mobile

The best deals on low, medium and high-end mobile phones at the Amazon Spring Offers Festival

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Do you have to change your mobile phone? Campaigns like the current Spring Sale Festival are especially interesting because we usually find good discounts, so taking advantage of the fact that Amazon gave the starting signal yesterday and that we still have a few days so we can take advantage of the discounts (ends on March 16), in this article we are going to review what the discounts are. best deals on mobile phones. Google Pixel 10 Pro (512 GB + Pixelsnap Charger) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The best offers on mobile phones Before commenting on which are the best cell phone deals, we are going to do a brief review mentioning them: Google Pixel 10 Pro by 999 eurosa high-end version with a lot of internal storage that also comes with a gift. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G by 339 eurosa mid-range from the brand that stands out for its screen. Google Pixel 10 by 589 eurosthe lowest price Amazon has had to date. Xiaomi POCO M8 5G by 209.99 eurosan interesting proposal if you are looking for a cheaper Xiaomi mobile. Motorola Moto g85 5G by 169 eurosa low-end mobile that has a good technical sheet. Google Pixel 10 Pro He Google Pixel 10 Pro has starred in one of the best offers in the new Amazon campaign, specifically in its version with 512 GB of internal storage that also includes the Pixelsnap Charger by 999 euros (it costs the same with or without it), which is basically a wireless charger. This is currently one of the best Google phones and stands out above all in its photography section. It incorporates an excellent 6.3-inch OLED screen, has 16 GB of RAM and your operating system will be up to date for many years. Google Pixel 10 Pro (512 GB + Pixelsnap Charger) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G Although it is not the best offer we have seen this week, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G has dropped to 339 euros (before 399 euros) on Amazon. It is a mobile phone that stands out for its 6,580 mAh batterybut above all because of its screen: 6.83-inch AMOLED, 1.5K resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, maximum brightness of 3,200 nits and compatibility with Dolby Vision. Not bad for its price. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 If the previous Google mobile is out of your budget, the little brother has also dropped in price. He Google Pixel 10 is available for 589 euros or by 599 euros if we want it with the Pixelsnap Charger. In both cases we are talking about the same mobile configuration with 128 GB that incorporates a excellent screen for viewing multimedia content and a good photographic section. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi POCO M8 5G For approximately 200 euros we find two mobile phones. The first of them is the POCO M8 5G by 209.99 eurosa smartphone with a 5,520 mAh battery that incorporates a 6.77-inch Flow AMOLED screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate. Its processor is the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 and, although it comes with 256 GB, it can be expand storage via microSD card up to 1TB. Xiaomi POCO M8 5G (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Motorola Moto g85 5G The second mobile is Motorola Moto g85 5G by 169 eurosa smartphone with a 6.7-inch pOLED screen that offers a 120 Hz refresh rate and Full HD+ resolution. Your processor is Snapdragon 6s Gen 3comes with both 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage and its battery supports 30W fast charging. Motorola Moto g85 5G (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Alejandro Alcolea, Pepu Ricca in Xataka Android, Google, Xiaomi, Motorola In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2026), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best mobile phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and seven recommended models

Mobile phones in China are suffering the biggest price increase in five years. The culprit is not a manufacturer: it is AI

