Apple's iron-clad grasp on the top spot of Fortune's "World's Most Admired Companies" shows no signs of weakening, with the tech giant finishing ahead of the 300+ pack for the 17th consecutive year.
Apple was placed above Microsoft in second place, followed by Amazon in third. All three companies have rounded out the top three for the fifth year in a row. Notably, Nvidia, whose GPU chips are powering servers for generative AI around the world, soared to its highest-ever ranking at number 10.
Fortune ranks companies through a collection of "key attributes of reputation," such as innovation, quality of management, social responsibility, use of corporate assets, financial soundness, quality of products and services, and global competitiveness. Apple topped the list in every category.
As it has in the past, Fortune collaborated with partner Korn Ferry on its survey of corporate reputations.
To select our 50 All-Stars, Korn Ferry asked 3,720 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the 10 companies they admired most. They chose from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year’s surveys, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry.
To see the full ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies, visit Fortune's website.
Apple is putting the final retail preparations in place for the U.S. launch of its Apple Vision Pro headset on Friday, with dedicated areas in flagship retail stores where customers can test out the device. But Apple's Fifth Avenue retail store in New York appears to be getting special treatment, with a giant replica Vision Pro headset being constructed within the glass cube.
Photos shared by 9to5Mac show scaffolding in front of the glowing Apple logo in the giant skylight above the centerpiece stairway down to the store, where a window display is being erected in the distinctive shape of the Vision Pro goggles.
It's unclear whether the display is unique to "The Cube" or is set to appear in other retail stores around the country, but Apple is certainly hoping to make a splash at possibly Apple's most high-profile U.S. store, and the promotional installation is sure to catch the eyes of passersby and further rouse queueing customers in case they weren't excited enough already.
Steve Jobs originally hired firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson to help with the design of Apple's iconic Fifth Avenue store. He and Peter Bohlin worked closely to create the centerpiece stairway made entirely of glass, the material that would become Apple's signature architectural statement in its flagship stores. The Cube boasted 50,000 visitors a week in its first year, and by 2010 grossed more per square foot than any store in the world.
Apple plans to limit sales of the Vision Pro to customers in the United States to start with, before expanding availability to other countries later in the year. The Vision Pro starts at $3,500, and online pre-orders ship to customers on launch day, February 2.
Apple has extended its modem chip licensing agreement with Qualcomm through March 2027, Qualcomm said today during its first earnings call of 2024. Apple's existing agreement has now been extended for two years, so we can expect to see Qualcomm modems in the next several iPhone generations.
Apple has been working on developing its own 5G modem chip in-house for the last several years. The technology would keep it from having to rely on Qualcomm for 5G chips, but Apple's progress has seen several delays.
In November 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple's work on a modem chip had been postponed until late 2025 or 2026, and it is possible it could see further delays. Apple was initially aiming to have an Apple-designed modem chip ready to go by 2024, but it missed that target. The company then wanted to introduce the modem chip in an iPhone SE that would launch in spring 2025, but it will not be able to make that goal either.
In an also not surprising development, on the @Qualcomm call, it was mentioned:
"Apple exercised its unilateral option to extend its global patent license agreement for an additional two years, taking the existing agreement through to March 2027"
— Ben Bajarin (@BenBajarin) January 31, 2024
Gurman said at the time that Apple was "years away" from creating a chip that is able to perform as well or better than chips from Qualcomm.
Apple has reportedly run into issues with the Intel code that it has been using from its acquisition of Intel's modem chip business. Apple has had to rewrite code, and adding new features has caused existing features to break. Apple also has to avoid infringing on Qualcomm's patents during its modem development.
The upcoming iPhone 16 Pro models set to be released in 2024 are rumored to be using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X75 modem with improved carrier aggregation, and a more power efficient transceiver.
The cable that connects the Vision Pro battery pack to the headset for power purposes appears to be fixed in place, but it can in fact be removed if necessary.
Journalist Ray Wong was able to use a SIM card pin to "unlock" the cable, and after he did that, it was able to be removed from the battery pack. There is a small hole located next to the cable, which is apparently a locking mechanism.
The cable that attaches the battery pack to the headset looks similar to a Lightning cable, but it has too many pins to be Lightning. Instead, it is a proprietary cable that won't be able to be connected to other accessories or used for another purpose.
l used a SIM card push pin to "unlock" the cable connected to the Apple Vision Pro battery pack. It popped right out. pic.twitter.com/tShScpMlvr
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) January 31, 2024
Apple likely made the cable removable so that it can be swapped out without the need to replace the entire battery pack should the cable get damaged in some way.
