Apple today announced that it will start selling te HomePod in China and Hong Kong from January 18 for 2,799 yuan and $HK2,799 respectively. It will be available in white and space gray colours.
Apple had previously confirmed that it would be launching the HomePod in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The Siri-powered smart speaker is known more for its excellent audio quality which can rival far more expensive Hi-Fi speakers.
“HomePod is the perfect wireless speaker for music lovers. It delivers an unmatched music listening experience with high-fidelity sound wherever it is placed and creates a new way to discover and interact with music using Siri,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We’re excited to bring HomePod to our customers in mainland China and Hong Kong markets. We can’t wait for them to experience how great it sounds in their home, we think they are going to love it.”
With AirPlay 2 support, iPhone and iPad users will be able to stream content from AirPlay compatible apps to HomePod as well. This includes the likes of QQ Music, Spotify, Penguin Music, DeDao, and more.
The HomePod has not met with the same level of success as Apple might have hoped for. This is primarily due to how limited Siri is on the smart speaker and the high price tag of the speaker.
Apple has been working on fixing the former as it has been rolling out constant software updates for the HomePod since its release to add new features to it.
Chances are if you’re an iPhone user, it’s at the center of your device life—always in your pocket or at arm’s length. Unfortunately, all its connection possibilities can’t be realized with a single cable or dongle, so it pays to diversify. This MFi-Certified 3-Pack provides the road to listen, sync, and charge in a larger variety of ways than you can with stock gear, allowing you to make more effective use of the device across different situations. And right now, the iPhoneHacks Deals Hub also has it on sale for $39.99 after 60% off.
MFi Certification is a great thing. Anyone who’s gone to the local convenience store to pick up a cheap cable or some earbuds in an emergency knows they aren’t all created equal. This system ensures the products are of a high quality and particularly designed for use with Apple devices. With this set, you can connect your Lightning devices to 3.5mm audio, or any USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 device for syncing or charging. Plus, there’s a standard Lightning charging cable thrown in for good measure. Even after the 60% discount, $39.99 may seem like a lot to pay for some cables and dongles. But the reality is you’re shortchanging functionality on your great Apple devices if you don’t have the right accessories. Check out the 3-Pack today at the Deals Hub.Like this post? Share it!
Mac mini RAM UpgradeWhen Apple first unveiled its 2018 refreshed Mac mini lineup last month, it highlighted the fact that it came with SO-DIMM RAM. This meant that the RAM was not soldered on the mainboard and that user replacement/upgrade was possible.
The Mac mini uses DDR4-2666 SO-DIMM which one can easily get from Amazon or any other retailer. Upgrading the RAM manually is going to be a far cheaper route than asking Apple to do the same as the latter will charge users a premium of anywhere between $300 to $500 additional just for upgrading the RAM. If you plan on buying the 2018 Mac mini and upgrading the RAM yourself, iFixit has now published an 11-step guide which shows how to upgrade the memory on it. The detailed guide should make it easier for anyone looking to upgrade the memory of their Mac mini now or down the line. The process is relatively easy, with iFixit ranking the difficulty as “Easy” and saying the time taken for the whole process will be around 10 minutes. To upgrade the RAM on your 2018 Mac mini, you will have to slide out the logic board from the housing. This is a delicate process as it requires one to disconnect various antenna cables and connectors on the logic board. You will also have to remove the cooling fan during the process. If you have ever upgraded the RAM or HDD/SSD of your previous Mac mini, you will find the steps to be remarkably similar. If you are new to the whole process though, follow the iFixit guide closely and make sure to have access to all the tools beforehand. And if you are still not confident enough of doing the job yourself, you can always take your Mac mini to a third-party repair shop who will charge you a small fee for the upgrade. [Via iFixit] Like this post? Share it!
In a preliminary ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Lucy Koh has said that Qualcomm must license some of its modem-related patents to other chip-making firms.
