“Chinese companies are getting pretty competitive for iPhone assemblers. China is doing quite well in pretty much everything, except semiconductors,” Kirk Yang, chairman and CEO of Kirkland Capital, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Friday.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images
More mainland Chinese electronics manufacturing companies are set to take away market share from Taiwanese counterparts such as Foxconn and Pegatron, an investment fund manager said.
“Chinese companies are getting pretty competitive for iPhone assemblers. China is doing quite well in pretty much everything, except semiconductors,” Kirk Yang, chairman and CEO of Kirkland Capital, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Friday.
“So that’s why eventually, you are going to see more and more Chinese companies taking market share away from Taiwanese electronic companies,” Yang added.
Luxshare has been producing a small quantity of the iPhone 14 Pro Max model at its Kunshan plant, the Financial Times reported, as Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory faced Covid restrictions and labor unrest last year.
Founded in 2004 by a former Foxconn worker, Luxshare makes connector cables for the iPhone and MacBook, and also manufactures AirPods.
Yang added that with China-Taiwan geopolitical tensions, Taiwanese companies on the mainland have seen a lot of pressure in the last five years. “A lot of them are moving out of China,” Yang said.
That’s why Apple has to diversify, he said, adding that the U.S.-China tech war is also prompting companies to move even faster out of mainland China.
Furthermore, Chinese companies such as Luxshare have the Hong Kong advantage, Yang said.
“They can probably hire people [more easily than non-Chinese companies] and get better tax incentives. After local companies learn how to make products in a similar quality, at a cheaper price, they will be taking market share.”
Apple will charge customers an extra $20 to replace the battery on iPhones if the device is older than an iPhone 14, the technology giant said Wednesday.
Starting in March, anyone with an iPhone 13, 12, 11 or X will have to pay $89 for a new battery, while replacements for iPhone 8, 7, 6, 5 and SE devices will cost $69. Apple is also hiking the battery replacement price for the iPad by $20, the MacBook Air by $30 and the MacBook Pro by $50.
These prices are for customers who don’t have AppleCare+, the insurance program the company offers for a price depending on the device and model year.
The batteries on iPhone 14 models, which were released in 2022, are currently still under Apple’s default one-year warranty. The company said it will charge $99 to replace the battery on those devices after the warranty expires.
Here’s what customers will soon have to pay for battery replacements for their Apple devices.
iPad Air, Mini and Pro ($119)
MacBook Air ($159)
MacBook Pro ($249)
The prices cover a visit to an Apple store to have the battery replaced on site, or using Apple’s mail-in service. Customers can also buy and replace a battery themselves using Apple’s self-service repair program.
Apple’s batteries became the center of controversy five years ago when the company admitted it had purposely slowed down older iPhone models using a software update to offset problems with its aging lithium-ion battery. After the practice drew scrutiny from lawmakers, Apple apologized and then struck a $113 million settlement with more than a dozen states.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
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Apple Inc. finished Tuesday with a valuation below $2 trillion for the first time in more than 21 months amid a continued slide in its stock that reflects concerns about the impact of production issues and the sustainability of consumer demand.
The smartphone giant was valued at $1.990 trillion as of the end of Tuesday trading. Prior to that, Apple hadn’t closed with a valuation south of $2 trillion since March 8, 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data, and its stock price hasn’t implied an intraday valuation below that level since March 30, 2021.
The slide in Apple shares AAPL, -3.74%
over the past year has shaved $996.5 billion from the company’s peak closing market capitalization.
The smartphone giant peaked with a closing valuation of $2.986 trillion exactly a year ago, on Jan. 3, 2022. More recently, the company has been dogged by questions about the impact of manufacturing issues in China, where COVID-19 curbs forced production disruptions late last year.
A Nikkei Asia report from earlier this week hinted at demand challenges. The report, which cited anonymous sources, said that Apple has told some of its suppliers to make fewer components for AirPods, Apple Watches and MacBook computers in the first quarter.
Apple didn’t respond to a MarketWatch request for comment.
Apple’s stock was the biggest loser in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.03%
Tuesday.
Let’s face it: Our smartphones have become our most important accessory. Whether you’re on board with this fact or not, how we accessorize them via phone cases has become another way for us to complete an outfit, as we do with our choice in shoes, bags, and jewelry. And the easiest (and usually the least expensive) way to give any look a designer upgrade is by opting for a case from one of our favorite luxury labels. While there are plenty of logo-emblazoned phone cases out there, some of today’s designs really lean into our need to be connected at all times. Chains and straps allow us to literally wear our phones like a purse or wristlet rather than play Tetris to try and fit them into our mini bags or spend forever trying to fish them out of our oversize totes. Even classic snap-on cases offer much more than a simple logo—think fun textures and materials, 3D details, and functional pockets for credit cards. Ahead, we rounded up 26 of today’s must-have designer phone cases, available at a range of price points. Don’t worry; they don’t all cost an arm and a leg. Keep scrolling to check out the very best from today’s luxury favorites, including Gucci, Prada, Bottega Veneta, and many more.
Did you lose it over Prada’s crystal-studded Cleo Handbag? Then allow us to introduce you to the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro phone case versions.
Bottega Veneta’s signature Intrecciato weave gets rubberized for the iPhone, which is quite helpful if you’re the clumsy type.
Prefer a simpler phone case? This sustainably made Saint Laurent iPhone 11 case is right up your alley.
Looking to Gucci-fy your iPhone? Look no further than this allover logo case, which also features a sleeve for your credit cards for extra convenience.
This sleek croc-embossed case from Tom Ford is everything.
We’re always here for a monogram moment.
Galaxy owners will love this clear floral case from Kate Spade.
No one will expect this as a phone case.
This durable Fendi phone case comes embossed with the brand’s Zucca print. Plus, it includes a totally handy strap.
Margiela fans will appreciate this minimalistic case featuring the brand’s signature stitching.
A more affordable way to wear Pucci’s iconic retro prints.
Meet Coach’s mascot, Rexy.
This simple clear case comes with a chunky gold chain for easy carrying (and easy selfie-taking).
Loewe’s iconic elephant bag gets the iPhone treatment with this adorable leather phone case.
If you’re a light packer, make your phone your handbag.