The Vision Pro ships with one battery, and additional modules can be purchased for $199 each. Each battery powers the Vision Pro for somewhere around two to three hours depending on content. The battery also has a USB-C port that can be used with a USB-C cable for charging the battery, with passthrough charging supported.
Anker today has a new sale on its popular MagSafe-compatible accessories, offering the chance to save 15 percent on these devices when you purchase two or more at once. We're also tracking a similar sale, with a few different products, over at Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Anker's sale is on its "MagGo" line of products, which include charging stations and portable power banks, all of which are compatible with any iPhone that has MagSafe. To get the deal, just add two or more of the full-priced products on this page to your cart and you'll automatically get 15 percent off each product.
Note: You won't see the deal price until checkout.
Note that there are already-discounted products on this page as well, but these do not count toward the buy two, get 15 percent off sale. They are still worth checking out, with a few solid deals on even more MagSafe-compatible accessories, like the popular 3-in-1 MagSafe Charging Cube.
Because of this, we've broken down the sale into two lists below. Note that the prices in the first list represent the discounted price that you'll see after you add two or more products to your cart and head to the checkout screen. Also remember that Amazon has a few of these products in a similar buy two, save 15 percent offer going on right now.
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.4 update to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test the software ahead of its launch. The public beta comes a day after Apple released the developer beta.
Beta testers can opt-in through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. Under Beta updates, simply toggle on the Sonoma Public Beta. Note that you must sign up to participate on Apple's beta testing website.
macOS Sonoma 14.4 introduces some of the features in the iOS 17.4 beta, such as new emoji characters. We don't know what Mac-specific features are included, but nothing new was found in the developer beta.
Apple today released a visionOS 1.0.2 update for the Vision Pro headset, according to developer Nicolás Álvarez. The software comes a week after the release of the visionOS 1.0.1 update.
There is no word on what is included in visionOS 1.0.2, and while the Vision Pro has yet to be released, review units are in the hands of members of the media, and they will be able to download and install this update.
visionOS 1.0.2 addresses a WebKit vulnerability that Apple says may have been actively exploited. The issue was also fixed in visionOS 1.0.1 for developers, but the fix is in visionOS 1.0.2 for those updating from visionOS 1.0.
It is worth noting that Vision Pro owners will have a day one update to install this software when they begin receiving their headsets on Friday.
The Vision Pro will ship with version one of the visionOS software, but we are expecting to see visionOS 2 with new features at WWDC in June.
Webex today announced the launch of its new Webex app that's designed for the Apple TV 4K. The app is designed to allow hybrid workers to join meetings from the biggest screen they have, which is often a television.
Users are able to scan the QR code on the sign-in screen and log in to the Webex app on Apple TV in order to join a meeting. Participating in a chat will require wirelessly connecting an iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV 4K to use the iOS device as a microphone and video camera.
Apple has previously used the iPhone/iPad to Apple TV connection for FaceTime, but the functionality is available to third-party apps as well.
Webex says that users can expect "crystal-clear audio and video," with the app offering a preview of video and microphone status ahead of when a meeting is joined. Calendar integration is available, and the Siri Remote can be used for browsing through meetings and accessing in-meeting controls such as the camera on the connected iOS device.
Up to 25 simultaneous attendees can be shown on one screen with the Webex app for the Apple TV 4K, and the app can be downloaded from the App Store on the device. To use Webex on a TV, users must have a second-generation Apple TV 4K or later and an iOS device with either iOS 17 or iPadOS 17.
Apple today added the Mid 2012 model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro to its obsolete products list worldwide, according to its website.
Released in June 2012, this 13-inch MacBook Pro model was the last Mac with a built-in CD/DVD drive sold by Apple, and it remained for sale until October 2016 as a lower-priced option. Apple continues to sell an external SuperDrive for customers who need a CD/DVD drive, but a USB-C adapter is required to use it with modern MacBooks.
Apple considers a device to be "technologically obsolete" once more than seven years have passed since the company last distributed it for sale. Apple says MacBooks "may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed for sale, subject to parts availability."
On the software side, Apple dropped support for the Mid 2012 model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with macOS Big Sur in 2020.
Best Buy today has every model of the 5th generation iPad Air for up to $150 off, with multiple all-time low prices. These deals are available to all shoppers and do not require a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Starting with the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air, you can get this tablet for $449.99, down from $599.99. Best Buy has every color on sale at this record low price, which we haven't tracked since the holidays.