Qualcomm has never licensed its essential network and modem-related patents to other companies. Instead, it has used these patents to earn billions of dollars in licensing fees. By not licensing its patents to other companies, Qualcomm managed to keep its competition at bay and ensured it had a monopoly in supplying modem chips to key smartphone makers like Apple. Before this preliminary ruling by Judge Lucy Koh, Qualcomm tried to settle matters with the FTC outside of the court. The case pertains to Apple being forced to use Qualcomm modem inside its devices. Qualcomm wanted to settle matters out of the court because it feared the result would go against it. Qualcomm and FTC had both asked Judge Lucy Koh to delay the ruling by up to 30 days so that they could settle the matter outside the court. However, Koh denied that motion earlier this week and instead delivered her preliminary ruling in the case. The lawsuit is scheduled to go on trial next year so while Intel and other chip makers can rejoice right now, there’s a possibility of Qualcomm winning the lawsuit eventually and not have to share its key patents with other companies. This is not the first time that Qualcomm has tried to settle matters with regulators outside of the court. The company previously settled with Taiwanese regulators by paying them $93 million and promising to invest $700 million in the country over the next five years. It was this very complaint from the FTC that kickstarted the legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm. After FTC registered a formal complaint against Qualcomm in early 2017, Apple went ahead and sued Qualcomm for $1 billion. The San Diego chip-maker responded by countersuing Apple for billions of dollars as well. [Via StreetInsider] Like this post? Share it!
Though you can undeniably take high definition photos and video with the latest smartphones and GoPros, final results will always suffer so long as you’re missing adequate stabilization. You don’t have to go crazy and hook up your your iPhone to a Hollywood-grade device, but the right gear does go a long way to getting you amazing results. This Rigiet Gimbal is intuitive to use, and comes standard with a variety of useful features for the avid shooter. It’s also currently on sale for 59% off at the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub, bringing the price to just $109.99 down from the original $269.
The Rigiet automatically swivels around to accommodate whatever shooting style you desire on the fly, whether portrait, landscape, or underslung. Using the built in controls, you can easily change between still and video modes, and go back and forth between selfie and front cameras. Dial into the companion app, and discover seamless live streaming, panorama creation, and even automatic tracking functionality.
This Gimbal is the perfect solution for videophiles who want to seriously step up their smartphone or GoPro game without breaking the bank too much. Pick it up today at the Deals Hub for just $109.99 after 59% off.
AirPods are incredibly popular for a reason. Sporting up-to-date Bluetooth tech, a convenient charging case, and incredible sound quality, they’re practically everything you could want in a wireless set. Unfortunately, there’s a catch—expense. AirPods are over $150 to order a new pair, but these imitation phones by Neva Tech provide all the features of their brand name counterparts. They’re also just $24.99 at the iPhoneHacks Deals Hub.
These sweat-proof Air Buds come standard with HD audio and a 2.5 hour charge. Head to the gym or to work and enjoy crystal sound quality and a solid connection thanks to the latest Bluetooth tech. Stash them back in the case, and they’ll automatically juice up, ready for another 2.5 hours in no time.
If like the features, looks and fit of the AirPods but can’t spend that much, the Air Buds are worth a serious look. Get yours today in the iPhoneHacks Deals Hub for just $24.99 after 79% off.
Ingress Prime is a free update for folks who already have Ingress installed on their devices. For those who don’t, the free app is available in the App Store, and a link to download the AR game is available at the bottom of this post.
As for what’s new, there is quite a bit. Niantic rebuilt the user interface to make it cleaner and easier to use. That includes improved animations and a bigger focus on one-finger movement. The company is also introducing a more developed storyline, which is a continuation of what came before. That means that if you have been playing Ingress, your progress should carry over to the new Ingress Prime effort.
“Adventure and explorer Hank Johnson is losing his memories rapidly, and he needs your help. A crucial Recursion Artifact is at stake and will be claimed by the winner of this Anomaly. Will it be you?”
Ingress Prime is just the beginning for Ingress players moving forward, as Niantic is planning future updates and new additions along the way.
Have you ever played Ingress before? If not, will you try it out now?
Just like every other iPad Pro review in the previous years, the new iPad is also praised for its blazing fast performance and impressive display, though it is the software and other quirks which hold it back. From a hardware perspective, the 2018 iPad Pro is definitely the future but the frustrating software limitations hold the device back.
Check out what other esteemed publications have to say about the 2018 iPad Pro in our review roundup below.
iPad Pro Review Roundup
The Verge
Depending on who you ask, the iPad Pro design is either stellar and futuristic or a “reference design.”
