iPhone News

Apple’s Arizona sapphire plant said to be gearing up to build 5″ iPhone displays

Cody Lee ∙ February 6, 2014

We've known since last fall that Apple was teaming up with GT Advanced to open up a sapphire crystal manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona. But up until now, it's been unclear exactly what components it would be making. Camera lenses? Touch ID covers?

Well according to a new report from 9to5Mac, the plant is gearing up to build iPhone displays. Citing import/export and other records, the site says that the Mesa plant has just procured enough equipment to make over 100M ~5-inch iPhone displays this year...

Kids driving game Toca Cars is Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

I hope you have downloaded the excellent Spark Camera which was made temporarily free thanks to Apple's ongoing Free App of the Week promotion. Every Thursday a new paid app picked by Apple's editors goes free for a limited time in the App Store as Apple's way of thanking fans for their loyalty.

As Spark Camera today returns to its original $1.99 price, a new app has gone free until next Thursday, Toca Cars. Originally released last September and normally costing $2.99, this charming kids driving game from Toca Boca (a studio that makes digital toys for kids) has a 4.5-star rating and was never free, until today.

I wholeheartedly recommend you grab Toca Cars in the App Store now...

Olympic athletes may use Apple devices during opening ceremony after all

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 6, 2014

Cody ran an interesting story yesterday about Samsung allegedly requiring Olympians to cover the Apple logos on their iPhones and iPads during the opening ceremony, as part of giving free devices to athletes. It had all the elements you'd expect from a typical viral story: a pair of tech titans who hate each other's guts out, a major sports event, greed, ad money and corporate jealousy.

Too bad it wasn't true. It's been confirmed by both Samsung and the International Olympic Committee today that athletes are absolutely allowed to use any device they wish during the Opening Ceremonies. This means iPhones and yes - the Apple logos are allowed, too!

Classic iPhone game Eliss gets remade for 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Avid gamers among you who owned the original iPhone surely remember Eliss. Created by Steph Thirion and released in March 2009, Eliss was one of the first iPhone puzzlers that wouldn't implement multitouch controls as an afterthought. It went on to win numerous awards and was called by many a multitouch masterpiece. Eliss challenged you to move around a bunch of planets and split/combine them with other planets of the same size/color.

On paper, the concept doesn't sound terribly revolutionary or exciting. But once you picked it up, however, there was no putting Eliss down - it was that addictive. Unfortunately, the creator stopped updating the game just three months following its release: the last refresh was in June 2009.

Turns out other projects have kept Steph occupied - among them a brand new and polished remake of the original Eliss game...

Walmart shaves $100 off iPad 2, now $299

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 28, 2017

The unreasonably priced iPad 2 with sixteen gigabytes of storage and no cellular sells for $399. You'd be hard-pressed to justify buying a 2011 tablet at that price when $399 can buy you the latest iPad mini with Retina display instead. On the other hand, some customers such as schools and businesses clearly see the value or Apple otherwise wouldn't be keeping the device on the market at that price.

If for any reason you're in the market for a second-generation iPad, Walmart has a sweet deal for you in the form of an electronic $100 Walmart gift card...

Apple renews contract with its mobile GPU provider, Imagination Technologies

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 28, 2016

The fabless semiconductor maker, Imagination Technologies, has been providing Apple's iPad and iPhone with its graphics and video hardware since 2007. On Thursday, the UK-based company announced extending its licensing agreement with Apple, giving the iPhone maker multi-year access to Imagination's current and future PowerVR-branded graphics and video GPU blueprints.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Both Apple and Intel are investors in Imagination, with the former holding a ten percent ownership stake in the company...

Job ad confirms Apple testing health/fitness wearables

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 6, 2014

A new job ad discovered on Apple's website Thursday has pretty much confirmed that the firm is working on and testing some kind of a health and fitness related wearable device. It's the first semi-official confirmation of the rumored iWatch project if I ever saw one. I'm not sure if this is an unintentional slip up and why Apple would want to make this particular call for job applicants public.

Regardless, it's now clear that Tim Cook & Co. have been staffing up with a lot of wearable experts from medical, fitness and biosensing fields. The job description mentions expertise in such health activities as cardiovascular fitness and energy expenditure, including “calories burned, metabolic rate, aerobic fitness level measurement/tracking” and more...

Apple pulls Bitcoin wallet app Blockchain from App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Apple on Thursday pulled from its App Store the last remaining Bitcoin wallet app that allowed transactions. Blockchain, the only Bitcoin trading and storage iOS app, has been downloaded 120,000 times. It can no longer be found on the App Store following the removal over an "unresolved issue".

Nicolas Cary, the CEO of London-based Blockchain.info which developed the app, told Bloomberg he didn't understand Apple's reasoning as his app's been on the App Store for two years.

Apple previously pulled Bitcoin-compatible apps from the App Store or asked their developers to remove the transfer feature because it's illegal in some countries...

Final Fantasy VI now available in the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ February 6, 2014

Great news this morning for all of you Final Fantasy fans. Square Enix's mobile version of the series' classic sixth episode is now available in the App Store and can be downloaded for both the iPhone and the iPad.

Final Fantasy VI first debuted in 1994, and is highly regarded as one of the best titles in the franchise. And for its iOS debut, the game has been completely rebuilt with easy touch controls and enhanced graphics...

Amazon app now lets you search for things by taking photos of them

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Amazon has pushed an update to its iOS app, enabling a new feature called Flow. The feature allows users to search for items on the website by simply scanning them in the app using their iPhone's camera. Need a stapler? Just point your iPhone at one.

Flow recognizes via shape, size, color, box text, and general appearance, and can analyze multiple items at a time. Hold your iPhone up to a row of products and every recognizable item is placed in a queue that can then be added to your Amazon cart...

Apple posts new ‘On the runway with iPhone 5s’ video

Cody Lee ∙ February 5, 2014

Apple has added a new video to both its YouTube channel and iPhone marketing page called 'On the runway with iPhone 5s.' The clip contains footage from the Burberry Womenswear Spring/Summer 2014 fashion show from last September.

For those who missed our original post on the fashion show, Apple handed out then-pre-release iPhone 5s units to Burberry employees to cover the event. Their footage highlighted the handset's image quality and new slow-motion feature...

Collection of every Apple reference ever made in The Simpsons and Futurama

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

A comprehensive list of all the Apple references ever made in popular animated TV shows The Simpsons and Futurama has been compiled by the folks over at TUAW. And knowing what a huge following the two shows have, I thought it was worth sharing.

The series have a combined 33 seasons between them, and were both created by Matt Groening. Groening has a well-documented affinity for Apple, and even wrote some copy for the company in the 80's, so as you'd imagine, it gets mentioned quite often...