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Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller took it upon himself to unveil a refreshed iPod touch lineup, which now includes both black and white models (remember, we called both), plus a new breakthrough price of just $199. The iPod touch is Apple’s “most popular iPod”, Schiller told the crowd, adding this: The revamped models look the same as the fourth-generation iPod touch, which was available only in black. The new iPod touches now come in both black and white....

Apple has reportedly had to rejig production plans for the iPhone XR after one of its suppliers ran into manufacturing issues with the new phone, due to go on sale on October 26 … Apple generally uses Foxconn for the bulk of its flagship iPhone assembly, with Pegatron used more for secondary models. The company is said to have originally planned to have Pegatron produce 50-60% of iPhone XR units so that Foxconn could focus on the iPhone XS and XS Max....

Apple has released the first beta versions of iOS 10.3.2, tvOS 10.2.1, and watchOS 3.2.2. These new versions follow one day after iOS 10.3, tvOS 10.2, and watchOS 3.2 were officially released. iOS 10.3.2 is currently only available in beta for registered developers. The public beta version of each update usually follows a few days after the developer version if not the same day. tvOS and watchOS are also available as beta updates, although public beta programs are not available....

Apple has released the first iOS 10.3.3 beta for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The update likely includes bug fixes and security improvements. iOS 10.3.3 beta 1 follows one day after the public release of iOS 10.3.2 for all users. iOS 10.3.3 is currently available to registered developers; a public beta version may be available shortly. Major new features for iOS are likely being saved for iOS 11 which we expect to see introduced at WWDC on June 5....

Apple has been expanding its development and use of custom chips over the last few years. Last month we first heard that Apple was looking to poach employees from Qualcomm on its home turf of San Diego to potentially create custom radio chips. Today, a new report from The Information says that Apple is indeed actively working on a custom cellular modem. The report includes a recent job listing that confirms the new chip effort....

Digitimes is reporting that Apple is looking to transition iPhone battery production from labor-intensive processes to fully-automatic machine production lines in 2014. Although the reliability of Digitimes’ reporting is often poor, in this case the trustworthiness of the report is much more likely to be solid. Unlike some of their previous stories in recent memory, automating battery production is a direct matter of the supply chain — which is Digitimes’ area of expertise....

Update: Apple confirmed that its cash reserves now sit at $256.8B. Apple’s cash reserves now exceed more than $250B, reports the WSJ. The company will report the actual number in tomorrow’s earnings report. While there’s as yet no official confirmation of the number, it seems a pretty safe bet … The last number Apple reported was $246.09B as of December, so it was already close to the quarter trillion mark then....

Apple has today shared a new ad, ‘Growth Spurt’, showcasing the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Throughout the short clip, the main character is taking pictures of various items and pets, seeing them grow exponentially after the photo is taken. The ad is subtly hinting that the new iPhones, specifically iPhone XS Max, is the largest iPhone Apple has ever created. It could also be noting that the camera improvements in iPhone XS is a big improvement over the iPhone 8/X with the new Smart HDR feature....

Apple has taken more than half of the global smartphone revenues for Q4 of 2017 (Apple’s Q1 2018), according to Linda Sui of Strategy Analytics. The firm says “Apple iPhone captured a record 51 percent share of all smartphone wholesale revenues worldwide in Q4 2017,” noting that Apple has racked up $61 billion in the fourth quarter. In the same quarter, Apple had launched the iPhone X, which helped sales figures....

While Apple has major software announcements planned for the upcoming World Wide Developers Conference – including iOS 6, an updated version of iCloud, and OS X Mountain Lion – Apple is also planning some incredible hardware announcements. Not iOS hardware, but Mac hardware. We have already reported that Apple will introduce a brand-new 15-inch MacBook Pro at WWDC with a thinner design, high-resolution Retina Display, and faster I/O, and now we’re hearing that the new MacBook Pro will only make up one component of Apple’s hardware announcements....

