MacRumors

Google today announced that the Exposure Notification API that it designed in partnership with Apple has received some improvements to make it more useful to public health authorities.

Most notably, the API supports interoperability between countries, and Bluetooth calibration has been improved. The full list of updates is below:

• When an exposure is detected, public health authorities now have more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with that exposure based on technical information from the API.
• Bluetooth calibration values for hundreds of devices have been updated to improve the detection of nearby devices.
• The API now supports interoperability between countries, following feedback from governments that have launched ‌Exposure Notification‌ apps.
• To help public health authorities build apps more efficiently, we've added reliability improvements for apps and developer debug tools.
• We've improved clarity, transparency and control for users. For example, the Exposure Notifications settings on Android now include a simple on/off toggle at the top of the page. In addition, users will also see a periodic reminder if ENS is turned on.

Google says it has also launched more technical guidance on how the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API works over the course of the last few weeks, and is providing more information on its Exposure Notifications website.

According to Google, 16 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America are using apps built with the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API, and 20 U.S. states are "exploring" apps with the first set to roll out "over the coming weeks."

Canada today released a new COVID-19 contact tracing app called COVID Alert, as noted by iPhone in Canada. COVID Alert takes advantage of Apple and Google's privacy-focused Exposure Notification API to alert people when they've come into contact with someone who has the coronavirus.

If someone with COVID Alert tests positive for the virus, they can opt to enter that information into the app, and each person they've been in contact with will then receive an alert. COVID Alert collects no location information or personally identifiable data, and was built by Health Canada with the Canadian Digital Service.

COVID Alert has no way of knowing:

- your location - COVID Alert does not use GPS or location services
- your name or address
- the place or time you were near someone
- if you're currently near someone who was previously diagnosed

According to the app's description, provincial and territorial governments are working to support COVID Alert across Canada, and in some places, people can't yet report a COVID-19 diagnosis. At the current time, health authorities in Ontario are distributing one-time keys to people who are diagnosed with the coronavirus, and other territories and provinces will be "coming on board soon."

Even though the system is still rolling out in some areas, Canada recommends all Canadians install the app, which can be downloaded from the iOS App Store. iOS 13 is required for ‌Exposure Notification‌ apps, as iOS 14 does not support the API. [Direct Link]

Multiple countries have built apps using the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API so far, including Switzerland, Latvia, Italy, Germany, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Croatia, and Denmark.

Several U.S. states are working on apps that use the API, including Alabama, North Dakota, and South Carolina, but no contact tracing apps that take advantage of the tool have been released in the United States to date.

Nvidia is in advanced talks to acquire SoftBank Group's Arm Holdings, according to Bloomberg.

A potential sale of Arm to Nvidia, the world's largest graphics chipmaker, was rumored earlier this month. Nvidia's market value has increased to almost $260 billion in recent months, surpassing that of Intel. Arm has also become considerably more valuable as it pushes its architecture into smart cars, data centers, and networking technology. The purchase of Arm would help to transform Nvidia into a major player in the semiconductor industry.

Nvidia is reportedly the only company now in advanced negotiations with SoftBank to buy Arm. The two companies intend to reach a deal in the next few weeks. Representatives for Nvidia, SoftBank, and Arm declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Apple has licensed technology from Arm for its A-series chips used in iOS devices since 2006, and Apple is planning to expand the use of Arm-based chips to Macs, with the upcoming launch of Macs equipped with Apple Silicon. Arm also licenses to various other companies such as Qualcomm, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel. Companies that use Arm technology would likely not be in favor of a deal with Nvidia that does not include explicit assurances that Arm's instruction set will continue to be available for equal licensing opportunities.

SoftBank reportedly approached Apple to see if it was interested in the purchase of Arm. Despite preliminary discussions, Apple does not plan to pursue a bid because of Arm's licensing requirements and possible regulatory concerns.

If completed, a deal with Nvidia could be the largest ever in the semiconductor industry, and would likely attract scrutiny from monopoly regulators, particularly as Nvidia is a customer of Arm. SoftBank initially acquired Arm for $32 billion four years ago since it was a neutral party that could not be the subject of a dispute. A sale to Nvidia would probably not have a major impact on Apple's licensing of Arm technology because of the regulatory requirements that would accompany such a deal.

Apple's iPhone shipments have grown in Q2 2020, as Huawei overtook Samsung as the world's largest smartphone vendor, according to new data shared by Canalys and IDC this week.

Though the global smartphone market contracted by 14-16 percent in Q2 2020, Apple was the only vendor to defy expectations and grow by up to 25 percent compared to the previous year. As Apple does not publicize exact shipment numbers, the estimated data varies between the two reports. Canalys places the number at 45.1 million, while IDC places it 37.6 million.

Both IDC and Canalys accredit Apple's growth to the success of iPhone SE, stating that the device accounted for around 28% of its global volume, while ‌iPhone‌ 11 accounted for almost 40%.

