iPhone sales fall across globe, TikTok settles dispute with Universal
Sales of iPhones have fallen in almost every market across the globe, according to the latest results from Apple. The technology giant said overall demand for its smartphones dropped by more than 10% in the first three months of this year, with sales falling in every geographic region except for Europe. Apple said that overall, revenues across the company declined by 4% to $90.8bn (£72.5bn), which was the biggest drop for more than a year. Nevertheless, the results were not as bad as expected and Apple’s share price rose in after-hours trading in New York. BBC
Windows 11 and Windows 10 users are in some cases facing a problem whereby their VPN connection is failing to work thanks to the latest cumulative updates from Microsoft for these operating systems. We’re talking about the main updates for last month, April, which are KB5036893 for Windows 11 (ushering in Moment 5 features), and KB5036892 for Windows 10 – and this also holds true for the preview updates released at the end of April. Tech Radar
The next Apple Watch release is expected for this fall, and there’s good and bad news for one of the models, the Apple Watch Ultra 3. The situation still seems fluid, but a new report claims to know what’s on its way.
Apple Watch Ultra 2. What will Ultra 3 be like?
According to revered industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo six months ago, there might not even be an Ultra 3. Kuo said, “It’s almost confirmed that we won’t see a new Apple Watch Ultra in 2024.” Forbes
Shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc jumped 20% Thursday after its vehicle deliveries more than doubled in April. Hong Kong-listed shares of the company jumped as much as 23% to 44.20 Hong Kong dollars, touching their highest level in over six weeks. Nio shares also helped boost the broader Hang Seng index which jumped 2% by midday trading. Nio said it delivered 15,620 vehicles in April, a 134.6% year-on-year increase. CNBC
TikTok will restore millions of songs to the platform after settling a dispute with Universal Music Group over royalties. It means users will once again be able to make videos featuring songs from artists including Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande. A row over how much TikTok was paying saw the two companies trade accusations – and Universal withdraw some of the world’s most famous singers. But the rift now appears to have been healed with the firms announcing “improved remuneration” for artists. BBC
Sony is expected to unveil the Xperia 1 VI flagship smartphone at its event on May 17. While we’ve heard a few things about it over the last few weeks, today a new rumor brings us more details, including the leaked renders you can see below. Unsurprisingly, the Xperia 1 VI will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. It will come with a 16mm ultrawide camera, a 24mm main camera (48mm with 2x optical zoom), and an 85-170mm telephoto zoom camera.
The zoom camera goes further than the Xperia 1 V‘s which maxed out at 125mm, but the other specs seem identical. The main camera of the Xperia 1 VI will support macro photography, and Sony will claim the image quality should rival that of its “full-size” cameras. GSM Arena
Software is becoming hugely important in shaping the character of our cars, bringing a tangible improvement to the ownership experience. One example is the clever use of software algorithms to squeeze significantly more range from electric cars. Volvo has teamed up with Breathe Battery Technologies and become the first car maker to use the firm’s Breathe Charge, which takes a different approach to feeding power to the battery to speed up charging. Autocar
