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Get a Suunto Smartwatch Fitness Tracker for as Low as $349
Get a Suunto Smartwatch Fitness Tracker for as Low as $349
Picking the right sports watch can be a vital element of your fitness journey. Outdoor enthusiasts and athletes looking for a tool to train with should consider investing in an ultradurable smartwatch and fitness tracker from Suunto. You can grab your own Suunto sports watch for as low as $349 at Amazon.
Because Suunto smartwatches focus on the outdoors, they come equipped with a more rugged build. But they can keep track of your sports, daily activity, and sleep the same as other smartwatch brands. Weather's no concern, since the watch monitors the outdoor conditions and is water-resistant.
While some smartwatches work exclusively with one phone brand, Suunto smartwatches are compatible with both Android and iOS. You can see incoming calls and messages, view your to-do lists, make payments through Google Pay and download music or podcasts to listen to when you're offline.
Suunto
Suunto Baro 9 is a durable GPS watch with a barometer for accurate altitude information. and it provides up to 120 hours of continuous exercise tracking. The wrist heart rate monitor has been upgraded, as well as the accuracy of GPS and its battery life. The Suunto 9 sports watch features 80 sport modes including running, hiking, cycling, swimming, triathlon, trekking, fitness, climbing and more. This smartwatch alerts you to rain, sun, winds or snow, keeping you up-to-date on all storm and other relevant weather information. And with a water-resistance up to 100 meters, it can just about go wherever you do.
Suunto
If you're looking for a cheaper option and don't need all the bells and whistles, the Suunto 7 is another great smartwatch. It does all the basics and stays on top of weather, notifying you of rain, sun, wind or snow. It can handle these conditions and whatever you throw its way, with water-resistance up to 50 meters. And with a battery that can provide up to 40 days with battery saver mode, up to 48 hours of smartwatch use and up to 12 hours in GPS mode, you can customize the performance of your watch, allowing it to last as long as you do (or beyond).
Apple s iphone 13 is great but these missing features are exclusively offered apple s iphone 13 is great but these missing features are inserted apple s iphone 13 is great but these missing features in ford apple s iphone 13 is great but these missing actor apple s iphone 13 is great but these missing you apple s iphone 13 is great butternut apple s iphone 13 is great said no parent what to expect from apple s iphone 14 launch apple support apple smart watch
Apple's iPhone 13 is great, but these missing features are a letdown
Apple's iPhone 13 is great, but these missing features are a letdown
With longer battery life, better cameras, a new Cinematic mode and more base-level storage space, Apple's iPhone 13 lineup has a lot to offer over its predecessors. (Check out CNET's iPhone 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro and Pro Max reviews.) Although there's a lot to love about the iPhone 13, it's missing a few features we had hoped to see from Apple's latest smartphone. Many of these features are available on Android competitors, while others can be found on different Apple devices.
The iPhone 13, which is available for purchase, starts at $829 for the standard model without a carrier discount. The Mini begins at $729, the iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max has an entry price of $1,099.
Read more: Should you upgrade to iPhone 13? We compared the last five years of iPhones to find out
From an in-screen fingerprint reader to a truly borderless screen, here are the features missing from the iPhone 13.
USB-C support
Wouldn't it be great if you could use the same charger for your iPhone and the other gadgets in your home? Apple's latest iPhone, however, is once again missing USB-C connectivity. As has been the case since 2012, the latest iPhones require Apple's proprietary Lightning cable for wired charging.
Not only does that mean you can't use chargers from other gadgets to power up your iPhone, but it also means chargers from other Apple mobile devices might not be compatible with your iPhone. Apple's iPad Air, iPad Pro and newly announced iPad Mini, for example, all charge via USB-C. That means even if you're an Apple loyalist, you'll need to keep track of multiple charging cables.
An in-screen fingerprint reader
Face ID works great most of the time, but it would be nice to have the option of using your fingerprint to unlock your device as well. That's especially true over the last year and a half since Face ID can't accurately identify you while wearing a face mask. If you don't have an Apple Watch, you've probably been typing in your passcode much more than usual over the past year.
Read more: New iPhone 13? How to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone
Many Android phones, such as those from Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus, have fingerprint readers built into their screens. A 2019 report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is known for his sometimes accurate Apple predictions, said Apple would release an iPhone with Face ID and an in-display fingerprint sensor in 2021. That didn't turn out to be true, but perhaps we'll see it in the iPhone 14.
