Tag: news

With sales of iPhones having permanently plateaued and now declining year after year, and the state of Apple’s once consistent blowout iPhone numbers under growing threat (explaining the company’s pivot to a “service” company), Apple is now looking to produce new “Pro” versions of its iPhones, along with upgrades to its iPads and laptops, according to Bloomberg. The new products will be rolled out next month. 

As most are well aware, Apple has struggled to generate any “killer” innovation over the last few years – in fact ever since Steve Jobs died – and has instead leaned on its legacy iPhone business and offered relatively tepid new “wearable” products, like Apple Watch and HomePod, while hoping to transition ever more to a services company. 

Here’s what we know so far: Tim Cook will announce three new iPhones at an event next month which will likely go on sale in September. The new products will come in time for the fourth quarter and the crucial holiday season. Apple’s hopes to avoid the enormous earnings miss it posted at the end of the year last year.

As we noted after Apple’s last earnings report, iPhone sales Q3 represented about 48% of revenues, the first time that the product has made up less than half of sales in several years.

In addition to trying to drive up the ASP of iPhones offer “new” phones, a refreshed iPad Pro with an upgraded camera and faster chips and an entry-level iPad with a larger screen will also be on their way. Additionally, the company is going to be updating the Apple Watch and will revamp the MacBook Pro for the first time in three years. Audio accessories like AirPods and its HomePod speaker are also in the works.

The updates continue to make it seems as though Apple has lost its sharpness as an innovator. The “new” phones are being described as looking nearly identical to the old ones, and the main “upgrade” is going to be new camera hardware for photographs and video. Here are more of the detailed updates, according to Bloomberg:

Phone:

• The main feature of the Pro iPhones will be a new camera system on the back with a third sensor for capturing ultra-wide-angle photos and videos. The extra camera will let users zoom out and capture a larger field of view. The sensors will capture three images simultaneously and use new artificial intelligence software to automatically correct the combined photo if, for example, a person is accidentally cut out of one of the shots. The new system will also take higher resolution pictures rivaling some traditional cameras. Photos taken in very low-light environments will improve, too. 

• The high-end handsets will have significantly upgraded video recording capabilities, getting them closer to professional video cameras. Apple has developed a feature that allow users to retouch, apply effects, alter colors, reframe and crop video as it is being recorded live on the device.  Another notable new feature: A reverse wireless charging system so that a user can power-up the latest AirPods in the optional wireless-charging case by leaving it on the back of the new Pro phones.

• The high-end iPhones will look nearly identical to the current models from the front and feature the same size screens, but at least some colors on the back will have a matte finish versus the existing glossy look. The new models should hold up better when they’re dropped due to new shatter-resistance technology. 

• All of the new iPhones will have faster A13 processors. There’s a new component in the chip, known internally as the “AMX” or “matrix” co-processor, to handle some math-heavy tasks, so the main chip doesn’t have to. That may help with computer vision and augmented reality, which Apple is pushing a core feature of its mobile devices.  None of the new models will include 5G, but next year’s will. They’ll also have rear-facing 3-D cameras that will boost augmented reality capabilities. 

iPad:

• The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros will get similar upgrades to the iPhones, gaining upgraded cameras and faster processors. Otherwise, the new iPads will look like the current versions.  The low-end iPad’s screen will be 10.2-inches. That means Apple will likely no longer sell a new model with a 9.7-inch display, discontinuing the original display size after using it for nearly a decade. 

Mac: 

• Apple is planning a revamped MacBook Pro with a screen over 16-inches diagonally. The bezels on the new laptop will be slimmer so the overall size of the laptop will be close to the current 15-inch models. The new laptop would mark Apple’s largest since the 17-inch MacBook Pro was discontinued in 2012. It’s part of an effort by Apple to retain and woo professional computer users.  Apple is also launching the previously announced Mac Pro and 32-inch XDR Pro Display later this year. 

Apple will also launch a refreshed Mac Pro and accompanying monitor, while software updates for iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, Mac and Apple Watch will also be on their way.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Z9psdP Tyler Durden

Authored by Marie Huillet via CoinTelegraph.com,

At least three of Facebook’s early backers for its planned Libra stablecoin launch are considering withdrawing their support in light of the fierce regulatory pushback.

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

A report from the Financial Times on Aug. 23 alleges that two founding partners of Facebook’s Libra Association have held discussions about what their “right next steps” should be. 

One further — again unnamed — backer is purportedly concerned that their public support for Libra will draw unwanted regulatory scrutiny of their own, independent businesses.

Blame games

As previously reported, the Libra Association is the newly-established, independent governance consortium for Libra. It counts 28 founding members — including Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber and Spotify — each of which was required to invest $10 million to join.

In an interview with the Financial Times, one partner noted that:

“I think it’s going to be difficult for partners who want to be seen as in compliance [with their own regulators] to be out there supporting [Libra].” 

