Fraudulent iPhone repair claims are big business in China. To the point where about 60 percent of the handsets being repaired under warranty in that country were part of scams.
Apple has had to make draconian efforts to even slow the rate at which Chinese criminal gangs are stealing from it.
Be warned: anyone who upgrades their iPhone or iPad to iOS 12 no longer has the option to downgrade. It’s not possible to go back to any version of iOS 11. Not that there’s much reason to want to.
This isn’t an unusual move. With today’s release of iOS 12.0.1, going to iOS 11 would be two jumps back, and it’s very rare for Apple to allow that.
Google took a one-two punch to the chin today by having to admit its once-ballyhooed Facebook competitor is a dud. There’s so little interest in Google+ that it’s being killed off.
That would normally be bad enough, but the shutdown isn’t just because of lack of interest. A bug in Google+ exposed the personal information of users, something Google didn’t mention for a half a year.
Back in the distant mists of 2012, everyone needed an adapter to plug their collection of 30-pin charging cables into Apple’s new Lightning port. Fast forward to today and this once crucial accessory is no longer necessary. To the point where it’s been dropped from the online Apple Store.
Anyone with iOS 12 — and we know that’s most of you — should download a small update that fixes bugs that have affected some users. A Wi-Fi slowdown problem was only bothering iPhone XS users, but a charging issue plagued a much wider swath of people.
iOS 12.0.1 deals with both, and makes a couple of other small tweaks too.
The days are over when Google Translate could only provide spoken translations with an American accent. The latest iOS version adds regional accents from the former British Empire.
And it goes beyond English. French translations can be said in a Canadian accent, for example.
The good news is that Apple just significantly cut the official price of BeatsX wireless headphones. The bad news is that half the color options also just went away.
These in-ear headphones compete with Apple’s own AirPods but, unlike their rivals, are permanently connected to each other.
The iPhone XS and XS Max debuted last month, and some versions sold out almost immediately. But that doesn’t automatically mean they’re a huge hit. Still there’s new evideance that sales are strong.
Drawing on data compiled from over 1 million mobile apps, an analyst says that, during the first week they were available, Apple’s XS series outsold last year’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus by 45 percent.
802.11ax will soon get a public release, but you won’t be left trying to remember if it’s better than 802.11ac or 802.11n. That’s because every version of Wi-Fi is getting renamed with a simple system that anyone can understand.
The next generation is going to be called Wi-Fi 6, which is obviously better than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5.
Apple isn’t wasting time getting out the next versions of all its operating systems. Yesterday, it introduced fresh betas of iOS 12.1, macOS 10.14.1, and tvOS 12.1 just for developers, and today these are all available to the general public.
This is the second round of betas of all this pre-release software. It comes two weeks after the initial round.
Your iPhone could send out a pair of alerts this afternoon, but they aren’t ones you’ve set yourself. Instead, they’re from the U.S. government, and both are test messages.
The goal is to try out a pair of systems set up to notify the public of emergencies. Again, these are only tests.
Some, but not all, iOS 12 users complain their iPhone or iPad won’t begin charging if it’s in sleep mode when a Lightning cable is plugged in. Apple has introduced a beta of iOS 12.1 that appears to fix this problem.
Microsoft today unveiled a new generation of its Surface Pro 2-in-1. This has a faster processor than its predecessor but other than that remains practically unchanged. The long hoped for USB-C port is still missing.
The improvements are so marginal that Microsoft is left emphasizing that the Surface Pro 6 is available in a new color.
Tile offers some of the most popular Bluetooth trackers, but these had a significant drawback: non-replaceable batteries. Getting a fresh battery required buying a whole new tracker. That finally changed today.
The latest Tile Mate and Tile Pro also offer longer range and louder volumes.
Apple is plugging away at updates for all its operating systems, and just came out with no less than four new betas exclusively for developers. These are the second pre-release versions of iOS 12.1, macOS 10.14.1, watchOS 5.1, and tvOS 12.1.
In a somewhat unusual circumstance, the highlight of three of these disparate updates is the same feature: Group FaceTime.
Apple contributed $1 million to help survivors rebuild after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi last week.
Last year, Samsung’s smartphones offered significantly faster cellular-data speeds than Apple’s, but a new study shows that the iPhone XS LTE performance almost catches up with its rivals’.
Apple’s latest flagship handsets include some long-overdue technologies that give them noticeably quicker LTE connections.
Urban Armor Gear today joined the fight against breast cancer with Product PNK, a case for all recent iPhone models.
Until the end of this month, UAG will donate 100 percent of the profits from sales of this case to charities that support breast cancer awareness.
Beyond just professionals, Apple encourages everyone to send in their pictures to be part of the “Shot on iPhone” advertising campaign. Today it posted the first crop of images taken with the brand-new iPhone XS.
Apple’s latest handsets sports new features that are highlighted in these spectacular shots.
At its huge press event last month, Apple took the wraps off the iPhone XS, XR and Apple Watch Series 4. But we don’t think that’s everything the company is going to unveil this season.
Here are five good reasons why we think Apple will hold another press event in October to show us new tablets, laptops and desktops.
The number of Americans who own an iPad or other tablet computer increased marginally in the past two years. However, ownership of a laptop/desktop has dropped significantly in the same period.
Smartphone ownership stayed at the high rate it’s held since 2016. And that’s what’s really cutting into sales of traditional computers.
Google Maps just added additional tools designed to make long commutes more tolerable. These include a new tab that combines features commuters need, such as warnings that the trip will take longer than normal and integration with some popular music-streaming services.
Some of these tools are already available in rival applications, but nevertheless should be welcome to fans of Google Maps.
Apple stopped updating the iPad mini a few years ago because sales dropped off at the release of the first iPhone Plus model. Seems lots of people prefer a large-ish smartphone to a small tablet, even if the iPad is bigger than the iPhone.
And now there’s the iPhone XS Max, Apple’s biggest smartphone ever. So we explored using one as a replacement for an iPad mini 4.
Reports are coming in that some devices running iOS 12 won’t begin charging if they’re in sleep mode when a Lightning cable is plugged in.
The issue was first noted with the iPhone XS Max, but it is apparently happening with a wide variety of Apple’s models.
A judge with the International Trade Commission ruled that iPhone models infringe on a Qualcomm patent. However, he declined Qualcomm’s request to ban the import of the infringing devices into the U.S.
The judge also said the iPhone doesn’t infringe on two other patents owned by the chip maker.