Amazon owned Woot is kicking off the weekend with an aggressive discount on refurbished HomePods, delivering the lowest price anywhere on the smart speaker. Save $110 with free shipping for Prime members.
Apple in February will change the way it handles development teams for organizations, unifying individual memberships into a single set of roles across the Apple Developer website and App Store Connect.
Apple on Friday published a new series of iPad Pro advertisements that depart from past commercials by positioning the tablet not as a PC replacement, but as a "new way" of accomplishing various tasks, from taking notes to podcasting.
Apple today uploaded a new series of iPad Pro videos to its YouTube channel, showing off the different features and capabilities of the new devices.
There are five videos, focusing on taking notes, going paperless by scanning documents, hosting a podcast, designing a space with the Measure app, and creating a presentation in Keynote. Each video is about a minute long and is done in a tutorial style to walk users through each task.
In the videos, various iPad Pro features and functions are shown off, like multitasking, the Apple Pencil 2, the camera, Files drag and drop, AirPlay, augmented reality, the USB-C port for attaching accessories, and more. A few specific apps are mentioned, such as Keynote, GarageBand, and Notability.
This is Apple's first set of iPad Pro tutorial-style videos, though the tablet was previously featured in a video focusing on five reasons why the iPad Pro can "be your next computer."
Apple's 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models were first introduced in late October and shipped out in November. The iPads feature edge-to-edge displays with Face ID and no Home button, powerful A12X processors with performance on par with many Mac notebooks, USB-C to connect to 4K monitors and USB-C accessories, and thinner bodies.
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 for 64GB of storage, while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, also for 64GB of storage.
Apple Music is of course an audio-first streaming service, but if you have time to kill, you can kick back and watch documentaries on musicians, producers, and other aspects of the biz. Here's a roundup of some of the titles currently available, the latest being Future's "THE WIZRD."
So you've been using an iPhone for years now and think you have it all figured out? Don't be so sure. We've gathered up 7 tricks obscure enough that even the most seasoned iPhone user is likely to learn something new, so make sure to check out our latest YouTube video and read below for a little spoiler of all of the tips that are included.
Reopen Last Closed Safari Tab - In Safari, if you press on the "+" button at the bottom of the display, you can reopen tabs that you've recently closed.
Set a Music Timer - Like to listen to music when falling asleep but want it to turn off after a set time? In the Clock app, choose "Timer," scroll to the end, and select "Stop Playing" as an option. That'll stop your music when the timer runs out.
Move Multiple Apps - When you're moving apps on your Home screen, if you long press on one, drag it away a bit and then tap others while continuing to hold the first, you can group them all up and move them together.
3D Touch for Folder Notifications - Have a bunch of apps in folders? If one of your folders has a little red badge, you can 3D press on the folder to see which app has a pending notification at a glance.
Simple Settings Access - In an app like Messages or Photos and want to get to the Settings quick? Just say "Settings" to Siri and it will open right up.
Siri Song History - In the iTunes Store app, you can find a list of all the songs you've ever asked Siri to identify. Just tap on the three line icon at the top of the display and then choose "Siri."
Passcode Lock Apps - Apple doesn't let you passcode individual apps, but there's a Screen Time workaround. In the Screen Time section of the Settings app, choose "App Limits," and set a 1 minute timer on "All Apps & Categories." Go to "Always Allowed," add apps you DON'T want to lock, and then the rest will require a Screen Time passcode to access.
Did you learn something new? Now it's your turn. Let us know your most obscure, hidden iPhone trick that MacRumors readers should know, and we might feature it in a future video.
Priced at $129, the Smart Battery Cases come in either black or white and are made from the same material as Apple's silicone cases. From our hands on article:
How does it work?
The Smart Battery Cases are similar in design to a silicone case but with an extra bump on the back that houses the battery pack. While attached to the iPhone, the Smart Battery Case functions like an external battery pack, providing additional power to the iPhone.
A Lightning connector built into the case connects to the Lightning port in the iPhone, but Lightning access remains available due to an additional Lightning port in the case itself.
When you have the Smart Battery Case on your iPhone, your iPhone will use all of the charge in the case before expending its own battery.
What's the capacity?
Each of the Smart Battery Cases features two 1,369mAh battery cells inside. Because there are two battery cells wired together, the cases run at a higher voltage that offers 10.1Wh of energy, making them higher capacity than previous battery cases introduced for iPhone 6s and 7.
How much extra battery life does it add?
Apple lists the approximate battery life you can expect from each iPhone while in the case, broken down into different use cases.
- iPhone XR total battery life with case - Up to 39 hours talk time, 22 hours internet use, and 27 hours video playback.
- iPhone XS total battery life with case - Up to 33 hours talk time, 21 hours internet use, and 25 hours video playback.
- iPhone XS Max total battery life with case - Up to 37 hours talk time, 20 hours internet use, and 25 hours video playback.
So, if we compare those totals with the normal battery life for each of these devices, we can see how much additional battery life each case adds. Normal battery life estimates for each iPhone:
- iPhone XR: Up to 25 hours talk, 15 hours internet, 16 hours video
- iPhone XS: Up to 20 hours talk, 12 hours internet, 14 hours video
- iPhone XS Max: Up to 25 hours talk, 13 hours internet, 15 hours video
The estimated additional battery life added with each Smart Battery Case:
- iPhone XR: +14 hours talk time, +7 hours internet time, +11 hours video playback
- iPhone XS: +13 hours talk time, +9 hours internet time, +11 hours video playback
- iPhone XS Max: +12 hours talk time, +7 hours internet time, +10 hours video playback
These are, of course, estimates from Apple based on certain tasks on the iPhone. The actual battery life that you get from each Smart Battery Case is going to vary based on what you're doing, but in general, these cases are adding 50 to 75 percent additional battery depending on task.
How does the case charge?
Apple built Qi wireless charging into the Smart Battery Case, so both the case and the iPhone can be charged using any Qi wireless charging accessory.
