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Citi reaffirms Apple as top stock pick
Citigroup this week reaffirmed its bullish stance on Apple, maintaining a “Buy” rating and naming it as their top pick. Despite concerns about Apple’s reliance on the Chinese market, Citi remains optimistic about the company’s future performance.
Ghazal Ahmed for Insider Monkey:
“China is the main manufacturing location for Apple with more than 90% manufacturing in China, in our estimates.” – Citigroup
Overall AAPL ranks 1st on our list of the AI stocks that should not be ignored. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
MacDailyNews Take: As always, when it comes to AAPL, especially on the dips: accumulate, accumulate, accumulate.
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The secret to explosive iPhone sales growth is the fourth leg of the stool
If Apple can show growth from all four new phones it releases each year without them cannibalizing one another, the company will have its best chance to see iPhone sales grow meaningfully for the first time since 2022.
One of the first things Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple in 1997 was simplify Apple’s product lineup. At the time that meant four computers: Two laptops and two desktops, each in a pro and consumer version.
“If we had four great products, that’s all we need,” Jobs said at a product launch in 1998.
Three decades later, Apple’s product lineup is much broader… But when it comes to iPhones, four remains the magic number.
Unfortunately for Jobs’ company, not all of the iPhones are equally popular.
Every year since 2020, one of the new iPhone models has lagged its siblings in sales. This year it’s the iPhone 16 Plus, which lands in the middle of the lineup. At $899 in the U.S., it’s more expensive than the baseline iPhone 16 but cheaper than the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, which have better screens.
Looking ahead, Apple is keeping its four iPhones strategy in place, but it may change the approach it takes to finding a successful fourth model for its 2025 lineup.
Instead of a fourth Mini model at the low end of the lineup or a Plus in the middle, Apple may introduce an Air model at the top of the lineup. An Air offering could be distinguished by a lighter-weight device and a higher starting price…
MacDailyNews Take: Drop the numbering system. Forget about “Air” (or do it as described below) and give us the “iPhone Ultra.”
Market it as the ultimate iPhone with all of the latest cutting-edge tech and, importantly, a unique, differential design. An all-new flagship iPhone – that everyone immediately knows upon sight is the flagship iPhone Ultra – will sell better than some alternative base model, be it small or large. It will also increase iPhone ASP.
The lineup should be named thusly:
• 6.3-inch iPhone (year)
• 6.3-inch iPhone Pro (year)
• 6.9-inch iPhone Pro (year)
• 7.1-inch iPhone Ultra (year)
Alternative naming option (rebrand the smallest model as “Air”):
• 6.3-inch iPhone Air (year)
• 6.3-inch iPhone (year)
• 6.9-inch iPhone Pro (year)
• 7.1-inch iPhone Ultra (year)
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HomePad? Apple said to unveil AI wall tablet for home control, Siri and FaceTime calls as early as March 2025
Apple, aiming push more urgently into the smart home market, is said to be nearing the launch of a new product category: a wall-mounted display that can control appliances, handle videoconferencing and use AI to navigate apps.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The company is gearing up to announce the device as early as March and will position it as a command center for the home, according to people with knowledge of the effort. The product, code-named J490, also will spotlight the new Apple Intelligence AI platform, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work is confidential.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is betting that the product can make Apple a force in the smart home segment, where the company has trailed behind Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. in recent years. He has made the device a priority for the company’s engineering and design departments, and is pushing to get it to market after more than three years of development.
The device has a roughly 6-inch screen and looks like a square iPad. It’s about the size of two iPhones side by side, with a thick edge around the display. There’s also a camera at the top front, a rechargeable built-in battery and internal speakers. Apple plans to offer it in silver and black options.
The product has a touch interface that looks like a blend of the Apple Watch operating system and the iPhone’s recently launched StandBy mode. But the company expects most people to use their voice to interact with the device, relying on the Siri digital assistant and Apple Intelligence. The hardware was designed around App Intents, a system that lets AI precisely control applications and tasks, which is set to debut in the coming months.
The product will be marketed as a way to control home appliances, chat with Siri, and hold intercom sessions via Apple’s FaceTime software. It will also be loaded with Apple apps, including ones for web browsing, listening to news updates and playing music. Users will be able to access their notes and calendar information, and the device can turn into a slideshow display for their photos.
