Apple Suppliers in China Aim to Resume Full Production by February 10 Despite Coronavirus Outbreak

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Apple suppliers in China including Foxconn plan to resume full-scale production by February 10, despite the coronavirus outbreak in the country, reports Bloomberg.

Foxconn's Hon Hai, the most important manufacturer for the U.S. company, said Tuesday it still expects to be able to restart facilities throughout China on schedule, according to a text message sent to Bloomberg News. Suppliers such as Quanta Computer Inc., Inventec Corp. and LG Display Co. also said they would go back to work next week in China.

The vast majority of Apple's iPhones are made in China, at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant and at Pegatron's assembly site near Shanghai. Both locations are more than 500 kilometers away from Wuhan in central China, the epicenter of the viral outbreak.

Despite being ordered to halt "almost all" of its production in China through February 9, Foxconn recently claimed the viral outbreak has had a "fairly small impact" on iPhone production. Foxconn has factories in other countries such as Vietnam, India, and Mexico that have apparently been able to fill the gap.

Apple last week announced that it has closed all of its corporate offices, stores, and contact centers in mainland China through February 9 due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, out of an abundance of caution. Apple has around 10,000 direct employees in China, across its retail and corporate divisions.

The timing of the coronavirus outbreak could impact supply of the new lower-cost iPhone that Apple is expected to announce in March. Bloomberg recently reported that production of the device was slated to begin in February, but the coronavirus outbreak could delay that timeframe.

More than 20,000 people have been infected with the virus and more than 400 have died. Last week, the World Health Organization declared the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency. More information about the virus and how to protect yourself is available on the agency's website.

Tag: bloomberg.com

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Google Admits Some Private Videos in Google Photos Were Sent to Strangers

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Google has emailed some users of Google Photos to inform them that some of their private videos were accidentally sent to strangers, reports 9to5Google.

The "technical issue" is said to have affected people who used the Google Takeout service to download their data between November 21 and November 25 last year. The problem resulted in a small number of users receiving videos in their archive that weren't theirs.

Google said that only 0.01 percent of Google ‌Photos‌ users attempting Takeouts were affected. But given that it has previously boasted of having over 1 billion Photos users, that number is still significant.

According to Google, the technical issue has been fixed and it has "conducted an in-depth analysis to help prevent this from ever happening again."

The tech giant apologized for the inconvenience caused to affected users and advised them to delete their last Takeout export, then perform another download of their ‌Photos‌ content.

Tags: Google, Google Photos

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OPPO A8 with Helio P35 SoC, 4,230mAh Battery Tipped to Launch in India in March 2020

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Strong 10.2-inch iPad Sales Extended Apple's Global Market Lead, According to IDC

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Apple increased its worldwide tablet market share by 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, thanks to strong demand for its new 10.2-inch iPad, according to the latest data compiled by research firm IDC.

Apple's 10.2-inch ‌iPad‌ (second from right) starting at $329
Apple's seventh-generation ‌iPad‌, introduced in September 2019 as an affordable entry-level tablet for consumers and educational institutions, accounted for 65 percent of 15.9 million total ‌iPad‌ shipments during the three months ending in December, according to IDC.

Performance of the 10.2-inch ‌iPad‌ helped the company increase global tablet market share in the holiday quarter to 36.5 percent, up from 29.6 percent in the year ago quarter. Apple's year-over-year tablet growth was up 22.7 percent from 12.9 million shipments in Q4 2018.

IDC's full-year statistics tell a similar story, with Apple taking 34.6 percent of the 2019 tablet market on shipments of 49.9 million iPads, up 15.2 percent from 29.6 percent on 43.3 million units shipped in 2018.

Apple's growth came despite a period in which the worldwide tablet market declined 0.6 percent year over year during the fourth quarter of 2019, as global shipments fell to 43.5 million units. For the full year, the tablet market shrank 1.5 percent year over year as global shipments totaled 144 million units, according to IDC.

Samsung regained the second position behind Apple, despite another year-over-year decline in shipments. The company shipped 7 million units in the quarter, but even with growth across its detachable portfolio, the company couldn't offset the decline from its slate tablets.


Huawei and Amazon came third and fourth, shipping 4 million and 3.3 million units, respectively. Huawei saw a 2.8 percent decrease in growth year over year, while Amazon slumped by 29 percent over the same period. However, Amazon was the only other brand apart from Apple to see growth for the whole year (9.9 percent).

Lenovo was the other brand in the top 5 that recorded year-over-year growth in holiday quarter shipments. Its share slightly increased from 5.3 percent in 4Q18 to 5.8 percent in 4Q19. Lenovo's growth declined by 4.2 percent for the year.

Respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the next iPad Pro update will come during the first half of 2020. Apple is said to be planning to release a next-generation model with upgraded Face ID and a rear-facing time-of-flight (ToF) camera system that would allow for 3D models to be captured using the ‌iPad Pro‌ and then edited with the Apple Pencil for an "all-new productivity experience."

Related Roundup: iPad

Tag: IDC

Buyer's Guide: iPad (Buy Now)

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Apple in Talks With Banks to Bring Apple Pay to Israel

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Apple is in negotiations with financial institutions in the Middle East to bring Apple Pay to Israel, reports the regional Calcalist website.


According to the Hebrew-language publication, Apple representatives recently began a round of meetings with banks and credit card companies to formulate agreements to bring ‌Apple Pay‌ to the country.

The report notes that many Israeli businesses recently adopted the Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) standard for mobiles, allowing customer account credentials to be loaded directly onto NFC-enabled smartphones and used in contactless transactions.

Unlike Android devices, Apple's devices don't allow access to the NFC chip through apps other than Apple's own Wallet app, which means financial bodies must sign an ‌Apple Pay‌ agreement that allows the card to be registered in the Wallet. However, it appears that Apple's fee demands could be a sticking point in discussions. The report reads (English machine translation):

Recently, representatives of the Israeli financial system met with Apple representatives to reach cooperation agreements, but some players were surprised to find that Apple requires a fairly high fee estimated at 0.15% - 0.25% of any transaction made through ‌Apple Pay‌. This is between a quarter and a third of the credit card issuer's revenue from the transaction (bank or credit card company), which should only be paid for the right to pass through ‌Apple Pay‌.

"It is disproportionate, and constitutes an exploitation of its status and power," said a source close to the talks between the parties.

Apple routinely takes commission from national banking institutions in return for access to ‌Apple Pay‌, although Germany has passed legislation that could force Apple to open up the NFC chip in iPhones to competing mobile payment providers. Australia's big banks have also sought open access to the NFC chip on the iPhone in recent years.

(Thanks, Amit!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Tag: Israel

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Realme Smart TV to be Announced at MWC 2020 Event that Begins on February 24

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