 

How will the AirPower solve the overheating issues that has prevented it from being released so far?

How will the AirPower solve the overheating issues that has prevented it from being released so far?

Well, it seems like it might have been revived! According to Jon Prosser, Apple’s Sharing & Proximity Team are receiving prototype units of something called C68, which looks a lot like the AirPower Mat. Not only that, but apparently this new AirPower Mat actually has an Apple A11 Processor inside that’s being used to dynamically manage heat. An Apple A11, inside of a Wireless Charger! 

The A11 is what the iPhone X from 2017 used and it is still one of the most powerful Chips in the mobile industry. According to Jon, because the Apple Watch uses a proprietary charging method, when you placed the Apple Watch on charge while other devices were also on the Mat, the AirPower would combust because the Watch required so much power. The A11 can tell when the temperature drops and it can wait until that happens before diverting power to charging the Apple Watch. It’s a pretty genius solution but I’m not so sure if this is indeed the answer. 

I’m saying this because firstly, having an A11 Chip inside what is essentially just a Wireless Charger means that the price of it will sky-rocket and secondly, it’s not like the Mat won’t overheat. It’s just that the A11 will put some devices on hold, in terms of charging, until the temperatures go down. This means that if you need a quick charge of your Apple Watch and your iPhone is also charging, you might not even be able to charge your Apple Watch at all, if the A11 Chip decides that is the safest case.

I still think that the best approach here would be to have marked spots on the Mat, where you can place your devices. These spots will also be magnetised so that the devices snap into place once they’re close.

iOS 14

Next up, we have some updates to iOS 14. In case you missed it, we did an iOS 14 video back in March that covered every single thing we knew up until that point, in terms of iOS 14. Definitely do give that video a watch, in case you want to know more about it. But since that video of ours went live, a few more details have emerged.

Reports from ‘9to5Mac’ indicate that Apple is working on improving iCloud Keychain on iOS to make it compete better with apps such as ‘1Password’ or ‘LastPass’. Apparently, users will now be warned if their passwords are being reused, so that they can change them if they’re using one multiple times. Users will also be getting some sort of new 2-Factor Authentication that will let you log into a website using just iCloud Keychain, rather than using SMS or Email. But keep in mind, this will still be 2-Factor Authentication.

Twitter user ‘DongleBookPro’ shared a few more details about iOS 14. The first one being that Apple seems to be working with car manufactures, such as BMW, to allow you to use the iPhone itself as a car key. It won’t work with all models, just with a few select ones, but this will apparently be called CarKey. 

‘DongleBookPro’ also shared some iOS 14 images. One, with how the new Wallpaper selection would work, which has been reported previously. It seems that now, we would be able to tweak the current Wallpaper. It seems like the stock iOS 13 Wallpaper has four different variants, one of them being a gradient. The ability to turn them into gradients seems to be applicable to all of Apple’s first party Wallpapers. They’re calling it a Smart Gradient.

Aside from this, Dongle also shared an image of how the Wallpaper selection screen will look, with Wallpapers now grouped into Collections. You can also have some photos of your own there, which is great. Third party apps should be supported as well, according to some of the earlier leaks that we’ve seen before.

Now, there’s one more thing about iOS 14 that I want to share here and it is coming from Jon Prosser. We’ve heard some rumors that Apple might be implementing a new list view on the iPhone, similar to the one that we have on the Apple Watch. But now it seems that Apple is indeed considering Widgets on iOS. Jon is saying that there are currently no internal builds featuring Widgets, but it is something that Apple is internally working on. They’re also considering third-party Widgets in the Control Centre. Now, Jon did say that this is probably something likely to come in iOS 15 rather than iOS 14. We’ll have to wait and see. 

But, I’ve had two massive requests for iOS, for so many years now. One of them being an Always-On Display. Android Smartphones have had this for so many years now and it’s a complete game-changer. The ability to see the time and the notifications on your Display, all the time, even when your phone is in sleep, is so useful.  But for some reason, we never got that on the iPhone. Now that the Apple Watch finally got it with the Series 5, I would bet that Apple is at least considering adding an Always-On Display to the iPhone as well.

You may soon be able to use some popular apps without actually needing to have them installed, such as Twitter.

You may soon be able to use some popular apps without actually needing to have them installed, such as Twitter.

My second request was on-screen Widgets. This is something that we’ve had on Android Smartphones for years. The iPhone Home-Screens have pretty much remained unchanged since the very first iPhone launched, back in 2007 (13 years ago). We can now change the Wallpaper but aside from that, and the fact that we can put apps in folders, which Apple added in iOS 4 back in 2010, we cannot really change anything.  Widgets will allow us to see the Weather, Calendar, To-Do List and more, right on the Home-Screen without even having to open up those apps.

Apple did indeed add Widgets, but only to the Notification Panel in iOS 13, on the iPad, with iPadOS. They finally added Home-Screen Widgets, but it only works in Landscape Mode and it is a separate panel on the Home-Screen, rather than something that’s embedded into it.

It seems like we will have to wait a bit longer and see if this does happen, but if it does, it will be a pretty massive change for iOS functionality wise, which is something that we haven’t seen since iOS 4, back in 2010.

The last piece of news that we have on iOS 14 comes from 9to5Mac. They claim that they’re developing a new feature called “Clips”, which will allow us to use an app without necessarily having it installed. A good example of this would be when you’re on a web page and you’re opening up a Twitter link. Normally this will just take you to the Twitter browser, the same applies to YouTube where, as we all know, the UI is really messed up. Well, with this new Clips API, you will pretty much get the same experience as if you actually had the app installed. It’s just that you won’t need to actually have it installed, which is pretty cool.

iPhone 12 Pro 

Now, onto the good stuff, the iPhone 12. The biggest thing here is that we finally know the final design of this year’s iPhone.

We’re getting four iPhone 12 models this year. A 5.4” model, which will be the smallest one. This will be even smaller than the 5.8” iPhone X, XS or iPhone 11 Pro and this one will come with two Camera Modules, the Apple A14 Processor and 5G, as well as an Aluminium Body. Then, we have a 6.1” iPhone, similar in size to the regular iPhone 11, this will also come with two Camera Modules, the A14, 5G and an Aluminium Body too. We have another 6,1” iPhone, a Pro model this time. This will still come with the A14, 5G, only three Camera Modules as well as that LiDAR Module that the iPad Pro just got. This will have a Stainless Steel, rather than an Aluminium, Body. Finally, we have a 6.7” iPhone, another Pro model. This will come with the A14, 5G, three Camera Modules, LiDAR and that Stainless Steel Body as well. In summary, two regular and two ‘Pro’ models.

All models are indeed said to come with an OLED Display, so finally no more LCD. All models are said to come with a smaller Notch as well as a Squared-Off Frame, similar to the one that we got on the 2018 iPad Pro. So, we’re finally getting a return to that iPhone 4 & iPhone 5 style design, which was definitely my favourite. This had been initially reported by Ming-Chi Kuo, but has now confirmed by Bloomberg as well. 

Remember the iOS 14 Widgets image that Jon Prosser shared? Well, it seems like that image is coming from Twitter user Fudge (@choco_bit).  This gives us a really good idea of what the smaller Notch would look like. It looks to me that it’s about half the size of the Notch on the current iPhones.

Unfortunately, the Bezels still seem to be the same size. I was really hoping that these would be getting a bit thinner, as iPhones now have one of the thickest Bezels / Border on any Smartphone now and they’re already looking quite outdated when compared to the competition. But, keep in mind that this is not a Press render, it is what looks to be an iOS icon, which means that the Bezels might indeed be bit thinner on the actual iPhone 12.

Follow our second Instagram account @ZONEofCONCEPTS for more models on upcoming releases.

Follow our second Instagram account @ZONEofCONCEPTS for more models on upcoming releases.

Anyway, Fudge also shared an image of the back of the iPhone and from this one we can see that the LiDAR Sensor has been added as a fourth Module, just like we envisioned in our very own concept months ago. Funnily enough, we modelled this concept back in October 2019 and at that time, we only knew that Apple was going to add a ToF Camera. We didn’t know where and how it would be positioned. So, we fully modelled ours based on what made the most amount of sense. A fourth module in that Camera Array alongside a Flash in the middle, for even Light Exposure, and a Microphone just under it for a consistent design. It seems like we were pretty much spot on.

So, this is what the iPhone 12’s would look like. A Flat Frame, just like on the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro’s, which would be made out of Aluminium on the non-pro models, just like on the iPhone 5 and SE, and full Stainless Steel on the Pro models. We also get a smaller Notch, at least in terms of its length, and two new Display sizes, a 5.4” and a 6.7” as well as a Quad Camera Module on the back, with that brand new LiDAR Sensor.

We have seen multiple reports that the iPhone 12’s could indeed be delayed up to October or so, but there are many reports on this, some saying that they will be delayed while other are saying that they’re still scheduled for a September release. If I were to put my money on any of these, I would say that the regular iPhone 12’s will be released in September, while the Pro models would be released a bit later, around October. This would just be because of that LiDAR Module, which is a brand new component to manufacture.

