Apple reported $81.43 billion in revenue, up 36 percent year over year, and profit of $21.74 billion
The same quarter last year Apple pulled in revenue of $59.7 billion and profit of $11.25 billion
Revenue by category
$39.57 billion: iPhone (Up 49.7% YOY)
$8.24 billion: Mac (Up 16.38% from $6.5B)
$7.37 billion: iPad (Up 12% from $6.6B)
$8.78 billion: Wearables, Home, and Accessories (Up 36.12% from $6.5B)
$17.49 billion: Services (Up 32.90% from $13.2B)
Half of the customers who purchased a Mac or iPad during the June quarter were completely new to the product.
Nearly 75 percent of customers who purchased an Apple Watch during the quarter were new to the Apple Watch
Apple now has more than 700 million paid subscriptions to it’s services, which is up 150 million from last year
Apple maybe betting big on iPhone 13
Citing sources from CNBeta MacRumors says that Apple has asked its A14 chip suppliers, specifically TSMC to boost this years production by 25 percent
The indication is that would mean Apple plans to produce about 100 million iPhone 13 handsets
DigiTimes reports that Apple supplies have been preparing to fulfill orders for 60 million mmWave 5G-capable units indicating more units will be mmWave capable.
Apple may bring mmWave to Australia, Japan, Canada, and other major European carriers
This years A-series processor will feature the same six-core CPU with four high-efficiency cores and two high-performance cores and use and same 5nm manufacturing process as the A12. But it will still be an enhanced version of the design offering more performance and more energy efficiency
Apple chip supplier TSMC is planning to manufacture chips with a 2nm fabrication process by 2024
The efficiency will be important, especially in the higher end models which are expected to get 120Hz Pro Motion displays and also could possibly offer an always on lock-screen and functionality
This years models will also likely come with larger battery capacities.
reports from DigiTimes claims that Apple continues to work on ways for making more space for batteries in their products
One way would be by adopting more integrated passive devices (IPDs) for the peripheral chips because they are slimmer and take up less internal space.
Analysts at JP Morgan Chase have said that next years iPhone 14 could be the first iPhone to feature a titanium chassis
Titanium is three to four times stronger than stainless steel but lighter.
Titanium is also prone to oil from fingerprints, but Apple has been working on thin oxide coatings to counteract the effect.
Larger M1 iMacs likely not coming this year
At least if you want to believe Twitter leaker Dylandkt
He tweeted that Apple’s “high-end iMac” would not be released along with Apple’s other “M1X Macs”.
We’ve been expecting Apple to launch their updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with Apple silicon this Fall, with Apple M1X processors
New models of the Mac recently appeared in the Eurasian Economic Commission database along with seven perviously unseen models of the Apple Watch
Bloomberg has also been predicting a larger iMac with M1X or M2X chips, but have not speculated as to a launch timeframe.
Dylandkt eludes to production delays and not wanting to have their products “compete for attention” as a reason for Apple to delay the iMac announcement.
Mark Gurman from Bloomberg has shared his predictions for what he thinks the Apple Silicon roadmap will look like over the next 12 months.
He thinks Apple will cut it close on meeting it’s promised “two-year” deadline, which arrives in November of 2022, for the transition of all Macs to Apple Silicon
He claims the M1X MacBook Pro updates are “on track” to release in the coming months
Expects an updated “high end” Mac mini “soon after that”
The iMac transition in Gurman’s view will happen by the end of next year
And he claims a “revamped, smaller Mac Pro with Apple Silicon” is coming “later next year as well.”
The smaller Mac Pro is expected to be about half the size of the current model
He expects the Intel Mac Pro to get one more update with Intel Ice Lake Xeon W-3300 workstation CPUs before transitioning to Apple Silicon
Apple this week did roll out three new GPU options for the current Mac Pro
the Radeon Pro W6800X MPX Module, the Radeon Pro W6800X Duo MPX Module, and the Radeon Pro W6900X MPX Module.
They are available as BTO options or as standalone modules
He also mentioned a redesigned MacBook Air with a MagSafe connector coming in 2022
Apple recently started selling the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID as a separate purchase
Previously you could only get it with the purchase of a 24-inch M1 iMac
They have both a compact version (USD $149) and an version with numeric keypad (USD $179)
There is also a refreshed version without TouchID, USD $99
They only come in silver, no colors but they do have the new braided Lightning to USB-C cable
The TouchID versions are still only compatible with M1 Macs
There’s also a new Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse, though not really clear how they are different than the previous gen?
Design Changes coming for iPad Air
But not the iPad mini or iPad 9 according to a report from Mac Otakara
They say the design for the fifth-generation iPad Air will still use a 10.9 inch display and a TouchID button on the side but will add a dual lens camera system with Wide and Ultra Wide cameras.
It’s unclear if the model will get the LiDAR Scanner
It will also have a a four speaker audio system and a 5G mmWave chip.