MacDailyNews Take: Gurman note that the new smart display (HomePad?) will have options to attach onto walls like a classic home-security panel or with accessory bases with additional speakers that can be placed in the kitchen or on a nightstand, table, or desk.
Somebody’s going to crack the smart home market. After years of fits and starts, it might as well finally be Apple! – MacDailyNews, October 28, 2024
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Ars Technica: Apple’s M4 Pro MacBook Pro is the most impressive
Apple’s new MacBook Pro, powered by the M4 family of chips — M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max — delivers much faster performance and enhanced capabilities. The new MacBook Pro is built for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that transforms how users work, communicate, and express themselves, while protecting their privacy. Now available in space black and silver finishes, the 14-inch MacBook Pro includes the blazing-fast performance of M4 and three Thunderbolt 4 ports, starting with 16GB of memory, all at just $1,599. The 14- and 16-inch models with M4 Pro and M4 Max offer Thunderbolt 5 for faster transfer speeds and advanced connectivity. All models include a Liquid Retina XDR display that gets even better with an all-new nano-texture display option and up to 1000 nits of brightness for SDR content, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, along with up to 24 hours of battery life, the longest ever in a Mac
Andrew Cunningham for Ars Technica:
Boosted RAM capacities, across the entire lineup but most crucially in the entry-level $1,599 M4 MacBook Pro, make the new laptops a shade cheaper and more versatile than they used to be. The new nano-texture display option, a $150 upgrade on all models, is a lovely matte-textured coating that completely eliminates reflections. There’s a third Thunderbolt port on the baseline M4 model (the M3 model had two), and it can drive up to three displays simultaneously (two external, plus the built-in screen). There’s a new webcam. It looks a little nicer and has a wide-angle lens that can show what’s on your desk instead of your face if you want it to. And there are new chips…
[T]he M4 is a solid generational upgrade over the M3, thanks to its two extra efficiency cores on the CPU side. Comparatively, the M4 Pro is a much larger leap over the M3 Pro, mostly because the M3 Pro was such a mild update compared to the M2 Pro.
Honestly, the computer that benefits the most is probably the $1,599 entry-level MacBook Pro, which thanks to the 16GB RAM upgrade and improved multi-monitor support is a fairly capable professional computer. Of all the places where Apple’s previous 8GB RAM floor felt inappropriate, it was in the M3 MacBook Pro. With the extra ports, high-refresh-rate screen, and nano-texture coating option, it’s a bit easier to articulate the kind of user who that laptop is actually for, separating it a bit from the 15-inch MacBook Air.
The M4 Pro version also deserves a shout-out for its particularly big performance jump compared to the M2 Pro and M3 Pro generations. It’s a little odd to have a MacBook Pro generation where the middle chip is the most impressive of the three, and that’s not to discount how fast the M4 Max is — it’s just the reality of the situation given Apple’s focus on efficiency rather than performance for the M3 Pro.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s not the fastest, of course (the M4 Max get that title), but the M4 Pro is the biggest leap over its successor, the M3 Pro. Tons more, including benchmarks, in the full article here.
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THR: Apple TV+’s ‘Before,’ starring Billy Crystal is an unconvincing supernatural dud
Apple calls “Before,” starring Billy Crystal, “a 10-episode atmospheric, character-driven psychological thriller about Eli, a child psychiatrist who, after recently losing his wife, Lynn, encounters a troubled young boy who seems to have a haunting connection to Eli’s past.” The Hollywood Reporter calls it “an unconvincing supernatural dud.”
You could show me any glum, washed-out frame from Before and, even without knowing who was in it or what show it was from, I would be able to identify it as an Apple TV+ show, because there is a certain subset of Apple TV+ programming that relies on excessively dour, bottom-of-the-fish-tank aesthetics as an artificial proxy for earned sobriety.
Very little is earned in Before, which is basically a flimsy direct-to-video movie from the late ’90s stretched to 10 stultifying half-hour episodes.
Stripped completely of any of his familiar comic mannerisms, even when sharing scenes with a rambunctious pug who stands as the show’s most likable character, Crystal is fully convincing as a man who needs more sleep and wishes the faucets from his upstairs bathroom would stop dripping.