Apple Watch Series 6 - Finally Something New?

The Apple Watch has been one of my favourite pieces of technology, ever. I recently switched to a Samsung Galaxy Fold as my daily driver and the only thing that I miss about my iPhone, is the Apple Watch sync. 

Luckily, I still have my iPhone around but my point here is that while I can indeed switch away from iOS, there’s not really an overall better Smart Watch than the Apple Watch, at least for iOS users.  So, without further ado, here is everything we know, so far, in terms of the Apple Watch Series 6. This is set to be one of the biggest changes to ever come to the Apple Watch!

The Story So Far

I have always been a massive fan of the Apple Watch. I remember making videos on it years before it was launched, such as the ‘Leaks & Rumors’ episodes talking about every piece of information we had about Apple’s super secret project. Then we finally got it, the original Apple Watch.

But unfortunately, the first generation, which came out in 2015 and was announced back in 2014, was not great at all. It was pretty slow, the battery life wasn’t anything amazing and it was extremely expensive. Apple even sold that $17,000 18-Karat Gold model.

With the Series 2 in 2016, they dropped the Gold model, they added 50m Water Resistance, up from the 1m for up to 30 minutes that the original model had. They also increased the screen brightness to 1000 Nits, up from 500, and significantly improved the Processor. The Battery even lasted two days now and we got GPS, so the Series 2 was a very big upgrade.

The Series 3 launched in 2017, adding Cellular support so that you can get a network connection without the need for you to have your iPhone with you. It added an even faster Processor, with the S3 Chip being 70% faster than the S2, which was already twice as fast as the S1 inside the original Apple Watch.  It doubled the Internal Storage to 16GB and increased the amount of RAM to 768MB from 512MB. 

Then we had the Series 4 in 2018, which was the biggest upgrade to come to the Apple Watch since the original one was introduced. We got a new design (sort of) with a more rounded frame as well as a much larger Display. Also, it had almost the exact same body, so the screen Bezels got significantly thinner. We got another new Processor, the S4, with double the performance of the S3, an ECK Meter, an improved HR Monitor and Haptic Feedback on the Digital Crown itself. This was such a big upgrade.

Finally, last year we got the Series 5, which was essentially just a Series 4 with an Always On-Display, something that I’ve been requesting ever since the original Apple Watch. Having said all of this, the Series 6 should be a fairly big upgrade, considering that we haven’t had once since 2018.

Design

When it comes to the design, we’ve yet to see reports that state that Apple is working on a major redesign, similar to what we saw around the same time two years ago, ahead of the Series 4’s release. This means that it is extremely likely that we would see the exact same design that we’ve seen with the Series 4 and the Series 5, just possibly with some more finishes.

The Series 5 introduced Titanium as a brand new finish and also brought back Ceramic, which we hadn’t seen since the Series 3. We wouldn’t be surprised if Apple ends up introducing one more material option, or at least some different colour options, for the materials that we have now. I’m not sure about you but I think a Ceramic Forest Green or Midnight Blue would look incredible.

Regardless, there is a small possibility that Apple will indeed tweak the design. Ever since the original Apple Watch came out, we always wanted Apple to release a circular Apple Watch, we’ve actually modelled our very own. Whether Apple does this with the Series 6, Series 7 or even later, we don’t know yet.

This is our concept for the next Apple Watch, will it finally come full circle?

This is our concept for the next Apple Watch, will it finally come full circle?

We based this design off of the current Series 4 & Series 5. We kept the same design language while at the same time, making the body circular. This means that we still have the same style of the Digital Crown, with the Red Ring and the Haptic Engine. We still have the same Heart-Rate Monitor but with additional functionality, which we will be covering shortly. We still have the same iconic circular Apple Watch Faces, which now look better than ever before on a circular Display. Also, we based all of the colours on the current Apple Watch series 5 offering.

Do leave a comment down below, on what do you think about a Circular Apple Watch and if you want to see more concepts such as this, definitely subscribe and also follow our second Instagram account (@ZONEofCONCEPTS) for more 3D Concepts such as this.

But unfortunately, the Series 6 is likely to look extremely similar to the Series 5. 

Display

When it comes to the Display, ‘EconomicDailyNews’ reported back in July 2019 that the 2020 Apple Watch could be getting a microLED Display. This is something that ‘DigiTimes’ also reported back in 2018. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any more recent leaks on this, so do take this with a grain of salt.

Essentially, microLED Displays are the biggest Display innovation since OLED. This is not be confused with miniLED, which is what the November 2020 iPad Pro’s are said to feature, as well as the upcoming 16 inch MacBook Pro’s. Long story short, LCD panels are the most inferior Display technology that we have now. 

In LCD panels, the Pixels only provide the colour and not the backlight. Therefore, you need to add a separate backlight layer. This means that the Display will be thick and will consume a lot of power. Also, you cannot have perfect Black Levels, if you have a white text on top of a black surface, the backlight will still have to be fully on in order for the text to be visible, which means that blacks will always look greyish or blueish.

Then we have OLED Displays in which, unlike LCD’s, the Pixels can provide both the colour and the backlight. This means that OLED Displays can be very thin, they consume very little power and they have perfect black levels as you can individually turn the Pixels on and off. The only problem with OLED is that they can easily burn, so their life span is very limited. 

Then we have miniLED, which is a fairly new technology and is what Apple is using in their Apple Pro Display XDR. Essentially, it is still an LCD panel, but the backlight is split into multiple smaller zones, 576 in this case, which can individually turn on and off. It still has the downsides of an LCD panel but the black levels are much improved.

And finally, we have microLED, which is essentially OLED with extremely tiny inorganic LED’s, rather than organic LED’s. This means that it has all the advantages of OLED, but without the burn-in issues. Not only that, but microLED Displays can be even thinner than OLED, with even lower power consumptions while also being much brighter. These microLED Displays are really the future and the Apple Watch is indeed a very good candidate for this technology. At the moment, microLED is even more expensive than OLED, so Apple cannot implement this on devices that have a large Display. If you take a look at the first Apple Watch, it was also Apple’s very first device to come with an OLED Display. Whenever Apple is implementing microLED, it will very likely come to the Apple Watch first and is looking like it could come this year.

Specs

What other changes could we see with the next Apple Watch?

What other changes could we see with the next Apple Watch?

Moving on to the specs, the Series 6 will finally feature a bump in performance. The Series 5 did come with the Apple S5 Processor, but this was actually just an S4 with a built-in Compass and the new Display Driver for the Always-On Display. So, we actually haven’t had a performance boost, since the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018. Here’s a fun fact, my Series 4 was perfectly smooth, I had zero issues in terms of its performance. 

However, the Series 5 actually lags on me quite a bit. It might be because of the Always-On Display. The Processor has to keep updating that all the time, albeit at just 1Hz, compared to 60Hz. But still, the CPU is running more intensively than on the Series 4 and the RAM is also used more because of the Always-On Display.

Ming-Chi-Kuo did report that the Series 6 will indeed be getting some bumps in performance. This not only includes the CPU getting faster, but apparently WiFi and Cellular speeds will also be improved. Kuo also stated that the Circuit Board will now be made out of LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) as opposed to Polyimide or PI. Dongshan Precision, Avary Holding and Flexium Interconnect will be the primary suppliers.

Special Features

Moving on to the Special Features, this is where we’ll see the biggest changes.

Blood Oxygen Level Meter

The first one will be a Blood Oxygen Level Meter. Based on leaked iOS 14 code that ‘9to5mac’ managed to find, we now know that Oxygen Level Saturation is something that Apple plans to include in the Series 6. Essentially, if the Oxygen in your blood has a level under 95%, you will get a notification alert, similar to how you’re now getting an alert when your heart-rate is abnormally high. Even the original Apple Watch from 2015 had hardware capable of measuring the amount of Oxygen in your blood, ‘iFixit’ found that from their teardown. 

However, for some reason, this functionality was never enabled. Some reports are saying that this is because Apple never got the FDA approval for this, so it could be that the Series 6 will now get an improved hardware version of that or watchOS 7 will actually enabled Oxygen Level Saturation measurement on all the previous Apple Watch models that support it as well.

watchOS 7

Speaking of watchOS 7, ‘9to5mac’ managed to find some more code that points towards some upcoming features. These include the ability to share your Watch Face with other users and a brand new Infograph Pro Watch Face that will include a Tachymeter, which will tell you the speed at which you’re traveling.

Aside from this we would also be getting a new Countries Flag Watch Face, which will allow you to pick a flag and have a Watch-Face on top of it. This can easily be done at the moment via the Photos Watch Face.  Speaking of the Photo Watch Face, it is said to be getting an improvement that allows you to select photos from a shared album, rather than just your own albums.

Parental Controls will also be added, as well as School-Time for restricting some Apple-Watch apps for when a child is in school. We are also said to be getting an improved Control Centre with new toggles and a brand new Architecture for apps, which will remove the extensions base for apps entirely, meaning that Apps will now fully run on the Apple Watch rather than being extensions to iPhone apps. 

