Apple releases iOS, iPadOS 14.1 with multiple bug fixes

 Apple has released the iOS 14.1 as well as iPadOS 14.1 updates with support for the latest devices and some bug fixes.

The update can be downloaded on compatible iPhones starting from the iPhone 6s. Those who haven't been notified about the update can manually check by going to Settings, then General and Software Update.

iOS 14.1 introduces a number of bug fixes. It addresses a major problem that caused some emails to be sent from the wrong alias, fixes an issue that could cause widgets and icons to show up in the wrong size, the company said in a release note.

The update also adds support for 10-bit HDR video playback and editing in Photos on the iPhone 8 and later, and improves compatibility with Ubiquiti wireless access points.

In addition to 10-bit HDR support, iOS 14.1 also addresses several issues where the Apple Watch case material was displayed incorrectly in the Apple Watch app, fixes an issue that could prevent zeros from appearing in calculator and more.

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are expected to ship running iOS 14.1, or at least pop up an update notification for it as soon as you set them up.

Apple is also testing out updates for iOS 14.2, iPadOS 14.2, watchOS 7.1, and tvOS 14.2 with developers.

Covid-19: Apple to produce 1 mn face shields a week for health workers

Apple has said it will soon be producing one million face shields a week for medical workers battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The tech giant had already sourced 20 million surgical masks from around the world to help address a global shortage, chief executive Tim Cook said in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday. But the company had also designed its own transparent protective face shield and begun mass production at its factories in the US and China, he added.

"We plan to ship over one million by the end of this week," said Cook.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: India tally at 4,314; long war with Covid-19, says Modi

Initial distribution would be focused on the US but the company hoped to "quickly expand distribution" to other countries, he said.

Apple joins several global firms that have modified their production lines to meet the demand for protective gear, including Italian luxury brand Prada.

US President Donald Trump last month issued a federal order forcing auto giant General Motors to manufacture ventilators after a shortage of the hospital equipment, which is crucial for treating critical Covid-19 cases.

British Airways suspends all flights to China over coronavirus outbreak

Tech giant Apple registered a double-digit rise in iPhone sales in India, and witnessed strong demand for iPads in the December quarter.

The Cupertino-based company posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue at $91.8 billion, an increase of 9 per cent from the year-ago quarter. Its net profit also hit an all-time high of $22 billion.

International sales accounted for 61 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

"We had double-digit growth in many developed markets, including the US, the UK, France and Singapore, and also grew double digits in emerging markets led by strong performances in Brazil, Mainland China, India, Thailand, and Turkey," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an investor call.

He added that revenue from iPhones in the December quarter was up 8 per cent to $56 billion on account of "exceptional demand" for models like iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

"For iPad, we saw growth in key emerging markets like Mexico, India, Turkey, Poland, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam," Cook said.

Mac (Apple PCs) and iPad generated $7.2 billion and $6 billion in revenue, respectively, in the quarter under review.

Apple is placing big bets on the Indian market. Over the past months, it has ramped up its manufacturing efforts in the country.

Last year, Apple had started production of iPhone XR in India for domestic market and exports. Apple's partner Salcomp is also taking over the closed facility of Nokia in a SEZ near Chennai. The facility is expected to become operational from March this year and will produce charger and other equipment.

According to research firm Counterpoint, Apple was one of the fastest-growing brands in India during the December quarter.

This was driven by multiple price cuts on its XR device, thanks to local manufacturing in India, it had said.

It added that the rollout of new iPhones (11 series), aggressive pricing and a good channel strategy was helping Apple gain market share in India.

The tech titan is also bringing its 'HomePod' smart speaker to the Indian market.

While the company is yet to announce the launch date, sources said it could be made available in India by the end of February.

Priced at Rs 19,900, the HomePod will compete with smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo in the Indian market.

iPhone 11's night mode pictures can feature on Apple billboards: Here's how

Apple has announced its all-new Night Mode photo challenge, inviting users around the world to share their best Night Mode photos captured with the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, or 11 Pro Max.

