MacRumors

Apple plans to release several new products in the first half of 2020, including Ultra Wideband tags, high-end wireless headphones, a 4.7-inch iPhone, refreshed iPad Pro models, and refreshed MacBook Pro and/or MacBook Air models, according to the latest forecast from well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

"We forecast that Apple's major new hardware products in 1H20 include the 4.7-inch LCD iPhone, iPad Pro, MacBook Pro/Air, smaller wireless charging mat, UWB tag, and a high-end Bluetooth headphone," wrote Kuo in a research note with TF International Securities, a copy of which was seen by MacRumors.

Our insight on these products:

• 4.7-inch iPhone: Apple is widely rumored to be planning to release a new low-cost iPhone with a similar design as the iPhone 8, including a 4.7-inch LCD display and a Touch ID home button, but with a faster A13 chip and 3GB of RAM. The device is expected to launch by the end of March, with pricing predicted to start at around $399 in the United States.
• iPad Pro refresh: New models with a triple-lens rear camera system that supports 3D sensing for augmented reality are expected to be unveiled as early as March.
• MacBook Pro/Air refresh: It is unclear if Kuo is referring to the possibility of either a new MacBook Pro or MacBook Air or both, but previous rumors suggest that a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a scissor switch-based Magic Keyboard will launch in the first half of 2020, following in the footsteps of the 16-inch MacBook Pro last October. Apple last refreshed the MacBook Air in July 2019 with a True Tone display and a lower $1,099 starting price.
• Ultra Wideband tags: Last year, MacRumors uncovered evidence of Apple working on Tile-like item tracking tags in iOS 13 code, including a potential "AirTags" name. As with iPhone 11 models, Kuo believes the tags will support Ultra Wideband, which would likely make it possible to locate the tags with much greater accuracy than Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi.
• High-end headphones: Kuo did not provide any details about these headphones beyond claiming that they will support Bluetooth. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that Apple-branded over-ear headphones were under development, but it is unclear if they were canceled, became the Beats Solo Pro, or otherwise. MacRumors has also uncovered evidence of Apple developing new Powerbeats4 headphones, but the existing Powerbeats3 are not considered high end.
• Small wireless charging mat: No further details were shared. Apple canceled its much-anticipated AirPower charging mat last year due to quality concerns. That mat would have been able to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods case simultaneously, regardless of where each device was positioned on the mat and with deep iOS integration.

Farther out, Kuo said the worst scenario for Apple related to the new coronavirus outbreak would be postponing the qualification and mass production schedules for new products in the second half of the year.

"If there are no significant improvements regarding the coronavirus epidemic in the foreseeable future, we predict that Apple may delay new material adoptions or lower test requirements for components to shorten qualification processes and launch new products in 2H20 on schedule, and the lower spec will likely hurt the ASP of materials or components," wrote Kuo.

Flexibits today is launching version 3.0 of its popular Fantastical calendar app, bringing a host of improvements across all platforms including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Along with all of the feature updates, Fantastical is transitioning to a premium subscription model that unlocks access across all devices and will provide continued feature additions and improvements on an ongoing basis.

With the new updates to the Fantastical apps, everything has been unified across the various platforms, so users will essentially find feature parity on all of their devices. An all-new design brings a full-screen calendar window, support for native OS features like Today widgets, action and share extensions, and Handoff, and much more.

I've had a chance to try out the new Fantastical, and I've come away impressed with the sleek look, slick management of significant amounts of information, and of course the natural language parsing Fantastical has been known for that lets you easily create events and tasks by simply typing a few words. Among the key additions in Fantastical 3.0:

- AccuWeather integration displays small weather icons in relevant places, bringing forecasts right into your calendar so you can see what the weather is going to be like for your various events, even taking into account event locations.

- Calendar sets let you quickly manage your various calendars and tasks, allowing you to toggle multiple calendars with a single click and even change displayed calendars based on your location. Interesting Calendars is another new feature powered by SchedJoules that lets you subscribe to calendars for holidays, your favorite sports teams and TV shows, and more. Subscribing to a sports team, for example, will add entries for upcoming games to your calendar, and each game entry will update at its conclusion with box scores and even highlight links to let you easily follow your favorite team.

- Meeting proposals are particularly useful for groups, letting you specify multiple time options in a calendar event invitation and have each invitee choose times that work for them. Once a unanimous time has been selected, the event can be automatically scheduled in on users' calendars, or it can be manually set by the organizer.

