Apple Insider – Page 124

Posted on December 26, 2018 by — Leave a comment

No HomePod, politics, bug extermination and more — Apple’s January 2018 in review

Apple was busy in January 2018 with legal cases, Apple Music successes, and working hard to get us the HomePod. AppleInsider revisits the very start of 2018, the year that would see Apple become the most valuable company in the world on paper —for a while.

The year 2018 was so eventful that January 2018 seems a very long time ago. It was the last month before you could have a HomePod, it was the first month that the Consumer Electronics Show got blacked out. And, it wasn’t the only time that Apple would be embroiled in controversy, but as well as criticisms of the company, Apple joined others in disagreeing with the government.

Seriously, though, where was that HomePod?

Blackout

There’s always a lot of noise at the Consumer Electronics Show as the latest technology is announced before it’s later cancelled or simply never materializes. In 2018, everything disappeared a lot quicker than usual as the entire show was abruptly dropped into darkness.

Heavy rains had caused problems on the show’s first day. Google and others had closed their booths down on January 10 because of flooding but it was at 11:50 Pacific on January 11 that everything switched off.

Blackout at Consumer Electronics Show 2018

The organizers encouraged everyone to get “outside on this beautiful Las Vegas day” and didn’t appear to be kidding. Presumably the rain had gone by then but, still, we’re talking the CES crowd. The Consumer Electronics Show crowd. They’re not known for their nature walks though, to be fair, nor are we.

We’re getting better, though, and chiefly because of our Apple Watches. As they continued to encourage us with our stand goals and dismay us with our exercise rings, so Apple continued to be a part of everyone’s lives. Even at CES, where as ever, the company did not exhibit but its presence was felt with those who were there selling Apple accessories.

Perhaps there wasn’t quite as much of that as before but then accessory makers were waiting for the HomePod just like the rest of us.

If you remember, it had been announced back in June 2017 and promised for December of that year. Just before it completely missed the Christmas market, Apple did say it was moved to early 2018.

Perhaps the company had its attention on bugs and business instead, though.

Bugs

Apple did have to work rather urgently on solving a bit of a problem with Messages on iOS. During early 2018, it was possible to receive a message that would crash your iPhone. This bug, called “chaiOS”, also caused problems in Safari and Chrome.

Maybe someone doesn’t like any kind of messages, though, because Facebook —never ordinarily known to have any problems whatsoever —this month had difficulties with its own Messenger. Users could only type a few words before the app would crash.

Facebook Messenger

We didn’t notice the world getting significantly quieter.

Money changes everything

Apple, alongside software issues and delays to hardware, was facing increasing pressure over money. Later in 2018, Apple would become the world’s biggest company but back in January it was merely worth $896 billion.

Apple is a global company and it was often more profitable for the company to leave at least much of its overseas earnings at least in the vicinity where it earned it. At this point, though, the company was looking to bring back some of that cash to the US.

European Commission Headquarters

In January, it was Ireland that was objecting to Apple’s tax record, just not in the way you’d expect. The European Commission had said that Apple owed more tax to Ireland because the tax breaks it had got were not legal under European laws.

Apple said, er, look, we were given those tax breaks and Ireland said, cough, well, yes, it was us who gave them to you. It’s possible that we’re over-simplifying the situation here.

That could actually have reduced the European tax bill facing those divisions, except that the EC said no, this is not tax being paid on new earnings, it’s simply the movement of funds.

This is where we were in January, but it hadn’t been a quick chat to get to this point and it wasn’t going to be resolved fast, either. The European Commission had originally ruled back in 2016 and later in 2018, Apple would end up handing over the cash.

In the meantime, Apple was also having a word with another government. The US one.

Dreamers

Today we’re more used to Tim Cook being outspoken, but maybe that began in January 2018 when he joined many technology leaders in asking Congress to find a bipartisan solution to the situation facing the children of immigrants to the US.

Candid photo from President Donald Trump’s tech summit in December 2016. | Source: Quartz

It was to do with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, officially referred to as DACA but known across the nation as being protection for people called Dreamers.

Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, IBM’s Ginni Rometty, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Hewlett Packard’s Meg Whitman, Microsoft’s Brad Smith and more wrote an open letter to the government.

“The imminent termination of the DACA program is creating an impending crisis for workforces across the country,” it said. “We have seen time and again that the overwhelming majority of the American public of all political backgrounds agrees that we should protect Dreamers from deportation.”

Currently the DACA rules are still in place but pending legal challenges.

