Foreign airlines ban MacBooks on Indian flights; DGCA mulls similar move

Current Affairs

With several international airlines banning some older models of Apple's flagship laptop MacBook Pro in both check-in or hand luggage, including in India, fears of battery fire have returned to haunt users of the device.
In June, Apple announced a voluntary recall of its faulty 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops.
According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there's a chance that the devices sold between September 2015 and February 2017 could overheat and potentially cause fires.
Seeing this, India is pondering if it should ask the airlines to restrict the affected MacBook Pro models. “The DGCA is examining the issue and if need be, will do the needful,” said a senior official.
Singapore Airlines (SIA), a major operator to India, on Sunday said on its website: "Customers are to refrain from bringing the affected (MacBook Pro) models either as hand-carry or in checked baggage until the battery has been verified as safe or replaced by the manufacturer. Please visit Apple’s MacB ook Pro Battery Recall Program page to get more information on whether your product is affected, as well as on the available battery replacement options." Thai is also not allowing 15-inch MacBook Pro notebooks sold between September 2015 and February 2017 on the aircraft either as carry-on or checked luggage.

 The iPhone-maker reportedly said it had received 26 reports of the laptop's battery overheating, with as many as five consumers reporting minor burns and one suffering from smoke inhalation.Nearly 432,000 potentially affected MacBook Pro units were sold in the US and 26,000 in Canada.Apple issued a similar replacement programme last year for the latest 13-inch Pros over issues related to battery expansion...Read More

$2000 Galaxy Fold's screen broke after few days of use for some reviewers

Technology News

Samsung's new Galaxy Fold, a splashy $1,980 phone that opens into a tablet, is malfunctioning for some journalist reviewers after only a day or two of use, according to posts on social media on Wednesday.

The problem seems to be related to the unit's screen either cracking or flickering, according to Twitter posts by technology journalists from Bloomberg, The Verge and CNBC who received the phone this week for review purposes. The Galaxy Fold officially goes on sale on April 26 in the United States.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd did not respond to several requests for comment.

The South Korean company's Galaxy Fold resembles a conventional smartphone but opens like a book to reveal a second display the size of a small tablet at 7.3 inches (18.5 cm).

Although Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X foldable phones are not expected to be big sellers, the new designs were hailed as framing the future of smartphones this year in a field that has seen few surprises since Apple Inc introduced the screen slab iPhone in 2007.

The problems with the new phone drew comparisons to Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phone in 2016. Battery and design flaws in the Note 7 led to some units catching fire or exploding, forcing Samsung to recall and cancel sales of the phone. The recall wiped out nearly all of the profits in Samsung's mobile division in the third quarter of 2016.


 Reviewers of the new Galaxy Fold said they did not know what the problem was and Samsung did not provide answers.Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman tweeted: "The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just two days in...Read More