Satellite connectivity
One of the most prominent rumors about the iPhone 13 in the weeks before its launch was that it would come with satellite connectivity for sending texts in emergency scenarios. That didn't turn out to be true, at least not yet.
Kuo and Bloomberg both reported that the iPhone 13 would be able to use satellite connectivity in areas without cellular coverage. But Bloomberg's report provided a bit more detail, saying that this feature would primarily serve as an SOS for contacting emergency services. Messages would have a length restriction, and you might have to walk to a certain location to connect.
However, the Bloomberg report did say that the feature could be scrapped, and it warned that the iPhone 13 may not have the feature at launch even if it has the hardware to support it.
Wi-Fi 6E support
Wi-Fi 6E is new and isn't a must-have yet. But since many people buy an iPhone with the intention of keeping it for several years, it would have been helpful to see Wi-Fi 6E support in at least the Pro and Pro Max models.
Wi-Fi 6E is a special designation for Wi-Fi 6 devices that allows them to access the new 6GHz band of spectrum. As my colleague Ry Crist puts it, think of the 6GHz band as a "shiny, new seven-lane superhighway" that's only available for select devices. The 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands we're used to connecting on today's routers are more like a "one-lane country highway" and a "three-lane interstate," respectively.
There aren't many smartphones out there that support Wi-Fi 6E yet. But Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of them, and we're already seeing routers from Asus and Netgear that support 6E. If you're paying for the top-of-the-line iPhone, it would be useful to at least have Wi-Fi 6E connectivity as an option.
An always-on display
My Apple Watch has an always-on display, and I only wish my iPhone could, too. For years, smartphones from Samsung, OnePlus and other Android device-makers have had screens that are capable of showing information onscreen even when the display is asleep.
That might not sound like a big deal, but I've found it to be surprisingly useful. Most phones with an always-on display will show information like the time and your next calendar event when the display is turned off.
Having this information available at a glance has made it easier to see when my next meeting is without having to actually pick up my phone, which is helpful for avoiding distractions. If you don't own a smartwatch, an always-on display makes it easier to quickly see small bits of information while maintaining some distance from your phone.
A telephoto lens with a 10x optical zoom
The iPhone 13 lineup is getting major camera quality improvements. There's a new Cinematic mode on all four models that automatically switches the focus between subjects as needed, and the iPhone 13 Pro is getting the ability to take macro shots.
But the iPhone 13's telephoto camera still doesn't have as close a zoom as Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max have 6x optical zoom range, while the Galaxy S21 Ultra has two telephoto lenses that support a 3x and 10x optical zoom.
Samsung's smartphones are known for their zooming capabilities, which is why the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra was named our favorite phone for camera zoom in 2020. But we'll have to wait until we've tested the iPhone 13 Pro to see how it really stacks up against Samsung's latest flagships.
A notchless screen
Yes, Apple fans are probably used to the notch by now since it's been present on iPhones since 2017. But it's hard to overlook it when you consider the progress Android device-makers have made in this regard.
Most Android smartphones come with notch-free screens that include just a subtle hole-shaped cutout for the camera. Samsung was among the earliest to embrace this design back in 2019 with the Galaxy S10 family. But now, this design is common across the Android landscape, whether you're looking at phones from Samsung, Google, OnePlus or Motorola.
However, it's worth pointing out that part of the reason why the iPhone's notch is so large is because that's where all of its Face ID sensors are located. Apple's facial recognition system has generally been considered to be ahead of the competition, especially around the time it launched.
The flexibility to control the screen's refresh rate
The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max are the first iPhones to get Apple's ProMotion feature, which boosts the display's refresh rate to up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling and increased responsiveness. To conserve battery life, it throttles the screen to a lower refresh rate to maintain battery life.
Other phones like the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S20 give you more control and flexibility by allowing you to choose when you want to crank the refresh rate up to 120Hz rather than having the phone decide for you. It's possible to choose between a smoother scrolling option and a battery life option in Samsung's settings menu. You'll have to be willing to sacrifice some image quality and battery life, however.
Faster wireless charging
Wireless charging has been standard on the iPhone since 2017, but we still have yet to see meaningful improvements when it comes to charging speeds. If you're not using a MagSafe wireless charger, which can deliver 15-watt wireless charging speeds, you'll only be able to charge your iPhone at 7.5 watts.