Once I stopped caring what was happening in the show, most of my interest was put into wondering if Crystal being generally “fine” was giving Before a modicum of grounding that it didn’t deserve or if there was any chance that a more comfortable dramatic actor might have taken this thin part and somehow elevated it. The conclusion I came to was that Crystal was, if not quite mah-velous, as good as this show could get. He’s not to blame for the lack of supporting players for him to act opposite, nor for the chronologically disorienting narrative that denies him a believable arc.
As a vehicle for Crystal to prove that he can be humorlessly somber, Before at least fulfills a very basic mandate. But as a spiritual thriller with supernatural overtones, it’s a lifeless dud that will do little to change that running joke about Apple TV+ being a repository of star-studded limited series you’ve never heard of.
MacDailyNews Take: “Of which you’ve never heard,” but we digress. Hey, they can’t all be winners!
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Amazon slashes price on Apple iPad (9th Generation) to just $199.99
Amazon has slashed the price on Apple’s iPad (9th Generation), powered by Apple’s A13 Bionic chip, with a 10.2-inch Retina Display, 64GB storage, Wi-Fi, 12MP front/8MP Back Camera, Touch ID, and all-day battery life: 39% off, was $329, now just $199.99 while supplies last.
About this item
• iPadOS + apps: iPadOS makes iPad more productive, intuitive, and versatile. With iPadOS, run multiple apps at once, use Apple Pencil to write in any text field with Scribble, and edit and share photos. iPad comes with essential apps like Safari, Messages, and Keynote, with over a million more apps available on the App Store.
• Fast Wi-Fi Connectivity: Fast Wi-Fi keeps you connected at home, work, school, or wherever you go with your iPad.
• Performance and Storage: The A13 Bionic chip gives you the graphics performance you need. And with all-day battery life, iPad is perfect for playing immersive games and more. Choose from 64GB or 256GB storage options.
• Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard: Apple Pencil (1st generation) transforms iPad into an immersive drawing canvas and the world’s best note‑taking device. The Smart Keyboard features a comfortable typing experience and folds into a slim, lightweight cover for protection. Accessories sold separately
• 10.2-inch Retina Display: With incredible detail and vivid colors, it’s perfect for watching movies or drawing your next masterpiece. True Tone adjusts the display to the color temperature of the room to make viewing comfortable in any light.
• Unlock and pay with Touch ID:— Touch ID is built in, so you can use your fingerprint to unlock your iPad, sign in to apps, and make payments securely with Apple Pay.
• Front and Back Cameras: iPad features a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera that supports Center Stage for videoconferencing and selfies. The 8MP Wide back camera is perfect for capturing photos, 1080p HD video, and scanning documents.
MacDailyNews Take: Crazy price! Get ’em while they last here.
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Apple preps new smart home IP camera in 2026
Apple is making its first foray into the smart home IP camera market, with mass production scheduled for 2026, targeting annual shipments in the tens of millions, according to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Goertek has received the NPI and will be the exclusive assembly supplier.
The smart home IP camera, scheduled for production in 2026, is designed to integrate seamlessly with other Apple hardware products via wireless connectivity. Current global smart home IP camera shipments are 30–40 million units per year, with Apple’s long-term goal of annual shipments of 10+ million units for this product line. This strategic move demonstrates Apple’s continued exploration of growth opportunities in the home market. I believe the user experience will be significantly enhanced by Apple’s great ecosystem and deep integration with Apple Intelligence and Siri.
MacDailyNews Take: Imagine a secure, privacy-focused smart home IP camera for once. Priced right, Apple would sell them by the boatload!
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Messi’s early exit from MLS playoffs a blow to Apple TV
In a blow to Apple TV and Major League Soccer, Lionel Messi’s inaugural MLS playoff campaign came to a disappointing early round one end, as Inter Miami was unexpectedly eliminated by Atlanta United (about whom nobody gives two…). Despite setting a new MLS record with 74 points during the regular season, the World Cup champion’s team couldn’t maintain their momentum in the playoffs. While Messi’s impact on Major League Soccer has been undeniable, his first full season in the league will conclude without a championship title.