- Tasks now have a prominent home alongside calendars in Fantastical, and integration with Todoist, Google Tasks, and iCloud helps keep everything in sync.

Other features in Fantastical 3 include one-click creation of Zoom or Google Hangout meetings right from events, the ability to attach files and photos to scheduled events, event templates for one-touch creation of frequent events, and custom alert sounds for events.

Fantastical has long been available across Apple's various platforms, but each app has been a standalone purchase, and that's changing with Fantastical 3.0's shift to a subscription model. Subscriptions have long been controversial with users, but Flexibits has made a strong effort to justify the change by unifying everything under a single subscription that unlocks all apps and keeping pricing to a reasonable $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year. With the new subscription model, Flexibits will be able to deploy new features on a more regular basis rather than holding them to bundle for the next major paid update.

For those who don't want to pay for a subscription, there is a new free mode available for Fantastical, but many users will find it limited enough that they'll want to consider a paid subscription, for which there's a 14-day free trial. All users will also need to set up a free Flexibits account if they wish to sync calendars.

Fantastical 2 users who don't wish to convert to a subscription won't find themselves completely out of luck, as they'll be able to download the new apps and maintain access to all of the features and functionality they've had under Fantastical 2 on the platforms where they previously purchased it, plus a few of the new features as well as ongoing bug fixes and technical support.

Fantastical version 3.0 is rolling out now as an updated version of the existing Fantastical 2 iPhone app [App Store], which is now a universal binary supporting iPhone, ‌iPad‌, and Apple Watch. (If you're an existing user of Fantastical 2 for ‌iPad‌, you'll need to download the new universal version, as the iPad-only app is being discontinued, but the transition should be seamless.) The updated version of the Mac app can preferably be downloaded directly from Flexibits, but it's also available on the Mac App Store.

Apple's shares jumped 2 percent today in after-market trading, following the company's best reported quarter ever in terms of revenue and profit.

The tech giant's market capitalization has now grown to over $1.4 trillion, further cementing its place as the world's most valuable tech company. Only the Saudi Aramco oil company is worth more.

AAPL is currently hovering around $312 in pre-market trading. As The Guardian points out, Apple's valuation is now more than Germany's 30 largest listed companies that make up the DAX index on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The DAX is worth a combined $1.36 trillion, including business software giant SAP ($162 billion), chemical company Linde ($111 billion), engineering and industrial conglomerate Siemens ($108 billion), and insurance group Allianz ($100 billion).

The figures are a response to Apple's glowing financial results last night which saw the company post revenue of $91.8 billion and net quarterly profit of $22.2 billion, or $4.99 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $84.3 billion and net quarterly profit of $20.0 billion, or $4.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The quarter was the best in Apple's history, topping the first fiscal quarter of 2018.

During today's earnings call covering the first fiscal quarter of 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about 5G, and how much of a demand driver it might be for Apple.

Cook of course said that he wouldn't comment on future Apple products with respect to 5G, but said 5G is in the "early innings of its deployment on a global basis."

Cook went on to say that Apple "couldn't be prouder" of its current iPhone lineup, and is excited about the upcoming product pipeline. "We wouldn't trade our position with anybody," he said.

In another question, Cook was asked about the demand for 5G and the demand for lower-cost iPhones, and how that might impact Apple's future iPhone product plans, which Cook also declined to comment on. He did say that in general, "it's important to look around the world at 5G deployment schedules." Cook said he will not comment on the price of handsets that are not announced.

Rumors suggest that Apple's 2020 iPhones will include 5G support for the first time, allowing the devices to connect to available mmWave and Sub-6GHz 5G networks, which carriers are in the process of rolling out in the United States and around the world. Rumors indicate Apple will use Qualcomm's 5G chips for 5G connectivity.

During today's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the coronavirus outbreak in China, which investors fear could potentially impact Apple's business, affecting production of both current iPhones and the new low-cost iPhone that's on the horizon.

Cook said that Apple is donating to China to help with the outbreak and working with partner companies.

We're donating to groups that are working to contain the outbreak. We're working closely with our Apple team members in the affected areas, and our thoughts are with all of those in the region.

In an interview with CNBC, Cook confirmed that employee travel has been restricted to "business critical travel" only as of last week, and employees in Wuhan and across China are receiving care kits from Apple.

