MacRumors

Through the Apple One subscription service that launched this morning, iCloud customers can get a maximum of 4TB of storage to use, up from the 2TB maximum available without an ‌Apple One‌ bundle.

Customers who subscribe to an ‌Apple One‌ plan get 50GB, 200GB, or 2TB of storage included with the service based on the plan chosen, with 50GB provided for the $14.95 per month plan, 200GB supplied with the $19.95 per month plan, and 2TB supplied with the $29.95 per month plan.

According to an Apple support document, those who need more storage than is provided through ‌Apple One‌ can purchase additional ‌iCloud‌ storage separately, which means with the most expensive ‌Apple One‌ bundle, a maximum of 4TB is available.

After you subscribe to Apple One, you can buy more iCloud storage if you need more. With both Apple One and an iCloud storage plan, you can have up to 4TB of total iCloud storage.

Customers who subscribe to ‌Apple One‌ can also choose other storage amounts for a different mix, such as 50GB with ‌Apple One‌ and 200GB through a separate ‌iCloud‌ purchase, but a total of 4TB is available. That would cost $29.95 for the ‌Apple One‌ plan with 2TB storage and then an additional $9.99 for the 2TB ‌iCloud‌ plan.

Those who have separate Apple IDs for media and ‌iCloud‌ can use both those accounts with ‌Apple One‌, but there's no option to stack the storage in the same way. In this situation, the ‌Apple One‌ storage plan replaces the current storage plan, as explained by Apple:

If you already pay for an iCloud storage plan and apply the iCloud storage included in Apple One to the Apple ID you use with iCloud, the storage included with Apple One will replace your current storage plan. Your current storage plan is canceled and you'll receive a pro-rated refund.

If you have applied the iCloud storage included in Apple One to the Apple ID you use for iCloud then buy additional iCloud storage later, the storage included with Apple One will be moved back to the Apple ID you use for media subscriptions

Apple's support document explains the different scenarios that happen with various amounts of ‌iCloud‌ storage and various ‌Apple One‌ plans.

• If Apple One provides more storage than your current plan - Your existing ‌iCloud‌ storage plan is canceled and you receive a pro-rated refund. Total ‌iCloud‌ storage is the amount in the ‌Apple One‌ subscription.
• If Apple One storage is equal to your current storage - During any free trial, you will keep the current ‌iCloud‌ plan and the ‌iCloud‌ storage through Apple one. When the trial is finished, the current ‌iCloud‌ storage plan will be canceled and total ‌iCloud‌ storage is the amount included in ‌Apple One‌.
• If Apple One storage is less than your current plan - You keep both the ‌iCloud‌ storage plan and the ‌iCloud‌ storage in ‌Apple One‌, with the plans stacking. Those who want to use only the storage in ‌Apple One‌ will need to downgrade or cancel.

Family members who are part of a Family Sharing group can purchase storage separately for themselves or choose to use the storage made available through an ‌Apple One‌ Family or Premier plan. If the entire family group needs more storage, the family member who purchases ‌Apple One‌ can purchase more storage, for the same 4TB maximum.

We've begun tracking early Black Friday deals in our dedicated Black Friday Roundup, and in an effort to prepare our readers for the big shopping event we're highlighting sales store-by-store in the lead-up to November 27.

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.

This year we're starting with Best Buy, which announced its Black Friday sales earlier in the week while simultaneously kicking off a notable early sale on a huge variety of products, including Apple devices.

Best Buy's Black Friday Schedule

Every Best Buy location in the United States will be closed on Thanksgiving in 2020, so the focus on November 26 will be online deals. Best Buy's full schedule for the week of Black Friday can be seen below, and you can check out the Best Buy Black Friday newspaper ad right here.

• Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) - Closed
• Black Friday (Nov. 27) - 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time
• Saturday, Nov. 28 - 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time
• Sunday, Nov. 29 - 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time

Of course, these dates won't be the only times to snag deals at Best Buy in November, with a total of four extra discount events planned by the retailer next month. We don't know specifics of the early November sales yet, but the important sale here is on November 16, when My Best Buy Members will be able to shop thousands of deals from the Black Friday ad one week early.

