Friday, 20 March 2020

Deals: Best Buy Discounting iPad Mini 5 by $50 This Weekend, Prices Start at $350 for 64GB Wi-Fi

Best Buy today kicked off its newest weekend sale, introducing a few solid deals on Apple's iPad mini 5 from 2019. During this event, you can also save on iPhone cases, Beats headphones, and a few other Apple products.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

For the iPad mini 5, Best Buy is offering $50 off select models and matching the current best prices for these tablets. Prices start at $349.99 for the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad mini, down from $399.00, and also include the 256GB Wi-Fi model for $499.99, down from $549.00.

If you're looking for cellular models, the 64GB cellular iPad mini is down to $479.99 at Best Buy, from $529.00. The 256GB cellular device is $629.99, down from $679.00. Although stock varies at the time of writing, Best Buy is offering all of these iPad minis in every color.

Below we've rounded up a few of the other sales happening this weekend at Best Buy. This event will end on Sunday, March 22 at 11:59 p.m. CT, and there are limited quantities for some of the items. Some products require My Best Buy membership to see the deals, and many support free shipping, which should be helpful for anyone under quarantine.
Head to our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more discounts on Apple products and related accessories.
Related Roundup: Apple Deals

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Bloomberg: iPhone 12 Still on Course for Fall Launch Despite COVID-19 Disruption

The iPhone 12 is on course for a fall launch despite disruptions to mobile manufacturing in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with Apple's supply chain.

Apple’s next flagship iPhones, with 5G wireless capabilities, are still on schedule to launch in the fall, although that's partly because mass production isn't due to begin until May, said the people. They asked not to be identified discussing private supply chain issues.
Apple typically announces its latest flagship smartphones in September, with mass production beginning in May, which usually gives assemblers and component suppliers time to manufacture and amass units for shipping later in the fall.

Earlier this month, a Bloomberg report cited Bank of America analysts claiming that Apple's 5G iPhone could be delayed to due to the coronavirus outbreak. The analysts said Apple's ‌‌5G iPhone‌‌ release could be delayed by a month because of restrictions put in place on Apple employees visiting China earlier in the year to perfect assembly processes with manufacturing partners like Foxconn.

Those delays had the potential to eat into the time Apple needs to finalize orders for chips and other ‌iPhone‌ components that need to be made well in advance of when full production begins. However, supply chain experts told Reuters in late February that Apple still has time to keep the ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ schedule on track, despite the travel restrictions.

Apple plans to release four so-called iPhone 12 models in the fall, including one 5.4-inch model, two 6.1-inch models, and one 6.7-inch model, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. All of the devices are expected include OLED displays and support 5G, and they may sport a new design that includes more of a flat edged metal frame like the iPad Pro or ‌iPhone‌ 4.

Meanwhile, Apple's new ‌iPad Pro‌ models begin shipping next week. Production of those devices likely started at the top of the year, according to Bloomberg, although DigiTimes today reports that Apple is in the process of ramping up ‌iPad Pro‌ shipments, with volume for the new tablet series from the suppliers to climb about 40 percent sequentially in the second quarter.

Apple this week set worldwide purchase limits on its newly updated ‌iPad Pro‌ and MacBook Air models, its entire range of ‌iPhone‌ models, and the Mac mini on its online stores. Apple often places purchase limits on products in some Asian countries to combat the gray market, but the expanded restrictions are thought to be an effort to balance supply and demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related Roundup: iPhone 12
Tags: bloomberg.com, COVID-19 Coronavirus

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Republican Senator Pleads Ignorance After Selling Millions in Stock Before the Crash

U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia defended herself overnight, insisting that both she and her husband had no input in the decision to sell somewhere between $1.2 million and $3.1 million in stock shortly before the stock market crash that was caused by fears over covid-19. Loeffler’s husband is Jeffrey Sprecher,…

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YouTube to Follow Netflix's Lead and Reduce Stream Quality in Europe to Ease Strain on Broadband Networks

Following in the footsteps of Netflix, YouTube is reducing the quality of its videos in Europe to reduce the strain on broadband networks caused by an upsurge in home usage following the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reports.
"We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default," the company said in a statement.

Standard definition videos are more pixellated and not as sharp as high definition videos, but require less data transmission as a result.

The decision follows news on Thursday that Netflix will comply with a request from the European Union to lower its streaming video quality in Europe to ease network strain from the millions of people working from home. Netflix said it would reduce the bitrate of its streams for 30 days.

Internet traffic has increased with more adults switching to remote working to comply with social distancing measures. With schools closing in many countries, working adults also face the prospect of having to compete for bandwidth with children playing games and watching videos or logging in to e-learning sessions. The launch of Disney+ in Europe next Tuesday, which will offer 4K-resolution content, is unlikely to help matters.

U.K. internet service provider BT told BBC News that its broadband infrastructure has plenty of "headroom" to cope with increased demand as more people stay home due to coronavirus. The company said that since Tuesday, daytime traffic on its network had increased by between 35-60 percent, daytime and evening usage was still much lower than the highest levels it had ever recorded. "The additional load... is well within manageable limits and we have plenty of headroom for it to grow still further," said a BT spokesperson.

Vodafone and TalkTalk, which also provide mobile and broadband services to UK households, gave similar assurances to the BBC despite also seeing increases in web traffic. However, on Tuesday, all U.K. mobile networks suffered severe outages after the number of voice calls rose by 30 per cent and overloaded the system, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers unable to connect calls to people on other mobile networks.

Like Netflix, YouTube has not said whether the bitrate reduction will be implemented in other countries like the United States, but it does not appear that U.S. internet providers have called for such measures at this time.
Tags: YouTube, Europe, COVID-19 Coronavirus

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Apple Still Expected to Launch High End 12.9-inch iPad Pro With Mini LED Display Tech in Fourth Quarter of 2020

Apple is still on course to launch a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display later this year, according to Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes.

Apple reportedly prefers mini LED to OLED for its medium-size devices and will launch an ‌iPad Pro‌ with backlighting in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The claim is made in relation to a separate paywalled article underscoring Apple's eagerness to adopt mini-LED technology, which allows for thinner and lighter product designs, while offering many of the same benefits of OLED displays used on the latest iPhones, including good wide color gamut performance, high contrast and dynamic range, and local dimming for truer blacks.
Mini LED is expected to get a significant boost in applications as Apple is proceeding with R&D of devices adopting mini LED backlighting, and may commercialize more such devices in the next five years, according to industry sources.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said that a mini-LED version of 12.9-inch ‌‌iPad Pro‌‌, which is expected to be a high-end option, will launch in the fall of 2020. Rumors continue to suggest that the fall 12.9-inch model is still planned despite the refreshed spring ‌iPad Pro‌‌ models announced earlier this week.

Apple has six mini-LED products in the works that are set to debut in 2020 and 2021, according to Kuo. Apple is said to be debuting the technology in the aforementioned 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, a 27-inch iMac Pro, a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro, a 16-inch ‌‌MacBook Pro‌‌, a 10.2.-inch iPad, and a 7.9-inch ‌‌iPad‌‌ mini.

Kuo did not give projected launch dates for the other devices with the exception of the ‌‌iMac Pro‌‌, which Kuo expects to launch in the fourth quarter of 2020, and the 7.9-inch ‌‌iPad‌‌ mini, which he says will launch in 2020.
Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Tag: digitimes.com
Buyer's Guide: 12.9" iPad Pro (Buy Now)

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