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Apple swallows iPhone 13 Pro’s higher production cost

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The iPhone 13 Pro is as powerful as it is beautiful.
The iPhone 13 Pro cost much more to produce than a similar model from two years ago.
Photo: Apple

About 60% of the price of an iPhone 13 Pro goes into producing it, according to a analysts’ estimate. That figure comes from examining the cost of each component in Apple’s new high-end smartphone. It’s much more than Apple used have to pay.

And note that the rest of the selling price isn’t pure profit.

iPhone 13 battery life improvements come at the cost of increased weight

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iPhone 13 battery improvements come at the cost of increased weight
The iPhone 13 is heavier than its predecessor. But that’s because of a larger battery.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

The good news for buyers of the iPhone 13 series is that all four handsets promise significantly longer battery lives. The downside is that the change required putting in bulkier batteries that add to the weight and thickness.

Still, the increases are fairly marginal for an improvement that’s near the top of so many iPhone users’ wish lists.

Apple launches MagSafe Battery Pack for iPhone 12 series [Updated]

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Apple MagSafe Battery Pack
Here's how the new MagSafe Battery Pack looks when attached to iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Photo: Apple

On its website Tuesday, Apple offered a new MagSafe Battery Pack, designed to work with the iPhone 12 series from mini to Pro Max. That is, it’s designed to work as of the release of iOS 14.7, due imminently.

Unlike all the other unofficially “MagSafe compatible” wireless battery packs that came out after the iPhone 12’s release, this one’s MagSafe-approved, straight from Apple. It took a while, but it’s here.

Man fishes dropped iPhone from canal using its MagSafe connector

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MagSafe charger for iPhone
Handy for charging. Handier for retrieving your dropped iPhone from a canal in Germany.
Photo: Apple

What do you do when you drop your iPhone 12 Pro in a canal and can’t find it? Simple: You take advantage of one of its neat new features to fish it out of the murky depths.

That’s what Twitter user and developer Frederik Riedel recently did — crafting a fishing rod with magnet that allowed him to latch on to the MagSafe charging magnets on the back of the device. Impressively, it worked. As did the iPhone continue to do.

Want a purple iPhone 12? Sell your old model today for fast upgrade cash

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purple iphone 12
Find out how much your old iPhone is really worth.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

iPhone 12 and 12 mini is now available to preorder in purple for the first time. If the new color option has encouraged you to upgrade, it’s time to turn your old model into fast upgrade cash.

Sell your old iPhone (and other Apple devices) to Cult of Mac today and we’ll send you a fat stack of cash to make your upgrade more affordable.

Samsung Galaxy S21 plummets to half its original value in 3 months

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The Samsung Galaxy S21 series is not a good investment.
The recently released Samsung Galaxy S21 series drops in value as much as $281 a month.
Photo: Samsung

Those planning to resell their handset someday might want to steer clear of Samsung latest flagship models. The Galaxy S21 series reportedly lost between 44.8% and 57.1% of its original value since in debut in January 2021.

Of course, every smartphone depreciates over time. But iPhones hold their value better than their rivals.

RodeCaster Pro powers Chicago trio’s Bums of Manarchy podcast [Setups]

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Rocky Lira works his day job and podcast production here.
Rocky Lira works his day job and podcast production here.
Photo: Rocky Lira

Rocky Lira, aka “Rocky Bandit,” and his “knucklehead” friends Eddie and Paddy went big into podcasting on a moderate budget recently. And they have the gear and the podcasts in circulation to show for it.

He and his Chicago pals started the weekly show Bums of Manarchy for fun, recording more than a dozen episodes so far. Lira got off to a fast start handling the podcast editing and production. He said he uses an M1 MacBook Pro and an older model, along with two iPad Pros and his iPhone 12 Pro — in concert with a Rode RodeCaster Pro Integrated Podcast Production Studio console.