MacRumors

Apple experienced "strong double digit growth" in the number of iPhone users who were upgrading an older device or swapping to an iPhone from an Android device, Apple CEO Tim Cook said during today's earnings call covering the third fiscal quarter of 2021.

Cook said that it was the largest upgrade quarter for Q3 ever, and that the iPhone 12 upgrade cycle on the whole was "very strong." Sales of the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max were "particularly strong."

Going forward, Cook said that Apple feels "really good" about the future of the iPhone because 5G penetration remains "very low" and there's a lot of opportunity for sales growth in the 5G market. "We're in the very early innings of 5G," Cook said. "There are only a couple countries that are in the double digits."

The high number of new iPhone users and iPhone users upgrading to new models drove record sales momentum, with the iPhone ultimately bringing in $39.6 billion during the quarter.

During today's earnings call covering the third fiscal quarter of 2021 (second calendar quarter), Apple CFO Luca Maesteri said that Apple is expecting supply constraints to affect the iPhone and the iPad in the coming quarter.

"The supply constraints that we've seen in the June quarter will be higher in the September quarter," said Maestri. The constraints will impact iPhone and ‌iPad‌ sales in particular.

It is not clear if these predicted supply constraints will affect the iPhone 13 models that are expected to launch in September.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked whether the supply constraints will continue into the holiday quarter, but Cook said that he doesn't want to predict that. "We're going to take it one quarter at a time," he said. "We will do everything we can to mitigate whatever set of circumstances we're dealt." Cook went on to say that the constraints that Apple is seeing are the same constraints that are impacting other companies as well.

The majority of the constraints are of the variety that others are seeing. I would classify it as industry shortage. We do have some shortages in addition to that where the demand has been so great and so beyond our own expectation that it's difficult to get the entire set of parts within the lead times that we try to get those. It's a little bit of that as well. As I said before, the latest nodes, which we use in several of our products, have not been as much of an issue. The legacy nodes are where the supply constraints have been, on silicon.

Cook also said that though Apple is expecting supply constraints, component costs in the aggregate have declined, but Apple is currently paying out more for freight than it would like.

Apple's Wearables, Home, and Accessories category saw strong growth during the third fiscal quarter of 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook said during today's earnings call.

The category brought in $8.8 billion, up 36 percent from $6.5 billion in the year-ago quarter. According to Cook, the category set a new all-time June quarter revenue record.

Wearables, Home, and Accessories includes the Apple Watch, AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, HomePod, Beats headphones, and more. AirTags is in this category, and Cook said that the response to AirTag has been "enthusiastic" and "very strong."

Nearly 75 percent of customers who purchased an Apple Watch during the quarter were new to the Apple Watch, and Apple Watch is one of the main drivers of wearables revenue.

Apple's services category, which includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and more, saw another quarter of incredible growth according to Apple's earnings results for the third fiscal quarter of 2021 (second calendar quarter).

Services brought in $17.5 billion during the quarter, up 33 percent from $13.2 billion in the year-ago quarter and up from $16.9 billion last quarter.

Cloud services, ‌Apple Music‌, advertising, video, and payments saw all-time revenue records, while the ‌App Store‌ saw a new June quarter revenue record.

During the earnings call announcing the results, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that Apple's install base of devices hit a new all-time high as well, which helps drive services growth.

Apple now has more than 700 million paid subscriptions, which is up 150 million from last year, and is four times the number of subscriptions that Apple had four years ago.

Paid accounts on digital content stores reached a new all-time high across each geographic segment, and paid accounts increased by double digits.

Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted the 35 Emmy nominations that ‌Apple TV‌+ shows have received, and he said that ‌Apple TV‌+ viewers are loving shows like "Ted Lasso" and "Mythic Quest."

Macs and iPads are selling in record numbers as people continue to work and learn from home. According to Apple's latest earnings report for the third fiscal quarter of 2021 (second calendar quarter), Apple's Mac category brought in $8.8 billion, up from $6.5 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Sales were just a bit down from the second fiscal quarter of 2021, when Apple's Macs brought in $9.1 billion in revenue. iPad revenue was at $7.4 billion, up from $6.6 billion in the year-ago quarter and again, just barely trailing Apple's second quarter earnings results.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the ‌iPad‌ had its best June quarter in nearly a decade, while the Mac set a new June quarter revenue record. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said the last four quarters have been the Mac's best four quarters ever.

The earnings report covers sales of the M1 Mac and ‌iPad‌ machines, including the ‌M1‌ 24-inch iMac and the ‌M1‌ iPad Pro models that were released earlier this year.

