MacRumors

Apple's notebook shipments totaled an estimated 3.4 million units in the first quarter of the 2017 calendar year, representing a year-on-year increase of 15.4 percent, according to new data published by market research firm TrendForce.

Shipments of MacBooks and MacBook Pros actually declined 15.8 percent against the previous quarter of 2016, reflecting a somewhat similar decline for the overall notebook market over the same period, however the company's Q1 2017 numbers indicated strong demand in terms of a year-on-year increase in overall MacBook shipments.

Apple shipped 3.4 million units of MacBook devices this first quarter and claimed fifth place in the ranking. The latest generation of MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which was released in last year's fourth quarter, was well-received by consumers and contributed significantly to the overall MacBook shipments. As a result, first-quarter MacBook shipments, while representing a 15.8% decline versus the prior quarter, also showed a year-on-year increase of 15.4%.

HP, Lenovo, Dell, and Asus all suffered marginal market share declines compared to Q4 2016, but Apple's share stayed level over the last two quarters, enabling it to maintain fifth place in the shipment rankings. However sixth-placed Acer gained 0.8 percent ground on Apple over the same period, which TrendForce put down to expanded stocking of notebooks by channel distributors in anticipation of increased device production costs.

TrendForce estimates that MacBook shipments for the second quarter of 2017 will grow by more than 10 percent compared with the first quarter. The firm attributes this projection to suggestions that Apple will update its 12-inch MacBook with a new processor and the possibility of promotional pricing for some older models.

Recent rumors suggest Apple could be planning to announce refreshes for both the MacBook and MacBook Pro at June's Worldwide Developers Conference. The notebooks are expected to be updated with faster Kaby Lake processors, an update from the Skylake processors in the current machines. Apple is also said to be considering updating the MacBook Air with new internals, as sales of Apple's most affordable notebook have remained surprisingly strong.

A series of photos claiming to show molds of Apple's upcoming 2017 iPhone range appeared online today and over the weekend, providing a potential look at the relative sizes of the rumored new devices. Apple is expected to announce three new iPhone models this year: two LCD-based "S" cycle upgrades to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, alongside a radically redesigned tenth-anniversary "iPhone 8" with an edge-to-edge OLED display.

It's worth bearing in mind that the molds shown in the images could simply be made for use in the production of third-party iPhone cases rather than actual handsets. Either way, they do appear to line up with unconfirmed details we've been hearing over recent months, particularly with regard to the dimensions of the devices.

The mold of the so-called "iPhone 8" is pictured between the two iterative models, which shows the redesigned handset isn't much bigger than the 4.7-inch iPhone 7S chassis on the right hand side. Despite the similarity, reports suggest the redesigned phone could pack a 5.8-inch display that's closer in size to the screen on the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus. A lack of bezels at the top and bottom of the device are said to enable the larger OLED area.

The side-on view offers another take on the relative dimensions, and also reveals a longer power button on the OLED iPhone in the middle. The appearance of the longer button in previous dummy images has led to speculation that it could act as a fingerprint recognition surface if Apple can't integrate Touch ID into the OLED display. Rumors say Apple has struggled to overcome the challenges involved in such a feat, but details are still sketchy.

Some sources suggest the company could resort to placing the sensor on the back of the handset, like on the Samsung Galaxy S8, but most agree this would be an inferior implementation compared to Touch ID's current front-facing location on the home button.

Cutouts for the rear camera in the middle mold line up with previous rumors that Apple will go with a vertical dual-lens orientation in the "iPhone 8", in contrast to the horizontal layout on the iPhone 7 Plus, which is expected to remain on the 7S Plus.

The OLED iPhone is expected to be unveiled at a September event alongside the "S" cycle phones, and could feature new 3D-sensing technology in the front-facing camera, as well as a faster A11 chip, face and iris recognition, better waterproofing, some form of wireless charging, and a glass body.

Apple has the potential to become a trillion dollar company by 2019, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani.

In a research note on Monday, Daryanani said Apple could reach or exceed a trillion dollar market cap within the next 12 to 18 months.

An excerpt from Daryanani's research note, edited slightly for clarity:

In aggregate, we see a scenario where in the 2019 fiscal year, Apple sustains $12+ earnings per share and, assuming the valuation frameworks remains stable/improves, it should get AAPL stock toward $192–$195, which would equate to a market cap above $1 trillion.

Daryanani believes the so-called "iPhone 8" and the upgrade supercycle it's expected to drive will be a major catalyst towards Apple's path to a trillion dollar valuation. Looking further ahead, he thinks there is potential for Apple to continue growing its Services category revenue by double digits year over year.