• Nov. 5 to 8 - The Wish List Sale
• Nov. 11 - The Treat Yourself Sale
• Nov. 12 to 15 - Our Coolest Deals Sale
• Nov. 16 to 17 - My Best Buy Member Early Access Sale
• Nov. 22 - Black Friday Starts Now! Sale

Covid-19 Safety Efforts: Best Buy is requiring all employees and customers to wear face coverings if they plan to shop in stores on Black Friday (and in general). There will be a limit to the number of people within each location, and social distancing efforts will be in effect.

For anyone who doesn't want to shop inside a Best Buy store during the holidays, contactless curbside pickup is available at all Best Buy stores. Orders are ready within an hour, and an employee can safely bring it out and place it inside your car. Next-day and same-day delivery options are also expanding to include more items on Best Buy's website.

Of course, there's also the Early Black Friday event running right now, which you can read about in more detail in the next section.

Early Black Friday - Oct. 28 through Nov. 1

There are quite a few categories covered in the early Black Friday sale, including video games, TVs, Apple products, headphones, small kitchen appliances, printers, vacuums, and much more. Head to Best Buy's landing page for the sale to shop the entire sale.

Below we've gathered some of the more notable items being marked down in Best Buy's early Black Friday sale. In regards to Apple, this mainly includes deals on Apple Watch SE and Series 6.

Headphones

• AirPods with Charging Case - $129.99, down from $159.00
• Powerbeats Pro - $159.99, down from $249.99
• Beats Solo Pro - $169.99, down from $299.99
• Bose QuietComfort 35 II - $199.00, down from $299.00

Bluetooth Speakers

• UE Megaboom 3 - $99.99, down from $199.99
• Marshall Emberton - $99.99, down from $149.99
• JBL PartyBox 300 - $299.99, down from $499.99

Apple Watch

• Apple Watch SE, 40mm GPS - $259.00, down from $279.00
• Apple Watch SE, 44mm GPS - $289.00, down from $309.00
• Apple Watch SE, 40mm Cellular - $309.00, down from $329.00
• Apple Watch SE, 44mm Cellular - $339.00, down from $359.00
• Apple Watch Series 6, 40mm GPS - $379.00, down from $399.00
• Apple Watch Series 6, 44mm GPS - $409.00, down from $429.00
• Apple Watch Series 6, 40mm Cellular - $479.00, down from $499.00
• Apple Watch Series 6, 44mm Cellular - $509.00, down from $529.00

Miscellaneous

• Select Apple iPhone Cases - Save up to 30 percent
• Linksys Velop AC2200 Mesh System - $199.99, down from $399.99
• Philips Hue Lightstrip 2m base kit + extension - $59.99, down from $104.99
• Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 3-Pack - $99.99, down from $134.99
• WD 14TB External Hard Drive - $189.99, down from $309.99

Best Buy Black Friday - Weeklong Savings Begin Nov. 22

Like most retailers, Best Buy's Black Friday is really a week-long event that starts the Sunday before Thanksgiving: November 22. This will stretch through to Thanksgiving day with an online-only set of deals, and then end on Black Friday, November 27, with the expected selection of doorbusters.

Similar to years past, you'll find a lot of markdowns on quality TV sets, Blu-Rays, smartphones, Dyson vacuums, smart speakers, video games, and much more. Many of the sales listed below are available thanks to Best Buy's early Black Friday event that runs through November 1, but after that ends you won't be able to get the discounts again until November 22 (or November 16 if you're a My Best Buy member).