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Smartphones face a year of challenges due to the price of basic components such as RAM. The predictions They are already talking about increases of between 90 and 150 dollars for basic mobile phones, and between 300 and 400 dollars in the case of high-end mobile phones. AI is about to blow up an industry that has claimed its first victim: Meizu. Go for it, leave almost everything. I still remember that MWC last year when I stopped by the Meizu stand. I liked what I saw: new batch mobiles, with balanced hardware, the design and ROM that I fell in love with almost a decade ago and a shocking promise: the manufacturer was preparing its global launch. A history of mobile manufacturing in China, about to return to Europe as an alternative to manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Honor or OPPO. what has happened. Recently, Meizu has announced its exit from the smartphone market to focus their efforts on AI. In addition to the strong competition in its local market, the sharp rise in RAM prices makes it difficult for the manufacturer to be competitive against more established brands. It is a movement similar to that of ASUS, which He has said goodbye to his Zenfone family to focus on AI solutions and other types of products. The death of the quality-price mobile phone? 2026 will be a critical year for quality-price mobile phones. For years, manufacturers have been able to play with relatively comfortable margins: RAM abundance Component recycling A supply chain at your entire disposal The RAM giants have their shelves collapsed due to requests related to AI, and cheap modules have completely stopped being a priority. The dilemma. IDC analysts make it clear that we are witnessing a major shock in the supply chain. It’s not a temporary high: AI has completely changed market priorities, and things like RAM won’t stabilize in price anytime soon. Historically, we have normalized annual cycles and launches “just because”, even though there was no hardware or news to justify the launch of clone phones year after year. Maybe and just maybe, the price crisis will make manufacturers have to rethink their strategy. Image | Meizu In Xataka | Expensive and premium mobile phones are not a fad: they are the new standard, and Motorola knows it

The best applications to have local artificial intelligence on your mobile or PC, without needing a connection and with greater privacy

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Let’s tell you the best programs to install a local AI on your mobile or your computer. In this way, you can have the artificial intelligence directly on the installed device, without requiring an Internet connection and keeping your private data within the mobile phone or PC itself. The programs will allow you to install language models LLM open source, being alternatives to ChatGPT and company, and even being able to choose how distillates you want them. However, some of the desktop applications will also allow you to connect to cloud business models such as ChatGPT, Gemini either Claudealthough sacrificing privacy. In the end, the goal of this is have your own private ChatGPT and without the restrictions of online models, to be able to make all the questions you want. They will be less powerful and with fewer capabilities, since there would not be enough space on your mobile or PC to install complete models like the commercial ones, but good tools for quick questions and functions. Apps to have local AI on your mobile Let’s start with a small compilation of the best applications with which you can have artificial intelligence models installed on your mobile. Remember that models can take up a lot of space, so be careful and check your device’s memory. PocketPal AI This is the go-to mobile app if you want to install a local AI on your device. It is open source and freeand is available for both Android and iOS. It stands out above all for its ease of use, and for the many models available. PocketPal AI Integrates directly with Hugging Facewhich is the world’s leading repository for uploading AI models. Since it is integrated, you can download any model directly without leaving the application and without complicating things. MNN Chat This is an exclusive application for Android, and stands out for being one of the fastest applications for this operating system. But its biggest differentiator is your complete multimodal supportbeing able to write your prompts adding text, images or audio. You will find all kinds of models, from those for generating images to others for making responses with text. Has an integrated model catalogso downloading and installing them is a very easy task. It is a free and open source application. Private LLM If you are looking for a premium app for iOSthis is one of the best alternatives. Of course, it has a price of about $5 with a one-time payment. It includes more than 60 curated models, and uses advanced quantization to improve its performance. It also integrates with Siri and Apple Shortcuts, and in addition to your iPhone it will also work for your Mac or iPad. It also has customizable interactions and support for Family Sharing to share the purchase with your family. Google AI Edge Gallery Google AI Edge Gallery is a Google application for Android with which you can install different artificial intelligence models on your mobile. The app allows many uses, from image consultation to audio transcription or chats with AI, all locally. It is an open source project, and against it it must be said that It is a tool in developmentwhich means that there may still be quite a few bugs that will be corrected. Locally AI Another application for the Apple ecosystem, and optimized for Apple Silicon processors. Stands out for having a beautiful and careful interfaceadapted to Apple’s language, and for supporting the main open source models. What this app seeks is to offer you the experience of an app like ChatGPT but with free and offline languages, all local. Has local voice modelanguage and vision models, customizable prompt system, and both integration with Siri and Apple shortcuts. AnythingLLM An exclusive application for Android, although the model’s aspiration is to have a version for iOS. It has support for several small, fast and powerful models. They do not seek to offer a giant catalog, but rather have hand picked those they consider best and most optimized for mobile. This app also offers a default agent modeso you can use it with its models to search websites, read pages, interact with other applications or use your location. And if you’re looking for power, you can sacrifice privacy by connecting to one of the cloud models it offers. SmolChat We finish with another app to download and run popular AI models on Android, locally and offline. All this with an interface adapted to Android, and many customization settings. You can also pin your favorite chats on the home screen with shortcuts. Apps to have local AI on your computer We now continue with another small collection of applications with which you can download artificial intelligence language models directly on your computerwhether Windows, GNU/Linux or Mac. Ollama Ollama is possibly one of the most popular applications you can find to download AI models to your computer. The best of all is that it is multi-system, and you can install it in Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. It is also open source and completely free, and has a clean and minimalist interface. Its interface is chat, just like any commercial model, and you have a history of conversations. There is also support for dragging files, such as PDFs or images. You have a search engine for AI models to find the one you want with several versions. Jan With over five million downloads, this is an amazing tool. You can add open source models or connect private ones like ChatGPT, Claude and company. This gives you the versatility to become an excellent all-in-one, available for Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. But there’s more, because Jan also offers the possibility of using connectorsso you can work with your AI in Gmail, Amazon, Google, YouTube, Google Drive and more. They are also working on a memory system, all storing data locally. LM Studio An open source application with a unified graphical interface, since you will be able to Search and download AI models within the program … Read more