Best Buy also has the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad Air on sale for $599.99, down from $749.99. You'll again find this model on sale in all colors, and it's another all-time low price.
Finally, there are cellular discounts as well during this sale, starting at $599.99 for the 64GB cellular iPad Air and rising to $749.99 for the 256GB cellular iPad Air. Both of these are again $150 discounts and all-time low prices on the iPad Air, and available in every color at Best Buy.
The Apple Vision Pro headset comes with an external battery pack with a capacity of 3,166 mAh, compared to the 3,274 mAh battery found in the iPhone 15 Pro, although the voltages are different so the measurement alone can't be considered equivalent. Reviewers have also reported that there are significant size and weight differences between the two.
According to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, the Vision Pro battery is about the width and height of an iPhone 15 Pro, but thicker. Weight-wise, it is also heavier: About 325g, compared to 187g for an iPhone 15 Pro. "It's closer in thickness and weight to two iPhone 15's than it is to one," according to Gruber.
Marques Brownlee in his unboxing video also described the battery as "pretty heavy," and compared it to phones with larger capacity 5,000+ mAh batteries that feel "much lighter." We'll probably have to wait for a teardown to find out what the additional weight can be attributed to.
The external battery pack that comes with the Vision Pro is silver, has a proprietary connector for attaching to the headset, and a USB-C port for charging via the included 30W wall charger. The proprietary connector is connected to the Vision Pro by rotating it a quarter turn to lock it into place.
For those considering buying an additional $200 battery pack, one thing to bear in mind is that Vision Pro batteries are not hot-swappable: As Gruber notes, there is no built-in reserve battery in the headset, so when the power cable is disconnected, Vision Pro immediately powers off. A manual reboot is therefore required to switch batteries.
Apple says the Vision Pro provides up to two hours of battery life overall, and up to 2.5 hours for 2D video playback specifically. However, several reviewers claim to have gotten up to three hours out of a single charge in general use, with one reviewer saying they were able to watch a three-hour movie on a single charge.
In terms of battery life, it doesn't make sense to compare the Vision Pro to the iPhone 15 Pro, given that the former undoubtedly draws a lot more juice to power an array of much more sophisticated cameras, sensors, displays, speakers, and microphones.
Apple Vision Pro launches in the U.S. on Friday, February 2. Apple has said the Vision Pro will launch in additional countries later this year.
Article updated to remove phrasing that implied mAh measurement alone is equivalent without an indication of voltage. Apologies for the error.
Apple has failed to properly comply with a court order that requires non-App Store purchasing options be made available to third-party developers, Epic Games has told a judge (via Bloomberg).
The Supreme Court earlier this month declined to hear separate requests from both Apple and Epic Games in their three-year-long lawsuit against each other regarding App Store rules. As a result, Apple is able to continue to disallow third-party payment processing within apps, but it must allow developers to direct customers to a non-App Store purchasing option for digital goods.
Apple has since made changes to its U.S. App Store policies, and now allows apps to feature a single link to a developer website that leads to an in-app purchase alternative. However, Apple plans to continue to collect a 12 to 27 percent commission on content bought this way. The commission applies to transactions for digital goods and services that take place on a developers website within seven days after a user taps through an External Purchase Link to an external website.
Epic likely wishes to contest this aspect of the change in particular, as well as Apple's implementation of them. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on January 16 took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize the changes as soon as they were announced, and said that it would dispute Apple's "bad-faith compliance plan" in District Court.
A quick summary of glaring problems we've found so far:
1) Apple has introduced an anticompetitive new 27% tax on web purchases. Apple has never done this before, and it kills price competition. Developers can't offer digital items more cheaply on the web after paying a… pic.twitter.com/YkHuapG7xa
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024
According to Bloomberg, Epic said in a filing Tuesday that it "disputes Apple's compliance" with previously ordered changes and said it will explain the "non-compliance" in a forthcoming filing.
Meanwhile, Apple wants Epic Games to pay $73.4 million in legal fees after Apple won the antitrust case brought against it by the North Carolinian games maker. Apple bases the claim on Epic's original violation of its developer agreement, when its Fortnite game offered an in-app payment alternative on the App Store. Epic previously accepted that it would owe damages if it lost its antitrust claims against Apple. Now that it has, Apple has issued the bill.
The first full-length reviews of the Apple Vision Pro were published today, revealing some new details about the headset before it launches in the U.S. on Friday.
