South Korean tech giant Samsung’s line of Fan Edition (FE) phones, which got its start with the Galaxy S20 FE, as per new rumours won’t have the Galaxy S22 FE.
According to GSM Arena, it looks like the company might be ready to shelve its FE smartphones after just two years. Fans, who wanted a more affordable option with a flagship chipset and weren’t willing to spend as much as the normal S series flagships costs, might not like this rumour.
Samsung has had problems releasing the Galaxy S21 FE, which came out almost a full year after the other members of the S21 family launched. At the time, rumours claimed this was due to the ongoing chip crisis, reported the outlet.
As per GSM Arena, the S21 FE’s position in the spotlight was quickly taken by the S22 line which was announced only a few weeks afterwards. Still, this isn’t a good reason to stop releasing FE phones, it’s just a reason to have them come out with less of a delay after the non-FE models.
Instagram eyeing TikTok’s full-screen experience
Instagram is testing the feed’s new full-screen mode and an updated navigation bar, hoping to make content on the platform more discoverable and immersive. The test, which Meta spokesperson Seine Kim said has expanded to a ‘limited number of people,’ is the company’s latest attempt to compete with TikTok when it comes to social video.
If a user is a part of that group, they’ll be able to see videos almost entirely full screen as they scroll through their feed; however, the navigation bar will still appear underneath them. The description, as well as buttons that let a user ‘favourite’ or comment on the video, will appear along the bottom, and the Instagram logo and other top buttons will appear floating above the top, reports The Verge. The company has previously tried full screen with its feed. A theme that could make the video stand out was tested last month, even though there were still white bars present at the top and bottom of the screen. Also, the main navigation bar at the bottom hasn’t changed much, but the company said that it has also been testing shortcuts for creating posts and messages.
The push to be more like TikTok isn’t just skin-deep either; it is also believed that Meta is making changes to the algorithms underlying Facebook and Instagram’s feeds in an attempt to stay relevant to how younger people use social networks, as per The Verge.
The experimental UI seems to be another thing Instagram is doing to stay competitive with TikTok. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a story about the test that photos are “an important part of Instagram”.
