Apple’s 4th quarter financials

Apple held it quarterly earnings call on October 29th

The company announced revenue of 64.7 billion and net profit of $12.67 billion for the quarter

That was roughly equal to the $64 billion in revenue and $13.69 billion in profit it earned fro the same quarter last year

Apple’s numbers were obviously impacted by the late roll out of the iPhone 12s this year.

Apple sold $26.44 billion in iPhones which was down 20 percent from $33.36 billion last year

All other categories were up though and Apple had record quarterly numbers for Macs and Services

$14.55 billion on Services. Up 16 percent

$9.03 billion in Macs. Up 29 percent

$7.88 in Wearables, Home, and Accessories up 21 percent

$6.79 billion in iPads. Up 46 percent.

Other highlights

Apple now has 585 million paid subscribers across all their services up from 135 million a year ago

Tim Cook was asked about supply chain issues that have resulted in recent back orders for iPhone 12 and 12 Pro models, iPads, Apple Watch and Macs

He said Apple is working “really, really hard” to resolve these issues

One of the components is reportedly the power management chips

Also the LiDAR component

Apple has “One More Thing”

The event will take place Tuesday November 10th at 10AM PT

It’s expected to be a Mac focused event likely with the announcement of the first Apple Silicon Macs along with details for the release of macOS Big Sur

The big question for debate seems to be which Macs?

The front contenders seem to be the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 13-inch MacBook Air

The 13-inch Pro would likely ship before the end of the year, but the Air may not arrive until early next year. This is according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo

Bloomberg also says there is a 16-inch MacBook Pro ramping up production, but hedged their bets saying the 13-inch models are “further along” in production.

The chip powering the new Macs is expected to be a version of the 5nm A14, possible with the moniker A14T

Apple is expected to follow with more Apple Silicon Macs in 2021 including iMacs, a possible return of the 12-inch MacBook, and maybe that new 14.1-inch MacBook Pro we’ve heard rumored.

Also updated 16.1-inch MacBook Pro

The Pros would have those mini-LED screens

Early indications seem to show that Apple expects the Apple Silicon Macs to be well received

Nikkei says Apple is hoping to produce 2.5 million Apple Silicon based Macs by February of 2021

The equivalent to about 20 percent of All Mac shipments made in 2019

iFixit teardown show iPhone 12 ‘twinsies’

Take the displays off and you might think the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pros were twins

Internally they are almost identical according to the iFixit teardown.

Not only that, like Travolta and Cage you can even swap their faces

The displays are compatible between device though the brightness specs are of course different

The iPhone 12 is of course missing the LiDAR and telephoto lens.

Still the battery is the same, at 2,815mAh and also interchangeable.

New AirPods and AirPods Pro

Apple is planning to launch new AirPods and AirPods Pro the first half of 2021 according to Bloomberg

The third gen AirPods are said to be taking on a design similar to the Air Pods Pro with smaller stems

They would not have some of the higher end features like noise cancellation though.

Apple is reported looking to improve battery life though.

For the AirPods Pro update they say Apple is looking at a completely in ear design without any stems.

The challenge for Apple has been fitting in all the components

The report also says they planning to introduce new wireless chips for both models

The report also mentions the possibility of a new “mid-range: HomePod

They also offered an update on the “delayed” AirPods Studio headphones

Claiming Apple has had development “challenges” with the high-end over the ear noise cancelling headphones

They’ve had to scale back functionality including the replaceable headband

The ear cups might still be replaceable

There is still some hope that Apple might announce the AirPods Studios at their upcoming event on Tuesday.

Apple has a new Service Program for Air Pods Pro

Some units made before October 2020 might have issues

Crackling or static sounds that increase in loud environments, with exercise or while talking on the phone

Active Noise Cancellation not working as expected, such as a loss of bass sound, or an increase in background sounds, such as street or airplane noise

If you’ve experienced these issues you should contact Apple or an Apple authorized Service Provider for a replacement.

Apple says no to Bond’s high price

Both Apple and Netflix were interested in the latest James Bond film, “No Time To Die”

MGM had mulled selling the film to streaming since it was delaying the release due to the pandemic.

Neither Apple nor Netflix were willing to pay the $600 million dollar price tag the studio wanted

And that was only for a one year deal

The Hollywood Reporter cited sources claiming that Apple had been willing to go into the $350 to $400 million range, but it was not enough

No Time To Die currently has an April 2021 theatrical release date. A year from it’s original date.

