Happy Star Wars Day — even if you didn’t know that was a thing. Apple is celebrating the nerdy holiday by showcasing the widespread use of Macs and iOS devices at Skywalker Sound.
Festivities include the release of a “Behind the Mac” YouTube video and feature article about the audio artists at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, along with a special online “Today at Apple” session about creating Star Wars sound effects.
Apple shipped 4.6% fewer tablets in the first three months of 2022 than it did during the same period of 2021, according to a market research firm. The iPad-maker blames the shortfall on the global chip shortage preventing it from making enough devices to meet demand.
This is the second quarter in a row that iPad shipments have been hurt by component shortages.
There’s never been a better time to buy an iPad mini 6, the brilliantly redesigned model from 2021. You can pick up Apple’s smallest tablet at its smallest price yet: an amazing $99 below the usual cost for the base model. And those willing to upgrade to more storage can save $109.
This deal is just in time for Mother’s Day. Plus Father’s Day and high school graduations are also coming up. An iPad mini makes a great gift!
Awesome Apps is a new series highlighting the best apps around. We will feature our favorite apps as well as new and notable ones. Apps are transformative, and these are the best.
I’ve spent years searching the App Store for the best email app – and in doing so, I’ve tried them all. Spark is my favorite because it equips users with accessible power features, which make wrangling email on iOS, iPadOS and macOS as easy as ABC.
When friends of mine bemoan the limitations of Apple’s built-in Mail app, I point them to Spark, from Ukrainian developer Readdle. Spark is by no means a new addition to the App Store. But over the years, the developer added a strong set of features – many of which found their way into other email clients for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Why mess with multiple chargers for multiple devices when you can use one for everything? A quality charging station can provide the same charging power as dedicated cables, while taking up a fraction of the space.
The modular Omnia Q5 5-in-1 Wireless Charging Station can power five devices at once: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Pencil. And for a limited time it’s $89.95 (regularly $120) with code SPRING10.
The first three months of 2022 were good to Apple, with revenue setting a quarterly record. But the company warned on Thursday that problems getting components and assembling products will take a nasty chunk out of revenue for the current quarter. The hit will to be between $4 billion and $8 billion.
But there’s also plenty of good news in from the conference call CEO Tim Cook had with investors after Apple’s March quarter results were announced.
Wall Street analysts harbor modest hopes for Apple’s most-recent financial quarter. They predict the company saw its revenue rise by 5% versus the same quarter of 2021.
The iPhone-maker will announce the results of the January-through-March period ahead of Thursday’s quarterly earnings call. Investors will be looking closely to see how the company is managing the ongoing chip shortage, COVID-19 lockdowns at assembly plants, inflation and other challenges.
Your iPhone battery has run out, you absolutely must make a call or text, and there’s no wall socket anywhere. If you have an iPad, the solution is easy: Connect the iPhone to the tablet.
Using your iPad to give your handset an emergency charge is a trick you might not have thought of. But maybe it’ll get you out of a jam sometime.
Music streaming service Tidal rolled out its long-awaited Siri integration Wednesday. Subscribers can ask Apple’s voice assistant to play songs, playlists, albums and more on the platform.
That’s great if you play music on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. But the Siri integration with Tidal doesn’t extend to HomePod or HomePod mini, unfortunately.
Astropad released the first Windows version of Astropad Studio, software that turns an iPad into a drawing tablet wirelessly communicating with a laptop or desktop. With it, artists can mirror their favorite professional drawing or painting apps on the tablet, including using an Apple Pencil with Windows software.
The software has been in beta testing for a year.
Doing digital art on your tablet can be a relaxing change if you’re used to doing it hunched over a desk. With the right tools, you can turn your iPad or other tablet into your favorite art station
While Apple Pencil is great, the Digi Pen is an affordable option. This smooth, smart digital pen for tablets is on sale for $39.99 (regularly $99).
When Easter rolls around, you know how easy it is to find chocolate bunnies, candy eggs and the notorious marshmallow Peeps — if you’re into that sort of thing.
