Alchemy by Leban Hyde | UX + Branding

After the previous two weeks of a heavy mobile news cycle, this past week has been relatively light. It’s a good time to get caught up on recent announcements from CES and Galaxy Unpacked, if you haven’t already. And if you already have, although on the lighter side, this issue is for you.

Week 4 (01/21–01/27)

iOS, Safari, and App Store app icons

Apple… made major changes to App Store to comply with the Digital Markets Act. This will allow European users to download apps and make purchases outside the App Store. This also means developers will be able to accept payments outside the App Store, but that could get offset by the restructured fees. None of which, of course, affects the US market, but comes at a time when…

Vision Pro… may be struggling to provide a robust app market. Bloomberg’s Chief Tech Correspondent, Mark Gurman, reports that Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify will not be launching visionOS versions of their apps — and they’re not alone. Some key factors are the high cost of building apps, poor performance on other platforms, and challenges of moving from touch screens to mixed-reality, all underpinned by the strained relationship between Apple and developers. Hoo boy!

Google… announced the first Pixel feature drop of 2024. This will bring Magic Compose, Circle to Search (recently debuted at Galaxy Unpacked), and FDA-approved upgrades to the temperature sensor for Pixel 8 Pro as well as a handful of other features. As the title suggests, Pixel owners will be the first to receive these updates with other eligible Android devices following suit in the weeks to come.

Samsung… removes its own gesture navigation system from One UI 6.1. Users will be able to choose from the traditional navigation bar with virtual buttons or the default Android navigation gestures. While this might annoy some fans, this update helps close the gap between the Samsung skin and stock Android. And given that the OEM holds a majority share of Android devices in the US, I’d say it’s a significant change.

Galaxy AI… will be coming to fewer legacy Samsung devices than previously imagined. In an interview with Samsung’s Head of Customer Experience, it was revealed that Galaxy AI will only be available to the last two generations of devices. This may break the hearts of users with an S22 Series in their pocket, but if you were planning on supporting this feature in your app, your device swathe just got narrower.

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