Apple is looking to ramp up its investment in India, shifting close to a fifth of its current production capacity from China to Indian manufacturers, according to a Monday report from the Economic Times.
“We expect Apple to produce up to $40 billion worth of smartphones, mostly for exports through its contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn,” a senior government official told the publication.
Lately, all kinds of stories have circulated online about TV host Ellen DeGeneres not exactly being the nicest person in Hollywood. But one mentioned in a recent New York Post article had an Apple tie-in.
According to the article, Ellen once phoned up none other than Steve Jobs himself to complain that the font size was too small on the iPhone after she lost her glasses and was unable to read the screen.
Could Apple’s A-series chips eventually be manufactured in the United States? That’s one possible outcome if the Trump administration gets its way. The ongoing debate around domestic chip production and the chips act could play a significant role in shaping this future.
According to a report published Sunday by the Wall Street Journal, the White House wants to “jump-start” the development of new chip factories in the U.S. to help reduce reliance on Asia for critical technology. And it’s in talks with current A-series chipmaker TSMC and others to do so.
We got a pair of welcome new diversions this week: Hugely popular racing game Forza Street finally roared onto iOS, and a great Lego Star Wars title got a long-overdue update.
But we also got more-serious new apps and updates. New political app Moxy gives you information and tools to keep you engaged in current events. And a couple of essential iOS productivity tools got some handy new features.
Get all the details in our weekly roundup of the best new and updated apps.
An epic screen is the hallmark of any great setup, and Gary Dee’s video-editing suite is certainly no exception. Dee, a cinematographer and drone pilot, previously used two monitors, but he decided to declutter his desk and replace them with an UltraWide 34-incher from LG Electronics. The massive monitor still leaves him with plenty of screen real estate.
In terms of audio, a pair of Bose speakers give him banging sound. And he uses a high-quality Røde microphone. To complement his minimalist desk, he uses a Rain Design mStand to hold his MacBook.
Apple is allegedly prepping a set of over-ear wireless headphones that will be part of the AirPods line.
Currently, the company offers headphones in this style under its Beats label. But the upcoming model supposedly reflects a change in strategy. If you’re looking for high-quality alternatives, you might want to check out the Sennheiser website for premium audio options like the Sennheiser HD 550 open-back headphones.
If your favorite apps don’t yet support Dark Mode, there’s a good reason. Making their apps work with Dark Mode can be a total pain in the butt for devs.
Get an inside look at the travails of adding this popular feature in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it now for that story, plus the rest of the week’s top Apple news, reviews and how-tos. (There’s plenty on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, too.)
The long wait is almost over. Apple said Friday it will open the doors of a few of its U.S. retail locations next week. The majority of Apple Stores globally closed almost two months ago as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. More stores will reopen when the company deems it safe.
A law firm accuses Apple of forcing customers to fix the malfunctioning displays in the 15-inch MacBook Pro that launched in 2016 even though the failure is a result of a design flaw. The problem is common enough that it has a name: Flexgate.
The Parris Law Firm is hoping to force Apple to fix all affected computers, and refund the cost to anyone who already had this problem repaired.
Apple TV+ won an accolade no one wants: it’s the streaming video service viewers are most likely to cancel once it stops being free.
Still, satisfaction with Apple’s offering is fairly high, according to survey results revealed on Friday. But people like almost all its competitors more.
This week on The CultCast: Apple announces WWDC 2020! We talk our hardware and software predictions. Plus: A new leak gives us some exciting info on the upcoming Apple TV hardware, and the iPhone 12 lineup, including some surprising prices and new features. And we wrap up with a look at the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, so stay tuned!
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
American singer and songwriter Billie Eilish is continuing her connection with Apple Music listeners with the release of a new radio show featuring she and her father, Patrick O’Connell.
Her new show, me & dad radio, will debut Friday on Apple Music at noon Pacific time with six episodes planned.
Investigate the shadows plaguing a small town in The Otherside, which debuted Friday on Apple Arcade. This is a simulated board game and RPG with a horror theme.
The coronavirus and its aftermath appear to be taking a toll on manufacturing of updated AirPods, with a new report indicating an update to Apple’s popular earbuds will be delayed slightly and roll into the first quarter of 2021.
The Nikkei Asian Review also reported Friday sources as saying around 30% of all classic AirPods to be produced this quarter for Apple will be “made in Vietnam”. That the report said is “a sign the company is accelerating its diversification of production out of China amid the coronavirus pandemic.”
This week, I finally got around to adding Dark Mode support to Reps & Sets, the iPhone bodybuilding app I develop as a side hustle. That’s almost a year after Apple first announced the feature at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
What took me so long? Supporting Dark Mode is not as simple as it seems. It’s not just indie devs like me who have struggled with it, either. WhatsApp only recently added Dark Mode support, and Facebook is still beta-testing it.
So if you’re waiting for your favorite app to switch to the dark side, here’s why it might be taking so long.
Microsoft plans to add trackpad and mouse functionality to its Office for iPad suite of apps by the fall, according to two published reports.
The American crime drama and miniseries Defending Jacob is apparently a hit with Apple TV+ viewers, with reports Thursday that it now ranks among the two fastest-growing series premieres for the fledgling streaming network.
Apple plans to reopen all its 15 retail stores in Germany on May 11, according to a published report.
Germany will become only the second country in Europe to resume Apple Store operations since the majority of locations closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic almost two months ago.
The popular journaling application Day One has updated its product with full support for iPadOS 13.4 and trackpad navigation. The update also adds a new Day View interface along with bug fixes and various other improvements.
Following a two-year legal tussle over patents and royalties, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said Thursday the chipmaker’s dealings with Apple have greatly improved and phrased the relationship as one of two “good partners.”
With most of its brick-and-mortar locations closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Apple launched Friday an online virtual services store focused on helping customers find and complete no-contact purchases and educate users through on-demand videos.
Titled “Everything you love about our stores is online,” the new hub is linked from the home page of Apple.com and accessible at apple.com/shop.
The CBS All Access streaming service expanded Thursday, adding dozens of classic movies made by Paramount. Newly added titles include classic films like The Godfather series,Spider-Man and Roman Holiday.
Also appearing today are several Star Trek movies to go with the multiple Star Trek shows that are the highlights of CBS All Access. All of this content can be watched on iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV.
Zoom on Thursday acquired Keybase for its experience with encryption and security.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought millions of new users to Zoom, but also criticism for weak security. Its stated goal in purchasing the smaller company, which developed its own messaging and file-sharing service, is to bring end-to-end encryption to Zoom meetings.
While it might be far down the pecking order of best selling streaming boxes, the Apple TV and Apple TV 4K got high marks in the first quarter of this year for best picture quality speed and shortest lag time in starting videos, according to data collected from billions of sensors embedded into video applications.
The results are a clear sign of how well streaming devices and services performed in a period where more people around the world were homebound due to the coronavirus pandemic and turned to watching television en masse.
The 6.1-inch iPhone 12 will jump from dual to triple camera lenses, if an unconfirmed report is correct. New renders supposedly showing other details this handset came to light as well.
If the basic 2020 iPhone gets a big camera upgrade, this would further blur the line between the iPhone 12 and the more expensive iPhone 12 Pro models. Previous leaks indicate that every iOS device coming this fall will have 5G and an OLED screen.