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It’s not just you: Complaints about iPhone 12 battery life and dropped calls are widespread

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It’s not just you: iPhone 12 battery problems & dropped call complaints are widespread
Other people also have iPhone 12 battery problems or dropped calls.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Some iPhone 12 users are reporting problems with either battery life or dropped calls. The difficulties aren’t happening to every user, but they seem to be fairly widespread.

There have been complaints about all four variations of the iPhone 12, not a specific model.

Apple plans mysterious hardware release on December 8

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While not a literal crystal ball for seeing the future, the EEC database gets close when it comes to Apple products.
Apple plans to release something on December 8. Could be a Christmas Surprise.
Photo: Jennifer Hubacher/Pexels CC

Apple reportedly warned authorized service providers that new products are coming the morning of Tuesday, December 8.  Among the possibilities are AirPods over-the-ear headphones and AirTags item-tracking tags. Or new Apple TV hardware.

This could be the Apple “Christmas Surprise” that had been predicted.

Apple showcases what Accessibility features can do for you

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Accessibility webpage
Apple's updated webpage shows off all the features it offers to Accessibility easier.
Photo: Apple

Apple just overhauled its Accessibility website, emphasizing all the ways these built-in features can make using your iPhone and other gear easier to use. The updated Accessibility page is now headed up by a banner advertising “built‑in features that work the way you do. Make them yours, and make something wonderful.”

It goes on to describe the various tools — broken into Vision, Mobility, Hearing and Cognitive categories — that Apple offers users as built-in features within its software.

Apple reportedly boots camera module supplier over human rights violations

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iPhone 12 Pro series include cameras tat support ProRAW
O-Film reportedly makes camera modules for the iPhone.
Photo: Apple

Apple has reportedly removed Chinese manufacturer O’Film Group from its camera module supply chain, a report by TheElec claimed Thursday.

The reason for giving O’Film the boot reportedly involves its use of forced labor of marginalized Uighur people in China. O’Film modules are found in around 10 percent of iPhones. It supplied the triple camera and time of flight (ToF) modules for the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max.

New playlists reveal what Apple Music subscribers were listening to in 2020

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2020 in Apple Music
How your tastes compare?
Photo: Apple Music

Do “certified freak, seven days a week” or “Pour up the whole damn seal, I’ma get lazy” mean anything to you?

If you’re anything like other Apple Music listeners around the world, they certainly do. That’s because they’re from Cardi B’s “WAP” and Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” two of the songs atop the newly released “Most-Read Lyrics of 2020” list on Apple’s streaming music service. And there’s more data where that came from!

Apple could have to package power adapters with iPhone 12 in Brazil

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iPhone 12 box
Removing accessories let Apple shrink down the iPhone 12 box.
Photo: Marco Verch/Flickr CC

Apple made the bold decision to stop packaging its new iPhones with a power adapter and EarPods this year. But while you might think Apple’s within its rights to control the accessories that its handsets come with, not everyone agrees.

In Brazil, the state of São Paulo has reportedly decreed that doing so is a violation of consumer rights. The announcement was made by Procon-SP, a public consumer protection agency in São Paulo.

Tantalizing iOS 15 concept brings Split View and more to iPhones

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Split View iOS 15 concept
Is this how iOS 15 could look?
Photo: Kevin Kal

iOS 14 is still only a couple of months old for most users, but inside Apple designers and engineers will already be planning what next year’s upgrade will offer.

While we likely won’t get to see what they’re working on until WWDC 2021, Kevin Kal, a talented 20-year-old designer and engineering student in France, has created one of the first concepts we’ve seen for iOS 15.

Check it out.

Senator’s farewell speech advocates for iPads on the Senate floor

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Senator Michael B Enzi says iPads and other electronic devices should be allowed on the Senate floor.
Ironically, Senator Enzi had to read his farewell speech from a piece of paper, not an iPad.
Screenshot: Senator Enzi

U.S. senators are banned from using electronic devices on the senate floor, but retiring Senator Michael B. Enzi wants to change that. Despite being 76 years old, he used part of his farewell speech to urge his fellow lawmakers to end the restriction on laptops, phones and tablets.

Of course, the senator had to read his speech from a piece of paper, not the iPad he would have preferred.

M1 Mac mini runs Windows 10 far faster than Microsoft Surface Pro X

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M1 Mac mini running Windows 10
Even with a workaround, Macs with Apple Silicon have good performance running Windows 10 for Arm.
Photo: Cult of Mac

New tests show relatively speedy performance for a Mac mini with an ARM-based Apple M1 processor running the ARM version of Windows 10. Even though the OS is running as a virtual machine, benchmarks show the device can handle X86 applications far faster than the Microsoft Surface Pro X, which also uses an ARM chip.

iPhone 12 is Apple’s best-selling handset in years

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Get the Phone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 mini with no extra wait.
Week one iPhone 12 sales were higher than any Apple launch in at least three years. The Pro Max did extremely well, but the mini...
Photo: Apple

In the first weeks they were available, each of the iPhone 12 models sold far better than any of their predecessors released in the past three years, according to a research firm.

And the biggest, most expensive version sold far better than any recent Apple model. But iPhone 12 mini sales might surprise some people.