Back to tech

Apple itself had been facing some legal issues —pick a month, any month, and Apple is facing some court case —to do with the throttling of speeds on older iPhones with worn-down batteries.

Battery Replacement (Source: iFixit)

By January 2018, the company had instigated a repair policy whereby you could have your old battery replaced for $29, a $50 discount on the regular fee. That was specifically in response to the criticisms it had received and in January, Apple went one step further.

This throttling had actually been a good thing. It was keeping your phone running when the battery was degraded so badly that apps were at risk of crashing. It’s just that Apple did this without explaining it —and what they did played into the hands of every conspiracy theorist.

Apple kept on responding that no, it wasn’t done to make you go buy a new phone, it was specifically to help you keep your old one for longer. In January, it was as if Apple gave up trying to explain this any more and instead threw up its hands.

For alongside the battery replacement program, Tim Cook announced in January that users would be able to switch off this throttling for themselves. He said this control was coming in a future version of iOS and he was true to his word: in February we got an update that included the control.

He did not say anything remotely like “on your own head be it.”

Releases and sales

While by mid-January we were looking at our Apple Watches, waiting for the HomePod to be released, the company did bring out something new. It released Swift Playgrounds 2.0.

Swift Playgrounds 2.0

This educational coding tool was expanded to allow you to subscribe to content created outside of Apple. It also rejigged where you stored and got files from to play with, plus it added new robots you could program.

While Apple was adding that, though, it was also removing popular messaging apps Telegram and Telegram X. Again with the messaging. This time the problem was that, according to Apple, the two apps were being used to distribute what they called “inappropriate content”.

Messaging app Telegram

The two apps were removed, the developers were informed, and then the two apps came back promptly.

The same can’t be said for Slack on Apple Watch. In January 2018, the messaging and content-sharing platform Slack became the latest casualty as seemingly more and more Apple Watch apps were dropped.

Slack’s Apple Watch app

In better news

Apple Music had a nice moment in January 2018 when the release of Drake’s single God’s Plan broke records. It received 14 million plays on Apple Music and as happy as the company must’ve been with that, they probably weren’t upset by how Spotify had only managed 4 million.

Drake (right) at an Apple event

The only thing is that the Spotify management won’t have been weeping either. Their 4 million streams were in the US and Apple’s 14 million was worldwide.

So it’s hard to make a real comparison there but it was clearer what the situation was with Andy Warhol’s painting of the Apple logo. We’ve all drawn the Apple logo on our pencil cases but Warhol’s version was a bit larger and in January, experts predicted it would fetch between $20,000 and $30,000 at auction.

Andy Warhol’s Apple logo goes on sale

Online bidding at Woodshead Art Auctions of Massachusetts wouldn’t begin until February 1 but the painting was sold at the top of that range.

Also nudging into February was the HomePod. We may have mentioned that. Apple did make it available on January 26 —but only sort of. You could pre-order it from that date but the very earliest you would have one in your hands was early February.

HomePod

So it does feel strange to mark the whole of January with an item that wouldn’t technically come out until the next month. Yet it now also feels peculiar to think that there was ever a time when we didn’t have HomePods.

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.

Posted on December 25, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Here’s how to get started with your new iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, or MacBook Pro

Whether you’ve got a new Mac for yourself or you’re giving one to someone, you’ve heard that “it just works”. That’s actually true, for the most part, but it’s still going to take you or your lucky gift recipient a while to get used to the Mac. Let AppleInsider show you how to get going.

Editor’s note: If you’re a grizzled AppleInsider veteran, there is probably nothing new for you here. But, there are a lot of things that we can all take for granted when helping somebody else out. So, if you’re not there or just want to help somebody out, show them this, or print out our guide for them.

Whether you’re on an iMac, a Mac mini MacBook, you are going to see how it’s the ease of use that makes people so passionate about Apple. Macs are certainly gorgeously designed machines but that extends far deeper than the metal shell and into a sense of just getting on with what you want to do rather than fiddling all the time.

Apple doesn’t do that peculiar thing that many companies do of congratulating you for getting their product, but we will. Well done, you’ve got yourself a great thing here. And if you’re giving one to someone, you are a star.

Getting it out of the box

There are countless unboxing videos on YouTube and it’s not like you really needed any to figure out how to open up the packaging. Once you get beyond that, once the device is in your hands, that’s when everything really starts.

Unboxing a Mac

There was a TV ad once for Apple that said the three steps to getting a Mac onto the internet were 1) plug it into the mains, 2) plug it into the internet and 3 – there’s no step 3. It was a funny ad at the time and a huge contrast to the fiddling you had to do with PCs plus it’s still true. Except step 2 is a bit more involved now.