Another backer criticized the social media giant for its ill-conceived strategy, saying that:

“Some of those conversations [about regulation] should have taken place before the launch, to understand how regulators would think about this, so there wasn’t so much pushback.”

The tension reportedly goes both ways. One partner admitted that Facebook is itself becoming “tired of being the only people putting their neck out.”

Both Facebook and the Libra Association have reportedly declined to comment.

Regulators swoop in

As reported this week, the European Commission’s antitrust regulators —  have become the latest to join the rounds of regulatory probes into Libra since the project’s unveiling this June.

The regulatory backlash governments, regulators and central bankers worldwide reached such a fever pitch that by late July, Facebook was prompted to warn its investors that the stablecoin may never be released.

During a hearing at the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee earlier that month, lawmakers had asked Facebook how they could be expected to trust a firm whose collection, storage and misuse of customer data had landed it a $5 billion penalty.

The furore has not, nonetheless, quite prevented new potential members from pursuing their interest — including Monex Group Inc — owner of the hacked Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck — Taiwanese digital currency trading platform Maicoin, and evenZckerberg’s arch-rivals, the Winklevoss Twins.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2KR043T Tyler Durden

Anyone who was hoping for a quiet end to the week will be severely disappointed when first China announced new tariffs on the US, then Powell’s J-Hole speech came and went, and then, as we expected, Trump responded to China’s trade war escalation when in a barrage of 4 tweets he lashed out at China, saying “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them“, and ordered “Our great American companies… to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.“

And the punchline: “I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon.”

From Trump:

Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them.

The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP.

Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.

I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States.

Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop – it didn’t.

Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!

Both yields and stocks tumbled on this “unexpected” escalation…

… while the dollar plunged amid the earlier concerns that Trump may announce FX intervention, which in turn sent gold soaring to $1,530.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2PcE7QV Tyler Durden

While Trump’s latest Powell lashing on twitter was most notable for the dramatic criticism of the Fed chair, after Trump said “My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel or Chairman Xi?”, what was far more interesting in the Trump tweet and what got far less attention, was Trump’s disclosure that the Fed is speaking “without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly.“

The question, of course, is what will Trump be announcing that the Fed is still not privy of, with speculation spreading among trading desks that, as discussed last night, Trump may have had enough of a soaring dollar, which just hit an all time high against in trade weighted terms, and will instruct the Treasury’s Exchange Stabiliziation Fund to intervene, potentially by buying yuan in the offshore market, to devalue the USD against the Chinese currency.

Sure enough, one look at the suddenly plunging dollar and it’s immediately clear that traders are suddenly terrified that the US may take aggressive – and unilateral – action against the USD “shortly.”

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2NsL3ai Tyler Durden

Moments after J-Powell’s J-Hole speech hit, we summarized our longish take as follows: in the aftermath of Trump daring the Fed to “show their stuff”, Powell did not do that and instead…

TL/DR: The Fed did not show their stuff.

And now, over to Trump’s twitter account

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 23, 2019

We didn’t have long to wait, because with stocks unsure initially how to respond – they eventually did trade in the green as algos convinced themselves that Powell’s speech was more dovish than hawkish or just because shorts were forced to cover once again – Trump who was expecting much more from Powell, apparently he was hoping for a 100bps rate cut announcement or at least “some QE”, the president lashed out at Powell, and blasted on twitter:

As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can “speak” without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work “brilliantly” with both, and the U.S. will do great. My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel or Chairman Xi?”

….My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel or Chairman Xi?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019

It was not immediately clear what Trump was referring to by Powell not knowing what Trump “is doing”, or what he will announce shortly. 

However, it is ironic that after stocks eventually hit session highs just before Trump’s tweet, they have since drifted lower, even as yields and the dollar slump, while gold is soaring. In other words, if stocks end up dropping now, and if Trump is looking for a culprit for today’s market action, he should look in the mirror.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/30slVEd Tyler Durden

Earlier in the week, President Trump tweeted (once again) frustratedly towards The Fed:

“We are competing with many countries that have a far lower interest rate, and we should be lower than them. Yesterday, ‘highest Dollar in U.S.History.’ No inflation. Wake up Federal Reserve. “

So-called “fact-checkers” went wild proclaiming this fake news, lies, and more confirmation that President Trump is against the historical establishment line of a “strong dollar” policy.

There’s just one thing! They’re all wrong! And Trump was right. The naysayers mistake was to use individual FX pairs or simple narrow dollar indices to judge the relative strength of the dollar.

The FACT is that the USDollar  – at its broadest against all of its world trading partners – has never, since Bretton Woods, been stronger than it is today…

Source: Bloomberg

The point of bringing this up now – other than fact-checking the fact-checkers and confirming President Trump was right – is that this record high value of the USDollar against all of its trading partners suggests USD intervention (oral or actual) is virtually assured.

However, the dollar is losing ground against one form of ‘money’…

Source: Bloomberg

That is a serious regime change, trade accordingly.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2ZrFr6c Tyler Durden