smartphone

The technology industry has been searching for the “next smartphone” for a decade. Now he thinks he found it with AI

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In the last decade, wearables have become intrinsically associated with health care and sports. And although in 2025 we can make the same association, there are a growing number of companies and devices that have committed themselves to turning them around to turn wearables into vehicles for AI. The leaders of some of the main big tech companies already They have glimpsed the end of the mobile and between the options (in practice, still very green) these wearables with AI appear, which today are more of a complement. In search of the new iPhone. In any case, the industry has been looking for mass hardware after the smartphone for almost two decades. The glasses seem to start by advantage, but the initiatives are many and very varied. In any case, it is no longer just about becoming the winning format, it is about materializing a device that covers needs yet to be defined and where the smartphone has set a very high ceiling. In fact, smartwatches have not come close to overshadowing it. AI glasses have an advantage. Of course, they are the best positioned. In the past CES 2025 we saw ‘smart’ glasses (although that semantics typical of the era of the failed Google Glass has already been banished in favor of the surname ‘with AI’) even in the soup with the promise of immersive and hands-free experiences, but Meta is the one who has landed and sold its product best. Makes perfect sense: Mark Zuckerberg himself has stated who believes that glasses are the ideal format for AI. And for Meta, AI is his new Multiverse. After all, as we have seen, glasses are a discreet and convenient way towards multimodality: visual, through their lenses; and oral, with its integrated microphones and speakers. But it doesn’t matter if we talk about Meta’s glasses or those of Googlethe new glasses smart They no longer look like a hulk, they are designed to be worn all day and their purpose is to interact with AI. Pendants, pins and everything else. Other gadgets that accompany you throughout the day for constant listening come into this mixed bag: from the Bee AI bracelet to the LimitLess pendants or Friend passing through the ring Stream Ring or the difficult to describe Plaud NotePin: it looks like the capsule of Xiaomi bracelets and as such, it can be worn on the wrist, on the neck and even as a tacky pin. These initiatives have not gone unnoticed by the large companies, which have made a move by opening their portfolio: Bee AI bought Amazon in summer and LimitLess did the same Goal just a few weeks ago. old acquaintances. AI is also being integrated into existing devices: Samsung and Google have put Gemini on their WearOS watches, Garmin has a premium subscription to analysis with AI for its watches, Fitbit is testing an AI trainerthe same thing that Apple does with its Watch or the AI translation on AirPods. Even the rings Oura they have their advisor with AI. Every breath you take…We mentioned above that AI glasses were born to be worn all day, something that can be extrapolated to the bulk of the devices that we have been listing. For AI assistants to work well and offer something extra on the mobile, they need to know a lot about the user and there is no better way to do this than on a wearable that is with you 24/7. Disturbing but true. In this field there are unknowns such as what format will be successful and whether it will be as successful or more successful than the smartphone (even if it is buried), but there are two unquestionable facts: that there is a war to have hegemonic AI among big tech and that the industry has seen wearables as the ideal vehicle to implement it. In Xataka | Pendants, bracelets and “buttons” on the forehead: new AI wearables listen to you (and record) all day In Xataka | The voice recorders seemed dead. AI and new hardware are making them irresistible again Cover | Javier Lacort and Applesfera

The Meta Ray-Ban Display wants to replace the smartphone. The question is whether they will be able to do it: Crossover 1×25

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Mark Zuckerberg believes that In 2030 we will not take our smartphones out of our pockets so much because we will do almost everything from the glasses. This may be a fairly accurate prediction, especially after the launch of the Meta Ray-Ban Displayconnected glasses that are an important qualitative leap compared to traditional Ray-Ban Meta. Precisely to talk about If glasses can end up replacing the smartphone We have gotten together Jaume Lahoz, Jota and a server in Crossover 1×25. In this new episode we discuss everything about a launch that is certainly promising and even disruptive. So, we begin by talking about the integrated screen on the right lens of the glasses, an extraordinary option that allows you to display notifications and relevant information at all times. Added to this is that bracelet with electromyographic technology for gesture control, a fantastic way to interact with the interface of these glasses. Of course there is a worrying hidden face in this product: privacy risks. As with their predecessors, glasses can be used to capture images and video of what is in front of us, and that can spark new controversies in this regard. We also talk about how several manufacturers in China have similar models that even surpass Meta’s glasses in technical performance. And of course we review the history of devices that already wanted to tempt us in 2013 with the legendary Google Glass. Will other large technology companies enter this race? It seems inevitable, but the real question is whether glasses will actually become a great alternative to smartphones. Mark Zuckerberg is clear that yes. If you want to know what we think, We encourage you to take a look at the debatewhich we think has turned out great and interesting. Enjoy it! On YouTube | Crossover