Back then you had a phone line and you plugged it into the wall; now we have Wi-Fi and that takes a touch more setting up.

We also have iPhones, iPads, portable Macs, Apple Watches, Touch ID, data privacy settings, iCloud —we just have a lot of stuff and your Mac plugs into all of it. So step 2 now involves setting up things about you such as what language you want to use plus what your wifi network is.

It is a little frustrating: you switch on your Mac for the first time and have to go through a fair few questions before you can do anything. They each make sense, they’re each important and you can’t believe how gorgeous the text type design is along the way. This isn’t your parents’ dialog boxes, this is as close to aesthetically pleasing as filling out a form will ever be.

The differences

Every Mac takes you through the same steps as you set it up —except for two things. The first is that if you bought any MacBook model then just opening the lid starts the setup process. It can do that because the machine ships with a charged battery but that will have depleted since it left the factory. Even though you’ve got a portable, plug it into power anyway.

The other difference is also with MacBooks but specifically the MacBook Pro with Touch ID and that’s what is different —you need to set up Touch ID. If you’ve got one of these MacBooks, you’ll be prompted to add Touch ID toward the end of the setup process.

Setting up Touch ID later (credit: Apple)

This is something you can skip during the initial setup process and add later through System Preferences, Touch ID. Whether you do it right away or after you’ve got everything else set up, do go through this process.

The ability to unlock your MacBook by pressing your finger or thumb on the Touch Bar is what sells this to us but you can also use it with Apple Pay when you’re buying online.

Back to the regular setup

Excluding Touch ID, the setup procedure for a Mac takes ten steps and if that seems a lot, it is doubtlessly the very fewest that Apple could make it. The aim is to get you through to working on your Mac in the fastest way but also while making it clear what you’re doing.

There’s also the case that you might be entirely new to a Mac and need to understand more about the steps. Equally, you could be coming from an older Mac and so need to know about moving your old data.

Getting closer

To cover all of the possibilities in the most efficient way, each new Mac begins with a Setup Assistant.

Getting started with Setup Assistant

The very first thing your Mac does after starting up is to ask you what country you’re in. You’ll see a map of the world: click on your country. Then you’ll be asked about your preferred language.

Apple is a US company so if you live in the States you can practically click through all the defaults but if you prefer to write in French or British English, for instance, you may need to click on Show All to see every possible option.

Choosing this now sets up many things and you’ll see one of them next because after you’ve clicked on Continue, your Mac will ask you about your keyboard.

Even if you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro which obviously comes with a keyboard built in, you’ll be asked this because your answer changes how that or any other keyboard is treated by the Mac.

If you’ve said that you’re in the States, the Mac will default to offering you US QWERTY and if that’s what you want, you just click Continue again. However, here’s where you can say you prefer France’s AZERTY layout.

It obviously won’t physically change, for instance, the Q key on your keyboard to an A, but it will change what you get the keys on your keyboard but it will change what you get when you press that Q.

Later you can make many changes to what keyboard layout your Mac uses

Next, Wi-Fi

Next you’re asked about your Wi-Fi network. This is the same network you’ve already got —if you’ve already got one. If you haven’t then you can skip this step and worry about it later but otherwise get your Wi-Fi username and password from the back of your router and type that in.

Now you’re asked about that old Mac you might have. It is unquestionably a superb thing that Apple includes this: you can just say yes, you’ve got an old Mac and Apple will connect to it over WiFi or a cable and take your files and documents for you. Brilliant and superb. Just very, very slow.

That’s not unreasonable: you could have gigantic numbers of documents, photos and movies. Yet you’ve got this Mac, you’re getting fidgety answering these few questions, the Migration Assistant as its called could take so long that Christmas Day will be over before it’s finished. So between us, even if you do have an old Mac, skip this step for now. Later tonight you can run Migration Assistant and leave it doing its stuff while you sleep. For now, skip.

Nearly there. Just another layer of protective plastic to go

Having got you online to your Wi-Fi network and also asked you what country you’re in, your Mac wants to go a touch further and asks you to enable location services. This is your saying okay, yes, apps I use can know where my Mac is. Do it. Later when you open Maps to find a route somewhere or to eye up a friend’s fancy new house, Maps will start at your place instead of a general view of the world.