According to ‘The Verifier’ who claims that they have some high level sources inside Apple, watchOS 7 will only work on the Apple Watch Series 3 and newer, with support for the Series 1 & 2 finally being dropped. 

Sleep Tracking

Now, the third big new feature of the Series 6 is said to be Sleep Tracking. According to some more code found my ‘9to5Mac’, Sleep Tracking will finally be included. As reported by Bloomberg, this will indeed be a feature implemented at the hardware level, rather than just being a software update that will work on older models.

Apple will need to heavily improve the Battery Life, which according to these reports, they wouldn’t be doing, at least not to the amount that will make the battery last for a week. We don’t fully know how Apple will address this, but it is likely that they will use a new low power Chip that will monitor the sound and the movement alongside your heart-rate, when you are asleep. Chances are that you will have to charge it in the morning, before you go to work, as you will need to wear the Apple Watch while you’re sleeping in order for Sleep Tracking to work. 

What would TouchID on an Apple Watch look like?

What would TouchID on an Apple Watch look like?

TouchID

A very strange report, coming from ‘The Verifier’ once again, claims that the Series 6 could be getting TouchID. This would either be integrated into the Crown or even integrated into the Display panel itself. That would be amazing but, they’re also saying that this could be a 2021 feature and might just be something that the Series 7 will come with. 

Kids Mode 

Additionally, ‘9to5Mac’ found references in the leaked iOS 14 code to a brand new Kids Mode, which will replace the current activity rings with something more suitable for kids. Rather than tracking the amount of calories burned, these will just track the amount of movement and will be tweaked with a child’s’ activity pattern in mind. This is a watchOS 7 feature so it will very likely come to all the models from the Series 3 upwards. 

Improved Water Resistance

Finally, Ming-Chi-Kuo reported that the Series 6 will be getting an improved Water Resistance. At the moment, we get up to 50m submersion, which is pretty nuts. However, Apple themselves state on their own website that you shouldn’t use it for scuba diving or any other activities that involve high velocity water or submersion below shallow depth.  This could be fixed with the Series 6. 

Battery Life

Battery Life is said to be improved with the Series 6, now that we’re getting Sleep Tracking. Whether this is done by just increasing the Battery size, or by the new microLED Display, or even both, we do not know. But, Apple will have to do something as the Battery Life on the Series 5 was noticeably worse than on the Series 4 before it. 

Release Date 

And finally, when it comes to the Release Date, we would expect pretty much the same as always, September 2020. However, this year we might actually see a slight delay because of the current outbreak situation. With this in mind,  it could be pushed to November, or in the worst case scenario, to March 2021 or further, although I don’t think it would be delayed that heavily.

Conclusion

So, in the end, what are my thoughts on the Apple Watch Series 6?

Well, it looks like the biggest new feature that most of you will care about will be Sleep Tracking. Aside from that, things such as the new Watch Faces, the Oxygen Level Meter and Kids Mode are likely to be added to some of the previous Apple Watch models as well.

If you were hoping for a major redesign, you might have to wait until the Series 7, or even later, until we finally get something similar to our render.

Nintendo Switch Pro – The PS5 & Xbox Series X Killer?

INTRO

As most of you probably know, 2020 is the year of..well..self-isolation but also the year of new Games Consoles. We got the last major release back in 2013, with the PS4 and the Xbox One, and now we’re waiting on two big releases in the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Then, we have Nintendo as the third player in this console war.

Some of you might say that Nintendo’s not really a player because, performance wise, the Nintendo Switch is far behind the PS4 and the Xbox One, not even to mention the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X. While that is indeed true, you can not argue with the fact that the Switch has now outsold the Xbox One, making the Switch the second best selling Console out right now, right after the PS4. 

The demand is definitely there and the interest from the hardcore & casual gaming community is also there. The Switch came out in 2017, three years ago, so while it is still technically in the middle of its’ life-cycle, it is significantly underpowered when compared to even the PS4 & Xbox One. We’ve seen a lot of leaks that Nintendo is working on a Nintendo Switch Pro, so here is everything we know about it and also why I think this could just be the surprise contender to the PS5 and the Xbox Series X.

The Original Switch

We’ll be honest, when the Nintendo Switch came out, we weren’t fans at all. We did like the idea of having a console that can be used in so many ways, from hand-held to table-top to having it connected to a TV, but we were not a fan of how underpowered it was.

The original Switch was truly unique, but it took some getting used to.

The original Switch was truly unique, but it took some getting used to.

We kept comparing the Graphics on the Switch to the PS4 and the Xbox One in third party games, but there was just no comparison. Whilst other games such as Fortnite and Witcher 3 are playable on the Switch, they look significantly worse than on the PS4 and the Xbox One. But then, in late 2019, Apple launched Apple Arcade. I signed up for the free trial on my iPad and when I was on the road and travelling, I gave it a shot. It was pretty good but it was heavily lacking any big Triple-A titles. Which made me think, what if I actually gave the Switch a try? 

So, I bought my first Switch in late 2019, less than six months ago, and I simply fell in love with it! It felt amazing in the hand, the games were just unbelievable, playing Triple-A games on the go is just something that you cannot do on anything else right now. This is unless you count Game-Streaming but unfortunately, when you’re traveling, the connection is very poor so it’s not really doable.

But what sold me right away were the first party games such as: Link’s Awakening, Pokémon Sword, Super Mario Odyssey, Animal Crossing and others. These are some of the best games that I’ve ever played and the fact that I could play these on the go, as well as on my TV, on the same device was absolutely outstanding. The Switch has actually now become my favourite console ever. Also, we’ve seen a lot of leaks & rumors on Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2, or Switch Pro, Console.

A Mid-Cycle Upgrade

Nintendo has actually released two new Consoles in 2019. One of them was a newer model of the original Switch, with significantly improved battery life. The other was the Nintendo Switch Lite, a brand new Switch, which was specifically designed for hand-held play and does not support TV output. 

A console built purely for hand-held gaming, that supports AAA Titles. The Switch Lite was released in 2019.

A console built purely for hand-held gaming, that supports AAA Titles. The Switch Lite was released in 2019.

It’s pretty safe to assume that the next Switch would have some resemblance to the Switch Lite, in terms of its design. This is how we modelled our very own ZONEofTECH concept of the Nintendo Switch Pro.  We thinned out the Bezels considerably to the point where they’re even thinner than on the Switch Lite. The Switch Lite already had much thinner Bezels, when compared to the original Switch. We modelled ours with a 7.3” Display, up from the current 6.2” panel, but kept the exact same Form Factor with the same thickness, height and width, just with a larger Display. The current Switch has a plastic Display which is very easily scratched. It’s an LCD Display but the Colour Reproduction is quite poor, so we’ve equipped ours with an OLED panel, a glass panel which would be perfectly suitable for this Switch Pro.

The reason why this might be called a Switch Pro, rather than a Switch 2, is because rather than this being the next generation Switch, it will be a spec bump to the current model, similar to what Sony and Microsoft have done with the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X. It will have a higher price point, but it will offer more premium features that the current Switch isn’t able to, such as higher Frame-Rates and especially a higher Resolution for games.

We have seen reports that Nintendo is finally considering releasing a Switch with 4K output support, something that the PS4 Pro introduced back in 2016. This also implies that we would very likely get a bump in handheld Resolution, from 720p to at least 1080p. Even with a more powerful chipset, which we’ll cover in just a second, it would be quite difficult for the Switch to be able to do 4K gaming, considering that it also needs to be a hand-held Console. And while the hand-held output would still just be 1080p, the Switch would require significantly more power when docked, in order to be able to do 4K.

If Nintendo were to add something like a Thunderbolt Port and a dedicated GPU in the dock itself, this would easily solve all of the performance related issues. This way, you can still have a very good hand-held experience in 1080p, but then also get full 4K the moment you dock the console in. At the moment, on the current Switch, aside from a bump in Resolution from 720p to 1080p, there’s isn’t really that much that you’re getting by docking the console. A dedicated GPU in the dock itself would solve this issue.

Specifications

Speaking of specs, we have seen reports that Nintendo and Nvidia are working together in order to develop the new CPU & GPU for the next generation Switch. As you probably know, the current Switches both use Nvidia’s Tegra X1 chip, an extremely weak SoC (System on a Chip) that contains both the CPU and the GPU. It was developed in 2015, five years ago, originally for the Nvidia Shield TV Smartbox, which in 2019 got upgraded to the new TegraX1+ Chip.

Will a potential Switch Pro get more current, high-end hardware?

Will a potential Switch Pro get more current, high-end hardware?

The X1+ is about 25% more powerful than the original X1 from 2015, but even a 25% bump in performance would be extremely disappointing for the next Switch. This is the Processor that both the 2019 Switch and the 2019 Switch Lite should have included but instead, we just got a more power efficient version of the original X1. This makes us think that maybe ,and hopefully, Nintendo and Nvidia are indeed planning a very big performance upgrade for the next Switch, with an SoC designed specifically for the Switch. 

