Despite a persistent semiconductor shortage that is disrupting the global automotive industry, investors remain bullish on the chips used to power next-generation vehicles. Kneron, a startup that develops semiconductors to give devices artificial intelligence capabilities by using edge computing, just got funded by Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese supplier of power components for Apple and Tesla. […]
Apple expands its ad business with a new App Store ad slot
At the same time as it’s cracking down on the advertising businesses run by rivals, Apple is introducing a new way for developers to advertise on the App Store. Previously, developers could promote their apps after users initiated a search on the App Store by targeting specific keywords. For example, if you typed in “taxi,” […]
Lucid Motors taps Waymo, Intel veterans ahead of public listing
Lucid Motors is beefing up its executive and technical leadership team, hiring people from Waymo, Intel and Xperi as it prepares to become a publicly listed company. The automaker said Wednesday that Sherry House, who formerly worked at Waymo, will be its new chief financial officer. House was at Waymo for four years, most recently […]
Epic Games buys artist community ArtStation, drops commissions to 12%
One the same day as Fortnite maker Epic Games goes to trial with one of the biggest legal challenges to the App Store’s business model to date, it has simultaneously announced the acquisition of the artist portfolio community ArtStation — and immediately lowered the commissions on sales. Now standard creators on ArtStation will see the […]
Daily Crunch: Europe charges Apple with antitrust breach
Apple faces an antitrust complaint in Europe, TikTok has a new CEO and YouTube TV disappears from Roku. This is your Daily Crunch for April 30, 2021. Also, this is my last day at TechCrunch, and therefore my last day writing The Daily Crunch. It’s been a blast rounding up the news for all of […]
Europe charges Apple with antitrust breach, citing Spotify App Store complaint
The European Commission has issued a formal ‘statement of objections’ against Apple, saying today that its preliminary view is Apple’s app store rules distort competition in the market for music streaming services by raising the costs of competing music streaming app developers. Apple has a period of 12 weeks to respond to the preliminary charges. […]
Smartphone shipments jumped 27% globally in Q1
More good news from a smartphone market currently rebounding from the far-reaching impacts of the pandemic. New numbers from Canalys put global shipments for Q1 2021 at 27% above where they were the same time last year. The industry was hit early and hit hard by COVID-19. The first quarter saw the company running into […]
Apple sales bounce back in China as Huawei loses smartphone crown
Huawei’s smartphone rivals in China are quickly divvying up the market share it has lost over the past year. Indeed, 92.4 million units of smartphones were shipped in China during the first quarter, with Vivo claiming the crown with a 23% share and its sister company Oppo following closely behind with 22%, according to market […]
Today’s Big Tech earnings in a mere 700 words
Today was yet another day of earnings from tech’s biggest names. To keep you up to speed without burying you in an endless crush of numbers we’ve pulled out the key data from each of the major reports. In each you will also find a link to their earnings reports. What does all of the […]
Alchemy raises $80M at a $505M valuation to be the ‘AWS for blockchain’
Blockchain developer platform Alchemy announced today it has raised $80 million in a Series B round of funding led by Coatue and Addition, Lee Fixel’s new fund. The company previously raised a total of $15.5 million, so the latest financing brings its total raised to $95.5 million since it launched in 2017. The latest round caught […]
Kids-focused fintech Greenlight raises $260M in a16z-led Series D, nearly doubles valuation to $2.3B
Greenlight, the fintech company that pitches parents on kid-friendly bank accounts, has raised $260 million in a Series D funding round that nearly doubles its valuation to $2.3 billion. The funding comes just months after the Atlanta-based startup landed $215 million in funding at a $1.2 billion valuation. With the latest round, Greenlight has now […]
Daily Crunch: iOS 14.5 brings privacy changes and more
Apple’s latest software upgrade brings a big change, Roku accuses Google of anti-competitive behavior and Brex raises a big funding round. This is your Daily Crunch for April 26, 2021. The big story: iOS 14.5 brings privacy changes and more Apple released the latest version of its mobile operating system today, which includes the much-discussed […]
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature has arrived — here’s what you need to know
The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system — iOS 14.5 — is launching today, and with it comes a much-discussed new privacy feature called App Tracking Transparency. The feature was first announced nearly a year ago, although the company delayed the launch to give developers more time to prepare. Since then, support for the […]
iOS 14.5 goes live with Watch unlocking, tracking transparency and kissing emojis
At its big event last week, Apple tipped off the forthcoming arrival of the latest point update to iOS. Today 14.5 goes live for all users, and it’s shaping up to be one of the bigger updates to the mobile operating system in a bit. Mask-wearers will be able to unlock their iPhone with the […]
A software bug let malware bypass macOS’ security defenses
Apple has spent years reinforcing macOS with new security features to make it tougher for malware to break in. But a newly discovered vulnerability broke through most of macOS’ newer security protections with a double-click of a malicious app, a feat not meant to be allowed under Apple’s watch. Worse, evidence shows a notorious family of […]
