MacRumors

According to new color preference data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Apple's space gray iPhone 5s was the most popular choice for consumers in the United States, followed by the silver and gold models, which is unsurprising given significant supply constraints of the gold and silver iPhones.

43 percent of iPhone 5s units sold were space gray, while 30 percent were silver and 27 percent were gold. Supplies of the space gray model were more readily available than the silver and gold iPhones, but consumers have demonstrated a preference for the black iPhone in the past.

For the iPhone 5c, blue proved to be the most popular choice with 27 percent of purchasers choosing the color, followed closely by white at 25 percent, green at 21 percent, and pink at 20 percent. Apple's yellow iPhone 5c was the least popular color, purchased by only 7 percent of the 400 consumers surveyed in the month after the phones launched.

Broken down by gender, women had a preference for the silver iPhone 5s, while men preferred space gray. Gold was equally split between both genders. Men also had a preference for the white and blue models of the iPhone 5c, while the pink iPhone 5c fared much better with women.

Said CIRP Partner and Co-Founder Mike Levin, "iPhone 5S and 5C colors seem to confirm some traditional gender biases. In the iPhone 5C, men prefer the neutral white, and the Space Gray in the iPhone 5S. In contrast, women prefer lighter silver 5S and the brighter iPhone 5C colors. Interestingly, no one, including the women in the survey, appears to want the Yellow iPhone 5C very much."

Because multiple models of the iPhone 5s have been difficult to obtain, CIRP's data gives an incomplete picture of iPhone 5s preferences. It is possible that consumers desiring a gold iPhone chose another color when supplies ran out or have yet to make a purchase. Data on the iPhone 5c is likely more accurate, as supplies of the phone have been plentiful since launch.

The iPad Air's graphics performance was 40 to 70 percent better than its predecessor in benchmarks conducted by AnandTech in an extensive review of the new tablet. Like the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air incorporates an A7 chip with IMG's PowerVR G6430 graphics processing unit (GPU), which is estimated to have a max GPU clock of 450 Mhz.

In T-Rex HD game simulation benchmarks, the iPad Air performed up to 75 percent better than the fourth-generation iPad and up to 36 percent better in the 3DMark Ice Storm benchmark. GPU gains over the iPad 4 were as high as 60 percent in 3DMark's GPU-specific benchmark suite.

While the iPad Air outperformed the iPad 4 in the majority of tests, there was a decline in triangle rate performance in the new model, though AnandTech has yet to see any real world impact from this change.

Along with significant improvements in GPU performance, the iPad Air has also shown huge gains in processing power. In Geekbench 3 benchmarks published today, the iPad Air was found to be twice as fast as the iPad 4.

AnandTech has a full review of the iPad Air that includes an array of benchmarks comparing the GPU performance of the iPad Air, the fourth-generation iPad, the iPhone 5s, the iPad mini, and several competing Android tablets. It's well worth a read to see the full scope of the iPad Air's performance improvements over both its predecessor and other tablets on the market.

Apple yesterday filed its 2013 10-K annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, offering some insight into how the company has grown over the past year. Among the interesting tidbits included in the report:

- Apple's employee headcount grew to 80,300 full-time equivalents, up from 72,800 at the end of fiscal 2012. Nearly all of that growth was outside of the company's retail division, which grew by only 400 to 42,800 full-time equivalents.

- Apple's retail store count increased by 26 during fiscal 2013, with average revenue per store dropping slightly to $50.2 million from $51.5 million. The company also saw a decrease in the number of full-time equivalent employees per store, moving from 108.7 in 2012 to 102.9 in 2013. As noted during Apple's earnings conference call on Monday, the company plans to open 30 new retail stores in fiscal 2014, with two-thirds of those being outside of the United States. Apple expects to remodel an additional 20 of its existing stores.

- Real estate holdings continue to grow, with Apple now owning or leasing 19.1 million square feet of space, up from 17.3 million square feet at the end of the previous year. That number includes 2.6 million square feet at the former HP campus in Cupertino that will be demolished to make way for Apple's new headquarters campus. Apple's campus will ultimately contain roughly 3.6 million square feet of space.

