Report reveals the iPhone 8 outsold the flagship iPhone X in the U.S. during Q4

The iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X accounted for 61 percent of total U.S. iPhone sales in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the latest consumer report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). That number is lower than the 72 percent the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus raked in during the same quarter last year.

CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 500 Apple customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad, or Mac in the U.S. between October and December 2017. Of those 500 purchases, the iPhone 8 accounted for 24 percent of total sales, with the iPhone 8 Plus at 17 percent. The iPhone X, the company’s flagship device — which Apple claimed would set a new precedent for future smartphones — took in 20 percent of sales.

As for the older models, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus accounted for almost one-quarter of sales, with the iPhone 6 and 6S Plus claiming 8 percent of sales. The iPhone SE sold almost as much as the 6S series during the same time.

Apple says it’s tricky to compare the latest iPhone models’ sales to the 2016 numbers for a few reasons. For starters, the iPhone X’s November release date means it wasn’t around for the full quarter. Another factor to consider is that even though Apple announced three new models at once, the company launched the new phones at different times.

CIPR’s consumer report comes shortly after Apple Insider pointed to a research note from KGI Securities suggesting Apple will retire the iPhone X. The end of the flagship device may come before the new lineup of iPhones are released in fall 2018.

KGI blames the design of the iPhone X for its lackluster sales, particularly in China. Even though the device features an edge-to-edge display — the largest screen ever on an iPhone, coming in at 5.8-inches — KGI believes the notch makes that assertion a bit misleading. It’s been claimed that it gives consumers the impression that there is less useful space than on the standard iPhone Plus model, which has a 5.5-inch screen.

While this year’s lineup is still too early to predict, it’s likely that Apple will continue to produce phones with a design similar to the iPhone X. Sales of iPhones are also still expected to continue to be strong. Apple is expected to become the world’s first company valued at $1 trillion at some point in 2018.

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Google’s lightweight Gboard Go app is rolling out to low-RAM Android devices

Google has slowly but surely been introducing “Go” versions of its apps to phones that lack the processing prowess to handle its full offerings. The latest of these? Apparently, it’s Gboard. According to a report from Android Police, Google is currently rolling out a lightweight version called Gboard Go to phones with low RAM that run Android 8.1 or later.

Gboard Go is pretty much the same as the standard version, and installs right over the top on phones that could work better with it. It is missing a few features — like the ability to search for GIFs and send stickers — though that may not be a big deal for those who don’t use those features all that often. It also seems as though one-handed typing is not possible on Gboard Go. The real advantage to the keyboard is how little RAM it uses — according to reports, it only takes up 40MB, instead of the standard 70MB.

So how can you get your hands on it yourself? Well, it’s simple to install on phones with limited RAM — and if you don’t have limited RAM, we don’t see any reason you would want it in the first place. You also need to have Android 8.1 or later to use it, so it’s pretty much limited to Pixel and Nexus phones.

Of course, this isn’t the first “Go” release we’ve seen from Google. The company launched the file management service Files Go toward the end of last year, as a way to easily clean up extra files and save space on your phone. It has also launched YouTube Go, which is only available in select countries and is basically aimed at bringing YouTube to phones with limited processing power and slower internet connections. Then there’s Maps Go, which is also aimed at devices with between 512MB and 1GB of RAM and limited internet connections.

Google has even launched a lightweight version of Android, called Android Go, which is a super-slimmed-down operating system that cuts back on things like animations and a complex user interface to ultimately take up far less space and RAM.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Google is building an AI research team in France

Google announced today that it’s expanding its AI research efforts, setting up a new research team in France that will work with the country’s AI research community on issues ranging from health to the environment. Google says the team’s work will be published and any code it produces will be open source.

Along with creating a dedicated AI team at Google France, the company is also expanding its workforce by 50 percent and opening four hubs that will provide free digital literacy training to the residents of France.

