Android

The first wave of Samsung Galaxy A38 5G leaks shows a phone moving steadily through certification, but the only concrete hardware detail attached to it so far is a letdown. Two battery cell model numbers tied to the device turned up in India's BIS database this week, SammyGuru reported, confirming Samsung is actively developing the phone even as separate reporting suggests it could ship with a noticeably dimmer screen than its predecessor.

Samsung's intelligent eyewear, widely referred to in reports as the Galaxy Glasses, just got its most detailed leak yet, and the headline number is weight. A new report pegs the glasses at roughly 41g with standard lenses, lighter than the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 3's approximately 51.5g build (Android Police, today). The same report lays out a full rundown of Samsung Galaxy Glasses specs and frame styles that Samsung itself has not confirmed, including a possible November release.

Chrome is building a Save Video Frame feature for its desktop Global Media Controls panel, a button meant to grab the active video frame as a clean image rather than a standard screenshot. Digital Citizen first reported the feature in April 2026. Chromium subsequently implemented it in July and enabled it by default in September. The feature has also been observed working in Chrome 155 builds, although availability across the stable channel remains unconfirmed.

Samsung's Galaxy S27 lineup is growing from three phones to four, and that expansion is tangled up with a chip decision Samsung hasn't made yet. Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra rumors have picked up through industry reporting out of Korea rather than leaked spec sheets this time, covering a new display material, a camera shake-up, and an unresolved fight over which processor powers the phone. Samsung's next top-tier device is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2027, according to ETNews.

A new rumor claims the Galaxy S27 Pro and Galaxy S27 Ultra could introduce DC dimming, a technology no Samsung flagship has used before, according to Android Central. If the claim holds up, Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra DC dimming would make the phone the first Samsung smartphone to ship with the technology, according to GSMArena, which reported on the same rumor two days ago.

The Glowbar, the light strip built into the lid of Glowbar-equipped Googlebook laptops, normally just reports battery level and flashes when Gemini is active (Android Authority, just over two weeks ago). A hidden system app called Glowbar Disco turns that same strip into a customizable, music-reactive light show instead, and figuring out how to find Glowbar Disco on Googlebook means digging past the regular app launcher into the system settings menu (9to5Google, 3 days ago).

Samsung's next flagship smartphone lineup could introduce a Galaxy S27 Pro, giving buyers another premium option — and potentially another reason to pay attention to which version of a phone they're buying. New reports suggest Samsung is expanding production of its Exynos 2700 processor, which could power several Galaxy S27 models in some markets while other regions receive Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.

Google's new Android sideloading restrictions took effect on September 30, 2026, bringing developer verification requirements to four countries. But Android users can still install apps outside Google Play, and the first round of enforcement is more limited than the broader policy might suggest.

Some Pixel owners have been stuck in a bootloop since installing the March Android 16 QPR3 update, with phones hanging on the Google logo or failing to boot at all, according to a report from XDA Developers earlier this year. The reports span models from the Pixel 6 through the Pixel 10 and have surfaced across several Reddit threads, per the same report.

Google Pixel Connected Camera support is rolling out to 11 new apps, including Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, through a Play Store update to Pixel Camera Services spotted by Android Authority yesterday. The outlet's count puts the feature's total supported-app list at 16, up from five. Google has not published a support page or changelog confirming this specific list, so the expansion should be treated as reported, not officially confirmed, until Google documents it directly.

The Google Pixel 10a price increase is already showing up at checkout. The phone's U.S. price jumped from $499 to $599 at the Google Store, and that new figure has spread to Amazon and Best Buy too.

Every launch Googlebook keyboard turns F1, F2, and F3 into dedicated Android navigation keys, giving the Googlebook physical navigation buttons a permanent spot on the hardware instead of leaving them as onscreen taps. The layout is identical across every model currently on sale, according to The Verge's hands-on report from yesterday.

A single leaker claims Samsung has reworked how the Galaxy S27 Ultra manages power during a charge, producing a reported 2-3% improvement in Galaxy S27 Ultra charging speed over the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The phone is also rumored to pack a notably larger 5,700mAh battery, a pairing that puts the 2-3% figure to a real test: does it keep pace with more battery to fill, or does it just take the edge off a charging-time penalty, according to SamMobile (yesterday) and Android Headlines (yesterday)?