Apple says the Vision Pro provides up to two hours of battery life overall, and up to 2.5 hours for 2D video playback specifically. In his review, however, Brian Tong said he achieved nearly 2.5 hours of battery life for general usage, and separately was able to watch the three-hour movie Avengers: Endgame on a single charge.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber also said he has consistently got at least three hours of battery life on a full charge, but he did not list any specific use cases.
All in all, it seems that the Vision Pro may last up to 30 minutes longer per charge than Apple's advertised battery life claims, but results will vary.
Home Screen
According to Tong, third-party apps on visionOS are listed alphabetically starting on the second page of the Home Screen, and cannot be reordered like they can be on the iPhone and iPad. Apps cannot be placed into folders either.
Image Credit: Brian Tong
He also confirmed that websites cannot be added to the Home Screen via Safari, which is inconvenient given that some popular services like YouTube and Spotify will only be accessible via the web on the Vision Pro at launch.
Apple could add these options in future visionOS updates.
Personas and EyeSight
Since the Vision Pro covers your face during video calls, Apple allows you to create a digital version of yourself called a Persona.
Apple refers to a Persona as an "authentic spatial representation" of a person that shows facial expressions and hand movements in real time. The feature is still in beta, and it seems that Apple has a lot of room for improvement.
On FaceTimes with friends and family, the reviews were unanimous: "You look awful," my sister said. "It's like Botox from hell," remarked the always-kind Jason Gay. "Frightening," said my dad.
Calling other Vision Pro reviewers was slightly better because we all looked ridiculous. But everyone agreed I looked the worst. And this was after I remade my Persona numerous times, with professional lighting.
Poor Joanna! (She's still amazing, nothing can change that!)
I won't go into that much detail on Apple's deeply weird and extremely uncanny 3D persona system here […] You can see why Apple put the beta label on them; there's a long way to go before using a persona on a call isn't distracting at best and, at worst, extremely rude.
Personas extend to the Vision Pro's outer display, allowing others to view a digital recreation of your eyes. This feature is called EyeSight, and it has mostly been panned on social media since Vision Pro reviews were first published earlier today.
The most surprising takeaway from all the Vision Pro reviews/videos is how universally awful the EyeSight display is. Until today, I expected it to be super important to the “I’m still in the real world” experience. Now, I’m 95% sure it’ll be canned by the 2nd gen. pic.twitter.com/H90Wa3ckL7
— Snazzy Labs (@SnazzyLabs) January 30, 2024
Mac Virtual Display
Many reviewers shared their thoughts on using the Vision Pro as an external display for a Mac.
What if my desk was just floating monitors? What if I didn't need anything but a headset? Vision Pro gets close to that feeling when all the apps are open and the flow is going. I'm doing that now. I'm in my virtual floating computer as I write this. There are glitches, and sometimes the controls feel too floaty, but in its first form, I'm shocked at how good it already is.
However, he mentioned a caveat:
And while the Vision Pro's display is great as a monitor, staring into 3D space for a while puts my eyes into a different focus zone than actual reality. Taking the headset off to work on my laptop, my eyes need time to settle and refocus. I feel myself slipping into long sessions in Vision Pro, but my eyes want me to take breaks.
One of the options in Control Center is the ability to connect with your Mac, but you can also bring your Mac desktop into the Vision Pro just by looking at it. I saw a Connect button floating above my MacBook Pro 14-inch, pinched my fingers together and saw my laptop's screen go blank, popping up on the wall in front of me instead.
You don't get multiple desktop views, but you do get a crystal clear 4K display that renders text crisply, and you can make that canvas positively huge so it dwarfs most of the best monitors. Your keyboard and mouse still work as they normally would with no latency. You can even use your keyboard in Vision Pro apps if you want. Yes, only Apple could do this, and I could see myself taking the Vision Pro on business trips and using it back at the hotel.
Stay tuned for additional details about the Vision Pro over the coming days.
Apple today stopped signing the iOS 17.2.1 update, preventing iPhone users from downgrading to that version of iOS going forward. iOS 17.2.1 is no longer being signed following the January 22 release of iOS 17.3, which introduced Stolen Device Protection for the iPhone and other changes.
It is not unusual that iOS 17.2.1 is no longer being signed. Apple routinely stops signing older versions of iOS after new releases in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date and to prevent users from downgrading to older, less secure versions of the iPhone operating system.
Along with iOS 17.2.1, Apple has stopped signing iPadOS 17.2 for the iPad, and the older 15.8 and 16.7.4 versions of iOS and iPadOS for devices unable to run iOS 17.