You can also charge the case via Lightning, and if you use a USB-PD compatible charger (aka a USB-C charger paired with a USB-C to Lightning cable) the case will charge up even faster. For fast charging, you can use one of Apple's USB-C Power Adapters for MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or MacBook, but third-party USB-C chargers over 18W also work.
Your iPhone will always charge before the case if the battery is low, and once the iPhone's battery is full, the case will charge. You can also charge the case all on its own without your iPhone inside using any of these charging methods.
Note: The Smart Battery Case does not come with a Lightning cable for charging purposes, so you will need to supply your own.
Can I use the Lightning port with the case on?
The Smart Battery Case’s Lightning port acts as a passthrough, so you can use Lightning-based accessories like headphones and adapters with your phone while it’s inside the case.
How can I check remaining battery life?
When the Smart Battery Case is attached to the iPhone, the battery life of the case is displayed on the Lock screen when you put it on a wireless charger, attach it to an iPhone for the first time, or attach a Lightning cable.
You can also check the battery life at any time by swiping to the right on the Home screen to open the Today view of the Notification Center. There's a battery widget that lists the battery life of the iPhone, the case, and other attached devices like AirPods or the Apple Watch.
Does the XS case work with the iPhone X?
Yes, with some caveats. The case is designed for the iPhone XS and while the iPhone X and XS are nearly identical, there are a few minor differences. For this reason, the speaker and microphone holes on the case don't line up right on the iPhone X, and the camera cutout is a little off.
You can get the iPhone X in the case, though, and it will charge, but you might run into some problems and need to do a little troubleshooting.
Attaching the case to the iPhone X might result in a popup suggesting the iPhone is not compatible with it, but if you dismiss this popup, it should still charge. If charging does not work, you may need to restart or update your version of iOS to iOS 12.1.3, which is currently in beta testing.
Where can I buy the Smart Battery Case?
Apple sells the Smart Battery Cases for iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR both online and in its retail stores. The cases are priced at $129.
Apple and Qualcomm are embroiled in a bitter legal battle over licensing and royalty fees that's lasted for two years now and has led to the breakdown of the relationship between the two companies, but there may have been other factors in the breakup.
Leaked emails between Apple COO Jeff Williams and Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf seen by Bloomberg suggest the two companies may have cut ties over software access.
Williams wanted to continue to work with Qualcomm despite the legal battle, but Qualcomm accused Apple of leaking Qualcomm computer code needed to customize mobile chips. Williams offered to "firewall" the Apple engineers using the Qualcomm software and said nothing of value could be obtained from the code anyway.
"In my wildest imagination of some evil intention of Apple, I have trouble coming up with a real scenario where anything of significant value could be leaked based on this code," Williams wrote in September 2017.
Mollenkopf told Williams that he was concerned about protecting Qualcomm's proprietary information, and while he offered to provide software access to Apple, he asked Apple to commit to using Qualcomm chips in at least 50 percent of iPhones over the next two years.
Qualcomm in September 2018 accused Apple of stealing confidential information and trade secrets and passing it on to rival chipmaker Intel. From Qualcomm's lawsuit against Apple:
Although discovery is ongoing, it is clear that Apple's conduct went far beyond simply breaching the contract originally sued on. Indeed, it is now apparent Apple engaged in a years-long campaign of false promises, stealth and subterfuge designed to steal Qualcomm's confidential information and trade secrets for the purpose of improving the performance of lower-quality modem chipsets, with the ultimate goal of eliminating Qualcomm's Apple-based business.
As Bloomberg points out, it appears the software dispute was a key reason the two companies cut ties, as both were willing to continue to work together despite the legal battle. The fight has heated up since then, though, with Qualcomm winning import bans on iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models in China and Germany.
Qualcomm is in court this week facing an antitrust lawsuit levied against it by the FTC, with the FTC accusing the company of using anticompetitive tactics and exorbitant licensing fees to remain the dominant baseband chip supplier.
Executives from many companies have testified against Qualcomm, including Jeff Williams. Earlier this week, Williams said that Qualcomm had refused to sell Apple chips for the 2018 iPhone models.
A German court on Friday granted Qualcomm a preliminary injunction against part of an Apple press statement, which claimed that all iPhones would remain available through third parties despite a December ban.
If you’ve never been particularly enamored with the Apple Magic Mouse, may I suggest (deep breath) the Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum RGB Tunable Gaming Mouse? It’s my personal favorite mouse for everyday use, and it’s currently on sale at Amazon for 41 percent off. That’s enough to bring the price down from $84.99 to a far more agreeable $49.93.
And it’s worth it. When our sister publication PCWorld reviewed it in 2014, it rated it 4.5 out of five stars. PCWorld also listed its modern “Hero” incarnation as the “Best general-purpose gaming mouse,” and I can attest that this little powerhorse works perfectly for most tasks on the Mac as well.
Apple has been ordered to stop using a part of a recent press release that claimed the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 would still be available in Germany through carriers and resellers, reports Bloomberg.
Apple released the statement following a preliminary injunction in December that prevented the company from selling older iPhones in Germany. Apple at the time said that while it would stop selling the devices at its own retail stores, they would remain available via other means.
Qualcomm yesterday got another preliminary injunction to stop Apple from using that statement because it was "misleading." The court's ruling, said Qualcomm, also required Apple to stop offering the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 via resellers, too, and the court agreed.
"The press release is misleading because it contains statements that are at least potentially deceptive about the availability of the goods," the judges wrote. "The statement conveys the impression of unlimited availability."
Apple has not been selling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models in its retail stores or online in Germany since January and prior to the order about the press release, was also ordered to pull iPhones from partner stores. Some German resellers have continued to sell the devices, however.
Apple's newest iPhones, the XR, XS, and XS Max are not affected by the sales and import ban and continue to be available in the country.
