MacRumors

Apple's sapphire crystal partner GT Advanced has begun sapphire production and has even shipped small quantities of the material to an Apple partner in China responsible for making sapphire covers, according to a report from analysts at UBS Research.

Sapphire production is said to have begun last month, in March, but it appears the facility is not yet running at full capacity. GT Advanced reportedly shipped 2,200kg of sapphire, the amount produced by approximately 100 furnaces.

The company is said to be on schedule to install another 400 to 500 furnaces in the first quarter of 2014 and an additional 900 to 1,000 in the second quarter, significantly ramping up production towards the end of the year ahead of the release of both the iPhone 6 and the iWatch.

We estimate GT's shipment to China was only about $1M worth of sapphire last month. We believe this Apple partner needs to be receiving sapphire totalling about $50M+ per month to confirm that the GT Arizona fab is running at close to full utilization.

GT Advanced's sapphire production plant, which is financed by Apple, uses large capacity furnaces that emphasize lower cost, higher volume sapphire manufacturing. While Apple currently sources sapphire from a number of other suppliers for use in iPhone elements like the protective cover over the cameras and the home button of the iPhone 5s, GT Advanced's operation will produce much higher quantities of the material, leading many to believe Apple has big plans for sapphire.

Thus far, rumors have suggested that Apple may be planning to use sapphire crystal displays in its upcoming iPhone 6, due to the superior durability and scratch resistance of the material. A recent report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested supplies could be limited, however, resulting in only some models of the iPhone 6 produced using sapphire.

Sapphire may be a key component of Apple's upcoming smart watch, as it could prevent the device from becoming scratched even with heavy use. Many high end luxury watches also use sapphire crystal displays.

Reports have indicated that GT Advanced has purchased enough sapphire furnace and chamber systems to produce between 100 and 200 million sapphire displays, enough for its entire line of devices should it continue to meet its production timeline.

Following the introduction of refreshed MacBook Airs yesterday, Geekbench 3 benchmarking scores have begun appearing, suggesting, as expected, just minor speed improvements for the new notebooks.

Apple only updated the low-end processor option for the MacBook Air and that is seeing 32-bit single-core scores around 2532 and multi-core scores around 4781. Compared to the 2013 MacBook Air the new processor brings just a slight boost in processing power. The 11-inch 2013 MacBook Air saw average scores of 2379/4480, while the 13-inch version saw scores of 2369/4468.

Along with minor speed improvements, the new 1.4Ghz Core i5–4260U processor has also increased the battery life of some tasks, namely video playback, which has gained an extra hour on the 11-inch model and an extra two hours on the 13-inch model.

Most notably, Apple's update brought lower prices for the MacBook Air, dropping its price tag by $100 across the board in the United States and many other countries. MacBook Air prices now start at $899 instead of $999, and there are also several more affordable 2013 and 2012 options available in Apple's online refurbished store.

Though this update has not been a significant change for the MacBook Air, Apple is said to be working on a significantly improved version of the notebook with a 12-inch Retina display, a slimmer body with a fanless design, and a buttonless trackpad. This redesigned MacBook Air may launch towards the end of the year.

Construction on Apple's Campus 2 is continuing to progress and a new aerial photo courtesy of Ron Cervi, KCBS news and traffic reporter, shows that all of the buildings on the site have now been demolished in order for new work to begin.

The area where the circular-shaped building will be constructed is cleared out, allowing us a glimpse at where the campus itself will be located. Apple has moved quickly with this project, having first begun working on the project just a few months ago after receiving unanimous approval for the project in November.

Street-level photographs back in December revealed several buildings still standing, but another aerial photo from February suggested a large portion of the demolition work had been completed. During construction, Apple has closed off sidewalks and built a large green privacy fence to keep the area hidden.

Apple's second campus is located near the company's existing Infinite Loop campus. The first phase of construction will include the famous 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped main building with an underground parking facility capable of accommodating approximately 2,400 cars.

A 100,000 square foot fitness center and a 120,000 square foot auditorium will also be built, and during a second phase of construction, Apple will build an additional 600,000 square feet worth of office, research, and development buildings.

