News

Experiment exposes truth about Samsung’s moon photos

Is it real or fake?

Published

March 14, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

How much do you value moon photography in your smartphone? For a few brands, touting a super-zoom camera that can take photos of the moon is the name of the game. However, an experiment last weekend revealed some truths about Samsung and its Space Zoom.

For a few years, Samsung has touted its incredibly capable camera. Named the Space Zoom, the camera can take unbelievably clear photos of the moon. Though the moon isn’t always a priority for users, a tremendous zoom is always a must for smartphone cameras.

If you think a zoom that can capture the moon is too good to be true, it is… a bit. Soon after the introduction of the feature, pundits (and Samsung itself) has confirmed that the feature is using some AI magic to make the moon as clear as it looks on Galaxy phones.

Over the weekend, the conversation was rekindled once again. A Reddit thread, created by u/ibreakphotos, experimented with the feature even more. Rather than taking photos of the moon directly, the experiment took photos of a screen showing artificially blurred photos of the moon. By using Gaussian blur, the user eliminated most of the detail and, therefore, taking out anything that the camera might recover.

Image source: Reddit

Regardless of the quality of the photo, the Galaxy device still put out an incredibly clear shot of the moon, producing it from seemingly nowhere. It’s clear that the AI is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

To hammer this point further, the user eliminated more detail by erasing craters and partially cropping parts of the moon. This threw the AI for a loop. Despite what it did previously, the photo remained blurred in the final output.

Since the moon looks the same everywhere, it’s easy for the AI to upscale even the blurriest of photos. However, tricking it is easy by obscuring the more telling details of the moon.

Now, knowing about this shouldn’t knock Samsung down drastically. After all, the brand already advertises its AI as a primary force for its camera. Plus, the zoom is impressive in its own right, upscaling powers aside. The main takeaway should be how AI remains important to today’s technology.

News

Report: HONOR tops global smartphone shipment growth in 2025

HONOR also improves overall market share

Published

February 6, 2026

GadgetMatch

HONOR topped last year’s global smartphone shipment growth, according to an Omdia report. The manufacturer achieved an 11% year-over-year growth, which ranked first among the world’s top 10 smartphone vendors.

Furthermore, as per data from IDC, in the first three quarters of 2025, HONOR also led all top brands in overseas shipment growth across these premium segments:

Smartphones priced above US$ 300 (premium and upper-mid-tier)
Tablets in the US$ 300 to US$ 600 price band (upper-mid)

Such growth enabled HONOR to improve their overall market share to 6% in 2025. They’ve already edged Lenovo (5%), HUAWEI (4%), and realme (3%) after a strong calendar year.

Unarguably contributing to their performance are the releases of the flagships HONOR Magic V5 and HONOR Magic7 Pro, as well as mid-rangers like the HONOR 400 series and a handful of HONOR X series devices.

Meanwhile, Transsion, which holds the Infinix, TECNO, and itel brands, have an 8% market share combined, which is the same as OPPO and vivo. Xiaomi is at 13%, while giant players Apple and Samsung both have a 19% market share each.

Building on their growth, HONOR is set to unveil groundbreaking products at MWC 2026 in Barcelona this March.

These include the HONOR Robot Phone and the brand’s latest flagship foldable, the HONOR Magic V6. The impending releases accelerate the momentum of HONOR’s Alpha Plan.

Gaming

Valve is delaying the launch of the Steam Machine

But it’s still scheduled for the first half of 2026.

Published

February 6, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Overshadowed only by the Nintendo Switch 2, the upcoming Steam Machine was one of the most exciting gaming devices announced last year. Unfortunately, especially if you were waiting intently for the console’s launch, Valve is delaying the device by an undisclosed amount of time.

Initially, Valve anticipated a launch for the Steam Machine sometime in the first half of 2026. However, as the calendar rolls on into the second month of the year, the company has yet to announce either a price or a launch date for the console. Valve says that both should be out by now.

In a recent update, the company confirms that ongoing chip shortages have forced a reevaluation of the Steam Machine’s price and shipping date. This also goes for the Steam Controller and the Steam Frame. Valve is going back to the drawing board to figure out what is feasible for the console market.

On the bright side, Valve is still aiming to launch all three devices in the first half of the year. It’s just a matter of determining when that is.

The Steam Machine is just the latest in a growing line of devices affected by the chip shortage. Today, chipmakers are funneling their supplies to the supposed demand for AI servers. Naturally, more infrastructure means less chips reserved for regular consumers.

Also recently, NVIDIA was rumored to skip this year for a new GPU launch because of the AI “boom”. It’s the first time that this has happened in thirty years.

Gaming

No new NVIDIA GPUs this year, report says

Once again, it’s because of AI.

Published

February 6, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Yesterday, AMD made the bold claim that the next-generation Xbox is coming next year. In a world drowning in manufactured hype for AI, hearing about GPUs going back to gaming is refreshing. NVIDIA, however, still has its pipelines clogged with artificial intelligence. According to reports, the company will not release new graphics cards this year.

This is unprecedented. A new graphics card is often a highlight for gamers every year. Even in recent times when prices beggar belief, a newly launched chip still generates hype.

Now, for the first time in thirty years, NVIDIA will not launch a new card in a calendar year (via The Information). Like a lot of things happening this year, AI is the culprit.

Buoyed by the dreams of billionaires, GPU companies are busy dedicating their stock of chips for AI servers. Because these servers artificially blew up the demand for GPUs, everything else that needs such a chip is projected to see a price hike this year. This includes smartphones, gaming consoles, and cars. Regular consumers have been left to deal with the aftermath of the imaginary AI boom.

According to The Information, NVIDIA’s current lineup is only partially composed of chips meant for gaming. Only around 8 percent of its revenue came from that segment in the first nine months of last year. In its defense, AI chips are much more profitable right now, but it’s still a big blow against consumers who just want to play games.