As of September 28, 2013, the Company owned or leased approximately 19.1 million square feet of building space, primarily in the U.S., and to a lesser extent, in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Of that amount approximately 12.0 million square feet was leased building space, which includes approximately 4.6 million square feet related to retail store space. Of the Company’s owned building space, approximately 2.6 million square feet that is located in Cupertino, California will be demolished to build a second corporate campus. Additionally, the Company owns a total of 1,428 acres of land in various locations.

As of September 28, 2013, the Company owned a manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland that also housed a customer support call center and facilities in Elk Grove, California that included warehousing and distribution operations and a customer support call center. The Company also owned land in Austin, Texas where it is building office space and a customer support call center. In addition, the Company owned facilities for research and development and corporate functions in Cupertino, California, including land for the future development of the Company’s second corporate campus. The Company also owned data centers in Newark, California; Maiden, North Carolina; Prineville, Oregon; and Reno, Nevada. Outside the U.S., the Company owned additional facilities for various purposes.

- Apple's advertising expenses rose to $1.1 billion in fiscal 2013, up from $1.0 billion in 2012.

- Apple expects capital expenditures to rise to $11.0 billion in fiscal 2014, a significant increase of 57% over the $7.0 billion spent in 2013. The retail division is expected to see only a 10 percent increase in spending, while Apple's other capital expenditures related to manufacturing, corporate facilities and infrastructure would grow by over 60 percent. Some of that increase may be related to Apple's new corporate campus, but it is not entirely clear how those costs are being budgeted and accounted for over time. Asymco's Horace Dediu has used Apple's capital expenditure estimates to predict shipments of 250-285 million iOS devices in fiscal 2014, up from around 235 million in 2013.

Apple's annual report contains a number of other details about the company's operations, much of it targeted at investors and regulators, and addresses such topics as executive compensation, company investments, taxes, and more.

Intel partner Altera announced at the ARM developers' conference yesterday that the world's largest semiconductor chip maker will start manufacturing 64-bit ARM chips beginning in 2014, reports Forbes. The move brings Intel's chipmaking prowess to the most popular architecture for mobile devices and could prove to make Intel a foundry option for Apple and its custom A-series chips for its iOS devices at some point in the future.

“It’s huge. Imagine ARM’s most powerful and technologically advanced 64-bits processor built on Intel’s leading-edge fabs. A duo that will be hard to beat,” explains Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64. [...]

“Intel will build Apple's, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon or the Nvidia Tegra for the right price. Now, the question is, are they ready to pay that premium and feed their direct competitor, except for Apple. But that would actually make business sense for everyone,” adds Brookwood.

Apple notably signed a three-year deal in June with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) to produce A-series Chips for future iOS devices beginning in 2014, with the move seen as a part of Apple's strategy to move away from rival Samsung for component supplies. However, Samsung was soon after reported to have landed another deal to produce chips for Apple beginning with the A9 in 2015. According to a report in June, Samsung will also remain involved in next year's A8 chip family, with TSMC handling 60 to 70 percent of the manufacturing load and Samsung picking up the remainder.

Apple was also originally rumored in 2011 to be moving from Intel's x86 architecture to ARM processors in future laptops, with a report in November 2012 also stating that Apple was considering the switch from Intel chips. A closer look at the potential move determined that Apple's potential shift from x86 to ARM for Macs was not implausible, as Apple could theoretically push ARM's power efficient based chips to become more suitable for its line of desktops and notebooks. While purely speculative, Intel's move into ARM chips could make such transitions smoother in the future.

John Poole of Primate Labs has revealed Geekbench 3 benchmarks for the new iPad Air, revealing that the device's 64-bit A7 chip is running at 1.4 GHz, scoring a 1465 on the single-core test and a 2643 on the multi-core test.

True to Apple's claims, the iPad Air benchmarks about twice as fast as the 4th generation iPad, with the A7 processor found in the new iPad coming in at 100MHz faster than the 1.3 GHz A7 chip found on the iPhone 5s. Poole claims that this is likely due to a number of factors such as a larger battery in the iPad Air that provides more power and a larger chassis that provides better cooling. Poole also notes that he expects the upcoming iPad mini with Retina Display to use the same A7 chip running at 1.4 GHz.

The iPad Air will be available beginning on Friday, November 1, with initial online orders beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time on Friday to begin in-store sales.