Apple ID and iCloud

You need an Apple ID. It’s how you sign in to your Mac, it’s how you sign in to iCloud. So it’s part of what means your documents are safe from anyone else who happens by your computer and it’s how you identify yourself so that you can buy apps or music and know that it’s your credit card that gets dinged instead of someone else’s.

Apple ID is a can of worms, though: if you’re starting out fresh and this is not only your first Mac but your first Apple device, we rather envy you. Choose Create a Free Apple ID and set one up here.

Your Apple ID is central to everything you do on a Mac

If you’re already an iPhone or iPad user, though, you’ve already got an Apple ID. You could create a new one and many, many Mac users have somehow ended up with several of these things but that is precisely why we say it’s

a can with worms in. You can’t believe how endlessly confusing it can be having multiple Apple IDs. So if you have one from your iPhone, use that. If you haven’t, create a new free one and let us never speak of this again.

Terms and Conditions

We should caution you that the terms and conditions are important and that you should always read them —but you won’t do it and we’ve only done it a few times.

User account

You’ve got an Apple ID and you have the Mac in front of you, that should be enough to be getting on with but macOS needs more. Any one Mac can be used by many people and each one gets their own account. It’s so that they can open up the Mac, log in and do their work, see their documents, without seeing anyone else’s.

Only, even if you are the sole person who will ever work on this one, you still have to setup an account. It means providing a username and a password. By default, macOS will suggest a username that it derives from the full name you have registered in your Apple ID.

You can change that, though, and you can set any password you like. Similarly, you can also change the image that’s associated with your new user account. By default, macOS assigns a brightly colored symbol but you can later change it to a photograph of yourself.

It’s not for ego. It’s for when two or more people are using the Mac. Having a photo of you both makes it that much quicker to see which account you want to log in to.

Diagnostics, Siri and that could be it

You’re into the home stretch now and the next question is particularly easy and simple. Apple asks if you are okay with your Mac automatically sending bug reports to Apple itself and to the developers of software you use. Just say yes to both by ticking the two boxes.

It’s not as if Microsoft will be sent your Great American Novel every time Word crashes. It’s that the apps can report more technical of what was happening when something goes wrong and it is just in all ways a good thing.

Siri in action on a MacBook

Next, you need to tick to say that yes, you want Siri. Even if we could argue for an age about how Siri is infinitely more useful on an iOS device or the Apple Watch, it is at least a little useful everywhere. So this is another one where we recommend that you switch it on now.

If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, now is the time you’re prompted through setting it up. It’s very similar to the process you had on iPhones plus if you’re in a hurry, you can add one fingerprint now and leave others to later.

Then there is just one more choice and it’s a new one. The last thing you’re asked is to Choose Your Look. You’re given a choice between a Light or a Dark appearance to your Mac.

The Light one is how Macs have always looked. The Dark mode is a recent addition that changes all the bright white parts of your screen to a more subdued dark or black.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVitY2nC4Eo&w=560&h=315]

The choice is entirely aesthetic and if you already know which one appeals to you the most, choose it. Otherwise, just accept Light as the default.

Finder and macOS

At last, your Mac is on and waiting for you. The first thing you see is called the Finder: it’s the part of the Mac you use to start applications like Excel that you want to work with, it’s where you store and move documents around. The line at the very top of your screen is called the menubar and the bigger, more colorful one at the very bottom is called the Dock.

While you can hide either of these if you want to, usually they are there and fairly unchanging. The Dock is a collection of shortcuts to applications and Apple has put a few in there but you can add your own —and you will.

The menubar is different in every application but it always has an Apple menu at the far left and a clock plus your name toward the right. On the very furthest right it’s got a magnifying glass called Spotlight and an icon of what looks like a list and is called Notification Center.

We’d say Notification Center is where you get notified of things like events in your calendar, the local weather, the most recent emails you’ve received, but in practice you’re likely to forget it’s even there. Maybe that’s just us: it’s a useful feature and well worth your looking at, but we don’t tend to use it.

What we use constantly is the Dock. Click on Pages in the Dock and you’ll see the icon bounce a little as the application starts up, then you’re out of the Finder and into the word processor. The menubar has changed to give you tools for writing in Pages but you’ve still got the Dock. Unless you hunt that Dock down and hide it, you’ve always got it and can always click on any icon to launch another app or switch to one.

Working on the Dock of the Mac

The Dock is more useful than just being a collection of shortcuts. Look at the far right of it and you’ll see icons for the latest apps you’ve opened or the latest documents you’ve downloaded.

Look instead at the far left of the Dock and you’ll see a happy Mac icon which is your Finder. Any time you’re doing anything in any application, you can click on that to go back to the Finder to look for documents.

