Apple’s latest 13-inch MacBook Pro and more devices are on sale today

Deals. Let’s start today off with the MacBooks. B&H currently has the latest 13in MacBook Pro for $100 off, meaning it starts at $1399. Just make sure to catch it before tomorrow as the offer will expire. They also have the 16in MacBook Pro for $300 off, leaving that starting at $2100. The 2018 12in iPad Pro is also $350 off, leaving it at $800 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular variant. We also have deals on Jabra headphones, Garmin smart watches and more.

Apple’s Q2 numbers show strong iPhone sales in the Chinese market

Let’s talk about sales for a second. We know that Apple was struggling back in February as they reportedly only selling 500k iPhones in China for that month. Now, according to some CINNO research, Apple saw a 225% growth from April-June which resulted in a 13M iPhones shipped during this period. Since then, the iPhone 11 and the new iPhone SE were apparently driving many of the sales, which lead to a 62% growth year-over-year. These numbers aren’t exactly clear but another research note also puts Apple in the second place in terms of growth, with the leader being Huawei.

Future Apple AirPods could feature bone conduction for improved audio

We’ve been talking about a lot of Apple patents as of late and now, we have a new one that sheds some light as to what AirPods might do in the future. According to this patent, Cupertino is working on bone conduction technology with normal air-based sound transmission. To put it in a simple way, it would allow them to send audio through two general areas and, since there is nothing really going into your ear canal, you have better awareness of your environment if you want to hear it. However, we know that Apple is notorious for patents and this may not happen soon but it would be nice to see.

Samsung is considering to drop Bixby & Galaxy Apps Store as Google offers new mobile apps deal

Alright, now let’s talk Samsung cause we have some possible major news, which we are hoping do happen. For those of you Samsung users that like to disable the Bixby button, we have some good news for you. Samsung is apparently in talks with Google for a deal that would make Samsung push the Google Assistant and get rid of Bixby. This also means that Samsung would stop pushing their Galaxy Apps Store. The two companies are apparently discussing the financial terms and according to Bloomberg, Samsung stated that “they are closely working with Google and other partners to give you the best customer experience”. Google also stated that they won’t be doing the same with other partners. Does this mean you can partner again for a new Samsung Galaxy Nexus? Or Google Play Edition Note 20? Guys can you imagine?

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live flaunt their wingtips for the first time in leaked renders

Here’s your first detailed look at the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 live image spotted online ahead of launch

Let’s move on to your daily dose of the unhealthy amount of Samsung leaks we have and, they come from trusted sources. Let’s start it off with the Galaxy Buds Live. We have some new renders from Twitter, showing off the Buds in their Black and Bronze color variants and, if you hadn’t seen these before…. These pictures show them from every possible angle, they even show some wing tips that we hadn’t seen which will prevent them from falling off your ear. Moving on to the Z Fold 2, we have a hands on IRL picture which shows the phone booting up but, we can’t really see anything else other than the name. Luckily, the source from the Buds pics posted other renders of the Z Fold 2 as well, showing off the new design. The outer display looks way better than the original Fold, and the camera array looks pretty much like the one we’re expecting from the Note. Other leaks also suggest that we might get a very expensive Thom Browne edition of the Z fold 2 which will retail for around $2800, yeah you heard that right.

Story of the day:

OnePlus Nord-series smartphone is coming to the US later this year, reveals Carl Pei

OnePlus’ next Nord-series smartphone might use Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 690 SoC

And finally the hottest news today have to do with the OnePlus Nord. Actually let’s start calling it the Nord lineup, because we’ve got two separate news that indicate so, one pretty much official. We thought that you would only be able to get the OnePlus Nord in North America through that trial thing were only 50 fans would get it but, apparently that won’t be the case, sort of. Carl Pei just went on an interview and said that the Nord won’t be available in the US once it goes on sale on August 4th but, he said that a Nord-branded phone is set to land on US shores later this year so “you don’t have to feel left out for too long”. As a matter of fact, in one of their Nord promo videos they mentioned the term “OnePlus Series” possibly hinting that the Nord isn’t the only device and, they even have a dedicated “Nord Series” page in their website. On the second report that’s most likely unrelated, it seems that there’s also another, less expensive Nord in the works. XDA also discovered in the latest Oxygen OS update a new OnePlus phone that would use the Qualcomm 690 SoC which is their latest 5G budget solution. Apparently the internal code name is Billie and we don’t have any other information just yet.