Xiaomi is testing the mother of AIs for its cars, mobile phones and home. And there is no trace of Google or OpenAI

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Xiaomi long ago stopped being simply a mobile brand and became one of the giants of the Chinese technology ecosystem. The company It no longer goes to volume, it goes to aspirationand to achieve this they want a remarkable user experience. A deep integration of artificial intelligence is inevitable to achieve this, and that is where MiClaw comes to life. Mike? Xiaomi has published on its website the details about MiClaw, your next step in exploring AI agents. It begins as a small-scale closed test, but it represents the pillars of what we will see in the near future on the company’s devices. What is. Xiaomi is testing with MiClaw the execution capabilities of its large AI models (MiMo) within the mobile-car-home ecosystem, both at the conversational level and in terms of execution capacity. It is a deep model, one with full access to every single event on the device, and able to reason for itself what action needs to be taken. What are you doing. The agentic AI prepared by Xiaomi follows a four-step model: Perception Association Decision Action In the text itself, Xiaomi gives us some examples of how its agent can make our lives easier. A refrigerator that can automatically check which consumables are missing at home, connect to our calendar and create a reminder that we have to make the purchase. You buy a train ticket, the agent reads the confirmation SMS, consults our calendar, and automatically prepares and schedules the trip. Why is it important. That Xiaomi is redoubling its efforts in AI is no coincidence. The company wants to be a benchmark in the ecosystem and conquer regions like Europe. Leading in artificial intelligence will be key for any of its product pillars: cars, home devices and mobile phones. Xiaomi wants to move away from the current interpretation-execution proposal, to integrate an agent capable of carrying out up to 20 consecutive and independently executed actions. At the moment, MiClaw works under closed beta on devices like the Xiaomi 17 Ultrabut Xiaomi’s idea is to develop an agent capable of working on any of its devices. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Is the newest the best for you? We compare the Xiaomi 17 Ultra against the Xiaomi 15 Ultra to see which is a better buy in 2026