Apple today announced financial results for the third fiscal quarter of 2021, which corresponds to the second calendar quarter of the year.

For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $81.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $21.7 billion, or $1.30 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $59.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.25 billion, or $0.65 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Apple's top-line numbers shattered June quarter records for the company.

Gross margin for the quarter was 43.3 percent, compared to 38.0 percent in the year-ago quarter. Apple also declared a quarterly dividend payment of $0.22 per share, payable on August 12 to shareholders of record as of August 9.

“This quarter, our teams built on a period of unmatched innovation by sharing powerful new products with our users, at a time when using technology to connect people everywhere has never been more important,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re continuing to press forward in our work to infuse everything we make with the values that define us — by inspiring a new generation of developers to learn to code, moving closer to our 2030 environment goal, and engaging in the urgent work of building a more equitable future.”

As has been the case for over a year now, Apple is once again not issuing guidance for the current quarter ending in September.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q3 2021 financial results conference call at 2:00 pm Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple earnings call recap ahead...

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Apple today released the fourth betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, introducing additional refinements to the new features that are coming in the software updates. In these betas, Apple has introduced changes for Safari, Notifications, Focus mode, and more.

Safari Updates

Apple is continuing to refine the design of Safari on the iPhone, and in iOS 15, there are tweaks to improve usability.

Share Button

The dedicated Share button for sending an article to someone has been relocated to the tab bar again, replacing the prior info button.

Reload

There's once again a reload button available next to the domain name for quick access to reloading a page. Apple had removed this in a prior beta and made it a long press gesture. Reload can also be accessed through the Share button.

Show Bookmarks

When you long press on the URL bar, there's now an option to "Show Bookmarks," which makes it much easier to get to your bookmarks.

Reader Mode

When Reader Mode is available on a website, there's now a little icon that can be tapped to enter into it. Reader mode is also accessible through the Share interface.

iPadOS 15

Apple has also updated the design of Safari on the iPad, bringing it in line with the macOS Monterey Safari design. macOS Monterey on Safari now includes a separate tab bar option.

MagSafe Battery Pack Support

Support for the MagSafe Battery Pack has been added in iOS 15 beta 4, so if you have one of the new accessories, it now shows up in the Battery widget and in the Settings app.

Lock Screen Camera Icon

Apple has very slightly tweaked the design of the Lock Screen Camera icon, removing the button on the left side and increasing the size of the flash and the lens ring. The Settings icon has also been updated.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts has gained a "Return to Home Screen" action that can be used in automations.

Notifications

The Notifications icon in the Settings app has been updated with a new look.

Apple has also added a new toggle for disabling notifications when Screen Sharing or Screen Mirroring.

Share Focus Status

In the Messages app, you can tap on a contact's name and choose whether or not to share your Focus status with them.

App Store Account Design

Apple is now using its new settings layout in for the App Store account section, with rounded edges and separate sections for each account option.

Photos Memory Sharing

There's now a functional interface for sharing Memories in Photos, with an option to choose a song that's appropriate for sharing if an Apple Music song is not available to be shared for copyright reasons.

More Features

Know of a feature that we left out? Let us know in the comments.

The next-generation iPad Air will feature a design that's similar to the third-generation iPad Pro, according to Japanese site Mac Otakara.

Citing a Chinese supplier, the site says that the fifth-generation ‌iPad Air‌ will continue to feature a 10.9-inch display and a Touch ID button on the side, but it will gain a dual-lens camera system with Wide and Ultra Wide cameras.

A LiDAR Scanner is also a possibility for the ‌iPad Air‌, though it is not guaranteed and the supplier did not know for sure. Additional features include a four speaker audio system and a 5G mmWave chip.

Mac Otakara expects the fifth-generation ‌iPad Air‌ to feature an A15 chip, and while today's rumor includes no detail on a release date, prior information has suggested an early 2022 launch.

There's also no mention of an OLED display, and multiple other rumors have suggested that Apple is working on an iPad Air-sized ‌iPad‌ with an OLED display. The ‌iPad Air‌ is expected to use OLED technology while the ‌iPad Pro‌ line will stick with mini-LED technology.

‌Mac Otakara‌ also says that its "latest information" indicates the upcoming ninth-generation low-cost ‌iPad‌ and the iPad mini 6 "do not seem to be any different" from the existing eighth-generation ‌iPad‌ and ‌iPad mini‌ 5.

The site suggests that it's possible that the only update will be an update to the A14 chip, with a design change not coming until 2022 or later.

That is not in line with previous rumors, especially about the ‌iPad mini‌ 6. We've heard reports from reliable sources like Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman that have suggested the next ‌iPad mini‌ will have a larger display and possibly no Home button.

