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Report: Fix Broken iPhone 5 Screen at Apple Store for $149
iPhone 5 owners, rejoice: Your broken screen can now be fixed while you wait at an Apple Store. But the repair comes with a price — almost the same price as buying a new iPhone 5.
According to MacRumors, iPhone 5 owners can take a broken phone to any company retail store and walk away with a new display for $149. Formerly, those whose warranty period had passed who didn't have AppleCare+ had only two options: Purchase a new phone, or package and mail the broken one and get it replaced for $229.
Apple has not formally announced the new service; the company did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment. But MacRumors said Apple will also start offering in-house repairs on other iPhone parts next month, like the camera, sleep/wake buttons, and logic boards.
T-Mobile Sells 500,000 iPhones in First Month
T-Mobile sold 500,000 iPhones since officially adding the Apple smartphone to its lineup in early April, the company said in a Wednesday earnings report.
Revenue for the first quarter landed at $4.68 billion, down 7 percent year over year. Adjusted earnings were $1.2 billion, up 12.4 percent from the fourth quarter, but down 7.5 percent from last year.
"Our first quarter operating metrics and financial results are showing positive impact from the changes we began making in the fourth quarter," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement. "We ended the quarter with strong operational momentum, which is continuing into the second quarter, driven by the successful launch of our Un-carrier 'Simple Choice' service plan and the introduction of the iPhone into our device line-up."
T-Mobile now has 34 million customers, adding 579,000 over the quarter. Its churn rate - or the number of customers it lost - was at 1.9 percent, which T-Mobile said was its lowest since the second quarter of 2008.
Verizon Moves 4 Million iPhones in First Quarter
Verizon customers this quarter picked up 4 million iPhones, half of which were Apple's newest smartphone, the iPhone 5.
That's down from the 6.2 million iPhones Verizon moved in the fourth quarter, but that's to be expected, as the iPhone 5 made its debut in late September and Apple has not released a new device since then.
Overall, Verizon sold 7.2 million smartphones during the quarter, 67 percent of which were 4G LTE devices. New Verizon customers made up 28 percent of new smartphone activations, up from the 22-24 percent range Verizon was seeing in the first half of 2012. About 38 percent of upgrade customers, meanwhile, were buying a smartphone for the first time.
Fran Shammo, Verizon's CFO, did not break out how many of those devices were Android-based, but he said that half of the iPhones sold were 4G LTE. At this point, the iPhone 5 is the only 4G LTE iPhone on sale; Verizon customers can also get the less expensive 3G iPhone 4S and 4.
Shammo also said that more and more customers are buying into Verizon's Share Everything plans, which allow for multiple gadgets to share a data bucket on a single account. About 30 percent of post-paid customers are now on a shared data plan.
T-Mobile Accepting Pre-Orders for $99 iPhone 5
T-Mobile USA on Friday started accepting online pre-orders for the iPhone 5.
The popular Apple smartphone won't be available in T-Mobile stores until April 12, but customers can pre-order it on the carrier's website now. The base 16GB variant in either black or white will set you back $99.99 down, plus $20 per month for 24 months. You can avoid the monthly fee by paying the full price of the phone, $579.99, at checkout.
The carrier is also offering the 32GB and 64GB variants in black and white. The 32GB model is priced at $199.99 down, plus monthly payments of $20 for 24 months, or $679.99 upfront. The 64GB variant costs $299.99 down, plus monthly payments of $20 for 24 months, or $779.99 upfront.
After much speculation, T-Mobile late last month officially announced plans for the iPhone. The carrier also recently ditched wireless contracts and phone subsidies, referring to itself as the "un-carrier." Plans start at $50 per month for unlimited talk and text and 500MB of 4G data. Customers can add 2GB of 4G data for $10 per month per line or get unlimited 4G data for an additional $20 per month per line.
iPhone 5, iPad Mini Help Apple Close Gap With Samsung
Global shipments of smart connected devices grew more than 29 percent year over year in 2012 to pass one billion units valued at $576.9 billion, according to new data from IDC.
The expansion was largely driven by growth in the tablet market, which increased 78.4 percent year over year to 128 million units in 2012, the firm said.
Apple and Samsung continued to duke it out for market dominance in the fourth quarter, as Cupertino "significantly closed the gap" with its Korean rival thanks to its iPhone 5 and iPad mini . Even so, Samsung lead the market with 21.2 percent device share, narrowly beating out Apple, which grabbed 20.3 percent. However, Apple continued to dominate in terms of revenue for the fourth quarter, pulling in 30.7 percent while Samsung nabbed 20.4 percent.
Total fourth quarter shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, tablets, and smartphones reached nearly 378 million units for revenues of more than $168 billion, according to IDC.
"Going forward, IDC expects that tablet shipments will surpass desktop PCs in 2013 and portable PCs in 2014," the firm said.