Reuters:
It was bad news for those hoping to cash in on the world’s most famous player reaching the finale, including Apple TV, who signed a blockbuster streaming deal with the league in 2022, and for broadcaster Fox, who will also air the Dec. 7 match.
But the 37-year-old has more than proven his worth for the league and his team, experts say, at a vitally important time for the sport in North America, where the World Cup will be staged in 2026.
“Messi has been the type of boost that MLS has needed. The issue for MLS has been attracting stars at the end of their career,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a professor at Smith College and co-author of National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Football. “The special thing about Messi is that he is one of the top five soccer players of all time and even though he is now 37, he still can play, or at least have spurts of truly dominant soccer.”
Despite Saturday’s setback, Messi and his Miami team mates will still compete in next year’s expanded 32-team Club World Cup, which will be held in the United States.
The league announced last month an attendance record of more than 11 million fans across the regular season and Inter Miami told ESPN, opens new tab that they had nearly doubled their revenue since Messi signed in July last year.
Apple said that Messi’s playoff debut was its most-streamed sporting event ever…
MacDailyNews Take: Messi expects Miami to be his final club and his contract is set to expire at the end of next year, so time is ticking loudly for Apple TV, MLS, and MLS Season Pass.
If anyone at Apple wants to leak how many MLS Season Pass subscriptions were canceled in the five minutes after the final whistle blew eliminating Messi’s Inter Miami from the playoffs, we’s love to see them as we expect it’s a shockingly huge number.
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Those bellyaching about Mac mini’s power button location don’t use Macs, so they don’t get it
The designers of Apple’s new, diminutive Mac mini have relocated the power button to the underside of the device. While Apple executives believe this placement aligns with Mac users’ behavior, it has sparked some confusion and debate on X and other social media platforms.
Andrew Orr for AppleInsider:
Apple’s Vice Presidents, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, and John Ternus, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, explained to IThome. They emphasized that the compact form factor still makes it easy to access the button by tucking a finger underneath to press it.
One of the biggest reasons for the seemingly out-of-the-way placement is how infrequently most users actually use the power button. “Honestly, most people almost never use the power button on a Mac,” one of the executives remarked.
That may sound surprising, but it makes sense in the context of how Macs are typically used. Many Mac owners rarely power off their devices completely, relying instead on sleep mode. As a result, reaching for the power button isn’t a daily or even weekly task for most users.
MacDailyNews Take: As we posted on X on November 3rd, “Those criticizing the Mac mini’s physical power button placement are not Mac users, they are crappy Windows PC sufferers.”
Very rarely. Those criticizing the Mac mini’s physical power button placement are not Mac users, they are crappy Windows PC sufferers.
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) November 3, 2024
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EU threatens fines if Apple doesn’t axe geo-blocking on services such as App Store
The European Union has ordered Apple to cease geo-blocking practices on its services, including the App Store, Apple Arcade, Music, iTunes Store, Books, and Podcasts. The EU Commission identified several instances where Apple restricted content based on a user’s location, which is considered a violation of EU consumer protection laws.
The EU has given Apple a one-month deadline to propose solutions to address the identified geo-blocking practices. Failure to comply could result in enforcement actions by national regulators.
Reuters:
“We are stepping up the fight against geo-blocking. No company, big or small, should unjustly discriminate customers based on their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment,” said European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
The EU said Apple had one month to propose commitments on it would address the geo-blocking it had identified.
MacDailyNews Take: And what about contracts and content usage rights?
Apple needs to play a bit harder ball with the EU. Start pulling content and features and, this time, follow through – clearly identifying the Eurocrats as the issue (run some ads, even) – until the people the EU bureaucrats purport to represent begin to exert pressure on these red tape-spewing politicians to get a clue.
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. — MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
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OpenAI and others seek new path to smarter AI as current methods hit hurdles
Artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI are facing significant challenges in developing larger language models. To overcome these hurdles, they are exploring innovative training techniques that mimic human thought processes, aiming to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of AI models.
Reuters:
A dozen AI scientists, researchers and investors told Reuters they believe that these techniques, which are behind OpenAI’s recently released o1 model, could reshape the AI arms race, and have implications for the types of resources that AI companies have an insatiable demand for, from energy to types of chips.
