Shopping analytics giant Kantar Worldpanel reports that Apple’s smartphone has experienced its first fall in market share in urban China since 2014. Kantar said that the increasing popularity of local smartphone brands was the main reason for the fall … “For the first time since August 2014, iOS share did not grow in urban China in the 3 months ending February,” said Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia....

When Apple opens its new Upper East Side Apple Store on Saturday, visitors will have the opportunity to view historical architecture in addition to shopping for iPhones and Apple Watches. That’s because the new retail store located on 940 Madison Avenue was once the home of the U.S. Mortgage & Trust bank — there’s even a bank vault below the store — and Apple has restored much of the original design for its new showroom…...

Two weeks after releasing the first macOS 11.4 beta, Apple has seeded developers and public testers with the second. macOS 11.4 comes with expanded support for AMD GPUs. The OTA for the macOS 11.4 beta 2 should start showing up in System Preferences > Software Update if you’re enrolled in the developer or public beta program (keep refreshing if you don’t see it yet). You can also download it manually on Apple’s Developer site....

Apple today uploaded its latest ad to YouTube. The ad returns to the company’s popular “Shot on iPhone” campaign and focuses on Mother’s Day, which is one week away from today. The touching video comes in at 30-seconds long and follows two new iPhone 6s ads from last week, one that highlighted the device’s 4K camera and one that showed off Touch ID. In today’s new video, simply called “Mother’s Day,” a handful of images and videos are shown that represent motherhood....

As part of iOS 9, Apple today has announced a new app called Move to iOS that makes the transition from Android to iPhone more seamless for the user. While the app went unannounced during the WWDC keynote, it is listed on the iOS 9 feature page on Apple’s website. Move to iOS allows users to wirelessly switch from Android to iOS. The app, according to Apple, allows Android users to wirelessly transfer their contacts, message history, camera photos, videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpapers, and DRM-free media to their new iOS device....

The smaller company confirmed the news this morning, saying, “Vimpelcom announced today it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring iPhone 3G to Russia, expected later this year. With the Russian population pegged at 140,702,094, release of the device in the huge country is likely to be a major bonus for Apple. Company CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly suggested the company hopes to have deals in place for launching the iPhone in Russia and China before the end of the year....

With the three storage capacities, four models, and lastly—two colors denoted by “A” and “B” (likely black and white), Apple will launch 24 new iPad models. Apple will also sell 10 packs of iPad minis to education for a discount, according to the SKUs. Yesterday, we reported that Apple is also set to introduce a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and Mac mini alongside a smaller iPad at its upcoming media event....

Apple rebranded its reuse and recycling trade-in program earlier this year as “Apple GiveBack.” Now, customers buying new devices on Apple’s website or the Apple Store app can use a trade-in to instantly offset the cost. Previously, using Apple’s trade-in program online meant shipping off your device and waiting for an Apple gift card or debit card with the corresponding value. To receive a credit that could be applied against the new purchases immediately meant visiting an Apple Store....

US iTunes users can purchase HBO shows including, “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Deadwood” and “Rome”, “Flight of the Concords” and “The Wire.” What’s interesting is the price: “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “Flight of the Conchords” cost $1.99 per episode, while “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome” cost $2.99 per episode. Until now, Apple has only been prepared to offer TV shows at $1.99 each. It’s thought HBO has been able to achieve a slight liberalisation of Apple’s price controls, though as yet we don’t know if other studios plan to emulate HBO with introduction of $2....

In addition to iOS 11.3 public beta 1, Apple has released the first tvOS 11.3 public beta for Apple TV (fourth gen) and Apple TV 4K. The new public beta follows two days after the release of tvOS 11.2.5 for all customers. When used with iOS 11.2.5 on iPhone and iPad, content playing on tvOS 11.2.5 appears as a Now Playing option in Control Center. Here’s what’s new in tvOS 11....

Apple has released the second watchOS 3.2.3 beta for Apple Watch. The update is only available to registered developers for testing. watchOS 3.2.3 beta follows the release of watchOS 3.2.2 for all users. Both updates focus on bug fixes and performance improvements. watchOS 3.2.3 is only available to registered developers. Apple features a public beta program for iOS and macOS while watchOS and tvOS are developer only. We’ll update if any changes or release notes are discovered or shared....

Update: iOS 12.1.4 is now available. Last week was a tough one for Apple and privacy. First, a huge bug in Group FaceTime would allow someone to eavesdrop on another FaceTime user just by calling them and adding themselves to a group call before the contact answered. Then, a project from Facebook was revealed to be spying on users, violating Apple’s Enterprise Developer Program policies. The latter was dealt with by revoking Facebook’s enterprise certificate, rendering their internal apps unusable....

Apple updated its COVID-19 screening app yesterday to version 4.0 but it didn’t appear to come with any user-facing changes based on the release notes. As it turns out, one noteworthy update is the option to anonymously share symptoms and health info with the CDC. The release notes for Apple’s COVID-19 app update yesterday just say version 4.0 “includes bug fixes and improvements.” But it was curious Apple moving the app from version 3....

Times of India is reporting that Apple is expected to have hit $1B in revenue in India in the financial year ended on 31st March – up 42% year-on-year, and a tripling of revenue over the past three years. India is one of the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) where Apple is expecting to see a large chunk of its future growth. It had previously been reported that Apple sold half a million iPhones in the final calendar quarter of 2014, and Cybermedia Research estimates that it sold 1....

It’s been a busy morning for Apple news, with the company having officially announced its September 15 event that will reportedly be focused purely on Apple Watch and iPad announcements. Apple has also published a YouTube placeholder stream for the September event, and it includes a clear reference to the Apple Watch Series 6. In the metadata for the September event YouTube live stream, Apple includes a variety of search terms that it’s trying to target....

The Apple Store is down ahead of the first set of iPhone 12 preorders. Due to the pandemic, the iPhonne 12 launch season is staggered this year. Today, customers can order the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro. The store is down quite far ahead of time. Preorders open at 5 AM Pacific Time, or about six hours from now. The phones officially launch on October 23rd....

Apple has updated its ‘Your Verse’ campaign web page with new stories of athletic teams using the iPad to help detect concussions in players, potentially helping save lives. Because concussions can’t be detected by medical equipment, players who suffer head injuries need to take cognition tests that measure their pre- and post-injury abilities to determine whether they’ve suffered a concussion. Using an iPad app created by C3 Logix, medical staff can quickly test players for symptoms in a variety of areas, such as visual acuity and balance, and determine the severity of the concussion....

Apple TV+ is continuing to expand its original slate of comedies with an announcement today of a 10-episode series order for “Platonic”, with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in starring roles. As the show has not yet gone into production, expect filming to start sometime next year with a release in late 2021 or early 2022. Comedy has turned out to be a major category for Apple’s original television efforts, with Ted Lasso being its biggest hit to date....

As promised by Sony last month, the Apple TV app is now available for download on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles through the PlayStation Store. This follows the official launch of PlayStation 5 tomorrow, November 12, in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. The new console will be available in more countries beginning November 19. However, consumers who own a PlayStation 4 can also get the app....

Apple has slowly been adding apps to its universal search feature since the fourth-gen Apple TV was introduced, and over the past week 3 more apps have gained support. As noted on Apple’s support page for universal search, VH1, MTV, and Comedy Central now appear in search results. For those unfamiliar, universal search allows users to perform a single search using Siri or the Search app and see content across multiple channels....