‘PUBG’ already has over 3 million players on Xbox One

A preview version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds launched on Xbox One on December 12th and at the end of 2017, it already had over three million players. The game broke records left and right last year, so this may not be too big of a surprise. But it’s notable since PUBG had quite a few issues when it launched on the console last month.

When announcing the milestone, Xbox’s General Manager of Games Marketing Aaron Greenberg pointed out that four updates had already been released since the preview’s launch and he said that updates would continue to roll out regularly.

At the end of December, PUBG beat its previous concurrent player record on Steam, logging a whopping 3,106,358 players at one time. Around 25 million players were playing it on PC overall at the time. In the first two days of being available on Xbox One, PUBG pulled over a million players.

Source: Xbox

Office Depot and OfficeMax Offering $28 Aftermarket iPhone Battery Replacements Until February

Office Depot and OfficeMax today informed us they have lowered their iPhone battery replacement fee to $27.99 at select stores across the United States through February 4, 2018, essentially matching Apple’s discounted $29 price.

The lower price, down from $49.99 regularly, is applicable to the iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE, subject to battery availability and while supplies last.

Office Depot and OfficeMax promise same-day battery replacements. If the order is not completed by the end of regular store hours, the customer receives a repair discount of $25, according to fine print on its website.

One very important caveat is that Office Depot and OfficeMax are not Apple Authorized Service Providers, meaning their replacement batteries are not supplied by Apple, and having an aftermarket battery installed can void your iPhone’s warranty, although iFixit argues that Apple cannot do so under U.S. law.

A spokesperson for Office Depot and OfficeMax informed us that their iPhone batteries are built to Apple’s specifications for each iPhone model and added that all of their batteries carry a one-year warranty against defects.

We still highly recommend only having an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider replace your iPhone’s battery, but Apple is currently running low on some batteries, and Office Depot and OfficeMax may be an option worth considering for customers with an iPhone that is already past its warranty.

Office Depot and OfficeMax offer iPhone battery replacements at hundreds of locations across the United States. Those interested can enter their ZIP code on Office Depot’s website to find a participating location near them.

iFixit has also discounted its iPhone battery replacement kits to $29 or less as a do-it-yourself option, but again, we recommend letting a professional at Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider complete the process.

For customers who want to keep things official, read our guide on how to get your iPhone’s battery replaced with an appointment at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple also offers a mail-in option.

Related Roundups: iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone SEBuyer’s Guide: iPhone 8 (Buy Now), iPhone 8 (Buy Now), iPhone SE (Don’t Buy)
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The Most Interesting Products We Saw at CES 2018

The 2018 Consumer Electronics Show is wrapping up today, bringing an end to a week’s worth of non-stop announcements about all of the new products we can expect to see over the course of the year.

For our last video, we asked MacRumors videographer Dan to spend some time on the show floor, hunting down the most interesting products he could find. Not everything we’re sharing today is Apple related, but we thought MacRumors readers might want to see some of the zanier things on display at CES.

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Robots were big at CES, some of which were offering an impressive level of detail and intelligence. Jibo, a $900 “social” robot that’s already for sale, was on display, as was the CLOi Robot from LG. LG’s CLOi is designed to control smart home products and , but it had a bit of a rough start this week when it failed to perform at an LG event.

LG’s CLOi
You might have seen Jibo in person already, because the company has been showing it off at mall kiosks and other locations. Jibo has a built-in camera for both facial recognition and capturing “special moments,” plus he can dance, answer questions, play music, and more.

Jibo
Other robots on display were just plain odd. Robotis had a bunch of its programmable $499 Mini Humanoid Robots set in a choreographed dance to South Korean hit song “Gangnam Style.” Robotis also had a pet dog robot on hand, which was able to roll over, wag its tail, and even pretend to go to the bathroom.

Robotis Mini
Some robots were more conceptual than consumer oriented. Omron, for example, was showing off its Forpheus ping pong robot, which can play a mean game of table tennis. In the future, Omron has goals beyond ping pong or Forpheus, but for now, it’s an interesting proof of concept demonstrating what robots are capable of.

Omron’s ping pong robot
Beyond robots, there was some impressive TV tech being demonstrated at CES. LG created an entire tunnel filled with OLED TVs to simulate walking through a forest, while Samsung showed off its 146-inch microLED modular TV, “The Wall.”

The Wall scales out to as large as 146 inches, which is the average size wall a consumer might have in a house. It’s modular, though, so if your wall is smaller, it can be built smaller, too. Samsung hasn’t provided pricing on The Wall, but we imagine it’s going to be a lot more than most people want to spend for a TV set, even one as cool as this.

The Wall from Samsung
Though not quite as visually interesting, the latest Vivo phone was being shown off on the show floor. The Vivo is notable because it’s the first phone that includes an in-display fingerprint sensor, courtesy of Synaptics. Apple was rumored to be working on this kind of technology, but the company ultimately went with Face ID.

Synaptics’ Clear ID in-display fingerprint sensor
Cars and other alternative transportation methods were also a highlight of CES, with companies showing off everything from the luxurious to the futuristic. There were also plenty of electric bikes and scooters, including an FAA-approved collapsible electric scooter from Immotor. It’s sleek, folds down into a tiny package, and offers a 16 mile radius on one charge, but it’s expensive at $1,500.

Immotor Go
Our CES coverage is at an end for 2018, but we’ll be seeing more of many of these products over the course of the year. If you want to catch up on our coverage, make sure to check out our CES 2018 hub, and don’t miss our roundup of some of the best Apple-related accessories we saw at the show.

Tag: CES 2018
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