But Google isn’t the only company growing its AI presence. While Facebook already has an AI lab in the country, it announced today that it would put €10 million towards accelerating AI innovation in France. That money will be used for scholarships, funding servers and open datasets that public institutions can use and adding 30 additional fellowship positions to Facebook AI Research Paris’ PhD program. The French team will also double from 30 to 60 people. Last year, both Google and Facebook opened AI labs in Canada.

Thank you for your very strong commitment to France @sundarpichai. Google’s investments today show that we are gaining momentum as a digital nation ! #ChooseFrance pic.twitter.com/G9ok5ig2WF

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 22, 2018

AI has been a topic of interest for French leaders. President Emmanuel Macron has expressed an eagerness to develop France into a leader in AI innovation and is expected to announce a national AI strategy soon, Bloomberg reports. “More than ever, we’re committed to help France find new ways to grow in this digital era—whether through helping people retrain, or growing a business, or using amazing talent to research and build new products for the world,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post. “We hope these new investments will help the country, academia and local businesses turn France into a true digital champion.”

Source: Google, Facebook

Netflix to spotlight up-and-coming comedians with 15-minute specials

Netflix has been streaming comedy specials for a while now. Seinfeld got his first show on the streaming platform last September and released a couple more events starring Patton Oswalt and Dave Chappelle before the New Year. Now, according to Deadline, Netflix is set to debut a series of 15-minute stand-up specials starring new comedic talents this year.

Deadline reports that the specials will tape in February at Atlanta’s Terminal West. Each comic will get 15 minutes to strut their stuff. The list of up-and-comers includes Aisling Bea, Michelle Buteau, Tim Dillon, JR De Guzman, Sabrina Jalees, Janelle James, Sam Jay, Josh Johnson, Ian Karmel, Jak Knight, Matteo Lane, Max Silvestri, Taylor Tomlinson, Phil Wang, Emma Willmann and Kate Willett.

Source: Deadline

Android Oreo now shows WiFi network speeds before you connect

Ever hop on a WiFi hotspot to save mobile data or boost speed, only to find out that it’s so slow that you might as well have stayed on cellular access? If you’re using Android 8.1 Oreo, that shouldn’t be a problem going forward. After several weeks of teasing, Google is rolling out a feature that gauges the speed of WiFi networks before you connect. It’s not giving you exact bandwidth readings — instead, it’s lumping the overall performance into categories that give you an idea of what to expect. You may want to avoid a “slow” (under 1Mbps) or “OK” (1-5Mbps) network unless you have no choice, but “fast” (5-20Mbps) and “very fast” (20Mbps and above) should do the job if you’re catching up on YouTube.

The ratings are a bit conservative, and might not help much if you’re hoping to stream 4K or download a multi-gigabyte app. However, it should help you make more informed decisions. You might skip that overloaded airport connection instead of wasting minutes trying to visit a basic page. Now if only this prompted hotspot owners to improve the quality of their connections…

Public Wi-Fi can be spotty. For the first time, #AndroidOreo 8.1 lets you take out the guesswork & see the speed of networks before you hit connect. Rolling out now: https://t.co/lSzvCFgNk7 pic.twitter.com/60EmoPxUX4

— Android (@Android) January 22, 2018

Source: Google Support, Android (Twitter)

The first 512GB microSD card arrives in February

It didn’t take long for someone to topple 2017’s microSD storage record. The UK’s Integral Memory has unveiled what it says it the first shipping 512GB microSD card. So long as your device can handle microSDXC (most Android phones and tablets, as well as PCs like the Surface Pro), you too can have half a terabyte in the space of a fingernail. The card’s 80MB/s peak transfer speed isn’t the fastest you’ll find, but it should be enough for apps and recording gobs of 4K video.

The card arrives in February, although it’s not clear how much it will cost or how readily available it will be outside of the UK. Don’t expect it to be cheap, though — the 400GB card still carries a premium (around $250 on Amazon), and it’s virtually certain that 512GB will cost more. This is more about bragging rights, both for Integral Memory and for well-heeled techies who want the kind of capacity normally reserved for laptops.

