The online Apple Store might not be the best place to buy the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Place an order for 2021’s hottest tablet on Apple.com on Wednesday and you could wait a month or more to have it shipped to you. But other stores have the device in stock now.
Why wait?
If you’ve been dreaming of seeing the bottom half of people’s faces in Apple Stores (odd dream, admittedly!), you’ll get your wish starting this week as many Apple Stores in the U.S. begin loosening their mask requirements.
This comes as major retailers are increasingly getting back to normal as the coronavirus pandemic subsides. Apple has been one of the more cautious parties when it comes to in-store mask policies. The likes of Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Costco have already ditched mandatory mask rules. But Apple was said to be holding back.
As impressive as the sleekly minimalist, modernist Apple Stores are when they’re built from the ground up, there’s something dazzling about the company’s retail outlets that take over and restore classic buildings.
That second category certainly applies to Apple Via del Corso, which opens Thursday in the historic city of Rome. The 17th Apple Store in Italy, the new (well, old) structure is described by Apple as one of its “most significant restoration projects.”
That may be understating its appeal, too. Judging by the images, this could be the most spectacular Apple Store yet.
Many parts of the world are starting to emerge from coronavirus lockdown, with stores opening up and social distancing measures relaxing. But don’t expect to take off your mask to go into an Apple Store — whatever local advice suggests. This seemingly goes for both customers and retail employees.
According to Bloomberg, Apple will keep masks and other safety provisions in place for its stores as the company continues to “evaluate health and safety” measures. This comes shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said vaccinated individuals don’t need to wear a face mask in the majority of public settings.
Art Gensler, the pioneering American architect who founded the world’s largest architectural firm and played a key role in the iconic look of Apple Stores, died Monday at the age of 85.
To try and distill Gensler’s career into “he helped create the Apple Store” is doing him a big disservice. His firm, founded in 1965, operates in 50 countries and produces an annual revenue of $1.5 billion. Nonetheless, for Apple fans, his work on Apple Stores is one of his many indelible contributions.
And he once got fired by Steve Jobs for it.
Order the 12.9-inch version of the 2021 iPad Pro today and it won‘t arrive before late June. And maybe not until July. Apple started taking pre-orders for the first M1-powered tablet on Friday, and anyone who didn’t move quickly could wait almost 10 weeks for the device.
The delay is apparently caused by the new mini-LED screen.
Apple’s colorful new M1-powered iMacs, the new iPad Pros (also with M1 chips) and the faster Apple TV 4K go on sale Friday. If you want to ensure you get yours on launch day, you need to get ready to preorder the right way.
Check out our preorder tips before this new Apple gear goes on sale at 5 a.m. PDT on April 30.
The redesigned M1 iMac marks the first time in about 20 years that Apple will sell its desktop Macs in multiple color options. But don’t expect to find all of them on display in your local Apple Store.
According to a press release published Thursday by Apple, only the green, pink, blue and silver iMacs will be available through physical Apple Store locations. To get your hands on the orange, yellow and purple color options, you’ll have to order online.
iPhone 12 and 12 mini will soon be available in a brand-new purple color option, alongside AirTag — Apple’s very first item tracker. You can preorder all three devices starting Friday, April 23, ahead of their release on April 30.
We’ll show you how.
Two weeks after Apple discontinued the iMac Pro, the company pulled the powerful all-in-one desktop from its website Friday.
The computer hadn’t been updated in three years and there have been no reports of a new version in the works. This may be the last iMac Pro … just as it was the first.
Apple store workers have a certain number of freebies they can use to “surprise and delight” unsuspecting customers, according to an ex-employee whose video about the supposed policy went viral.
“People would come in with like water-damaged phones and you’re not allowed to replace those without a fee,” TikTok user @Tanicornerstone says. “However, the geniuses used a ‘surprise and delight’ to be able to give somebody a free replacement.”
Pro tip: Customers who come off as jerks need not apply for such special treatment.
All 270 Apple retail stores in the United States opened on Monday. Many had been shuttered for months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not any more.
