iPhone

In their latest effort to pull customers away from other carriers, Sprint has started offering a new unlimited plan with up to 5 lines for $90/month. This limited time offer from the fourth most used U.S. wireless carrier comes on the heels of T-Mobile simplifying and bundling taxes and fees into their plans. In contrast, last month both AT&T and Verizon made changes to dissuade their customers from continuing on with grandfathered unlimited plans. We’ll break down the fine print of Sprint’s newest offer after the break…

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iPhone 8 concept via @VenyaGeskin1

A new supply chain report from Digitimes claims Apple is shifting iPhone 8 production up earlier than usual for the company. The report also continues to push the rumor that Apple is planning iris scanning technology in the next flagship iPhone.

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In a new NOVA documentary episode that recently aired on PBS, David Pogue hosts and checks out a next generation battery invented by Mike Zimmerman that won’t explode like the Samsung Note 7 (or create a thermal event) even when cut or punctured. The Search for the Super Battery episode is an hour-long look at “the hidden world of energy storage and how it holds the keys to a greener future.”

With the lithium-ion waste fire at Samsung’s SDI battery factory this week, it’s clear the evolution of batteries should not only focus on capacity, function and end-user safety, but should also consider the employees that produce batteries and the waste’s environmental impacts…

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iPhone 8 concept via <a href="https://twitter.com/VenyaGeskin1/status/829419673808732167">@VenyaGeskin1</a>

A new report from Fast Company highlights a few interesting details about this year’s anticipated iPhone release. According to their sources, the price tag for the iPhone 8 could exceed $1,000 which is higher than any option in the current lineup. The report also echoes rumors that the new hardware will feature 3D sensor technology while downplaying talk that the new models could launch earlier this year than expected.

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Last December Ben wrote a thorough opinion piece on the topic of what port we may see in future iPhones and also asked for readers’ feedback. The majority of pollsters shared they believe Apple won’t incorporate USB-C in the iPhone this year, with 30% thinking 2018 could be the year, 19% saying ‘Never,’ and 18% ‘Later.’ However, there was still almost 30% of respondents who voted that the change will happen this year.

Whether Apple decides to stick with Lightning for this year’s devices or not, it will be interesting to see if they include more adapters in the box or expect customers to pay extra to retain compatibility with their computers and accessories. What do you think?

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Apple has been working with India over the past several months on plans to make iPhones in the country, and now it appears a location for manufacturing has been decided: Bengaluru. Formerly called Bangalore, Bengaluru is known as the ‘IT capital of India’ and serves as the home of Apple’s 40,000 square foot iOS app development accelerator office space.

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When Apple refused to compromise iOS security last year and unlock the iPhone 5c belonging to the San Bernardino shooter, the FBI turned to an Israeli mobile forensics firm called Cellebrite to find a way in to the encrypted iPhone. Now Motherboard reports that a hacker has released files allegedly from Cellebrite that demonstrate how cracking tools can’t be kept private.

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The latest iPhone ownership data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows the size of the challenge facing Apple in making the iPhone 8 a success.

Its research indicates that well over half of all iPhone owners have the iPhone 6 or later.

Within the installed base, the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus comprise 25 million units, or 19% of the total. The two year-old iPhone 6 and 6 Plus comprise 51 million units, or 38% of the total installed base.

While that’s an impressive past achievement for Apple, with its record holiday season sales a major contributor, it does mean the company is facing a tougher challenge this year …

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United Airlines is the latest company to work with IBM through their MobileFirst partnership with Apple to develop a suite of enterprise iOS apps. IBM says the enterprise iOS apps will be analytics-driven and run on over 50,000 iPhones and iPads used by “front-line employees” of United Airlines.

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With Apple reporting all-time record high iPhone sales and revenue in its earnings call yesterday, IDC’s latest data out today confirms that the company surpassed Samsung to take the top spot in the fourth quarter of last year. That was despite, as IDC notes, a first full year of decline for iPhone with a 7% drop year-over-year for 2016:

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Apple has announced holiday quarter results including $78.4b in revenue and $17.89 billion in profit from 78.3m iPhones, 13m iPads, and 5.3m Macs sold. In addition to holiday sales, Apple’s first quarter for fiscal year 2017 includes the bulk of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus sales, Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2, AirPods, as well as the launch of new MacBook Pro models.

FY17 Q1 results compare to $46.9 billion in revenue, $9 billion in profit, 45.51 million iPhones, 9.28 million iPads, and 4.89 million Macs reported in the previous quarter. Apple’s last record quarter occurred a year prior, Apple reported $75.9b in revenue, $18.4b in profit, 74.8m iPhones sold, 16.1m iPads sold, and 5.3m Macs sold. Analysts predicted a return to growth after three quarters of declining sales which we see in today’s results.

Full press release after the break, and stick around for our earnings call live blog at the top of the hour:

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Apple appears to be planning to drop support for 32-bit apps in an upcoming version of iOS. The alert dialog presented when launching a 32-bit app on iOS 10.3 beta 1 now warns users that the app needs to be updated to continue working on future versions of iOS. This suggests that iOS 11 expected later this year could be the first version to only support 64-bit apps.

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Square already makes it possible for small businesses to easily accept Apple Pay at checkout with their latest payment terminal, and now Square is working with Apple on a new promotion to discount Square Readers and make processing fees free for businesses that use Apple Pay.

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For the last few weeks I’ve been using jimmyCASE for iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 6/6s. This iPhone case has a unique mix of materials including mahogany, silicone, and high performance elastic that work well together both aesthetically and functionally. Keep reading after the break to learn more and why jimmyCASE is worth picking up.

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Apple has issued a reminder of the earnings call for its fiscal Q1 2017 (calendar Q4 2016) financial report. As usual, there will be a live audio webcast of the call.

Apple will provide live audio streaming of its FY 17 First Quarter Results Conference Call using Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PST on January 31, 2017, at www.apple.com/investor/earnings-call/ and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. Live audio streaming requires an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with Safari on iOS 7.0 or later, a Mac with Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later, or a PC with Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

The big question is whether the launch of the iPhone 7/Plus and the holiday quarter will see a return to growth for the company after three straight quarters of year-on-year decline in sales. Apple’s own guidance suggests it’s expecting good news, while analyst sentiment appears to be mixed …

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A proposal for Apple to manufacture iPhones in India in return for permission to open retail stores in the country is ‘almost a done deal’ according to a government official. His comment to the WSJ follows a meeting today between a team of Apple execs led by VP Priya Balasubramaniam and senior Indian government officials …

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The Pokémon Company is today releasing its latest offering for mobile devices with Pokémon Duel, a strategy board game that lets you grow a team of six Pokemon characters and fight against others. The game was previously available in Japan but today is launching in the US and elsewhere internationally. 

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Target has accepted Apple Pay in its mobile app since Apple’s mobile payment service launched in 2014, but the retailer still doesn’t take Apple Pay in stores. Now Target is planning to introduce its own mobile payment solution later this year which suggests Apple Pay support in stores isn’t coming any time soon.

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Apple and Qualcomm are currently engaged in a legal battle, with the former suing the latter for $1 billion over patent royalties. Despite the legal rhetoric, however, Qualcomm doesn’t plan to let business between it and Apple be affected, according to a new report from Recode.

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