Top Stories

This week’s top stories: iOS 14 rumors, Apple’s record Q1 earnings, wireless charging mat, more

Chance Miller | Feb 2 2020 - 7:00 am PT

In this week’s top stories: Ming-Chi Kuo details what to expect from Apple in 2020, AAPL reports record earnings, the new emoji coming later this year, iOS 14 rumors, and more. Read on for all of this week’s biggest news.

A new report from Ming-Chi Kuo on Wednesday detailed what to expect from Apple during the first half of 2020. Kuo reiterates that we should expect the iPhone SE 2, new iPad Pros, and MacBooks with scissor switch keys. Most notably, however, Kuo says to expect a smaller wireless charging mat from Apple, ultra wideband item trackers, and high-end Bluetooth headphones.

Kuo’s report leaves a lot to the imagination. He does not elaborate on the specifications of the new “smaller charging mat,” nor does he give a reference point as to what smaller means. Read the full report here.

Apple is expected to unveil iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 at WWDC in June. Ahead of that release, a new rumor this week suggested that this year’s iOS release will support all of the same devices as iOS 13 did last year, including the iPhone SE as well as the iPhone 6s. iPadOS 14, however, is rumored to drop support for the iPad mini 4, originally introduced in September of 2015, and the iPad Air 2, introduced in October of 2014.

This week also marked earnings week for Apple, with the company reporting its fiscal Q1 2020 numbers, covering the lucrative holiday shopping season. Apple announced revenue of $91.8 billion and profit of $22.2 billion. That’s an all-time record for both net income and revenue, and compares to $84.3 billion and $20 billion in the same quarter last year.

Here’s how earnings broke down by category:

$55.96 billion: iPhone
$12.72 billion: Services
$7.16 billion: Mac
$10.01 billion: Wearables, Home, and Accessories
$5.98 billion: iPad

Read more in our full coverage of Apple’s earnings release.

Apple on Tuesday released iOS 13.3.1, iPadOS 13.3.1, tvOS 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3, and watchOS 6.1.2 to the public. The updates include bug fixes and performance improvements targeting Screen Time, the iPhone 11, and the Mail app.

Last but not least, Apple this week officially confirmed that it has completed the rollout of its redesigned and rebuilt Apple Maps service in the United States. Next on Apple’s list is Europe, and it says the redesign will start happening there later this year.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.

iOS | macOS | tvOS |

iPhone |

Apple Watch |

iPad & Mac |

Apps |

HomeKit |

Services |

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This week’s top videos |

9to5Mac Daily |

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Sponsored by MacStadium: Get 50% off your first two months of a Mac mini subscription now w/ code 9TO5MAC, or get started with MacStadium’s new Orka private cloud.

9to5Mac Watch Time episode #14 |

This week on 9to5Mac Watch, Zac is joined by 9to5Mac’s Michael Potuck to talk movement and momentum with Apple Watch. Michael has over a decade of fitness experience that pre-dates the Apple Watch, completed a last minute marathon on a whim, and recently used the watch for ski tracking on the slopes.

9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how the Apple Watch is affecting their lives. 9to5Mac Watch Time is available on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and your favorite podcast player through RSS.

Happy Hour Podcast #262 |

Benjamin and Zac discuss what’s new in iOS 13.3.1 and other new software updates, Apple Maps 2.0 coming to Europe, new Fantastical and Filmic DoubleTake apps, the current state of HomeKit routers, and Apple hardware rumors including a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, backlit iPad Pro Smart Keyboard, and possibly a spinoff of AirPower.

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9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Stacktrace Podcast 068 |

Stacktrace is back! The third season of the show kicks off with John and Rambo sharing what they’ve been up to since the last season ended — from beach walks and standing desks, to content deals, new app features and editors that write code themselves. Also, app architecture, refactoring, view controller structure, and so much more. Welcome back everybody!

Sponsored by:

Longvadon: Get 15% off Longvadon’s premium leather Apple Watch bands with code 9TO5MAC15.
Hummingbird: Use offer code SPELUNK for a massive 50% discount on the macOS utility that makes window management a breeze.

Stacktrace by 9to5Mac is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Apple @ Work and Making the Grade |

Apple @ Work is a weekly series from Bradley Chambers covering Apple in education. Bradley has been managing Apple devices in an education environment since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing hundreds of Macs and hundreds of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple’s products work at scale, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for students.