Essentially, when the Switch was launched, Nintendo didn’t know how well it was going to sell, especially after the disaster that was the Wii U. So, instead of creating a Custom Chip, they just repurposed the best Mobile Processor that Nvidia had, which at that time was the two year old Tegra X1. But, considering how well the Switch has done in terms of sales, it is extremely likely that the reports stating that Nintendo and Nvidia are working together on as Custom Chipset are indeed correct. Japanese website ‘Gamepeida’ reports that the RAM would now be doubled to 8GB, compared to the 4GB we have now and the Storage will also be bumped to 128GB, up from the current 32GB. We don’t think the Storage was ever an issue, as you can indeed expand that via a microSD card, but you couldn’t really do anything about the Display or the performance. 

A new report from ‘DigitTimes’ claims that the Switch Pro would enter mass production in Q1 2020, but this is likely not the case anymore, given the recent outbreak throughout the world. Also, Nintendo themselves have indeed confirmed that there will be no new Nintendo Console in 2020. So, this Switch Pro would very likely release in early 2021, rather than 2020. This is mostly because it won’t be able to compete with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, at least when it comes to the performance.

Another report claims that Nvidia is working with Nintendo, on developing a new SoC on their new Volta architecture. But even Volta is quite old as it was released in 2017, it was replaced by Turing which itself will soon be replaced by Ampere. We wouldn’t be surprised if Nvidia ends up using an older architecture again, but given the success of the Switch, it would make more sense to design something that is at least set in the present, when it comes to raw power.  Nintendo also showed us the trailer for ‘Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2’, but they haven’t said anything about a potential release date. I would expect ‘Breath of the Wild 2’ to launch at the same time as this new Switch, this way they can promote the capabilities of the new Console whilst also promoting the game itself.

Backwards Compatibility, Remote Play & Design

Speaking of games, Backwards Compatibility has been reported to be happening numerous times and I wouldn’t really expect otherwise.  The PS5 and the Xbox Series X will both support current generation games, while the Xbox will go as far as supporting Xbox 360 and even original Xbox games. Not supporting Nintendo Switch games, especially considering that this will be a Switch Pro, rather than a Switch 2, is looking extremely unlikely.

This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo & Sony have teamed-up. (Image: Archyde)

This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo & Sony have teamed-up. (Image: Archyde)

Now something interesting that we were not expecting to see, is that Sony was surveying their users on Remote Play support for the Nintendo Switch. I don’t think any reasonable person would say no to this, so it might be the case that by the end of 2020, we could start seeing Remote Play support on the current Switch Consoles. This isn’t really a next-gen Switch feature, but it is something that we did want to mention.

One of our complaints with the original Switch was that it was quite uncomfortable to use in hand-held for long periods of time. This was indeed fixed with the Switch Lite, but it does remain an issue on the regular Switch. You can buy some grip attachments to solve this, but they only end up making the Console thicker and heavier. 

With the Switch Pro, we’ve modelled our concept as a mix between the Switch Lite and the regular Switch. Aside from the Display, we’ve also replaced the Arrow Keys with a proper D-Pad, just like on the Switch Lite. We’ve made the Joysticks a bit bigger and also applied the same colour options as we have on the Switch Lite. This would be a single colour for the entire device, but Joy-cons would still be removable and replaceable, in case you do want to make it look a bit more unique.

Conclusion

In the end, this is how this Switch is looking so far, with a brand new CPU & GPU that are both based on a more modern architecture from Nvidia, which is finally capable of doing 4K gaming when docked.

If you think about it, Nvidia actually needs this more than Nintendo does. They’re doing well in the Laptop space but AMD is completely taking the Console space. Both the current generation PS4 and Xbox One, as well as the next generation PS5 and Xbox Series X, are all running on AMD hardware.  Nvidia has to release something ground-breaking for this next generation Switch.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X – CPU, GPU, Storage, Games & Price! 

INTRO

Sony has finally unveiled the full specs of the PS5. So now that we know the full specs of both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, which one is actually more powerful? Some of you might have heard that the Xbox Series X is more powerful than the PS5, but there are some ways in which the PS5 significantly tops the Xbox. Without any further ado, here is the full comparison of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, covering the: CPU, GPU, Memory, Storage, Special Features, Exclusive Games and Price! 

CPU

Starting off with the CPU, they’re both doing very well here. They both feature a desktop class, AMD Processor that’s based on the AMD Zen 2 architecture. They’re also both 3rd generation AMD Ryzen Processors with 8-Cores, which means that they’re quite similar to the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Processor, which is a very well received CPU. 

It’s nowhere near as powerful as the 3700X, as the clock-speeds are quite a bit lower. We have a 3.5GHz clock speed on the PS5 compared to the 3.8GHz clock speed on the Xbox Series X. From this alone, you would think that the Xbox is quite a bit more powerful in terms of the CPU, which to some extent is true. However, Microsoft has indeed confirmed that if SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) is enabled, these speeds would drop to 3.6GHz. Sony’s 3.5GHz clock is indeed with Multi-Threading enabled. So, in that case, considering that most applications and games will indeed be taking advantage of Multi-Threading, the difference in CPU power isn’t as high anymore, although the Xbox Series X still has a slight advantage over the PS5.

Now, something that Sony has mentioned is that their system is capable of Turbo Boosting. However, the highest turbo boost clock speed will still be 3.5GHz. This simply means that games will only run at 3.5GHz if they really have to. Otherwise, they will run at a lower clock speed, in order to keep the system cool and also bring the fan noise down. The Xbox Series X will be running at that 3.5GHz clock speed pretty much all the time. So, slightly higher performance on the Xbox, but a lower fan speed on the PS5. 

GPU

So, what about the GPU? If we look at the raw GPU power, the PS5 has 10.28 TFLOPS, while the Xbox Series X has 12.16 TFLOPS. Now, that’s a 1.88 difference in raw performance, which is actually pretty massive. The PS4, for example, had 1.84 TFLOPS, while the PS4 Pro had 4.2. If you just look at TFLOPS alone, the difference in performance between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X is almost as big as the difference in performance between the PS4 and the PS4 Pro.

However, when Mark Cerny, the PS5’s Lead System Architect presented the PS5 on stage, he did talk about why the PS5 has a lower number of TFLOPS. First, he mentioned how the new GPU architecture that they’re using (RDNA2) has a TFLOP count which is not equal to GCN TFLOPS. Long story short, even if the PS5 looks to be 2.44 times more powerful (GPU wise) than the PS4 Pro, it is actually way more than that as RDNA2 is a much newer architecture.

The difference between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X is almost exactly the same as the full TFLOP count on the PS4, although this was older architecture.

The difference between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X is almost exactly the same as the full TFLOP count on the PS4, although this was older architecture.

Now, when you calculate the raw performance or the TFLOPS of a GPU, you need to take a few things into account. The biggest ones being the number of CU’s (Compute Units) and the Frequency at which these are running at. So, if we take a look at these, the PS5 has 36 Compute Units running at 2.23GHz, while the Xbox Series X has 52 Compute Units, running at 1.825GHz. Mark Cerny did say that they made that choice because he prefers to prioritise a higher clock speed, to a higher number of Compute Units and in a way, we do agree. Think of Compute Units as a Core in a Processor. Many applications (especially games) do prefer using a lower number of Cores at a higher clock speed, as opposed to a higher number of cores at a lower clock speed. Of course here we’re talking about the GPU and not the CPU, where things are indeed a bit different. So let’s take a look at the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro.

As most of you may know, the Xbox Series X is noticeably more powerful than the PS4 Pro is, being able to play most third party games at a native 3840x2160 Resolution, in some cases even at 60FPS. While the PS4 Pro can easily do 2560x1440 but it has some serious issues doing anything higher, natively. Also, the Xbox One X had 6 TFLOPS of GPU Compute Power with 40 Compute Units at 1.172GHz, compared to 4.2TFLOPS with 36 Compute Units at 911MHz for the PS4 Pro. You can see how the higher clock speed and those four extra compute units made such a massive difference on the Xbox One X. 

So, Sony might be right about something here. A higher clock speed for the Compute Units is usually preferred to a higher number of Compute Units, at a lower clock speed. Even though on paper, the difference is TFLOPS between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X looks massive, in reality, this might not be as high. However, I would still put my money on the Xbox Series X being slightly more powerful than the PS5, albeit at a lower performance gap than what it looks like on paper. 

Memory

Moving on to the RAM. Well, both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X now have 16GB of GDDR6 Memory, which is not RAM but part of it will be used as RAM for the system, while the rest will be used in games, as Video Memory. They both deal with this approach quite differently.

The PS5 uses 16GB of GDDR6 Memory, on a 256-bit Memory Interface, running at 448GB/s, which is insanely fast. Just to give you guys an idea, the original PS4 had 8GB of GDDR5 Memory on a 256-bit Memory Interface while running at 176GB/s, the PS4 Pro had a 217.6GB/s Bandwidth. Sony hasn’t yet said how much of this 16GB Pool would be available to developers, but it is expected to remain the same as before, with 3.5GB used by the OS and the rest, 12.5GB in this case, available for developers.