"iPhone SE will remain crucial to prop up volume this year, amid delays to Apple's next flagship release," commented Canalys Analyst, Vincent Thielke. "In China, it had blockbuster results, growing 35% to reach 7.7 million units. It is unusual for Apple's Q2 shipments to increase sequentially. As well as the new iPhone SE, Apple is also demonstrating skills in new user acquisition. It adapted quickly to the pandemic, doubling down on the digital customer experience as stay-at-home measures drive more customers to online channels."

Huawei toppled Samsung as the world-leading smartphone vendor, with 55.8 million shipments over Samsung's 53.7 million. Xiaomi came after Apple in fourth place with 28.8 million units, followed by Oppo with 25.8 million units. Huawei was also the standout leader in the world’s largest smartphone market, China, taking 44% market share. IDC cautions that the impact of the U.S. Huawei ban will continue to create uncertainty for the company in foreign markets.

Senior Canalys Analyst Ben Stanton stated that going forwards "geopolitical uncertainty also hangs over the global smartphone market. Countries are becoming polarized between the interests of the US and China. In India, for example, Chinese companies now face a wave of negative sentiment. Smartphone vendors need to act, and many are already directing funds to brand marketing to highlight their positive impact in a local region."

IDC expects the launch of four new potential models to allow Apple to effectively challenge Android 5G devices that have been out for more than a year. Apple no longer discloses ‌device shipments, which means that analyst estimates cannot be confirmed by specific sales data.

Following yesterday's strong earnings report, Apple's stock price has officially broken through the $400 mark in regular trading today, rising over 5% to sit at roughly $406.

Apple's share price rose above $400 during after-hours trading yesterday following the earnings release, but now that the mark has been breached during regular trading, it's considered official as an intraday all-time high.

Apple's stock had dropped as low as $224 in late March as concerns mounted over the global health crisis, but it has experienced a strong and steady recovery since, rising over 80 percent in the last four months. Many other large tech companies have experienced similar surges, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet.

As part of its earnings release yesterday, Apple also announced that it will be initiating a four-for-one split of its stock in late August. The move will drop the price of a single share of the company's stock to around $100, before accounting for any changes in price between now and the effective date for the split. Current owners of Apple stock will receive three additional shares for each share they own.

Internal Apple emails, made public by the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust inquiry, have revealed information about why Apple blocked in-app purchases of Kindle books on iOS devices, reports The Verge.

Two sets of emails between Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue, and various other senior Apple executives, disclose the exact thinking behind how Apple approached Kindle on iOS. The current precedent was outlined by Steve Jobs, who stated that "I think this is all pretty simple — iBooks is going to be the only bookstore on iOS devices. We need to hold our heads high. One can read books bought elsewhere, just not buy/rent/subscribe from iOS without paying us, which we acknowledge is prohibitive for many things."

Originally, Kindle books were available for purchase via the iOS app. Since 2011, the Kindle iOS app has only allowed users to read books in the app. Purchase of new titles can only be made in Safari, not in the app itself. This allows Amazon to avoid a 30% Apple surcharge on in-app purchases.

‌Phil Schiller‌ expressed concern in one of the emails that Amazon was advertising the fact that users could still access Kindle books purchased on iOS on Android devices, suggesting it was convenient to switch from iOS to Android.

Schiller explained that Apple initially made an exception for Amazon, because "users would be buying books on a Kindle device and later accessing them on iPhone." Over time, as sales of iOS devices rose dramatically, Schiller believed that it was time to reconsider the exception. Amazon's TV advertising was a clear point of contention for Apple and prompted the change of attitude.

These discussions took place as Apple was planning to announce revised App Store policies for subscriptions. Jobs suggested in his response that Amazon "must use our payment system for everything," and justify this with the new subscription policies. "If they want to compare us to Android, let's force them to use our far superior payment system," Jobs wrote.

Amazon later removed a link to the Kindle Store in the iOS app to comply with the new App Store subscription rules. From then onwards, the Kindle app's storefront feature was removed entirely, with no overt direction as to where to buy books.

Yesterday, further emails published by the U.S. antitrust subcommittee revealed that Apple offered Amazon lower ‌App Store‌ fees to convince it to launch its Prime Video app on the ‌‌App Store‌‌ and Apple TV.

The news that Apple made exceptions for Amazon for Kindle prior to 2011 and for Prime Video has caused confusion among some observers, as Apple has consistently claimed it treats every developer the same. ‌Phil Schiller‌ stated ahead of the antitrust inquiry this week that all apps in the ‌App Store‌ have been treated "the same - one set of rules for everybody, no special deals, no special terms, no special code, everything applies to all developers the same."

Apple has introduced a new single gift card in the U.S. for all things Apple. First spotted by iCulture, the card can be used at the App Store and other online services, but you can also use it to buy products and accessories in the Apple Store.

Previously, there were two separate Apple gift cards available: iTunes cards, which can be used for ‌App Store‌, iTunes Store, and iCloud storage purchases; and ‌Apple Store‌ gift cards, used for buying goods at Apple's online and brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Apple has a dedicated page on its website explaining what the new card does and how it can be used. "Products, accessories, apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, ‌iCloud‌, and more. This gift card does it all. And then some," reads the tagline.

As before, customers can decide what amount they want on the cards, which can also be used to add money directly into an Apple Account Balance for paying for things like Apple products, accessories, apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, and more.