Apple hopes to finish the first phase of the Apple Campus 2 construction by 2016.

Yesterday, several images surfaced on Chinese site Feng [Google Translate, via Nowhereelse.fr] showing a physical mockup of what was said to be Apple's upcoming iPhone 6. The mockup appears to be based on design drawings shared by Japanese magazine MacFan last month.

Most of the reports covering the images have indicated that the mockup appears to represent the rumored 4.7-inch iPhone 6, but we believe this mockup is actually of the even larger model that has been reported as having a display in the range of 5.5-5.7 inches. Among the evidence pointing to this being the larger version:

- Protruding rear camera: In the design drawings, only the larger model is depicted with a protruding rear camera similar to that seen on the current iPod touch. The drawings show the larger iPhone 6 as slightly thinner than its smaller sibling, necessitating a slight protrusion to accommodate the camera module.

- Display to device height ratio: The design drawings show that the larger 5.5-5.7 inch iPhone 6's display is approximately 80 percent of the height of the device, while the 4.7-inch model's display is around 75 percent of the device height. The photos of the mockup show lines delineating the display edges as putting the ratio closer to the 80 percent figure seen on the larger model.

- Size in hand: Hand size obviously varies significantly from person to person, making comparisons difficult, but the physical mockup simply looks very large in the hand. According to the design drawings, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 is just 13 mm taller and 7.5 mm wider than the iPhone 5s, but the mockup looks more like the larger iPhone 6 design, which is an additional 20 mm taller and 11 mm wider.

Most of the recent attention has been on the smaller 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6, as that is expected to debut first around the September timeframe. Multiple reports have indicated that the even larger version will likely arrive several months later.

As it has for several quarters now, Apple continues to trail the overall smartphone market's booming growth, with the company's 16.8 percent year-over-year growth in the first quarter registering as the lowest among top five vendors in a market that grew by 28.6 percent as a whole, according to a new report from research firm IDC. Market leader Samsung also trailed the broader market's growth as Huawei, Lenovo, and LG all jockeyed for position in the closely contested third through fifth spots in the rankings.

Apple reached a new first quarter record, breaching the 40 million unit mark. The company saw double-digit growth in Japan as well as across multiple developing markets, including Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia. Still, this made for the lowest year-over-year improvement among the leading vendors. What remains to be seen is when – not if – Apple's rumored large-screen models will arrive on the market, filling a gap in the company's portfolio that has been exploited by the competition.

In the overall mobile phone market, Apple again outperformed most of the competition as feature phone sales continue to dwindle. With Apple's all-smartphone lineup taking nearly 10 percent of the overall market in the quarter, the company is within striking distance of Nokia, which garnered 11.3 percent of the market as it continues to be hit hard by the decline in feature phone sales and instability as it has shifted from Symbian to Windows Phone. Just days ago, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Nokia's phone unit, officially uniting software and hardware in what has been a close partnership over the last several years.

Apple last week announced record March quarter earnings on the strength of its 43.7 million iPhones shipped. The iPhone continues to drive Apple's overall financial performance, representing 57 percent of the company's revenue for the quarter.

Microsoft Research has demoed a new augmented mechanical keyboard that allows users to use motion controls either on or slightly above the keyboard to interact with their computers. The prototype was curiously made using keycaps from an Apple keyboard.

A low-resolution matrix of infrared (IR) proximity sensors is interspersed with the keys of a regular mechanical keyboard. This results in coarse but high frame-rate motion data. We extend a machine learning algorithm, traditionally used for static classification only, to robustly support dynamic, temporal gestures.

The gestures that the keyboard can recognize include traditional gestures like "pinch-to-zoom" and swiping to static gestures like holding a single finger above the keyboard to advanced gestures like turning an imaginary steering wheel.

It's unclear whether the augmented keyboard, referred to as the Type-Hover-Swipe, could eventually turn into a real product, but it's another step in Microsoft exploring motion control after its Kinect device. Apple, too, has been exploring motion sensing with its purchase of PrimeSense, the 3D body sensing firm that developed the technology for Kinect. The Type-Hover-Swipe keyboard is also similar to the technology of Leap Motion, who former Apple iAd chief Andy Miller worked for for close to two years.

