Category: Apple Insider

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In an email sent to subscribers, Google announced that it will hike YouTube TV prices, up from $64.99 per month to $72.99 per month. The price hike is set to take place when customers are billed in April.

YouTube TV last underwent a price hike in mid-2020, when subscribers saw a 30% increase as the price climbed from $49.99 to $64.99.

YouTube TV is a cable replacement service that gives subscribers access to live and on-demand content. It features content from over a hundred channels, including major networks like CBS, FOX, and NBC.

Seperately, I=un October,the company did the same thing with the YouTube Premium Family Plan. That service saw a price hike from $17.99 to $22.99 — and anyone who subscribed from the App Store saw their subscription increase to $29.99 a month.

3D-printed models of the iPhone 15 range [Macotakara]

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Leaks about Apple’s upcoming products often result in the release of schematics that allegedly describe the size and shape of inbound models. Such schematics can be used as the base for a 3D model that could be printed, which in one instance, has allowed for some inter-generational iPhone comparisons.

In a video posted by Macotakara, a set of 3D-printed dummies for the iPhone 15 were produced, showing some of the expected details in the 2023 releases. The mock-ups for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max all feature camera bumps and anticipated camera lens positions, along with other details.

The units all are given the Dynamic Island treatment, and have been dressed with a USB-C port in the base instead of a Lightning port. The models are also following rumors of smaller bezels and having curved edges, which can affect the dimensions of the devices.

To compare against the iPhone 14 model footprints, cases for the current-gen models were used with the plastic-printed objects. For the iPhone 15, a 1mm lengthening in size distorts the iPhone 14’s case, making it unable to be used.

The mock-up iPhone 15 Plus did fit the case for the iPhone 14 Plus with seemingly no issues. While the Pro and Pro Max models are 1mm narrower and shorter, therefore able to comfortably slide into their respective cases, the changes to the volume controls on the models means they won’t fit properly.

Printing models of schematics can give a good sense of what the final release items could look like, especially when compared to existing products. However, it’s entirely possible that the final products Apple releases could have different dimensions than the current mock-up roster months down the line.

Macotakara is generally accurate when it comes to rumors, however the sourcing of 3D-printed models from Alibaba may not be the most accurate way to determine what future releases will actually feel like to hold. The site has done this before with the iPhone 14, with those models seemingly quite accurate at the time.

Samsung S23 Ultra

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Samsung’s flagship Galaxy smartphone lineup, including the Galaxy S23 Ultra, has an extremely high level of zoom for the rear cameras. With a 100x zoom level, created by augmenting 3x and 10x telephoto cameras with a digital zoom aided by Samsung’s AI Super Resolution technology, it can capture shots of things very far away.

That so-called Space Zoom could potentially allow users to photograph the moon, and many do. However, it may be the case that the level of detail in the moon shots may only be higher due to software shenanigans.

In Friday’s post to the Android subreddit, “u/ibreakphotos” declared that Samsung’s Space Zoom “moon shots are fake,” and that they had proof. The lengthy post then demonstrates that belief, in a fairly convincing way.

Referring to previous reporting that the moon photographs from the S20 Ultra and later models are real and not faked, the Redditor points out that no-one has managed to succeed in proving that they are real or fake, until their post.

The user tested the effect by downloading a high-resolution image of the moon, then downsized it to a 170 by 170-resolution image, and then applied a gaussian blur to obliterate any final details of its surface.

They then showed the low-res blurry moon at full screen on their monitor, walked to the other end of their room, zoomed in on the fake celestial body, and took a photograph. After some processing, an image of the moon was produced by the smartphone, but the surface had considerably more detail for the surface than the doctored source.

The low-res and blurry source image of the moon (left), and what Samsung’s smartphone processed it as (right) [Reddit u/ibreakphotos]

The user reckons Samsung “is leveraging an AI model to put craters and other details on places which were just a blurry mess.” They go further to stress that while super resolution processing uses multiple images to recover otherwise-lost detail, this seems to be something different.

It is proposed that this is a case “where you have a specific AI model trained on a set of moon images, in order to recognize the moon and slap on the moon texture on it.”

“This is not the same kind of processing that is done when you’re zooming into something else, when those multiple exposures and different data from each frame account to something,” they propose. “This is specific to the moon.”

It is reckoned that since the moon is tidally locked to Earth, “it’s very easy to train your model on other moon images and just slap that texture when a moon-like thing is detected,” and that the AI is “doing most of the work, not the optics.”

Referencing to an earlier failed attempt to bust Space Zoom’s quality, Samsung assured that the feature used up to 20 pictures, then processed them as a composite with AI. That AI identifies the content of the scene, and then performs a “detail enhancing function” on the subject.

At the time of a previous investigation in 2021, attempts to trigger an overlay or AI processing on a clove of garlic on a black background or a table tennis ball failed to trick the smartphone. The 2023 test using a 170-by-170 resolution image of the real moon may have given the AI processing just enough basic detail to make it think it was looking at the actual moon.

The new test also eliminates any sort of multi-frame sharpening from being used, since it’s a shot of the same low-resolution moon for every frame.

It remains to be seen if this brief investigation will trigger closer scrutiny at the use of AI in photography, but the concept is one that has been employed across the entire mobile industry. Even Apple leans on computational photography to improve the quality of images from its cameras.

While the public may be convinced that AI processing techniques being applied to images from smartphone cameras is a good thing in general, oddly specific instances such as this may cause some pause for people who care about photography as an artform.

Save on the yellow iPhone 14

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Preorders opened early this morning for the iPhone 14 in yellow, and wireless carriers are already incentivizing the fun new color option to the tune of up to $1,000 off.

AT&T is offering up to $800 off the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, with the new yellow color included in the promotion. The discount is in the form of bill credits that span 36 months and the phone requires an eligible unlimited plan. You must also trade in an eligible smartphone in good working condition within 30 days of activation. See AT&T for additional terms and conditions.

Verizon has one of the top iPhone 14 Plus deals available, with the new yellow model as low as $5 per month with select 5G Unlimited Plans. Plus, get $200 when you switch. The terms found on Verizon.com stipulate the offer applies to the 128GB model, and the $200 Verizon e-gift card is sent within eight weeks with a qualifying port-in.

Red Pocket Mobile is also selling the iPhone 14, with the wireless provider knocking $100 off any iPhone plus six months free on any unlimited GSMA plan. The 6-month promotional offer cannot be applied to existing phone lines, according to the provider. Visit RedPocket.com for the full list of terms and conditions.

The yellow iPhone 14 is also available through the major wireless carriers at BestBuy.com. And Totaltech members can get up to 24 months of AppleCare on most iPhones while you’re a member. The Totaltech plan costs $199.99 per year and includes additional perks like 60-day return windows on eligible products, access to exclusive prices, and more.

There are plenty of additional deals in effect on everything from the 2023 Macs to tax software. Here’s a sampling of some of the sales, with hundreds of items discounted substantially in our AppleInsider Apple Price Guide.