Qualcomm also won a preliminary injunction against the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in China, but Apple was able to skirt the ruling via a software update that removed patented content.
Microsoft is recommending users of Windows 10 Mobile devices migrate to other platforms, including iOS, after the software giant confirmed the end of support for the mobile operating system by the end of 2019.
The Apple Watch is great right out of the box, but you’ll want to add a few apps to really make it sing. Apple’s wearable is a true marvel, especially the Series 4, but you’ll never know just how useful it can be if you don’t expand your horizons a bit.
When we think about the Apple Watch apps we just can’t live without, these are at the top of the list. Some are free, some are not, but every single one is worth your while.
Updated 1/18/2019: Thanks to a big update with a new interface, AutoSleep now edges out Pillow as our favorite sleep tracking app. Also added video.
With support for the now-discontinued Windows 10 Mobile devices set to end on December 10, 2019, Microsoft is recommending that its current Windows 10 Mobile customers move to an Android or iOS device instead.
Microsoft made the recommendation in a Windows 10 Mobile support document (via Thurrott) explaining its plans to stop offering security updates and patches for Windows 10 Mobile.
With the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device. Microsoft's mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices.
Microsoft ended support for Windows Phone in July 2017 and stopped active development on Windows 10 Mobile in October of that year, leading to the death of the platform. Microsoft struggled to get app developers to write apps for the device, and it was also never able to establish a strong user base.
With the abandonment of Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft has been focusing on other platforms and has a wide array of apps available for both iOS and Android devices.
All customers who have a Windows 10 Mobile device will be able to keep using it after December 10, 2019, but no further updates will be available.
At the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics show, AppleInsider met up with ConnectSense and got to try out the second version of the company's smart outlet, with HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa compatibility -- without a bridge.
AAPL closed at $157.92 on January 2, immediately prior to Cook revealing the shortfall in an after-hours letter to shareholders, and is now trading just cents below that level. The stock has gradually recovered over the past two weeks since establishing a new 52-week low of $142 on January 3.
Apple share price now returned to level before Tim Cook’s letter to investors.
Apple originally guided for revenue of between $89 billion and $93 billion in the three-month period ending in December, but revised its estimate to $84 billion due to "fewer iPhone upgrades" than it anticipated, primarily due to "significantly greater" economic weakness than it projected in the Greater China region.
The letter sparked concerns among some investors and analysts that Apple has reached "peak iPhone," especially given Apple's revelation that it will no longer disclose unit sales in its quarterly earnings reports going forward.
While the iPhone accounts for around two-thirds of Apple's revenue, the company has repeatedly touted the continued growth of its services, including the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, iTunes, and so forth, which combined for a nearly 19 percent increase in revenue on a year-over-year basis in the quarter.
In his letter to shareholders, Cook said Apple is undertaking and accelerating multiple initiatives to improve its results, including making it simple to trade in a phone at its stores. Back in November, Apple launched a promotion offering up to $100 in extra trade-in credit towards a new iPhone XR or iPhone XS.
AAPL will report its earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 on January 29, followed by a conference call to discuss the results at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
The 2018 MacBook Air has been around for a few months, and it has turned out to be a great notebook in its own right. AppleInsider lists some of the important changes Apple added to make it one of the best portable Macs in the company's entire MacBook product family.
You can now listen to music and podcasts directly from your Apple Watch but it how Apple forces you to do it is going to make you scratch your head. Even the Apple Watch Series 4 speaker won't play audio, and knowing what music is actually on the Watch and what needs an internet connection can be perplexing. AppleInsider helps you sort it out.
The Amazon Echo lineup has long been a popular pick for making homes a little smarter, and the Echo Dot Kids Edition brings those same smarts to the littlest members of your household. Today, you can snag the Echo Dot Kids Edition for $40 on Amazon, down from a list price of $70 and the lowest we’ve seen it.
This compact smart speaker comes with Alexa built in for convenient voice control. Kids can do everything from controlling other connected devices to asking Alexa to answer questions and tell stories hands-free. With one year of included Amazon’s FreeTime service included with your purchase, kids will be able to tap into a whole library of family-friendly content.
NordVPN promises a private and fast path through the public internet, with no logs, unmetered access for 6 simultaneous devices and access to 5,232 servers worldwide. They are currently running a promotion, but you'll have to use this link to find it. Its typical price has been discounted for 3 years of service -- a good deal at just $2.99 per month. See the $2.99/month NordVPN deal here.
Rumblings against Apple's sizable take from App Store revenues could have an impact on the company's stock, given the new focus on Services revenue, an analyst said on Friday.
Two Facebook employees deny a refund request from a child whom they refer to as a 'whale' – a term coined by the casino industry to describe profligate spenders...
Apple supplier Foxconn has let go around 50,000 contract workers at its iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China, with the first cuts happening in October 2018. As one source with knowledge of Foxconn's plans told Nikkei, the scale of the cuts is not what stands out, but the fact that it's significantly earlier than previous years.
"It's quite different this year to ask assembly line workers to leave before the year-end," the source stated. Foxconn typically renews workers' contracts every month from August until January, at which point the workforce is scaled back for slow iPhone production season. This year, those cuts came as much as three months early.
The same is true for other Apple suppliers according to today's report, with Pegatron canceling monthly labor contracts last November. One source said that Pegatron's cuts "happened sooner than in the past because of poor demand," referring to the iPhone.
Even smaller companies in Apple's supply chain reportedly cut down on their workforce, with one unnamed component supplier based in Shenzhen asking 4,000 workers to take an extended vacation from October to March. On March 1, the company will decide whether or not to lay the workers off.
For Foxconn, the company is preparing for restructuring throughout the company, merging business units that make iPads and MacBooks with the division making Dell and Acer computers. This means "steep cuts" to management, human resources, administrations, accounting, and utility support jobs, totaling 100,000 jobs removed by the end of 2018 and costs cut by $2.96 billion in 2019.
