While most analysts are expecting Apple to comfortably beat its holiday quarter guidance of $75.5-$77.5B, one large firm of analysts goes much further. An investment note by Morgan Stanley seen by Business Insider says that an analysis of Apple’s financial report suggests that the company could be gearing up for quarterly sales totalling as much as $84.4B. The clue, claims the company, is the company’s off balance-sheet spending commitments. It should be noted that although Apple has recently been beating its own guidance of late, this has typically been by just a few percent – nothing like the leap Morgan Stanley is suggesting....

Apple is making many of its services smarter in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra through the use of differential privacy which enables artificial intelligence to become smarter while still balancing privacy. Given Apple’s strong position on protecting user privacy, Recode requested more details on how the company’s use of differential privacy would work. Apple so far has resisted collecting a lot of user data that could make Siri, iCloud, and other services smarter....

Update 10/7: Apple has also stopped signing iOS 13.1. Today, Apple has stopped signing iOS 13.1.1 after releasing iOS 13.1.2 earlier this week with more bug fixes and improvements. That means users are no longer able to downgrade from the current iOS version to iOS 13.1.1. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks of updates for Apple since releasing iOS 13 to the public. After rolling out iOS 13.1 a week after iOS 13, we also saw iOS 13....

Apple has announced in a new support document that an update to Mac OS X will be issued in “the coming days” to find and squash malware. This malware comes through supposed anti-virus software that is actually built to steal private information like credit card numbers. In the meantime, Apple is now offering a manual resolution for users who wish to remove and find malware as soon as possible. The solution is pasted after the break....

Apple is offering new opportunities for illustrators through Today at Apple that combine the creative potential of iPads with popular Apple TV+ shows. A run of exclusive sessions at top Apple Stores will celebrate the craft of poster design. The Apple TV+ iPad Poster Series brings artists involved in TV+ production to host creative sessions. The illustrators will share their creative vision and the journey behind each show’s artwork before guiding customers to create their own posters based on the same illustration style....

Sometimes Apple Pencil stops charging at 25% or lower. Other times it doesn’t charge at all. Many users can’t pair Apple Pencil with their iPad. Follow the below simple guide to fix when Apple Pencil Won’t pair with My iPad Pro, in very straightforward steps. An Apple Pencil is one of the best pieces of kit you can buy for your new iPad, to help you make the most of the slate by allowing you to sketch, doodle, annotate, handwrite, and more....

Apple is no stranger to beefing up its mapping efforts through company purchases. We’ve counted at least three big map company purchases including Placebase, C3 and Poly9 that have helped Apple in its growing mapping and location services effort. As we know Apple is still a long way from mapping nirvana and as any Apple PR person will read from a boilerplate to you, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans....

If you jump back to calendar Q3 2013, Apple was falling behind Samsung in US smartphone marketshare with just 34% of the market compared to Samsung’s 38%. The theory at the time was that US buyers were holding out for the new iPhones that launched in September. Fast forward to last quarter, the three month period ended December 31, and that theory appears to be holding up. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) just sent over its latest reports showing Apple has once again taken the lead thanks to a strong holiday quarter of iPhone sales....

Apple has started sending out OS X Yosemite builds for Beta Program, as announced yesterday. The build is being sent out to a million Beta Program members. Participants can get a redemption code from the site, to redeem in the Mac App Store. Apple has said that Apple will not update the Beta Program Yosemite builds as often as the developer seeds (which come out every two weeks, usually), but participants will be able to upgrade to the final public version of Yosemite seamlessly through the App Store, when it is released....

Apple CEO Tim Cook today informed staff that it is “likely” the majority of teams won’t be back in offices until June of 2021 at the earliest. This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen in many parts of the world. As first reported by Bloomberg, Cook’s comments came during a virtual town hall with employees earlier today. The Apple CEO said that while there is no replacement for face-to-face collaboration, there’s a lot to be learned from working remotely this year:...

It was back in January that we first heard that Apple was planning a new flagship retail store in Milan, Italy, with an outdoor amphitheater – and the company has now confirmed those plans. The store will sit beneath the amphitheater, and you’ll enter it using a staircase that descends through the middle of a fountain … The store will be named Apple Piazza Liberty and will be located at Piazza del Liberty, 1–20121 Milano....

Earlier this week, Apple received FCC clearance with a new sleep monitor product that looked like an updated version of the Beddit Sleep Monitor that it acquired in 2017. Today the updated Beddit Sleep Monitor 3.5 (replacing version 3.0) is now available through the Apple Store. The new Beddit Sleep Monitor 3.5 retails for $149.95 and is currently available in Apple Stores and ships to customers in a few days. Withings (formerly Nokia Health) has a similar product that retails for $99 and currently sells for $79....

With the Mac OS X 10.7.2 update released earlier today, Apple has also updated Safari to version 5.1.1. On top of the obvious iCloud support, Apple just posted this support document claiming the new version is 13 percent faster in Javascript performance. Definitely a welcomed performance boost. Of course version 5.1.1 also includes the a number of fixes and overall stability improvements. You can check out everything included in the update in the support document after the break....

The year 2021 is shaping up to be massive for the Mac. Apple began the transition to Apple Silicon processors in the Mac last year with a new Mac mini, a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, and a new MacBook Air. Things are expected to gain more traction this year, with the rumor mill currently suggesting the first iMac redesign in a decade, new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, and much more....

Apple is preparing to take some pages out of the traditional jewelry store playbook. For the upcoming 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, Apple is planning several new features for its retail stores to support the device. As we reported several months ago, Apple is planning on allowing customers to actually try on the watches and test out different band styles inside of stores. With the high-expected price tag of the gold watch models, Apple will also step up its security features for stores…...

Last month, ABC announced that it was teaming up with Apple for help producing American Idol from home amid COVID-19. In a new statement today, Apple touts the flexibility and “broadcast quality” video offered by the iPhone for these situations. TechCrunch has more details on the rig ABC has provided to American Idol contestants and hosts, which includes three iPhone 11 Pros, a tripod, and a ring light: Of course, this is a much more complex system than most people need, but it’s interesting to see the broadcast production approach applied to the iPhone ecosystem....

Get a Subscription Apple TV+ is priced at $4.99 per month (after a 7-day free trial) for a family. However, a free one-year subscription comes with any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac that was purchased after Sept. 10, 2019, from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller. A Year For Free To activate your free subscription, make sure the latest software version is installed on your qualifying device. From there:...

Apple Pay is now accepted at an additional 5,000+ online stores in Denmark, Finland and Sweden … Apple’s mobile wallet service first came to the three Nordic countries in October of last year, initially to physical stores. Online payments followed as ecommerce payment providers adopted Apple Pay, and a deal between payment service provider Quickpay and online payment specialist Clearhaus now brings the facility to thousands more web stores. Clearhaus said that Apple Pay offers the quickest possible checkout service to customers....

[Update: The public beta for macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 is now available] Following the release of iOS 11.4 to developers and public beta users Apple this evening has pushed the first developer beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.5. The update follows macOS 10.13.4, which included features such as enhanced eGPU support and more. macOS 10.13.5 is available via the Mac App Store. Read more about this round of betas at the links below:...

As Apple gets serious about creating quality original content, the company is reportedly eyeing a new production headquarters in West LA to house the effort. Real estate website The Real Deal reported this week that Apple wants to lease an 85,000-square-foot space that happens to be around the corner from its Beats headquarters in Culver City. The Real Deal notes that the property will go for $3.83 million/year and will be ready for a tenant at the beginning of next year — just in time for Apple to start spending its reported billion dollar budget on original content....