It’s also impossible to look at the iPad Pro and not be struck by its design. This is the first truly new Apple mobile hardware design in a long while, and it has a deeper connection to the MacBook Pro than the iPhone or previous iPads. Instead of rounded corners and soft shapes, the iPad Pro is all hard corners and flat sides, with massive, asymmetrical antenna lines on the back and a huge camera bump. Most people I showed our space gray review unit to thought it looked cool, but I think it’s kind of brutal looking — almost like a reference design.
The display remains unchanged from last year’s iPad but that’s not a bad thing since it is still the best mobile displays around.
Apart from the corners, the new iPad Pro display is substantially the same as last year’s Pro, with Apple’s extremely smooth 120Hz ProMotion variable refresh rate system, True Tone automatic color calibration, and wide color support. This is one of the best, most accurate mobile displays you can look at.
The massive camera hump houses a 12MP f/1.8 aperture shooter which Apple says delivers the same level of performance as the previous iPad Pro. It also has Smart HDR for better details and contrast, though the overall image quality is not as good as the iPhone XS.
The iPad Pro can power 5K external displays but don’t get too excited about it.
External displays work just like the old Lightning-to-HDMI adapter: the system will simply mirror the iPad Pro by default, but apps that support an extended screen can do different things. Keynote will use the external display as the presentation monitor and show you the next slide on the iPad, for example. Djay will show visualizers on the second screen. But most apps don’t do anything except mirror, so don’t get too excited about your crazy multiple-monitor iPad Pro rig just yet. All of this is exactly the same as the older iPad Pro, which supported external displays using a Lighting-to-HDMI dongle — the only real changes are that the new Pro can support up to 5K displays, and run a display simultaneously with other USB-C devices.
What’s worse is that the iPad Pro does not support external drives natively. Apple is allowing third-party devs to create such apps but out of the box, this functionality is missing.
But one extremely important category of devices will definitely not work: iOS does not support external storage. You can plug as many flash drives or hard drives as you want into the iPad Pro’s USB-C port, and nothing will happen. Apple says third parties can write apps to talk to external storage, but out of the box, this $1899 tablet simply won’t talk to a flash drive.
Irrespective of how much power the A12X Bionic chip inside the iPad Pro offers, the device is limited by iOS.
These roadblocks are made all the more heartbreaking by the A12X processor, which appears to be absolutely lightning-fast. Nothing is ever slow, and it always feels like there’s more headroom to work with. We have an early build of Photoshop for iPad, which is coming next year, and it handled a file with tons of layers just fine. Games were super-smooth, although no iOS games really offer Xbox One-quality graphics. We were able to import several minutes of 4K footage into Adobe Premiere Rush, edit them, and export without breaking a sweat. We were not, however, able to export that footage in 4K, because Premiere Rush is yet another disappointingly limited iPad version of an app, and only exports in 1080p
The new design of the iPad Pro makes the device exactly what envisioned it to be when it launched the first iPad eight years ago.
All of these changes to the original iPad Pro formula really add up. What used to require two hands to use can now be handled with one hand (though people with small hands might prefer the smaller 11-inch model). Reading on the subway is easier. Holding it up while watching YouTube videos in bed is easier. It fits more easily into my already too full backpack. Perhaps more important is the fact that the Pro’s Retina display is the exact same size and resolution as before; there’s just less bezel running around it.
The switch to USB-C port means one can connect their existing USB-C dongles to the iPad Pro and they will work without any fuss as well.
My main work computer is a MacBook Pro, and to really get anything out of it, I had to buy a USB-C dongle with a load of extra ports: a few USB-As, an SD card slot, Ethernet and so on. Turns out, this little accessory has come in remarkably handy in testing the iPad Pro, because I’ve been able to put every single one of those ports to good use.
While messing around in GarageBand, I used that port to connect a Blue Yeti microphone and record audio that sounded noticeably better than when I used the tablet’s built-in mic.
The new iPad Pro is not going to be a laptop replacement simply because of the restrictive nature of iOS.
Key parts of my workflow, however, were built with a more traditional computer in mind, and they just don’t translate well to iOS. Take Engadget’s publishing system, for instance: I tried writing a news story on it last week, but unfortunately our CMS doesn’t quite know what to do with touch inputs. You’re definitely not going to run into this specific problem (unless you’re a co-worker, in which case sorry, friends, no dice), but I’m sure there are other legacy applications that iOS doesn’t play nice with.
