Best Buy has a new 24-hour flash sale that began this morning, with prices matching the lowest-ever deals on AirPods, iPad, and more. This sale will end tonight, January 29 at 11:59 p.m. CT, and the deals are only available to purchase online.
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Sales include a few Apple products, like the AirPods with Charging Case, which is matching Amazon's price at $128.99, down from $159.99. You'll also find similar low prices on Apple's 10.2-inch iPad in both Wi-Fi and cellular configurations, with prices starting at $249.99 for the 32GB model.
Apple's shares jumped 2 percent today in after-market trading, following the company's best reported quarter ever in terms of revenue and profit.
The tech giant's market capitalization has now grown to over $1.4 trillion, further cementing its place as the world's most valuable tech company. Only the Saudi Aramco oil company is worth more.
AAPL is currently hovering around $312 in pre-market trading. As The Guardian points out, Apple's valuation is now more than Germany's 30 largest listed companies that make up the DAX index on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
The DAX is worth a combined $1.36 trillion, including business software giant SAP ($162 billion), chemical company Linde ($111 billion), engineering and industrial conglomerate Siemens ($108 billion), and insurance group Allianz ($100 billion).
The figures are a response to Apple's glowing financial results last night which saw the company post revenue of $91.8 billion and net quarterly profit of $22.2 billion, or $4.99 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $84.3 billion and net quarterly profit of $20.0 billion, or $4.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The quarter was the best in Apple's history, topping the first fiscal quarter of 2018.
Further cementing its status as Nintendo's most successful mobile game to date, Fire Emblem Heroes has led Nintendo's race to the billion-dollar revenue mark on mobile (via Sensor Tower). The game's $656 million in player spending, which includes players on both iOS and Android, has accounted for 61 percent of Nintendo's over $1 billion in mobile revenue.
The next two highest-grossing Nintendo titles were Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which has accounted for 12 percent of all user spending among the company's mobile games, followed by Dragalia Lost at 11 percent.
Fire Emblem Heroes is a free-to-play game that lets players spend real money inside the app once they download it. Most of Nintendo's apps have followed this structure, except for Super Mario Run, which requires players to pay $9.99 to see the full game. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Super Mario Run, which remains Nintendo's most-downloaded title with 244 million downloads, contributed a smaller share of overall revenue at 7 percent.
While its 2016 earnings from Super Mario Run amounted to a modest $26 million, it was in February 2017, with the hugely successful launch of Fire Emblem Heroes, that Nintendo found its mobile footing. Despite being lower ranked in terms of downloads share, the financial success of Fire Emblem Heroes—which boasts average revenue-per-download of $41—suggests that Nintendo has hit upon a winning formula with the gacha model.
Nintendo's experimentation with other models of monetization, such as subscriptions in Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, have fallen short of the financial successes of its other titles. However, Sensor Tower reports that, collectively, the publisher earned more than $350 million from its mobile offerings last year, and further experimentation with monetization models is likely to grow that total, along with new releases later in 2020.
Apple will be opening an online Apple Store in India to start official online sales of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more in the country starting in the third quarter of 2020, reports TechCrunch.
The news comes courtesy of a "source familiar with the matter," and Apple's online store rollout is taking a "little longer than previously expected." Apple originally wanted to begin online sales in the country in the first quarter of 2020.
Apple last summer said that it was "eager" to bring online and in-store sales to customers in India. Apple is still working on the logistics of setting up the store, with the quarter between July and September set as the new deadline.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to take a trip to India when Apple is ready to begin online sales.
At the current time, Apple device sales in India are done through third-party retailers as Apple did not have permission to sell devices in the country due to foreign investment rules and regulations.
In August 2019, India eased the rules that had kept Apple from offering its products in first-party stores and an online Apple Store. Apple is now said to be working on opening up retail locations in India, with a store in Mumbai in the works.
During the question and answer section of today's earnings call for the first fiscal quarter of 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked when he felt that people would feel the first impact of AR on their lives.
Cook said that AR is exciting to him because there are AR uses for consumer applications and enterprise applications, which is a rarity.
There are consumer applications and there are enterprise applications. This is the reason we're so excited about AR. You rarely have new technology that both business and consumers see as key to them.
That's the reason I think it's going to pervade your life - it's going to go across both business and home life. I think these things will happen in parallel. You can go in the App Store and ARKit apps, and enterprises are working on AR.
Apple is rumored to be including new AR capabilities in its 2020 iPhones, through the introduction of a new 3D camera that uses ToF laser technology for measuring the distance between objects, which will make AR apps better than ever.
Apple is also said to be working on some kind of augmented reality headset, which could come out in the next few years.