"Beginning today through January 29, Apple is in search of the most stunning Night mode shots from users around the world. A panel of select judges will evaluate submissions to reveal five winning photos on March 4," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Winners will be selected by a panel of judges, including Apple executives and photographers Malin Fezehai, Tyler Mitchell, Sarah Lee, Alexvi Li and Darren Soh.

The winning photos will be celebrated in a gallery on Apple Newsroom, apple.com and Apple Instagram (@apple). They may also appear in digital campaigns, at Apple Stores, on billboards, or in a third-party photo exhibition.

According to the Cupertino-based tech giant, iPhone 11 features a breakthrough dual-camera system and iPhone 11 Pro features a triple-camera system, both deeply integrated into iOS 13, with intuitive and powerful new tools to enable every customer to shoot like a professional.

All iPhone 11 models feature a new Wide sensor with 100 percent Focus Pixels that enables Night mode, delivering low-light photos captured in indoor and outdoor environments never before possible on iPhone.

--IANS

CEO Tim Cook takes $4 mn pay cut as Apple's 2019 performance dwindles

Apple chief Tim Cook saw his annual pay slip to $11.6 million in 2019 after the company registered a weaker financial performance compared with the previous year, according to documents filed Friday.

Cook, who took home $15.7 million in 2018, is paid a base salary of $3 million, in addition to a bonus and various compensations.

His 2019 incentive bonus, which is tied to Apple's performance, tallied about $7.7 million, and was calculated based on the fact that Apple exceeded its sales target by only 28 per cent.

That compared with $12 million in 2018, based on the company exceeding its sales target by 100 percent, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

Cook's 2019 pay was also reported to include another $885,000 worth of benefits, most of which were for security and use of a private jet.

"For security and efficiency reasons, the board requires Mr. Cook to use private aircraft for all business and personal travel," the filing said.

Apart from his salary, Cook also saw more than $113 million worth of Apple shares become vested as part of his long-term compensation as head of the firm, according to the filing.

As iPhone sales have weakened, Apple has been shifting to earnings from digital content and services sold to the legions of fans of its devices.

Apple reported net sales of $260.2 billion and operating income of $63.9 billion for 2019, it said in the filing.

Apple gives in to Moscow's demand, shows annexed Crimea as Russia on apps

US tech giant Apple has complied with Moscow's demands to show Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as Russian territory on its apps, lawmakers said Wednesday.

The Black Sea peninsula and its largest cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol are now displayed as Russian territory on Apple's maps and weather apps when used in Russia.

Crimea does not appear to be part of any country when these apps are used in France.

"Crimea and Sevastopol now appear on Apple devices as Russian territory," parliament's lower house, the State Duma, said in a statement. Russia treats the naval port city of Savastopol as a separate region.

Russia and Apple had been in talks over the last few months, with the US giant initially trying to show Crimea as undefined territory and removing any mention of Ukraine.

The State Duma released a statement following a meeting between Vasily Piskaryov, chairman of State Duma security and anti-corruption committee, and Apple's Russia representative, Darya Yermolina.

In the statement, Piskaryov praised the US company, saying it had complied with the Russian Constitution.

He said Russia was open for "dialogue and constructive cooperation with foreign companies," stressing however that Russian authorities would remain vigilant.

Russian lawmakers will monitor "issues concerning the protection of the Russian constitution and our country's sovereignty from outside interference," Piskaryov added.

Apple did not immediately release a comment on Wednesday. Another global tech giant, Google, does not identify Crimea as belonging to either Russia or Ukraine on its maps.

It however uses the Russian, rather than Ukrainian, spelling of Crimean place names on its maps in Russia, as well as drawing a line to show the de facto border dividing Crimea from the rest of Ukraine.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in a move condemned by most of the global community. The seizure of the peninsula helped spark a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 13,000 lives so far.

Apple making iPhone XR in India, expanding operations: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Tech titan Apple has started production of iPhone XR in India for domestic market and exports, underlying the government's efforts to bolster mobile manufacturing in the country, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday.

The minister also said that Salcomp, the world's largest manufacturer and a major supplier of chargers to Apple for iPhone, has reached agreement to take over closed facility of Nokia in a SEZ near Chennai.

