Apple has admitted to throttling older iPhone performance. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
South Korea’s broadcasting and telecom regulator, the Korea Communications Commission, wants an explanation from Apple as to why it purposely slowed down old iPhones.
“We are hoping to get some answers on whether Apple intentionally restricted the performance of old iPhones and tried to hide this from customers,” the KCC said in a statement.
The iTrack One Pre won't slide off your desk. Photo: Focusrite
Focusrite’s iTrack One Pre might be the ultimate portable recording gadget for musicians. It’s a little cube that fits in a pocket, but that packs in connections for a microphone and a guitar, as well as a port for charging the iPad or iPhone you connect to. It can even supply Phantom Power to a microphone, and has it’s own gain (“volume,” kinda) knob.
From AirPods to iPhone X, Apple sold us the goods in 2017. Photo: Apple
Apple’s pretty darn good when it comes to advertising, and 2017 was no exception. Whether it was Portrait mode, AirPods or the iPhone X, creatives working on Apple ads found new and exciting ways to sell us on Cupertino’s latest innovations.
Check out our picks for the year’s best Apple ads below.
Apple's feud with Qualcomm shows no signs of slowing down. Photo: Intel
Apple has reportedly shifted half of its baseband modem chipsets for iOS devices to Intel from Qualcomm, and is now considering shifting additional orders to Taiwanese manufacturer MediaTek.
The news comes at a time when hostilities between Apple and former manufacturer Qualcomm continue to heat up, with no signs that they will come to a close soon.
Apple says that it slows down older iPhones, but for good reason. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Well that didn’t take long! Within a day of Apple acknowledging that it’s software updates cause older iPhone models to slow down, Apple has been hit with not one, but two class action lawsuits from folks outraged that it would behave in this way.
Both suits are asking for unspecified damages from the company.
2018 and 2019 iPhones could come with improved batteries. Photo: Apple
According to reliable Apple analyst KGI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will focus on increasing the iPhone’s battery capacity for both the 2019 and 2020 models.
Kuo claims that Apple’s semiconductor manufacturing processes and substrate-like printed circuit boards will enable it to create the required space in its handsets for these larger batteries. He also suggests that Apple will opt for new “superior” radio frequency printed circuit board (RFPCB) batteries.
Does your iPhone 6s feel slower? Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac
Does your iPhone seem to get slower and slower as it grows older? Well, according to Apple, that is exactly what’s supposed to happen.
Many iPhone users have long suspected that Apple throttles performance of aging iPhones. The popular theory is that Apple does so to entice users to upgrade. However, Apple says there are really good performance reasons behind the practice.
This little box solves all kinds of problems. Photo: Kingston
If you’re traveling to see family this Christmas, then you may like the Kingston MobileLite G3, which is — amongst other things — a wireless SD card reader that lets you load and save any files you like. Unlike Apple’s own SD card reader, which only works with video and photos, the MobileLite can read any file you want, and then hand it off to any app that can open it.
Not only that, but the MobileLite also works with USB drives, and can juice your iPhone with its built-in 5,400 mAh battery.
Apple started selling OLED iPhones this year with the iPhone X. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Samsung Display will continue churning out OLED displays for Apple in 2018, with a reported 180 – 200 million flexible OLED iPhone panels scheduled to ship next year, a new report claims.
That’s around 4x the estimated 50 million OLED panels that Samsung supplied Apple with in 2017, which suggests that Apple is planning on expanding its number of OLED handsets in the new year.
With the Fusion Guitar, you too can sit in a chilly, graffiti-covered street and smile. Photo: Fusion Guitars
What would happen if you took an electric guitar, made it as thick as an acoustic guitar, and stuffed the extra space not with boring old air, but with speakers and an electronic brain that works with your iPhone?
Then, you might put in a cutout on the guitar top to hold that iPhone, and a rechargeable battery to power it all. If you did all that, then you’d have invented the Fusion Guitar.
Phil Schiller said Apple won't release the HomePod till it's satisfied with the quality. Photo: Digital Trends
Apple fans and enthusiastic gadget reviewers will ultimately remember 2017 as the year of a reinvented iPhone. But as the year draws to an end, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller has a few other things on his mind, such as delays in releasing the company’s first smart speaker and a “bad week” of software bugs and security holes.
iPhones just got more expensive in India. Photo: Steve Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple has raised the price of many iPhone handsets in India, following last week’s increase in import duties on the new handset.
In new rules announced last week, the cost of importing smartphones to India was raised from 10 to 15 percent. As we noted at the time, Apple’s choices were to either raise the price of iPhones in India, or to eat some of the cost itself in order to keep pricing competitive. It seems that Apple did some combination of the two — since prices have been increased an average of 3.5 percent.
New technology was designed by former Google AI expert. Photo: Foxconn
Apple manufacturer Foxconn is planning to adopt artificial intelligence image recognition systems for quality control in its factories, a new report claims.
