The latest statistics from the total amount of sold smartphones from Taiwan’s major mobile phone carriers showed that iPhone 6 64GB was the best-selling smartphone for December last year.

An anonymous smartphone dealer said that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) grasped first place in both smartphone sales value and sales volume for last December. Local Taiwanese consumers’ enthusiasm toward the two new iPhone models with larger displays — the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus — remained strong after the two models became available in Taiwan since last September.

The statistics showed that the iPhone 6 64GB was the top seller among all its competitors for last December, followed by iPhone 6 Plus 64GB, Samsung’s (KRX: 005930) Galaxy Note 4, the iPhone 6 16GB and HTC’s (TPE: 2498) M8.

Meanwhile, HTC’s Desire 816 came in sixth, followed by Asus’ (TPE:2357) Zenfone 5 16GB, Sony’s (TYO: 6758) Xperia Z3, the iPhone 6 Plus 16GB and the HTC Desire 820 dual sim.

The statistics show that Apple took 25.9% of the total smartphone sales volume in the local market last month, the highest percentage, ahead of HTC, Asus, Samsung and Sony.

In terms of sales volume, Apple also ranked the top brand name with a 53.2% share, followed by Samsung, HTC, Sony and Asus.

The smartphone dealer said that although HTC trailed Apple in sales volume and lagged behind Apple and Samsung in sales value last December, several models of the Taiwanese smartphone maker, such as the HTC M8 and the Desire 816 have been on the top 10 model list for nine months, indicating that these models remain popular in the local market.

He said that the market is watching closely the launch of the next HTC flagship model, coded Hima, and a mid-range model, the Desire 626, scheduled for release in early March, which could boost HTC’s shipments in next few months.

The post The iPhone 6 Is the Best-Seller in Taiwan for December: Statistics appeared first on VR World.

If you Google Tech 21, you’ll find two very different companies, both involved in mobile devices, both of interest to techies. One was a case vendor at Pepcom. The other is a sound producing company. One surrounds your iPhone with energy absorbing guards. The other exudes musical energy from a portable amp.

Tech 21 USA, the sound-based company, has a longer history than Tech21 Impactology, the smartphone related company. They are referred to respectively as Tech 21 and Tech21 in this article.

Tech 21’s portable Flying Rig 5 has a genuine SansAmp, a reverb, a delay, and a power boost.

We learned of Tech21’s amazing mobile device protection at Pepcom 2014

Tech 21 Founder Andrew Barta just celebrated his musical company’s 25th anniversary. He pioneered the direct recording movement and created an entirely new category of signal processing. The SansAmp tube amplifier emulator was revolutionary. It enabled musicians to “dial in monster tones and patch them directly to a studio mixer or stage PA.” The 100 percent analog SansAmp delivered huge sound from a pocket-sized pedal.

Their Fly Rig 5 is an amp emulator, speaker, and mic simulator with the functionality of a full pedalboard, without the crackling patch cables, dying batteries, and ground loops. It weighs just over 18 ounces, is less than 12 inches long, fits into a guitar case, and sells for $249. Perfect for a musician on the road.

Barta’s proprietary technology stands alone in the analog arena. He says of his analog choice versus digital options: “Overall, I think analog is much warmer, more organic, and more responsive. There’s also the issue of clarity. At extreme settings, digital tends to produce more artifacts (garbles) and unnatural noise in the background.”

Tech 21 products have been associated with famous musicians such as Michael Anthony of Van Halen, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Bruce Bouton with Garth Brooks, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam, Jeff Campbell with Sting, and Kurt Cobain, Nirvana.

The similarly named companies issue from different continents. The origin of Tech 21 USA is obvious, proudly subtitled “Designed and Manufactured in the USA.” Tech21 Impactology is located on the River Thames in London. Tech21 also has a long history. Back 19 years ago, Jason Roberts developed an aluminum cage in which a laptop was suspended to prevent impacts. His research progressed to scientifically tested, shock-absorbing polymers for mobile devices.

The technology behind both companies is impressive. Tech 21 emphasizes bypass design for sound production while. Tech21 emphasizes chemistry for mobile device protection. Tech21 uses a combination of materials for their Impact Shield screen protectors and their slim cases for phones and tablets.

Tech21 offers shell and band protection for a variety of devices.

BulletShield is a BASF impact absorbing polymer used in the Impact Shield, similar to that used in bullet proof glass. D30 is a smart, shock absorbing dilatant material whose molecules lock together upon impact, causing the material to absorb and dissipate energy, reducing the damaging force transmitted to your device.

At Pepcom, BSN* learned of the Evo Mesh protective casings for the iPhone 6 from Tech21’s Jason Dollery.

Polycarbonate is a group of thermoplastic polymers that are molded under high heat temperatures and can be cut to match any design. FlexShock is a cutting edge hybrid material that can be molded via the injection process to fit the contours of a device’s shape. Additionally, it is ultra thin, reducing the bulk surrounding your device. You’ll find it in Tech21’s MacBook series. The final ingredient in the Tech21 mix is Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU). This plastic is elastic, flexible, and abrasive resistance to impact, weather, tear, oil and grease.

At Pepcom, we were given a demonstration of how this amazing fluid material when pulled out of the pot and wrapped around the rep’s finger immediately protected it from the impact of a hammer. Gotta get some of this stuff for your carpenter friends.

Whether you are a musician or a mobile device collector, Tech 21 and Tech21 both have useful products you should consider. A demonstration of D30 and a demonstration of Fly Rig 5 by Andrew Barta himself are both on YouTube.

The post Tech 21 and Tech21 Deliver Mobile Sound and Device Protection appeared first on VR World.

So, it seems like Karma has a way of sorting things out in this world and today’s news about MCX’s CurrentC  program already getting hacked pretty much sorts that out. MCX’s CurrentC is supposed to be the retailers’ own version of Apple Pay, a direct competitor in fact. But recently, MCX retailers that already have pre-installed NFC hardware have disabled it in order to prevent Apple Pay from working in their stores. This is because all of the MCX retailers are still wanting to push for their CurrentC solution rather than Apple Pay.

Within the last 36 hours, we learned that unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of our CurrentC pilot program participants and individuals who had expressed interest in the app. Many of these email addresses are dummy accounts used for testing purposes only. The CurrentC app itself was not affected.

We have notified our merchant partners about this incident and directly communicated with each of the individuals whose email addresses were involved. We take the security of our users’ information extremely seriously. MCX is continuing to investigate this situation and will provide updates as necessary.

What’s amusing about all of this is that it is a replay of what happened with Google Wallet when Google launched it YEARS ago. In fact, talking to tellers about their Apple pay solution at Wholefoods and whether or not it supported Google Wallet, they simply had NO idea it existed or if they supported it. What’s funny is that they seemed shocked that Google Wallet had already existed for years before Apple pay but got virtually no support from retailers and carriers. Sure, there are places where you can regularly pay with Google Wallet, like 7/11, but the reality is that Google Wallet primarily struggled because the carriers didn’t want it to succeed.

The carriers simply didn’t want Google Wallet to succeed because they saw it as a challenger to their own potential NFC payment solutions, especially Verizon. Verizon actually disabled Google Wallet on their version of the Galaxy Nexus and as a result, Google Wallet didn’t work on Verizon’s network for a long time. Why did Verizon do that? Because they had their own Google Wallet competitor, formerly known as ISIS, now known as Softcard. So, in reality, Apple is running into the same opposition that Google did, except they are more loved by consumers and when their ideas are shot down or blocked by competitors it becomes a big deal and consumers get upset and start to organize boycotts.