The US already has its first smartphone made in the US. Bad news for the dream of a “100% American iPhone”

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Purism has called it Liberty Phonebut in addition to that liberating name this phone stands out for something very special: it is assembly In the United States. The good news is that it shows that it is possible to manufacture an iPhone within the US borders. That may make the government of this country happy, but in reality practically everything is bad news. A mobile “made in USA” (more or less). As they explain In The Wall Street Journalthe Liberty Phone motherboard is manufactured in the Purism facilities, the main chip comes from Texas, and the assembly is carried out at the plant that the company has in Carlsbad, California. Other components come from China and other countries in Asia, but in essence we are facing a telephone that meets the demands of the Donald Trump government. Not for those. Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism, explained in WSJ how it has been working for 10 years and has done everything possible to have a 100% mobile component of US components, “but but There are some pieces which simply do not have supply chain. “their intention, however, is to continue working so that in the end they all come from US suppliers. Its scale is tiny. Even with these difficulties, Purism is able to face this manufacturing process because it produces about 10,000 units per month and have sold less than 100,000 in total. In 2024 Apple sold Something more than 230 million mobiles, about 19 million a month. Manufacturing all of them in the US makes clear the amount of resources that would need to transfer the country. Of course: the CEO of Purism clarifies that the production could upload up to 100,000 units per month in six months if you need it. And it is not even a latest generation mobile. The Liberty Phone chip is an I.MX 8m from the Dutch company NXP semiconductor that occurs in an Austin plant, in Texas, and that is not even thought for mobiles, but for cars. Other components such as the screen and battery come from China, while the rear camera comes from South Korea. The operating system is Pure OS, a variant of Debian Linux that is not compatible with Android or iOS and that has a very limited application catalog And it costs 2,000 dollars. Weaver states that manufacturing the Liberty Phone costs $ 650 – the estimated hardware cost on the iPhone 16 Pro is 550 dollars – but Purism sells it for a much higher price. According to him, the $ 1,999 that it costs – and that in its 4 GB version of RAM and 128 GB of storage – reflects its orientation: it is a mobile specially prepared to maintain user privacy. In fact, half of Purism’s clients are US government agencies. The iPhone and tariffs. Liberty Phone is a clear example of how Apple and its users could affect the demand of the Trump government to manufacture the iPhone in the United States. One of the big problems It is the fact that the components that this mobile needs are not manufactured in the US, or do not do it on a large scale. The efforts of companies such as TSMC to create production plants in the North American country It will mitigate the problembut it won’t eliminate it. Specialized labor. But there is another even greater problem: manufacturing millions of iPhone in the United States would force specialized labor. China has become the Great World Factory of technological devices, not only by cheap labor – which was originally – but for its qualification. Before a practically insurmountable situation, Apple has chosen to manufacture in India Most iPhone who end up selling in the US. That will expose some sensitive tariffsbut even so It will be cheaper than manufacturing them in the US or facing the huge tariffs applied to Chinese imports. Mission almost impossible. The example of the iPhone is clear, but there is a especially striking one: The T1 Phone which was announced a week ago told us about a completely assembled mobile in the US, and that would also have specifications Very notable (although it does not indicate which soc will rule it). The surprising thing is that the mobile will theoretically cost $ 499 and will be available in August, but it seems absolutely impossible to do so fulfilling all those promises. Everything points to an obvious solution: that in reality that mobile that presumes to be manufactured in the US is not manufactured in the US, but rather – like almost always – in China. In Xataka | The Ford Factory in Almussafes had been in a permanent strip and loosen for years. Now has another problem: tariffs

Ten years later, Xiaomi has recovered the smartphone crown in China. And he has done it more huawei than ever