The cards also have a new design, with colored Apple logos. There are a total of eight different designs if you request a gift card by email, and five designs for the physical version.

The webpage goes on to explain that U.S. users can continue to use their current ‌Apple Store‌ cards, while existing ‌App Store‌ and iTunes cards can now also be used in the US to purchase products from the ‌Apple Store‌.

Currently Apple is only offering the new cards in the U.S., but it's likely they will make their way to other countries in the near future.

Twitter has provided another update on the security breach two weeks ago that saw the Twitter accounts of Apple and other high-profile figures and companies hacked by bitcoin scammers.

According to the company, a small number of employees were targeted in a "phone spear phishing attack," suggesting that hackers called some of its staff and duped them into thinking they were speaking with fellow Twitter employees, leading them to reveal the credentials the hackers needed to access internal account support tools.

The attack on July 15, 2020, targeted a small number of employees through a phone spear phishing attack. This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems.

Twitter previously called the hack a "coordinated social engineering attack" that had targeted some employees with access to internal systems. The internal tools were used to target 130 accounts, and for 45 of those accounts, hackers initiated a password reset and had full access to the account to send tweets.

For the 130 accounts that were breached, which included the accounts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, presidential candidate Joe Biden, and others, hackers were able to see personal information like email addresses and phone numbers, and for some accounts taken over, additional information was available, including Direct Messages.

Twitter says it is taking a "hard look" at how it can improve the sophistication of its internal tools and systems, and in the meantime it has significantly limited access to them until it can safely resume normal operations.

The Apple Watch Series 6 will add blood oxygen monitoring to its features list when it's launched later this year, according to a new report from DigiTimes.

Apple Watch 6 will feature biosensors that can monitor sleeping conditions, detect blood oxygen and measure pulse rates, heartbeats and atrial fibrillation, and will also incorporate MEMS-based accelerometer and gyroscope, all allowing the new device to continue to lead in measurement precision among wearable devices, the sources said.

The Taiwan-based website's sources say that the next-generation Apple Watch has undergone "smooth development" thanks to close collaboration between Apple and Taiwanese company ASE Technology, which has obtained major backend orders for the device.

Leaked code found in iOS 14 has previously suggested Apple is working on an Apple Watch that can detect blood oxygen levels.

Based on the discovered code, Apple will provide notifications when blood oxygen levels drop below a healthy threshold, which is right around 95 to 100 percent saturation. A drop in blood oxygen level can suggest a serious respiratory or cardiac problem.

It was not clear from the code if the feature would be limited to new Apple Watch Series 6 devices or if it would come as a software update in watchOS 7, but today's report suggests it may be exclusive to the Series 6.

When the original ‌‌Apple Watch‌‌ was released back in 2015, iFixit actually discovered that Apple's heart sensors have the capability to monitor blood oxygen levels, but Apple has never activated it.

Other smartwatch and fitness tracker makers including Google-owned Fitbit already offer blood oxygen monitoring features in some of their wearable devices, so Apple is playing catch-up in the area, but that could mean the company has a more advanced implementation of the feature in the works.

Apple Watch Series 6 models, which are in development for a fall launch, are rumored to feature faster performance, better water resistance and improved wireless transmission for faster Wi-Fi and cellular speeds.

These improvements will be made in part through a rumored swap to liquid crystal polymer or LCP material for the flexible circuit boards expected to be included in the Apple Watch Series 6, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple's iPadOS 14 update includes many of the same features that are found in iOS 14 (minus some of the Home Screen changes), but there are also quite a few notable iPad-only features.

• App Sidebars and Toolbars - iPadOS didn't get quite the same design overhaul that iOS did, but there are some tweaks worth noting. Apps like Music, Photos, Calendar, Notes, Files and more have been redesigned with sidebars that offer a more consistent and streamlined navigation experience, providing direct access to more information and tools. Apple has also introduced new toolbars that consolidate buttons into a single bar at the top of the app.
• Updated Pull-down Menus - Along with redesigned app sidebars and toolbars, pull-down menus in built-in apps have been streamlined, providing access to app tools from a single button.
• Search - The search interface is more compact and takes up less space on the iPad, plus there have been some refinements that let users see instant search suggestions, launch apps and websites, start in-app searches, and more. It's similar to search in iOS 13, but more powerful and better organized.
• Scribble - Scribble, which is perhaps the best new iPadOS feature, lets Apple Pencil users handwrite in any text field, with the handwritten text converted to typed text. There are all kinds of useful tools included like scratch to delete and circling a word to select it.
• Notes - Scribble brings new features to the Notes app. You can use Smart Selection to select and copy handwritten notes, plus you can copy handwritten notes and paste them as standard typed text. Shape recognition lets you draw an imperfect shape and have it converted to a perfect one, and data detectors, like those that make an address tappable, work with handwritten text.
• Compact FaceTime/Phone UI - Just like on the iPhone, incoming FaceTime and Phone calls (from the iPhone) on the iPad are shown in a small banner that's easily dismissed so getting a FaceTime call no longer interrupts what you're doing on your tablet.
• Compact Siri - Like FaceTime calls, the Siri interface is smaller too. Siri doesn't take over the entire iPad display when you use it, and instead shows up as a small animated icon at the bottom of the screen with results provided in a banner style. Siri can be swiped away, but when the Siri interface is up, you can't use the display behind it.
• Safari - There are major improvements to Safari in iOS and iPadOS 14. Privacy tracking lets you know which websites have cross-site trackers running, there's a built-in translator so you don't need to use an extension, you can see tab previews, and Favicons are shown in tabs by default so you can see what's what at a glance.
• Apple Music Lyrics - When you listen to Apple Music with iPadOS 14 and activate the feature that lets you follow along with the lyrics, the lyrics are now displayed full screen.
• Emoji Popover Menu - With the new emoji popover option on iPadOS 14 you can quickly enter an emoji when using a hardware keyboard with your iPad. The nifty iOS 14 feature that lets you search for an emoji is, unfortunately, not available on the iPad.