You just might not realize you’ve done it: you’ll click on the Finder and it will come to the fore but you’ll still see all the documents and windows from Pages or whatever your app is. Click again on the Finder and it will pop open a folder of documents. Or under the Apple menu, choose Hide Others and every other app you’re running will appear to disappear, leaving you to concentrate on the Finder.

Next to the happy Mac face in the Dock you get a Siri icon. Click on this to get Siri to listen to your voice commands. If you’ve got one of the 2018 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models, you can just say “Hey, Siri” and forget this button is here.

Later you can go into System Preferences, Siri and set up a keyboard shortcut to start Siri listening.

If you have any other Mac, well, you might also forget that it’s here but it’s useful when you remember.

After Siri, there’s what looks like a rocket in a circle. This is another way to launch applications: think of the Dock as holding the things you use and like the most but this rocket, called Launch Center, contains everything. If you have an iPhone, you’ll recognise that Launch Center is trying to look like iOS’s home screens with applications arranged in rows.

You get all these apps, by the way, either from the makers’ websites or from the Mac App Store and that’s what the next icon along is. The “A” in a circle is the App Store and is convenient for buying and down- loading tools. It’s like the iPhone App Store except not as essential, really just not as good.

We won’t take you through every icon in your Dock because you have a life and you will also have a different set to us because everyone does. It’s quite fascinating how over time your Dock comes to reflect you and your interests. However, scoot back over to the far right of it where you’ll see a trashcan icon.

The trashcan is where you’ll delete things: drag something into that and the icon will change to show you it’s got files in there. Right-click (or hold down the Ctrl key and click) and you get a menu that includes Empty Trash. When you chose that, that’s when you really delete whatever you’ve thrown away.

Now it’s up to you

If you do nothing else, your Mac is now ready for serious work. It’s got the Pages word processor, for instance, and the Numbers spreadsheet. Unlike PCs, you could never need to add anything else to your Mac.

There is just one last thing we recommend, though.

Take a moment to relish the screen on your Mac. If you got a Mac mini or a Mac Pro and added a rubbish monitor then you’re on your own. However, if you have any iMac or any MacBook, just look at how gorgeous that display is.

You’ve spent a lot of money on this Mac but there won’t be a minute that you regret it.

Posted on December 24, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Reminder: Apple’s $29 iPhone battery replacement program ends December 31

The so-called “batterygate” drama in 2017 resulted in an apology of sorts and a reduced cost iPhone battery replacement program. But, if you need one you’d better hurry, because that offer runs out at the end of 2018.

Editor’s note: this is one of the biggest consumer-facing stories of 2018, and it has an expiration date. If you need that new battery for your iPhone, you’re about out of time to get it.

If your iPhone 6 or other covered model is running slowly, time is running out to do something about it —at least the time is running out to pay less than full price for the service. Apple has been running a reduced cost battery replacement program in response to customer complaints but this ends on December 31, 2018. Thereafter, replacing any iPhone battery will cost you $49 for the iPhone 8 and older, $69 for the iPhone X, iPhone XS family, and iPhone XR instead of the current $29.

The reduced price covers the iPhone 6 and also newer models up to and including the iPhone X and iPhone 8 family. All you have to do is either take your phone to a Genius Bar appointment in an Apple Store or send it in to Apple for repair.

You can check the general state of your battery with a new option in Settings that was introduced as part of this process. Choose Battery, then Battery Health and you’ll see a very basic report. It just says what the maximum capacity of your battery is and whether it is capable of working at peak performance. If it isn’t, then you’ll see a warning message that recommends you get the battery replaced.

To get that done, start at Apple’s online support page and choose iPhone, then Battery & Charging and lastly Battery replacement.

Apple’s online support page for booking Genius Bar appointments

If you’re close enough to an Apple Store, your best bet by far is to click on Bring In for Repair. That’s obviously because it’s faster to take it into a store and wait than use shipping to get your phone to and from Apple.

It might still take you a time to get a Genius Bar appointment at a time that’s convenient to you. However, once you do, the Apple Store will most likely have replacement batteries in stock and it should generally take less than three hours to do.

We’ve had longer waits and at times, especially early in the year, there were delays while stores didn’t have batteries in stock but that situation appears to be alleviated now. There was also an issue that in theory Apple could test your battery, decide it was healthy and not issue you the discounted rate. That, too, appears to be gone: if you want a replacement battery even if it passes battery health tests, just ask and you’ll get one for that $29.

