Technologies

Apple may reveal its biggest quarter ever after iPhone 13, AirPods 3 and MacBook Pro launches

A pandemic, economic uncertainty and an international chip shortage apparently haven’t slowed the tech giant.

Ever since Apple‘s value blew past a trillion dollars a few years ago, analysts and tech industry experts alike have frequently wondered aloud, «How much larger can it get?»

We’ll get an answer Thursday, when Apple announces its fiscal first-quarter sales and tells us how many iPhones, Macs and other products it sold during the holiday shopping season. Apple has built a lot of its business around this period, timing product launches — like those of its well-reviewed iPhone 13, its revamped MacBook Pro laptops, its latest iPads, AirPods 3 and the Apple Watch Series 7 — to maximize sales as people hunt for gifts for family and friends. After the quarter’s December close, investors pushed Apple’s shares so high that the company’s value topped $3 trillion for the first time, despite ongoing supply shortages for chips and other technology.

On average, Wall Street analysts expect the quarter to deliver new all-time financial records of $1.88 per share in profit on $118.38 billion in revenue, according to surveys published by Yahoo Finance. Though that’s impressive, Apple isn’t expected to show as much growth as it did in the 2020 holiday shopping season. That’s when the iPhone 12, Apple’s first 5G-compatible device, helped push the company’s profit up 30%, while sales jumped more than 17%.

That wasn’t all, though. Apple has continuously said over the past year that its Mac computers and iPads were seeing record demand as well, in part thanks to the company’s highly anticipated new M1 «Apple Silicon» chips. That technology scored well among reviewers, including CNET’s, who ran tests that showed performance improvements and increased battery life. «It was zippy,» CNET’s Andrew Hoyle wrote of using the new MacBook Pro to process high-detail photos.

Now analysts are broadly expecting 2021’s holiday shopping season to mark another record for Apple.

«The performance seen by Apple in the quarter was despite an unprecedented chip shortage out of the Asia supply chain,» Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a Monday message to investors. Despite Apple’s established position as one of the world’s most highly valued companies, Ives says he still expects to see Apple’s «renaissance of growth» continue and its shares «outperform.»

An Apple spokesman declined to comment ahead of the company’s earnings report.

Industry leader

No matter what Apple says in its financial report Thursday, the results will be seen as a bellwether across the tech industry, and potentially beyond. But that report may prove an outlier as other companies struggle with supply and worker shortages, disappointing already dour Wall Street investors worried by further inflation, COVID-19’s continued impact on the world, and saber rattling between Russia and the US over Ukraine.

«Given resilient iPhone and Mac demand, we see Apple as a high-quality ‘flight to safety’ name to own during market volatility,» Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote in a note to investors. He too labels Apple’s stock at «outperform.»

Apple has long operated one of the most successful supply chains, particularly as it navigated disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, Apple’s executives have said they believe the company has lost out on billions of dollars in sales due to silicon chip shortages and manufacturing problems amid seemingly ceaseless demand.

Rod Hall, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said he’s «slightly cautious» about Apple’s prospects, considering tech’s continuing challenges with the global supply chain. In a note to investors, he warned that even though Apple may have been able to manage the chip shortages better than most, he’ll be closely listening to executives as they give commentary on a post-earnings conference call.

Apple has also largely escaped the scrutiny that tech giants like Alphabet (née Google) and Meta (née Facebook) have faced over how their respective advertising-heavy business models erode people’s privacy and trust in big tech.

Whatever Apple announces Thursday, it’ll come at a time when investors are questioning Big Tech’s future. Netflix shares have plunged more than 35% this year, driven in part by the company’s own predictions last week that it would add far fewer subscribers than expected in the first months of 2022. Electric-car giant Tesla’s stock, meanwhile, plummeted nearly 28% from $1,199.78 per share at the start of the year, driven in part by the company’s struggles to put out new cars.

It all comes down to the iPhone

The iPhone remains king at the Cupertino, California-based company, even as Apple fans and industry watchers dissect each of the company’s new product lines and business moves.

Last year, the iPhone represented 52% of the company’s $365 billion in revenue, a slight increase from the 50% it represented in 2020 and a slight decrease from the 54% in 2019. That’s part of Apple’s seemingly endless conundrum: Its position as one of the largest companies ever is tied to the iPhone’s success.

Apple has tried to build on that success, announcing ambitious services offerings, including the $5 per month Apple TV Plus, the $5 per month Apple Arcade and the $10 per month Apple Fitness Plus. Its other iPhone add-on-type products like the AirPods headphones and Apple Watch wearable have performed well too, analysts say.

Rumors suggest that Apple’s next big product launch will be a headset, potentially coming this year or next. Many tech executives believe that headsets from Apple, as well as those from Microsoft, Meta, Sony, Google and Magic Leap, could represent the next step in computing beyond the phone. And many companies have already begun preparing.