Laptops

• MacBook Pro - Save up to $250 on select models
• MacBook Air - Save up to $200 on select models
• HP 14-inch 2-in-1 Laptop - $499.99 (Save $250)

Tablets

• iPad - Save up to $70
• iPad Pro - Save up to $150
• Surface Pro 7 - $799.00 (Save $230)
• Fire HD Tablets - Save $70
• Amazon Kindles - Save up to $80

Streaming Devices

• Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite - $17.99 (Save $12)
• Amazon Fire TV Stick - $27.99 (Save $12)
• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K - $29.99 (Save $20)
• Roku Premiere 4K - $24.99 (Save $15)
• Roku Streaming Stick+ 4K - $29.99 (Save $20)

Computer Accessories

• Logitech Wireless Mice - $9.99 (Save $8)
• Keyboards - Save up to 40 percent
• Targus Octave Backpack - $9.99 (Save $20)
• HyperDrive USB-C Hubs - Save 30 percent
• Incase Laptop Sleeves - Save 50 percent

Storage

• WD Easystore 5TB External Hard Drive - $89.99, down from $179.99
• Seagate 2TB External Hard Drive - $69.99, down from $92.49
• Samsung 1TB Internal SATA SSD - $109.99, down from $169.99

Gift Cards

• Apple Gift Card - Free $20 Best Buy e-gift card with $100 Apple Gift Card purchase
• Xbox Gift Cards - Save 10 percent
• Nintendo eShop - Save 10 percent

Video Games
This year will see the launch of a new generation of video game consoles. While the PS5 and Xbox Series X won't have any deals, you'll definitely be able to save with solid markdowns on previous generation consoles and a wide assortment of video game software.

We don't know much about hardware deals yet, but Best Buy is showcasing a deal on the Nintendo Switch bundle with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and three months of Nintendo Switch Online for $299.99.

• Gears 5 - $4.99
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps - $12.99
• Death Stranding - $19.99
• Marvel's Spider-Man GOTY Edition - $19.99
• Red Dead Redemption 2 - $19.99
• The Last of Us Part II - $29.99
• Marvel's Avengers - $29.99
• Ghost of Tsushima - $39.99
• Luigi's Mansion 3 - $39.99
• Super Mario Maker 2 - $39.99

To keep track of these Black Friday sales and more, head to our full Black Friday Roundup as well as our separate Deals Roundup.

iFixit has discovered that it is not possible to repair the iPhone 12's camera without access to Apple's proprietary, cloud-linked System Configuration app, raising questions over the repairability of the device.

iFixit says that it conducted exhaustive testing, compared notes with multiple repair technicians, and reviewed leaked Apple training documents to reach the conclusion that the ‌iPhone‌ 12's camera "is entirely unreliable when swapped between iPhones."

The matter was first addressed by Hugh Jeffreys on YouTube:

After detecting "extremely odd results" when conducting a camera repair, iFixit found that the ‌iPhone‌ 12 camera, when transferred to another ‌iPhone‌ 12, appears to work on launch, but fails in actual use. It reportedly refuses to switch to the ultrawide camera, responds only to certain camera modes, and occasionally becomes completely unresponsive.

iFixit also recalled that until now, cameras have "generally been easy" to swap between iPhones of the same model. Although similar, resolvable issues occurred with the ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 8's LCD screens and Taptic Engines, iFixit believes that there is now more cause for concern.

Apple's internal training guides for the ‌iPhone‌ 12, seen by iFixit, reportedly said that starting with the 12, authorized technicians will need to run Apple's proprietary, cloud-linked System Configuration app to fully repair cameras and screens.

Although it may theoretically be possible to complete camera and screen repairs without Apple's proprietary technology, iFixit is pessimistic about what the move means for independent repairs.

Apple, by design or neglect or both, is making it extremely hard to repair an iPhone without their blessing... It doesn't look good for independent repair. Apple is putting yet another question mark on a core component of the iPhone. Why? Why does a camera need to have its serial number authorized remotely by Apple just to let someone take pictures with their phone?

It is possible that Apple could address the ‌iPhone‌ 12's camera swap behavior with a future software update, but iFixit believes this is unlikely.

Taken together with the System Configuration document, and all the other bugs, tricks, and intentional lock-outs that Apple has put in the way of fully functioning iPhones, we take this as a sign that things won't get any better unless there is major change—from within, from customer demand, or from the law.

