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iPhone could get the accessory that every iPad Pro owner loves

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Apple Pencil is the ultimate iPad accessory.
The Apple Pencil could be coming soon to an iPhone near you.
Photo: Apple

If you’ve been hankering to use the Apple Pencil with your iPhone, you may finally get your wish this year. That’s according to a new report from market intelligence firm TrendForce, which suggests that Apple’s next-gen OLED iPhones will boast support for the company’s high-end stylus.

At present, the Apple Pencil is available only for the iPad Pros and the latest entry-level iPad. Apple introduced the accessory in late 2015.

iPhone manufacturer struggles despite record revenues

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iPhone sales drive Apple’s biggest supplier to big profits
Foxconn just announced its lowest net profits in five years.
Photo: CBSRe

With Apple recently hitting a $1 trillion valuation, you’d think it would be a great time to be an Apple supplier. According to new quarterly earnings released by Apple’s long-time manufacturer Foxconn, however, that’s not entirely true.

As revealed in Foxconn’s latest financials, consolidated revenues rose 17 percent year-on-year to reach a new historical high of $34.43 billion for Q2 2018. Unfortunately, net profits for the quarter fell 2.18 percent on-year to their lowest level in five years.

Turkish president says country will boycott iPhones

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Apple store istanbul
Apple's spectacular flagship store in Istanbul.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone is among the U.S. electronic good that could be barred from Turkey as part of a new boycott announced by the country’s president on Tuesday.

“If [people currently] have iPhone, there is Samsung on the other side,” President Recep Erdogan said in a speech at a Symposium in Ankara, the country’s capital city. “And we have our own telephone brands,” he added.

Apple is opening its first store in Kyoto, Japan this month

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Kyoto
Japan was the location of Apple's first non-U.S. retail store in 2003.
Photo: Apple

Apple will open a new Apple store location in Kyoto, Japan this month, its first in the city, which is located in the Kansai region of Japan.

This will be the ninth Apple Store to be opened in Japan, although one of these in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo is currently closed. The August 25 opening comes approximately 15 years after Japan was selected in 2003 as the first country outside of the U.S. to receive an Apple Store.

Motorola’s next flagship is the most shameful iPhone X clone

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Motorola P30 iPhone X clone
There's taking inspiration from the iPhone, then there's this.
Photo: AndroidPure

Android vendors have been taking inspiration from the iPhone X’s design since Apple unveiled it last fall. That’s why almost every flagship handset hitting the market has an edge-to-edge screen and a notch. But Motorola is about to show us what a real ripoff looks like.

Its upcoming P30 handset, which just leaked out early, is the most shameful iPhone X clone we’ve seen so far.

12-inch MacBook shortage hints at impending refresh

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12-inch MacBook lineup
Don’t pay full price for a 12-inch MacBook.
Photo: Apple

A refresh is overdue for Apple’s 12-inch MacBook lineup, and it looks like it could be arriving soon.

Availability of the machine has dwindled at one major retailer, which suggests new models — complete with upgraded internals — will arrive this fall. It could be one of a number of Apple machines that will see improvements before the end of the year.

Recharge your Apple Watch & iPhone with this compact 2-in-1 battery pack [Review]

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zens
Zens' Powerbank charges an iPhone and Apple Watch simultaneously.
Photo: Zens

When traveling, if you forget your charger, you’re often hosed. Especially for the Apple Watch. That’s why I keep a Zens Powerbank battery pack in my bag. The Powerbank features a built-in charger for the Apple Watch, plus a USB port for plugging an iPhone or iPad.

It’s light and easy to carry around, yet has enough juice for recharging an Apple Watch almost 12 times. Best yet, the Zens Powerbank battery pack is available now in Cult of Mac’s Watch Store. 

Guess the price of the 2018 iPhone lineup

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2018 iPhone color options
Here’s what the 2018 iPhone lineup might look like.
Photo: 9to5Mac

Apple is probably just a month away from revealing the iPhone 11 and the rumor mill has given us practically all of the info other than a price tag.

Last year Apple shocked the public with the price of the iPhone X even though it had been rumored for months. When it comes to its successors though, the 2018 iPhone costs are still pretty vague. All we know is Apple is making a 6.1-inch LCD version that’s supposed to be cheaper than the iPhone X, but what about the other two iPhones?

Place your bets and vote on which price points make the most sense to you:

Apple releases iOS 12 beta 7, then quickly withdraws it

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iOS 12 features
iOS 12 will bring loads of new features, but not until Apple gets it throughly debugged.
Photo: Apple

The latest early-release version of iOS 12 was made available to developers today — but it disappeared shortly afterward.

This afternoon’s release of iOS 12 beta 7 was met with widespread complaints that it runs slowly. Apple seems to have pulled the OTA version within an hour or so.

Apple secretly urges iOS app makers to add subscriptions

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Microsoft Word is one of thousands of titles available only through app subscription fees.
Microsoft Word is one of thousands of titles available only through app subscription fees.
Photo: Microsoft

Apple wants developers to stop selling iOS applications and start renting them instead. The reason is simple: this forces users to pay more for software.

Apple held a secret meeting in New York City last year to convince developers to give up charging users a one-time fee for apps, and go instead to reoccurring charges.

We may finally know AirPower price

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AirPower
AirPower won’t be cheap when it finally launches.
Photo: Apple

The long-awaited launch of Apple’s AirPower wireless charging pad may coincide with the launch of the 2018 iPhone lineup.

Based on a new report out of Asia, Apple engineers are in the debugging phase of the AirPower rollout. The product may not launch on the exact same day as the 2018 iPhones, but a Chinese site claims to know the planned price. And it’s not going to be cheap.

