The smartwatch competition has come down to just two players: Apple Watch and Fitbit. They leave Samsung and other wearables makers well behind.
And in the second quarter of this year, Apple stayed far ahead of even Fitbit.
Investors rushed to buy Apple stock today, pushing the share price up almost 6 percent. That added a whopping $55 billion to the company’s market capitalization.
Apple is still a bit short of the much-hyped $1 trillion valuation, but moved noticeably closer today.
Samsung just unveiled the first high-end Android tablet in years: With a 10.5-inch screen and a $649.99 price, the Galaxy Tab S4 takes aim squarely at the iPad Pro. As with Apple’s tablet, there’s an optional keyboard ($150) to turn this Android model into a 2-in-1 laptop.
We compare the two to highlight the differences.
The “notch” in the iPhone X drew heavy criticism when this device was first announced, but makers of Android phones have been quick to embrace it. So quick that Google felt compelled to step in and limit the number of screen cutouts allowed.
Phone designers were apparently going overboard if Google had prevent them from putting in three or more.
Apple’s spending on research and development of new products keeps growing. The company’s R&D spending increased by hundreds of millions in the second quarter of this year, totaling more than ever before.
But where is all this money going? Some of its R&D projected are obvious, but others the company tries to keep secret.
You don’t have to wait to get the new features of iOS 12. You could install a pre-release version and start tinkering with Siri Shortcuts or Memoji now.
Apple just introduced iOS 12 public beta 4, hopefully the most stable version yet. There are both iPhone and iPad iterations.
Quick, what’s the advertising slogan Apple uses for the iPhone X? How about for the iPad? What was the theme of the last Apple ad you saw?
If you shrugged your shoulders at all these questions, then you’ll understand why a former Apple ad man sees problems with the company’s current advertising strategy.
The rumors of an Apple virtual reality headset just got a boost. The company hired the developer of a VR painting application. An app that can’t run on any device Apple currently offers.
It’s not easy to see why Apple would need the talents of the creator of Cyber Paint if it’s not prepping some kind of VR hardware.
Last September, Apple unveiled an AirPods case that can be wirelessly charged. We’re still waiting for it almost a year later — but there’s fresh evidence that it’s coming soon.
Buried in the iOS 12 beta released today are a couple of images that seem to show this new case.
Dropbox just added terabytes of storage to some of its offerings without increasing their cost. This makes its plans stronger competitors against iCloud.
The company is doubling the amount available through a Professional account to 2 TB. Business Standard teams now have 3 TB to share, up from 2 TB.
After waiting years, Apple is reportedly given up on using some of Intel’s long-delayed processors in the budget MacBook expected this fall. Instead, the device will include chips that debuted last year.
Problems like this could be one of the reasons Apple is supposedly going to move macOS onto its own ARM-based processors and away from Intel.
A wireless charger for your iPhone is very convenient, and now you don’t have to miss out when you’re on the road. The mophie Charge Stream Travel Kit includes a travel-size Qi wireless charger and the add-ons to use it in a hotel room or even your car.
This mobile charging kit currently sells for $49.95 on Amazon, and is compatible with the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus. It also works with any Qi-compatible phone or accessory. Don’t miss our hands-on review.
There’s good news and bad news about the more-affordable 6.1-inch iPhone supposedly in development. The good new is it may have bezels almost as thin as the iPhone X. The bad news is it’s not expected until November.
Apple is reportedly turning to a new type of LCD for this upcoming model. This will enable the slim bezels, but the supplier has run into production problems.
The next-generation iPad Pro is going to have some nice improvements, like smaller screen bezels resulting in an edge-to-edge look.
But not every change is likely to go down well with fans. Apple is also supposedly going to remove the headphone jack, as it has done in its iPhone line. But that’s probably not the move that will draw the most criticism.
Think about how nice it would be to have the best lighted bathroom mirror and dim the lights without having to get out of the tub. That’s one of the promises of the Adore Bathroom lighted mirror as it can be controlled from your iPhone or iPad.
The center of this product is a standard mirror that’s about 20 inches across. This is surrounded by a while LED light that can be dim or bright.
What if your every Apple device could wirelessly charge almost every other one? Engineers came up with plans to put wireless chargers in MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones so they could charge each other, or an Apple Watch.
Building inductive chargers into macOS laptops is such an obvious idea it’s a bit surprising the 2018 MacBook Pro doesn’t include them. But Apple took this idea to its logical extreme.
The Commerce Dept. is reportedly talking to social networking companies and consumer advocates about rules to protect online privacy. Also included are possible protections for companies that have data breeches.
This is supposedly laying the groundwork for legislation that might be proposed this fall.
Both Samsung and Apple are reportedly working on foldable phones, but China’s Huawei could be the first to get one on the market.
Phones that can unfold to the size of small tablets have the potential to shake up the mobile device industry in the coming years.
Facebook lost more value today than any other company in history: $120 billion. The massive selloff came after CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the growing privacy concerns of the public, and the likely response of lawmakers and regulators, will hit the company where it hurts: in the pocketbook.
On the same day Facebook lost 19 percent of its value, Apple’s share price was unaffected. This is because the two companies have diametrically opposing views on the privacy rights of the public. What hurt Facebook so much is actually one of Apple’s strengths.
The highlight of Samsung latest mobile RAM chip is power efficiency. The second-generation LPDDR4X uses up to 10 percent less electricity without sacrificing speed. That’s almost certainly going to benefit future iPhone models.
With batteries improving only slowly, the best way to increase the time between charges is for the phone’s components to draw less energy. Hence Samsung’s efforts to make its RAM more efficient.
Some people treat Apple Pay like a bank account. They keep a balance of cash on this payment system and use it to pay off debts or accept money from friends.
A Redditor has a story that shows a potential pitfall of this strategy, especially if a large sum of money is involved.
When a product isn’t doing well, one marketing strategy is to sling mud at the competition. That’s why all Samsung’s latest ads don’t focus on the Galaxy S9, but criticize the iPhone instead.
There are four new ads that target some aspect of Apple’s products, such as the notch, no microSD card slot, and a lack of on-screen multitasking.
The Apple vs. Qualcomm battle just escalated to the point where the next iPhones won’t include LTE modems produced by this chipmaker. That means these iOS devices will be slower accessing the Internet.
Apple certainly has other options for LTE chips. But none are as good as Qualcomm’s products.
Apple’s sci-fi drama See already has Jason Momoa from Aquaman, and now he’s joined by Alfre Woodward, who has no less than four Emmys and an Oscar nomination.
Aside from some of the cast, a director, and the writer, all we know about See is that it will be an “epic, world-building drama set in the future,” according to Variety.
Some iMac Pro units are subject to occasional hard crashes. The reasons are hard to pin down, but fingers are starting to point at the Apple T2 chip inside this computer.
There’s also one in the 2018 MacBook Pro, and this new device is seemingly prone to the same problem.