It’s expected to adopt an A15 processor
The report didn’t mention, like other have, if would get an OLED display and they didn’t talk abut when the new iPad would be available, though other recent reports have suggested an early 2022 release
The Mac Otakara report also claimed that, beyond getting an updated A14 processor, the next generation iPad and iPad mini would not be getting any other design changes
That seems to contradict recent reports we’ve had that the iPad mini would have a larger display and no home button with reduced bezels to retain the existing physical size
Recently Ross Young at Display Supply Chain Consultants claimed that the new iPad mini will feature an 8.3-inch display.
Ted Lasso sets new records for Apple
Speaking to Deadline Apple said the premiere of Ted Lasso season two yielded new highs for viewership
It set new highs for Apple for viewership on a single day and viewership across the weekend.
Over Lasso’s premiere weekend Apple TV+ saw a 50 percent growth in new viewers week over week, and the show also boosted watch time of "Schmigadoon," "Physical," and "Mythic Quest."
According to data from Parrot Analytics in the US the season two premiere of Ted Lasso was also the second-most in-demand digital original just behind Disney+'s new Marvel series "Loki."
It was also the the seventh-most in-demand digital original series in the world.
So AppleTV+ continues to have shows and series that are popular and win accolades, but that doesn’t seem to help with their share of the streaming TV market
JustWatch reported AppleTV+ has just a 3% share of the streaming market in the United States
To be fair the market is extremely fragmented with Netflix on top with 28%, Amazon Prime at 20%, Disney+ at 14%, Hulu at 13%, HBO Max at 9%, Peacock (paid) at 4%, other 9%
The numbers have not stopped Apple from pursuing great new shows and content
The Writers Guild of America has said that Apple will produce a 4th season of the Ronald Moore series “For All Mankind”
Apple TV+ shows picked up eight Imagen Award nominations for shows including Ghostwriter, Little Voice, The Mosquito Coast, and Ted Lasso
Apple will bring a film production of the hit Broadway musical Come From Away to Apple TV+ before the end of this year.
Apple has acquired the rights for a new spy thriller from Matthew Vaughn called "Argyle" based on a spy novel of the same name from author Ellie Conway.
Apple will likely pay around $200 million for the film.
Shooting is expected to start later this year an it will star Henry Cavill, singer Dua Lipa, as well as John Cena, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, Catherine O'Hara, and Bryan Cranston.
One show on Apple TV+ seems to be the first to have not made it for a second season
Little Voice, produced by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions has not been renewed by Apple
Apple did not end up buying Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media company
It did sell for $900M but to a firm backed by Blackstone
Hello Sunshine has been behind The Morning Show, Truth Be Told, and My Kind of Country on Apple TV+
HomePod sales up 180%
In the second quarter of 2021 according to the market intelligence company Omdia
They says sales were up year over year from just under 1 million in the quarter last year to over 2.5 million this year.
They credit the introduction of the lower cost HomePod mini as the main factor in boosting sales.
But not in the way you think. They said there was a rush to buy the discontinued version of the product.
They also say that Apple’s share of the US smart speaker market has increased from 9.6 percent in the first half of last year to 21 percent this year.
Though this number is more than double recent estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners who claim Apple’s share of the US smart-speaker market as of June 2021 was just under 10 percent
They do think that to maintain momentum Apple will need to release new products with more features and options.
Cracking M1 Mac Screen
9to5Mac is reporting on a growing number of reports from Mac users on Reddit and Apple’s Support forums who claim their M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro screens are cracking for no apparent reason
Apple is fixing some under Applecare warranty, but not all
The issue seems to be happening when closing an opening the display.
Apple has alleged in some cases that they damage is from “pressure crack” where a small bit of debris is between the display and the case when it’s closed.
Others are saying that possibly the display is so thin that it’s more susceptible to flexing and pressure
At this point it’s not clear if the issue is widespread, but if you own one of these machine I would be more cautious when opening and closing the display and make sure you’re keeping the keyboard and it’s surface free from debris.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Apple’s new “controversial” child safety features
I would have normally just covered this as a news story, but it has sparked so much debate that I figured we should discuss it as a community
Apple announced three new features coming to Mac and iOS focused on protecting children
The three features are centered around, Siri & Search, Messages, and iCloud Photos respectively
A large part of the effort is focus around stoping the of Child Sexual Abuse Material, or CSAM
The Siri & Search feature is the most basic
You can now ask Siri how to report CSAM or child exploitation and will be pointed to resources for where and how to file a report.
Siri and search will also now step in when users perform searches for queries related to CSAM. It will explain to users that interest in this topic is harmful and problematic, and provide resources from partners to get help with this issue.
Messages
An opt-in service that applies to a child who is in an iCloud Family
When a child receives a sexually explicit image, the image will be blurred and the Messages app will display a warning saying the image “may be sensitive.”
If they choose to try and view the photo they will get a pop-up explaining why the image is considered sensitive and that if they decide to view the image that a parent will be notified. The pop-up also includes a quick link to receive additional help.
There’s also a feature to discourage a child from send an image that is sexually explicit. They will be warned about sending it and if they choose to end it a parent will be notified.