That's a lot slower than most Android phones. Samsung's Galaxy S21, for example, supports 10-watt wireless charging, while the Galaxy S20 FE supports faster 15-watt wireless charging. The OnePlus 9 Pro supports 50-watt wireless charging.
Now that wireless charging is a given and is no longer considered a rarity on smartphones, it would be nice to see Apple boost the iPhone's wireless charging speeds the way it has done for the Apple Watch.
Reverse wireless charging for powering other gadgets
We've all been there. Maybe you're on the bus or train, and you pull out your AirPods only to see that dreaded red light signaling that your battery is about to run out. If only you could rest your AirPods case on the back of your iPhone to give it a little power boost.
This feature, broadly known as reverse wireless charging, is available on Android phones such as Samsung's Galaxy S21 line and the Google Pixel 5, but not on the iPhone 13. It essentially enables the back of your phone to act as a wireless charging pad for accessories like smartphones, wireless earbuds and even other phones.
Apple does have some version of this feature, but it's very limited and can't be used to power up AirPods or the Apple Watch, as far as we know. The iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 can supply a charge to Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack when plugged in with the accessory attached. We'd love to see Apple expand this functionality in the future.
Apple Pencil support
Apple has brought Apple Pencil support to every iPad in its lineup, but there's still no compatibility with the iPhone. I could particularly see the Apple Pencil being useful on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, both of which have nearly tablet-size 6.7-inch screens that are ideal for sketching and note taking. Plus, adding Apple Pencil support to the supersize Pro Max phones would give Apple yet another way to differentiate the Pro Max from the 6.1-inch Pro and make more use of its larger screen.
Lossless audio over Bluetooth
With chipmaker Qualcomm debuting its proprietary audio format for delivering lossless audio over Bluetooth, it would have been nice to hear similar ambitions from Apple.
Lossless audio uses a different compression method that preserves more detail than the process that's used to make Bluetooth audio files small enough to store on your phone. Qualcomm expects devices that support its lossless audio format should be launching in early 2022, so there's a chance we'll hear more about it around CES in January.
In the meantime, you'll have to use wired headphones or your iPhone's built-in speakers to listen to lossless music from your mobile device.
Center Stage for video calls
The entry-level iPad and iPad Mini now have Center Stage, the feature that automatically keeps your face in frame when video chatting. It works automatically and has been super convenient now that many of us are communicating with friends, co-workers and family members over video calls.
It would be more useful, however, if Center Stage was available across all of Apple's products, including iPhones and Macs. In fact, I do most of my video chatting on an iPhone or a Mac rather than an iPad, especially since phones are smaller and usually easier to hold at eye level in portrait orientation.
Use Google Now to send messages with WhatsApp, Viber (and other apps)
Use Google Now to send messages with WhatsApp, Viber (and other apps)
Viber on Android. Nicole Cozma/CNET
When you're driving, you shouldn't be texting -- and it may even be illegal depending on where you live. We all know this, but sometimes it's hard to resist at a stoplight, or even when traffic is slow. Instead of risking an accident, it's a good idea to use a hands-free utility like Google Now to handle your messaging needs.
In the past you could use Google Now to send SMS, Hangouts and email. However, a recent update will allow you to use the service to send messages through WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, Telegram and NextPlus. The process looks like this:
Say "Ok, Google," then wait for the app to start listening.
Follow up with "Send a [app name] message to [contact name] saying [your message]" Ex: "Send a Viber message to Jeff saying How are you?" Note: If you have multiple contacts with the same name, you may need to confirm which one you want to message.
Send a Viber message with Google Now. Nicole Cozma/CNET
You will see the app icon appear on the information card with your message, and then you can confirm sending by saying yes or tapping the arrow button.
Which other apps would you like to see working with Google Now? Share your favorites in the comments.
Motorola Razr 2020 review: The iconic flip phone has done it again, this time with 5G
Motorola Razr 2020 review: The iconic flip phone has done it again, this time with 5G
The new Motorola Razr 2020 addresses most of the issues I had with the Razr (2019) that came out in February. Overall it's a better phone. The new Razr gets a slew of upgraded specs, but lacks the top of the line ones found in the Motorola Edge Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. But neither of those phones can fold into something incredibly small.