The ‌iPad mini‌ 6 is expected to come out this fall, so we don't have too much longer to wait to find out which rumor set is true. We're either getting a small refresh that does not tweak the design, or a larger refresh that brings the ‌iPad mini‌ in line with the ‌iPad Pro‌ and ‌iPad Air‌.

As for the low-cost ‌iPad‌, ‌Mac Otakara‌ earlier this year said that it would look similar to the iPad Air 3, but it's no longer clear if that's accurate.

The latest beta update of macOS Monterey, released to developers today, has brought Live Text functionality to Intel-based Mac computers, removing the requirement for users to use an M1 Apple silicon Mac to utilize the feature, according to Rene Ritchie.

Live Text, included in the forthcoming macOS Monterey, iOS 15, and iPadOS 15 updates, allows users to interact with text within images, such as phone numbers, addresses, and more. With Live Text, text inside images also becomes selectable, allowing users to cut and copy the text into apps.

Apple at first stated that an ‌M1‌ Apple silicon Mac is a requirement for Live Text on macOS Monterey, but with the latest beta, it's been expanded to Intel-based Mac computers.

macOS Monterey, alongside iOS 15, iPadOS 15, tvOS 15, and watchOS 8, will be released to all users this coming fall. Learn more about macOS Monterey and all of it's new features using our guide.

The fourth beta of iPadOS 15 that was released today introduces tweaks to Safari, with the Safari layout now mirroring the updated layout that was introduced in macOS Monterey Beta 3.

Prior to this beta, Safari on iPad was similar to Safari on iOS with no dedicated tab bar, but after the update, Apple has added a dedicated tab bar that's activated by default, which is the same layout that's now used in macOS Monterey.

While the separate tab bar is enabled automatically when updating, in the Safari section of Settings, there is an option to toggle on the original compact tab bar that merged everything together.

Apple in iOS and iPadOS 15 introduced a compact and unified Safari design that did away with the dedicated URL and search interface, instead letting any individual tab be used for navigation input.

This design has not been popular with users, which has led to Apple making some changes during the beta testing period. As of now, Safari on iPadOS mirrors Safari on macOS Monterey, though additional design tweaks could come in the future.

Apple today seeded the fourth developer beta of macOS Monterey, the newest version of the macOS operating system. The fourth beta comes two weeks after Apple released the third macOS Monterey beta.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and once the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

As with all new betas, Apple recommends not installing the new macOS update on a primary machine because it is early release software and could have bugs.

macOS Monterey introduces Universal Control, a feature that lets a single mouse, trackpad, and keyboard be used across multiple Mac or iPad devices, plus there's a new AirPlay to Mac feature.

Safari has been redesigned with a new tab bar (with a toggle for two different designs as of the third beta) and support for Tab Groups, and FaceTime has gained spatial audio, a Portrait Mode on M1 Macs, and Voice Isolation for cutting out background noise. There's also a new SharePlay ‌FaceTime‌ feature that lets Apple users watch TV, listen to music, and share their screens with one another.

Shared With You, a separate feature, keeps track of the music, links, podcasts, news, and photos that people are sent in Messages, highlighting it in the relevant apps. Notes has a new Quick Note feature for jotting down thoughts, and collaboration is easier with mentions and an Activity View.

The Shortcuts app from iOS is now available on the Mac, and Focus helps people stay on task by cutting out background distractions. There's an updated Maps app with a whole slew of new features, and with Live Text, Macs can now detect text in photos or provide details on animals, art, landmarks, plants, and more in images.

Mail Privacy Protection hides IP and prevents tracking through invisible pixels, and iCloud Private Relay keeps Safari browsing protected. There are many other new features in macOS Monterey, with a full rundown available in our macOS Monterey roundup.

In the last macOS Monterey Beta, Apple changed the default design of the Safari tab bar following multiple usability complaints. There's now a dedicated address bar at the top of the Safari window, with tabs arranged below it, rather than an all-in-one integrated design. Those who preferred the original design can use the View menu to toggle off "Show Separate Tab Bar."

Apple today seeded the fourth betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to developers for testing purposes, with the updates coming two weeks after Apple released the third betas.

Registered developers can download the profile for the iOS and iPadOS betas from the Apple Developer Center, and once the profile is installed, beta updates will be available over the air.

iOS 15 is a major update that introduces a slew of new features focused on cutting down on distractions and spending more time with friends and family.

