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 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eugenio Derbez will star and executive produce Acapulco, a comedy series for Apple TV+. Photo: Apple
Apple TV+ added to its comedy roster Tuesday by making a series order for Acapulco, a Spanish- and English-language show. It’s inspired by the box office hit film How to Be a Latin Lover.
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.
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.
Treat yourself to some awesome new Twelve South accessories and save 20% in the Cult of Mac Store. Everything is discounted — from AirPods and iPhone cases to brilliant MacBook stands.
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Think twice about playing iOS games on an M1 Mac. Photo: Activision
New M1 Macs let users run iPhone and iPad apps natively for the first time, but gamers should think twice about loading up Call of Duty: Mobile. Playing Activision’s popular shooter on one of the super-fast new computers could get them banned.
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 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 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.
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.