Make sure to watch our video up above to see all of these features in action, and for more on what's new in iPadOS 14, check out our iPadOS 14 and iOS 14 roundups, along with our Guides and How Tos.

Like iOS 14, iPadOS 14 is available to developers and public beta testers at this time, so anyone can download it and try it out. The update will see an official public release this fall.

Apple's newest retail store in Bangkok, Thailand is set to open in just a few hours, and ahead of the store's launch, MacRumors reader Scott Nibley shared some photos of the store's interior taken during the location's soft opening.

The new store is Apple's second retail location in Thailand, joining Apple Iconsiam, which opened in November 2018.

Apple's new Bangkok store features a cylindrical two-story glass design with a flat roof.

Inside, there are product tables arranged in a ring shape around the store's floor, with shelves for displaying products located around the walls.

There's a winding staircase in the middle of the store with a wood base that spirals up to the ceiling, which goes to a second floor.

The second floor features another product area along with forum seating and a large screen that may be the future home of Today at Apple sessions. The store may undergo internal changes eventually, as social distancing measures are in place at the current time to maximize spacing between customers.

The exterior of the location is surrounded by trees to block out the sun, and the large glass windows look out over the plaza and street below.

The store is set to open on Friday, July 31 at 10:00 a.m. local time in Thailand.

During today's earnings call covering the third fiscal quarter of 2020 (second calendar quarter) Apple CFO Luca Maestri confirmed that Apple is expecting to release this year's iPhones later than usual.

Maestri said that Apple last year started selling iPhones in late September, but this year, Apple projects supply will be "available a few weeks later."

Multiple rumors have suggested that Apple's iPhones will not be available in the typical September timeline, with delays expected. Some rumors have indicated Apple could release its new iPhone 12 lineup in October, though we are still likely to see the new phones introduced in September.

Yesterday, Qualcomm also hinted that the ‌iPhone‌ 12 launch could be delayed past September when it said that there would be a "slight delay" of a "flagship phone launch" in the fourth quarter, which corresponds to when Apple typically releases new ‌iPhone‌ models.

Apple's retail stores in many parts of the world were shut down for much of the third fiscal quarter of 2020, but the iPhone still saw two percent growth, which Apple CEO Tim Cook said was a surprise as the company expected year over year ‌iPhone‌ performance to decrease.

COVID-19 had the biggest hit on Apple's sales in April, but demand for the ‌iPhone‌ increased in May and June, which Cook attributed to the "very successful" release of the low-cost $399 iPhone SE and economic stimulus packages provided to many in the United States.

The ‌iPhone‌ ultimately brought in $26.4 billion, up from $26 billion in the year-ago quarter, marking two percent growth. Apple brought in $59.7 billion in total, marking a new June quarter record.

Apple today shared its earnings results for the third fiscal quarter of 2020, and iPad and Mac sales saw a surge in growth as people transitioned from working in offices to working from home.

Both ‌iPad‌ and Mac saw double digit growth during the quarter. Mac sales brought in $7 billion, up from $5.8 billion in the year-ago quarter, while ‌iPad‌ sales brought in $6.5 billion, up from $5 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that these strong sales were achieved in spite of significant supply constraints that have limited the availability of certain iPads and Macs over the course of the last couple months.

Cook also said that Apple is working hard to get more iPads and Macs into the hands of customers, so sales could see continued growth in the fourth quarter as it appears many people will continue working from home for the foreseeable future.

Apple says that many of the customers who are purchasing iPads and Macs are new to those product lines. In China, for example, three out of four new customers who bought a Mac were new to Mac, and two out of three customers buying iPads were new customers.

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

According to today's earnings report covering the third fiscal quarter of 2020, Apple's services segment brought in $13.2 billion, up nearly $2 billion from the $11.5 billion earned in the third quarter of 2019, marking a June quarter record.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple's record third quarter earnings of $59.8 billion were driven by double-digit growth in products and services.The ‌App Store‌, ‌Apple Music‌, and video and cloud services saw record revenue, though revenue from ‌AppleCare‌ and ads was down.

According to Cook Apple has successfully achieved its 2016 goal of doubling its services revenue, hitting the milestone six months ahead of expectations.