"We're restricting travel to business critical travel. For employees that are in the Wuhan area, we are providing care kits and supplying them across our employee population in China as well.

Cook said that Apple's decision to set next quarter guidance with a range of $4 billion is reflective of the coronavirus outbreak and the "uncertainty around that." Apple's guidance for Q2 2020 is $63 to $67 billion, a larger range than normal.

The situation is still emerging, said Cook, and Apple is monitoring the situation closely and gathering data points.

According to Cook, supplier factories in wider China are opening late after Chinese New Year, on February 10, which Apple is working to manage. Apple does have suppliers in the Wuhan area, but all of these suppliers have alternate suppliers, and Apple is working to ensure good supplies. Apple has accounted for the delayed startup with its larger range of outcomes.

In its retail stores, Apple is limiting hours, checking employees, and sanitizing its stores regularly. One store has also been shut down for the time being. Apple's retail sales have slowed due to virus concerns, but this is accounted for in Apple's guidance numbers for Q2 2020.

Following poor iPhone sales in the first quarter of 2019, Apple saw significant improvement in the first quarter of 2020, with iPhone sales bringing in $56 billion in revenue for 8 percent growth.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, response to the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max has been highly positive. The iPhone 11 was the top-selling iPhone every week during the December quarter, and the three new iPhone models were Apple's most popular iPhones.

Apple saw double digit growth in the United States, UK, France, Singapore, Brazil, Mainland China, India, Thailand, Turkey, and more. In greater China specifically, Apple has returned to growth.

Apple made a major trade-in push in 2019, which was successful, and Apple saw iPhone trade-in numbers double year over year.

During the first quarter of 2020, Apple's wearables category set a new all-time revenue record, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Apple's wearables earnings category, which includes AirPods and Apple Watch along with accessories like Beats headphones and HomePod, hit $10 billion, up from $7.3 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Wearables, Home, and Accessories revenue surpassed Mac revenue for the first time this quarter. Mac revenue was at $7.2 billion in Q1 2020.

According to Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook‌, Apple could not make enough AirPods and Apple Watch Series 3 devices to meet demand during the quarter, and supplies continue to be low. Cook told Reuters that Apple is "working on both of those very hard."

Apple Watch set a new all-time revenue record during the quarter, and more than 75 percent of new customers during the quarter were new to Apple Watch. Both AirPods and Apple Watch were "must-have holiday gifts," driving growth even as supplies were constrained.

Cook says that Apple's wearables business is now the size of a Fortune 150 company.

Apple today announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2020, which corresponds to the fourth calendar quarter of 2019.

For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $91.8 billion and net quarterly profit of $22.2 billion, or $4.99 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $84.3 billion and net quarterly profit of $20.0 billion, or $4.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The quarter was the best in Apple's history in terms of revenue and profit, topping the first fiscal quarter of 2018.

Gross margin for the quarter was 38.4 percent, compared to 38.0 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 61 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.77 per share, payable February 13 to shareholders of record as of February 10.

“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.”

Apple's guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 includes expected revenue of $63-67 billion and gross margin between 38 and 39 percent.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q1 2020 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple's earnings call recap follows...

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iOS 13 is now installed on 77 percent of iPhones that were released in the last four years, according to updated adoption numbers that Apple shared today on its App Store support site for developers.

17 percent of iPhone owners with a device released in the last four years continue to run iOS 12, while 6 percent run an earlier version of iOS.

A total of 70 percent of all iOS devices run iOS 13, with this number taking into account older iPhones as well. 23 percent of total iPhones have iOS 12 installed, and 7 percent have an earlier version of iOS installed.

Apple is breaking down iOS 13 installation rates in a new way as of this latest update, providing details on both iOS and iPadOS.

According to the new numbers, 79 percent of all iPads introduced in the last four years are running iPadOS 13, 19 percent run iOS 12, and 2 percent use an earlier version of iOS.

When it comes to all iPads, including older models, 57 percent run iPadOS 13, 27 percent run iOS 12, and 16 percent run an earlier version of iOS, suggesting there are quite a lot of older iPads still in circulation, or people aren't updating iPads as often as iPhones.

Apple last shared updated iOS installation numbers in October, and at that time, 55 percent of all iOS devices from the last four years ran iOS 13, while 50 percent of all devices had the update. iOS 13 installation has grown quite a bit over the course of the last three months.