Apple has only found one option to make a cheap laptop: make it a mobile

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The new MacBook Neo It costs 699 euros because it has the iPhone 16 Pro chip inside. Not the M4 from a couple of years ago, neither the M3 nor the M2. The A18 Pro: the same processor as many people have in their pocket. Apple has solved the price problem by doing something that until recently would have been unthinkable in its own mental architecture: reuse a mobile chip in a laptop. They put it in an aluminum case with a keyboard and hinge, gave it a new name, and sold it as if it were a different category. It is not. It is something more similar to an iPhone without a touch screen, with a trackpad and keyboard, and with macOS on top. For years, Apple has maintained (implicitly but consistently) that the Mac and iPhone were worlds apart, with different chips, for different uses. ARM architecture unified the foundation six years ago, but the M family and the A family followed separate paths: one for the desktop, the laptop and the tablet; another for mobile. That separation has sustained an entire product hierarchy. The Neo just killed it. Apple is admitting that the mobile chip is sufficient for most customers’ laptops. It is a recognition that has more implications than the price. If the iPhone chip is good enough for a Mac, what exactly the hell were we paying for before? The answer is… Apple’s margin. And the name. And the feeling that a Mac was something qualitatively different from a mobile phone with a keyboard. Now that feeling has a reference price: 600 euros difference between the cheapest MacBook and the most expensive iPhone. And the Neo’s USB-C ports don’t support Thunderbolt because the A18 Pro It doesn’t support it, so that’s not a product decision, it’s an original limitation that Apple has accepted as sufficient. The Neo isn’t exactly a strategic bet either. It’s more like an admission.. Apple had spent years without anything really competitive below 1,000 euros and it knew it, which is why sold the M1 in the United States for $700 as an emergency maneuver. On this side of the Atlantic, the empire of reconditioned and second-hand goods was taking away too many sales. The iPad with keyboard did almost the same thing as the entry-level MacBook Air and cost less, with the disadvantage of iPadOS but with greater versatility due to the touch screen and the option of using it undocked. The only way down was to cross the internal borders that Apple itself had built between its chip families. And there is what the Neo leaves in the air, more interesting than any specification: if the mobile chip is already sufficient for the work laptop of the majority, the convergence between both categories is not a future hypothesis. This is what Apple just put in its window for 699 mutts. In Xataka | Apple made a splash with its cheapest iPhone. And the iPhone 17e is coming to repeat the play Featured image | Apple

what it is, compatible devices and how to use it with a monitor to turn your mobile into a PC

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Let’s explain to you what is android desktop mode, an option that we have been waiting for years as standard on our devices. This is something that Samsung has been offering it through DeX for yearsand that we have seen on mobile phones like Motorola and some Huawei models. Now, it is starting to arrive as standard on Android. We are going to start the article by explaining how this feature works, and what the concept it pursues is. Then, we will explain its implementation so that you know how it can be activated, also mentioning For which mobile phones is it initially available?although it is to be hoped that as months and years go by it will end up reaching many more. What is Android desktop mode Connect your mobile to a monitor and launch an adapted Android at this screen size. It seems like a wet dream, making Android look like a desktop operating system, but this is the desktop mode that Google is starting to enable. When you are using the mobile in this desktop mode, the entire interface will change. You will have a desk with a lower dock with applications that we have launched. We also have a menu bar above where on the left we see the time and on the right the battery and connectivity controls. You will also have a button that acts as a start menu. Besides that, open applications will be seen in windowsand just like in GNU/Linux and macOS, an indicator will appear in the dock telling you which ones are open. This will allow you to do two or three things at the same time, such as reading the content of a social network in one window while watching a video in the other. In general, the experience is similar to that of a PCand you can even open notifications and quick settings. In fact, you can see the quick settings on a double screen to see the options within the menus. In addition to this, you will also be able to resize and move windows of applications to place them wherever you like on the desktop. You’ll be able to pin apps to the taskbar, show all open apps, and even use Android’s three-button control system. Finally, know that desktop mode It will use the apps that you already have installed on Android. It is not a separate operating system, but an interface that the mobile itself has to launch itself that way when you are viewing it on a larger screen. Desktop mode too It will allow you to use a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. You will have to link them to your mobile, and when you are in desktop mode you can simply use them as if it were a computer. What mobile is it compatible for? Currently, desktop mode is only supported with Pixel phones from Google. And not with everyone, but from Pixel 8 onwards. You will have to update Android to receive its latest version, and in it you will already have the function natively when you connect your mobile. Being a native Android function, it is possible that over time it will also end up reaching other devices. But as always, you will first have them in the Pixel as an exclusive feature. We’ll have to wait and see when it reaches the others. How to activate Android desktop mode To activate desktop mode, you have to connect your mobile to an external screen. Since the Pixel has a USB-C port, you will have to use a cable with this connector or a cable that connects from USB-C to Micro HDMI, or whatever format the external monitor uses. The mobile will automatically detect that you have connected it to the screen. Then, a pop-up window will appear asking you what you want to do after connecting. In this message, you simply have to click on the option Computer and that’s it. Now connect mouse and keyboard via Bluetooth and voila, your mobile is now a computer. The projector mode that you also have as an option is the one in which you can see on the screen what you are doing on your mobile, but without using it directly on it. The mode to choose is Computer. Images | Javier Pastor In Xataka Basics | The best apps for Android 2026: new, essential and hidden gems