‘Batterygate’ rumbles on as European class-action suit demands damages

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iphone
Issue affected older iPhones.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Blame an iOS update if you’d like, but Apple’s iPhone speed-throttling saga continues to progress slowly. The latest update is legal action being leveled at Apple in Europe in the form of a class-action lawsuit for iPhone 6 and 6s series devices sold in Belgium, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The advocacy group behind the suit, Euroconsumers, said Wednesday that it is bringing a case to cover up to 2 million handsets that fall under this category. “Consumers are increasingly upset by products wearing out too quickly, the iPhone 6 models being a very concrete example of that,” Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, said in a statement.

Apple’s first 27-inch, 5K Retina iMac is now officially vintage

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iMac Retina 5K
This was a beast of an iMac back in the day. It's still pretty great now.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s first Retina 5K iMacs, launched in late 2014, are officially considered vintage by Apple.

The Retina 5K, 27-inch iMacs were a game-changer for Apple. At the time, 27-inch iMacs were still relatively new, just a few years old. The 5K overhaul was an astonishing leap forward, however — making it one of Apple’s most compelling new Macs in years.

Patched iOS vulnerability would have let users seize control of iPhones over Wi-Fi

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Airdrop ios iPad iPhone
Vulnerability relied on the tech that makes AirDrop work
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

A security vulnerability patched by Apple earlier this year could have allowed users to remote access an entire iPhone over Wi-Fi without the need for any user interaction, a security researcher has revealed.

Ian Beer, a researcher at Google’s vulnerability research unit Project Zero, shared details of the vulnerability Tuesday. He spent six months developing proof-of-concept exploits to prove its effectiveness. Fortunately, he doesn’t believe a similar exploit was ever utilized by hackers in the wild.

iPhone Game of the Year Genshin Impact pulls in almost $400 million in 2 months

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Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is one of the year's most notable new games.
Photo: Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is Apple’s pick for iPhone Game of the Year, despite only landing in the App Store at the end of September. That’s not its only impressive claim to fame, however. According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, the open-world RPG generated close to $400 million in its first two months alone.

That averages more than $6 million a day across both iOS and Android — with Apple’s platform accounting for the majority of that spending.

These are Apple’s picks for the best apps of 2020

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Best of 2020 app award
For the first time, Apple created a physical award to hand out to winners.
Photo: Apple

As 2020 thankfully sputters to its conclusion, Apple has released its list of the year’s best 15 apps and games “notable for their positive cultural impact, helpfulness, and importance.”

The App Store Best of 2020 winners cover a multitude of areas — from the Zoom app that more or less defined the year of lockdown to streaming service Disney+ to a nifty sleep app.

Apple recommends the best podcasts, books and audiobooks of 2020

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Apple names its best podcasts, books and audiobooks of 2020
These are some of Apple’s choices for best book or podcast of 2020.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

With the year winding down, Apple picked its favorite podcasts, books and audiobooks of 2020. The offerings “kept us entertained, made us think, provided a much-needed escape, or filled our hearts up,“ noted Apple.

All the recommendations are, of course, available through Apple Podcasts or Apple Books.

Older iPhones get FaceTime HD calls with iOS 14.2

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FaceTime is better with high-definition calls
FaceTime video calls are even better now that they’re in high definition.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple quietly added support for FaceTime HD to an array of iPhones. Every model newer than the iPhone 8 can make video calls at 1080p resolution as long as the device runs iOS 14.2.

Apple TV+ snaps up psychological thriller series Surface

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'The Morning Show' star Gugu Mbatha-Raw is coming to a new Apple TV+ show called 'Surface.'
The Morning Show star Gugu Mbatha-Raw is coming to a new Apple TV+ show called Called.
Photo: Apple TV+

Fans of Defending Jacob and Servant listen up: Apple has ordered a new psychological thriller series titled Surface. The show, which likely won’t debut on Apple TV+ until 2022, stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, already known to Apple TV+ viewers as Hannah Shoenfeld in The Morning Show.

The series is written and exec-produced by Veronica West, who has previously worked on Mercy, Brothers & Sisters, Hart of Dixie and State of Affairs.

Apple reportedly lobbied to ‘limit’ bill involving forced labor in China

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AllOfUS says Apple helps censorship in China
Apple does lots of business in China.
Photo: AllOfUs

Apple was one of several large companies that reportedly lobbied to weaken a bill that sought to bar U.S. companies from making products in China with the aid of forced Uighur labor, according to The New York Times.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed the House with a 406-3 margin in September, and has the necessary support to pass the Senate. It aims to ban U.S. companies from importing products made in the Xinjiang region unless the manufacturers can prove they do not use forced labor.

Apple delivers millions of units of PPE to help battle COVID-19

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Apple delivers PPE
Apple has been working to battle the spread of coronavirus.
Photo: Apple

Apple has delivered millions of units of personal protective equipment to the Ministry of Health in Zambia to fight the spread of COVID-19.

In response to the coronavirus, Apple earlier this year started sending its charitable donations through the (Red) nonprofit to help the Global Fund provide critical support to health systems most threatened by the pandemic. This will continue through June 30, 2021.

Apple’s $129 MagSafe Duo charger could ship December 21

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MagSafe Duo
Should ship in time for the holidays.
Photo: Apple

Apple still hasn’t announced a date for its MagSafe Duo charger, which could stir fears among more nervous fans of a repeat of the much delayed, ill-fated AirPower charger of a few years back.

Have no fear, though: If an Apple reseller in Switzerland is to be believed, we don’t have too much longer to wait until the MagSafe Duo will be shipping.