Apple’s past several days have been marked by two things: new iPhone and talk of HomePod sales disappointing.
The tech giant on Monday unveiled the new red iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The handset is part of a (PRODUCT)RED lineup of devices from Apple that makes donations to fight AIDS. But while Apple was trying to celebrate that release, a Bloomberg report surfaced, saying the company has been disappointed by HomePod smart speaker sales and has cut its forecasts. To pile on, a judge this week awarded a long-time Apple patent foe, VirnetX, a $502 million cash windfall.
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Needless to say, it wasn’t the best of weeks for Apple. But read on to learn more about some of the tech giant’s biggest news from the past week:
This is Coins2Day’s latest weekly roundup of the biggest Apple news. Here’s last week’s roundup.
- Apple this week released the new (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The handsets come with a red color finish and have the same internal components as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models Apple released last year. Since they’re (PRODUCT)RED iPhones, Apple donates a portion of the proceeds to fight AIDS. In a statement this week, Apple said that it’s donated more than $160 million to the Global Fund, an organization that works to eradicate AIDS, through its (PRODUCT)RED sales. In addition to iPhones, Apple sells (PRODUCT)RED wireless headphones, iPod Touch, and watchbands for its Apple Watch.
- The HomePod smart speaker Apple released earlier this year is proving to be far less appealing to consumers than the company had hoped, according to a report this week from Bloomberg. The news outlet, which cited sources who claim to have knowledge of Apple’s sales, reported that Apple has reduced its sales forecast on HomePod. The report also said that HomePod sales are far behind those of its competitors, Amazon Echo and Google Home. Apple, however, has not announced actual HomePod sales figures.
- A federal judge this week ordered Apple to pay $502 million in damages to security company VirnetX for allegedly violating four patents VirnetX owns. The battle between the companies, which has nearly spanned a decade, centers on whether Apple’s FaceTime, iMessage, and VPN On Demand services violate communications-related patents owned by VirnetX. This isn’t the end, however: a patent court recently ruled that the four patents are invalid and could help Apple overturn the damages ruling and ultimately win the case if the invalidity decision is upheld.
- A report out of Korea this week said the iPhone maker could face sanctions over its business dealings with carriers in that country. According to the report from the Korea Herald, Apple has required its Korean carrier partners to advertise the iPhone and perform repairs on broken handsets at their own cost—a possible violation of local laws. The Korean Federal Trade Commission is reportedly deciding whether to fine Apple for those alleged practices. Apple did not respond to a Coins2Day request for comment on the report this week.
- Apple said on Monday that its worldwide business is now 100% powered by clean energy, up from 96% of all of its facilities across 43 countries reporting full clean energy in 2017. Apple added that nine of its manufacturing partners have also agreed to power facilities that produce the company’s products on clean energy, bringing that total number to 23 partners.
One more thing… Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined the #DeleteFacebook movement to protest the world’s largest social network’s collection of user data and its apparent dissemination to third-parties. The news came as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress over his company’s ongoing scandal.