The tech could help identify faulty circuit boards or other components, thereby improving Foxconn’s efficiency when it comes to assembling devices. The AI system was developed by Andrew Ng, a machine learning expert who has previously headed up major projects for both Google and Baidu.
Apple faces an uphill battle to get the iPhone into customers' hands in India. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple may be keen to grow its business in India, but it’s certainly not getting any favors from the government.
In a new ruling, it’s been announced that the import tax paid on smartphones is being raised from 10 to 15 percent in a decision that will hurt Apple’s business in the country. Unless Apple absorbs the cost itself, this will make its iPhones more expensive at a time when it is desperate to get more handsets into customers’ hands.
Even bass players can use Tonebridge. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
The iPad has many, many amazing effects apps for making music, and several high-level apps just for emulating guitar amplifiers and effects pedals. But what if you just want to plug in and play a song, and have your guitar sound just like the one on the record? That’s exactly what Tonebridge is for. Under the hood, this simulator app is as powerful as the others, but it’s way, way simpler to use.
Whereas most apps present a range or virtual pedals and amps, Tonebridge is based around songs. You fire it up, plug in your guitar, and search for the song you want to play. The app loads up the sound of the song, and you can play along. The app is impressive, nailing the tomes of pretty much any song you ask for, without any tweaking necessary.
But now, with the latest Tonebridge release, you can also dig in to the settings that used to sit behind the scenes. Let’s take a look.
Face ID is used for a lot more than just unlocking your iPhone X. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s is pushing to make Face ID as ubiquitous as Touch ID with its latest video that shows how the iPhone X makes Apple Pay even easier.
Because Apple removed the home button, activating Apple Pay on the iPhone X is a bit different than other iPhones. In the company’s new how-to video, Apple guides iPhone X owners through to process of making payments in stores.
HomeKit's huge security flaw has been fixed. Photo: Apple
Apple released a brand new iOS 11 update for the iPad and iPhone this morning that makes some big fixes to HomeKit.
iOS 11.2.1 comes a little over a week after Apple dropped iOS 11.2 on the public bringing Apple Pay Cash and a host of bug fixes. The new update is being released along with tvOS 11.2.1 to restore some HomeKit functionality after Apple patched a bug server-side earlier this week.
Yeah! Apple is number one! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
It’s tempting to look at the smartphone wars in terms of Apple vs. Android, but that’s really not telling anywhere close to the true story. The real competition is between the companies who actually build the smartphones — and those stats show that Apple is very clearly crushing it!
In a recent report from researchers at Counterpoint, the individual handset model sales are broken down for the month of October 2017, just before the iPhone X arrived. Even before Apple’s most anticipated smartphone of the year was released, they highlight just how far ahead of its rivals Apple is.
Get Things 3.3 from the App Store now. Photo: Cultured Code
Things from Cultured Code is arguably the best task management app on Mac and iOS. And with its latest update, you have the ability to add new items to your to-do list by email. It’s easier than ever to remember those important tasks.
iRingg is like the Microsoft Word of ringtones. Photo: Softorino
If you’re still living in the early-to-mid ’00s, then you may still be interested in personal ringtones for your iPhone. And if you are, there’s no easier way to take a piece of music from your iTunes library, or to rip it from YouTube or SoundCloud, than iRingg.
This app from Softorino lets you quickly create a ringtone and push it wirelessly to your iPhone.
Face ID makes the iPhone even easier to use. Photo: Ste Smith
Still on the fence about buying the iPhone X with Face ID? Apple’s got a brand new set of ads that will have you ready to take the plunge by showing off how smooth Face ID works on the iPhone X.
Shazam, an essential iPhone app for years, just got better. Photo: Shazam
One of the most popular third-party apps on the App Store has officially been purchased by Apple.
London-based Shazam has long dominated the App Store charts with its ability to recognize any song, movie or TV show. Now Apple is bringing that tech in-house by purchasing the startup for nearly half a billion dollars.
Can't afford to upgrade to a faster iPhone? Maybe just buy a new battery! Photo: Apple
Swapping out the battery in a slow old iPhone could drastically improve the device’s performance.
That claim comes from a Reddit user who says he almost doubled the clock rates of his lagging iPhone 6s simply by popping in a new battery. His theory that Apple intentionally slows down old phones sparked a furious debate online.
India won't budge on iPhone component import duties. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple wants to ramp up its iPhone manufacturing in India, but coming to an arrangement with the Indian government over all the necessary details — including Apple’s desired tax breaks — is proving to be hard work.
A new report claims that Apple has asked the government in India to defer a planned increase on import taxes for mobile phone parts, but that the request is unlikely to be successful.
Shazam, an essential iPhone app for years, just got better. Photo: Shazam
Apple is adding another key weapon to its war chest in the battle against Spotify, based on a new report that claims the company plans to acquire the app Shazam.
The popular app helps users identify any song, TV show or movie in seconds just by listening to it via a smartphone’s microphone. iOS integrated Siri with Shazam a few years ago, but it appears that Apple’s looking to bring the entire operation in-house.