After Apple's first magazine advertisement for the iPhone 5s appeared two weeks ago, another spot for the phone showcasing the company's faster 64-bit A7 processor has surfaced, reports 9to5Mac. The ad depicts the iPhone 5s from a profile view, and includes a paragraph that describes the advantages of the processor in the context of all-around performance.

Desktop power. Pocket size.

We do everything on our phones. That's why the new A7 chip was designed to handle, well, anything. It puts 64-bit desktop architecture in your palm, a first for any smartphone. You get stunning, true-to-life graphics and up to 2x faster performance without sacrificing all-day battery life.

The A7 chip. Only on iPhone 5s.

The advertisement depicted includes Verizon Wireless branding, but Apple's iPhone ads have traditionally rotated branding between all the carriers that carry the iPhone, likely as part of a co-marketing agreement.

Apple has been running many television ads for the iPhone 5c in recent weeks, but we have seen relatively little about the 5s, likely because of tight supplies. Print ads for the device so far have mentioned 'limited avaliability' of the iPhone 5s in fine print.

At its October 22 iPad-centric event, Apple provided multiple publications with iPad Air review units. The embargo on reviews has just been lifted, which means several sites are now posting their thoughts on the thinner, lighter iPad Air. We've gathered some relevant excerpts from each site in order to highlight the general release reaction to Apple's newest iPad.

Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

It's very hard to describe how good the iPad Air feels in your hand without actually picking one up. It’s kind of like the first time you saw a Retina display for the first time—shock.

This smaller size is great. If you have decent sized hands you can type with two thumbs on the iPad in portrait, something I wasn’t really able to do with the last generation iPad without a lot of stretching. Clearly a full-size iPad is not something you will be thumb typing with all the time, but it does give you an idea of how much smaller the iPad Air is.

Walt Mossberg, AllThingsD

In a feat of design and engineering, Apple has slashed the iPad’s weight by 28%, made it 20% thinner and 9% narrower, while increasing its speed and retaining the brilliant, 9.7-inch Retina display.

The new iPad weighs just 1 pound, down from 1.4 pounds for the previous top-of-the-line model, the iPad 4, which is being discontinued.

And it has done all this while maintaining the iPad's industry-leading battery life. In my tests, the iPad Air far exceeded Apple's claim of 10 hours of battery life. For over 12 hours, it played high-definition videos, nonstop, with the screen at 75% brightness, with Wi-Fi on and emails pouring in. That’s the best battery life I’ve ever recorded for any tablet.

Brad Molen, Engadget

Yes, as strange as it may sound, the latest iPad is actually just a larger version of the 7.9-inch mini. It's as if the smaller device -- which launched at the same time as the fourth-gen iPad -- was a pilot test for Jony Ive's new design language. Calling it the "Air" was fitting indeed, since it's ridiculously small and light compared to previous models.

It measures 7.5mm thick and weighs only one pound (1.03 pounds, to be exact), making it 1.9mm thinner and 0.43 pound lighter than the iPad 4. Apple's also trimmed the left and right bezel by roughly 8mm on each side. If that doesn't sound significant, just hold the Air for a minute and then pick up an older iPad; the difference is immediately noticeable. Simply put, the iPad Air is the most comfortable 10-inch tablet we've ever used.

Matt Warman, The Telegraph

Its light weight and thin form mean it gets out of the way – you don’t notice it, but you notice what you're doing on it. That, potentially, unleashes a new generation of tablet-based productivity. The fact that Apple is now giving away even more software means that perhaps the rebranding is, therefore, more than simply a marketing exercise. Air may yet be the oxygen for a new wave of uses for the iPad.

Edward Baig, USA Today

As it happens, though, this latest full-size Apple tablet is the most tempting iPad yet, better than its already best of breed predecessors, superior still to each and every rival big screen slate that I've tested. Apple dominates the tablet apps ecosystem. Its tablet remains the easiest to use.

In a side-by-side comparison against its immediate predecessor, the new iPad indeed opened apps more quickly and booted up and shut down slightly faster, though not to such a degree that I expect most people to notice.

Damon Darlin, The New York Times

What you may not know is this: Those 6.4 ounces make all the difference when, as you recline while reading or watching a movie, you conk out and the iPad falls forward to bonk you on the nose. The Air won't hurt you the way the old iPad did.