A wallet-friendlier option than Kenzo’s cult-favorite sweatshirt.
Forget the case—it’s all about the hardware on the strap.
This simple phone case includes Off-White’s signature typography and a carrying strap.
This sleek Givenchy leather case comes complete with a shoulder strap.
I mean, really, what’s not to love about this fun Moschino case?
Be totally extra with this metallic gold case from Versace.
Fans of Rimowa’s luxury travel goods will love this iridescent phone case, a play on the brand’s hard-shell luggage.
Calling all pasta enthusiasts.
If you like to keep your phone within easy reach, consider this case from Jil Sander. You can wear it over your shoulder or around your neck.
A riff on Christian Louboutin red sneaker soles, this is the ultimate phone case for any red-bottom fanatic.
While Urban Sophistication may be a newer brand, it’s already garnered a cult following, including Gigi Hadid.
This post was originally published at an earlier date and has since been updated.
The writers on The Atlantic’s Science, Technology, and Health desks have learned a lot this year. Our coverage of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has continued, but this year, more so than in 2020 and 2021, we’ve also had the chance to report on topics that have filled us with awe and delight. Though the past 12 months have not been free of concerns about infectious disease, climate change, and even nuclear war, we’ve embraced more fascination and curiosity in our coverage this year, and we wanted to share and reflect on some of the most compelling tidbits we’ve stumbled across. We hope you find these facts as mind-blowing as we did.
Days on the moon are hot enough to boil water, and nights are unfathomably cold, but at least one spot on the lunar surface stays a pleasant 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
About 10 percent of the bills introduced in Congress in the past two years have been titled with reverse-engineered acronyms, including the ZOMBIE Act.
It takes at least seven years to train the muscles and tendons in your elbow that will make you a great arm wrestler, according to the arm wrestler Jack Arias, who was in the 1987 arm-wrestling movie Over the Top with Sylvester Stallone.
American Express started making metal cards in 2004 because of an urban legend about its most exclusive card being titanium.
The first-of-its-kind electric Hummer weighs as much as an ambulance and accelerates like a Formula 1 race car.
Woodpeckers have small brains, which is why they can smash their heads against trees unharmed.
A toaster-size device inside a rover on Mars can convert Martian air, made almost entirely of carbon dioxide, into breathable oxygen.
Pawpaws tend to stay green throughout their life cycle, so in order to tell if they’re ripe, you have to individually caress every fruit on a tree.
The metal that makes up a nickel has long been worth more than the coin itself.
The Presidential Fitness Test was developed because the federal government worried that postwar children were too soft to defeat communism when they grew up.
The iPhone is the only major Apple product that doesn’t support charging with the now-ubiquitous USB-C cable.
Some of YouTube’s earliest hits got popular thanks to “coolhunters,” a group of editors who individually picked videos for the site’s homepage.
In 1918, California conscripted children into a week-long war on squirrels.
Some baby cameras feature artificial intelligence that will recognize when your baby’s face is covered or when the baby has coughed.
Extreme heat and specific pressure conditions on WASP-96b, an exoplanet about 1,150 light-years from Earth, mean that rock can condense in the air like water does on Earth, producing clouds made of sand.
In 2021, a full quarter of single-family homes sold in America went to buyers with no intention of living in them, such as house flippers, landlords, Airbnb hosts, and other investors.
Julius Caesar reportedly announced his conquest of Gaul via pigeon.
The Japanese makers of Hi-Chew candy were persuaded to push into the mainstream American market because of the candy’s enduring popularity among missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had returned home after time in East Asia.
Secondhand-smoke inhalation causes more than 41,000 deaths annually in the U.S., more than some flu seasons.
China’s zero-COVID policy may be largely responsible for gas prices falling from a March peak to below $4 a gallon in August.
Polar bears in Southeast Greenland are homebodies.
The world’s best chess player, Magnus Carlsen, has, by one calculation, a 98 percent chance of losing and a 2 percent chance of drawing against the world’s best chess-playing computer program; victory is basically impossible.
Earlier this year, Moonbirds NFTs—basically colorful little pixelated owls—generated $489 million in trading volume in their first two weeks of existence.
In 1975, the average grocery store stocked 65 kinds of fruits and veggies. By 1998, that number had reached 345.
Government spending on climate change over the next decade could end up more than double what Democratic senators predicted for the Inflation Reduction Act.
Journals can be big business: One collector sold a diary from a 1912 Machu Picchu visitor and another by an 1868 Missouri River traveler for about $9,000 each.
In Wordle, just one correct letter in the right spot and one in the wrong spot can eliminate 96 percent of possible solutions.
A major obstacle to meeting the United States’ clean-energy goals is that we have to double the rate at which we build the giant cables that transmit power between regions.
Little kids who grew up amid intense COVID restrictions might have different microbiomes than those born several years earlier—and whether that’s good or bad is unclear.
Militaries are developing swarms of starling-size drones that will be able to fly and attack together with the use of artificial intelligence.
The Apollo 11 moon lander will sit on the moon for millions of years because there’s no wind or water to erode it away.
Your smart thermostat mostly exists to help the utility company, not your wallet.
The cocaine-eating bear that died in 1985 and inspired the upcoming film Cocaine Bear is stuffed, mounted, and on display at a mall in Lexington, Kentucky.
You may have gotten Apple’s iPhone 14 as a gift for the holidays. If you’re upgrading from a much older iPhone model, there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to navigating your brand-new iPhone.
If you were gifted the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, you may be wondering what a Dynamic Island is (that little floating graphic at the top of your screen). If you were gifted any of the iPhone 14 models, you’ll want to know what emergency SOS via satellite is and how to use it. There are also little hacks you should know about, such as editing or unsending iMessages, which I use all the time and can really come in handy.
Here are some iPhone 14 tips and tricks to get you started.
You can now edit and delete iMessages you’ve already sent. This next feature works for anyone who has an iPhone released in 2017 or later. Just make sure your iPhone is running on iOS 16 or newer. (You can check by going to Settings > General > About.)
You’ll have only two minutes to unsend an iMessage and 15 minutes to edit an iMessage. This perk doesn’t work with SMS text messages, the type that shows up as green bubbles instead of blue ones. And it only works if the other person you’re texting also has iOS 16 or newer installed.