I have used my Android mobile as a PC thanks to desktop mode. It is a fantastic option

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Ricardo Aguilar, a colleague at Xataka, knows a lot about mobile phones, so from time to time he throws some insult at me about my already somewhat mature Pixel 8 Pro. Today, however, the insult is mine. Because? Well, because as he himself warned the team, Android ‘desktop mode’ is finally available. This optionthat I’ve been waiting for years (he knows it well) it also arrives in a limited way, because only some devices can enjoy it. Specifically, the recent Pixels. And my Pixel 8 Pro is one of them. In the past I have tested this feature on other devices: I did it of course on Samsungs, which has been offering it through DeX for yearsand also on some other mobile such as Motorola and some Huawei models, which they also boasted of said characteristic. Google had been around for a while raising this possibilityand last year an Android beta appeared that offered this capability. Now that option is finally officially available, although as we say, for now only on Google Pixels starting with Pixel 8. Enviable start-up To activate this option you must first activate the developer options in the Android settings, and then enable option for desktop features which we can find almost at the end of those options for developers. Once this is done, the system asks for a restart, after which everything is ready to use desktop mode. To do this, I connected a 15-inch external monitor to my Pixel through a USB-C to Micro HDMI cable (I tried a USB-C to USB-C cable, but the cable I used had a small problem). By detecting that we connect the mobile phone to a screen, The Pixel gives us the option of using the mobile phone as a “Computer” (the desktop mode itself) or of projecting it as it has been possible to do for years. I chose the first option​​ and I finally found that desktop mode that basically makes Android becomes a hybrid operating system which works practically the same as Windows, Linux or macOS do on a PC or laptop. Thus, we have a desktop in which there is a lower bar with the application launcher and a series of “pinned” apps, and at the top a system bar that allows, for example, access to notifications and quick settings on our mobile. From there the experience is very similar to using a PC. We can open applications and, of course, resize and move windows to place them however we like on the desktop. I normally use two competing advantages of the browser to work on the topics I prepare for Engadget, and that is exactly the configuration I have used to write this text: with two Chrome windows I have worked practically the same as I usually do on my Mac mini M4. A small change of mentality Obviously in that desktop mode it is necessary connect a mouse and keyboard to the Pixelwhich I have connected via Bluetooth. The detection and operation of these devices was carried out without problems, and once on the desktop everything works, I insist, as one would expect. You can quickly launch apps from the taskbar launcher and pin certain apps to that taskbar. It is also possible to show all open applications with that old access at the bottom right with a square-shaped icon. There is a strange feeling here because logically what you are using are the applications on your mobile phone natively. Thus, it is not necessary to open WhatsApp in a browser tab because you already have the native app ready and running in the background, and the same goes for the rest of the options, such as the Twitter app (X) or YouTube: they are not tabs, but full-fledged apps. It is a slight but curious change of mentality, of course. And there is also the other reality: some apps that we usually use on the desktop are not as clear as those on Windows or macOS. There is a clear example in the file explorer: Android has its own (Files) and I, for example, usually use Amaze for these tasks, but Google has never conceived Android as an operating system in which the user messes with files and folders. We can do it, yes, but it is not the strong point of this platform, as neither is it, for example, working with the command console. Here again that possibility exists, but you have to “play around” a little more to be able to install a terminal and use it in a similar way as we would do in Linux, macOS or in Windows CMD/Powershell. I have not tried much more demanding applications at the moment, but this opens the door to using some more advanced and ambitious applications in desktop mode: here it occurs to me that an image or video editor could be a striking candidate to take advantage of this desktop mode. There is also striking scope here for entertainment with games that we can play with a mouse and keyboard as we would on a PC, even though they are games for Android. The possibilities are most striking. Your PC can certainly be your mobile These tests have made me realize that this definitely opens up those possibilities that we have been talking about for years. A laptop normally solves the mobility issue, but if you need to have “your PC” anywhereyou don’t even need that anymore: if you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse somewhere else, this Android desktop mode allows you to use your device almost like a PC. I just did it while writing this article, and the truth is, the experience has been surprisingly good. Not perfect, mind you– The on-screen keyboard appears from time to time as if the system does not detect that you have a physical one connected, for example, and window management is not as intuitive as one might wish. But still the overall result is fantastic in my … Read more