Apple picked up the Tom Hank film Greyhound for a 10 year deal at $70 million.

Apple reportedly has an annual budget for Apple TV+ of around $6 billion a year

Apple also already has a couple of large movie deals in the works.

A $200 million deal on Martin Scorsese’s next film project

Emancipation which is a Will Smith project estimated at around $120 million.

Apple TV+ has also announced a new deal with Sony Pictures Television on a comedy series call “Platonic”

The 10 episode series will star Rose Byrne and Seth Rozen

It will be directed by Nick Stoller who worked with Byrne and Rozen on the “Neighbors” films.

The series is set to release in late 2021 or early 2022

According to The Hollywood Report comedian John Stewart plans to bring a new news show to Apple TV+

He and his Busboy production company made a deal for a series which will focus on a single news topic cover over an hour long episode

The episode will also be released periodically, like Oprah’s Conversation series.

The series will also offer a companion podcast.

In addition Apple worked out a first-look deal with the production company for other projects.

Christopher Walken will be joking the cast of the Apple TV+ workplace thriller “Severance”

The series created by Dan Erickson and produced by Ben Stiller also stars Patricia Arquette and Adam Scott

It’s produced by the same company behind the Apple TV+ shows See and Truth Be Told, Endeavor Content

Ted Lasso has also been renewed for a third season.

Bloomberg is saying that Apple might be interested in acquiring the podcast network Wondery

According to sources Wondery is looking to sell for around $300 to $400 million

Apple Search Engine

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple has “stepped up” efforts to develop their own search engine.

In iOS 14 when you do a search from the Home Apple displays its own “Siri Suggestions” results with links directly to web sites

As “evidence” the report cites a few things

Apple’s hiring two years ago of John Giannandrea Google former head of search.

Frequent job listings for search engineers

Apple’s web crawler, Applebot, increasing in activity

Apple’s deal with Google is coming to an end and concerns over antitrust investigations of tech companies like Apple and Google

Not sure how much the report makes sense as Google reportedly pays Apple about 8 to 12 billion a year to have Google be their default search engine

Mini LED iPad Pro next year

Coming from ETNews out of Korea

They report that Apple first device with a Mini-LED display will launch in the first quarter of 2021 and will be an updated iPad Pro

LG is expected to supply the displays

Mini-LED offer similar brightness, contrast ratios, and energy performance as OLED displays but with the potential downsides like burn in.

The same report claims Apple has plans to use Mini-LED displays in future MacBooks and iMacs as well.

Linode

Whether you’re working on a personal project or managing enterprise infrastructure, you deserve simple, affordable, and accessible cloud computing solutions that allow you to take your project to the next level.

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

I like to use my Linode to help with my development. I can easily spin up servers and environments to build out and test projects

What you choose to use your Linode for is totally up to you

Gaming server, build your own VPN, Git server, Wordpress, could be anything.

Their CloudManger makes the setup and management of your servers a breeze.

Get started on Linode today with a $100 in free credit for listeners of Maccast. You can find all the details at linode.com/maccast

Linode has 11 global data centers and provides 24/7/365 human support with no tiers or hand-offs regardless of your plan size. In addition to shared and dedicated compute instances, use your $100 in credit on S3-compatible object storage, Managed Kubernetes, and more.

Visit  linode.com/maccast and click on the “Create Free Account” button to get started.

Help with Complication Clutter

Robert is looking for a Calendar app that has less complicated complication on Apple Watch

He’s like me and uses both Fantastical and the Modular Apple Watch Face

The issue is that both the Apple Calendar app and Fantastical, when your calendar for the day is clear, will still display a message in the complication

“No events. Enjoy your day”

Seems like most apps fall back to display something.

So he’s asking the community.

In the meantime he was able to set up a sort of “workaround”

Set up a daily recurring “fallback” all day event that just as a blank space in it

Select “show all day events” in the fantastical settings and create a special Calendar that only has this fake event in it.

This forces the complication, for Fantastical, to just display “Today”

Different 5G icons

If you have a new iPhone 12 or 12 Pro model with 5G turns out you might see more than one type of 5G icon

In fact, if you’re on AT&T and on an older device you may also see at least one 5G icon.