For comparison's sake, during early January 2019, iOS 12 was installed on 78 percent of all devices introduced in the last four years.

When Apple's latest iPhones were introduced in September, Filmic, known for its video recording apps, showed off a new app designed to capture video from multiple iPhone cameras at the same time, allowing for unique new footage.

Filmic today made that functionality available for Apple's latest iPhones through a new DoubleTake app, and we thought we'd check it out to see if it's as interesting and useful as it sounds.

The DoubleTake app works with all of the cameras on Apple's newest iPhones, so on the iPhone 11 Pro, that includes the telephoto lens, the wide-angle lens, and the super wide-angle lens, along with the front-facing selfie camera.

Using the app is fairly simple. When you open it up, there's a video recording interface and four different icons, one in each corner of the app that correspond to different functions. The top left icon lets you access recorded videos, the top right icon lets you swap between cameras, the bottom right icon offers a record button, and the bottom left icon lets you configure which lenses you want to record with.

If you tap on the lens icon, you'll see four boxes on the iPhone 11 Pro (fewer on iPhones with fewer cameras like the dual-lens iPhone 11). You can tap on two of the four lenses to record with, as DoubleTake supports recording from just two of the cameras simultaneously.

Once you've chosen the cameras, you can adjust frame rate (24, 25, and 30 fps are options) and then choose how you want the video displayed when you're recording. There's a picture-in-picture option that shows the secondary camera in a pop out lens, a split screen view, or a discrete view.

These modes affect what the finalized video looks like. The recording features a picture-in-picture recording with that option selected, or a dual-screen recording with split view selected. If you choose discrete, it looks similar to picture-in-picture when recording, but you end up with two separate videos, one from each camera, rather than a combined view.

Discrete is useful if you want to capture a standard video but aren't sure which lens might be best. You can record with the ultra wide-angle and wide-angle lenses at the same time, getting two videos you can work with and edit in post production.

The picture-in-picture and split view modes are perhaps most useful when recording with one of the rear cameras and the selfie camera as you can capture an event and a personal reaction at the same time, or use it for vlogging purposes.

Recording video can be done in either landscape or portrait mode, and the app is no frills and simple to use, so even those not familiar with videography on the iPhone will be able to use it to capture video.

Videos can be saved to the camera roll, shared with people or social media networks, or deleted. There are no editing tools in DoubleTake, so that will need to be done in either the Camera app itself or another third-party video editing app.

DoubleTake is a neat little concept that's easy to use and can create some fun, unique videos. The only major downside to the app is that recordings are limited to 1080p at 30fps, which means no 4K video recordings. It's possible that will be updated in the future, but for now, it's a limiting factor. The app should still produce video that's great for sharing on social networks and with friends.

DoubleTake works with the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. It is not compatible with older iPhones or iPads. For those who want to try it out, it's a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

What do you think of the DoubleTake app and what will you use it for, if you're planning to download it? Let us know in the comments.

Signs of new Powerbeats 4 wireless earphones were found in the iOS 13.3 beta back in December, and in today's iOS 13.3.1 software release, there are a few icons that depict the design of the new earbuds.

Based on the artwork in the update, the Powerbeats 4 will feature a design that's a cross between the current Powerbeats3 earbuds and the Powerbeats Pro wireless earbuds.

The Powerbeats 4 appear to have a more curved design that's similar to the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌, with the same angled in-ear fit and wraparound earhooks. The Powerbeats 4, like the Powerbeats 3, will not be wire-free, though, and a wire is depicted trailing down from the bottom of the earhook.

That will be a bit of different fit and feel than the current Powerbeats 3 earbuds, which have a cord attached to the opposite side of the earhooks. Powerbeats 4 are still Bluetooth, but the wire connects them to one another.

We can expect the Powerbeats4 to offer the same features that have been added to modern earbuds like the AirPods 2, AirPods Pro, and ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ such as an H1 chip for improved connectivity and 'Hey Siri" and "Announce Messages with ‌Siri‌" support.

Powerbeats 4 will likely be close to identical to the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌, but with a wire and a more affordable price tag. Apple charges $249.95 for the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌, and $199.95 for the Powerbeats3. It's likely the Powerbeats 4 will be priced similarly to Powerbeats3.

There's no word on when Apple plans to release the Powerbeats 4, but a launch could come soon as the artwork is in place in the iOS 13.3.1 software.