With the Razr you're paying $1,400 (£1,399, which is about AU$2,470) for a foldable screen. And that's important to remember because there isn't wireless charging or a high refresh rate display, or a gigantic battery or IP-rated water and dust resistance, or a headphone jack or headphones or the most powerful Snapdragon processor. If you want to fold a 6.2-inch phone into something the size of a small drink coaster in 2020, you're going to pay a lot of money.
The Razr's refined foldable flip phone feels fantastic to use. With the new cameras, addition of support for 5G and all the useful enhancements to the external display, the Razr feels like a "normal" phone that can do "normal" everyday stuff with its "anything but normal" foldable build. If I were to compare the Razr to a car, it would be a fun two-seat convertible.
But not everything is rosy with this new Razr. The speaker in the chin is OK, but doesn't produce great-sounding audio at louder volumes. The glass on the back of my review unit has accumulated a few scuffs over 10 days. They're barely visible, but they're there. A case could have prevented these and Motorola will sell a nifty $50 case for the Razr.
Also, when I opened and closed my 2019 Razr review unit in February it made this weird loud squeak. For the most part, this new one didn't. I say for the most part because when I was filming the unboxing video for the Razr, I didn't hear a squeak. But when reviewing the footage, one of my video producers noticed that my mic picked up a small squeak.
Aside from the squeak (more on that below) my experience overall has been good with the new Raz. I have to give Motorola a ton of credit for all the changes and implementations they made.
As far as the price, this isn't a phone for everyone, especially with the financial hardship so many people are enduring right now. If you were seriously considering the Motorola Razr (2019) and didn't get it and you have the cash, you should consider this version. It's a refinement in nearly every way over that phone. But know that you're paying a lot of money for a phone that folds in half.
The body of the new Razr is made of aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5.
Patrick Holland/CNET
The new Razr's aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5 body feels solid
During my time with the new Razr, I used it like a regular phone. I didn't feel the need to be careful with it. I wiped the foldable screen on my jeans. I keep the phone in my pocket or in my bag.
Some of that assurance comes from its build. When you close the phone, the sides sit flush, encompassing and protecting the display. But some of that is my perception. I want to be confident that if the Razr is in a pocket with my house keys, that it won't get destroyed. That confidence and trust is huge, and I didn't feel that all-the-time when I reviewed the 2019 Razr.
The new Razr is built from aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5 and feels solid compared to the prototype feel of the February version. Also that plastic back is gone!
To reinforce the phone's robustness, Motorola invited me to visit one of their testing labs and see one of the 40 different testing machines it uses to test the Razr (wearing a mask and socially distanced, of course). I got to see a machine that folds the Razr in half to simulate years of use in just a matter of days. The idea is most people will never fold this phone enough to hit Motorola's 200,000-fold lifespan.
Read more: Motorola claims the Razr can fold 200,000 times. We get a peek at how the phone is tested
This is one of four new Motorola Razr phones on a machine that opens and closes it once every four seconds. Over the course of 10 days the phones will be folded 200,000 times.
Patrick Holland/CNET
My time with the Razr has largely been squeak-free… until Friday. I don't know if it's the humidity or what, but there's a little squeak anytime I open or close it. The only time I don't hear it is when I flick the Razr open one-handed. The squeak isn't as loud as the 2019 Razr. But when I hear it, I feel conflicted. I feel disappointed.
I asked a friend how they felt about the squeak and they said it didn't bother them. I guess when it comes to screen notches, foldable screen creases and now foldable phone squeaks, some of you will get used to these things while others will be wildly annoyed.
I should add that the squeak comes from the hinge mechanism, but doesn't indicate any mechanical problems.
Quick View display separates the Razr from the Galaxy Z Flip 5G
Perhaps my favorite feature is the Quick View display which got a lot more useful with the new Razr. Fundamentally this is where the Razr and the Galaxy Z Flip couldn't be more different. There are basically three modes to the outside display: The first is a Peek Display mode that lets you see notifications just by pressing and holding on an icon. The next is like a Peek Display plus mode where you can press and hold an icon, then swipe up to reveal multiple notifications and respond to them. The keyboard basically takes up the entire screen, but after a few uses I got better at typing on it.
But it's the third mode -- let's call it mini-Android mode -- where the true power of the Quick View display gets unleashed. When the Razr is closed and unlocked, you can swipe down to get to the control panel, swipe up to see something similar to the notification shade, swipe to the left to go to the camera and swipe right to see a grid of apps and swipe to the right again, to see contact favorites.