To edit an iMessage:
Open iMessage.
Press and hold the message you want to edit.
A Quick Actions menu will appear.
Tap Edit.
Choose Edit to change the message.
Once you’re done editing, hit the blue check mark.
You can edit a single message up to five times.
You’ll have 15 minutes from the time you sent it to change your message.
To unsend an iMessage:
Open iMessage.
Press and hold the message you want to unsend.
A Quick Actions menu will appear.
Tap Undo Send.
Undo Send works up to two minutes after sending.
When you try to unsend iMessages that were sent to someone running iOS 15 or earlier software, they may still be able to see them.
If the person you are texting has iOS 16, a message will appear saying you unsent a text message. The person you’re texting won’t know what that message was, as long as they didn’t see a preview of that text when the original iMessage was sent.
A new feature called “duplicate detection” helps to aggregate all of your repetitive photos. It’s only available on iOS 16, which you can download as long as you have an iPhone 8 or newer. Using this new feature can help you free up wasted storage space.
In Albums, scroll down to the section titled Utilities.
Under the Utilities section, select Duplicates.
You’ll see duplicate matches and an option to Merge.
Tap Merge to delete duplicate photos.
To go through your duplicates faster, choose Select in the top right corner to choose multiple photos at once. You can even choose Select All to merge all of the duplicate photos iOS 16 detects.
You can now see your battery percentage in the battery icon at the top of your screen. It’s useful if you want more details on how much battery life you have left. Knowing you have a 60% charge is a lot easier to see than trying to gauge it from an icon. So, turn on the battery percentage indicator.
How to turn on the battery percentage indicator:
Open Settings.
Tap Battery.
Toggle on Battery Percentage.
You’ll now see that little number indicating your battery life inside the battery icon on the top right-hand corner of your iPhone screen.
In November, Apple launched emergency SOS via satellite for all iPhone 14 users, which allows users to text emergency services when they’re off the grid, whether camping in the mountains or driving in a remote area at night. The service is free for the first two years.
How to use emergency SOS via satellite:
In the event of an emergency, try calling 911. If you don’t have cell service, your phone will try to connect to another carrier’s tower. If that doesn’t work, an option to use “Emergency Text via Satellite” will pop up.
You can also go to iMessage to text 911 or SOS, then tap Emergency Services.
An option will populate, allowing you to tap to report an emergency.
Emergency questions will populate to help you best describe your situation. The first prompt will say “What’s the emergency?” You’ll then be able to select from options such as “Car or vehicle issue” or “sickness or injury.” Next, you’ll be led through a series of more in-depth questions.
You’ll be given the option to notify your emergency contacts to let them know you reached out to emergency services, along with your location and the nature of your emergency. You can also use the Find My app to share your location with friends and family via satellite.
To connect to a satellite, your phone will ask you to point it toward the sky. As long as you have a clear view, you should be able to connect to a satellite, but it could take up to 15 seconds for your messages to go through. If you don’t have a clear view of the sky, because of trees or another obstruction, the texts may take a minute to go through. And because satellites orbit the earth quickly, you’ll have to move your phone slightly to stay connected throughout the conversation.
Once you’ve connected to emergency services via satellite, they’ll immediately know your location and the nature of your emergency, but you’ll be asked a few more questions to help emergency personnel locate you and to come prepared.
If you have your medical ID set up through your iPhone’s health settings, emergency services will be able to see important personal information, like what medications you’re taking and the names of your emergency contacts.
Tap this button to identify songs from your iPhone.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
This next trick works with all iPhones, but many people don’t know about it and it’s super fun and useful. You can identify the song that’s playing on the radio at a bar, in your car, or at a friend’s house, all without having to open an app. All you have to do is swipe down and tap a single button.
Apple acquired the music recognition service Shazam in 2018 and setting it up on your iPhone is easy.
Open Settings on your iPhone.
Tap Control Center.
Scroll down under “More” and tap the green ‘+’ button next to Music Recognition.
That adds the music recognition function to Control Center, which you access by swiping down from the top-right of your screen, or from the bottom of the screen if you have an iPhone with a Home button.
Once you’ve done that, you can use your iPhone to identify a song by swiping down from the top-right of the screen to open Control Center and then tapping the Shazam button. Your phone will listen for a few seconds, then show the artist and title at the top of your screen. And it’ll save a history of the songs you’ve identified so you can go back and see them later. To do that, just press and hold the Shazam button.
Widgets on your iPhone let you see info from your favorite apps without having to actually open those apps. You can use widgets on your home screen and lock screen, or you can use widgets from Today View by swiping right from the home screen or lock screen.
To see widgets on your home screen:
From the Home Screen, touch and hold a widget or an empty area until the apps jiggle.
Tap the Add button in the upper left corner.
Select a widget, choose a widget size, then tap Add Widget.
Tap Done.
To add widgets from Today View:
Touch and hold a widget or an empty area in Today View until the apps jiggle. You can access Today View by swiping right from the home screen or lock screen.
Tap the add button in the upper left corner.
Scroll down to select a widget, then choose from three widget sizes.
The iPhone 12, by default, will save battery by switching between 5G and 4G LTE as needed.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
5G cell service works with all carriers and iPhone models 12, 13, 14 and SE 3. On the iPhone, Apple uses a 5G Auto Setting as a default. This enables Smart Data mode. When 5G speeds don’t provide a better experience, your phone will automatically switch to LTE, saving battery life.
If your phone is not on 5G Auto and instead on 5G On, you could be draining your battery. That’s because no matter what connection is best, your iPhone is always trying to connect to 5G.
To optimize your battery life, here’s how to turn off 5G:
Go to Settings.
Tap Cellular.
Tap Cellular Data Options.
Tap Voice & Data.
To turn off 5G, tap LTE for better battery life.
Or let your iPhone decide for you to optimize battery:
Go to Settings.
Tap Cellular.
Tap Cellular Data Options.
Tap Data Mode.
Tap Low Data Mode when you want to conserve your battery life.
You’ll see under this option an explanation from Apple that says: “Low Power Mode temporarily reduces background activity like downloads and mail fetch until you can fully charge your iPhone.”
Turn down your screen brightness to conserve battery:
If your screen is on maximum brightness, it’s draining your iPhone’s battery. To turn it down:
Swipe down from the upper left corner of your iPhone.