Longer-term, we think there is potential for Apple to continue growing Services revenue by double digit year-over-year given the company's expanding installed base [of devices], increasing App Store sales within the current installed base, demand for cloud storage/compute services, and further adoption of Apple Pay.

Apple's Services category brought in $7.17 billion last quarter, from $6 billion in the year-ago quarter, representing 18 percent year-over-year growth. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the Services category is already the size of a Fortune 100 company, with hopes to double the category's revenue by 2020.

Earlier this month, Apple's market cap surpassed the $800 billion mark for the first time ever as the company's shares traded above $153. RBC has raised its Apple stock price target to $168, up from $157, given the upside it anticipates from the iPhone 8 and increasing services-related revenue.

Wall Street analyst Brian White also raised his 12-month price target for Apple's stock to $202, up from $185, earlier this month. White believes Apple "remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world," and his bullish price target suggests the company could be valued at a trillion dollars within the next year.

Since launching in June 2015, Apple Music has offered a free three-month trial in the United States and over 100 other countries around the world. In some countries, such as Ireland and the Netherlands, the free trial is for one month.

According to Apple's website, however, the trial now costs 99 cents in Australia, 0,99 € in Spain, and Fr. 0.99 in Switzerland. Based on our spot check, the trial remains free in all other countries where Apple Music is available.

The reason why Apple has started charging a nominal fee for the trial in Australia, Spain, and Switzerland is unclear. The trial was still free in those countries as of May 14, according to archived versions of Apple's website.

Apple Music rival Spotify's three-month trial also costs 99 cents in Australia, 0,99 € in Spain, and Fr. 0.99 in Switzerland. Keep in mind that Spotify's trial also costs 99 cents in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.

(Thanks, Alex!)

Apple is planning to unveil its next-generation operating system for iOS devices, iOS 11, in less than a month. Despite the imminent debut date of the new OS, we've heard very little about what we should expect to see in the update.

Based on the fact that iOS 10 offered very few features for the iPad, Federico Vittici of MacStories, who uses an iPad for much of his daily work, has imagined an iOS 11 update wishlist that overhauls the iPad interface, introducing new iPad-only features that many pro users would undoubtedly love to see.

Vittici collaborated with designer Sam Beckett to bring his iOS 11 wishlist to life, providing concrete examples of ways Apple could redesign the iPad experience.

System-wide drag and drop functionality that would let users drag content between apps or from one iPad split screen window to another is at the top of Vittici's list. Images, text, links, documents, and more could be dragged using intuitive long press gestures. In the example image below, text from an email is dragged into a list in Reminders.

An imagined "Shelf" feature goes hand-in-hand with drag and drop, giving users a place to store anything on the iPad they want to reference at a later time. It's similar to the desktop on a Mac, storing items for easy access.

Viticci's other iOS 11 wishlist items include a new Split View app picker with a search feature and a better layout, a Mac-style Finder app that works with iCloud Drive for a more consistent document-finding interface, a denser home screen, multiple audio streams, and a refreshed design with bolder typography and more of a focus on visual feedback.

For additional images and a more detailed explanation of the items on Vittici's iOS 11 wishlist, make sure to check out the full article over at MacStories.

Earlier this month, Apple launched a new "How to Shoot on iPhone 7" website and video series featuring short tutorials designed to help users take advantage of the camera features built into the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.

As of yesterday, four new tutorial videos have been added to the site, including how to shoot a horizon, how to capture an intimate moment, how to convert to black and white, and how to shoot with zoom on the iPhone 7 Plus. All four can be watched on Apple's tutorial site, but the latter two are also available on YouTube.

Apple has 20 tutorial videos on its "How to Shoot on iPhone 7" website, and the company is slowly uploading each of the videos to YouTube. 13 of the 20 videos can be watched on Apple's YouTube channel. New YouTube additions include how to shoot a one-handed selfie and how to edit a selfie, two videos previously exclusively available on the tutorial site.

Apple's videos are designed to teach iPhone 7 and 7 Plus users how to use the iPhone camera to capture various kinds of photos, including panoramas, portraits, action shots, night shots, and more. Each of the videos is approximately 40 seconds in length and includes a clear step-by-step tutorial on how to use each feature.

Most of the videos are simple and straightforward, designed for people who don't often use the camera and haven't invested a lot of time in learning its features, but there are some neat tips and tricks that even more advanced users might find useful, like capturing a unique angle, shooting with a street light, capturing stills while filming, and more.