Salcomp will revive the unit, which was closed for nearly 10 years, and the facility will become operational from March 2020. The unit will produce charger and other equipment, and will boast of a diversified portfolio. This will entail an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in five years.

"The big SEZ of Nokia which was closed for 10 years will get into life again. As many as 10,000 people will get jobs directly and 50,000 jobs will be generated indirectly," Prasad said.

India's overall mobile as well as components exports are expected to cross USD 1.6 billion each in 2019-20, he said.

Apple India logs record sales, re-enters list of top 10 smartphone brands

After two years of downbeat news, Apple, the premium consumer electronics giant, managed to turn around its business in India. The management of the US-based entity informed its investors on Thursday that it registered record sales in this country during the July-September quarter.

Luca Maestri, senior vice-president and chief financial officer at Apple Inc, said in a post-results conference call that they had “established new Q4 (July-September) records in many major developed and emerging markets”. Including India, America, Canada, Germany, France, Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. As a result, its gross margin expanded 40 basis points, to 38 per cent.

Maestri added the company’s laptop and desktop business had record sales in India. “Despite the tough compare, we generate an all-time revenue record for Mac in the US and in India.” The maker of popular smart technology products like the iPhone and MacBook has faced stiff competition here, the world’s second-largest smartphone market. After shipping in 3.2 million units in 2017, the India unit of Apple sold only 1.7 million units of iPhones in 2018.

More, in October-December 2018, it failed to capture top spot in the premium smartphone market, after years. It fell behind OnePlus (36 per cent market share), with 30 per cent share. In April-June 2019, its share in the above Rs 30,000 price segment fell further — to 21 per cent — and slipped to third spot, behind OnePlus and Samsung.

The firm, however, left no stone unturned to regain top spot this festive season. From new and competitively-priced iPhones to slashing prices of its older models, it had a multi-pronged strategy. The entry-level new iPhone model — iPhone 11 — was priced Rs 64,900, or 15.6 per cent less than the XR variant of 2018. The model is priced even lower than the iPhone X, launched at Rs 70,990 only two years ago.

Also, to capture the country’s shopping mood ahead of the festive season, the new iPhones were made available from September 27 in India, three days ahead of its global launch. According to Navkendar Singh, research director at IDC, the launch date could have been advanced to align it with the upcoming Big Billion Days sale by Flipkart (starting September 29) and similar shopping events that were expected to kick off by the last week of that month.

Counterpoint Research estimates that efforts taken from April onward helped Apple make an entry into the top 10 smartphone brands in July-September after several quarters. Primarily, price cuts on the iPhone XR, along with good channel demand for its new iPhone 11, played a key role. More, the iPhone XR — base model from last year’s launch — became a top-selling model for the brand after Apple cut its price and offered a cashback scheme this April.

During the April-June quarter, 48 out of 100 iPhones sold in India were of the iPhone XR. The firm had reduced the effective price to Rs 53,900, from Rs 76,900 in early April. Karn Chauhan, research analyst at Counterpoint, had said the drastic drop in prices of older iPhones could give Apple an edge over competitors like OnePlus.

It remains to be seen how much of these efforts reflect in yearly sales. Apple India had a 19 per cent drop in yearly revenue for 2018-19, the first such since it set up shop here, and has also faced challenges in maintaining profitability. Net profit plunged 71 per cent to Rs 262 crore last year, from Rs 896 crore in 2017-18.

Apple starts selling iPhone XR assembled in Foxconn's Chennai unitx

Apple has finally started selling its top-end iPhone model iPhone XR, launched last year near Chennai, through the unit of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn.

The development comes at a time when growing tension in US-China trade ties is forcing companies to explore alternative manufacturing sites in order to derisk operations.

While there has been considerable speculation that manufacturing locally might reduce the cost of production and bring down prices, an expert said since this is only an assembly unit and the components are still being imported, costs will not come down significantly.

Josh Foulger, managing director, Foxconn India and Apple spokesperson did not offer any comment. Sources said Foxconn, which already makes mobile phones for Xiaomi, has invested over Rs 2,500 crore in Tamil Nadu for manufacturing electronic products, including mobile phones at Sriperumbudur near Chennai.