There is an argument to suggest that warning an ‌iPhone‌ owner about non-genuine parts, especially if the phone was bought used, is useful information, but iFixit notes that the camera module is not a security component.

It's a part prone to malfunction and damage, and can be harvested from otherwise-broken iPhones. Putting an authentication check on a simple camera swap poisons the iPhone repair and resale market. With no obvious benefit for iPhone buyers, it reeks of greed. Or worse: planned obsolescence.

Last week, iFixit scored the iPhone 12 a six out of ten for repairability. In response to this discovery about the camera module, iFixit is now actively reevaluating how its repairability scale scores iPhones going forward.

Apple One bundles are now available in the United States and over 100 other countries, allowing customers to subscribe to multiple Apple services through a single plan, including Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud, and more.

To sign up for Apple One on an iPhone:

1. Open Settings App
2. Tap on Your Name at the top
3. Tap on Subscriptions
4. Tap on Apple One

The prompt for Apple One is still in the process of showing up for all users, so keep checking if you don't see it right away. Alternatively, see this for more detailed instructions:

• How to Sign Up to Apple One Service Bundles on iPhone and iPad

In addition to getting unified billing, customers can save money by bundling services together with Apple One. At the low end, the Individual tier offers savings of $6 per month, while the Family plan offers a savings of over $8 per month, and the Premier plan offers a savings of over $25 per month, compared to standard monthly pricing.

An overview of the three tiers of Apple One available:

• Individual: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for $14.95 per month
• Family: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of iCloud storage for $19.95 per month, can be shared among up to six family members
• Premier: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud storage for $29.95 per month, can be shared among up to six family members

At launch, the Premier tier is limited to the United States, Australia, Canada, and the UK, as these are the only countries where Apple News+ is currently available. And while the Premier tier includes Apple's new Fitness+ service, which will offer workout videos and more, the service does not launch until later this year.

Apple One includes a 30-day free trial for any Apple services that customers do not already have. Once subscribed, customers can use the services included in their bundle on any platform where the services are available, such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, and more.

To save even more, customers in the United States can pay for their Apple One subscription plan with the Apple Card to receive 3% Daily Cash per month.

Apple's new Leather Wallet with MagSafe for iPhone 12 models is available for pickup today or tomorrow at select Apple Stores in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

A few customers have started sharing photos of the Leather Wallet on Twitter after completing a pickup at an Apple Store today.

As noted by 9to5Mac, it also appears that some customers are beginning to see their online orders marked as shipped earlier than expected. Many of these customers are seeing an estimated delivery range of November 2-9.

Priced at $59 in the United States, the MagSafe Wallet is designed to magnetically attach to the back of iPhone 12 models, allowing customers to carry a few credit cards or IDs with their device. The wallet is designed with tanned European leather and is offered in four colors: Baltic Blue, California Poppy, Saddle Brown, and Black.

Apple has shipped 10.6 percent fewer iPhones year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020, meaning that it has been overtaken by Xiaomi for the first time, according to new data shared by IDC.

The report details how Apple is now ranked as the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer by market share. This is the first time that Apple has ranked fourth, with Xiaomi, Huawei, and Samsung exceeding Apple's 11.8 percent share.

In total, Apple is believed to have shipped 41.2 million devices in the third quarter, which is five million less than the same time last year.

The drop was expected on the back of the delay in launching the iPhone 12 lineup, which usually appears in the third quarter. Irrespective of the belated arrival of the ‌iPhone‌ 12, the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and ‌iPhone‌ SE contributed to the majority of Apple's volume and performed "exceptionally well."

Going forwards, IDC expects Apple to grow in coming quarters due to strong early demand for the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and solid trade-in offers from major carriers, particularly within the United States.

Samsung reclaimed the top position with a market share of 22.7 percent, shipping over 80 million smartphones. Huawei followed with a 14.7 percent share, and this was a significant reduction of 40 percent year-on-year. vivo also returned to the top five with a market share of 8.9 percent.

