Author: Brett Venter

If you’re Samsung right now, then you’re probably pretty pleased with yourself. There are only really two smartphone makers in contention for the title of Number One Smartphone Brand — in the Western world, anyway — and, typically Apple is the titleholder. But… but, Samsung’s managed to snatch the crown away from Apple. That’s the word according to Strategy Analytics, which specialises in various tech markets around the world. But while that may be good news for Samsung right now, it’s probably only temporary. Everything’s coming up Samsung Which is a shame, if you’re working for the South Korean company…

Huawei’s Honor is going back to China, if a report by Reuters is accurate. The smartphone maker’s budget sub-brand, Honor, is being sold off in a deal that’s set to make Huawei about $15.2 billion — a not insubstantial sum of cash. At least, that’s the story according to various sources. Huawei’s Honor will go to a consortium made up of Chinese distributor Digital China and the government of Shenzen. You know, the place where most of you tech is made? (And also Huawei’s home town.) Keeping your Honor intact The sale will be made entirely in cash, according to…

The big news at Apple’s One More Thing event was the new M1 processor — which is all fine and dandy but it’s useless if it’s not inside something. Something like the 13.3in MacBook Air, for example? Or the Mac Mini, as well as the 13.3in MacBook Pro? Yeah, that sounds a little more like it. MacBook Air Look, as expected, nothing’s changed for Apple’s devices — visually, that is. It’ll look the same on the outside as Intel-toting machines, which means you’ve got two choices: brag, or silently bask in the speed upgrades that Apple’s new chip offers. Apple’s…

Apple’s gone and done it — by which we mean it has announced its own processor, the M1. Because Apple doesn’t go for very descriptive names (it’s a thing for them), explaining the M1 goes a little something like this: Apple’s made the M1 as a processor replacement, one that will eventually transition to the company’s whole product line. It’s an integrated system-on-chip (SoC) that looks a lot like its existing mobile processors, at least in terms of architecture. In terms of performance… well, Apples making some serious claims. Like, seriously serious. And we kinda believe them. We’re still gonna…

South Africa might be all about the iPhone when it comes to Apple’s kit but the pending One More Thing event, which takes place later this evening, has something a little special in store for fans. That is, (most likely) the announcement of the first Apple MacBooks powered by Apple’s very own processors. Intel’s probably not very happy about this… The valley of silicon The biggest thing incoming will be new MacBook models, bearing the first Apple-made processors to grace the company’s notebook hardware. But not, we reckon, the last. This is probably the beginning of an extensive shift from…

Stuff will test pretty much anything, provided we can get our hands on it. Smartphones, TVs, tablets, notebooks… sure. But we’ve also fiddled with night-vision goggles, thermal cameras, surfboards — you name it, if it’s even slightly technological, we’ll test it. As is the case with Under Armour’s new SportsMask, which has been designed to keep sportspeople safe from spreading the dreaded ‘Rona. Just a pretty face? The Under Armour SportsMask (just to look at it) is an attractive bit of apparel. Especially if you’re a fan of slick design. Under Armour knows how to design gear that looks good…

It’s not exactly the best-kept secret in the world but Telkom and SABC have made their new streaming service, TelkomONE, official. Or, rather, they’ve announced a partnership (which will probably allow the SABC to claim that TV licenses are now needed for devices that can stream video). TelkomONE is a new South African streaming service, hosted by Telkom. The SABC is involved thanks to a five-year partnership that’ll see SABC’s TV offerings — SABC 1, 2, Sport and Education — and 19 radio stations streaming on the service. TelkomONE to watch? The service, which is available on Android, iOS and…

You know that it’s okay to skip an instalment of FIFA, right? EA’s FIFA 2021 caught it in the neck at launch — specifically its Nintendo Switch version — because of how few changes had actually been made to the game in the course of a year. And being upset about that is fine. But FIFA is all about football and the game has been around since the second or third century BC — or around the 12th century if you’re an England supporter. And in video game form, the sport has been digitally represented since the 1970s. The FIFA…

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll remember that last year a new smartphone factory opened in South Africa, for a brand called Mara. Well, it’s just added another facility to its list here in SA, with the opening of a Mara Experience Store, owned by South African personality Chante Jantjies, at Maponya Mall in Soweto. This is Mara why And the store isn’t going to be the only one. There are another fifty of these things, owned either independently or by the company itself, planned for South Africa before the end of 2022. We reckon they’d like to go faster…

Who would have seen the Tecno Spark 5 coming? Us, for one. Part of working at Stuff means keeping an eye on devices that aren’t necessarily available in South Africa. We’ve been aware of Tecno as a brand for several years now and while the Chinese smartphone maker has its fingers in the African market, it just hasn’t managed to get to the South African market. Until now, that is, with the Tecno Spark 5. Which, on first glance, is one heck of a deal. And that’s because the Tecno Spark 5 will set you back just R3,000. That’s the…