The design and display of the iPad Pro are a sight to behold.
The back of the 5.9mm aluminum shell feels incredibly sturdy, and sheds the tapered edges that have defined the iPad for most of its existence. The back is now flat like the bottom of a box, right up to the side. The design looks like a refined version of the iPhone 5. The shape also feels like what the original 2011 iPad was trying to accomplish—this time with no bump in the back, except for the camera.
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The Liquid Retina LCD displays are huge, stretching 11 or nearly 13 inches, depending on which model you choose. They’re gorgeous and packed with pixels. Like the iPhone XR, the corners of the display are rounded thanks to precision-milled glass and a host of other tech treats. Color is vibrant and precise enough for Photoshopping and minute color tweaking if needed.
The iPad Pro stands well on its own as a tablet but it is no laptop replacement simply because of the various limitations it has.
As a more traditional work PC, it sometimes struggles. In a pinch, the iPad Pro and its Smart Keyboard are usable. For example, I wrote this review on the Pro in Google Docs while also opening webpages on the right side of my screen, but it took me longer than normal to do research and collect links—and a good long while to figure out how to do other tasks. I wanted to use the normal web version of Docs, but I had to use the app. My office also uses a collaboration tool called Airtable that wouldn’t work in an iPad browser. It also tossed me to the app, which lacked key features. Attaching specific files was kind of a nightmare in the Gmail app, too.
Ultimately, it looks like the new iPad Pro suffers from the same issues as its predecessor. While it packs beefy internals and has the best hardware around for a tablet, it is limited by iOS which has some frustrating limitations. So, if you are looking to replace your laptop with an iPad Pro, you might want to reconsider your decision as that future still has not arrived.
The OnePlus 6T went on sale earlier this week. This value for money flagship is known for its stellar performance, with OnePlus optimizing app loading times with every new device release. So how does the OnePlus 6T compare to the iPhone XR in a speed test?
In a speed test conducted by YouTuber EverythingApplePro, the iPhone XR took 2 minute and 22 seconds to open 16 set of apps, which apart from heavy games also included exporting a video. In comparison, the OnePlus 6T took 2 minute and 37 seconds. What’s interesting here is that the OnePlus 6T was actually ahead of the iPhone XR in app loading times, though it ended up taking longer than the latter in exporting a 4K video which is why it ultimately ended the first lap slower by 15 seconds.
In the multitasking test, the 8GB RAM of the OnePlus 6T did not help much as it unloaded heavy games like GTA San Andreas. Due to this, the 6T again lost out to the iPhone XR as it took 1 minute and 14 seconds, while the iPhone XR took only 56 seconds. The OnePlus 6T has almost 2.7x more RAM than the iPhone XR so it should have performed better in the second lap of the speed test but that was not the case.
The OnePlus 6T is notably cheaper than the iPhone XR, with a starting price tag of $549. The base variant of the device comes with 128GB storage and 6GB RAM which is twice of what Apple offers with its $749 iPhone XR — 3GB RAM and 64GB storage. The faster app loading times on the iPhone XR might seem impressive but I’d argue that more RAM and internal storage on the OnePlus 6T would be more useful in real life use. What do you think?
TikTok, an app where one can create short Vine-like videos for the world to watch, was downloaded more times than Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube in the United States.
Unlike Vine though, TikTok videos are primarily about users lip-syncing to popular movie dialogues, dancing, doing funny stuff, magic tricks, and more.
TikTok has been growing at a stellar pace over the last few months signifying its increasing popularity. The app was acquired by China’s ByteDance in 2017 and then merged with Musical.ly earlier this year.
TikTok first launched in September 2016 and had around 150 million users before ByteDance merged it with Musical.ly for a combined user base of around 250 million users. It is estimated to have reached a user base of around 500 million users in June this year.
In September, TikTok managed to increase its install user base by around 31 percent and reached a combined download of 3.81 million from the App Store and Google Play. With this feat, it managed to beat Facebook which had a combined download of 3.53 million. From October 2017, TikTok’s U.S. installations have grown by 237 percent.
Currently, TikTok sits higher than Facebook, Messenger, and many other popular apps on the App Store. It is only behind the likes of Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube — a clear sign of just how popular it has become. The catch? The app’s engagement rate is not as high as Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. As per Apptopia, TikTok has around 29 percent engagement rate which is significantly lower than Facebook’s 96 percent, Instagram’s 95 percent, and YouTube’s 95 percent.
