Category: Apple Insider

 

By Mikey Campbell
Monday, April 01, 2019, 02:48 pm PT (05:48 pm ET)

Apple on Monday announced plans to report quarterly earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2019 at the end of trading on April 30, with company executives expected to detail the period’s highs and lows in an ensuing investor conference call.

Announced in an update to Apple’s Investor Relations webpage, the forthcoming conference call is scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern.

Company CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri are expected to provide an in-depth breakdown of segment financials for the three-month period ending in March, potentially offering an early look at the performance of newly released iPad and AirPods models. The pair is also anticipated to field questions from select analysts.

Following a rare guidance revision in January, Apple posted earnings of $84.3 billion in revenue on the back of $52 billion in iPhone sales. Despite a handset revenue contraction of 15 percent year-over-year, the company touted a 19 percent uptick in overall growth driven in large part by solid sales in other sectors.

“While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide,” Cook said during last quarter’s conference call.

In line with recent quarters, Apple’s services arm continued to follow an upward trajectory during the three-month period ending in December. The segment raked in $10.9 billion, an all-time high. Services are expected to boom throughout 2019 and 2020 as Apple introduces a slate of new products to its existing App Store, AppleCare, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud and iTunes offerings.

Apple’s services roadmap was unveiled at a special event last week, with the first of the new products, subscription news service Apple News+, arriving as part of iOS 12.2. Other initiatives, like Apple TV Channels and Apple TV+, game subscription service Apple Arcade, and the Goldman Sachs-backed Apple Card, are due out later this year.

For the current quarter, Apple is forecasting revenue between $55 billion and $59 billion, with gross margin estimated to fall between 37 percent and 38 percent. Operating expenses are expected to lie between between $8.5 billion and $8.6 billion.

AppleInsider will offer full coverage of the earnings call on Tuesday, April 30, starting at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern.

 

By Roger Fingas
Saturday, March 30, 2019, 02:47 pm PT (05:47 pm ET)

Signaling that it’s continuing work on a full-fledged electric car, or at least a platform, Apple has reportedly hired Tesla’s engineering VP in charge of powertrains Michael Schwekutsch.

Schwekutsch left Tesla earlier this month and is now a part of Apple’s Special Projects Group, Electrek sources said. The group is home to some of Apple’s most clandestine work, including “Project Titan,” the self-driving car effort.

The executive has an extensive history in powertrain development. His resume lists related engineering firms like BorgWarner and GKN Driveline, and output such as electric and hybrid powertrains for the BMW i8, Fiat 500eV, Volvo XC90, and Porsche 918 Spyder.

Apple is allegedly hiring “several other” Tesla workers alongside Schwekutsch, who should serve under Doug Field — once a VP of Mac hardware engineering at Apple, but who spent almost five years at Tesla before returning to Apple to replace former project lead Steve Zadesky.

The project was hit with two rounds of layoffs earlier this year. Revived hiring could mean Apple has settled on a new direction — Apple and Tesla have regularly poached from each others’ labor pools, however, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk even calling Apple the “Tesla graveyard.”

Project Titan is thought to have begun with an Apple-designed car in mind, but at one stage scaled back to platform development and testing, with rumors that it would only create technology for adoption by existing automakers or ridesharing services.

In recent months signs have mounted that the company could be inching back into car design. Ongoing efforts in the space include multiple patents and patent applications such as technology for power transfer systems, as well as new recruits like former Tesla car designer Andrew Kim.

 

By Mikey Campbell
Friday, March 29, 2019, 02:40 pm PT (05:40 pm ET)

A key Apple engineer responsible for leading development teams working on proprietary processor core designs has left the company after nine years of service, according to a report on Friday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNET reports Gerard Williams III vacated his seat as Apple’s senior director in platform architecture in February.

Williams joined the company in 2010 after a 12-year stint at ARM, where he worked as a fellow on various projects including the development of legacy ARM chips, as well as Cortex-A8, Cortex-A15 and next-generation processor technology. Prior to ARM, the engineer was design team lead at Texas Instruments, where he assisted in the development of the TI TMS470 micro-controller program, according to his LinkedIn profile.

At Apple, Williams spearheaded core design for in-house Apple chips like the A7, which debuted in iPhone 5s as the world’s first 64-bit mobile processor.

“Chief Architect for all Apple CPU and SOC development. For CPU, lead the Cyclone, Typhoon, Twister, Hurricane, Monsoon, and Vortex architecture work. And everyday, I still work on very very cool stuff,” Williams writes in his LinkedIn bio.

Building on the A7’s success, Apple has gone on to release multiple A-series chip generations, each with Williams helming core design. More recently, Williams’ duties expanded to encompass not only the processor core, but also the layout of components on Apple’s system-on-chip silicon, the report said. The escalation in responsibility came with the departure of SoC architect Manu Gulati, who left Apple for a similar role at Google in 2017.

A now-former report to SVP of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji, considered the mastermind behind Apple’s in-house chip team, Williams leaves a significant hole in the company’s executive lineup.

The reason for Williams’ departure is unknown. According to CNET sources, the engineer has yet to take a position at another company.

 

By Mikey Campbell
Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 02:40 pm PT (05:40 pm ET)

The U.S. International Trade Commission in a final determination on Tuesday nullified Qualcomm’s bid for an iPhone import ban, finding a leveraged patent covering power efficiency technology to be invalid.