Either way, the backstory is important to understand why CurrentC, Apple Pay and Google Wallet are at odds with each other, but it doesn’t change the fact that Google Wallet and Apple Pay are clearly more secure solutions than MCX’s own CurrentC which appears to be insecure well before its launch. Nobody is going to want to use a technology like CurrentC if they can’t protect consumers, ESPECIALLY when CurrentC does not connect to a credit card but rather directly to a debit card meaning that if anyone were to ever hack your CurrentC account they would have immediate access to your own money and could clear out your bank account. This is one of the biggest complaints about CurrentC right now, and a lot of people are right to be uneasy about it.

If you want to learn more about CurrentC, we recommend you check out their FAQ where they answer a lot of questions, some poorly albeit.

Some good examples of their confusing FAQs are the fact that they mention that they support credit cards, but then they say that they will support credit cards in the future. They have no problems supporting debit cards and checking accounts though.

• Provide consumers with multiple ways to pay at their favorite merchants, including merchant gift cards, credit cards and debit accounts and personal checking accounts. MCX has plans to add additional forms of payment, including credit cards.

Then they talk about merchant exclusivity…

Does MCX Require its Merchants to Only Offer CurrentCTM?

MCX merchants make their own decisions about what solutions they want to bring to their customers; the choice is theirs. When merchants choose to work with MCX, they choose to do so exclusively and we’re proud of the long list of merchants who have partnered with us. Importantly, if a merchant decides to stop working with MCX, there are no fines.

They say that merchants can make their own decisions about what solutions they want to bring to consumers, but then they say that merchants that choose to work with MCX choose to do so exclusively. Meaning, they want you to believe that merchants can pick between solutions, but what they really mean is that you can pick to use MCX or not, and if you do, you can’t really use anything else because that’s how it works. CurrentC is really an awful solution for consumers and is purely designed for the retailers to maximize their profitability and control. MCX is a retailer platform while Apple Pay and Google Wallet are consumer platforms.

The post CurrentC, Apple Pay Competitor, Already Hacked appeared first on VR World.

The history of sapphire screens on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) products is a short and eventful one, despite not a single product shipping with a screen protected by the strong material. What was once one of the most hotly anticipated features of the iPhone 6 never materialized, and pushed the sapphire supplier over the edge into bankruptcy. But, questions remain as to whether the deal between the two companies was a fundamentally fair or flawed one  —  that was set up without the proper due diligence.

When the iPhone 6 launched without a sapphire screen, Apple was silent to the reason why this occurred. After all, well placed leakers had fairly convincing pictures and videos of screen protectors for the iPhone 6 which, by their sheer strength, had to be made of something other than regular plastic or Gorilla Glass. The absence of the sapphire-based screens led many to question as to if the upcoming Apple Watch was in danger, as sapphire would be even more critical to the smartwatch than to the iPhone 6. But while Apple was silent on the issue of sapphire, only confirming its non-use when the iPhone 6 launched, the bankruptcy filing of  GT Advanced Technologies (OTC Pink:GTATQ) was the first step in finding out what exactly happened to Apple’s sapphire ambitions.

For most of 2014, GTAT was a stock market darling. In November of 2013 Apple announced that it GT Advanced Technologies would be its sapphire supplier, sending the company’s stock into the stratosphere. Apple’s orders accounted for approximately 80% of GTAT’s projected 2014 revenue (estimates peg this to be around $700 million), and Apple loaned it $439 million to upgrade and expand its facilities to meet the expected demand from the iPhone 6 and Apple smartwatch.

Then on October 7, bankruptcy.

Who’s to blame?

While GT Advanced Technologies has filed for bankruptcy, its filings with the courts don’t entirely paint a clear picture why the firm said it was going under. GT Advanced Technologies lawyers have petitioned the court to keep the contracts and other confidential documents between it and Apple sealed.

The best indicators come from reports by securities research firms. In a note to clients, Gilford Securities said that Apple may have forced GT Advanced Technologies to begin loan repayments early as it may have believed GT Advanced Technologies was not hitting performance targets. As mentioned by MarketWatch, Pacific Crest Securities published a note that said the firm’s researchers believe Apple was unimpressed with the quality of sapphire produced by GTAT and decided to source it elsewhere — but requiring Apple to still pay back the loans.

While the company’s lawyers fought to keep the most revealing documents about its relationship with Apple — including the contracts — they also asked the court to render the contracts the two companies have null and void saying that they imposed  “oppressive and burdensome terms and obligations on GT.”

“GT believes that it has many claims against Apple arising out of its business relationship with Apple.”

Then things got better

On October 23 GT Advanced Technologies published a press release announcing that it had reached a settlement agreement with Apple. The agreement holds that GT will wind down its sapphire production business in addition to liquidating its furnaces in order to pay back Apple.

“We are pleased with the settlement that we have negotiated with Apple,” Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer of GTAT said in a statement.

“Apple put a lot of effort into an ambitious new sapphire manufacturing process with GT which is not ready for production,” Apple said in a statement. “We’re going to continue evaluating GT’s progress on larger sapphire boule development, as well as consider other options for the facility.”

But the agreement was still unfair

In all likelihood GT Advanced Technologies asked the court to keep its contract with Apple sealed, along with other key documents, because the agreement would be viewed by the public and stakeholders as fundamentally unfair for GTAT. The opportunity for massive windfalls of profit, but punishing clauses in the event that GTAT could not meet Apple’s expectations.

It could be that if GT Advanced Technologies’s biggest voting shareholders got word of this agreement there would be a coup of sorts, as shareholders would recognize the dangers of this contract. It appears (though the contracts are still sealed) that Apple was given too many outs in the event that this new sapphire process simply did not work.

Apple might not have deliberately bankrupted GT Advanced Technologies, but GT Advanced Technologies’s decision to sign on to this contract with Apple without negotiating a better deal set in place the path for  its  downfall.

The post Anatomy of a Deal: What Went Wrong Between Apple and GT Advanced Technologies appeared first on VR World.

In a conversation with Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) Senior Vice President of Design, Jony Ive, Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter sat down and talked to Ive about the company’s latest products and even their competitors.

Ive brought up an interesting point when they were talking about how the iPhone’s design had moved from having curved edges, to sharp edges and then back to curved again. Then, Ive started to talk about the iPhone and numerous prototypes that they had made, including ones with large screens. You can listen right here.

Ive calls competitors’ phones ‘big and clunky’ and says that many of their competitors’ devices are in fact big and clunky when the reality for Apple is actually very similar. In fact, if you were to hold the 5.5″ iPhone 6 Plus and put it up against something like LG’s G3, then you would realize that Apple’s iPhone is actually a bigger and clunkier phone, noticeably so. The LG G3 actually has the exact same screen size as the iPhone 6 Plus, but has a smaller body and a higher resolution display. So not only do you get a smaller phone with the same size display, but the pixel density and image quality of that display is arguably better as well.

LG has done a fantastic job with the G3 and there’s no denying that they have. Jony Ive was smart not to mention any of their competitors, but he’s clearly calling out Samsung here since Samsung is Apple’s #1 competitor and still makes fairly ‘clunky’ phones with their Galaxy Note series of smartphones as well as the Galaxy Mega phones which are even larger and more unwieldy to the normal human hand.

The post Apple's Jony Ive Calls Other Phones 'Big and Clunky' appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported its earnings Tuesday for the last quarter of the company’s fiscal year revealing it had generated $42.1 billion in revenue and $8.5 billion in profit.