Apple in late December told its suppliers to cut production on new iPhones by 10 percent over the next three months, coming on the back of reports about weak iPhone sales during the holiday quarter. In early January, Apple CEO Tim Cook called reports claiming the iPhone XR was a flop "bologna," stating the device has been the most popular iPhone "every single day" since it launched.
Amid all of this, many Apple suppliers cut their 2019 sales forecasts, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Nidec. Specifically for the China market, these suppliers noted an "extraordinary" drop in demand for high-end smartphones.
Apple just doesn't allow modern Nvidia GPUs on macOS Mojave, and this is a dramatic change from only six months ago. Given that a new Mac Pro is coming that could support Nvidia cards, and there are already eGPUs that should, it's time that Apple did.
Back by popular demand, Apple authorized reseller Adorama is knocking $150 to $225 off every 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro with Vega 16 or Vega 20 graphics for a limited time. Plus, Adorama will not collect sales tax on orders shipped outside NY and NJ.
An non-profit organization, noyb, has launched a complaint with the Austrian government against Apple, YouTube, and several other major tech companies, saying they've failed to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.
Apparently impacted by Apple's iPhone demand, some 50,000 seasonal workers have been dismissed from Foxconn since October, a report indicated on Friday.
Google's attempts to take on the Apple Watch in the wearable devices market with Wear OS may receive a boost, after the revelation the search giant will be paying watch maker Fossil $40 million to buy the company's smartwatch-related intellectual property.
This week on the AppleInsider Podcast, Willian and Victor are back, catching up on overall themes of CES, iPhone rumors, the possibilities of a new iPad Pro, and the carry-over effects of smartphone brands cutting earning expectations.
A mysterious whirring and grinding noise from his late-model AirPort Extreme Base Station disturbed one Macworld reader. Why would it make such a sound? He hadn’t turned it on for a year, but was about to reactivate it with a new broadband connection.
My reply: The polite verbal equivalent of a shrug, because—I wrote—there’s no fan in an AirPort Express, and only a Time Capsule has a hard drive. Time Capsule drives certainly fail, like any spinning storage media, but the grinding described would surely have meant the drive was on its way to failure, if not already destroyed.
But your faithful Mac 911 columnist failed to do his research. I own a newer AirPort Extreme—one of the “crackerbox” models that looks like a gleaming white micro-tower. It’s never made a peep. I even thought I’d even looked at pictures of the insides of this version from Apple’s now-discontinued series of routers.
Audiophiles still love listening to music on disc, but this high-end SACD player can also stream tunes from any source on your network—including the internet.
Apple’s not a company that’s ever been afraid to kill off its products. At the height of the iPod mini’s popularity, Steve Jobs famously axed it in order to introduce the iPod nano. The underperforming iPod Hi-Fi got the hook, and in recent years we’ve said goodbye to both the AirPort line and most of the iPods.
But when a product lies fallow for many years, sitting without an update, it hangs in that liminal space between life and death, leading many to wonder whether it still has a future. Is it ready to shuffle off this mortal coil or could it be rescued from the edge of the abyss? The Mac mini, MacBook Air, and even the Mac Pro have seen this kind of revival in recent months, and just in the last week, two Apple products thought to have run out of time have been the subjects of rumored returns, hinting that perhaps death isn't what it used to be for the company.
One of the biggest ad data brokers has come out in support of Apple CEO Tim Cook's call for federal privacy legislation to regulate the collection and use of personal data in the United States.
In a statement Thursday evening provided to Business Insider, data broker Acxiom confirmed its support for federal privacy legislation. "Acxiom, like Mr. Cook, also supports a national privacy law for the US, such as GDPR provides for the European Union," it read.
A data broker acts as a middleman, transferring user data between different companies and parties. In his TIME op-ed yesterday, Cook called such an entity "a company that exists purely to collect your information, package it and sell it to yet another buyer."
In a message consistent with Apple's policy that privacy is a "fundamental human right," Cook railed against this market for user information, which he said operates in a "shadow economy" that's largely unchecked, "out of sight of consumers, regulators and lawmakers."
Responding to Cook's clarion call, Acxiom said that it had been "actively participating in discussions with US lawmakers" for years but denied that it partook in a "shadow economy" that operates unchecked.
We agree that we must root out the nefarious players in the ecosystem, and Acxiom’s data privacy impact assessment (DPIA) process ensures we don’t do business with questionable companies. We look forward to working with people across the industry, including Apple, to ensure transparency, access and control is available to all people.
In his TIME op-ed, Cook argued for the creation of a "data-broker clearinghouse" that all brokers would be required to register, which would enable consumers users to track transactions that include their data and delete it forever if desired.
"As this debate kicks off, there will be plenty of proposals and competing interests for policymakers to consider," said Cook. "We cannot lose sight of the most important constituency: individuals trying to win back their right to privacy."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Responding to Apple CEO Tim Cook's crusade for strict data privacy regulations in the U.S., Acxiom, a premiere data broker, said it supports a unified set of laws governing data sharing practices while at the same time denying it is part of a so-called "shadow economy."
An unconfirmed rumor shared on Chinese microblogging network Sina Weibo earlier this month claims Apple's next iPhone will boast a few key component upgrades like a 3x telephoto lens and massively upgraded 4,000 mAh battery with 15-watt wireless fast charging.
Apple on Tuesday released new Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, offering a convenient but expensive way for iPhone users to get additional battery life.
The Smart Battery Cases will be in stores starting tomorrow, but we got our hands on the iPhone XS Max and XR versions early to check out the features and to see if they're worth the $129 price tag.
Apple is offering the Smart Battery Cases in black or white, and while there are separate versions for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, each case costs $129 and appears to have the same capacity.
The cases look similar to the prior Smart Battery Cases Apple offered for the iPhone 7, consisting of a silicone shell with a bump at the back that contains the battery. The cases are easy to grip, but bulky, and the iPhone XS Max version adds a decent bit of weight.
