According to a report from The New York Times, Apple is facing issues in China that have led the California tech giant to delay the launch of its latest devices in that country. While many countries will be getting the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on September 19th, Chinese carriers have been told not to expect it on that date. Last year’s iPhone 5s and 5c were the first iPhones to hit China the same day as the United States, whereas previous devices had been made available several months after their initial launches....

Following backlash aimed at Apple’s new Maps from the media and customers over the past 24 hours, Apple PR representative Trudy Miller told AllThingsD in a statement: Here are some alternatives (while Google gets the… yes or no) Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn by turn navigation, and Siri integration....

Apple is once again kicking off an Apple Pay promotion in its own retail stores that will see it offer $5/£5 iTunes gift cards to customers that use the iPhone and Apple Watch based payments service (via Macrumors). For the new promo starting this week, retail employees will encourage customers to pay with Apple Pay and for those that do not want the service, offer a walkthrough of getting set up in exchange for the iTunes credit....

. The Wall Street Journal today shows that the value of Apple’s brand varies greatly depending on who is taking the survey. Apple’s brand may be worth as much as $183 billion, according to an earlier Millward Brown study. The study’s results greatly vary from a separate Interbrand study, which valued the company at less than a fifth of that value and half of the value of Microsoft’s brand. Why such a big difference?...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mOzcZUA7AQ] Bloomberg is reporting that the rumored Apple HDTV is being led by iTunes creator Jeff Robbin (introducing iTunes 9, above). Jeff Robbin led Apple to create both the original iPod and iTunes — so obviously he’s the man for the job. Bloomberg also quotes Piper’s Munster who believes that the HDTV is in prototype, due out late next year or 2013. He also postulates that the Apple TV will have Siri and iCloud functionality....

Apple seeded its latest beta of Safari for developers yesterday, as it does every two weeks. Whilst the seeds usually contain little of interest to non-developers, the newest seed (Release 23) includes a few interesting changes. Most notably, it includes Mac laptop battery life improvements for WebGL content by relying less on the dedicated GPU. Safari WebKit is going to incorporate a more advanced algorithm to decide whether to enable the dedicated graphics hardware in MacBooks on a particular page....

Apple’s latest MacBook Air headlines today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break at $100 off, plus deals on iPad Air, and Ring Video Doorbell Pro. Hit the jump for all that and more. Apple’s MacBook Air from $899 Notable features here include a 13-inch Retina display, a refreshed Magic Keyboard, and the 10th generation Intel Core i3 processor along with 256GB of storage or more. It’s a great machine for tackling various tasks, content creation, and more....

Update: Now available! Apple announced its new social video editing app Clips late last month and promised it would launch sometime in April. That sometime in April is today, says Apple according to The Verge, as Clips is set to launch shortly. Here’s Apple’s full description of its new Clips app: Clips is a new app for making fun videos to share with friends, family, and the world. With a few taps you can create and send a video message or tell a quick story with animated text, graphics and emoji, music, and more....

We’ve received a lot of tips this morning in regards to Apple’s online store going offline and back online, apparently without visible changes. As our Mark Gurman scooped last night, the outage could bring us new iPhoto letter press cards, covers, calendars and more later today. Also worth noting, Apple Bitch spotted the new Returns link at the page bottom, right alongside other service links. The link takes you to Apple’s standard Returns & Services page explaining the minutiae of product returns and your consumer rights....

It would appear that Apple has reversed course and now is allowing third party application development environments to be used to submit apps. What happened to the Thoughts on Flash: We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3....

Details Here’s what you need to know about the new iPhone SE: Pre-orders start Friday, April 17, at 5 a.m. PDT/8 a.m. EDT Delivery starts Friday, April 24 Priced at $399, $449, and $549 Available in black, white, or red with black front glass 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB storage options The new iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch display (like the iPhone 8 that it replaces) which is smaller than the iPhone XR or iPhone 11....

