iPhone

KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo issued an AAPL investor report this morning that is mostly pessimistic on Apple’s prospects of meaningfully increasing iPhone and iPad sales in the first half of the year. The Taiwan-based investment analyst doesn’t see an upside to the release of the iPhone 5se or iPad Air 3 later this quarter, sees meaningful slowing in YoY 6S/Plus sales and isn’t yet excited about the iPhone 7…
Expand
Expanding
Close

On Friday Mark Gurman reported that a 4-inch iPhone called the iPhone 5se, not 6c, is in the cards with an expected Apple event coming up around March, and over the weekend an interesting photo (above) has surfaced online that claims to show the forthcoming 4-inch iPhone. The image appears to show what could be the updated smaller iPhone with rounded edges and Touch ID as we reported next to an iPhone 5 for scale. The source where the image was first shared, on One More Thing forums, has credibility with surfacing leaked hardware after showing the thinner iPad Air 2 display two years ago as well as the iPad Air design (on what appears to be the same table under the same lamp as the iPhone leak) the year before.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has been steadily adding more banks to its list of those officially supported for Apple Pay, and today it adds yet another 50+ for users of the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch-based payment service. The new additions include a mix of banks and credit unions across the US, but don’t bring any newly supported institutions to users internationally. Head below for the full list of new banks and credit unions. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple is currently expected to hold an event in March to announce a slew of new products, notably including a new addition to the iPhone lineup. The 4-inch iPhone is expected to be released by April, and MIC Gadget claims to have a hands-on with new unreleased iPhone straight from the Foxconn factory. Unsurprisingly, the purported new ‘iPhone 6c‘ looks just like an iPhone 6s, but smaller. The latest rumors indicate it will also have similar internals, featuring Apple A9 SoC and NFC for Apple Pay.

From our iPhone 6c mockup gallery last month

The validity of the video cannot be confirmed. The ratios of the speaker holes is very similar to the 4.7 inch phone so it’s not 100% that this phone is actually smaller (perhaps the camera guy has big hands). The video also does not include a comparison with other iPhones to confirm the relative size, but they claim it is legit and MIC Gadget has a reasonable history of obtaining device hands-on ahead of time. Watch the 40 second clip and decide for yourself, after the break …

Expand
Expanding
Close

With the introduction of the first beta of iOS 9.3, Apple introduced a new feature called Night Shift that adjusts the color temperature of your device’s display at night as to make it easier to fall asleep. One qualm many have had with the feature, however, is that you have to go into the Settings app to turn it on and off. Apple’s iOS 9.3 Canadian preview page, however, hints that it make become easier to enable the feature with future iOS 9.3 updates…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Is this really one of Apple’s official spokespeople for GarageBand? That’s what The Verge says in this T-Painful tutorial that teaches us next to nothing about today’s Garageband update. An update that by the way actually introduces some interesting new features for users of the audio production suite Apple bundles with its iOS devices and Macs.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple today released a brand new app for iOS devices called Music Memos that allows songwriters to quickly and easily record audio and develop song ideas.

Apple’s press release for the new app notes that Music Memos was inspired by the fact that many musicians have long used the iOS Voice Memos app as a way of quickly capturing ideas in audio on their iPhones and iPads:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Siri percolated throughout all of Apple’s platforms in 2015. It started with iPhone in 2011, iPad in 2012, debuted on Apple Watch in early 2015 and Apple TV with the new model a few months ago. It’s quickly becoming a premier feature on these platforms, with live-as-you-speak transcription and radically new features like ‘Remind me about this’ contextual tasks when inside apps. Except for one platform of course. Mac OS X has been ignored and left abandoned with regards to true voice searching and Siri. It’s 2016, and I want Apple to bring Siri to the Mac.

Expand
Expanding
Close

There’s a new iOS 9.2.1 update within the Settings app awaiting all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users today. Apple released the first developer beta version of the software update in mid-December after shipping iOS 9.2 earlier in the month. The second iOS 9.2 beta was later released at the start of January. Apple has since started testing iOS 9.3 with developers and public beta testers.

As the version number suggests, iOS 9.2.1 so far hasn’t included any major feature changes or enhancements, and the official release notes only reference bug fixes, security improvements, and an MDM server issue fix.

Expand
Expanding
Close

For me, coffee at Starbucks is secondary to the great music you discover courtesy of your twenty-something barista’s Spotify DJ skills. The good news is you can now easily save those Spotify playlists for listening later through an update to the Starbucks iPhone app today.
Expand
Expanding
Close

For nearly half a decade, teams of hackers and programmers have worked tirelessly to crack Apple’s iOS software code in order to inject new features, themes, and applications. Now, a team led by noted former jailbreak developers Will Strafach, otherwise known as “Chronic”, and Joshua Hill, known as P0sixninja, is working to secure Apple’s mobile platform. The duo, along with a list of unnamed former jailbreak developers, has been working on a new comprehensive platform to secure iOS devices for both enterprises and consumers. Strafach provided us with a preview of the platform known as “Apollo,” the first security product from his new company Sudo Security Group.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s strong position on privacy and encryption has been at odds with the United States government’s pressure to step up its national security efforts in the wake of recent terrorist attacks across the globe. In short, iPhones are encrypted to protect customer data from prying eyes, and law enforcement agencies believe that gives criminals a safe haven for communication that can’t be traced.