There's a 10.1 Whr battery inside of the cases, which is higher capacity than previous Smart Battery Cases. You can expect to get about 50 to 75 percent additional battery from each case, depending on what you're doing.
Specifically, on the iPhone XS Max with the Smart Battery Case, you'll get up to 37 hours of talk time, up to 20 hours of internet use, and up to 25 hours of video playback.
The iPhone XS with XS Smart Battery Case offers up to 33 hours of talk time, up to 21 hours of internet use, and up to 25 hours of video playback, while the iPhone XR with iPhone XR Smart Battery Case offers up to 39 hours of talk time, up to 22 hours of internet use, and up to 27 hours of video playback.
The cases support Qi wireless charging, so you can charge them using a Qi-based charger (though it won't fit on some upright models) or a Lightning cable. You can even fast charge if you have a USB-C to Lightning cable and a compatible USB-C power adapter, such as the 30W MacBook charger. You don't have to use Apple's solutions -- any 18W+ USB-C PD power adapter will work.
You need to attach the Lightning connector in the case to the Lightning port in the iPhone, but because the case has its own Lightning port, you can use it as a passthrough for Lightning accessories like headphones.
With the Smart Battery Case attached, you can check how much battery life is left in the case using a widget in the Today section of the Notification Center or via the Lock screen. Your iPhone will always use the battery provided by the case before expending its own battery, but when charging, your iPhone will charge first.
All in all, the Smart Battery Case is one of the simplest ways to get extra battery life for the iPhone because it doesn't require an extra external accessory or a cable and there are multiple ways to charge it, but that convenience definitely comes at a cost.
Do you think Apple's Smart Battery Cases are worth shelling out $129? Let us know in the comments.
Major Apple suppliers in Asia have been cutting their 2019 sales forecasts and some have cited an "extraordinary" drop in Chinese demand, reports Nikkei.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which supplies the A-series chips used in the iPhones and other devices, is forecasting a 22 percent drop in revenue for the January to March quarter. TSMC said there was a "sudden drop in demand" for high-end smartphones, also attributing its revenue decline to the U.S.-China trade war and economic uncertainty.
The same thing goes for Nidec, a company that supplies the vibration motor in the iPhone. Nidec has dropped its full-year profit outlook by upwards of 25 percent after slumps were seen in November and December.
"We have faced extraordinary changes," Nidec Chairman Shigenobu Nagamori told reporters at a Thursday news conference as the company reversed a previous forecast of a record profit. [...]
The tide shifted in November, however. "We saw big slumps in November and December," Nagamori said. "Orders, sales and shipments in all business segments around the world saw major shifts," he explained.
Apple has forecast its own decline in revenue, dropping guidance for the holiday quarter to $84 million, down from an earlier November estimate of $89 to $93 million.
Apple has asked its suppliers to cut iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max production by 10 percent for the next three months and has implemented its own reduction in hiring for certain divisions amid the slump.
Updated 1/17/19 to reflect the inventory changes in the store.
Looking for a way to save some money on the latest Apple products? Consider a refurbished MacBook, refurbished iPhone, or refurbished iPad from the Apple Certified Refurbished store. A refurbished product is just like a new, but at a lower price.
Here’s a quick guide with links to the best deals you can find on the refurb store, along with a FAQ guide if you want to know more about the ins and outs of the Apple Certified Refurbished store and buying a refurbished MacBook, desktop Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
What can you get for a billion dollars? Well, some simple math gives us 200 episodes at $5 million a piece (a reasonable per-episode price for high-end TV). But we’re not likely to actually see 10-20 shows with 10-20 episodes each, all costing around that much. For starters, that billion dollars has to cover a lot more than per-episode production costs.
Apple’s new iPad Pros are good—so good that they cost as much as some MacBooks. Today, though, Amazon makes it a little easier to get in on the action with a couple of stellar $100 discounts on both the 11-inch and 12-inch models.
In terms of sheer price, the best deal is the $100 discount Amazon is offering for the silver 64GB iPad Pro with Wi-Fi. That’s enough to bring the price down from $999 to $899.
But if you want to get the most out of your money, I recommend picking up the space gray 11-inch 512GB model. It’s also being offered for $100 off, which brings the price down from $1,149 to $1,049.
Apple has inked a deal for a 10 episode season for an as-of-yet untitled science fiction series from Simon Kinberg and David Weil, reports Deadline.
Simon Kinberg is known primarily for his work on the "X-Men" series, as well as movies like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Jumper," "Chappie," "The Fantastic Four," and "The Martian."
Image via Deadline
David Weil is known for "The Hunt," an upcoming TV show about a group of Nazi hunters in the 1970s.
Kinberg, Weil, and Genre Films President of TV Audrey Chon will serve as executive producers on the show, which is said to be a large budget, ambitious, character driven show.
No additional details are available about the series, with specific information being kept under wraps. The show is set to go into production this summer, and it will join more than a dozen other television shows that Apple has in the works.
Apple is developing several science fiction shows, including "Amazing Stories," from Steven Spielberg, an untitled space drama developed by Ronald D. Moore, "See," an futuristic world-building drama starring Jason Momoa, and a TV series adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels.
Apple is expected to debut the first of its TV shows as part of an upcoming streaming series that is set to be announced in 2019.
Despite its apparent displeasure with Intel, a report in November claimed that Apple had not considered reopening conversations with Qualcomm about supplying 5G modems for 2020 iPhones. Instead, Apple recently testified that it held conversations with Samsung and MediaTek as potential alternative suppliers.
In a research note obtained by MacRumors today, however, analysts at investment bank Barclays said they "still believe there is a good chance Apple will have to use Qualcomm for the 5G modem in their 2020 phones." They also believe such a deal may result in the two companies settling their ongoing lawsuit.