The Quick View display on the Razr is officially the smallest screen I've ever played PUBG Mobile on.
Patrick Holland/CNET
The phone can curate a list of apps that work well on the smaller external screen. Apps like Gmail, YouTube and Messages can be used complete with a mini keyboard. Also, you can go back and forth between the Quick View display and the interior display and pick right up where you were at.
You can also do what I did and go into the Manage apps setting and turn on unlimited which allowed me to try pretty much any app I wanted on the Quick View display. So I decided to try PUBG Mobile. I could barely make out the controls, but it is possible to play PUBG on the Quick View display. I also played Alto's Odyssey and Super Mario Run. Not every app is optimized for that small of a display. But this iteration of the Quick View display marks an enormous step in the right direction for Motorola.
Razr has a new 48-megapixel main camera
Then there are the cameras both of which got a solid upgrade. The selfie camera atop the internal display is much better and works great for Zoom meetings and taking selfies. Though video recording on the selfie camera does top out at 1080p.
The exterior camera has 48-megapixels and uses pixel-binning to create good 12-megapixel photos. This camera is much better than the 2019 Razr. And thanks to the optical image stabilization and a time-of-flight sensor, I got an acceptable rate of in-focus and sharp photos.
The HDR mode works rather well without it being too heavy-handed. It kept the faded blue of the pickup just right.
Patrick Holland/CNET
This was taken with the digital zoom at 2x. It's remarkable the detail it was able to capture. It also shows off the lens' natural bokeh.
Patrick Holland/CNET
Here's another photo where the Razr went into HDR mode.
Patrick Holland/CNET
This is a selfie I took with the exterior 48-megapixel camera with the phone closed.
Patrick Holland/CNET
But the Razr's cameras are not on the same level as the iPhone 11 or Google Pixel 4A. Unless Motorola added a Note 20 Ultra-sized camera bump onto the Razr (please don't do that) there is only such room for a sensor and lens inside something this small.
Low-light and zoomed in photos are soft and look like a painting because of noise reduction. There is a Night Vision mode that can help, but I find it works best in medium-to-low lighting versus situations where it's dark.
Here is a 5x digital zoom of the John Hancock building off in the distance. The details are definitely soft.
Patrick Holland/CNET
This photo was taken in the regular photo mode.
Patrick Holland/CNET
This photo was taken with Night Vision. This is the best Night Vision photo I took with the Razr. That said, the sky looks painted on.
Patrick Holland/CNET
The main camera also shoots 4K video and the quality is decent. Video definitely doesn't have the same dynamic range as photos and suffers from image noise and artifacts. But I'm happy with the clips I was able to record. Check some out video clips I shot below:
OK battery life, sub-6 5G and Snapdragon 765G
Motorola claims a benefit of using the Quick View display more is it doesn't tax battery life as bad as using the main display. And that's good news. In my use, the new Razr gets me barely through a day. I typically find myself topping off at dinner time. And that's while I'm connected to 5G. I'm getting about 7 hours, 30 minutes of screen-on time and in a test with continuous video playback on Airplane mode the Razr lasted 15 hours, 53 minutes, that's 1 hour, 50 minutes more than the 2019 Razr lasted in the same test. And that's 53 minutes more than the Galaxy Z Flip.
The new Razr has a larger battery than the 2019 Razr and some of that is to compensate for use on 5G, which can eat up battery life. The Razr can work on sub-6 flavors of 5G like on AT&T and T-Mobile. I've been testing this Razr on T-Mobile's 5G here in Chicago. Sometimes I get speeds over 100Mbps for downloads (that's outdoors) and other times I get speeds that are 4.55Mbps (that's also outdoors). Both of those results were well within the 5G coverage on T-Mobile's map and speaks more to T-Mobile's 5G network than it does the phone.
Powering all this is 8GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 765G processor. There will be some who will write the new Razr off because it doesn't have a Snapdragon 865 processor. But as we've seen in other Android phones this year, the 765G is a solid processor. In the Razr, it handled gaming, videos, photo edits, multitasking really well. And in benchmark tests, the Razr scored right on par with the LG Velvet.