There’s a rectangle icon where you’ll see an image of a sun. Swipe down on the icon until the screen’s brightness is reduced.
Check your iPhone’s battery health:
Apple has a tool that’s automatically built into your iPhone to help prevent your battery from losing efficacy. This feature also makes your iPhone charge slower based on your routines. Here’s how to turn it off:
As long as you have iOS 15 or newer, you can set up a feature called Focus which allows you to choose the alerts and notifications you receive and let others know you’re busy. This can help you avoid getting distracted by all of your phone’s notifications while you’re trying to work, sleep or drive.
Open Settings.
Tap Focus.
Tap options such as Do Not Disturb, Personal, Sleep or Work.
Tap Customize.
Select allowed or silenced notifications from people and apps. This way if your child, or boss, is calling, you’ll still get notified.
You can also enable Time Sensitive notifications from apps, which allows apps not in your allowed list to send notifications marked as Time Sensitive.
You can swipe down from the top-right of your home screen to turn on Focus.
When you’re on Focus, your status will automatically be displayed in your Messages app so when people try to send you a message, they’ll see that you’ve silenced your notifications, but they can still choose to notify you if it’s urgent.
Also, if you have an iPad or Apple Watch, or any other Apple device set up, Focus will automatically be applied across all your Apple devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID.
There are some new cool lock screens on the iPhone 14.
To change up your lock screen:
Touch and hold the lock screen until the Customize button appears at the bottom of your screen.
Tap Customize.
Tap Add Widgets to add views of your favorite apps, such as upcoming calendar events, your Apple Watch battery life, the weather, the news, a countdown, or your upcoming alarms.
Apple’s new Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Sofia Pitt
Dynamic Island is the coolest feature Apple introduced this year. Instead of that blank notch that used to house the selfie camera and microphone, there’s a new interactive pill display that has the ability to shape-shift on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Let’s say you’re reading an article. You can also control the music you’re listening to by tapping Dynamic Island instead of switching applications. It’s useful.
The space can be used to show other things, such as directions, AirPod connection status and battery life, or a timer. It can even split into two separate cutouts, so you can see a timer on one side and track the arrival time of your Lyft simultaneously, for example.
Always-on display toggled off on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Sofia Pitt
The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have a feature called an always-on display, which Android phones have had for years. The advantage is that you can see your widgets, such as the date and the weather, as well as the time, in a low-light mode when your phone is locked. The feature isn’t supposed to be a drain on your battery.
But, if you’re like me and want more peace and quiet without the urge to look over at your phone, here’s how to turn off the always-on display.
Open Settings.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Scroll down to Always On and toggle it off to deactivate the feature.
Schools are looking for a way to reduce teenagers’ cellphone use, as studies show too much screen time can have a negative effect on a child’s mental health. One rural Massachusetts school banned smartphones for both teachers and students during class. Meg Oliver shares more.
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Cellphones are a popular gift during the holiday season. But the debate remains — what is the best age for your child’s first phone? Adriana Diaz takes a look.
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U.K.-based consumer tech company Nothing is setting its sights on the U.S., with ambitions of taking on Apple’s iPhone.
The startup, the hardware venture of Carl Pei — co-founder of Chinese mobile phone maker OnePlus — is in early conversations with American carriers about launching a new smartphone in the U.S., Pei told CNBC, without naming any of the carriers.
In July, Nothing launched Phone (1), a mid-range device with a design, price and specs similar to Apple’s entry-level iPhone SE.
The company, which is backed by iPod creator Tony Fadell and Alphabet’s VC arm GV, has only launched its smartphone in Europe, the Middle East and Asia so far — not the U.S. or Canada.
“The reason why we didn’t launch in the U.S. is because you need a lot of additional technical support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations that they need to make on top of Android,” Pei explained in an interview with CNBC. “We felt that we weren’t ready before.”
“Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the U.S. to potentially launch a future product there,” said the Chinese-Swedish entrepreneur.
The likes of Apple and Samsung already have established relationships with large U.S. carriers, making it harder for smaller firms to compete.
But a third of the sales of its recently launched Ear (stick) headphones currently come from the U.S., Pei added.
“It’s definitely a market where there’s already a lot of interest for our products. And if we launch our smartphones there, I’m sure we could obtain significant growth,” he said.
The company expects its revenues to jump more than tenfold in 2022 — from about $20 million in 2021 to an estimated $250 million this year, according to figures shared with CNBC exclusively. It has also more than doubled its employees to more than 400. However, the firm is still losing money.
“The goal is to be profitable in 2024,” Pei said. “We are not profitable right now. And this year was made even harder due to the foreign currency exchange. We pay a lot of our COGS [cost of goods sold] in USD but we make money in pounds, in euros, in Indian rupees — so everything devalued against the USD.”
The U.S. dollar has rallied this year; the dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies — is up over 8.5% year-to-date.
Pei wants to challenge Apple’s iPhone in the U.S. But it’s a steep hill to climb.
“There’s a challenge with Android where iOS is just becoming more and more dominant. They have very strong lock-in with iMessage, with AirDrop, especially among Gen Z. So that’s a rising concern for me,” he said.
“There might be a time where Apple is like 80% of the overall market and that just does not leave enough space for Android-based manufacturers to keep playing,” he said.
Apple’s active installed base, which takes into account people who bought phones second-hand, surpassed 50% in the U.S. in the second quarter, surpassing Android, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
Apple was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Pei said his firm has faced a plethora of challenges in bringing its products to market. One of the major setbacks it faced was when it approached Foxconn, Apple’s largest iPhone supplier, to manufacture its phones.
According to Pei, Foxconn refused to do business with Nothing, citing past failures in the smartphone industry.
“Every startup manufacturer has worked with Foxconn,” Pei said. “But when it was our turn, they said no because every startup that worked with them failed. And every time a startup failed, Foxconn lost money on it, they were not able to recoup their costs.”
Foxconn was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Covid restrictions around the globe also presented a significant hurdle for the company. In India, where Nothing produces its phones, the company was unable to fly out engineers due to travel restrictions, with Pei saying the company had to manage its factory on the ground remotely.