Apple COO Jeff Williams recently testified that Qualcomm has been unwilling to provide Apple with any new wireless chips since the legal battle began, with each company seemingly trying to gain the upper hand on the other. As of now, neither company appears willing to back down.
Qualcomm is widely considered to be leading the industry with its 5G efforts though, and there's a good chance its 5G modems will outperform similar offerings from Intel, so perhaps the two companies will find a way to settle their differences.
If you haven’t upgraded to the glorious 4K HDR life yet, now’s the perfect time to see what you’re missing for cheap. Best Buy is selling a 43-inch 4K HDR Toshiba Smart TV with Amazon’s Fire TV built-in for $200Remove non-product link. That price beats Amazon’s all-time historical low by $50 and the current Amazon price by $100.
It's 2019, and by now most of us understand how important it is to surf the Web with a VPN watching our backs. Yet, so many of us refuse to do so, mainly because too many VPN providers deliver their protection at the expense of our browsing speeds. Zoog VPN is one of the few VPN solutions that safeguards your browsing while letting you surf at blazing speeds, and lifetime subscriptions are on sale for only $35 today.
PDF is one of the most versatile document formats in use today, and it’s often the format of choice for resumes, college papers, brochures, and more. However, if you have the right software, you can turn your PDFs into so much more. With Next FlipBook Maker Pro, your PDFs can be brought to life for just $29.
Next FlipBook Maker Pro is an app that allows you to create digital books and magazines out of PDFs and images. Each flip-book can be converted into Flash or HTML5, allowing your viewers to interact with the flip-book as they turn from page to page. With its Responsive Design Mode, you can create and update your flip-book on the fly with elements such as custom templates, YouTube videos, music, buttons, and more. Your flip-books can be viewed from any desktop, laptop or mobile device, as well as published on WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, making it ideal when showcasing a portfolio.
The next-generation iPhone XR will feature a 4x4 MIMO antenna design, according to a Barclays research note obtained by MacRumors.
4x4 MIMO, short for multiple-input, multiple-output, has the potential to significantly improve LTE transmission by increasing the number of data paths between cellular towers and a mobile device to four. Simply put, the next iPhone XR would feature four antennas, allowing for faster data speeds.
A few months ago, PC Magazine reported that the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have "significantly better" LTE performance than the iPhone XR based on testing conducted by Cellular Insights and Rohde & Schwarz. The difference was especially noticeable in weak signal conditions, the results indicated.
Of course, regardless of how many antennas an iPhone has, data speeds can be affected by factors such as network congestion, distance from the tower, physical obstructions, environmental conditions, and interference.
The Mac App Store sometimes throws out odd errors when you try to download and install software, errors that lack information on Apple’s support pages. These seem to come up most often with Apple’s own software, especially the five free apps (GarageBand, iMovie, Keynote, Numbers, and Pages) that require an Apple ID, but no prior purchase.
Another one that comes up with little help is, “Could not assign applications to your account.” Here are four ways that may resolve the problem and let you download the apps you’re attempting to.
Apple is said to be launching two new tablets in the first half of this year, including the rumored "iPad mini 5" as well as a likely replacement for its current entry-level iPad.
DigiTimes made the claim today in a report highlighting stable shipment expectations for Apple's touch panel suppliers, Taiwan-based General Interface Solution (GIS) and TPK Holding.
Apple reportedly plans to launch two entry-level tablets in the first half of 2019, including a fifth-generation iPad mini and another entry-level iPad model, said the sources.
The claim follows a rumor carried last month by the China Times that Apple is preparing to launch a new iPad mini in the first half of 2019, followed by a new entry-level iPad in two versions, with at least one featuring a 10-inch display within a narrower frame.
Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed in October that Apple is working on a new version of the iPad mini with an upgraded processor and a lower-cost display panel, with the device being launched in 2018 or 2019.
Ironically, Kuo's prediction came two months after DigiTimes said it did not believe Apple plans to introduce an updated iPad mini, and in fact has "no further plan" for the smaller tablet.
An alleged case for the next-generation iPad mini also surfaced in December that featured a vertical camera cutout, suggesting a camera arrangement similar to the iPad Pro with a rear flash, and a center microphone cutout.
Apple hasn't updated its smallest iPad since September 2015, but the device did receive a price cut in March 2017, with a 128GB capacity model costing $399.
As for the entry-level iPad, Apple was previously reported to be launching the two new low-priced versions in 2019 to boost the sales growth of its affordable tablet options. The 9.7-inch iPad was last updated in March 2018 and in the same month the year before that.
Today's DigiTimes report cites industry sources claiming GIS will supply over 40 percent of the touch panels for the new iPads, while TPK and China-based O-film Technology will provide the remaining 60 percent.
A failure! We’ve gone from “Tim Cook is a mastermind at operations” to “Tim Cook is a failure at operations” in seven years and it only took Apple having just its second-best quarter ever.
First, he has failed to keep the trains (i.e., products) running on time.
Stupid Cook! Be more like Mussolini! (Who, despite the credit given, did not actually make the trains run on time.)
The future of the Mac might be Apple-designed CPUs, but the present of the Mac is Intel. Apple is increasingly in charge of its own destiny, adding features like the T2 chip to Macs to handle as much of the system’s security, encryption, and other miscellaneous tasks as it can. Still, we expect Apple to ship most or all of its laptops and desktops this year with Intel inside.
The chip giant hasn’t yet announced the specific processors it will ship this year, but it has delivered a few sneak peaks at its roadmap. Here’s what we know about what Intel is cooking up for 2019, and how it might impact the Mac.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Wednesday introduced the American Data Dissemination Act, legislation that would require the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to submit detailed recommendations for privacy requirements that Congress can impose on tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter.
The bill is intended to address the lack of a single, comprehensive federal law regulating the collection and use of personal data in the United States with clear protections that consumers can understand and the FTC can enforce.