On Microsoft’s end, things are quite a bit different. Even though we have the same 16 GB GDDR6 Memory, we have a 320-bit Memory Interface, compared to 256-bit on the PS5, this Memory is split into two chunks. One chunk is 10GB in size, with a Bandwidth of 560GB/s, which is much higher than on the PS5, while the other chunk is 6GB in size, with a Bandwidth of 336GB/s, which is noticeably lower than on the PS5. Microsoft said that they did this because they wanted developers to have access to some really fast GPU memory, the CPU doesn’t need that much fast memory and neither does the OS. The OS will be using 2.5GB of 336GB/s memory, which means that in a game, the GPU will have access to 10GB of 560GB/s Memory and the CPU will get 3.5GB of 336GB/s Memory. 

If you do the average of 560GB/s and 336GB/s, you actually get 448GB, which is the same memory bandwidth that the PS5 has. As the APU, which includes both the CPU and the GPU, are both made by AMD, it makes sense for the memory to be extremely similar. It seems like Microsoft has just split that in a different way, compared to Sony. 

Storage

Something that is indeed quite different, is Storage. Both the Xbox Series X and the PS5 have an SSD now, which is light years ahead of the HDD that we had in the current generation. The fastest m.2 Flash Modules that we have right now, are around 3-3.5GB/s in speed. However, the PS5’s custom made Flash Module has a speed of 5.5GB/s. That’s absolutely insane! This is essentially 110 times faster than the PS4 Pro’s traditional HDD. 

The Xbox Series X has a 2.4GB/s module, which while still 50 times faster that the Xbox One’s drive, is considerably slower than the PS5’s drive. On top of this, Sony has said that the PS5’s internal storage is so fast, that it can technically be used as RAM, 5.5GB/s is almost as fast as DDR3 RAM which, for a 1066MHz Memory, is around 8.5GB/s in speed. Microsoft has also addressed this possibility, but realistically Sony has a much bigger advantage here, that is, if developers do make full use of it.

Fun fact, if you take a look at Star Citizen, which is a PC exclusive game, this game makes full use of m.2 Flash Modules. If you have an m.2 Drive, you can get even 30fps higher in the game, compared to using a standard HDD, so this is a good example were a faster Storage can indeed directly impact the FPS in a game.

An old idea for a new generation (Credit: Xbox)

An old idea for a new generation (Credit: Xbox)

Another area in which the PS5 excels when it comes to Storage, is in terms of storage expansion. The Xbox Series X has a 1TB Internal Drive. The PS5 could have anywhere between 800GB to 1TB, but the usable capacity is likely to be around 825GB, like we’ve seen in Mark Cerny’s presentation.  However, while the Xbox Series X will feature these proprietary 1TB drives that you can just slot in the back and expand the Storage, the PS5 will support any m.2 Module that you can buy off of Amazon (or elsewhere), that has at least 5.5GB/s in speed. They will be releasing a list of all supported models, but that’s great because it means that we’ll get a much higher selection compared to the Xbox and we can even get higher capacity drivers if we want. 

However, while the PS5’s m.2 Expansion Modules will be replacing the Internal Drive, the Xbox module will be adding to that Internal Storage. On top of this, Microsoft has confirmed that external HDD’s are still supported, for the previous generation games. Sony hasn’t talked about supporting external HDD’s just yet, but it is likely that they will be doing something quite similar.

Special Features

Let's summarise what we’ve said so far. CPU wise, the Xbox is slightly more powerful. GPU wise, the Xbox is again looking to me more powerful but Storage Wise, the PS5 has more than double the performance. Now we have the Special Features, the things that make each console unique.

Both consoles will indeed be supporting previous generation games, so both will be Backwards Compatible. But, while the PS5 will only be supporting PS4 games and not even all of them at this point, the Xbox Series X will be supporting Xbox One games, Xbox 360 Games and even some original Xbox games. So if you care about playing your entire library of old games, the Xbox is a much better choice. Sony does have Playstation Now, which does support some PS3 games, but the catalogue just doesn’t compare to what Microsoft is offering. 

Both consoles will also support Ray Tracing, which will make Reflections, Shadows and Lightning look significantly better than what we have now.  

This time, 3D Audio is built into the hardware to make it the new standard.

This time, 3D Audio is built into the hardware to make it the new standard.

An area in which Sony should excel, is in terms of Audio. Mark Cerny  did talk a lot about their new Tempest Engine, and how they will be achieving 3D Audio thanks to a dedicated hardware engine. Remember the dedicated Playstation Platinum headphones do support 3D audio on the PS4, however with this new hardware based engine, every pair of headphones will support 3D Audio on the PS5. Sony is even working on bringing this to TV Speakers and Soundbars as well.

While the Controller on the Xbox Series X looks mostly the same as on the Xbox One X, with the exception of a share button, the PS5 controller is said to be adding a full display as well as Haptic Feedback, which will allow you to feel when you’re driving on asphalt or grass or dirt. Apparently, this is one of the best features of the PS5, according to people that have actually tried it. But, Microsoft has indeed introduced a Dynamic Latency input. By significantly reducing the input lag from the Controller, this could make the Xbox the better choice for competitive gaming.

Speaking of this, both consoles will be supporting 120z output, so games will be able to run in up to 120fps, as well as 8K Resolution, but this will be a Dynamic Resolution while 4K would be Native this time. 

Both consoles will also be supporting different methods of Compression for games, so games will actually take up less space than they do now. On top of this, Sony has confirmed that you will be able to uninstall different parts of a game, such as the campaign after you’ve finished it, and then install the multiplayer right after. 

Exclusive Games 

Speaking of games, there is a very big difference between the two, in terms of exclusives. This is because Microsoft has confirmed that there will be no exclusive games on the Xbox Series X for the first two years, as all Xbox Series X games will be required to also work on the Xbox One series of consoles. Unfortunately, this does mean that developers will be severely held back in terms of what they can achieve, at least for the first 2 years. If you’re not sure why we’re saying this, we made a full video in which we explained why this is a real issue, be sure to check that out.

The PS5 on the other hand, while it will indeed have some PS4 games, like ‘The Last of Us 2’, that will also work on the PS5, it will indeed have exclusive PS5 games that will only work on the PS5 and not the PS4. Because of this, we might see true next-gen games on the PS5 first.

Microsoft did show us a gameplay demo of Gears 5 which compared to the Xbox One X, looked barely any different on the Series X. However, they did show us Hellblade 2, which was absolutely mind-blowing in terms of Graphics, this did indeed look like a truly next generation game. This is said to be coming only to the Series X and PC but we don’t know when this will be exactly.

So there is a chance that this will be the first game that was developed with just the Series X in mind and not Xbox One, the main reason why it can look so good. This is what you can expect from games that have indeed been developed for the next-gen hardware, compared to Gears 5 for example, which looks the same as on the current generation, just with better texture detail and longer rendering distances. 

Price 

Credit: PSErebus

Credit: PSErebus

And finally, we have the price. Neither Sony or Microsoft have revealed the prices yet.  However, we have had some leaks that put the PS5 at around $500 (£450 in the UK), making the PS5 $100 more than the PS4 Pro. 

Microsoft on the other hand, is said to have two models of the Xbox, a low end model and the high end model that we’ve all seen. The low end model is said to be less expensive than the PS5, while the high end model is said to be more expensive. I would expect the high end to cost around $580-$600, while the low end should be around $300-$400. 

Now, some of you might think that paying this much for a console is just ridiculous, but you would be surprised. A Console would last you for six to seven years. A Smartphone, which now usually costs close to $1000 (or more), is something that most people replace every two years. So, in six years time, you would’ve spent $3000 on smartphones, compared to $600 on a new console. This is a pretty massive difference.

Conclusion

So, in the end, which one is the better console? Well, the Xbox Series X seems to win in terms of CPU and GPU performance. The PS5 is more balanced when it comes to System Memory and it is significantly faster when it comes to the Storage, plus it also supports third-party SSD Modules. The PS5 supports 3D Audio and Haptic Feedback on the Controller, while the Xbox Series X supports a lower latency and significantly more previous gen games, while also offering two models of the console. When it comes to exclusives, Sony seems to have the upper hand, at least for the first few years.

The Portless iPhone!

In case you’re a bit confused as to why this article is titled The iPhone with no ports, well, that’s because Apple’s working on one and here’s everything that we know.

This article is pretty interesting because we’ll be covering the future of the iPhone and that future is indeed an iPhone that has no ports.  But why, how and when is this going to happen? Let’s first start with taking a look at Apple’s history when it comes to connectors. Back in 2003 when the Third Generation iPod was introduced, it also featured something quite innovative, which was Apple’s 30-pin dock connector. 

