iPhone 6 - page 23

Many users were surprised when the expected Surface Mini tablet didn’t arrive alongside the Surface Pro 3 back in May. A new report, however, sheds a bit of light on the issue.

According to upstream supply chain sources who spoke with DigiTimes, Microsoft ditched plans for a small-size tablet due to fierce competition in the marketplace, along with negative responses from brand vendor clients.

With nothing standout about the Surface Mini’s tech spec (it was reportedly set to sport a 7.5- to 8-inch display, ARM processors, and OneNote and Windows RT 8.1 operating system) Microsoft feared the device’s success would be severely hampered by the arrival of the upcoming 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6, which is expected to have a major impact on the demand for 7-inch tablets.

In the production cycle leading up to every new iPhone release, leaked iPhone casings give us a very good idea of the size and ergonomics of the new device months ahead of time. But one thing we don’t often get a look at before a new iPhone is released is what it looks like doing what it’s actually supposed to do: run the latest version of iOS.

With the iPhone 6, Apple is making the most radical change to the physical size of the device ever. To figure out what this means for the look and feel of iOS 8 when it is blown up to the size of the iPhone 6’s 4.7-inch display, YouTube video maestro Tom Rich has created a video that shows exactly that.

Thanks to abundant casing leaks, we all think we know what the iPhone 6 will look like when it’s released this summer: a 4.7-inch slab of aluminum with stripes on the back denoting where the antenna goes. But do we really? A new report out of Asia says the iPhone 6 could look very different than the leaks we’ve seen so far.

iPad screenmaker Sharp is allocating a major chunk of its LCD production facilities to Apple — but doesn’t seem all that happy about it.

According to an interview published Monday with Sharp Senior Executive Managing Officer Norikazu Hoshi, the company worries about what it means for the entire output of the Japanese display maker’s Kameyama No. 1 plant to go “to just one company (Apple).”

This week on the CultCast: Leander’s Big Adventure! Leander’s back to tell us about his top-secret mission to Apple HQ. Plus, CoM reviews editor Charlie Sorrell tells us about some cool gear he’s reviewing. We also run through a list of all the great hardware we’re expecting Apple to dump on us in just a few short months. And we wrap up with an all-new Get to Know Your Cultist, and this round has us diving into some of our favorite movies ever made. Guess who has the weird choice? You’re right, it’s Leander.

Hem and haw your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.

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It seems like ages ago that the original iPod touch helped boost the popularity of iOS. With seven years behind the device, Apple still believes in the product and has introduced a price cut. Watch today’s news roundup to hear all about the latest version of the iTouch. You’ll also get the latest iPhone 6 rumors, a look at Google’s wacky cardboard virtual reality goggles and the rest of this week’s big stories.

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The iPhone 6 is undoubtedly one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated gadgets, but how does this translate into actual sales?

Crunching the numbers, Taiwan’s Topology Research Institute predicts that the iPhone 6 will sell around 80 million units by the end of 2014. With most sources suggesting that Apple plans to release both a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6, these devices will likely be going on sale in September — meaning that Apple would be selling an average of 20 million iPhone 6 devices per month, for the final four months of the year.

Possibly coming with a $100 premium, Apple is going to need some extra reasons to get users to stump up for a 5.5-inch iPhone 6, and according to a new report they may have found them.

While it’s been reported that the 4.7-inch iPhone will be arriving in both 32 GB and 64 GB variants, a rumor from the Chinese website Wei Feng suggests that Apple may introduce a 128 GB version of the phone in the 5.5-inch form factor only.

This would allow users to get the full “phablet” experience from their device, since it would provide plenty of storage space to save various documents and data. It would also blur the line between Apple’s iPad and iPhone models, since iPads currently allow for up to 128 GB of storage, whereas current generation iPhones only allow a maximum of 64 GB of in-built storage.

With a much larger screen size, the iPhone 6 may be the most radical redesign of Apple’s smartphone ever. But with such a major redesign in the works, there’s a lot that can go wrong, and it looks like something already has: according to reports, defects in the iPhone 6’s metal chassis could lead to short supply of enough devices to go around when it launches in September.

Common sense would dictate that Apple should release the iPhone 6 right around the time that iPhone 5 early adopters’ two-year phone contracts run out — which would mean a mid-September launch.

For the second time in two months, a source has come forward claiming to know the release date Apple has its eye on, and it “reconfirms” the date given by Deutsche Telekom’s support representatives back in May.

We’re less than three months away from the iPhone 6, and with more rumors and leaks heaping up about Apple’s next generation iPhone on a daily basis, a consensus view has emerged about what it is that we’re expecting.

With that in mind, Reddit user A_Hard_Goodbye recently put up a new gallery of iPhone 6 mockups on Imgur — giving us one of the best looks at the forthcoming iPhone 6 that we’ve yet laid our eyes on, including silver and space gray colors. Hitting all the expected design checkpoints (curved edges, larger screen, repositioned on/off switch) it definitely makes us more excited than ever about Apple’s biggest iPhone refresh in years.

With just months before the expected release of the iPhone 6, rumors continue to roll in about Apple’s next-generation smartphone. Will it have a thinner bezel? A bigger screen? A glowing logo on back? In today’s video, we catch up with all the latest speculation regarding the iPhone 6.

