Benjamin Mayo

Apple has run ads on Instagram for some time. Starting from today, it is taking the platform more seriously, having started making its own posts. The account is sharing photos and videos taken on iPhones as part of its Shot on iPhone campaign.

The Apple Instagram account has the handle you’d expect, @apple, and is verified to confirm its legitimacy. Apple has slowly adopted social media, although it still is yet to write a real tweet.

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Over the weekend, there were a couple interesting stories about the upcoming iPhone 8 originating from Weibo. A Foxconn vice president posted to his public social feed that the iPhone 8 will not be cheap, as yields of the OLED display are low (40% failure rate) due to the ‘special design’ (the custom top notch).

Separately, photos of a new iPhone 8 rear case color appeared online although the validity of the image is not clear. In addition to the usual black and white, the photos depict an OLED iPhone in a copper gold color. More photos after the break …

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We’ve received a couple of photos from Apple tipster Sonny Dickson this morning that depict a dummy model for the ‘iPhone 7s Plus’, one of three new phones Apple is said to be launching this year. Although marketing branding is unknown, the ‘7s’ devices are expected to iterate on the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus chassis.

One distinction will be the introduction of glass backs (rather than aluminium), which this dummy model incorporates. It is believed that the phones will support inductive charging. More pictures after the jump …

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Apple surprised most investors yesterday with strong sales in the last quarter (fiscal Q3) and better-than-expected guidance for the next three months, signalling the company’s confidence in the upcoming iPhone cycle.

AAPL stock opened up more than 6% at $159, a new all-time high, with a market cap above 830 billion dollars …

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The Google Earth app is incredibly popular on iOS, with hundreds of thousands of reviews on the App Store, and the company has finally updated it to support 64-bit iPhone and iPad CPUs. This means the app can now run on iOS 11, which does not launch any 32-bit-only apps.

As well as much-needed architectural compatibility, the update brings a redesign and several new flagship features, including Flyover-esque 3D views of major cities and ‘Voyager’ guided tours.

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Update: Apple says that the Chinese MIIT requires VPN providers to obtain a license. The company has been ‘required’ to remove VPN apps from the App Store in China which do not meet the regulations.

Apple has begun removing all VPN apps from the App Store in China, as first noted by the developers of ExpressVPN. In a blog post, they reported that Apple informed them that their app had been pulled from the Chinese App Store. It seems all major VPN clients have received the same treatment.

China infamously has strict regulations on Internet access and VPNs were one way people could circumvent the Great Firewall. Apple told developers their apps were getting taken down ‘because it includes content that is illegal in China’.

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A new image of the iPhone 8 has surfaced on Weibo today, via Slashleaks, showing off the rumored screen design in diagram form. It purports to be a page from the packaging paperwork, which instructs users how to swap SIM cards. Most notably, this leak includes the expected screen design: almost bezel-less apart from a notch at the top of the device to accommodate the earpiece and front camera sensors.

If real, this would be the earliest packaging leak for an iPhone in a long time. Leaks like this aren’t usually seen until much closer to release. Full size picture after the jump …

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In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple’s design chief Jony Ive details various elements of Apple Park including a few tidbits we haven’t heard before. Ive’s interview will be the cover story on the WSJ Magazine’s August issue.

Although the piece does not say when Apple Park will be fully up and running, it does say that Ive’s design team will move over in the fall, scheduled as ‘one of the last’. This suggests that Apple is aiming to have all employees at Apple Park by the end of the year.

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At this point, it is well known that the iPhone 8 (or iPhone Pro, or whatever it’s called) will feature a new (5.8-inch) OLED screen. Reports indicate that this display will be exclusively manufactured and supplied by Samsung, as Samsung currently dominates global supply of phone-sized OLED panels. Apple is never happy to depend on just one supplier for a critical iPhone component, not least it’s arch-rival in the tech landscape.

According to a new article from ET News (via Digitimes), Apple has bought CVD machines and has setup a research & development line in Taiwan dedicated to OLED screen technology. It aims to ultimately expand the OLED supply chain beyond just Samsung, although it’s unlikely that Apple itself would actually do the raw component manufacturing …

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Apple has launched the ‘Machine Learning Journal’, a blog for Apple’s software engineers to document their research and innovations in the AI and machine learning space. The first post shares insights into a published research paper about improving picture-based machine learning models without gathering additional training data manually.