You might remember this from the old iPhones, but essentially this connector was way ahead of its time. It was a mechanical connector that locked into place and it was impossible to remove unless you were holding the two buttons on the side, so it was very secure. But what made this very unique was that it was a connector that combined multiple standards from data transfer, to audio, input controls for things such as changing the volume or the track and it also supported video output. 

A connector way ahead of its time.

A connector way ahead of its time.

This was extremely innovative for a connector that was released in 2003, albeit video support was only added in 2005 with the introduction of the iPod Video. Apple kept on using this connector on the iPhone, the iPad and all the iPods, up until 2012. Also, third-party manufactures were using the 30-pin connector heavily in accessories, such as like speakers, chargers and cars were even using it!

Then in 2012, like we said, Apple moved away from the 30-pin connector and launched something far superior, this was the Lightning connector. The Lightning connector was not only significantly smaller, but it was also reversible. It was the world’s first high end connector with the exact same pins on both the front and the back. Not only that, but it also improved the transfer speeds, while bumping the video output resolution to 1080p. 

However, many people were angry that Apple switched to Lightning, as their old accessories that they have acquired over the years, no longer worked. Apple did sell a 30 pin to lightning adapter, but for some reason people were still upset, even though Lightning was vastly superior to the old 30-pin dock. Soon after, accessory makers have started making accessories with the lightning port in mind. So we started seeing speakers, car mounts, docks and loads of others. 

However, 2012 was also when Bluetooth started taking off, meaning that most speakers also supported a Bluetooth connection and that you no longer had to physically connect your iPhone to the speakers in order for them to work. The same thing applied to cars, which started adding Bluetooth as well. Because of this, Lightning ended up being less widely used by accessory makers, compared to the 30-pin connector, when it came to audio accessories and docks. 

When Apple re-launched the 12” MacBook in 2015, something quite interesting happened. They removed all the ports and added a USB Type C port, the next generation USB port that, same as with Lightning, was fully reversible. Apple was actually one of the first technology manufactures to adopt USB type C.  This was the successor to the world famous USB type A ports that we’re all familiar with, but it was also the successor to microUSB, which is what loads of Smartphones used. 

USB-C, clearly a lot to handle for some.

USB-C, clearly a lot to handle for some.

USB C was also a much more beefed up version of Lightning, adding up to 100W of charging, USB 3.1 transfer speeds and 4K video output support all in a single small connector that was fully reversible. Shortly after, Apple started implementing USB C heavily. In 2016, when they launched the 4th generation MacBook Pro, they removed all the ports, with the exception of the Headphone Jack and replaced them with 4 USB type C ports. These ports were even more special that what the 12” MacBook from a year before had, this was because they also featured Thunderbolt 3. The transfer speeds were now 40Gb/s, up from the 10Gb/s that we had with USB C. 

So, in 2017 when Apple was readying up to launch the innovative iPhone X, everyone was expecting Apple to now switch from lightning to USB C, especially that around that time, we also started seeing smartphones implementing USB C. The whole idea was perfect. Having one connector, one single charger that you would use with any device (laptop, camera, smartphone). But, when the iPhone X launched, to the surprise of many people*, it still had Apple’s lightning port. 

Luckily, Apple did indeed add wireless charging, which Android phones have had for many years now but Apple finally did add it with the iPhone X and 8. These were both announced at the same event but USB C was nowhere to be found. In 2018, Apple launched the iPhone X equivalent to the iPad. The 3rd generation iPad Pro, which, just like the iPhone X, had no home button anymore. It had a full screen display with a full gesture based navigation system and FaceID.  With this massive change, Apple also updated the lightning port to USB C. Now, all the modern Macs including the 2018 MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pro’s, the new Mac Mini and every modern Mac had a USB C port as well as the newest iPad.

However, the 2018 iPhones (the iPhone XS), still came with a lightning port. USB type C was no where to be seen on iPhones. Also, here’s the thing, we’ve seen many reports throughout the years that Apple will finally be switching to USB type C, but that never happened. After Apple updated the iPad Pro with USB C in 2018, everyone was pretty much sure that Apple would have to switch to USB C in 2019. But again, after countless reports and even leaks on this, Apple still hasn’t done so. 

So, you might be wondering why? Why is Apple so stubborn when it comes to switching to USB C on the iPhone, whereas on their other devices, they were one of the first tech companies to switch to USB C? It doesn’t make any sense. The reason for that is simple. Revenue.

Unlike USB C, which is an open standard, lightning was fully developed by Apple. Which means that whenever a 3rd party manufacturer wants to make a lightning accessory for the iPhone, or even just a charger or a charging cable, they would need to pay Apple a licensing fee for every single sale that they make. Rather than this being, for example, a 10% fee for every accessory, it is a flat fee of $4, which is a lot!  This is why you cannot find any cheap lightning cables. Because, all the legit ones, the ones approved by Apple which legally they all have to be, all of those manufacturers have to give Apple a $4 cut for every lightning cable or accessory that they sell. According to’ Lifewire’, more than 2.2 billion iPhones have been sold between 2007-2018, out of which 217 million were just in 2018. 

Apple not exactly short of cash these days, but still cashing in on the old connectors.

Apple not exactly short of cash these days, but still cashing in on the old connectors.

Let’s say that 5% of those users buy a 3rd party lightning cable, or a lightning accessory, 3rd party charger or an external battery and so on. That’s already 10.8 million accessories, which would translate to $432 MILLION in revenue from just 3rd party accessories, for Apple, in 2018 alone. If you multiply that by the number of full years Apple has been selling lightning devices for, so 2013-2019 (7 years), that’s already over $3 BILLION in revenue from just licensing lightning.

But, it’s extremely likely that that number is way higher than that. I mean, how many of you have an external battery and how many of those already came with lightning cables in the box?  So there you go. Apple does state “publicly” that the reason why they don’t want to switch is because of consumers having so many lightning accessories but come on Apple, really? 

USB C is already even more widely implemented than lightning is. So the switch to USB C would be even more hassle free than not switching to USB C in the first place. This way, all of your Apple devices would charge with the same charger and the same cable. No need to carry a separate lightning cable just for your iPhone.

Now, the European Union does actually want to implement a law that would require all smartphones, tablets and other portable devices such as laptops, to have a USB C port for charging. This is in order to reduce confusion and also reduce the amount of waste.  This could indeed force Apple to finally switch to USB C, although that might not really be the case. This is because, according to Ming-Chi-Kuo, who’s been an extremely reliable source in terms of upcoming Apple products so far, stated that Apple will be launching a fully wilreess iPhone in 2021. So instead of switching to USB-C, they would skip it entirely and just go fully wireless instead. It’s not just Ming-Chi-Kuo saying this, Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis, who’s had a pretty good track record in the past, stated the same thing. That according to his inside sources, Apple will be releasing at least one iPhone model in 2021, that would remove the lightning port, which could result in the wired earpods being removed from the box entirely. 

We do have two comments here. The first one being that, yes, this does mean that the big 2020 iPhone redesign, the one with the redesigned frame and the new AR tracking capabilities and the smaller notch, will still have lightning. Our second comment is that this is definitely the future. The real question is would it be possible to do in 2021, or is this fully wireless future something that is 5-10 years down the line?

Well, if Apple does indeed remove the lightning port, they would indeed gain a tiny bit more space inside but more importantly, they would have a fully sealed up experience, especially if they decide to embed the speakers under the display like other manufacturers have experimented with. This means that the 2021 iPhones could indeed be extremely water resistant. But, at the same time, the iPhone 11 Pro’s can already withstand a submersion in 4m of water, up to 30min, which is way more than most people would submerge an iPhone into anyway. Besides, water damage isn’t even covered under warranty which is crazy!

If you expect Apple to cover water damage, don’t hold your breath.

If you expect Apple to cover water damage, don’t hold your breath.

If you submerge your smartphone in water, and this applies to any smartphone, even-though water resistance is indeed an advertised feature, if you do happen to have a faulty unit that has a manufacturing defect on the seal and it breaks, you can say goodbye to that phone for good because neither Apple nor Samsung would be helping you. This is because we cannot currently tell how deep in water the phone was when it broke. As soon as we can figure that out, which we should be able to do with the barometer which some phones do actually have, that’s when water resistance should start getting covered by the warranty.

But anyway, going back to a fully wireless iPhone. Is that even doable? Well, all the iPhones from the iPhone 8 onwards do support wireless charging. However, they also support up to 7.5W charging, as opposed to 9-12W like some android phones support. This means that it will take you around three hours or more to fully charge a phone via wireless charging, as opposed to just over an hour with fast wired charging. However, the bigger issue that I currently see with wireless charging, isn’t necessarily the speed but the convenience. 

With a cable, you just plug it in and that’s it. With wireless charging, you need to place your phone on a wireless charging pad, which means that you would not be able to use it in your hand while it’s charging. You can pretty much say goodbye to charging it on the road or charging it via a battery bank unless you have your wireless charger or a wireless charging battery bank with you. But you see, you still won’t be able to charge it in your bag, because the wireless charging battery bank would always need to be physically attached to your phone so yeah it’s a bit of a tricky one.