Well timed with the news, Apple CEO Tim Cook has penned an op-ed for Time Magazine calling on Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation in the United States. He also challenges companies to strip identifying information from customer data or avoid collecting it in the first place.
In the op-ed, Cook said he believes "data broker" companies that collect, package, and sell personal information should be required to register with the FTC and provide critical transparency information to the agency, and that consumers should have the power to easily access and delete that data if desired.
"Right now, all of these secondary markets for your information exist in a shadow economy that's largely unchecked," wrote Cook.
In 2014, the FTC published a report stating that "data brokers collect and store a vast amount of data on almost every U.S. household." Of the nine data brokers it examined, the FTC said one had a database with "information on 1.4 billion consumer transactions and over 700 billion aggregated data elements."
Cook's full op-ed was provided to MacRumors in advance:
In 2019, it's time to stand up for the right to privacy—yours, mine, all of ours. Consumers shouldn't have to tolerate another year of companies irresponsibly amassing huge user profiles, data breaches that seem out of control and the vanishing ability to control our own digital lives.
This problem is solvable—it isn't too big, too challenging or too late. Innovation, breakthrough ideas and great features can go hand in hand with user privacy—and they must. Realizing technology's potential depends on it.
That's why I and others are calling on the U.S. Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation—a landmark package of reforms that protect and empower the consumer. Last year, before a global body of privacy regulators, I laid out four principles that I believe should guide legislation:
First, the right to have personal data minimized. Companies should challenge themselves to strip identifying information from customer data or avoid collecting it in the first place. Second, the right to knowledge—to know what data is being collected and why. Third, the right to access. Companies should make it easy for you to access, correct and delete your personal data. And fourth, the right to data security, without which trust is impossible.
But laws alone aren't enough to ensure that individuals can make use of their privacy rights. We also need to give people tools that they can use to take action. To that end, here's an idea that could make a real difference.
One of the biggest challenges in protecting privacy is that many of the violations are invisible. For example, you might have bought a product from an online retailer—something most of us have done. But what the retailer doesn't tell you is that it then turned around and sold or transferred information about your purchase to a "data broker"—a company that exists purely to collect your information, package it, and sell it to yet another buyer.
The trail disappears before you even know there is a trail. Right now, all of these secondary markets for your information exist in a shadow economy that's largely unchecked—out of sight of consumers, regulators, and lawmakers.
Let's be clear: you never signed up for that. We think every user should have the chance to say, "Wait a minute. That's my information that you're selling, and I didn't consent."
Meaningful, comprehensive federal privacy legislation should not only aim to put consumers in control of their data, it should also shine a light on actors trafficking in your data behind the scenes. Some state laws are looking to accomplish just that, but right now there is no federal standard protecting Americans from these practices. That's why we believe the Federal Trade Commission should establish a data-broker clearinghouse, requiring all data brokers to register, enabling consumers to track the transactions that have bundled and sold their data from place to place, and giving users the power to delete their data on demand, freely, easily and online, once and for all.
As this debate kicks off, there will be plenty of proposals and competing interests for policymakers to consider. We cannot lose sight of the most important constituency: individuals trying to win back their right to privacy. Technology has the potential to keep changing the world for the better, but it will never achieve that potential without the full faith and confidence of the people who use it.
Cook's op-ed is consistent with Apple's belief that privacy is a "fundamental human right." Apple aims to "minimize its collection of personal data," according to its privacy website, and stresses that the "the customer is not our product."
Apple emphasized its commitment to privacy with a billboard near CES 2019 that read "what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Samsung is planning to announce its new 2019 flagship smartphones on February 20, but ahead of their debut date, benchmarks of the new S10+ model were shared on Slashleaks.
According to the data, Apple's current crop of iPhones, equipped with A12 chips, will outperform the Snapdragon 855 processor in Samsung's smartphone.
The Galaxy S10+, which features 6GB RAM, earned a single-core Geekbench 4 score of 3413 and a multi-core score of 10256.
Comparatively, the A12 Bionic chip in the iPhone XS features a single-core Geekbench score of 4797 and a multi-core score score of 11264.
Apple's A-series chips often outperform the Qualcomm chips that Samsung uses because Apple is designing its chips in house and is able to offer tighter integration between hardware and software. As AnandTech explained in a review of the iPhone XS and XS Max, Apple's chips are also far more efficient:
Overall the new A12 Vortex cores and the architectural improvements on the SoC's memory subsystem give Apple's new piece of silicon a much higher performance advantage than Apple's marketing materials promote. The contrast to the best Android SoCs have to offer is extremely stark - both in terms of performance as well as in power efficiency. Apple's SoCs have better energy efficiency than all recent Android SoCs while having a nearly 2x performance advantage. I wouldn't be surprised that if we were to normalise for energy used, Apple would have a 3x performance efficiency lead.
While benchmarks are often not reflective of real world usage, the data does suggest that Apple's 2018 iPhones will be a good deal faster than Samsung's 2019 smartphones. Given that both the A12 and the Snapdragon 855 are super fast processors able to handle gaming and day to day tasks with ease, Android users won't be at a serious disadvantage.
Since Samsung hasn't released the Galaxy S10+, there's still a chance these details could be off, but it's unlikely since we're quite close to the debut of the device.
Apple plans to cut back on hiring for some divisions of the company after disappointing iPhone sales during the holiday season, reports Bloomberg.
Apple CEO Tim Cook shared the news with employees at an all-hands meeting earlier this month. According to sources in attendance, Cook was asked if Apple would implement a hiring freeze, but he said that he didn't believe that was an ideal solution. Instead, select divisions will see reduced hirings.
Cook at the time said Apple had not yet determined which divisions would cut back on hiring, but groups like the AI team will continue to add employees. Cook also told employees that a division's importance to the future of Apple is not measured through hiring rates.
It's not clear how extensive the hiring reduction will be, but new Apple offices planned in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California will not be impacted. In 2018, Apple added 9,000 new employees, and in 2017, Apple added 7,000 new employees. According to a recent SEC filing, Apple employs a total of 132,000 people, including its retail locations.