FaceTime has a revamped interface with new SharePlay features for listening to music, watching videos, and sharing your screen with your friends and family members, and in Messages, if something like a url, photo, news article, or song is shared with you, you can see the content in Apple's dedicated apps.

Focus lets you create custom notification modes that hide irrelevant apps and notifications when you're doing things like working or spending time with your family so you can better focus on the activity at hand, and there's a new notification summary that de-prioritizes less important notifications so you're not constantly inundated with information.

Maps has a new 3D view in select cities that lets you see 3D landmarks, there are immersive AR directions when walking, and driving directions are better than ever, especially at complex interchanges.

Safari now supports Tab Groups for improved organization, and extensions can be used in Safari for iOS devices for the first time. Later this year you'll be able to add your ID card to the Wallet app in some U.S. states, and Apple is making it easier to add key cards for hotels, smart home locks, and more to the Wallet app.

Spotlight is better than ever and can bring up more tailored search results, and Photos has a "Live Text" feature that lets you take a photo of something with text like a receipt to translate it into typed text on your iPhone. ‌Photos‌ can also identify landmarks, books, plants, and pets, so you can snap a photo of a plant and get information on what it might be.

Apple has also added multiple privacy improvements, such as a new App Privacy report coming to the iPhone that will let you know how often apps access sensitive info like your location, a Mail feature that hides your IP address, and Siri processing that's done on device.

For a complete overview of everything that's new in iOS 15, we have a dedicated roundup that walks through all of the new features, and Apple has been adding feature refinements throughout the beta testing period. Beta 3, for example, introduced Safari refinements, updates to the Focus interface, and more.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of the upcoming watchOS 8 update to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming two weeks after Apple released the third watchOS 8 beta.

To install ‌watchOS 8‌, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌watchOS 8‌ can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌iPhone‌. It's not recommended to install ‌watchOS 8‌ on a main Apple Watch as the software may be unstable at this early date.

watchOS 8 has several new features that are extensions of new features introduced in iOS 15. There are improvements to Wallet that allow it to hold keys for unlocking hotel, car, and home doors, plus Apple will let U.S. users add their IDs to Wallet later this year.

Apple overhauled the Home app, and for the Workout app, there are new Tai Chi and Pilates workout types, and the Breathe app has been renamed to Mindfulness thanks to a new Reflect session that invites users to get into a positive state of mind. When sleeping, the Apple Watch now measures respiratory rate.

Focus mode from iOS 15 syncs to the watch so users can stay on task, and in the Messages app, Scribble, dictation, and emojis can be combined within the same message, making it easier to communicate. Dictated text can be edited, and GIFs can be sent right from the watch.

There's a new Portrait watch face, and the Photos app has been updated with support for Memories and Featured ‌Photos‌. A new Find My app lets items be located right on the wrist, and there are also new updates for Music, Weather, Timers, and more, along with a new Contacts app.

Apple today announced two games that are coming soon to Apple Arcade, including the classic racing game "Asphalt 8: Airborne" from Gameloft and a new Zelda-inspired roleplaying game "Baldo" from Italian game studio NAPS team.

Originally released on the App Store in 2013, "Asphalt 8: Airborne" is coming to Apple Arcade, but no specific release date has been announced. The popular racing game features more than 240 real cars to select from automakers and brands such as Ferrari, Ducati, Lamborghini, McLaren, Bugatti, Mercedes, Audi, Ford, and Chevrolet.

"Baldo" is described as an action-adventure roleplaying game with puzzles, exploration, and combat, all set in a hand-drawn open world. Players will embark on a journey into a magical land full of mysteries to discover as they complete the main story quest and many side quests. The game will be available on Apple Arcade starting Friday, August 27.

Another racing game "Detonation Racing" launches on Apple Arcade this Friday, with players having to navigate an environment rigged to blow up, collapse, and burst into flames at the least convenient moments. The game hails from Electric Square, the creators of another popular racing game "Forza Street" and the "Hot Wheels id" racing system.

Priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, Apple Arcade provides access to a catalog of around 200 games without ads or in-app purchases across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, with additional titles added periodically.

Nothing, a new brand from OnePlus founder Carl Pei, has today officially launched the "Ear (1)" true wireless earbuds after months of anticipation around the company's AirPods Pro rival.

The Ear (1) features an in-ear design, Active Noise Cancelation, Bluetooth 5.2, IPX4 water resistance, and a charging case with Qi-compatible wireless charging and a USB-C port. Fast pairing is supported on Android devices only.

The ANC uses three microphones on each earbud and can be set to Maximum for loud environments, Light for quieter environments, and there is also a transparency mode for hearing the sound around you. During calls, the microphones are used to cancel out background noise.

