Comment: Apple's Spring Loaded Event – The Good the Bad... And Almost No Ugly

Our monthly roundup takes a look at how long you might have to wait to receive some of Apple's newly updated hardware. In the case of the AirPods Max, there's barely light at the end of the tunnel.

Until recently, Apple was one of Intel's primary customers. Now, they're the source of most of Intel's competition. Even when Apple isn't selling their M1 chips to other manufacturers, Intel's new CEO has clearly illustrated how he views the company's former partner.

In a long interview with AMD CEO countless questions were raised concerning the company and current chip-world. The M1 was also mentioned, with Su praising Apple's innovative approach.

Intel is undergoing a surprising change of leadership. The chip giant's problems have become well known, as well as the call for a radical change of course. That staff are also being handled so radically comes as a surprise.

The hardware defect known as "staingate" that has afflicted several versions of the MacBook Pro is still circling. Apple has already extended the period of the free repair program for affected devices multiple times. Although it'll stay this way, the company is now changing its approach.

Ming Chi-Kuo, and Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, present their predictions for the 2021 MacBook Pro, which – if correct, mean that the MacBook Pro is in for a significant upgrade as well as an abundance of new features and changes.

Market analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple isn't planning any major improvements to hardware of the iPhones camera systems and this isn't expected to change until 2022 or 2023.

Exactly 25 years ago it looked as if Apple would need to be bought out to avoid banktrupcy. The dissolution of the brand would have accompanied the purchase – as Sun Microsystems wasn't interested in continuing the brand.

Intel has given us all a first look at the future of the x86 world – with a new chip design. Intel's new chip is similar to Apple's M1 chips in at least one aspect: multiple core types. Unfortunately for Intel, these new chips have no future at Apple.

The next phase of testing for macOS has already begun, although we'll still need to wait awhile for the official announcement. Apple has been testing macOS 12 since yesterday, with traces of macOS 12 noticeable in server statistics.

Although there aren't any official numbers yet, a market researcher has calculated the market share of Apple's new M1 notebooks with a prognosis for the current year – and it doesn't bode well for Intel or Windows.

The M1 Macs' software diversity has yet again been expanded upon with the Parallels 16 technical preview. The software's functionality has already been proven on ARM Macs. Now it's Microsoft's turn to change their licensing model.

The yearly report to the SEC documents the salaries of Apple's management. In 2020, it looked like the Senior Vice Presidents made more money than their own CEO.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has plans to develop their own ARM based processors in the future. Although these processors will primarily be for servers, Microsoft also has its eye on the consumer market.

Qualcomm has released the first benchmarks for their new chip, the Snapdragon 888, with results clearly outperforming their previous chips. In comparison to Apple's new A14, with its outstanding benchmarks, there's still much to be desired.

Most Apple stores are still officially open but are working under emergency operation or have been closed. For example, last month Apple announced the closure of all 53 Apple stores in California and just this week Apple was forced to close all of its stores in the UK.

Ming-Chi Kuo recently clued investors into some of Apple's plans for the beginning of 2021. In addition to the gradual switch to Apple's in-house processors, an entirely new device is to be expected.

The Federal Trade Commission, along with 46 States in the US, are concerned about a Facebook monopoly and are suing Facebook over concerns of an internet monopoly. The lawsuit, which could potentially alter the landscape of social media as we know it, is mostly concerned with Facebook’s acquisition of both WhatsApp and Instagram.

Both the MacBook Pro 13" (M1) and Razer Book 13 with current Intel chips are quite expensive. A comparison test shows the performance difference with a few well-known video apps and shows which one gives better “bang for the buck.”

Apple has been working for quite a while now on developing and utilizing as many in-house components as possible for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The most prominent example is the new processor for Mac desktops and notebooks known as “Apple Silicon.” Now the effort to produce as many in-house components as possible is also being directed towards the iPhone.

The iPhone 12 mini added a powerful, performance smartphone with comparatively small dimensions to Apple’s portfolio. The demand for the iPhone 12 is very limited and the device hasn’t proven to be very popular in the USA.