In an interview ahead of Apple's third quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg that Apple employees in the United States won't be returning to their offices until early 2021 as the coronavirus continues to spread in the United States.

Apple initially had some employees return to its campuses in mid-June, with some key employees returning even earlier in May, but it appears most workers will continue doing their jobs in their homes through the end of the year.

"We've kicked the time period that U.S. employees would come back until early next year," Cook said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. "To go beyond that, it would depend on the success with a vaccine, success with therapeutics" and local conditions, he added.

Cook said Apple’s process for re-opening its offices would be similar to how it has handled its retail stores. He likened the process to an “accordion” where the company would open offices and then re-close them as necessary depending on the data.

Other tech companies like Facebook and Google said in June that employees would be able to work from home for all of 2020, with Twitter and Square allowing employees to work from home permanently if they choose to do so.

Apple was planning a multi-phase approach that would see employees trickling back in throughout the summer months, but told employees at the time that its plans were fluid and could change based on local and state stay-at-home orders.

Apple CFO Luca Maestri during the Q3 2020 earnings call said that Apple is taking a cautious approach with both its corporate facilities and its retail stores, and the company is trying to understand how the virus is evolving over time. Most employees will be working from home through 2020, at which time Apple will re-evaluate.

Maestri said that it's hoping for a vaccine and will make future decisions as it gets more information.

Apple today announced financial results for the third fiscal quarter of 2020, which corresponds to the second calendar quarter of the year.

For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $59.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.25 billion, or $2.58 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $53.8 billion and net quarterly profit of $10.0 billion, or $2.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Both revenue and earnings per share were June quarter records.

Gross margin for the quarter was 38.0 percent, compared to 37.6 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 60 percent of revenue. Apple also declared a quarterly dividend payment of $0.82 per share, payable on August 13 to shareholders of record as of August 10.

Apple is also announcing a four-for-one stock split that will take effect for shareholders of record as of August 24, with split-adjusted trading to begin on August 31.

Apple's results were obviously significantly affected by the global health crisis, and the company did not issue financial guidance for the quarter in its previous earnings release on April 30, but results were generally ahead of Wall Street expectations.

“Apple’s record June quarter was driven by double-digit growth in both Products and Services and growth in each of our geographic segments,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “In uncertain times, this performance is a testament to the important role our products play in our customers’ lives and to Apple’s relentless innovation. This is a challenging moment for our communities, and, from Apple’s new $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative to a new commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030, we’re living the principle that what we make and do should create opportunity and leave the world better than we found it.”

Apple is once again not issuing guidance for the current quarter ending in September, as considerable uncertainty surrounding the health situation's impact remains.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q3 2020 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple earnings call recap ahead...

1:40 pm: Apple's stock price is up nearly 5% in after-hours trading, pushing through the $400 mark.

1:48 pm: Mac and iPad sales were especially strong, which should be unsurprising given the shift to work-from-home setups and some product updates.

1:51 pm: At just 44% of overall revenue, the iPhone's share of Apple's business was remarkably low. That's a combination of the late-stage lifecycle of the current flagship models, strong performance in Mac and ‌iPad‌, and continued growth in Services.

1:53 pm: Apple's four-for-one stock split next month should bring the share price down to around the $100 range, depending on its performance between now and the split date. It's Apple's first stock split since a seven-for-one split in 2014.

1:56 pm: The hold music on Apple's financial results conference call is terrible.

2:02 pm: The earnings conference call is starting.

2:02 pm: On the call is Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri.

2:03 pm: Forward-looking statements, projections, etc etc. Tim coming on now.

2:04 pm: Starting with kind words about Congressman John Lewis. "I was humbled and fortunate to know him, and as an Alabama native... He inspires me still."

2:04 pm: Throughout the call, I'll speak in greater detail about Apple's support for equity and justice.

2:04 pm: In an uncertain environment, Apple saw a quarter of historic results.

2:04 pm: June Quarter record with revenue of $59.7b, up 11% YoY. Products and services grew double digits, and revenue grew in each geographic segment.

2:05 pm: What makes us proud is not merely what we did but how we did it. We committed $100 million to launch Racial Equity and Justice initiative.

2:06 pm: More context on quarter's results: Due to uncertain and ongoing impacts of Covid-19, we did not provide typical guidance last quarter but we did provide some color on how we expected the June quarter to play out. Across our product categories, beginning with ‌iPhone‌: Up 2%, expected YoY performance to worsen but saw better than expected demand in May and June. Strong iPhone SE launch, continued economic stimulus, and potentially some benefit from shelter-in-place restrictions lifting around the world.

2:07 pm: ‌iPad‌ and Mac growth to accelerate, saw double-digit growth this quarter. In spite of supply constraints on both products. Working hard to get more iPads and Macs into customers' hands, recognizing how integral they are to working and learning from home.

2:07 pm: Wearables growth decelerated as we expected, but grew by double-digits and set revenue records for non-holiday quarter.

2:08 pm: Installed base of active devices grew to new active records across all categories. Services generated $13.2 billion, up 15% YoY.

