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Apple on Friday announced the discontinuation of the full-size HomePod , saying it plans to focus on production and development of the HomePod mini. Apple informed TechCrunch of the product's end of life in a statement today. HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just $99. We are focusing our efforts on HomePod mini. We are discontinuing the original HomePod, it will continue to be available while supplies last through the Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. Apple will provide HomePod customers with software updates and service and support through Apple Care. The company plans to sell remaining HomePod units until stock is depleted, though Apple's online storefront is already sold out of Space Gray models. Support will also continue until the product is declared obsolete. Announced at WWDC 2017, HomePod was Apple's … [Read more...] about Apple discontinues full-size HomePod, to focus on HomePod mini

Amazon has issued price cuts on the Apple Watch SE , knocking $20 off the budget-friendly devices and delivering the year's cheapest prices. The $259 Apple Watch SE is available on the 40mm model with GPS functionality in your choice of a Space Gray Aluminum Case or a Silver Aluminum Case . At press time, both color options are in stock and ready to ship with free expedited delivery for Prime members. Also discounted by $20 is the Cellular version , this time with a Gold Aluminum Case with a Pink Sand Sport Band or a Space Gray Aluminum Case with Apple's Charcoal Sport Loop Band . Cellular units are on backorder with expected availability later this month, but you can still secure your spot in line now at the discounted price. There are plenty of additional Apple Watch deals available, including discounts on Series 6 models. It's worth paying a visit to the AppleInsider Apple Watch Price Guide for up-to-date pricing and availability. Additional … [Read more...] about Apple Watch SE returns to $259, cellular $309 in today’s Amazon deals

AT&T announced on Friday that it plans to launch a cheaper ad-supported version of HBO Max in June. The telecom giant has only released minimal detail on the plan. It hasn't yet announced pricing or an exact release date for the upcoming cheaper tier. AT&T expects the ad-supported HBO Max tier to combine with global expansion to drive subscriber and revenue growth in 2021. HBO Max will launch in 60 markets outside of the US in 2021. These will include 39 Latin America and the Caribbean territories in late June and 21 European territories in the second half of 2021. The company anticipates ending the year with between 67 and 70 million subscribers. The service had around 61 million subscribers at the end of 2020. The company expects its HBO unit to more than double its revenue in the next five years. "Zach Snyder's Justice League" is one of the high-profile HBO Max exclusives coming in 2021 In response to the pandemic, Warner Bros is … [Read more...] about Ad-supported HBO Max option coming in June

Investment bank Morgan Stanley calls recent reports of weaker iPhone demand "supply chain noise," and sees the AAPL pullback as a buying opportunity for investors. In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider , analyst Katy Huberty says she agrees with reports of iPhone 12 mini weakness, but adds that the overall demand environment remains positive for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro lineup. For one, she cites reports that Apple is cutting iPhone production to 75 million units in the first half of 2021. Although Huberty admits this has contributed to recent AAPL underperformance, she says the news is "noise rather than anything that impacts the fundamental outlook." A recent Morgan Stanley check indicated that there's between three million and five million units of total iPhone build upside risk for the first half of 2021. That's because the bank's research indicates that build orders for specific iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 models are being revised up, not … [Read more...] about iPhone demand weakness just ‘noise,’ outlook remains strong, analyst says

Blackmagic Design has updated its popular video-editing apps DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Fusion, adding native M1 Mac support. Following the public beta that had launched in November, DaVinci Resolve 17.1 is now available to the public in the official update channel. The update brings full native support for the M1-powered variants of the 13-inch MacBook Pro , MacBook Air , and Mac mini . Previously, DaVinci Resolve had only run on M1 Macs using Rosetta 2 translation. Native M1 support allows the software to take full advantage of Apple Silicon's performance. Apple's chip has up to a 3.5x faster CPU, 6x faster GPU, and 15x faster machine learning than Intel Macs. The M1-friendly update carries over the 100 new features and 200 improvements from DaVinci Resolve 17 . That list includes significant updates to the Fairlight audio workstation and color grading toolset with broader user interface upgrades. It also adds: new HDR color correction tools … [Read more...] about DaVinci Resolve and Fusion now officially support M1 Macs