This Siri Shortcut will automatically text your commute time to your spouse

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Siri shortcuts knows how long your bus will take to get you home.
Siri knows how long your bus will take to get you home.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

This Siri Shortcut will send an iMessage to a friend, spouse or other contact telling them how long it will be until you get to their location. Once set up, all you need to do is say something simple (and easy to remember) like “Home soon.”

This shortcut uses a brand-new feature in Shortcuts beta 2.0 that allows the sending of messages in the background, without having to confirm them first. It’s a small but powerful addition. Once Apple irons out the kinks, this feature could make a huge difference in how useful Siri Shortcuts will be day to day.

Apple pulls Group FaceTime from iOS 12

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FaceTime group calls iOS 12
We're going to have to wait a bit longer than we expected for Group FaceTIme.
Photo: Apple

Group FaceTime, one of the hot new features promised for iOS 12, won’t be available when the operating system debuts this fall. Apple now says it will push back the Group FaceTime launch until later this year. The company gave no reason for the delay.

Ralph Nader tells Apple to give massive profits to the little guys

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Tim Cook with money bag
Ralph Nader says Apple management spent $100 billion to "enhance their own executive compensation package."
Illustration: Cult of Mac

Apple becoming the world’s first trillion dollar company has put it in the crosshairs of consumer advocates, including Ralph Nader. He heavily criticized the company for a $100 billion stock buyback, instead of using the money to pay employees more, improve recycling efforts, increase R&D, or making other productive investments.

Nader is angered that businesses like Apple have spent so much of the Republican tax cuts put in place last year on stock buybacks, rather than the “productive investment and jobs” they promised. 

How to enable iPhone Photos extensions

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Photo filters can be subtle or … not.
Photo filters can be subtle or … not.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The Apple’s Photos app offers a very good set of editing tools. On both Mac and iOS, you can pick filters or perform a quick fix with the auto feature. You can also really dig in with some tools that are easily as comprehensive as anything on iOS.

These tools rival many desktop photo apps, but sometimes you want to do something extra-fancy. Maybe you have a favorite filters app. Or you want to combine two photos side by side in one frame or overlay one picture on another. Or use an app that lets you remove distractions in the frame, like power lines, cars or trash. Then you need to turn to Photos extensions.

Another clue that ‘inexpensive’ MacBooks will land soon

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Get a MacBook Air for $200 off
It’s about time we saw that new MacBook Air.
Photo: Apple

One of Apple’s manufacturing partners will enjoy a significant boost in the fourth quarter of 2018 as a result of the company’s new, “inexpensive notebooks.”

Quanta Computer has just been overtaken by Compal as the world’s top laptop manufacturer, but it will catch up this year as Apple prepares to deliver what will likely be a new MacBook Air.

iPhone bass guitar cranks up the geek factor

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No brushed aluminum for Stig Pedersen of D-A-D. This iPhone bass is heavy metal.
No brushed aluminum for Stig Pedersen. This iPhone bass is heavy metal.
Photo: license2share/YouTube

Stig Pedersen’s upgraded “iPhone” does not have a touchscreen. It does, however, have a fingerboard, frets, pickups and two strings.

That’s because Pedersen’s iPhone bass is really more of an upgrade on the bass guitar. But it does have an iPhone feautre not found on most basses – a front-facing camera that records video of fans.

Google tracks you even if you tell it not to

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Google
Google is still tracking users' locations without their permission.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Google’s claim that it allows users to completely turn off all location tracking is completely false, according to research conducted by the Associated Press.

Whether you’re using an iPhone or Android device, the AP found that many Google services store your location data, even if you’ve used a privacy setting that is supposed to prevent Google from grabbing your data.

Save your ideas, thoughts, and memories with Day One [50 Essential iOS Apps #48]

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Day One journal entry on iPhone with Day one on iPad in background
Day One makes it easy to create a vibrant and modern journal documenting and archiving your life.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps: Day OneResearch shows that keeping a journal is great for your mind. It allows you to clear your thoughts or think through problems in different ways. Finding a good way to journal is easy with the Day One app. Designed to provide a feature-rich, modern journaling experience, Day One gives you the ability to keep track of, write about, or create a virtual archive of almost anything you want.

Spotify listeners in the U.K. can now access BBC’s vast back catalog

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Spotify
Some of the BBC's radio shows on the service date back to the 1950s.
Photo: Spotify

If you live in the UK and are a fan of the BBC, Spotify has some good news for you — since it’s just added “thousands of episodes” of BBC content to its app.

“The BBC is one of the largest content creators in the UK, and have worked with the biggest and best audio talent in the world,” said James Cator, Spotify’s Head of Podcast Partnerships, in a statement. “To have a comprehensive audio catalogue in the UK, the BBC are essential, so adding the BBC to our rapidly-expanding catalogue of podcasts was a natural partnership.”

South Carolina man sues Apple over exploding iPhone 6

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iPhone
Plaintiff's iPhone allegedly exploded while in his pocket.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

An iPhone user from South Carolina is suing Apple because he alleges that his handset exploded in his pocket two years ago.

The incident occurred in fall 2016, when concerns about lithium-ion batteries exploding were being widely reported — largely due to Samsung’s disastrous Note 7. The iPhone explosion supposedly injured the plaintiff enough that he had to be airlifted to a burn center in nearby Georgia.

Google could miss out on $50 million following Fortnite snub

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Fortnite on Android
Fortnite isn't top of the list, but there's a catch.
Photo: Epic Games

Google could miss out on a $50 million payday this year alone as a result of Epic Games’ decision not to distribute Fortnite for Android through the Play Store.

Android users must download the game directly from Epic‘s own website instead. This allows the company to sidestep Google’s 30 percent cut of all revenue.