The iPhone SE may look tiny, but it’s already become a big hit in China.
Apple’s new iPhone doesn’t hit stores until March 31st, however, pre-orders for the iPhone SE have already topped 3.4 million in China according to early estimates that show the iPhone SE will be much better received than the iPhone 5c.
The iPhone may finally ditch its metal casing in 2017 in favor of a new curved glass body similar to the one on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge.
Apple’s next big redesign of the iPhone is slated for next year, reports KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims in his latest note to investors that Apple will pair the new case design with a 5.8-inch AMOLED display.
With the new iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro announced, it was a big week for Apple. But it’s also been a good seven days for developers, with a slew of super-awesome apps arriving in the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.
Whether you’re looking for a great productivity tool for staying on top of task management, a fantastic port of an arcade classic, or the best weather app for Apple TV, check out our “app of the week” picks below.
What better way to spend your Sunday?
This week on The CultCast: Apple’s new iPhone SE is an insane value; the significant differences between the big and small iPad Pros; new rumors point to major MacBook Pro redesigns in June; future keynotes need more yak; and the cool features in the new tvOS 9.2 update.
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Once again, Apple has refreshed its iPhone and iPad line with some better (albeit smaller) iOS devices, the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
If you’re looking for all the details on these two new gadgets, or just want to know which is the right iPad or iPhone for you, be sure to grab this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, which also includes all the cool things you can do with iOS 9.3, a look at Cupertino’s new Apple Watch pivot, and a deeper dive on the keynote itself.
Here are this week’s top stories.
We got our first look at a new line of straps for the Apple Watch this week. But if you’re a little bit handy and want a cool weekend project, you can make your own nylon Apple Watch band for about a tenth of the cost of buying one directly.
The new series of Woven Nylon bands that Apple showed off at its event on Monday were nice and all, but what if you didn’t see a color that struck you? One enterprising YouTuber posted a tutorial that shows how to get one in just about any style you want by repurposing some cheap, existing watch straps.
Check it out below.
The FBI aren’t the only people interested in postponing court proceedings this week — Apple just requested a hold in its ongoing case in Brooklyn over a criminal’s locked phone.
Magistrate Judge James Orenstein has already ruled in Apple’s favor, saying that the government could not compel the company to breach its own software. But the government is appealing that decision, and Apple would like to see if some recent developments in a similar case might render a new decision unnecessary.
Google Maps has rolled out something special for the premiere of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice this weekend: You can take a stroll around the film versions of Bruce Wayne’s house and Batman’s lair through Street View.
The tour contains a lot of surprises for long-time Batfans who have been keeping cold on the new film. For one thing, did you know that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne? It’s crazy. Even stranger than that is the fact that while the film places Gotham City somewhere in New Jersey, Google Maps puts it on the border of a dog park in southern Michigan.
Tim Cook is a better leader than U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the best of them all in a new poll ranking the leaders in business, government, philanthropy and the arts.
AT&T and Verizon usually get all the blame when it comes to throttling mobile data speeds, but in the case of Netflix, the service has revealed that it is to blame for lowering the video quality on mobile streaming videos.
Netflix says it has been limiting video speaks on AT&T, Verizon, and most other wireless carriers across the globe for the last five years, in order to “protect consumers from exceeding mobile data caps” that would stop them from binging on all of the service’s shows.
Apple is making it cheaper to repair broken Apple Watch Sport units that are no longer under warranty.
In an updated support document covering Apple Watch warranty services and pricing, the company revealed the out-of-warranty service fee on the Sport model has dropped $30.
Phil Schiller says Apple is too busy “inventing the future” to “celebrate the past” by building a museum.
So if you are in search of history on the 40th anniversary of Apple’s founding, you might want to travel to Georgia. There, a guy named Lonnie Mimms has taken over an old CompUSA building and meticulously crafted a tangible timeline that would make Apple’s futurists — perhaps even Schiller — pause with nostalgia and pride.
iOS 9.3 has caused headaches for some iPad owners, who updated to the new operating system only to find their devices bricked. But Apple already has a fix out to help bring those older devices back to life.
Apple temporarily pulled the iOS 9.3 update from some devices yesterday. The company has since released a new build of the update specifically for iPad 2 users whose devices failed to install the update.
The official Apple Watch microsite has gained a new power this week: Now, you can check out every combination of faces, cases, and straps to get exactly the look you want.
An eagle-eyed reader tipped us off to the new feature, which has only been live since yesterday. It replaces the more basic and tedious Gallery that used to inhabit that page. And we’re glad; it was way overdue for a refresh for several reasons.
Pac-fans with Apple’s newest streaming box should be running to their TV App Store right now: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX has hit your living room today.
The TV version of the sequel to the mobile port of the console remix of the classic arcade title contains all of the content of the original, but now you can play it from the palm of your hand on the biggest screen in your house. It originally hit iOS back in July, and it might be one of the best uses of $4.99 that the App Store has to offer.
Alison Brie and that guy who got his arm chopped off in Game of Thrones are bringing their talents to Apple TV in a funny new ad called “The Kiss” that highlights Siri remote features.
Apple premiered the ad today, which puts the two as actors on a dramatic war movie set. Using Apple TV, Brie is intensely studying a kissing scene the two are trying to recreate. Just when it appears Nikolaj Coster-Waldau can’t take another second of over analyzing everything from the angle of their heads to how much tongue the kiss should contain, he comes up with a brilliant idea to loosen up the mood using Apple TV.
Check it out:
The next piece of original video content coming out of Cupertino is going to look more like a big iPhone ad than a TV show.
Apple revealed today that is working with Black Eyed Peas singer and failed tech visionary Will.i.am to create a new unscripted TV series that’s all about apps.
Apple’s new iPhone might be tiny, but its battery packs a mighty punch.
Early stress tests on the iPhone SE have revealed that battery life on the Apple’s new 4-inch device is actually better than the iPhone 6s as well as Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
As Apple fights to keep the FBI out of our smartphones, Google is making our emails even more secure.
The company today confirmed a number of new protections for Gmail users, including stronger encryption, better notifications, and more.
Apple’s Chief Operating Office Jeff Williams and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri both dumped large amounts of AAPL stock this month — prompting speculation that those inside Apple aren’t confident that the share price is bouncing back to all-time high levels any time soon.
Although, as usual, such fears are almost certainly greatly exaggerated.
Everyone thinks Gear S2 is getting support for the iPhone today, and it’s all thanks to Verizon. But in actual fact, that’s not the case.
While Samsung’s latest smartwatch will be iPhone-compatible at some point, you’ll have to wait a little while longer for it.
Hit-and-miss Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster (a.k.a. the “Apple television set is coming” guy) has a somewhat wacky theory in his latest note to clients: that Apple will not only announce its own virtual reality project at some point in the future, but that this will prove to be the real iPhone killer.
And that Apple’s totally okay with that.
Days after Nintendo launched its very first smartphone game, another gaming giant has announced it will start making mobile games.
Sony has formed a new company called ForwardWorks Corporation that’s dedicated to bringing PlayStation greats to Android and iOS.
Just bought a new iPhone SE to fit your small hands, and now worrying about what subtle messages others will read into it? No problem: cover it in 24K gold and a slathering of Swarovski crystals.
Because reasons.
The iPhone SE may have been one of the big announcements at Apple’s keynote event this week, but despite the fanfare it seems Apple isn’t banking on its 4-inch handset to come close to the sales its bigger brothers make.
According to a new report, citing component makers in the iPhone supply chain, Apple is playing it conservatively with orders for the new iPhone SE — with total shipments of the device likely to come in around 15 million units in the remainder 2016.