Over the past year, tech executives from game companies to social networking giants to, yes, even Apple have begun publicly discussing a new term for the types of experiences these headsets will make possible: the metaverse. That’s a catchall description of apps and experiences people can share in connected virtual worlds like a video game.

The metaverse «is an attempt to redefine our entire relationship with the internet, from virtual communities to ownership of digital content. It snakes into gaming, cryptocurrency, NFTs, teleconferencing software and 3D scanning. It’s… a lot,» CNET’s Scott Stein wrote about what he expects from the technology this year. «A year ago, nobody even talked about the idea of a metaverse. Now it’s spread across countless news stories.»

For Apple, though, the metaverse may represent more than the next step in computing: It may finally be the product to take the financial crown from the iPhone.

But don’t expect CEO Tim Cook to spill the beans about his plans while speaking with analysts on a conference call Thursday. Those reveals are typically reserved for Apple’s splashy events, whether in person or entirely virtual, as the events have been during the pandemic.

Instead, when analysts and investors wonder how much larger Apple will get, what they’ll mean is how many more iPhones can Apple sell, as well as maybe iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, AirPods and all sorts of other tech, including the company’s (in)famous $19 polishing cloth.

«We’d expect a bullish installed base update,» Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a message to investors, citing upbeat reports from Apple throughout the past year. Though she also rates Apple’s stock at «outperform,» she’ll be listening for any other signs of how the pandemic and supply chain are affecting the company.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 14, #917

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 14, #917.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is an odd one in that the purple category, usually the toughest, was the easiest — if you know a certain group of fictional animals. If you need help sorting them into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Butter up.

Green group hint: Like The Little Match Girl.

Blue group hint: Letter that makes no sound.

Purple group hint: Oink!

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Lay it on thick.

Green group: Hans Christian Anderson figures.

Blue group: Silent «L.»

Purple group: Fictional pigs.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is lay it on thick. The four answers are fawn, flatter, gush and praise.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Hans Christian Anderson figures. The four answers are duckling, emperor, mermaid and princess.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is silent «L.» The four answers are calf, chalk, colonel and would.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is fictional pigs. The four answers are Babe, Napoleon, Piglet and Porky.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 14 #651

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 14, No. 651.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle may leave you wanting to make a reservation at a fancy restaurant. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Pricy pairing.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: May I see the menu?

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

FLOP, POLL, POLLS, RARE, CARE, HARE, SURE, SPAT, SPATS, PATS, CRUST, RUST

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

CRAB, RIBEYE, SHRIMP, LOBSTER, SCALLOP, SIRLOIN

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SURFANDTURF. To find it, start with the S that’s the far-left letter on the top row, and wind down.

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Technologies

Can My iPhone 17 Pro Match a 6K Cinema Camera? I Teamed Up With a Pro to Find Out

I put a video shoot together to see just how close an iPhone can get to a pro cinema setup.

The iPhone 17 Pro packs a powerful video setup with a trio of cameras, large image sensors (for a phone), ProRes raw codecs and Log color profiles for advanced editing. It makes the phone one of the most powerful and dependable video shooters among today’s smartphones.

Apple often boasts about famous directors using the iPhone to shoot films and music videos. The company even records its event videos for new products with the iPhone.

But is the iPhone really good enough at shooting video to replace a traditional cinema camera? To see how good the iPhone 17 Pro is for professional use, I gave it a proper test.

I put together a video shoot where I pitted the $1,000 iPhone against a full professional cinema camera rig, worth thousands of dollars, to see just how well Apple’s phone can hold its own. I planned a video production at my favorite coffee roaster in Edinburgh, called Santu, which is based in a stunning building that I knew would look amazing on camera.

To give both cameras the best chance, I worked with Director of Photography Cal Hallows, who has been responsible for production on major shoots around the world, working with brands including Aston Martin, the BBC, IBM and Hilton Hotels.

Here’s what happened.

Our filming equipment

We didn’t use any external lenses with the iPhone; instead, we relied on either the built-in main, ultrawide or telephoto options. I shot my footage using the BlackMagic Camera app. I had a Crucial X10 external SSD since I was recording in Apple’s ProRes raw codec, which creates large files.

I also had a variable neutral density filter to achieve a consistent shutter speed. For some shots, I used Moment’s SuperCage to help give me a better grip — and therefore smoother footage. But for other shots, I just used the phone by itself to make it easier to get into tight spaces. More on that later.

The iPhone’s competition was the $3,300 BlackMagic Pyxis 6K. It’s a professional cinema camera with a full-frame 6K resolution image sensor and raw video capabilities. I paired that with some stunning pro cine lenses, including a set of Arles Primes, the XTract Probe lens from DZO Film and a couple of choice cine primes from Sigma. It’s a formidable and pricey setup for any cinematographer.