Source: BusinessWire

Pixelmator Pro Updated With Custom Aspect Ratios and Presets for Crop Tool

Popular photo and image editing software Pixelmator Pro was today updated to version 1.0.6, adding customizations for the crop tool along with a whole slew of other improvements and bug fixes.

According to the Mac App Store release notes, the update introduces an option for custom aspect ratios for the crop tool, which can also be saved as custom crop presets. This should make cropping to your exact specifications quicker and easier even across different projects.

With this new version of Pixelmator Pro, files exported to JPEG will be saved with a .jpg extension instead of .jpeg, and files can now also be exported in BMP and GIF formats.

Improvements have also been made to other tools, such as the Type tool, the selection tools, and the Color Selection tool, with a full list of new improvements available below:

• Use the Crop tool to crop with your own custom ratios.
• Create and save custom crop presets.
• The Type tool will now be highlighted when a text layer is selected.
• If no text is selected, clicking a text preset will now add a new text layer with the preset style applied.
• When using the Type tool’s Color Picker, pressing the Escape key will now close the Color Picker, as it should.
• Drag shapes from the Layers view to the Shapes palette to save them to your collection.
• The selection tools will now be highlighted if there is an active selection.
• A number of performance improvements make the selection tools faster and more reliable.
• You can now copy, cut, paste, and duplicate the components inside shapes.
• The Color Selection tool now works on layers with color adjustments.
• You can now hold down the Space bar to move selections while using the Rectangular and Elliptical selection tools.

Dozens of additional bug fixes and small tweaks included in Pixelmator Pro 1.0.6 are listed in the Mac App Store update history.

Pixelmator Pro, released in late November, is an updated and more advanced version of Pixelmator, which has been a popular photo editing app on Macs for years now. Pixelmator Pro was built from the ground up for the Mac and it takes advantage of the latest macOS software additions like Core ML, Metal 2, and more.

Compared to Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro offers a reimagined workflow with simplified and streamlined editing tools, a single-window editing interface, intelligent image editing features powered by machine learning, a new painting engine, an improved repair tool, and much more.

Pixelmator Pro can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $59.99. [Direct Link]

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AltspaceVR co-founder joins Facebook’s social VR team

Facebook announced today that Eric Romo, the former CEO and co-founder of AltSpaceVR, is joining its social VR team as Product Director. He’ll be helping with Facebook’s nascent but thriving social VR efforts, building upon the company’s Facebook Spaces launch last year.

“Eric is a pioneer in the social VR space who shares our vision of building virtual reality with people at the center,” said Rachel Rubin Franklin, Facebook’s head of social VR, in a post. “He’s spent years building virtual communities to bring people together around common interests and compelling content.”

“With lots to tackle in 2018, I’m thrilled to have Eric on board,” she continued.

Years before Facebook Spaces, AltSpaceVR was one of the pioneers in the social VR space. Described as Second Life in VR, AltSpaceVR held many media events in recent years, such as partnering with NBC to air the presidential debates in VR and hosting virtual comedy shows from Reggie Watts and Paul Scheer. Still, despite all of the media attention, AltSpaceVR was close to shutting its doors last year. That is, until Microsoft picked the company up, rescuing it from dire financial straits.

“We wish Eric success in his new role,” said Microsoft in a statement. “We’re grateful for his work pioneering social VR and creating the vibrant community AltSpaceVR is today.”

“As I look back at my journey with AltspaceVR, I couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished,” said Romo in a Facebook post. “We built one of the first and most vibrant places to meet in VR — starting before the first consumer headsets even shipped! But it’s really the community of passionate people that has grown around AltspaceVR that amazes me most, and continues to confirm my belief that being together with others in VR will revolutionize the way we connect with each other.”

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” he continued, “but I left AltspaceVR with confidence that the team is well-placed to continue pushing forward the promise of virtual communication as part of the Microsoft mixed reality ecosystem. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next, and wish them all the best.”

