iPhone 4

Virgin Mobile taking 15% off prepaid iPhone 4 and 4S

Cody Lee ∙ May 17, 2013

Apple is widely expected to unveil a new smartphone in the coming months, so it's no surprise that we're starting to see a flurry of specials on its older models. Verizon is knocking $100 off the iPhone 5, and T-Mobile will give you one for $0 with a trade-in.

In a similar fashion, prepaid carrier Virgin Mobile USA is hosting a promotion right now that will knock 15% off the price of the iPhone 4/4S. Now that may not seem like a very big discount, but it's big enough to land you a no-contract iPhone for under $300...

Apple’s China sales neared 7M as iPhone 4 fuels demand

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 15, 2013

When seeking increased sales of mobile phones, observers need to look east. That's the word from one large analyst firm, noting more than half of all mobile phones sold during the first quarter of 2013 were in the Asia/Pacific market. For Apple, its sales in mainland China alone neared seven million units during the period, largely credited to the lower-priced iPhone 4. Worldwide, the California-based smartphone maker saw its share of mobile phone sales rise...

New class action lawsuit claims iPhone 4 has faulty power button

Cody Lee ∙ May 15, 2013

In a class action lawsuit filed in San Jose, California last week, Florida resident Debra Hilton claims that Apple was aware of a flaw in the flex cable that controls the power button on the iPhone 4, but chose to stay quiet about it to sell more handsets.

Hilton is seeking more than $5 million in damages from the Cupertino company on behalf of thousands of iPhone 4 owners she believes bought devices with defective power buttons. Allegedly, Apple knew about the issue, but did nothing to fix it...

How the iPhone camera has improved over the years

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

The iPhone may be one of the most popular cameras in the world today, but it hasn't always been like that. The original iPhone (and the iPhone 3G) had just a 2MP camera, with no flash, putting the handset well behind the competition in terms of photo-taking.

Since the 3G, however, Apple has made sure to update the phone's camera with ever iteration. It went from a 3.2MP sensor to a 5, and then to 8. And wouldn't you know it, someone has created an image showing its improvement in picture quality over the years...

Apple v Samsung fight for mobile profits intensifies

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

For some time, whenever Android proponents argued for the platform's dominance based on handsets shipped, Apple fans would counter by pointing out the iPhone was tops in profits.

Indeed, a new report shows Apple had more than half of all mobile profits during the first quarter of 2013, leading Android handset rival Samsung.

According to Canaccord Genuity, the iPhone maker came away from this year's first period with 57 percent of mobile phone profits, despite having just eight percent of the worldwide handset market share.

By contrast, South Korea's Samsung - which leads in market share - earned just 43 percent of the share of profits. However, the two companies could soon switch positions. The analyst firm claims iPhone sales will be weak in the upcoming June quarter, overshadowed by profits fueled by Samsung's new Galaxy S4...

iPhone 4 owners begin receiving ‘antennagate’ settlement checks

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2013

Ah, who could forget the infamous iPhone 4 'Antennagate' debacle? It had barely been a month since Apple had introduced its newly-redesigned handset, when users began to complain of severe signal attenuation when holding the device a certain way.

Steve Jobs and company held a press conference to defend their product, but it wasn't enough to keep the lawsuits at bay. Apple was forced to offer free bumpers, or $15 in cash, to iPhone 4 owners. And now, 3 years later, the checks are finally on their way...

Apple vs Samsung price war in India

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

In another era, Apple and Samsung would be competing gasoline retailers, locked in a war to entice more automobiles to the pump. Update the picture to the 21st century, replace gas with smartphones and you have the modern-day equivalent of a price war playing out in India, according to a Wednesday report.

Android-based Samsung smartphones initially had the majority of the India market to itself. However, now Apple is shaking things up by offering discounts on its iPhone 4 - a move fueling the company's challenge of rival Samsung.

The South Korean company has responded with discounts on its Galaxy family of products - on top of the current payment plan. Both companies are jockeying to control a market full of potential smartphone buyers...

iPhone 4 discount triples India sales in under a week

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 12, 2013

More positive feedback on Apple's efforts to reshape practices in the face of emerging markets. Sales of the iPhone 4 in India tripled in only five days, following a trade-in program. The program is viewed by some as a "disguised discount" but the results are obvious for Apple and its plans to compete in a nation where smartphone sales are just taking off.

Although India does not have a subsidy program to soften the blow of a full-priced iPhone, Apple has found a way to reduce the sticker shock by sharing the handset's cost with a growing network of India's retailers...

Tim Cook issues open letter apologizing for warranty issues in China

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

If you've been reading the news lately, you've probably heard that Apple's been having some major difficulties in China. Over the last few weeks, it's been getting bashed by the state-run CCTV network and Chinese celebrities over its warranty policies.

The main issue is that some folks believe Apple provides customers in China with worse after-purchase service than it does in other countries, with reports claiming it replaces their goods with recycled components instead of new ones like in the US.

Apple has been fairly quiet on the criticism, until today...

iPad mini sales overtaking full-size iPad faster than Apple envisioned

Ed Sutherland ∙ March 1, 2013

Yesterday came more evidence that the 7.9-inch iPad mini is outselling Apple's larger tablet. The findings show increasing sales of the iPad mini amid declining demand for the 9.7-inch iPad. Between December and January, shipments of 9.7-inch panels (such as the iPad) fell from 7.4 million to 1.3 million units. In contrast, shipments of 7.9-inch display panels rose to more than five million units, according to the findings by hardware research firm NPD DisplaySearch that echo recent supply chain chatter.

The changing levels of demand suggests consumers prefer the smaller footprint of smaller tablets. However, this faster adoption of the iPad mini over its big brother is causing analysts to revise expectations for 2013 tablet sales...

Apple’s camera supplier sees sharp production drop ahead of the next iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Here’s another indication that Apple is on the verge of ramping up iPhone 5S manufacturing. According to a new report by a Korean newspaper, Apple’s camera supplier LG Innotek is said to have put on hold as much as 80 percent of its camera module output.

The paper claims the change is a result of “weak iPhone 5 sales”, but that's an incorrect assumption because the iPhone 5's back and front camera is made by Sony and Omnivision, respectively.

LG Innotek is still listed as the official Apple supplier as it makes the iPhone 4 camera, but its name doesn't come up in teardown analysis of any of Apple's latest mobile products...

How to jailbreak iOS 6.1.2 with evasi0n 1.4

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Evasion 1.4 was just released with support for the recently released iOS 6.1.2, and we've got the details on how to use it to jailbreak your iDevice of choice. Although iOS 6.1.2 doesn't bring any new features to the table, there is a bug fix that makes the upgrade worth it.

Take a look inside as we show you how to jailbreak iOS 6.1.2 with evasi0n 1.4. This tutorial is for the Mac, but the same principal applies across all computing platforms.