Sales

The top Labor Day tech deals from around the web

Retailers from around the web are offering notable discounts on top tech products this weekend, in celebration of the Labor Day holiday. We have current gen Apple TVs starting at $120, iPads starting at $280, and up to $400 off MacBooks Pros. Check out our full roundup below!

Get 15% off your eBay order with this Labor Day coupon

If you're in the market for a new pair of headphones, a jacket, a vacuum cleaner or really anything else you can find on eBay, now is a great time to buy. In celebration of the upcoming Labor Day holiday, the online retailer is hosting a sale that takes 15% off select items on its website. We have all the details and a roundup of our favorite deals below.

Get a good deal on these Apple products ahead of fall refresh

2020 MacBook Pro with the lid half open

Here's a heads up for those of you in the market for a new Apple product or accessory: a number of current-gen Apple products have been discounted ahead of their anticipated fall refreshes. We have Apple TVs starting at $120, Apple Watches at $209, iPads at $280, and much more. Check out our full roundup below.

The problem with Apple building a car

Apple Car rumors have persisted since late 2014, having intensified with a flurry of reports saying Apple held talks with several potential manufacturers lately. Although an Apple Car is unlikely to become a reality before at least 2025, that hasn't stopped fans from dreaming up what an Apple-branded vehicle would feel like. But there's a problem with Apple building a car.

The best Black Friday apps on iPhone for shopping and deals

Black Friday banner

Black Friday is one of the best shopping days of the year for deals. And nowadays, you don’t have to wake up at 2AM to stand in line and fight the crowds. You can do your Black Friday shopping right from your device.

The nice thing about Black Friday apps for iPhone is that you’re already ahead of the game. You can start looking now at terrific deals and even grab some early sales.

Stay home and munch on Thanksgiving leftovers this year while you shop from your couch with these awesome Black Friday apps for iPhone and iPad.

$12 Apple Watch Milanese band and other tech deals

In today's roundup of tech deals from around the web we have a well-reviewed Milanese Loop-style band for just $12. We also have 1-year PlayStation Plus memberships back down to $43 and the Series 3 Apple Watch GPS 42mm at $229. But you better hurry, these prices won't be around for long!

Cook: iPhone sales slowed due to higher prices, death of subsidies & less frequent upgrades

Tim Cook sitting at a table outside the Apple Park headquarters

Apple's boss Tim Cook has admitted in yesterday's conference call following the latest quarterly earnings report that—aside from China—other factors such as higher prices, death of subsidies in many countries and customers holding on to their handset a bit longer than usual have all contributed to a decline in iPhone upgrades.

Jason Snell has transcribed Apple’s earnings call on Six Colors, here's what Cook said when an analyst pressed him on Apple's pricing strategy (emphasis mine):

Steve Milunovich, Wolfe Research: Some have the perception that you priced the new products, the new iPhones, too high. What have you learned about price elasticity and do you feel that perhaps you pushed the envelope a little bit too far and might have to bring that down in the future?

Tim Cook: Steve, it’s Tim. If you look at what we did this past year, we priced iPhone XS in the US the same as we’d priced iPhone X a year ago. iPhone XS Max, which was new, was a hundred dollars more than the XS, and then we priced the XR right in the middle of where the entry iPhone 8 and entry iPhone 8 Plus had been priced. So it’s actually a pretty small difference in the United States compared to last year.

He continued:

However, the foreign exchange issue that Luca spoke of in the call amplified that difference in international markets, in particular the emerging markets, which tended to move much more significantly versus the dollar.

And so what we have done in January in some locations and some products is essentially absorb part or all of the foreign currency move as compared to last year and therefore get close or perhaps right on the local price from a year ago.

So yes, I do think the price is a factor.

I remember Apple executives arguing in the past that iPhones weren't just for the rich people. But I digress, here's what Cook had to say about the death of the smartphone subsidy.

Secondly, in some markets, as I had talked about in my prepared remarks, the subsidy is probably the bigger of the issues in the developed markets.

I had mentioned Japan, but also even in this country, even though the subsidy has gone away for a period of time, if you’re a customer that your last purchase was a 6S or a 6 or in some cases even a 7, you may have paid 199 dollars for it. And now, in the unbundled world it’s obviously much more than that.

Cook says they have a number of actions to address the decline in iPhone upgrade rates, including the aggressive trade-in offers and and installment payments.

The Apple story is shifting from iPhone units to ecosystems and services.

The CEO concluded:

So where it goes in the future, I don't know. But I am convinced that making a great product that is high quality, that is the best thing for the customer. We work for the user and so that's the way that we look at it.

In the press release announcing quarterly earnings, Cook praised other aspects of Apple's business that have experienced healthy growth.

While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide.

Our active installed base of devices reached an all-time high of 1.4 billion in the first quarter, growing in each of our geographic segments. That’s a great testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, and it’s driving our Services business to new records thanks to our large and fast-growing ecosystem.

Apple no longer reports units sales for iPhone and other products, robbing investors of the most important metric as the company transitions its story from one heavily dependent on iPhone to a combined products + services business.

During the holiday quarter, the Cupertino company pulled in $84.3 billion in revenue, a decline of 5% from the year-ago quarter. Strategy Analytics estimates that 65.9 million iPhones were shipped during the quarter, or 11.4 million fewer handsets versus the year-ago quarter.