But if you’d rather hunt for great deals on Apple accessories — especially Apple Watch bands — check out the Cult of Mac Store’s 25% discount across the board on products from Carterjett and Wiplabs.
Apple has stopped signing iOS 15.4 just over a week after releasing iOS 15.4.1 to the public. This means it is no longer possible to downgrade your iPhone to the older version of the operating system. The company also stopped signing iPadOS 15.4, so you cannot downgrade your iPad to the older firmware either.
The first iPad with an OLED display could be in customers’ hands in 2024, according to new report.
There’ve been enough previous leaks pointing to Apple switching at least some of its tablets from standard LCDs to OLEDs that it’s become a question of when, not if.
Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s marketing chief, shared an image of a surprised young girl today. It looks like a photo, but the image was instead drawn by an Apple employee using an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
Check Joswiak‘s post for the full image. And never doubt that iPad is a serious tool for creating amazing art.
Apple launched the iPad in stores exactly 12 years ago today, and the device has evolved enormously since then, in both capabilities and hardware. Today’s devices can do so much more than their forbearers. Tablets have lived up to Steve Jobs’ vision … and exceeded it.
Here are a dozen reasons to love what Apple’s tablet has become.
Apple is “actively testing” a 9-inch foldable device, but it won’t be taking on Samsung with a foldable iPhone until 2025 at the earliest, one analyst claims.
The company’s “priority order” for foldables is said to be medium, large and then small devices. Its current prototype is being used to test new technologies and may not be indicative of an upcoming product.
Apple is said to be collaborating with LG on new foldable iPad and MacBook models with flexible OLED displays. LG is already gearing up to supply similar displays to HP for a foldable laptop scheduled to launch this year.
The report corroborates earlier claims from one display analyst, who claims Apple is exploring foldable/rollable display technologies for future devices. It warned, however, that a foldable iPhone won’t come until 2025 at the earliest.
Apple on Wednesday confirmed a significant change to its App Store policy that finally allows “reader” apps like Netflix and Spotify to link to their own websites for things like creating and managing accounts.
Until now, including an external link for this kind of purpose was prohibited, and would have resulted in App Store expulsion. That meant a poor user experience for a whole bunch of popular services on iPhone and iPad.
That’s finally changing, but of course, Apple plans to make it as complicated as possible for developers to enjoy it.
If weather apps were judged solely on snarky attitude, there would be one clear favorite: Carrot Weather. But even judged by factors like tracking the weather and variety of features, it’s a darned good app. And now, with a major update released Wednesday “to celebrate the triumphant return of allergy season,” it’s even better.
iPhone and iPad users should manually install the latest iOS and iPadOS updates if they want to get their hands on Apple’s newest features and improvements as quickly as possible, according to one Cupertino chief.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, confirmed that automatic software updates don’t drop until one to four weeks after the company makes them available to manual updaters.
Apple faces an incredibly pricey lawsuit in the Netherlands, where the company is accused of “market dominance,” “anti-competitive practices,” and overcharging App Store users for apps and in-app subscriptions.
The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation believes Apple has been able to charge “excessively high prices” by excluding all competition and then abusing its “monopoly position.” It says damages could total $5.5 billion.
Apple might soon give customers the option to get a Mac or other device with monthly fees, rather than paying the full cost up front. The company is working on a hardware subscription service, according to a reliable source.
Software subscriptions are common, but hardware is a different business. Even so, Apple has already dipped its toe into this market.
Complaints posted online claim the recently released iPad Air 5 is so flimsy it makes a creaking noise when pressed.
But this is certainly not a cut-and-dried situation, because other iPad Air 5 users don’t have the problem.
Apple’s new Mac Studio, Studio Display, iPad Air and iPhone SE officially go on sale today. That means customers who preordered early (before shipping dates slipped) are beginning to receive the first deliveries around the world.
If you, like me, are disappointed not to be reveling in the same delight as they are, here are a whole bunch of photos that highlight what we’re missing out on.