This translates to an earnings per share of $1.42 per share, which is well above what Wall Street’s consensus was of around $1.31 as well as revenue of about $40 billion. This means that Apple has once again beaten Wall Street’s lofty expectations, partially helped by the strongest iPhone launch in the company’s history with the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. This represents a continuation of the company’s profitability even though Apple as a company has significantly changed internally. Apple was able to ship 39 million iPhones, roughly in line with what many analysts were expecting, but still above the average expected 37.5 million consensus. Apple also saw huge growth in the Mac sales thanks to the back to school season and they have now seen market share increase to some of the highest levels in over a decade.

Apple reported that its gross margin went up 1 point in the quarter, to 38% up from 37% in the same quarter a year ago, representing the increase in profitability. Additionally, Apple only reported $37 billion in revenue in the same quarter a year ago, showing that Apple has continued to drive the company upward year over year. Apple also stated that 60% of the revenue generated in the third quarter came from international sales, which also means that a lot of the cash flow generated from operations, $13.3 billion worth, will very likely stay abroad. Apple’s board also announced a $0.47 dividend for November 13th this year, and will be issued to holders of the stock on November 10th this year.

Apple Earnings

Apple also guided their fiscal first quarter of 2015, calendar Q4 2014, to a record revenue to $63.5 billion and 66.5 billion, they also expect gross margin to be somewhere between 37.5 and 38.5 percent.

Apple’s current share price is at $99.76 but it is already trading higher in after hours trading, once again breaking the $100 barrier up over 1% to $101.26.

The post Apple Crushes Q3 2014 Earnings, Posts $8.5 Billlion Profit appeared first on VR World.

Remember when NFC was cool? It still is. With the NFC-enabled BT540i Bluetooth headphones from KOSS, you can easily pair to a compatible device and enjoy surprisingly sweet sound quality with just a tap.

The BT540i is the latest in KOSS Corporation’s (KOSS) expansion of their “mobile” products line. Since 2012’s CES Show, KOSS has introduced many full-size, in-ear, and sport models that incorporate mobile device functionality, like many other consumer audio companies.

This circumaural Bluetooth model utilizes updated componentry and touts exceptional sound quality, while being very simple to use.

Here’s what you need to know:

That was quick

With our NFC-ready Google Nexus 5 (LG), unboxing literally look less than a minute.

Also included are a micro-USB charging cable, 4-foot 3.5mm cable for corded listening, warranty card, and instructions in both English & Russian (for some reason), all inside of a stylish soft-shell case.

After turning on the BT540i and tapping my phone to the right earcup’s edge, the Nexus 5 immediately enabled Bluetooth and synced up. No diving into menus, scanning and pairing – Done.

With products like our iPad Mini, which doesn’t support NFC, we had to traditionally enable the iPad’s radio, turn the headphones into “discovery” mode (sliding the power button for 4 seconds), and sync the BT540i once it shows up on iOS.

Function over form

With it’s high-density plastic supported by an aluminum frame, fully rotating/folding ear cups, soft foam leather cushioning, and clothed headband, the BT540i delivers the core elements most important to listeners. Weighing in at 8.2 oz, they’re not as light as a pair of Bose Soundlinks but definitely less straining than what’s offered from other consumer models.

The headband and cups are snug enough to offer good passive isolation, while soft enough for long hours of wear. The cups create a solid seal around our ears, and there is very little bleed that could disturb people nearby, even in quiet environments. Because the hinges and cups can rotate on multiple axis, the BT540i can accommodate for any head shape.

All of the controls are ergonomically placed on right ear cup, with the volume, transport, and power keys logically ordered around the rim. The buttons are easy to press, with audible feedback either from the headphones or from your mobile device’s OS. Flipping the power switch illuminates an LED indicator light that shows sync status and battery level.

Using the same framework as their PRODJ200, these headphones are covered in matte black with metallic, grooved barrel hinges and KOSS emblems as accents. The overall design is minimalist at best, and while enthusiasts will argue that what really matters is the componentry inside (it does), at a certain point there needs to be a sense of branding.

There are many, many black headphones on the market, and Koss’ entire over-ear headphone line pretty much stays within this box. Why not add a small trim of color? Bring back the subtle blue tones of the PortaPro, which till this day is the pair that most consumers associate with the brand.

Better components = better sound

To better illustrate the technology encased inside the BT540i, check out this quick video:

Koss introduced their new PLX40 driver elements inside, producing a slightly colored profile across it’s 100 dB SPL & 38-Ohm circuitry. Because of an overall improvement in power efficiency, there is little to no noticeable noise floor in both Bluetooth and hardwired modes.

The main reason why they chose to use the PRODJ200 frame is because it allowed enough space to fit the wireless and battery components inside, without having to compromise driver size. The diameter of a driver element is a crucial for natural signal reproduction, and anything smaller than 40mm usually results in a more colored profile to compensate.

Listening to an uncompressed source via the 3.5mm connector does reveal a slight boost in the lower frequency bands, however this bump is potentially beneficial for information loss during Bluetooth encoding/decoding. Regardless, what you hear is a smoothed out listening experience for enjoying music on the go, no matter how you connect.

Jazz. Classical. Alternative Rock. Metal. Electronic/Pop…

Every genre had a consistently pleasing listening experience across all of our devices, both over Bluetooth and corded listening. Because the BT540i seems to have a relatively flat frequency response, it has enough headroom for those who want to EQ their experience device-end.

Unplugged

For cord-free listening, these phones utilize an aptX codec over Bluetooth 3.0, which is a solid wireless delivery format. With most current devices moving onto Bluetooth’s 4.0, it’s surprising that headphones haven’t moved onto this SoC by now, which is not only more power-efficient, but has lower production costs too.

According to our recent interview with Koss, the advantages are too slim for audio products, so they stuck to the current high-quality standard.

The internal battery is advertised to last 8 hours, but we’ve consistently tested it to be closer to 6.5 hours of continuous listening time at moderate, comfortable volumes. That’s not bad, considering you may only need to charge 2-3 times a week to handle your daily commute.

Charging the BT540i isn’t quick, but isn’t slow either. From an empty tank, these stereophones are ready to go in about 90-120 minutes via a micro-USB connector. Trying AC adapters (not included) of different outputs makes little difference for charging speed and holding life, but for headphones you should stick to a plug of 1A or less for longevity.

On the move

Like many of its competitors, Koss is aiming its sights on mobile devices. So how does the BT540i perform on current mobile platforms?

Android 4.4 (KitKat) – On the Nexus 5, long pressing on the play/select button only activates a call-only voice dialer on stock Android. While this may differ on Samsung or HTC builds, it would be nice if this could engage a Google Now prompt for more robust hands-free control.

The noise-cancelling mics seem aggressively tuned, so we’ve found the need to speak at higher than normal volumes during calls so that our speech wasn’t garbled or phased out – this was the same on any OS.

Pressing the play button immediately starts your last track played track on Google Play Music. Apps like Spotify can override this, which is how I jumped from an NFC tap straight into my music in seconds. Transport and volume controls are free from quirks.

iOS 7/8 – On any current iOS device, long pressing the play button starts a Siri prompt, which listens for a multitude of actions that is always growing and adapting. Pressing the play button once starts iTunes, and all transport/volume controls are fine.

While the iPhone 6 does have a NFC chip, it’s currently designed only for the Apple Pay system, which is a shame since Apple has locked itself out of a world of simple device compatibility.

Windows 8 Mobile – For some reason, we had a difficult time pairing the BT540i with a Surface Pro. Both devices recognize each other, being a standard Bluetooth connection, yet they refused to pair every time. At the time of this review, we didn’t have another W8 device to try, so hopefully this is an isolated issue.

Koss moves forward

Last week, we interviewed Michael J Koss, CEO & President of Koss Corp, about these stereophones and how the company plans will stay fresh for music lovers for the years ahead.

