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Apple overtakes Samsung in Q4 2020 smartphone sales

There’s no doubt 2020 took a heavy toll on the smartphone industry, but it seems nobody notified Apple about that ordeal, a new IDC report suggests.

Does Apple have a non-zero chance to retain this lead in Q1 2021?

The analytics firm estimates the global smartphone market shrunk 5.9% year-over-year, dropping by about 80 million device shipments to 1.29 billion. At the same time, Apple moved 15 million smartphones more than in 2019, shipping 206 million units in total. That’s a 7.9% improvement largely fueled by the iPhone 12 which allowed Apple to easily overtake Samsung in Q4 shipment volumes, as the figures attached herein illustrate. In the meantime, Samsung’s mobile businesses declined at a much faster rate, losing out on around 29 million product sales, or 9.8% annually. Note that for the purposes of IDC’s report, the term “shipments” is used interchangeably with branded sales. Meaning it doesn’t denote the actual, physical movement of inventory between manufacturers and their distribution chains.

It goes without saying that Apple’s fourth-quarter lead is all but guaranteed to dissipate during the opening three months of 2021. Primarily because the Cupertino-based tech giant isn’t putting out any high-margin smartphones in the coming weeks. Whereas Samsung will be kicking off this year’s flagship race in under 24 hours, seeing how the Galaxy S21 series is scheduled to go on sale tomorrow – both in the U.S. and abroad.

Source: IDC.com

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Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom In Development For Apple’s New M1 Mac CPUs

Adobe is already in the process of porting arguably its two biggest commercial software staples – Photoshop and Lightroom – to Apple’s newly launched M1 CPUs, i.e. Macs utilizing the said silicon. That is the gist of what the Cupertino company and its partners at Adobe announced earlier today.

The right data and proper benchmarks are still missing

This news should alleviate some recent concerns about the first-generation M1 processors which Apple itself prompted by avoiding in-depth disclosures of technical information. The partial specs sheets available right now are not nearly enough to paint the entire picture about the M1 family as individual metrics such as per-core operating frequencies and process nodes are not suitable for comparing entirely different CPU architectures.

The confusion was even greater once Apple announced it will be prioritizing the lowest-end Mac configurations with its initial M1 production run.

Today’s announcement from Adobe at the very least confirms these chips will be able to hold their own when tasked with tackling professionač photography workflows.

Modern video editing software may not be in the same boat, however. Adobe’s first M1 port is scheduled to hit the Mac Store at some point next month. The app in question is Lightroom, whereas Photoshop is currently planned to make its own M1 jump in the first quarter of 2021.

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Apple iPad Pro (2020) Models Announced, U.S. Pre-Orders Already Live

Apple’s iPad Pro lineuip is scheduled for an immediate refresh as the company today announced the 2020 variants of the 12.9-inch and 11-inch iPad Pro tablets. This happens to be the fourth generation of the former and second generation of the latter, so do not let that confused you if you end up shopping for a new general-purpose iOS slate this holiday season.

In terms of specs, the iPad Pro (2020) range utilizes the Bionic A12Z chipset from Apple and starts at 128GB of storage. Its RAM capacities will have to wait for unofficial teardowns, as is always the case with Apple’s new mobile products. On the other hand, there’s an actual LiDAR on offer inside both of these devices now, together with Face ID and optional cellular connectivity, albeit without 5G support.

The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 or $949 for the Wi-Fi model, whereas the 12.9-inch iPad Pro retails at $1,149 for the cellular version or a dollar below $1,000 if you can make do without mobile networks. Both can be pre-ordered across the United States as of this very moment, with Apple promising to start fulfilling the first shipments as quickly as the following week.

There’s a new Magic Keyboard with a trackpad (at last) on offer as well, but that accessory won’t be releasing for a few more months due to unspecified reasons.

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Apple enlists TSMC’s help in latest AR push

Apple and TSMC are working on ultra-advanced displays which the tech giant is supposedly planning to use in its forthcoming AR devices.

Why is Apple interested in AR devices?

The unknown source informed the world today of Apple’s newest tech venture. The tech giant started collaborating with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in an attempt to develop ultra-advanced display technology in Taiwan. Micro OLED displays, embedded in chip wafers, are no news in the tech world, Samsung Electronics is the main leader in this field, but it’s also Apple’s major competitor in the smartphone sector in the US. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Apple is trying to build its own prototype with its main chip supplier, TSMC. Micro OLED displays are slimmer and tinier than the ones previously used. They use less power and that makes them an appropriate choice for the AR devices (such as AR and VR glasses, but also for the other consumer products), which present the future growth potential goal for the company that earned its’ spot in the market filled with iPhone, Macs, AirPods, and Apple Watches.

Apple is also said to look more into the micro-LED technology – it has smaller components and doesn’t need the backlight modules. As a result, displays are thinner and have high contrast. And more and more companies are working on the development of this technology as well.

Source: Reuters.com

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Apple Starts Rolling Out macOS Big Sur Across The U.S.