Google says the Android Auto squiggly line design in its media player is permanent, closing out months of back-and-forth over whether the wavy progress bar would get scrapped. The confirmation came last week in a Reddit post that also covered four other Android Auto media updates, according to 9to5Google.

No verified Google Pixel 11 Pro deal at $849 turned up in the sources reviewed for this article. The claimed Google Pixel 11 Pro for $849 remains unverified here, treated as an unconfirmed number rather than an active discount until a retailer page or price-tracking source backs it up. This is a deal-verification report, not a list of the best Google Pixel 11 Pro deals.

Start with one question: did tap-to-pay ever work right on this phone, or did it work fine for weeks and then suddenly quit? That answer determines whether you're dealing with a setup problem you can fix yourself or a newly reported bug that no amount of settings-tweaking will touch. Working through that distinction first is the fastest way to fix Google Wallet not working on Pixel without wasting time on steps that don't apply to you.

Some Pixel owners are reporting laggy, stuttering gameplay in lightweight titles like Clash Royale and Brawl Stars after installing Android 17, with the slowdowns seemingly tied to restricted GPU performance (9to5Google, last month). It's a small story on its own, and the report doesn't pin the blame on any specific Pixel generation. But it's a useful reminder that Pixel 10 GPU performance issues never fully went away, despite months of driver updates aimed at fixing them.

Anyone who delayed a flight purchase waiting for a "magic" weekday can stop checking the calendar. Google's latest breakdown of its own booking data answers the best time to book holiday flights question bluntly: buying on the cheapest day of the week saves about 1.4% compared with the most expensive day, a gap too small to matter next to the two levers that actually move prices, choosing the right travel days, which can save around 14%, and skipping a nonstop for a connection, which saves...

TechRadar reported recently that Google is rolling out a batch of Google Home updates addressing errors with Nest cameras and doorbells, Matter device status, Find My Phone, and Automations, based on September 30 release notes from Google. The Gemini voice-assistant changes are labeled Early Access. Google does not apply that label to the separate Google Home app fixes.

Samsung is going bigger again with the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, a 14.6-inch Android flagship built around a massive OLED display, an included S Pen, expandable storage, and desktop-style multitasking. Samsung will release the tablet in the US on Oct. 7, 2026, putting it directly against Apple's 13-inch iPad Pro M5 at the top of the premium tablet market.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 deal spotted by Tom's Guide puts the foldable at $1,649 on Best Buy's site, a price the outlet called $250 off, in a report published five days ago (Tom's Guide). That listing surfaced roughly two weeks before iPhone Duo preorders open on October 16, with Apple's foldable starting at $1,999 for the 256GB model (Apple Newsroom). If the Best Buy price still holds and both phones are matched on storage, the Fold 8 would land roughly $350 cheaper than Apple's entry-level...

Google Find Hub NFC tracker support is rolling out via Play services version 26.39 and later, changing what happens the moment someone finds a lost tag. Tapping an NFC-compatible phone against an NFC-compatible Find Hub tag can surface its details and settings, or help identify a lost tag, according to 9to5Google. The same release lets owners name a tracker, assign it a category, and turn on Left-Behind Reminders during initial setup instead of circling back into the Find Hub app later, per...

Every Google Wallet vs Samsung Wallet comparison eventually turns into a feature checklist: cards, passes, keys, IDs. That's the wrong place to start.

Samsung raised prices across the Galaxy S26 lineup in the US, UK, Canada, and Europe this week, pushing the base Galaxy S26 from $899 to $999 and the top-tier 1TB Galaxy S26 Ultra to $1,999 (9to5Google, 4 days ago). The Galaxy S26 price increase took effect October 1 and followed earlier increases in India and South Korea (SamMobile, 3 days ago).

Google Calendar currently forces every calendar in an account to share one default event length. That might not last. A teardown of the Android app's code points to Google testing a per-calendar default event length setting, one that would let each calendar hold its own typical duration instead of borrowing a single number for the whole account, according to Android Authority.