The Obama administration including the former and current attorney general and FBI director have strongly voiced opposition to Apple’s position, and Tim Cook reportedly pressed the White House to back strong encryption as recently as this week. So it’s no surprise that Tim Cook and Apple came up at the end of last night’s Republican presidential debate hosted by the Fox Business channel where at least one candidate was asked to address his position on the subject.

Expand
Expanding
Close

I’ve been all in on iCloud Photo Library since Apple replaced iPhoto with the new Photos app on the Mac last year and I haven’t looked back since. I pay $2.99/month to sync my 13,206 photos and 1,087 videos (plus iOS device backups) with iCloud, and this allows me to take or save photos and videos from any device and have them appear across the others including the web, edits, albums, and all. I even have a system to help ensure to if something in the cloud gets hosed that everything will be fine at home (and if the house burns down hopefully the cloud is still there).

This also enables me to access my 155 GB photos library in the Photos apps on iPhones and iPads that otherwise couldn’t fit that much content. Thumbnail previews are available at all times, and full resolution versions download on the fly as needed. When you’re iPhone, iPad, or Mac needs more local storage, Photos can remove full-res images and downloaded videos to make more space using an optimize storage option. This works pretty well especially on higher capacity devices, but there’s one problem…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Korea’s ET News claims that Samsung will become Apple’s primary supplier of OLED display panels, stating that an agreement has “practically been decided.” Samsung is reportedly gearing-up for the contract with an initial investment of between $2.49B and $3.32B in plant and equipment, rising to $7.47B depending on order levels.

Apple currently uses OLED displays in the Watch. Rumors that it will switch to OLED for the iPhone have been doing the rounds for many years, but have been getting much more specific of late. The switch is said to be happening in 2018, with Apple recently reported to be ‘close to agreement‘ with suppliers. The most recent report named both Samsung and LG as likely suppliers …

Expand
Expanding
Close

[Update: Apple’s system status board has been updated to acknowledge the blip and note the issue is over.]

If you’re having issues getting started with Apple Music this morning, you’re not alone. The iOS app started the day by asking subscribers to sign up and join Apple Music (a force quit fixed for me but the problem persists) and iTunes on the Mac is also serving up error messages for a great number of users.

Expand
Expanding
Close

If everything goes as planned, Apple is set to hold a spring event in March to introduce the Apple Watch 2 along with some other new hardware and software goodies. That’s only about a year after the original Apple Watch went on sale, but roughly 18 months since the first-gen model was actually announced.

As a mostly satisfied Apple Watch 1 customer, March or April doesn’t strike me as being too soon for the Apple Watch 2. Personally, I’m excited to see if the next model can handle apps better with a needed speed boost and maybe lose a little overall thickness and display bezel.

But while I’m basically already lining up to buy the next Apple Watch, I probably won’t spend the extra $200 on a stainless steel model this time if it’s is going to be an annual product upgrade. And for most Apple Watch customers, buying a new model will probably be an every 2 or 3 year event if that.

Apple Watch has a lot of opportunity to get better over the next few years, though, just like the original iPhone advanced dramatically between iPhone 1 to iPhone 4. A proper Apple Watch Upgrade Program could easily encourage current owners to buy the latest hardware every year (everyone using the latest generation helps the overall product’s reputation) and encourage new customers to splurge on higher-priced models. There would be other benefits as well …

Expand
Expanding
Close

With a growing number of business meetings these days taking place via Skype, Microsoft has made it easier than ever to schedule and join a Skype call in the Outlook iOS app. Version 2.1.3 of the iOS Outlook app adds Skype integration.

Make any meeting a Skype call simply by flicking a switch, then access the call when you need to with just a tap. Now when you say “I’m joining the call now”, you’ll actually mean it. To give it a try, simply turn on the “Skype Meeting” switch when creating or editing an event.

The update also adds a new view designed to provide a clearer sense of your schedule …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Last July, sales of iOS devices caught up with sales of Windows devices, making it a tight race as to who would ship the most units as 2015 wrapped up. Now, Asymco has shared a chart depicting the extraordinary growth of iPhone shipments and showing that in 2015, iPhone shipments overtook Windows shipments as a whole.

Expand
Expanding
Close

This week’s iOS 9.3 beta software update for iPhone and iPad is a pretty major release for a mid-cycle version. New features including the F.lux-like Night Shift which lets you change the color temperature of your display and Touch ID plus secure passwords for Notes feel more major version features. Other parts like new 3D Touch quick actions for many of Apple’s stock apps feel more like playing catch up, but overall iOS 9.3 is shaping up to be an impressive release. Check out the details below:

Expand
Expanding
Close