Apple iPhone Coming to T-Mobile April 12
T-Mobile customers will finally be able to purchase the Apple iPhone beginning April 12.
The carrier announced that qualifying customers can buy the iPhone 5 nationwide for $99.99 down, plus monthly payments of $20 for 24 months (or $579.99 total), with no contract.
T-Mobile will sell the iPhone 4S, meanwhile, for $69.99 down and $20 per month for 24 months ($549.99), while the iPhone 4 will be on sale for $14.99 down and $15 per month for two years ($374.99). The older iPhones will only be available in select markets.
T-Mobile will start accepting pre-orders on April 5. A pre-registration page is now live.
Last week, T-Mobile ditched wireless contracts, referring to itself as the "un-carrier." Plans start at $50 per month for unlimited talk and text and 500MB of 4G data. Customers can add 2GB of 4G data for $10 per month per line or get unlimited 4G data for an additional $20 per month per line.
Customers can add a second phone line for $30 per month, and each additional line is $10 per month. T-Mobile said there are no caps and no overages, though users will be throttled if they exceed their allotted data.
Foxconn: Hiring Freeze Not Related to iPhone 5 Demand
Apple's largest manufacturing partner, Foxconn Technology Group, has suspended recruitment of new hires, but the company said the decision was not related to production of the iPhone 5.
In an emailed statement to PCMag, Taipei-based Foxconn said the hiring freeze was enacted after more employees returned from the Chinese New Year break than expected. The company denied aFinancial Times report that said the hiring freeze was related to slowing iPhone 5 demand.
"Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past, our company has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process," Foxconn's statement reads. "This action is not related to any single customer and any speculation to the contrary is false and inaccurate."
The Financial Times on Wednesday reported that the hiring freeze was implemented amidst slowing demand for the iPhone 5. The freeze "underscores the weakening demand for some Apple products, which has put pressure on the U.S. company's battered share price," the paper said.
An Apple spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tim Cook Downplays Reports of iPhone Supply Constraints
Apple CEO Tim Cook today downplayed reports that Cupertino had slimmed down orders for iPhone components amidst sluggish demand.
During a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts this afternoon, Cook said he didn't want to comment on the specific rumors from the Wall Street Journal and Nikkei ("I would spend my whole life doing that," he said), but encouraged people to "question the accuracy of any rumor about build plans."
Citing "people familiar with the situation," theJournal said last week that orders for iPhone 5 screens had been halved, while Cupertino had also cut down on orders for other iPhone parts. On the same day, Japan's Nikkei said Apple cut orders from Asia-based LCD panel suppliers Sharp, LG Display Co., and Japan Display.
Cook, however, said that "even if a particular data point were factual," that doesn't tell the whole story. "It would be impossible to actually interpret as to what it meant for our overall business."
"The supply chain is very complex," Cook continued, pointing to the different relationships Apple has with its suppliers. There is "just an inordinately long list of things that would make any single data point not a great proxy for what's going on."
iPhone 5 Helps Apple Sell 47.8 Million Smartphones
Customers were eager to snap up a new iPhone last year, with Apple selling almost 50 million smartphones during the fourth quarter.
In all, Apple sold 47.8 million iPhones during the quarter, up from the 37 million it sold during the fourth quarter of 2011. It was also a big jump from the 26.9 million iPhones it sold during the third quarter of 2012, though many users were likely waiting for the release of the iPhone 5 at that point.
On the iPad front, Apple sold 22.9 million tablets, up from 15.4 million in the same time period last year and 14 million from the previous quarter. Apple sold about 1.7 million iPads per week, compared to 1.1 million per week the previous year. The company did not break out iPad vs. iPad mini sales, but said the smaller tablet has been a "tremendous hit."
Mac sales were down a bit, from 5.2 million in 4Q 2011 to 4.1 million in the last quarter. Apple attributed part of that to the supply constraints with the new iMacs. Sales of the iPod also dropped from 15.4 million in 2011 to 12.7 million in 4Q 2012.
iPhone 5 Users Are ‘Hungriest’ Data Consumers
Are you hungry for some data? According to a new report from Arieso, iPhone 5 owners are the "hungriest" data consumers, though Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II owners aren't exactly conserving their bandwidth.
Overall, smartphone users are now consuming more data than tablet owners, which Arieso said is a first. Among the top 10 devices used by the biggest data hogs, six were smartphones, three were tablets, and one was a "phablet."
Overall, Arieso studied 125 devices, with the iPhone 5 landing at No. 1. Those with the iPhone 5 eat up four times as much data as their iPhone 3G-toting counterparts and 50 percent more than iPhone 4SÂ users.
But Samsung Galaxy S IIIÂ users also generate - upload vs. download - nearly four times the amount of data than iPhone 3G users. On uplink data, the iPhone 5 landed at No. 3 behind the Galaxy S III and Note II. Meanwhile, Samsung Tab 2 10.1 users consumed 20 percent more data than iPad users, Arieso found.