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Here's how much more you'll pay for your phone bill in the UK this year: Vodafone, O2, Virgin Media, and EE explained
Your phone bill will likely be going up this year if you live in the UK, and we have the numbers to show you just by how much.
Mobile network operators Vodafone, O2, Tesco, Three, and EE in the UK are set to ramp up their phone bill prices by as much as 10% in April. Vodafone, EE, and Three have all announced the reintroduction of roaming charges in the EU as well, whereas Virgin Mobile and O2 will not be re-introducing them.
Apple and Google criticized as a "duopoly" with a "vice-like grip" by U.K. competition authority
Apple and Google have been criticized as a "duopoly" with a "vice-like grip" over the mobile market by the U.K. competition authority.
A probe conducted earlier this year by the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concerned the CMA that Apple and Google represent a duopoly. The CMA says that Apple and Google have "too much control" over operating systems, app stores, and web browsers that together form their ecosystems. This comes following both Apple and Google being fined by the Italian competition authority for "aggressive practices" in data usage.
United Kingdom could block NVIDIA's purchase of Arm
The United Kingdom is now conduction a national security review of Arm's potential sale to Nvidia, which could be bad news for the deal.
NVIDIA signed a definitive agreement to purchase Arm, the U.K.-based semiconductor and software design company that develops the widely-used ARM architecture, in September of 2020. Even though that was more than a year ago, NVIDIA and Arm are still facing various regulatory loopholes, such as an investigation by the European Commission that opened last month. Now there's another potential roadblock: a national security review by the United Kingdom.
British right to repair law goes into effect today but doesn't cover smartphones or computers
A British right to repair law has gone into effect from today... but it doesn't cover smartphones or computers. Read more here.
A British right to repair law has gone into effect from today, although it doesn't cover smartphones or computers. The law requires manufacturers to make spare parts available to both consumers and third-party repair companies, and it applies to any product bought starting today. Companies have a grace period of up to two years to make spare parts available whenever a new product is launched.
HTC stops selling phones in the UK due to patent dispute
HTC has stopped selling its smartphones in the UK due to a patent dispute, as the company was found to be in violation of an agreement made in 2012.
Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC isn't dead, although it may as well be in the UK. Due to a patent dispute with Munich-based research and development company Ipcom, the company has pulled its smartphones from the UK market. The patent specifically pertains to car phones, which HTC agreed in 2012 to sell their phones in the UK with a workaround. However, Ipcom confirmed via testing that HTC did not implement the workaround, and instead continued to violate the patent. Ipcom said HTC had failed to "play by the rules" and had displayed "disregard for the law by contravening a UK court ruling".