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At least in the 4th quarter of 2020 according to Gartner
The popularity of Apple’s iPhone 12 helped them become the top smartphone vendor for the 4th quarter of 2020 and rise to rank as the number two smartphone vendor for all of 2020 behind Samsung.
According to the Gartner numbers Apple saw almost 15% year over year growth in the 4th quarter and secured 20.8 percent of the global smartphone marketshare
Gartner estimates that Apple sold 79.94 million during the quarter.
This is despite an overall decline in the smartphone market of 5.4 percent.
And for the year Apple saw an overall growth in iPhone sales of 3.3 while the industry as a whole experienced a 12.5 percent decline.
IDC also had reports that Apple’s iPhone 12 was big in Japan for the 4th quarter of 2020
They estimated that 52.6 percent of all smartphones sold in the 4th quarter in Japan were iPhones
Apple saw a 13.8% year-on-year increase in shipments in Japan shipping an estimated 6 million units
For all of 2020 in Japan iPhones accounted for 46.5 percent of the smartphone market
According to DigiTimes the iPhone 13 models are expected to adopt Qualcomm's Snapdragon X60 5G modem
The chips use a 5nm process are more efficient and smaller than the Snapdragon X55 modems used in iPhone 12
They are able to aggregate 5G data from both mmWave and sub-6GHz bands simultaneously
Apple blocks Silver Sparrow
I told you last time about a couple of new pieces of malware that have been compiled to run natively on Apple Silicon
One of the packages is called “Silver Sparrow” and is malicious package that takes advantage of the macOS Installer JavaScript API to execute remote commands
Red Canary a security firm who discovered the malware never saw any report payload executions and could not determine the nature of the exploit
Still Apple has now taken steps to stop Silver Sparrow before it can do anything according to MacRumors
Apple has has revoked the certificates of the developer accounts used to sign the packages, so no further Macs could become infected.
And for any app distributed outside the Mac App store Apple says they have "industry-leading" mechanisms in place to block attacks.
They are likely referring to recent policies that require all Mac software developed with a Developer ID from outside the MAS to be run through their “notary” service.
This scans for malicious content and code-signing issues.
On the iOS side Apple also appears to be making some exploits harder for hackers according to a report by Motherboard
Since 2018 Apple has employed a cryptography security feature called Pointer Authentication Codes
These prevent attackers from leveraging corrupted memory to inject malicious code
Staring iOS 14.5 Apple has developed a way to extend these protections to ISA pointers which are pointers that tell a program what code to use when it runs
This will make zero click attacks and sandbox escape attacks much hard to execute on iOS
This doesn’t mean these exploits will become impossible, but it will make it much more difficult.
Some pro users of M1 Macs are noting some potentially concerning numbers for 'TBW', or total bytes written, on the machines SSD
They are reporting drives that already are displaying anywhere from 3 to 13 percent of the TBW numbers
At these rates it would mean the drives could be reaching 100% TBW in just a year or two.
While you can continue to use an SSD with 100% TBW reliability becomes a serious concern
It’s very likely at this point that the numbers are errors in software or that there are issues with smart monitoring tools which are also "notorious for misreporting"
Either way I’m sure it’s something Apple is looking into and will likely be resolved.
I don’t cover macOS incremental updates too much but macOS Big Sur 11.2.2 has an important feature for owners of later model MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs
The update contains code to protect 2019 or later MacBook Pro models and 2020 or Later MacBook Air models from being damaged when connected to certain third-party, non-compliant powered USB-C hubs and docks.
‘Epic’ animated series coming to Apple TV+
Deadline did an interview with the directors of Wolfwalkers, the Golden Globe nominated film on Apple TV+ from Cartoon Saloon
In the interview Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart were asked about what’s next for the studio
They mentioned a new film called “My Father’s Dragon” though they did not tie it’s release to Apple
But they also said they are planning a 12 episode hand-drawn animated series that will be coming to Apple TV+
Episodes will be 30 minutes and the series will end with a hour-long special
The series is not announced yet, but they described it as a “big series” and called it “epic”
The sequel to HBO’s “Band of Brothers” is also coming to Apple TV+
The series is called “Masters of Air” and it’s the first series to be from Apple’s own internal production studio
This week Deadline reported that Austin Butler and Callum Turner will star in the series.
"Masters of Air" is based on the novel "Masters of the Air" by Donald L. Miller. It follows the story of the American and British bomber boys in World War II.
The Golden Globes happened Sunday night and while AppleTV+ shows were up for several awards
Best Motion Picture, Animated – “Wolfwalkers”
Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy – “Ted Lasso”
Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture – Bill Murray in “On The Rocks”
Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy Series – Jason Sudeikis in “Ted Lasso”
Jason Sudeikis won. Making it the first Golden Globe win for an Apple TV+ show or film
Significant changes coming for MacBook Pro
We’ve been hearing about a lot of the “pro” features making their way back to this years upcoming Apple Silicon MacBook Pro updates
This week Ming-Chi Kuo is confirming earlier rumors we heard from Mark Guramn about the return of the SSD slot and the HDMI port
Previously both Kuo and Gurman said Apple will have redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros this year that will not only include the new ports, but also bring back the MagSafe connector and ditch the TouchBar.
Flat-edge bottom and top design.
The new machines may also be the first Macs to feature Mini-LED displays
No specific release dates being mentioned beyond just the second half of 2021
Prosser is claiming that this years iMac line up could bring colors back to the iMac
He says Apple will use the same colors as last years iPads, space gray, silver, rose gold, green, and sky blue.
Kuo and Gurman hav both mentioned that Apple’s iMac will have a significant redesign this year with a look more like the Pro Display XDR
Flat back and no “chin”
Prosser also briefly discussed the new Mac Pro design being “less than half the size” of the existing MacPro
It’s being likened to the old G4 Cube and Prosser says the design will have the compute unit on the bottom with a big heat sink on top.
It’s also expected that Apple will release updated iPad Pros with min-LED displays
Updates are expected to be mostly evolutionary with updated A14X processors and 5G support
The mini-LED displays might be limited to the 12.9-inch model.
Could come near the ned of the first quarter or early in the second quarter
Apple Pay now in Mexico
Available to Citibanamex and Banorte customers
Now seven years after launch Apple Pay is already available in over 60 countries
Israeli mobile banking service Pepper updated it’s mobile app with release notes that mention a “surprise” coming soon and that had a splash screen indicating you could add your card to Apple’s wallet
The Apple Pay references were quickly removed in another update.
Indicating that Apple Pay also may be coming to Israel soon.
Target will update Apple store within store
They are planning to create “Apple shopping destination” experiences at retail stores in the United States
Sounds pretty similar to previous “store within a store” experiences Apple has done in the past like at Best Buy and CompUSA back in the day
They will bring Apple products products and accessories together in one space
With demos and questions answered for shoppers by Apple trained Target Tech Consultants
It’s being rolled out to 17 Target locations now and will expand to other locations this year.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Follow-up Apple Watch Allergies
Play comment from Bill
Amazing level of customer support and customer service for sure.
Easy Email Signatures
Bob wrote in to say he just created his in Notes
Only really offers “basic” formatting.
Can add images, from the web, but can’t really do much formatting out side basic stuff.
