A recent report suggested that Apple was restarting manufacture of the iPhone 4 to target India, Indonesia and Brazil as developing markets. In fact, sources say that Apple never stopped making the phone.

A news story for BGR India claims that — while the volumes might not have been so high as that of the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, or even the iPhone 4s — Apple continued manufacturing the iPhone 4 ever since its introduction, since the phone serves as a key component of Apple’s sales strategy in countries outside of the U.S. and Western Europe.

The money side of Apple is nothing out of the ordinary for anyone who follows investor news and views. The idea, however, that Apple products — specifically the iPhone — may be considered a form of hard currency in themselves is something a little bit different.

That’s the premise of a recent post by Bloomberg News reporter Vernon Silver, however, who claims that in recent months he’s been using unlocked iPhones to pay his bills.

This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple Store Genius who answers all your questions about working at an Apple Store. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.

This week our Genius talks about the oldest and youngest employees at the Apple Store. Then he dishes on Windows 8 as well as whether Apple will ever come out with an iPhone with a bigger screen.

Got a question you want the inside scoop on? Send us your questions and the answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.

Q: What’s the youngest Apple Store employee you’ve seen? The oldest?

The ages of Apple Store employees varies a lot. Before I worked at Apple, I would be shocked to see older people working at this high-tech company, but now I think it’s great because we have a wide variety of ages, gender, race and backgrounds to give customers a lot of options to connect with a Specialist.

The youngest Apple Store employees are 18, as for the oldest, I have a female co-worker in her late 60s – I’ve never dared ask her exact age. She retired as an airline stewardess and now works at the Apple Store part time, mostly in the iPod and iPad sections, but she’s phenomenal. If you can put up with pushy airline passengers, the Apple Store is a cake walk.

Q: Are you required to use Macs? What do you think of Windows 8?

At the Apple Store we’re required to use Macs because the tools we use to diagnose and fix problems with Macs, iPods, iPhones, etc. only works on OS X, so using a Windows machine isn’t an option. As far as personal life though, Apple has no say. A few friends at the Apple Store game on PCs but most of them use Boot Camp on Mac.

Windows 8 is interesting. It was a gutsy move to introduce a UI that’s so radically different, but it sounds like its not paying off for Microsoft. I haven’t played with it a ton myself, but when I have, the tile interface has turned me off. I actually like Windows 7. It feels solid and in some ways I like it better than OS X 10.9, but Windows 8 feels like a mistake. I hate that Microsoft is trying to get us away from the keyboard and mouse for a touchscreen desktop. It doesn’t work as well as on a tablet you hold with your hands.

Q: Will Apple ever make an iPhone a bigger screen?

Probably ;)

Apple has already showed that it’s willing to make a bigger iPhone screen with the iPhone 5. I don’t have any inside knowledge, but rumors say they’re moving to a bigger screen this year.

Fragmentation is always a concern, but Apple has changed the resolution on the iPhone every two years since the iPhone 4 and developers have adjusted just fine. Maybe it’ll happen again this year. I wouldn’t mind if they do.

I hate thick wallets. I carry mine in my left front pocket most of the time, and I really don’t need something huge and bulky in there to both look dorky and hurt.

I’ve spent some time paring down the stuff in my wallet, too, making it as minimal as possible. I usually carry my driver’s license, my Visa debit card, a bit of cash, and a couple of shopping club cards, like Costco and Safeway. I rotate a credit card in on occasion, too, if I need the extra buying power.

Usually, and especially when I go out on the town for an evening, I only need the ID, some cash, and my debit card.

That’s exactly what fits easily in the new Wally Wallet iPhone case, making it a dream come true for this wallet minimalist.

Generally speaking, you can count on the latest iPhone to improve upon the camera of the model that preceded it. That means that when the iPhone 6 comes along, we can expect it to have a better camera than the iPhone 5s’s 8-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 aperture.

Now a new rumor suggests that Apple has already selected a supplier for the iPhone 6, which will have a 10-megapixel camera with a f/1.8 aperture. Moreover, it will replace the hybrid IR filter used on the iPhone 5s with a resin lens filter, which would allegedly result in clearer images.

Apple has released a fifth beta build of iOS 7.1 to developers this morning, two weeks after dropping the last iOS 7.1 beta was seeded.

iOS 7.1 beta 5 is available to developers in the Dev Center or via an OTA update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Like last time, Apple has also released a new beta for Apple TV as well as XCode 5.1.

The release notes only mention the addition of new natural-sounding Siri voice for English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin – China). We’ll update you on any other new changes once we get it downloaded on our devices. Feel free to yell at us on Twitter (@cultofmac) if you come across anything yourself.

Here are the download links:

I’m traveling to Russia to cover the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. It’s going to be a thrilling, crazy experience. You’ll see some of my work here at Cult of Mac, among other places.

Here’s the gear I’ll be taking with me overseas:

After Apple’s Super Bowl ad — which we summarily declared to be so good that it won the Super Bowl without even trying — Apple has posted a behind-the-scenes video to its YouTube channel, showing how the ad was shot.

And how was it shot? On January 24th, Apple directed 15 camera crews across 10 countries armed with several iPhone 5s’s, who were all in communication with one another over FaceTime to stay in sync.

Apple was notably absent from the Super Bowl ad slots Sunday, but a new video touting the Mac’s transformative power is quickly making Cupertino the most talked-about company the morning after the big game. The impressive clip continues the Mac’s 30th-anniversary celebration, and it was shot entirely on iPhones in 15 locations across five continents.

Gross is an iPhone app that’ll tell you just how lazy you’ve been for the last week. And believe me, unless you’re managing to get out an exercise in the middle of this icy winter, then the first time you fire up the app you’ll probably find yourself saying it’s name out loud.