It’s confusing enough that Apple has had to explain things in a [support article](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/learn-the-meaning-of-the-status-icons-iphef7bb57dc/iOS)

Let’s start with the AT&T “fake G” icon. 5G E.

This is actually LTE Evolution and not true 5G

Then there is 5G

This is your most common 5G using the sub-6Ghz using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)

It’s what Verizon calls the “nationwide” 5G

5G+

This is the “fastest” 5G using the mmWave technology

It’s only available in limited cities, 36 so far for AT&T customers

5G UW

This is just 5G+ (mmWave), but rebranded by Verizon as 5G Ultra Wide-band.

It is also limited currently to just 55 US cities.

iPhone 12 models now also default their personal hotspots to faster 5GHz Wi-Fi

There is now a “Maximum Compatibility” toggle in the Settings > Personal Hotspot menu if you want to offer tethering at 2.4Ghz

Help for culling Photos

Play comment from Ryan

It’s definitely not an easy task

Tools like [PowerPhotos](https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/) or [Gemini II](https://macpaw.com/gemini)

Gemini Photos, available with Setapp

Could also use PowerPhotos to split up your Library, so your main Library has fewer photos

Still a somewhat manual process.

Use the default albums like “screenshots” to find images that you might not need.

Use “Smart Albums”

Image dimensions to find small or thumbnail images

Use high ISO to locate images that could be low light.

I’m sure there are some other techniques the community might suggest.

Health app UK weight problem

James is one of out UK listeners and had been using the Health app to track his weight loss

In the UK a common measurement for weight is “stones”

1 stone equals 14 pounds

James scale reports a measurement in Stones and pounds

He would enter that into the Health app.

But what wasn’t obvious is that the Health app can only handle one unit

So when entering a value like 15 stone 13 pounds, the app would actually recorded 15.13 stones. Basically 15 stones 2 pounds

Needless to sat James noticed the issue when the app seemed to report a weight loss of about 14 pounds in one week.

James also worked with Apple support they told him it was an “error”, thorough I’m not sure I be alive them

I still don’t buy that it’s a bug.

The Health app is just using a single unit.

If my US scale reported pounds and oz I’d still only get to enter a value in pounds. So 180 pounds 8 oz would still be 180.5 lbs.

So the question is, is there an App that will let you enter your weights in the UK stones & pounds format?

I couldn’t find an obvious one, but then I thought… Shortcuts

I was able to quickly write a simple [Stones as Decimal](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/2a1b2b764c4d4f1c9eda0c541576e4b5) Shortcut

You need to open it and give it permissions to interact with the Health App.

How it works

Prompts for stones value and then pounds value

Takes the pounds and converts to the stones decimal value

Add the Stones to the Stones decimal value

Record the weight in the Health app.

Was a great reminder to me on how powerful and amazing the Shortcut app can be.

Can you save with Apple One?

I had a great question from Kirit

He received the Apple One offer and was looking through the plans and options

He subscribes to Apple TV+, Apple Music (personal) and 2 TB iCloud and is not interested in Apple News, Games or Fi tness.

Right now separately all his services would cost $24.97/mo USD

Apple TV $4.99/mo

Apple Music $9.99/mo.

2TB iCloud Storage $9.99/mo

The “Premier” plan comes with everything for $30/mo. So likely not worth it as it costs $5 more for services he’s not interested in

The “Individual” plan comes with Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for $14.95/mo.

About a $10/mo saving, but he would lose the 2TB of storage

But here’s the thing, you can add additional iCloud Storage at the “regular” prices

So if you add back in the 2TB of iCloud for $9.99/mo… You get a plan that costs $24.94/mo. About $0.03 cheaper per month

But he gains Apple Arcade and 50GB of storage over his current a la cate plans.

The extra storage is additive.

Means you can now get up to 4TB of storage with a “Premium” plan.

I went for the “Premier” because I have Apple Music Family, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, and 2TB of iCloud

~$35/mo a la crate

So I save $5/mo and gain Apple News and Apple Fitness

Supporters

Bandwidth for the Maccast provided by CacheFly at cachefly.com

Advertising is handled by Backbeat Media at backbeatmedia.com

Keep emails coming. Audio comments.

281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

Follow me on Twitter

Checkout the page on Facebook