Apple's suppliers have already begun producing the iWatch in small quantities, according to supply chain sources cited by China Times via G for Games, ahead of a prospective launch during the second half of 2014.

Echoing an earlier report from notable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the site's sources also suggest the iWatch will take advantage of a system-in-package (SiP) design that allows a multitude of chips to be placed on a single module. This could allow Apple to the fit multiple sensors rumored for the smart watch into a tiny area while keeping the device small enough to be worn comfortably on the wrist.

Rumors have indicated Apple's iWatch will contain several different biometric sensors allowing it to track health-related statistics like heart rate, sleep quality, movement, and more. The sensors will aggregate data that will be stored in a rumored "Healthbook" application, slated for inclusion in iOS 8.

Along with including health sensors, the iWatch will likely function similarly to other smart watches on the market, integrating with the iPhone and iPad to provide notifications and quick access to frequently used apps and services.

Apple's iWatch is expected to ship in two different sizes to accommodate different sized wrists and it may also come in multiple price points and materials. According to recent reports, Apple's iWatch could make an appearance as soon as September, but a solid launch date remains unclear.

Microsoft's Office for iPad apps, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint received their first major update today, gaining the printing capabilities that were notably absent when the apps launched back in March. The lack of an ability to print documents directly from the apps was a major complaint in initial reviews of the mobile productivity suite.

According to an official blog post, all three apps will gain the ability to print over-the-air to an AirPrint-compatible printer.

Your top request is here! You can now print Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations to an AirPrintTM printer. In Word for iPad, you can choose to print a document with or without markup. In Excel, print a selected range, a single worksheet or an entire spreadsheet. Of course, you can select the pages or slides you want to print.

Along with printing capabilities, the apps have gained a few other highly-requested features, including SmartGuides for PowerPoint and AutoFit for Excel. While SmartGuides help PowerPoint users align pictures, shapes, and textboxes on a slide page, AutoFit will let Excel users adjust the width and height of multiple rows and columns at once.

Each update also includes a number of bug fixes, along with a note from Microsoft outlining its commitment to continually improving its Office for iPad apps. "We're already working on the next update," reads the post.

All of the updates are currently available and can be downloaded from the App Store for free, but editing and creating documents requires an Office 365 subscription. Microsoft OneNote has also been updated with bug fixes.

- Microsoft Word for iPad [Direct Link]
- Microsoft Excel for iPad [Direct Link]
- Microsoft PowerPoint for iPad [Direct Link]
- Microsoft OneNote for iPad [Direct Link]

To commemorate its launch in 1989, CNBC today ranked the most influential business and financial leaders from the past 25 years. Topping the list in the number one spot is Apple's own "iVisionary" Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs was recognized by CNBC not only for his work at Apple, but also for his influence on the wider culture both in business and in people's personal lives.

His creative genius revolutionized not just his industry and its products, but also everything from music and movies to smartphones. He provided a platform for others to create and distribute apps, bringing innovation and change to an even wider sphere. Apple's co-founder tops our anniversary list of the 25 most transformative leaders, icons and rebels of the past-quarter century. More than any other member of our group of extraordinary entrepreneurs and executives—all outstanding leaders—his vision spurred changes far beyond his industry and put an indelible stamp on the wider culture.

When assembling the list, the editorial board at CNBC focused on business, eliminating politicians and government leaders from its top 25. They considered only those business men and women who were transformative both in their own field and beyond. Though most are well-known billionaires, the list was not based on personal financial success or popularity.

We made the decision early on to eliminate heads of government and state from our deliberations. This is a list, after all, about business people, not politicians. It's about the men and women who, for better or worse, have had the most transformative effect on commerce, finance, markets, human behavior and global culture over the past 25 years. So out went Bill Clinton, Angela Merkel, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Lee Kuan Yew and Vladimir Putin. In came Oprah.

Also included on the list are other notable technology leaders including Microsoft's Bill Gates at number two, Amazon's Jeff Bezos at number five, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg at number eight and Google's trio of Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, who collectively share the number four spot.