A key reason behind TikTok’s increase in popularity is the heavy advertising of the app across Facebook, Google, and other advertising platforms.
Are you using TikTok on a regular basis? Or this is the first time you have heard about the app?
Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming platforms out there, but the service has been missing one key element: an Apple Watch app. But that’s finally changing.
Some lucky individuals have taken to Reddit to post some screenshots of the beta version of the Spotify app for Apple Watch. The streaming giant is currently testing the beta version of the app by way of TestFlight, and so the folks were able to test out the app on their Apple-branded wearable before a public launch.
At the time of publication, there isn’t much to actually go on here as Spotify hasn’t officially announced anything. However, at least one user has pointed out that the current iteration of the beta is pretty limited. That includes not having any support for offline playback at this point in time.
It’s worth noting that you can control music playback on your smartwatch even without a dedicated app, and even if you’re listening to Spotify. However, with an app Spotify can offer up more customized features, including offline playback, direct access to playlists, and the ability to like songs you’re listening to right on the wrist. Spotify recently launched a brand new dedicated smartwatch app for Google’s competing platform, Wear OS, so perhaps it’s not too surprising a watchOS app is (finally) on the way as well.
If you want to sign up for the Spotify beta, you can do so through the Spotify source link below.
Apple announced a major revamp to Apple Maps earlier this year. Back then, Tim Cook claimed that “there’s no one doing this level of work”. So, is Apple’s refreshed map data any better than Google Maps?
As per a detailed comparison from Justin O’Beirne, Apple seems to have made a lot of lost ground in terms of maps data when compared to Google Maps. There’s a “staggering amount of vegetation detail” now, with Apple also focusing on many of the smaller cities and counties. When compared to older map data, the difference is particularly striking, with nearly 25 percent of the county seats having no vegetation data previously.
The level of vegetation captured by Apple Maps is simply astounding. It is far more than TomTom, Waze, and even Google Maps.
Vegetation in Apple Maps in Crescent City
Vegetation in Google Maps in Crescent City
The impressive details are limited not just to vegetation. Apple Maps now has more data about harbors, racetracks, parking lots, football fields, and more.
Apple is also upgrading the building data footprint with more details that were simply missing from the older maps data.
But there’s a catch — there’s a wide variation in building data and some glaring error to go along with it. Apple has been extracting building and just about any identifiable shape data from it satellite imagery and then adding it to maps.
This approach is similar to that of Google. However, the wide difference in building data points to something else as well. There is a difference in building data like new Apple Maps data erroneously showing Four Embarcadero Center and Five Embarcadero Center as almost the same height, though the latter is almost twice as tall.
Justin O’Beirne says that while Apple is using lidar data captured from its vehicles running around the United States, it is using its Maps development office in Hyderabad, India for manual creation of building data. This data is further corroborated by the high headcount of the office at around 5,000 people.
He blames the manual creation of building data by different modelers for their height inconsistencies and poor modeling. Plus, given that the new Maps data has very limited building data, the theory of Apple using a considerable amount of manual labor to improve Apple Maps makes sense.
This also explains that despite Apple working on the new maps data for over four years, its coverage is so poor. The new map data covers just about 3.1 percent of the entire U.S. and around 4.9 percent of its total population.
Make sure to read the full in-depth comparison by hitting the source link below since it provides more insight into how Apple has managed to improve its maps data and exceed that of Google Maps in some scenarios.
A system administrator at Morris Hospital in Illinois has discovered that helium (yes, helium the gas) can make iPhones and Apple Watch act funny and kill them completely as well. However, for a very strange reason, Android devices are immune to any side effects from helium.
On October 8, when a new MRI machine was being installed at the Morris Hospital, Eric Woolridge, the system administrator, was flooded with phone calls about iPhones owned by the medical staff facility not working properly for no clear reason whatsoever.
Initially, Woolridge thought it was due to an EMP pulse generated by the new MRI machine being installed. However, since other computers and devices were not affected, this theory was ruled out.
Around 40 Apple products including iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch were affected and acted strangely They would not connect to the mobile network properly and had issues while charging as well. And there were plenty of other units that simply refused to start.