Even though Koss adapted to current market trends for consumer audio, the BT540i would have made a better smash hit if it debuted a year before. As overseas production increased over the past couple years, the rise in availability of low-cost consumer headphones have skyrocketed too.

The BT540i is well built, acoustically pleasing, and very simple to use – especially at its price point of $199 MSRP. If there’s anything negative to say, it’s the fact that Koss should have released it sooner.

Overall, we’re very pleased with this pair, and will continue to be an everyday carry for some of our editors. The BT540i is a good indication of where Koss is heading, but they’ll need to continuously stay with or ahead of the curve, no matter how dedicated their loyal fans have been over the decades.

The post KOSS BT540i: Solid, Simple, Sound. appeared first on VR World.

The street market on Jardine’s Bazaar, a small side street that juts off from Hennessy Road in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, is lively — but it lacks the Cantonese cacophony one might expect from the city.

But this street market — located behind one of Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) flagship stores in Hong Kong — is not selling the usual street market fare of meat, produce, or trinkets. Instead, vendors are hawking the iPhone 6 to Chinese buyers eager to scoop one up before it comes out in Mainland China.

As such, police take a keen interest in the vendors on the street. On a Tuesday afternoon police were present, but as re-sale of one’s goods to another isn’t illegal they were more interested in ensuring that the sellers didn’t clutter the already crowded streets as the densely packed metropolis has strict laws about hawkers setting up shop on the sidewalk.

A police officer questions a women selling iPhone 6 smartphones outside an Apple store in Hong Kong.

But while the police presence may have allowed vendors to carry around bags of the expensive smartphones in public without fear of petty theft, it did turn the street vendors into sheepish reprobates when officers were nearby doing their rounds. When approached with the request for a quick interview, many vendors shook their head pointing to nearby officers.

One vendor, who spoke to VR World, but requested not to be identified, explained that the sole reason for the street resale economy was because Apple only allows those with a Hong Kong ID or passport to pre-order and purchase iPhones in Hong Kong.

The customers, the vendor explained, were largely Mainland Chinese on shopping trips as well as rich businessmen that frequented the city. But he noted that these two groups were not exclusively his customers. He said that he had a number of orders from more ordinary people — farmers as he described them — looking to cash in on the iPhone 6 economic windfall that ordered dozens of phones in order to smuggle them across the porous border to the Mainland to resell them there.

This vendor said that since the launch of the iPhone 6, this has been his primary occupation. Every morning Apple releases a new batch of pre-orders, of which the vendor tries to snatch up as many as possible. He said, with the assistance of automated scripts, he is able to usually reserve a few hundred a day but is only able to usually pick up less than a dozen because of restrictions put in place by Apple store staff.

Police tell vendors to move along and not clutter the street.

As far as pricing goes, the vendor says his “markup price is like seafood.” It varies on the day, as the number of iPhone 6 units released per-day fluctuates.

While supply and demand might drive this market, the phenomenon of a price cartel controls it. The retail price for the iPhone 6 in Hong Kong starts at $720 ($5,588 HKD) for the base model and moves up to $823 ($6,388 HKD) for the Plus version, most prices for the Plus model lingered around the $7,000 HKD range while the base model was priced just north of $6,000 HKD. While out of earshot of police, negotiations were murmured back and forth in Mandarin as potential buyers tried to negotiate the best possible price.

But for many of these vendors, the sustainability of their iPhone economy may be shaky. Apple announced earlier this week that it’s planning to launch the iPhone 6 on October 17 in China — giving the customers of the vendors on Jardine’s Bazaar a place to shop closer to home.

The post For iPhone 6 Resellers in Hong Kong, Business Has Never Been Better appeared first on VR World.

GT Advanced Technologies (NASDAQ:GTAT) once had a market cap of over $2 billion. The company specializes in material sciences and manufacturing and is well known as an expert in sapphire applications in manufacturing and technology. Originally, rumors of a sapphire iPhone 6 display had pointed to GT Advanced Technologies as being the primary company responsible for supplying such displays and as a result, their stock rose from the sub-$10 range to $20, effectively doubling the company’s value in a few short months.

The rumors of GT Advanced Technologies involvement started with a CNET article talking about how Mark Shuttleworth had claimed that Apple had snapped up the majority of the Sapphire display supply. Since the publication of that article, GT Advanced Technologies’ stock never dropped below that price again, until the iPhone 6 announcement. This was mostly thanks to analysts and press who would continually pump up the rumor with new rumored information about the sapphire displays. The rumors would waiver between being saphhire-coated and being a full sapphire display as well as having a sapphire layer. Either way, once again, the press were responsible for pumping up a stock based on rumors and speculation rather than fact and reality, and partially, Apple is also to blame for this with all of their secrecy and minimal communication.

Now, after the iPhone 6 announcement it became quite clear that Apple was not using sapphire crystal in their displays which meant that GT Advanced Technologies’ biggest rumored buyer wasn’t going to be building millions and millions of sapphire crystal displays using its products. This immediately spurred a series of articles on September 19th saying that either GT Advanced Technologies could not supply enough displays for Apple in order to be able to launch with it, or that Apple had never planned to use sapphire displays to begin with.

If you look at GT Advanced Technologies’ shares on that day, they had a very steep drop. In fact, GTAT appears to be one of the pure cases of a pump and dump. The stock would get pumped up near $20, and then dumped by whoever really knew the truth or by people that weren’t convinced that the rumors would come true. This happened by the looks of it, three times. The final time, however, appears to have been GT Advanced Technologies’ nail in the coffin as the company today filed for bankruptcy protection and caused the shares in the company’s stock to drop 90% where it currently sits at $1.07. GT Advanced Technologies had a $2 billion market cap when it was worth around $20 and now it has a market cap of around $150 million, which means that $1.85 billion in wealth has been erased today. We are very sorry to hear that this has happened to investors of GTAT, but the reality is that the company’s value (above $10) was based almost entirely on rumors and not much else.

We will continue to follow the story as it develops once we hear more from GT Advanced Technologies executives and the company’s own official statements about the chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The post GT Advanced Technologies Bankruptcy Crashes Stock 90% appeared first on VR World.

Thanks to our friends at ecoATM, we were able to gather some really interesting statistics about people’s trade-in/recycling behaviors after the iPhone 6’s launch. ecoATM is a company that owns and operates 1,100 machines across the United States that allow people to trade in their electronics and have them recycles for an instantaneous cash payout. ecoATM has been in this business for quite some time so they have experience with new product launches and sudden jumps in trade-ins.

As such, it comes as no surprise that they have some really interesting data about the iPhone 6 launch’s impact on iPhone trade-ins nationwide. Thanks to their data, we can see exactly what people are upgrading from as well as what kinds of devices are being replaced the most by iPhone 6s and 6 pluses.

So, what do these colored dots translate to? What do the blue (light), green (medium), light green (high) and orange (enormous) demand dots come down to?

EcoATM Trade-in Map

Since the iPhone 6 and 6 plus became available, ecoATM saw an increase of 80% on iPhone-related activity across their entire network of kiosks. And specifically in California, trade-ins were up 104% and in Texas 92%. EcoATM says that they normally expect such jumps in these areas because these regions are populated with plenty of techies. They did, however, discover some outliers including Tennessee, which saw an increase of 195% and Massachusetts with an increase of 168%. When looking at the map, it does seem a bit odd that the Tennessee/Kentucky/Ohio area is so dense with trade-in activity but the stats don’t lie. They also saw New York increase 92%, like Texas, which isn’t surprising considering how many iPhone users live in New York City alone.

