⚡ Happy Mother's Day, and welcome back to another edition of The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority newsletter that keeps an eye out for the top Android and tech news from the week.

👋 Tristan Rayner pondering just how much to trust the leaks, as always...

Google leak #1: Is it even a leak if it comes from Google’s own official Android Twitter account? Ponder that as you gaze upon Google tweeting and deleting an announcement of its new Pixel Buds A series, which must be ready now for Google I/O this month. Google even published it on its German store page for a moment. Head here for what to expect out of the likely cheaper Pixel Buds model.

Google leak #2: More evidence of the Pixel 6 coming with Google’s own chip codenamed “Whitechapel.” This time, a little code commit revealed more than intended.

Samsung leak #1: A particularly ambitious and borderline out-there Galaxy S22 Ultra leak suggests a zoom camera with continuous optical zoom, which takes us into DSLR territory rather than having to toggle between optical zoom distances. Speaking of DSLRs, Sony quit the business this week, going all-in on mirrorless camera (CNET).

Samsung leak #2: Samsung also inadvertently teased the mid-tier Galaxy A82 5G, via a security updates page. Not too much of a surprise that we’ll get this phone, given we’ve already seen multiple reports and leaks.

Xiaomi leak: Evidence galore that Xiaomi is working on a powerhouse tablet range, which would be nice to see. More hardware means more reasons for developers to properly offer Android apps for tablets, though don’t hold your breath.

Windows 10X leak: RIP Windows 10X? Microsoft allegedly halts development, no 2021 launch

Epic vs Apple: It’s been quite the week for tech watchers as details emerge from the depths of the thousands and thousands of documents from each side of the ongoing Epic vs Apple trial. We’ve even seen glimpses of skirmishes between other companies arise from the documents, such as Netflix vs Apple (9to5Mac), Xbox vs Windows (The Verge), Facebook vs Apple (CNBC), and Sony vs Epic (The Verge). This is a tiny fraction of what’s really going on in the real battle, however, as Apple’s lawyers try and trip Epic up on its own business operations. Meanwhile, Apple’s unwillingness to compromise for anyone, including the bad iPhone web app experience (The Verge), has become a big talking point.

2nm tech unveiled: IBM delivered a breakthrough in chip fabrication, unveiling the world’s first 2nm chip technology. This should promote greater efficiencies and better battery life in a few years’ time. Lots of technical detail still to come.

Rocket crash: Not SpaceX! SpaceX’s prototype Starship SN15 landed successfully for the first time this week. No, this crash is a 21-ton Long March 5B rocket that made an uncontrolled re-entry this weekend, at the time of writing, seems to have made re-entry over the Arabian Peninsula and may have landed in the Indian Ocean, possibly near the Maldives, but details aren’t clear yet. It’s the biggest object set to unpredictably smack into Earth, including inhabited areas, in years (Twitter).

Leek: To round off the leaks and news this week, let’s go with some spring produce: leeks! Here’s a nice frittata recipe with leeks, of course (Washington Post). I welcome your leek recipe ideas, too!

Here’s a long-term review you might not have expected: the iPhone 12 Pro Max revisited.

• Eric Zeman had has the flagship iPhone for a solid six months while reviewing other devices, and has the breakdown of the good and bad six months later.
• What’s good? Performance, battery life, and cameras are all top-tier!
• What’s not? Interestingly, the design of the phone for how it feels, and the display, are two bugbears, while charging speeds just aren’t great. 

Features

• Must read: What devices are Android Authority readers using? (2021 edition). I wrote the 2019 edition of this series and it’s fascinating to see the shifts here. The Google Pixel 5 is the most popular individual Android handset, but Google as a whole isn’t doing great.
• OnePlus One vs OnePlus 9 Pro — how much have OnePlus’ cameras improved?
• The untold story of how Jeff Bezos beat the tabloids (Bloomberg).
• John Swartzwelder, sage of The Simpsons: This is the first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time (New Yorker). Wonderful stuff.

• May 11: Arm Tech Day
• May 12: Zenfone 8 launch
• May 18-20: Google I/O 2021
• May 19-20: Qualcomm 5G Summit 2021
• June 7-11: WWDC 2021

Tech Tumblr post of the Week

The tweet of the week takes a back seat this week to a Tumblr post about a bread scanning algorithm that went on to be used for… identifying cancer cells? It’s true:

All the best,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.