Xiaomi overtook Apple for the first time with a market share of 13.1 percent, achieving a 42 percent growth. The rise is supposedly due to strong gains in India and China.

Overall, the global smartphone market declined by only 1.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020. The results were stronger than IDC's previous forecast of a nine percent year-over-year decline. An important trend was the strength of shipments in India, which is the second-largest market globally, and other emerging markets, such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia.

Apple's new Apple One series of services bundles launches on Friday in over 100 countries and regions, but the top Premier tier will be limited to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

The limited rollout of the $29.95 Premier tier is down to the fact that Apple News+ is currently only available in the above countries. Apple News+ is exclusive to the Premier tier, along with Apple Fitness+, which isn't expected to arrive until later in the year.

Here's how the Individual, Family, and Premier tiers stack up:

• Individual: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for $14.95 per month
• Family: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of iCloud storage for $19.95 per month, can be shared among up to six family members
• Premier: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud storage for $29.95 per month, can be shared among up to six family members

Apple One's Individual tier offers savings of $6 per month, while the Family plan offers savings of over $8 per month, and the Premier plan offers a savings of over $25 per month, compared to standard monthly pricing. Apple One includes a 30-day free trial for any services that customers do not already have.

New adventure game "South of the Circle" arrived on Apple Arcade today. Made by State of Play, developers of developers of "Kami," "INKS," and "Lumino City," the title is notable for its unique aesthetic inspired by mid-century screen printing.

South of the Circle has a narrative focus set in 1964 in Antarctica. Following an aircraft crash, Cambridge academic Peter must fight for survival as he crosses desolate terrain in an attempt to reach British, Norwegian, and Soviet Antarctic bases. As conditions deteriorate, the past and the present blur together, and Peter is forced to come to terms with survival, reality, and the consequences of his past.

State of Play used full 3D motion capture for added realism, and the game features a host of award-winning actors such as Gwilym Lee, Olivia Vinall, Richard Goulding, Anton Lesser, Adrian Rawlins, and Michael Fox. South of the Circle is out now on ‌Apple Arcade‌ with controller support, and comes as a 2.3GB download on iOS.

There are now more than 125 games available on ‌‌Apple Arcade‌‌, with Apple adding new titles regularly. ‌‌‌Apple Arcade‌‌‌ is priced at $4.99 per month, and that price point allows the whole family to play games without ads or additional in-app purchases. In a currently running promotion, Apple is also offering new iPhone 12 owners three free months of ‌Apple Arcade‌.

Many users running iOS 14 beta are reporting that they are seeing a dialog box pop up repeatedly asking them to update from the latest iOS 14 beta.

Threads in our forums, Reddit, and Twitter are reporting the issue. The dialog has been appearing for a few days now, but as of tonight has started appearing more frequently, every time an iPhone is unlocked. There's been further discussion in our iOS 14.2 Beta 4 thread.

Getting the notification to update my iOS every time I unlock my iPhone.
This issue was present like 5 years ago with one beta, the only way to stop it was by Apple having to push an emergency update, I remember it was the only time I was updating iPhone in the morning (in the EU) as they pushed it late night in Cali.

Previous betas have reportedly seen the same issue, according to postings in our forum.

Update: There's a new golden master version of iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 available to developers and public beta testers, which fixes the issue. Simply upgrade to 14.2 GM and the notices should stop.

Apple last week released the iPhone 12 Pro, which is being sold alongside the ‌iPhone‌ 12, 12 mini, and 12 Pro Max. The Pro Max has the best camera of the bunch, but since it's not out yet, we thought we'd take a look at the improvements introduced in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro and see how camera quality compares to the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro.

The ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro has the same triple-lens camera setup as the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro with a Wide lens, Ultra Wide lens, and Telephoto lens, but there are improvements across all three cameras plus the addition of the LiDAR Scanner, which improves low-light performance. The faster A14 chip and new image signal processor also bring new photographic capabilities, ultimately introducing quite a few improvements.