In addition to launching in Italy through three banks, Apple Pay is continuing to complete its roll out in the United States. More than two dozen new institutions around the United States join Apple Pay plus one new addition in Mainland China. You can find the latest banks to join Apple Pay’s growing list below. Blackhawk Bank & Trust Capital Community Bank Central Bank of IA Chemical Bank Columbia Bank (now of NJ and OR) Commercial State Bank County Credit Union El Paso Area Teachers Federal Credit Union Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union First Colony Bank of Florida First National Bank of Picayune Minnequa Works Credit Union North Island Financial Credit Union Peoples Bank of the South Peoples Savings Bank Prime Financial Credit Union Red River Credit Union San Juan Credit Union Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union Texas Citizens Bank Town and Country and Peoples Prosperity Bank Tradition Capital Bank UNCLE Credit Union Unitus Community Credit Union Voyage Federal Credit Union Wasatch Peaks Credit Union Liaoning Rural Credit Cooperatives in Mainland China has also joined the list....

Apple is currently planning a March 2016 event to unveil the second-generation Apple Watch, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. The second version of the Apple Watch would then ship by April, nearly a year after the original model first went on sale. Apple has also been working on a new “iPhone 6c” with a 4-inch display, which also could appear at this event, according to the sources…...

-Starting now -Oppenheimer, Cook, and the Treasurer will be doing Q/A after the announcements. -All time records for iPhone, iPad, Mac for June, Apple is extremely happy -Tremendous increase due to iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales. Operating margin 9.4 billion. Net income was 7.3 billion. -Quarter details: June record with 3.95M Macs (14% increase from last year Q3). Mac sales were strong in Asia/Pacific – 57% YOY increase in total Mac sales....

Apple is reclosing 11 more US stores in California, Maryland, Ohio, and Tennessee due to deteriorating COVID-19 conditions. The latest round of reclosings adds to 2 stores temporarily shuttered earlier this week for a total of 91 US locations reclosed due to COVID-19. Staying open while maintaining a safe environment is proving to be a delicate balance for Apple in both the US and elsewhere. Apple recently reclosed all of its stores in the Greater Melbourne area as Victoria reimposed lockdown measures....

Apple is set to release their own accessory for data transfers and display connections between Thunderbolt Macs. The accessory is coming in the form of a cable with both ends featuring connectors for the Thunderbolt I/O port. As we already know, this port is the same size as the Mini Display ports on current and past generation Macs. These Thunderbolt cables are perfect for data migration between Thunderbolt Macs (currently the iMac and MacBook Pro) as well as for display connections....

Following the release of the fifth beta version of iOS 14 yesterday, Apple has just released macOS Big Sur beta 5 for developers. Today’s update most likely includes enhancements and fixes to the newest version of Mac’s operating system, which comes with a refreshed design and more. Developers can update to the fifth beta of macOS Big Sur by heading to the System Preferences application, then looking for the Software Update option....

In what seems rather unfortunate timing, Apple’s diversity head Christie Smith has left the company, with no replacement named as yet. It comes at a time when calls for racial equality are headline news globally, and Apple is promising to take a leading role in bringing about change. Yesterday is reported to have been Smith’s last day at the company … Bloomberg reports. Smith had been in post for just over two-and-half years....

Apple has finally taken its iTunes Radio streaming music service internationally: starting with Australia. The service, which launched in the United States late last year, works on iPads, iPhones, iPods running iOS 7, the Apple TV, and on iTunes 11 on the Mac or PC. Like in the United States, iTunes Radio in Australia is supported by advertisements. However, iTunes Match subscribers can listen to iTunes Radio without ads. Apple is yet to announce any other international iTunes Radio countries, but evidence and reports suggest that Canada, New Zealand, and some European countries will be gaining the feature soon....

iTunes gift cards can be redeemed in iTunes and used against any content purchase ranging from e-books, music, movies and television shows to apps for iOS devices and Macs. The promotion applies to college students, students accepted to college, parents buying for college students or students accepted to college and faculty or staff members at any grade level. And how do you get your free iTunes gift card? “When you buy a qualifying Mac at the Apple Retail Store or Apple Online Store, we’ll include your Back to School Card with your order....