After the release of the viral ChatGPT chatbot two years ago, technology companies, whose valuations have benefited greatly from the AI boom, have publicly maintained that “scaling up” current models through adding more data and computing power will consistently lead to improved AI models.
But now, some of the most prominent AI scientists are speaking out on the limitations of this “bigger is better” philosophy.
Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of AI labs Safe Superintelligence (SSI) and OpenAI, told Reuters recently that results from scaling up pre-training – the phase of training an AI model that uses a vast amount of unlabeled data to understand language patterns and structures – have plateaued…
[R]esearchers are exploring “test-time compute,” a technique that enhances existing AI models during the so-called “inference” phase, or when the model is being used. For example, instead of immediately choosing a single answer, a model could generate and evaluate multiple possibilities in real-time, ultimately choosing the best path forward.
This method allows models to dedicate more processing power to challenging tasks like math or coding problems or complex operations that demand human-like reasoning and decision-making…
“This shift will move us from a world of massive pre-training clusters toward inference clouds, which are distributed, cloud-based servers for inference,” Sonya Huang, a partner at Sequoia Capital, told Reuters.
MacDailyNews Take: We live in interesting times.
Once AGI becomes smarter than Einstein, ask it to design chips for itself with greater energy efficiency that offer the same or better performance or, better yet, have it explain how to build large-scale fusion reactors.
After that:
In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online… Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug. — The Terminator
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Apple releases new firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4
Apple has once again released new firmware updates for its AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 models. This latest update follows a series of recent firmware releases for Apple’s audio devices.
While the specific changes included in firmware versions 7B20 (AirPods 4) and 7B21 (AirPods Pro 2) have not been officially disclosed, the frequent updates suggest that Apple is actively working to improve the performance and features of its AirPods lineup.
Apple recently released a firmware update for the AirPods 4, bringing them to version 7B19. This update aligns with the previous firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2, although the AirPods 4 do not support the Hearing Health features included in the AirPods Pro 2 update.
AirPods firmware updates are automatically installed over-the-air when the AirPods are connected to an iOS device and placed in their charging case. Users cannot manually initiate the update process.
MacDailyNews Note: To check your current firmware for AirPods and/or AirPods Pro, with them connected to your device:
• macOS: Apple menu > About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Bluetooth > Devices > AirPods name > Firmware Version
• iOS/iPadOS: Settings > General > About > Select the AirPods
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Apple TV+ announces nature docuseries ‘The Secret Lives of Animals,’ narrated by Hugh Bonneville
Apple TV+ on Monday announced an all-new 10-part docuseries, “The Secret Lives of Animals,” narrated by SAG Award winner Hugh Bonneville (“Paddington,” “Downton Abbey”). “The Secret Lives of Animals” highlights 77 unique species in 24 countries over three years, revealing stunning, never-before-seen animal behaviors and highlighting the remarkable intelligence of the natural world. Hailing from the acclaimed BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the series will debut globally on December 18 on Apple TV+.
“The Secret Lives of Animals” series both inspires and delights viewers with its vibrant exploration of extraordinary animal behaviors, many captured on film for the first time. Each episode delves into pivotal moments in the life cycles of various animals — from birth and leaving home to raising a family, and from finding food to growing old — showcasing their striking intelligence and adaptability. Highlights include an orb-weaving spider constructing a deceptive “self-portrait” puppet to deter predators; a wood mouse that creates its own signposts; and, an unexpected relationship between a reticulated humming frog and a burrowing tarantula.
Apple TV+ will feature never-before-seen footage of rare and remarkable animal behaviors like this veined octopus in “The Secret Lives of Animals,” debuting December 18, 2024.
“The Secret Lives of Animals” is produced for Apple TV+ by BBC Studios Natural History Unit, with Matt Brandon (“Planet Earth III”) serving as showrunner and Roger Webb (“Mammals,” “Big Cats 24/7”) as executive producer. The series marks the third collaboration between the BBC Studios Natural History Unit and Apple TV+, following the hit, Emmy Award-nominated series “Prehistoric Planet” and “The Year Earth Changed.”
Apple TV+ will feature never-before-seen footage of rare and remarkable animal behaviors like this fur seal in “The Secret Lives of Animals,” debuting December 18, 2024.
Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 520 wins and 2,372 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and historic Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Apple supplier Kioxia files for IPO
Bain Capital-backed Kioxia, an Apple NAND flash supplier, filed for an IPO on Friday and sources familiar with the matter said the Japanese chipmaker was targeting December for the offering. Kioxia customers Apple orders are responsible for Kioxia’s sales in the year ended March.
Reuters:
The IPO registration marks a fresh attempt to go public. Bain scrapped plans for an IPO in October after investors pushed the U.S. buyout firm to almost halve the 1.5 trillion yen ($9.8 billion) valuation it was seeking, sources have previously said.
Kioxia’s filings indicate it aims to conduct the IPO sometime from December through June.
A Bain-led consortium acquired Kioxia from scandal-hit Toshiba six years ago for 2 trillion yen.
Kioxia, which competes with overseas rivals such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, has been hammered by a downturn in the market for memory chips with the industry debating the durability of a recent recovery in prices.
MacDailyNews Take:
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Apple continues phasing out free Apple stickers in product packaging
Apple has continued to omit Apple stickers from the packaging of its 2024 product releases. This trend extends to the latest iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPhone 16 models, Vision Pro, and now the newly unveiled iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro. This move aligns with Apple’s efforts to reduce waste and minimize its environmental impact.
Joe Rossignol for MacRumors:
Apple has stopped including stickers with its latest devices as part of its goal of removing plastic from its packaging by next year. One exception is the latest MacBook Air, which still comes with Apple stickers in the box, but that will likely no longer be the case once the laptop receives its rumored update to the M4 chip around March next year.
You can still ask to receive Apple stickers for free when purchasing one of these devices in person at an Apple Store, provided they have supply, so the era of Apple stickers is not completely over. You’ll just no longer find them inside the box.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s next CEO would be smart to bring back Apple stickers in every major product after this laughable era of overreaction blessedly passes.
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Belkin unveils all-new accessories for Apple Vision Pro
Belkin, a leading consumer electronics brand for 40 years, today introduced two new additions to its Apple Vision Pro accessories ecosystem — providing users with new ways to experience the revolutionary device. Belkin’s Apple Vision Pro accessories include the Battery Holder released earlier this year, and today the collection adds Travel Bag and Head Strap. The portfolio is available to order today at belkin.com, apple.com and select Apple Store locations worldwide.
“Since 1983, Belkin has been at the forefront of innovation, shaping the accessories ecosystem with every leap in hero devices. From pioneering the original cable that connected the Apple IIc to a parallel printer, we’ve been driving progress—leading the way and pushing boundaries wherever technology evolves,” said Steve Malony, CEO, Belkin. “Fast forward to today, where Apple Vision Pro is transforming the way people interact with content. We are continuing to revolutionize the accessories ecosystem to multiply and amplify the ways that consumers and businesses use this powerful spatial computer.”
Head Strap for Apple Vision Pro
The Head Strap enhances comfort and stability for Apple Vision Pro users with its ergonomic and adjustable design. It is thoughtfully engineered with reinforced seams, a secure locking mechanism, and additional stabilization points to keep Vision Pro firmly in place on the user with weight evenly distributed. The easily adjustable strap ensures a precise fit for a wide range of head sizes.
Travel Bag for Apple Vision Pro
The Travel Bag is designed to protect Apple Vision Pro when taking it on-the-go. It is compact and lightweight and can be carried using the handle, or with the adjustable straps in either shoulder or cross-body style. The multi-compartment design keeps Vision Pro and accessories, such as the battery, power adapter and head bands — all organized and easily accessible. It is engineered with an internal flap and cushioned base for additional protection. The deep front zipper makes access easy, and additional pockets allow for extra storage for personal items. The Travel Bag is made with lightweight, high-performance fabric for durability, and comes in a timeless space gray color option.
These two products join Belkin’s Battery Holder for Apple Vision Pro. Designed to keep the battery’s position secure, the Battery Holder allows for a convenient and versatile hands-free experience.
MacDailyNews Note: The Head Strap is available to order now for US$49.95, the Travel Bag is available to order now for $99.95, and the Battery Holder is available to order now for $49.95 USD on belkin.com, apple.com and select Apple Store locations worldwide.