This is a boon not only for shoppers but for those looking for repairs and tech support for their Mac, iPhone or other Apple gear. But don’t jump in the car quite yet.
Many Target stores will become better places to buy Macs, iPhones and other Apple products. In a deal announced Thursday, there’ll be twice as much space dedicated to the devices in these locations, and Target employees will get additional training on using them.
Apple reportedly issued “tough new terms” for suppliers who sell products in its physical and online stores, The Telegraph reports.
Apple revealed over the weekend that it is once again shuttering some of its stores as COVID-19 cases continue to climb. All 53 Apple Stores in the company’s home state of California, alongside those in Mexico, Brazil and London will shut their doors temporarily.
Apple has not announced when they will reopen. In the United Kingdom, nonessential stores in Greater London are closed until at least December 30, when guidance will be reviewed.
Apple is making inroads in taking over Samsung’s home turf. Well, sort of.
Cupertino is getting ready to open its second brick-and-mortar Apple store in South Korea, home to Samsung. The store will be located in the main finance district of Seoul, Korea’s capital city. Apple Yeouido is located in the upscale IFC Mall Seoul. No exact opening date has yet been announced.
Apple temporarily shuttered its Apple Walnut Street retail store in Philadelphia as the city is rocked by protests and riots following the killing of a black man, Walter Wallace Jr., by police.
According to Apple’s website, the store is closed from now through at least November 4. An asterisk on the page lists this as “special store hours.”
The Uptown Apple Store in Minneapolis closed its doors for good. Though it might be more accurate to say the store won‘t reopen, as it’s been shuttered to the public since March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
That didn’t stop the store from being damaged by rioters in May after the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. 2020 has been just extra hard on it.
The Apple Store stopped bundling free headphones with all new iPhones sold this autumn. But that’s not true in France. In that one country, buyers still get a pair of EarPods with their purchase… in a relatively enormous box.
But French consumers don’t get a wall charger in the box. That’s true for every iPhone buyer.
Thanks to COVID-19, the idea of queuing up for an iPhone, huddling up with other people eager to get their hands on the latest Apple smartphone, seems like the stuff of another lifetime in 2020.
To ensure that as many people as possible can get the iPhone 12, 12 Pro or iPad Air 4 when they launch this week, Apple’s issued a press release Wednesday detailing the myriad ways would-be customers can give the company their hard-earned cash.
Apple orders could potentially find their way into customers’ hands more rapidly, due to a shakeup in how Apple ships them out, Bloomberg reports.
According to the publication, Apple is beginning to use its retail store network as distribution centers for stock. Previously, it shipped out items from warehouses or even directly from China.
While this won’t mean faster shipping times for all customers, it could do if you live closer to one of Apple’s hundreds of retail stores.
Ahead of the expected launch of its over-the-ear headphones, dubbed AirPods Studio, and a possible new HomePod speaker, Apple has stopped selling headphones and wireless smart speakers made by rival firms such as Sonos, Bose and Logitech.
The rival manufacturers previously had their third-party products available on Apple’s Online Store. However, as Bloomberg reported Monday, they have now vanished. Employees at brick-and-mortar Apple Stores have also been removing the products from shelves.
Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs had some advice for director Brad Bird when he was making decisions about merchandise on the 2004 movie The Incredibles: “fewer things, better things.”
Bird recalled the advice during a recent online chat with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua (who, incidentally, just had his last movie acquired by Apple). Bird also recalled speaking with Jobs about the Apple Store, around the time the company was busy opening the first ones.
Apple is testing a streamlined pickup window for online orders at one of its stores in Northern California. The new initiative, called Apple Express, could roll out to other Apple stores if it proves successful.
Apple designed its own face mask because of course it did. A company long known for setting itself apart from the competition with superior design couldn’t use over-the-counter masks to protect employees and customers from COVID-19.
Instead, the team that ordinarily designs Macs and iPhones dreamed up their own face covering for Apple employees, including the people that work in Apple retail stores.