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Ten years later, Xiaomi has recovered a crown that had been taken away: that of his native country. The company has just exceeded Huawei and is, at least in this first quarter of 2025, The first mobile brand in China. The key to get it, curiously, is increasingly Huawei. An overwhelming annual growth. Regarding the same quarter of 2023, Xiaomi has grown no less than 40%. Huawei does it in 12%, and I live in 2%. In total, the company sent 13.3 million phones in its native country, very close to 13 million Huawei. These figures make Xiaomi recover a first position he did not enjoy for a decade. Its scenario is favorable: Chinese brands They are the only ones that grow in their native country, and if this Xiaomi trend will be easy to strengthen its position. The reasons for success. According to Canals, the growth of Xiaomi is helped by national subsidy policies and a rebound of the Chinese consumer consuming even more national company in full tariff war. Beyond the support of your country, analyzing Xiaomi’s strategy helps to understand its success. A quite similar to that of the rival that follows more closely: Huawei. Xiaomi has a price of price very consistent in China through the different distributors, and a product diversification that drives you to continue growing as a brand. Its product portfolio has long stopped focusing only on the mobile: they are introduced into the electric carthe Aiot world, and especially in China they have a very interconnected portfolio with Hyperos. Xiaomi is stop selling only product: Sell ​​ecosystem. Boom (for a long time) of national brands, solid product strategy, Pricing aggressive and a strong ecosystem. It is no accident: the two brands that grow the most in China and lead this market bet on these pillars. The importance of AI. Deepseek is having a fundamental role in Chinese mobile sales. While in Europe we bet on Gemini and Chatgpt on Android, in China the integration with Depseek is quite deep. From Canalys they point out that the arrival of this model of AI is reviving the interest of consumers, and that mobile phones already represent 22% of shipments in continental China. In the case of Xiaomi, Depseek is integrated into Hyperos to enhance its Super Xiaoai assistant, integrating the functions of deep thinking (R1) within the operating system itself. The current Chinese podium. After Xiaomi’s victory, photography in China is the following, at least in the first quarter of the year. Xiaomi, 19% market share Huawei, 18% market share Oppo, 15% market share LIVE, 10.4 MARKET FEE Apple, 9.2% market share In full tariff war, Apple will have it difficult to grow in China. In fact, in this first period of the year, its fall is 8%. On the side of Chinese brands, Oppo is the only one that does not grow. Xiaomi, Huawei and Vivo start the year in positive. An independent market. The presence of Chinese mobiles in Europe is remarkable. So much that Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo occupy the third, fourth and fifth position of the podium in the first quarter of 2025, Behind Samsung and Apple. But the Chinese market is different. It’s a Market with special weight of national technology, and a hyperdigitized retail channel that allows it to be even more competitive in price. The context of tariff crisis will only push national brands, throwing the doubt what will happen with Apple that has been losing ground in China for years. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The new Chinese tariffs are a mosquadilla for Apple. It is just what Huawei needed to dominate Asia

Now any US smartphone can be connected for free to Starlink satellites. From July it will have a price

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Spacex and T-Mobile took advantage of the Super Bowl to announce that the service of Direct cell connection with Starlink satellites It is already available in the test phase in the United States. The surprise is that it will be free until July, even for customers from other operators. Then it will become a payment service, accessible from any modern smartphone with ESIM. How T-Mobile Starlink works. Spacex has launched more than 7,000 Starlink satellites; 450 of them are Direct to Cell. In addition to offering Broadband Internetthese satellites function as telephone towers in space. When a T-Mobile Starlink user stays without coverage, his mobile will connect directly to the satellites that are passing over, and they will talk to each other to forward the messages to an earth station. Although at the moment the service is limited to sending text messages, in the future it will also allow voice calls and data services. Spacex has shown that Even video calls are feasible With Starlink Direct to Cell, but more satellites will be needed in orbit so that the company can offer a generalized use of this type of complex services. What devices are compatible. The connection with the satellites is direct and does not require parabolic antennas, as is the case with Starlink broadband. Any modern smartphone compatible with the LTE 25 band should be able to connect to Starlink Direct to Cell, although T-Mobile only mentions some examples: iPhone 14 or higher, recent Google, Motorola and Samsung devices, and the Revvl line of T-Mobile. In addition to T-Mobile customers, Verizon, AT&T and other operators can also register in the service with an unlocked terminal that ESIM admits. In the future, coverage will be international through alliances with operators from other countries. How much does the service cost. The great claim of the Super Bowl announcement is that T-Mobile Starlink will be free until July, be the operator you are. Those interested have only to Complete a form With your name, your email and your mobile phone number, accepting in return to receive T-Mobile marketing offers. The highs are carried out in order of arrival, which is generating demand peaks. But the thing will change from July, when the beta phase of the service ends. From that moment on, T-Mobile customers will have to pay $ 15 per month so as not to run out of signal without coverage ($ 10 per month if they take advantage of the starting offer). Customers of other operators will pay much more: $ 20 per month without discounts. It will soon reach other countries. Starting with New Zealand through the ONENZ operator. And following Australia, Ukraine, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, Peru and Japan. Entel is Spacex’s partner in the only two Latin American countries on the list. Starlink It is already a profitable businessbut Direct to Cell can only expand Spacex’s advantage over its competitors. No other company has the competitive advantage of reusing up to 25 times its own rockets. And when some get it, Spacex will have already started throwing satellites with Starship. Images | Spacex, T-Mobile In Xataka | China and Europe are investing a fortune in their own Starlink: the US advantage is too big to ignore it

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