The shoot day

We shot over the course of a single day. I’d already created a rough storyboard of the shots I wanted to get, which helped me plan my angles and lens choices. I wanted to try and replicate some angles directly with both cameras.

This shot of the store room being opened (above), for example — was a lovely scene, and I didn’t see much difference in quality between the iPhone’s video and the BlackMagic’s. This was the case with a few of the scenes we replicated. Apple’s ProRes raw codec on the iPhone provided a lot of scope for adjusting the color, allowing us to create beautiful color grades that looked every bit as striking as footage from the Blackmagic camera.

Sure, you could tell that they were different, but I couldn’t honestly say if one was better than the other.

Other shots were more difficult to replicate. I love this low-angle of the roastery owner, Washington, pulling his trolley through the scene. On the iPhone, the main lens wasn’t wide enough to capture everything we wanted but switching to the ultrawide was too much the other way and we ended up having spare gear and other people in the frame.

This made several shots a challenge to replicate as the fixed zoom ranges of the iPhone simply didn’t translate to the same fields of view offered by our lenses on the BlackMagic camera. As a result, getting the right framing for shots from the iPhone was trickier than I expected. But focal length wasn’t the only reason using «real» lenses was better.

The DZO Arles Primes are awesome cinema lenses that offer wide apertures that allowed us to shoot with gorgeous natural bokeh. We used this to our advantage on several shots where we really wanted the subject to be isolated against an out-of-focus background.

Secret weapons

That was especially the case when we used our secret weapon: the DZO Films Xtract probe lens. This bizarre-looking, long, thin lens gives both a wide-angle perspective coupled with a close focusing distance.

I loved using the probe lens for this shot, particularly where we’ve focused on exactly where Washington was using the bean grinder. I tried to replicate it on the iPhone using the close-focusing ultrawide lens and the shot looks good, but it lacks the visual sophistication that I can get from a big, professional camera. Especially because the lack of background blur makes it easier to see distracting background items stored under the counter that are otherwise «hidden» in the blur on the main camera.

But the iPhone has its own secret weapon, too. Its size. The tiny dimensions of the iPhone — even with a filter and the SSD crudely taped to it — is so small that we were able to get shots that we simply couldn’t have achieved with the big cinema camera.

In particular, this shot, where I rigged the iPhone to an arm inside the cooling machine so that it travelled around as the beans were churned. I love this shot — and a top-down view I shot of the arms turning beneath. Both angles give this incredible energy to the film and I think they are my favourite scenes of the whole production. It wasn’t easy to see the phone screen in these positions but SmallRig’s wireless iPhone monitor made it much easier to get my angles just right. Trying to rig up a large, heavy camera and lens to get the same shots was simply out of the question.

How well did the iPhone compare?

I’m really impressed with both cameras on this project, but my expert Director of Photography, Cal, had some thoughts, too.

«The thing I really found with the iPhone,» Cal explained, «was simply the creative freedom to get shots that I’d have never had time to set up. There’s only so long in a day and only so long you have access to filming locations or actors, so the fact that you can just grab your iPhone and get these shots is amazing.»

«I have used my iPhone on professional shoots before. One time in particular was when I was driving away from set and I saw this great sunset. If I’d have spent time rigging up my regular camera, I’d have missed the sunset. So I shot it on my phone and the client loved it — it ended up being the final shot of the film. At the end of the day, a good shot is a good shot and it doesn’t matter what you shot it with,» said Cal.

So was it all good for the iPhone?

«The depth of field and the overall look of the cinema lenses still come out on top — you’re just not going to get that on a phone,» explained Cal. «When it came to grading the footage, I had to use a lot of little workarounds to get the iPhones to match. The quality quickly started to fall apart in certain challenging scenes that just weren’t a problem with the BlackMagic.»

So it’s not a total win for the iPhone, but then, I never expected it to be. The iPhone was never going to replace the pro camera on this shoot, but it instead allowed us to augment our video with shots that we would otherwise never have gotten.

I love the creative angles we found using just the phone, and while Cal struggled to balance its colors as easily, the footage does fit in nicely with the rest of the video and makes it more dynamic and engaging as a result.

And that’s not to say the shots we didn’t use from it weren’t good. I’m actually impressed with how the iPhone handled most of the things we threw at it.

So don’t assume that if you want to get into filmmaking, you need to drop tens of thousands on a pro cinema camera and a set of cine primes. Your iPhone has everything you need to get started, and it’ll let you flex your creativity much more easily.

Our days of shooting, editing and grading have proven that the iPhone isn’t yet ready to be the only camera you need on a professional set. But mix its small size in with your other cameras, and then you’ve got yourself a truly powerful production setup.