2:08 pm: Two distinct trends we were seeing and they played out as we thought. Results for Ads and AppleCare were impacted by reduced levels of economic activity. Had strong performance in digital services with all-time records in App Store and Apple Music, Video and Cloud Services. Elevated engagement on iMessage, Siri and FaceTime.

2:09 pm: Apple TV+ just hit history-making 95 awards nominations and 25 wins and accolades.

2:09 pm: Proud to announce that we have achieved our goal of doubling our Fiscal 2016 services revenue 6 months ahead of schedule.

2:10 pm: Results stand in stark relief in a time of real economic adversity. We do not have a zero-sum approach to prosperity. Focus on growing the pie, and make sure our success isn't just our success. Want to create opportunities for others. ‌App Store‌ is an example. Independent economists found the ‌App Store‌ facilities more than $500 billion in commerce globally in 2019.

2:10 pm: Can measure economic resilience in ways ‌App Store‌ helps with remote ordering for restaurants and other opportunities and more.

2:11 pm: Allocated $400 million of multi-year $2.5 billion commitment to new buyer construction and affordable housing projects.

2:12 pm: Thanking ‌AppleCare‌ and Retail employees for adapting to reopening and reclosing challenges.

2:12 pm: Re WWDC: Though we could not be together in person, we set new standards for what an all-virtual event could be. 22 million viewers across all Apple's streams. 72 hours of video content, with more than 200 direct to video engineering and design sessions, and 4,500 person-to-person appointments across 227 virtual labs.

2:13 pm: Touting iOS 14, macOS Big Sur, Apple Silicon and other releases.

2:14 pm: Looking forward, we are profoundly optimistic about Apple's future. With this success comes a real responsibility to lead with our values. We are just as proud of our announcement this month that Apple will be fully carbon neutral by 2030 across our entire supply chain, and including the energy use of every device we make, as we are of any hardware innovation. We want to leave the world better than we found it.

2:14 pm: Stand with those marching for their lives and dignity through the Racial and Ethnic Justice initiative.

2:15 pm: Discussing the obligations of Apple to stand with the communities where employees live and work.

2:15 pm: Handing off to Luca Maestri.

2:15 pm: June quarter was a testament to Apple's ability to innovate and execute in challenging times.

2:16 pm: New June quarter revenue record, up 11%, despite 300bp headwind from FX.

2:16 pm: Results were very strong all around the world. Grew in all geographic segments.

2:17 pm: $46.5 billion product revenue. ‌iPhone‌ returned to growth, and saw double-digit growth from ‌iPad‌, Mac, and wearables. Lockdowns and point of sale closures were widespread in April, but saw demand for all products improve significantly in May and June.

2:17 pm: Unmatched loyalty of customers led to all-time high in all geographic segments across all product categories.

2:17 pm: 38% gross margin, down 40bp sequentially.

2:19 pm: ‌iPhone‌ revenue grew 2% to $26.4 billion, with customer demand improving as the quarter progressed. COVID was most impactful during the first 3 weeks of April. Improvement in May and June around the world.

2:19 pm: Latest surveys of consumers in the US, indicates ‌iPhone‌ customer satisfaction of 98%.

2:20 pm: ‌Apple TV‌+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ are contributing to overall services growth, and add users, content and features. Customer engagement in the ecosystem continues to grow at a fast pace.

2:20 pm: More than 35 million new paid subscriptions.

2:21 pm: Wearables business is size of Fortune 140 company.

2:21 pm: 70% of Apple Watch buyers are new to the product.

2:22 pm: Both Mac and ‌iPad‌ are extremely relevant products in the current climate. Customer satisfaction at 96% for Mac and 97% for ‌iPad‌. Half of customers purchasing Mac or ‌iPad‌ were new to that product. New all-time high for both products.

2:22 pm: Retail set records thanks to performance of online store.

2:23 pm: Touting the growth of Telehealth services.

2:25 pm: Total debt of $113 billion. Net cash is $81 billion at end of quarter. Continue to reach net cash neutral position over time. Returned $21 billion to shareholders. $3.7 billion in dividends and equivalents, and $10 billion in open market repurchases.

2:26 pm: Move to September quarter, will provide some color on what they're seeing. Similar to last quarter, given uncertainty in near term, will not be giving revenue and margin guidance for the coming quarter. But additional insight on expectations for September quarter for product categories: On ‌iPhone‌, expect to see recent performance continue including strong customer response for ‌iPhone SE‌. Started selling iPhones in late September. We project supply to be available a few weeks later.

2:27 pm: For services, expect same trends in June quarter except for ‌AppleCare‌. We expect difficult comp for ‌AppleCare‌ considering COVID-related point of sale closures.

2:28 pm: Opening the call to questions:

2:29 pm: Q: Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley: In light of economic adversity, can you walk us through how Apple's leveraging finance and trade-in programs to make technology more affordable and accessible? How might these expand over time?

A: As Luca mentioned, in June we rolled out the ability to do interest-free financing in our stores with payments and that's in addition to trade-in which is becoming a more-common trend now which is terrific because it's great for the environment and acts as a subsidy against the phone. Compound these with financing and trade-in, it makes the product super affordable. We're happy with what we're seeing in that regard.