Russian software company ElcomSoft today claimed in a blog post that iCloud notes marked as deleted are being stored on Apple's servers well past the advertised 30-day period they are kept in the "Recently Deleted" folder.

ElcomSoft said it used an updated version of its Phone Breaker tool, version 6.5, to recover dozens of iCloud notes deleted more than a month ago. ElcomSoft said many of the notes were deleted a few weeks past the 30-day window, but in some cases, it was allegedly able to extract notes deleted "several months ago."

When a user deletes a note in Apple's Notes app, it's moved to the "Recently Deleted" folder, which explicitly states that "notes are permanently deleted after 30 days." Likewise, a support document on Apple's website says users can view and recover notes for up to 30 days before they're permanently deleted.

However, ElcomSoft CEO Vladimir Katalov said the oldest note it was able to retrieve was deleted around five years ago:

"We did it again," says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. "After recovering deleted photos and Safari browsing history from iCloud, we now add the ability to recover deleted notes from the same source regardless of how much time has passed after the deletion. The oldest record we've been able to pull was deleted back in 2012."

In its blog post, ElcomSoft said it was able to extract 334 notes from an iPhone with only 288 notes stored on it, including those in the "Recently Deleted" folder. In other words, ElcomSoft claims it was able to recover 46 notes deleted more than 30 days ago, and that was only one example.

Nevertheless, ElcomSoft said that its ability to extract iCloud notes deleted more than 30 days ago is "not necessarily" guaranteed. "While some of our test accounts did indeed contain deleted notes going all the way back to 2015, some other accounts contained much less than that," it explained.

ElcomSoft said its Phone Breaker tool is the only software it knows of that can be used to recover iCloud notes deleted more than 30 days ago. It also said the latest version of its Phone Viewer tool is needed to view them. The tools start at $79 each and appear to be compatible with both Mac and Windows.

To extract and view deleted notes, ElcomSoft says all someone has to do is launch Phone Breaker version 6.5 or newer, click "Download Synced Data from iCloud," authenticate with an Apple ID and password or a binary authentication token, wait for the download to complete, and open the file in Phone Viewer.

ElcomSoft said "there is no doubt Apple will fix the current issue," but it didn't confirm if it has been in contact with the company. MacRumors has opted not to use the Phone Breaker tool out of an abundance of caution. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.

Last year, ElcomSoft generated headlines when it claimed Apple "secretly" syncs Phone and FaceTime call history logs on iCloud, even with backups turned off. In a statement, Apple said it offers call history syncing "as a convenience to our customers so that they can return calls from any of their devices."

In February, ElcomSoft also found that iCloud was allegedly storing deleted Safari browser history for a long period of time, ranging from several months to over a year. Forbes reported that Apple quietly "started purging older history records" once the news broke, but Apple never officially commented.

Apple yesterday held a concert at One Infinite Loop in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. This morning, CEO Tim Cook tweeted out a thank you to Stevie Wonder, who performed at the concert.

The event marked one of Apple's traditional "Beer Bash" celebrations, which in the past have seen performances by Maroon 5, One Republic, Darius Rucker, and more, usually coinciding with a major milestone like the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh.

Apple has been highlighting the importance of accessibility features throughout the week, beginning with a large collection of "Designed for" promotional videos that it posted on YouTube on Tuesday. The clips showcased features like VoiceOver and Made for iPhone hearing aids, accompanied by personal stories of how Apple fans with disabilities use each feature.

On Wednesday, Tim Cook then sat down with three accessibility activists to discuss the company's accessibility features across its range of devices. Last October, Apple published an all-new accessibility website that brings all of these features to the forefront as a way to explain and celebrate how the company has built unique accessibility features into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

Ford today released a SYNC 3 software update that adds CarPlay and Android Auto support to its 2016 model year vehicles.

Ford said customers with Wi-Fi-enabled vehicles can set up their vehicle to receive the update automatically. SYNC 3 version 2.2 can also be downloaded from the Ford Owner website and installed with a USB drive, or customers can visit any Ford dealership to have the update process completed for free.

Last summer, Ford made CarPlay and Android Auto available in all of its 2017 vehicles with SYNC 3. At the time, it promised it would bring CarPlay and Android Auto to its 2016 model year vehicles by the end of the year, and while it missed that target by about five months, the update has now arrived.

In late 2015, Ford retroactively added Siri Eyes Free support to 5 million 2011-2016 model year vehicles.

CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and a number of third-party apps like Spotify to a vehicle's dashboard. Apple's in-car software can be controlled with Siri and a vehicle's built-in controls for convenient access to common iPhone features. It's compatible with iPhone 5 and later.