“We really had to hustle to create this,” he said of Nothing’s smartphone.
In Shenzhen, China, where officials have imposed strict lockdowns, Nothing’s engineers had to discuss component designs and mechanics during mandated 45-minute periods when it was acceptable for people to go outside to buy groceries.
Nothing has sold over 1 million products to date globally, with its Ear (1) and Ear (stick) earbuds selling 600,000 units and the Phone (1) reaching 500,000 shipments.
Still, the startup is a tiny player, and it faces a bleak economic outlook where people are being forced to limit their spending drastically.
In Europe, smartphone shipments sank 16% in the third quarter year-over-year, per Counterpoint Research data — although they were up slightly from the previous quarter on the back of the iPhone 14’s strong launch.
Samsung is Europe’s largest smartphone maker with 35% market share, followed by China’s Xiaomi’s 23% and Apple’s 21%.
One of Apple’s newest iPhone features came in handy for a man who got stranded in Northwest Alaska in the early morning hours Thursday with no cell service.
The man was traveling on a snow machine from Noorvik to Kotzebue, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety (ADPS), when he got stranded. The two cities are about 42 miles apart.
Local volunteer search and rescue personnel, working in coordination with the Apple Emergency Response Center, were deployed to the man’s location using the GPS coordinates provided by Apple, ADPS reported.
The search and rescue team found the man and helped transport him to Kotzebue, ADPS said. He was unhurt.
The new SOS feature is available on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, according to Apple. It is free for two years after activation of a new device, the company said.
The feature can be found in the device’s settings. Once activated, a user simply follows the onscreen instructions to connect to a satellite.
This isn’t the only feature on Apple’s latest iPhone which has been making headlines. The iPhone 14 also comes with a crash detection feature which will alert first responders if the phone detects a severe car crash.
In October, a passenger’s iPhone alerted first responders when a car crashed into a tree in Lincoln, Nebraska. Six people were killed in the wreck.
Widespread protests across China over the government’s zero-COVID policy dominated pandemic headlines Monday, with Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, weighing in with the view that the strategy does not make public-health sense.
China’s biggest challenge is low vaccination rates — and a vaccine that has not been “particularly effective at all” compared with the ones being used in the West that are made by Pfizer PFE, +0.50%
and its German partner BioNTech BNTX, +5.68%
and by Moderna MRNA, +1.08%,
said Fauci, who is retiring next month.
Fauci recalled that when New York hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID cases three years ago, the decision was made to introduce restrictions, such as social distancing and shutdowns, to help flatten the curve of infections. But he noted that it was a temporary move aimed at buying time to get more people vaccinated and move personal protective equipment to where it was needed.
The first vaccine was distributed in the U.S. in December 2020.
“It seems that in China, it was just a very, very strict, extraordinary lockdown where you lock people in the house, but without, seemingly, any endgame to it,” said Fauci, who is also head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci said one mistake the Chinese government has made is to refuse outside vaccines. “But also, interestingly, they did not, for reasons that I don’t fully appreciate, protect the elderly by making sure the elderly got vaccinated,” he said. “So if you look at the prevalence of vaccinations among the elderly, that was almost counterproductive. The people you really needed to protect were not getting protected.”
The protests have roiled financial markets and caused oil prices to erase their entire year-to-date gain. In a highly unusual move, protesters in Shanghai called for China’s powerful leader Xi Jinping to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled Sunday to suppress demonstrations that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party, as the Associated Press reported.
The BBC said reporter Ed Lawrence, who was arrested while covering protests, was beaten and kicked by police while in custody.
“We have had no explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught COVID from the crowd,” the broadcaster said in a statement. “We do not consider this a credible explanation.”
In a rare show of defiance, crowds in China gathered for a third night as protests against COVID restrictions spread to Beijing, Shanghai and other cities. People held blank sheets of paper, symbolizing censorship, and demanded that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, step down. Photo: Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
In the U.S., known cases of COVID are rising again with the daily average standing at 41,997 on Sunday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 6% from two weeks ago.
Cases are currently rising in 22 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Guam, but are falling elsewhere.
The daily average for hospitalizations is up 4% to 29,053. Hospitalizations are rising in 23 states, the tracker shows.
• The World Health Organization said Monday it is recommending the term “mpox” as a new name for monkeypox disease and that it would use both names for a year while “monkeypox” is phased out. “When the outbreak of monkeypox expanded earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO,” the agency said in a statement. “In several meetings, public and private, a number of individuals and countries raised concerns and asked WHO to propose a way forward to change the name.” The WHO has responsibility for assigning names to new — and exceptionally, to existing — diseases, under the International Classification of Diseases and the WHO Family of International Health Related Classifications through a consultative process that includes WHO member states, it explained. The new name was decided upon following consultations with global experts, it said.
Residents in Shanghai received the world’s first inhaled COVID-19 vaccine by taking sips from a cup. WSJ’s Dan Strumpf explains how the new type of vaccine works and what it means for China’s reopening. Photo: Associated Press/Shanghai Media Group
• Unrest at one of China’s biggest manufacturing centers may cause a production shortfall this year of possibly 6 million Apple iPhone Pros, according to a source cited by Bloomberg. The Foxconn Technology 2354 facility in Zhengzhou, which makes the majority of Apple’s premium phones, has been struggling for weeks as workers rebel against COVID lockdown policies. Apple AAPL, -2.13%
recently lowered its overall production target from 90 million units to 87 million units. However, Foxconn believes it can make up any shortfall from Zhengzhou in 2023.
• A blood-thinning drug called Apixaban, which has been used for patients recovering from COVID, does not work and can cause major bleeding, according to new research reported by the Guardian. The anticoagulant, given to patients when they are discharged from a hospital after being treated for moderate or severe COVID, is widely used by hospitals across the U.K.’s National Health Service. However, the government-funded Heal-Covid trial has found that the drug does not work. Charlotte Summers, the chief investigator of the trial, said: “These first findings from Heal-Covid show us that a blood-thinning drug, commonly thought to be a useful intervention in the post-hospital phase, is actually ineffective at stopping people dying or being readmitted to hospital.”
The U.S. leads the world with 98.6 million cases and 1,079,199 fatalities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 228.4 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.8% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.
So far, just 37.6 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 12.1% of the overall population.