Apple started assembling iPhone SE in 2017 and iPhone 6S in 2018 at Taiwanese firm Wistron's Bengaluru plant and early this year it started manufacturing iPhone 7 at the Foxconn unit. iPhone SE is no longer assembled in India, but the other two models continue to be.

The news comes as a big boost for Tamil Nadu, once the global hub of erstwhile mobile phone major Nokia, whose feature phones were manufactured in Sriperumbudur. The SEZ, which also had various component makers including Foxconn, ran into trouble after the Income Tax Department slapped a demand of Rs 21,000 crore on Nokia, the main unit in the zone. The tax dispute, along with sale of its global mobile phone business to Microsoft, forced Nokia to suspend operations at the factory. Around 8,000 direct employees, of whom about 60 per cent were women, and 21,000 indirect employees lost their jobs.

Foxconn later set up a mobile phone unit at the integrated business location Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, which is close to Chennai. It also set up various other units in Tamil Nadu. It has been looking at reviving mobile phone and related operations in Tamil Nadu.

The state government said earlier this year that Tamil Nadu ranks second in India, after Uttar Pradesh, in the manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products, accounting for 16 per cent of national production. The state ranked third in India in electronic exports ($1.27 billion) in FY18.

Tamil Nadu has two sector-specific SEZs for electronics and hardwareSector in Kancheepuram, a 486-acre electronics and telecommunications hardware Hi-Tech SEZ in Sriperumbudur and a 348-acre electronic hardware Hi-Tech SEZ in Oragadam.

India has emerged as a sought-after location for mobile phone assembling, as the government has, in consultation with the industry, introduced a phased programme under which local manufacturing of various components has been promoted over the years. According to reports, India recently overtook Vietnam to become the world’s second largest manufacturer of mobile phones, made across 268 assembling units.

iPhone 11 launch takes Apple ahead of Microsoft in $1-trn market cap club

The pent-up demand for its newly-released iPhone 11 series has made Apple the most valuable company in the US again, ahead of Microsoft with a $1.07 trillion market cap.

Sailing through the US-China trade war that may impact its devices too, Apple stock has reached $236.21 to beat the previous high set just over a year ago. The news that Chinese and American trade negotiators have reached a preliminary agreement aimed at easing the ongoing trade war between the two nations after holding a new round of high-level talks in Washington, DC, also helped Apple as a proposed 15 per cent tariff looms on $156 billion in Chinese goods, including smartphones and other consumer goods, from December 15.

At the moment, only two US companies -- Apple and Microsoft -- are in the $1 trillion market cap bracket, with Jeff Bezos-led Amazon inching closer.

Apple shares are about five times higher than they were when Tim Cook became CEO of the company in August 2011, reports Barron's.

The rally owes partly to a report by the Nikkei Asian Review claiming that Apple is ramping up production of its three iPhone models by as much as 8 million units or 10 per cent of its production.

Apple's weak rally in Q4 2018 was largely driven by concern over iPhone demand. The tables have turned, and this time Apple is set for a record sales riding on aggressive pricing and attractive discounts in countries like India.

The Cupertino-based iPhone maker is expected to report Q4 results on October 30.

The iPhone 11's pricing strategy has worked well for the consumers in India too as the devices went out-of-stock at both Amazon India and Flipkart in just three days after the pre-booking was thrown open on September 20.

The increase in orders appears to validate Apple CEO Tim Cook's new strategy of enticing budget-conscious consumers with cheaper models amid the weakening world economy.

Apple is in for a bumper festive season sales and the iPhone 11 series -- starting from Rs 58,900 - has registered very strong demand from the consumers in the country.

Apple removes app used by Hong Kong protesters after China warning

Apple on Thursday removed a Hong Kong map application used by protesters following a warning by Beijing, the developer said.

According to a statement published by the makers of HongKongmap.live, Apple said "your app has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong".

It follows an accusation from China's state media that the app "obviously helps rioters".

