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 While the headline feature of Apple's new lowest-cost iPad is an A16 chip, the device has some other new features and changes.
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 Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday teased that there was "something in the air" this week, and it turns out that could be "things" plural. Following today's announcement of a new iPad Air with an M3 chip, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman now says that Apple plans to announce the long-rumored MacBook Air with the M4 chip tomorrow.
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 Mobile World Congress is taking place in Barcelona this week, offering manufacturers an opportunity to show off new gear without needing to hold their own splashy event. So far, we've learned about some new laptops and phones, as well as upcoming AI updates to Android and an internet connectivity announcement from Meta.
Here's a look at everything announced at Mobile World Congress that caught our eye. We'll update this story throughout the week.
Lenovo
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Among the bigger-name manufacturers, Lenovo has arguably had the busiest MWC so far. The company has revealed a whole bunch of laptops, including upgraded ThinkPads and several intriguing concept models.
The ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1 has a design that's more aligned with the convertible format of the Yoga lineup than a typical ThinkPad. The 14-inch machine can be equipped with a 400-nit WUXGA touch display. Other ThinkPads are getting spec upgrades, while Lenovo claims the new ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 has "one of the lightest ThinkPad designs ever." The company has a fresh slate of
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The latest Pixel feature drop is here with Google rolling updates across its family of smartphones and wearables. If you're a Pixel 9 owner in the US, you'll soon have access to a new version of Pixel Studio capable of creating stickers and images of people. As a refresher, Pixel Studio is an AI image app that is exclusive to Pixel devices. "Just type a description of a person or scene you'd like to see, or choose the style you want, like 'video game' or '3D cartoon,'" Google says of the new feature. The approach Google taking here is similar to the one Apple currently employs with Image Playground. Photorealistic images are off the table so that you can't use Pixel Studio to confuse your friends and family.
Beyond Pixel Studio, Google is bringing other AI features to the Pixel family in the US and beyond. Most notably, the company's live scam protection, which Google brought to testers last fall, is expanding to more devices, with additional functionality for those with Pixel 9 handsets in the US.
If you own a Pixel 9, it will start screening English calls to protect you from scams. On the Pixel 6 and newer, Google is expanding the availability of scam text detection, with the feature rolling out to phones in the US, Canada and United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Pixel 9 and Pixel 8 Pro users in Japan can look forward to a large portion of the brand's AI suite, including Pixel Screenshots and Pixel Studio, rolling out to their devices.
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 Apple today announced the newest additions to its tablet family, the 11th generation iPad and M3 iPad Air. Alongside these refreshes, the company has introduced a Springtime refresh of iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands, introducing bright new colorways for the new season.
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Samsung's Display division is demonstrating these new OLED panels independently of Samsung's mobile hardware at the show, which is interesting since MWC is generally an event laser-focused on smartphones and other small devices. Among many other OLED panels, the most compelling offering for PC gamers is definitely "the world's first 500Hz QD-OLED monitor." That's only a hair faster than the current 480Hz record for OLEDs, while still lagging behind the fastest LCDs on the market. OLED is turning more heads for monitor upgrades at the moment, thanks to its vibrant colors and perfect contrast.
Samsung is also showing off a 15.6-inch 240Hz OLED for laptops, pushing the tech into a faster format for gaming machines, which still mainly rely on LCD panels for their higher refresh rates. Yet while OLEDs look great, faster OLED panels could complicate matters for a laptop that needs to mind its power efficiency.
Note that these announcements come from Samsung Display, the division that provides OEM hardware to other companies. While i
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iFixit today shared one of its traditional teardown videos, taking apart the new iPhone 16e to take a closer look at the internal components.
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Mobile World Congress is taking place in Barcelona this week, offering manufacturers an opportunity to show off new gear without needing to hold their own splashy event. So far, we've learned about some new laptops and phones, as well as upcoming AI updates to Android.
Here's a look at everything announced at Mobile World Congress that caught our eye. We'll update this story throughout the week.
Lenovo
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Among the bigger-name manufacturers, Lenovo has arguably had the busiest MWC so far. The company has revealed a whole bunch of laptops, including upgraded ThinkPads and several intriguing concept models.
The ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1 has a design that's more aligned with the convertible format of the Yoga lineup than a typical ThinkPad. The 14-inch machine can be equipped with a 400-nit WUXGA touch display. Other ThinkPads are getting spec upgrades, while Lenovo claims the new ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 has "one of the lightest ThinkPad designs ever." The company has a fresh slate of
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Turning your phone off protects it from some hacks
Surprisingly, this includes a very basic task that many people never do: switching your phone off completely. According to security experts at the NSA, this alone helps to protect the device from some hacking attacks. It is now not only common to gain access to smartphones via malicious links, but also via zero-click exploits.
This involves bypassing the smartphone's security features step-by-step, starting with a missed call, then the first installed files, which gradually allow access to the system so hackers can tap into your information. Zero-click exploits usually go unnoticed, but can be prevented by completely rebooting the device.
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