Customers shop at the Apple Fifth Avenue store for the release of the Apple iPhone 14 in New York City, September 16, 2022.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
It’s Black Friday and the official start of the holiday shopping season, and there’s a new iPhone 14 for consumers in the market looking to upgrade their Apple device. From better cameras and longer battery life to faster chips, there are plenty of features consumers will consider when buying a new iPhone — that is, if you can find one amid what’s looking like a season short on supply of some of Cupertino’s newest models.
One new safety feature that has been getting a lot of attention is emergency satellite connectivity. Cybersecurity may not be among the top selling points, but the new iPhone and iOS16 do have some significant security upgrades, too.
The focus on security is nothing new from Apple, which has made user privacy one of its key messages for years, regularly adding new security features within iOS updates and on new phone models, like Face ID facial recognition, app tracking prevention and private browsing.
Improved low-light photo abilities and the extended battery life may have appeal than security upgrades on the new Apple iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max. But from the new satellite connectivity features to Apple’s first-ever eSIM-only phones, the iPhone 14 offers a range of new technologies to further protect your privacy, including the brand new Lockdown Mode.
Lockdown: Apple’s most extreme security mode
All models of the iPhone 14 come preinstalled with iOS 16, which features a new form of protection called Lockdown Mode. This tool enables an extreme level of protection that prevents malware from accessing your phone, blocking most message attachment types, FaceTime calls, and more. While in Lockdown Mode, phone calls, plain text messages and emergency features will continue to work.
You are not expected to use this feature, unless you are, or soon plan to become, a CEO or head of state.
“It’s only meant for a small section of users who might be targeted by a nation-state threat actor,” said Kathleen Moriarty, chief technology officer at the Center for Internet Security. “That being said, it could be a CEO for a company … [an] official in the government, and that ability to lockdown the device and prevent execution or access to data on your phone could be critical.”
But the feature may be enticing to a broader base of security-minded individuals.
Research has found that more than 90% of unknown security bugs live in code that is rarely executed, said Justin Cappos, associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering at New York University Tandon School of Engineering and a member of New York University’s Center for Cybersecurity. Lockdown Mode does remove that risk, while making the phone experience “a little more inconvenient” for most users.
After testing out Lockdown Mode, Cappos said the only visual changes he noticed were fonts appearing differently and the icons for health apps not displaying correctly. And due to a very similar user experience and additional security benefits, he plans to use Lockdown Mode as his default and only exempt apps if necessary.
Android phones have offered a function called “Lockdown” since 2018, when the feature became available on Android 9. Designed to block all biometric security and voice recognition, it operates a bit differently than the Apple feature.
Fingerprint, facial and voice identification disable on the Android in Lockdown to prevent someone from accessing your phone. However, once an Android is unlocked via password, pin or pattern, Lockdown is turned off. While the iPhone keeps your device in Lockdown Mode at all times, the Android only ensures this security if users re-enable the feature every time they unlock their device.
Despite the similar names, Android’s Lockdown is more focused on preventing physical hijacking of a phone. Apple’s approach emphasizes protecting a device against digital threats. Both modes are, in most cases, not meant for daily use by the general public, but features that can help individuals in higher-risk situations.
The switch to eSIM-only phones
Steve Jobs never wanted the original iPhone to have a SIM card tray, and the iPhone 14 models are finally achieving this goal. Apple introduced eSIM cards back in 2018, but the new phone series is the first of its kind to eliminate the SIM card tray entirely and use only eSIM for the U.S. market. All iPhone 14 models purchased in the U.S. are eSIM-only, which enables users to easily connect and transfer their plans digitally.
“It stops someone from physically swapping your SIM card out if you leave your phone unattended. This has been used to steal accounts for high-profile individuals like Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter, and also to steal millions in cryptocurrency,” Cappos said.
Although the physical form of identity theft decreases, there are still security risks to consider before switching to the eSIM-only iPhone 14.
“Carriers cite security concerns such as an attacker taking over your phone number due to there not being a physical SIM card required for a carrier change, just the eSIM already on the phone and an SMS code,” Moriarty said. “At the same time, carriers are also concerned because the eSIM allows for an easier transition between carriers for the end user, which could hurt user retention.”
The Android 9 was the first version of the phone to implement the use of eSIM. The company has shown a growing effort to offer both SIM cards and eSIM on its newer phones, but no Android is eSIM-only.
Emergency SOS via satellite
In efforts to expand upon the iPhone’s safety features, the new lineup offers Emergency SOS via satellite which allows users to directly connect to a satellite and contact emergency services when outside of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. When Emergency SOS is activated, the phone will prompt questions to assess the user’s situation and direct them where to point their phone in order to connect to a satellite. These questions will be sent to Apple-trained specialists who will then call for help.
There is a potential security issue related to this new feature.
“It certainly makes situations where somebody’s stranded or in dire need a lot safer for that person. But, of course, having additional ways to communicate provides opportunities for surveillance and things like this as well,” Cappos said.
Apple notes that messages are sent in encrypted form but are then decrypted by Apple so that emergency services can step in. Your location will also be shared with Apple and its partners when using this feature.
“It makes you have to trust Apple a little more, but it could also potentially save your life in certain situations,” Cappos said.
Emergency SOS via satellite is launching on iPhone 14 models this month with an iOS 16 software update. However, this feature will only be available in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with Canada. Users will be able to utilize this feature for free for two years from the start of their plan. After that, it could become a paid additional service for iPhone users.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s senior vice president of Android and other Google services, recently confirmed via Twitter that the company is working on satellite connectivity for the Android 14 operating system, which will require hardware changes from companies that build Android phones.
Planning to buy Apple’s shiny new iPhone 14 as Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season? Good luck. The device is in extremely short supply both online and at the company’s retail outlets, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
“We believe demand for iPhone 14 units into the all-important Black Friday holiday weekend is way ahead of supply and could cause major shortages leading into Christmas season,” he said in a report on Friday.
Blame COVID. A renewed outbreak of the disease in China has slowed production at FoxConn, the electronics manufacturer that assembles iPhones for Apple. China’s “zero-COVID” policy isn’t helping, either. Authorities reported record high COVID-19 case numbers in mainland China for the second consecutive day Friday. The surging caseload has prompted new and spreading residential lockdowns, as well as business shutdowns in multiple major cities.
