2026-01-20 22:41:37
Apple reclaimed the leading position in China's smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2025 as strong demand for the iPhone 17 lineup offset a contracting market and growing supply-chain pressure from memory chip shortages.
New data from Counterpoint Research shows that smartphone shipments in China declined 1.6% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025 and fell 0.6% for the full year, reflecting weaker consumer demand driven primarily by rising prices linked to escalating memory costs. Within that environment, Apple's performance diverged sharply from the market as a whole. Counterpoint said Apple's shipments in China rose 28% year over year during the holiday quarter, allowing the company to rank first in the market with a 22% share in the fourth quarter.
The improvement marks a notable reversal from earlier in 2025, when Apple trailed domestic competitors in China. According to Counterpoint, the change was driven by strong demand for the iPhone 17 lineup, which accounted for roughly 20% of Apple's shipments in China during the quarter. The firm noted demand was particularly concentrated among the Pro models. Counterpoint added that Apple benefited from an accelerated supply ramp up late in the year, enabling it to meet holiday demand more effectively than some rivals that were constrained by component availability.
The notable exception within Apple's lineup was the iPhone Air. Counterpoint said the model captured only a low single-digit share of Apple's China shipments following its debut. This is attributed to a slower start due to the device's later launch compared with other regions and to perceived trade-offs between its ultra-thin design and overall feature set.
For the full year, Apple did not lead the Chinese market, but it narrowed the gap with domestic competitors. Counterpoint said Huawei ranked first in China for 2025 with a 16.4% market share, followed closely by Apple and vivo at around 16% each. Xiaomi and Oppo trailed slightly behind at roughly 15% each.
According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, global smartphone shipments reached 1.26 billion units in 2025, up 1.9% year over year. Globally, Apple remained the largest smartphone vendor in 2025, shipping 247.8 million iPhones for a 19.7% market share. Apple's shipments grew 6.3% year over year. Samsung ranked second with 241.2 million units shipped and a 19.1% share, while Xiaomi placed third with 165.3 million units and a 13.1% share, despite a year-over-year decline.
2026-01-20 22:30:03
Woot this week kicked off a new Apple sale that includes some of the lowest prices we've tracked on the Studio Display in months. The items that we're focusing on in this sale are all in new condition and come with a one year Apple limited warranty, but there are other items that are refurbished.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Woot. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Prices on the 27-inch Studio Display start at $1,349.00 for the standard glass/VESA mount adapter, down from $1,599.00, and also includes all of the nano-texture glass options. We haven't tracked deals on the Studio Display in quite a while, so these are solid markdowns for anyone who's been waiting for a sale.
2026-01-20 20:17:57
Apple will launch a second-generation iPhone Air this year, despite reports that it has been delayed until 2027, according to the Weibo leaker known as Fixed Focus Digital.
Doubling down on a similar claim they made late last year, the leaker says feedback coming from the production line still suggests that the iPhone Air 2 will launch in the fall – presumably alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models and a rumored foldable iPhone.
The second-generation device will have "very minor changes," making it "basically a routine upgrade," the leaker said in comments machine-translated from Chinese.
The rumor comes in contrast to a November report from The Information that said Apple had decided to delay the launch of the next-generation iPhone Air until 2027 as a result of poor sales. A second report from the same outlet claimed Apple will use the delay to work on a redesign of the device that could include a second rear camera, as well as a lighter weight, vapor chamber cooling, and a larger battery capacity.
Notably, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman responded to these reports shortly after they were published, claiming his sources indicated that the iPhone Air 2 was not in fact delayed, because it had never been earmarked for 2026 in the first place. "The fact that Apple named the device the iPhone Air (rather than the iPhone 17 Air) signaled that it didn't want to tie the product to an annual release schedule," said Gurman at the time.
Gurman believes a refreshed Air could potentially roll out in spring 2027 alongside the standard iPhone 18 and the iPhone 18e, as part of Apple's new split-launch strategy. In addition, Gurman's sources said the main focus of the second Air will be a move to a 2-nanometer chip that will improve the device's battery life, rather than introducing major structural changes.
It is still possible that a new iPhone Air could launch this coming fall, but the previous reports cast doubt on the Chinese leaker's claim. Fixed Focus Digital previously broke the news ahead of launch about the iPhone 16e name.
2026-01-20 18:34:20
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely.
Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the situation.
2026-01-20 02:43:13
While the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are still around eight months away, multiple sources have already commented on how much RAM the devices will have.
In a blog post last year, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that he expected all of the new iPhone models released later this year to be equipped with 12GB of RAM. That would include the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Fold, and it would match the 12GB of RAM included in the iPhone 17 Pro models.
In a research note last week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu agreed that the iPhone 18 Pro models and iPhone Fold will have 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM.
It has been rumored that even the standard iPhone 18 will have 12GB of RAM, which would be an increase over the 8GB of RAM in the standard iPhone 17.
Here is how much RAM is in the latest iPhones:
2026-01-20 00:50:45
As noted by 9to5Mac over the weekend, Walmart still does not accept contactless payment options like Apple Pay at its more than 4,500 stores across the U.S., and there is no indication that will be changing any time soon.
It is not just Apple Pay that is affected. Walmart also does not allow customers to use Google Pay or Samsung Pay, and you cannot tap a credit or debit card either. In other words, the NFC functionality on the payment terminals is turned off.
It is far from the first time that we have reported on this topic, but Walmart has still not changed course, despite endless customer complaints.
Last year, a Walmart spokesperson told MacRumors that the retailer remained focused on its own payment technologies in the Walmart app, including Walmart Pay and Scan & Go, but these options are not as convenient as one-tap Apple Pay.
To use Walmart Pay, customers must add a payment card to the Walmart app, and then scan a QR code displayed at the checkout to complete payment. This system allows Walmart to track a customer's purchase history and learn their habits, which is likely the biggest underlying reason that the retailer does not accept Apple Pay.
Scan & Go allows Walmart+ members to save time by scanning barcodes on items while they shop, rather than having to scan all of the items at a self-checkout register later. This can save you time, but Apple Pay is still not accepted.
Apple Pay has a lot of privacy protections, including hiding actual credit card numbers, and this would make it harder for Walmart to track customers.
Apple Pay launched more than 10 years ago, and it was accepted at more than 90 percent of U.S. retailers as of 2022, according to Apple. Some other major Apple Pay holdouts in the U.S. have reversed course and started accepting it over the past few years, including The Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, and Texas grocery store chain H-E-B, leaving Walmart as one of the country's only major retailers that does not accept Apple Pay.
Interestingly enough, Walmart has accepted Apple Pay in Canada since 2020, but apparently it is not willing to offer that luxury in America for now.
