Apple

Apple Begins iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program for Certain Defective Devices
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Apple Begins iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program for Certain Defective Devices

Today Apple has started a replacement program for certain iPhone 5 devices experiencing significantly reduced battery life. The company is stating that the affected devices were sold between the months of September 2012 and January 2013. Users with devices purchased within that timeframe who are experiencing issues are advised to check their serial number with Apple’s new support page to see if they are eligible for a free battery replacement. Apple is also offering refunds to users with affected devices who paid for a battery replacement prior to the service program being launched.

The replacement process for affected users will begin on August 22 in the United States and China, and on August 29 in the rest of the world. Apple recommends that users backup their iPhone to iTunes or iCloud and then wipe all user data prior to having their battery serviced. More information, as well as the service to check your device’s serial number, can be found in the source link below.

Apple Refreshes Retina MacBook Pro Lineup
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Apple Refreshes Retina MacBook Pro Lineup

Earlier this month Intel introduced new models in their lineup of Haswell mobile CPUs. With the Haswell manufacturing process having matured since its initial launch, Intel was able to bump clock speeds by 200MHz on a handful of their laptop CPUs and those chips have found their way into a refreshed lineup of Macbook Pro laptops from Apple. This update brings CPU speed boosts, and more RAM in the base 13″ and 15″ models. The new CPU and memory specifications for Apple’s new lineup are shown below.

MacBook Pro with Retina Display Lineup
Model 13-inch (base and mid-tier) 13-inch (flagship) 15-inch (base) 15-inch (flagship)
Old CPU 2.4GHz Core i5-4258U 2.6GHz Core i5-4288U 2.0GHz Core i7-4750HQ 2.3GHz Core i7-4850HQ
New CPU 2.6GHz Core i5-4278U 2.8GHz Core i5-4308U 2.2GHz Core i7-4770HQ 2.5GHz Core i7-4870HQ
Old Memory 4GB DDR3L 8GB DDR3L 8GB DDR3L 16GB DDR3L
New Memory 8GB DDR3L 8GB DDR3L 16GB DDR3L 16GB DDR3L

The first thing to make note of is that the CPU speed has been increased by 200MHz across the board. The highest end CTO (configure-to-order) 15″ model which is not shown now comes with Intel’s Core i7-4980HQ with a base clock of 2.8GHz and max turbo clock of 4.0GHz. The other important thing to note is that the amount of RAM in the entry-level models has been doubled from 4GB to 8GB on the 13″, and from 8GB to 16GB on the 15″. This is a change that is nice to see brought to the 13″ Macbook Pro with Retina display. Originally the entire 13″ line had 8GB of RAM and the 4GB model was introduced to reach a lower price point during Apple’s Haswell refresh. Now the entry level model once again has 8GB of RAM like the higher end versions.

The new models are available to purchase now on Apple’s website for the same prices as the previous generation and are all available to ship within 24 hours.

Apple Refreshes Retina MacBook Pro Lineup
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Apple Refreshes Retina MacBook Pro Lineup

Earlier this month Intel introduced new models in their lineup of Haswell mobile CPUs. With the Haswell manufacturing process having matured since its initial launch, Intel was able to bump clock speeds by 200MHz on a handful of their laptop CPUs and those chips have found their way into a refreshed lineup of Macbook Pro laptops from Apple. This update brings CPU speed boosts, and more RAM in the base 13″ and 15″ models. The new CPU and memory specifications for Apple’s new lineup are shown below.

MacBook Pro with Retina Display Lineup
Model 13-inch (base and mid-tier) 13-inch (flagship) 15-inch (base) 15-inch (flagship)
Old CPU 2.4GHz Core i5-4258U 2.6GHz Core i5-4288U 2.0GHz Core i7-4750HQ 2.3GHz Core i7-4850HQ
New CPU 2.6GHz Core i5-4278U 2.8GHz Core i5-4308U 2.2GHz Core i7-4770HQ 2.5GHz Core i7-4870HQ
Old Memory 4GB DDR3L 8GB DDR3L 8GB DDR3L 16GB DDR3L
New Memory 8GB DDR3L 8GB DDR3L 16GB DDR3L 16GB DDR3L

The first thing to make note of is that the CPU speed has been increased by 200MHz across the board. The highest end CTO (configure-to-order) 15″ model which is not shown now comes with Intel’s Core i7-4980HQ with a base clock of 2.8GHz and max turbo clock of 4.0GHz. The other important thing to note is that the amount of RAM in the entry-level models has been doubled from 4GB to 8GB on the 13″, and from 8GB to 16GB on the 15″. This is a change that is nice to see brought to the 13″ Macbook Pro with Retina display. Originally the entire 13″ line had 8GB of RAM and the 4GB model was introduced to reach a lower price point during Apple’s Haswell refresh. Now the entry level model once again has 8GB of RAM like the higher end versions.

The new models are available to purchase now on Apple’s website for the same prices as the previous generation and are all available to ship within 24 hours.

Apple Q3 2014 Fiscal Results Analysis
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Apple Q3 2014 Fiscal Results Analysis

Today Apple announced its Q3 results for the period ending June 2014, and sales of the iPhone once again dominate revenue and earnings for the company.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $37.4B – a 6% increase year-over-year, and a down sequentially from the previous quarter.

Net profit was $7.7B for the quarter which is up 11.6% from the same period last year, and earnings per share came in at $1.28, also up over last year’s $1.07. Gross margin was up as well at 39.4% compared to 36.9% in Q3 2013.