And if your battery really is unhealthy right now, you will see a significant speed improvement when you get it replaced.

Even after January 1, 2019, you’ll still be able to get a replacement. It’s just that you can see that same improvement for fifty bucks less if you get it in before then.

An iPhone 6 Plus battery being removed (Credit: iFixit)

This year-long reduced cost program has been Apple’s apology for how it handled changing iOS to keep older phones working longer. Before it added the publicly-accessible Battery Health option in Settings, Apple included the ability for iOS to assess that health.

Make no mistake —batteries have always been consumable items, and not eternal. They are chemical and physical processes, and they do wear out and break down as time goes on. What changed a year ago is how Apple demonstrates that to the user.

If your battery was showing enough signs of aging, iOS would slow itself down to stay running and not say it was doing so. Apple says that the alternative was to keep apps and the iOS running at maximum speed regardless of how much power the battery could deliver —but users would have faced the phones crashing with no warning should the phone’s power demand exceed what a chemically depleted battery could deliver.

“It should go without saying that we think sudden, unexpected shutdowns are unacceptable.” said Apple in an open letter to customers. “We don’t want any of our users to lose a call, miss taking a picture or have any other part of their iPhone experience interrupted if we can avoid it.”

The trouble is that although Apple said all this, it said it late. It could have told us beforehand, and maybe convince us that it was a good feature for preserving the life of phones. Instead, it told us after people had found their phones running slowly and concocted conspiracy theories about Apple deliberately throttling old phones to make us buy new ones.

Lawsuits were launched and claims were made about the company acting in “deceptive, immoral, and unethical” ways. Apple issued its public apology in December last year and announced the reduced-cost battery program would run for all of 2018. It also reached out to customers who’d bought a full-price replacement battery throughout 2017.

Posted on December 22, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Amazon has the Apple Watch Series 4 on sale for $365, plus iPads for $249 with free delivery by Christmas

By Christine McKee
Saturday, December 22, 2018, 01:21 pm PT (04:21 pm ET)

Amazon is issuing last minute savings on Apple devices, including the brand-new Apple Watch Series 4. Now as low as $365 with a bonus 5% clippable coupon, this deal represents the lowest price we’ve seen to date on the new devices. Apple’s 2018 iPad is also marked down by $80 with free delivery by Christmas.

In what is the lowest price we’ve seen to date on the Apple Watch Series 4, Amazon is knocking $15 off the 40mm GPS Only model with a Silver Aluminum case and White Sport Band by $15 instantly and tacking on a 5% off clippable coupon (just click the check box next to “Save an extra 5% when you apply this coupon” to activate the bonus savings on the landing page). This brings the price down to $365, the lowest price we’ve seen on the new device. Other models and sizes are also $15 off, with all of the deals available in our Apple Watch Price Guide.

Need a last minute gift by Christmas? Amazon also has Apple’s standard 2018 iPad in Gold on sale for $249.99 with free delivery by Christmas. These offers can change at any time, so don’t delay.

Apple deals at Amazon

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:

Posted on December 22, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Bonus coupon: Save $50 on every 2018 Mac mini with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, plus no tax outside NY & NJ

Exclusive

By Christine McKee
Friday, December 21, 2018, 08:16 pm PT (11:16 pm ET)

Apple authorized reseller Adorama is knocking $50 off every single 2018 Mac mini with Apple’s 10 Gigabit Ethernet upgrade. This deal also includes free shipping with no tax collected on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey, making this exclusive offer the most aggressive discount available.

Delivering the lowest prices available, Apple authorized reseller Adorama is knocking $50 off every 2018 Mac mini with 10Gb Ethernet capability with coupon code APINSIDER. When paired with a 10Gb switch, customers can expect faster file transfers, all while future proofing your network connectivity. In addition to the exclusive coupon discount, Adorama will not collect sales tax on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey. For many shoppers outside those two states, this can equate to anywhere from $120 to $370 in savings compared to buying from Apple directly. Since Adorama is an Apple authorized reseller, these are the same factory sealed systems you woud get from Apple.

To activate the discount, you must shop through the pricing links below or in our 2018 Mac mini Price Guide and apply promo code APINSIDER during checkout. Need help? Send us a note at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist.