Some of Apple's iCloud services are down at the current time, with the iCloud.com website non-functional and iCloud Mail failing to load. There are multiple reports on Twitter and other social networks, and Apple's System Status page says that some iCloud Mail users may not be able to send, receive, or access their messages.
Apple's System Status page also lists an issue with iCloud web apps, and says that some users are unable to log in to iCloud.com.
We'll update this article when the issue has been resolved and Apple's iCloud services are working.
Update: Apple says the issue has been resolved as of 4:38 p.m. Eastern Time.
Apple today introduced a new firmware update for AirPods Max. The new firmware is 6A324, up from the 6A300 firmware released in September.
Apple does not provide details on what features might be included in the refreshed firmware, so it is unclear what's new. The limited release notes for the update list only "bug fixes and other improvements."
Apple also does not offer instructions on how to upgrade AirPods software, but firmware is generally installed over-the-air while the AirPods are powered on and connected to an iOS device or a Mac.
You can check your AirPods Max firmware by following these steps:
Connect your AirPods to your iOS device.
Open the Settings app.
Tap General.
Tap About.
Tap AirPods.
Look at the number next to "Firmware Version."
If we find anything notable in the firmware release, we'll update this article.
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 updates to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test the software ahead of its release. The public iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 betas come a week after Apple released the betas for developers. Apple has also re-released the first beta of iOS 17.4 for developers with a new 21E5184k build number, which is the same build number used for the public beta.
Public beta testers can get the beta by opening up the Settings app, going to the Software Update section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 Public Beta. Signing up on Apple's beta testing website is required.
The iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 betas introduce a whole slew of changes for users in the European Union, allowing for alternative app stores and alternative payment methods.
There are new options for choosing a default browser, NFC has been opened up to banks and other financial institutions, and browsers aren't mandated to use WebKit.
Along with these changes, the update also brings new emoji characters, Podcast transcripts, tweaks to Safari, hints of what we can expect from the next-generation CarPlay, and more.
Apple Card has over 12 million users in the United States, with card holders earning more than $1 billion in Daily Cash rewards in 2023, Apple said today.
Daily Cash is earned with every purchase on the Apple Card. Apple provides 3% cash back for Apple purchases and items bought from select partners like T-Mobile, Ace Hardware, Panera Bread, Walgreens, and Uber. All Apple Pay purchases with Apple Card earn 2% cash back, and all other purchases earn 1% cash back.
Apple delivers Daily Cash rewards every day, and Apple Card holders can choose to have it added to the Apple Cash card or they can or opt in to having their cash deposited in the Apple Savings Account that launched last year.
Apple says that the "vast majority" of Apple Card users have opted in to having their Daily Cash auto-deposited into Savings, and nearly two-thirds of users deposit additional funds from a linked bank account. The Apple Card offers an APY of 4.50 percent at the current time, which is on par with the high-yield savings accounts from many competing financial institutions.
Almost 30 percent of Apple Card customers make two or more payments per month, and more than a million Apple Card users share their Apple Card with their Family Sharing Group. Close to 600,000 users have added spouses, partners, or another trusted adult to their Apple Card. For those with low credit scores who are not initially approved for an Apple Card, Apple has a "Path to Apple Card Program." According to Apple, 200,000 users have been approved for an Apple Card after enrolling and following the program's personal steps.
It has been almost five years since the Apple Card launched in 2019, and Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey said that new tools and features will be coming to Apple Card holders "in the year ahead and beyond."
"We designed Apple Card with users' financial health in mind, and it's rewarding to see our more than 12 million customers using its features to make healthier financial decisions," said Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. "We're proud of what we've been able to deliver to Apple Card customers in just five years. As we look at the year ahead and beyond, we're excited to continue to innovate and invest in Apple Card's award-winning experience, and provide users with more tools and features that help them lead healthier financial lives."
Though Apple Card is approaching its five-year launch anniversary, Apple has not managed to expand it to countries beyond the United States.
Apple's relationship with Apple Card provider Goldman Sachs has also soured, and reports suggest that Apple and Goldman Sachs plan to end their partnership in the next 12 to 15 months. Goldman Sachs is planning to cut back on its consumer business, and the partnership with Apple will be entirely dissolved.
Apple will need to find another partner for the Apple Card, but has said that it is focused on providing the best experience for customers. Interruptions to the Apple Card service are not expected, and there's as of yet no word on the financial institution that Apple might partner with to replace Goldman Sachs. The failure of the agreement between Goldman Sachs and the upcoming shift are likely to delay any behind-the-scenes plans that Apple has had to expand the Apple Card beyond the United States.
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Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