In addition to actual iPhone trade-in’s ecoATM’s own site saw a huge amount of increase interest in their phone recycling for cash kiosks. Their website has seen a 200% increase in sessions since the launch as well as their kiosk locator page saw an increase of 250% during the same period since the launch.

People were also checking the prices of specific devices before they went to the ecoATM Kiosks (which you can do here)

The iPhone 5S saw an increase of 205% of inquiries, the iPhone 5C saw an increase of 110% and the iPhone 5 saw an increase of a whopping 480%. Clearly, you can tell that the majority of people looking to upgrade to the iPhone 6 are people with iPhone 5’s which makes sense since that would have been 2 years ago when people first signed their new 2-year contracts. Additionally, the iPhone 4S saw an increase of 100% in inquiries and the iPhone 4 saw a pretty sizable 240% increase as well.

But Apple’s iPhones weren’t the only devices that started to get more trade-in interest, there was plenty of interest in trading-in Samsung devices as well. The fairly new Samsung Galaxy S5 actually saw an increase of 77% in inquiries while the Galaxy S4 saw the biggest increase among Samsung devices with a 110% increase. The Galaxy S3 saw an increase of 63% and all Galaxy Notes (Note, Note 2, and Note 3) saw an increase of 93% in inquiries.

Overall, if you take all of this trade-in data into consideration it really seems like the iPhone 5 was the primary device that people were looking to replace with an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, which admittedly isn’t very surprising. What may actually be more interesting is the regional increases, especially in Tennessee. Either way, there is a lot of very good data about the needs and wants of iPhone users and it really looks like a lot of people buying the iPhone 6 were already iPhone users and many of them were very likely iPhone 5 users too.

The post iPhone Trade-in Statistics After iPhone 6 Launch appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) has historically had very high profit margins with its iPhone series of devices. According to a teardown analysis by industry consultancy IHS, this is no different with the iPhone 6.

According to a bill of materials report by IHS, the entire cost of all the internal components 16GB iPhone 6 equal $196.10. IHS estimates that the manufacturing cost per-phone is $4.50, which makes the iPhone 6 come in at $200.10.  For the iPhone 6 Plus, with its phablet-sized screen, the bill of materials rises slightly to $211.60 which brings it to $215.60 when the manufacturing cost is included.

The cost of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus vary around the world, but in the United States the phone retails for $649 or $749 for the Plus version. On contract, the phone costs $200 for the regular version and $300 for the Plus edition.

“Apple has always been adept at offering higher-end iPhone models with enhanced, desirable features — and then pricing those versions for maximum profitability,” Andrew Rassweiler, senior director of cost benchmarking services for IHS, said in a press release. “In the past, the premium versions of iPhone offered higher memory configurations for additional profit. While Apple continues this memory strategy, the company is also taking a similar approach with the iPhone Plus, structuring its pricing to add bottom-line profit on models that have a very desirable feature: a large phablet-sized display.”

The most expensive component of both phones is the display. For the iPhone 6 Plus this comes in at $52.50, compared to $45.00 for the iPhone 6.

On an unrelated note, which blends better: the iPhone 6 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 3?

The post The iPhone 6 is a $200 Phone appeared first on VR World.

Ever wonder what people in other countries are paying for their shiny new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 pluses? Well, we’ve decided to look into the current Apple  listed prices for officially launched (or about to launch) countries in Europe, Asia and North America.

Last time we looked at iPhone prices was with the iPhone 5S and by that point there were already dozens of countries launched. So, this time it was decided to start from the beginning and to continue to follow the market as it moves forward. There have already been reports of iPhones selling for over $1,500 in some markets, but the majority of those are grey market iPhones and can effectively be sold at any price that someone is willing to pay. Those prices do not officially reflect Apple’s own pricing or MSRP that they recommend to carriers.  Even so, there are some pretty outrageously high prices coming straight from Apple’s own site.

iPhone6 Pricing

The prices as you can see above are specifically organized using Apple’s own iPhone 6 prices listed on the various regional sub-pages. The countries listed above are in order of lowest iPhone 6 Prices in blue and iPhone 6 Plus prices in orange. The iPhone 6 Plus prices actually vary from country to country with some actually costing more than in certain countries where the iPhone 6 is more expensive. This very likely has to do with how Apple structures the price differences between the two devices as well as how the local currency is converted to US dollars. All currencies have been converted to US Dollars in order to make the comparison easier for a table like the one above.

For example, the iPhone 6 is $898.49 in Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. This is why there is a flat line in the graph, they all have their prices in Euros and have the exact same price in terms of Euros. All other countries have their prices in different currencies and some even have slightly different taxes. The difference in taxes or other external factors are why Italy and France nearly top the list for iPhone prices because they use the Euro but have higher prices than the rest of Europe. However, Turkey still wins when compared to the rest of the world (at this given moment) with an iPhone price of $1,049.20 and an iPhone 6 Plus price of $1,182.20. That’s a solid $500 more for the iPhone 6 in Turkey than in the US for the exact same product.

Some interesting surprises were that the UAE’s prices were so close to the US market’s when adjusted for currency prices and that overall APAC (Asia Pacific) pays less than Europe and South America for iPhones. Additionally, Japan surprises with the lowest prices of all the countries in the world, even the US, very likely due to the US dollar to Yen conversion rate being at its lowest in years. Some other historically expensive markets will very likely beat these iPhone 6 prices in the future, like Brazil and Jordan, but Apple is not officially selling the iPhone 6 there yet. In fact, the Foxconn factory in Brazil where the iPhone is made for the Brazilian was on strike for 5 days earlier this month and may have affected the release date and final price of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. We will revisit the iPhone 6 Prices and the iPhone 6 Plus prices as Apple rolls out the rest of the world’s markets where iPhones are wanted. Right now, there is supposedly a very large grey market for iPhone 6s in China where it can already be purchased in Hong Kong, just across the border.

The post iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6 Prices in Different Countries appeared first on VR World.

After months of rumors and leaks, the iPhone 6 was officially announced earlier this week. With the device set to hit retail availability a week from now, we’re starting to see first benchmark results surface of the iPhone 6.

Rightware, a Finnish organization that provides benchmarking utilities, has found that there isn’t a drastic improvement in terms of performance on the iPhone 6 from its predecessor. The iPhone 5S, with its dual-core Cyclone CPU and PowerVR GX6650 GPU, managed to net a maximum benchmark score of 20253, while the iPhone 6 achieved a score of 21204, an improvement of less than 5%. In comparison, Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ: QCOM) Adreno 330, the GPU found in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 801 netted a score of 25346 on Rightware’s tests. In fact, on their leaderboard, the iPhone 6 comes in at 17, trailing the likes of the Nexus 5 and the Galaxy S5. While it does not make a lot of sense to compare the iPhone’s hardware to that of a device running Android, the benchmark scores are an empirical way to gauge the performance.

The A8 SoC used in the iPhone 6 is the world’s first 20 nm SoC, with Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) quick to point out that it contains 2 billion transistors, twice as many as those used in the A7. The A8 continues on the 64-bit tradition that began last year with the Cyclone CPU on the A7, and even though the 100 MHz increase in clocks from the A7 to the A8 CPU does not seem like a vast change, Apple is claiming a performance increase of 25% from the previous generation, which means that there are a lot of optimizations going on beneath the hood. The GPU section is where a more significant change is witnessed, with Apple touting a 50% increase from the earlier generation, thanks to the six-core PowerVR GX6650.

We should be getting a more detailed set of benchmarks detailing the performance of the A8 CPU and the GPU on the iPhone 6 once the device launches.

The post First iPhone 6 Benchmark Results Do Not Indicate Sizeable Performance Gains appeared first on VR World.