The Ear (1) earbuds offer 5.7 hours of battery life with ANC turned off, and 34 hours of battery life when used with the charging case. This drops to four hours for the buds and 24 hours with the case with ANC switched on.

Each earbud can be controlled with tap and gesture controls, which can be customized with the accompanying app. The app also features EQ controls and Find my Earbud functions.

One of the most striking things about the earbuds is their unique design based around transparent plastic, which reveals some of the device's internal circuitry and magnets. Each earbud has a color-coded red or white circle to indicate the left and right ears.

Inside, the earbuds feature 11.6mm drivers. Nothing's hardware and software have been tuned by the well-known Swedish electronics company Teenage Engineering.

The Ear (1) earbuds cost $150 less than Apple's AirPods Pro, but offer many of the same features, such as a premium design, ANC, transparency mode, IPX4 water resistance, 24 hours of battery life with the charging case. Some features, like Bluetooth 5.2, three microphones per earbud, and earbud weight, are actually better than AirPods Pro, but they will of course lack Apple-specific features such as auto-pairing with the H1 chip. The Ear (1) earbuds are also cheaper than Samsung's $200 Galaxy Buds Pro.

In recent months, Nothing has undertaken an aggressive and secretive marketing campaign to build enthusiasm around its true wireless earbuds. Pei has previously said that the company plans to launch a connected ecosystem of new devices that will extend far beyond this initial product.

The Ear (1) earbuds will go on sale on August 17 in 45 countries, priced at $99 in the United States.

Researchers are rethinking plans to use the Apple Watch in studies after finding inconsistencies in the data gathered by the device (via The Verge).

Inconsistencies in the Apple Watch's heart rate variability data are reportedly caused by Apple tweaking the device's algorithms, meaning that data from the same time period can change without warning. Associate professor of biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and developer of the Beiwe data platform, J.P. Onnela, told The Verge:

These algorithms are what we would call black boxes — they're not transparent. So it's impossible to know what's in them.

Research fellows at Brigham and Women's Hospital exported the heart rate data from Apple Watches for the same period of time, but several months apart. The data should have been identical, but since it is filtered through an algorithm prior to export it was drastically different.

Apple changes its algorithms regularly and without warning, so exporting the same data at different times may use different algorithms. Beyond heart rate variability, researchers looking into sleep tracking have experienced similar problems with changes to algorithms.

This mostly precludes commercial devices from being used by researchers, resulting in the need for devices specifically designed to collect data for scientific studies. While this is adequate for some studies, it heavily constrains research into the medical value of commercially available products for users. Some researchers say that Apple should publicize the changes it makes to algorithms or make the Apple Watch's raw data available.

Instagram will now automatically default the accounts of users on its platform under the age of 16 to "private" during initial account set-up, meaning only followers that a user accepts and approves of will be able to see their photos, videos, and posts, the company announced today.

Instagram has been on a recent push to make its platform safer and more secure for younger users, which make up a considerable amount of the platform's demographic. Instagram says that research concluded that eight out of ten "young users" who signed up for its platform choose to make their account private rather than public.

Instagram asks users for their date of birth during initial account sign-up, and from now, for users under the age of 16, the app will automatically select "Private" for their account. Existing users under the age of 16 will receive an in-app notification encouraging them to convert their public account into a private one.

Private accounts let people control who sees or responds to their content. If you have a private account, people have to follow you to see your posts, Stories and Reels. People also can't comment on your content in those places, and they won't see your content at all in places like Explore or hashtags.

Historically, we asked young people to choose between a public account or a private account when they signed up for Instagram, but our recent research showed that they appreciate a more private experience. During testing, eight out of ten young people accepted the private default settings during sign-up.

Instagram is not going into full enforcement mode, however, as it will continue to allow users under the age of 16 to keep their account public if they wish. The company today also announced several other changes coming to the platform, including updated rules for advertisers.

The Facebook-owned app says that in a few weeks, it will no longer allow advertisers to target ads for users under the age of 18 based on their age, gender, or location. This new rule will apply to Instagram, Facebook, and Facebook Messenger.

We're also making changes to how advertisers can reach young people with ads. Starting in a few weeks, we'll only allow advertisers to target ads to people under 18 (or older in certain countries) based on their age, gender and location. This means that previously available targeting options, like those based on interests or on their activity on other apps and websites, will no longer be available to advertisers. These changes will be global and apply to Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.

The app also announced new measures it's taking within the app to prevent "unwanted contact" by utilizing "new technology that will allow us to find accounts that have shown potentially suspicious behavior and stop those accounts from interacting with young people's accounts."