The first set of iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max preorders began arriving for customers around the world Friday morning. Further, the phones are now on sale in more than 30 markets.
Apple Watch Series 8 and 2022 Apple Watch SE preorders are also arriving for customers today.
Apple’s online store went down Wednesday morning, a few hours ahead of the iPhone 14 event. The company typically makes its store inaccessible a few hours before any event or new hardware launch.
Besides the iPhone 14 series, Apple is expected to announce three new Apple Watch models and the AirPods Pro 2.
Apple pledged Monday to donate $10 to the National Park Foundation (NPF) for many Apple Pay purchases. If you buy via Apple Pay on apple.com, in the Apple Store app or at a U.S. Apple Store through August 28, you’re helping national parks.
Cupertino said it’s a way to celebrate 106 years of the U.S. National Park Service. And you can also enjoy special content and collections on Apple Maps, Apple Podcasts and more.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest benchmarks make Apple’s M2 chip sound better than we thought. In fact, the new MacBook Air that the processor powers might be the perfect laptop for almost everyone.
Also on The CultCast:
The iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on screen looks sweeeeet.
How does Apple keep pulling off earnings miracles?!?
What not to do when a creep steals your AirTag-equipped scooter.
Somebody built an Apple Store time machine.
And a truffle tangent to end all tangents.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.
Our sponsor: Squarespace
Special thanks to this week’s sponsor, Squarespace. Get all the tools you need to set up your very own website and commence selling anything online. Start your free website trial today at squarespace.com/cultcast (no credit card required). Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain with code cultcast at checkout.
The first Apple store in India won’t open until 2023. Apple has been trying to open the retail location since 2019, but it’s been beset with delays.
The Mumbai store is supposed to be part of an important shift in the way the company does business in India. Another store in the country is also on the way.
Apple previewed its newest retail outlet in the U.K. Tuesday, Apple Brompton Road in London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood. The store, set to open Thursday afternoon local time, claims a few “firsts.”
They include the first mirrored ceiling in an Apple Store, the first dedicated pick-up area in a U.K. Apple Store and the first time Apple has used a certain type of sustainable flooring.
Located a stone’s throw from Hyde Park and featuring design inspired by local flora, the store also boasts a brand-new augmented reality (AR) experience about William Blake.
Cupertino’s latest Apple Store location is coming to tony Brompton Road, London, on July 28. To go along with that opening Apple just put out a flowery new wallpaper with some hidden imagery to help pique your interest.
Among the exotic flora in the image above, can you spot an Apple Pencil, an iPhone and Siri remote? That’s not everything lurking there, but it’s a start.
Armed criminals carried out a daylight robbery of the Apple store in Covent Garden in London’s West End. The thieves reportedly got away with stolen Macs, iPhone and iPads.
Grab-and-run raids on Apple stores aren’t unusual, but it’s very rare for the perpetrators to be armed. No one was injured in Sunday’s U.K. incident, though.
Apple Store’s “Delivery with Setup” option appears to be done for. Its key partner, startup Enjoy, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday. That’s according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
This comes less than a year after the startup raised more than $250 million in growth capital and became a publicly traded company.
Employees at an Apple store in Maryland have made it the first of any of the Mac-maker’s retail locations to vote in favor of joining a union. Several other such stores are preparing to hold their own votes. Meanwhile, Apple is trying to discourage any efforts by its employees to unionize.
It’s not clear how all this will affect users of Apple devices.
You know about band camp and football camp, but did you know there’s also Apple Camp? This is the twentieth year of the free program for children and families. And this year, it’s returning to in-persion sessions at Apple Store locations around the world.
Sign-ups began today, and the two-hour sessions are available starting next week and running through the summer.
Apple U.S. retail store employees now get a minimum of 12 hours between shifts, up from 10 hours. And they won’t have to work more than five days in a row. These are just two of the changes Apple is reportedly making to how it schedules workers at its 270+ retail locations.
It’s likely these are intended to reduce employee interest in joining unions.
Employees of an Apple store in Atlanta won’t be voting to form a union after all. They withdrew their request with the National Labor Relations Board, and said Apple had carried out “a systematic, sophisticated campaign to intimidate them.”
It remains unknown how this will affect employees trying to unionize at an Apple retail store in New York
Workers attempting to form unions at multiple Apple retail stores allege the iPhone-maker is breaking federal labor laws in its attempts to block these efforts.
If the allegations bear out, it’s more than a bit hypocritical – Apple requires its component suppliers to allow their employees to join unions.
Mophie’s latest ultra-compact USB-C wall chargers, containing gallium nitride (GaN), are available exclusively at Apple or Mophie’s parent company Zagg, the companies said Wednesday.
The Mophie Speedport chargers, designed to power up iPhone, iPads and Macs, come in 30W and 67W sizes.
People who ordered a top-tier MacBook Pro in February are being notified that it won’t be delivered until June. The delay results from COVID-19 lockdowns in China hampering notebook assembly.
New orders also face delays of several months, making a refurbished 2021 MacBook Pro a better option for some buyers.
Apple is reportedly working with Littler Mendelson, a law firm with a history of helping companies prevent their employees from unionizing. The move comes in the wake of workers at several Apple stores moving to form unions.
If true, then Apple is going to do what it can to prevent the thousands of employees at its 250+ retail locations in the United States from organizing for collective bargaining.
Dozens of workers at an Apple store in Atlanta reportedly plan to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking to become a union. Employees at an Apple retail store in New York are moving in that direction, too.
These could be the first U.S. Apple store employees to unionize. Both groups are asking for higher wages.
If you care about environmental causes, Apple just gave you a pretty painless way to give. Starting Thursday and running through Earth Day on April 22, Apple will donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund for every Apple Pay transaction in Apple stores, on the store app or on Apple.com.
So start buying stuff and join the fight to save the planet’s beleaguered species.
Apple’s newest retail location, Apple Myeongdong, opens on Saturday in South Korea’s capital, Seoul. Ahead of the opening of its biggest store in the country, Apple showed off a preview with photos and descriptions of the store’s Today at Apple programs celebrating Korean culture, including a new K-pop session.
Remarkably, the new, two-level Apple Store will employ a whopping 250 people who, collectively, speak 11 languages. So, wherever you’re coming from, you’re likely to be understood as you drop a bundle on new Apple gear!
Apple Store technicians and Authorized Service Providers can now repair Face ID issues on iPhone X without replacing the entire handset.
Apple last month began performing Face ID repairs on newer iPhone models, but iPhone X was excluded from the list of supported devices. A leaked internal memo reveals that the 2017 flagship has now been included.
Refurbished versions of the newest MacBook Pro models are now available to purchase from the Apple Store online. Both 14- and 16-inch units are available with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, and customers can save up to $350.
This is the first time refurbs of these machines have been made available by Apple since they made their debut last year. But if it’s a bargain you’re after, you’re likely to find a better deal elsewhere.
An iPhone reported missing or stolen to an industry database can not be repaired at an Apple Store, according to a new company policy.
This means that people need to be careful who they buy from. If they get a deal on a device that turns out to be stolen, they might not able to get it fixed.