Quad-core 10GbE Mac mini deals

Six-core 10GbE Mac mini deals

Additional Apple Deals

Posted on December 21, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Fifth-generation iPad mini rumored for revival in early 2019

By Malcolm Owen
Friday, December 21, 2018, 04:36 am PT (07:36 am ET)

Apple may be preparing a new version of the iPad mini, a report from a Chinese newspaper claims, with a fifth-generation version of the pint-sized tablet allegedly on the way, coupled with other changes to the iPad lineup in 2019.

iPad mini 4

The iPad mini has not received an update since the announcement of the fourth-generation version in September 2015, with the lack of changes to the product in over three years suggesting the device line is probably on its way out, and faces removal from the iPad roster completely. While there has been little movement for the smaller iPad model in recent years, that may change in a few months.

China Business Times sources claim Apple will be launching two low-priced models of the iPad in 2019. It is alleged Apple is doing so because it saw “outstanding results” for the 2017 9.7-inch iPad followed by a sales decline, allegedly due to it not releasing a “new low-priced iPad” in 2018, though the launch of the 2018 iPad in March suggests this means the fiscal 2018 rather than calendar year.

A new low-priced model of the 7.9-inch iPad mini is slated to arrive in the first half of 2019, with the supply chain starting production for the model in late December. It is unknown if there will be any major changes to the device’s design, as observed for the iPad Pro.

A 2019 iPad is also planned, but according to the report, it will be undergoing a refresh that seems similar in many respects to the iPad Pro alterations. While still a low-priced option, the iPad will apparently have a larger screen that’s more than 10 inches in size, while also having a narrower frame.

The new iPad is said to be mass-produced sometime in 2019, for release in the second half of the year.

Along with introducing rumors, the publication also claims Apple is switching some of its sources for iPad display panels from Japanese producers to BOE, based in South Korea. It is claimed this is part of a cost-cutting measure for Apple.

While the China Business Times has a good track record with supply chain information, like the iPad display panel topic, it has a poor track record in predicting Apple’s future product plans.

Posted on December 19, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Apple says some 2018 iPad Pro units ship with bent chassis, not considered a defect

By Mikey Campbell
Wednesday, December 19, 2018, 02:40 pm PT (05:40 pm ET)

Apple on Wednesday confirmed “some” 2018 iPad Pro models ship out to consumers with a slightly bent chassis, though the company says the deformation does not degrade performance and is not considered a defect.

An 11-inch iPad Pro exhibits a bend out of the box. | Source: The Verge

In a statement to The Verge, Apple said the bend is a byproduct of the manufacturing process. Specifically, the warpage results from a cooling process affecting the tablet’s metal and plastic components.

Supporting Apple’s claims are photos of bent iPad Pro units that exhibit bends at or near the plastic antenna “lines” that trace their way around cellular-capable versions of the device. The company did not specify whether the issue is restricted to LTE models, but users of Wi-Fi only versions have posted complaints regarding similar bending to social media outlets.

Reports of curved or bent iPad Pro models began circulating online shortly after the device debuted in November. Some impacted users have claimed the bend slowly emerges after weeks of use, while others noticed an abnormal curvature out of the box.

According to Apple’s statement on the matter, affected iPad Pro units arrive bent from the factory. Indeed, The Verge sent a bent unit to Apple’s engineering team and received a brand new replacement that exhibited the same curve in its aluminum chassis.

Whether the tablets also bend, or bend further, over the course of daily use is unknown.

One of the first documented cases appeared on YouTube when JerryRigEverything destroyed an iPad Pro with what appeared to be minimal effort. As AppleInsider noted at the time, most modern devices are designed to be as thin as possible, making them susceptible to warping under severe stress. Apple reduces the chance of buckling through the use of high grade aluminum and internal support structures, though even its products cave when enough pressure is applied.

For its part, Apple told The Verge that concerns over the tablet’s structural integrity are unfounded.

The report notes owners who receive a bent unit from the factory should be able to replace it with little trouble. More severe warping due to accidental damage would necessitate an AppleCare+ claim or out-of-pocket fee for replacement. That said, Apple typically does not conduct free replacements beyond a customary two-week grace period, meaning owners who are just now noticing a bend in their iPad Pro might be out of luck.

Apple points out that its latest iPad Pro is seeing a normal return rate, suggesting most users have not observed or are not bothered by the manufacturing side effect. That could change in the coming weeks as today’s report circulates. Consumers who pay upwards of $800 for a tablet undoubtedly want a perfect device, one free from even the slightest aesthetic foible.

Apple has dealt with similar problems in the past, most notably the so-called “bendgate” controversy that afflicted iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones in 2014. The first of Apple’s phablet-sized handsets, the iPhone 6 series was for some users prone to bending during everyday use. Apple rectified the problem by utilizing stronger 7000 series aluminum in its devices starting with iPhone 6s in 2015.