As it turns out, the issue was caused by a helium leak. During the MRI installation, the giant magnet inside the machine needs to be cooled using liquid helium. Once it turns gaseous, the helium was to make its way out the facility using an exhaust vent. On that day, however, the vent ended up leaking about 120 liters of helium from the MRI room to other parts of the hospital.
After some interesting discussion on Reddit, Woolridge confirmed the theory by placing an iPhone 8 Plus in a sealed bag with helium. And rightfully so, the iPhone stopped working after about 8 minutes.
So why helium is wreaking havoc with iPhones and other Apple products? As Redditor ‘captaincool’ explains, it is due to the less than perfect hermetic seals.
It’s definitely the helium.
The processor in a modern, high volume device typically has its main clock driven by what’s known as a MEMS oscillator. These are barely visible mechanical systems that resonate at some designed frequency, and include packaging to convert this resonance into a useful electrical clock signal. These devices are extraordinarily cheap ways to produce a steady clock, but they have a number of drawbacks. Most relevant, in order for these types of devices to function properly, the mechanical resonator must be inside a tiny hermetically sealed chamber with either a controlled gas inside or a vacuum, as the gas composition in the chamber can affect the output frequency.
For both cost and physics reasons, these hermetic seals are not perfect, and are somewhat commonly permeable to small atomic gasses such as helium.
And why only Apple devices are affected and not Android devices? There’s another technical reasoning behind that.
For this specific case, Apple devices probably share a common family of MEMS resonator to reduce manufacturing costs. This clock likely leaks in helium rich atmospheres, pushing the output frequency outside of the bounds that the main processors are designed to handle, rendering them non-functional. If left idle long enough, the devices may begin to function again, but depending on the concentration of helium which leaked in, this could take anywhere from weeks to years to occur in natural atmosphere and temperatures.
In fact, Apple even mentions this in its user guide for the iPhone and Apple Watch.
Exposing iPhone to environments having high concentrations of industrial chemicals, including near evaporating liquified gasses such as helium, may damage or impair iPhone functionality.
While unlikely, now you know that you should keep your iPhone or Apple Watch away from helium at all costs.
Apple has been reporting unit sales for its three biggest categories for years, but that will be coming to an end.
During the earnings call today, following the public earnings report for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, Apple confirmed that it will stop reporting unit sales starting in the first fiscal quarter of 2019. That will mark the start of Apple’s new financial year, so it looks like that will be the new precedent moving forward.
Part of the reasoning, according to Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, is due to the fact that “number of units sold in quarter is not representative of underlying state of business”. That determination has led Apple to decide to stop reporting unit sales for the three biggest revenue drives.
That is a huge shift on Apple’s part, especially in relation to the Wall Street investors who use these metrics to make assessments moving forward. It also marks, more than likely, a bigger focus on its Services category. Which would not be surprising, considering that particular category just marked itself its all time high of $10 billion in quarterly revenue all on its own.
Following along with its yearly routine, Apple today announced it latest quarterly earnings.
Apple has officially announced its third quarter results of 2018. These follow the strong results from the third quarter, and see millions more iPhones, iPads, and Macs sold to the masses. Here’s how it all breaks down:
Apple sold 46.89 million iPhones in the fourth fiscal quarter of this year, along with 9.69 million iPads. Meanwhile, Apple also sold 5.3 million Macs in the same stretch of time.
In total, the company earned $62.9 billion in total revenue in the quarter, and $14.12 billion in total profit.
“Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2018 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2018. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $62.9 billion, an increase of 20 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.91, up 41 percent. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.”
As is par for the course, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, praised the strong quarter:
“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Over the past two months, we’ve delivered huge advancements for our customers through new versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac as well as our four operating systems, and we enter the holiday season with our strongest lineup of products and services ever.”
Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, also chimed in:
“We concluded a record year with our best September quarter ever, growing double digits in every geographic segment. We set September quarter revenue records for iPhone and Wearables and all-time quarterly records for Services and Mac,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated $19.5 billion in operating cash flow and returned over $23 billion to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases in the September quarter, bringing total capital returned in fiscal 2018 to almost $90 billion.”