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Foxconn and Pegatron — the two leading manufacturers set to produce the iPhone 6 — have been on a massive hiring spree as of late.

According to Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, Foxconn will recruit in excess of 100,000 new workers in mainland China to help assemble Apple’s much-anticipated next generation iPhone. It had previously been reported that the company was opening up new factory space to carry out the work.

Rival Taiwanese assembler Pegatron will also be upping the workforce in one of its factories by 30 percent in order to meet the demand the influx of new work will place on it.

There’s a fire in the Amazon! I’m so sorry. Bad jokes aside, on this week’s CultCast we’ll tell you what we love and don’t about Amazon’s much-buzzed debut mobile phone. Plus: the iMac just got a lot cheaper… and slower; another Weibo leak reportedly shows a huge 5.5-inch iPhone 6; the cool additions to iOS 8 and Yosemite’s 2nd betas; this summer’s hottest mens’ bathing suit attire; plus, you asked, we answer—it’s an all-new CultCast Q&A!

Our thanks to TextExpander for supporting this episode! TextExpander for Mac saves you time and effort by expanding short abbreviations into frequently-used text, pictures, code blocks, and more, and it’s an application we use every single day. Try it out for free at Smilesoftware.com/cultcast.

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A cheaper iMac that proves you get what you pay for, fresh beta updates for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, and a “rare” iPhone with a $15,000 price tag. You’ll get these stories and more in Cult of Mac’s video rundown of the week’s biggest Apple news.

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After years of work on its first mobile phone, Amazon has finally revealed the Fire Phone. Boasting an extensive recognition system known as Firefly and 3-D features powered by something called Dynamic Perspective, the device is now available for pre-order.

In today’s video we give you an overview of the flashy new device, which was unveiled Wednesday by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and compare Fire Phone to Apple’s mobile offerings (both the current iPhone 5s and the upcoming iPhone 6).

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One week ago, the Taiwanese actor and racing car driver Jimmy Lin posted pictures of what looked to be a legit 4.7-inch iPhone 6. Today, he’s followed up by sharing a picture on his Weibo account depicting Lin sitting next to what appears to be the 5.5-inch iPhone 6.

While this could possibly be a dummy unit, Lin has a history of teasing images of future iPhone models — starting with last year’s image of him with an iPhone 5c. A recent report seemed to confirm that last week’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6 was, in fact, a beta unit that had been sent out for testing purposes.

Could the iPhone 6 boast a Quad HD display, packing a 2560 x 1440 resolution in line with the 5.5-inch LG G3?

That’s the word on the street according to a source citing “Apple employees” from Hong Kong, although it is not clear which iPhone 6 model is being referred to. If this is the case, it would give the give the iPhone 6 by far the most stunningly beautiful screen of any Apple smartphone ever.

We’ve heard plenty of reports about Apple’s 5.5-inch “phablet” iPhone 6, but most of the leaked pictures so far have claimed to depict its smaller sibling, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, instead.

That’s changed with some new model photos showing mockups of both sizes of the forthcoming iPhone 6, including both the back and front of the two next generation iPhone models, sitting side by side.

Back in 2008, basketball star LeBron James received a small stake in Beats Electronics in exchange for promoting the company’s headphones. Now that Apple has bought Beats, guess how much James is set to make? You really don’t want to know, but watch our news wrap anyway. The rest of it, including updates on split-screen iPad multitasking and the future of the iPhone 5c. will cheer you up.

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Apple is definitely making a big screen iPhone that will launch this fall, the only question is how much extra is it going to cost you?

Fanboys are notoriously willing to pay an extra Apple Tax for Macs, but some analysts are worried a bigger iPhone with bigger price tag will chase some away. Those fears will probably prove to be unrealized though according to a survey by Raymond James that claims most of Apple’s potential iPhablet customers are totally cool shelling out $100 more.

New photos purporting to be of the iPhone 6 have shown up. The above image was one of two posted by user dreamerjimmy on the Chinese social network Weibo. Seemingly confirming what we have heard in previous reports, it depicts the iPhone 6 as featuring curved edges, a larger display and thinner bezel to maximize the screen size. It also features a shorter gap between the display and the Touch ID Home button.

Other images reveal additional notable changes.

More pictures of what is allegedly a shell for the upcoming iPhone 6 have surfaced, and if legitimate, they show the exterior design of the device in more detail than we’ve seen before.

There have been rumors, leaked design schematics, and more recently a single shot of another shell that was purportedly for the unreleased device. These new photos show not only the back, but the side of the shell in detail. It looks like Apple is making some design changes to accommodate a larger display.

Apple kept its cards close to its chest about the forthcoming iPhone 6 at yesterday’s WWDC keynote (and why wouldn’t it?), but new information has arrived in the form of a report from China.

This information suggests that Apple has been able to solve the battery issues that reportedly plagued production of its expected 5.5-inch iPhone 6, and that the company is on course to ship 20 millions of these handsets in 2014 alone. The news states that Apple is partnering with the China-based Sunwoda Electronics to manufacture batteries for all of these devices — with each battery costing roughly $6.40. Apple’s regular battery supplier, Dynapack, will also help fill the order.