Apple Q4 earnings… yup record

Apple had it’s earnings call and once again overall the numbers were good

Apple posted a record $90.1 billion in revenue for the the quarter, up 8 percent vs the same period last year.

The company also said that total revenue for the year was up 8 percent coming in at $394.3 billion

For the year revenues in most categories were up to record levels

$205 billion fro iPhone

$78 billion for Services

$41 billion for Wearables

$40 billion for Mac

iPad was down 13 percent from $32 billion last year at $29 billion this year.

In Apple services growth they said paid subscribers were up 154 million compared to a year ago and have moved passed 900 million subscribers.

Apple CFO Luca Maestri warned that Mac sales in the December quarter are expected to take a decline as last year they had the new M1 versions of the MacBook Pros out by October. New MacBook Pro updates remain to be seen this year.

MacBook Pro updates may be delayed

Originally it was believed that Apple would have new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates for us sometime in November

That may not be the case given those statements from Apple CFO Luca Maestri in the earnings call and whispers in the rumor mill

A Korean blogger cites supply chain sources that claim the updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will not launch until early next year. Maybe in March

Then Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stated that he too has now heard that Apple decided to delay the new M2 Mac updates until the first quarter of 2023

A rumor from MacRumors claims Apple’s update macBook Pros will feature even faster RAM

The current models use LPDDR5 RAM with up to 200 GB/s of memory bandwidth in the M1 Pro chip and up to 400 GB/s in the Max

The new memory is expected to be Samsungs LPDDR5X RAM and could have up to a 33 percent boost in memory bandwidth with a 20 percent reduction in power consumption

We’re also expecting a possible Mac mini M2 update, along with maybe that mini Pro. And the rumors of the Mac Pro update in 2023

Apple raises services prices

Apple has increased their prices for Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple One bundles

Apple Music went up USD $1 per month for Individuals and USD $2 per month for Families

Apple TV+ went up USD $2 per month

That means Apple One bundles, which include both services are increasing by USD $3 per month

Apple says they are raising the Music service pricing due to increased licensing costs and that artists will earn more for the streaming of their music

They justify the TV+ increase due to the fact that they are offering more content.

Apple Ad changes coming to light

Apple added more location in the App Store where developers can advertise their apps

in the App Store's main Today tab and in a "You Might Also Like" section at the bottom of individual app listings

The Today tab is significant because this content section is 100 percent controlled by Apple’s in house editorial staff.

The "You Might Also Like" also means that a competitor could display their ad at the bottom of another developers app page

Almost immediately the new "You Might Also Like" section had developers calling foul. Ads for gambling and other “seedy” apps began appearing on many of app pages from legit and popular developers

Not long after complaints from developers Apple said in a statement to MacRumors that, “We have paused ads related to gambling and a few other categories on App Store product pages.”

Apple also changed it’s app store in App purchase guideline to now include “Boosts” as in-app purchases

The new wording says: “Digital purchases for content that is experienced or consumed in an app, including buying advertisements to display in the same app (such as sales of “boosts” for posts in a social media app) must use in-app purchase.”

The new rules exclude apps that are designed for the sole purpose of selling or managing ads. “Apps for the sole purpose of allowing advertisers (persons or companies that advertise a product, service, or event) to purchase and manage advertising campaigns across media types (television, outdoor, websites, apps, etc.) do not need to use in-app purchase. These apps are intended for campaign management purposes and do not display the advertisements themselves."

Apple says these rules were always in place, but never enforced, and that the new language is simply a clarification

Let the iPhone 15 rumors begin

Yup, as always happens we just got new iPhones so lets start speculating on the next one.

Trendforce out of Taiwan will kick things off saying that the iPhone 15 Pro models will feature an increased 8GB of RAM, a USB-C port, and multiple camera improvements

The Pro models will get the new A17 Bionic with the non-Pros getting an A16 update

They also say Apple will switch to USB-C which is not too surprising considering Apple VP of marketing Greg Joswiak said at the Wall Street Journal's Tech Live that Apple would move to USB-C on the iPhone to comply with the EU’s mandate for a common charger across consumer electronic devices.

For the camera they expect the Pro to have the rumored “periscope” telephoto lens update for up to a 10x optical zoom

Also an upgraded Main lens with an "8P" design which adds on more element for better camera performance

Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple plans to replace the volume and power buttons on the iPhone 15 models with solid state buttons, instead of physical “clickable” ones

They would use another Taptic engine to simulate clicks

Lest it be left out the iPad also got some new rumors

The site “The Information” says there may still be a larger iPad Pro in the works for next year.

