News stepped to a fast pace at the beginning of 2016, with numerous rumors about the iPhone 7, and worries about Apple's stock price and the prospects for iPhone 6s sales.
Apple's primary assembly partner, Hon Hai — better known as Foxconn — saw its revenues drop approximately 20 percent in December, on top of missing full-year sales predictions from analysts.
The product mix of iPhone models in Apple's real world installed base of users shows smooth adoption of iPhone 6s models and no evidence of a decline in demand that would require unexpected production cuts. This publicly available data severely undercuts the supply chain rumors supporting a narrative of "Peak iPhone" and reactionary order slashing.
Several of Apple's Taiwan-based suppliers on Thursday announced financial setbacks, which could support claims of slowed production for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Piling on to reports of slowing iPhone 6s demand, a report on Tuesday claims the city of Zhengzhou is offering Apple supplier Foxconn a $12.6 million subsidy to keep workers in its plant, a facility thought to be dedicated in large part to iPhone production.
Deviating from a bandwagon of media reports interpreting recent supply chain rumors as a harbinger of iPhone's first year-over-year sales contraction, PiperJaffray analyst Gene Munster believes production estimates have little to do with final reported sales. For a more accurate representation, investors should instead look to key data points from Apple itself.
Apple suppliers are preparing for slower-than-expected sales of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in the current March quarter, with orders said to be some 30 percent lower than originally expected, according to Japanese business newspaper Nikkei.
Despite record-breaking quarterly earnings and continued market growth in the face of withering industry headwinds, Apple stock closed out 2015 down for first time since 2008, though analysts remain positive on the company's near-future prospects.
The results of AppleInsider's holiday survey are in, and the hottest Apple gifts for the 2015 holiday season, as selected by you the reader, were Apple TV, Apple Watch and Apple accessories.
Apple dominated the holiday gift giving season, according to a recent study that found iPhones and iPads in aggregate comprised 49.1 percent of new device activations in the week leading up to Christmas.
With a clever Lightning-connected design and solid construction, we're mostly impressed by the Gamevice gaming controller for iPhone. But with a $100 price tag, a risk of not fitting future iPhone models, and broken controller forwarding support from Apple in iOS, we feel it's an extremely niche device.
Pricing on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in India has been reduced by between 11 and 16 percent, reflecting Apple's most aggressive approach yet with a new flagship handset in the world's second-most-populous country.
Gamevice is the first Lightning-connected controller case we've tested for Apple's larger iPhones, fitting both the iPhone 6 and 6s series, as well as the larger Plus variants. It accomplishes this with a unique, collapsible design that helps it stand out from other options on the market.
Adobe and Facebook each released major iOS app updates on Wednesday, upgrading Lightroom and Messenger, respectively, with 3D Touch plus a number of other features.
The iPhone 6s was the most searched-for consumer technology item this year in Google's annual Year in Search rankings, published on Wednesday, though Apple did have competition from companies like Samsung and LG.
Apple's Smart Battery Case will certainly get the job done, but it includes some baffling design decisions, and just isn't a great value compared to third-party products.
Apple is beginning to push fullscreen pop-up ads for the iPhone 6s to people opening the App Store app on some older iPhone models, according to a rush of user complaints.
Apple's new Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6 and 6s uses a relatively simple construction, centered around a 1,877 milliamp-hour battery sitting behind an aluminum plate, according to a teardown published on Thursday.
Apple CEO Tim Cook responded to negative criticism over the company's new Smart Battery Case, saying the "hump" battery cell is designed for easy-on, easy-off use.
Coming as a surprising hardware launch on Tuesday, the new Apple Smart Battery Case is a compelling new option for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s users looking to get more uptime out of their handset. AppleInsider offers a closer look at the new $99 accessory.
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Roger Fingas
Daniel Eran Dilger
Mikey Campbell
Neil Hughes
AppleInsider Staff
Katie Marsal