Posted on December 19, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Amazon drops 2018 iPads down to $229 ($100 off) with free delivery by Christmas

By Christine McKee
Tuesday, December 18, 2018, 09:48 pm PT (12:48 am ET)

In what is the lowest price we’ve seen to date on Apple’s 2018 9.7-inch iPad, Amazon has units in stock at just $229, a discount of $100 off MSRP. What’s more, these tablets ship for free with delivery by Christmas.

These iPad deals offer shoppers the lowest prices available with the 32GB Silver model qualifying for free delivery in time for Christmas. Supplies may be limited at the special prices, and these deals have a high likelihood to sell out quickly. For even more iPad discounts, including deals on 2018 iPad Pros, be sure to visit our full iPad Price Guide.

iPad deals

Accessories

Additional Apple Deals

Posted on December 18, 2018 by — Leave a comment

iPhone XS & iPhone XS Smart Battery case leaks out in Apple marketing document

By William Gallagher
Tuesday, December 18, 2018, 03:55 am PT (06:55 am ET)

A merchandise guide produced for Apple retailers is showing the clearest evidence yet that Apple is readying a Smart Battery case for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

A merchandising guide intended for Apple retail employees features a range of iPhone cases including two with the distinctive hump of an extra battery. The guide was produced for Fall 2018 and contains no technical information surrounding wireless charging, and no other indication of the Smart Battery beyond thumbnail images listed as being for the iPhone XS Max and iPhone XS.

The leaked document first reported by Appleosophy is one page from a guide for Stores about both what Apple merchandise is available and how best to display it all. Some 96 different iPhone cases are shown with the instruction that they should be displayed in store “left to right starting with neutrals, moving into cool, and then warm colors.”

Leaked merchandising page (Credit: Applosophy)

Leaked merchandising page (Credit: Appleosophy)

The two thumbnail images featuring a battery-style hump are both in neutral black. There does not appear to be a white Smart Battery accessory nor any for models but the XS ones.

The leaked image is from page 14 of a document called “Premium Accessory Merchandising Guidelines Fall 2018” specially in a section called “Overview Examples.” This suggests that the Smart Battery accessories were expected to be available at least approximately when the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max launched. It seems unlikely that they will now be added before Christmas and the New Year.

It’s previously been believed that Apple was to launch three such accessories, not just two. This was based on part numbers and icons found within watchOS 5.1.2.

An iPhone 6 with the original 2015 Apple Smart Battery Case

In 2015, Apple released a Smart Battery case for the iPhone 6s which extended the life of the phone up to 25 hours. When you’ve charged both case and phone together, the Smart Battery Case depletes first so that your iPhone remains fully charged for as long as possible.

This new leak appears to confirm that the new case will retain the 2015 model’s hump but positioned lower down the case. The original design’s shape was criticized for how it made putting the case on and taking it off an iPhone more difficult versus alternatives.

Posted on December 16, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Steve Jobs wanted ultra-optimized US manufacturing, Apple vets say

By Roger Fingas
Sunday, December 16, 2018, 03:50 pm PT (06:50 pm ET)

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was, for a time, deadset on U.S.-based manufacturing of computers, an effort which collapsed after just eight years.

A factory in Milpitas, Calif., circa 1984.

Jobs had “deep convictions” about Japanese-style manufacturing, according to Randy Battat, who told the New York Times about his time as an electrical engineer at Apple and helping to launch early laptops. The company established U.S.-based Macintosh manufacturing in the early 1980s, beginning with a heavily automated factory in Fremont, Calif.

“The Japanese were heralded as wizards of manufacturing,” Battat explained. “The idea was to create a factory with just-in-time delivery of zero-defect parts. It wasn’t great for business.”

In fact the result was “really shameful” and slipshod, said Jean-Louis Gassee, a French office automation specialist who became president of Apple’s product division in 1988, well after Jobs’ departure. He blamed the issue at least in part on overall deficiencies in U.S. infrastructure.

“We don’t have a manufacturing culture,” Gassee complained, “meaning the substrate, the schooling, the apprentices, the subcontractors.”

President Donald Trump and others have urged companies like Apple to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Decades of corporate offshoring have drained the country of its capabilities in that area however, and higher labor, safety, and environmental standards would likely increase Apple’s expenses and already high pricetags. The company has nevertheless done some U.S. manufacturing in the post-Jobs era, namely building the cylindrical Mac Pro in a factory in Austin.