Siri Smart Speaker Rumors, Major Apps Drop Apple Watch Support, Apple Earnings, 'Sheeple' - MacRumors

Brought to you by: Apple's Siri-Based Smart Speaker Has 'Over 50% Chance' of Debuting at WWDC in June Roughly six months after the last rumors about Apple's Siri-based smart speaker intended to compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home, a pair of reports this week are suggesting a debut could be closer than many thought. The first report last week came from Sonny Dickson, who said the device will be marketed as a Siri and AirPlay product with Beats technology. According to Dickson, the speaker is said to resemble the Mac Pro, with a "fat" cylindrical design and a concave top, but with mesh covering nearly the entire exterior.  Dickson's source said the device could be introduced as soon as WWDC next month, and a follow-up report from prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims there is indeed an "over 50% chance" of an introduction at WWDC, although a launch may not come until later in the year. Kuo says the device will have "excellent acoustics performance" with one woofer and seven tweeters and carry processing power roughly on par with the iPhone 6 or 6s. He expects Apple's speaker will be priced higher than the $179 Amazon Echo. With the new developments and a potential introduction just a few weeks away, we've put together a roundup covering the rumored product to help readers stay on top of the latest news and rumors all in one place.   Read Full Article Sponsored Stories Fully Master Your iPhone and iPad Content With the Ultimate iPhone Manager AnyTrans, the ultimate iPhone manager, is simply designed to manage, transfer and back up all of your iOS content in one place. Now you can take full control of your iPhone/iPad data in its light interface, and seamlessly share them across your iPhone, iPad, computer and iTunes – even iCloud. 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Visit Sponsor Popular Stories May 04, 2017 Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay Drop Apple Watch Support Several prominent iOS apps, including Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay, have recently dropped support for the Apple Watch, drawing significant attention to the lack of momentum for the device as an app platform. Both Google and eBay have said they intended to restore Apple Watch support in the future after they make some changes, while Amazon says it doesn't think its previous incarnation is the "right solution" for its customers "at this time." It's not clear, however, whether Amazon is working on a different approach for Apple Watch functionality.   Read Full Article Apple Reports 2Q 2017 Results: $11B Profit on $52.9B Revenue, 50.8M iPhones Apple this week released its financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2017, roughly corresponding to the January–March timeframe. The company's results were pretty much in line with expectations, although iPhone sales numbers were a bit on the low side. Tim Cook attributed the performance to a stronger than usual rumor cycle causing some customers to "pause" on iPhone purchases. Cook also noted that demand for the iPhone 7 Plus continues to be stronger than Apple had originally anticipated, with customers particularly enjoying the Portrait mode that takes advantage of the device's dual rear cameras.   Read Full Article Early 'iPhone 8' Case Has Vertical Camera Cutout, Suggests Front-Facing Touch ID iPhone 8 rumors have slowed down a bit over the past week, but we did see our first third-party case designed to fit the rumored device. The case suggests accessory manufacturers are increasing their confidence in the leaked designs and are now willing to begin producing cases based on those specs. Whether those leaks pan out or not remains to be seen, but we'll continue to keep a close eye on the rumors to see how things develop, so make sure to check our iPhone 8 roundup on a regular basis to see the latest rumors in context.   Read Full Article Merriam-Webster Adds 'Sheeple' to Dictionary and Lists Apple Users as Example From the lighter side of news this week, Merriam-Webster has added the word "sheeple" to the dictionary. The word refers to "people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced" and thereby "likened to sheep," and notably one of the example usages cited in the dictionary is a 2015 CNN article mentioning Apple's iPhone battery case in which author Doug Criss used the term to refer to Apple fans.   Read Full Article New Apple Park Drone Video Shows Off Last Minute Construction as Opening Draws Near Employees were supposed to start moving into the new Apple Park campus by the end of April, but there's still a fair amount of work to be done on parts of the campus, as seen in the latest drone footage of the massive ring-shaped headquarters building and associated facilities. Everything is starting to come together, however, with landscaping being installed in earnest and interior work undoubtedly continuing at a steady pace. If you'd like an inside look at the new campus, Tim Cook is offering up an opportunity to have lunch with him there as part of his annual charity auction to support the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. It'll likely only cost you a few hundred thousand dollars!   Read Full Article

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