In the midst of the RAM and SSD crisis, there are those who are launching laptops and mobile phones with more capacity at the same price: Apple

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Apple has set out to eclipse the Mobile World Congress. He does not attend the Barcelona fair, but he has presented products. For now, the iPhone 17ethe new MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro and M5 Max processorsthe new MacBook Air M5 and the renewal of your monitor Studio Display. And what has caught my attention the most is the “generosity” of an Apple that has not accustomed us to it. Because, with the one that is falling with the RAM crisis and of SSD priceApple is offering more without increasing the price. And it is something that has several readings… and some asterisks. The new devices. There isn’t much new in anything the company has presented so far. It is assumed that there is still a ‘cheap’ MacBook throughout this Wednesday, March 4, but what they have already presented is, basically, the same as last year, but with new processors. The iPhone 17e is a mobile phone with an outdated design, but it includes a slightly cut version of the processor of the iPhone 17 Pro. The MacBook Pros were already beasts in many ways and now they can be equipped with the M5 Pro and M5 Max that reach absurd figures for GPU capacity and memory bandwidth in the most powerful versions. And the MacBook Air was already a very interesting device for mobility, but now also somewhat more powerful. As I say, not much new on the front, until we look at the storage. With the one that is falling… At this point, no one is aware that we are experiencing an unprecedented component crisis. It’s not like 2020, when a bunch of factors caused a global chip crisis. Now there is only one “culprit”: artificial intelligence. There is three main companies that manufacture memory (Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung), and the three have focused almost the entire his production to memories for AI. This is causing not only us to have to pay more to be able to buy RAM or an SSD for our PC, but also the manufacturers themselves are changing their device launch plans –the steam machine-, there is someone who is selling laptops without RAM or without SSDwho looks to Chinese manufacturers to see if they can find a solution or, directly, those who can withdraw from the market. And, in the middle of that hurricane, Apple (which It is not characterized by its popular prices), launches devices. And the surprise came. Generosity. I’m not going to explain much, I’m just going to give some information: The iPhone 17e starts with 256 GB of storage and costs 709 euros. He iPhone 16e It started at 128 GB and cost 709 euros. The MacBook Air M5 costs 1,199 euros with 512 GB of SSD. He MacBook Air M4 It cost the same at launch, 1,199 euros (in October last year they lowered it by 100 euros to 1,099 euros), but with 256 GB. On these devices, Apple has doubled the storage while maintaining the price. And not only that: the Studio Display XDR was sold with a basic tilt adjustment stand, but you could purchase the articulated arm that allowed you to adjust both angle and height. The price of support? 999 euros, which became a meme. Now, the new Studio Display XDR It comes with that ‘Pro’ support included. Of course, the base MacBook Pro M5 costs 100 euros more with a 1 TB SSD instead of 512 GB. Generosity? What is happening here, is the first thing I thought when I started analyzing the price. There are several options that can be compatible… and even all at the same time. No company is there to give away, so it is simply possible that they have a huge stock of 512 GB SSDs that they now mount as a base in their computers. This would make sense if we take into account the very high price of expanding the memory on an Apple device. The most basic option would be the most chosen, so those with 128 GB on mobile phones and 256/512 on MacBooks would be the best sellers and, therefore, have a surplus of the expanded options that fewer people would opt for. Another reading may be that, due to the high price of the devices, Apple decides to absorb part of the cost of RAM because it’s still worth itmaking money per device sold and expanding the Mac user base at a time when Windows laptops can have a very difficult time. What Apple saves are the chargers in its new equipment. The MacBook Pro no longer included a charger, but the MacBook Air did. Now not even that. The turn. The other option is that… it will be our turn. The prices that I have detailed are in euros and for Spain if we take into account the launch price, without subsequent offers or reductions. In the United States, things are very different. They have also doubled the storage, but the MacBook Air in its 13 and 15-inch versions now They are 100 dollars more expensive than the previous generation. It is always complicated because direct conversions cannot be made from the US price to the European price (in fact, the M5 MacBook Air costs $1,099 and $1,299 compared to our 1,199 euros and 1,499 euros), but we may simply have to face that price increase in 2027 models. Because, unfortunately, the RAM crisis is going to last a long time. Intel He thinks he has the rest of the decade ahead of him, NVIDIA does not have good forecasts either and Samsung has just said that, if that, it will begin to ease in 2027. Images | Apple, Samsung In Xataka | Apple has been the industry’s first customer for decades. AI is relegating it to the background

