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News
Mac sales growth in 2020
All of 2020 was pretty good for Apple and the Mac, but Q4 is looking particularly positive.
IDC latest predictions in their Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker have Apple shipping 7.3 million units an increase of 49.2 percent from the same time last year
That was enough to raise Apple’s share of global computer market up from 6.8 percent to 8 percent in the 4th quarter of 2020.
For all of 2020 Canalys says Apple shipped 22.6 million units and increase of over 16 percent from 2019
Their 4th quarter numbers mimic IDCs with Apple shipping almost 7.2 million Macs a year over year increase of about 45 percent.
The number from Gartner were a little lower, but not by much
They had Apple shipping about 6.9 million Macs for an annual increase of about 31 percent
But they say Apple captured an 8.7 percent marketshare, up from 7.3 percent
Numbers look good for iPhones as well especially in China
DigitTimes believes iPhone shipment were up 10 percent in 2020
That’s despite what they claim was an overall smartphone industry decline in 2020 of 8.8 percent
They’re also reporting that Apple sold 18 million iPhone 12 units in China in Q4 of 2020
That would give Apple over a 20% market share in China
Demand seems to be so good for Apple’s 5G iPhones that there’s rumors they are increasing production by 30 percent over last year in the 1st quarter of 2021 looking to produce 96 million units.
Apple TV+ gets Samberg / Stiller Sci-fi Dramedy
According to the Hollywood Reporter Apple has secured a deal for a new sci-fi comedy-drama from Andy Samberg and Ben Stiller.
Currently untitled the project will be written by Andy Siara, the writer of Palm Springs and is based on an original idea from Raphael Bob-Waksberg creator Bojack Horseman
Apple also appears to have landed a new epic Ridley Scott film about Napoleon Bonaparte titled Kitbag
According to Deadline
Joaquin Phoenix will play Napoleon
The film is said to be an original and personal look at Napoleon's origins.
Production of the film is set to start in early 2022 in the UK.
Deadline is also reporting that Apple has ordered a two-part biographical documentary focused on Oprah Winfrey
They say the project is being conceived by a team with close ties to Winfrey, Kevin MacDonald and Lisa Erspamer, they also did the Whitney Houston documentary Whitney.
Netflix may be looking to support AirPods spatial audio
A rumor from iPhoneSoft is citing anonymous Netflix developer who claims they’v been testing spatial audio support on iPhone and iPad since December.
no word on when it would be rolled out.
9to5Mac is citing an unnamed source who says Apple is looking to bring their Music and Podcasts apps to the Microsoft Store.
The piece says they are currently testing the apps in a private beta.
It’s not clear if the apps will be for Windows PCs or XBox consoles
In November Apple released a version of their Apple TV app for Xbox One, and the XBox Series X, and Series S
The apps could be coming to the PC to replace the aging iTunes app which Apple replaced on the Mac a couple years ago.
9to5Mac is also reporting that Apple is planning to once again extend the free AppleTV+ trial subscriptions. This time until July of 2021
Apple had already extended subscriptions that were due to expire in November of 2020 until the end of January
Now it’ll be until the end of July
Apple TV+ subscribers who had a subscription set to expire anywhere in between January and June will gain extended access at no cost.
If you already pay $4.99/mo you will get (or continue to get) a $4.99 credit
You should be getting an email about the extension in the next few weeks according to the report.
Rumored images of new iPad Pro
Some allegedly leaked factory CAD images of Apple next iPad Pro surfaced on a couple of tech blogs
They pretty much support previous rumors which claim that there will be little to no design changes
It appears to be the same thickness, but just a hair narrower and slightly shorter
The speaker grilles also appear to be smaller,
Apple maybe testing in-screen TouchID
At least a report from Bloomberg says they are.
They say overall Apple is not looking to change much from the iPhone 12 models for the 2021 line up
But, they are investigating an in-screen fingerprint reader.
They also mention the possibility of Apple discussing removing the charging port for some iPhone models
In addition Bloomberg says AirTags are still set to be released this year.