Want an iPhone 11? You can pre-order on Amazon, Flipkart from September 20

California, USA based tech giant, Apple launched its latest offerings in mobile phones on September 10. iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max make up the iPhone 11 series which grabbed attention for the relatively competitive (by Apple standards) pricing (especially for iPhone 11). The devices aren't available in the market yet but preorders are to start soon.

India’s leading e-commerce platforms Amazon India and Flipkart will accept Apple iPhone 11-series preorders starting from September 20, before the sale commences on September 27. The series includes three smartphones; the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The iPhone 11 will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB storage configuration in purple, green, yellow, black, white and PRODUCT(RED) colours starting at Rs 64,900. The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max will be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage configurations in midnight green, space grey, silver and gold starting at Rs 99,900 and Rs 109,900, respectively.

iPhone 11 specifications and features

The iPhone 11 sports a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina display and is powered by Apple's new A13 Bionic chip, which the company claims to be up to 20 per cent faster than A12 Bionic Chip that powered the iPhone X-series. Made of glass and steel, the iPhone 11 is touted to be sturdy than the predecessor. It is rated IP68 for water and dust resistance up to 2 meters for up to 30 minutes, and is protected against accidental spills from common liquids such as coffee and soda. The iPhone 11 runs on iOS 13 that brings features like dark mode, Sign in with Apple, and expanded Haptic Touch support. Imaging is covered by a dual camera set-up on the back featuring a 12-megapixel wide-angle main shooter with f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilisation and a 12-megapixel secondary ultra-wide-angle shooter with f/2.4 aperture and 120-degree field of view. New camera software features include next-generation Smart HDR, Night Mode, and enhanced Portrait Mode. The iPhone 11 has a 12-megapixel front camera capable of shooting video in 4K as well as slo-mo videos. Apple claims the iPhone 11 will offer “one hour more than iPhone XR” battery life on a single charge.

iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max specifications and features

The iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro Max come with a triple rear camera setup, and improved battery life. The Pro and Pro Max models feature a 5.8-inch and a 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED displays, respectively, with Haptic Touch support. Both the phones are powered by A13 Bionic Chip. Imaging is covered by a triple camera setup on the back featuring three 12-megapixel image sensors: an f/1.8 wide-angle, an f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle, and an f/2.4 telephoto lenses. Both wide-angle and telephoto cameras support optical image stabilisation. The camera setup supports 4K video recording. There is a 12-megapixel selfie camera on the front, with support for Smart HDR, 4K video recording, and slo-mo videos.

Apple has big plans for India, electronic cos bullish about country: Prasad

Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said all electronics companies are bullish on the Indian market and iPhone maker Apple is going to come in the country with big business plans.

Prasad said that during his regime, mobile factories in India have increased from 2 to 268, including component makers for the handsets. The minister said he had a whole-day meeting with global and Indian chief executive officers of the electronics industry on Monday.

"All are gung-ho about India. Even Apple is going to come to India in a big way. Samsung has come. My focus area now is strategic electronics, defence electronics and medical electronics. I would urge leading lights of the industry that this is a promising area of growth," Prasad said while speaking at an AIMA event.

The government on Monday exhorted Apple to expand manufacturing base in India and use the country as an export hub, as it promised to line up fresh incentives and sops to galvanise electronics as well as the phone industry in the coming 2-3 months.

Apple, which works with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron in India, currently makes iPhone 6S and 7 here.

The minister urged the industry leaders present at the AIMA event to engage in the medical electronics business.

"Medical electronics from MRI machines to pathology machines, X-Ray machines, and testing machines -- all have a big future. It is a huge market available. India is a huge market waiting to be tapped. Please join them," Prasad said.

Apple gears up for Indian festive season with iPhone 11, cheaper XR

Apple is slowly closing the gap for its iPhone launch date with India and this year, three new iPhones will reach India on September 27 -- just a week after the global availability on September 20.

There is no denying the fact that in a price-sensitive market like India, cost is the biggest differentiator even in the premium segment, which is why Apple sold more iPhone XR in the price bracket of Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 than the super-premium XS and XS Max models.

Riding on heavy promotional offers on iPhone XR which was originally launched for Rs 76,900 last year, Apple regained top position in the premium smartphone segment in India in the second quarter (Q2) this year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

In the premium ($500 or Rs 35,000 and above) segment, Apple bettered Samsung for the leadership position with an overall share of 41.2 per cent in 2Q19.