To compare year-over-year, Apple earned $52.6 billion in revenue, on the back of 46.7 million iPhones, 10.3 million iPads, and 5.4 million Macs sold in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Finally, Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2018 fourth quarter:
revenue between $89 billion and $93 billion
gross margin between 38 percent and 38.5 percent
operating expenses between $8.7 billion and $8.8 billion
other income/(expense) of $300 million
tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent before discrete items
Now that the 2018 iPhone lineup is out there in the wild, and the new iPad Pro arrives next week, attention is starting to shift to what comes next.
TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has weighed in on Thursday morning, looking ahead to what’s coming down the pipe. According to the analyst, Apple is planning on making some improvements to its facial unlocking feature, Face ID, with the launch of the 2019 iPhones. Kuo expects Apple will “increase the power of the flood illuminator” VCSEL. If that is indeed the case, it would help reduce the potential for environmental light to cause issues with Face ID readings.
Interestingly enough, Kuo believes that Apple is already planning on a new iPad launch for either the fourth quarter of 2019, or the first quarter of 2020. The analyst also expects “Time of Fly” (ToF), which is the company’s new 3D modeling effort. Kuo believes it may launch with the new iPad lineup, and then make its way to the iPhone lineup at some point after that.
The changes make sense, and so does the timing. Nothing major, it sounds like, but quality-of-life elements that could boost sales for the devices down the line.
Apple unveiled the iPad Pro earlier this week with its new A12X Bionic chipset. Based on the A12 Bionic chip found inside the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, the A12X Bionic chip features an 8-core CPU and a 7-core GPU to handle extreme multitasking load.
Apple claims the new iPad Pro is faster than 92 percent PCs out there. And if the Geekbench score of the A12X Bionic chip is anything to go by, it looks like Apple was not bluffing.
In single-core benchmarks, the A12X Bionic scores 5020 which is slightly higher than what the A12 Bionic chip inside the iPhone XS and iPhone XR manages. However, its the multi-core score where the A12X Bionic really flexes its muscles, with a score of 18,000+. This makes it significantly faster than the A12 Bionic which scores around 11,000 points.
That’s slightly slower than the Coffee Lake Core i7-8850H chip (19752 points) which powers the 2018 MacBook Pro but faster than most Core i7 desktop chips released in the last few years. For comparison, a Core i7-4770K scores around 15,000 points in Geekbench’s multi-core benchmark. A 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2017 featuring Intel’s Core i7 chip manages a multi-core score of 15731.
The benchmark scores show what a beast the iPad Pro is in terms of performance. No wonder then that Apple and Adobe were able to show a full-fledged version of Photoshop running on the iPad Pro at the launch event without any hiccups.
Given the performance improvements that Apple is able to eek out from its A-series chips every year, it does seem plausible that we will see Apple release a Mac with an A-series chip within the next couple of years.
Apple has reportedly held talks to acquire a stake in iHeartMedia. The talks are still in the preliminary stage, with no word on when and if the deal will be finalized.
iHeartMedia is hoping that Apple will take an equity stake in its business worth millions of dollars. The original report from Financial Times says that the deal could lead to a multi-million dollar partnership between the two companies rather than Apple making a direct investment.
iHeartMedia filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in March this year. Apple could use a partnership with iHeartMedia to further boost the presence of Apple Music and improve its content discovery.
Since the talks between both companies are still in preliminary stages, there’s always a possibility that it could fall through or take a completely different path with Apple acquiring iHeartMedia.
Apple is bringing its “performance management feature” to last year’s iPhone X and iPhone 8 series with its iOS 12.1 update. For the unknown, this ‘feature’ will throttle the devices as their battery performance degrades over time.
The same feature was responsible for slowing down older iPhones over time as their battery capacity degraded over time. When Apple confirmed last year that it was intentionally slowing down older iPhones, it noted that the iPhone X and iPhone 8 series were exempt from it due to hardware updates.
However, with the iOS 12.1 update, Apple is bringing the same performance management feature to the iPhone X and iPhone 8. The company has silently updated its support page to reflect the change as well.
Below is what the support page originally mentioned:
iPhone 8 and later use a more advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery’s power capability to maximize overall system performance. This allows a different performance management system that more precisely allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown. As a result, the impacts of performance management may be less noticeable on iPhone 8 and later. Over time, the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will diminish in their capacity and peak performance and will eventually need to be replaced.
