Eric Slivka

Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2008.

An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.

Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.

Eric Slivka's Articles

iPhone 5 34Hi Stagger FrontBack Black PRINT

Apple Announces Over Two Million iPhone 5 Pre-Orders in First Day of Sales

Monday September 17, 2012 5:33 am PDT by
Following today's announcement by AT&T sharing word that the iPhone 5 has broken pre-order sales records at the carrier, Apple has issued a press release noting that it too saw record-breaking pre-orders of over two million units in the first 24 hours of availability. The performance breaks last year's record of one million iPhone 4S units pre-ordered on the first day of availability.“iPhone 5 ...
lightning usb cable

iPhone 5 Lightning Connector to Support Direct USB Peripheral Hosting?

Friday September 14, 2012 1:11 pm PDT by
Mac Otakara reports that Apple's new Lightning dock connector is capable of hosting USB peripheral devices, meaning that Apple could potentially allow users to connect devices such as keyboard and other accessories directly to their Lightning-equipped mobile products. Apple's Lightning to USB cable Even if the report is true, however, it would require that Apple build device support for...
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Panel Installation Nearly Complete at Apple's Massive North Carolina Solar Farm

Friday September 14, 2012 12:10 pm PDT by
We've been following Apple's work at its Maiden, North Carolina data center for quite some time, and early last month we saw some good aerial photos showing ongoing work at the site including the installation of a major solar farm to help meet Apple's renewable energy goals for the center. GigaOM now shares some new video stills shot from the air by WCNC-TV showing that installation at the...
lightning 30 pin included

Confusion Over Free Lightning to 30-Pin Adapter with iPhone 5 as Apple Errs in Online Store [Updated]

Friday September 14, 2012 10:23 am PDT by
As noted by iPhoneinCanada.ca soon after pre-orders for the iPhone 5 went live earlier today, Apple's online store in several countries appeared to be noting that the company's Lightning to 30-pin Adapter would be included with customers' orders free of charge. The disclosure came in the form of an option to add an "additional" adapter as an accessory.Your iPhone includes a Lightning to 30-pin...
verizon iphone 5 sep26

New iPhone 5 Pre-orders Through Verizon Slip to September 26 Delivery [Update: AT&T at 14-21 Days]

Friday September 14, 2012 8:26 am PDT by
While Apple's shipping estimates on iPhone 5 pre-orders quickly slipped to two weeks just an hour after the online store reopened earlier, the company's U.S. carrier partners have seen their supplies holding up a bit better with continued estimates of delivery on launch day on September 21. That appears to be changing now, as Verizon is the first of the three major U.S. carriers to see its...
lightning adapters cable shipping

Availability of Apple's Lightning Adapters and Cables Slipping [Updated]

Friday September 14, 2012 6:47 am PDT by
With shipping estimates for new pre-orders of the iPhone 5 through Apple's online store slipping to two weeks just an hour after pre-orders began earlier today, customers are also snapping up Apple's supplies of Lightning adapters and cables. Alongside the iPhone 5 announcement on Wednesday, Apple introduced a pair of adapters to allow users to continue using older cables and accessories based ...
2weeks

Apple's iPhone 5 Pre-order Shipping Estimates Slip to Two Weeks

Friday September 14, 2012 1:07 am PDT by
Just an hour after pre-orders for the iPhone 5 went live, Apple Store shipping estimates for new pre-orders have already slipped to two weeks in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, and Australia. Once transit times are accounted for, users pre-ordering now may not receive their iPhones until nearly two weeks after the official launch date of September 21....
iphone 5 upgrade eligibility

Check Upgrade Eligibility and Service Plans for iPhone 5 Through Apple's Online Store

Thursday September 13, 2012 12:29 pm PDT by
For those customers looking to confirm whether they are eligible for fully-subsidized or early upgrade pricing for the iPhone 5 or interested in comparing service plans across carriers, Apple is offering a pair of tools through its online store to assist with finding such information. Featured on the iPhone 5 store page, the eligibility tool allows current iPhone owners to select their...
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U.S. Carriers Unlikely to Support iPhone 5's Wideband Audio, European Support More Likely

Thursday September 13, 2012 10:45 am PDT by
One of the iPhone 5 features highlighted by Phil Schiller during yesterday's introduction was wideband audio, which offers "crisper word clarity and more natural sounding speech" according to Apple's press release. Schiller noted that the feature requires carrier support and that it would be supported by over 20 carriers on the iPhone 5 at launch, but did not specify which carriers those would...
iphone 5 apple store

iPhone 5 Pre-orders Set to Begin at 12:01 AM Pacific Time Tomorrow [Update: Confirmed]

Thursday September 13, 2012 9:08 am PDT by
While Apple has yet to officially announce tomorrow's starting time for iPhone 5 pre-orders, it is beginning to look like the launch will follow the same pattern as last year with pre-orders starting at 12:01 AM Pacific Time / 3:01 AM Eastern Time. Apple sales representatives have been telling customers asking about availability that pre-orders will begin at that time, and both Verizon and Spri...
iphone 5 display