TrueDepth Camera

When it comes to the front-facing camera, it's still using the same f/2.2 12-megapixel lens with no real improvements to the hardware, but thanks to the A14 chip, it now supports Night Mode selfies, ‌Night Mode‌ time-lapse videos, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 3, and Dolby Vision HDR video recording, none of which are available in the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro.

Deep Fusion's addition to the front-facing camera allows it to pull out the best pixels from multiple exposures to make one crisper image with more detail and less noise, and it primarily activates in medium lighting conditions.

Smart HDR 3 improves highlights, shadows, and white balance so you get more natural lighting that looks truer to real life, and Dolby Vision HDR recording lets you record and edit HDR video from the front-facing camera for selfie videos that look better than ever.

In practice, you need specific conditions to see the improvements that the software brings to the front-facing camera, and so you might not always see huge differences between the 11 Pro and 12 Pro, with most changes being subtle. ‌Night Mode‌ selfies are where you'll see the most noticeable updates.

Rear Camera Improvements

Smart HDR 3 and improved Deep Fusion have also been added to the rear cameras of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, plus there's a new 7-element Wide lens with an f/1.6 aperture that lets in 27 percent more light for improvements to low-light photography.

Auto stabilization is improved, and there's a new f/2.0 telephoto lens with a 52mm focal length, and while the Ultra Wide lens hasn't changed, it does offer a Lens Correction feature to account for distortion that can come from a wider-angle lens, and it supports ‌Night Mode‌ thanks to the LiDAR Scanner. Deep Fusion works across all lenses for improvements to color and texture, and Smart HDR 3 includes scene recognition that allows the ‌iPhone‌ to recognize everyday scenes and adjust accordingly to make photos look more true to life.

Pictures in Ideal Lightning

In practice, standard photos in good lighting from the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro look fantastic, and Smart HDR 3 does an excellent job with white balance and preserving important image details for photos that look crisper and slightly more realistic than those that come out of the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro. The new lens ekes out a bit more sharpness and detail by cutting down on noise and getting a better balance between varying lighting in photos.

While images do look a little bit better out of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, it's subtle. Comparatively, photos from the 11 Pro and 12 Pro look a lot alike unless you're pixel peeping and zooming in for detail. The ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro could put out some sensational images in ideal lighting conditions, so it's no surprise to see only subtle improvements here.

Portrait Mode Images

Apple's A14 chip and the LiDAR Scanner (which takes a depth map of the scene) improve Portrait Mode photos by better separating the subject from the background, and this is noticeable in the fine details. Edge detection is better than before, especially for fur and hair.

The LiDAR Scanner even allows for ‌Night Mode‌ Portrait images, so you can get some incredible low-light portrait shots that just aren't possible to capture in the same way with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro.

Low Lighting and Night Mode

In lower lighting conditions, there are more noticeable improvements in the photos coming from the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, again thanks to the A14 chip and LiDAR Scanner. ‌Night Mode‌ photos capture more detail, are sharper, and are just a bit more vibrant.

‌Night Mode‌ photos can also be taken with the Ultra Wide lens for the first time, for impressive night time wide-angle shots, and LiDAR brings much faster autofocus in poor light.

Video Capture

The camera improvements introduced for photos also apply to videos, and there are some improvements to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro over the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro. In our testing the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro was able to focus faster because of the LiDAR Scanner, and HDR Dolby Vision is a new A14-enabled feature that's not possible on the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro.

HDR Dolby Vision recording looks great as you can see in the video up above, but it's limited right now. Video you capture is easiest to edit right on the ‌iPhone‌ because of a lack of Mac compatibility for editing Dolby Vision video, and playback needs to be on a Dolby Vision-compatible device like your ‌iPhone‌ or a Dolby Vision TV.

If you capture a video in Dolby Vision on the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro and then play it back on the ‌iPhone‌ it looks fantastic. Elements in the video are bright, crisp, and well-defined, but again, you need the right device to see the improvements over ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro video. Dolby Vision HDR comes on by default so keep in mind video you're recording might not look as great to someone you send it to. Dolby Vision HDR is a big deal for those who want to capture movies on their iPhones and do serious ‌iPhone‌ video recording, but it's less useful for the average ‌iPhone‌ user.