All of this image detection functionality happens on device and only the parent of the child is notified. No information is ever sent to Apple or anyone else
It will only scan images on child devices where you have opted in. Adult nudes are not impacted.
Even if it somehow did, and it doesn’t, it does not notify anyone but the parent (adult) and doesn’t generate an external report
iCloud Photos
This is the one that has triggered the most controversy
For this Apple is partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and using their know database of CSAM image hashes
Before your images are uploaded to iCloud Photo Apple will use on device image analysis to compare images to the know hashes in the CSAM database
The matching process is powered by a cryptographic technology called private set intersection, which determines if there is a match without revealing the result
Private set intersection (PSI) allows Apple to learn if an image hash matches the known CSAM image hashes, without learning anything about image hashes that do not match. PSI also prevents the user from learning whether there was a match.
If there is an on-device match, the device then creates a cryptographic safety voucher that encodes the match result.
A technology called threshold secret sharing is then employed. This ensures the contents of the safety vouchers cannot be interpreted by Apple unless the iCloud Photos account crosses a threshold of known CSAM content.
If the threshold is reached Apple will manually review the report to confirm the match, then disable the user’s account, and sent a report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Apple claims the system has a low error rate of less than 1 in 1 trillion account per year.
Some things to know
Images stored entirely locally are not involved in this process
The CSAM data uses hashes, “abstracted fingerprints of images”. On device Apple creates hashes for images a user’s device wants to sync to iCloud Photos via a machine-learning algorithm called NeuralHash
Images already stored in your iCloud accounts that were previously synced to iCloud Photos won’t be scanned—at least now.
The software generates a safety voucher that contains the hash produced for an image, along with a low-resolution version of the image
A voucher is uploaded for every image, preventing any party (the user, Apple, a government agency, a hacker, etc.) from using the presence or absence of a voucher as an indication of matches
Apple also seeds the uploads with a number of generated false positive matches to ensure that even it can’t create an accurate running tally of matches.
Apple cannot decrypt the vouchers unless the iCloud Photos account crosses a certain threshold for the quantity of CSAM items
Apple is actually one of the last companies to implement a CSAM system for scanning content
Google has been scanning the inboxes of Gmail users for known CSAM since 2008
Microsoft originally developed the system that the NCMEC uses
Facebook started scanning in 2011, Twitter adopted in 2013, Dropbox uses it as well as many others.
There is sone indication that Apple had already been scanning for it. In 2019 they updated their privacy policy to state they scan for, "potentially illegal content, including child sexual exploitation material."
So what’s the controversy?
Apple is scanning users’ photos on their devices without consent
Apple could at some point be potentially pressured to expand the system to scan for other types of images though they say the won’t
It would be as simple as adding additional kinds of images to the hash database and technically Apple would be able to expand that.
Still this is exactly the kind of “backdoor” law enforcement asked Apple to build in their end-to-end encryption systems and they refused to build because it could be exploited.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that this is more likely to scan photos of people whom are doing nothing. I doubt their are too many people who traffic in this kind of horrific material uploading it to iCloud. They are in backchannels and darker areas of the web.
Someone could technically hack into your iCloud account and upload CSAM images
If they did, you have bigger problems (use a secure password)
Also, there is an appeals process available, so you could likely prove your account was hacked and that you did not upload the images
Why can’t this be customized on the iPhone’s built in alarm clock?
It has to do with the history of the “snoozable” alarm clock
It was in 1956 that General Electric-Telechron came out with a mechanical alarm clock, the Snooz-Alarm”. They advertised that it, "wakes you, lets you snooze, wakes you again!"
The designers were shooting to have it with a 10-minute snooze. But there was a problem, the snooze function had to be worked in around the existing gearing.
Getting the gear teeth to line up to allow for exactly ten minutes wasn’t possible
Engineers had to make the decision to choose between a snooze gear for nine-plus minutes or ten-plus minutes.
There is some belief that choosing under 10 minutes is also because if you get past the 10-minute mark, your body may start to fall into a deep sleep, making waking up again more unpleasant.
So the reason why it’s set and not changeable is almost purely a decision to stick to the defacto standard and nothing more.
Daniel got a HomePod mini and would like to transition from Amazon Echo to HomePod but is missing some of the “routines” functions that the Echo’s offered
Specifically automatically announcing me the time on the hour and reading from his calendar
Of course with the HomePod you can ask Siri for this information and she will announce it, but this is more about Automation
I looked into it a bit and tried to create a Personal automation within the Shortcuts app.
Open the Shortcuts App and tap on the Automation tab
Tap the “+” and then “Create Personal Automation”
Then you could do a “Time of Day” item setting to repeat daily, but you’d have to set up one for each hour you’d want the time to be announced for.
Then Add actions to get the time, set the playback destination to the AirPod speaker, and speak the text
The trouble is… while this worked perfectly when I ran the actions within the Shortcuts app. It would run and play the output only to my device when the automation ran
I tried adding delays, changing the action order, everything I could think of. Nothing worked.
Not sure if it’s a bug or I am just missing something.
So I turn to the community… is there any way to create “routines” for the HomePod like Daniel wants?