3DMark Slingshot Unlimited
Motorola Razr (2020)
Motorola Razr (2019)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Geekbench v.5.0 single-core
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Geekbench v.5.0 multicore
Motorola Razr (2020)
Motorola Razr (2019)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Even with all these improvements, it's hard to recommend a $1,400 especially one that is still very much a concept waiting to live up to its hype in the real world. The same can be said about the Galaxy Z Flip 5G. That said, I'm excited for Motorola and hope they make as big a step forward with the next Razr as the company did with this one.
Motorola Razr (2020) specs verus Motorola Razr (2019), Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wields so much power that even one of the social network's co-founders thinks it's both "unprecedented" and "un-American."
Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook with Zuckerberg while they were students at Harvard, called for the social network to be broken up in an op-ed published Thursday by The New York Times. "I'm angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks," Hughes wrote, referring to Facebook's boss and major shareholder. "I'm disappointed in myself and the early Facebook team for not thinking more about how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence elections and empower nationalist leaders."
Facebook's rapid growth has been fueled by acquisitions, including Instagram and WhatsApp, a messaging service. Critics and experts say Facebook simply purchased its competition, rather than innovating to meet the challenges they posed.
"Their whole business model is to identify potential threats and then buy them or beat them in some way," said Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law.
And Facebook has been called out for not doing enough to combat election meddling, misinformation and hate speech. Its enormous power, critics argue, needs to be kept in check. Facebook doesn't want to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp.
Here's what you need to know:
Who wants Facebook broken up? Why?
Calls to break up Facebook aren't new. But it is startling to hear one of the company's co-founders call for such an extreme measure. Hughes argues that Zuckerberg holds so much power that even the company's board of directors can't keep him accountable. Zuckerberg controls around 60 percent of Facebook's voting shares, which means the board technically can't fire him even if he messes up.
Hughes isn't alone. Advocacy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Color of Change and Common Sense Media, have previously asked the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that enforces antitrust law, to make Instagram and WhatsApp separate companies. A split would also make it easier for other social media companies to compete with Facebook, the organizations argue.
In addition, a group called Freedom from Facebook has called on the FTC to force Facebook to spin off its Messenger service too.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who's also a presidential candidate, is among the lawmakers who want to break up Facebook, as well as other tech giants, including Google and Amazon.
How would Facebook be broken up?
One way to break up Facebook would be for the federal government to file a lawsuit against the company, arguing it stifles competition. That could prompt a negotiation between the parties that could lead to Facebook agreeing to make itself smaller.
Another alternative would be for Congress to pass a law covering tech monopolies. Warren has proposed such a law, which would require tech platforms that take in $25 billion or more in sales to "structurally separate" their products. Amazon, for example, would have to spin off its house brand Amazon Basics. Warren said that if she won the presidential election her administration would also appoint regulators to unwind the mergers of Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook.
What does Facebook think about the idea?
Facebook has pushed back, arguing that breaking up the company wouldn't hold the social network more accountable for its actions. Instead, Facebook has called for more internet regulation around harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.
"Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications, said in a statement Thursday. The social network also said that having Instagram and WhatsApp under Facebook helps them fight spam, election meddling and crime. Facebook says it has plenty of competition, pointing to YouTube, Snapchat, iMessage and WeChat, among others.
Clegg touched on all those points in a Saturday editorial in The New York Times.
Have tech companies been broken up in the past?
Yes, but it's unusual. In 1974, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T but the matter wasn't settled until eight years later. The telephone company was required to spin off two-thirds of its assets into separate companies, according to a 1982 article from The Washington Post. The government has also tried to break up Microsoft and in 2000 a US federal judge ordered that the tech giant split into two companies. Microsoft appealed and the decision was reversed.
What would this mean for users of Facebook?
Facebook is trying to integrate its messaging services so users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can send messages to one another without switching apps. Splitting up the companies might prevent that from happening.
Those who want the government to break Facebook up argue the move would fuel more competition among social media companies, which could mean more options for consumers. About 2.7 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger every month.
Diamond said that breaking up Facebook could also lead to the company stepping up its privacy efforts to match its social media competitors.
What are the chances this happens?
The FTC declined to comment on whether it's looking to break up Facebook. But if history is any indication, it would be a rare move.
"I doubt there is sufficient political momentum to break up Facebook," Diamond said. "I'm skeptical, even though I think there might be good reasons to do it."
Originally published May 10, 5:40 a.m. PT. Update, May 11: Adds mention of Facebook VP Nick Clegg's Saturday editorial in the Times.