After months of rumors and leaks, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are now official. Boasting screen sizes of 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches respectively, the new devices represent a shift in Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) strategy as the manufacturer seeks to position itself as a viable contender in the large screen segment.

An 5.5-inch iPhone would be much more alluring to consumers in emerging markets like China and India, where the average screen size is at 4.7 inches. A recent survey conducted by market research firm Jana found that consumers in emerging markets like China and India favoured devices with a screen size of at least 5 inches. One reason for high desirability toward a large screen device is that in these markets, a smartphone is often a user’s only gateway to entertainment, with many first-time buyers in India not owning a desktop.

While a larger iPhone is much more alluring, the pricing structure for the device means that it will be out of reach of most consumers. The fact that there are a host of Android-based offerings, from the likes of Xiaomi, Meizu and others, that offer a similar set of specs for a third of the cost means that consumers are more inclined to buy handsets from local vendors than opt in for an iPhone. Samsung already found out the hard way, with the manufacturer losing out its position as the largest selling handset manufacturer in both India China to local vendors. A lack of innovation in terms of design and incremental hardware changes meant that the South Korean manufacturer was dethroned by the likes of Xiaomi in China, and Micromax in India.

Apple has never been associated with pricing, instead building its brand around a premium design and exclusive services, but that is now being offered by other vendors as well. Xiaomi, for instance, has launched its first smartphone with a metallic frame in the Mi 4, and from a design point of view, the device can hold its own when seen against the Samsungs and the HTCs of this world. As for services, Xiaomi has its own platform of services and content that is a great point of differentiation for users looking for something different to the traditional Android user interface. At the end of the day, the pricing will ultimately determine whether the iPhone 6 will do well in the region.

The post Pricing Will Determine The Fate Of The iPhone 6 in Asia appeared first on VR World.

There is no denying that Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) is a different company from the days when Steve Jobs walked the halls of the company’s Cupertino headquarters. Apple is now run by Tim Cook, Steve’s operations guru that managed to enable Apple’s ruthless efficiency and even more importantly their absolute profit margins. It comes as little surprise that Apple comes off as feeling dull to many since Jobs’ death in four years ago in 2011. Sure, four years is a long time in the tech world, but when it comes to a company like Apple, it takes time for someone’s impact to wane, like Jobs’.

Let’s not forget that Jobs’ helped Apple introduce a plethora of new products to the market, all with varying levels of wild success, but one of the most important things about the man is that he stuck to his guns. Very rarely did Jobs compromise or waver in his decisions and one of those decisions was that the iPhone needed to be a certain size in order to be “usable” or user-friendly. Before his death, Jobs in fact stated that nobody would want to buy a big phone, which proved incredibly wrong as the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S have been competing with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy, HTC One and Sony Xperia phones, all of which now come in 5 inch or larger screen sizes.

It comes as little surprise that Apple today announced that it would be releasing the iPhone 6 at a screen size of 4.7 inches as well as the iPhone 6 plus at a whopping 5.5 inches, something Jobs probably would’ve fired someone over. However, after Jobs’ passing, Apple started to see challengers and face challenges from competitors that Jobs somewhat foresaw (in Samsung (KRX:005930)) but also didn’t foresee (LG (KRX:066570). The reality is that many users started to leave Apple for Android devices for one reason or another. At first, it was LTE because the iPhone didn’t have it and Android phones did, then it became screen size because Android phones had bigger higher resolution screens and now Apple does too. But until today, Apple clearly feared the implications of not having a competitive “big” phone, some may argue that can be considered a phablet (at 5.5 inches).

In fact, some people are already discussing selling their iPad retinas and just getting an iPhone 6 Plus to simplify their usage needs. Truthfully, there is no denying that Apple has the most diverse set of smartphones for consumers to buy, ranging from the iPhone 5C all the way up to the iPhone Plus. However, Apple may have made a grave mistake by not offering a size smaller than 4.7 inches because there are a lot of people out there have stuck with iPhones because of their size. The new Apple is focusing on what is driving market demand and where the market appears to be going, which has been bigger and bigger phones for the last two years running.

The new iPhone 6 does bring some new things to the table for Apple, which includes NFC technology, something that Apple’s devices have lacked for quite some time. The iPhone 6 also sports an entirely new camera, which promises to once again deliver incredibly competitive images against the rest of the competition. But really, the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are fairly dull and merely represent Apple’s pivoting to market demands and very little by ways of innovation.

Sure, the new phones use Apple’s new A8 SoC, which happens to be the world’s first 20nm SoC, but the truth is that it mostly appears to be an incremental improvement over the iPhone 5S’ A7 chip. It does pack a whopping 2 billion transistors into an absolutely tiny area, allowing Apple to continue to use minuscule battery sizes and still get fairly good battery life. Apple’s 64-bit lead will also be extended with the A8 processor, as none of the Android vendors have really shipped anything with a 64-bit on Android until recently. So, Apple’s lead here continues to be strong.

In fact, Apple really seems to be focusing very heavily on hiring very talented individuals and there appears to be a search for top talent, one that the company has never seen before. It appears that Apple is compensating for their lack of vision (sans Jobs) with a focus on having the best tech and the best execution of that tech that could possibly exist. This can be seen across the board throughout the company’s various divisions and there’s a very good chance we’ll see a result of this new culture in the iPhone 6’s launch and whether or not users experience any issues like previous Apple early adopters.

The Apple Watch

Now, the Apple Watch is technically the company’s very first new product line since Steve Jobs and Apple launched the iPad back in 2010. However, this new product won’t actually be available until 2015, meaning that Apple will have had five years between new product lines and most of those years were without Jobs at the helm. It comes at little surprise that the new Apple Watch comes off as incredibly ugly to some (if not many) and very likely would have never passed Jobs’ muster. Some may even argue that Apple’s new watch is uglier than Motorola’s already announced Moto 360 and that today marks the day that Motorola out-designed Apple.

Apple’s clear focus on health was noticed by us back in July when it was announced that the new Apple Watch would have a very heavy health focus. Back then, it was reported that it may have been a mistake to release such a device as an overly health focused device, and if one would look at it now, it has a very strong health focus and may lose some of a smart watch’s utility by not emulating more of what Android wear does. But if one were dig deeply, it can be seen that Apple clearly wants to do more with the smartwatch but doesn’t quite know any killer apps other than health tracking/fitness right now. And at the $350 price and iOS exclusivity they are going to have a hard time selling these to people that aren’t already fitbit or some other type of health tracker.

The fact is that Apple is not ready yet with its first new product in five years, but it is clearly afraid of losing the war of perception and decided to announce it at today’s event even though they really won’t be ready with it until next year. This is another thing that Jobs never did, if he had a product to announce, he was ready to ship it. This is just another sign of how things have changed inside of Apple and what we can expect to see for years to come. A more nimble, fearful, and competitive company that will very likely continue to react to market demands in ways that the old Apple probably never would have.

Many people talk about how Jobs’ departure effectively marked the beginning of the end for the company. But the reality is that if Jobs still were in charge today, there’s a very good chance that the company would not be anywhere near as competitive as it is today. There’s a very good chance that Jobs’ own beliefs may have prevented him from really doing what the market demanded. Sure, Jobs was the kind of person that told the market what they wanted (iPhone, iPad, Macbook, etc) but that doesn’t last forever either. Tim Cook has done a great job of keeping Apple going and they appear to be hiring all the right kinds of people to keep the company innovating, even if in small steps.

The post The New Apple: iPhone 6 and Watch appeared first on VR World.

Apple’s live event in Cupertino today saw more than the iPhone 6 announcement; the mobile giant also unveiled its new smartwatch contender, the Apple Watch.