SPC was the mobile brand for seniors. Now it has a system that learns when your grandfather stops behaving as usual

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SPC has been digesting for a year the change that Teresa Acha-Orbea, its general director, described us at MWC 2025: going from a telephone manufacturer for seniors to a comprehensive technological services company. Again in Barcelona and again at the MWC, the company from Alava has presented the first product that materializes this transformation. It’s called Zeus Halo, and it’s a predictive telecare platform built around a hub domestic 5G with a 12-inch screen, four microphones and IoT connectivity to integrate sensors, activity bracelets and other home devices. It appears on the right in the image that heads these lines. The proposal is based on a demographic premise that defines our country today: Spain ages. According to INE projections, In 2030 almost a third of the population will be over 60 years oldand a growing portion of that group lives alone. Current telecare systems work reactively, waiting for something to happen before acting. Zeus Halo points in the opposite direction: the system learns the user’s behavior patterns. What time do you get up, how many times do you go to the bathroom, when do you leave the house… When these habits change abruptly, the device generates a preventive alert that reaches the smartphone of family members or caregivers, or directly to third-party telecare platforms. “If this person usually goes to the bathroom several times a day and suddenly they are only in the living room, something is happening,” explains Acha-Orbea in the stand of SPC in the Spanish Pavilion. It can also detect falls through the activity bracelet, monitor heart rate or temperature, and send alerts if the person leaves and does not return. The hardware does not require a router, or even that there is a WiFi network in the house, because the hub It carries a 5G SIM and covers all the sensors in the home, which eliminates a common installation barrier for this user profile. Compatible sensors include presence, door opening and smoke detectors, in addition to wearables. Cameras are technically possible, but SPC has decided not to incorporate them by default: “We all want to maintain our privacy, at least visually,” says Acha-Orbea. The second leg of Zeus Halo is the conversational agent. The platform includes a voice assistant that learns the user’s tastes and interests and maintains conversations adapted to them, with reminders for medication, medical appointments or birthdays that are delivered as voice calls instead of text messages, because “SMS are not usually read”, something that was already explained to us a year ago. The system can also organize secure video calls with family members through its own application, suggest activities inside and outside the home or connect Zeus Halo users with common interests. The unwanted loneliness of older people has been on the public agenda for years, The product will be launched before the end of the year in two modalities: ORa version for retail intended for families who want to install it in their parents’ or grandparents’ home And another institutional version for councils, municipal social services, residences, telecare and insurance companies that need to monitor their users proactively. SPC has clients such as CaixaBank or the Generalitat of Asturias in its portfolio, which gives it direct access to the type of organization it targets with the B2B version. The launch of Zeus Halo is accompanied by a brand repositioning. SPC launches logo, website (now in onspc.com) and a new definition of itself: “technology consultancy” that combines manufacturing, systems integration and consulting under the umbrella ‘human by design. The company, founded at the end of the eighties taking advantage of the liberalization of telecommunications, which for decades lived by selling landlines and mobile phones adapted for the elderly, today has 78 employees and headquarters in Vitoria, Lisbon and Shenzhen. It sells about 400,000 units per year of basic phones for seniors and about 30,000 adapted smartphones. It is, according to its own figures, the first Spanish brand in that niche with 50% of the national market. The transition that Zeus Halo embodies has not come for free. SPC has had to recruit software engineers and is setting up its own engineering in China to work directly with software manufacturers. chipsets. He 2G blackoutwhich forced the company to redesign its catalog a few years ago, turned out to be the lever that turned “dumb” devices into platforms capable of exchanging data. Zeus Halo is the next step in that same logic: a little hardware gadget that becomes the connected brain of the home. In Xataka | There is a good thing about having your grandchildren put in a hat: science suggests that it is a great shield against cognitive decline Featured image | Xataka