Apple has publicly turned on its March 25 event live stream early this time around, teasing eagle-eyed viewers by occasionally raising the curtain to reveal … something. The stream is playing what appears to be a live feed from inside the Steve Jobs Theater. However, it is most likely a pre-recorded video, complete with faux-CRT CGI effects. There’s about five different camera angles that is cycling through. You can admire the structural craftsmanship of the underground architecture, but apart from that nothing is happening....

Just as it did for the iPhone XS, Apple has issued a press release citing the best bits from a dozen iPhone XR reviews. Apple obviously picked positive remarks from each, but in this case it wasn’t hard to do – the reviews we’ve seen for the latest iPhone were overwhelmingly positive. The company has aimed to highlight different positives from each review, but a commonality to several of the quotes is that the iPhone XR offers great value for what you’re getting....

Apple has released the first developer beta of macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, even though macOS 11 Big Sur has not yet even been released to the public. This comes as rumors about a potential Apple event circulate for sometime in November. Two weeks ago, Apple released macOS 11 Big Sur beta 10 to developers, continuing its focus on making bug fixes and performance improvements to the operating system ahead of its general release....

In addition to launching a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Force Touch and a cheaper 27-inch Retina iMac, Apple has also introduced its first official iPhone Lightning Dock with compatibility for both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Of course, being this late to the charging dock game means a number of fine solutions already exist at competitive prices. To accommodate both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone models with a single dock, Apple has departed from its usual design of placing the charging connector in a groove fit for the bottom of the iPhone....

Apple today released a long-awaited update to Final Cut Pro X, its video editing software which fell on def ears with pro video editors. CNET reports that the new version takes into account a number of issues professional users took with the application: XML support gives users who previously couldn’t import old projects a workaround solution, requiring them to first export Final Cut Pro 7 projects in XML and then import them into the new Final Cut Pro X....

Apple has just released an updated version of the Safari browser for users on OS X Yosemite, Mavericks, and Mountain Lion. The update doesn’t add any new features, but does fix several important security flaws in the WebKit engine that powers the app. Users on any of the three most recent versions of OS X can download the update for free through the Updates tab of the Mac App Store. The details of the security changes are listed below....

UPDATE: Apple has also released the third iOS 11.4 and tvOS 11.4.1 public betas. UPDATE 2: macOS 10.13.6 beta 3 is now available to developers. While not a major update in any way, Apple is today releasing the third developer builds for iOS 11.4.1 and tvOS 11.4.1. Being a bug fix update to the earlier release, we aren’t expecting any new user facing features. If you’re looking for some major changes, take a look at iOS 12, tvOS 12, watchOS 12, and macOS 10....

Besides the more colorful and flatter design and several features, iOS 7 introduced plenty of bugs to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Several bugs have been squashed over the course of software updates issued in the past few months, but the recurring bugs have been application crashes and random rebooting. After months of complaints, Apple has finally responded by saying that it is aware of the issue and that a fix is coming:...

Immediately after Apple unveiled Face ID last month, United States Senator Al Franken sent a letter to Tim Cook raising some concerns about security and privacy. A month later, and after publicly publishing a security white paper answering many of the questions, Apple has responded to Franken… In a letter from its VP for Public Policy Cynthia Hagan, Apple acknowledged many of Franken’s concerns. Apple explained that all information is sent to the on-device Secure Enclave for processing and also noted that Face ID data is encrypted and never leaves a user’s devices....

Apple deprecated what it called “ancient” technology yesterday, with the iPhone 7 lacking a 3.5mm headphone jack. The company is encouraging Bluetooth wireless headphones for audio playback (heralding its new AirPods) or using wired headphones via Lightning. However, with just one port, people who want to listen to music and charge their iPhone 7 at the same time are left with a conundrum. Apple’s answer to this problem appears to be the $39-49 Lightning Dock which adds a 3....