“The zero-COVID China shutdowns in Foxconn have been a major gut punch to Apple this quarter and we believe have taken roughly 5% of iPhone 14 units out of the supply chain and thus putting Cupertino in a ‘major shortage’ heading into the next month,” Ives said.
He expects Apple to sell roughly 8 million iPhones over the Black Friday weekend, down from 10 million a year ago.
Labor strife at FoxConn this week is creating another headache for Apple. A dispute over pay and working conditions at the company’s factory in Zhengzou in central China sparked employee protests. The Taiwanese company was forced to apologize on Thursday after police roughed up workers, blaming the pay dispute on a “technical error” in adding new employees.
“If Zhengzhou remains at lower capacity the next few weeks and continues to see the unrest build with workers, this would cause clear major iPhone Pro shortages into the all-important Christmas time period, especially in the U.S.,” Ives said.
Apple is broadening its user safety features, launching a new satellite service Tuesday that lets iPhone 14 users send emergency SOS messages when there is no WiFi or cellular service. In addition, new technology can detect when you and your Apple device are in a car crash and reach out to 911 for help.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told CBS News that the company wants to enrich people’s lives. Cook has been with the tech giant since the late ’90s, and succeeded Steve Jobs as the leader of the brand in 2011.
The introduction of Apple’s iPhone helped push smartphone adoption to the masses, and in the years since its 2007 debut, the company has continued to refine its flagship handset while developing products like watches and tablets.
Cook even acknowledges that the company is pushing into the health and wellness space.
“I started getting notes about people that found out that they had heart issues that they didn’t know about,” Cook revealed about Apple Watches.
Now, with the addition of the Emergency SOS via satellite service, users can communicate in places where they wouldn’t have been able to connect before. To make the service work, the iPhone needs a clear view of the sky and horizon and the system will guide the user through a number of screen swipes, moves and taps.
“It sends my location information, including my elevation. It sends my medical ID if I’ve set that up, even my battery level on the phone,” said Kaiann Drance, vice president of Apple iPhone marketing.
Cook shared some of his thinking when it came to development of the feature. “I’m a hiker. And so, I’m frequently out in places where there is no service.” He continued,”The national parks are largely not covered by cellular service. And so, this happens to people all the time. And it feels so great to be able to talk to a satellite hundreds of miles away, traveling at 15,000 miles an hour.”
On privacy, Cook said, “We’re not sucking that information up into the cloud to make decisions off of it. We believe in getting the bare minimum level of information that we need to provide somebody a service and we see privacy as the issue of the century.”
And while Cook has watched the company gain trillions of dollars in market value and hold its position as one of the world’s most valuable companies since he took the helm, it isn’t spared from the current economic conditions.
“What we’re doing as a consequence of being in this period is we’re being very deliberate on our hiring,” Cook revealed about Apple’s hiring freeze. “That means we’re continuing to hire, but not everywhere in the company are we hiring. We believe strongly in investing for the long term. And we don’t believe you can save your way to prosperity. We think you invest your way into it.”
Cook doesn’t seem like he plans to retire anytime soon.
“It’s a privilege of a lifetime to be here,” he said. “And I get to work with people I really love to work with and spend time with them. And so, there’s a lot of joy in my life because of Apple. And it’s really hard to envision life without Apple.”
“CBS Mornings” co-host Nate Burleson goes to Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley to spend time with CEO Tim Cook and get an exclusive look at a new iPhone safety feature. The two talk about the newest Apple features, the economy and Cook’s future.
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In this episode of “Bitcoin Bottom Line,” hosts C.J. Wilson and Josh Olszewicz discuss how the “sausage is made” internationally, why there is no pivot coming to save us and how fast food could be the next big winner for investors. Olszewics discussed how many people are coming to the realization of just how much power the Federal Reserve wields, which is much more than people in our generation ever imagined. “We are optimistic that things are going to reverse course and net assets will be saved, which is not the case.”
Everything is laser-focused on inflation right now, which means you are going to see high unemployment, housing mortgages evaporating, auto loans collapsing and consumer debt being at an all-time high. Inflation affects everything.
Wilson and Olszewicz discuss the effects of a credit-based economy. Wilson states, “We live in a country with over $90 trillion in debt and only $9 million in the money supply. This has caused the ice to start thinning, and eventually, someone will fall through the cracks.” Olszewicz continues, “That is the argument for the inability to raise our own government debt interest payments above 5%. It would exceed anything that we could even think about paying and be the single biggest line item other than the defense budget. Politicians often do not think about the impact of the money they are spending now and its potential to increase our future inflation.”
Olszewicz states, “It has only been 14 years since [the Bitcoin] white paper, the network was launched in 2009, and it has had 99.98% uptime. Over time, people age out of the CEO or CIO role and the new generation comes in and sees this as more than just an alternative asset.”
Wilson continues, “Social media platforms are only around 20 years old, which is only a little older than Bitcoin. People are being born now that do not know about how these platforms started, just that they are operational. It is similar in terms of smartphones. Some people forget that there was first Motorola, then Sidekick, and then came the iPhone. We are not even at the iPhone [stage] of Bitcoin yet.”
Apple supplier Foxconn plans to quadruple the workforce at its iPhone factory in India over two years, two government officials with knowledge of the matter said, pointing to a production adjustment as it faces disruptions in China.
Foxconn has grabbed headlines in recent weeks, with tight virus restrictions at its Zhengzhou plant, the world’s largest iPhone factory, disturbing production and fuelling concerns over the impact of China’s virus policy on global supply chains.
The disruptions prompted Apple to lower its forecast for shipments of the premium iPhone 14 models this week, dampening its sales outlook for the busy year-end holiday season.
Taiwan-based Foxconn now plans to boost the workforce at its plant in southern India to 70,000 by adding 53,000 more workers over the next two years, said the sources, who declined to be named as the discussions are private.
While the size of the plant in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu is dwarfed by Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, which employs 200,000 workers, it is central to Apple’s efforts to shift production away from China.
Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, opened the India plant in 2019 and has been ramping up production. It began producing iPhone 14 this year.
Foxconn’s interest in expanding the facility is known, but the scale of the planned expansion and timelines have previously not been reported.