Now, did you guys know that the Apple Watch also charges wirelessly? Yes, it does come with a magnetic wireless charging connector that automatically attaches to the back of the watch and this is how it charges. We do believe that when Apple does switch to a fully wireless charging solution on the iPhones, they will be doing something similar to what they’ve done on the Apple Watch. A magnetic pad that would automatically snap to the back of the iPhone, which could indeed solve the issue of not being able to use it when it’s charging, or the issue with charging in your bag with a battery bank that could also attach automatically to the iPhone. They may at least have some sort of Apple Watch style cable that would then magnetically attach to the iPhone, again, just like on the Apple Watch.

This way, Apple could still license that magnetic wireless charging pad to 3rd parties and trust me, they could charge way more than $4 per unit for that and make billions by doing so. So the only problem that’s left to solve is…the speed. Luckily, there is a possible solution to that. While Apple only supports 7.5W wireless charging, VIVO have announced a concept phone, which is actually a fully working device, that supports 60W Wireless Charging!  Apparently you can fully charge it in just 20 minutes, which is even faster than the fastest wired charging out there, that’s nuts! 

A glimpse into the future of Smartphones? Click the image for a full look at vivo’s APEX 2020.

A glimpse into the future of Smartphones? Click the image for a full look at vivo’s APEX 2020.

This specific phone for example, the Vivo Apex 2020, also has no ports at all, it charges just via wireless charging and has a lens with true optical zoom, the lenses themselves actually move in order to magnify the image. This phone also has a front facing camera module that’s under the display itself. So this is truly truly revolutionary and could be similar to what Apple could do in 2021. An iPhone with no notch at all, full wireless charging and a full-screen display with zero interruptions on the front. However, we only have two sources reporting on this (Ming-Chi Kuo and Blayne Curtis from Barclays). Albeit both with a very good track record in the past, but still only two sources. Well not anymore, because 9to5mac has found some pretty massive feature in iOS 13.4 beta.  Apparently there is a mention of a wireless iOS recovery mode, which should be implemented in the very near future. At the moment, if you want to restore an iPhone or reinstall iOS, you need to have it connected to a Mac. But now, you would be able to do this completely wirelessly, without the need to connect it to anything. 

So there you go, another hint that Apple is indeed considering switching to a fully wireless iPhone in the near future! 

Where is the PS5?

To say that there has been a lot of speculation about the upcoming PS5 would be a huge understatement. The amount of Leaks & Rumors have now got to a point where it is becoming very difficult to make sense of any of it. Our alliances are very split in the office but I have always leaned towards Playstation. So, since it’s been 7 years (and a few days) since Sony announced the PS4, I decided to try and get my head around just what is going on with the PS5.

Announcement Dates

In some of our previous videos, we have discussed the idea of a February 5th announcement, as per the PSErebus leaks, and a live announcement on 29th February. Most of the gaming community seemed to think that this late February announcement would materialise and are still hopeful. We are very quickly running out of February and there are no reports of any press invites being sent out (as far as we know). Plus, given the recent Coronavirus outbreak, it would be easy to understand why Sony would not want to have a large gathering of its international workforce and journalists in a densely populated place such as New York, where this was rumoured to be taking place.

So what is the alternative?

Are the days of live reveals over?

Are the days of live reveals over?

Well, an idea which has been floated about recently has been a pre-recorded ‘State of Play’-esque style of announcement. Personally, I enjoy the buzz and live reaction of new consoles & games being announced live. One of my personal favourites was the ‘God of War’ reveal at E3 2016, it was just very over the top, unexpected and it gave me goosebumps. I think it would certainly lose some of the magic if the PS5 were to be announced in a pre-recorded trailer, but circumstances dictate that this is the safest option. Additionally, as Xbox revealed the Series X with an ad at the 2019 Game Awards, it wouldn’t be that much of a shock to anyone if Sony took a similar approach, regardless of the external factors.

Something that we need to bear in mind is that the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) kicks off on 16th March. They have already pulled out of this event (as well as Pax East), citing Coronavirus concerns. However, it will be in Sony’s interest to publicly announce the PS5 before this event, regardless of attendance, as they would risk an immense amount of leaks given how much these developers know and will come to know. Moreover, Sony have indicated, via an earnings call between Hiroki Totoki (Chief Financial Officer) and investors, that they would like to stick to a similar timeline to that of the PS4 launch (which was announced on 21st February, 2013).

So, from all of this information we can be fairly certain that an announcement is imminent, but I would be surprised if we got anything this month. But Sony are more than welcome to do so. We are also forgetting that Microsoft didn’t formally announce the Xbox One until May 2013 for a November release in that year, so even if it was March before we saw the PS5, we would actually on an earlier timeline than the previous console generation.

Release Date

We know that Sony plans to release the PS5 in ‘Holiday 2020’, so somewhere between September and December this year. Granted, that is still a pretty big window and is intentionally vague. From a production perspective, it gives them some wiggle room to adjust for demand. From a market perspective, they can wait for Xbox to blink first.

We’ve known the release window for the PS5 since October 2019

We’ve known the release window for the PS5 since October 2019

The PS4 launched on November 15th, 2013. It would be logical to think that the PS5 would launch at a similar time and be marketed as the must-have buy this Christmas. If they launch in October, they would realistically fall outside that window and if they launch in December, customers might not get their units in time. PSErebus, a prominent Twitter leaker who has a good track record, predicted a November 20th release date, which I would be inclined to say is at least very close.

Conclusion

I am of the opinion that Sony will release information when they are ready and we have to be patient. Unlike Microsoft, who have other platforms outside of Xbox where they generate huge revenue (primarily ‘Windows’), the Playstation is by far Sony’s biggest earner. They spun off their struggling computer brand ‘Vaio’ into its own individual entity in 2014, they don’t make much money from Smartphones or TV’s and they have gone through several restructurings in the past decade or so. 

The next biggest division within Sony is Cameras, but there is too much pressure for the PS5 to do well. If it does not perform to expectations, Sony could be in some serious hot water with its investors. The campaign for the PS5 has to be perfect from their point of view and there are a few major risks to mitigate (namely Coronavirus and the rumoured high production cost).

This may well be the last generation of the traditional hardware-based consoles so I just want the PS5 to be the best that it can possibly be, if that means waiting a little longer to see it, then fair enough.

PS5 & Xbox Series X – The Next Generation of Games!

Welcome back to the ultimate comparison between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, based on everything that we know so far. We uploaded PART 1 of this comparison back in January. In that video, we talked about the CPU differences, the GPU, the Resolution, the Frame-Rate and the in-game Graphics.

This is PART 2 of that comparison, and here we will be covering the RAM, the SSD  and any Special Features that both of these consoles will come with, alongside any other recent leaks since our last video.

It seems like the Xbox Series X will be a bit more powerful than the PS5. The CPU will be pretty much identical between the two, but the GPU will be slightly more powerful on the Xbox. The Series X would have around 12.2 TFLOPS of raw GPU performance, compared to around 9.2 TFLOPS on the PS5. These are the calculations that DigitalFoundry made based on the recent AMD APU leaks from a few weeks prior, this will very likely be the case with the final unit. 

However, this is mostly because Microsoft will have two models of the Xbox, the low-end ‘Lockhart’ and the high-end ‘Scarlett’ (which will be more expensive than the PS5).

RAM

The Xbox Series X may dedicate more of its RAM to the OS than the PS5, but there’s still plenty left for developers to use.

The Xbox Series X may dedicate more of its RAM to the OS than the PS5, but there’s still plenty left for developers to use.

Unlike PC’s where we have separate Video Memory (GDDR) and System Memory (DDR), consoles only have Video Memory, which the Operating System (OS) gets to use a chunk of. For example, on the PS4 Pro, we have 8GB of GDDR5 memory, out of which only 1GB is allocated to the OS, while the remaining 7GB are used by games. On the Xbox One X, we have 12GB of GDDR5 memory, out of which 3GB are used for the OS and 9GB are usable by developers, in games. When it comes to next-gen, both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are said to come with 24GB of GDDR6 memory. 

When it comes to how much of this 24GB of GDDR5 memory would be dedicated to the OS, and how much can actually be used by developers, we don’t yet know. It really depends on how both companies approach their new OS on the next-gen consoles. If both companies follow a similar approach to the PS4 and the Xbox One, then Sony should have less memory dedicated to the OS, compared to Microsoft. So developers should have more to play with, in terms of video memory, with the PS5. 

In terms of the bandwidth, the Xbox Series X is said to have 560GB/s vs around 512GB/s on the PS5. 

Storage

Moving on to the storage, this will actually be the third massive change that the next-gen consoles will be getting, aside from the new CPU and GPU.

The current generation of consoles use plain old HDD’s. Yes, 5400RPM Hard-Drives, which we don’t really even see in laptops anymore, unless you’re looking at the lowest entry models. The HDD inside the current generation consoles only reach speeds of around 50-75MB/s, which is very slow. SSD’s, on the other hand, can reach speeds of up to 550MB/s but are limited by the SATA connector. While m.2 based Flash Storage can reach speeds of more than 3500MB/s. 