And below is what the updated support page says:
Additionally, users can see if the performance management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns is on and can choose to turn it off … This feature applies to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus. Starting with iOS 12.1, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X include this feature, but performance management may be less noticeable due to their more advanced hardware and software design.
Thankfully, thanks to all the hue and cry that was raised last year after Apple confirmed it was intentionally slowing down older iPhones, there’s an option to turn off this “performance management feature.” This might lead your iPhone to reboot when under heavy load but it will at least ensure the performance of the device is not being throttled.
Given that the iPhone 8 and iPhone X are just over a year old, it is unlikely that their battery performance has degraded a lot. Over the next couple of years though, the batteries inside these devices will degrade noticeably which is when this ‘performance management feature’ will start rearing its ugly head.
The unthinkable has happened (and no I’m not talking about the Mac mini upgrade). Instead of just discontinuing the MacBook Air, Apple just gave it an honest-to-god update. It finally has a Retina display and the same iconic design!
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2018 MacBook Air upgrade.
Retina Display
Let’s start with the feature we were all waiting for. The new MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch display with four times the pixels. The resolution strikes in at 2560 by 1600 and packs 4 million pixels. The display doesn’t have True Tone but it has vivid colors, with 48% more color than the previous generation.
The display is still at 16:10 aspect ratio. But the iconic aluminum bezel is gone. Instead, it’s a black bezel, which is half the size it used to be.
The aluminium is made for 100% recycled material.
New Design
The MacBook Air retains the iconic wedge shape, but everything else about this design is brand new. The new MacBook Air is just 15.6 mm thick. And it weighs only 2.75 pounds. That’s a quarter of a pound lighter than the previous generation MacBook Air.
Thanks to the smaller bezels, the new MacBook Air’s footprint is 17% smaller than the previous generation.
Touch ID
The MacBook Air is the first MacBook without a Touch Bar to have a Touch ID sensor. Apple managed to squeeze it in in the function row. The Touch ID system is powered by the T2 chip. It runs the Secure Enclave and the Secure Boot. And thanks to the T2 chip, you also get access to Hey Siri functionality on the MacBook Air.
The Specs
The MacBook Air still only comes with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Core i5 processor, but that’s all you need for your day to day tasks. It’s the 8th generation chip from Intel, coupled with Intel UHD 617 graphics. You can add external graphics processors using the Thunderbolt port.
This might not seem like much but the new Intel processors should handle all the usual tasks you throw at it – watching Netflix, browsing the web, working in Excel, and more.
The default is 8 GB RAM but you can configure it to up to 16 GB.
The base model still comes with 128 GB SSD but you can configure it all the way up to 1.5 TB.
The battery life is still the same. It’s still rated for 12 hours of web browsing. But it can now last for up to 13 hours of video.
Thunderbolt USB-C Ports
The MacBook Air was the last holdout with USB-A ports. Now, it’s all gone. The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt USB-C ports on the side, and that’s it. If you want to connect to accessories, you’ll need to use dongles.
3rd Generation Butterfly Keyboard
The same keyboard from the latest MacBook Pros and the MacBook comes to the MacBook Air. The original MacBook Air had one of the best keyboards of any laptop ever. And this new keyboard has a lot to live upto.
Of course, we know that this Butterfly mechanism isn’t the most reliable or universally loved. But Apple did recently take steps to make it harder for debris and dust to get below the keys.
The keyboard is going to be a subjective experience. You should go into the store and type on it before buying the new MacBook Air.
20% Larger Force Touch Trackpad
The old trackpad makes way for the Force Touch trackpad, which uses haptic feedback instead of a physical click mechanism. The trackpad surface is also 20% larger compared to the older model.
Louder Speakers
If you spend a lot of time watching movies on your MacBook Air, you’ll love the new speaker setup. It’s more than 25% louder and has twice the bass.
Three Color Options
Also a first for the MacBook Air range. You can choose between Space Grey, Silver and Gold finishes for the MacBook Air. The Gold looks especially good with the Air’s wedge-shaped design.
Are You Buying One?
The new MacBook Air starts at $1199 for the 128 GB SSD model. That’s $200 more than the usual MacBook Air price (but still $100 cheaper than the 12-inch MacBook). But you do get a lot for the extra money. You can pre-order it now and it starts shipping on November 7.
Are you sold on the new default MacBook for everyone? Will you easily recommend it to your friends and family? Share with us in the comments below.
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