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Major Apple supplier TSMC says investment plan in America unchanged after President Trump wins election
Major Apple supplier TSMC, the world’s largest dedicated independent “pure-play” semiconductor foundry, says its investment plan in America remains unchanged, responding to a question on the election of President Donald Trump.
Reuters:
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia is investing $65 billion in new factories in the U.S. state of Arizona.
TSMC’s shares have so far batted off concern about Trump’s election, and have performed strongly so far this year given soaring demand for artificial intelligence.
On Thursday, the company’s American Depositary Receipts closed up 4.1%, after Nvidia’s shares rallied to a record high, making the chipmaker the first company in history to surpass a stock market value of $3.6 trillion.
MacDailyNews Note: Last month, TSMC announced it had achieved early production yields at its first plant in Arizona that surpass similar factories in Taiwan, a significant breakthrough for American semiconductor fabrication.
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macOS Sequoia 15.2 beta offers new privacy-enhancing AirPlay options
Apple’s latest macOS Sequoia 15.2 beta introduces a significant upgrade to AirPlay, allowing users to share a more limited portion of their screen when AirPlaying to an Apple TV. This enhanced flexibility provides greater control over the content shared with the connected device.
There are now options to show your entire screen, a specific window or app, or your extended display. Limiting AirPlay to a specific app allows a presentation or photos to be shared on the larger screen of a TV without allowing viewers to see all of the content on a Mac.
In the current version of macOS, Apple allows for mirroring a Mac’s display to an Apple TV, but there is no option for sharing just a portion of a display.
The menu allowing for an entire screen or just a window or app to be displayed also appears when connecting a Mac to a TV over HDMI.
MacDailyNews Take: Took awhile, but a better, more granular AirPlay is almost here!
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FBI investigating possible Chinese hack of U.S. presidential campaign officials’ iPhones
The FBI has been notified of evidence of hacking on the iPhones of two senior officials at one of the presidential campaigns. Sources say the agency is pursuing a lead related to a Chinese hacking group.
Rocky Cole, the founder of mobile security startup iVerify, told Forbes his company’s software flagged anomalous behavior on two iPhones that belonged to senior officials for one of the presidential campaigns. He declined to specify which one.
Cole, a former NSA analyst and Google employee, said iVerify detected settings on staff iPhones were changed “in patterns that are not observed on healthy devices.”
Previously, mobile malware developed by government hacking groups have changed settings in the same manner, he said. “That does not mean the devices were definitively compromised, but this information combined with who owned the devices and the timelines of the events were enough to merit a robust investigation, which is ongoing,” Cole told Forbes.
The FBI confirmed to Cole that one of the impacted iPhones belonged to a target of a Chinese cyber espionage group referred to as Salt Typhoon, he said. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, a number of telecoms giants including AT&T and Verizon had their networks breached by Salt Typhoon, a unit believed to work on behalf of China’s state security service. The paper cited various sources with knowledge of the matter, who claimed the attackers targeted the communications of President Trump, his running mate JD Vance and individuals working on the Kamala Harris campaign.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s Lockdown Mode offers specialized additional protection to users who may be at risk of highly targeted cyberattacks from private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware. It’ll stop you from doing things, but if you’re a potential target of state-sponsored mercenary spyware, it’s better to be safe than sorry. More info here.
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Mercury Weather app now delivers rain and snow notifications
Mercury Weather, a popular indie weather app, has received another update. The latest version introduces a new feature that allows users to receive notifications about upcoming weather conditions. This enhancement, following an August update that brought several new features, further solidifies Mercury Weather’s position as a compelling alternative to Apple’s built-in Weather app.
Philipe Espósito for 9to5Mac:
In addition, version 2.8 of the app also adds a new large detailed widget that shows current conditions, rainfall, as well as hourly and daily forecasts.
For those unfamiliar, Mercury Weather has a unique design, as well as cool features like an option to let users choose between different weather data providers – including Apple Weather, OpenWeather and Foreca.
The app also comes with multiple widgets for the Home and Lock Screen. Another important detail is that the app is available for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.
MacDailyNews Take: More info about Mercury Weather via Apple’s App Store here.
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