Samsung's own documentation confirms that specific Galaxy S24 Ultra zoom shots and Motion Photo frame extractions can save as 12MP files, not the 50MP or 200MP number printed on the spec sheet. What the company's public materials don't confirm is what happens to an ordinary photo shot at 1x, when Samsung's "24MP fusion" processing is doing its work in the background. Those are two different claims, and mixing them up is where the confusion starts.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Google €403 million, about $463 million, over how it processed location data through three features: Web & App Activity, Location History, and Location Accuracy. The regulator also ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance with GDPR within six months.

Some Pixel owners are still waiting for the Google Wallet fix that should have landed automatically. If your phone is showing a "Device doesn't meet security requirements" warning every time you open Google Wallet, it hasn't been compromised and your cards are fine. A stalled update rollout left a specific group of beta opt-outs stranded on a software build that Wallet's security checks no longer recognize as certified.

Samsung Electronics' phone business lost money in the same quarter its chip division posted the most profitable quarter in company history. The MX and Networks unit, which sells Galaxy phones, tablets, wearables and networking gear, reported an operating loss of KRW 0.7 trillion for the second quarter of 2026, even as the company's chip division posted KRW 89.2 trillion in operating profit and companywide operating profit hit an all-time high of KRW 89.5 trillion, according to Samsung's...

Google closed its Pixel 11 launch event in New York on August 12 the way it opened: with Trevor Noah on stage. Near the end, Rick Osterloh, Google's hardware chief, joined him, apparently to wrap things up, after a lineup expected to include Alex Cooper, Steph Curry, PinkPantheress and Ayami Nakajo, according to Engadget's live coverage of the show. It made for solid television. It made for a thinner night of proof.

Some Nest Doorbell owners outside the US are hearing their doorbell announcements delivered in an American accent even though other Google Home interactions on the same account still match their configured language or dialect.

A hidden screen tucked inside a Google Messages beta build caps pinned chats at six, well below the 20 conversations the app currently lets most users pin. The find points to a broader Google Messages pinned chats redesign that would show pinned chats as large contact icons in a row at the top of the inbox, replacing today's smaller pin treatment.

Samsung's stable One UI 9 update is now reaching the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy Z Fold 7, and Galaxy Z Flip 7, with the rollout confirmed live in South Korea, according to Android Authority. It's the next phase of a staged rollout that started with the Galaxy S26 family, and it puts Samsung's 2025 flagship lineup on the same Android 17 build already running on the newer S26 and Z8 devices.

Xiaomi has now launched the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China, locking in the camera hardware that was being teased before their Sept. 23 debut. Samsung, meanwhile, hasn't officially revealed the Galaxy S27 Ultra camera system yet, and leakers are still disagreeing over parts of its telephoto setup.

Samsung is boosting compensation as engineers weigh offers from rival SK hynix, but the gap between its memory and foundry businesses remains wide.

Samsung budget Galaxy phone price hikes in the US have landed on four models that are already on sale, not a new generation revealed at launch. The Galaxy A17 5G, A27 5G, A37 5G, and A57 5G all carry higher Samsung.com prices this week than they did before, according to SamMobile and Engadget, which both reported the new figures.

Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy SmartTag3, and for the first time in the SmartTag lineup, the tracker supports iPhone finding and sharing alongside Galaxy devices. T

Fantastical, the calendar app that spent 13 years as an Apple exclusive before reaching Windows two years ago, is reportedly rolling out to early Googlebook users today. Techritual reports that access is already live for a limited group, while Android Authority describes the broader Fantastical Googlebook launch as an announced plan rather than a finished release (Techritual, today; Android Authority, today).

Google has filed a legal challenge against two European Commission orders that would force it to open Android and Search to AI competitors, taking the case to the EU General Court in Luxembourg. The move targets July 2026 decisions requiring Google to give rival AI assistants access to Android features comparable to what its own services receive, plus a separate mandate to share search data with competing search engines, according to The Irish Times and The News International.

A fresh APK teardown suggests the Pixel Search app coming to older Pixels might finally go official, though Google still hasn't said a word about it. Code inside Pixel Search version 1.0.983036833 points to support for Pixel 6 and newer, a Gemini-powered suggestions feature, and new privacy controls, Android Authority found. Only one of those three things is actually live right now: the privacy toggles. The rest is still buried in code.