“I’ve been inspired by Facebook’s commitment to VR and I’m motivated by how much there is yet to do,” said Romo.

Apple’s TestFlight App Updated With Expanded 150 MB Cellular Data Download Limit

TestFlight, which is designed to allow developers to provide testers with beta versions of apps ahead of their release, was today updated to version 2.0.1, introducing a handful of new features.

The update brings support for downloading apps that are up to 150 MB in size over a cellular data connection. The previous TestFlight beta app limit was 100 MB, with this updated limit bringing TestFlight apps in line with other iOS apps.

Apple officially increased the App Store cellular over-the-air download limit to 150 MB in September of 2017, but the new increased limit apparently did not apply to beta apps. With the new limit, testers will be able to download TestFlight apps up to 150 MB without needing a WiFi connection.

Today’s TestFlight update also introduces support for Smart Invert Colors, an accessibility option, and it includes a revised 3D Touch peek view that offers up “What to Test” information. Apple says the update also includes small bug fixes and UI improvements.

TestFlight can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

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Microsoft continues its assault on Chromebooks with affordable PCs

Microsoft continues to attack the Chromebook market with new, upcoming Windows 10 PCs set for a reveal this week during the Bett Show 2018 convention. The starting price for this new batch will be a mere $189, perfect for schools and parents alike who need high-performance, mobile solutions for their students at an extremely affordable price. Even more, some of the notable features include touch-based input, Windows Ink support, and 3D content creation. 

“Affordability is the top priority for many schools,” the company said on Monday, January 22. “Shrinking budgets can lead schools to choose devices with a stripped-down experience and a limited lifespan, unfortunately costing more over time and offering less to students.” 

Here are the devices making their debut at the show: 

Manufacturer 

Model 

Style
Hero

Starting
price 

Lenovo 

100e 

Clamshell 

n/a 

$189 

Lenovo 

300e 

2-in-1 

Pen support 

$279 

JP 

Classmate Leap T303 

Clamshell 

Windows Hello 

$199 

JP 

Trigono V401 

2-in-1 

Pen and Touch 

$299 

 The laptops follow two models produced by HP for the education market: the ProBook x360 11 G1 EE for a starting price of $299, and the Stream 11 Pro G4 EE PC with a starting price of $225. They are “education edition” laptops sold through government-tethered resellers and agents in bulk for a lower per-unit price. They’re still made available to customers outside this group, such as parents, but for a higher price: $369 for the Stream 11 Pro G4 EE, and $499 for the ProBook x360 11 G1 EE. 

Microsoft’s big push against the Chromebook market started with the introduction of Windows 10 S in May 2017. It’s a “streamlined” version of Windows 10 that essentially locks all software installs, save for apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store. That means students can’t use third-party browsers and anti-virus solutions, nor can they venture deep into the heart of Windows 10 to make changes to the platform. Microsoft says it optimized the platform specifically for “security and performance.” 

But with a low price tag comes a list of low-level laptop hardware. Microsoft didn’t list a specific processor for the upcoming Lenovo 100e laptop, but hinted that it would rely on an older “Apollo Lake” Celeron processor launched in the fourth quarter of 2016. There are four in this specific family with two and four cores with a base speed starting at 1.1GHz.  Unfortunately, we don’t know the hardware specifics of this model or the other three making their debut this week. 

Along with the notebooks, Microsoft now provides free Professional Development to schools with the purchase of “certain” Microsoft 365 Education licenses. This free tool targets teachers to bring them up to speed with the new technology offered through Intune for Education, Microsoft 365 Education, and Windows 10. The company also announced a cool, free addition to Minecraft Education Edition this spring: the Chemistry Update. 

“Through hands-on experimentation, students can learn everything from building compounds to more difficult topics like stable isotopes,” the company said.

As for when the new laptops will hit retail shelves, Microsoft didn’t say. We may see more news regarding Lenovo’s models later this week.

Editors’ Recommendations

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