After using the iPhone16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro XL side-by-side for a week, I found each has its own strengths, but they have a lot in common too.

When we talk about smartphone features, we often concentrate on things like cameras, built-in apps and — these days — artificial intelligence. What we often forget about, though, is the "phone" part of smartphone. And the device makers themselves are just as guilty of that as the rest of us.

Indonesia said it has banned sales of smartphones made by Alphabet's Google due to rules requiring the use of locally manufactured components, days after blocking sales of tech giant Apple's iPhone 16 for the same reason.