Apple's workforce over the past 10 years, chart via Bloomberg
Apple is expecting revenue of $84 billion for Q1 2019, down from a November estimate of $89 to $93 billion and a $4.3 billion drop from the year-ago quarter.
Cook provided multiple reasons for the drop, including iPhone XS, XS Max and XR launch timing, a strong U.S. dollar, supply constraints, economic weakness and trade tensions in China, and weak iPhone upgrade numbers due to fewer carrier subsidies and low-priced battery replacements.
According to Bloomberg, internally, Apple executives have positioned declining iPhone sales as an opportunity for innovation, and Apple is also planning to bolster its growing services category with third-party integrations and an upcoming streaming TV service.
Following Cook's talk with employees, some Apple senior vice presidents held separate meetings with vice presidents, senior directors and other managers in their groups to emphasize that the iPhone sales slowdown is an opportunity for new innovation, according to one of the people.
Apple's 2019 iPhones could feature upgraded front-facing and rear cameras, redesigned internal layouts, and Lightning ports, according to new details known leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) shared with Indian site ComparaRaja.
Over the course of the past week, Hemmerstoffer has shown off two possible prototype iPhone designs Apple is allegedly working on, featuring different three camera layouts. Today he's offering up additional information on the cameras we can expect to see in the triple-lens model, which rumors have suggested will be a 6.5-inch OLED iPhone XS Max successor.
One of the alleged triple-lens 2019 iPhone prototypes
One rear camera will be 10 megapixels, while a second will come in at 14 megapixels. The details of the third sensor are apparently unknown. Right now, the iPhone XS and XS Max use two 12-megapixel cameras, one that's telephoto and one that's wide-angle.
Apple will presumably continue using both telephoto and wide-angle lenses, but this information isn't included in the report. The renderings shared by Hemmerstoffer allege that Apple is still trying to decide between a horizontal triple lens camera layout or a square-shaped layout that would position the lenses vertically but staggered.
The front-facing TrueDepth camera system will reportedly use a 10-megapixel camera, up from 7 megapixels in the current version. Prior rumors and renderings have suggested the TrueDepth camera will take up less space on the iPhone's display thanks to optimizations, allowing Apple to implement a smaller notch.
Internally, the 2019 iPhone with a triple-lens camera is said to have a redesigned internal layout with a "less L-shaped battery" that's "almost a big square" with the "logic board located above the battery."
The other the alleged triple-lens 2019 iPhone prototype
Hemmerstoffer says that the two prototype designs he's shared renderings for do not feature USB-C ports, despite rumors suggesting Apple could transition from Lightning to USB-C in the 2019 iPhones.
All of the information from Hemmerstoffer is sourced from these two alleged prototype iPhones that he says are "still in the EVT stage" and have yet to be finalized, so it's not clear yet if this information is accurate.
None of these details have been confirmed by a second source at this point in time either, so we'll need to wait for further leaks to get a clearer picture of the features included in the 2019 iPhone lineup.
Apple yesterday debuted new Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, and review units are in the hands of members of the media and some lucky people who received early deliveries.
Many iPhone X users have been wondering if the iPhone XS Smart Battery Case will work with the older model given that the two devices are nearly identical in design, and the answer appears to be yes, though there is some uncertainty.
This morning, iMore's Rene Ritchie put an iPhone X running iOS 12.1.2 in an iPhone XS Smart Battery Case and received an error suggesting the iPhone X was not compatible with the case.
He updated the iPhone X to iOS 12.1.3, however, and was able to get the iPhone X to charge in the iPhone XS Smart Battery Case. He also now says that the iPhone X will charge with the Battery Case if the incompatibility popup is dismissed.
Update: iOS 12.1.2 DID NOT work for me with iOS XS case. iOS 12.1.13 DOES work for me.
iPhone XS Max case DOES charge X for @chriswelch on iOS 12.1.2. It DOES NOT for me, even on 12.1.13.
You CAN use iPhone XS battery case with iPhone X. You may get that incompatibility pop up. But, if you dismiss it, it should charge fine. (Update iOS/reboot if not.)
(Speaker/mics still won’t be aligned, if you care about acoustic performance.) pic.twitter.com/05IQyUctcQ
A MacRumorsreader was also able to get the iPhone X to charge in an iPhone XS Smart Battery Case, and Chris Welch of The Verge said in his testing, the iPhone X was able to charge an iPhone X running iOS 12.1.2 in an iPhone XS Max Smart Battery Case.
Nothing but XS Max charges in my XS Max case, not even XS or XR. What version of iOS?
So it appears, based on this limited amount of testing, that the iPhone X is going to charge in an iPhone XS Smart Battery Case, though there could be some compatibility issues on iOS 12.1.2. If the case doesn't charge the iPhone X, as Ritchie suggested, you can restart the iPhone or update to iOS 12.1.3 to get it working.
It is worth noting that while the iPhone X may charge in the iPhone XS Battery Case, the fit is imprecise. The speaker and microphone holes do not line up, and the camera cutout is a bit off.
Apple's Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, XS Max, (and presumably XR), feature 10.1Whr batteries that extend the life of each iPhone.
The iPhone XS Max normally offers up to 25 hours talk time, 15 hours of internet use, and 15 hours of video playback, which is extended to 37 hours of talk time, 20 hours of internet, and 25 hours of video playback with the Smart Battery Case.
The iPhone XS alone features up to 20 hours of talk time, 12 hours of internet use, and 14 hours of video playback, which is extended to 33 hours of talk time, 21 hours of internet use, and 25 hours of video playback with the Smart Battery Case.
The iPhone XR features up to 25 hours of talk time, 15 hours of internet use, and 16 hours of video playback, which is extended to 39 hours of talk time, 22 hours of internet use, and 27 hours of video playback.