They claim Apple is playing around with a 16-inch version

We’ve heard rumors from other sources like Mark Gurman and Ross Young of a larger iPad, but Young had perviously mentions a 14.1-inch screen size

The report says the new iPad would be coming in the 4th quarter of 2023

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iPad Backup without a Mac

Dan wrote in to ask about backing up an iPad without a Mac

He considering recommending that his parents switch to just using an iPad as their main computer, no Mac.

But he’s wondering about backup. Specifically for Photos and photo storage. A base level 64GB iPad is likely not going to be enough storage to full contain their entire Photo library.

That means using “optimize” storage and iCloud, but that means not ALL photos will be locally stored on device.

So what are the options?

Not many… In an iPad as my only device world it means typically relying on iCloud as your one and only backup option. You’ll need to purchase enough storage to back everything up and use iCloud Photo Library.

Why I recommend having a Mac to backup locally a well as with iCloud Backups

Occasionally connect the iPad to the Mac and run a local backup

Then you can have you Mac backup those backups to en external drive and to a cloud backup

Similar for Photos. Set up iCloud Photo library to download all originals to that Mac and back it up.

So what if you don’t have a Mac?

Your best and maybe only option is going to be saving off files manually to an external USB-C hard drive

You can use an external USB-C SSD like a [Samsung T7 SSD](https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/portable-solid-state-drives/portable-ssd-t7-usb-3-2-1tb--gray--mu-pc1t0t-am/) for about USD $110 for 1TB

Connect to the iPad

Go into Photos and manually select the photos you want to backup. Tap the Share button and choose “Save to Files”

Then in the Files panel you can select the external SSD and save your photos to that.

If they are in the cloud they will download first and then sync.

You can similarly save files from the Files app, copying them to your external.

May want to get two external drives and save one off site and swap them back and forth for extra security.

Got me thinking that Apple really should have by now added support to iOS to be able to save to a network TimeMachine drive.

I think there are also some options and apps that can connect to NAS drives

Synology Drive is one for example

Can create Photo Backup of entire library or just new Photos (probably good for “optimize” option)

Can also set-up Sync operations for specific files and folders

Can add to the Files app so you can save directly to your Synology Drive

Anyone else have ideas or solutions for backing up iOS devices without a Mac?

Using the fn (globe) Key

This was something pointed out by Koen that I was unaware of with the `fn` key

Seems like there are some shortcuts for accessing items on the Mac (at least in Ventura)

fn-a: Access the Dock. You can then arrow between and then spacebar or enter to select

fn-h: View the desktop (Expose)

fn-n: Access notification center

fn-q: Take a “quick note” in the Notes app

fn-c: To access the control center

fn-e: show emojis and symbols

fn-d: start dictation

fn-f: enter full screen mode

There might be more… I can’t seem to find documentation on this. Maybe an accessibility feature

On most Macs with dictation enabled you can tap the fn key twice to enable dictation

Can be adjusted in the Keyboard settings

Show Emojis & Symbols, Change Input (Keyboards), Access Dictation

Also in Keyboard settings you can setup the fn key to toggle how you access the F-keys

By “default” the F-keys will typically access the special functions and the fn key is required to access the F-key functionality

Home Pod stereo pair with TV app?

Laurent wrote in to ask about using a Home Pod stereo pair with a TV that has the Apple TV app.

It’s a Android device and he can’t get the audio running through the TV

His cable provider “Free” has setup two boxes, one for the internet and the telephone, and one dedicated to the TV, with one HDMI output, and 2 Audio Output (analog and optical)

He ask if an Apple TV can solve this problem, but with that how would he still access the cable TV content and not have two remotes

First, you will need an Apple TV

You can set-up the stereo pair without an Apple TV, but to play audio from your TV you’ll need an Apple TV 4K

For content like Apple TV+, and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video you can use the apps on the Apple TV

The same will end up going for “cable” content, though you’ll need apps for each service and channel to specifically to access “live” TV content.

Luckily it looks like your cable provider “Free” supports Apple’s TV Provider Authentication so that should make setting up and accessing the channel apps much easier.

The other option is to switch between the Apple TV and your cable box using your TV inputs, but then cable TV content would not be played through the Home Pods.

For the remote you could configure your cable box remote to control the Apple TV, so you could stick to one remote

I personally prefer using my Siri Remote with my Apple TV, but have configured my Samsung TV remote to also be able to control my Apple TV

Laurent also asks, “And what about a possible delay between Image and Audio?”

That should be handled fairly well by the Apple TV and HomePods and Airplay 2, but there is also a feature on the Apple TV where you can use your iPhone or Apple Device to listen to and make adjustments in the audio delay.

It’s called wireless audio sync

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