Apple has tightened up its online sales policy in Hong Kong, noting that it will not “accept return for online orders placed on, and after August 15th, 2017.”
The move comes ahead of the launch of the eagerly-anticipated iPhone 8, and is intended to deter scalpers from buying up massive quantities of the iPhone to sell at a premium, and then returning those they don’t manage to sell.
Apple hasn’t always had the easiest time in China, and the latest reminder of this is the launch of a new scheme allowing users of Beijing’s transport system to pay through an app — although it’s not available on Apple Pay, or even iOS.
Instead, the service is only available via Android app, with the likely reason for the iOS lockout reportedly being because Apple sticks to its proprietary Apple Pay system, rather than supporting third-party payment apps.
Google could pay Apple as much as $3 billion this year in order to remain the default search engine on iOS devices, a new report claims.
The claim comes from Bernstein analyst A.M. Sacconaghi Jr. If true, it would represent a sizable increase from the $1 billion that Apple was paid by Google for the same reason back in 2014.
Snapchat has paired up with The Pokémon Company to debut a Pikachu filter that turns users’ faces into that of the famous yellow electric Pokémon.
Best of all, whenever you open your mouth you’ll hear Pikachu’s instantly recognizable voice as the animated character leaps onto the screen to strike a pose!
Excitement over the iPhone 8, and Apple’s better-than-expected iPad sales, have driven a number of Apple suppliers in Taiwan to experience massive growth in the last financial quarter.
Taken in their entirety, the strong financial performance of Apple’s suppliers was enough to increase Taiwan’s overall export revenue to the United States in July by a massive 12.5 percent year-on-year in U.S. dollars. For those keeping track at home, that’s pretty darn impressive!
For most of us, the iPhone 8 will arrive in a pristine box, as if it materialized out of nowhere to land in our local Apple store.
Things are a bit different if you’re working on the iPhone production line, however. Two new videos give us a glimpse of what that looks like, as Foxconn employees work on the iPhone 8 rear shells. Check out the videos, which showed up on Chinese social media, below.
The rumored copper gold iPhone 8 may be called “blush gold,” according to a supposed Foxconn insider. The report, initially posted on China’s Weibo microblogging app, suggests that’s the internal name used to refer to a new iPhone 8 color.
Remember the innocent joy of gaming in the 1990s? You can relive it this weekend, courtesy of two rereleases of forgotten console gems from the decade of Nirvana and dial-up internet.
Those are just two of the picks we’ve highlighted for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup. We’ve also got a great update to an iOS email client and a livestreaming app for Mac.
Check out our choices below.
What better way to close out the week than by reliving the glory days of 1995 with Ristar, a newly released iOS port of the classic Sega Genesis game?
Released as part of the retro Sega Forever collection, the free-to-download game is a classic side-scrolling platformer in the Sonic the Hedgehog mold — only with less focus on speed, and more on utilizing the hero’s stretchy arms in a variety of ways.
After several months in beta, game streaming platform Twitch’s desktop app for both Mac and Windows is finally available in its complete full version.
The app includes all the features you’d expend to find in Twitch’s web browser version, such as voice and video calling. However, it also includes a few features that you’ll only find in the app version. In other words, what are you waiting for, gamers?
We’re likely to get our first glimpse of the iPhone 8 next month, but for now designers are having some fun showing off not just how they think the new handset will look — but how it could be marketed as well.
These renders come from South African born designer Quinton Theron, which combine the design elements rumored about the iPhone 8 with some nifty ad-style backdrops.
Apple is being sued by 28 developers in China for allegedly breaching antitrust regulations. According to the complaint, Apple charged excessive fees and removed apps from the App Store without a proper explanation.
In the past, Cupertino said its guidelines for allowable apps are consistent across countries. The lawsuit comes as Apple expands its developer relations team in China.
Apple’s new Carpool Karaoke series may not have found favor with critics, but it’s still stuffed full of musical celebrities — ranging from Metallica to Ariana Grande to Will Smith.