During today's earnings call covering the first fiscal quarter of 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about 5G, and how much of a demand driver it might be for Apple.
Cook of course said that he wouldn't comment on future Apple products with respect to 5G, but said 5G is in the "early innings of its deployment on a global basis."
Cook went on to say that Apple "couldn't be prouder" of its current iPhone lineup, and is excited about the upcoming product pipeline. "We wouldn't trade our position with anybody," he said.
In another question, Cook was asked about the demand for 5G and the demand for lower-cost iPhones, and how that might impact Apple's future iPhone product plans, which Cook also declined to comment on. He did say that in general, "it's important to look around the world at 5G deployment schedules." Cook said he will not comment on the price of handsets that are not announced.
Rumors suggest that Apple's 2020 iPhones will include 5G support for the first time, allowing the devices to connect to available mmWave and Sub-6GHz 5G networks, which carriers are in the process of rolling out in the United States and around the world. Rumors indicate Apple will use Qualcomm's 5G chips for 5G connectivity.
During today's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the coronavirus outbreak in China, which investors fear could potentially impact Apple's business, affecting production of both current iPhones and the new low-cost iPhone that's on the horizon.
Cook said that Apple is donating to China to help with the outbreak and working with partner companies.
We're donating to groups that are working to contain the outbreak. We're working closely with our Apple team members in the affected areas, and our thoughts are with all of those in the region.
In an interview with CNBC, Cook confirmed that employee travel has been restricted to "business critical travel" only as of last week, and employees in Wuhan and across China are receiving care kits from Apple.
"We're restricting travel to business critical travel. For employees that are in the Wuhan area, we are providing care kits and supplying them across our employee population in China as well.
Cook said that Apple's decision to set next quarter guidance with a range of $4 billion is reflective of the coronavirus outbreak and the "uncertainty around that." Apple's guidance for Q2 2020 is $63 to $67 billion, a larger range than normal.
The situation is still emerging, said Cook, and Apple is monitoring the situation closely and gathering data points.
According to Cook, supplier factories in wider China are opening late after Chinese New Year, on February 10, which Apple is working to manage. Apple does have suppliers in the Wuhan area, but all of these suppliers have alternate suppliers, and Apple is working to ensure good supplies. Apple has accounted for the delayed startup with its larger range of outcomes.
In its retail stores, Apple is limiting hours, checking employees, and sanitizing its stores regularly. One store has also been shut down for the time being. Apple's retail sales have slowed due to virus concerns, but this is accounted for in Apple's guidance numbers for Q2 2020.
Following poor iPhone sales in the first quarter of 2019, Apple saw significant improvement in the first quarter of 2020, with iPhone sales bringing in $56 billion in revenue for 8 percent growth.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, response to the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max has been highly positive. The iPhone 11 was the top-selling iPhone every week during the December quarter, and the three new iPhone models were Apple's most popular iPhones.
Apple saw double digit growth in the United States, UK, France, Singapore, Brazil, Mainland China, India, Thailand, Turkey, and more. In greater China specifically, Apple has returned to growth.
Apple made a major trade-in push in 2019, which was successful, and Apple saw iPhone trade-in numbers double year over year.
In the first fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple's services segment brought in $12.7 billion, up from $10.9 billion in the year-ago quarter, marking growth of 17 percent. Every geographic saw double-digit growth, setting new records.
Apple across 2019 focused heavily on services, introducing Apple News+, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Card, all of which have contributed to the company's services growth. Cook shared some details on some of Apple's most popular services.
The App Store set a new December revenue record and hit $386 million in sales on New Year's Day, and Apple News has more than 100 million active users in the U.S., Australia, UK, and Canada. Apple Pay revenue and transactions more than doubled, exceeding 15 billion transactions. Apple plans to expand Apple Pay transit features to allow customers in Shenzhen and Guangzhou to pay for trips using a tap of the iPhone or the Apple Watch.
Cook said that Apple TV+ is off to a "rousing start" and is "very strong" for people getting it in a bundle and people who have not purchased a new Apple device. Apple Arcade is also off to a strong start.
Cook also told Reuters that Apple expects to surpass its goal of 500 million subscribers for 2020 during current the quarter ending in March, well ahead of schedule. Apple is now aiming to hit 600 million subscribers by the end of the calendar year.
During the first quarter of 2020, Apple's wearables category set a new all-time revenue record, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Apple's wearables earnings category, which includes AirPods and Apple Watch along with accessories like Beats headphones and HomePod, hit $10 billion, up from $7.3 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Wearables, Home, and Accessories revenue surpassed Mac revenue for the first time this quarter. Mac revenue was at $7.2 billion in Q1 2020.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple could not make enough AirPods and Apple Watch Series 3 devices to meet demand during the quarter, and supplies continue to be low. Cook told Reuters that Apple is "working on both of those very hard."