In a notice posted to the ITC website (PDF link), the commission sided with Apple’s reading that a key claim in Qualcomm’s U.S. Patent No. 9,535,490 is invalid based on prior art. Specifically, Apple presented “clear and convincing evidence” that Qualcomm’s IP claim, leveraged as ground for infringement, is obvious in respect to two previously issued patents.

As a result of the determination, Qualcomm’s bid to obtain a U.S. import ban against certain iPhone models has been quashed.

The decision concurs with a ruling from Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender, who in September issued an initial determination regarding the ‘490 patent and two other Qualcomm patents claimed infringed. While the ALJ found potential infringement of the ‘490 patent — subject of today’s final determination — Apple was absolved of impinging on Qualcomm’s U.S. Patent Nos. 8,698,558 and 8,633,936.

Pender recommended against an exclusion order, saying such action would be counter to the public interest.

The commission adopted the initial determination of non-infringement in regard to the ‘558 and ‘936 patents, and resolved to review claim 31 of the ‘949 patent. Today’s ruling effectively clears Apple of a possible ban on iPhone models using Intel chips instead of those supplied by Qualcomm.

The decision arrived hours after an ALJ in a separate case recommended a partial iPhone ban after determining Apple’s smartphone in infringement of one Qualcomm patent.

 

By Christine McKee
Sunday, March 24, 2019, 11:47 am PT (02:47 pm ET)

In what amounts to the steepest discount available on Apple’s six-core 15-inch MacBook Pro, Amazon has issued a $400 price drop on the standard model in Space Gray. Apple’s current quad-core 13-inch MacBook Pros are also $200 to $300 off, with prices starting at $1,599.

Each MacBook Pro deal, which rings in as the lowest price available, according to our 2018 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro Price Guides, includes free shipping for added value. Supplies may be limited, and Amazon’s Apple deals have been known to sell out quickly, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of the bargains. For a full rundown of the lowest prices on Apple hardware, be sure to check out our Apple Price Guide, which is updated throughout the day.

2018 15″ MacBook Pro

2018 13″ MacBook Pros with Touch Bar

Don’t miss out on these exclusive deals

Additional Apple Deals

AppleInsider and Apple authorized resellers are also running a handful of additional exclusive promotions this month on Apple hardware that will not only deliver the lowest prices on many of the items, but also throw in discounts on AppleCare, software and accessories. These deals are as follows:

It’s very easy to add another cheap subscription if you’re want to try out an app or a video service. Before you know it, though, you’re paying out a lot of money every month. Here’s how to find out what you’ve subscribed to, through the App Store and what you can do about it.

Even if it’s only Apple Music or Netflix, the odds are high that you subscribe to some service. And, the odds are even higher that you’ve never needed to unsubscribe.

When you do, though, it’s not exactly obvious how to get out of these subscriptions. But if all services and all developers make it temptingly easy to add subscriptions, getting rid of them is easy too —once you know where to look.

Watch an AppleInsider two-minute tip video on this or read on for extra detail.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geHRASbtlhA&w=560&h=315]

It’s worth it

We will never tell you that Apple Music is anything but a bargain. We’ll never say Netflix isn’t worth it, either. Yet just by taking those two, you’re spending a minimum of $13.99 per month. That’s if you qualify for the Apple Music student fee of $4.99 per month and you’re willing to put up with Netflix’s poorest picture quality. More practically, you’re going to be spending at least $23 per month.

It doesn’t stop being a bargain, but it does add up. Over a year you’d be spending around $280 just for Apple Music and Netflix. Add in any app that needs a subscription for its pro features and you’re over the $300 for the year.

Again and always, that could well be worth it for you. The issue is how the fees are paid automatically every month and when you don’t have to cut a check yourself, you forget.

So even if you have no intention of dropping any subscriptions, take a moment to look at how to do it —because that will also show you exactly what you’re paying out for every month.

How do it

On your iPhone or iPad, go into Settings and tap on your name at the top. Next, tap on iTunes & App Store, which you’ll find about midway down the screen.

Now tap on your Apple ID at the top of the page that appears. Choose View Apple ID and let your iPhone identify you.

Whether that’s through Touch ID or Face ID, depends on which iPhone you’ve got. And so does this. On an iPhone XS Max, the Subscriptions button is at the foot of the screen. You may well have to scroll down to get it on other iPhones. When you do, tap it and you’re into the subscriptions page.

There may be two sections here. One is to do with subscriptions that have ended. So if you’re wondering why you suddenly don’t have Netflix or some other subscription, see if it’s listed in the bottom section, the Expired part.

The more useful section, though, is the first or Active one. This shows you all the recurring subscriptions that you’re paying out for via the App Store.

It only tells you the title, however, with the briefest of descriptions and when your next payment date is. Tap on any entry, though, and you can see more.

While every subscription is different, the way you use them is identical. Each one has a list of prices for your territory and there will be a check mark next to the one you’re currently paying.

You can change this to any of the other fee options available or you can tap on Cancel Subscription. If you do that, your subscription moves to the Expired section and you’re done.

That’s it

One poor thing is that there’s no way to remove the Expired subscription from this list. But equally, one good thing is that if you change your mind, you can tap on any entry there and resubscribe right away.

This is all about managing your subscriptions. That can mean cancelling some and renewing others you long ago dropped, but really it’s about knowing what’s going on.

Know where your money is going every month and you’ll be in control of what you choose to spend it on.

Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.