The AirPods Pro, which are priced at RMB 1,999, are identical to standard AirPods Pro but feature an ox engraved on the charging case. They also ship in a box that has the same ox icon on it.
In addition to launching new AirPods Pro for Chinese New Year, Apple has a special Chinese New Year gift guide on its website in China, recommending gifts that include iPhone 12 models, MagSafe accessories, the special edition AirPods, Apple Watch, M1 Macs, iPads, and more.
Apple unveiled the new AirPods Pro on WeChat. "Here comes a box of blessings for the Year of the Ox," reads the translated announcement, which is also accompanied by several ox-themed graphics and an Apple Music playlist with songs for the new year. In 2021, Chinese New Year will begin on Friday, February 12, 2021.
Apple says that the ox-themed AirPods Pro are in short supply, with a total of 25,400 available. 11,480 of those will be sold in retail stores, while 13,920 are available for purchase online.
Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development.
Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag.
Timing
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by Tim Hardwick
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence.
Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476
The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false.
The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick.
"We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote.
If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by Juli Clover
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices.
With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...
Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:36 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple has partnered with select merchants to offer Apple Card users three percent Daily Cash back on their purchases, and two new companies were added to the partner list today. When purchasing goods and services from Booking.com and ChargePoint, Apple Card users will now get more cash back.
Booking.com is a site for reserving flights, cars, cruises, and hotels, while ChargePoint sells...
I, for one, can't support any particular support of Chinese culture over any other culture. Why is this special?
Speaking from the stance of market(s) -
"According to November data from Counterpoint Research, Apple had just 8 percent of the market share in China during the third quarter of 2019, down from 9 percent during the same time period in 2018. Huawei is the market leader with a 40 percent share, trailed by Vivo, Oppo and Xiomi"
As an AAPL holder since 1999, I don't really care about this. I do care about market diversification - manufacturing efficiencies, and an edge over competitors in emergent markets and unrealized spaces. This, to me, looks like some kind of appeasement. Does the combined tax+labour offset in China really impact your COG to such an extent that China, your *minority* market gets special and highly unique branding? ...
5) wtf.
This is borderline jingoistic hypocrisy.
First of all, China is Apple's largest market by revenue and has been for over ten years. It's not important for Apple to be the dominant brand in any specific market, they just want to be the dominant brand at the high end, where the lion's share of the profits are. This includes the United States of America and every other industrialized nation (UK, France, Germany, Japan, etc.).
You claim to be an AAPL shareholder since 1999 [sic] and yet you don't seem to realize that most of Apple's phone handset competitors ship the majority of their volume in dumbphones (a.k.a. "feature phones") and low-end smartphones, often at a loss.
Second, by your criteria Apple should ditch all regionally specific promotional activity. That would meaning dumping Black Friday sales in Western countries.
Remember that southeast Asian countries don't recognize Christmas as an official holiday. This includes Japan (which gets the Lucky Bag promotion) and China (which get this type of lunar new year promotion).
Why should Western nations get Christian-themed promotions and shut out the rest of non-Christian world (which happens to have a majority in population)?
And what about back-to-school promotions? Not every country starts the school year in the fall (August-September-October).
Please feel free to expound on your reasoning why regional Apple sales divisions can't use some of their discretionary promotional budget in an appropriate and timely manner to increase sales.
I, for one, can't support any particular support of Chinese culture over any other culture. Why is this special?
There are roughly 50 million ethnic Chinese people living outside China/HK/Taiwan, and many of them are not even citizens of PRC nor born in China. So let's be clear first that Chinese culture != CCP/PRC.
Besides, how is this different than Apple releasing pride watch band or celebrating black history month?