Apple Watch set a new all-time revenue record during the quarter, and more than 75 percent of new customers during the quarter were new to Apple Watch. Both AirPods and Apple Watch were "must-have holiday gifts," driving growth even as supplies were constrained.
Cook says that Apple's wearables business is now the size of a Fortune 150 company.
In today's earnings release where Apple reported record numbers due to the strength of iPhone sales, wearables, and services, Apple said that it now has 1.5 billion active devices.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the milestone was hit over the holiday period, and serves as a "powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers -- and a great driver of our growth across the board."
Apple's active installed base include iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch models in use around the world.
The active install base has grown from 1.4 billion, a number that Apple reported in January 2019.
Apple today announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2020, which corresponds to the fourth calendar quarter of 2019.
For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $91.8 billion and net quarterly profit of $22.2 billion, or $4.99 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $84.3 billion and net quarterly profit of $20.0 billion, or $4.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The quarter was the best in Apple's history in terms of revenue and profit, topping the first fiscal quarter of 2018.
Gross margin for the quarter was 38.4 percent, compared to 38.0 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 61 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.77 per share, payable February 13 to shareholders of record as of February 10.
“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board.”
Apple's guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 includes expected revenue of $63-67 billion and gross margin between 38 and 39 percent.
Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q1 2020 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.
iOS 13 is now installed on 77 percent of iPhones that were released in the last four years, according to updated adoption numbers that Apple shared today on its App Store support site for developers.
17 percent of iPhone owners with a device released in the last four years continue to run iOS 12, while 6 percent run an earlier version of iOS.
A total of 70 percent of all iOS devices run iOS 13, with this number taking into account older iPhones as well. 23 percent of total iPhones have iOS 12 installed, and 7 percent have an earlier version of iOS installed.
Apple is breaking down iOS 13 installation rates in a new way as of this latest update, providing details on both iOS and iPadOS.
According to the new numbers, 79 percent of all iPads introduced in the last four years are running iPadOS 13, 19 percent run iOS 12, and 2 percent use an earlier version of iOS.
When it comes to all iPads, including older models, 57 percent run iPadOS 13, 27 percent run iOS 12, and 16 percent run an earlier version of iOS, suggesting there are quite a lot of older iPads still in circulation, or people aren't updating iPads as often as iPhones.
Apple last shared updated iOS installation numbers in October, and at that time, 55 percent of all iOS devices from the last four years ran iOS 13, while 50 percent of all devices had the update. iOS 13 installation has grown quite a bit over the course of the last three months.
For comparison's sake, during early January 2019, iOS 12 was installed on 78 percent of all devices introduced in the last four years.
When Apple's latest iPhones were introduced in September, Filmic, known for its video recording apps, showed off a new app designed to capture video from multiple iPhone cameras at the same time, allowing for unique new footage.
Filmic today made that functionality available for Apple's latest iPhones through a new DoubleTake app, and we thought we'd check it out to see if it's as interesting and useful as it sounds.
The DoubleTake app works with all of the cameras on Apple's newest iPhones, so on the iPhone 11 Pro, that includes the telephoto lens, the wide-angle lens, and the super wide-angle lens, along with the front-facing selfie camera.
Using the app is fairly simple. When you open it up, there's a video recording interface and four different icons, one in each corner of the app that correspond to different functions. The top left icon lets you access recorded videos, the top right icon lets you swap between cameras, the bottom right icon offers a record button, and the bottom left icon lets you configure which lenses you want to record with.
If you tap on the lens icon, you'll see four boxes on the iPhone 11 Pro (fewer on iPhones with fewer cameras like the dual-lens iPhone 11). You can tap on two of the four lenses to record with, as DoubleTake supports recording from just two of the cameras simultaneously.
Once you've chosen the cameras, you can adjust frame rate (24, 25, and 30 fps are options) and then choose how you want the video displayed when you're recording. There's a picture-in-picture option that shows the secondary camera in a pop out lens, a split screen view, or a discrete view.
These modes affect what the finalized video looks like. The recording features a picture-in-picture recording with that option selected, or a dual-screen recording with split view selected. If you choose discrete, it looks similar to picture-in-picture when recording, but you end up with two separate videos, one from each camera, rather than a combined view.
Discrete is useful if you want to capture a standard video but aren't sure which lens might be best. You can record with the ultra wide-angle and wide-angle lenses at the same time, getting two videos you can work with and edit in post production.