Apple will update the site throughout the year with new posts and is inviting questions from outside engineers, students and researchers.

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An interesting claim is coming out from iGeneration this morning. According to a source of theirs, Apple is planning to debut a new iPhone SE later this year at an ‘event’ in August.

The company would then follow up with the flagship iPhone 8 launch later in the year, around October. The fate of the iPhone SE may not be as bleak as it seemed, although this is the only rumor about the product to date …

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We’ve been hearing various reports since the start of the year that the typical production schedule for the iPhone lineup is not happening this year, and these claims have only been boosted in recent weeks. Today, Economic Daily News is reporting that all three new iPhones — the major-redesigned iPhone 8 and the ‘7s’ iterative updates to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus — are yet to start mass production.

The report says that the new 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch phones are expected to ramp up in August, a month behind the normal new iPhone production timelines. Moreover, the OLED 5.8-inch iPhone (with bezel-less screen and all-new chassis design) may not be available until November.

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The sound quality of the HomePod has been a key focus for Apple in its marketing for the smart speaker device, openly comparing it to the inferior audio of the Amazon Echo at WWDC. However, the HomePod isn’t launching until the end of the year and Amazon isn’t standing still.

Engadget sources report that the next Echo will include multiple tweeters inside, which should result in a dramatic improvement in sound. It also seems like the device will look more like a HomePod than the current Echo, substituting hard plastic cylinder for ‘cloth-like’ rounded shell.

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Apple has just announced its Back to School deals for 2017. This year, students at the Apple Store can get a pair of Beats Solo3 headphones, Powerbeats3 or BeatsX bundled with Macs and iPad Pro purchases. This is in addition to the usual Apple Store education discount.

The company will bundle Beats Solo3 headphones when buying a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac or Mac Pro. A free pair of BeatsX comes with a purchase of a 10.5-inch or 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Details after the jump …

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Apple has rolled out new in-store displays to select Apple Stores, demoing how users can take advantage of the Home app and HomeKit accessories to create smart home experiences.

The company has constructed special areas in the Apple Store where customers can test out the Home app on iOS devices and see the changes update live in the virtual home pictured on the screens. If visitors like what they see, they can then buy accessories like Philips Hue bulbs off the shelf using the Apple Store app.

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Apple is opening a new data center in China, in partnership with a local Chinese data management firm, following tightened legislation over how companies can store data about users in the country.

Apple says the new data center will allow it to comply with the regulations and improve the speed of Apple cloud services in the region. It reaffirmed earlier statements that it would not create a backdoor for any third-party (via CNBC).

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Apple today announced that it is adding PayPal as a new payment method to the App Store, iTunes Store, iBookstore and Apple Music services. This means Apple users will be able to add PayPal to their Apple ID in order to buy apps, musics, movies, TV shows and more.

PayPal is a nice alternative to gift cards for users who don’t want to (or can’t) attach credit cards to their account. The option is available now in select countries and will roll out to more customers soon, including the United States …

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Apple has released iOS 11 developer beta 3 for developers on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 11 brings new features like drag-and-drop and a redesigned multitasking interface for iPad, a new customizable Control Center, and much more.

New in beta 3 is a swipe up gesture for iPad users to close apps, tweaked behavior to Cover Sheet Notification Center and more …

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This morning, Apple announced plans to open a second data center in Denmark. The first unit in Viborg opens later this year (pictured in above render) and the new announcement sees a second facility being built in Aabenraa, expected to go online in 2019.

It will run on 100% renewable energy and power Apple’s internet services across Europe, including iTunes Store, Siri, iMessage and Maps.

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Tidal owner Jay-Z released his hotly-anticipated new album ‘4:44’ a week ago on his streaming music service. The album launch was a hit, going platinum in five days, but it wasn’t as big a win for Tidal as it first seemed as the exclusivity window only lasted a week.

The album is available now on Apple Music, iTunes, and Amazon Music Unlimited although Spotify is notably left out. Tidal continues to struggle in the streaming music market as it tries to compete with bigger players, and it now seems that Kanye West has walked away from his exclusivity deal …

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