Both Foxconn and Apple declined to comment.
Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-way said on an earnings call on Thursday the company would adjust its production capacity and output so there was no impact from further potential disruptions on supplies for the Christmas and Lunar New Year holidays.
Foxconn has shared its plans with Tamil Nadu officials about accelerating its hiring efforts at the Indian plant due to disruptions in China, said the first government source.
Beyond iPhones, the plant also manufactures products for other global tech firms, but the new hiring push is mainly driven by its need to meet growing iPhone demand, the person added.
A person in Taiwan with knowledge of the matter said Foxconn was expanding its operations in India to increase its capacity for basic models and to meet Indian demand.
“We are gradually increasing our production scale there,” the person said, declining to give details on its hiring plans in India.
The second government source in India, a senior official in the Tamil Nadu administration, said the state government was working with Foxconn in “finalising” the expansion.
On Oct. 27, the state’s investment promotion arm tweeted that top government officials had travelled to Taiwan and met Liu. They had “elaborately discussed Foxconn’s plans for new ventures and investments” and offered the government’s support.
The state was having discussions with the suppliers to address issues such as housing facilities for workers as it looked to expand, the first government official said.
Last year, Foxconn’s Tamil Nadu plant was at the centre of a mass food-poisoning incident which sparked employee protests and threw light on the living conditions of the workers in hostels near the factory.
Officials at Tamil Nadu, a hub of electronic and automotive manufacturing, were also pushing Apple suppliers to branch out into manufacturing components for iPhones beyond just assembly, the two government sources added.
Currently, iPhones are assembled in India by at least three of Apple’s global suppliers: Foxconn and Pegatron in Tamil Nadu; and Wistron in nearby Karnataka state.
JP Morgan analysts estimated in September that Apple may make one out of four iPhones in India by 2025, and 25 per cent of all Apple products, including Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods, will be manufactured outside China by 2025 from 5 per cent currently.
A lawsuit filed in Washington state on Wednesday alleges that Apple and Amazon have worked together to raise the prices of iPhones and iPads sold on the retail site.
The class-action antitrust lawsuit alleges that Amazon is the largest online retailer of electronics, capturing about 82% of the market and selling Apple products directly while also allowing third-party users to sell new or used devices. The complaint alleges that because Apple and Amazon do not benefit from sales by third-party users, they have been suppressing Apple resellers with a “horizontal agreement that eliminated nearly all Apple resellers on Amazon Marketplace.”
According to the lawsuit, just seven authorized Apple resellers now exist on the platform, down from a high of 600. Since the alleged agreement between Apple and Amazon was finalized in 2019, the online retailer has been provided with consistent Apple supplies at a discount of up to 10%. That discount, the lawsuit alleges, is contingent on resellers not being able to sell Apple products on Amazon.
As a result of this agreement, the complaint alleges, Amazon shoppers started paying more for Apple devices on the site.
“With virtually all other Apple resellers eliminated from the platform, price competition deteriorated almost immediately,” the lawsuit reads. “The steep discounts on Apple products that consumers once enjoyed on Amazon Marketplace eroded, with prices rising steadily.”
Prices on iPhones and iPads sold in the Amazon Marketplace rose by “more than 10 percent,” the suit claimed, citing data from before and after the alleged agreement was implemented.
Apple and Amazon have not yet responded to requests for comment from CBS News.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys from Hagens Berman, a law firm that has sued Apple in the past, including in a case that resulted in a $400 million refund to e-book purchasers. In that case, Apple was accused of working with five major e-book publishers to raise prices. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York ruled that the tech company had violated antitrust law.
The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou is the latest to see lockdowns amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, as the government presses ahead with the strict zero-COVID policy that has frustrated citizens.
The latest lockdowns have further disrupted global supply chains and sharply slowed growth in the world’s second-largest economy, as the Associated Press reported.
Residents in districts encompassing almost 5 million people have been ordered to stay home at least through Sunday, with one member of each family allowed out once a day to purchase necessities, local authorities said Wednesday.
The order came after the densely populated city of 13 million reported more than 2,500 new cases over the previous 24 hours.
China has retained its strict zero-COVID policy despite relatively low case numbers and no new deaths. The country’s borders remain largely closed, and internal travel and trade is complicated by ever-changing quarantine regulations.
Apple AAPL, -3.32%
and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn 2317, -1.95%
said over the weekend that restrictions are crimping production and will delay shipments of the high-end iPhone 14.
In the U.S., known cases of COVID are climbing again for the first time in a few months. The daily average for new cases stood at 39,578 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 5% versus two weeks ago.
As always, the increase in cases is not uniform across the nation. Some states are seeing sharp spikes, led by Nevada, where cases are up 96% from two weeks ago. Tennessee is second with cases up 69%, followed by Louisiana with cases up 68%, New Mexico, where they are up 62%, and Utah, where they have climbed 61%.
Cases are up by a double-digit percentage in 22 states.
The daily average for hospitalizations was up 3% to 27,713, while the daily average for deaths was down 14% to 308.
• Novavax Inc. NVAX, -5.19%
on Tuesday tweaked its full-year sales outlook to the low end of its expected range and reported a surprise quarterly loss, but sales for the COVID-19 vaccine maker were far better than expected. The company reported a net loss of $168.6 million, or $2.15 a share, compared with a loss of $322.4 million, or $4.31 a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales were $735 million, compared with $178.8 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Novavax to earn $1.57 a share on revenue of $586 million.
• A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said this week that Veru Inc.’s VERU, +3.95%
COVID treatment Sabizabulin demonstrated a clear clinical benefit with a favorable benefit-to-risk profile. Veru is seeking emergency-use authorization for treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at high risk for acute respiratory distress syndrome.
• A Massachusetts man who admitted to lying on his application for federal coronavirus business stimulus funds and using some of the $400,000 he received to pay his mortgage has been sentenced to 15 months in prison, federal prosecutors said, as the AP reported. In addition to the time behind bars, Adley Bernadin, 44, of Stoughton, was sentenced last week to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $280,000, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
The U.S. leads the world with 97.8 million cases and 1,072,943 fatalities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 227.3 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.5% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.
So far, just 26.3 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 8.4% of the overall population.