Apple started rolling out a new major operating system upgrade for the Macs and MacBooks in the form of the macOS, release version 11.0. The deployment commenced hours ago across the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world, according to the company’s own disclosure.

A refreshed Control Center and even more robust customizability

While a major part of this release focuses on Apple’s very own M1 chips which the firm is now beginning to implement into the lower end of its portfolio, there are plenty of chip-agnostic features, improvements, and fixes on board of the said release, as well. Safari, Maps, and Messages constitute a trio of apps that stand to reap the largest benefits from the debut of the macOS Big Sur, as Apple itself has been claiming since earlier in the year.

Of course, this would not have been a true Apple upgrade had the company not tinkered with the design of its personal computer OS. A lot of the visual changes on board here originate from a completely refreshed Control Center promising to deliver even more robust customizability while simultaneously being easier to navigate in just a few clicks.

Ditto for Safari, which should also render pages more efficiently after a jump to 11.0 Big Sur, all the while offering more privacy-conscious user settings, better iCloud integration, and more. The Messages app is now part of the planetary popular ecosystem of Memoji stickers, whereas Maps have been refreshed to look in line with the rest of the flat design language permeating the entirety of macOS Big Sur.

On the privacy front, app-specific improvements play second fiddle to system-wide changes meant to make app permission reports more transparent, especially in terms of real-time feedback, as Apple is proud to highlight. A new version of Xcode 12 targeting the first-generation M1 CPUs from Apple completes this firmware package that should already be available for download on your end.

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4th-Gen iPad Air Is Basically An iPad Pro With a Napoleon Complex

This year is nearing its end, the iPhone 12 series just barely managed to launch after numerous delays several days ago, and yet the new iPad Air is the biggest story of the week by some margin. Because the fourth-generation addition to what was traditionally Apple’s mid-range lineup of iOS slates ended up featuring the very same A14 Bionic flagship chip from Apple that is powering those high-end iPhones.

It’s like Apple decided it can’t be bothered with figuring out the logistics of mass-producing a perfectly ordinary mid-range device in 2020 that will command a mediocre profit margin anyway and just continued churning out its best-ever silicon after the initial batch of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro was done.

This iPad Air outright beats the latest iPad Pro range which launched like, half a year ago. Sure, it still can’t compare in the GPU department but for a device starting at $599, this is some utterly ridiculous value. It’s like someone gave steroids to the smaller iPad Pro 11, then slapped a fresh coat of paint over it and called it a mid-ranger.

Except that this half-hearted attempt actually benefits consumers. Go figure.

The 4th generation of the iPad Air (2020) can now be purchased in the United States and you should absolutely consider doing so in case getting a new tablet is anywhere near your current list of priorities.

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Logitech Adds Some Color To Popular Keys-To-Go Keyboard Line

Logitech is breathing in some fresh air into Keys-To-Go, its popular lineup of highly portable keyboards designed to work primarily with comparably mobile devices – smartphones and tablets, namely, with an emphasis on handsets and iPhones, in particular.

Anyway, the product, which had released in the United States earlier in the year, is now also available in Classic Blue, a self-explanatory hue if there ever was one, especially given the look of Logitech’s own corporate brand.

This new color will be available as a North American exclusive for the time being, though it is eventually planned to release in Europe, as well. Meanwhile, Canadians and Americans can pick it up as of today, as an alternative to the existing black, gray, and pink variants.

The introduction of this fourth alternative look for the mobile keyboard, fortunately, is not accompanied with any kind of a price increase, even as Keys-To-Go devices remain in a pretty short supply. Which means that you can still pick one up, whether online or in person, for $69.99.

Making this one of the more affordable solutions of its kind on the market, at least among devices specifically designed for smartphone and tablet users like these Bluetooth-ready gadgets are.

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Logitech Releases Circle View Security Camera Wtih Apple HomeKit Support

Logitech’s newest smart security camerawith Apple HomeKit integration, called the Circle View, is now available for purchase in the United States.

The gadget, priced at $159.99, will be distributed by Apple itself, in addition to being sold by Logitech, the company disclosed. With that said, you probably shouldn’t expect to see it in any real-world Apple Stores in the near future given how it was just last month that the Cupertino company started pulling any and every third-party product from its physical shelves in an apparent effort to start pushing its own products even more aggressively.

Regardless, the Circle View promises a reliable home security solution with intelligent motion capture, a 1080p video feed covering a 180-degree field of view, a smartphone companion app, and night vision capabilities in a 15-feet radius enabled by its built-in infrared laser. As Apple HomeKit tech is part of the package, you can pair the gadget with your existing i-devices in a matter of seconds and save some or all of its security footage directly to iCloud. The latter feature exists in place of any standalone storage service your typical smart home camera manufacturer would try to upsell you on these days.

Yet just by buying the Circle View, you are also paying for a guarantee that your last 10 days’ worth of security footage will always be available for review.

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