Why it is not advisable to connect the charger to the mobile phone before connecting it to the power

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Putting your phone on charge is a gesture that we do practically every day and it is something that is apparently very simple. Well, it turns out that we are doing it wrong. There is a key detail that many of us overlook and that can have negative consequences for both the cable and the mobile port. There are many recommendations for take care of battery healthsuch as avoiding downloading it to the maximum or charging it to 100%, but there is another factor that is not usually taken into account and that is the order in which we connect the cable. The order of the factors does alter the product And if not Tell my partner Álex Alcoleathe owner of the Lightning cable in the photo below these lines. The fact that the pins have turned black is not a dirt problem, but rather an order problem. Álex used to connect the cable to the cell phone and then to the power, which generates a brief voltage spike that goes directly to the connector. For once nothing happens, but if we do it continuously the result is a fried cable. This is how our colleague Alejandro Alcolea’s Lightning cable looked after several months It is a common phenomenon in any type of plug: you plug it in and a surge occurs. If the cable is already connected to the phone when this happens, a small electrical arc may be created where the pins make contact. This little sparkcan cause the cable pins to become damaged and, over time, the charge begins to fail or we have to move the cable to make contact. If you are wondering if there is a possibility of frying your cell phone with this habit, don’t panic. Smartphones have internal protections to prevent them from being damaged if there is a voltage spike and we are also talking about a very brief spike. The recommended order to charge your mobile Preventing that small spark from damaging the connectors is as simple as reversing the order, that is, connecting the charger to the socket and then connecting it to our mobile phone. In this way, the voltage peak remains contained in the charger and it does not occur when we connect the mobile. Manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung They recommend following this order to avoid possible damage: Plug the charger into the power outlet. Connect the cable to the charger (if separate). Finally, connect the cable to the mobile. What to do if your cell phone doesn’t charge If your cable or the charging port on your phone is starting to fail, the charging order could be a possible reason. To find out, check if the cable pins are blackened like those in the photo at the beginning, although if it is a USB-C it is more difficult to see since they are inside. The most common thing is that dirt has accumulated in the charging port and this does not let the cable connect well. If this is the case, you can clean it using a wooden toothpick, always being very careful not to damage the charging port. It may also be that your mobile does not charge because moisture has entered the port. In this case, try to remove the liquid by tapping it against your hand and leave the phone in a place where there is air flow, never insert anything to remove the liquid as you can make it enter even more. If the problem is not with the cable or the port, it is possible that it is with the battery, so you will have to go through technical service. In Xataka | Quietly, Spain is solving its biggest energy problem: becoming the world’s second largest battery power Cover image | Ivan Linares for Xataka

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