Given the sheer population of China along with its market's considerable interest in Apple products as a whole, it's not too much of a shock that the launch date of the iPhone 6 in China is, once again, lagging considerably behind the UK / US roll-out. In the countries where the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is already available, Apple has enjoyed impressive early sales, but if Chinese reservation figures are anything to go on, the best may still be yet to come. Pre-orders have not yet commenced, but many retailers have started taking reservations in advance of the October 17th release, and having originally reported that 2 million iPhone 6s had been reserved in just 6 hours, the sum total for the first-day of reservations stands at a whopping 4 million.
We've already seen the iPhone 6 completely wipe the floor with Samsung's Galaxy S5 in an unofficial speed test, and with the Galaxy Note 4 now in the process of rolling out to the masses, how does it compare to Apple's latest and greatest in terms of the benchmarks?
The list of advertised features should be more than enough to convince even the most reluctant user that Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones are a worthy competitor to any device on the market. With that said, if you're one of the few still sitting on the fence, unable to make your mind up about the jumbo-sized iPhone 6 Plus, then maybe this little video will push you over the edge.
Apple's initial foray into the world of wearable technology has been speculated, analyzed and discussed consistently over the last 18 months, but only made official when Tim Cook introduced us to the Apple Watch on September 9th. After showing off the beautiful aesthetics of the various models, brushing over the important technical specifications, and showing the obligatory Apple marketing video pertaining to the watch, Cook would only say that the wrist wear would be launched sometime during "early 2015". So, no shiny new Apple Watch in time for the festive season, but if reports emerging from China are to be believed then we could be looking at a worldwide February 2015 launch for the wearable.
Apple's iPhone 6 may have enjoyed a blistering start during its first few weeks on sale, but it still faces stiff competition from other high-end handsets available across the industry, and if you're still on the fence with regards to which device best suits you, then you've probably been reading a lot of specs sheets. But while a big, beefy processor should keep things running smoothly and with great fluidity, the real-world speed can only be determined by using a device to perform a multitude of day-to-day tasks, and in the most comprehensive speed comparison to date, we get to see how the iPhone 6 stands up against both the HTC One M8 and Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5.
Apple's iOS 8.1 beta 1 was pushed to developers earlier on this week, and as well as gaining a decent insight with regards to its features, we now have what is claimed to be a solid release date in October 20th. Apple Pay is set to be the flagship implementation of the next major update, but there are a number of other tweaks besides, and thanks to the digging of one eagle-eyed developer looking into the features of iOS 8.1 beta, it has also emerged that Apple will offer much better flexibility when it comes to data usage through voice calling.
Apple has added a section to the existing iCloud.com domain that will allow users to easily check and determine whether or not an iOS device is currently protected via the Find my iPhone Activation Lock initiative, or in other words, whether the device being sold is stolen or not. The new section is a simple Web page that allows anyone with the IMEI or serial number of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to check the Activation Lock status of that individual device in an effort to protect themselves against purchasing a piece of hardware that cannot be used without the original owner’s iCloud credentials.
Earlier on this year, Apple rolled out iOS 7.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and among a number of changes, bug fixes and new additions, one of the flagship features was the introduction of CarPlay. Announced as iOS in the Car back at WWDC 2013, CarPlay means that users could remain connected while driving without distraction from the road, and not only does the feature promote road safety, but also offers a broad range of functionality thanks largely to the Siri voice assistant. It has long since been known that audio giant Pioneer would be among the first to retail its own fleet of aftermarket, CarPlay-ready infotainment systems, and today, five of its line-up will offer full-on support of Apple's in-car flavor of iOS via firmware update.
Apple's early iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales figures suggest that everything in the Cupertino's walled garden is rosy, and having shifted ten million units in the first weekend alone, the launch in China later on this month is only going to add to the impressive start that the handsets have made. But there have been some issues, notably "Bendgate", which spawned from some much-publicized complaints that the larger of the two new devices was unduly susceptible to bending when placed in a user's pocket. Apple has since dispelled the rumor, suggesting that it had received only 9 Bendgate-related quibbles from customers the last we heard, and one particular owner has sought to pay heed to Bendgate once and for all in a rather entertaining video.
We've got the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. We've had an initial look at the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. We've even see a glimpse at what Apple deems to be the future of mobile payments using NFC in Apple Pay. That leaves us with nothing but time to focus and mull over what the Cupertino company could potentially have in line for us with the future of the iPad. It's pretty much a given that we will see an iPad refresh before the end of the year, but keeping in line with previous reports and leaks, Bloomberg is now adding weight to the speculation that any new full-size iPad could be offered in multiple colors.
