One name you might not find among them, however, is Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington — who recorded an episode of the show last month, just six days before his untimely death at the age of 41. However, according to Apple it might not run.
Facebook is expanding its focus on video by introducing a new service called Watch, which will see the company enter the world of original content for the first time.
Available for desktop, mobile and TV apps, the new Watch tab will appear on users’ newsfeeds. It will include links to a variety of shows — including comedy, reality TV and live sport — some of which will be created by Facebook. The move puts Facebook into more direct competition with services like YouTube, as well as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple.
Apple is 0-2 when it comes to critical acclaim for its original series, after early reviews for its Carpool Karaoke spinoff show have been largely negative. The show debuted this week for Apple Music subscribers.
While it’s still early days for Apple’s original content, between this and Planet of the Apps, things aren’t exactly looking good!
Nineteen years after it arrived on the first-generation PlayStation console, RayCrisis, a.k.a. the final installment in Taito’s 1990s trilogy of awesome scrolling shooters, has landed on iOS.
The first two installments of the series, RayForce and RayStorm actually arrived in the App Store waaaaay back in 2012, but RayCrisis has been mysteriously missing in action. Now, finally, it’s possible to get the whole threesome on your iOS device!
This year marks ten years since the launch of the original iPhone and, appropriately enough, Apple has ramped up its R&D spending as a percentage of its total revenue to the level it was during the development of its debut handset.
In other words, something big is coming!
The iPhone 8 might use its 3D facial recognition sensor to silence notifications when you’re looking at the device.
Developer Guilherme Rambo discovered the possible UI element buried inside code accidentally released as part of Apple’s HomePod firmware. Coders digging into the software discovered numerous other details about upcoming Apple devices.
Carpool Karaoke, Apple’s second television series, is now available for Apple Music subscribers. Building on the Late Late Show format established by James Corden, the show features a variety of celebrities driving in a car, singing hit songs.
Apple might be desperate to make inroads into India, but not everyone in the country is quite as supportive as Apple might like.
In particular, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has accused Apple of carrying out “data colonization” in the country, while also being “anti-consumer” in its behavior. The strong language suggests an attempt to paint Apple as the bad guy among the general public.
If you’ve ever found yourself enjoying the crashing sections of racing games more than, you know, the racing bits, Carmageddon: Crashers may be for you.
It’s essentially a version of the game chicken, in which two cars drive at one another, with one swerving out of the way at the last minute. Except that in this version, no-one swerves!
Developer and Apple sleuth Steve Troughton-Smith has managed to get Apple’s tvOS Simulator to run in 4K, the same screen resolution that’s been rumored for an upcoming fifth-generation Apple TV.
4K resolution is twice the standard HD resolution. Based on what Troughton-Smith has shared, tvOS appears to work fine in 3840 x 2160 resolution, with text, icons, and more scaling effectively to 4K.
Foxconn will open an R&D center dedicated to autonomous vehicles in Michigan, according to company founder Terry Gou.
“Automotive development in the U.S. is … more advanced than China,” said Gou. He also said that he is interested in artificial intelligence and, specifically, deep learning technology. He declined to share the amount of investment Foxconn will be making in Wisconsin, although it’s likely to be in the multibillion dollar region.
Prosecutors are seeking a 12-year jail sentence for Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is charged with playing a role in a bribery scandal involving Park Geun-hye, the former president of South Korea.
Four other Samsung executives are also charged, with prosecutors seeking sentences between seven and 10 years for each. However, Lee is credited as the “ultimate beneficiary” of the crime, hence the longer sentence.
France and Germany are looking to crack down on loopholes that allow U.S. tech companies, including Apple, to minimize their tax contributions at the expense of local rivals.
According to a new report, France will kick things off by proposing “simpler rules” for taxing tech giants. These will be revealed at a meeting with EU officials in mid-September.