Investment bank Wedbush says that the recent Apple stock sell-off creates a "golden buying opportunity" for investors, and predicts that Apple still has a $3 trillion valuation on the horizon. In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider , lead Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says the bank has added Apple to its "Best Ideas List." He says that, in the wake of a historic December quarter for Apple, Wall Street has been expecting modest cuts to 2021 iPhone forecasts. Despite that, the analyst says recent checks in Asia are continuing to come in bullish. He continues to predict that Apple could ship upwards of 230 million iPhone units during the year. That number is higher than the current Wall Street consensus of 220 million units. Based on the current trajectory, Ives says that Apple could sell north of 240 million units — with an "eye popping" 250 million units possibly in the cards. He adds that demand in China still looks strong coming out of the Chinese New Year. … [Read more...] about Recent Apple sell-off a ‘golden buying opportunity,’ analyst says

Apple has informed partner suppliers that it has reduced iPhone 12 mini production plans for the first half of 2021, with manufacturing of some specialty parts suspended altogether, according to a report on Wednesday. Citing industry sources familiar with the matter, Nikkei reports major suppliers were recently informed of the production shift that marks a change in Apple's procurement strategy. Prior to the reported downward revision, the tech giant was aggressively buying semiconductors, printed circuit boards and displays amid a worldwide parts shortage. Apple is targeting output at around 75 million iPhone units for the first half of 2021, down 20% from December 2020, the report says. Much of that downgrade is blamed on iPhone 12 mini. Nikkei sources note that demand for other iPhone models like the iPhone 12 Pro remains strong. Today's report echoes rumblings out of Apple's Asian supply chain in January when Pegatron supposedly saw reduced orders for the … [Read more...] about Apple reportedly cuts iPhone 12 mini production amid tepid demand

Feature For the first time since March 2020 all 270 Apple Stores in the US are now open in some capacity. AppleInsider has visited a few stores in the last few weeks, and the experience is radically different than what it was a year ago, or even when the stores reopened for the first time. Over the past year, my local Apple Store found in the Westfield Brandon Town Center mall has remained open save for only a few sporadic weeks. While I haven't had much need to visit in-person over the past year, two faulty MacBooks finally required me to make a Genius Bar appointment and bring them in for repair. Users looking to make any kind of Genius Bar appointment should plan far ahead as the earliest appointments for this location were at least one week out. If you attempt to show up in-person without an appointment, don't expect support. You may be able to wait several hours for a personal shopping experience, but Genius support won't be available. Visitors … [Read more...] about Returning to the Apple Store – the new normal

AMD will be expanding its Radeon RX 6000 graphics card line on March 3, with the launch thought to introduce lower-priced options that could eventually be used with the Mac Pro or eGPU solutions. The first Radeon RX 6000-series GPUs were introduced on October 28, with the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT unveiled by AMD. In an announcement made on Twitter, AMD plans to add more cards to the range. The tweet proclaims "the journey continues for RDNA2" at 11 A.M. Eastern on March 3. The event will be the third episode of AMD's "Where Gaming Begins" virtual event streams, and is confirmed via the tweet to include at least one new card. On March 3rd, the journey continues for #RDNA2 . Join us at 11AM US Eastern as we reveal the latest addition to the @AMD Radeon RX 6000 graphics family. https://t.co/5CFvT9D2SR pic.twitter.com/tUpUwRfpgk — Radeon RX (@Radeon) February 24, 2021 Current speculation is that AMD's next card will be one that extends the … [Read more...] about AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU may launch at March 3 event

Apple this week posted repairability scores for flagship iPhone and Mac products in France, a measure mandated by the country's government in January. The listings, known as repair indexes, are now displayed on official Apple Store app purchase pages and on Apple's website, reports MacGeneration . Current-generation flagship devices including the iPhone 12 , iPhone 11 and iPhone SE series, as well as MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models, carry the informational mark designed to offer insight into a product's life cycle. Separately, Apple has posted a dedicated webpage on its French website with links to detailed repair index reports covering documentation; disassembly, access and tools; parts availability; parts pricing; and software and services support. Indexes are self-reported and assigned based on cumulative scores in a range of sub-categories. All models in the current iPhone 12 series were assigned a score of 6 out of 10. The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro … [Read more...] about Apple now displays iPhone and Mac repairability scores in France