According to Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, with the price drop, iPhone XR alone contributed more than 55 per cent of total Apple shipments in the second quarter.

With the Rs 64,900 iPhone 11 (64GB variant) which is likely to be aided by heavy promotional activities in the pre-Diwali season - along with a cheaper Rs 49,900 iPhone XR after further price drop -- Apple is set to create further dent in the premium segment where Samsung, Google, Huawei and OnePlus are the other major players.

According to Navkendar Singh, Research Director, IDC India, although it is cheaper than the launch price of iPhone XR, the price of iPhone 11 at Rs 64,900 still remains high for a market like India.

"It will drive marketing messaging but volumes will come from XR as in last quarter," Singh told IANS.

The 6.1-inch iPhone 11 introduces a powerful dual-camera system, and is powered by the A13 Bionic chip to perform the most demanding tasks, while getting through an entire day on a single charge.

Featuring the toughest glass ever in a smartphone, the device is rated IP68 for water resistance (up to two metres for up to 30 minutes) and is protected against accidental spills from common liquids such as coffee and soda.

On the other hand, with all-screen glass and an aluminium design featuring 6.1-inch display which is touted as "the most advanced LCD in a smartphone," the iPhone XR houses A12 Bionic chip with next-generation "Neural Engine", which unlocks new experiences for immersive augmented reality (AR), games and photography.

The iPhone XR is also water resistant, with a rating of IP67. The glass back of iPhone XR allows faster wireless charging and improved off-axis performance even when your iPhone is off-centre on a wireless charging pad.

According to Thomas Husson, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, smart pricing for the new and old iPhone ranges will enable Apple to maintain its premium brand and continue to grow its installed base of devices.

"While detractors may argue this is mostly incremental innovation, let's not forget that Apple delivers differentiated experiences through its integrated ecosystem and that it enables the brand to enter new territories by successfully pivoting to the service business," Husson told IANS.

Apple registered double-digit growth in India in the second quarter this year.

"To continue this momentum, Apple would require more play in terms of product placement in $700 and above segment, rather than $1,000 and above segment, accompanied by heavy promotional activities and attractive offers during the upcoming festive quarters," added Joshi.

(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

Apple's $44 billion valuation drop shows growing cost of reliance on China

Apple Inc’s reliance on China is looking increasingly like its biggest handicap.

The world’s most influential consumer electronics company shed $44 billion of market value Friday after a pair of pronouncements from Beijing and Washington cast a spotlight on its massive Chinese production base, from which almost all of the world’s iPhones are made.

US President Donald Trump this weekend “ordered” American companies to immediately start looking for alternatives to manufacturing in China, which is something Apple is thoroughly unprepared for, according to analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities Inc.

“In a best case scenario,” says Ives, Apple “would be able to move away 5 per cent-7 per cent of iPhone production out of China” over the course of 18 months. The company would require three years to move 20 per cent out, he adds, which is still less than the 25 per cent of iPhone production that Apple needs for its domestic US market. American tariffs on goods from China would therefore directly impact Apple’s biggest moneymaker.

Ives calls Trump’s latest comments on China “a gut punch to Cupertino” in the title of his report.

Apple’s main assembly partner, Foxconn Technology Group, has claimed that it has the capacity to build all of the Cupertino company’s US-bound iPhones outside of China, however all indications are that to deploy it would require a great deal of time and money. Apple’s stock price took two big hits on Friday in the wake of the latest tariffs announcements.

The president’s comments were followed hours later by tweets declaring that the US would increase the rate of existing and impending tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump’s moves were in response to an earlier announcement that China was planning to impose tariffs on $75 billion of US imports.

People familiar with iPhone production have said that it is nearly impossible to relocate manufacturing of Apple’s iconic device in a wholesale manner due to the difficulty of procuring a skilled labor force elsewhere, a point that Apple CEO Tim Cook has hammered away at in public as well. The challenges of replicating the complex production lines and necessary infrastructure are also major hurdles.