2:31 pm: Q: Specifically to ‌iPhone‌, the category returned to growth, installed base is larger today, replacement cycle is elongated and affordability element. Does all of that combine to build confidence that we're entering a longer period of ‌iPhone‌ revenue growth after six quarters of decline?

A: Very pleased with how we did on ‌iPhone‌, better than we thought. May and June were much better. ‌iPhone‌ in totality, the things that get me very optimistic is the size of the active installed base, major geographies like US we had the top two selling smartphones. Three of four in the UK, five of six in Australia, top four in Japan, Urban China ‌iPhone‌ 11 was top-selling smartphone in the country. These are very different geographies with different competitive situations and we're doing fairly well. ‌iPhone SE‌, it's clear, that from early data we're seeing a higher switcher number than we did in previous year that we feel very good about. Seemed to appeal to some people that were holding on to the device for a little longer because they wanted a smaller form factor phone. Combination of smaller form factor and affordable price made ‌iPhone SE‌ very popular. ‌iPhone‌ 11 is still most popular but ‌iPhone SE‌ definitely helped our results and as Luca said in his outlook, we do see that continuing into this quarter currently.

2:33 pm: Q: Services business and in terms of TV content production, how did movement restrictions affect content production?

A: Working to get it restarted because we shut down in March and yet to really restart in a significant way, particularly for those shot in the LA area. Given the current status of the virus.

2:35 pm: Q: With strong sales in Mac, do you think back-to-school season got pulled forward by a quarter?

A: For providing commentary for September, we expect all the non-iPhone product categories to have strong year-over-year performance. Back-to-school season is clearly this one and we're very excited not only for Mac but for ‌iPad‌. Fantastic lineup of products and we know that these products are incredibly relevant especially given current circumstances. Performance that we've seen for Mac in June quarter to continue.

2:36 pm: Q: Shannon Cross, Cross Research: Talk a bit about what you're seeing in China? Revenue up 2% plus record iPads, but given their 5G is a bit ahead, how are you seeing market play out?

A: Growth that we see, we did see growth, currency affected China a bit more than other places, affected 400bp. In constant currency we would have grown at 6%. ‌iPhone‌ 11 has been our best selling phone and has been number one in Urban China. ‌iPad‌ was helped in June quarter there by the work from home and distance learning as it was in other geographies. Mac also grew strong double-digit during the quarter. And services set a new June quarter record there. We also continue to see extremely high new customer rates on Mac and ‌iPad‌ there. Perspective... Three out of four customer buying Mac are new, 2/3 buying ‌iPad‌ are new. These are numbers that we are super proud of.

2:37 pm: Q: Decision to bring ‌Apple Silicon‌ in-house and benefits you're expecting to see from vertical integration and intel modem business integration?

A: What we'll wind up with is common architecture across all of our products, which gives us some interesting things we can do and products that unleashes another round of innovation. Don't want to say a lot about it other than we're extremely excited about it. It's something that we've worked on quite a while to get to this point and we're looking forward to shipping the first Mac with ‌Apple Silicon‌ later in the year.

2:39 pm: Q: If I think about the strength with ‌iPhone‌, where is this trend coming from? Replacement cycles or new iOS customers? Clearly these growth rates seem impressive in context of pandemic.

A: It's a combination of a strong launch of ‌iPhone SE‌, and some pickup thanks to economic stimulus in different countries, and some of the reopening that took place across the quarter. We've been having a strong cycle with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and 11 Pro, so when you combine a strong cycle plus ‌iPhone SE‌ launch, plus reopening of stores etc, I think there are a lot of things that were going in the right direction there.

2:41 pm: Q: Perspective on how we think about 38% gross margin? What are levers to improve this going forward and in that context, do you see a point where product gross margin stabilizes because it's been trending lower.

A: We were at 38%, down slightly sequentially but up the same amount YoY. Really, the big negative impact that we felt for several quarters has been the strength of the US dollar. FX impact on sequential basis was 90bp, YoY was 130bp. That is something to keep in mind. Other aspect to keep in mind is that we sell many different products, they have different margin profiles, and different mix can have an impact on the aggregate of product gross margin. We're very pleased to see performance of Mac, ‌iPad‌ and wearables, but it's a different mix. Going forward, the variables are always the same. FX will continue to have an impact, the mix of products that we sell, the commodities market has been relatively benign and we'll see how that plays out over time. As you know, for several years, we've been managing gross margin fairly well in spite of some difficult situations like the one with the strength of the dollar and we plan to make good trade-off decisions between revenue and units and margins.

2:43 pm: Q: Survey on smartphones in China, large portion of install base is on 6/7/8 device. Trade-in programs etc, what are you doing to get those customers into latest technology?

A: Customers upgrade at different pace, but I don't have exact install base from China but much like in other geographies, the upgrades have extended some. Extended some during the depths of the pandemic in China and the rest of the world and probably to the rest of the world and is happening still at this point. The key thing that we can do is keep innovating, deliver a product that people can't imagine going through life without, and obviously keep rolling out these programs that make the front end purchase be much less and this is the financing and trade-in programs. I do feel like those are going quite good in a number of geographies.