For video mode, there's a new ‌Night Mode‌ Time-Lapse option that's fun if you want to take longer exposure night sky videos, but most people likely won't get a ton of use out of this because it requires a tripod.

Bottom Line

The ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro definitely offers camera improvements over the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro, but the differences aren't super major except for when it comes to new features and some low-lighting photography, so camera tech alone probably isn't a reason to upgrade except for the most dedicated ‌iPhone‌ photographers.

This year's iPhone 12 Pro Max has even more improvements than the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, so we'll be doing another comparison when the larger model is released. Let us know in the comments what you think of the 11 Pro and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro comparisons and whether you're seeing image improvements in your own usage.

Multiple Apple products are seeing supply constraints, including the new iPhone 12 models, Macs, iPads, and some Apple Watch models. Apple CEO Tim Cook today told investors that Apple is "working really, really hard" to remedy the supply issues.

If you look at iPhone, we're constrained today. Not a surprise at the front end of the ramp, and how long we'll be constrained is hard to predict. We haven't taken orders yet for iPhone 12 mini or Pro Max, so those are coming and we shall see. Right now we are supply constrained, and for avoidance of confusion, we're constrained on Mac and iPad and some Apple Watches.

A fair number of areas of focus right now and we're working really, really hard to remedy those as quickly as we can. At this point, I can't estimate when we'll be out of that.

Several of Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 Pro models sold out within a few hours of launch, and many new orders are now shipping out later in November. We can likely expect to see similar constraints for the upcoming iPhone 12 Pro Max and 12 mini, as these devices were held back due to rumored production issues that required Apple to wait to build up enough supply.

Given the situation with ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 Pro pre-orders, those planning to purchase a 12 mini or 12 Pro Max should plan to do so right when pre-orders go live on Friday, November 6 at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

As for the Mac and iPad, there have been long shipping delays on some models throughout the last several months, and many Apple Watch models also sold out quickly after launch in September.

During today's earnings call covering the fourth quarter of 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about Apple's payment services, where he said that contactless payment usage could see growth in the United States due to the pandemic, where people are aiming to use cash less and less.

As you can imagine in this environment, people are less wont to hand over a card. Contactless payment has taken on a different level of adoption and I don't think we'll go back. The United States has been lagging in contactless payments and I think the pandemic may very well put the U.S. on a different trajectory there. We are very bullish on this area and there are more things that Apple can do in this space so this is an area of great interest to us.

Cook also said that Apple in general continues to be enthusiastic about payment services. Apple Card is "doing well," and Apple Pay is "doing exceptionally well."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

With many people continuing to learn and work from home, Apple's Mac sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 hit a new all-time revenue record, hugely outpacing sales in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Apple's Mac category brought in $9 billion, up from $7 billion in the year-ago quarter, marking growth of 29 percent. Apple says that sales were up despite supply constraints that the company was facing during the quarter.

Mac sales saw double digit growth in each geographic segment, with all-time revenue records set in the Americas and Asia Pacific, and September quarter records in both Europe and Japan.

Apple's Mac sales may see significant growth in the coming quarter as the company prepares to launch the first Mac with an Arm-based Apple-designed Apple Silicon chip. The first ‌Apple Silicon‌ Mac is coming before the end of the year, and an announcement could take place in November.

Apple's Wearables, Home, and Accessories category, which was previously known as the "Other" category, brought in record revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2020, hitting $7.9 billion, up 21 percent from $6.5 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that Apple hit September quarter records in every geographic segment in these categories. Apple's wearables category alone, which includes Apple Watch, AirPods, AirPods Pro, and Beats headphones, is now the size of a Fortune 130 company.

When it comes to Apple Watch sales in September, 75 percent of buyers were new to the Apple Watch, suggesting the Apple Watch is still seeing significant growth among those who have not yet used the product.