There may also be less purely economic reasons for sticking with the world’s No. 2 economy. Apple and its army of contract manufacturers, led by Foxconn, are collectively China’s largest private employer, providing work for millions of people. A reduced Apple presence could have significant implications for the local job market and rub Beijing the wrong way at a time Chinese officials see a slowing economy as a significant risk to stability. The government has shown a penchant for clamping down on foreign firms that displease it.

And Apple needs to fend off smartphone market leader Huawei Technologies Co. and win back consumers in China, its largest market after the US.

Apple's $44 billion valuation drop shows growing cost of reliance on China

Apple Inc’s reliance on China is looking increasingly like its biggest handicap.

The world’s most influential consumer electronics company shed $44 billion of market value Friday after a pair of pronouncements from Beijing and Washington cast a spotlight on its massive Chinese production base, from which almost all of the world’s iPhones are made.

US President Donald Trump this weekend “ordered” American companies to immediately start looking for alternatives to manufacturing in China, which is something Apple is thoroughly unprepared for, according to analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities Inc.

“In a best case scenario,” says Ives, Apple “would be able to move away 5 per cent-7 per cent of iPhone production out of China” over the course of 18 months. The company would require three years to move 20 per cent out, he adds, which is still less than the 25 per cent of iPhone production that Apple needs for its domestic US market. American tariffs on goods from China would therefore directly impact Apple’s biggest moneymaker.

Ives calls Trump’s latest comments on China “a gut punch to Cupertino” in the title of his report.

Apple’s main assembly partner, Foxconn Technology Group, has claimed that it has the capacity to build all of the Cupertino company’s US-bound iPhones outside of China, however all indications are that to deploy it would require a great deal of time and money. Apple’s stock price took two big hits on Friday in the wake of the latest tariffs announcements.

The president’s comments were followed hours later by tweets declaring that the US would increase the rate of existing and impending tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump’s moves were in response to an earlier announcement that China was planning to impose tariffs on $75 billion of US imports.

People familiar with iPhone production have said that it is nearly impossible to relocate manufacturing of Apple’s iconic device in a wholesale manner due to the difficulty of procuring a skilled labor force elsewhere, a point that Apple CEO Tim Cook has hammered away at in public as well. The challenges of replicating the complex production lines and necessary infrastructure are also major hurdles.

There may also be less purely economic reasons for sticking with the world’s No. 2 economy. Apple and its army of contract manufacturers, led by Foxconn, are collectively China’s largest private employer, providing work for millions of people. A reduced Apple presence could have significant implications for the local job market and rub Beijing the wrong way at a time Chinese officials see a slowing economy as a significant risk to stability. The government has shown a penchant for clamping down on foreign firms that displease it.

And Apple needs to fend off smartphone market leader Huawei Technologies Co. and win back consumers in China, its largest market after the US.

Apple offers $1 million 'bounty' to finders of iPhone security flaws

Apple is offering cyber security researchers up to $1 million to detect flaws in iPhones, the largest reward offered by a company to defend against hackers, at a time of rising concern about governments breaking into the mobile devices of dissidents, journalists and human rights advocates.

Unlike other technology providers, Apple previously offered rewards only to invited researchers who tried to find flaws in its phones and cloud backups.

At the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, the company said it would open the process to all researchers, add Mac software and other targets, and offer a range of rewards, called “bounties”, for the most significant findings.

The $1 million prize would apply only to remote access to the iPhone kernel without any action from the phone's user.

Apple's previous highest bounty was $200,000 for friendly reports of bugs that can then be fixed with software updates and not leave them exposed to criminals or spies.

Government contractors and brokers have paid as much as $2 million for the most effective hacking techniques to obtain information from devices. Apple's new bounties, however, are in the same range as some published prices from contractors.

Apple is taking other steps to make research easier, including offering a modified phone that has some security measures disabled. A principal component of breaches is programs that take advantage of otherwise unknown flaws in the phones, their software or installed applications.

A number of private companies, such as Israel's NSO Group, sell hacking capabilities to governments.

"NSO Group develops technology that is licensed to intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing and investigating terror and crime," NSO said in a statement. "It is