2:45 pm: Q: Should we think about how much ‌iPad‌ and Mac sales are pull-forward or earlier future upgrades?

A: The install base is growing and new customer numbers that Luca went over in the aggregate are still very high, close to 50% kind of range. That to me bodes well for the future. There's clearly some amount of work from home and remote learning that do affect the results of Mac and ‌iPad‌ positively. They probably affect wearables and ‌iPhone‌ the other direction. But on Mac and ‌iPad‌, these are productivity tools that people are using to stay engaged with their work or stay engaged with schoolwork. We believe we're going to have a strong back-to-school season, sitting here today it certainly looks like that.

2:46 pm: Q: Can you share a bit about channel inventory, talked about tightness for Mac and ‌iPad‌ in June quarter, in terms of where you think inventory is across product categories?

A: We usually have gotten away from talking about channel inventory, but sitting here looking at it, ‌iPhone‌ is slightly less than a year ago and that's at quarter-end point at end of Q3. Obviously, ‌iPad‌ and Mac are constrained so both of those are less than year-ago quarter.

2:48 pm: Q: Color you can share about impact COVID had on OpEx, work from home stipends, less travel, employee support costs. What's longer term opportunity of employees working remotely, maybe permanently?

A: On OpEx front, there have been certain things that have been affected in terms of cost reductions, travel is a perfect example, meetings we have internally, but we've also invested heavily in initiatives with a program where we match employee donations, we've made donations directly, on a net basis the costs outweighed the savings both in March and June quarter but we think it's the right thing to do. From employee perspective, what we said so far is that here in the US in most of our population will continue to work from home through the end of the year. Try to understand how the virus is evolving over time, taken a cautious approach both with corporate facilities and with retail stores. Retail stores you've seen we've reopened in a number of geographies around the world, reopened here in the US, we've had to reclose here in the US as the number of cases has gone up and we'll continue to track how the virus is doing. Hoping for vaccine or cure and so we'll make those decisions as we get more information.

2:50 pm: Q: Focus on the gross margin expansion within services line, all-time record for the quarter. Curious whether you think that was a theme, within services there's a pretty wide margin within businesses and should that continue to improve?

A: Sequential expansion for services and that was driven primarily by mix. Very broad portfolio and defending which does better, we have an impact on services gross margin. We like services business because it is a recurring type of revenue and is accretive to company margin. 67% this quarter and we want to offer competitive services across the board and the same comments on products, what matters to us is to be successful with everything we do and provide great products and services to our customers. The relative success of products and services in marketplace will drive what our margins are. Margins are a byproduct of success in the marketplace.

2:52 pm: Q: On wearables, you're categorizing wearables as being a little bit impacted by pandemic. First time that wearables haven't had that growth. Is there pent up demand as we get to normalized environment?

A: On Watch in particular, like the ‌iPhone‌, more affected by store closures. Because some people want to try on the Watch and see what it looks like, look at different band choices and those sorts of things. As stores closed, it puts more pressure on that. We did come out last quarter and we knew things would decelerate because of the closures. We ended up being pleased with how we did, but store closers affect the wearables and ‌iPhone‌.

2:54 pm: Q: Coronavirus the company did a fantastic job at overcoming the hurdles. As you look forward to Christmas/Holiday shopping season, given the economic challenges and coronavirus, give commentary how you expect to see differences from past Christmas cycles? But Apple is showing a lot more strength coming into Christmas than past years.

A: We take it one quarter at a time. We'll give color on December quarter in October. Generally speaking, we need to see a vaccine or therapeutic or both. There's some optimism around that in that particular time frame. No particular information that isn't publicly available there. That would boost consumer confidence quite a bit if it began to happen, and I think that any kind of consumer company would benefit from that.

Q: Quick comment Luca, about ‌iPhone‌ coming out a few weeks later — was that for ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPhone‌ chips, product launches, can you expound on that?

A: On ‌iPhone‌, I said in my remarks that we launched a year ago, the new ‌iPhone‌ in late September so I was referring to the new product. I said that this year, the supply of the new product will be a few weeks later than that.

2:56 pm: Q: Can you comment on penetration of Apple Card users in iOS install base, and have you seen any changes in Card users in terms of spending on Apple products?

A: Changes in consumer spending as shutdowns occurred and store closures occurred. Saw that across the card, it affected the categories that you would guess the most — travel, entertainment, etc. Pull the lens out on ‌Apple Card‌, we're happy with the number of people who have the ‌Apple Card‌. We think it's the fastest rollout in the history of credit cards so we feel very good about that.

2:56 pm: Q: Now that Apple has ‌Apple Silicon‌ for Macs, would you consider this monetizing this as merchant silicon or is this forever for Apple use?

A: I would never say "forever." We're a product company and we love making the whole thing, and if we can own the user experience with the goal of delighting the user, that's the reason we're using ‌Apple Silicon‌ is we can envision some products that we can achieve that we couldn't achieve otherwise.

2:57 pm: The call has ended. Replays are available on apple.com/investor.