Refurbished iPhones and MacBook Pros get the job done for less. Photos: Apple, JemJem
Refurbished Apple gear carry prices ranging from great to unreal. This week, you can get fantastic deals on refurbished iPhones, MacBooks and iPads. (Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping refurbs.)
Plus, get a deal on the new space gray Apple Magic Keyboard!
Texture will stop working on Windows soon. Photo: Apple
Apple plans to shut down the Texture app for Windows following its acquisition of the magazine subscription service back in March. The app remains available to download from the Microsoft Store for now, but it will stop working on June 30.
How’s your iPhone 7 mic after updating to iOS 11.3? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s recent software updates have broken some iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus microphones.
Users report that they cannot be heard during calls since updating to iOS 11.3 or later. Apple has advised Authortized Service Providers that they can initiate repairs if necessary — even on devices that are no longer covered by a warranty.
It's not your father's lightsaber, but Jedi Challenges lets you battle your megalomaniac dad or whiny son. Virtually, of course. Photo: Lenovo
Just in time for May the Fourth-be-with-you, Star Wars: Jedi Challenges added multiplayer lightsaber battles so you can take on your friends in virtual reality combat.
Of course, doing so requires a couple of $150 AR helmets and lightsabers. But still.
Apple's Google cash is an easy source of money. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The money that Google pays Apple to be the default iOS search engine is poised to become a much smaller part of Apple’s Services revenue.
In its most recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple singled out licensing as one of the main factors for its 31 percent increase in Services revenue over the past quarter. But Google parent company Alphabet told investors that the money paid to distribution partners — including Apple — will slow down this year.
By our calculations, the iPhone X alone has sold as many units as Apple sold iPhones in the first three years. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
It was written off as a flop by analysts until just a week ago, but according to newly released figures from Strategy Analytics, Apple’s iPhone X was actually the world’s best selling smartphone model in the first quarter of 2018.
Selling a massive 16 million units out of total smartphone shipments of 345 million worldwide, the iPhone X has seemingly disproved everyone who expected this to be a sales dud for Apple.
This week on a very volatile episode of The CultCast: the analysts were all wrong—iPhone X is a massive hit. Plus: the death of 3D Touch starts with 2018 iPhone; the world’s most famous Apple analyst may no longer be reporting on Apple; Apple’s AirPort router lineup is officially dead; and we pitch you our favorite show, movie, and vodka in an all-new Under Review. It’s a juicy one. Hit play and catch the discussion.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.
The Abyssus Essential won’t break the bank. Photo: Razer
If you do a lot of gaming on your Mac or PC, a $10 mouse from Walmart isn’t going to cut it. But that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank on something super-fancy, either.
The Abyssus Essential, Razer’s newest mouse, has everything the average gamer needs — and it’s ideal for buyers on a budget.
Warren Buffett continues to sing Apple's praises. Photo: CNBC
Analysts everywhere are trying to restore their Apple credibility after predicting doom for the iPhone X, only to be confronted with Apple’s best ever March quarter!
One person who apparently didn’t buy into the negative chatter about Apple? Renowned investor Warren Buffett. In the first quarter of 2018, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway firm shelled out for a massive 75 million AAPL shares. That joins the 165.3 million shares it owned at the end of last year.
Let's hope there aren't too many terrifying in-app purchases along the way! Photo: Pixowl
Back in my distant misspent youth, I was an enormous fan of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series of kids’ horror books. Jump forward 25 years and this fond piece of nostalgia is about to make its way onto iOS — courtesy of a new mobile game. And it actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
Now you can pay for things in Instagram's app without having to leave. Photo: Instagram
Is there a single tech company out there that doesn’t want to get in on the mobile payments game?
Not wanting to be the kid picked last for soccer practice, Instagram has started rolling out a native payments feature for its app. This allows you to register a debit or credit card as part of your profile, add a pin code, and then start making purchases right inside of the Instagram app.
Apple requests DMCA removal of iPhone security tweet. Then changes its mind Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Google’s service making its accounts uncommonly secure has been extended to iOS native apps. This is only for people who carry around really sensitive information and who therefore expect their iPhone or iPad to come under sophisticated attack.
Starting today, the Advanced Protection Program supports Apple Mail, Calendar, and Contacts. Naturally, this is only for those who connect these iOS apps to Google accounts.
Considering it's a children's game, many wonder why Hogwarts Mystery cost so much to play. Photo: Jam City
Reviews of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery don’t agree whether it’s a good iOS game, but all say it’s vastly tooexpensive. It’s actually free to download, but playing the game essentially requires buying expensive power-ups.
But now developer Jam City may have changed course because reports are coming in that the cost of power-ups has dropped by up to 80 percent.
Apple Watch dominates the global wearables market, solidly beating its arch-rival. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
There’s no doubt who’s top dog in the global wearables market. Just over 4 million Apple Watches shipped during the first quarter of this year. That’s nearly double the number of Fitbits shipped.
The performance of Apple’s wearable was also up dramatically when compared to the same period of last year.
You can now use Siri on your iPhone to control music on your HomePod. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple is about to let Siri control your AirPlay speakers.
As part of the latest beta for iOS 11.4, Apple has added the ability to use AirPlay commands through Siri, allowing users to use Siri on their iPhone to play something on their HomePod.
Koss’s amazing Porta Pro headphones have finally gone “wireless.” These lightweight, great-sounding headphones first launched in 1984, and have been on sale since. And now, they are available with a Bluetooth connection. Behold, the Koss Porta Pro Wireless.
I’m not at all surprised that the game is making an absolute killing on iPhone and iPad, raking in more than $25 million in revenue during its first month of availability. I’ve played it almost every day, and spent more than I’d like to admit on items I don’t really need.
But two months on, now that the novelty has worn off, I have some complaints to make. Fortnite could be so much better on iOS if Epic was to give it the attention it really deserves.
A new petition calls for Apple to recall the MacBook butterfly keyboard, which can fail when a speck of dust gets in the wrong place. Photo: Apple
The butterfly keyboard in recent MacBooks draws frequent complaints. And these have now escalated to the point where an online petition is requesting that Apple recall every MacBook Pro released since 2016.
These laptops are super-slim, and so are their keyboards. Reducing the thickness left room for very little key travel, resulting in accusations that even a small speck of dust underneath one of the keys can cause it to stop functioning.
Grab yours before it’s too late! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The iPad remains the king of tablets after strong sales helped the device grab its highest share of the worldwide tablet market since 2014.
Apple confirmed on Tuesday that it sold 9.1 million iPads last quarter, which helped its market share grow 2.1 percent despite a drop in overall tablet shipments.
Apple Pay’s latest promotion couldn’t have come at a better time. Until Mother’s Day on May 13, you can now save $15 on flowers ordered through 1-800-Flowers. Simply place your order online or through the iOS app.
Apple may have been voted consumers’ favorite brand in the United Arab Emirates, but one of the iPhone’s most popular features — FaceTime — still isn’t allowed in the country.
That could soon change, however, because Apple is in talks with the UAE federal government to lift the ban on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services as far as it affects FaceTime.
Get yours on contract through Three. Photo: Xiaomi
Xiaomi has made a big name for itself in China by rolling out impressive devices with affordable price tags. Ripping off Apple’s most popular devices has helped, too.
Now the company is preparing to do battle with the iPhone in the United Kingdom.