Sharp Catches Up on iPhone 5 Display Production

Thursday September 13, 2012 8:32 am PDT by
Back in late August, Reuters reported that Sharp had been experiencing low production yields on the iPhone 5 display, putting the company behind Apple's other two suppliers, Japan Display and LG Display. MarketWatch now reports that Sharp has apparently ironed out its issues and has now begun shipping iPhone 5 displays into Apple's supply chain.Mass production of the screens for the iPhone 5,...
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Cricket and C Spire to Offer iPhone 5 Beginning September 28 [Updated]

Thursday September 13, 2012 6:49 am PDT by
While the three major U.S. iPhone carriers AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint will be launching the iPhone 5 on Friday, September 21, it will not take long for availability to extend to other carriers. Cricket Communications and C Spire Wireless have both announced that they will begin offering the iPhone 5 one week later on Friday, September 28. Both of the carriers were pioneers in the U.S. iPhone ...
iphone 5 4s panorama

Panorama Photo Mode Coming to iPhone 4S with iOS 6

Wednesday September 12, 2012 1:52 pm PDT by
One of the highlighted features of the iPhone 5 during today's media event was a new Panorama mode for stitching together multiple photos to create a single large panoramic image up to 28 megapixels in size. As rumored yesterday, the feature is also included on the new fifth-generation iPod touch. iSight camera specs for iPhone 5 (left) and iPhone 4S (right) According to Apple's iPhone...
iphone 5 nano sim

iPhone 5 Confirmed to Use New Nano-SIM Standard

Wednesday September 12, 2012 1:02 pm PDT by
As had been rumored and shown in leaked images, the iPhone 5 does indeed use the new Apple-backed nano-SIM standard that is 40% smaller than the micro-SIM standard found in the iPhone 4 and 4S. Apple did not mention the change during its media event, but the company has confirmed it in an iPhone model comparison. The iPhone 5 appears to be the first device to use the new nano-SIM standard,...
iphone 5 lte compatibility

Apple Details iPhone 5 LTE Carrier Compatibility

Wednesday September 12, 2012 12:46 pm PDT by
In order to help customers understand which iPhone 5 models will support LTE in which countries and on which carriers, Apple has posted a new guide outlining the three different model variants and their compatibility. The North America-focused GSM model is compatible with LTE service on AT&T in the United States and Bell, Rogers and Telus in Canada. The CDMA model is compatible with LTE on...
iphone 5 logic board front back

iPhone 5 Logic Board Shows A6 Chip, Qualcomm MDM9615M LTE Modem, Hynix Flash

Wednesday September 12, 2012 7:19 am PDT by
Late last month, a photo surfaced showing what was claimed to be the iPhone 5 logic board with an A6 chip prominently displayed. There were some questions about the validity of the photo, but now a new pair of photos posted by HDblog.it [Google translation] show in greater detail not only the A6 chip but also other chips included on the logic board. Click for larger Beyond the A6, the new...
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Updated iTunes, iPod Touch, and iPod Nano Coming Alongside iPhone 5 Today

Wednesday September 12, 2012 6:56 am PDT by
With Apple having prematurely confirmed the "iPhone 5" name in search results on its website, users have been scrambling to try to find evidence of additional announcements today. Several other press release links have been found indicating that Apple will be releasing an updated version of iTunes, as well as new iPod touch and iPod nano models. One search pulls up results for both the iPhone ...
iphone 5 results

'iPhone 5' Name Prematurely Revealed on Apple's Site [Updated]

Wednesday September 12, 2012 6:42 am PDT by
As noted by several MacRumors readers, searches for "iPhone-5" on Apple's site are currently yielding a number of search results revealing that Apple will indeed be calling the new iPhone the "iPhone 5". The results point to several currently-inactive iPhone 5 pages including the press release announcement and a "tips" page. (Thanks, Johan!) Update 6:45 AM: 9to5Mac has also spotted a...
icloud mail down 091212

iCloud Mail Outage Enters Second Day for Some Users

Wednesday September 12, 2012 5:57 am PDT by
Just about 24 hours ago, we began receiving the first reports of users having difficulties accessing their iCloud mail. Apple acknowledged the outage on its iCloud system status page relatively soon afterward, but noted that the issue only affected about 1% of customers. Unfortunately for that small fraction of users, the issue has become a relatively major one, as their outage is now...
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Apple's New iOS Device Marketing: 'Lightning' Dock Connector, 'Earpod' Headphones, 'Loop' Accessory

Wednesday September 12, 2012 5:44 am PDT by
9to5Mac shares some new details about Apple's updates planned for today, outlining some of the marketing terms the company appears to be using for aspects of its new devices. Among the details: First, Apple is said to have been referring to its new dock connector as "Lightning" internally, and that branding is now said to be the public name for the feature as well. The term is suggestive of...