Like everything else it does, Apple’s presentation of their new watch was accompanied with gusto; audiences were informed on exactly how the new device would fill out the company’s growing ecosystem.

The Apple Watch does indeed fill an interesting role in “iDevice” webwork. The new device is essentially a mini-smartphone that can some surprising things, and tethers to an iPhone to relay content.

The Apple Watch comes in a huge variety of flavors and styles, with customizable faces.

Apple’s smartwatch is in itself an innovation in practicality and mirrors quite a bit of a smartphone’s functionality. Using the watch you can answer phone calls from your iPhone, or even use the walkie-talkie mode like a high-tech Dick Tracy.

The Apple Watch also houses a digital slice of Siri, the lovable AI that scours the Internet at our behest.

Other features allow you to check your whereabouts with GPS-enabled maps and stay up-to-date with events in a simplified to-do calendar. You can also check your e-mail and do some IM’ing on-the-fly. It can tell you the weather, inform you on the phases of the moon, and can be tailored to your specific personality thanks to customizable watch-faces.

Pictured above are the Watch Sport and regular Watch versions of Apple’s new smartwatch.

It even acts as a remote camera by tapping into an iPhone’s iSight lens, making for easy snapshots.

You can even send custom touch-drawn image-messages to other Apple Watch users–sending a bit of love, wrist-to-wrist. Curious what your heart-rate is? The “iWatch” can easily check it for you, and even upload it to an exercise app for later viewing.

Charging the watch is a breeze thanks to inductive charging that magnetically snaps onto the watch’s back.

Instead of setting the time, the watch’s crown acts as a dial to zoom or shrink images. Apple has even found a unique way to charge the device using a combination of inductive charging and MagSafe tech. The charger basically “snaps” into place via magnetism and effortlessly charges your watch.

The watches will come in three flavors: the default yet stylish Watch version, the simplistic and functional Watch Sport, and the lavish Watch Edition whose face is bordered by 18-karat gold and comes with a sapphire-crystal display.

Powered by iOS 8, the Apple Watch will tap into a host of new apps including the Activity and Workout Apps.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Apple Watch is the huge potential it has with its app line-up, and how it interacts with these apps. It’ll be compatible with iOS 8, Apple’s latest OS suite for “iDevices”, alongside a host of new app content.

The new Activity App, for example, taps into the device’s hardware to track your daily activity. It’ll show you how long you’ve spent standing, sitting and moving in any given period.

The Workout App is something that aligns perfectly with fitness buffs. The app not only tracks and shows you real-time progress like calories burned and your current pacing, it’ll upload this progress to your iPhone. This creates a more complete picture of exercise and allows users to practically focus and dictate their workouts at any given time.

The Watch Edition is the premium flavor of the “iWatch”, and features a distinctly luxurious look.

Other apps include your media staples like photo viewing, music, and a digital remote that interacts with iTunes and Apple TV. Social media apps like Twitter are also accessible through the watch, and it’ll support Apple Pay.

It’s also worth noting that the watch will require an iPhone 5 or later in order to function.

The Apple Watch may be available in early 2015 for a price point starting at $349. We expect that the three different editions will have their own accompanying price tiers, and may even have their own performance boosts.

We may see some changes made between now and release, and specs aren’t 100% finalized yet. You can find more details and specifics on the Apple Watch on Apple’s website.

The post Introducing The Apple Watch, The New Nexus For iDevices appeared first on VR World.

For coverage the “unofficial” review of the Apple iPhone via a leaked edition from Russia, see this previous story from Bright Side of News.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)  today announced two new models in their flagship smartphone lineup: the iPhone 6 and and its premium version the iPhone 6 Plus, during a livestream event from Cupertino. The iPhone 6 models will release on September 19 across nine countries in North America, Asia and Europe. Pre-orders for both models will start on September 15. The iPhone 6 will cost $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for 64GB and finally $399 for the 128GB flavor. All prices include a two-year agreement, and the models come in gold, silver and space grey. The iPhone 6 Plus the stronger, more substantial model has a higher pricing tier. The 16GB option runs at $299, 64GB at $399 and the 128GB unit fetching a price point of $499–all of which are with two-year agreements. The new models are slimmer and bigger than the iPhone 5S, and feature a bevy of enhancements in hardware and functionality–including a new iOS 8 operating system, a new processor, a beefier camera and new functions like the landscape mode. The iPhone 6 features as 4.7” display with 1334 x 750 resolution, whereas the iPhone 6 Plus sports a bigger 5.5” display with full 1980 x 1080 HD resolution. Both models support the HD Retina display function. Apple fashioned a brand new 64-bit A8 processor to power the iPhone 6, beefing up performance with up to 25% improved processing power and 50% graphical power. The A8 is “intensive for multi-tasking”, which is quite attractive given the hectic on-the-fly nature of mobile use. The company further touts that the iPhone 6’s A8 chip is up to 50 times faster and 84 times more graphically adept than the original iPhone. This new chip is further touted to deliver consistent performance even under performance-intensive” activities like gaming, and even supports games with higher frame-rates. The new flagship handhelds also have a longer battery life thanks to improved energy efficiency–even under strenuous multi-tasking. The iPhone 6 also has major improvements to its iSight camera, upgrading it to 8 megapixels with a brand new sensor. Enhancements in noise reduction, rapid autofocus, face mapping and optic image stabilizing ensure crisp and clear photos in low and well-lit environments. The iSight camera also features Focus Pixels technology that’s found in professional DSLR cameras, which continuously and automatically focuses any picture before you take it. The iPhone 6 can also automatically take HDR photos during those oh-so-perfect moments. The new photo improvements also translate over to video footage, allowing easy capturing of time-lapsed footage or perfect stabilization when terrain becomes rocky. Apple confirms that the iPhone 6’s will now support Voice-over-LTE for improved call quality, and that the new models will have faster LTE than the iPhone 5S. Roaming is vastly improved thanks to the massive number of LTE bands, with over 200 carriers included across the world. 802.11ac connectivity ensures that Wi-Fi can be blazing fast, and users can ever tap into their connections to make calls with Wi-Fi calling. At the event Apple unveiled the new iOS 8 operating system, the next step in their product-wide software. The iPhone 6 comes with the new OS by default, and it features some extras like a new Health App to dynamically measure exercise. Other intuitive features include a new predictive keyboard, a landscape mode for app viewing, and the ability to add voice, video or location to any instant message. iOS 8 isn’t exclusive to the new iPhones, and will be supported on a range of devices including 5th generation iPods, the iPhone 5C and 5S models, as well as iPad models like the Air and mini. iOS 8 will be offered as a free download across all these devices starting September 17. With the new iPhones, Apple’s commitment with the brand remains clear. The company continues to one-up their previous devices with these upcoming models, all of which feature the latest and greatest in tech and software upgrades. It’ll be interesting to see how fast pre-orders start selling out later this month, and how the anticipation grows in light of the new announcements.

The post Apple Announces iPhone 6 For September 19 Launch appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) is on the verge of releasing a new iPhone, and once again it has been targeted by labour groups over allegations of unsafe labor practices by one of its suppliers.

According to a report co-authored by China Labor Watch and Green America, employees at a Suqian, China based factory owned by Catcher Technology, a Taiwan-headquartered company, were forced to work excessive overtime and were working in an environment that had excessive aluminum shavings on its floor, no respirator equipment, and improper ventilation. In addition, the groups say that during their undercover investigations they have discovered that workers have not received any safety training.

Aluminum dust is flammable, and is a frequent cause of factory fires in China. Two Apple suppliers — Foxconn in Shenzhen and RiTent Computer Accessory in Shanghai — have suffered from explosions caused by aluminum dust.