Feels like it could be soon
There is way in iOS 14.3 and later to see the “Items” tab in the current FindMy app.
David Chu a MacRumors reader discovered that you can trigger the interface by typing in the link `findmy://items` in Safari on devices running iOS 14.3 or iPadOS 14.3 or later
The UI looks similar to the one that was leaked from prior beta builds of iOS offering to “Keep track of Everyday Items”
New Macbook Pros with ‘significant’ design changes
This according to Ming-Chi Kuo
Re-confirms that Apple is working on Apple Silicon versions of the MacBook Pro in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes
Says they will feature a flat-edged design similar to the iPhone 12 (“no curves like current models”???!!)
Also claims Apple is ditching the Touchbar and returning to physical function keys
Interestingly says they will also bring back MagSafe charging (how with USB-C). Says will be a magnetic power connector and not wireless
Will bring back ports, so less dongles required (doesn’t say which ports)
Says the new machines will be here in the third quarter of 2021
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman backed up many of Kuo’s claims
Says Magsafe will be like the “old” MagSafe and that it’ll allow faster charging
Still have USB-C ports
Will use "brighter, higher-contrast panels.
will "look similar" to the current models but with "minor design changes."
Less certain about the TouchBar simply noting Apple has tested versions with and without it.
Gurman also notes a redesign for the MacBook Air, but says that won’t be coming until “long” after the release of the new MacBook Pros.
New iMacs and New Displays
Bloomberg also says Apple plans to release a fully redesign iMac later this year.
It will replace both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch versions, but they don’t say what screen sizes the new systems will be
We’ve had previous rumors of a 24-inch model that could replace the 21.5-inch
Says it will have smaller bezels with a design similar to the Pro Display XDR
A flat back and it will be losing the iconic “chin”
The piece also says Apple is planning a new “lower cost” display.
It’s reportedly in early development but would be created to serve as a replacement for the USD $999.00 Apple Thunderbolt Display that Apple discontinued in 2016
No timeline, but seems unlikely that it would be released this year.
Apple’s also supposedly working on two new versions of the Mac Pro
One a full sized version and the other a “less than half the size” box (I’m calling it a Mac Pro mini)
The full sized version would possibly stick with Intel processors, but the “mini” would use Apple Silicon
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Big Sur Community Feedback
Play comment from John
Looks like the issue is it’s not recognizing any pasted in commas as breaks
Confirmed with a TextExpander snippet
Can use “enter” or “tab” characters in a TextExpander snippet.
I tried other separators in TXT, but couldn’t find any that worked
Use iMac as a display
Pierre has a locked down work provided laptop and a personal iMac
He wants to be able to use the iMac as a display for the work laptop.
The laptop has an HDMI port and he used an ElGato USB capture device, but the refresh rate and resolution leave a lot to be desired
If you have a pre-2014 iMac there used to be a feature called “Target Display Mode” it would work with Thunderbolt or Mini Display Port (2009-2010) connections.
Maybe a Thunderbolt 3 video capture device? But that would be expensive.
Get “full” Apple TV+ descriptions
Geoff point out something on Apple Fitness+ content that is really frustrating
The workouts all have descriptions when you select them on the Apple TV, but those descriptions are cut off.
As far as Geoff, and I, can tell there is no way to select that content or scroll to get the full text description.
I check the same thing on movies in the iTunes Movie store, and it looks similar but if you scroll down the page there is an “About” section that has the same description text in a box that you can click on to get a full screen display of the full text.
Not the same with Fitness+
Is there some other trick we’re missing or is it just bad UI? My Google Fu failed me, so I turn to the community.
Storing “paperless” documents
Mike wrote in to say he’d been using Evernote to store pay stubs, credit card statements, bank statements, etc, but he no longer trusts Evernote and was looking for something different
He’s having trouble though replicating the ease of use he had with Evernote. He could drop them into Evernote via the browser plug-in or by right-clicking the item in the Finder and sending it to Evernote
He tried using Apple’s Notes, but the experience is not that seamless.
He could just put the documents in folders in iCloud Drive, but prefers to have an app for managing the files.