Apple commits to 20,000 US jobs, new North Carolina campus
Apple this morning announced a sweeping plan to invest north of $430 billion over the next five years. The company says the deal involves “economic benefits” in all 50 states and would create, all told, 20,000 additional jobs in the United States over that time period. The plan is an extension of one it announced […]
Interview: Apple executives on the 2021 iPad Pro, stunting with the M1 and creating headroom
When the third minute of Apple’s first product event of 2021 ticked over and they had already made 3 announcements we knew it was going to be a packed one. In a tight single hour this week, Apple launched a ton of new product including AirTags, new Apple Card family sharing, a new Apple TV, […]
Daily Crunch: First impressions of Apple’s AirTags
We test out Apple’s lost item finder, Google Fi gets a new unlimited plan and Facebook tests new video ad targeting features. This is your Daily Crunch for April 22, 2021. The big story: First impressions of Apple’s AirTags AirTags are Apple’s new Tile competitor designed to help owners locate lost objects. They use Bluetooth […]
Apple downplays complaints about App Store scams in antitrust hearing
Apple was questioned on its inability to rein in subscription scammers on its App Store during yesterday’s Senate antitrust hearing. The tech giant has argued that one of the reasons it requires developers to pay App Store commissions is to help Apple fight marketplace fraud and protect consumers. But developers claim Apple is doing very […]
Purple iPhone purple iPhone purple iPhone purple iPhone purple iPhone
With the spring comes color from Apple. The new iMacs are offered in seven different shades including a nice deep purple. As a refresh to the lineup, Apple has also released an iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini in a purple hue as well. I have a preview unit in hand to look at and […]
First findings with Apple’s new AirTag location devices
I’ve been playing around with Apple’s new AirTag location devices for a few hours now and they seem to work pretty much as advertised. The setup flow is simple and clean, taking clear inspiration from the one Apple developed for AirPods. The precision finding feature enabled by the U1 chip works as a solid example […]
Window Snyder’s new startup Thistle Technologies raises $2.5M seed to secure IoT devices
The Internet of Things has a security problem. The past decade has seen wave after wave of new internet-connected devices, from sensors through to webcams and smart home tech, often manufactured in bulk but with little — if any — consideration given to security. Worse, many device manufacturers make no effort to fix security flaws, […]
Apple and Google pressed in antitrust hearing on whether app stores share data with product development teams
In today’s antitrust hearing in the U.S. Senate, Apple and Google representatives were questioned on whether they have a “strict firewall” or other internal policies in place that prevent them from leveraging the data from third-party businesses operating on their app stores to inform the development of their own competitive products. Apple, in particular, was […]
Senate antitrust hearing on app stores gives Apple critics a big soapbox
The latest hearing to target Big Tech will drill down on competition in Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The Senate hearing, set for Wednesday at 2:30 p,m. EDT and embedded below, will feature testimony from the two big app store gatekeepers, and three companies that have banded together to critique the immense power that […]
Daily Crunch: Apple announces a new iPad Pro and much more
Apple announces new devices, Amazon opens a hair salon and Venmo adds cryptocurrency support. This is your Daily Crunch for April 20, 2021. The big story: Apple announces a new iPad Pro and much more Apple revealed a bunch of new products at its press event today. As expected, there’s going to be a new […]
Apple event fails to save the company’s stock from broader market sell-off
Today’s Apple event, chock-full of the company’s products that will help decide whether the company meets, exceeds or undershoots Wall Street expectations for its future growth and performance, had little to no impact on its share price. By now this is the theme: Apple announces a slew of new products, services, software or peripherals, and […]
Tile bashes Apple’s new AirTag as unfair competition
Now that Apple’s lost item finder AirTag has officially been introduced, competitor Tile is going on record ahead of its testimony in front of Congress tomorrow about how it perceives Apple’s latest product. The company says it will be asking Congress on Wednesday to take a closer look into Apple’s business practices, and specifically its […]
Here’s everything Apple announced at its ‘Spring Loaded’ event today
It’s Apple event day! From tweaks to the Apple Card to all new iMacs and iPads, Apple crammed this one-hour event with news. Don’t have time to sit down and click through every last announcement? We’ve slimmed it down to just the key points for maximum skimmability. Enjoy! Apple Card Apple kicked things off with […]
The M1 iMac’s power supply sports magnetic connector, Ethernet port
Apple just announced the new iMac powered by Apple’s own M1 silicon. Among the numerous updates and upgrades is a new power brick that sports something special to Apple’s lineup: an Ethernet port. On the surface, this seems like a silly placement of a critical I/O port, but there’s a good chance this feature could […]
The new iPad Pro features Apple’s M1 chip
The big news from today’s Spring Loaded event is, as anticipated, a new version of Apple’s high-end tablet. The new iPad Pro is the first in the line to adopt the M1 chip introduced on the company’s Mac line. The new chip sports an 8-core CPU, with performance up to 50% faster than the A12Z […]