Apple has reportedly placed the first orders for its standalone Siri smart speaker, a device designed to rival the Amazon Echo.
Inventec, the Taiwan company that makes Apple’s popular AirPods, received the order, which was reported by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News. No order numbers or production timeline have been revealed, although previous reports suggest Apple could unveil the device this June at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple reported weaker-than-expected iPhone sales during its earnings call yesterday. However, not every Apple watcher is convinced that’s bad news for the company.
In a note to clients, Mizuho Securities analysts Abhey Lamba and Parthiv Varadarajan suggest that the “pause” in sales is less likely to be about people losing interest in the iPhone — and more related to massive excitement over the forthcoming iPhone 8.
Apple’s Q2 earnings report for 2017 just barely beat Wall Street’s expectations when the numbers were revealed this afternoon, but there are plenty of reasons to still be optimistic about AAPL.
During the company’s call with investors today, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri discussed some of the struggles the company experienced last quarter, from slumping iPhone sales to economic headwinds in China.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
Apple is set to reveal its second quarterly earnings report of 2017 this afternoon. And according to analysts, the numbers won’t be nearly as impressive as last quarter’s record-shattering results.
Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri will run through all the numbers with investors today at 2 p.m. Pacific. As usual, Cult of Mac will be liveblogging the action with all the analysis and snark we can muster.
Come join the fun:
Apple just posted its earnings for Q2 2017 and while the numbers aren’t as monstrous as last quarter’s, there’s a lot to love in the new report.
With revenues hitting $52.9 billion, Apple returned to growth for the second straight quarter with $11 billion in profit. iPhone sales were down year-over-year, but Apple CEO Tim Cook says demand for the iPhone 7 Plus is still high.
Apple today introduced two new low-cost pricing tiers for macOS and iOS apps sold in Europe. The change comes as price increases came into effect in Tuesday morning’s refresh as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.
Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop, with its sleek design and a super-sharp display, might look like a worthy competitor to the MacBook. But there’s one big flaw holding it back.
Future iPhones or Apple Watches may be able to help users with calorie counting, alongside the step-tracking and other information they already help us keep tabs on.
That’s according to a newly-published Apple patent, which describes device-readable RFID tags the company has invented. These could be used to send nutritional information — such as caloric value, fat and sugar content, and more — from food packaging to your NFC-enabled Apple device.
The iPhone helps with an endless number of tasks, but with a finite amount of battery life. So extra power is easy to find, whether it’s in an external battery or a battery integrated iPhone case.
But that battery is one more thing you have to charge. Strap on an Apple Watch and soon you are looking for a bigger bag that makes room for the charging needs of your various devices.
Portland-based Elevation Lab has a travel battery that takes virtually no room and can charge both your Apple Watch and iPhone a few times before it needs to recharge.
Like it or not, our houses are getting smarter. If you’re sharp and interested in coding, you’ll want to learn to develop for Alexa, the digital assistant popping up in homes around the world due to the amazing success of the Amazon Echo.
Echo and Alexa are the opening shots of the smart home revolution, and with this bundle of comprehensive coding lessons you can get positioned to make your mark. Right now, you can get access to the whole thing for just $19 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Samsung’s new Bixby assistant finally found its voice in South Korea today, over a week after making its debut on the Galaxy S8. Unlike its rivals, Bixby has the ability to rap, and Samsung uses that to take a cheeky, secret stab at Siri.
Want to have lunch with Tim Cook at the brand new Apple Park campus?
If you answered “yes,” and you happen to also be in possession of tons of disposable income, you’re in luck — because that’s what is being auctioned off as part of the 10th Annual Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Spring Auction on Charitybuzz.com. And it’s already open for bids!
“Component shortages and technical challenges” could delay the iPhone 8 until 2018, according to a research note from Deutsche Bank analysts.
Two iOS games reportedly broke the $100 million mark in terms of their U.S. App Store revenue last year, with Clash Royale and Pokémon GO dominating when it came to raking in money.
Clash Royale, a real-time multiplayer game spinoff of Clash of Clans, earned $277.1 million from an estimated 19.1 million downloads. Augmented reality game Pokémon GO meanwhile pulled in $270.2 million from a whopping 42 million downloads.
Check out the rest of the top 10 list below.
Google Maps, Amazon and eBay have all quietly dropped support for Apple Watch in their recent app updates.
So far, no reasons have been given for the decision, although Google noted that despite removing, “Apple Watch support from our latest iOS release [we] expect to support it again in the future.”
Security researchers have discovered a nasty bit of Mac malware similar to OSX.Dok trojan, which can bypass Apple’s GateKeeper feature.
The new bug, dubbed OSX.Bella, behaves and distributes itself in a completely different manner than OSX.Dok. But once installed, it executes a script that’s just as damaging.
AirPods are the most beloved product Apple has launched in years, based on a new survey that found an astonishing percentage of AirPod owners are extremely satisfied.
Apple is set to reveal its second quarterly earnings report of 2017 next Tuesday, and based on early estimates from analysts, Tim Cook might not have much to boast about.
Wall Street has been in love with Apple stock the last few months, sending it to all-time highs since the last earnings report came out. But with the holiday shopping season over and a lack of new products to boost sales, Apple’s numbers may look a bit flat.
These are the key areas to watch for:
Apple’s not the only smartphone-maker with ambitions to take over the self-driving car market.
Samsung is the latest tech company to receive permission to test their self-driving vehicles on public roads, after the South Korean government granted the company approval to start hitting the streets this week.
Kids wanting to learn how to build apps can game their way to coding skills with a new set of courses designed to making programming fun.
Tynker, one of the world’s most popular coding educators, is supporting Apple’s Everyone Can Code initiative with two new games — Space Cadet and Dragon Spells — that teach kids the fundamentals of coding before graduating to Swift.
The 10th anniversary of the iPhone will likely be good for iPhone 8 sales. But another sales bump could come from users long overdue for an upgrade.
Data from the Boston analytics firm Localytics shows 28 percent of all iPhone users own an iPhone 6, which will turn 3 this fall. Almost 16 percent are still using the iPhone 5 and 5s handsets.
Photos of the first real smartwatch by Fitbit leaked to the internet today and based on the teaser images, Apple doesn’t have much to worry about.
Fitbit is supposedly planning to launch its proper smartwatch this fall along with a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. The company originally planned to unveil the products this spring to get a head start on Apple, but it looks like they could use some more development.
Take a closer look:
Apple’s new iPhone 7 Plus ad will make you fall in love with falling in love.
The new minute-long ad showcases Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus but it’s really about a couple’s romantic stroll through the city while “Sing to Me” by Walter Martin and Karen O plays through the background.
Check it out:
Apple’s second quarterly earnings report of 2017 will likely reveal the company now has over a quarter of a trillion dollars of cash stashed in the bank.
The iPhone-maker has so much cash its reserves exceed the foreign-currency reserves of the U.K. and Canada combined. During the last quarter of 2017, Apple’s money-making machine was earning $3.6 million per hour.
Starting today, we are offering high-quality repair services for Apple products to all our U.S. readers. Following the great feedback we’ve received on our trade-in program — to date we’ve paid our readers almost $200,000 for their old devices — we are extending our partnership with MyPhones Unlimited to include repair services with unbeatable prices.
Shipping is always free, and there’s no need to worry about hidden fees. Plus, every repair comes with a 180-day warranty. Find out just how cheap iPhone, iPad and MacBook repairs can be!