Apple Q3 2014 Financial Results (GAAP)
  Q3’2014 Q2’2014 Q3’2013
Revenue (in Billions USD) $37.432 $45.646 $35.323
Operating Income (in Billions USD) $10.282 $13.593 $9.201
Gross Margin (in Billions USD) $14.735 $17.947 $13.024
Net Income (in Billions USD) $7.748 $10.223 $6.900
Margins 39.4% 39.3% 36.9%
Earnings per Share (in USD) $1.28 $1.66 $1.07

Once again, the iPhone is the dominate force for Apple right now, accounting for $19.75B in revenue for this quarter with 35.203 million iPhones sold. The device numbers and revenue are both down over last quarter, but sales are up 13% year-over-year with revenue close behind at a 9% gain. Apple doesn’t break down numbers for each model, but using some math we can see the revenue per unit sold at $561 which is a great number.

Software, Services, and App/Music store sales came in at $4.485B for the quarter which is down 2% compared to last quarter but up 12% year-over-year.

Mac sales were up again with 4.4 million Macs sold which accounted for $5.5B in revenue. Sales were up 18% and revenue was up 13% compared to Q3 2013, with an increase in sales of 7% over last quarter with revenue remaining flat.

iPad sales have definitely slowed, with the second quarter in a row of decline. Total sales were 13.2 million units for a revenue of $5.9B, but the device sales are down both year-over-year (9%) and sequentially (19%).

Unsurprisingly, iPod sales continued their decline with 2.9 million devices sold – down 36% year-over-year. Revenue for the iPod was $442M which was down 40% from Q3 2013. Somewhat surprising was that iPod sales ticked up 6% from last quarter, but revenues declined 4%.

Finally, accessories now account for about three times the revenue of the once ubiquitous iPod, with revenue for the quarter of $1.3 billion which is up 12% over last year’s numbers.

Apple Q2 2014 Revenue by Product (billions)
  Q3’2014 Q2’2014 Q3’2013 Revenue for current quarter
iPhone $19.751 $26.064 $18.154 52.8%
iPad $5.889 $7.610 $6.374 15.7%
Mac $5.540 $5.519 $4.893 14.8%
iPod $0.442 $0.461 $0.733 1.2%
iTunes/Software/Services $4.485 $4.573 $3.990 12%
Accessories $1.325 $1.419 $1.179 3.5%

During this quarter, Apple performed a 7-1 stock split, and returned $8 billion to shareholders through dividends and the share repurchase program. Apple will pay a dividend of $0.47 per share on August 14 for this quarter’s results.

Analysts were hoping for 36 to 38 million iPhones to be sold this quarter, with sales missing that mark. iPad sales were also lower than expected. With the new iPhone likely not being released until Q1 of fiscal year 2015, outlook for the next quarter is also lower. With the new iPhone not expected until late in  Fiscal Year Q4 (ending September), revenues are not expected to be bumped from new iPhone sales much until Q1 2015 results are available in January 2015. Revenue outlook for the next quarter is $37 to $40 billion.

Apple Q3 2014 Device Sales (thousands)
  Q3’2014 Q2’2014 Q3’2013
iPhone 35,203 43,719 31,241
iPad 13,276 16,350 14,617
Mac 4,413 4,136 3,754
iPod 2,926 2,761 4,569

While sales were still strong for the iPhone, the iPad has now declined in numbers for the second straight quarter. Mac sales were up a healthy 18% year-over-year which means the Mac is almost back to being the number two revenue stream for Apple. We seem to have hit some maturity in the tablet market, and upgrade cycles aren’t quite as quick as they are in the smartphone space. The waiting game is now on for new product announcements from Apple to keep the sales strong.

Apple Updates 16GB iPod Touch With Color Options and Rear-Facing Camera
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Apple Updates 16GB iPod Touch With Color Options and Rear-Facing Camera

Today Apple quietly refreshed their iPod Touch lineup, with the changes specifically being focused on the 16GB iPod Touch. The fifth generation iPod Touch line was announced in September of 2012. The device was launched in 32GB and 64GB variants with six different color options and a hardware platform that borrowed from many different Apple devices on the market at the time. Internally it used the same Apple A5 chip used in the iPhone 4S which is a dual core Cortex-A9 based design running at 800MHz paired with a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU and 512MB of LPDDR2 memory. On the front it has the same 1136×640 IPS display used in the iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s, as well as the 1.2MP front-facing camera from the iPhone 5. On the back it has the 5MP rear-facing CMOS sensor used in the iPhone 4 paired with the optical system of the iPhone 5. The 32GB and 64GB models were priced at $299 and $399 respectively.

Eight months after the initial launch of the new iPod Touch, Apple introduced a more inexpensive 16GB model which only came with a silver back and a black front face, and did not include the rear-facing camera or wrist strap from the more expensive iPod Touch models. This version was priced at $199 in the United States and until now the tradeoffs included with it were the only option for consumers who didn’t want the larger storage capacity models.

Apple’s new 16GB iPod Touch introduced today now comes in the full array of colors that only the more expensive models offered previously. It also includes the rear-facing camera and the wrist strap, effectively making it an identical device to the more expensive models apart from the amount of internal storage. The refreshed 16GB iPod Touch still costs $199 and is currently only available in the United States for the time being, with availability in other countries in the near future. In addition to the upgrades to the 16GB model, Apple has dropped the price of the 32GB and 64GB versions to $249 and $299 respectively.

Source: Apple