“The investigation of Catcher Technology raises serious concerns around working conditions in Apple’s second-tier supplier factories,” stated Todd Larsen, corporate responsibility director for Green America. “We knew that we needed to make this information public to encourage Apple to take immediate next steps in addressing toxins and unsafe working conditions in their factories as Apple continues to ramp up production of the iPhone 6.”

For its part Apple has vigorously denied the allegations put forward in the report and says that facilities owned by Catcher Technology pass international standards and its own audits.

“Last year we conducted 451 audits deep into our supply chain so we could uncover problems and work with our suppliers to fix them, and we make it a priority to investigate every specific concern brought to our attention,” Apple said in a public statement.

Tainan, Taiwan headquartered Catcher Technology was not picking up the phone in its office Friday. The company did however release a public statement where it said it was “committed to following Apple’s supplier code of conduct and will investigate thoroughly.”

The iPhone 6 is scheduled to be released next week.

The full report can be read here.

The post Apple Supplier Once Again Accused of Labour Malpractices appeared first on VR World.

Normally, we don’t like to post most rumors of phones that are rumored to be launching, but considering that we’re nearing the launch of the iPhone 6 this month, many of the rumors, pictures and videos appear to be becoming more and more credible.

As is the case with the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)  iPhone 6, with the Rozetked video that claims to show a final production iPhone 6 alongside an iPhone 5S. In fact, everything that they show in this device (which is in HD) clearly falls in line with the majority of the low-res leaks that have appeared over the months. This video is entirely in Russian, however, there are English subtitles and we can translate for you what they claim the specs to be, including what appears to be the confirmed 4.7″ display and power button being moved to the right side of the phone.

As expected, the iPhone 6 did get thinner than the iPhone 5S, but it also got wider and longer as a result of the larger display. Unfortunately, Apple did not make a backlit Apple logo, but they did return to having a metallic Apple logo returning to the previous designs of iPhones made of the all rumored liquid metal which is virtually impossible to scratch. In fact, in order to verify the credibility of this video they took the iPhone 6 apart to show that it is a genuine iPhone 6 and not a dummy model that has nothing inside like some of the leaked pictures did.

Also, if you continue to watch the video you can see that their teardown verifies that the iPhone 6 runs on Apple’s yet-to-be-announced A8 chip and does include NFC functionality (hoorah). They also talk about the front glass of the iPhone 6 and how beautifully rounded it is and that even though it does make the phone very comfortable to hold in your hand and to use, it is very expensive to produce and from our experience easy to scratch. But they do say that it is still a much better display and even brighter than the previous iPhones’ displays. Apple also kept the size of the center button the same as the iPhone 5, but have supposedly increased the size of the sensor which should result in better touchID performance. Apple decided to keep the lightning, headphone jack and speaker essentially in the same place, making its use very familiar to current iPhone 5S users.

In addition to that, they talk about the camera being too big to fit into the even thinner body, which resulted in a camera that protrudes from outside of the body much like the iPod Touch, however this is only because they couldn’t fit it inside of such a thin body and many people may find this annoying. But even so, they say that the iPhone 6 fits very comfortably inside of your hand and that it will sell very well.

The post Video: Russian HD Review of iPhone 6 appeared first on VR World.

As we had reported, Adobe had said they would be making a plethora of updates to Creative Cloud for 2014 today. Most of the improvements to Creative Cloud that have been noted by Adobe have come to their most popular product, Adobe Photoshop CC. The major new features are, Blur Gallery which allows you to create motion blur effects in images, Perspective Wrap, which fluidly adjusts the perspective of a specific part of an image without affecting the surrounding area. They’ve also included Focus Mask which makes portraits with shallow depth of field stand out even more. We’ve got a video below from Adobe that explains how it works.

There is also improved and added Content-Aware capabilities making one of the most popular features even better (I personally use content-aware autofill quite often and it only seems to get better). There will also be additions made to Lightroom 5.5 for Creative Cloud, with additional camera support, which isn’t really much of an improvement. It would be nice to see more synergy between Lightroom and Photoshop, but we’ll still have to deal with what we’ve got for now.

Adobe Illustrator CC also has a ton of improvements which include Live Shapes which allows for the fast and non-destructive manipulation of rectangles into complex forms with a quick and easy way to return the original shape in just a few clicks. There are also major improvements to Adobe InDesign CC  as well as Adobe Muse CC as a native 64-bit application and it now includes HiDPI display support for sharper-looking images, objects, and text. This is something that Adobe needs to consider for Photoshop CC as well because currently using Adobe applications on high resolution displays is a bit more than painful with tiny menu buttons, especially on HiDPI touch screens.

Adobe also introduced new Adobe Creative Cloud mobile apps with Adobe Sketch, Adobe Line, Adobe Photoshop Mix and Adobe Lightroom for mobile for iPhone. Adobe Sketch is Adobe’s ‘social’ sketching iPad app for free-form drawing, creating a new and better drawing experience for iPad users, even though drawing on an iPad isn’t as good as on other tablets. Adobe Line is, according to Adobe, the world’s first iPad app for precision drawing and drafting, even though it is questionable how accurate the iPad is for ‘precision drawing and drafting’. Adobe also introduced Adobe Photoshop Mix which is designed to bring creative imaging tools from the desktop version of Photoshop to the iPad. Because of this, Adobe has added the most popular Adobe Photoshop features to Adobe Photoshop Mix with precise compositing and masking as well as Upright, Content Aware Fill and Camera Shake Reduction. All of those features also integrate back into Photoshop CC on the desktop, making final edits on a computer much easier. Adobe has also introduced Adobe Lightroom for iPhone which is supposed to help with iPhone and iPad integration with Lightroom images on the desktop and vice versa, but realistically it will mostly be for viewing DSLR images on an iPad. The truth is that Adobe Lightroom’s primary use is for RAW images, which the iPhone currently does not support (yet) but may support with the iPhone 6 which could be the explanation of this feature launching now,  ahead of the iPhone 6’s launch. They also call it Lightroom Mobile which means we’ll likely see an Android update come out eventually, even though iOS support appears to be the first and foremost release.

Adobe Creative Cloud Ink and Slide

Also, as Adobe promised, they did introduce new hardware, even though it may be a bit underwhelming in terms of what one would expect Adobe to release. Adobe introduced their Adobe Ink and Slide hardware which are targeted towards the iPad and to bring precision drawing and drafting to the iPad combined with cloud features that the platform simply didn’t have available to it in the past. The Adobe Ink and Slide combination of hardware will cost you $199 and is really designed only for mobile use, which makes it slightly less attractive to most since it only works on an iPad. I don’t know how many serious artists use their iPads for creative work, but it may be that Apple and Adobe are trying to change that with the Ink and Slide, formerly known as Project Mighty and Project Napoleon. Either way, it will allow for more precise work to be done on iPads, even though I’m not entirely sure there is a huge market for that.

Adobe also extended their Creative Cloud Photography plan which includes Adobe Photoshop CC and Lightroom for $9.99 a month, making it the most affordable Adobe Creative Cloud option and the best value as well. If Adobe could convert all of their customers to their $9.99 Photography plan, I think they could probably keep it at $9.99 and not worry about piracy because $9.99 is just so incredibly reasonable. Even though, you simply will have no choice but to pay for CC in the future as CS6 becomes more and more outdated.

Overall, Adobe’s Creative Cloud update for 2014 isn’t necessarily a bad one, it improves the company’s software stack across the board and strengthens their mobile presence, even if its almost entirely on iOS. It will be interesting to see if any of their new mobile features will become more relevant with the new iPhone 6 and iOS 8.

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