The picture-in-picture and split view modes are perhaps most useful when recording with one of the rear cameras and the selfie camera as you can capture an event and a personal reaction at the same time, or use it for vlogging purposes.
Recording video can be done in either landscape or portrait mode, and the app is no frills and simple to use, so even those not familiar with videography on the iPhone will be able to use it to capture video.
Videos can be saved to the camera roll, shared with people or social media networks, or deleted. There are no editing tools in DoubleTake, so that will need to be done in either the Camera app itself or another third-party video editing app.
DoubleTake is a neat little concept that's easy to use and can create some fun, unique videos. The only major downside to the app is that recordings are limited to 1080p at 30fps, which means no 4K video recordings. It's possible that will be updated in the future, but for now, it's a limiting factor. The app should still produce video that's great for sharing on social networks and with friends.
DoubleTake works with the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. It is not compatible with older iPhones or iPads. For those who want to try it out, it's a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]
What do you think of the DoubleTake app and what will you use it for, if you're planning to download it? Let us know in the comments.
Signs of new Powerbeats 4 wireless earphones were found in the iOS 13.3 beta back in December, and in today's iOS 13.3.1 software release, there are a few icons that depict the design of the new earbuds.
Based on the artwork in the update, the Powerbeats 4 will feature a design that's a cross between the current Powerbeats3 earbuds and the Powerbeats Pro wireless earbuds.
The Powerbeats 4 appear to have a more curved design that's similar to the Powerbeats Pro, with the same angled in-ear fit and wraparound earhooks. The Powerbeats 4, like the Powerbeats 3, will not be wire-free, though, and a wire is depicted trailing down from the bottom of the earhook.
That will be a bit of different fit and feel than the current Powerbeats 3 earbuds, which have a cord attached to the opposite side of the earhooks. Powerbeats 4 are still Bluetooth, but the wire connects them to one another.
Powerbeats Pro icon on left, new Powerbeats 4 icon in middle, Powerbeats 3 icon on right
We can expect the Powerbeats4 to offer the same features that have been added to modern earbuds like the AirPods 2, AirPods Pro, and Powerbeats Pro such as an H1 chip for improved connectivity and 'Hey Siri" and "Announce Messages with Siri" support.
Powerbeats 4 will likely be close to identical to the Powerbeats Pro, but with a wire and a more affordable price tag. Apple charges $249.95 for the Powerbeats Pro, and $199.95 for the Powerbeats3. It's likely the Powerbeats 4 will be priced similarly to Powerbeats3.
There's no word on when Apple plans to release the Powerbeats 4, but a launch could come soon as the artwork is in place in the iOS 13.3.1 software.
Alongside iOS and iPadOS 13.3.1, Apple has released new 13.3.1 software for the HomePod, introducing some minor bug fixes and performance improvements.
Today's update brings support for Indian English Siri voices and Apple says it also includes "general improvements for stability and quality."
The new HomePod software will be installed automatically on the HomePod, but you can also manually update and check your software version by following the instructions in our HomePod software how to.
Apple today released macOS Catalina 10.15.3, the third update to the macOS Catalina operating system that was released in October. macOS Catalina 10.15.3 comes over a month after the release of macOS Catalina 10.15.2.
macOS Catalina 10.15.3 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free using the Update feature in the System Preferences app, and it is available to anyone who has a compatible Mac.
macOS Catalina 10.15.3 has code in it that suggests a new "Pro Mode" is coming to Apple's Macs. Pro Mode appears to be an optional setting that overrides fan speed limits and energy saving restrictions to improve performance. The code says that apps "may run faster" but battery life could decrease and fan noise could increase.
It's not entirely clear if Pro Mode is coming to Macs in the 10.15.3 release, but the code is there so it is a possibility. According to Apple's release notes, the update includes Pro Display XDR optimizations and multi-stream video editing improvements.
The macOS Catalina 10.15.3 update improves the stability, reliability and security of your Mac, and is recommended for all users. This update: - Optimizes gamma handling of low gray levels on Pro Display XDR for SDR workflows when using macOS - Improves multi-stream video editing performance for HEVC and H.264 encoded 4K video on the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
Apple today released watchOS 6.1.2, the fourth update to the watchOS 6 operating system designed to run on modern Apple Watch models. watchOS 6.1.2 comes more than a month after the release of watchOS 6.1.1.
watchOS 6.1.2 can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.
To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.
There were no new features found during the watchOS 6.1.2 beta testing period, and according to Apple's release notes, the update "provides important security updates and is recommended for all users."
For more detail on the features included in the overall watchOS 6 software release, make sure to check out our watchOS 6 roundup.
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