Apple during the call announced a new Lumi Health partnership with the government of Singapore, which is an Apple Watch program designed to encourage healthy behaviors.

During today's earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2020 (third calendar quarter), Cook said that while he doesn't want to give too much away, "this year has a few more exciting things in store."

Cook is likely speaking about the Apple Silicon Macs, as Apple has previously said the first ‌Apple Silicon‌ Mac will be coming before the end of 2020. There are rumors of a third fall event coming in November, which would likely be Mac focused.

There are also other possible products that could be coming, such as the AirPods Studio and the AirTags, though launch dates for these products are less certain than the new Apple Macs and it continues to be unclear if we'll see one or both before the end of the year.

Apple's services category, which includes iTunes, the App Store, Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and more, continues to see major growth each quarter.

According to today's earnings report covering the fourth fiscal quarter of 2020 (third calendar quarter), Apple's services segment brought in $14.5 billion, up from $12.5 billion in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019.

Over the course of the last fiscal year, services earned $53.8 billion, up from $46.3 billion in fiscal 2019.

Apple's number of paid accounts reached a new all time high with double digit growth, and paid subscriptions grew more than 35 million compared to last quarter. Apple now has 585 million paid subscribers, up 135 million from a year ago.

Apple has plans to add to its services offerings, with new products coming as soon as tomorrow. Apple One will offer bundles of services like ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple Arcade‌, and ‌Apple TV‌+ at reduced prices, while Fitness+ is a new $9.99 per month service that will provide guided workouts to Apple Watch users.

Apple One is launching on Friday, October 30, and Apple Fitness+ is launching later this quarter.

Apple's iPhone 12 lineup launched too late to be included in the Q4 earnings results being shared today, but Apple CEO Tim Cook today said in an interview with CNBC that he's "optimistic" about Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 12 sales because of 5G support, carrier promotions, and a loyal install base.

According to Cook, initial data points on ‌iPhone‌ 12 sales are "really quite good." During the earnings call, Cook went on to say that the ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup is the strongest lineup that Apple has hard by far. 5G also represents a once in a decade opportunity due to the excitement around 5G technologies. "We're off to a great start," said Cook.

‌iPhone‌ 12 sales will be included in Apple's Q1 2021 earnings results rather than this quarter, but Apple declined to provide guidance for Q1 2021. Cook says that Apple again declined to offer guidance due to the ongoing global health crisis leading to a "sufficient level of uncertainty" that's "not an environment to guide into."

Sales in China were down for the year, and were a weak point for Apple. Sales dropped to $7.95 billion, down from $11.13 billion in fiscal 2019. Cook said he's confident that will turn around next quarter.

A larger percentage of China revenue is made up of new iPhones. And so that's the reason the number for the total quarter started with a minus sign. But given what we see in the early going with the new iPhones, we're confident we'll grow in Q1."

Apple today reported record Q4 2020 results with $12.7 billion profit on $64.7 billion revenue, with services revenue hitting a new all time high.

Apple in September announced Apple One, a new series of services bundles that will let Apple device customers purchase several services together in one package instead of separately, saving money for those who use multiple Apple service products.

Ahead of Apple's earnings call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri told Bloomberg that ‌Apple One‌ is set to launch on Friday, October 30.

‌Apple One‌ Bundle include services like Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple TV+, and more. There are three bundle options:

• Individual ($14.95 per month) - Includes ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, ‌Apple Arcade‌, and 50GB iCloud storage.
• Family ($19.95 per month) - Includes ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, ‌Apple Arcade‌, and 200GB of ‌iCloud‌ storage, with the services able to be shared between up to six family members.
• Premier ($29.95 per month) - Includes ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, ‌Apple Arcade‌, ‌Apple News‌+, Fitness+, and 2TB ‌iCloud‌ storage, with the services able to be shared between up to six family members.

Apple's newest service, Apple Fitness+, is not launching tomorrow but Maestri said that it will be coming later this quarter.