Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2020 first quarter ended December 28, 2019. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $91.8 billion, an increase of 9 percent from the year-ago quarter and an all-time record, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $4.99, up 19 percent, also an all-time record. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board.”
Category: Apple
macOS Catalina 10.15.3 Released⇢
There’s no sign of the rumored Pro Mode, but the update does have some other goodies.
macOS 10.15.3:
- Optimizes gamma handling of low gray levels on Pro Display XDR for SDR workflows when using macOS
- Improves multi-stream video editing performance for HEVC and H.264 encoded 4K video on the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
It is available now via Software Update in System Preferences.
Patents Do Not a Product Make⇢
Malcolm Owen, writing at AppleInsider:
The iMac is one of the many iconic devices designed by Apple, with the all-in-one Mac consisting of a thin display housing the main components and a small stand to hold the display at eye-level for the user. While the design has received refinements over the years to make the main screen section thinner and sleeker, Apple is also mulling over making a more striking change to its design.
Low Power Mode for Mac Laptops⇢
Rack-Mounted Mac Pro Now for Sale⇢
If you need a Mac Pro (or 100) to stuff them into some server racks, orders are now open, starting at $500 more than the standard tower. I would love to know why air holes on the back of the two configurations look different:
Sadly, the Radeon Pro W5700X GPU option is still not available, and now Apple is promising an option for two Radeon Pro W5700Xs. This GPU should slot between the default Radeon Pro 580x and $2,400 Radeon Pro Vega II. Likewise, no additional GPUs are on sale yet, nor is the Afterburner. I was hoping that these modules would be on sale now, but customers who want more power are still waiting.
Catalina Beta Includes ‘Pro Mode’ for Mac Notebooks⇢
The latest macOS Catalina 10.15.3 beta build contains references to a new “Pro Mode,” which can be turned on and off by users. Some strings mention that “Apps may run faster, but battery life may decrease and fan noise may increase” and “Fan speed limit overridden” when the Pro Mode is activated.
As these strings are directly related to the macOS power management system, we think that it will be possible to temporarily improve the machine’s performance by ignoring some restrictions to save energy. The internal fans will run at a higher speed with Pro Mode, probably to avoid thermal throttling issues. Similar to Do Not Disturb, Pro Mode is supposed to be automatically disabled by the next day.
DIY Apple I Kit⇢
Avram Piltch at Tom’s Hardware:
If building PCs that operate at 5 GHz seems passe, perhaps you’d rather put together a system that speeds a long at a blazing 1 MHz. Launching later this year for an introductory price of $119, SmartyKit provides all the parts you need to make a replica of the original Apple I computer.
The SmartyKit is designed to indulge Apple and computer history fans taste for nostalgia, while potentially teaching kids about how computers work. The kit comes with 15 different chips, including the same 1 MHz MOS 6502 processor used in the Apple I and a ROM chip that holds a copy of Steve Wozniak’s original Monitor operating system.
Putting a Mac mini Inside a PowerBook 165c⇢
Apple Launches Smart Battery Case Replacement Program for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR⇢
Apple has determined that some Smart Battery Cases made for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR may experience charging issues. An affected Smart Battery Case may exhibit one or more of the following behaviors:
- Battery case will not charge or charges intermittently when plugged into power
- Battery case does not charge the iPhone or charges it intermittently
Affected units were manufactured between January 2019 and October 2019. This is not a safety issue and Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will replace eligible battery cases, free of charge.
Twenty Years Ago, Steve Jobs Showed Off the Aqua Interface for the First Time
At Macworld 2000, Steve Jobs unveiled the user interface for Mac OS X. It was called Aqua.
Aqua, as seen in the Mac OS X Public Beta
I love how Jobs introduced it:
When you design a new user interface, you have to start off humbly. You have to start off saying “What are the simplest elements in it? What does a button look like? And you spend months working on a button.”
AirPod Cases can now be Engraved with Emoji⇢
Huge news to kick off Apple’s 2020. Sadly, not all emoji are available, though.
iPad of the Decade: 2013’s iPad Air
The 2010s are gone, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about what I think were Apple’s most influential products in the last ten years. Time to get some real work down and talk about the iPad.
The iPad 2 was a huge hit, and a big update over the original iPad. The iPad 3 brought with it a Retina display, but it was slower and heavier for it. The iPad 4 — released just seven months later — came with a much-needed improved CPU in the fall of 2012.