The weight reduction and a 20 percent slimmer profile provide other benefits, too. My messenger bag strap didn’t dig into my shoulder as deeply when my iPad was in it. My hand didn’t cramp up while grasping the iPad Air for an hour while watching movies or playing games.

Other reviews:

David Pogue
AnandTech
CNET
Fox News
Pocket-lint
Mashable
Bloomberg
T3
TechCrunch

Apple's iPad Air will be available to the public beginning on Friday, November 1, with initial online orders beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time on Friday to begin in-store sales.

A manufacturing defect has affected a small number of Apple's iPhone 5s devices causing shortened battery life and longer charging times, according to an Apple representative who spoke to The New York Times. The iPhone 5s, which was introduced in September, is rated for up to 10 hours of battery life on 3G and 250 hours of standby time.

"We recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life," said Teresa Brewer, an Apple spokeswoman. "We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone."

Apple has not specified how many iPhones are affected by the issue, but according to The New York Times, Apple's statement suggests that only a few thousand users may be experiencing battery life issues out of several million. After the launch of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, Apple reported that it had sold a total of nine million devices, but did not break the sales number down further.

While Apple did not give specific details on the manufacturing issue or how it plans to contact affected users, the company will replace defective iPhone 5s units with functional devices.

Apple today posted two new job listings on its website, seeking to fill engineering positions related to public transit. The company is looking for a Maps Public Transit Engineering Manager and a Public Transit Software Engineer, who will join the Maps team to work on building and improving a Transit Routing platform "at a massive scale."

As a member of the Transit Routing team, you will work on one of the most anticipated features of Apple Maps. You will design and implement functionality that will be used by millions of users worldwide.

In addition to these job listings, Apple has posted other transit positions on its website over the past few months and has also acquired multiple mapping companies focused on transit, including HopStop and Embark, two companies with apps and tools developed to provide subway, bus, train, taxi, walking and biking directions.

As noted in the job listings, Apple is working to build these services into its own mapping service, incorporating accurate, real-time information on public transportation routes into the Maps apps for iOS and Mac.

Apple's lack of public transit information was one of the major criticisms the company faced after its in-house mapping service debuted in 2012. Discontent with the lack of features and the inaccuracy of the Maps app prompted both a reorganization of the company and an apology letter from Tim Cook.

Alongside its work to introduce transit options to Maps, Apple has also aimed to improve the accuracy of the service. Over the past several months, Apple has hired a multitude of Ground Truth experts to fix location-based issues such as the error that caused Australian drivers to become stranded after receiving faulty directions.

Despite Apple's efforts, problems with Maps are ongoing. Recently another location-based error caused Maps to direct drivers in Alaska onto an airport taxiway.

An Idaho man is suing Apple under California's consumer protection laws because the display on his 27-inch iMac failed 18 months after he bought it -- notably outside the twelve-month standard warranty period, reports GigaOm.

The suit, which refers to a 321-page thread on the Apple Support Community as well as a post on TechCrunch from 2009, asks for more than $5 million in class-action damages and seeks to represent every Apple customer that purchased a 27-inch iMac with an LG display before December 2012.

In a complaint filed last week in San Jose, aspiring music teacher Corbin Rasmussen says he thought the iMac was expensive but, relying on Apple’s claims that is was ”designed for a long productive life,” saved up to buy one to use as a home computer and media center,

Rasmussen claims that, after 50 percent of the screen went dim, the iMac became nearly useless for watching movies and made basic web browsing difficult. He complained to Apple, which told him a repair would cost more than $500 since the defect arose after the product’s one year warranty expired.

Apple recently opened up another AppleCare repair warehouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, reports 9to5Mac. The 182,000 square-foot facility is the second in the United States, joining Apple's existing warehouse in Elk Grove, California.

Apple's California-based AppleCare warehouse is used as a repair hub, with Apple retail locations across the country shipping damaged products to the facility, where they are repaired or replaced and shipped back out across the United States.

Along with opening a new repair facility, Apple has also been working to cut down on costs and decrease repair times by performing more iPhone repairs in-house, electing to replace displays and other parts in Apple Stores and at Apple Authorized Service Providers rather than offering replacements.

In August, Apple launched a redesigned AppleCare website that includes a simpler interface and 24/7 live chat support. The company is also said to be working on significant changes to its AppleCare services, aiming to switch to per-user AppleCare subscription plans rather than offering per-device coverage.