News & Reviews:   Apple

In conjunction with World Emoji Day (yes, apparently it's a thing), Apple will be releasing more new emojis in the fourth quarter of 2019. From food to smiley faces, there are approximately 59 new additions which include a parachute, skunk, prosthetic arm, onion, and more couples holding hands, and many, many more.

Apple’s Back to School Promotion has been announced today, allowing university students who are studying in Malaysia, to get either the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro starting from RM4299 and RM5099 respectively instead of the original price of RM4699 and RM5499. You can get these laptops from either Apple’s official website, Apple Store app as well as selected authorised resellers in Malaysia by the end of this week.

Based on a statement by IHS Markit analyst Jeff Lin, Apple could be planning to manufacture a 12-inch foldable iPad and it is expected to be launched around the year 2020. In addition to the foldability, the rumoured iPad is expected to come equipped with 5G-network capabilities as well as Apple Pencil support.

A supply chain in China claims that Apple may be working on a more affordable version of the iPhone without their iconic Face ID. Sources say that it may instead come with an under-display (UD) fingerprint reader to keep costs low and notches smaller (a definite plus if this were to happen).

If you're an Apple user and likes to participate in iOS beta tests, you now have an opportunity to join the public beta tests for Apple iOS 13, iPadOS as well as macOS Catalina. It went live earlier this morning and should you be interested, you can visit beta.apple.com to sign up and get more information from there.

Ever since the US government banned Huawei and set off the trade war with China, Chinese authorities are actually considering making their own entity list which includes Apple, Dell and HP in retaliation for their actions. With this, there's a new report from Nikkei Asian Review that Apple is looking into moving 15%-30% of their production out of China to Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia.

Three years ago, Apple acquired the rights from Nintendo to publish Super Mario Run on its Apple Store and nothing really happened after that. However, that all changed from an announcement from Nintendo of America's Twitter page, saying Dr. Mario World will be the latest mobile game for both Apple and Android devices starting from 10 July 2019.

As smartphones continue to expand in terms of screen size, we got some news that Apple is preparing to go beyond what they have done, or any smartphone brands for that matter. Thanks to Apple for popularizing the method of putting the notch that increases the screen ratio, which Android brands picked up afterwards.

Germany plans on taking full advantage of the iOS 13 by allowing users to store their ID cards(IC cards for Malaysian), on their iOS device which allows the user to perform various authentication process without the need to pull out their wallets. This is similar to how debit/credit cards can be stored on a smartphone, which then can be used to perform various transactions.

Apple did not waste any time by introducing new updates and features on the upcoming iOS 13 in the WWDC 19 event. That said, the iPad owners aren't left out as well and there is a new iPadOS name with plenty of updates. This includes a new way to work in multiple windows, a redesigned Home screen, Apple Pencil usage and more for both consumers and content creators alike.