Luckily, both Sony & Microsoft have confirmed that the next-gen consoles will both be using Flash Storage. Yes, not even SATA based SSD’s, but m.2 based Flash modules that can reach some insane speeds.

Mark Cerny, the Lead System Architect for the PS5, said in a recent interview with ‘The Wired’, that the PS5 will have a storage module that has higher bandwidth than any SSD’s available on PC’s at the moment, which is very interesting. In that famous Spider-Man game demo, a scene that took 15 seconds to load on a PS4 Pro, only took 0.8 seconds with the PS5’s new storage (18.75 times faster). However, if we take the PS4 Pro’s HDD speed, which is about 75MB/s, and multiply that by 18.75, we get 1406MB/s. This is much faster than a SATA based SSD, so this is indeed an NVMe Flash Module, but nowhere near as fast as other flash modules that can reach speeds of over 3500MB/s. Still, it’s a massive improvement over what we currently have now.

Credit: Takashi Mochizuki

Credit: Takashi Mochizuki

In another Spider-Man demo, Sony showed how fast you can actually swing through New York on the PS5 version of the game compared to the PS4 Pro version of the game. The PS4 Pro version ends up freezing once Spidey reaches a certain speed as the HDD simply cannot load the game assets fast enough, while the PS5’s Flash module has zero problems. So, with this new type of storage, not only will the games load up pretty much instantly, you will also be able to achieve much higher speeds in games where…you know…speed is important. For example, games such as Gran Turismo, Wipeout, or any other games that feature a ton of fast moving scenes, will feel so much more immersive with the next-gen consoles. Especially once you keep in mind that 60fps would be the standard with the next gen consoles and both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X will also support 120Hz output. 

We have seen a few reports that Samsung would be supplying Sony with their NVMe drives, to be used in the PS5.  Samsung did have an internal presentation and one slide did get leaked. We can see that they’re teasing their new generation of NVMe Flash modules that would apparently be used in 2020 consoles. We can also see how the system boot time drops from 49 seconds to around 9 seconds, this would be 5.44 times faster, which looks to be quite low for a Flash module.

So then why did Sony say that their drivers will have a higher bandwidth than SSD’s modules in PC’s today? Well, they were either referring to SATA based SSD where the bandwidth is indeed limited by the SATA connector or they might have been referring to the fact that their drivers would be using PCIe 4.0. This is something that AMD’s current Zen 2 platform supports and that’s where we’ve also first seen PCIe 4 introduced to the market.

Microsoft will also be doing something similar, they talked about this when they first unveiled Project Scarlett.  It will feature custom made Flash storage, something miles over what we currently have. A recent leak gives us a bit more insight into the Xbox Series X’s Flash module. A former Phison employee posted a description of his former job, on LinkedIn and it seems like we was working on a specific DRAM-less controller for the Flash module inside the Xbox Series X.

Check out @zoneofconcepts on Instagram for more behind the scenes content on our videos.

Check out @zoneofconcepts on Instagram for more behind the scenes content on our videos.

Judging by these specs, the Xbox Series X will only be able to achieve PCIe 3.0 speeds, rather than the 4.0 speeds that Sony are working towards. But, it’s extremely unlikely that Sony will be using drives with read speeds of 6500MB. So even if Sony will indeed support higher bandwidth storage, the Flash modules inside both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X will likely be very similar. 

Something pretty cool that you’ll be able to do storage-wise on the PS5, is that you will be able to uninstall certain aspects of the game. So games will be made in such a way so that if you want to only install the campaign, you can do that and then once you’ve finished it, you can uninstall it and install the multiplayer part of the game. This will let you save up a ton of storage. Not only that, but the games themselves will actually occupy less. On the current generation of consoles, because of how slow the HDD’s are, a lot of the games actually had to store multiple copies of textures so that the HDD could load the data from them faster. This won’t be required anymore, with the next gen consoles and so games, at least at launch, will occupy less.

We’ve heard a lot about Sony’s production costs and how material scarcity may end up affecting the RRP, what price do you think the PS5 will launch at?

We’ve heard a lot about Sony’s production costs and how material scarcity may end up affecting the RRP, what price do you think the PS5 will launch at?

And speaking of launch, PSErebus (a leaker who’s been very accurate in the past) stated that the PS5 will come with a 2TB SSD and a retail price of $500, 500 euros or £450. That’s pretty impressive! If Sony does indeed ship the PS5 with 2TB of storage, then this would be the dream. We don’t know anything in terms of the storage on the Xbox Series X just yet, but considering that the Series X is expected to cost more, around $600 for the high-end model, it should come with at least as much storage as the PS5 does.

Sony has confirmed that PS5 games will ship on new 100GB Blu-Ray disks and yes, for those of you who are wondering, Blu-Ray drivers are much slower than even a regular HDD, with read speeds of just around 25MB/s. So, with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, the games would not be run from the Blu-Ray disks anymore The only use case for the Blu-Ray disks would be to copy the game direct to your console, as opposed to downloading it from the online store. This is useful if your internet connection is slow and you will also be able to sell the games this way. The Blu-Ray drive will still be required to be inserted into the console, for licensing purposes. 

Since the next-gen consoles will rely so much on the internal storage, even games will make full use of this faster storage by enabling a seamless open-world with no loading times at all,  both consoles may heavily limit the use of external storage use. At the moment, you can plug in an external HDD or SSD and expand the internal storage that way. It’s a pretty easy and straight-forward process.  However, with next-gen, it’s very likely that we would either have First-Party storage modules, or the Third-Party external storage options would need to surpass a certain speed threshold in order for them to be used. Our guess is that only external SSD and m.2 drives will be usable.

Special Features

Finally, the last thing that we want to cover here, is the special features that both of these consoles will have.

RTX is going to be a real game-changer for next-gen consoles and thankfully, it will be on both.

RTX is going to be a real game-changer for next-gen consoles and thankfully, it will be on both.

Both Sony and Microsoft have confirmed that the next gen consoles will support hardware based Ray-Tracing. In case you don’t know that Ray-Tracing is, it is pretty much the key selling feature of Nvidia’s RTX series of GPU’s. Real-Time Ray tracing is the most realistic way of casting shadows and reflections in games. This is because, unlike regular reflection and shadow mapping which are always fixed, Ray Tracing involves each light ray being individually cast and reflected to light up a scene, resulting in extremely photo-realistic environments. This might not sound like much but it will make a massive difference in-game.

Additionally, each of the consoles will have some unique features to them. The Xbox Series X will have Microsoft’s Project xCloud, which will essentially turn your Xbox into a server that you’ll be able to access from pretty much any device and play your games, a little like Playstation Remote. Another new feature of the Xbox will be a Windows Mode, according to some recent leaks. This would allow you to access Steam and the Epic Games Store and play PC games directly from there. As Mouse & Keyboard are fully supported, the Xbox Series X will be closer to a PC than a console.  Also, Microsoft has already confirmed that all the Series X “Exclusives” will also work on PC, so the Series X won’t have any console exclusives games. That’s pretty much it in terms of the Xbox. Microsoft hasn’t really talked about any other new and exclusive features. On the PS5 side however, we do get quite a few unique features.

We can already get 3D Audio on the PS4, how much better will it be on the PS5?

We can already get 3D Audio on the PS4, how much better will it be on the PS5?

For one, Sony has teased 3D Audio quite a lot. They said that this will make a massive difference as to how games are perceived and that the PS5 will even have a hardware based 3D Audio Chip that will handle all the 3D Audio processing. Now, there are a few First-Party headphones from Sony,  which do support 3D audio on the PS4 already and we happen to own a pair. They’re very good, but from the looks of it, this 3D Audio chip should take audio to the next level. Something else that Sony will have is next-gen haptics on the controller itself. Sony has already confirmed that the haptics in the new controller will be so good, that you will be able to feel the surface that a car in a game is driving on. So you will be able to feel the difference between asphalt, dirt, grass and so on. And lastly, the PS5 will support both the current PSVR as well as the upcoming PSVR 2. Microsoft has already confirmed that they won’t be doing a VR headset for the Xbox Series X anytime soon, as Phil Spencer himself, the head of Xbox, said - “nobody’s asking for VR”. 

One last key thing to mention here is that both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X will support Backwards Compatibility in games. The PS5 supporting PS4 games with rumors of this going all of the way back to the PS1. While the Xbox Series X will support Xbox One games as well as Xbox 360 games.

Conclusion

In the end, both consoles are going to be light years ahead of even the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X so no matter which one you get, you’ll be extremely happy. The Xbox will offer slightly better specs and PC game compatibility, while the PS5 will offer things such as Haptic Rumble on the controller and VR support. Also, Microsoft will be offering two models of the Xbox, a low-end and a high-end, while Sony will only offer one, the PS5. 

Phil Spencer might think the console war with Sony is over, but who’s he kidding? 

Which one are you getting?